A/N: This is an autistic!Castiel fanfiction, I just wanted to see how it would work out if I uploaded it. I don't have autism but I've done a lot of research and actually got it reviewed by a couple people on the spectrum so I'm hoping to be as sensitive as possible. I was inspired by the numerous Autistic!Castiel fics on AO3 and such. Castiel is mostly nonverbal in this aside from a bit of echolalia I think.
I'm also obsessed with Good Big Brother!Lucifer / Michael / Gabriel / Balthazar so that's going to be a big part. Like I love protective Lucifer and Michael so much.
Okay I'm going to stop rambling.
Eventual Destiel (Dean x Castiel).
Let me know what you think
They make it to the large bookstore in record time, Kansas sun high in the sky beating down waves of heat to its occupants. By the time Michael parked his 2013 Chevrolet Impala the heat had settled around the brothers and left them sweaty and yearning for the coolness of the store. "Okay kiddos" Michael casts an amused smirk to his brothers, watching as Lucifer croons to Castiel as he unhooks his seatbelt, "Lucifer and I are going to head across the street to the super store to pick out school supplies, so I want us to meet in the bookstore lounge around 3 O'clock" his gaze falls sternly on Gabriel and Balthazar, "Watch Castiel, make sure he doesn't wander off anywhere, don't take your eyes off of him, if something happens call me, don't let him talk to any strang-" he doesn't realize he's babbling until Gabriel hushes him, "We know Mike, we're not going to let anything happen to him, we promise." They all look to Castiel whose head is bowed, staring intently at his feet and hands are flapping. "Alright bud, let's go" Gabriel lets his hand hover over Castiel's back, waiting for a protest if he didn't want to part with Michael or Lucifer, but it didn't come and he slowly followed Gabriel and Balthazar who protectively stand on either side of him.
-x-
Gabriel looked around with a smirk on his face, he had to hand it to the hick town, it was an extravagant bookstore, and despite being over an hour out of the way it seemed a reasonable price to be able to watch Castiel amble around each aisle with a small smile on his face. The golden-hair boy vaguely remembers when that smile use to bother him, it was far-away, like his eyes, and it frightened him. But as they aged, as Castiel aged, they both grew brighter, almost knowing. He continued to watch his little brother pull out a book, skim the back, shuffle through pages and then set it back with a dissatisfied huff. "Excuse me? Are you new?" He turns around to see who the voice belonged to, a young girl, his age, with long blonde hair, he pulled on a flirtatious smirk, "I'm whatever you want me to be"
Castiel continued on, in his own world, swirling with letters and book covers. The lights are a tad too bright and the noises a tad too grating but he enjoyed the feel of the paperbound pages and scrape of the turning, he looked up and down the shelf spying one just out of his reach that seemed to catch his attention; jumping on his toes he reaches his hand up to grab it, letting out low whimpers of resignation. Suddenly another hand reaches up, grabs the book effortlessly and holds it out to him, Castiel is stunned a moment, looking over at the boy from his head to his toes and then back to staring just beyond him. He looked to be Castiel's age, hair a floppy brown and lanky in stature, "Here you go man" he grins and holds the book out waiting for Castiel to take it hesitantly, "I'm Sam Winchester"
"Sam Winchester" Castiel whispers back, nodding his head a bit, instinctively wriggling his free fingers, the boy waits with a smile, "Yep that's me." Castiel twitched his lip a tad, "Thank you Sam Winchester" his voice is low and he drags out some of the syllables but Sam just nods and smiles, as if knowingly, "What's your name?" Castiel takes a moment, pressing his lips in a thin line and then looking down to the floor, "C-Castiel" the boy doesn't seem taken aback by the name, just says something about it being cool. "This book is my favorite, have you ever read it before?" He points towards the book Castiel is now clutching hard, A Farewell to Arms, Castiel nods deeming him trustworthy before smiling a tad and taking in a huff of a breath before continuing but before he could Gabriel is rushing forward, searching Castiel for wounds and looking at Sam apprehensively, "Cassie! What did I tell you about walking off like that? Are you okay? Who is this? Lucifer would kill me if something happened to you!" He deemed Castiel uninjured and looked over at Sam apprehensively, "Who are you?" Sam's eyes were wide with shock but he shook his head a tad, "Castiel, h-he couldn't reach the book so I got it for him and we were talking…" He scratched the back of his head, mumbling a little.
Gabriel looked down at Castiel who just looked annoyed with being interrupted, "Did he say anything to you? The bad words?" Gabriel kneels down looking up at Castiel who is looking at the floor intensively, stopping only to shake his head, "C'mon let's go" Gabriel doesn't think, just grabs Castiel arm and tries to pull him away but Castiel cries out like he's been hurt and whines, jerking around trying to get him to unlatch, which he does quickly, "Shit I'm sorry Cassie I forgot I didn't mean, no don't cry we can stay" He's waving his hands in front of Castiel aimlessly only stopping when the kid behind him speaks up, "Castiel and I can go read some books in the lounge, you can come if you want also" Gabriel stops, straightening himself up and looking at Sam with a raised eyebrow, "I don't know about that-" Castiel stops his sniffing and moves forward like he wants to follow this kid he just met, "Cassie...is that okay with you? Do you want to do that?" Gabriel asks in gentle tone as to not startle his already sensitive brother, there's a look of apprehension but then he nods, Gabriel nods, because this is more interaction he's seen in his brother in a while so he follows behind them, still on alert.
Two hours past with Gabriel beaming while Castiel and Sam skimmed over the books they picked out, Castiel sat rigidly in his chair while Sam sat as close as he would allow and read silently. Gabriel looked up just as Lucifer, Michael and Balthazar began to convene in, he quickly got up from his seat and ran over to them stopping them and pointing back at their brother, "Look, look guys" he practically gushed, letting them watch as Castiel pointed to a picture in an open book and Sam spew out what he knew, seemingly unperturbed by the fast jiggling of Castiel leg, the noises he made here and there and flapping of his hands; he continued on like nothing was out of the ordinary.
"They've been at this for hours, just reading and listening" he informs them, watching as Michael's face heightens in gratitude but not missing the fear in Lucifer's, "I don't know Gabe...he could be joking just to get him vulnerable" he says, reminding them all of the time a young boy had pretended to befriend Castiel, gain his trust, only to use that trust to humiliate and demean him. Gabriel's moods falls a tad, "I don't know Luce, he just seems different," Michael decides he will look for himself and they all quickly follow sitting down at the table, Sam and Castiel don't look up for a moment, but when they do Castiel makes a happy noise, holding his palm out to Lucifer as Sam looks a little frightened by the ambush. "Sam, these are my brothers" Gabriel explains pointing, "Michael, Lucifer, and Balthazar" smiling as Lucifer kneels down beside Castiel brushing his palm with the tips of his fingers and then asking about their book. Sam waves shyly, "Hello!" He looks at Castiel with a warm smile, "You didn't tell me you had such a big family" he's smiling and there's no malice, leaving Castiel to let out a small chuckle. "Sam, are you a Lawrence native?" Michael asks cocking his head in a way that is entirely Castiel, Sam smiles again and nods, "Yep! It's me, my brother, my father and mother. My uncle owns the salvage yard and my father works as the sheriff" he continues to ramble on, as Castiel becomes fidgety and restless. They continue to talk until a loud voice booms over them, to Castiel its unnerving, gruff but with an underlying softness, like drowned velvet, it confused him.
"Come on man, don't be such a retard"
The word cuts through Castiel like a million shards of glass, he knows the connotation that word holds, knows that people direct it towards him to make him upset, his father had for years. And suddenly everything is too much, he lets out a low whimper and places his hands over his ears, rocking forward, the lights are bleached, blinding him, the noises, that voice, is deafening, booming. It all was too much. The smell was no longer comforting, it was stagnant and stale, a hand on his shoulder makes him jump, it's rough, too rough. He just wanted it to stop. To just stop. "Cassie, Castiel, it's okay" in and out, in and out, like an ocean the voice was high and low and muffled with water.
Gabriel looks up to see who was making the commotion while Lucifer tries to calm Castiel; he sees a boy come forward, walking along with another, rougher looking male. The boy was medium sized, taller than him, with dirty blonde hair, contrasting the smattering of freckles across his dense cheekbones. Gabriel didn't like him immediately, heightened further by the use of the word that caused Castiel so much distress. "Who the fuck is that?" Gabriel huffed doing a double take as the boy stopped near their table, "Yo! Sammy! What are you doing?" He's entirely too loud, too confident for this bookstore, staring at the Novak's curiously, "Finally making friends?" Sam's cheeks are so red Gabriel would have found it amusing given other circumstances but now he was shaking with rage as he could hear Lucifer losing the comfort battle with Castiel, who was rocking a little harder now, ears clamped by his hands.
"Dean! Show some respect" Sam hisses standing, looking worriedly at Castiel and then angrily to his brother. "Dean, these are the Novak's, they're new here and they don't need to be bombarded by you this early on." He clenches his fists looking at Lucifer worriedly, "I'm sorry Castiel" he whispers out and then looks to his brother, "You're so disrespect-" He starts but Michael stops him, "It's okay Sam, he didn't know. He just startled Castiel, he'll be okay" Dean seems aware of the mess he's caused now, slouching and looking at Castiel with more curiosity, "S-Sorry man, I didn't mean to be so loud" he scratches at his neck and Gabriel feels more anger swell within him, pity, this kid is throwing pity at them.
"It'd all be okay if you grew up and were more cognizant of how affective your words are; maybe pay more attention in school bucko and you could pick up a vocabulary that would boost your obvious third grade level" he snaps, watching as Dean's eyes widen and he shrinks back, "I-I didn't know he was-" he's gesturing toward Castiel, and suddenly Michael shoots up, hyper-aware of his twin as Lucifer snarls and lunges toward Dean, "Know he was what you son of a bitch?" Michael grabs him back just in time and hisses, "Luce don't you just got off probation he's not worth it" that's not what stops him though, the shrill shriek of Castiel does, it makes the store seem to freeze, Sam stumbles back, taken aback by his quiet friends new demeanor, watching as Lucifer runs forward, trying to placate him, "It's okay Cassie, shh, it's okay" he coos feeling his anger bubble back up as people stop to watch.
A typical human behavior, something, someone, different, and they must stop and stare, watch as he rocks back and forth, seemingly curling into himself as to disappear. "What're you looking at?" Gabriel roars to the people, startling them into moving again. Time speeds up again, Sam apologizing profusely as Lucifer coaxes Castiel out to the car with promises of anything he wants if he could just settle down. Michael is grabbing at Gabriel, sending Balthazar out to monitor Lucifer; "We're sorry about that Sam, thank you for being so kind to Castiel" Michael looks at the boy who is almost his height despite his age, Sam nods determinedly and pushes a piece of paper in Michael's hand, "Can you give this to him? It's my number...tell him if he needs to talk...or wants to...I would love to…I'm so sorry about everything" he babbles but Michael stops him with a small smile and clutches the piece of paper, holds it like it's Castiel's sanity and it should be cherished, "Don't apologize Sam, we appreciate what you did, thank you, we really must go now though. Thank you again" he nods and they head out toward the car.
