"Castiel…Castiel, wake up." The voice came from the other side of his door, along with light tapping, just enough to rouse the light sleeper.
Castiel groaned, turning over in bed, burying his face further into his pillow while he pulled his blanket up further over his shoulders. "Okay. In a minute." He mumbled, though he didn't care whether or not whoever it was had heard him through the muffling pillows.
"C'mon, Castiel, don't make me sing."
Castiel's eyes went wide as he realized it was Lucifer on the other side of the door, and a sudden sickening feeling overwhelmed him, "And you know how much I love to sing~." Lucifer warned in a sing-song voice.
"No, no. That's unnecessary." Castiel quickly spoke up, sitting up out of bed and running a hand through his disheveled hair.
Lucifer chuckled on the other side of the door, "Alright. Come on down stairs, I'm about to start making breakfast."
Castiel's brow furrowed, "Wait…" he stood up and opened his door, poking his head out, "You're about to start?" he asked skeptically. Usually Lucifer is waking him up when it's done, or about to be done.
Lucifer turned back, looking at Castiel like he'd spoken a different language. "Um, yea. I figured you'd like to help out." He told him with a soft smile. Castiel smiled back then, "Alright." He answered. He stepped back into his room and quickly began to dress. If Castiel seemed excited, it's because he was. Usually Lucifer lets Gabriel help out with the cooking when he needs it. It was a rare treat to work in the kitchen with Lucifer, so he always jumped at the opportunity.
He was sure Lucifer was getting back at Gabriel for last night, but he didn't let that get in the way of his excitement.
Once he'd thrown on an acceptable outfit, he went back to his luggage and found his toiletries bag. He opened it and promptly sighed. Sitting on top of everything else in the bag was an empty bag of his caramel chews. He grabbed the plastic and threw it away in the small bin by his desk. He then grabbed out his toothbrush and toothpaste. He'd make quick work of his morning routine before he came downstairs to help.
As Castiel made his way to the kitchen, he could smell the beginnings of what he hoped were blueberry pancakes. He grinned, making his way a bit more quickly to the kitchen. He was greeted with the sight of ingredients and pots and pans pulled from the ceiling rack.
Lucifer looked up from his mixing bowl, smirking, "Took you long enough, Sleeping Beauty." He mumbled, continuing to stir without looking.
Castiel chuckled, though not because of Lucifer's remark, more out of his sheer greediness. "What do you want me to do?" he asked, stepping up to the island and looking over the packages and produce bags.
Lucifer grinned, "See, it's that enthusiasm that Gabriel lacks." He pointed out with amused eyes. He then set down his bowl and grabbed out a glass measuring cup. "Here," he handed it to Castiel, then motioned with a snap of his fingers and a gesture to his side, "Come over here and start cracking some eggs in there." He told his brother.
Castiel was quick to do as he was told, and made his way beside his brother where he opened the carton of eggs and began to crack a few into the measuring cup. He assumed this would be the egg mixture base for omelets. Once he'd cracked three into the cup, Lucifer stopped him, "Yea, that'll do. Now find a whisk and give a good mix." He told him, still stirring out clumps in the pancake batter.
"Each time I pour this cup out on the frying pan, I want you to fill it again with three eggs." He instructed, a eye critical eye on Castiel's mixing job.
"Alright." Castiel acknowledged. Though he rarely strayed from basic meals that were simple, and simply made, Castiel still loved his brother's gourmet cooking. But, it was only when he came to visit that he ate home cooked meals like this. Meals of this size and caliber usually needed a lot of time and effort put into them. And when Castiel wakes in the morning, it's a miracle if he can even make a mug of coffee without falling asleep.
Speaking of which, "Did you make any coffee?" Castiel asked, though as he looked behind him at the coffee machine he saw it empty.
Lucifer scoffed, "Please. You get your coffee after we're done." Lucifer responded, sending a very authoritive glance to his brother.
Castiel sighed, slowly nodding his head, "I see." Was his only reply. He figured it was Lucifer's strict French training that gave him this mentality.
As Lucifer began to set up the pan he would use to cook the omelets, he gave Castiel instructions on how to cut the bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes they'd be putting in omelets. It was as Castiel finished with the tomatoes that his brows furrowed. "How do you know what everyone wants on their omelets?"
Lucifer chuckled, "Well, after cooking for everyone for so long, you just start to retain things." He answered, and then reached around Castiel to grab the glass measuring cup of egg. "I know what everyone likes." He informed, "It comes with the territory." He concluded as he poured the egg into the pan. The mixture hissed and sizzled for a moment until it died down. Then, before Lucifer did anything else, he looked as if he was about to say something else, but he stopped, turned and grabbed for a spatula.
"It's funny," he began again, "I almost called out for my sous-chef." He chuckled.
Castiel smirked, "Lilith, was it?" he asked, faintly remembering being introduced to Lucifer's second in command in his kitchen.
"Yea." Lucifer answered, "Poor girl. Took the job right out of culinary school." He shook his head solemnly.
Castiel chuckled, "Does she not like the way you run things?" he asked, referring to Lucifer's tight hold on his kitchen.
"Nope." Lucifer answered almost as soon as Castiel had gotten the question out. He then reached back to the cutting board and grabbed at vegetables to sprinkle into the open omelet. "She only took the job at my place because she has a giant crush on me." He then glanced over to Castiel, his eyes half lidded and apathetic as he ate a piece of tomato.
Castiel's eyes narrowed, "So you're in the same predicament that I'm in…" he stated.
Before Lucifer retorted to his comment, he was handing back the glass measuring cup, "More eggs." He muttered then picked back up with, "Actually no. Your girlfriend doesn't realize her affections are unrequited. Mine, on the other hand, knows all too well." He grinned, turning back to the omelet.
Castiel's brows furrowed further, "Really?" he asked, cracking more eggs to go into the glass measuring cup.
Lucifer chuckled, "It's not like she just found out somehow. I told her." He admitted, unfazed. "She was getting really flirty one day and I had to nip that in the bud." He mumbled as he flipped one side of the omelet to lay over the other, trapping the ingredients inside.
Castiel grimaced. "How do you make it seem so easy…" he mumbled, cracking another egg a moment later.
"Well, you could always just tell the truth." He mumbled, Lucifer's brows raising as he leaned the pan to one side, the omelet sliding onto a ready plate.
Castiel sighed, his eyes closing for a moment, "It's not that simple." He replied, picking up the whisk a moment later.
"Sure it is. Just go up to her one day," Lucifer let the spatula set on the counter as he sauntered over to his brother, making a show of trying to be seductive, "Put an arm around her," he mumbled as he slunk an arm around his brother's shoulders unceremoniously then he began to fiddle with the whisk Castiel had let sit in the measuring cup as he held it. "And you talk real sweet to her." He mumbled before his voice turned a bit more high pitched and gravely, mocking Castiel's voice.
"Hey Rachel. What's up?" he growled it, making Castiel scrunch his shoulders to keep Lucifer's face from getting any closer to his, eyes bugging with irritation as he stared off at nothing.
"Ya'know, I've been meaning to tell you something, something I've wanted to tell you since the first moment I met you." Lucifer kept up the charade, even as Castiel began to grab at his arm and hopefully pull it from around his shoulders.
"It's just so hard for me to show you my emotions…But," he sighed, dramatically, pulling Castiel closer by his shoulders where he whispered in his ear playfully. "I'm gay." The whisper could barely even be called such with the way Lucifer had whisper-shouted it.
"Thank you for the advice, now please get off me." Castiel groaned, trying to back out of his arms, but Lucifer only followed.
"Hey, it worked for me." Lucifer swore, then he finally let his brother free, going back to the stove.
Castiel's brows wrinkled as he continued to whisk, "You told her you were gay?"
"No, just that I'd rather be gay than be with her." He responded, sounding hardly enthused.
Castiel grinned, "No you didn't." he accused, and then set the egg mixture on the counter beside Lucifer.
Lucifer chuckled, his head falling back for a moment, his eyes closed, "Well aren't you just the cutest little detective…" he joked, glancing back at his younger brother with a smirk.
The two brothers picked up their pace thereafter, and worked on breakfast with more vigor. Lucifer made quick work of the omelets, simultaneously cooking bacon on another stove eye and even maintained pancakes on a griddle that sat on the island behind him. Castiel had to hand it to Lucifer, he was truly in his element in the kitchen. He made cooking look like an art form, and all the while, he barely broke a sweat.
Once he'd scrapped and flipped the last pancake on the plate that held many others he spoke to Castiel, "Alright, why don't you start getting everyone up? I'll set the table." He told him, already carrying the plate of pancakes and a glass jar of syrup to the table in the kitchen. Breakfasts and lunches were usually eaten in the kitchen, while dinners were eaten in the dining room.
"I'm on it." Castiel called back, quickly wiping his hands on a rag before he took off for the stairs.
He first went for Gabriel and Kali's shared room, at the top of the right set of stairs and one room over to the right. It was technically a guest room, but Kali didn't like the color of Gabriel's old room, and she claimed it smelt like stale sweets and gym shorts. Castiel was certain she only said those things so they could move into a room with a bigger bed. As he approached their door, he sighed, gaining his breath for a moment from the climb up the tall stairs. He then reached a hand up to knock-
But before he could he heard distinctive giggles and chuckles coming from the other side.
"Uhh…" he gave a few knocks anyway, "Breakfast is ready." He told them, not sure if they heard him, but he wasn't going to stick around for any confirmation. Quickly, he went back down stairs and headed for the rooms in the back of the house, going past the den and went for the room in the very back. He huffed, taking another few breaths as he knocked on Michael's door. "Breakfast is ready."
There was some shuffling and shifting and then Castiel heard a yawn, "Alright." Was Michael's acknowledgement, warped by the yawn.
Castiel grinned as he left Michael to his morning rituals. It was as he was emerging from the hall leading to the back rooms, when he was about to make it through to the foyer, that he caught a glimpse inside his father's room. Lucifer was creeping out, quietly shutting the door behind him, his eyes to the ground as he leaned his back up against it.
The two of them didn't move, didn't speak for what seemed like hours, but Castiel worked up the urge to at least call to him, "Lucifer…"
His older brother looked up then, his piercing blue eyes boring into him as he didn't make a sound.
"How… was he?" it seemed like such a dumb question, but Castiel hadn't been allowed to see him since he got here. He wanted, no, needed to know.
Lucifer stood up off the door then, and without a word, he turned back to the door and opened it gently, then looked behind himself and gestured with one finger over his lips to keep quiet. Castiel nodded once and slowly made his way over to Lucifer. Now, standing beside Lucifer, he peered into the large room, where minimal light was allowed, and he could see bright pin-points of red light, of the machines, and the hissing a whirring that was bound to drive anyone mad. But in the middle of all these machines, laying in the center of the bed that now seemed so huge compared to its contents, sat his father.
Castiel's breath stuttered in his throat.
He looked so small, so withered, and his features now gaunt. What had happened to the strong man he knew? Where had he gone? Slowly, a hand made its way to Castiel's shoulder, trying to soothe him. Castiel bit his lip, trying to keep a hold on his emotions. He didn't want to break down, not in front of his brother again. Soon, though, Castiel had to step back, out of the room and out of Lucifer's grasp. It was only a few steps away, but it was enough space to ease the welling agony he felt forming just behind his ribs.
Lucifer looked to Castiel, the slightest bit of concern leaking through his mask of indifference. Castiel only held a hand up to Lucifer, his eyes closing as he took a few long breaths. He needed to hold it together. Everyone was about to be coming together in the kitchen for breakfast.
"Do you think he'll wake today?" he asked in a hushed voice.
Lucifer stepped out of the door frame and quietly closed it, then stepped up beside Castiel so they could speak, "The nurse says there's a high possibility." He sighed, his arms folding across his chest before he continued. "But every night, there's also the possibility that he doesn't wake up, or he goes into a coma…" he shook his head, his right hand reaching up to pinch at the bridge of his nose.
"The doctors are saying it'll be a miracle if he makes it to Thanksgiving." Lucifer spoke solemnly. His bright blue eyes flicked back open then, looking directly to Castiel, "But that's what we're aiming for. We need to set milestones, and every time Dad is awake, we have to encourage him and keep his spirits high."
Castiel couldn't keep his eyes held to Lucifer's, and he looked off to the side, "And then after Thanksgiving?"
Lucifer set a heavy hand on Castiel's shoulder, "Then we need to let go."
Castiel's eyes shut tight then, and he bit hard onto his bottom lip, trying to keep it from quivering, trying to stop the ache in the back of his throat that warned him of the coming tears. But as soon as Lucifer leant forward to hug him, it was all over. Castiel meekly set his hands on Lucifer's sides, softly weeping into his brother's shoulder.
"Shh, shhh, shhh…" Lucifer soothed Castiel, gently rocking them side to side, as if trying to coax a baby back to sleep, "Don't worry, Castiel, we still have him now." He ran a hand through his brother's dark hair, "He's still here with us."
If Castiel had been in the condition to listen and analyze what he'd heard, he might have noticed how Lucifer's words came out broken and half-hearted.
More brotherly love that I know you all so adore. Poor Lucifer I hate doing this to the babies, but I promise it gets better.
(BLD)