"Home, sweet home."

If there's one thing these two have in common with the Winchester brothers, it's their love of gross motel rooms. Stepping inside, Castiel is decently sure he sees a spider nest on the ceiling, and possibly some mold on the walls. One of the light bulbs won't turn on, and another appears to be nearing the end of its life.

Neither hunter seems phased by it. James drops their weapons bag on the floor at the foot of one of the beds, and Emma drops a backpack on the mattress.

"So, we don't have much to do here," James says, glancing at Castiel over his shoulder, "but if you're interested, we do have a laptop and an endless supply of Netflix free trials, we have dumb apps on cheap smartphones, and we probably have a deck of cards somewhere if you want me to find that."

Emma unzips the front pocket of the backpack, and, after rifling around for a few seconds, pulls out a very worn out deck of cards. "Voilà."

"I forgot this was how most hunters entertain themselves," Castiel muses.

"Well, what do the Winchesters do?" Emma asks. "Because we can do better. Just say the word."

Castiel chuckles. She seems very insistent about that. She really wasn't lying when she said she didn't like them. "No, there's nothing wrong with this. It seems more fun than watching Dean's favorite movie for the millionth time." Although he did always enjoy their family movie time; he can't deny that.

"Do you wanna watch a better movie?" Emma asks. "We can get a free trial on other sites if it's not on Netflix. We have a bunch of old Visa gift cards, and nothing else to use them for."

Castiel shakes his head. He knows the plot of every mainstream movie up until about 2010, thanks to Metatron. He doesn't need to watch them all. "I am sort of interested in your card games."

"A'ight," Emma says. "We don't have a table because why would a cheap motel room come fully furnished —"

"You complain about this every time," James says, rolling his eyes. "At some point, you need to accept that being broke sucks, and credit card scams can only get you so much."

"I did accept it," Emma says. "That won't stop me from complaining."

James shakes his head, exasperated.

"As I was saying before James so rudely interrupted," Emma says, "we don't have a table, but we do have a bed, which is the perfect chair-slash-card holder."

"The bed's gonna bounce," James says. "Why don't we use the floor like normal people?"

"Because I wanna use the bed, that's why," Emma says. "C'mon."

Emma sits down at the head of the bed, her back against the wall. James rolls his eyes but sits on the other end of the bed, which doesn't leave much room for Castiel.

"I'll just stand here," he says after a pause, standing next to the bed.

"No, you're gonna sit with us like a real member of our dysfunctional family," Emma says. "C'mere." She slides over a few inches, leaving enough space for nothing bigger than a cat to sit.

"I don't think that's gonna work," Castiel says.

"Of course it will!" Emma says.

"Even if he does fit, he's still gonna see your cards," James reminds her. "Which kinda defeats the purpose of playing cards."

"Irrelevant," Emma replies.

"What game are we playing, anyway?" James asks.

"You know, I hadn't thought that far ahead," Emma says. "Hey, Castiel, what game do you want to play?"

Castiel cocks his head to the side. It's been a long time since someone's called him by his full name. Since he's come to earth, everyone he's met has gone by Dean's nickname for him, with the exception of some of the angels and a few demons. This is certainly strange. But that's what happens when Sam and Dean aren't here to introduce him to everyone.

Castiel eyes the deck of cards in Emma's hand, then says, "I don't know. The only game I know is poker, and even that I haven't played in years."

Emma stares at him. "You know one card game."

Castiel nods. "That is correct."

"How do you only know one card game?"

"Sam and Dean taught me it once," Castiel says. "But apparently using my powers to know if someone's lying — or bluffing, I believe they said is the term — is cheating, so Dean refused to play it with me anymore."

"You can tell if someone's lying?" Emma repeats. "That's so cool!"

"Really?" Dean treated it as an inconvenience, unless he could use it to his advantage. He did that with most of Castiel's powers, now that he thinks of it.

"Uh, hell yeah," she says. "I know I've only known you for, like, four hours, but I'm really starting to think I'm going to learn even cooler things about you every day for the rest of eternity, and I'm sure as hell not complaining."

Castiel chuckles. "I'm glad."

"Emma is going to be the biggest ego boost you have ever or will ever have in your life," James tells him.

"It's a welcome change," Castiel says, and Emma beams.

"Alright, quit flirting," James says, earning a confused look from Castiel, who was very much not flirting. "What game do you wanna play? Keeping in mind that we don't have poker chips."

"I don't know any other card games," Castiel says.

"What about Go Fish?" Emma asks. "You have to know Go Fish."

Castiel squints at her. "I wasn't aware that fish could play cards."

Both Emma and James burst out laughing at that. Castiel cocks his head to the side. Clearly, there was a fundamental misunderstanding on someone's side, and, knowing himself, it was probably his mistake. He just doesn't understand what the mistake was. Hopefully, it will be explained soon.

"Okay, new plan," James says. "We're teaching you how to play Go Fish."

"You're gonna be my partner," Emma adds. "So now you do have to sit next to me."

"Was this a part of your diabolical plan all along?" James asks.

"Nope, just a happy accident."

Castiel sits down on the bed, though he barely fits. He's supporting his body weight with his legs more than the one butt cheek that made it on the bed, but he'll take what he can get.

"All right, deal 'em out," James says.

Emma dumps the cards out of the box, which she tosses haphazardly across the room. She splits the deck in half and shuffles the cards, then bends them into a bridge to push them back into one pile.

"Show off," James mutters.

Emma just laughs as she shuffles them again. She deals seven cards to eat of them, alternating who gets their next one. Both players pick up their cards, and Castiel watches, interested. This seems shockingly similar to poker, but on a larger scale and with more cards.

Emma picks her cards up and shows them to Castiel. "So, basically, you just wanna get rid of all your cards by making pairs."

Castiel cocks his head to the side, squinting. "But there are seven. How do you make pairs with an odd number of cards?"

"By asking the other players — or, you know, player — for them," Emma says.

Castiel thinks about this for a moment, then looks at James. "Can we have a card?"

Emma and James burst out laughing at that, and Castiel gets the feeling he may have misunderstood the instructions. Sam and Dean never found his ignorance of humanity this entertaining. It's a little more embarrassing here, but at least it's entertaining them instead of just getting an eye roll from Dean and a brief chuckle from Sam.

"No, okay, you ask for a card that you need," Emma explains, after at least thirty seconds of laughter.

"What card do we need?" Castiel asks, confused. Can't they make pairs with any even number of cards?

"Okay, let's try just demonstrating how this works," James says. "Emma, you first."

Emma rearranged her cards in ascending order, then taps one in the middle. "We need to get two of every card we have. So, like, we have a five, so..." She looks up at James. "James, do you have a five?"

"Go fish," James replies, then adds for Castiel's benefit, "which means no, which means she has to pick up a new card from the pile."

Emma does just that.

"But what if he's bluffing?" Castiel asks.

James shakes his head, amused. "Bluffing is for poker, not Go Fish — or, like, any other card game at all."

"Oh." That is good to know.

"You've really never played Go Fish before?" James asks.

"I would not lie about something as mundane as a card game," Castiel says.

"The Winchesters really gotta up their game," Emma says, "And now it's James's turn."

"Emma — and Castiel — do you have a four?"

"That we do," Emma replies, handing him their four.

James puts both fours on the bed in front of him. "That's a match, so we don't need those anymore."

"So what do they do?" Castiel asks.

"The cards? Literally nothing," James says. "You just wanna get rid of all your cards by making matches."

"Oh."

"Our turn!" Emma says. "James, do you have a king?"

James hands her a king, which she puts down in her pile.

"Is this more points because it's a higher card?" Castiel asks.

"No, but that's not just a poker thing, so you're getting closer," James replies.

"Alright, Emma and Castiel, do you have a two?"

"Go fish, sucka!" Emma says with a grin.

"I feel attacked," James says, but picks up a card anyway.

"James, do you have a seven?"

"Not at all," James replies, so Emma picks up a card.

"But he didn't say 'go fish,'" Castiel says, confused.

"It was implied," Emma says. "'Cause he doesn't have the card."

"Oh."

"Alright, Emma and Casti— this takes way too long to say," James remarks. "Emmiel. Must easier. More efficient."

"Did you just give us a ship name?" Emma asks.

"No, I gave you a team name, but if that's how you wanna see it," James says with a smirk, earning a kick from his friend.

"What's a ship name?" Castiel asks. "I presume you are not naming a real ship?"

"God, I hope not," James says.

Emma just sticks her tongue out at him.

Castiel looks between them, confused, but decides not to question it. This is far from the first time someone had decided against explaining something to him. He's learned to just accept it.