Title: Altogether Just Taken Apart
Fandom: SPN/BtVS crossover
Pairings: Buffy/Dean, Sam/Dawn, more to be added
Word Count: 2900ish
Disclaimer: I cannot take the credit for the wonderful characters of the Buffyverse and Supernatural. That honour goes to my lord and savior, Joss Whedon and my new hero, Eric Kripke, respectively.
Summary: Highschool/College AU, The Summers sisters are best friends with the Winchesters, as well as mishmash of characters from the Whedonverse and Kripkeverse. When Buffy goes to college without Dean, his feelings for her are as unrequited as ever. Not canon obviously, took liberties with age and relations.
A/N: blar dee blar. Gabe seems to like tequila as much as I do…
~Summers-Rosenberg-Singer Residence
"I expected it to be smaller. You know, like, crack den small. With overgrown weeds in the front and a broken screen door and wood boarding up the windows. But this is decent." Jo stood in the driveway with Castiel, Dawn and Sam, taking in the house before them.
"We're not in Compton, Jo." Sam said, casting a wary glance at her.
It was, as Jo had observed, no crack den. Actually, it was rather nice, and she admired the screened in front porch lit with twinkle lights and covered in honeysuckle snaking its way up the sides, and was even more impressed at the bright blue door that had surpassed tacky and remained at endearingly eclectic. She turned to her twin, who stood very close to her elbow, holding a casserole dish covered in tin foil. "You look like a tool."
"I read somewhere that it's polite to bring prepared food dishes for your host." He looked nervously from his hands to everyone else's empty ones, and gulped. "I suppose you will be telling me my new cardigan is not up to par style wise?"
Sam eyed the grey sweater Cas was wearing, but noted that the blue button-down he wore underneath it had the pleasant effect of bringing out his eyes (which were wide with fear as the group continued to look over his outfit). Sam clapped him on the shoulder and shook gently. "Hey, no worries Cas. You look great. It's your sister I'm worried about."
"What." Jo scowled at him and looked down at her clothes. In ripped black stockings and a plaid skirt, matched with a Misfits tank top, she looked the polar opposite of her twin. "There might be boys here. Maybe we'll bag some college hotties, eh Dawn?"
Dawn smiled nervously and glanced at Sam, who pursed his lips and stared at the door in front of them. They stood in silence for a moment, hearing music blaring loudly behind the blue door. Jo scoffed, then pushed her way in front of the others and knocked loudly. The door swung open almost instantly and the music blasted out, as well as shouts and laughter from somewhere inside.
"Welcome to CASA DE AWESOME!" Gabriel greeted them, a sombrero tipped haphazardly on his head, a bottle of tequila and a bag of Doritos cradled in his arm. The group filed into the house, Gabe still chattering away happily, "Come on, we have to show you how we turned Pin the Tail on the Burrow into a drinking game-EXCUSE ME," He put a hand on Jo's shoulder, stopping her from following the other three, "but WHAT in the name of Castiel's virginity are you wearing?"
Dawn looked around the house, taking note of the changes since she last saw it empty on moving day a month or so ago. It was decorated in a mishmash of styles, and even considering Willow, Gabe and Buffy all had very different tastes (Willow was more warm and romantic, Buffy light and flowery, and Gabe, well, there was a fortress built of empty Pepsi cans sitting in the corner which Dawn assumed was his contribution to the interior design) it all seemed to flow together nicely. She felt warm and safe in the strange little house, even though there was what seemed like hundreds of people flowing in and out of rooms at any given time.
"How did they make this many friends so fast?" Dawn looked to Sam who seemed to be enjoying the hustle and bustle, and Castiel who looked downright petrified.
"I need to find Willow." Cas said loudly, clutching onto his casserole for dear life. With a quick look around though, Dawn could tell finding someone in the crowd of people would be difficult. She felt a strong hand grab her arm and found Sam pulling both her and Castiel through the mass, and towards the warm, yellow light flooding out of the kitchen. Buffy and Willow stood chatting in the corner, until they noticed the three enter the kitchen.
"Dawnie!" Buffy pulled her sister into a hug, and Dawn smiled into her sisters' shoulder. She hadn't seen her in a month, which was a lot longer than she had ever gone without even talking to her sister. She pulled away to see Castiel holding his casserole out at arms length to Willow, who looked both confused and appreciative.
"Thank you for inviting us to your new home Willow, Buffy. I pray you're settling in nicely." Castiel's eyes dropped to his shoes, and Willow smiled at him kindly.
"Gee, thanks Cas. No, really, this is great. We've been living on the Gabriel diet the last few weeks and I have to say, Kraft Dinner is NOT a healthy representation of all four food groups, no matter how much ketchup you put on it."
"BUTTER IS A FOODGROUP IN AND OF ITSELF." Gabriel shouted from the doorway, mid conga-line, but still clutching his tequila bottle.
"So how do you know so many people? You just started." Sam looked to the front door as more people piled into the little house. Willow and Buffy looked at one another and shrugged.
"We don't really know all of them. You mention the word party around campus and a whole bunch of people are bound to show up. Plus some of our new neighbours." Buffy looked around the room curiously, "Where's Dean!" Her smile slid as she turned to Dawn and Sam, who both looked away uncomfortably. Dawn felt awful at the look of disappointment on her sister's face, and cursed Dean for being such a stubborn ass. He hadn't even helped Buffy move into the house, and she was pretty sure they had had little to no contact the entire month.
"I told him about tonight, but he's been pretty busy with work." Sam looked apologetically at Buffy, frowning slightly, "Even I have hardly seen him, Buffy. He takes all these extra shifts and when he is home all he does is work on the car or lock himself in his room and sleep." With the look of sadness on her face, Sam was glad he spared Buffy the gory details of Dean's recent strange behaviour. Which included Sam finding him stumbling into the house at 5am, drunk as hell and breaking anything that crossed his path (which included, Sam remembered sadly, Dean's guitar signed by Angus Young) and ended up in a cursing pile in Sam's bedroom. He babbled mostly, but from what Sam could make out, all he was talking about was Buffy. How he missed her, how he loved her, how she was a bitch for leaving and he was too afraid to go see her. How he felt bad for calling her a bitch, and began softly sobbing and berating himself for, as he so eloquently slurred, "being a huge douchmonger assbutt." Sam knew Dean had always had feelings for Buffy, but he had no idea they were this strong.
"Don't worry, he might show up still." Willow said cautiously, but after catching an unsure glance from Dean, she shoved another beer into Buffy's hand and yelled into the living room, "GABRIEL, DARN IT, PUT MISS KITTY FANTSTICO DOWN AND BRING ME SOME TEQUILA, STAT!"
~Jo and Cas
Castiel had wandered off from his friends in search of a bathroom, and found it was probably the worst idea he had ever had in his short life. He somehow ended up in the conga line for a few minutes, desperately trying to claw his way out of the guacamole smelling dining room and finding himself opening the door to a closet instead of a washroom (the closet, to his horror was otherwise occupied by his big brother, shirtless but still in a sombrero, and a scantily clad blonde with Doritos in her shirt) until he finally squeezed himself into the staircase that led up to Willow and Buffy's bedrooms. Once on the second floor, which held almost no people save a few people wandering to and from the bathroom, Castiel heard a small whimpering noise that caught his attention. He stood still for a moment, listening hard, then turned and pushed open a bedroom door with a purple sign that read "Willow" in fancy, gold lettering. He poked his head inside and saw, as he expected, his sister sitting on the edge of Willow's bed. Her legs curled up to her chest and her blonde hair draped across her back and arms, she looked so small and fragile as Castiel carefully padded over and sat beside her. The only light in the room came from the window; a mixture of yellow streetlamp and pale, white moonlight fell on them both, and Jo raised her head slightly to look at him. Castiel stared at his sister, neither of them speaking as neither of them had to. The moonlight seemed almost too heavy for her, and it made her pale skin nearly translucent under its weight. Cas thread his fingers through her hair and pushed it back off her arm and face, locking eyes with her and desperately wishing, with every fibre of his being, that he could take whatever was making her sick and put it on himself. He wished so hard for this every day that it hurt his heart, though he tried not to let her see how sad it made him.
"But you can't hide anything from me, Twin." Jo said softly, and Castiel realized he had been trying quite hard to fix his face into a neutral gaze when he was desperate to break out in full-fledged worry. "I'm fine. It was just getting a little crowded down there. Needed some air." She sat up straight, turning to her brother and placing her hands in his. "Now, why must this always be about me? How are you, my dearest guardian angel?"
Castiel smiled and squeezed her hands, "I am fine, Twin. I've come to realize that I don't understand why people enjoy engaging in socially strenuous activities like house parties," he said the last words like he was describing a disgusting chore, and Jo snorted in laughter at his earnest expression, "but I do enjoy seeing my friends again. I've miss everyone. I've missed-"
"Gabe. Yeah, it's just not the same without him, is it?" She sighed and looked out the window again, a clear view of the street and the passing cars. "Well, we have Sam and Dawn. Though I'm pretty sure they'll be pairing off in no time and we'll be the ugly third wheel."
"Sam and Dawn?" Castiel asked, genuinely shocked at her prediction. Jo chuckled again and ruffled her brother's hair, shaking her head at him.
"Oh COME ON, don't you see it? They're totally gaga for each other. They just need to get a move on. Man, if I had a guy who looked at me the way Sam looks at Dawn, well…" and at Castiel's worried expression she placed a hand on his shoulder and cooed, "of course no man will take me away from you, Twin. We're the same person, you'll never lose me." With those words, Castiel felt his heart jump into his throat, and he knew she felt his uneasiness because she swiftly turned away from him. Her eyes drifted to the street again, and her face lit up slightly at the sight of something below. "Oh, hey!"
Castiel peered out the window as well and saw Xander sauntering up the driveway, two blonde people following behind him who Cas couldn't make out in the dark. Jo was already halfway across the room before she turned and looked to Cas, winked playfully, and then skipped out of the room.
He was left to sit, feeling as if he was sinking in the heavy moonlight, and wonder how he was going to bail himself out with just his bare hands.
"Xander!" Gabe, now including a shirt, threw his arms around his best friend before he even stepped foot in the house, and much to Xander's dismay, proceeded to get guacamole on his shoulder. He laughed though, and patted Gabriel's back before holding him at arms length and giving him a once over.
"Well, no strange facial tattoos, not visible sores or injuries. Looks like college is agreeing with you, my fine, intoxicated friend." Xander chuckled before being pulled into another rib cracking hug and a sloppy kiss on the cheek from Gabe before he wandered off to the sounds of people cheering on a keg stand. He looked to Jo and Cas who were watching from the staircase with an exasperated face, "Intoxicated isn't the word, has he been marinating in tequila all day?"
As he spoke, one of the blonde people who had followed him in, a girl, tugged on his shirtsleeve and said, in what Jo found to be an increasingly annoying whine, "Xander, why did that guy I don't even know try to hug me?"
"Anya, I told you, that's Gabriel. He's my best friend." Xander answered in an almost patronizing tone, and then turned to Jo and Cas again, "These are his siblings, Jo and Cas. Guys, this is Anya, a…er…friend of mine."
"Those are both names that are opposite to your genders. That's strange and rather confusing." Anya said bluntly, and Jo opened her mouth to retort before Castiel made a loud noise in clearing his throat and elbowing her in the side.
"And who is your other friend, Xander?" he asked curiously, eyeing the blonde standing directly behind him. Xander turned, revealing a young looking boy in a black leather motorcycle jacket and slicked back blonde hair. He looked around, unimpressed, and fiddled with the cigarette that was tucked behind his ear.
"This unfortunately is a relative of mine." Xander said tiredly, and the blonde scowled at him, scoffing.
"Like it's so bloody great to be related to you." He spoke in a sharp English accent, and rolled his eyes at Xander.
"This is William. He's a cousin of mine from England. His mother sent him to live with me and my parents because they figured I'd be a good influence on him." Xander explained begrudgingly, and William looked none too pleased with the story as well.
"William," Jo said suddenly, and as he turned to look at her she noticed his eyes were a striking blue, "well for someone in need of a good influence, William isn't such a badass name."
"My friends call me Spike, actually." he said, looking quite smug and smirking at Jo. Castiel looked from him to his sister, feeling slightly uneasy at the amount of eye contact going on.
"Oh, Spike? I'd love to hear the story on how you got that nickna-"
"AND we are moving on, getting drinks, being merry, SOMEWHERE ELSE." Xander grabbed Spike by the arm and pulled him into the dining room, Anya following close behind. Jo watched as Xander dragged Spike from view, though he got a wink in at her before disappearing around the corner. She found herself grinning stupidly, and felt her face flush when she noticed her twin starting at her, dumbfounded.
"What?" she snapped, crossing her arms and staring defiantly at Castiel.
"He's a delinquent, first of all. That's easy to see. Did you see the patches and stuff all over his jacket? He looks like he belongs in a motorcycle gang."
"Ohh, boy. What if he is? He probably has a motorcycle, wouldn't that be great?"
"Like HELL it would!" Castiel said, sounding much more shrill than he intended. Jo grit her teeth and glared at him in disbelief. "Don't even think about pursuing this, Jo. You'll only get hurt-"
"You know what, Castiel?" Cas flinched as she used his whole name, knowing that she was getting quite angry at him, "You can't think that stopping me from doing ANYTHING fun in life is going to fucking save me, because it won't. Stop trying to micromanage my life and let me live what I have left, okay? I'm sick and tired of your hovering!"
She began to storm away, and Cas stood with his mouth agape. "Twin…" he said, trying not to show the hurt in his voice. Jo didn't turn, just flicked her hand back at him angrily.
"Just leave me the fuck alone, Castiel!" she barked, and disappeared into the next room.
Cas felt as though he was submerged in cold water, his hearing muffled and his vision blurred slightly by tears forming in his eyes. He took a deep breath and turned, making his way back upstairs and into Willow's bedroom, where he curled up into a ball on her comforter, just hoping that his Twin would come find him this time.
