Group chat

Person 1: No one killed you Castiel

Castiel: I noticed.

Person 2: Wait when did you get a phone

Castiel: This morning. Did I not tell you?

Person 2: No now I gotta add you as a contact

Castiel: I've got to add all you guys so who are you?

Person 2: Garth

Person 3: Kevin who is sorry he's late to the party

Person 1: The girl with the dungeons and dragons ratio

Person 1: Aw god dammit I mean tattoo stupid autocorrect this is way less fun when there's a typo

Castiel adds contact names to everyone.

Kevin: We should name this group chat

Charlie: Right because you have so many friend groups and you'll totally get confused *rolls eyes*

Garth: I think we should name it too

Charlie changed the name to "The Unpopular but Cool Kids"

Castiel: Seriously? You really had to bring that up?

Charlie: Damn right I did

Castiel: Hold on

Charlie: K

Kevin: K

Garth: I feel left out so K

Castiel returns a few minutes later.

Castiel: Sorry, Lucifer was trying to steal my phone and I was trying to make sure it didn't break.

Kevin: Why was Lucifer trying to steal your phone

Castiel: I think he wants to know if I'm texting Dean. He's taking this "We aren't friends anymore" thing very hard for some reason.

Garth: Who's this Lucifer guy

Castiel: Right, forgot you were new. He's my brother.

Castiel: Wait, he's the guy that drives us home almost everyday.

Garth: Really I never asked his name great now I feel bad

Castiel: Lucifer won't care.

Charlie: Guys stop having a two person conversation it's mean to me and Kevin

Kevin: I don't care really

Charlie: Kevin really cares

Kevin: Sure fine whatever

Castiel: Is using punctuation not cool anymore or...?

Garth: No we just don't feel like it

Charlie: If Apple didn't make this so easy I wouldn't even spell things correctly

Kevin: Yeah like your dungeons and dragons ratio

Charlie: *glares*

Castiel: What does * mean?

Charlie: *facepalms*

Castiel: ?

Kevin: It means you're doing whatever you say you're doing inside the *s

Garth: How did you not know that?

Castiel: I don't text people.

Garth: Well you have to learn proper texting etiquette

Castiel: Or I can just text like me?

Charlie: No

Castiel: *frowns*

Castiel: Did I do that right?

Charlie: *claps like excessive fangirl she is*

Castiel: What's a fangirl?

Charlie: Don't you dare ask what a
fangirl is

Charlie: Dammit I was too late

Charlie: It's someone who freaks the hell out over cool stuff

Castiel: Oh

Castiel: Gotta go Lucifer's being annoying

Castiel: No I'm not I'm cool

Castiel: That was Lucifer.

Castiel: Ok by now for real.

Charlie: ...

Kevin: Bye

Garth: See ya

Charlie: Au revior

Castiel locks his phone and slides it away from him and Lucifer as quickly as possible. Lucifer dives after it, frowning when he sees its locked. He tried a variety of passwords, but he can't guess it. He looks up at Castiel helplessly.

"What's your password?"

"Like I'd tell you," Castiel replies sarcastically, wheeling over to snatch his phone away.

"Ah ah ah!" Lucifer says, standing up and holding it out of his reach. "Nope. Not 'til you tell me your password."

"No." Castiel reaches up again, but Lucifer manages to hold onto the phone. "Dammit, Lucifer, give me my phone back!"

Lucifer shakes his head. "Nope!" He hits the home button and looks at all the notifications. "None of these are Dean. Come on, Castiel, you gotta text him. Or I will, as soon as I hack on here."

"Good luck with that. Even if you find my password, I don't have his number in here."

Lucifer frowns. "Dammit, Castiel! You're making this way too hard!"

"It's my specialty," Castiel replies.

"Well, stop it!" Lucifer says, throwing the phone at him. Castiel fumbles around and doesn't catch it, but it lands in his lap so it's easy to pick up.

"No."

"Oh my gawd!"

Anna walks into the living room with them, a confused expression on her face. "What are we complaining about Castiel for?"

"He won't text Dean," Lucifer replies

"I can't text Dean," Castiel corrects him.

"He doesn't want to text Dean," Lucifer compromises.

"Yeah, that."

Anna rolls her eyes. "And you guys act like I'm the child. Seriously, could you be more elementary school about this? I mean, Lucifer, you're in college, for god's sake!"

"Maturity is for the weak!" Lucifer yells.

"Yelling is for the annoying!" Anna retorts, just as loud.

"You guys are both annoying!" Castiel yells, not wanting to be left out.

"I won't deny that," Lucifer replies.

"Same," Anna agrees.

"Accept it all you want, but don't make me suffer though it," Castiel says, only mostly joking. He knows these two can get into some pretty loud fights, and they're even worse when they work together. They even rival Gabriel in the severity of their pranks.

"But we like making your life difficult!" Lucifer tells him with a grin.

"I've noticed," Castiel replies. "'Specially these last few days."

"That's cuz your life has been so not difficult that we need to make it difficult ourselves," Lucifer says.

"And because you can't mess with the boy with the purple back," Anna adds. "Cuz you know Lucifer. Always tends to get violent."

"Hey!" Lucifer shoves Anna, but not hard enough to actually hurt her.

"See?"

How do they know about his back? He definitely never showed them. Sure, Chuck found out eventually, but no one else in the family should know. It takes Castiel a moment to remember the hospital. If he didn't tell him in one of his crazed moments, he's sure one of the nurses did.

"Do I get a free pass, then?" Gabriel asks, walking into the room and sprawling out on the couch.

"Why would you get a free pass?" Lucifer asks.

"Azazel threw me into a locker on Tuesday and now my back hurts."

"Why did Azazel throw you into a locker?" Anna asks.

"Because that's what he does," Gabriel replies. "It's his thing."

Castiel rolls his eyes. "He barely pushed you. Stop being such a baby."

"Dude, that was not just a push! That was way worse!" Gabriel tells him. "I've probably got some giant bruise on my back now!"

"Doubt it," Castiel replies.

"Fine. Twenty buck says my back has a giant bruise on it."

"Deal."

Gabriel takes off his shirt, something he's not shy about doing, even if he doesn't have a fitness body. Sure enough, the middle of his spine is a dark brown color.

"Ooh, Castiel, pay up!" Lucifer laughs.

"We said a giant bruise," Castiel reminds them. "That is not a giant bruise."

"Cheater!" Anna exclaims.

"I'm not cheating!" Castiel protests. "I sorta figured he'd have a bruise. I just knew it wouldn't be that bad."

"That looks pretty bad to me," Anna says.

Castiel scoffs. "You seriously think that's bad? I wish I had it that good."

"We should have taken a photo or something so we could see what you looked like," Lucifer says, as if Castiel would ever let them do that. "Won't work anymore cuz you're in a wheelchair and I'm guessing it's kinda hard to throw people in wheelchairs into walls."

Castiel doesn't answer.

"Oh, God. Don't tell me you're still getting thrown into walls."

"Would you like me to lie to you?" Castiel offers.

"Seriously, people are still throwing you into walls?"

"It was only once." Well, one encounter. There was a lot of being thrown into lockers in that encounter, though.

"Okay, seriously, who are these people and where can I find them?" Lucifer asks.

"Castiel already showed them up," Gabriel says.

"How'd ya manage that?" Lucifer asks the younger boy.

Castiel just shrugs. Though everyone else seems to love that moment, it's not one he proud of. He may have earned some temporary relief, but it won't last long. He knows he made things worse on himself. He just got so fed up with them. But there is one plus side to it; that wasn't a scripted monologue. It was really just thinking out loud. He hadn't even known he felt that way about most of that. He didn't quite realize what he had until then, with his friends and lack of reputation. It was a nice discovery moment for him.

Gabriel obviously doesn't feel there's anything wrong with what Castiel did, because he wastes no time after seeing Castiel isn't going to answer before saying, "It was awesome! He had this long ass speech and he totally wrecked them with it and the look on their faces was priceless! I mean, that quiet kid that they always pick on suddenly becomes freaking... um... some motivational speaker dude and it was awesome!"

Lucifer chuckles at Gabriel's enthusiasm. "Nice, Castiel!" He holds out a hand, which Castiel high fives. "You're gonna go far, kid."

"Not for another five weeks," Castiel jokes, glancing down at his wheelchair.

Lucifer laughs. "I like this new Castiel. You have jokes."

Castiel can't help but smile. He likes this new Castiel, too.