As it turned out, it was a 'quiet' night at Crossroads Lounge. Despite that fact, Castiel was finding it difficult to keep his thoughts on one track as the loud base from the musical numbers blared over the surround sound speakers, and with the giggling men and women on either side of him, he knew that he was going to have a migraine by the end of the night. As it was, the promise of Sam's company did help him stay sane. Especially when a middle aged woman sauntered up to the bar and almost immediately began flirting with him.
"Hey there, handsome." She purred, eying him up as though he were a piece of meat underneath her bright red pumps. Her cleavage was far too obvious with the slinky black number she was wearing, and coupling that with her perfume, Cas found himself feeling quite nauseous as he reclined as far away from the woman as he could without falling off of his stool. His eyes roamed the long bar, and unfortunately for him, Sam was otherwise occupied with a petite blond who appeared to be in a deep conversation with him.
"What's a nice boy like you doing in a place like this?" the woman continued, leaning forward, her brunette hair falling around her shoulders. Blue eyes continued to all but violate his personal space as she looked him over, and Cas found that he honestly could not find himself able to speak up in his own defense.
"Uh…" he stalled, trying to think of something, anything, really, that would get him out of this situation and back in a certain level of comfort.
"Oh, don't be shy." The woman pouted. "I don't bite…not hard, anyways."
"Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave him alone." An all too familiar voice said from Cas' right, and a moment later, the brunette was pushed back into her stool. "I think it's fairly apparent that he's not interested."
"Oh? And why do you say that?" the brunette asked, turning her attention to Cas' savior- Sam. "And how would you know?"
"Because he's my boyfriend." Sam replied sharply, seamlessly leaning across the counter and pulling Cas in for a quick kiss full on the lips before pulling back and looking the brunette defiantly in the eye. Cas fought to keep his features neutral as her eyes flicked back to him, although he could feel his cheeks burning and knew that he probably resembled a cherry at this point.
"Well, you can't blame a woman for trying." The brunette sighed, sliding off of her seat and adjusting her dress before sauntering off, no doubt in search of her next target. He watched her go, not even noticing that Sam was trying to get his attention until his hand fell on his shoulder.
"Hey. Cas. Castiel." The brunette was saying, his face worried. "You alright?"
Cas blinked.
"Look, sorry about that. I wouldn't have done it if she hadn't been so persistent, and I shouldn't have done it anyway. Are you alright?" Sam asked, rubbing the back of his neck. Cas absently noted that the brunette's hair was tied back in a low tail, and he was currently wearing a white tie, but before he could say anything further, the tall male had poured him a drink of some kind and planted it down in front of him.
"You look a little pale. Do you need me to take you to your room?"
Cas shook his head mutely.
"Are you sure?"
He nodded. He had a lot on his mind now, thanks to that, but at the moment, all he wanted was to sit right where he was and absorb what exactly had just happened.
Well, that was fairly obvious.
He'd just been kissed.
On the lips.
By someone he barely knew.
His day was just getting better and better, wasn't it?
-:-
Almost immediately after the show, Gabriel and Dean went over to the bar to grab some of the cleaning supplies to begin wiping down tables and chairs, only to find a slightly drunk Castiel chuckling with Sam about something that had to do with a lawnmower. As to what exactly the lawnmower had done, neither male was certain, but under normal circumstances they doubted that the pair would find it that amusing.
"Cas?"
"Gabriel." The dark haired male greeted brightly, whirling around in his seat and almost falling over. Luckily, however, Sam had been leaning fairly heavily on the bar, and was able to snag the other male's arm and haul him upright in his chair again with an amused laugh that sounded ever so breathless.
"Are you drunk?" the strawberry blond asked carefully, unsure of what to think about this. He'd never really seen his brother after he'd gotten old enough to get out of that damned house, so he didn't really know what to expect from his inebriated younger brother.
"Maybeeee…" Cas drawled, a little smirk crossing his features as he swung back around in his chair again, looking, for lack of a better word, like an excited two year old.
"Hey, Gabe, I'm headed ou- wow. Is Cas drunk?" Balthazar asked, backtracking from where he'd just been about to leave. "Who knew he had it in him?"
"Ha ha. Very funny." Cas rolled his eyes. "I am sitting right here, you know. Contrary to what you might think, I'm not deaf, just drunk. Or something."
"He's drunk." Gabe deadpanned back to Balthazar, who laughed loudly as he continued on his original path to leave the building.
"See you all tomorrow~!" he called just before the door closed.
Which left two sober males and two drunk males in the building. The majority of which who still had to clean up the floor and tables and then get back over to the Roadhouse.
At this point, it was beginning to look like an impossible task, but luckily, Gabriel had infinite patience when it came with dealing with alcohol and the aftermath of alcohol.
"Sam, you sober enough to clean up, or do I need to help you?" he asked briskly, beginning to move over to the counter.
"I'm good." Sam replied with a lazy salute. "I can still see only one of you, so I'll assume that means I'm cleared for duty."
"Yes it does. You know what to do." Gabe replied fondly. "Cas, you're obviously unable to do much without falling off your chair. You're cut off, and you need to sit there where you can't hurt yourself too badly. Dean, start cleaning the tables. I'll grab the mop from the back."
The small group broke up and began to do what they were told, Cas surprisingly included. And perhaps it was just because there was some alcohol involved, but the clean-up seemed to be done quicker than usual. Without any hesitation, Gabe sent Sam and Dean off to the Roadhouse and made sure that they didn't kill themselves as they crossed the back alley to get to the parking lot and through the front door, and then he turned back to his little brother.
"Come on, you." He muttered, moving over to the dark haired male and slinging an arm around his neck, "Time to get you to a toilet so you can hurl up whatever you were drinking."
"I'm not going to puke." Cas denied vaguely, staring up at the ceiling as Gabe began leading him across the floor towards the back exit. "Where're we going?"
"We," Gabe muttered as they got to the back alley, "Are going downstairs to my place. I don't think I trust you enough to be drunk under Ellen's roof just yet. She'll probably kill you for ruining her rug."
"I'm not," Cas said defiantly, "going to puke."
"Uh huh. You make it ten minutes and I'll believe you."
"Fine."
Snorting, the blond led Cas down two stairs to another door set into the wall, and within moments, he'd unlocked the door and was leading Cas down several more before a light flicked on, illuminating the room.
All things considered, it was fairly simple. It was all open, save for four large support beams that ran down the middle of the space, but comfortable. In the far back corner, the concrete walls that joined the corner were covered in a dark red fabric, and the bed itself looked more like a giant mattress or several that resembled more of a nest than anything, what with the hundred or so pillows and several blankets that lined it. Next to the bed, there was a narrow hallway that probably led back to the bathroom, and on the other side of the gap was the other corner, which had been turned into a miniature library. There was a kitchen lining the rest of the wall next to the reading nook, and it stretched all the way down to the entrance of the space. On the other side was a long living space, complete with several large, black leather couches and a widescreen television.
Cas didn't really comprehend any of this, though, as Gabe led him down the space and plopped him down on a simple wooden chair at the small kitchen table before going over to the sink and grabbing a glass of water for his brother.
"So, you enjoying being drunk?"
"It could be better." Cas replied, putting his forehead onto the cool tabletop.
"Why's that?" Gabe asked, sitting across from the dark haired male and setting the water down gently by his hand.
"Sam kissed me."
"What?"
Instantly, there was red colouring his vision, and he had to clench his fists to contain himself.
"Some older woman was flirting with me, and he helped get rid of her by saying he was my boyfriend. Then he kissed me."
Oh. Oooohhhh. Now it made sense.
"Let me guess. That was your first gay kiss." He teased lightly.
"Mhm." Cas moaned pathetically, not lifting his head.
"Little brother, there's a lot you don't know about the world you've stepped into." Gabe sighed, shaking his head. "Most of the people who work for me also happen to be fluid in their sexuality at the very least. Trust me, nothing will happen thanks to it. Sam was just doing what he thought he had to. Mind, he doesn't usually do that unless there's a good reason, so I'm going to assume that I'll be updated tomorrow on what happened and who it was that was flirting with you."
The blond smirked at the groan that came from Cas.
"Nauseous yet?" he asked with mock sincerity.
"I hate you." Cas growled, just as he bolted upright and leapt off the stool.
"At the end of the hall~!" Gabe sang as his little brother took off. Moments later, the sound of retching came to his ears, and the blond hummed a little tune as he got up to go check on him.
"I'm going to kill you." Cas groaned.
"Wait until tomorrow before you try that." He advised.
"I'll be dead tomorrow."
"Well, it's a good thing you lived today then."
"You're not helping."
"I'm not trying to."