Opening presents the next day is a challenge. It always is. They go from youngest to oldest, one present at a time, and it takes hours, as always. Hannah, Ambriel, Hael, Anna, Samandriel, Balthazar, Castiel, Gabriel, Raphael, Lucifer, Michael, Metatron, Uriel, Zachariah, Amara, and then Chuck.

Needless to say, the youngest aren't very fond of the long waits. Thankfully, Gabriel comes to the rescue once again, this time with candy. Obviously, giving them sugar is not the best idea, but it gets them to stop complaining as much, so no one tells him to stop.

"Well, merry Christmas, everyone," Chuck says once the present giving is finally over.

"Merry Christmas," everyone replies in unison.

"So, lunch?" Amara proposes.

Everyone agrees, some much more enthusiastic than others. Lucifer, for example, jumps up immediately with energy like a child's. Hael, on the other hand, shrugs and accepts without any enthusiasm.

"I call sitting next to you," Gabriel tells Castiel.

"Sure," Castiel replies.

The seating is always a struggle; there are sixteen of them, and only six people can sit at each table. Naturally, the girls all flock to one table. Conveniently, they're the four youngest, so logically, the next table is the other younger kids. Samandriel, Balthazar, Castiel, and Gabriel. That leaves two spots open, and two too many at the adult table.

"I'll sit at the kids' table," Lucifer volunteers eagerly, taking a seat with them.

"Ahem, this is the young adult table," Samandriel corrects him. "That is the kids' table." He points to the smaller table the girls are sitting at.

"Ah, who cares about political correctness?" Lucifer replies, waving a dismissive hand.

"Raphael, you're the next youngest," Amara reminds him. "You can go sit at the kids' — or 'young adult' — table."

"What? But I'm an adult!" Raphael protests. "Why do I have to sit with the kids?"

"Because your mother told you to," Chuck replies.

"But that's not fair. Why can't Michael sit there? He's only a couple weeks older."

"And I wear those 18 days like a badge," Michael replies.

"Bye, Felicia," Metatron adds.

"Who is Felicia?" Raphael asks.

"It's a reference to... You know what? Never mind."

"What is that a reference to?" Balthazar asks softly.

"No clue," Samandriel replies.

"I'm in Raphael's boat with this one," Castiel adds.

"You've never heard 'bye Felicia'?" Balthazar says in surprise. "It was all over Twitter not too long ago."

"I don't have Twitter," Castiel replies.

"Well, make one."

"That's what me and Charlie said!" Gabriel announces to the table.

"Not happening."

"All the cool people have Twitter," Lucifer tells him.

"Huh. Guess that explains my social status, then."

"I think you're cool," Balthazar offers.

"Then you're wrong."

"You could be cool if you got Twitter," Lucifer whispers loudly.

It's around this point that Raphael finally gives up arguing and sits with the "young adults."
"I'm nothing getting any social media," Castiel tells him. "I may not be the most self loving person in the world, but I value what little self esteem I have too much to make a Twitter."

"Well, you should be more self loving," Samandriel tells him.

"Or more Dean loving," Gabriel adds. "Cuz that's twenty bucks I'll never get back if you don't."

Castiel groans. "Okay, seriously, the next time someone brings this stupid bet up, I am walking out the door and not coming back for the rest of the day."

"What bet?" Lucifer asks.

"You haven't heard about it yet?" Samandriel says in surprise.

Lucifer shakes his head. "Should I have?"

"Yes!" Gabriel replies. "Back when Castiel was ignoring Dean, Sam and I made a bet. Sam said they'd be friends by New Years, I said they'd be dating. Then Garth joined and said they'd hate each other, Kevin says Dean will like Castiel more than Castiel likes him, and Charlie said they'll just say 'it's complicated.' Less than six days until they're going to be dating!"

"I'm not dating Dean!" Castiel insists. "I'm already married to my bed anyway."

"I gotta side with Gabriel," Lucifer tells him.

"I know you do, but you're both wrong."

"If it means anything, I side with Sam," Samandriel adds.

"Thank you."

"From what little I've seen," Balthazar says, "I ship it."

"What? Why? You barely saw us together."

"Exactly," Balthazar replies. "Cuz you two wanted some personal space." He winks suggestively.

Castiel makes a grossed out face at that. "Oh, god no," he says quickly. "No, we were not... Dude, we were outside for god's sake."

"I never said anything," Balthazar replies, but it's clear he meant what Castiel assumed that he implied.

"Kill me now," Castiel mutters, resting his arms on the table and burying his head in them.

"You're not allowed to make jokes like that anymore," Gabriel tells him.

"I wasn't joking."

"In that case, maybe you need a therapist."

The first thing Castiel thinks of when he says that is Dean. If Castiel needed a therapist, Dean would be there for him. Maybe he wouldn't give the same advice as a therapist, but it would probably be better. Castiel wouldn't have to be forced into speaking, and Dean wouldn't tell him to do something stupid like write in a diary everyday squeeze a stress ball. Who brings a stress ball around with them?

"I'll pass on the therapy," Castiel replies, lifting his head up again. "Now topic Destiel is off limits, and if anyone brings it up again, I'll go complain to Dad."

"What is Destiel?" Raphael asks, completely ignoring what Castiel said.

"Nothing," Gabriel says quickly. "It's nothing."

"I can see very clearly now that this is not nothing," Raphael replies.

"It is," Lucifer replies. "Well, it's nothing for you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Raphael challenges.

"It means that we don't want to hear your homoph—"

"Stop," Castiel interrupts.

"What? I'm just being real with him!" Lucifer replies.

"Yes, I'd like to hear this," Raphael says, his smirk showing that he doesn't think Lucifer will go through with his comment.

"Please don't," Castiel mouths to Lucifer, who ignores him.

Lucifer shows Raphael his most confident expression as he says, "We don't want to hear your homophobic comments, so you can go sit down and shut up because none of us care that you've 'found Jesus' and all that."

"You say that as if homophobia is a bad thing," Raphael replies, "but it's not. And one day, when I'm welcome to the kingdom of Heaven and you're in Hell, I'll be the one laughing."

"If Heaven is full of people like you, I say we move the party downstairs anyway," Lucifer says with a grin.

"You won't be saying that when you're burning in Hell for standing up for these abominations," Raphael replies as if it's a fact, as if there's no doubt in his mind that gays are bad and that's that.

"What did you just call them?" Lucifer asks in a dangerously low voice.

"Abominations," Raphael repeats with a smug smile. "They're broken, flawed abortions. The devil's creation, undoubtedly."

Castiel claimed he would leave if someone mentioned Destiel again, but he didn't mean it. He couldn't leave on Christmas Day. Christmas Eve was one thing, but this is a day to spend with family. He could never just leave.

But that's exactly what he does. Unable to listen to this religious nonsense anymore, he gets up and walks out the front door. It's not because he believes what Raphael is saying; he doesn't believe in God. Never has and never will.

It's the fact that it's his cousin saying it. Raphael is family. He's supposed to love Castiel no matter what, and there was a time that he said he would. Now, it's as if they have no connection, as if they're strangers.

Having his own cousin hate him is worse than anything that's happened to him. It's worse than the torment he suffers as school, past and present. Family is supposed to look out for each other, and Raphael does the opposite. And that is what makes Castiel break down.