"Where's Dad?" Lucifer asks shortly after he wakes up the next morning. Sorry, not morning. It's past three o'clock in the afternoon.

"I don't know," Michael replies. "I haven't seen him around today, and I've been up for, like, over six hours."

"Probably hiding in his office," Gabriel says. "So leave him alone so he can do god-knows-what in there."

"I haven't seen him in almost a whole day," Samandriel tells them.

"Isn't that the usual? Why are you so surprised?" Castiel asks. He knows Chuck spends a lot of time in his office. That's where he's always told them he writes his books, and has for over ten years.

"He's not usually there that long," Anna tells him. "This is, like, you-level hiding time."

"He's probably sleeping," Gabriel says.

"Even Lucifer didn't sleep this late," Michael reminds him.

"And I'm the standard for sleeping in, so that's bad," Lucifer adds.

"If you're so worried about him, go check on him," Gabriel suggests. "Just don't blame me when he yells at you for going in his office."

"Fine," Anna says, marching away, presumably towards Chuck's office. Everyone else follows, curiosity getting the better of them. Anna knocks on Chuck's door, then takes a step back to wait. After a moment, she knocks louder, but once again, there's no answer.

"Dad?" Samandriel calls through the door. 

No response.

"Hey, Dad!" Lucifer yells, pushing Anna away and slamming on the door. Once again, there's no answer.

"He's not in there," Gabriel tells them. "He would have answered. He probably went to the grocery store."

"I've been up for hours," Michael replies. "I didn't see him leave. If he left, he left by six this morning, at the latest."

Lucifer sighs. "Do I have to kick down the door?"

Samandriel pushes past him and twists the doorknob. Surprisingly, the door just opens. Chuck never leaves the door unlocked, ever. The sibling share a look before hesitantly stepping inside. It only takes a moment for them to find something. Gabriel holds up a note from the desk.

"'Sorry for not waking you up, but I had to go on a trip for work. See you guys soon. Love, Dad,'" Gabriel reads aloud.

"What?" Michael walks up and takes the note to read it. Not satisfied, he returns it to the spot on the desk. "Why would Dad leave without telling us?"

"Work trip," Gabriel repeats. "It was early. We were sleeping. He just didn't want to wake anyone up."

"I guess," Michael agrees hesitantly.

"No parents," Lucifer observes, a slight grin on his face. "I say we kick off the new year with a party!"

Everyone else groans.

"No!" they all say at once.

"Why not?"

"Because your parties never end well," Gabriel replies. "Literally never. But I do agree that this will be boring if we spend the day alone, so I'm inviting the Winchesters."

"And Adam?" Samandriel asks hopefully.

"The Winchesters," Gabriel repeats. "Yeah, Adam."

"But he's not a Winchester," Samandriel tells him. "He's a Milligan."

Gabriel rolls his eyes. "Whatever. He's a Winchester by heart. I'm gonna invite 'em over. Please don't be total idiots." He gives Lucifer a pointed look at that.

"Being an idiot is my specialty," Lucifer replies.

"I've noticed."

After a few minutes, Castiel sees Baby pull up in the driveway. Is he referring to the car or Dean? You'll never know. The Winchesters and Adam come inside, once again not knocking because they practically live here, and there's no point in wasting the time to knock every time they come.

Sam walks over to Gabriel and gives him a kiss, something Castiel has always thought more or less cute, but now it's more nerve wrecking than adorable. How is Castiel supposed to greet Dean? They're not on that level yet, right? Are they? Castiel has no clue.

Thankfully, Dean puts up a hand for a high five as he walks over, making it very clear for Castiel what he's supposed to do.

"Heya, Cas," Dean greets him with a grin.

"Hi, Dean."

"Quick! We need Destiel moments!" Lucifer shouts.

"Remember that 'not being an idiot' thing we talked about?" Gabriel reminds him with an amused smile.

"Remember that 'being an idiot is my specialty' thing we talked about?" Lucifer retorts.

"Remember that 'shut up or I'll make you shut up' thing we haven't talked about yet?" Dean counters. "Well, now we've talked about it."

"Only if you two do cute shippy things together!" Lucifer replies.

"What does that even mean?" Dean asks.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Lucifer chants at the top of his lungs. Gabriel and Sam join in as well, making the cry three times as loud.

"Will you guys just shut up?" Dean says, annoyed.

"We're literally telling you right now what to do to get us to shut up," Lucifer reminds him before resuming the chant.

Dean turns to Castiel and kisses him, so sudden that it takes Castiel a moment to kiss back. He expects Dean to stop when everyone stops chanting, but instead, Dean just wraps his arms around the other boy, pulling him closer.

"This is beautiful," Lucifer whispers.

Dean and Castiel pull apart, but it's hesitant. Had they not had an audience, they wouldn't have stopped, and Castiel finds himself wishing they were alone.

"You guys are perfect," Lucifer tells them, wiping a fake tear from his eye. "So beautifully perfect."

"He's lying," Samandriel says. "It's gross. Get a room."

Adam and Anna nod in agreement. Sabriel seems indifferent, and... Shouldn't there be someone else here?

"Where's Michael?" Castiel asks.

"He's right —" Lucifer looks around and stops talking for the first time in his life before finishing, "He was right here."

"Everyone is disappearing on us today!" Anna observes.

"I'm still here," a faint call comes from somewhere nearby. "I just got sick of you guys."

"You love us!" Lucifer shouts back.

"Not a chance!" Michael replies.

"He's lying," Lucifer whispers loudly. "He's just jealous that he doesn't have a relationship as beautiful as you guys do."

"Of course he doesn't," Dean replies. "No one is as beautiful as me."

"You're a horrible boyfriend," Sam tells him. "You're supposed to say Castiel is the hot one, not you. Welcome to the dating world."

"But then he'd be lying," Castiel says.

"Then you're lying to yourself," Dean replies. "And no, that's not because Sam told me to say it."

Castiel scoffs. "Yeah, totally. Sure."

"Really," Dean insists. "You are perfect." He gives Castiel a brief peck on the lips, causing the other boy to blush slightly.

"Thanks," Castiel murmurs, embarrassed. "Hey, Dean?" he says, changing the subject so he doesn't feel as awkward.

"Yeah?"

"You used to make fun of me for being gay," Castiel reminds him. "And now you're...?"

"Yeah..." Dean scratches the back of his neck, and Castiel realizes he swapped himself feeling awkward for Dean feeling awkward. Oops. "That was, um... Not my best moment. Or moments, I guess. But I didn't realize I was... Bi, I guess... Until a couple months ago. Besides," he continues quickly, "studies show most homophobes are usually at least sorta gay, at least according to some link title on Twitter I saw."

"Really?" Castiel says in surprise.

Dean nods. "And I don't think I'm the only one from the team," he adds.

"Who else?" Castiel asks. Some part of him is aware that this is gossip, but he's sure he's been the topic of their conversations before, so he doesn't care.

"Crowley," Dean answers.

"Seriously?"

Dean nods. "Oh yeah. You ever wonder why he was the one that went out with you last year? He definitely wasn't pressured into it. I wasn't there at the time, but I've heard it was his idea. Probably because he thinks you're hot and, let's be honest here, he's not wrong."

"Wow," Castiel replies. "I was not expecting that."

Dean shrugs. "Well, you learn something new everyday."

"I'm beginning to get that."