Standing Together

Chapter 112

Alex is sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, refusing to speak to anyone — Lucifer and Claire included. They all tried their hardest to cheer her up at first, but after a few minutes, they decided to just leave her be.

Meanwhile, Castiel manages to get Dean away from his brother long enough to at least try to have a conversation.

"How'd things go with Sam?" Castiel asks, as if it's not obvious that they're okay now.

"Pretty good," Dean says.

"So what happened?" Castiel asks, the question he really wanted to ask, but didn't want it to be obvious that he just wants gossip.

"I annoyed him into liking me again," Dean says with a grin. "No, kidding. Well, kinda. I basically just apologized a lot and reminded him of all the perks of being my friend."

"There are perks of being your friend?" Castiel says teasingly. "I thought it was all just loud music and flannel overloads."

"I'm a joy to be around!"

"Keep telling yourself that."

Dean bitch faces him, then says, "No, but I basically reminded him of fun things we used to do — like matching tattoos!"

"Right, you told me about that once," Castiel says. "What does the mysterious tattoo look like?"

"It's like a pentagram and there's flames — I'll show you next time we're at Bobby's."

Castiel cocks his head to the side. "Why Bobby's?"

"We found it in one of his books," Dean explains. "He has shelves of lore that Sam and I would flip through in our spare time."

"You should totally still get the tattoo," Castiel says.

Dean chuckles. "I've worked hard to make sure people don't like me, but I feel like a pentagram tattoo is taking things a little too far."

"Ah, it's fine." Castiel waves his hand dismissively. "Christians already hate you 'cause we're together. You might as well put the nail in the coffin with the pentagram."

Dean chuckles. "Tempting, but no."

"Then you should get it right there." Castiel taps his chest lightly. "Right under your shirt. No one has to know."

"I don't tolerate flirting in this Christian household," Lucifer says loudly, causing them both to laugh. He clearly didn't hear a word either of them said, just that Castiel was poking him, which must have looked flirtatious to him.

"I don't tolerate Satan in this Christian household," Gabriel says. "Yet here we are."

Lucifer claps for him. "Great comeback. Could not have done it better. You win this round."

"I win at everything," Gabriel says proudly.

"Wanna bet?"

"Hells yeah, I wanna bet." Gabriel pauses. "Wait, what's the bet? Are you gonna rig it? Should I not have agreed that quickly? You're gonna win all my money, aren't you?"

"Our bet is going to be unriggable," Lucifer says. "Connect Four. Who will win?"

"I will, obviously, but let's go!"

~~

This brief game to prove Gabriel is unbeatable ends up being less brief than expected. Every time, the loser demands a rematch. They have to be on their 30th game by the time Alex finally decides she's not getting enough attention.

Alex walks into the room, and everyone says "Awe!" at the same time, with the exception of the two in the middle of a very competitive game.

Alex walks over to her dad, who's lying in the living room floor, and sits down next to him. "Dada."

"Yeah, sweetheart?" Lucifer says, clearly distracted by the game.

"Dada."

"What is it, sweetie?" Lucifer asks, sliding another piece in the game.

"Dada!"

Lucifer turns his head and props it up on his hand, looking over at her. "Yes, Alex?"

Alex steps over him, sitting on his back with a leg on either side. She lies down, her head resting on top of his.

"You're adorable," Gabriel says, sliding a piece in the board. "It's awful. Stop it."

Alex looks up at him silently.

"Not the puppy dog eyes!" Gabriel cries as Lucifer places his piece in the board. "I can't handle the puppy dog eyes! They're almost as effective as Sam's!"

"Puppy dog eyes are her specialty," Lucifer says.

Gabriel slides a piece in, then looks back up at Alex as Lucifer places his own in. Gabriel smiles at her and gives her a small wave. She just looks at him for a moment, then seems to smile just a little.

"Gabe, go," Lucifer says, looking up at the ceiling in exasperation.

"Ah, sorry." Gabriel puts a piece in, then looks back at Alex.

Lucifer slides his piece in. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you do it." His finger hovers over the board as he points out his diagonal four in a row — not that Gabriel can see it from his side of the board, but he finds it quickly.

"Oh sh—" Gabriel glances at Alex. "—ugar honey ice tea. I can't believe you've done this."

"And I can't believe you just quoted Shrek," Lucifer says. "Today is full of surprises.

"You're surprised by a kid's-movie-slash-gen-z-meme reference?" Gabriel raises an eyebrow. "Because those never happen in this family." As if starting a new conversation, he says, "Hey, Luce, did you know that according to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee —"

"Can fly," Alex finishes. "It has small wings."

Lucifer gasps. "It happened! It finally happened! Alex, I love you so much! I would totally hug you if you weren't already hugging me with your legs!"

"Lucifer, what have you done to your child?" Dean asks.

"I have blessed her with quality movie scripts," Lucifer replies with a grin.

"She really likes that movie," Claire says. "Like, she unironically likes it. It must be genetic."

"Ooh, I hope so," Lucifer says with a grin. "That would mean we're genetically superior to all of you."

"I think you're confusing 'superior' and 'inferior,'" Dean says.

"Shhh, let me have my moment."