A major inconvenience
The rays of the upcoming morning sun basked onto Castiel Novak's skin. He could tell it was going to be a great day as he bent down to pick up his newspaper off of his stoop. His coffee cup stayed steadily in his hands without spilling a single drop.
He smiled happily at the early morning walkers and waved as a courtesy to them before turning on his heel and walking into his empty house. He went about his morning routine of making eggs and toast for himself, reading the daily news then cleaning up after himself.
He was a routine man. Which he enjoyed considerably. There was something about having a balance to life that calmed his usual nerves. He took his time taking a shower and changing into his wrinkle free uniform before standing in the open doorway of his room. Nothing was out of place. He even tucked his sheets and blankets into his bed hotel style.
A car horn sounded obnoxiously from outside his home. He knew without having to peek through the blinds just who it was. He rolled his eyes and made his way to his front door. He took one last look back at his neat, quiet home before exiting.
His partner, Gabriel, waited in the driver's seat of the patrol car. Castiel could already hear the heavy metal blaring from the speakers. He pursed his lips in disproval but opened the passenger side door nonetheless.
Gabe was busy shoving a donut in his face and giving into the stereotype that cops loved those baked goods. "Good morning, Gabriel," he offered him a curt nod as per usual of his early morning greetings.
Gabe finally looked up from his sugary treat and smiled widely. The cherry filled inside coated his teeth while the goo dropped down his chin. Castiel's stomach churned at the sight. Was he sure this was a professional policeman?
Castiel reached over and turned the deafening screams pouring out from the radio down considerably while not bothering to hide his annoyed look from his partner. "This is a quiet residential. I don't want to have to cite you for disturbing the peace," he scolded his partner.
Gabe wiped his mouth with the back of his long-sleeved uniform then wiggled his eyebrows. "Does brotherhood mean nothing to you? I am appalled, Novak! I mean, truly. Would you really go so far as to rat out your own best friend?" He questioned him while shooting him a fake shocked look.
"You're not my best friend," Castiel replied just as quickly as the words left Gabe's mouth.
Gabe shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Do we spend all our time together?" He asked his stern work colleague. Castiel nodded. "Do we tell each other everything?" He asked dramatically.
"I inform you of new and developing cases, yes," Castiel nodded once more in his usual no nonsense way.
"And do we meet each other's family and remember the other one's birthday?" Gabe's screeches got louder the more he went on.
Castiel cringed then shook his head. "I'm not interested in that," he dismissed him passively with the wave of his hand. Gabe gasped loudly while grasping the front of his shirt.
"Well then it's a good thing I'm reminding you. It is your birthday next week, correct?" He asked him curiously.
Castiels' lips turned down. How? How did he forget his own birthday? The years were starting to slip away from him. Every day was the same. It always was. The days blurred together in a way where he sometimes found himself wondering what month it was. He shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts.
"I suppose it is," he replied, disheartened. "I don't necessarily care about the societal rule that you have to celebrate a day in which you were pushed out into the world."
Gabriel scoffed and didn't bother to hide his incredulous look. "You don't care about birthdays?"
Castiel rolled his eyes and turned his head to look out his window. "We need to begin todays duties. So, if you will save the small talk for another time," he deadpanned.
Gabe gazed at him from the corner of his eye before shaking his head at his partners oddness. He put the patrol car into drive. It was time to serve some justice.
XXX
"I said to stop it, you asshole!" Gabe chastised as he tried to put the struggling man underneath him in handcuffs. He finally managed to succeed while mentally noting all the harsh language his detainee was yelling back at him.
He looked up in time to see Novak pushing another suspect into the car by his head. His partner closed the car door while ignoring the suspect. Castiel walked over to Gabe and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Is he giving you trouble?" He asked him.
Gabe scoffed then jumped off his detainee. "Of course not! You know I'm always on top of this shit."
Castiel rolled his eyes for the millionth time that day. "Just put him in so we can book them," he replied with a bored monotone. Bored? How could he possibly be bored when he was getting bad people off the streets? This was where all the action was!
Gabe's lips tightened but he decided not to argue and just nod. He could hear Novak's basic ringtone evading the air. Gabe lifted the guy up with one hand and led him back to the car as Novak answered his call.
He situated the two men then closed the door and turned around just in time to see him hanging up the phone. "What is it?" He asked as his chin tilted up. He could tell it was nothing to jump around about judging off of his partners new look.
"We've been called for overtime. We have to work a double now. Which means-" he paused as they both looked at each other in disdain at his next words.
"Night shift," they both cringed as the words left their mouths.
Gabe shuddered. He hated nothing more than night shift. It was when all the creepers, weirdos and addicts came out. He'd much rather stick to the daytime weirdos. They both sighed at the same time. "Fuck. Nothing good will come of tonight."
Castiel frowned but agreed silently. Indeed. But how bad could it really be?
XXX
"Fuck Raphael for putting us on this shit," Gabe complained loudly as he drove slowly through their jurisdictions neighborhoods.
"For the hundredth time, it's our duty. We shouldn't complain. We should just do our jobs as expected," Castiel replied as he shone a flashlight out his window to get a better look.
"Dammit, Novak. That's your problem. You never complain. About anything. I'm sure it's all bottling inside of you rather unhealthily. And someday, something is going to make it all come bursting out," he said with such certainty. Gabe paused, "or maybe someone." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively to get his point across.
Castiel groaned in annoyance. "I'm fine," he sighed. That seemed to be his motto lately. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. That answer became like second nature to answer without even having to think it through. He wasn't sure if he had any other emotion besides being fine. He was e from the time he woke up until the time he went to sleep. Even his dreams had been blank and dreamless.
They kept at it for most of the night. Just driving around aimlessly. Sometimes they would catch a drug deal or break up a drunken fight in front of a bar letting out but nothing deemed conversation worthy. The words between them also died down as they got closer and closer to nearing the end of their double shift.
Castiel sighed. Four a.m. The dead hour. He just had to make it through two more hours then he would be free to browse his bookshelf, take a shower, maybe clean his bird bath like he had been wanting to do for a while now or just get some much-needed rest. His body ached with the need to lie down on something soft instead of this uncomfortable seat he had been in for almost twenty-four hours now minus the few hours they spent arresting people.
"Hey, do you see that?" Gabe suddenly asked, breaking the heavy silence that lingered between them for the past few hours.
Castiel squinted to get a better look which was hard to do since they were in a neighborhood that wasn't lit so well. He could see two male figures hunched over and digging through what looked like a duffle bag. They both stood straight at the same time. Castiel nearly had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't just seeing things from his lack of sleep.
One figure was taller than the other by at least a head. He seemed to have longish hair that reached his shoulders. The other one wasn't quite as tall but that didn't mean he was short. He would probably stand a few inches taller than himself if he were to compare.
He could tell that the shorter one had cropped hair that flipped out at the top. He frowned and thought about shining his spotlight on them to get a better look but didn't want to alert them of their presence just yet.
The shorter one held the silhouette of a can then shook it while saying something to his companion. The tall one shook his head and looked to be arguing with the other one. What was going on?
"Graffiti," Gabe answered his unvoiced question.
Castiel looked over to him and nodded in understanding. They both got out of the car soundlessly and approached the two men with skill. The suspects were none the wiser as the two cops surrounded them. One on each side.
The suspect with the can in his hand began to spray something onto the building before them while his accomplice appeared uncomfortable. Castiel looked up and across at his partner then gave him the signal to make themselves known.
"Alright, hands up where we can see them," Gabe announced themselves as he held his gun out in the precaution in case the two men were to be carrying weapons.
Castiel left his gun in the holster as he trusted Gabe enough to hold his own. Instead, he opted to take his flashlight out and shine it into the suspects faces. The tall one held his hand out in front of his face in an attempt to block the disturbing light while grimacing. Castiel shot him a glare before his eyes landed on the one that seemed to be the perpetrator.
He blinked once. Then twice. And fought with his hand so he wouldn't start rubbing his eyes. The man was a lot better looking than he was used to dealing with. His eyes were green but his flashlight made them shine brighter. They were like two emeralds. His lips were plump and pouted into a half frown from getting caught. What Castiel admired the most were the array of freckles that dusted his skin. Yeah. He was definitely a lot nicer looking than his usual criminal.
He looked away from the man with a spray can in his right hand and chanced a glance up at Gabe who was giving him an odd look. He shook his head to himself and looked back at the two men with dead set eyes.
"Come on. Hands up," he demanded in a rough tone. His voice sounded like gravel from not speaking for so long and also from how tired he was.
The handsome one raised his eyebrows in surprise but did as he was told. He kept the can wrapped up in his hand as he raised his arms above his head. The action caused his plain black cotton t shirt to rise up a few inches exposing a sliver of toned, tan skin just below his belly button.
He tore his eyes away while cursing himself for noticing such a thing and instead looked at the tall one who was doing the same except his shirt was long enough to cover any exposure of skin.
"What are you guys doing out here?" Gabe questioned them as he stepped around slowly to be next to Novak and in front of the suspects. His gun was still pointed at them but he kept his finger diligently off the trigger to show he meant no harm if they did as well.
The tall one seemed to become nervous and a little scared. His eyes flickered from the two officers to his shorter companion who seemed un phased by everything.
"It's a nice night, isn't it?" The calmer one asked rhetorically with a condescending smirk.
"A nice night to be doing some illegal decorating? Yes, I would say so," Castiel finally spoke up as he stared down the cocky one.
"So, we're in agreement then. What do you say you guys look the other way and we'll be on our way right after I'm finished," he replied. He actually sounded like he was enjoying all of this.
Castiel furrowed his brow then looked at the wall behind the man. He had been in the beginning stages of spraying a red circle with a slash through it onto the face of a candidate running for mayor of the city.
He looked back at the other man, unamused. "I can't allow you to do that. You're under arrest for destruction of city property," he stated clearly. He put the flashlight away and was silently thankful that the streetlights were a bit better than he expected. At least he could still see the two perps clear enough.
Castiel laid his hand on his handcuffs as he prepared to arrest him. He took a step forward but the other man backed up swiftly. "Hey, I'm just exercising my human rights by letting this town know how much of an asshole this guy is. Is that such a bad thing?" He questioned.
"Yes," Gabe and Castiel deadpanned at the same exact time.
The talkative one's lips turned down into a frown when he figured that he wasn't going to be able to talk himself out of this one. "Fine. But you'll have to catch me first," he said quickly before throwing his spray can at Castiel then running off into the dark alleyway.
"Dean!" The taller one could be heard shouting as Castiel took after him, managing to keep up a few paces behind him.
He smiled as he ran. This was just the excitement he needed.