Chapter Two
Dean chewed at the eraser of his pencil nervously.
"Mr. Winchester, would you like to tell me what the capitol of Thailand is?"
Mr. Edlund asked with a sarcastic smirk, hoping to catch him off guard. Dean though, was used to teachers always trying to humiliate him.
It's not typical of adults to actually like the most popular guy in school. The ones that always get themselves in trouble, but somehow manage to get away with it.
"Bangcock."
Dean said with a small pause after 'Bang'. He smiled and winked, basking in the praise of his classmates.
Mr. Edlund patiently waited for the laughter to die down, with determination in his eyes. Dean knew it was a matter of time before he would actually get himself in real trouble, but right now, that was the least of his concerns.
It had been a week since his mother broke the news about fostering, and after school would be the moment of truth.
The last week had been spent accessorizing and adding furniture to the empty room next to Dean's. Sam and Dean knew their parents found out the day before who they would be fostering, but they decided to make it a surprise for the brothers, which absolutely was not helping their indifferent attitude on the whole thing.
The shrill tone of the bell pulled Dean from his thoughts. He began to gather his jacket from the back of his chair, seeing as he never carried any books. School was definitely not his strong suit.
He felt a hand graze his shoulder, and turned around, startled.
"BRO! Friday night! Parties? Girls? BOOZE…?"
Dean's closest friend Ash almost shouted, extra emphasis on 'booze'.
Ash was the closest friend Dean had, but they both knew it was a forced friendship. Being the most popular person at Truman High School pretty much means all your friendships are kind of expected.
There are no real friends in popularity.
"Sorry dude, today's the big day."
Dean said, pretending to be disappointed, when truth is, he was tired of the party scene.
Ash gave him a confused look before the realization hit him.
"Oh yeah! You're getting a new baby brother."
Ash poked at Dean's arm teasingly before Dean snapped back, telling him to screw off before making his way out of the school doors and towards the busses that lined the side of the school.
Dean climbed in reluctantly, not wanting to arrive home, knowing what would be waiting when he got there.
~.~.~.~
Castiel chucked his last bag into the trunk of Mr. Crowley's car. Not that he had many bags anyway.
As he slumped into the front seat of the Infiniti, Crowley gave him a hard look.
"C'mon lad, don't be so negative about it. You might actually like this one! They've got two boys, 11 and 15. Hell, you might even meet a girl at this new school, eh?"
Crowley had a hard time trying to cheer Castiel up, he had a hard time trying to cheer ANYONE up, thanks to his Scottish background, but at least he was trying. Castiel appreciated that.
"Yeah, maybe."
Castiel huffed, not looking away from outside his window.
It was rainy outside, and Castiel loved the dreary weather, always had. Something about the way the light beamed from behind the dark clouds whenever it got the chance. It reminded him that behind every dark cloud was something beautiful. Thinking about this gave him a glimmer of hope.
They pulled away from the wayward orphanage, ready for the 45 minute drive through Lawrence, and Castiel thought, maybe there's a snowball's chance this might actually be a good thing for once.
~.~.~.~
Dean climbed off the bus and began to stride, prideful, to his house.
Maybe, Dean thought, if I act like I run the place, he, or she, will just leave me the hell alone.
Seemed like a good idea at the time. But maybe it was just his nervous brain spewing out ridiculous thoughts.
Dean slammed the door and tossed his jacket onto the back of the couch. The house smelled of lavender scented candles, something the house only smelled like whenever mom was done cleaning for a guest.
"Dean, honey, is that you?"
Dean heard his mom yell out to him from her bedroom. He put a fake smile on and replied sweetly, knowing it would mean a lot to his mom to know her son wasn't upset about her decision.
"Yeah, mom!"
Dean called back, grabbing a banana out of the fruit bowl in the kitchen, and peeling back the thin yellow shell incasing the fruit.
He was happy to see that the kid wasn't quite there yet.
Maybe mom changed her mind.
He thought, knowing it was a stretch.
Just as he went to throw the half eaten banana away, he heard the sound of an engine pulling up to the curb out front.
Dean braced himself for what he's been dreading for the past seven days.
~.~.~.~
"Ready to get the awkward part out of the way?"
Crowley mocked as he through the car in park.
Castiel just glared at the house, getting his first judgmental thoughts out of the way.
They take care of their yard, sign of an active father. Decent, clean car in the driveway. Garden, common past-time for a stay at home mom. Stray football in the middle of the lawn.
Great. Typical teenage boys. This is going to be WONDERFUL.
Only being there five minutes and already realizing this wasn't going to be any different definitely put a damper on his mood, like it was a good one in the first place.
He tugged the handle on the door and yanked it open, smelling the wet grass and rain in the air. Crowley handed over his bags, and they began their walk to the front door.
~.~.~.~
Dean watched from the living room window as an older looking guy, and who, apparently, was his new "brother".
He quickly observed the teenager closely, noting that he was, in fact, around his age. He wore jeans, white Nikes, and a worn AC/DC tee.
That is definitely a good start.
The kid was actually a good looking guy. He had a mass of dark brown, almost black hair, sticking up in all directions as if he just rolled out of bed.
He saw the look on his new brothers face and wondered if they were sharing some of the same feelings.
They finally rang the doorbell, and Mary squealed, and instructed Dean to get his father from the garage to meet their new guest.
Dean slowly walked to the garage door, only to have it quickly opened in his face as he reached for the doorknob, almost hitting him.
"Sorry son, are they here?"
John said breathlessly, and Dean would be lying if he said he didn't hear a little bit of panic in his voice.
"Uh, yeah."
Dean replied with a slightly confused look on his face.
He heard the first voices coming from the living room, first his mom, introducing herself, and the sound of a think Scottish accent
John hurried past Dean, but Dean stayed put for a little while longer, collecting his thoughts before going to introduce himself.
When he started to finally make way to the living room, he heard the other voice. Low and husky, even for a teenager.
"Dean!"
Mary shouted as Dean rounded the corner.
"This is Castiel Novack, and his orphanage director, Mr. Crowley."
Dean smirked, remembering the Ozzy song titled Mr. Crowley, before leaning in to first shake the hand of the director, then Castiel's, nodding to each of them.
When Dean turned to get a good look at Castiel, he had to grunt to hide the short stop of his breath.
His eyes.
They were bluer than the oceans in Fiji. They were quite honestly the most beautiful pair of eyes he'd ever seen.
"Dean, why don't you show Castiel to his room while we talk with Mr. Crowley?"
John suggested to him, breaking the tension.
"Yeah, sure."
Dean had to say, quietly, to hide the cracking of his voice.
He grabbed one of Castiel's bags and motioned for him to follow close behind. Dean finally spoke when they were out of earshot of the adults.
"Um, Sam will be home in about 40 minutes… he's still in middle school… He's cool though. Not an annoying little brother."
Dean said, keeping his eyes on the stairs, not looking behind him, to avoid awkwardness.
"That sounds pleasant."
Castiel replied nervously.
Pleasant?
Dean took note of his strange vocabulary, dropping the bag on the floor, just beyond the doorway of Castiel's room.
"Well, here it is… my room is right there, Sam's is there, and the bathroom is at the end of the hall."
Dean pointed with every room he described.
Castiel nodded, then looked at Dean for some sort of direction as to what to say or do. Dean took the opportunity of the alone time to lay down the ground rules.
"Alright look, I know you don't want to be here, and I'm not too keen on the idea of having a new brother either, so if we just stay out of each other's way, we can get through this with minimal awkwardness. I'm only being nice to make my mom happy, which she really needs right now, so you'll be sure and be nice to her too. Am I clear on everything?"
Castiel nodded, slightly taken aback.
What a dick. Castiel thought. This is going to be just as bad as I imagined.