Of Love and Macbeth Ch. 7
Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for waiting! Here is Chapter 7! I really hope you enjoy it, and feel free to comment/fave/follow/whatever! (It helps me write faster;) )
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, or Macbeth, or else this story would be cannon!
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Over the next few days, Dean noticed that Castiel was acting strange, well…stranger than normal.
At first he tried writing it off as simply being nervous about the performance, which was only a little over a week away now, and was screwing with everyone's nerves and tempers. However, Cas never seemed to act weird when he was performing, or when Dean saw him with the other cast and crew members.
He was only acting weird around Dean.
Dean didn't particularly like that. He couldn't think of anything he had said or done that would make Castiel, unless he somehow offended his friend without realizing it.
It was starting to mess with Dean's head. For example, he would walk over to Cas after a performance, only to have his friend make some excuse and leave. Or, when he wasn't able to get away, he refused to talk with or look at Dean; though Dean would sometimes get the strange feeling that somebody was staring at him, as soon as he turned around al he saw was Castiel walking off, or completely ignoring him.
Dean felt as if there was some huge pit in his stomach, eventually he found himself losing his temper over the littlest things; he even shouted at Anna the other day over some minor mistake that ended up being his fault after all.
He honestly had no idea why it bothered him so much, but he couldn't get the idea of Castiel purposely avoiding him out of his head, and it just made him feel worse.
The Sunday, Sam had to practically drag Dean out of the house to the theater. Sam had noticed Castiel's odd behavior, and the resulting effect on Dean's moods. In fact it was pretty hard to ignore.
At first he was a little put off by Cas' sudden change in attitude, and was afraid that he and Dean were fighting, but Lucifer explained to him that Castiel had told Balthazar (who then told everyone) about his feelings for Dean, and just wasn't sure how to take the next step.
Sam just wished he would hurry up with it, because if he had to deal with his brother's sulking for one more day, he might actually go crazy.
As they pulled up to the old theater's door, Sam had already gotten out of the car before he noticed Dean hadn't moved, and was still pouting in the driver's seat.
"Dude, are you coming or not?" Sam snapped.
Dean just let out a faint, annoyed mutter in reply, and crossed his arms.
"Okay, that's it!" Sam burst out, slamming his door and marching angrily into the lobby.
"Gabe, Anna, Balthazar, Lucifer, Meeting. Now." He called out.
A minute later they were all settled in the tech booth, which had become their 'base of operation's' for the plan to get Dean and Castiel together. Everyone was present, except for Lucifer who was rehearsing.
"Last straw guys, we need to do something about them! If I have to deal with Dean-the-teenage-girl one more day, something bad is going to happen!" Sam yelled.
"We can't rush them. Castiel has admitted he has feelings, we just need to give this time to play out." Anna said, ever the voice of reason.
"No! I swear, if I have to listen to him blasting Avril Lavigne again, I can't be held responsible for my actions!"
"Hey, dealing with Cassie hasn't exactly been a walk in the park either!" Balthazar said annoyed.
"Yeah, Cas won't shut up! I swear every second he's like 'oh why doesn't he notice? How do I tell him? What should I do?'" Gabriel complained. "He's so nervous; it's starting to rub off on me!" He finished, crankily.
Suddenly Lucifer burst through the door, wearing a white dressing gown, and completely covered in white baby-powder. "I heard you were calling a meeting, what did I miss?"
Everyone stared at him in surprise and confusion, the shock making them all temporarily forget what they had been discussing.
"Uh, Lucifer…Why are you covered in baby powder?" Sam finally managed to choke out.
Lucifer turned and looked at him quickly. "We were working on one of the scenes after Banquo dies, and apparently Macbeth starts hallucinating that Banquo is haunting him, hence the ghost get-up." He explained casually.
"That sounds horrible." Sam replied, shuddering at the thought of any poor person having to deal with having Lucifer in their head…..
"Aw, c'mon Sam, I bet you would like it, we could have tons of fun!" Lucifer said smoothly, wrapping his arm around Sam's shoulders. "We could be bunk-buddies." He purred into Sam's ear.
Sam jerked away, pushing Lucifer's arm off him, sputtering indignantly.
"We were talking about the Dean-and-Castiel situation before you happened to show up and interrupt." Gabriel announced, throwing a pointed look at Lucifer.
"Ah yes, dear little Cassie. I assume you are all trying to figure out how to stop the agonizing sexual-tension problem between him and Dean that makes me feel like I'm going to be sick?" Lucifer immediately responded, completely ignoring the annoyance in Gabriel's tone.
"Yes. We don't know whether we should interfere, or just let them work it out." Anna explained.
Lucifer sat down, crossing his legs and rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I say we do both." Seeing the other's looks of confusion he explained, "We get Dean and Cas in the same room, then leave them alone. With luck, the tension will make one of them break down, and we won't have to result to more drastic measures."
Everyone thought it over, it seemed like a good plan. One by one they all agreed.
"So, when do we do it?" Gabriel asked.
"Well, we have to do it soon, because honestly I might just kill one of them if they keep this up much longer." Lucifer groaned.
Everyone agreed with that.
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Meanwhile, Dean had eventually gotten out of the car and was helping Garth and Samandriel bring in boxes of shipments to Becky and Charlie.
After he had finished he started to look around for Sam, who was nowhere to be found, Neither were Gabriel or Lucifer, which made Dean slightly concered. Oh well, if something was really wrong, Anna or Michael would have called the cops by now….which wouldn't be the first time it happened.
Walking quickly around the corner, Dean wasn't looking where he was going and ran into someone, knocking them down.
"Aw shit, I'm so sorr-" Dean cut off when he saw who he had knocked down.
Castiel was on the floor, his script pages sprawled across the ground around him.
"Crap, sorry Cas, let me help with that." Dean reached down and started trying o gather the pieces of paper into a pile.
"No!" Castiel blurted suddenly. "I mean…no, it's okay." He muttered, correcting himself. He grabbed the papers before Dean could, and quickly brushed himself off, starting to walk away quickly.
"Hey, wait a second! Hey! Cas!" Dean ran after Castiel, grabbing him firmly by the arm and making him stop.
His breath caught in his throat when he saw Cas' angry expression, bordering on downright hostile. He swallowed hard, "Hey man, why are you avoiding me?" Dean looked into his friends hard, blue eyes. "If I offended you or anything, I totally didn't mean it." He said quietly, the hole in his chest feeling larger than ever.
For a second, a look of sorrow flashed through Castiel's eyes. "Dean, I didn't mean to-" Castiel cut off his apology when he saw Dean's hurt expression. It was true, he had been avoiding Dean, but he just didn't know how he was supposed to act. Ever since his talk with Balthazar his feelings seemed even more overwhelming than before, and it only got worse every time he saw Dean.
It also didn't help that Balthazar said that Sam thought Dean liked him back. Seriously, how was he supposed to react?!
Suddenly he made the mistake of looking into Dean's green eyes, and felt the air forcibly exit his chest. Without any warning, he found himself unintentionally moving forward, closing the gap between them, still hyper-aware that Dean's hand was still on his wrist.
He stared, mesmerized by Dean's eyes. At this range he could see they were more than just simply green; he could see a hundred hues of greens and golds, framed by those almost girlishly-long eyelashes.
Castiel's face was only a few inches away at this point. Just another second and he could close the gap.
Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps from around the corner.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt anything!"
They immediately sprang apart, leaning against opposite walls.
Samandriel coughed awkwardly, not sure if he should say anything or not.
"You weren't." Dean said quickly, breath slightly hitched. "Do you need something?"
"Um…yeah, Raphael said that another shipment of boxes arrived for us to bring down to Charlie." Samadriel explained unsurely.
"Oh, okay. Let's go." Dean agreed quickly, walking quickly away in the direction of the stairs, practically dragging Samandriel behind him.
Castiel panted heavily, leaning his head against the wall and calm his racing heartbeat.
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For the rest of the day, Dean could only think about was Cas' reaction before. He really couldn't remember how they ended up so close together.
"It was just a freak reaction, instinct. That's it. It wasn't like we were going to ki-"
Dean shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thought. The fact that he was even interpreting whatever it was that happened earlier as almost kissing Castiel just proved how messed up he was that week.
He managed to somewhat forget it for the rest of the day, and by the time he and Sam left that day, he managed to convince himself that he was just overthinking it.
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As soon as they entered the theater the next morning, Sam and Dean knew that something was wrong.
Nobody was around, and it was absolutely silent.
Looking at each other nervously, they cautiously walked in, and opened the doors to the auditorium.
Immediately, tons of eyes turned to look at them. It seemed like the entire company were present, even Chuck, who was sitting in the front row, looking annoyed.
They didn't understand what was going on, until a voice spoke from the stage.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here, a few latecomers?"
Sam and Dean looked up to see a man in an expensive-looking suit raising his eyebrows at them.
"These are Sam and Dean Winchester. They come and help out with the stagehands." Chuck explained tiredly.
"Oh, well, what a surprise." The man drawled in a British accent as he slowly walked off the stage and down the center aisle, approaching the brothers.
"Well, I hope you two have found the experience…enjoyable." The man said quietly, with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"I will see you all later!" The man announced imperiously to the auditorium, before walking out the doors.
Immediately after he left, everyone began talking in panicked tones.
Sam and Dean found their way to where Castiel and the others were sitting.
"Hey, what's going on?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, what's with Sir. Douchebag?" Dean added.
"His name is Crowley." The group jumped at Chuck's voice behind them. Turning they could see a tired look on his face.
"He is a critic. He was just coming by to tell us that he is going to be attending our opening performance of Macbeth next week…" Chuck trailed off, then walked away abruptly, running his hair through his hands. As he left, most of the other's did too, going to start their jobs for the day.
"Wait, he's just a critic? Don't you guys get those all the time? Why are you all so worked up about it?" Sam wondered, turning back to their remaining group.
"He's not an ordinary critic." Anna began quietly.
"Yeah, he's vicious. He's taken down plenty of theaters before." Gabriel added. "We call him the King of Hell."
Sam and Dean exchanged glances.
"So, what, is it your turn to face the firing squad or something?" Dean asked, annoyed at the idea of some critic trying to take them down.
"No, well, not really." Balthazar began. "You see, he and dad have always had a sort of…rivalry between them. I'm not sure how it started, it was before our time and dad doesn't really talk to us about it. Anyways, every year Crowley tries to shut us down, last year he almost sank us completely with his review. One more like that and…"
Everyone thought about it in silence.
"Well, I guess if it's our turn to go, it's our time." Gabriel said bleakly. He stood up and walked out of the auditorium. With a look, Sam and the rest followed him.
Dean started to go too, then hesitated when he saw that Castiel was still sitting there. He was staring silently off into space, in fact, Dean was pretty sure he hadn't said a word since they arrived.
He went and stood next to his friend, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Hey Cas, what's wrong?"
Castiel looked up at Dean, grief in his eyes. "I can't do it, Dean."
Dean looked at him in surprise, what was he talking about?
Seeing Dean's confused look, Castiel continued. "I can't go up there and perform, knowing that Crowley is watching! I mean, he is looking for any excuse to write a bad review, and a stagehand like me, trying to act? He's going to destroy us!" Castiel got up agitatedly as he continued. "The theater will shut down, and it will be entirely my fault!" He shouted, with rising hysteria, and started pacing back and forth.
Dean felt a like huge weight had been dropped on his chest. He thought after the auditions that Castiel had finally started to give himself some credit, but one visit from that freaking critic, and Cas was back to hating himself again!
"I should just quit. Let somebody else play Macbeth, I can't do it!" Castiel continued to mutter despairingly.
"Cas, SHUT UP!" Dean snapped furiously, forcefully pushing Casitel down into one of the seats.
Panting heavily, Dean took a second to catch his breath. "Stop saying things like that. Why can't you perform in front of Crowley?" He continued, slightly calmer, but still intense.
"You know why Dean. There is no way that someone like me can stand a chance against Crowley, and if I mess up then the entire theater will fail, and it will be all my fault!" Castiel cried.
"That's bull. First off, what do you mean someone 'like you'? From what I can see you're pretty freaking talented. Why do you think Chuck picked you out of everybody? You think he didn't realize that you didn't have much experience? Besides, if this happens every year than he was probably expecting this, and he still picked you!" Dean explained heatedly.
"And if you mess up, so what? It sound like he rails on you guys anyways! It's not your fault! If you get a bad review it's because he's a bastard, not because you did anything wrong!"
Castiel looked at Dean, stunned.
Dean took a deep breath. "Look man, I can't stand to see you beat up yourself like this, okay? I just…can't. You can't see how, just….awesome you are, and it kinda kills me." Dean whispered raggedly. He took another breath to calm down, and offered his hand to Castiel to help him back up from the chair.
Suddenly, Castiel grabbed his hand, yanking Dean down on top of him. He grabbed the back of Dean's head, bringing their lips together forcefully, Castiel's chapped ones crashing into Dean's soft ones.
At first Dean was stiff with shock, but he found himself relaxing, and soon he was tangling his hands in Cas' hair, deepening this kiss, and pulling himself further up onto Cas' lap.
Castiel felt Dean run his hands under his shirt, and down his back, his touch leaving a tingling trail behind on his skin, and bringing their bodies together.
The deepened this kiss further, and Dean heard Castiel let out a moan.
"Dean." Castiel gasped between breaths.
Suddenly Dean came to his senses, and practically jumped off of Castiel, causing him to bang painfully into the row of seats behind him.
"Dean?" Castiel whispered quietly, opening his eyes with a look of confusion.
Deans breath was heavy, his heart pounding so loud he could hear it beating.
"I-I can't….I'm not….I-" Dean sputtered shakily, mortified at what he had done. It was Castiel, Cas! I was kissing Cas! Dean felt sick. Why did he do that? What was wrong with him?!
"I'm sorry, I-I have to go!" he blurted, running out of the room. He sprinted out of the building, into the parking lot, and into the Impala. He started the engine as fast as he could, and slammed on the gas, speeding out of the neighborhood without a destination, just anywhere but here!
Castiel was still sitting in the seat where Dean had left him.
His shock and confusion eventually started to give way to anguish and devastation.
He curled in on himself, sobbing brokenly. He knew this would happen! He shouldn't have done anything! He knew Dean didn't like him that way, how could he? How could Castiel be so stupid? It was all his fault….
He stayed there, in the dark auditorium, until Anna came in and found him there. Without a word, she left and brought him a blanket, wrapping it around his shoulders and comforting him.
A few moments later they were joined by the rest of his brothers and sisters.
"I'm so sorry, Castiel." Balthazar said, grief in his eyes. The rest of them merged around him, surrounding their little brother, and trying to fix what all of them knew they couldn't fix;
A broken heart.
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A/N: Yey! There it is, I hope you liked it! Finally the kiss! Wasn't that so happy and uplifting? (I actually feel kinda evil right now, sorry 'bout that!) I really hope I didn't break anyone's emotions! (Please don't hate me! Here, have a cookie!)
