Dean stumbled out of Castiel's shower and ran the towel over his hair one last time before smiling towards where Sam was snuggled close to Gabriel.
"Thanks for letting me borrow your shower again." Castiel yawned and stood up from where he was sitting on the corner of the bed. The two boys had woken up earlier than usual to go for another jog, once they had returned Dean begged until Castiel finally gave in and let him borrow his shower.
"I still don't understand why you couldn't just use the one upstairs." Cas grabbed a towel and walked to the restroom before shutting the door closed. Dean yawned again and stretched before grabbing his phone and taking a picture of the sleeping boys.
"Total blackmail material." Dean grabbed one of Castiel's shirts that had black printed wings on the back and threw it on before shaking the boys awake.
"Ugh what time is it?" Sam yawned and asked sleepily while rubbing his eyes and looking over to an equally sleepy Gabriel.
"Sammy it's already 7:30. You missed your time to go for a run now you need to go and get ready for your classes." Sam groaned and pushed Gabriel onto the ground before getting up and running upstairs with a grouchy golden haired boy chasing after.
" Cas what do you want for breakfast?! Your choices are cereal or cereal." Cas rolled his eyes and quickly finished his shower before sticking his head out of the partially open door.
"Then cereal." Dean grinned and headed towards the kitchen. He reached into the cabinet and grabbed some bowls and the boxes of cereal. Just as he finished putting the things on the table someone started banging on the door.
He walked over and groaned when he opened it. He looked behind him and grabbed onto the girl's arm yanking her outside before shutting the door behind them.
"What the hell are you doing here?! I thought I was completely clear last night!" Dean pinched the bridge of his nose as Lisa pouted and crossed her arms.
"You didn't mean any of that baby, I know you didn't. I mean come on, look at me, who can resist this girl?" Dean leaned against the railing and lets his eyes slowly rake over her body.
"See baby? I know you didn't mean it, come on. Let's go back to my place and I'll make things right." Lisa sauntered over slowly and placed her hands on Dean's chest before gently locking lips with him.
Dean smiled and placed his hands on her waist before gently pushing her away. Lisa looked up at him confused and disappointed.
"You're wrong you know, about my brother and friends. You're also wrong about whether I meant it or not. I look at you and I see nothing Lis, I feel nothing and I've been that way for awhile. You're wrong about being irresistible, I can definitely resist you. Now I'm only going to say this once. Get off my front steps, get out of my face, and get out of my life. I don't need someone who treats my family wrong. Now get." Lisa's eyes watered before she slapped Dean and ran off. Dean stood there watching her go and rubbing his cheek before he turned and went back inside.
"Where were you?" Sam looked up from his bowl of cereal as Dean shut the door behind him.
"I just had to take care of something." Sam nods and leans back in his chair looking down towards Castiel's room before speaking again. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you and Lisa are cancelling on our double date today would it?" Dean sighed and sat across from Sam before nodding.
"I broke up with her Sammy... she was the light of my world, but I realized how she acted towards you and Cas and Gabe and I knew...I knew she was only using me for my money. I saw her with Matt, I chose to ignore it though...I don't know why I was with her for all those years. I look at her now and I don't feel anything I used to for her." Sam quirks an eyebrow and takes a deep breath before giving a small smile.
"You seem so upset about the break up though... will you be okay?" Dean nods and smiles.
"I was gonna ask her to marry me...I was going to ask her in hopes of it fixing whatever was wrong with our relationship." Sam bites his lip and looks behind Dean at where the Novak brothers were walking out from Castiels room and lowers his voice.
"Are you going to tell them?" Dean shakes his head and looks away.
"Not yet anyways, I'll tell them later." Sam nods and give a small smile and pats his hand gently.
"Besides not like you can say hey guys I was gonna get married but now I'm not because my ex was a ruthless bitch." Dean chuckles and shrugs as the boys stop walking and look towards him.
"Hey guys, morning!" Sam smiles widely.
"Oh um morning...did you just say Dean's gonna get married?" Castiel looks over at Sam, who in turn looks to Dean with wide eyes.
"y-yeah...Dean was gonna tell you guys..." Sam winces slightly as Dean kicks him under the table and glares at him.
"Oh." Castiel looked on the verge of tears in Sam's opinion and he felt bad for lying. He looked over to see Gabe biting his lip and looking at his brother worriedly. Cas smiles and ruffles Dean's hair.
"Well then congratulations Dean. We should celebrate and all tonight...I would say right now but I need to go otherwise I'll be late for my test." Dean looked over at Castiel confused as the young male grabbed his things and headed to the door without another glance back.
"What about your cereal?" Cas opened the door and shrugged.
"Not hungry, I seem to have lost my appetite earlier. See you guys later." Cas rushed out and slammed the door behind him.
"What was that about?" Dean looked over at Gabe who shrugged and grabbed his things.
"He wasn't feeling well I guess. I'll check on him before he gets to class, see you guys tonight." Sam nodded and waved at the boy as he chased out after his brother.
"Dude what the hell?! I'm NOT getting married! why the hell did you say I was?!" Sam shrugged and gave a sheepish smile.
"He misheard me and you didn't want to tell him yet about the whole break up thing so I just went along with it!" Dean rolled his eyes and kicked Sam again.
"Yeah because that's so much better! Now I have to pretend like I'm actually engaged!" Sam rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.
"Sorry...I'll go fix it if you want.." Dean shook his head and yawned.
"Nah forget it, I'll tell him later." With that the two finished their cereal and headed to class. Castiel avoided Dean and Sam the next couple of days and Gabriel made excuses for him saying things like he was sick or busy studying or asleep for that matter. Dean had planned to set things straight that night when they were supposed to be celebrating his fake engagement but Cas had already cooked and retired to his room by the time Dean had gotten home.
Gabriel had stayed in Castiel's room the next few nights to try and cheer him up but to no avail. The more he tried it seemed the more Castiel pulled away.
Finally Saturday had come and the boys were all in their rooms packing, they had decided to stay the weekend. Gabriel walked over to Sam's room and started begging for his candy which caused Dean to chuckle.
"Samwich pleeeeaase! I need it!" Sam merely rolled his eyes and walked down to the kitchen to grab a tub of candy and carry it back to his bag of clothes.
"Fine, jeez Gabe you sound like a druggie. I'll give you a few pieces for the road but the rest I'm keeping away from you." Gabriel groaned and nodded after taking the candy being held out to him.
"You guys ready?" Dean walked into Sams room with a bag over his shoulder and keys in his hand. Sam nodded and looked to Gabriel.
Gabriel fidgeted a bit and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well see, Castiel wants to take his car so that you guys don't get sick..." Dean rolled his eyes and walked downstairs with Sam and Gabriel right behind them. The three boys put their bags by the door and walked towards Castiel's room.
"Cas open up." Dean knocked on his door and they all heard a shuffle behind the door.
"Hang on Dean, step away from the door, I don't want you guys to get sick." Sam rolled his eyes and shoved past the two boys in front of him and into Castiel's room. Cas looked up surprised and looked away.
"Jeez Cas! What's wrong with you?! Are you okay?" Dean shoved past his brother and placed his hands on Castiel's cheeks and lifted his face to examine it. Cas blushed a little at the closeness of their faces and nodded.
"I thought you were just lying about being sick but look at you, are you sure you're up for the trip back home?" Castiel nods and looks away. His skin was paler than usual and his eyes were red and puffy, he also had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and his nose was red. Truth was, he wasn't actually sick. He was just up constantly crying and not eating or sleeping. Only Gabriel knew this and the sight of his brother like this broke his heart.
"So now that you see how I look...do you believe I'm sick?" Cas questioned Dean and slowly reached up to remove Dean's hands from his face.
"Yeah...but if you take your car your just wasting gas. I can take you guys we all fit you know." Cas nodded and sighed before grabbing his bag.
"Alright...fine but if you get sick don't say I didn't warn you." Sam smiles and pulls Gabe out of the room and grabs Castiels bag from him.
"We'll go load our bags and wait for you in the car." Dean nodded and threw the keys to Sam. After the two boys left Dean sighs and pulls Castiel into a huge hug.
"Dammit Cas, you should've come to us earlier so we could nurse you back to health." Cas merely nods and returns Dean's hug before pulling away.
"If we don't go now, we'll have to listen to a lecture from mom about being punctual." Dean chuckles and throw his arm around Castiel's shoulders, he quirks an eyebrow in surprise as Cas wraps an arm around him and cuddles in closer to him. Dean shrugs it off and chalks it up as Cas being cold as they walk to the car.
The ride back home was a long and quiet one, Castiel finally relaxed enough to fall asleep with his head resting on Gabriel's shoulder. Gabriel had gotten tired of bugging Sam for candy so he finally opted for playing a game on his phone while Sam was reading. By the time they got home Castiel had woken up and looked a million times better than he had before. They pulled into the driveway behind John's truck and looked out to see Mary, Eve, Chuck, and John all sitting on the porch waiting for them. When they all got out of the car they were tackled in hugs and kisses.
"It's so great to see you boys again!, It's so quiet when you guys are gone, I keep thinking I'll hear you boys running down the stairs arguing." Mary smiles and sighs after hugging her children and dragging them inside. John and Chuck unload the four backpacks from the trunk and follow everyone inside.
"You four go get cleaned up for dinner." Eve pushed the boys towards the stairs and smiled.
"Oh and Castiel, you're sharing a room with Dean. Gabriel you're bunking in Sam's room." Before anyone could protest their bags were shoved into their arms and pushed up the stairs. By the time they came back downstairs after settling in they were sat at the table.
Mary practically shoved Dean in the seat next to Castiel and Eve shoved Gabriel in the seat next to Sam. After a few minutes of eating lasagna and talking about the past week at school the table fell silent.
"Mary..." Dean looked over at his mom and Dad and saw Eve and Chuck give him and the others a small smile.
His mom cleared her throat and waited until every pair of eyes were on her. "Boys we have some news." Dean and Sam exchanged looks before looking back at the parents at the end of the table.
Mary bit her lip unsure of how to go on before taking a deep breath and smiling. "We're merging the hospitals." The four boys smiled and nodded.
"Well it's about time mom, good for you guys. Why was this so hard to tell us?" Sam looked from his parents to Cas and Gabe's parents who started fidgeting.
"You boys need to get married." Cas was the first to speak this time, breaking the silence.
"Well Dean seems to already have that covered, he's engaged to Lisa." Dean looked at everyone wide eyed and saw his parents face fall.
"What? wait. no I'm not engaged!" Dean quickly corrected looking at Castiel.
"But that day-" Sam cut Castiel of this time.
"You misheard Cas, Dean said he was going to ask her to marry him but he didn't." Castiel nodded in understanding and sighed, in a completely better mood. Then he remember that his parents were watching and saw them give him understanding smiles.
"Anyways now that, that is out of the way. Back to the main focus. You boys need to get married." Eve smiled and took her husbands hand.
"Scratch that, you boys are getting married. Tomorrow in fact." This caused a chorus of exclamations from the boys and even the sound of a couple of people choking on their food.
John smiled at Castiel who was patting Dean's back gently and rubbing small circles the same way Sam was doing to Gabriel. He looked over to the other adults and stood up at the head of the table.
"Who pray tell will we be marrying?" Gabriel asked as soon as he found his voice.
John met every pair of eyes and stood up straight. "Castiel and Dean, Gabriel and Samuel." The boys kept watching John as if waiting for more information before they all finally understood and froze. Sam and Castiel quickly took their hands off the other boys.
"That's not possible! I have a girlfriend! I love Jessica, this isn't fair! I can't get married to Gabriel and especially not so soon!" John quirked an eyebrow before reaching over and handing Sam his phone. Sam looked confused and slowly took it while noticing the sad faces plastered on their parents.
"Call her Sammy... She's been keeping in touch with your mother and she said after we tell you all the news...for you to call her..." Sam nodded and quickly dialed her number and put her on speaker so everyone could hear.
"Sam?" Sam cleared his throat and answered while everyone either looked at the table or at Sam.
"Yeah Jess, listen I just got this crazy news from my parents-"
"Sammy I know...look...I told them to tell you to call me afterwards because...there's no easy way to put this..." Sam could feel all the color drain from his face.
"Jess what are you talking about?"
"Sam, you're a great guy and I love you but...you don't feel the same for me..."
"Jess, I love you, what are you talking about. Your my whole life sweetheart..."
"No Sam, I'm not...I noticed it the same year we started dating...you might love me but not the way I love you...Sam you have never treated me the way you do with Gabriel...I must admit it was a shock for me at first especially since we had only been dating for a year. I decided to keep dating you because I hoped it was just my imagination but here we are 3 years later and...you're still the same..."
Sam looked up to see his fathers sad eyes and let his eyes fall on Deans hand that was now on his shoulder in a comforting squeeze. "Jess I don't understand, how do I treat you differently?"
Eve and Chuck looked over to where Gabriel was listening intently with a blush on his face. Then they looked over to where Castiel had his hands in his face. Dean had made a huge space between him and Cas when the announcement was made. Eve bit her lip when she saw Castiels hurt look.
"Sam you can't tell me you haven't noticed, when I was sick you told me 'I hope you get better and rest up' yet whenever Gabriel so much as had a stomach ache you were at his side instantly holding his hand and not moving so much as an inch away from him...When I was cold you gave me your jacket...Whenever Gabriel was cold you would give him your jacket and pull him into your side while grabbing a blanket and covering the both of you with it..."
Sam bit his lip and looked over at Gabriel who was shaking slightly, he then turned to see every eye in the room on him. He met Dean's eyes and clenched his teeth before clearing his throat slightly.
"Jess you must be mistaken..."
"No Sam...everyone has seen it, even my friends...we all notice how wide you smile and how your eyes light up every time Gabriel is around...I was jealous of him once you know...but then I realized...I would never be able to have you if you were in love with Gabriel... I can't even compete with that Sam...so this is me saying goodbye, this is me breaking up with you. If one day you realize that everything I said is no longer true and your feelings change...I hope I'll be the one you come to"
Sam felt his eyes water as he clenched his jaw tighter and let his gaze fall to the phone.
"Jess..."
"Goodbye Sam, be true and honest with yourself. Congratulations on your wedding by the way... Remember...sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together..." Before Sam could say anything else there was a click and the line went dead. Sam rose from his seat slowly and didn't meet anyone's eyes as he walked upstairs to his room and slammed the door shut causing everyone to jump.
"The wedding is tomorrow at 12:00. Your outfits are already in your rooms... You won't get out of this boys...I'm sorry..." Mary looked to her husband before squeezing his hand and meeting Dean's eyes.
"This is bullshit." Dean stood up and slammed his hands on the table.
"Watch your mouth young man, while you are in this house you will follow my rules." John stood up straighter and stared his son down.
"This isn't like old times with arranged marriages! There is no fucking reason why I should be made to marry Castiel!" Castiel's eyes grew wide.
"Dean you boys won't get out of this. I already told you." Dean rolled his eyes at his father and got even angrier.
"Oh shut up already! I know you'll force me into this fucking marriage! Doesn't mean I have to like it! I don't want to get married and I sure as hell don't want it to be Castiel if I do! Do I look gay to you?! I am not Gay! Did you guys think I was too stupid to notice Cas watching my every move?!" Sam had heard Dean yelling and slowly came back downstairs to see what it was about. Once he understood where Dean was going with his argument he tried to stop him.
"Dean, that's enough...stop already..." Dean looked to his brother and ignored him.
"Did you think I didn't notice how jealous he got when I was with Lisa?! Or how hurt he was whenever I went with her?! Did you really think I didn't know Castiel was a fag?! Yeah I knew but I stayed silent about it! Wanna know why?! Because it's fucking disgusting! It's unnatural, it's sick! I would rather die than be married to Castiel!" Dean slammed his hand down again and only then noticed the horrified look on everyone's face.
Dean bit his lip and felt his anger immediately recede, leaving him in nothing but sadness, guilt, and regret for everything he said. He never meant any of what he said he was just hurt that he had to be forced into a marriage and he ended up taking it out on Castiel. Poor Castiel, his best friend, who he finally mustered up the courage to look over at.
What he saw broke his heart, Castiel had tears running down his face and was trying ferociously to scrub them away and stop them. Dean reached out and gently touched Castiel's shoulder making him jump to his feet and move away to stand behind the now pissed Mary Winchester.
"Cas...I..." Before he could say anything else he felt a sharp sting against his cheek.
"Mary...it's okay...it's fine...thank you really but...everything he said was true...it's okay he was just saying what he felt..." Dean reached up to his now throbbing cheek and met everyone's sad looks as Castiel ran out the front door.
"Dean and Sam. Sit. Down. Now." Dean hesitated and took his seat again next to Sam as his mom proceeded to yell and scream and lecture him about his actions. Dean tuned her out and could only think about one thing.
Castiel.
