1994
"There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home..." The 11 year old Sam Winchester said, watching the TV in awe.
Dean couldn't understand why his little brother was so obsessed with this movie. The Wizard of Oz wasn't even that good. Was it because it took place in the state they lived in? Kansas isn't really all that special.
"You're so gay sometimes. This is such a kid's movie." Dean scoffed. Sometimes the 4 year difference between the two brothers could be a problem.
"So? I like it." Sam crossed his arms that represented little noodles.
Dean rose a brow. His eyebrows had a naturally perfect arch to them. "So you're saying you're a little kid?"
Sam crossed his arms. "No! Why does a movie have to mean I'm a little kid?" he narrowed his eyes at Dean. The two of them often had little arguments about things like this. "I'm almost 12. Which means I'll be a teenager soon. I'm NOT a little kid anymore! It's just a movie!"
Dean let out a soft chuckle. He was just messing with Sam, and he loved when the kid would get so defensive. "Oh relax, Sammy." Dean ruffled his brother's longer-than-average hair. He loved Sam's shaggy locks of hair. It wouldn't be right if he ever cut it. "I'm just messing with you. It is a dumb movie though." he smirked at the 11 year old and stood up from the couch. That's enough Wizard of Oz for now.
"Yeah, well AC/DC is a dumb band! I hate that stupid music." Sam rolled his emerald green eyes and insecurely proceeded to watch the movie.
"You're a dumb band." A+ comebacks by Dean Winchester. "Bitch."
"Jerk!" Sam stuck his tongue out at Dean, but kept his eyes on the screen.
Dean caught a glimpse of the time from the clock that had been hanging up on the wall. It was around 8:30. "I'm gonna go out for a walk." Dean said to Sam, grabbing his leather jacket by the door. By walk, he means party. He knew a senior in his school who had house parties every Friday night, and Dean was always invited. He never had a chance to go since his dad, John, was always home, or Sam would have needed him. Thankfully, John was out for the night, and Sam was busy watching The Wizard of Oz. John had a date, and those always lasted until the next day. Since their mom died in a house fire in 1983, John would fill the void by going on 'dates', which were more or less hookers and one night stands.
"Okay. Lock the door." Sam shooed Dean away. Finally, he could watch his movie in peace!
"I know what to do." Dean slipped his shoes on and grabbed the house key, locking the door as he left.
Dean knew the address of the senior's house, which was fortunately only a couple blocks away. He didn't even know the guy's name, but it didn't matter. All that did matter was that Dean was going to have fun tonight. Maybe he'd even hook up with a senior. Once at the house, Dean knocked on the door. He could hear a loud muffled beat coming from the inside. Moments after he knocked, the door opened, spewing out the loud party music.
"Winchester! You finally made it!" The senior said, a smile on his face.
"Yeah." He smiled, playing it cool. That's nice, the kid knew his name, but he didn't know the kid's.
Suddenly, someone called out from the crowd of people in the house, "Hey, Gabriel! Come over here!"
The senior turned his head and followed the voice, his time with Dean very short-lived.
It was almost as if the Lord had heard Dean's thoughts. At least he knew Gabriel's name now.
Dean looked at his surroundings and had a smile on his face. He felt so cool right now. The only sophomore in a sea of juniors and seniors! He walked around the house and found himself by the punch bowl. Dean grabbed a cup and filled it up with punch. By the scent of it, the punch was obviously spiked with some sort of alcohol. That's what Dean was hoping. He wanted to get drunk. It was a feeling he had never experienced.
He took a sip of the alcohol-infused beverage, an "ahhh" following. Dean decided to explore more of the house, since he didn't really know anyone there. It didn't matter though, he was drinking alcohol in a house of upperclassmen. That's all that mattered to him.
After a few cups of the spiked punch, Dean was drunk. He wasn't exactly wasted, but he was definitely drunk. Somehow, he ended up upstairs which was supposed to be off-limits. There was a piece of paper taped to the stairs saying 'DO NOT ENTER in big letters. As long as Gabriel didn't notice, Dean wasn't in trouble.
Being drunk, Dean didn't realize that Gabriel could ruin his reputation in a hot minute. Naturally, he explored the upstairs. All of the doors were open except for one. All of the doors being Gabriel's bedroom, his parents' (who were nowhere to be found) bedroom, and the bathroom. The one closed door had spiked Dean's curiosity. What was it? Was it a portal to a world beyond?
That thought wouldn't have passed Dean's mind if he was sober.
Not thinking of the consequences of what he was about to do, Dean opened the door. Beyond the door wasn't a portal. It was just a plain old bedroom that obviously belonged to a teenager. Gabriel had a sibling? Inside the bedroom was a boy who was sitting on the bed, his back to the door. He had headphones on, so he obviously didn't hear Dean walk in. He probably wouldn't have heard it anyway. The music playing in the house was so loud.
Since Dean was drunk, he did something pretty stupid. He let himself in the room, shutting the door behind him so the music would muffle a bit. He then sat on the bed next to the boy and poked him on the shoulder, causing him to flinch. At getting a good look at the boy, he could tell who he was. The kid was in a few of Dean's classes. It was Castiel Novak.
Castiel took his headphones off, laying them around his neck and groaned an exasperated sigh. "I thought Gabriel made the second floor off limits." he looked to Dean with nervousness and anger in his bright blue eyes. Then suddenly, he softened at seeing who it was. "Dean? Dean Winchester?" His deep voice asked. Castiel had such a deep voice for his babyish face.
Dean nodded, the drunkenness was clear on his face. "Yeah...You're Castiel Novak..." he smiled a goofy smile. It felt awesome to know someone here. He and Castiel weren't close at all, but they knew each other from being in 4 out of 6 classes in school, so that was a plus. "Didn't know you lived here." he pointed at the other, eyes narrow. The grin hadn't left his face.
Cas could tell that Dean was drunk. "I didn't know you were friends with my brother."
Dean snorted. "Neither did I. To tell you the truth.." He looked around the two of them as if there were other people around them. "I didn't even know his name until today." he pat his hand on Castiel's shoulder, the scent of alcohol staining his breath.
Cas backed away from Dean by scooching over a little. "Yeah. So... you can go back to the party. I'm not stopping you." He didn't like how Gabriel threw parties every week. It was a pain in the ass, especially when he was trying to sleep at 1 am with the loud music vibrating through the house. Not fun.
"Why aren't you partying?" Dean asked, trying not to slur his words.
"Because I don't know anyone, and I don't like parties." Castiel was an awkward boy. He didn't have any real friends-he barely had acquaintances at school. He even sat alone at lunch. Cas wasn't necessarily treated badly or bullied at school, but he wasn't popular. He was invisible. And honestly, being invisible was better than being noticed and getting bullied for it. Cas knew to stay out of people's way, so he could stay invisible. Clearly, he wasn't doing too well of a job since Dean seemed to know who he was.
"You know me." Dean shrugged, smiling at him. Dean seemed like your average asshole, but he really wasn't. He had a butch look about him with wearing a leather jacket and ripped jeans all the time. "Come on, it's fun. Have you ever been drunk before? Because it's AWESOME." Dean snorted. This was his first time being drunk, and it was the best feeling he ever had.
"I know of you. I've never had a conversation with you." Cas looked down to his lap, where his portable CD player was. "And yes, I've been drunk." He loved getting drunk, but not when there was people everywhere in his house. People were intimidating.
"You're having a conversation with me now, aren't ya?" Dean asked, winking at Cas with his bright, fanfiction green eyes.
Cas felt awkward in this situation. He never thought of Dean Winchester to be so nice. Maybe it was the alcohol. Probably the alcohol. "Well...I suppose." he sighed. "You should still go back down to the party."
"Nah. It's too loud down there. Plus I don't know anybody either." At this point, Dean was able to control how drunk he sounded. He was still pretty hammered, but sober enough to talk without a slur. "It's awesome to be invited to a house party every week, and even awesomer to be able to go, and be surrounded by a bunch of hot senior girls." he smiled, thinking of one girl in particular he saw on his journey around the house. She had the ass of a goddess. "But it kinda sucks because I don't know anyone but your brother." At least he'll be able to say he went to Gabriel Novak's house party at school Monday and not be lying about it. Cas would be able to back him up on it. He smiled at thinking about that. It was awesome to be somewhat popular amongst the sophomores at school.
Cas let out a soft chuckle. "Welcome to my life. This is what I have to deal with every Friday. Some people come here regularly. Others just come every so often. Some just come once then never again. It's a pain in the ass to deal with, especially because I don't know anyone...and they certainly don't know me. I haven't had a quiet Friday night in over a year."
"Where's your parents in all of this?" Dean asked. He found it pretty weird that Castiel's parents were okay with this.
"Well...my dad is actually missing. My mom died a long time ago." Cas admitted, looking down. "And of course, Gabe deals with it by throwing parties every week, rather than to look for him!" He exclaimed. It bothered Cas that Gabriel didn't seem to care one bit about looking for their Dad. He disappeared two years ago, and Gabe apparently doesn't see a problem with it. Cas wanted to find him, but Gabriel would keep telling him to stop and accept that he's missing and most likely dead.
"Have you tried looking for him?" Dean asked, furrowing a brow. "And I'm sorry about your mom. I lost mine too at a young age." he scooched back over to Cas and placed a hand back on his shoulder. He didn't realize Castiel had scooched away.
"Thanks. I'm sorry for your loss too." he gave Dean a look of sympathy before it was taken over by anger. "And yes. I have tried. I've called police all around the state. I've called all his friends, family, and acquaintances. Nobody has seen anything...but I'm not giving up."
Dean felt kinda bad for this kid. He was obviously in denial about his dad being dead. "Well...good luck." he didn't want to rain on Cas's parade any more than needed.
"Thanks. I need it." he grimaced.
"Well...I'm gonna go back downstairs, alright? I'm sobering up aaaand I really don't like it." he gave Cas a light-hearted smile and left the bedroom, going back out to the blaring music. He rushed down the stairs before Gabriel would notice he went up, and got a cup full of punch.
Then another.
Then another.
Before long, Dean was wasted-more so than before. He had gotten himself so hammered, he ended up passing out on the floor in the doorway of the bathroom. There was vomit in there, which may or may not have been his.
The next thing he knew, someone was poking and yelling at him. To Dean, it sounded like a buzzing in the background.
"You hear me? Get up! Everyone else left!" Gabe exclaimed, shoving Dean a bit with his foot. "And clean up your puke."
Dean opened his eyes to see a blur of Gabriel standing over him. The florescent bathroom lighting gave him such a migraine, which made his stomach stir. He could feel bile rise in his throat. "Nh... Hold that thought." Dean murmured tiredly, getting up to his knees and bent over the toilet, violently vomiting in it. Thankfully, the seat was open, otherwise that would've been ugly. "What time is it...?"
"2 in the afternoon. Now get up and clean your puke. I have football practice at 4, and I don't want anyone here." Gabe sternly said.
"I'll get to it, just gimme a few minutes." Dean whined.
"You have until 2:30 to get out of my house." Gabe crossed his arms and walked out of the bathroom.
"Yeah, yeah..." Dean groaned, getting up. His whole body aching. Is this what a hangover felt like?
Before he could try to clean up the puke on the floor, Dean felt the bile rise in his throat again. He crouched, doubling over the toilet and threw up again. Not a pretty sight.
"Need a hand?" A timid voice asked from the doorway. Dean recognized that gravelly voice from the night before. It was Castiel.
Dean looked up from the toilet, vomit hanging from his lip. "Nah...I got it." he spat into the toilet then flushed. God, his head was pounding. "Please tell me you have painkillers in here." Dean murmured, standing up. He opened the cabinet by the mirror and found a bottle of ibuprofen. "Awesome." he took a couple pills from the bottle and stuck his head under the sink to help swallow them.
As Cas was about to tell Dean where the painkillers were, he found them. "They should help." Cas stammered out. He felt like a nervous wreck around people. It was extra awkward since he sorta knew Dean.
"Thanks." Dean gave Cas a little smile and proceeded to splash water on his face to freshen himself up a bit.
"Let me know if you need anything." Cas felt himself smile back at Dean.
"Well, If I don't leave now, your brother's going to kick my ass. I refuse to piss off a football player." Dean breathed out a soft laugh, perfectly straight, white teeth shining in the bathroom light.
Castiel smiled shyly. "I don't blame you." In a way, as awkward as he was, he didn't want Dean to leave. They had a nice conversation the night prior, despite Dean being wasted. Cas was awkward in said conversation, but Dean seemed to not mind.
"So...I'll see you in school Monday?" Dean asked Cas, a gentle smile on his face. He never noticed Castiel much. Cas was a quiet kid who always sat away from everyone else and did all of his work. Dean knew nothing but his name up until last night. Even so, he still doesn't know much about him.
"Yeah...I guess you will." Castiel said. He didn't think Dean would actually pay any attention to him at school. Dean was popular and had a lot of friends. Castiel figured he wouldn't ever mean much to someone as popular as Dean, seeing he was a nobody.
Dean gave Cas a sheepish smile. "You're in my way."
Cas noticed he was standing right in the doorway and moved, immediately blushing. "Sorry. I didn't realize."
"It's alright." Dean pat Cas on the shoulder. "Seeya." he left the Novak household with a fun night behind him.