Yayyy! Another story!
I have been wanting to write a Destiel fic for some time now, and I finally did it. This is a Human/Real Life AU witha a happy ending, because that's what they deserve. It's rated T just to be sure, mainly for language.
Summary: Castiel's family is slowly falling apart, and when his sister Anna is diagnosed with schizophrenia their mother sends them to Kansas, saying it has the best hospital. And that's how Castiel found himself in Lawrence in the middle of the school year with his older siblings and cousin and without a house. That is, until a green-eyed teen offers them a place in his foster home.
Now let's go on.
1. STARTING THE NEW LIFE
"Gabriel I swear to god; you kick me one more damn time-" Anna looked ready to introduced Gabriel to the floor, but I wasn't paying attention to their quarrel.
I thought that after seventeen years of living with my siblings, I had seen some pretty bad arguments. The image of Michael and Lucifer screaming at each other the day Lucifer left was still painfully carved into my memory. Sure, there had been other big arguments, but I always thought that this one would be the worst of them. Now I was being forced to fight a few days before over Mom's decision to send Anna to a mental hospital in Kansas had left my ears ringing. It was the first time Gabriel had taken part in the yelling.
Gabriel. The peacemaker.
The one who never took sides, never raised his voice, had screamed his voice hoarse at both Michael and Mom. This was so worse than Lucifer leaving.
The walls seemed to move, closing on me as I recall that night, and I instinctively ran outside. The last thing I needed now was a panic attack.
It was chaos when I back walked inside the house. Gabriel was yelling, wearing only a pair of boxers and a white button down shirt that's not even buttoned up all the way. Michael was yelling back, his red tie thrown over his shoulder, one of his shoes not on his foot. Anna stood at the top of the staircase looking as if she was about to start crying or break something.
Probably the latter.
As I walked inside, all noise came to an halt, three pairs of eyes trained on me.
"Where have you been?" Asked Balthazar, sticking his head from behind a door down the hall, like I had been gone for hours instead of a few minutes. I opened my mouth to answer but Michael cut me off. "It doesn't matter." He stated with his firm voice. "You are leaving today and I have to go to work. Go get dressed." He snapped at me in a tone that left no room for disagreements. As I climbed the stairs to my room, I could hear him and Gabriel picking their argument again.
I ignored them, shutting their voices out and concentrated on the task of getting dressed. When I went downstairs again with my blue tie hanging untied from the collar of my white shirt, Michael was already gone and Gabriel was fuming.
"It's fine." Anna assured me as she proceeded to tie the blue piece of fabric. I smiled at her. We didn't tell her we still hadn't found a place to leave. Anna didn't have to worry about that. Besides, there were three of us, we would find something. Lawrence was a big city, certainly an opportunity to stay somewhere would appear.
Or at least that was what I kept telling myself.
Hope is a very weird thing. The concept of believing that something would happen even if there are no concrete evidence of that is a uplifting feeling.
Michael never hoped. Neither did Mom. Dad had always been the believer of the family.
Chuck Shurley, was a pretty laid-back guy and an unrecognized author. He wrote horror and fantasy novels, but so far he hadn't written the masterpiece that would make him rich and famous like our Mom always expected. So consequently, she kicked him out of the house saying that if he couldn't contribute in the money like she did, he didn't have a place in her house. Dad left, telling each one of us that we could always go to him of we wanted to. Mom slammed the door in his face.
Our family continued to go downhill from there.
Our mother, Naomi Novak -who had passionately insisted we take her last name- was the CEO of the Novak Enterprises, the biggest company in the world of business. She was a true business woman in everything she did. Red hair always tied in a tight bun behind her head, suit, tie and an air of authority were her main characteristics. She was a cold and practical woman, devoted to her company. After Dad left, she practically lived in her office, it was a matter of luck if you ever came across her in the house. Every time we -and by we I mean Gabriel- brought it up, she insisted that it was for our benefit. She believed that she was giving us a better life, making money so we could do whatever we wanted -as long as she approved. Both Gabriel and Anna despised her for that. I didn't. I could be angry at her for neglecting us, and for me she was more Naomi than she was Mom, but I couldn't. She whole-heartedly believed that what she was doing was the best she could do.
Michael was the golden child, the heir of the company. He worked there with Mom, and he had come to be exactly as she was. When we were little, he was always the responsible one, always the one to take care of us and persuade Dad to get us out of trouble, but now he was the cold business man in the suit that followed in Mom's footsteps. Always doing what he was told, always looking out for the company, always repeating Mom's argument that it was for our own good.
That drove him and Lucifer apart.
Lucifer was the second son, and different from Michael in every possible way. When we were kids, they were inseparable. It was always Michael and Lucifer; never would you see the one without the other. But as we grew up and Michael started mimicking Mom, Lucifer disagreed. Heated arguments between them occurred every day. Michael stood in Mom's favor, and Lucifer always accused him of being her minion. Dad usually made them stop. Once Dad left, their arguments grew worse, until one day between shouts, curses, hurtful words and fists, Lucifer walked out the front door and never came back.
Gabriel, the third child was exactly like Dad. Laid-back, a trouble maker with a sweet tooth that was the closest with Dad than any of us was. Despite being prone to creating trouble, Gabriel hated fights. He was the peacemaker of the family. Sure, he argued with us like all siblings did, but when Michael and Lucifer started having their fallout, he was the one who backed Dad up to stop their fights, the one who made them apologize to each other. After Dad left, Gabriel distanced himself from Mom, and secretly blamed himself for not being able to stop Lucifer from leaving.
He and Anna were my favorite siblings.
Anna was a quiet girl. She always did what she was told, but not in the extent Michael did. She was schizophrenic, hence the last subject for our family's fights after Lucifer left. She heard voices that no one else heard, and had been since long before Lucifer left. I know Gabriel blames himself for not noticing it as much as I do. Usually when the fights occurred, she would cover her ears with her hands and ran away crying. I always followed her and calmed her down while Gabriel and Dad tried to stop the fight and Mom ignored everyone.
Balthazar Roche was our cousin, and everything Mom disapproved of and Gabriel tried to be. He had insisted on coming with us in Kansas, and frankly I'm grateful. He and I had always been close, and he with his jokes made me believe that everything would be okay when Gabriel starting taking part in fights instead of stopping them.
Coming to Kansas was to make sure Anna had the best hospital care, but for Gabriel it was Mom's way of getting rid of her. When I told him that someone would have to tell Dad, he left and came back three hours later, telling me he'd take care of it. He then told Mom he and I would be going with Anna, and when Balthazar found out all four of us were moving.
We hadn't found a place yet, and we all had our things in the trunk of the car. As much as we didn't talk about it, we all knew that was where we would be staying for the first days.
Turns out, sometimes it's good to be wrong. The opportunity to stay somewhere did appear.
It appeared as one of the most attractive men I'd ever seen.
We had settled Anna at her new room in the hospital, and Gabriel with Balthazar excused themselves to get some coffee. They promised we would be back tomorrow during visiting hours. I told Anna I'd bring her a book and her eyes lit up.
"Sing to me." Anna asked, her soft brown eyes looking pleadingly up at me. Smiling at her, I started humming the song Dad always used to.
"I'm so happy, 'cause today
I've found my friends...
They're in my head
I'm so ugly, but that's okay 'cause so are you...
We've broken our mirrors
Sunday morning is every day for all I care...
And I'm not scared
Light up my candles, in a daze
'Cause I found god."
There was clapping, and I whipped around to find one of the most handsome guys I'd ever come across. He was leaning against the door frame, smirking and clapping his hands. He was tall and, well... hot, with dirty blonde hair, ripped jeans and a leather jacket. My stare lingered at his eyes, a bright forest green -and I had to do a doubletake to make sure they really were that green. I felt my cheeks flush, and not only from embarrassment.
He left the doorframe and made his way towards me. "Let me guess..." he said "your girlfriend?" I gritted my teeth. I didn't like his tone. It sounded dangerously like Balthazar's father, Uriel Roche, when he taunted me. "No." I tried to keep my voice flat. "My sister." His mouth formed a small 'oh'.
"Sorry." He smiled, and he actually looked a bit sheepish. "Nice song choice by the way." I blushed again -purely out of embarrassment this time- mumbling a "thanks".
"If I can ask," he started cautiously "why is she here?"
"Schizophrenia." I answered him honestly, looking down at my sister who was peacefully sleeping. "Anna hears voices, but they are neutral. They hold conversation by themselves and she just listens you know? Sometimes talk to her too." I can't say what had me telling him so much.
"Well that must be fun." He commented lightly. "Overhearing people who don't exist. I bet she has some juicy gossip to tell you." That got a chuckle out of me and he smiled.
"You have someone here too?" I asked to keep the conversation going.
"Me? No, just running an errand for a friend." He dismissed my question. "You're new here?" He put his hands in his back pockets, his body relaxing.
"Yeah, we just moved, to come to the hospital." I confirmed. "I'm from Pontiac, Illinois."
"Well in that case, welcome to Kansas." He smiled warmly at me, and I returned the gesture. "Even though the mental hospital ward isn't the most fun place to spend your time." I laughed and he grinned at me. "No, I suppose it isn't." I agreed.
"I'm Dean by the way." He stuck his hand out. "Dean Winchester."
I shook it. "Castiel Novak." I mentally prayed he didn't know about the company. If he did, he didn't show it.
"Well I don't know about you Cas, but I could really use a cup of coffee." Ignoring the tugging feeling in my stomach when he called me Cas -which no one else did- I followed him out the door.
I spotted Gabriel and Balthazar as soon as Dean and I walked through the hospital cafe. I started towards them and Dean followed me. Gabriel was explaining something to Balthazar who was pretending to be listening. He was frantically waving his hands around, almost smacking me across the face when I approached him.
"-and I am going to have a party on his grave- oh hey Castiel!" Gabriel exclaimed when he saw me and flashed me an innocent smile.
"Who do you plan on killing Gabriel?" I asked in a bored tone, taking a seat next to them and pulling one for Dean as well.
"Michael." Gabriel sighed in exasperation. "He and Mom aren't coming." I was about to tell him how Mom wouldn't come anyway, when I noticed Balthazar eyeing Dean suspiciously. "Oh, guys, this is Dean, Dean, my brother Gabriel and my cousin Balthazar." I introduced them.
"Do all your family has weird names?" Dean asked, but judging from his tone I could tell he didn't mean it as an insult.
"Do all your family has boring names?" Balthazar retorted.
"I'll take that as yes." Dean said. When Gabriel didn't make a comment like I expected him to but just stared into space, I waved my hand in front of his face. "Gabriel! What's gotten into you?"
Apparently, he just needed an excuse to blow up.
"What's gotten into me? How about the fact that Anna is in a mental hospital, we just moved to freaking Kansas in the middle of a school year, Michael and Mom aren't coming, Lucifer is god-knows-where and we still have no place to stay?" He all but snapped at me.
"You guys have no place to stay?" Dean asked in surprise. Gabriel's head whipped to Dean with a speed surprising for him.
"No," he said cautiously "we don't have a place yet."
"That's fine, you guys can stay at my place." I stared at him, and so did Gabriel and Balthazar.
"You don't even know us." I pointed out. Dean rolled his eyes.
"No, but I live in a foster home. That's what foster homes usually are for, no?" He shrugged. "I can even let you pay if you want." He joked.
"And how do we know you're not a serial killer or something?" Dean rolled his eyes again at Balthazar.
"Yes, because all serial killers hang out at mental hospitals, and pretend to be orphans to lure victims into their death."
"Okay fine." Gabriel snapped. He was always angry those days. It had been -and still is- hard to get used to that new Gabriel that was scowling at everyone. I hoped our new beggining here would bring back the old Gabriel who laughed loudly and cracked stupid jokes. "We'll stay at your place. Lead the way." He stood up.
"Awesome." Dean mimicked him. "Do you have a car?"
So? What do you think? Reviews are always appreciated.