It was called Little Angels' Home For Boys. The name wasn't its highlight, I know, and neither was much else about it. It wasn't much more than an old barn and broken-down house. Not child-safe was an overstatement, even thought it was for kids. Broken glass hid, un-swept in the corners, and the whole place smelled a little like moth balls. Pictures of old fashioned families lined the walls, and they always used to scare me.
Ever since I first came here I've been the baby of the family. Not that I minded. The people who didn't want to ignore me treated me kindly, and the people who didn't have the patience to treat me kindly ignored me. Win-win.
Everybody there I could easily call my brother, seeing as how I've been here nearly my whole life. Although, one of the boys here in particular took me in as though we were family. His name was Gabriel. He had a cocky atmosphere and a wacked-up idea of fun, but a kind heart to go with it. I spent most of my time in his shadow. We did what he wanted, which was what I wanted. Which in many cases was truth or dare.
"Okay… truth." I decided slowly. I sat across from Gabriel on the floor in his room. He tapped his fingers as he thought.
"Hmm…" I could see a smirk rise up from behind his eyes. "Do you have a crush on Anna?" He asked slowly. Anna was the red-headed girl who lived across the street.
"No," I denied. "Of course not." He raised his eyebrows.
"I don't!" I repeated. He sighed, badly putting on a sentimental tone. He put his hand over his heart.
"Ah, my baby Cas is already getting crushes on girls. It seems he's growing up." He said.
"I don't have a crush on her!" I demanded. I grumble and look away. "And I'm not a baby."
"One through ten is baby," he rebutted.
I scowled. "I'm ten and a half."
Suddenly, both our heads snapped upward, as the sound of the dinner bell rang through the house. Gabriel sprang up.
"Come on little bro, let's get some grub!" He said. He hurried out the door, and I ran after him into the dining room.
Everyone was there in half a second, squirming to get our food. A few of the boys were picking at the food in the middle, but received a death glare from the head of the table. Micheal. Even though he was only 17, he was more like a father than a brother to most of the boys here. The people who were meant to take care of us were barely ever here, so it was always Michael. He got the food. He broke up the fights. He decided the rules. Therefore, he sat at the head of the table. It was logical. On either side of him were Joshua and Lucifer. I'm almost certain Josh was older, but he was too easy-going to rule this place like Michael did. He was wiser, though. Lucifer was younger than both of them, and didn't like Michael or the way he ruled over us. He had jealous tendencies, and Gabriel made sure I avoided him.
Beyond those two were Uriel and Zachariah. They were younger than the head of the table, but still older than me. I didn't really talk to them, but Gabriel told me they were bullies. Then, beside me there was Gabriel, and across from him was Balthazar. I was pretty good friends with Balthazar. Sometimes he was mean, but he was funny, reliable, and could get you out of trouble with a snap of his fingers. And, of course, I told you about Gabriel.
Almost at the edge of the table was me, across from Samandriel. A good-hearted boy, my age, and a friend since I got here. We've gotten along since forever, and occasionally he'll come hang out with me. I have a suspicion that he's afraid of Gabriel for some reason though, the way he gets all polite and averts his eyes when he's around. Because of that, we're not as good of friends as we could be, but all the same I cared about him.
Finally, beside Samandriel was Raphael. He would normally sit at the head of the table, going in order of age, but he preferred to sit back here, where he didn't have to make conversation. I barely know what his voice sounded like. Across from him, beside me was an empty chair. Mettetron. Cooped up in his room. Again.
There was no chair at the head of the table. Normally, it was where the people who should have been taking care of us would sit, but like they'd ever eat with us.
Michael sighed. "Mettatron! Come out, it's time for dinner!"
We listened as an exasperated voice came softly from the other room.
"I have no time for dinner!" we could hear Mettatron scoff. "I have created a tiny, intricate universe and it's full of complicated little people that need my guidance!"
"Your book can wait until after," Michael responded firmly. Arms crossed, we watched as Mettatron emerged from his room, grumbling and cursing. He sat down beside me.
Gabriel, with a grin on his face, reached forward to get some food before he was cut off by Michael.
"Not until we've said grace, Gabriel." He said. Gabriel gave an innocent smile and withdrew his hand. Our eyes all shut and our hands all interlocked.
"Thank you Lord, for the food we have been blessed with. Amen." We heard Michael's deep voice say. "Amen," We all recited with him. Immediately after the word escaped our lips, we all broke into a chatter and began to serve ourselves.
"So, where do you think aunt Naomi's been?" Samandriel asked me, swinging his feet under the table and scooping a bit of turkey onto his plate. I shook my head.
"Don't know." I responded. Aunt Naomi would come around this place every so often, read us stories and tell us about things that are happening. We haven't really got all that much access to the news, so she brings it to us. And, of course, we always appreciate her visits. I mean, she's not really our aunt, but still. I look up to the head of the table. Michael wasn't talking to anyone.
"I'll ask," I told Samandriel. He was easily shier than me, so I usually took charge in a similar way.
"Michael?" I asked. He turned his head to look at me.
"Yes Castiel?" He asked.
"Is Aunt Naomi going to be back soon?"
"No," He said straightforwardly. Lucifer would give you an answer to scare you and Joshua would tell you a fantasy, but when you wanted the truth, you asked Michael. "She probably won't be. I passed her when I was running an errand, and she told me she had a big project at her work and wouldn't be around for a while." he raised his eyebrows. "However, she did say someone new may be coming to the home."
The table went dead silent. All eyes were on Michael. Someone new? Did he say someone new?! Nobody new had come here in eight years, back when they found me. After a moment, Zachariah spoke up.
"Well, don't leave us hanging! Who is he? When is he coming? Tell us everything!" He said.
"I don't know his name, but I know he'll be coming late tonight. Those of you who are younger will be in bed, but you will be able to wake up and meet him." he turned to look at me. "Cas, Sam, he's about your age, so I want you to show him around when you meet him."
Our chests puffed out as we both nodded eagerly. We could barely wait.
"As for the rest of you, I expect you to show him the utmost hospitality." He finished. The rest of the people nodded, and in a moment the table exploded in conversation as we finished our food. Gossip of every sort passed through the table, all the way until we started to clean up our plates.
"I'm so excited!" Samandriel said as we stood with the others to put our dishes in the sink. "I'll barely be able to sleep!"
I smiled softly. "Yeah. Me neither."
I was right, of course. I could barely get my heart to slow down enough to be comfortable, much less fall asleep. I managed to shut my eyes, but they kept pulling themselves open again. I could hear voices. Foot steps. A voice I'd never heard before. It was him! He was here! It felt like it was Christmas.
I listened hard to try and make out words, but the shut door made it hard. I couldn't really catch anything. In just a minute or two, the voices stopped, and I knew the new kid was asleep. I thought hard about some of the things he said. I thought maybe Michael had asked him his name. And, if that was the case, he must have told him. Logic ran through my head. I heard him say two syllables, so it must have been 'I'm' and then a one syllable name. Or was it three syllables. I could barely focus. Suddenly, a soft voice broke out of the dark.
"Hey." It was Gabriel. We shared a room. "Can you sleep?"
I propped myself up on my elbow to see him. "Not at all."
"Wanna go meet him?" It was too dark to see, but I could practically sense the trouble making smile in his voice.
"It's past curfew," I objected.
"Everyone's asleep. No one will notice."
"And if he tells everyone we've been snooping around?"
"He won't be awake."
"If he wakes up?"
"We'll be awful quiet."
I bit my lip. The plan was stupid, but man was I tempted. It was like getting up in the middle of the night to see the Christmas presents under the tree.
I'm not gonna open them, I'm just gonna look. I reminded myself. I mean, we wouldn't wake him up. No one would know. What was the harm?
"Okay," I finally whispered back. There was a moment of silence and I knew he was grinning. Quietly as we possibly could, we both stood up. I stayed closely behind Gabriel as he walked out the door, something I tend to do when I get nervous. Walking without footsteps, we left the room.
We knew where he'd go. You weren't assigned a room until later so he would have gotten the guest room in the front. We barely breathed as we passed the other rooms, our eyes set on the one door on the left side. My heart raced as Gabriel gently turned the handle.
He was real. He was there. My eyes widened as this really occurred to me. He was here. He was new. He showed up. I took a careful step closer to see him as more than a lump under a blanket.
He slept in a T-shirt, with his brown, spiky hair in a mess. He was a little shorter than me, it seemed, but he looked older. His face was more defined and intense. His hands were clutched tight together, holding something shining. A necklace? A charm? A knife…? Bending over I took a closer , it was a knife. He slept with a knife…?
That I'd worry about later. The last thing I noticed was a piece of twine around his neck, and a small, wooden amulet hanging down from it.
"Psst." Gabriel whispered. I looked over to see him crouched down and looking at a bag next to the foot of the bed. "Look at this." He took a paper tag and showed it to me as I stepped around.
"Dean Winchester." He read the sloppy writing. "Oh my god this is so cool!"
"Shh!" I insisted. "Come on. We saw, we need to get back to bed,"
"Hang on!" He whispered sharply. Softly, he stepped around the bed and looked down at Dean and I could tell that to him, he was already a brother. His eyes glistened in the slight dark, and he gave a genuine smile that I saw from him so rarely.I didn't have the heart to ask him to leave. I watched as he gently took the blanket and tugged it upward over Dean's shoulder. Then, his smile vanished again and he looked at me.
"Let's go."
With that, we scurried off quietly back to our room and we were both able to sleep. I couldn't wait to meet him, to find out what he was like. Dean Winchester. Dean Winchester. The name repeated again and again in my head like music until it lulled me off to sleep.