Strings Attached

Chapter 49

"You wanna go back now?" Lucifer asks eventually.

For what had to have been at least an hour, they were chatting and laughing, sitting on the curb together. No one has come out to get them yet, likely because they know that, for all Lucifer's immaturity, he would never let anything happen to his little brother.

"Not really," Castiel replies. "But we probably should."

The two boys stand up, and when Castiel sees the silly grin on his brother's face, he knows Lucifer is going to do something stupid.

"Naruto run!" Lucifer yells, throwing his arms behind him as he runs towards the house. He stops and comes back to Castiel after a few seconds.

Castiel laughs at his ridiculousness, causing Lucifer to grin proudly. They head home together, which is unfortunately only about a couple minute walk. Castiel really doesn't want to go home yet, and on an ordinary day, he might have stayed out here longer. With his family up today, he feels he should probably come home sooner rather than later.

"If Raphael does more of his 'abomination' crap, can you just let him?" Castiel asks before they go inside.

"No, because it's stupid and wrong," Lucifer replies.

"Exactly," Castiel says. "And I know that it's wrong, and that it's stupid, and it shouldn't bother me. I mean, I hear it all the time. But if you guys keep arguing about it, he's gonna keep saying stupid stuff like that, and it will bug me eventually, and then I'll have to leave again and it's a lot less dramatic the second time."

Lucifer chuckles. "Alright, fine. But only if you help me out by not making me talk to him. I am not an adult. I don't belong in the adult conversations. I don't care how many calories are in a coke or what stupid things the government is doing. I want to talk about stupid things with you guys."

"Deal," Castiel replies.

"Then let's see how well we survive brief adulty confrontations, shall we?"

Lucifer opens the door, letting Castiel in first. It may seem like a polite thing, but Castiel is pretty sure he just wants a shield. They try to sneak off the the living room, but the adults find them first.

"You're back," Chuck observes.

"Yep," Lucifer replies.

"Where did you go?" Amara asks.

"The end of the street," Lucifer tells her.

"For over an hour?" Metatron says skeptically.

"Yeah."

"What did you guys even do?"

"Talk. Laugh. Have fun," Lucifer replies. "So I'm just gonna keep Castiel company now..."

Castiel and Lucifer quickly head over to the kids (and young adults) room. Once the adults can't see him, Lucifer puts on a big grin.

"I've missed being immature," he announces.

"Are you gonna play with us?" Hannah asks hopefully.

"Actually, I'm gonna play with Gabriel, Castiel, Balthazar, and Samandriel," Lucifer replies.

"Aw, okay," Hannah says sadly.

"Does this mean we have to take turns with who plays Xbox?" Samandriel asks.

"Unfortunately," Gabriel replies. "How about Castiel and Lucifer keep switching cuz Castiel is the one who dragged him in here?"

"Fine by me," Castiel replies.

"Sure," Lucifer says. "But I have a request. Can we play Super Mario Bros?"

"On the Wii?" Samandriel says with a laugh. "Dude, no one uses Wiis anymore."

"I don't care," Lucifer replies. "Super Mario Bros is the best."

"I like it," Balthazar replies.

"Same," Castiel agrees.

"I feel like it never ends well but sure," Gabriel adds.

"Is the Wii hooked up?" Samandriel asks.

"We shall see," Lucifer replies.

It doesn't take long for them to figure out why they hate the Wii. Castiel watches as the other four set it up, laughing to himself. The Wii itself is easy, but they have to find the remotes, then they have a long argument about who gets to be player one. Then they realize they have to sync the remotes, which takes them eleven tries to get all four working. Then they have to pick characters, which ends up being another long fight, and by the time they get to their first level, it's been over half an hour.

"Alright, let's do this," Lucifer says with a determined expression.

"We're seriously starting on a boss level?" Balthazar observes, though it's more a complaint.

This starts yet another argument about what level they should play. Castiel just sits back and watched it all happen, glad he didn't decide to go first. This is way too fun to watch.

Of course, once the game starts, things aren't much better. Every time they all die, the last person gets yelled at for not staying alive long enough. Every time someone runs out of lives, they get yelled at for dying too often. There's also a lot of jumping on people's heads and stealing their power ups, a definite no for the game. Basically, the whole thing is just a mess, and a very entertaining one for Castiel.