Strings Attached

Chapter 50

"Man, that's crap," Dean replies. "You're never too old to want to change."

"I never said I didn't want to change. I just don't have a New Years resolution," Castiel clarifies.

"Well, how 'bout you make one?"

"I don't know what type of thing to resolve to do," Castiel admits. He hasn't done this since fourth grade.

"Think of something. Anything."

"Well, what's yours?" Castiel inquires. "Maybe I can get some inspiration off yours."

"Yeah, I don't have one," Dean admits.

"But you just said I should have one, so why don't you have one?" Castiel asks.

"Because I'm already perfect."

Castiel scoffs. "Yeah, okay," he agrees sarcastically.

"What, you have a New Years resolution for me?"

"I can think of plenty," Castiel replies.

"Name one," Dean challenges.

"Be less of a dick," Castiel replies without hesitation, the slight grin on his face showing he doesn't mean it in a too much of a rude way.

Dean chuckles. "Well, hey, Cas, tell me how you really feel."

Castiel shrugs. "It's the truth. You're a dick. A bearable dick, but a dick nonetheless."

"But I'm also a hot dick," Dean adds. "So,  really, I don't have it that bad."

"If you wanna hang out with shallow people for the rest of your life, sure," Castiel replies.

"Then you're clearly a very shallow person, cuz you love hanging out with me," Dean says with a grin.

"Keep telling yourself that."

"Great, Cas, thanks," Dean says sarcastically. "Well, I'll work on my dick level, if you accept my New Years resolution for you."

"And what would that be?" Castiel asks. He's not agreeing to it before reading the fine print.

"Try to be happier," Dean replies, much to Castiel's surprise. "You deserve it."

Castiel grins slightly in spite of himself, but there's a slight hint of sorrow in his smile. "I wish it was that simple."

"It's not supposed to be simple," Dean tells him. "But it'll be worth it. Trust me."

"Alright, I guess," Castiel agrees. "So, you try to be nice, I'll try to be happy."
"Deal," Dean agrees.

Castiel glances at the clock. "Well, that took three minutes. We still have, like, twelve more, though."

"Yeah. Um... New topic of conversation. Um... What are you most excited for in 2017?"

Castiel shrugs. "No clue. I have no idea what to expect from this year. How 'bout you?"

Dean puts on a grin and answer, "The Emoji Movie!"

"There's going to be an emoji movie?" Castiel repeats in disapproval.

"You haven't heard of The Emoji Movie?" Dean says in surprise. "But --" He turns to the eldest angels. "Lucifer!"

"Yeah?"

"The Emoji Movie."

Lucifer starts fangirling at the name, flailing his arms around with a huge smile. "Oh my god I can't wait for it! It's gonna be even better than the Bee Movie, I guarantee it. It can't come out soon enough! I can't wait months for it! I needs illegally download it from the Internet somehow because I have to watch it and if not I'm going to watch it for the first show in any theater I can get to!"

"You compares it to the Bee Movie," Castiel observes. "This thing is gonna suck."

"The Emoji Movie is going to be even better than the new Star Wars movie, okay? It's that awesome!"

"Oh, you did not just say that!" Charlie practically yells.

"You pissed off a fangirl," Kevin observes. "Never do that. Ever."

"Star Wars is the best movie!" Charlie tells Lucifer, then corrects herself, "Er, series of movies. Okay, Star Wars is the most beautiful thing you will ever hear because it is perfection and it has the best characters and the most well thought out plot and even though none of the movies are as good as the original three the entire series is perfection! The entire thing, even the prequels. And Rogue One. Rogue One is awesome too."

"We haven't even seen that yet," Lucifer tells her. "You can't bring that into the conversation."

"You haven't seen Rogue One?" Charlie yells as if Lucifer betrayed her by killing her entire family, and not just not watching a movie. "It's been out for weeks! I saw it when it first came out, and you have to watch it too, like, right now. Hell, I'll drag you guys with me and watch it tomorrow if you make me but you are watching that movie because it's perfect! No, we are having a Star Wars marathon tomorrow, and then we'll see Rogue One in theaters after the prequels and then we'll watch the original trilogy and then The Force Awakens and I have all that on DVD so you don't have an excuse." She goes into a long spiel about what's awesome about Star Wars, which everyone else sits through, laughing at her enthusiasm until it's over.

"Oh, dear god, what have I done?" Lucifer whispers.

"You should never, ever piss off a fangirl," Michael advises him.

"Noted."

"Two minutes!" Gabriel announces excitedly. "Someone turn the tv on! We have to watch the ball drop!"

"What's this ball and why are we celebrating it dropping?" Castiel asks.

"You don't know what the ball is?" Dean repeats in surprise.

"Should I?"

"Have you ever stayed up until midnight?" Dean asks him.

"When I was four, yeah," Castiel replies. "But not since then."

"Wow," Dean replies. "Just... Wow. Well, the ball is this thing on New York and when it drops it's the new year, basically."

"And that's entertaining?"

"Well, there's a huge concert before it," Dean tells him. "But yeah. The ball is cool. Don't diss the New Years ball."

"It sounds pretty boring," Castiel says. "I mean, does it do anything cool? Besides, like, drop?"

"It signals the new year," Dean replies. "You know, the exact moment when you should try to start your New Years resolution and whatever other New Years traditions you have."

"There are other New Years traditions?"

"Yeah, there's —" Dean cuts himself off with a glance at the tv. "Almost midnight!"

"Start the countdown!" Charlie practically yells.

As a group, they call out, "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

And before Castiel can process what's happening, Dean leans over and kisses him.