Chapter 3/12:

"Stop it."

"I'm not doing anything."

"Yeah, you are. You're smiling and it's creepy," said Gabriel, shuddering.

"I'm not smiling," said Luke as he felt his cheeks burn from stretching. He touched them and frowned through his smile. "I'm smiling?"

His confused voice made Gabriel to stare at him, and then he rolled his eyes, sighing. "Seriously? What the hell do you think I was saying a second ago?"

Luke tried to glare, but couldn't. And it would look silly, because he was still smiling. He couldn't stop himself. It was weird. The last time he smiled like this was probably… he trailed off. He never smiled like this before. He never smiled without a purpose. It was weird. Weirdly weird.

They made their way towards the parking lot after school. Their sister, Charlie, already left them hours ago, because she didn't go to school with them. And the only reason she came with them today was because she wanted to check "if there were any hot girls around". Luke had rolled his eyes at her, while Gabriel cheered her. Castiel wasn't around to say anything. Luke was positive he wouldn't say anything at all.

Luke had his sunglasses on, which were in a dark shade and he could look at anyone without them knowing he was watching. He wasn't going to admit that he was searching the crowd for a certain somebody with boy-ish looks. Whose hair was a bit longer and framed his face perfectly (Luke had to admit that he never thought he'd show interest in any boy with long hair). Who had deep brown eyes with golden irises, which would shine whenever he'd laugh. And who was tall. Really, mind-blowingly tall. Tall and muscly.

Honestly, Luke tired not to stare, but he couldn't. Once he saw him making his way towards his brother's car, he couldn't look away. Sam was with his brother and Castiel and an extremely short Japanese guy, who was talking animatedly with Sam and was making him laugh and smile. It seemed like they were discussing something that Luke couldn't hear because there was too much noise, too many people talking over each other. It was hard for him to concentrate only on one person.

Luke didn't know that he his hands balled up in fists, or that his gut was wrenching in painful twists, and he was having a hard time breathing.

He took an angry step forward.

Several things happened at once; Castiel quickly turned and looked at him, whispering his name in warning, Dean walked towards him, looking confused. And Luke felt someone grab his arm in a vice like grip.

"Easy there, brother," said Gabriel, squeezing his shoulder in warning. "He doesn't know you and you going there and doing something crazy won't help your case. At all. It'll only complicate things. Can't you see?"

Luke's jaw hurt from how much he was clenching his teeth angrily. He never felt jealousy like this before. Sure, he felt jealous of his oldest brother that his Father always preferred over him, but it never felt like this. It was raw and painful and it made him sick.

"Take him home, Gabriel. Now." Luke looked at Castiel.

"You don't order me around," growled Luke at him, whose expression turned grim. He heard him. Good.

"I'll take him home," Gabriel said and nodded at Castiel, before pulling Luke towards his car.

"I'm perfectly capable of going home by myself, Gabe."

"Yeah, I know, but you are not going to," said Gabriel shrugging. "Come on."

Luke literally growled at him and shrugged off Gabriel's hand from his shoulder. "No." He said in a tone of voice that breached no arguments. He walked towards where his motorcycle was parked. He swung his leg over it, put his helmet on and then took off as fast as he could from there. But not fast enough to miss hearing Castiel whisper, "Drive safe".

Luke didn't go home that night and when he showed up in the middle of lunchtime the next day at school and dropped on the seat next to Gabriel's, he didn't acknowledge him.

"Where were you?" asked Gabriel, few minutes later, almost conversationally. Luke knew it was his way of peace offering. He was always the peace maker in their house.

"Out," he answered shortly. He was wearing his sunglasses again. Maybe he had too much to drink last night.

"You staying, or going?" asked Gabriel as he ate a slice of pizza. Luke didn't answer, instead, he looked around the cafeteria; searching.

When he found him his heart did a double take and he left a long suffering sigh.

He was wearing a tight, navy, long-sleeved shirt. Which hugged his everything. He was sitting at the side of the table where Luke could see his profile. He had an easy smile on his face as he interacted with his friends. And he looked tired. He had bags under his eyes. Luke frowned. As he watched further he noticed two things; Sam had shaved and he didn't touch his food.

If he tried to say that the heavy sinking feeling wasn't concern, he'd be lying. Why wasn't he eating? Maybe he didn't like the cafeteria food? It wouldn't be that surprising since a lot of the students disliked it and brought their own lunch with them. But he was using the cafeteria food, but he didn't touch it. Luke was concerned.

"You're staring."

Castiel's voice cut through his thoughts and he searched the crowd to find his brother. He was sitting two tables away from Sam's. Dean was with him. Luke looked at him and then shrugged.

"You need to stop staring. It'll make it worse, Luke. Trust me. I know," said Castiel in gravely tone.

Luke didn't say anything. Instead he kept staring at Castiel. Castiel sat more upright, squared his shoulders and held his gaze. Luke was always proud of his bravery. He might have a small body frame, but if he wanted he'd be crazy intimidating.

They'd do this a lot, whenever they disobeyed orders from each other they'd stare and wait for one of them to look away first. The first time when this happened it was between Michael and Luke and that didn't end up well. With Castiel, it was different. Both boys held a mutual love and respect towards each other and it never ended up in a fight. They valued their brotherhood too much to end this with bloodied knuckles and split lips. And if they did fight, it felt like they were fighting their enemy.

Luke sighed and shook his head. Castiel's defensive stance relaxing as he did so. He got up from his chair and slowly made his way out of the cafeteria, without looking back or at anyone. Especially, him.

From the corner of his eyes, Sam saw as Luke stood up from his table and slowly made his way out from the cafeteria.

"Won't he get in trouble?" he asked, frowning.

Kevin turned and looked at where Sam was looking at and saw Luke leaving. He shrugged, "Maybe he will. Maybe he won't. I don't know. We never know how the Novak's work and how they can get out of so much trouble."

Sam nodded and didn't say anything. He tuned their voices off as he concentrated on what he was feeling right now. It was weird. He had never felt like this about anyone before. Even when he had a girlfriend he never really felt anything towards her. While, yes, she was beautiful, and every guy would die to have her as their girlfriend, he felt nothing but respect towards her. She'd always call him names and tell him that he was weak and undeserving of her love, which he'd agree with. In the end she left and Sam had never felt so relieved about it.

He never felt right when he was with her. He felt like he was incomplete with her.

The things he was feeling right now was something he had never encountered before. He had this pull in his heart that was urging him to go after Luke. It was terrifying and it somehow it felt right.

He looked around himself and then when he was about to get up, there was a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Castiel looking down at him, a small frown on his face. "A word, please?"

"Yeah, sure," they walked a bit away from his table and faced each other. Sam leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "What's up?"

Castiel looked around him for a bit and then asked, "Are you going to come to the party?"

Sam looked at him surprised. This wasn't a question he anticipated. "Uhm yeah, I-I guess? Since you guys are going and the guys are going to go too, I figured I might tag along?" he finished uncertainly.

Castiel nodded and then looked up at him. Sam didn't know why, but was sure that whatever he was about to say was going to be pretty serious. "At the party, stay close with someone that you know and trust."

"Cas, what do you mean?"

"You can stay with any of my siblings, too, and you can trust them as well, okay?" said Castiel, looking at him seriously.

"Is there something wrong? What's going on?" asked Sam, but Castiel was shaking his head and was backing off.

"Just promise me that you do as I said."

"I can take care of myself."

"I know," said Castiel, a small smile playing at the corner of his lip. "Just do as I said and everything will be okay, yeah?"

With that he turned and fast walked to where Dean was waiting for him. Dean waved at him and then took Castiel's hand. They both left the cafeteria without looking back, heads close and talking fast to each other.

After lunch break was over, Sam walked with Kevin to where their locker were. Kevin was talking about the assignment that they had to do for chemistry, but Sam was barely paying attention to him. His mind was preoccupied with what Castiel told him. He did look concerned and worried in a way that left Sam with no other choice but to accept Castiel's plea. If Castiel said to stay close with someone he trusted then he was going to do just that. After all, he wouldn't say such a thing to him without a reason, and this was, technically, his first 'party' after summer. It was too close to the summer's events and he didn't know how if he was going to last there for an hour, at least.

He sighed and unlocked his locker. He was about to pull out his books when he stopped. "What the…?" Garth peeked into his locker, since his was next to Sam's, and gasped so loudly that half of the corridor turned and looked his way. Kevin joined them from Sam's other side and his eyes doubled up in size.

"No way…"

"Oh my God!" Garth exclaimed so loudly that everyone was watching him. Sam looked at him, alarmed, he was about to close the door when Meg came behind him and looked into it too.

"Oh, fuck me."

There were murmurs from people around them and Sam was getting a prickly feeling from his neck. As if someone was watching him. Well, of course, people were watching him, but it felt like there were a pair of eyes that were concentrated exactly on him, not on the scene.

"Oh my God," breathed Garth again and Sam snapped back to reality and looked at the three of them. They looked right back at him in wonder.

"Can someone please tell me what the hell is that thing doing in my locker?" Sam said, his voice low. He was trying not to attract too much attention to it, but since he was friends with them there was no such thing as being too careful.

Garth frowned, "You don't know?"

"Well, if he didn't know, he wouldn't ask," Kevin said helpfully. Meg stayed quiet.

"No, seriously, dude. You don't know?" Garth asked in disbelieving tone, still frowning.

"Don't know what?" asked Sam. He felt lost. Completely.

"I mean, since your brother's dating Castiel, I thought you'd know how they got together. Since it's the Novak's sign," said Garth.

"The Novak's sign?"

"You've been claimed," said Kevin, shrugging as if he was commenting on the weather.

"C-claimed?" choked out Sam. "What?"

"You've been claimed by one of the Novak's'."

Silence.

Sam shifted. "Okay. Explain."

Kevin locked his locker and then leaned against it, his books in his hands. "They have this way to tell someone that they like them. But you won't know who it is, until they'll think it's the right time to… make the second move towards you."

"The first move is to claim you as the person they chose for them," continued Garth. "It's seriously an old thing to do. No one claims someone unless they are gonna get married, but in their case, it's different."

"Do you remember when Dean got his?" asked Kevin, titling his head forward a bit to look at Garth.

"Ooh yes. He was all over the place," said Garth. "Total geek moment for your brother. Because Castiel decided to give him an "Angel Blade"."

"A what?" asked Sam. Of course he knew what an Angel Blade was, but what the hell?

"An Angel Blade," said Kevin looking at Sam. "I hope you heard of it, right?"

"Of course. How did Cas got hold of it? I mean, they were gone from Earth. Thousands of years ago. No living person ever saw one."

"And yet, Castiel got hold of it, and now, it's in your brother's hands."

"Okay. What happened next?" How in the world Dean kept this from him? It was beyond him. They practically shared everything that would happen in their lives. He couldn't believe Dean kept this from him. He pursed his lips in annoyance.

"You know your brother. He had a total geek meltdown right in the middle of the hallway."

"Everyone was looking at him. Thinking he was going to lose his head," added Garth.

Kevin nodded, agreeing. "He didn't, of course, but he was close to losing it."

"We wouldn't be surprised."

"So yeah, no one knew what it meant or why it was in Dean's locker, but then one day we see him hanging out with Castiel, and then the rumors started to spread like wildfire around the school."

"After that, everyone started to check their everything, literally, because they thought that they were going to be the next on who attracted the Novaks."

"And now we know," said Kevin looking pointedly at Sam.

Sam shifted his height and looked back down into his locker. "So, you mean to tell me that one of the Novak's is attracted to me?"

"More or less. I wouldn't call it an 'attraction' or a 'crush', because it's something… more, with them. It's always something more."

Sam nodded. But then frowned and shook his head slowly. He looked up at Kevin. "I don't want a relationship."

"You have no choice."

"What do you mean?"

"If they claimed, then they claimed. There's no in between, there's no going back. They will drag you down, whether you want to or not."

"Like hell they will," said Sam fiercely.

"Are you sure?" asked Kevin, an amused smile on his lips.

"Yes."

"Then why are you holding that as if your life depends on it?"

Sam looked down and frowned. In his hand, clutching on a dead grip, was his claim which was a red rose. It smelled divine. It smelled like heaven. Sam couldn't help himself, he brought it up to his nose and took a sniff. It smelled amazing.

He felt eyes on him and he turned and started to look around the hallway. There was no one in there that was looking at him. He gently placed the rose back in his locker and then slowly shook his head. "I don't think I can do this."

"Why not?" asked Garth.

"I'm not looking for any kind of relationship. Not now anyways. But… I don't know guys. I don't like boys."

At this both of them chuckled at his statement. Garth said, "It doesn't matter to them if you do or not."

Kevin nodded, "If they cared about it, they wouldn't lay a claim."

"How am I to know, which one of them it is?"

"They'll approach you. Soon," said Kevin. Garth nodded.

He grabbed his books from his lockers and then bid them good bye as he headed for his class. Meg looked at Sam for a minute and then walked after Garth, since they were in the same class together. It struck Sam weird, that Meg didn't say any word throughout the whole conversation.

Sam carefully closed his locker and adjusted his books in his hand. He was about to turn and ask if Kevin was ready to go to class when suddenly, he felt the same prickling feeling at the back of his neck. Someone was watching him. He frowned and then looked to his right. People were walking here and there, leaving for their next class, kissing their friends goodbye, but only one person caught Sam's eyes.

Luke was at the far end of the corridor. He was leaning against the wall, with his leg hooked up. He was wearing black from head to toe, with black leather jacket, and he had black glasses on. Sam licked his lips slowly. He looked different from the others.

Sam couldn't look away from him.

Slowly, every sound, every move, faded away. There was a pull in his gut, a raw need, but he clutched his books tighter, and didn't move from where he stood. But he wanted to. He wanted to so bad.

Luke tilted his head to the side and gave him a small smile.

Sam swallowed. His mouth suddenly gone dry. He felt like he had to go to Luke. Like he had to go to him and take him in his arms and just hug him, because he needed to be closer to him. It was an alarming feeling. It was too strong and too intense.

It scared him. He licked his lips again.

"Sam?" there moment was broken by Kevin's voice. Everything went back to normal and Sam blinked. He quickly turned and looked at Kevin. "Ready to go?"

Sam turned back to his right and saw that the wall at the end of the hallway was empty once again. Sam shook his head and took a deep steadying breath, before replying. "Yeah, let's go."

Whatever Sam did, he couldn't concentrate in class now. His mind kept wandering back to the rose in his lockers. And Luke.

Especially, him.

Reviews and comments are appreciated :)