An hour later, Cas woke up, finding Dean sitting in one of the chairs reading a book Castiel immediately recognized.
"Is that entertaining? The book?" Castiel asked, stepping toward his closet and retrieving a dress shirt and dress pants before putting them on behind a paper screen.
"This... communism thing. It sounds a hell of a lot like how it is down there."
"Where you live?"
"Yeah."
"It's an interesting subject, I think. It requires everyone to work together equally to function."
"I guess so." Dean thought, glancing up at Castiel.
Castiel liked how Dean comfortable was around him, and how they could talk so openly. Sitting at the chair across the table, Castiel took the book from Dean and placed it on the table.
"Would you like me to teach you?"
"Teach me what?"
"The history of the world."
"They taught us all the world wars in school, the domestic wars too."
Castiel wanted to tell someone what he knew, what he'd been told, what he'd found in books. He wanted someone to hear him.
"Did you ever learn about the War of ZEZ?"
"What the hell is that?"
"It's Enochian for Fiery Angels, Enochian is the language of my... kind."
Dean shook his head, realizing the irony of what he was about to say, "Only angels are allowed to know."
"What if I told you? Would you like me to?"
"Yeah, that'd be cool."
"But we must keep it between us." Dean nodded, as Castiel leaned forward and brushed his lips against Dean's.
"What was that for?" Dean laughed, flustered.
"I read in a book once you 'must seal deals with a kiss'." he said stoically.
"I think that only applies to deals with bad intentions."
"Well, me telling you is illegal but I trust you with my life."
Dean smiled, "Really?"
Castiel nodded before arranging the chess set to a new game, "Chess first. I can teach you about ZEZ during lunch."
It made Dean smile, reaching his hand over and ruffling the boy's hair who smiled up at him. Dean would never admit it out loud but he really wanted to make another deal with Castiel.
...
Once they'd gotten about halfway through the game of chess, Sam poked his head in and grinned at the two.
"Hey, guys. Glad to see you two getting along, and are you guys playing Chess?" Sam cocked his eyebrow in disbelief.
"Yes, Sam. Your brother is actually not that bad at it." Cas noted, looking up after moving his rook.
"He says as he kicks my ass." Dean grumbled.
Sam laughed, rolling his eyes, "Bye guys." and left the doorway.
Dean looked up at Cas, who's eyes were still locked on the doorway, "Talk to me, Cas."
"About what, Dean?" his eyes still glued to the doorknob, as if waiting for it to turn.
"How about the talk with Balthazar yesterday? What the hell is going on? Why aren't you allowed to leave your room?"
Castiel's heart pounded in his chest, choking on the air entering his lungs, his eyes widening in fear as he stared at the chessboard.
"What did you hear?"
"Cas-"
Before Dean could finish, Castiel's fists were gripping Dean's t-shirt, pushing him into the wall behind him and knocking the chair over.
"Cas!"
"I SAID WHAT DID YOU HEAR?!"
"Quiet down, Cas. One of the other servants will hear." Dean chided, shaking a little bit, the hatred in Castiel's eyes causing him to be frozen in shock.
"Dean..." Castiel's voice sounded broken now, swallowing a lump in his throat. "Tell me, Dean, please just tell me."
"Not a lot. I only heard Balthazar tell you you couldn't leave and that if anyone knew about something then you would die." Dean leaned into the wall, putting his hand over Castiel's. "Let me go, Cas. Tell me what's wrong."
Castiel searched Dean's eyes, and upon finding no deceit, he let go of Dean and slid to the floor. "That's all you heard?"
"Yes, Cas, I swear. That's all I heard. I only heard because he was yelling."
Castiel leaned forward, wrapping his arms around his knees, "I'm sorry I did that to you, Dean."
"You were scared, Cas. Of what, I don't know, but maybe one day you'll trust me enough to tell me."
His eyes shot up, blue and happy because Dean didn't know. Dean didn't know how much of a freak he was. Dean didn't know that he was the one who was saved by his kindness. Dean didn't know about his brothers and he wouldn't ever know them. Dean's heart, as shriveled up as it had seemed to be sometimes, bled for Castiel and whatever inner turmoil he was going through. Reaching out, Dean hugged Castiel and felt him go rigid against him.
"Hug me back, cry, do whatever, just please don't shut me out, Cas. Whether or not you know it, you need me right now, Cas and I'm not going to let go until you can give me one of your dorky little smiles and tell me one of those weird, random facts you always pull out of nowhere."
"In 1567, a man- who supposedly had longest beard in the world- died after he tripped over his beard, running away from a fire." Cas sniffed a little, looking up at Dean.
Dean burst into a fit of giggles, covering his eyes, his cheeks pink "Wow, talk about a bad hair day."
"That's a good pun, Dean." Cas smiled a little, amused.
"Thanks, because I thought it was terrible."
"I like your humor Dean, it's much better than Sam's."
"Well I'd hope so considering he's barely past puberty."
"Isn't puberty when a man's-"
Dean flushed a bit, cutting him off, "Yeah. That's it, Cas, let's change the subject. How about-"
The door swung open, two figures walking in and closing the door before the taller of the two choked out a laugh and the shorter one got a sly smirk on his face.
"Bad time?"
"No, not at all. Lucifer. Gabriel. So nice to see you two."
Castiel stood to greet him and Gabriel gave him a one-armed hug as Lucifer ruffled his hair.
"Good to see you too, little brother." Lucifer smiled mildly.
"Who's that guy in the corner? The new manslave?"
"Servant." Castiel corrected.
Dean stood, eyes locked on the three of them as he dusted off the legs of his jeans, "Little brother? That means-"
"Michael is my brother, yes. So is Balthazar."
Dean immediately felt a migraine galloping over the horizon, "I'm gonna need a beer."
