"Sam what the hell did you do?" Dean hissed the instant they were in private.

"I don't know.. What did I do?" Asked a confused Sam.

"Okay, do not play stupid," Dean whispered angrily. "You invited him and you know you did. How did you find out who to invite? Did you go through my phone? Or tell Gabe?"

"What are you t-" Sam began to ask.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Dean accused. "Otherwise Cas wouldn't be here right now."

That seemed to set off the light-bulb in Sam's brain.

"Wait a second, you like Cas?" Sam asked with a grin.

"No shit, Sherlock," Dean said, slapping his brother in the back of the head.

"Dean, I did invite Cas. But I didn't know that you like him," Sam whispered.

"Bullshit."

"I didn't. I didn't know he was in your class. I doubt he even knows were related," Sam began to explain. "Look, he works with me. I haven't talked to him that much, but he seems like a nice guy so I invited him... So you like Cas?"

"So you really didn't know?" Dean asked, beginning to believe his brother.

"I really didn't know," Sam reassured Dean. "So I guess you're the one who really got embarrassed by you and Gabe dancing."

"Shut up," Dean said, before leaving the kitchen to go find Ash or someone to talk to.


As he was walking he heard a loud whistling next to him and turned towards the noise.

"Gabe, did you just cat-call me?" Dean asked.

"Maybe," Gabe admitted. "You had your grumpy face on, thought maybe I could fix it."

"I did not have my grumpy face on," Dean argued. "I had my I'm-fucking-tired-thanks-to-sleep-deprivation-and- my-bed's-been-turned-back-into-a-couch-and-Sammy's -birthday-party's-going-on-so-I-can't-take-a-nap-f ace on."

"I think we're going to have to shorten that title," Gabe suggested. "Even the acronym would be way too long."

"I know, I almost choked to death saying it," Dean joked.

"Well would it helped if I slapped you across the face?" Gabe asked. "I think you would be much more awake then."

"Maybe, but I wouldn't advise trying it," Dean replied. "I might just end up bitch-slapping you back."

"Well then I'll just do this!" Gabe said, lunging towards Dean.

Gabe head-butted his friend in the stomach, knocking him to the ground.

"What the hell Gabe?" Dean asked, writhing under the other man's grip.

Gabe didn't release his grip on Dean, though. Instead he began to tickle the larger man's stomach.

Through hysterics, Dean managed to shout, "Damn you Gabe! ...Stop it!" Dean then began to, in a very manly fashion, start slapping at Gabe and pulling his hair. At this point he had entirely forgotten that he didn't want to look like an idiot in front of Cas. It was too late anyways.

"I didn't catch that? Can you repeat it?" Gabe asked, playing dumb.

Dean suddenly kicked Gabe in the stomach pushing him to the ground next to him.

"I said to stop fucking tickling me," Dean said, leaning over Gabe. "I would have preferred the bitch slap."

Dean went to stand up as Gabe did the same thing. They held a few seconds of glaring eye contact before Gabe slapped Dean hard across the face.

"You said that you wanted the slap," Gabe said innocently.

Dean immediately slapped Gabe, "I said I'd slap you back."

"Slappy fight or truce?" Gabe asked, completely seriously.

"Mmm.. I think slappy fight. Since you attacked me first and I got way less hits in," Dean replied, but gave him a look that meant he planned something completely different.

"Well alright then," Gabe responded. "3...2...1..."

"Attack!" Dean called, grabbing a shocked Sam by the arm.

Sam was on the ground being tickled on the floor before he understood what was happening.

"I hate you two!" Sam yelled, fighting for an impossible chance to escape.

"And we love you too, Gigantor," Dean taunted. "Did you really think that we were only going to embarrass you with our dancing."

"Even that was enough to deny being related to you, Dean," Sam said, finally breaking free.

"You know that I'm your favourite brother," Dean said with a smirk.

"You're my only brother," Sam said, glaring at him.

"Exactly, the favourite," Dean said with an immature grin.


"Does this kind of thing happen a lot?" Cas asked the girl he was talking to.

"Are you kidding me? Basically any time that Gabe and Dean are in the same room they find something to get into a slap fight about," Jo responded. "They're practically inseparable and most of the time end up acting like thirteen year-old girls."


"I fixed your face," Gabe told Dean, referring to the grin spread across it.

"If only someone could fix yours," Dean teased.

"Wasn't that joke a little obvious?" Gabe asked.

"Not when it's said to a sexy beast like you," Dean argued. "No one else could dare insult such a perfect face."

"That's what I thought," Gabe responded. "I think we need to form a truce. I know that we thought the world couldn't handle all of our sexiness, but the world will just have to suck it the fuck up."

"Agreed, truce," Dean responded. "What now? Food?"

"Definitely," Gabe agreed.


Dean woke up to someone saying his name.

"Cas?" He asked, opening his eyes.

"Do you usually fall asleep on the couch with a half-eaten pie at parties?" Cas asked.

"No, I usually finish the pie," Dean said, sitting up and putting the open pie box on the table next to the couch. "And this isn't just any couch. It's a sofa-bed. It's where I sleep. Welcome to my kingdom." With his last words, Dean made a grand gesture towards the couch cushions.

"You sleep on your brother's couch?" Cas asked, sitting down next to Dean.

"Uh-huh. I had my own place until I trashed it," Dean said, as if he was testing how much Dean the man could put up with.

"And why did you do that?" Cas asked.

"Well that's the million dollar question," Dean told him. "It's complicated to explain. Hell, I'm not even sure I know why."

"You confuse me," Cas told him. "You act so serious and troubled looking one minute, then childish the next."

"I am all serious and troubled," Dean responded. "Sometimes." Dean purposely shouted the next part loud enough for Gabe to hear, "And sometimes Gabe just can't keep his filthy paws off of me!"

Gabe winked at Dean from across the room then blew him a kiss.

Cas gave Dean a look, then asked, "So, are you and Gabe.."

"Oh no, not a chance," Dean responded. "Gabe's been in love with Sam for as long as I can remember, and Sammy's been hilariously oblivious. Me and Gabe are just friends. If Gabe and I dated, there's no way that we'd last. The moment that we get into an actual argument all hell breaks loose."

"What, you start scratching at each other's faces?" Cas asked jokingly. "Harming the merchandise?"

Dean raised an eyebrow at Cas and said, "That seems a little drastic. I can't be letting all of this-" Dean said sarcastically, while gesturing at his face. "Get ruined."

Sam came over then, carrying Sasquatch and mocking Dean by imitating his facial gesturing.

"What the hell are you talking about, Dean?" He asked.

"I was just showing Cas how you can barely tell that I'm wearing manscara," Dean responded.

"Yeah, I've been needing some tips on how much make-up to wear," Cas said, going along with the story. "I wouldn't want my drag queen alter ego looking like some kind of stripper."

"Well of course," Sam said with a smirk. As he passed Sasquatch to Dean, he whispered into his brother's ear, "Hates you, my ass."

Sasquatch immediately curled up in a ball on Dean's shoulder.

"Drag queen alter ego? What, is she named Cassandra?" Dean asked, turning back to Cas.

"Shut up, Deanna," Cas retorted with a smirk.

"Oh really? That's how it's going to go?" Dean asked. "Last time I checked I said manscara. I don't have a cross-dressing alter ego, just some lame goth-loser one. He goes by Liquid Corpse."

"Because that's much better," Cas said sarcastically.

"Well of course," Dean said matter-of-factly.

Gabe suddenly came over to the pair and asked Dean, "So you're letting the dog lay on you again? Don't you ever learn?"

"But he's all cute and sleepy. He's not going to do anything bad while he's asleep, right?" Dean asked.

As if on cue, Sasquatch woke up from the sound of Dean's voice and began to lick the man's face.

"Hey, stop it," Dean said pushing the dog off of his face, and consequently scaring it into releasing the contents of it's bladder all over him once again. "Dammit Gabe, you just had to get Sam a puppy. And you just had to remind him that he hadn't pissed on me enough lately."

Cas smirked a little, while trying not to laugh.

"It's not funny, we've had this dog one day and it's pissed on me like forty times. I'm not even kidding! And only on me. Not Sam, not Gabe, not the floor, just me," Dean said, then shoved the dog into Gabe's arms. "You take him. I have to go shower and change for the fortieth time today. That thing is like an endless fountain of urine!"

Once Dean had left, Gabe turned to Cas and said, "Sad thing is that he's barely exaggerating. You'd think he was a fire hydrant."


Once Dean was out of the shower, he threw on a pair of boxers and pants, only to find that he had seriously run out of shirts. And Sam's room was on the other side of the living room, where the party was happening.

Dean sighed, this was just freaking perfect. He had to borrow one of Sam's shirts. Which meant he had to cross the party shirtless. Which wouldn't have been such a big deal if he didn't have a big disgusting scar on his chest from the car accident. One that he didn't let people see.

The only two people that he ever let see it, other than doctors of course, were Sam and Gabe. And even letting them see took a long time to get used to. He thought that it was horrible and a constant reminder of the crash and his guilt, so he tried to avoid being shirtless as much as he could. Only he had no choice now.

Dean crossed his arms and checked the mirror to make sure that he was covering the scar, then began to nervously return to the party.


"Dude where's your shirt?" Sam instantly asked when he entered the living room.

"Sasquatch literally pissed on all of my shirts. Can I borrow something?" Dean asked impatiently.

"Yeah, sure," Sam responded.

Dean turned toward the hallway leading to Sam's room. It was only a few feet away, he had almost reached safety.

"Hey, Dean. What's that thing?" Ash asked, noticing an edge of the scar that Dean's arm had slipped away from covering.

Dean opened his mouth to say something, but it was too late. Ash had already grabbed his arm and was pulling it away from it's position on Dean's chest. Dean looked like a deer in the headlights as he stood in shock. Finally he slapped the hand and re-covered the scar, but not before everyone had seen it.

"Don't," Dean whispered, even though it was useless now.

"That's nasty, man. Is it from the crash?" Ash asked.

"Don't." Dean said more firmly this time, then turned for the hallway.

"Hey man, I was just-" Ash tried, making the mistake of grabbing Dean's arm.

"Well don't, okay?" Dean asked, turning around and releasing his wrath on Ash. He couldn't care less that it wasn't really Ash's fault. "Here's some ground rules. Don't grab me when I'm shirtless. And don't ask about my scar. Because, yeah, it is from the crash. And I don't want to talk about it!"

Dean stormed down the hallway and Ash turned to Sam, looking apologetic.

"Sorry Sam," Ash said, looking guilty. "I didn't know he'd go all..."

"Don't worry about it. The problem wasn't you. He just has this thing about it," Sam explained. "I'll go talk to him."

"Want me to go with you?" Ash offered.

"No, he'll just get all..." Sam trailed off. "I got it."

As Sam left the room, Jo pulled Gabe to the side to talk.


When Sam entered his room he found an upset Dean laying on the bed, back to the door.

"Dean, are you alright?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Dean muttered unconvincingly.

"Ash didn't mean to get you mad. He was just being.. Ash," Sam said gently, sitting down on the bed next to Dean.

"I know," Dean responded. "But I didn't want them seeing it. All of them saw the stupid scar, Sam."

"Yeah, but there's not really anything we can do now," Sam told him. "I doubt that they even think much of it-"

"Sure they do," Dean insisted. "It reminds them of the crash, then they all go into feel sorry for Dean mode. I don't want that. This party was supposed to be a distraction, not a reminder of how pathetic I am. And I can guarantee that they're talking about my stupid scar and my stupid freak-out right now. And if I go back, then they'll still be whispering about it and staring at me like a zoo animal. Like everybody did right after she died."

"Sow what do you want to do?" Sam asked. "Should I get you a shirt or are you going to hide out here."

"Stay here," Dean responded unhappily.

"Umm... Sam?" Cas said awkwardly, appearing in the doorway. "Sorry to interrupt, but something's up with Gabe. He was talking to Jo and then she left. Now he's kind of sitting against the wall and not responding to people.."

"It's fine, I got it," Sam answered, but before he could even finish the sentence Dean had flung himself off of the bed.

He quickly headed for the living room, seeming to completely forget about his scar and shirtlessness. Sam and Cas followed shortly behind.


Dean found Gabe sitting in the corner of the room, seeming completely oblivious to the world around him.

"Hey, Gabe?" Dean asked, sitting down next to his friend and wishing the others would back away. "What's up?"

Gabe suddenly blinked, then turned to Dean and whispered, "I need to talk to you. Alone."

"Sure. Come on, we'll go outside," Dean said, helping Gabe back up.

Dean kept his arm on Gabe's shoulder as he led him out the clear sliding doors. The pair sat down on the grass a few feet away from the door.

Before Dean could ask, Gabe began to explain.

"She's pregnant, Dean," Gabe began. "My baby sister's pregnant. And the father's that dick she claimed she was breaking up with last year."

"What did he say when she told him?" Dean asked.

"She didn't tell him yet. She's afraid to. Supposedly things have been better lately and she doesn't want to screw things up. She's afraid to tell him, Dean. What kind of guy does he have to be for her to be afraid to tell him?" Gabe asked. "And she just came here and dropped that bomb on me, then left. I have no idea what's going to happen."

Dean wrapped his arm tightly around the other man.

"It's going to be alright. Jo's a smart girl, she'll figure out," Dean assured him.

"Yeah, I guess so," Gabe said, sounding unconvinced as he wiped away the tears that had been threatening to fall. "So do you have anything fun to distract me?" Gabe let out a small chuckle.

"Well, I do. But you," Dean said, poking his friend gently in the stomach. "Aren't allowed to tell anyone after, okay?"

Gabe nodded his head.

"I kinda, sorta like Cas," Dean said quietly, while picking at the grass.

"I knew it," Gabe said with a grin. "Didn't I say there was-"

Dean slapped his hand over Gabe's mouth.

"You did say that there was sexual tension," Dean agreed in a whisper. "But he's also at this party, right inside the door. And they're probably watching us in a crowd. So do you mind being a little bit quieter?"

"Sorry," Gabe whispered.

"It's alright," Dean told him, removing his hand. "There's a whole story to explain to you. But first: Do you want me to get Sam? The party's pretty much declared dead now anyways."

"Okay," Gabe agreed.

Dean and Gabe entered the house and Dean whispered something to Sam.

Dean and Gabe waited in Sam's room and within five minutes the party had cleared out and Sam had joined them.

Sam was filled in on Jo's pregnancy, then Gabe was filled in on all of the details of the Cas story. After a while all three men fell asleep laying together on Sam's bed.


A/N: Please read and review! Thanks for reading, and... Look at me! I updated all quick like! :O

Major props to the super awesome-sauce people who reviewed last chapter: Toulip Fontana, dream bigger darling AE, Adja, rowsdowersavesus, KayeleeHope, darkphoenix2345, curiumKingyo, EvilGeniusBookWorm13, kissacazador, and Mirabilem Electo!