Nights are by far the most horrible part of the day. At least, that's what Castiel thinks.
If you asked any other kid why nights are bad they would say because there were monsters under their beds or because the shadows cast through their room windows scared the shit out of them. But that is if you asked kids from other cities, kids with parents in their houses to worry and protect them.
The reality for the kids at the Roadhouse was drastically different. Every night, the kids were herded into the large room with two rows of beds against each wall, and the door would be locked. Every night they held their breaths and wished upon a star that the monsters didn't broke into their little orphanage and snatched them away. And their monsters weren't the fake ones either.
Oh, no. Theirs were real monsters with shotguns and snarls on their faces, who kicked their door down and grabbed the first kid at hand to take back to one of the families.
If you were really lucky you'd end up doing heavy work in the multiple warehouses, dealing with drugs or fake money. If you were really unlucky you'd probably end up in the sex slave business, being sold to the highest bidder and then shipped to whatever part of the world.
Everyone knew this. Every orphaned kid knew this as a reality. Every orphanage director dreaded this. Even Miss Harvelle, with her tough ways and her caring bluntness, dreaded it. She put on a good façade, but you could tell how much she really feared it by the double locks in every door, the panic room in the basement, and the guns stashed around the house.
The cops knew what was going on too, but they either didn't give a shit about a bunch of snotty kids that had been taken out of the street or they were too focused counting the American presidents that made them shut their mouths.
So, yeah. Nights were the worst.
Castiel was huddled up in his bed, pillow propped up so he could lean comfortably against the headboard and a book on his hands. Balthazar was sitting up next to him on the bed, trying to pry his eyes from the book with blatant flirting, while Gabriel threw candy wrappers at him from the other bed.
He huffed and glared at Gabriel and then at Balthazar.
"Do you mind? I am trying to read." He said as firmly as possible, facing the other two boys that were older than him.
"Oh, come one, Cassie. Don't be such a nerd. Let's have some fun."
"Yeah." Gabriel chimed in excitedly "Let's dip Samandriel's hand in a bowl of hot water or something. I bet we can make him piss the bed again." He snickered.
Little Samandriel let out an outraged sound from across the room.
"Lay off of him." Castiel huffed at both of them "And go to sleep. Miss Harvelle said that we shouldn't make noise." He advised, eyes returning to his book.
"Oh, chill out Cassie." Balthazar smirked at him, snatching the book from his hands and tossing it to Gabriel.
"Hey." Castiel almost shouted, wincing as he did "Give it back." He complained.
"No." Gabriel answered getting up on his bed and tossing the book, over Castiel's head and into Balthazar's waiting hands.
Balthazar kicked Castiel to the floor and got up on the bed as well, bouncing a little bit on the mattress.
Castiel quickly scrambled to his feet turning a murderous glare towards the two boys.
"Balthazar, give it back."
Balthazar tossed the book back to Gabriel, who caught it neatly and smirked mischievously at Cas. He waved it a little bit and then his grin turned salacious.
"Trade it for a kiss." He offered, puckering his lips and kissing the air in front of him.
Castiel's blush was immediate, starting on his neck and burning the tips of his ears.
"Hey!" Balthazar complained, falling neatly on his ass with his legs hanging from the bed "I want one two."
Castiel snapped his head back at him with a menacing look. There were few things that could make Cas uncomfortable and sexual contact of any kind was rated top one, and these two assholes damn well knew it.
"I will en-"
The front door banged open and suddenly every kid in the room went quiet. The room tensed up so fast, that in any other environment it would be funny.
Voices fluttered through the locked door, too muffled to be understood, and for a couple minutes nothing happened, and then it went quiet.
Someone banged on the door.
"Open up, it's Ellen."
Jo jumped from her bed and rushed to the door, but was stopped by Gabriel who had jumped to the floor. All eyes were set on that piece of wood.
Under no circumstances were they to open that door. Not even if it was Ellen on the other side. Well, not unless she used the key word.
Gabriel nodded Castiel over, and he took the duty of grabbing Jo. The older boy cleared his throat and took a cautious step forward.
"What happened to Lucy?" he asked carefully, one eye already set on the trap door across the room. Were Ellen to give the wrong answer all the kids should run through there.
"He went to hell." She said flatly. And just like that all the kids relaxed again, continuing whatever they were doing in the first place.
Jo elbowed him in the ribs "That's for grabbing me." She sneered.
"He grabbed you too." Cas complained, pointing one finger at Gabriel.
Jo scrunched up her forehead and then nodded, slapping Gabriel upside the head. The older boy stared at her indignantly as he pulled off the locks, so Ellen could open the door.
Castiel snorted. It wasn't every day that you saw an eight-year-old successfully whacking a seventeen-year-old upside the head and get away with it. He blamed it on her adorableness. The cute smile, missing a tooth in the front, and the sweep of blond hair which kept falling in her eyes.
Cas' attention snapped to Ellen when she walked in the room with two kids in toe.
"This two troublemakers are Sam and-"
"Dean!" Jo squealed throwing herself at the older boy who huffed a laugh at the tinny arms wrapped around him.
"Heya, Jo." He greeted with a smile, and ruffled her hair slightly. She swatted his hand away and stepped back, going to Sam for a hug next.
"Dean and Sam are going to stay with us for a while." Ellen informs "So be nice, because they can both kick your asses, right boys?" she asked, turning a fond smile on the two brothers.
Dean smiled toothily "Damn right." He answered with a wink.
"Okay then. I'll let you boys decide on the sleeping arrangements. Don't get into trouble because that door ain't opening again until eight next morning." She pointed a finger at Dean.
"Yes, m'am." Both boys answered.
Ellen smiled and bent down to drop a kiss on Jo's forehead, making the girl scrunch up her face. And then straightening up again, ruffling Sam's hair on her way out.
Gabriel slid the locks back in place, and then Cas double-checked them, just to be on the safe side.
Jo dragged the two boys towards her bed and they chat amicably. The rest of the kids continued whatever they were doing and Gabriel and Balthazar started taunting him, holding his book out of reach up on their beds again.
Castiel continued glaring at them and cursing every time the book went over his head, but his heart wasn't entirely in it. Because there were much better things to be staring at than being taunted by your 'brothers'. In particular, a certain boy who was sitting a few beds over and whom Castiel could swear had been sneaking glances at him for the past ten minutes, turning his head away when he was caught.
"Come on, Cassie." Balthazar pouted "You're not even trying."
"You're such a whiny bitch, Balthazar." Gabriel laughed tossing the book over to him again, and that's when Castiel got his opportunity. In a swift move he knocked Balthazar on his ass and promptly snatched the book away from him.
Gabriel grumbled and bitched at Balthazar, before he settle on his own bed, producing a lollipop from only God knows where.
Balthazar picked himself up and what was left of his dignity and went to his own bed. They both knew when to quit.
Castiel sat back on his bed, scolding at the bent pages from all the tossing. Carefully he smoothed them, and opened the book back up where he had left it.
He started reading about fireman that set fire to houses and to people's books instead of putting them out and about a strange little girl who made Montag doubt his line of work.
He wonders how it would be. Not to have books around him anymore. For books to be forbidden just so everyone could be happy, because everyone was the same. It doesn't seem right to have happiness without the right to choose for yourself. To be like everyone else, simple minded and with the exact same beliefs, following blindly a government that you couldn't even see.
If Castiel were to be in that universe he's convinced he would have a stash of books somewhere, and he would be too smart about it to get himself caught. At least, he liked to think so.
"Pssst, Cassie." Balthazar stage whispered.
Castiel dragged his eyes from the book and glared at him.
"What?"
"Dean Winchester is looking at you." He smirked.
Castiel startled "What?" he lifted his eyes to see Dean looking at him with a smirk playing on his lips, while he distractedly talked with his little brother and Jo.
Dean Winchester turned his eyes back at his brother before hoping off the bed and going towards Castiel, all smooth charm and cockiness.
He threw a distressed look at Balthazar, who snorted at him and then shook his head in amusement, and then at Gabe, who pointedly ignored him.
And shit, Dean Winchester had stopped near his bed, an easy smile on his face and an outstretched hand for him to shake.
"Hi, I'm Dean."
Castiel eyed his hand for a couple of seconds before reaching out and shaking it, retreating as soon as politely possible.
"Castiel." He introduced himself. Dean's eyes went comically wide for a second before he huffed a breath of laughter.
"Seriously?!" he asked dubiously. Castiel nodded "What kind of name is that?"
"Angel of Thursday's name." He supplied, seriously.
"Oh, that's kinds cool." He smirked "Anyone else here have angel's names?"
"Gabriel. Balthazar. Samandriel." He said pointing at the various people as he said their names "And Anael, but we call her Anna."
Dean turned to look at Anna with her fiery red hair and her blue eyes "Oh, so that's her name."
Anna lifts her head and looks at them. Dean winks at her, making her blush and smile back.
"Right." Castiel says drily. Of course Dean just wanted to know Anna's name "Do you need me to supply you any more names?"
Dean turns back to him seeming startled by Castiel's tone. Castiel picks back his book and continues reading it, pointedly ignoring Dean.
"Uh. . . okay." Dean stands there awkwardly, hands shoved in his pockets, and rocking on the ball of his feet. Not sure if he should stay or go.
Castiel waits for him to turn around and go to Anna, but when he peers over his book, Dean is still there.
"Can I be of assistance?"
Instead of saying what he wants, Dean asks "What are you reading?"
Castiel frowns and lifts the cover of his book, turning it to Dean, so he can read it.
"Ray Bradbury." He whispers to himself "What's it about?"
Castiel's frown deepens and he cocks his head to one side, assessing the boy in front of him.
Dean must be around his age. Maybe a year younger. He has an easy going smile which probably he uses as an advantage to get what he wants. His hair his cut as if he was in the military, short and spiky on top of his head, a blonde that's not quite blond nor brown. Somewhere crossing that fine line. And he has impossibly green eyes, the type of colour you see in Disney movies and fairy tales. He has freckles splattered across his nose and cheeks.
He blinks at him "Uh, about this guy, who's a fireman. Except fireman burn houses instead of putting out fires."
"That's stupid." Dean instantly shot back "Who deals with the fires, then?"
"All houses are fire proof."
"Oh!" Dean took a few minutes to think through that before he continued "Then why do they start fires. Isn't that a crime?"
"Here it isn't. It's a dystopian city. Or it's supposed to be. Media took over everything and books are forbidden, so no one is smarter than the others."
"So they burn the books and the houses. What about the people in the houses?"
"Some are taken to mental institutions and some decide to burn with their books." Castiel quickly supplies, surprised that Dean is actually paying attention.
"Why don't they wanna people to be smarter than others?" Dean stopped rocking on the balls of his feet somewhere during the conversation.
"So they can be happy. So everyone can be happy."
Dean nodded, and took a step forward, sitting himself on the edge of Castiel's bed.
"Well, that's stupid. And wouldn't that, like, stop progress and stuff. If there's no smart people then there's no way the can create new smart things for the dumb people, right?" he asks seriously.
Castiel frowns. "Yeah, I supposed it would."
Dean gives him a brilliant grin, like he just won a golden star from his favorite teacher.
"Do you mind if I read with you?"
"What?"
"I'm curious." Dean shrugged "If you update me real fast, I can start from where you're at."
Castiel blinked a couple of times at him "I don't understand how-"
But Dean was already moving, climbing up the bed towards Castiel and settling behind him. He sat on his legs and leaned over Cas' shoulder so he could peer at the book in Cas' hand. Bracing his hands at either side of him.
"Okay. So, update me real quick." He almost whispers, breath washing over Castiel's cheek.
Castiel stuttered a bit, but was able to tell Dean what had happened before in the book. Dean nodded with a smirk and when Castiel was finished they started reading.
After a couple of minutes, Castiel decided that this all predicament was quite nice actually. He didn't mind as much as he thought he would to have someone so close to him without really knowing them.
It was good like this. Dean wasn't touching him, not really, until he was. After a while he sighed heavily and dropped his chin in Cas' shoulder, and every once in a while he would press two fingers against Castiel's wrist before he could turn the page, or so he could ask him a question.
Near midnight, he kicked Dean out of his bed, putting his book down and saying he needed to sleep.
Dean pouted at him for a bit, before jumping off the bed and giving Cas' a little wave and heading towards the bed he and his brother had claimed for themselves.
"Cassie gots himself a new boyfriend." Gabriel snickered from the other bed
"Shut up, Gabriel." And with that Castiel went to sleep.