Written for the prompt; "You look like the manager for Hot Topic."


Lysander stands with his hand positioned beneath his chin, his eyes scanning Castiel from head to toe, taking in his maroon acid wash skinny jeans, deep V-neck t-shirt, and his innumerable studded cuffs and bangles. "It's very expressive," he says at last.

"Lysander's just being polite," Nathaniel begins, notably grimacing. "You look like the manager for Hot Topic."

"What the hell do you know about fashion anyway," Castiel says, throwing himself onto the couch. He attempts to cross one leg over the other but his new trousers are too tight around the knees, and instead he settles for sitting wide-legged and loosening his checkerboard print belt. "You wear a fucking tie daily. As a choice."

Nathaniel grits his teeth, he has plenty of choice words for Castiel but he might as well get straight to the point. "All I'm saying is that you can't go on stage like that. You look like you've walked right out of 2007."

Castiel shrugs his shoulders and attempts to hide the grin budding from the corners of his lips. "Fine, we won't perform at all. Christ knows I'd be happy to get rid of you."

While Nathaniel groans, Lysander visibly reddens. He doesn't do well in uncomfortable situations like this, and recently he's found himself caught in the middle far too often. "Please don't start an argument, I'm sure we can find a compromise."

"Exactly," Castiel says, reclining on the sofa and kicking off his buckle boots, "Like Nathaniel minds his own fucking business and I wear what I want."

"Castiel," Lysander says with a hiss in his voice, staring at Castiel with a gaze that could burn through him. This has gone on for long enough. One needs a great deal of fortitude to contend with Castiel and Nathaniel's clashes, and Lysander, for all his patience, is no saint.

"God, what the hell." Castiel gets to his feet and begins unbuckling the cuffs around his wrists. "You're the one who told me to find something to wear for our next gig."

Their next performance is on Friday but if they don't figure out a way to work together they won't be going anywhere. Plenty of successful bands had volatile relationships behind the scenes, but starting off on such a poor footing is really pushing it.

Lysander takes a breath to calm himself. "It's not about what you wear it's about how you two speak to each other. "

"Yes boss." Castiel falters and lets the room adjust to the silence before speaking again. He turns to Nathaniel. "If I wear the outfit I wore to class today, will you get off my case?"

"Yes." There's no point fighting Castiel on the way he said, Nathaniel has learned to take the little victories.

"Now," Lysander says, picking up a stack of papers from the coffee table, "we have to decide the setlist."