Warnings: Background Sam/Jo, mentions of Gabriel/Kali. Cas has previously been part of an abusive relationship. Brief Cas/Inias dating, and Dean has a one night stand with a girl. A few uses of ableist language.

My entry for last year's DCBB. I finally got around to posting it here. Updates will be weekly. Hope your enjoy it.

Chapter 1

"C'mon, Sammy, you don't wanna do this! Please think about it!"

"Dean! I thought about it and we talked about it and then I thought about it a little more, just to shut you up. But I've made my decision and it is final. This is what I want. You were the one who insisted you come along. Now, you can either do this quietly, or you can go home – your choice." Without another word, Sam turned away from his brother and entered the building.

Grumpy, Dean looked around to make sure that nobody saw him go in there, then he followed Sam quickly. Everything in him cringed when he heard the happy little artificial bell-sound the door made, and he was sure he would throw up any second when a short man with wavy blond hair in a dark suit shook Sam's hand and said, cheerfully, "Welcome to 'Toyotas of the Lord'. My name is Gabriel Lord. What can I do for you on this beautiful day?"

"Hi, I'm Sam Winchester and this is my brother Dean. I'm here to look for a Prius Hybrid."

Dean seriously tried not to gag audibly behind him.

"Brilliant! I'm gonna set you up with one of my best salesman. Just one minute, I'll fetch him." Gabriel gave them another grin and left them looking at the cars.

*#*#*#*#*

Some days Castiel really hated his family. "Just this once Cassie." "Please Cassie; I don't know what else to do." "It's just for today, tomorrow Luce will be back." "Come on Cassie, it's your duty. It's the family business."

For two hours this morning, Gabriel had been nagging him to step in for their brother Lucifer at the family's car dealership, because Luce had some urgent last-minute appointment and not one of their employees had time to fill in. But there was a very good reason Castiel did work as an accountant instead at 'Toyotas of the Lord' – he had absolutely no clue about anything remotely car-related and zero desire to change that. And now he stood in the back-room and sweated into his suit, praying that nobody wanted to buy a Toyota today.

But of course, when did he ever have that much luck? The door opened and Gabriel's cheerful face appeared, "Cassie, I've got customers for you. Come on, show time."

"Gabriel, please! No! I have absolutely no idea what to do. I know nothing about cars or how to sell anything. I'll just embarrass you."

"No, Cassie, you can do it. Come on, it'll be good practice for you. You need to come out of this shell of yours a little. Go on, they're waiting for you and I need to make a call." Gabriel clapped his little brother on the shoulder and shoved him through the door.

Castiel had no choice but to step out of the room and the door was closed behind him immediately.

Come on Castiel, you can do it. Besides, you've got nothing to lose. What do you care if those people buy a car or not. It's Gabriel's own fault for forcing you to do this.

He gave himself a mental pep talk, straightened his shoulders and started walking towards the two men looking at the new... what was this thing's name? Primus? Yes, great start...

He studied the customers for a moment. One of them was very tall, slim, but muscular, and had brown shoulder length hair. The other man was shorter, but still rather tall, with dark blonde short hair and built broader than his companion, but obviously well-built as well. The taller man was dressed in a black suit, while the blonde wore jeans and a plaid shirt. Castiel couldn't help but notice that his sleeves were rolled up and took the opportunity to admire the man's beautiful, lightly tanned forearms and hands for a moment.

He just wished that he could run away before the customers noticed him standing behind them. But, well, it really wasn't Castiel's day, was it? While he was still caught up in the sight of those pretty hands stroking the hybrid car, trying to muster up enough courage to make his presence known, a deep, clearly irritated voice started speaking.

*#*#*#*#*

Dean was starting to get really pissed. Not enough that his brother kept insisting on buying some crap modern safe-the-world car, no, now those people wasted Dean's time by simply not showing. If they didn't want to sell their cars, they could just say it.

Dean took his hands off of the black Prius and turned to look at Sam. "What kind of place is this anyway? How long do they wanna keep us waiting? If this oh-so-great salesman doesn't grace us with his company within the next two minutes, I'll-"

He had turned around completely while speaking and broke off now. There, in front of the door that this Gabriel had vanished through, stood the most gorgeous man Dean had ever seen. Wow, great manly man Dean Winchester mentally calling another dude 'gorgeous'... But he just was! He was dressed in a black suit and a blue tie and he was staring at... Dean's hands? Dean wasn't sure.

The man's black hair was tousled as if he had been running his hands through it repeatedly, his tie was crooked and he had droplets of sweat on his forehead. Dean vaguely considered making some snarky comment about it and the fact that it was about time he arrived, but before he could do this, the man tore his gaze from Dean's hands and looked up, directly into Dean's eyes.

Dean would never even consider admitting it, but the moment those unbelievably blue eyes met his, for a second he forgot how to breathe. He would never really be able to recall what exactly happened, all he knew was that he simply couldn't look away. He honestly had no idea why, but he was just sort of drowning in these incredible blue things and in some secluded, still working part of his brain, he found that he couldn't care less about reasons or even breaking his gaze, he would just be happy to stare into this stranger's eyes for the rest of his life.

After what seemed like an eternity and concurrently no time at all, an awkward loud cough from Sam broke the spell. Dean violently shook his head and closed his mouth that, to his utter embarrassment, had been slightly ajar the whole time. He quickly ran his hand over his mouth; it wouldn't be too surprising if he had been drooling while gaping at the poor guy, who still looked at the Winchesters with wide eyes, like a deer caught in headlights.

Dean carefully avoided looking into the salesman's eyes again while he cleared his throat and then finally felt ready to speak again. "Well, finally. You guys should really work on your customer service around here."

*#*#*#*#*

Castiel groaned and pressed his pillow tighter onto his face. That had to be one of the most embarrassing days of his life. A soft purr near his ear let him to turn his head slightly and look directly into the bottle-green eyes belonging to his brown and black striped cat. "Hello Jasper. I have made a complete fool out of myself today. I can't even bear to talk about it with you." He turned away again, not able to stand the compassionate look in the tabby's eyes.

He knew it was probably a little creepy to talk to his cat like this, but Castiel had never been very outgoing and had never had many friends, so it was a relief to have Jasper to talk to, tell him his secrets and not be judged. He didn't have the best relationship with his family either; they got along but weren't very close. Gabriel was the only family member who cared enough about Castiel to even know what happened in his life.

When the youngest Lord-brother had lost his job two years ago, Gabriel hadn't hesitated to offer him the spare room in his house, and since it was a nice arrangement for both of them, Castiel had stayed even when he had found a new job. Gabriel also was the one constantly trying to get his little brother to go out, make friends; even talking to people would have been an improvement. But his latest attempt had gone horribly wrong today.

Castiel cringed while only thinking about it. He had seen the Winchesters, had tried to work up the nerve to talk to them about the car or whatever, had honestly thought he might be able to do this – and then the older brother, Dean, had turned and looked at him.

Castiel froze the moment their eyes met. He had never seen or experienced something like that. This man was simply beautiful; there was no other word for it. But he also had incredible soulful eyes, Castiel had gotten the feeling he could see right to his core just by looking into these green orbs.

When the other man had finally broken their stare, sounding very irritated for being kept waiting for so long, Castiel could feel the red creeping onto his face. He always had had the habit of looking people in the eyes or standing just a little too close, and he knew that it made most people very uncomfortable. But never before had something like that happened to him. They had both been transfixed, neither of them apparently able or willing to look away, and Castiel had no idea why.

But, since he was the king of socially unacceptable behavior, Castiel suspected that it was his fault and he surely had made the other man terribly uncomfortable. He felt so embarrassed and seriously considered just leaving there and then, but part of him wanted to stay, unwilling to forego the chance to look at this man a little longer. His determination to pull this task Gabriel had given him off was growing.

So he'd awkwardly cleared his throat after the man had complained about being kept waiting for so long, shivers running down Castiel's spine at this deep voice being directed at him, and he addressed both men, not looking directly at either of them. "Excuse me for the delay," he'd said. "My name is Castiel Lord and I hope I can help you today." He smiled in a somewhat detached way at the room at whole.

The taller man stepped forward and shook his hand. "Hi, I'm Sam Winchester, and this is my brother Dean. I'm interested in the new Prius."

Castiel nodded, mentally urging himself not to forget the name of the car again.

The other man –Dean – put out his hand too and smirked at Castiel while shaking his. "Another Lord, huh? You guys certainly have interesting names. Castiel?"

"Yes, our father has a very special sense of humor, as I'm sure you can see by the way he chose to name his business. He thought it would be funny to give his children the names of angels, since we are the 'children of the Lord'." Castiel saw Dean chuckling at his use of air-quotes. "My sibling's names are Michael, Lucifer, Gabriel and Anael, although most people just call her Anna." He knew he was babbling and those men most certainly didn't want to know all of this, but he couldn't stop himself. He was just way too nervous.

Dean stared at him, smirk playing around his lips. "Your brother's name is Lucifer? Wow, that's really... unique. Poor guy. Guess you got lucky then. They gave you the nicest name of them all, by far."

Castiel felt himself turn deep crimson, and he gaped open mouthed at the blonde man. Never – never – had anybody ever said something like that about his name. People laughed about his name, people felt sorry for him because of his name, people thought he was a freak because of his name, but never before had somebody called it nice, least of all nicer than his siblings'. He couldn't help but ask, "Are you serious?"

Dean looked somewhat surprised at that and gave him a real, honest smile now. "'Course! Castiel is a great name!"

Castiel wanted to see if the man really meant that, for whatever reason that seemed to be the most important thing in the world at that moment, so he looked into Dean's eyes... and immediately he was caught in them again. They stared at each other until suddenly Dean blinked, his eyes widened and he too turned beet red and tore his gaze away forcefully. Both men coughed awkwardly and looked in different directions. Castiel shot a quick glance at Sam and saw that he was flicking his eyes between him and his brother curiously, but there was amusement in his look, too.

Castiel tried to pull himself together. Pointedly looking everywhere but at Dean, he stepped around the Winchesters to finally do his job – or what he pretended was his job, at least. He walked over to the car both men had been looking at before they had noticed him.

"So this is the car you are interested in?" Castiel asked Sam.

Sam barely had time to nod and open his mouth, when his brother clapped him on the shoulder and beamed proudly at him.

"Yeah, Sammy graduated from Stanford last year. Now he's working for a fancy-ass law firm in town. They do environment things and stuff and he now needs one of those cars to go with the job." Dean's tone was teasing, but Castiel could tell how incredibly proud and happy he was.

Now it was Sam's turn to blush. "What my brother fails to mention every time he praises me, is that he worked three jobs simultaneously for the past ten years to get me through high school and college." He sounded very affectionate and thankful. Castiel couldn't help but envy their relationship a little bit. This piece of information did nothing to lessen the strange pull and fascination he'd felt since laying eyes on Dean. The man wasn't just stunningly beautiful; he seemed to be a great person, too. That certainly wasn't helping Castiel to concentrate on selling this damn car.

This whole day was getting more and more awkward.

A few minutes ago he couldn't have cared less about selling this car, or even making a good impression on the customers, but now he had the nearly unbearable urge to impress them – well, to impress Dean. If Dean were interested in hearing something about books or coffee, Castiel's cat, or even about accounting, great, but while trying to sell a car? No chance. Again Castiel felt the instinct to run away, but he chided himself, reminding himself that Dean most likely had absolutely no interest in men, so there was no need at all to impress him, therefore no need to worry and be nervous.

So he started to talk, showing the Winchesters the interior of the car, blabbering something about colors and efficiency and praising the hydrogen engine. At that point Dean burst out laughing, obviously suppressing the desire to do so for quite some time already.

Castiel looked at him, horrified.

Dean tried to speak, but every time he opened his mouth, another laughing fit hit him. "Dude... wha... what are you talking about? It's a hybrid engine. And the other stuff... Do you even know about cars?" He was still chuckling.

For a moment there was silence, and Castiel just stared at the man, mouth slightly opened in shock. The desire to run overwhelmed him and this time he didn't have the strength to fight it. So he ran.

He bolted into the office and took the backdoor, ignoring Gabriel's irritated shouts of "Cassie? What's wrong? Cassie!"

Castiel hadn't slowed down until he had reached the door of Gabriel's apartment two blocks away, where he now still was hiding under his pillow.

He didn't hear the key in the lock or the door of his room opening, so he was startled by Gabriel dragging the pillow out of his grip.

"Hey Cassie! Rise and shine!"

Castiel groaned and tried to pull his blanket over his head, but his brother prevented that as well.

"Here, little brother, I brought you your precious coat. You forgot it in the office when you sprinted away. I guess that's a first." Gabriel threw Castiel's beloved tan trench coat onto the bed. "Wanna tell me what that was all about?"

"No," was the curt answer.

Gabriel continued to stand there, silently looking at his brother until the younger man couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm so sorry, Gabriel! I didn't want to mess up your sale. But I just... oh god!" Castiel groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"Hey Cassie, you didn't mess up the sale. I went outside when you left and finished the deal, so don't worry about that. Tell me what happened." Gabriel spoke gently now, sitting down on the edge of Castiel's bed. He had always been good at judging Castiel's emotions, and now was no exception. "Come on, baby bro, talk to me."

Castiel looked at his brother, took a deep breath, and decided to tell him everything.

Words spilled from him, recounting the events of the day for a second time, but this time he replayed every detail, every thought and insecurity that had run through his head, things he hadn't bothered to tell his cat.

"...And I guess I just blacked out for a moment. It was so embarrassing, Gabriel! I couldn't handle it, so I ran. I'm so sorry; I really thought I could do it. I didn't want to make you look bad." He hung his head when he was finished with his story.

"Castiel, don't mind me or the shop. I'm sorry, I should never have thrown you into that situation, especially since I knew the moment I saw this guy that he was your type. I thought it might be easier for you to handle the situation if you had something to talk about. Pretty silly idea, I guess... Sorry." Gabriel put one arm around Castiel's shoulder.

"It's okay. It's not your fault I'm socially incompetent. At least you didn't lose the customers."

"Don't worry about that, Cassie. There are plenty of people out there who won't mind, and would like you for who you are. I do, don't I? And you know that's not just because you're my brother. I don't like the others at all," Gabriel teased.

Finally, Castiel's mood began to brighten, and he chuckled. "Thank you, Gabriel."

"And by the way, he wasn't even that good looking." Gabriel winked, bumping his brother with a shoulder, but Castiel just stared at him.

"Yes, Gabriel. He really was!"

"Yeah, you're right. He really was." Gabriel agreed grinning and then the brothers both toppled over laughing, the tension leaving Castiel's body at last.

*#*#*#*#*

Dean couldn't stop thinking about what had happened at the car dealer. He didn't know why, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the dark-haired man with the stunning eyes. Dean didn't know what had caused him to run away like that, but it clearly had something to do with what Dean had said and the fact that he laughed about him, and for that, Dean was terribly sorry. He didn't want to talk about it with Sam, because he felt like he wouldn't be able to explain why it bothered him so much, but he knew he had to do something.

That was the reason Dean stepped into 'Toyotas of the Lord' again, three days later. He was a little nervous, and didn't really know what he was going to say, but he forced himself to go in.

There was only one salesman inside the shop: a tall man with short blonde hair who Dean had never seen before. His heart sank a little; he didn't know what to do now. He had banked on at least one of the two Lords he knew being there.

To his everlasting relief, at the exact moment the blonde man began to walk up to him, the office door opened and Gabriel came into the showroom. "Dean!" he cheered. "What a surprise. I didn't think I'd ever see you again in here. Everything alright? Did my amazing sales talent convince you to buy one of our great cars, too?" Gabriel winked at him and Dean felt himself relax slightly.

"God no!" Dean laughed. "I'll keep my Baby, thank you very much!"

"So, what can I do for you? That's my brother Lucifer, by the way," Gabriel said, introducing the other man in the room. "Co-owner of 'Toyotas of the Lord'." Dean nodded a greeting.

Dean wasn't sure what to think about the older Lord-brother, he didn't make a very likeable first impression.

Gabriel seemed to sense Dean's thoughts; he leaned in to him and muttered, "Yeah, I know, he's a bit... arrogant. And snobby. And a whole bunch of other unpleasant stuff." Gabriel winked and grinned. "He kinda grows on you after a while, but believe me; with me and Cassie, you already met the nicest members of the Lord family. And the prettiest, too." The short man chuckled and shoulder-bumped Dean, and Dean knew that he turned beet red again. This started to be his default skin color whenever he was in here.

Thankfully Gabriel just gave him a knowing smirk and let the topic slide. "Come into the office Dean-o, there you can tell me why you are here."

"Well," Dean began, "I thought it would be nice to surprise Sam by putting one of these douchey phone-docking things in his car. Could you do that?" Dean used his prepared excuse for coming here. Well, it wasn't just an excuse - Sammy's birthday was in a few weeks, so this was pretty useful as well.

"Of course, that's no problem. I'll just update the order and send the extra bill to you." Gabriel smiled, but Dean had the feeling he knew that this wasn't his real reason for coming back.

"So... uhm... since you mentioned him earlier..." Dean wanted to get through with this, but he was blushing again, damn it, and he didn't seem to be able to form whole sentences all of a sudden. "I was kinda hoping your brother would be here. I... uhm... I'm not sure what exactly happened the other day, but I guess it's sorta my fault and... uhm, I'd really like to apologize, you know?"

Gabriel had the decency to act surprised. "Cassie? Oh sorry, he doesn't really work here. I kind of forced him to help out here the other day and I really should've known better. You see, my brother isn't really good with people, he has some very bad social anxieties and I guess it was a dick move on my part to throw him into this situation. But I thought it might help him, or he might be ready, but oh boy, was I wrong. So yeah, I guess it's more my fault than yours, but, trying to remain as professional as I can while saying this, you shouldn't have laughed at him. He was absolutely mortified and embarrassed, even hours later." Gabe's smile had turned a little sad by now.

Dean was completely shocked. "Oh man. I wouldn't've said anything if I knew. I thought he was a real car dealer and was just messing with me. Wow... Poor guy. Now I feel even worse. Look, I really, really want to make it up to him. Any chance he's coming by any time soon?"

"No, I suspect he won't set foot in here for a long time. But I happen to know that my little brother volunteers at the animal shelter down the street every Saturday. And he usually forgets to eat breakfast on these days..." Gabriel trailed off with a soft smile playing around his lips.