"Boom!" Lucifer yells, throwing his cards on the table. "I am the Go Fish champion!"

"Yeah yeah," Claire deadpans. "We get it. You're the best at everything. Happy?"

"Yes, very," Lucifer replies with a smug smirk.

"I demand a rematch," Samandriel announces. "I refuse to leave here until I win at least one game."

"A'ight, deal 'em out," Lucifer replies.

"I think I'm gonna sit this one out," Castiel tells them.

"What? Why?" Lucifer asks. "Are you taking my puppy away from me? Don't take my puppy!"

"Sorry, but Mish is coming home with me," Castiel replies. "I'll be back tomorrow, but it's late and I have no idea where my boyfriend is, so I'm out for tonight."

"Ugh, fine," Lucifer groans. "But come back tomorrow morning because I'm hoping to have some variation of a script done by then."

"Yep, can do," Castiel replies. "Peace."

He clips on Misha's leash before walking away, only to be stopped at the door by it opening itself. Dean takes a step back instinctively when he sees Castiel standing so close, but then gives his boyfriend a grin.

"Hey, I was just looking for you!" Dean tells him.

"Hey, I was just about to go look for you!" Castiel replies. He gives the boy a brief peck on the lips before saying, "And now I don't have to. Well, since you're here, want to see the fam?"

Dean shrugs. "Yeah, sure. Why not?"

They return to the living room, where Lucifer is dealing out cards, probably to play Spoons, judging by the spoons on the table. How did they even get spoons that fast? He looks up as soon as they appear as if he can sense them.

"Woah, it's morning already? I haven't even started writing a script!" Lucifer jokes.

"Nope, I just kidnapped Dean," Castiel replies.

"What script?" Dean asks curiously.

"Cassie's gonna be in a video!" Lucifer says excitedly. "Although it was literally fifty-fifty for dramatic versus funny, so I'm gonna try to combine them and this will likely be the worst video on my channel, and he's gonna be the only reason people watch."

"Can Dean be in it, too?" Castiel asks excitedly as the thought comes to him.

"Yes!" Lucifer replies immediately. "All the yes!"

"I don't really know how to act, though," Dean tells them.

"Neither do we," Lucifer replies. "You can do it anyway." He grins, then adds, "And I have a potentially super duper awesome idea but it would take three people, so now you have to. It's a really small role, though. You're mostly just there for show."

"What am I playing?" Dean asks.

"Just a prisoner," Lucifer answers, waving a hand dismissively.

"Now I'm scared to know what I am," Castiel says.

"You should be," Lucifer replies ominously, before adding, "Just kidding. It'll be lit, trust me."

"I don't think I want to trust you," Castiel tells him.

"And you're not allowed to kill me off," Dean adds.

"No promises," Lucifer replies. "I haven't quite figured out what I'm doing with you yet, but you're kinda important for the whole beginning scene."

"'Scene'?" Dean repeats. "How long is this gonna be?"

"Hell if I know. I haven't written it yet. But it'll probably take, like, a week to film, two days to edit, and then end up being thirty seconds like every video ever," he jokes.

"Worth it," Castiel replies.

"Hell yeah, it is!" Lucifer agrees, giving him a high five.

Dean just shakes his head to himself. "This is gonna be the longest week of my life."

~~

"So where were you?" Castiel asks on the drive home later that night.

"Bobby's," Dean replies. "Adam's coming back on Saturday, and Sam's coming back on Sunday, so he wanted help getting the guest rooms ready for 'em."

"That's this week?" Castiel asks, kicking himself for not remembering that.

"Yeah. You didn't know?"

He shakes his head. "Not off the top of my head, no. So that means Gabriel's coming up, too, right? The whole gang'll be here for the first time in forever."

"Yeah, finally," Dean says. "I feel like I haven't seen Gabriel in years." He pauses, then adds, "Which would make sense, because it has been a year, hasn't it? Wow. That's kinda sad."

"Seriously?" Castiel says incredulously. "Even I've seen Sam and Gabriel since then."

"In what free time?" Dean asks.

"My tour," he replies. "We went up to California, so I was there for a good week and a half. Fun times."

"Oh, right, I have seen them," Dean realizes aloud. "They went to one of my games over there. So I've seen them once in the last year."

"That's kind of depressing," Castiel observes.

"Not really," Dean replies with a shrug. "I mean, I talk to Sam over the phone enough that it doesn't really matter."

Castiel thinks back to the last time he texted Gabriel, only to realize he actually doesn't remember when that was. He mutters a brief, "Wait, hold on," and pulls out his phone to scroll through messages.

Dean; Lucifer; Jim; Amelia; Claire; Samandriel; Charlie; Taylor Swift — he hasn't messaged Taylor in two months? Wow, he barely texts anyone — "Death," also known as Julian, from the band that served as his opening act from his last tour known as the The Four Horsemen band, whom he still enjoys chatting with occasionally — a group chat with Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Gigi Hadid, and Karlie Koss; and then Gabriel.

He hasn't texted Gabriel since Castiel fake died, and before that, when Dean and Castiel met again at that celebratory party over a year ago. Wow. He knew they didn't talk much, but that's insane. And to think, Gabriel was the closest thing he had to a friend when he was in middle school and the beginning of high school.

He decides to keep scrolling through his messages for the rest of the ride home. He's not as surprised by how long it's been since he's spoken to these people — Niall Horan, Balthazar, Shawn Mendez, Anna, Harry Styles (that's right. Castiel has Harry freaking Styles' phone number), Garth — none of these people are really super close friends. He doesn't really have a lot of those.

But it's sad, though, how long it's been since he's really acknowledged Gabriel's existence, short of liking his tweets when they show up in his feed. He makes a mental note to change that. Gabriel's coming up on Sunday. Maybe he can refriend his brother while they're both in Sioux Falls. He needs his Sabriel fix.