Castiel completely forgets about the annual Winchester-Harvelle Christmas game night until John and Ellen go to bed, and he's instantly full of dread. He really doesn't want to do this. He doesn't care if it's a stripping game, a drinking game, or whatever other adult games they want to play. He wants no part of it.

"I got the whiskey," Jo announces, already making her way to the cabinet.

"My four favorite words," Dean says with a grin.

"Someone help me get the shot glasses," Ash says. He glances around the room. "Dean, make yourself useful for once."

"That's something I can do," Dean says. "How many we looking at?"

Castiel fidgets with his hands. How is he supposed to back out? He was going to think up an excuse, but it completely slipped his mind and partygoers rarely take "no" for an answer.

Ash's eyes scan the crowd as he counts under his breath. "Seven, so I take four, you take three."

"Sounds like a plan," Dean says.

Castiel wrings his hands nervously, trying to come up with some sort of excuse on the spot. When Dean and Ash start pulling out shot glasses, Castiel realizes that he doesn't have time to think of an excuse.

"I'm going to sit this one out," Castiel tells them.

Jo scoffs. "But it's a party, Cas! You can't just not party at a party."

"I know, I know," Castiel says, "but this just... isn't really my type of thing."

"Are you sure?" Dean asks. "It's always a lot of fun."

"What Cas is trying to say," Charlie cuts in, "is that he hates everything fun, including drinking."

Castiel rolls his eyes. "Well, if you want to say it like that..."

"You're missing out big time," Dean tells him, "but you do you. On the off chance you change your mind, though, you're always welcome to join in the fun."

Huh

That was easy.

Then again, he had Charlie to vouch for him so it didn't look like a hastily-chosen excuse to back out. He did also mention to Dean in passing that part of the reason he doesn't drink is that he's afraid of slipping up and saying something he'd regret — either about his sexuality or his long-abandoned family — so he shouldn't be surprised that Dean was willing to help him out, either. Between the two of them, he's sure he had an easy way out.

But that analysis didn't account for Jo's crush on him and the fact that she'd want him to feel welcome, and she ruins it by saying, "We don't have to play drinking games if you don't want to. There are other, non-alcoholic games out there."

Castiel shakes his head. "You guys play your games. I'm going to..." What's he going to do? This is probably something he needs to figure out now, considering he's going to have to do whatever it is in a minute. What about...? "I'm going to work on memorizing lines." He may already have them all down, but Jo doesn't need to know that.

Jo frowns. "Alright, well, if you change your mind, just say the word."

"Will do," Castiel says, which he can do truthfully because he knows he's not going to change his mind. He will admit, though, that he's kind of excited to see how the night will end. This is going to be a very interesting party.

~~

Two hours later, Castiel realizes that he's spent more time trying not to laugh at his drunk friends than he has reading his script. Their starting game of Never Have I Ever got everyone drunk very fast, and they transitioned to an interesting game of Truth or Dare to follow it.

It almost feels like cheating to watch the game and not be part of it. He gets to watch the fun without having to sacrifice his dignity or sobriety to do it. No one's told him off for it, though, so he can't say he regrets it.

"I'm bored," Dean announces.

"It'll be your turn in a lil minute," Jo tells him, and her sentences almost make perfect sense, even if they're a little slurred. "Hold your horsies."

"Nah, I'm bored of the game," Dean says, and though Castiel can tell he's a little tipsy, he's holding himself together shocking well for someone who's had as much to drink as he has. "Let's play a new game."

"Whatcha wanna play?" Charlie asks.

Dean downs the last few sips of his beer before answering, "Let's play Spin the Bottle."

"You do have a very spinnable bottle," Jess says with a giggle.

"The spinnable-est," Dean agrees. "Who's down?"

The rest murmur in agreement, but Castiel, being the only sober one in the room, is a bit wary of it. Never Have I Ever was fine because it was just a drinking game. Truth or Dare was fine because the dares were specific for the person they were given to. Spin the Bottle, though...

Fortunately, Ash resolves his unspoken concern with, "I don't care where that bottle lands. I ain't kissing Jo."

"And I ain't kissing him," Jo adds.

"Yeah, no incest," Dean agrees. "I mean, I know y'all aren't technically related, but you get the idea."

"What," Jess says teasingly, "you don't wanna kiss my fiancé?"

Sam gives her a playful shove, and, with an expression that proves that he definitely thought it was funny, he says, "Not funny, babe."

"Mm, you think I'm hilarious," she says.

"Stop being happy together," Ash says, and it's hard to tell whether he's joking or just very drunk. "Some of us aren't sober enough to be reminded that we're always going to be single."

"You're so dramatic," Jo says, rolling her eyes.

"Are we gonna play or not?" Dean asks impatiently.

Charlie gives him an exaggerated salute. "Yes, sir."

"Now that's the type of energy I like to see," Dean says. "Everyone else, get on her level."

Just this little glimpse into their conversation should be enough to get the point across: they're drunk, they're having fun, and Castiel is a very content spectator whom no one pays any mind to.

The bottle-spinning begins, and Castiel loses interest in this game fairly quickly. The other ones were fun to watch, but if he wanted to see people make out, he's sure he could find millions of videos online.

Instead, he turns his attention back to his script, trying out different intonations for his lines in his mind. All he was told is that his Lucifer is supposed to be completely different than what people would expect; he's supposed to be spontaneous and 'effortlessly funny,' which is an interesting thing to aspire to, to say the least.

He gets so distracted by his work that he almost forgets about the game for a few minutes, and it only regains his attention when it starts getting loud. His interest piqued, Castiel looks up from his computer to see what's going on.

"It's literally not pointing at me," Charlie says. "I don't know what planet you bitches are on where this bottle is pointing anywhere near me, but you're all wrong."

"Well, it's not pointing at me," Jess says. "And if it's not pointing at me, it's pointing at you."

From where Castiel sits, he can very clearly tell that it's not pointing at either of them; it's pointing right in the middle. He knows it's pointing in the middle because his spot on the couch is right between them on the floor, and he can see the opening of the bottle perfectly.

"I can't believe no one's jumping at the chance to kiss me," Dean says, pouting. "I'm the best kisser in this room."

Castiel is inclined to believe that, not because he has any experience with it but because the thought makes him happy.

"It's the principle of the thing," Charlie tells him. "I mean, that and I don't want to kiss you, but mostly the principle of the thing."

Dean clutches his chest dramatically. "Ouch, Charlie. And I thought we were becoming great friends."

Charlie sticks her tongue out at him.

Dean's brows furrow together. "Wait a second."

"Waiting!" Jess says cheerfully.

"I think we've been looking at this all wrong," Dean says. "Jess, the bottle isn't pointing at you."

"I knew it!" Jess says.

"But —" Charlie begins, but Dean cuts her off.

"And Charlie, the bottle isn't pointing at you, either," Dean says.

Charlie cocks her head to the side. "Now I'm just confused."

"Ditto," Jess says.

"You can't work your way out of this," Sam tells him.

"Au contrare, mon ami," Dean says. "I am actually playing by the rules. The rules say whoever the bottle's pointing at, and..." He crawls into the middle of the circle and bends down, his eye just behind the base of the bottle and following it straight ahead. "It looks to me like it's actually pointing at Cas."

Castiel's jaw drops, but he can't think of a single word to say. That gives everyone else a chance to respond first — and by "everyone else," he means Charlie, because of course she would jump at the chance to make this happen.

"The man's got a point," she says. "It do be pointing at you."

Jess looks between Castiel and the bottle a few times before it really sinks in. "Oh, yeah, it is!"

"That's one way to solve a problem," Ash remarks.

"Um, guys?" Castiel says awkwardly. "I'm not playing, remember?"

"We never specified that you had to be playing the game to be in the game," Dean says, like that makes any sense. "C'mon, them's the rules."

Had it been anyone else, Castiel would keep fighting it, but with Dean... well, he'd be lying if he said he was firmly against this. They haven't gotten to do anything since that first time yesterday, and he's been itching for another round of something. Sure, it's not sex, but he'll take what he can get.

Finally, Castiel says, "If the rules are set in stone for this round, fine, but only if they can change after this round so I don't have to 'play' again."

"Ayyy," Dean says with a grin, "there's the Cas we know and love."

Castiel rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get this over with."

Dean crawls across the circle, and when no one but Castiel can see his face, he winks at him. Castiel fights back a smile. He has to admit, this was well-played.

Dean crawls on top of him, straddling his hips, and Castiel can't miss the smug little smirk on his lips. Dean cups Castiel's cheek in his hand and presses their lips together, and the only thing going through Castiel's mind is I don't want this to end.

But unfortunately the author is bad at writing kisses, so narratively speaking, the kiss doesn't last long. Castiel has to admit, though, it did prove Dean right: there is no way anyone in this room is a better kisser than he is.

Dean pulls away before anyone starts to think that it's been a suspiciously long kiss, but his face lingers just inches from Castiel's as he murmurs, "It occurred to me that we hadn't done this yet, and I had to fix that immediately."

Castiel chuckles softly, but he doesn't have time to respond before Dean crawls back to his spot in the circle, and the game continues like nothing happened.

The smile stays on Castiel's face long after everyone else moves on. He won't say he expected their first kiss to taste like beer and whiskey, but as long as it's not their last, who is he to complain?