#so here you go <3 have my delusional little fantasies of lucifer breaking the cycle of abuse and being a good father

[quietwingsinthesky]

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Fandom: Supernatural

Relationships: Gabriel & Lucifer, Jack Kline & Lucifer

Additional Tags: Lucifer is Jack Kline's Parent, Post-Canon Fix-It, Alternate Universe - Happy, Gabriel and Lucifer are Siblings (Supernatural), The ArchAngels Discord Drabble Weekly Challenge (Supernatural), Child Jack Kline

Summary:

Definition: 1. A test of the child to figure out who the father is. 2. A test of the father to figure out if he's ready to be in the child's life.

"He doesn't look much like me," Lucifer says. He's quiet enough that Gabriel second-guesses what he heard and doesn't bother to respond, up until the silence gets to Lucifer and he pushes, "does he?" Gabriel opens his eyes. He's sprawled out over the back of the picnic bench, and without turning, he can see Lucifer's shoulder and the back of his head. The sky takes up most of his vision. It's strikingly blue, barely a wisp of a cloud cutting through the middle of his vision. The sun is a warm, bright reassurance of freedom, and, not for the first time, Gabriel wonders if Lucifer feels the same way about it. He was stuck in Hell for a lot longer. Gabriel still doesn't answer for another minute, letting his thoughts collect into something more coherent than the lazy mess they've become, but he makes a noise so that Lucifer knows he's thinking about it. Lucifer leans back, resting one arm on the table.

Gabriel's exhausted. He must be getting old, or maybe no one's immune to being run ragged by their baby nephew, not even archangels. It's Raphael's turn with Jack, now. They're teaching him to fly.

Michael wanted to be here. Lucifer almost allowed it.

They'll have time to figure that out later.

Gabriel's a little surprised he's allowed around Jack. Maybe he and Lucifer have finally hurt each other enough that it evened out. He knows that can't be the case (or else, wouldn't Michael fall into the same category?) Still, there's a certain satisfaction in the idea that they each took their licks and can let bygones be bygones.

(He envies Raphael sometimes, for getting out of the game before it got worse, but then he remembers how the Empty felt, how it-

No one won. Except Dad. Until he didn't. Really should have paid attention to how the rest of them went down and realized that you don't fuck with the Winchesters, no matter how big you are, because they make sure you fall harder.)

"He's blond. Darker than you, but close enough to count," Gabriel says, finally. He runs his tongue over his lip, feels the minute indentations of the skin. It's soothing, so long as he doesn't think too hard about why that is. "You have the same smile," he adds.

"I wasn't talking about my vessel." Gabriel shifts and rests his hands over his stomach. One very brave mosquito buzzes up to his ear. Gabriel flicks his head, once, twice, but the little daredevil doesn't scare easy. He sits up, crossing his legs under him.

"I know you weren't," Gabriel says, waving the mosquito away. "Shoo. I taste bad."

"What?" Lucifer turns to look at him. The mosquito drifts towards his neck, and Gabriel swats at the air beside it. It finally catches the hint and flies away.

"Not talking to you." Gabriel can actually see Jack and Raphael now. He'd like to say that Jack's a natural, but he's far from it.

Michael used to tell stories about Lucifer as a fledgling and about how awkward of a flier he was for decades. Gabriel was never able to square that with the older brother he knew, he was so graceful, so beautiful, so perfect. Now, he looks at Jack, and he thinks he can see it in every mismatched flap of his wings.

"Weren't you in a different one, anyway?" he asks. He knows bits and pieces of the story. The funny parts.

"I don't want to talk about it." Lucifer's tone turns sharp and upset, and Gabriel stows the taunt he has on the tip of his tongue about Lucifer slutting his way through prospective vessels. Above them, Jack tumbles, one wing beating slower than the other and sending him into a nosedive as he frantically tries to correct himself. Lucifer jumps up, watching Jack. Gabriel reaches out to grab his wrist and stop him. His eyes are on Raphael, who plummets faster than Jack and spreads their wings below him to cushion his fall. Jack lands against one, rolls back against the third pair, and by the time he hits the ground, his momentum has been broken. Gabriel and Lucifer can both hear him laugh as Raphael settles on the grass beside him. Gabriel catches the hint of a smile on their sibling's face, and he's reminded that it's not just him who missed taking care of the younger angels. Gabriel relaxes his grip, and Lucifer sits back down.

"It doesn't matter, anyway. You were throwing grace into the mix, not DNA."

"But he doesn't-" Lucifer cuts himself off. Gabriel eyes him.

"Are you doubting he's yours? You need Maury to announce to the world that you're the father?" Lucifer chuckles, which catches Gabriel off-guard.

"I know he's mine." Lucifer's voice is soft, affectionate. Familiar to a part of Gabriel that's centuries out of use. "He's perfect."

Gabriel would beg to differ. The kid was raised by Winchesters, killed a couple people, declared himself God, the works.

"He's good," Lucifer whispers. "He's nothing like me."

Oh, Gabriel thinks. It takes less than a minute for his pity to twist into a scowl on his face. Jack's right there, and Gabriel can see it on his face that he wants something with Lucifer. There's a place in his life for Lucifer to be his father, and Lucifer, instead of taking it, is sitting back and watching from afar. He's so scared of corrupting Jack by getting close to him that he's going to make the kid wonder what he's done wrong when Lucifer is willing to make amends with his brothers, but not with his own son.

"Lucky for you, you come by being a deadbeat dad honestly," Gabriel snaps. He expects Lucifer to get angry with him for that comment, not to stare at Gabriel like he's stuck a knife in his back. Some of that pity stirs up to soften Gabriel's blows. "What do you want more, Luci? To put him on a pedestal so high you can't see him, or for him to hug you whenever you come around?" Lucifer watches Raphael help Jack to his feet, their wings brushing against his as they run their hands over the arch like they're making sure he isn't hurt. Of course he isn't. Raphael would never let that happen.

"I want him to be happy." Gabriel nods his head at Jack.

"Then, look. He's happy," he says, "and if you spend time with him, I promise, he's not going to hate you and become miserable." Lucifer doesn't move, and Gabriel loads his final argument and aims where he knows he'll hit hardest. "Besides, what a way to stick it to Dad." Lucifer looks back at him, and he smiles. Gabriel wasn't lying about the family resemblance there. Raphael and Jack take to the sky again, and after a moment of watching them go, Lucifer stands. Even their wings could have been perfect mirrors once, but Lucifer's are more scars and hellfire now than the shiny pearl coloring of Jack's feathers. Lucifer follows them, cutting a jagged path through the air, not the awkward fledgling that Michael remembered nor the graceful older brother Gabriel looked up to. If Gabriel told Jack about those old ghosts, he wonders if Jack would believe that Lucifer was ever like that. If he could square who he was once with who he is now.

Gabriel pushes himself off the bench and spreads his wings. They groan protest. He really is getting old.

He flies after Lucifer.