Angel Wings and Demon Pitchforks

24. You Can't Just Invite People To Family Dinner

It would have been nice if everyone had warned Balthazar. Maybe he would have been prepared. Maybe he wouldn't have been so emotional. But alas none of his siblings cared enough to remind him; it was family dinner night.

"You all forgot to remind me!" Balthazar burst through the door, breathing heavily. "Dad had to drive me here!"

Gabriel and Lucifer snickered as Samandriel and Cas looked at him innocently.

"I was at Adam's."

"And I came over straight from Dean's."

"Well you two!" Balthazar pointed at Lucifer and Gabe. "You two left me at the house."

"Well I did say be at the car by 5pm if you want a lift." Lucifer reasoned, barely containing his smile. He knew very well what he did.

"I didn't know where you were talking about. You could have been talking about hell. I decided it was best not to follow you and your devil ways."

"You couldn't have at least changed Balthazar?" Becky asked her son looking disapprovingly at his green and pink dinosaur pyjamas.

"No!" He threw his arms in the air. "You could have been eating without me!"

"Nah, we're still waiting for Raph, he's la-" Anna was cut short by the sound of the door opening once more.

"Sorry we're late." Raphael called out.

"We're?" Lucifer questioned his head swinging around. "It's family dinner, you can't invite people-"

Everyone stopped dead. Any frustration that Balthazar had towards his brothers evaporated. Lucifer gaped, and every single one stared at the entwined hands of the eldest Novak and the boy with the dark hair and eyes.

"Hi," the mystery boy waved with his free hand.

"This is my boyfriend," Raphael introduced them, "Scott, this is the majority of my family."

It was like the moments you see in movies, when the room is in such shock that even crickets won't play. And, just like those moments in movies, it was broken by a very loud noise.

"Yes!" Alfie cheered. "You all owe me five bucks." Attention snapped to the youngest Novak.

"What?" Gabriel found his voice.

"I won," Alfie bounced.

"Alf--Alfie that's not-- that's..." Anna couldn't even form a whole sentence.

"What is he talking about?" Raphael asked.

"Wait a minute, I know you," Lucifer shifted his body entirely to face Scott. "You're in my art class."

"You take art?" Zach scoffed under his breath. Uriel and Anna sniggered and Lucifer shot them a look.

"Yes," Scott nodded, not hearing Zach's comment. "I sit up the back. We've talked a couple of times, but no full conversations."

"Anyway, is it alright if he stays?" Raphael asked Becky, who composed herself with a bright smile.

"Of course! The more the merrier. Gabriel, go get another chair."

The dinner continued with an atmosphere comprising of two parts. First, there was the awkward, embarrassed tension radiating off Alfie who wouldn't even look at his eldest brother.

"It's okay, I'm sure he doesn't mind," Castiel tried to assure him, "you don't know anyone in Raph's year."

"I admitted that there was bet. And I made a fool of myself." Alfie's head hit the table. "I'm such an idiot." Cassie rubbed his shoulder and shot Balthazar - who had settled into the place across from them - a look that warned him not to say anything.