Chapter Three: The Novaks
It turned out that Castiel would be seeing Sam on a regular basis. Not only did they have Biology and gym together, but English and lunch as well. They grew close, and Sam gladly endured the cold to sit and watch snowflakes with Castiel during break. Sam had some other friends, but he chose Cas over them each and every time. Castiel hadn't expected him to do that, but it made it all the better because of that.
The one time Sam would leave Cas on his own was during gym. Sam was much more restless than Cas, and although that didn't make a difference when he was stuck in a school desk, it certainly did when he could be up running around instead. Sam always made sure to come back occasionally to sit with Cas and talk for a bit. Castiel liked that.
One time, Sam even got Cas to play a bit of basketball himself.
"C'mon. Just a short game of HORSE. I bet I can kick your ass." Sam teased, dribbling the ball in front of Cas.
"Sam, I really do not think I am good at athletics."
'So what? It's not tryouts or anything." Sam offered out his hand to Cas, who looked at it hesitantly.
Castiel pondered for a moment longer, but placed his hand in Sam's, who pulled him up off the gym floor. Sam tossed him the ball, and he caught it clumsily. Castiel followed Sam towards one of the far basketball hoops, away from the other groups. He looked back and saw several people talking and looking in their direction. They all snapped their heads away when they realized Cas was looking, but he still saw them cast a few stray glances.
Sam noticed what Cas was looking at and stole the ball from his hands. Castiel turned his attention back to them.
"Ignore them. You know how to play?"
"No, I told you I am not good at this sort of thing."
Sam shrugged. "I'll teach you, it's easy." He went through a quick overview of the rules, and Castiel nodded his head in understanding. "I'll start."
Sam positioned himself to take a shot, slightly to the left of the hoop. He lifted his hands and tossed the ball in, and it fell into the net easily. "Piece of cake."
Castiel was not sure this game resembled anything like a piece of cake. He warily took the ball from Sam and stood where Sam had before. He tried to mimic Sam, and his hands. He chucked the basketball toward the net, and it soared over backboard. Castiel looked over to his friend, who gave him a look of desperation.
"I now have an H, correct?"
Sam laughed a little. "Uh, yeah. Your turn to make a shot."
Castiel scrambled after the wayward ball and returned to the hoop. He picked a spot awkwardly close, and tried to launch the ball into the air and into the net. It came back down with a small arc, almost hitting Castiel in the face. Once again, Sam was laughing.
"Try backing up a little."
Castiel did as he was told, and once more threw the ball up towards the net. This time, it at least hit the backboard, but failed to actually go in. This went on for several minutes, until miraculously, Castiel actually got it in the hoop. He beamed at Sam, who high-fived him in return.
Sam easily copied the shot, and so the game went. Sam never missed a shot, and Cas racked up letters like it was nobody's business. He didn't mind losing so badly though. Hey, he'd even made a basket. He couldn't wait to tell Gabriel.
Gym ended, and the boys changed in the locker rooms, and headed out to the parking lot again together.
"Hey, wanna do something Friday?" Sam asked, breaking Cas away from his daydreams.
"What do you mean?"
Sam's face became confused. "Uh, like, hang out. Are you busy?"
Castiel blinked. He hadn't hung out with someone in a long, long time. "No, I do not have any prior plans. What do you suggest we do?"
"I dunno, could we go to your house?"
Castiel froze a little. "Wouldn't your house be more preferable?"
"No!" Sam blurted, a little too quickly. "Uh, sorry. I just mean that Dean's not going to be home."
"Is your father or mother occupied as well?" Castiel asked. That question made Sam's face grow dark, so much that even Castiel picked up on it.
"Did I say something insensitive?"
"No, you didn't know, it's just- Dean's my only family." Sam said the words quickly through a thick throat, and kicked the gravel.
"I apologize." Castiel paused for a moment. "I suppose we could go to my house, if Dean is occupied. You should be aware my brothers will be home, though."
"That's not a problem," replied Sam, looking back up from the ground.
"I am not sure you understand what my brothers are like."
Sam laughed. "They can't all be as bad as Michael."
No, Castiel thought. They can be much worse.
Friday rolled around, and when the boys headed out to the cars, Sam didn't get into the Impala with Dean.
"I'll just text you later," he told his brother.
"Fine with me, Sammy." Dean called back and pulled out.
Gabriel showed up, and saw Sam and Cas standing by the car.
"Hey, kiddo, who's this?" Gabriel asked around a sucker that was occupying most of his mouth.
"This is what I wanted to tell you the other day, Gabriel. This is my friend, Sam Winchester. He is going to come over today."
Gabriel slowly took the sucker out of his mouth, a little confused. Cas had landed himself a friend. "Uh, hey, Sam."
"Hi, nice to meet you." Sam was surprised to see Gabriel was Cas's brother. He seemed so different from the quiet boy he had met a few days ago.
"Well, everyone in." Gabriel replaced his sucker and hopped in the car, followed suit by Castiel and Sam. Gabriel talked to Sam while Castiel gazed out the window quietly.
"So, Sam, where you from?"
Sam shifted a little in the backseat. "Nowhere, really. I move around a lot."
"Did you just move here?"
"Yeah, that's how I met Cas. He showed me around the school my first day."
Gabriel nodded slightly, and went back to driving.
It wasn't long before they pulled up to the Novak house, fancy cars parked all along the driveway. Sam's eyes widened at the beautiful home. It had stone walls, and a perfectly landscaped yard with a large, fountain-like bird bath. Large glass windows opened up like eyes across the face of the house.
"Wow, Cas. Your house is awesome."
Castiel shrugged. "I do enjoy it."
The three of them went into the house, and Gabriel dumped his stuff on the ground, while Castiel took Sam's and his own and placed them carefully on the rug. Castiel kept looking around warily, trying to keep an eye out for his brothers.
"Let's go to my room. It's quieter there."
Sam agreed and followed Cas into his room. It was simple, with a bed pressed up against the wall, and a couple desks on the others. The walls were a cool grey, and the carpet was a plush white. A TV occupied one of the walls, with a game console on the entertainment center.
"Would you like to play a videogame?" Castiel asked Sam. He only had a few games, given as half-hearted birthday presents from his dad. His dad was so busy all the time, Castiel never saw him, and as a result, his dad really had no clue as to what Castiel liked or disliked. Eventually, he just stopped sending presents. That was okay with Castiel. The video games were taking up space where he could put books instead.
Sam looked at the sparse collection. "Why don't we just watch TV instead?"
This was agreeable to Castiel. He gave control of the remote over to Sam, who flicked through a couple of channels. He settled on the Discovery Channel, where an episode of Mythbusters was playing.
"Good with you?" Sam offered the remote to Cas in case he wanted to change the channel.
"No, I enjoy this show. I like the science."
"I like the explosions."
The two watched through a couple episodes when Castiel stood. "Would you like something to eat?"
Sam nodded and got up to follow Cas. A brief panic flashed through Castiel's eyes. "It's not necessary for you to come. I'll be back quickly."
"Nah, it's fine."
Castiel swallowed, and hoped his brothers wouldn't be in the kitchen.
Castiel had no such luck however. Another, tall, lean brother had his head buried in the fridge. He reminded Sam more of Gabriel, with the same sandy-blonde hair.
"Wait right here." Castiel said quietly, and Sam did so. Castiel tried to squeeze towards the pantry without making much noise, but the creak of the closet door betrayed him. The brother took his head away from the fridge to glance at Cas, who looked mortified.
"What the hell are you doing?" He growled, a threatening tone to his voice.
"Just getting some chips for my friend and I." Castiel let out in a tiny voice.
The brother turned around to see Sam awkwardly leaning in the door frame. "You don't have any friends," the brother replied, going back to Cas.
"I do now." Castiel said quietly.
"No you don't. That kid will realize how much of a freak you are, and ditch out." The brother turned to look at Sam, and smiled wickedly, before snapping his gaze back to Cas. "Give me the chips."
Castiel stuck out his hand quickly and handed the chips over to his brother. His brother turned back to the fridge, and pulled out two cokes.
"Are those the only ones left?" Castiel asked, barely above a whisper.
"What did you say?" The brother snarled.
"Are there any more cokes?" Castiel squeaked a little louder.
"Nope. These are mine." And with that, the brother was gone. Castiel quietly grabbed some pretzels, and two water bottles from the fridge.
"Is water alright with you, Sam?"
"Water's great, Cas." Sam said, not even trying to hide the pity in his voice.
They returned the Castiel's room, and sat back down on the floor, and munched quietly on the pretzel sticks until Castiel spoke.
"I am sorry you had to see that. That's Lucifer. He's the worst. The name is rather fitting in my opinion. My other brothers, they mostly just dislike me. Lucifer hates me."
Sam was unsure of how to respond, but it wasn't necessary, because Castiel began to talk again.
"Michael, well you met him, he's the oldest, and thinks he's in charge. He might as well be, considering my dad is never home. Lucifer is next. I think that he feels overshadowed by Michael, and that is why he is so aggressive. Uriel and Raphael are twins, and they were adopted by my father. He likes to project a humanitarian image. Balthazar is almost never home. He enjoys parties and women. As does Gabriel. They are probably my two tolerable brothers. Although, Balthazar does not put up with me like Gabriel does."
"Your family has interesting names." Sam internally smacked himself. That was probably one of the worst things to say.
"My father is creative, you could say."
The two were quiet for a little longer, but Sam eventually found something to say.
"Hey, do you want to go to my place next time?"
Castiel nodded. "I think I would like that."
The tension lifted, and the boys went back to their TV. After an hour or so, Sam's phone buzzed.
"Dean's here. I gotta go."
"Okay, I will see you on Monday." Castiel walked Sam towards the door, just in case another brother was looming around the corner, and waved a little sadly as Sam jogged down the driveway to the Impala. As he shut the door, and turned around, he came face to face with Lucifer.
"He's going to run away, Cas. You know I'm right. He's going to stand behind your back and whisper," Lucifer lowered his voice. "'Cas is a freak. A loser. A nobody.'" Castiel's brother laughed, and Castiel felt his eyes sting.
"No, Sam is different. Sam is my friend."
A sharp crack sounded as Lucifer smacked Cas's cheek. The pain and surprise was enough to coerce a couple tears from Castiel.
"That's right. Cry like the little bitch you are."
Castiel ducked under Lucifer's arm, and scrambled back to his room.
From beneath the pillow he had over his head, he heard yelling that sounded a little like Gabriel and Lucifer. After a while, the fighting died down and he heard a knock on his door. Gabriel pushed it open and stepped inside.
"Hey Cassie, want some gummy bears?"
Castiel rose off the bed and dug his hand into the bag Gabriel was offering out to him. He knew his was Gabriel's version of sympathy - he rarely shared candy with anyone.
"Thank you, Gabriel." Castiel nibbled on a gummy bear and looked up at his brother.
"No problem, Cassie." With that, Gabriel was gone.
Castiel settled back onto his bed, and pulled out a book. He opened it to where he had left off, and let himself disappear into the pages, where nothing could bother him.