Textbooks and LARPing
Chapter Seven: Two day old take out is not a suitable meal for guests
Castiel and Dean are now becoming friends. Slowly.
They meet up once a week in the library and eat dinner together. Castiel can only give this much for now because he's an awkward creature and needs to study more. Not for class, but for socializing. He has taken seven books out from the local library that mention friends in them.
So far all he knows is that female friendship is a tricky thing. He appreciates his born sex exponentially more now if those books are a true glimpse into the woman's world.
From what he has seen, in the typical friendship roles he would fall into the odd side-character niche. No real story of his own, just sitting on the sidelines to help with plot points every now and then.
What exactly does that translate to in real life? Should he only speak every-so-often and just when he has useful information for Dean?
…Is that normal? ….It doesn't seem normal.
Friendships are weird.
He really wishes he could find more just on friendships. Not friends-turned-lovers, or fighting-for-survival, or even suddenly-a-magical-protagonist books. They aren't his kind of stories, although he can certainly see the appeal in them. Well, to say all of them are not his type of story is a little broad. The YA books his library has do not appeal to him, is more accurate.
It really makes him wonder why he is working so hard for Dean.
Looking over to the clock on his stand he sees its noon and groans. There are no classes since its Saturday, but Sam is actually coming over today around one. The reason given was studying for their midterm, but Castiel is not stupid, he knows Sam is coming to see his brother so they can share odd looks and awkward smiles.
Perhaps he should give Sam one of his YA books so he knows how to court someone.
As expected, his brother is already prepared for the visit with a nice meal in the oven (well, nice takeout from last night) and his best clothes washed and on. He's fairly certain Gabriel even showered this morning. Clearly the elder Novak has it bad.
Despite knowing of his brother, and Sam's, attraction towards one another, Castiel is still confused as to how it came about. Well, no, the more accurate phrasing would be he doesn't understand how such a situation could lead to these feelings.
It all happened last semester, evidently. Sam was lost on campus during his first week and Gabriel was pulling one of his overly-elaborate pranks.
Gabriel was dressed as a janitor, so he could sneak into the Dean of student's office and retrieve some files on a previous prank he did that got him in trouble with the school.
Because obviously when you set out to film a porno in the commuter lounge, people will fail to find the humor in it.
He was almost home free with the papers when he noticed Sam looking around, as Gabriel put it, 'flustered and adorable'. It still baffles Castiel how ten feet of plaid can be adorable. Gus, the frog he now visits daily thanks to Dean, is adorable. Winchesters not so much.
At any rate, Gabriel decided he would ask what was wrong in hopes of gaining access to fornication with Sam. When Sam told him what was wrong, Gabriel showed him where his class was and got caught by a teacher. He is banned from….well….a lot of things.
Castiel is unsure how this is romantic. Is it because Sam saw it as Gabriel putting him before himself? Or perhaps Sam is just attracted to janitor uniforms.
What he really doesn't know is how his brother has maintained interest so long. They do not spend time together, as both are too awkward to ask. So how is he still attached?
Whatever their reasons, it is not really much of Castiel's business and according to the books he got from the library, crushes make no sense anyways.
"So, um, when is little Samsquatch comin over?" Gabriel asks, trying to seem disinterested but they both know better. A complete stranger coming in and seeing just this one moment would know better.
"He will be here in an hour." Castiel answers, grabbing himself some yogurt and berries. "So I would wait on 'cooking' that 'meal' if I were you."
"Wow, someone put on their sasspants today. It's all those teen fiction books you insist on reading."
"They are 'young adult' books, and I am a young adult. It is perfectly fine. Even if they are 'teen' books, I still fall under that category as well." He points out before finishing his food and heading for a shower.
When he comes out he sees Sam standing next to his brother, the two talking about something until he shows up. They both smile at him and Castiel wonders briefly is he really should introduce Sam to the YA books currently hidden under his bed. Just because he has every right to read them doesn't mean he isn't a little embarrassed by them.
You know you should be a little embarrassed when the librarian begins to give you suspicious looks.
"Hello, Sam." Castiel greets and the boy smiles at him.
"Hi, Castiel! Gabriel said he was making us something for lunch." Sam says, clearly excited at the idea that Gabriel is cooking for him.
Castiel doesn't have the heart to tell him it's takeout.
"Yes, Gabriel can be quite the generous host when he wants to be." Is all he says, trying to drop it so he doesn't have to end up lying for his brother. "Would you like to come to my room until it's done?"
"Sure," Sam says, the easy smile he always has on replacing the excited one he just had. "I've always wondered what it looks like."
"Prepare to be underwhelmed." Gabriel teases.
"Better than stumbling into your room and being scarred for life." Castiel huffs before bringing Sam into his room.
Admittedly, it is very underwhelming. The only things he has are clothes and school items. There's a couple CDs, all of them signed copies from his brother Lucifer's band. He has listened to a few and likes them, but they make Michael and his father unhappy so he hasn't really touched them since. Aside from that he has a couple weird things from Balthazar, and a billion odd things from Gabriel.
"This isn't underwhelming at all," Sam assures him, "I'm willing to bet all the things on that bookshelf are from Gabriel, right?" He asks, pointing to the bookshelf covered in novelty gifts from Spencers and Hot Topic. Needless to say many of them are face down to hide certain phallic imagery on them.
"You would be correct." Castiel admits, "He and Balthazar like to give me odd things. The bookshelf below it is Balthazar's gifts." He points to the one covered in cutesy stuffed animals. "I like Balthazar's gifts better."
Sam laughs a little, "Don't tell Gabe that, I bet he's competitive."
"All of the Novak's are competitive to a degree." Castiel admits and the younger Winchester sighs.
"Yeah, us Winchesters are, too."
"Yeah, I've noticed." The older teen agrees, thinking back to the other day when he and Dean were doing homework together and it ended up turning into a contest of who could finish first. A contest they redid six times and fought over for an hour after. It was a tie. Neither of them does ties.
"That's right, you and Dean have been hanging out more recently, haven't you?" Sam asks, feigning ignorance. Or maybe he really hasn't been paying attention to it. Surely he has his own stuff going on. "Once a week seems a bit limited though, don't you think?"
Strike that, Sam is completely paying attention to it and seems to have an agenda. He should have known, those Winchesters always have an agenda.
"I think it is working well," Castiel says, "Unless Dean has said otherwise?" He asks, more than a little worried he's being a bad friend.
"Hey, don't make that face," Sam says sweetly and Castiel tries to change the expression he wasn't aware he was making, "He's not against it or anything, he just wishes he could spend more time with you."
"Oh." The older teen frowns, "But what would we do with more time? Surely we cover all the bases during our weekly dinners. Our current events, plans for the next week, whatever inane things Dean wants to talk about…" Castiel looks at Sam confused, "I have doubts as to whether I can be a good friend more than once a week."
Sam laughs a little. "There's no reason to! You and I see each other every day and still have things to talk about. Just the other day Dean was whining about how I get to spend more time with you. He was especially upset I was invited over today and he wasn't."
Castiel pales. "Should I have…invited him as well? We're just studying. He would end up having to speak to Gabriel and that's not a good idea since-" He stops himself. Even with his lack of social graces, he knows not to let slip that his brother has feelings for Sam without his brother's consent.
"Dean knows I have a thing for him?" Sam suggests and Castiel nods, perhaps a little too eagerly.
"Yes, that is why!" He keeps nodding to himself a little longer, pondering why Sam and his brother have to go around in circles like this. Perhaps if they do not step up in the next month he will force their hands. Nothing is more annoying to Castiel than two people circling around their clear attraction for one another.
"Boys, come out here, please!" Gabriel calls and Castiel frowns. They hadn't even gotten their books out yet. (Is that a good thing? Does that mean he's socializing correctly?)
Pushing those thoughts aside, Castiel leads then both back out to the kitchen, "What is it, Gabriel? Is your 'meal' finished?"
When he finally looks at his brother he notices the pointedly unhappy expression on his face. "Castiel," Gabriel begins and the teen gets nervous. He never uses his actual name unless he's pissed off. "Michael just called. He wants you to go to lunch with him and father right now. At the usual place."
"What…?" Castiel frowns, side-eyeing Sam, "But I have someone over. That would be rude. Did you tell them this?"
"I tried, but apparently they're both pretty pissed about something."
"Oh." Castiel mutters, crestfallen. He finally had a friend over. They were going to study and make real food (because day old take out is not okay for guests, no matter what Gabriel thinks), and he was going to ask for advice on how to be a good friend to Dean (because apparently he is failing at it).
Perhaps this is a sign, God is telling him that he should not get caught up in frivolous behavior. He should stick to his father and Michael's rules.
"I'm sorry, Cassie." Gabriel sighs, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "But they love you, unlike Lucy and me, it would take a lot for them to be mad at you."
"Yeah…" It would take a lot, that's true, but what qualifies for that 'lot' are all things that Castiel has recently been doing. "I guess I will go change my clothes and meet with them…you will have to entertain Sam. I'll try to get back as soon as possible." He says, noticing the flustered look on the younger teens face as he leaves them to change into a suit.
Alone in his room, his hands are shaking and his heart sinks into his stomach.
For them to ignore social graces like behavior towards guests means that something big happened. Something big that Castiel did.
No doubt its Dean related.
But…how did they find out so quickly?
A/N: Cas, my god, you need to learn how to friend better. Poor Dean. (I have nothing against YA books, btw, my best friend is in love with them. I just don't know many guys who like them) Sorry this is filler just to build up for the next chapter. Which I will work on as soon as I wake up but it's 5 am and I need sleep. (I finally graduated college so hopefully my updates will be more frequent...?)