"Sammy!" Dean had dragged himself out of bed early that Sunday, for one reason only: to annoy his brother. "Happy birthday!" Dean all but collapsed on the duvet-covered lump that was Sam's no-longer-sleeping form.
"Nnnnnn." Came the intelligent response.
Dean flailed around a bit. "C'mon, Sam, I know you're a teenager now, but that doesn't mean you get to miss today!"
Sam rolled over best he could, and shoved Dean hard off the bed. "Dean, what the hell? What time is it?"
Dean grinned from his spot on the floor. "Seven thirty."
The youngest Winchester groaned, and threw himself back, burying himself in blankets again.
"Oh, no, birthday boy, you're not going back to sleep. You gotta help me an' Jo set up!"
"For my own birthday?"
"You bet! There's people comin' over, and Bobby an' Ellen are back today!"
Sam groaned, but swung his feet over the side of the bed to force himself to sit up. "OK, OK, I'll be down in a few."
Satisfied, Dean grinned at his brother and sarcastically skipped out of the room. Sam flipped him off.
"OK, Jo, get on that chair. I need someone to hang the other end." Dean threw the banner at her, a 'happy 13' with a red marker addition of 'welcome home'. Jo caught the end, and climbed onto the sofa to blu-tac it to the wall, while Dean did the same on the other side.
"'s not straight." Sam smirked from the other side of the room, bowl of cheerios in hand.
"Yeah, Sammy, well neither am I." Dean grumbled, jumping down. Then he realized what he'd said. "Uh, I-I mean…"
"Relax, Dean, everyone knows you're dating Cas." Jo giggled.
"What?"
"Yeah. No offence, Dean, but you're the least subtle person I know. I kinda thought you already knew I knew." Sam grinned.
Dean fought the blush climbing up his neck. "Don't tell Bobby an' Ellen yet."
"We won't have to. Cas is coming over today, right?"
Dean cleared his throat. "Yeah. He'll be here soon, probably." He half expected a knock at the door; Castiel had that kind of timing, but no knock sounded, so he picked up two packs of balloons and threw one of them at Jo.
They sat round blowing up balloons and throwing them at each other while Sam put on Iron Man. This, of course, evolved into listening to iron man while they played that game where the balloon can't touch the floor between hits to each other.
The balloon, red and pear-shaped, had been fired at Dean by Jo. Then there was a knock at the door.
"Cas!" And the balloon hit the floor, forgotten, as Dean rushed to answer it. "Ellen! Bobby!" He quickly corrected, seeing who was really there.
"Hey, Dean. How's things? The house is still here, so that's a good sign…" Ellen smirked before Dean stepped aside to let them in.
"Hey, boy," Bobby greeted, before adding, "Jo, Sam. Happy birthday, Sammy." Ellen seconded this, and the five settled back in, watching the end of the film and catching each other up on recent events.
"—So, yeah, the treehouse was amazing!" Sam finished, grinning wildly.
Dean was about to speak, but his phone buzzed in his pocket. Cas.
He pressed the Receive Call button, and left for his room. "Cas! What's up?"
"Hello, Dean. I'm sorry I'm late, blame Gabe. Also, Gabe is coming too. Sorry."
Dean chuckled. "That's fine. More the merrier. I'm sure Sam won't mind, but my aunt and uncle are back today. Cas, I...uh, I'm not..." He threw a glance to his family in the other room, "I'm not...out, yet."
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds, before, "OK. That's OK, Dean, we'll just have to be careful."
Dean smiled. "Yeah. See you soon, Cas."
Cas and Gabe turn up about half an hour later, and a few of Sam's friends show a few minutes after. Eventually, there's nine of them all gathered around the table, singing 'happy birthday' off-key while the candles melt on top of an out-of-the-box chocolate cake. after gorging themselves on the cake, which Ellen complained she could better with her eyes shut, it was time for the best part of any birthday. The presents. Squishy blue blobs ended up being new Star Wars shirts, smooth orange paper blocks were revealed as books, and brown paper packages were chocolate. Sam also managed to get a haul of DC and Marvel films that he didn't already have, so they watched those together. Dean let Sam sit on the couch with his 'friend' (yeah, right, that's all,) Jess, while Bobby and Ellen got the chairs, and Gabe and another friend of Sams whos name he'd forgotten too the floor. He and Cas took battered beanbags that squished together when they sat on them as the opening credits of Thor 2 rolled.
It was late. Jess and whats-his-face had gone home, Gabe was waiting for Castiel outside, Bobby, Ellen, Jo, and Sam were clearing up.
"I very much enjoyed today, Dean, thank you for inviting me."
Dean smirked. "No problem, Cas. I...I'll see you Monday?"
Castiel nodded. "See you then, Dean." He was about to turn away when Dean's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.
"Wait."
"...yes?"
Dean shuffled closer, pressing a chaste kiss to Cas's lips. When he pulled away, Castiel's eyes flickered open, and he smiled shyly. "I...I'll see you Monday."
Dean watched him go, smirking contentedly.
When he got back inside, everything changed. "Hey, Dean, look at this!" Jo called when he reached her, she shoved her camera over to him. "We were looking over photos of tonight, right, and look."
Glancing down, Dean saw a photo of the cake, Sam sitting behind it grinning, embarrassed, while everyone else was gathered in the frame. His eyes were drawn to himself, squished against Castiel's side.
"It's cute. What about it?"
Jo raised an eyebrow. "Look behind Cas and Gabe. Really, look."
He did. And he saw...light.
Behind the brothers were ghostly, shimmering shapes, that seemed to move even in the photo. He blinked. No, that was silly. There was nothing there. But...there...was?
"That's weird. What is that, like, a glitch, or effect or something?"
Jo shook her head. "No. Look, scroll back."
He did. His brow creased. Every photo that held the image of Castiel looked...odd. the same shimmering, morphing shapes trailing behind him.
"You remember what Turner said? About the light he felt during his fight?"
"No. This isn't the same thing. It can't be." he offered the camera back to her.
"Well, what do you think it is?"
"What what is?" Bobby's voice was gruff, and made them bot jump.
"Nothing, just weird lighting in this photo." Dean jumped in before Jo could reply. He shot her a look and feigned a yawn. "I'm bushed. I, uh, I'm going to bed. Big test tomorrow."
Recognition flashed in Jo's eyes. 'Big test' meant they needed to talk in private.
He ascended the stairs, deep in thought. What did this mean? Did Cas have something to do with the weird light? At the very least, Michael did, and they were biologically related. Was Cas lying? He felt cold. He placed his trust in a relative stranger, way too early, and now he was facing consequences.
Jo and Sam appeared at his door. "Dean? What's going on?" Sam asked.
"I...I don't know. We need to find out what this means." That meant lore. He lay on his bed and tugged a box of lore books and a laptop from underneath the frame. "What could do this?"
They spent hours reading, until Jo gasped, and began to read aloud, "There is only one recorded experience of angels in known history. It details a bright, warm light, fire and pain for the wicked, and apparition-like shadows following the Marked vessels."
Sam took a second before replying, which was more than Dean could manage. Iit didn't matter, they were thinking the same thing. "Angels? Like, from God?"
"I...i don't know. Maybe?" Jo's brow was furrowed as her eyes scanned the rest of the webpage. "It...doesn't say a lot else. But their info about other creatures is accurate, so..." She trailed off, glancing at Dean. "What...what do we do about this?"
"...Michael is a threat. We find him, gank him. Just like we would any other time."
Silence. then a whisper. "...What about Cas and Gabe? Didn't you say Cas had another brother, too?"
"...Yeah, Lucifer." Shit. "You don't think that Lucifer is..."
"The Lucifer? Big, scary, end of worlds Satan? I... don't know."
"Dean...?" Sam's voice was small. Like he didn't want to disturb whatever thoughts had been keeping him quiet.
"He...He lied to me. He said...He lied." Dean's shock turned to anger. "Fuck him. I'm going in tomorrow, i'm gonna tell 'im what we know, and then...then...fuck." Dean trailed off. He wasn't going to hurt Cas, not really. But neither would leave tomorrow unscathed. "I'm going to sleep. Get out." The others reluctantly left, and Dean stated awake for hours.
Castiel was in a Good Mood. Yesterday was fun, he'd had a good morning, and he was going to have a good day. He was sat in the cafeteria, early for once, reading the ending of some sci-fi book before Gabriel forced him to watch the film.
"Castiel!" The yell caught him off guard, and he looked up, brow furrowing. Dean, Jo, and Sam, marching towards him. Dean grabbed him, pulling him along to the closest restroom.
"Dean, you're hurting me!" Cas tried to pull away, but Dean's grip on his shoulder was iron. Dean, green eyes flashing with anger, shoved him against the hard ceramic tiles lining the bathroom walls.
"What are you?" Dean grunted,
"Wh-what...?" Castiel looked up at Dean, who threw a punch at his side. "Dean, stop!" He screeched. He threw a pleading look first to Sam, then to Jo, who was leaning against the door to avoid intruders.
"I said," Dean shoved him again, "what. Are. You? Look at this, Castiel, and explain why you've been lying to us. Look." Dean shoved printed versions of Jo's photos at him. Nervous, trembling fingers grabbed at the paper, and the only noise for a few dragging seconds was the silent shuffling of paper over skin.
"I...I..." Castiel couldn't speak. He could feel fear, and shock, and shame snaking through him. "I'm sorry. I was scared. But I can explain! We-"
"Did you know, Castiel, that my father was a hunter of freaks like you? Monsters that hurt those around them, bringing nothing but pain and chaos? He taught me some stuff, did you know that?"
"P-Please, I...I've never hurt anyone...I..."
"Maybe not you, but your brother has, right? Maybe after this i'll find him and give him what he deserves, yeah? How's that sound?"
"Please, Dean, I beg of you-"
"We said no secrets, Cas. You remember that? Ha! I was so stupid, I should have known I couldn't trust you, you pathetic-"
"Dean!" Castiel had never loved the sound of Sam's voice more than he did that second. "Someone's coming. We should go."
Dean gave him one more disgusted look, kicking his shoe, before turning and following Jo and Sam out.
Castiel sat for hours, crying and wishing to wake up before all of this had happened.
