How Castiel Novak had ended up at Singer Auto Garage was a long story.
He, a 17 year old teenager currently on summer break, had accuired a job at a locally owned grocery store. While he hated the job with a burning passion, it brought in the dough. And Castiel was in desperate need for money to blow.
So yes, Castiel hated his job, but as it was his first he knew he couldn't be picky. This, of course, didn't mean he couldn't complain at every chance he got. He whined to his best friend, Chuck, at every chance he got: about his bitchy supervisor, about the heavy boxes he had to lift, about the stupid customers he had to assist. While he knew that 90 percent of the time Chuck wasn't listening because he was high, Castiel still appreciated the audience.
Some people might be shocked to hear that he and Chuck, the nerdiest kids in the school, used to be druggies. It was true, though. Once, Chuck had spent 3000 dollars off his parent's credit card on prostitutes for them, claiming that his hazed state had predicted the apocyalypse. They agreed the next morning to never mention that moment, nor the fact that for some reason, neither of them had slept with the girls.
That was a year ago though and while now Castiel avoided marijuana, Chuck still smoked whenever his blue eyed friend brought up his job. That kid could vent when he wanted to.
So it was on one of these particularly awful days at work when Castiel's car had been wrecked. His supervisor had started him on a new set of boxes: a job that would take an hour and a half when Castiel's shift would be over in half that time. He was grumbling about this, unhappy at having to put in the extra time, when a particularly loud crunch was heard from the lot behind him.
He and Ruby, the snarky girl unloading the stock truck, had instantly lifted away the plastic protecting the doorway to freedom and peeked outside. There, one of the teenagers younger than Castiel was grimacing, his hand awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. The machine he was driving with all the carts back to the front of the store was crushed gloriously into the side of a car.
It took a few moments before the dark haired boy had realized that the blue 2000 Ford Taurus was, infact, his. Both doors on the passenger side had been destroyed in the collision. Castiel had simply groaned, too put off to even deal with this new platter of metaphorical shit, and clocked off of work. Stock be damned. Ruby had giggled a little on the way out, asking him how he planned on getting to work tomorrow. He told her he didn't.
It was once he got home and buried his face in his pillow that he realized he probably should have asked the young teenager for his auto insurance. Or looked at company policy or whatever.
He'd called into work the next day and quit. His supervisor had been surprisingly understanding: either she understood his upset feelings that his car had been totaled on company property, or her drugs were working for her today. Either way, Castiel despaired breifly at his lack of income and then set to work on finding a place that would fix the doors of his car.
Micheal, Castiel's older brother, had suggested the place to him. Singers Auto Garage was a little run down and slightly farther than Castiel deemed safe driving in his newly crumpled car. However, it was the only place in the area that did body repair and Castiel knew he had no other choice. These guys could charge as much as they wanted to because they had a monopoly, and Castiel would have no choice but to comply. He only wished this didn't dig too far into his savings.
Cut to where he was now. With a weary sigh, the blue eyed teenager walked through the dirt and sand lot and pushed through the double doors leading inside. He was instantly assaulted with air conditioning, something he was incredibly greatful for.
He was also visually assualted by the visage of a man, dirty and muscular tilting his head back and drinking a water bottle, his adams apple bobbing erotically with each gulp. Castiel regognized this man immediately- it was the only man, woman, or human being in general that the adolescent had ever found himself attracted to.
Dean Winchester. His childhood crush, of whom he'd been pining over since he was 10 years old. The dreams he'd had, while occuring quite a bit less frequently in recent years, still haunted Castiel with sea green eyes and short dirty blonde, almost brown hair. Castiel instantly regretted Mike's advice on coming here.
Dean finished off his last few sips of water, a satisfied sound escaping his lips. He then turned around, about to say his usual greeting when he stopped cold. "...Jimmy?" He asked, almost hesitantly. Castiel instantly froze. Dean Winchester didn't even know who he was. Talk about offending and a blow to his self pride.
Their eyes met and they stared at eachother for an indefinate amount of time, Dean looking rapidly for something he couldn't find. An old friend, perhaps. Castiel bitterly thought that he was looking in the wrong eyes. They were broken from their lock by the sound of a gasp. Castiel turned towards the sound and saw a young boy, probably about 3 years younger yet somehow as tall as he was. "You're Castiel Novak, aren't you?" The boy questioned eagerly, seeming immensely interested and almost desperate for an answer. Castiel's mind breifly put name to face; Sam. Dean's younger brother. The blue eyed boy nodded at Sam, whose face lit up in fascination.
He turned his eyes back to the older brother, whose eyebrows were furrowed together in confusion. "You're not still playing that game, are you man?" Dean asked, perhaps demanded. Castiel scowled, feeling even more insulted than he already was. He was sick of people asking about this.
He opened his mouth, about to tell Dean off, but no words came out. Was he really this damn shy?
Luckily, Sam clarified things a little bit for him. "Castiel's not made up, you know. He's Jimmy's twin brother." Castiel directed his eyes at the floor and scowled even deeper. Made up. "Honestly, you think you'd know that about your own best friend." Sam finsihed, admonishing his brother. Dean threw a bitch at the kid, to which Sam instantly responded with jerk, and then Sam was gone, clearly sensing Castiel's discomfort.
Dean watched his brother leave and then smiled awkwardly at Castiel, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "Sorry about that. Bobby always warned me about being rude to the customers." He chuckled a little. That was more than rude, Castiel chided, hating Dean just a little at that moment. Sam, too.
Before Castiel could stop himself, he spit out, "My brother's still in the hospital." Dean looked a little dismayed at the news, but tried to cover it up. Of course, nobody should be more upset about this than Castiel. Yet the teen couldn't find it in himself to be worried about his twin. Just angry.
"So, um." Dean shuffled forward, grabbing a clipboard and a pencil from the front counter and handing them over to the other near the doorway. "What are you in for?"
Castiel took the proffered paperwork and started to fill it out. Anything to take his mind off the hurt; both directed towards his brother and towards Dean who hadn't even known he'd actually existed. "Someone ran into my car." He supplied, his voice deep and gravely. It didn't used to be that way. Castiel wondered vaguely if it was from the stress or the cigarettes. "I've got two dented doors, one that won't shut."
"Sheesh." Dean grimmaced. He didn't pry and ask how, though, something the darker haired boy was thankful for. "Well, we'll look at the model of your car and order the parts for you. In the meantime, Bobby and I can pull off the doors so you can drive it without them flapping in the wind. If we order the doors tonight, we can get them in about two weeks. Until then, your car will be temporarily fixed by tomorrow." Castiel finished filling out the form and walked over to hand it back to Dean, along with the keys to his car. Their hands brushed breifly between the exchange, and Castiel hoped Dean didn't feel the same jolt of electricity he felt from the contact. The blonde man studied the paperwork for a minute before he looked up, sending a smile his way. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then."
Castiel tried not to dwell on the fact that he'd provided an I instead of a we on the way to the nearest bus stop. After a few minutes of sitting on the dirty bench, the bus pulled up and Castiel dropped some coins into the fee box. He took a seat near the back, across from a sleeping business man and a middle aged woman who was crocheting.
As he hopped buses for the next hour and a half, trying to get home, Castiel couldn't help his mind wandering back to Jimmy. He'd resented his twin brother for the past 7 years, but before that they had been really close. As much as Castiel missed the old days, he knew he'd grown to hate the other. If Jimmy ever got out of the hospital, Castiel never wanted to know. It was selfish and extremely barbaric of him, and the bible told him he should forgive his brother because it wasn't his fault, not really. But after what had happened, Castiel wasn't sure if even Jimmy qualified for forgiveness. Castiel's life had been practically non-existant, an anomaly, to almost everyone outside of the family since Jimmy had changed.
When Castiel finally walked up the broken driveway to their house, he'd marched instantly up to his room without a word to Micheal, who'd called to ask about his car situation. He pulled his shirt over his head and plopped down on his bed, resigning himself to a night at staring up at the ceiling. It'd been so long since anyone had broght up Jimmy in his presence. It had been even longer since someone who wasn't new to town had mistaked him for the other. And it had been years, several, since Castiel had thought about the brotherly kinmanship he'd once had with his twin. He'd hated Jimmy for so long. Would always hate him a little bit, probably.
And then he wondered distantly if Dean Winchester would ever see him as anyone other than the crazy halucination of his once best friend.
A/N: First of all, disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke.
Second of all, any readers should know that I have never - not once with either my old account or my current - completed a chapter story. But there will be more of this, for the moment.
Thirdly, thanks for reading. That is all.