A/N I feel like I'm chapter spamming oops

Castiel wakes up to a pounding headache. He groans and rolls over, burying his face in his pillow so he doesn't have to acknowledge the light.

"How's your first hangover treating you?" Gabriel asks teasingly from the top bunk.

"Kill me now," he mutters.

Gabriel chuckles. "Sounds about right."

"How are you handling this so well?" He may not remember much of last night, but he remembers that Gabriel was about as drunk as him.

"Practice and Advil," he replies simply. "Trust me, Cassie. I'm not doing much better than you."

"I'd hope not," Castiel mutters. "That just wouldn't be fair."

"Want some Advil?" Gabriel asks.

"Would that involve standing up?"

Gabriel chuckles and climbs down from the top bunk. He attempts to pull his brother out of bed, but he kicks around until he finally scares Gabriel away.

"Come on," Gabriel insists. "You'll feel better. I swear."

"I better," he mumbles, rolling out of bed.

Gabriel beckons for him to follow, so Castiel does — until he stumbles almost immediately because everything just feels so off. Gabriel just rolls his eyes and helps his brother out to the kitchen, where he pushes him into a chair across from Claire and grabs some Advil and a bottle of water.

"Fun night?" Claire asks teasingly.

Castiel just flips her off.

"Here," Gabriel says, putting the water and pills on the table in front of him. "Drink up."

Castiel downs the whole bottle all at once, then buries his head in his arms to block out the light. "Why did I let you drag me into that?" he mutters.

"You had fun, don't deny it."

"Did I? I don't remember," Castiel replies.

"Don't be like that!"

"No, I mean I honestly do not remember the majority of last night," he clarifies.

"Oh. Okay, so maybe when I said I wasn't much better off than you, I was wrong," Gabriel says. "If it's any consolation, though, I think Michael might have it worse. How much time he spent at the bar, I can only imagine how much he had to drink."

"Believe it or not, hearing that my brother is probably feeling way worse than I am does not, in fact, make me feel better," Castiel tells him. "Maybe it has something to do with not being a sadist, ya know?"

"But where's the fun in that?"

~~

It turns out, Castiel learns later that day, Michael is feeling much better than anyone expected — and much better than everyone else feels, too. He doesn't say much throughout the day, other than brushing off his siblings' attempts to help him if he really isn't as okay as he says he is.

Castiel spends most of the day online, because what else does one do when it hurts to look at the light than stare at a screen essentially entirely composed of light? He spends more time looking at what Lucifer's posted on his accounts in the last couple weeks than what his fans are saying, because when Lucifer decides to do something, he doesn't go halfway, and stealing Castiel's social media is no exception.

He's pleasantly surprised to see that Lucifer didn't tweet anything embarrassing like Gabriel definitely would have. It's mostly random updates with no substance and thanking fans for compliments — so, basically Castiel's usual.

Facebook is more entertaining. Apparently, Lucifer's been vlogging life in the Novak house, which Castiel doesn't bother to watch because he lived here for years and kind of knows what his own house is like. The interesting videos are little skits, for lack of a better term. They're just short scripted videos to make people laugh, and he definitely succeeded. It's the only good thing to come out of this hellish day. Unfortunately, Lucifer gave all rights to his Facebook back to him the day before, which means they won't be seeing any more of them. It's too bad; everyone seemed to enjoy them, Castiel included. He can't help but wish Lucifer would keep making more.

~~

Castiel doesn't make a habit of eavesdropping on other people's conversations. He generally finds it disrespectful, and not something he likes doing. But hushed conversations always pique his interest, and he can't help himself from listening to Sabriel.

"How's Dean doing?" Gabriel asks quietly, probably to keep Castiel from hearing but in reality doing the opposite.

"He's been worse. He could be better," Sam replies.

"How'd he feel about you and Adam coming to Castiel's party?"

"Same way he does every time I come here," Sam replies. "He kinda shuts down every time we talk about him — kinda like Castiel does with him. I didn't technically tell him I was coming for Castiel, but there's no way Dean didn't know it was his birthday, so I'm sure he knew what was going on."

"Was he upset?" Gabriel asks.

"Who knows? He wouldn't tell me if he was, and he's got a hell of a poker face. I'm sure he wasn't happy, but I don't really know."

Castiel decides to zone them out. He really doesn't want to hear about Dean Winchester, of all people. That ship has sailed, in more ways than one, and he's not looking back.

Oh, who is he kidding? He misses Dean with a burning passion, and the only thing that keeps him from calling him is knowing that Dean deserves better than him.

A/N *awkwardly tries to tie up loose ends before moving forward*