1985

June

Dean Winchester didn't particularly like birthday parties, but when he got invited to the big fancy house with a pool he couldn't be more than excited. He knew the boy who lived there from pre-school, but they had never talked. He'd just seen him around once or twice. The boy wasn't there very often. But when Castiel's mom had asked Dean's parents if they could all come, they had said yes. Part of it because they had an interesting car that John wanted to take a look at.

Dean was not sure what to get the boy. Because he knew his parents didn't have much money at the time, since Mary had lost her job at the hospital, something his parents were not late to mention. So he knew he had to pick something that cost under 6$, and what could you buy for 6$? It all resulted in Dean thinking too much about it. So the day before the party, he decided to go for a chocolate bar and just hope that the boy wasn't to spoiled to appreciate it.

"Mom, can we go now? Can we go now pleeeeaaaseee?" Dean asked for the fifth time and tried to pull his mom towards the door. Mary laughed as she put the last plate into the cabinet and turned around to face her son.

"Well okay. But we'll likely be the first ones to arrive." She warned, "So don't run around too much, so you and that Caelum boy will be all tired when the others show up." She looked in his eyes and they both knew that she was thinking about the time when Dean had went to another boy's birthday party, to which they had arrived one hour early. It had ended with them both falling asleep on the couch, due to exhaustion after running around playing catch for forty-five minuets and eating too much candy.

"Yes mom! Of course. I promise." Dean answered and ran up the stairs to go get his dad.

Ten minuets later they were on their way to the Caelum household, John with Sam in his arms and Mary holding Dean's hand so that he wouldn't run ahead. Dean felt a bit embarrassed walking like that. He was already six years old, which meant that he was a big boy and could walk by himself. He hoped that Sammy at least wouldn't do anything stupid, like cry. He remembered how embarrassing it had been the time Sam lost his shoe and cried for two hours - before they found it in a bucket, which he had filled with sand - and sighed.

The house grew bigger and bigger as they came closer. It was a little larger and fancier than the rest of the houses on the street, which made a lot of the people walking by look at it and think: 'Those annoying rich people thinking they're so much better than us!'

It had a pool and on the driveway stood a brand new, red car. John whistled with impression and walked up to it. He put Sam down so he could go and play and then went to ask Mr. Caelum about the car.

Dean, who had gotten out of his mom's grip, ran to the other children (It turned out they weren't the first ones there) and quickly introduced himself to them. He had always been good at talking with people and making new friends was not a difficult task. Then he went over to the birthday-boy, who for some reason was not standing by the other kids. He did not look especially happy.

"Hi... Castar was it?" Dean said with a smile and held out a hand.

"No," the boy answered, not moving. "It's Castiel."

"Oh."

Dean lowered his hand and looked down, a bit embarrassed. He stood like that for a while, until he realized Castiel wasn't going to say anything.

"Um... So... Why are you so sad? It's your birthday!"

Castiel was quiet for a while.

"I uh..."

It was barely noticeable, but Dean could see that he glanced quickly at his mother.

"Soo... Don't wanna talk about it huh? Well, I'll go join the others then." Dean said and stared to walk away.

Castiel still didn't move and Dean suddenly felt bad and turned around. It was the boy's birthday; he should at least try to cheer him up a little.

"Come on! It'll be fun. We can play tag. I'll start!"

Castiel looked surprised at Dean's sudden suggestion, but after thinking about it he started to walk towards him.

"Okay!" He said as he started running.

Dean smiled when he saw that Castiel's sad face was gone. They ran around playing for a while and then, after all of the invited kids had arrived, they all jumped into the pool.

"It's time to eat and open the presents!" Mrs. Caelum yelled and put down a big cake on the table. The kids ran out of the pool and looked very eager to start eating, so they were all soon seated. Mrs. Caelum looked a little worried when she saw the water drip down at the expensive cushions on the chairs, but the warm sun had soon dried both those and the kids.

When the cake was eaten and they all had sung 'Happy birthday' to an embarrassed Castiel it was time for the present opening. Dean fingered nervously at the little gift in his hands when he saw all the other big ones that the kids had put in front if Castiel.

They are probably toys... Why would he like my stupid gift if everything else he gets is toys? Dean thought to himself.

He wished he had come up with something else to give Castiel. Anything would be better than candy. A rich boy like Castiel could easily buy all the candy he wanted.

So when Castiel's dad looked at him with a smile and said: "Now lets see what Dean's got you!" he swallowed nervously and stood up with his small hands shaking a bit.

Castiel didn't look especially happy, even though the pile of toys on his side was almost as big as himself. All of them were still in their boxes, Dean noticed. He thought that was a little strange, because at his place, and all the other parties he'd, not so happily, been to, the gifts were taken out of the boxes as soon as you got them and was played with for the rest of the day. This place was certainly different.

All this ran through Dean's head in the few steps he needed to take before getting to Castiel's seat, and when he got there his palms were very sweaty. "Happy Birthday Castiel!" He said with a forced, small smile. All he could think about was that Castiel would not like his gift. And why did he care so much? He'd never been so anxious before in his life. And now he was here, hands shaky as he held out the wrapped chocolate bar.

Castiel looked a little confused at the size of the present and Dean's heart sank down to the ground. But he opened it quickly and when he saw what it was his eyes grew big. "You... you don't like it..." Dean mumbled and felt like he was going to cry. He slowly turned around trying not to show his feelings to the other kids. "No!" Castiel said loudly, Dean turned around, surprised. Castiel's voice didn't sound angry or disappointed and when Dean saw his face it had a big smile. "I like it! Thank you! Thank you so much!" He said and then he jumped off his chair to give Dean a quick hug. Dean was so chocked that he barely managed to move enough to respond to it. Castiel then turned to his mother with a superior and arrogant smile. It was gone as quickly as it came, but it confused Dean. Because what was so special about a chocolate bar?

"Mom?" Castiel asked.

Dean could see that Mrs. Caelum had noticed Castiel's face. She straightened her back and looked at Castiel with cold eyes but just as Castiel's smile it was gone in a second.

"Yes, Dear." She answered with a lovely smile.

"Can I eat the chocolate now? Please?" He asked, innocence in his voice.

"Can't you save it for later? You have already had so much sweets today!" She answered still smiling, but her eyes gave Castiel a hard look.

"But I just wanna have one bite!" Castiel said, not raising his voice, but Mrs. Caelum reached out and took the chocolate bar from him. Dean could feel a strange tension between the two and wondered if anyone else had noticed, but after Dean and Castiel's hug the kids had all started talking, since there were no more presents to give, and no one really seemed to care about what was happening at the front of the table.

"Castiel you heard me the..." Mrs. Caelum started, but Castiel's dad put a hand on her shoulder and with a smile took Dean's gift away from her. He then gave it back to Castiel.

"Come on Honey. Give the kid a break! It's his birthday after all."

Mrs. Caelum looked a bit angry at first but then she sighed and the same, lovely smile as before appeared on her lips.

"I guess you're right Chuck."

She gave him a tired kiss and walked away to talk to some other parents, but just before she turned around Dean saw her give Castiel a look. A look that said: "This isn't over."

Castiel smiled and thanked his dad by giving him a hug. He then started to open the plastic around the chocolate bar and looked up at Dean.

"Wanna have a bite?"

He looked at Dean as the silent war between him and his mom had never happened. It seemed as something like what Dean had just witnessed was nothing new and it made him even more confused about the family, but it didn't feel right to ask. They'd only just met each other. More or less. So he just said "Sure." and let it be.

Castiel and Dean sat in silence for a while, eating pieces of the chocolate. The other kids were running around playing on the lawn or swimming in the pool. Dean could hear those ones playing Marco Polo and he hoped that he would not have to join them. Closing his eyes in water scared him, though he would never admit it to anyone. He was much happier sitting with Castiel in the sun. They actually started talking after a while. Dean spoke the most but he learned a little about Castiel. Like that he had three much older brothers and that he liked to play board games.

Mary stopped listening to the conversation between Abbadon and Castiel's parents and looked over to her younger son. He was sitting on the lawn by John's feet, violently tearing up grass and throwing it away with his small hands, seemingly bored. It was no one in his age here and she realized that he probably wanted to go home and play with his own toys. She was actually getting pretty bored herself. All she had talked about with people today was work, work and once again work. It seemed like it was all that the parents here cared about. What they worked with, what they wanted their children to work with and what education that would be necessary for that to happen. It was like they had already decided their children's futures even though they were only five or six years old. It made her so tired to listen to people who didn't seem to care what their children thought, and she had spend most of her time at the party getting irritated about everything they said and hoping that the parents would come to their senses. She walked up to John, who was talking with Mrs. Shirley, and patted him on the shoulder.

"I think it's time to go home honey," she said with a low voice, "Sammy is getting tired and I can't stand being with these people for any longer."

John nodded. He also wanted to go home. He'd already heard everything people had to say, both once an twice, and the things they'd told him about cars were either wrong, or he already knew them. He gave a short nod to Mrs. Shirley as a 'Thanks for the conversation but now I need to leave' and took Sam in his arms. Mary was already on her way to get Dean.

"Hi there buddy, we're gonna go home now, and for dinner it'll be Spaghetti Bolognese, your favorite!" Sam enthusiastically clapped with his hands and gave his father a big smile.

"Getti! I wuw getti!" He laughed.

John laughed too when he saw his son's happy face. He never understood how he could ever have gotten this lucky.

When they all were seated for dinner John and Mary talked as usual about the day. If Mary had found any jobs and how it was with the cars John fixed for people. Both Sam and Dean sat quiet eating their food. One of them made more of a mess than the other, while the other silently wished for him to grow up. After a while the birthday party came up and Mary turned to Dean.

"Did you have fun today?" She asked with a smile. Dean just poked around in his food, not looking at his mother.

"Yeah... I guess it was fun."

"Guess? I think it looked like you had a great time!" John said and gave Dean an appreciating pat on the shoulder.

"Mm."

"Did he like the present?" Mary asked and stroke Dean's hair.

"Yeah, he loved it!" Dean said and smiled. "We ate it together, he was very nice."

"Even though it was a stupid gift." He quietly added.

"That's good! Maybe you can meet again some time!" John said, happy that Dean seemed to have made a friend.

"Yeah I guess he can come to my birthday party next year or something." Dean muttered.

He didn't really want Castiel to come to his house, since it was so different from Castiel's and he worried what he would think. He barely knew Castiel and it would feel weird to have him home with him.

He also didn't want it because he felt like Castiel's mom was going to do something, say something. He was still not over her and Castiel's fight and he found that she scared him a little. Though he didn't know why, except that Castiel didn't seem to like her.

"That's a great idea!" Mary said and smiled even wider.

"Mm." Dean answered and stared down at his pasta. For the first time he didn't feel that excited to turn seven.