This is my first attempt at writing a teen Destiel fic. The title is a line from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" collection. I hope some of you will stick along for the ride. :)
Lawrence, Kansas (August 2012)
Eighteen year old Castiel Milton parked his silver 2011 Jeep Wrangler on his family's modest four bedroom home's driveway. His back ached after an arduous day of work at Lawrence Country Club. The entire summer the soon to be high school senior worked as a caddy for the exclusive establishment. Most of the businessmen and medical professionals he caddied for were jerks but the bastards did tip the teenager generously. Even though Castiel loathed swimming in the extensive golf course's manmade ponds to fetch errant Titleist balls. Sometimes when he emerged soaking wet from one of the ponds, he would catch the so called respectable businessmen and physicians smirking with lit cigars clenched between their shark like teeth. They got their kicks from having the teen running all over the grounds fetching their balls and carrying their heavy as hell golf bags.
Castiel rolled his sore shoulders as he descended the vehicle; he inherited from his father, the late James Milton. The man, who had worked as an architect most of his adult life expired from an impromptu heart attack, leaving his four young sons orphans. Rachel, the Miltons' biological mother abandoned her husband and sons four years ago, when she ran off with a local sculptor. Supposedly they lived somewhere in the southern part of Italy. The boys hardly missed her now except for seven year old Inais.
The kid had been hit the hardest when their mother abandoned the family out of the blue one day. She left a four year old Inais with the neighbors. Rachel told Mrs. Zachariah she had a medical appointment and if she could leave the small boy with her for a few hours. The older woman loved spending time with the Milton children and rapidly said yes. That was the last time anyone saw Rachel Milton. Gabriel, the middle child had been ten at the time. Castiel and his twin brother, Jimmy were fourteen and freshmen in high school.
Thirty seven year old James Milton felt the sudden blow the hardest. How was he going to handle raising four boys on his own? Inais was a child, who harbored a strange fascination with anything with wings. The boy would nurse injured birds and would search for worms in the backyard. He'd be elated upon finding the squiggly buggers and climbed the Sandbar Willow tree in the yard like a spider monkey. Inais would feed the baby robins nesting there. One spring evening, the small boy fell from the tree. James drove his youngest to the local hospital. The four year old was on crutches for two months.
The offspring which was a true enigma to James Milton was his middle child Gabriel, who went by the name Gabs. After Rachel abandoned the family, he learned how to prepare simple meals online by watching classic Julia Child segments on YouTube. His forte was baking and the Milton home never lacked pies, cakes or brownies any day of the week. Gabs was extremely nurturing of Inais.
When he wasn't cooking or baking, Gabs would be in his room watching Barbra Streisand movies and concerts. He asked his father to help him make a mural of Fanny Brice, Streisand's character from her Oscar winning role in Funny Girl. Gabriel named himself Gabs in homage to Barbra "Babs" Streisand. The boy was a walking Streisand Encyclopedia. James knew his middle child would go through a rough patch once he started middle school. Kids at that age did not accept such a drastic change from one of their peers. Gabriel's obsession with Streisand started right around the time Rachel left them. Perhaps in his child's mind, he was using the icon as a substitute for his mother in some manner. James loved all of his children and didn't have any favorites.
Last and not least were the twins: Castiel and Jimmy. The two boys were mature for their age and helped James immensely with the two youngest. Once Castiel turned sixteen, James allowed the boy to drive his car to school since Jimmy was confined to a wheelchair. His oldest suffered a spinal cord injury during a swimming pool mishap the summer the twins turned fifteen. The hospital bills were mountainous leading James to get a second job as a night school English teacher prepping students for their citizenship exam. Castiel also got a part time job during the school year at the country club.
All the strenuous stress caught up to 41 year old James Novak and the man suffered a heart attack which took him to an early grave. Fortunately, he'd left the home paid off and gave Castiel the Jeep for his last birthday. The plans of having Jimmy start physical therapy withered away as a sand castle. James' brother, Michael, who was a lawyer fought a hard battle for Castiel have legal guardianship over the two youngest. It took almost half a year but he was able to grant Cas full custody of Inais and Gabs.
Michael would offer his nephews financial assistance by sending Castiel a three hundred check a month. He wished he could do more but he had a family of his own to provide for. Jimmy felt like a burden to his family at times but his brothers showered him with love and affection. He was finally able to find employment at the local library. Castiel was furious at first but he knew Jimmy wanted to contribute in helping his small family in any way he could.
As soon as Castiel enters his home, Inais pops from behind the sofa and jumps on him. "Did you bring the birdseed?"
Cas ruffled his baby brother's hair. "Here you go, champ."
"Thanks, you're the best!" Inais hugged his brother before disappearing to the family room. He would most likely feed his treasured pet, Woody, the cockatoo. Michael had given it to Inais for his seventh birthday. The white feathered wonder was extremely intelligent. Most cockatoos didn't speak but Woody did. Inais had taught it to say all of their names and some basic addition. Woody learned stuff quickly.
Gabs appeared from the kitchen, where he finished baking a lemon chicken with potatoes and baby carrots. "You're home, dear. Tough day at work; you look like shit."
"Thanks a lot. I barely ate lunch. The golf links were busy all day." Castiel sat on a leather recliner and removed his sneakers and socks. Gabs placed the items in a hall closet. He sat on the floor by his brother and massaged his feet.
Castiel narrowed his eyes at his brother's bent head. "What do you want?"
"Who moi? What makes you think that?" Gabriel said with a twinkle in his golden eyes.
"Spill it out!"
"Freshmen pictures will take place during the second week of school and I have a brilliant idea for my portrait." He rocketed up and made jazz hands.
Castiel rolled his eyes. "I'm scared to ask."
"I want to recreate Barbra's infamous profile pic from Funny Girl but I need some bling to get the same hairdo." Gabriel smiled at his brother. "You know you're my favorite brother right?" He batted his eyelashes at Cas.
"Stop it! You're creeping me out! OK how much do you need for the haircut…twenty bucks?"
Gabriel dramatically placed a hand over his forehead. "Twenty bucks…where are we in Pleasantville? Get with the program big bro. I need fifty smackers plus I need to give the hairdresser a ten dollar tip."
"That's a lot of money for a haircut."
"This will not only be a haircut but a transformation. Please Cassie…I promise to mow the lawn and pick Inais up from school for an entire month." He knelt in front of Castiel. "Please…I won't ask for anything else until Christmas."
Castiel relented as usual when it came to his siblings. "Alright, I get paid next Friday and will give you the sixty bucks then."
Gabriel bowed down and kissed his brother's feet. "Thanks, you rock! By the way, I made a red velvet cake for dessert. I know it's your favorite."
An hour later the four Milton siblings sat together in the dining room for dinner. They discussed interesting happenings that transpired through each of their day. During dessert, Gabriel informed Castiel they needed to hit the grocery store tomorrow after their first day of school. They were running low on essentials. Castiel's head started to pound. He was running low on cash and had to find a way of earning some in a quick manner. Now with his senior year starting tomorrow he wouldn't be able to work full time at the country club. Between his and Jimmy's measly salaries and the latter's disability check, the two of them would not be able to run the Milton household.
Meanwhile two blocks away the Winchesters were also sharing a dinner that consisted of frozen microwave dinners. Eighteen year old Dean had returned home after living almost two years with his Uncle Bobby in South Dakota. One night he and his father, John had sparred in a much heated debate. Sam, who'd been twelve at the time; had remained scared in his room. He was used to his older brother's and father's infamous verbal fights. That one had been major and the following morning Bobby came to pick Dean up. Whenever Sam asked John about his brother, the man would snarl and say Dean was dead to him.
At the time, the Winchesters lived in a small town adjacent to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. John decided to move to Lawrence since it was where he met Mary, the boys' mother. Sadly, the beautiful blonde perished in a house fire, when Dean was four and Sam six months old. John worked as a bounty hunter and the boys would stay with Bobby for lengthy periods of time, when their dad couldn't afford to leave them at a motel. That was until his fight with Dean.
He packed up his and Sam's belongings and drove to Kansas in the '67 Impala he purchased right before proposing to Mary. The Winchester patriarch found employment as a security guard at the local mall. He knew Sammy hated moving all around the country, when they couldn't stay with Bobby. Sam made friends with a couple of boys from his grade. He loved hanging out with them but every day he missed his brother terribly.
Then two weeks ago, John gave him the best news ever. Dean was returning home. The reason being John was returning to his former job as a bounty hunter. Sam would miss his dad but he was getting his brother back. The afternoon Bobby dropped Dean off, the tension could be cut with a knife. Father and son barely spoke to each other. Sam led his brother to his room. He personally had decorated it for Dean. The walls were sky blue. A plaid quilt covered the full sized bed and a Led Zeppelin poster adorned one of the walls. His old guitar leaned against a corner. Dean had missed it terribly.
"I hope you like it, Dean. I decorated and painted the room myself."
"It's awesome, Sammy. Thanks, dude." He ruffled his baby brother's brown hair.
"Actually it's Sam now. I will be a high school freshman in two days...you know."
Dean chuckled. "Excuse me" He went on to ask Sam how his life had been these last two years. His brother enthusiastically told him about life in Lawrence.
"Dean, why did you leave?" Sam inquired as he sat on the floor next to the bed.
His older brother didn't look him in the eye. "I'll tell you some day. Right now we have a lot of catching up to do." He grabbed his guitar and tightened a few strings then he started playing "Hey Jude".
The Sunday night before the new school year began, John told Sam to go to bed. The fourteen year unwittingly went up the stairs. John turned towards his oldest son as he sipped from a bottle of beer. "I will be leaving tomorrow so you boys won't see me when you get back from school. You need to abide by my rules, Dean. The only reason you're back is because of Sam. I need someone who will take care of him and I know the two of you are devoted to each other. But this doesn't change anything. I don't approve of your ways and never will."
Dean swallowed hard. His dad would always be disappointed in his oldest. "Believe me I know and I won't let Sammy down."
"I opened a bank account in your name. The money will cover food and clothes. There's even some left over for you boys to go to the movies and stuff. The bills will be automatically deducted from my checking account. So don't worry about that. I should return within a month. Take care of your brother." John turned and headed to the living room.
Dean clenched his hands into fists. He hated his old man. Nine months and he would graduate from high school. Dean's GPA was a measly 2.3 and he didn't delude himself dreaming he would go to an Ivy League university. He would enroll himself at a local vocational center and get his auto mechanic certification. He loved cars and Bobby always allowed him to fix old clunkers in his salvage yard. Once he was settled on his own, Dean would ask Sammy to come and live with him in his own apartment. Then he would never have to deal with his dick of a dad ever again.
I promise things won't be so gloomy in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!