"Mike, can I—"

"No."

Lucifer snorted loudly, turning to look out the window. Although it wasn't him Michael had been talking to, the awkward ride was making them all bitter and tense.

"Seriously, Michael. Please. It's hotter than hell in here and the A.C.'s broken." Gabriel whined, but didn't keep up the childish atmosphere long, instead deciding to take another bite of his Snickers bar. What was that, his third in the hour?

The oldest brother glared at the middle child via the rearview mirror. "Shut up Gabe, it's not that bad."

"DUDE!" Gabriel bellowed, "You have no room to complain! You're up there with Lucy—"

"Do NOT call me LUCY!"

"—And you've got space for at least another person between! Back here, it's me, Raph, and Anna all scrunched together! Even Cassie's better off, sitting alone in the back!"

Castiel winced in the very backseat of his brother's black Tahoe. Why did Gabriel have to drag him into these pointless arguments? They always led to—

"For Pete's sake Gabriel! Can you stop with the 'you're a horrible brother' speeches?!"

And then to—

"Not my fault you aren't the sibling I would beg for. You're such an a—"

"Guys, please stop fighting. Dad never wanted that."

That. At least Anna was nice about it.

"Anna," Raphael snorted sourly, "you know dad's long gone and not coming back."

Two furious gazes focused in on the older of middle kids, Anna from his right and Castiel from behind him. The sudden silent intensity that filled the car was almost tangible.

"No he's not." Cas rebuked, his voice oddly gravelly for being the youngest sibling. The oldest four didn't say anything to convince the youngest two otherwise, and an odd sickness crept into his stomach, much like a flitter of fear that refused to leave, instead residing inside him, infecting him.

There was a long moment of silent, in which Castiel tried meeting the gaze of one of his siblings through a mirror. Michael was staring straight ahead, while Lucifer, Gabriel, and Raphael stared out of their respective windows with pained, moody expression.

"Michael, can we stop somewhere? I'm kinda hungry." Her eyes met her brother's in the mirror, and all the other siblings could practically see him melting. No matter how old anybody in that vehicle lived to be, they would always see each other the same way. Michael had always been the leader that everybody looked up to, Lucifer was always the jerkish brother everybody fought with, but still looked up to. Raphael would always be the slightly moody but quiet one that still managed to make everybody else mad. Gabriel could never be anything but a prankster, picking locks and ruining dates. Nobody would stop adoring Anna, the only girl in the family. And Castiel? He was sure that he would always be the one that got teased, the one who was just learning to make his own decisions but still afraid to.

"Yeah, 'bout time we stopped for lunch. Haven't had anything to eat since six, anyway." He said with a soft smile.