Chapter 1: The Boy King
Hello Upper East Siders, Gossip Girl here. It's almost the start of a new school year, and you know what that means, drama, drama, drama. Spotted: The Boy King, Sam Winchester has returned from exile; but, doesn't exile mean you are never supposed to return? One of my sources found him at the train station this early morning. How will the Dean Winchester respond to this, now that he rules Constance High? And more importantly, why was Sam Winchester exiled in the first place?
"Hey," Dean pointed at Sam the moment he walked through from the elevator straight into the living room of the penthouse. "What the hell is he doing here?"
John Winchester looked up from his newspaper from his spot on the couch. "School starts tomorrow, Dean, did you really not think that your brother would come back?"
Dean ran a hand through his dark blonde hair. "I thought he was staying in Chicago with Uncle Bobby."
"Uncle Bobby is moving back to New York." Sam said, dropping his bag to the floor. There was no kindness in his voice for Dean. "And I was only there for the summer anyway."
"You should have stayed there." Dean said angrily.
"Dean," Mary came down from the stairs, looking like the picture of perfection as usual. Her blonde hair was down, curly and she was wearing a beautiful blue dress that clung to her body in a way that made John smile, but Dean cringe. "Be nice, it's good to have your brother back."
"Hi mom," Sam held his arms out and she went into them willingly. "It's good to see you."
"A summer is too long darling." she agreed, kissing both his cheeks.
Dean snorted. "Mom, honestly, did you see how low your dress goes, seriously, go change, please, it's a Sunday afternoon."
Mary smiled at him. "For your information, this is my dress for next week, we have a charity event."
"And the way of charity is my mother wearing a dress that girls my age wear."
John chuckled and closed his newspaper, setting it down on the extravagant coffee table in front of him. "You look beautiful, Mary. Don't listen to your crazy son."
"Seriously?" Dean put his finger on his chest. "I'm the crazy one, after what your Sam did?"
"Sam is better now." John said strictly, in his marine voice that made Dean go silent. "I don't want to hear it anymore Dean. It's a new start, for all of us."
"This is stupid." he muttered.
"Dean," Sam said. "Maybe we can talk?"
"Maybe we can't." Dean said, walking away. He grabbed his leather jacket from chair at the island in the kitchen and went on his way. "I'll be back later."
Before anyone could say anything else to him on the matter, Dean slipped on his jacket and went in the elevator, pressing the ground floor immediately. He hailed down a cab instead of waiting for the car driver to come get him. He didn't feel like being noticed today, in the back of the car his parents owned, someone driving him around. Sam was always better suited for those richer types of things, Dean didn't even like the suits he was so often forced to wear. Besides, Gossip Girl paid more attention to black cars than she did taxi cabs.
"Fifth avenue please." Dean said, closing his eyes and putting his head back.
"Yes sir." the taxi driver said politely, because everyone knew who Dean Winchester was.
"Maria!" Anna came down the stairs in a hurry, towel drying her red hair. She was wearing her nightgown, despite the hour. Anna was dangerously behind on all her errands today. School was starting tomorrow, and only now had she freshly cut and washed her hair. She still had to pick out her outfit for tomorrow. "Did you pick up my dry cleaning like that?"
"Miss Anna," Maria came with a smile, a European accent thick on her lips, from Germany, or Switzerland, Anna could never really remember. "You have visitor."
"Oh?" she looked around in interest, and had to force a smile when she saw Dean Winchester sitting on her couch. "Dean." she breathed out. "What are you doing here?"
Dean had his arms crossed. He furrowed his eyebrows. "You do not look happy to see me." he grabbed his heart, feigned hurt.
"I am, I'm sorry." she sighed. Honestly, she was hoping to wait until school to talk to Dean, that way, he wouldn't be able to make a scene. "You can come up." she held out her hand, waiting for him. Dean smiled, flicked his eyes to Maria, who was pretending not to smile and stare at them, and then grabbed her hand and went up with her.
They were upstairs and walked into her very classy, fashion inspired room, with amazing artwork plastered up on the walls. Dean let go of her hand and slowly found himself moving to the floor, lying down on it and staring at the ceiling.
"Okay," Anna said, brushing her hair. "Is this what's happening?" When Dean didn't respond, because he never did until someone lay down next to him, she sighed loudly and lay on the floor with him. "Dean, I'm your best friend, you're like my brother, but if you keep making me lie on floors, I am going to get severely emotionally damaged."
"It's just a floor." Dean said. "Sam is back."
"Sam," Anna raised her eyebrows. "Wow. Wow, that's, wow..." she bit her lip, she could definitely not end things with Dean when his brother just returned from banishment. She didn't really know why Sam had left in the first place, Dean told her a lot of things, but he never explained what happened with Sam. All she knew that it was bad enough to send Sam all the way to Chicago.
"I don't know what to do. School starts tomorrow, you know, and Jess will be there."
"Well it's school, so, everyone will be there." Anna murmured.
"What do I do?" Dean said. "My mom and dad forgave him, but I don't think I can. Do you think I'm being dramatic?"
"Seriously? I don't even know what he did."
Dean waved his hand. "It doesn't matter."
"Dean, my hair is not going to come out the way I want if I stay on this floor."
"I should have gone to Balthazar's." he mumbled.
Anna rolled her eyes. "Then why didn't you?"
"Because Balthazar has Gabriel, they are really best friends. I have you."
"Thanks." she slapped his stomach, but she grinned at him. She turned on her side and curled up to him, sighing. "Dean."
"Anna."
"It's school tomorrow." she toed carefully around the subject, but she had no doubt that Dean would catch on right away.
"Yeah."
"You're the king now." she tapped his chest. "And I'm your queen."
"Yeah." he said quietly. He looked at her. "You want to end this, don't you?"
"I think, soon, we have to." she admitted. "But I'll keep being the queen for now, I look good with a crown."
"You don't need me to be queen of Constance." he assured her.
"We'll give it a week." she said. "Just so Gossip Girl doesn't have a blast right away, let the kids settle into the routine."
Dean chuckled. "Right, we're doing it for the kids."
"Cas," Michael barged into Castiel's room that afternoon, holding up to shirts, that to him, looked exactly the same. "Which shirt is nicer, I have a date tonight. Maybe. Not really. But I'm hoping it's a date."
"They're are both plaid and they are both blue." Castiel said, looking up from his sketchbook. "I don't really see a difference."
"Are you kidding me?" Michael said, throwing them at his brother. "Look at that, in one, the plaid is done in diamonds and the other one is squares and it's thinner."
"Is this a joke?"
"No, it is definitely not a joke Cas." Michael snatched his shirts back. "You are no help, at all, not even a little."
"Who's the date with?"
"This girl named Jo, she's super pretty, blonde and a smart mouth. She's actually starting at your school tomorrow, but she's a senior, so a year older than you."
"She's lucky then, I can't wait to get out of there." Castiel put the sketchbook to the side. "Just don't get pretentious on her."
"I'm not pretentious."
"You are definitely the most pretentious person I know." Castiel got up from his bed and pushed his brother out of the room. "Okay, no, you're not, but you being in college has given you an ego that is a little too much for me."
"Well, that's rude, so." Michael tilted his head, frowning as Castiel closed the door in his face. He smiled and shook his head, locking it behind him before going over to his bed and leaning over it, grabbing his laptop from the floor. He opened it quickly and shamefully typed up the website, Gossip Girl.
He scrolled down, dully noting that Sam Winchester, the original king of Constance had returned to New York. But more importantly, as Castiel's eyes had found, Dean Winchester had found himself at Anna's apartment that afternoon. Castiel had lightly hoped they would have broken up over the summer, but they were as strong as ever. Not that it mattered anyway, not only did Dean Winchester not know of Castiel's existence, but the guy was straighter than an arrow.
"Hey," Michael slammed his fist on the door. "You wanna come with us tonight? I can drop you off somewhere, at a bookstore or something and you can do whatever it is you do until I'm done."
"The third wheel," Castiel nodded. "Sounds exciting."
"Cas, come on, you've been the third wheel with me and my dates for so long that I think of you and me like a tricycle."
"If we're two people, we're a bicycle."
"But when we get a girl, it's a tricycle," he paused, then yelled happily from the other side, "Hey that means that the girl is the third wheel!"
"I'll come, I'll come." Castiel laughed, walking over to the door and unlocking it. Michael was changing in the hallway. "Drop me off at a coffee shop, I need to sketch."
"I'm going to the coffee shop." Michael shook his head. "Go to the bookstore, sit on a chair and sketch."
"Fine, fine."
Castiel loved books.
Not in the way that everyone said they did, he really loved books more than he loved most things. It was important for people he loved to understand that, and he was lucky that his best friend, his brother and his mom all accepted and understood his need for the fictional world. It's not that Castiel didn't like his life, he really did, but every once and a while, he needed to escape the social structures of reality and go to a safer place. It was ironic in a way, because in these places of fiction, there was war, and violence and death, secrets and betrayals, but Castiel found life much more bearable in that one.
But he also knew he had a good life with his brother and mother, they accepted him for who he was, and everything he had done. Castiel had gone through a lot, a lot of which people would never be able to understand.
Castiel was sitting uncomfortably on the floor in a row of bookshelves, looking up once and a while to continue his sketching. He couldn't find a chair to sit nicely, which was a little annoying, but he took it anyway.
"Sorry," a voice said, one that Cas knew too well, so well that it made him uncomfortable. He shouldn't know the voice that well. "Do you mind if I join you?"
Castiel looked up and held his breath when he saw Dean Winchester, not waiting for his response and sitting across from him on the floor.
"Sorry," Dean said. "It's the only place people won't look for me."
Castiel didn't really know what to say, or how to be nice to this person, this guy who came from such a different world than him. All they did was share a school. "Meaning, you don't read?"
Dean grinned. "I do not. That's my...that's Sam, Sam reads."
"Your brother." Castiel nodded.
Dean stared at him, still smiling. "You know who I am."
"We go to the same school, but I'm not a senior, I'm a year below you," Cas shrugged, going back down to his sketchbook. It was easier to talk to Dean without actually looking at him. "It doesn't surprise me that you don't know me."
"You going to tell me your name then?"
"Castiel." he said softly. He had a weird name, compared to other kids who went to their school. Castiel was always self conscious about it.
"Cool," Dean said with a nod. Castiel heard him tap his fingers on the ground for a bit before crossing his arms and hitting the back of his head against the books. "Do you think I can sleep here?"
"I highly doubt it." and then, because Castiel could not often control the words that escaped him, he said, "Although, I would sleep here if I could."
"Oh?" Dean chuckled, Cas felt the back of his neck burning. "That's interesting."
Yeah, or as weird as ever, Cas thought. "It's just...quiet here." Castiel said. "I'm sure that's why you came here, isn't it?"
"Observant little thing you are." Dean knocked his boot against Castiel's knee, and christ, that sent a shock through his whole body. "Maybe you and I can hijack this place, take it for ourselves, make a little fort."
"Sounds completely realistic." Castiel felt himself smile, and he couldn't help but look up. God, Dean was beautiful, blonde and broad and green eyes that looked like he had the whole forest in them. His smile was beautiful too, white and showed off all his teeth in a lovely way. "But I'm sure your friends would not take lightly to you taking refuge in a bookstore." With me no less.
Dean's smile faltered. "I guess you are right. It's hard being a king."
Castiel shrugged. "I wouldn't know."
Dean stared at him for a moment, observing him, making Castiel want to look down again, but he couldn't manage. He then handed Castiel a grin, to which he returned it lightly, and he stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow at school then, maybe?" Dean held out his hand.
Castiel knew they wouldn't, or if they did, Dean would have to ignore him. But he held out his hand and shook Dean's, loving the way it was so beautifully warm against his. "Nice to meet you, Dean Winchester."
Dean held onto his hand for a moment longer, pausing the shake and looking down at him. Wow, Castiel thought, talk about a metaphor. "I like the way you say my name." Dean told him in a low voice, Cas' heart stopping. "Like it's just a name, not like I'm..."
"Royalty?" Castiel had to force his hand out of Dean's. "Well, we aren't in school, so right now, you're just a guy in a bookstore."
"With another guy in a bookstore," Dean pointed out. "It was nice to meet you too, Castiel..."
"Novak."
"Castiel Novak." Dean said, and Cas thought he had never heard his name sound so delicious before. "I'll see you around."
Castiel certainly hoped so.
Spotted: Dean Winchester leaving a bookstore, sans book in hand. Our boy is definitely not brushing up on his studies before school. His brother is back and he has barely spent a moment at home. What oh what has little Sam Winchester done to Dean to send him into avoidance of the Upper East Side, all the way to Brooklyn? I can't wait to find out, because we all know, I'll be the first to find out. xoxo, Gossip Girl.
