Word Count: 1, 726
Pairings: Destiel, established Balthazar/Gabriel, temporary and sort of one-sided Crowley/Castiel at one point, and mentions of Dean/Jo
Story Warnings: Slash, angst, alcohol use, some sexual content later on, and prostitution later on in the fic, as well.
Track three/ Hang You Up From the Heavens
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Castiel and Dean are introduced to the rest of their club right away, and Castiel is, he'd admit, a little intimidated.
The female lead is a girl named Cassie, and she is pretty good. She's sassy and all business, while mostly nice, and it intimidates Castiel like hell. Dean seems to take a liking to her too, and that makes jealousy spike in him, just a little.
Of course, he doesn't say anything about it.
It turns out that Dean is appointed as the male lead, and Castiel isn't jealous about that at all. Dean's more confident than he'll ever be; he has better stage presence. After all, Castiel still has a big part, even as a backup singer. Besides, maybe he can get a solo or two. He hopes he will.
The other members include another girl called Ruby. She's a bit too touchy-feely for Castiel's comfort, and Dean whispers that she's pretty much "the school whore," as he called it. She's got a voice that's something like Amy Winehouse's, so she's good.
Then there's this guy named Garth, and he's weird as hell. He's got a loud mouth, and can dance better than he can sing.
And Tessa sort of keeps to herself. Sometimes she'll toss guarded looks Castiel's way, but that's about it. She sings like Hayley Williams, and Castiel wishes that she'd sing more, because he rather enjoys it when she does.
They still need more members, but it's early in the school year, so Missouri is confident that they'll gain more students. Now the glee club is practicing choreography, and since Ruby and Garth are the best dancers who've actually been trained, (besides Missouri,) they're mostly teaching it, on Castiel's sixth day of school.
"…One, two, three! Move your feet, Dean! Remember that you're like a tree; stiff on the bottom, free on top." Garth tries to coach Dean into the routine, in his own, strange way, but his pupil isn't very patient, and Dean's already getting irritated that the routine's hard to master. Dean's usually a pretty good dancer, so Castiel wonders whether his classmate's just having a bad day.
"Damn it, I'm moving as fast as I can!" Dean snaps after screwing up the routine at the last moment, and Castiel turns from his own work to look Dean's way with nervousness.
"…Dean," He starts, wringing the bottom of his light purple sweater with an embarrassed look, "If you want to… I mean, if you can… I can help you practice later."
Dean's irritated, angry look melts from the boy's face, and he fixes Castiel with a small, if a bit tired, smile. "Yeah, sure, Cas. Sounds good."
And they practice together after school until Dean gets it just right.
-x-x-x-
Dean and Castiel's lockers aren't really near each others', but they somehow manage to spend a lot of time together. At least, they walk to class together for as long as they can, and sometimes they eat lunch together. Dean still has other friends/people he hangs out with.
Castiel still has Anna, and she's sympathetic for her younger brother. "Give it some time," She says gently, snapping Castiel out of his trance, out of staring across the room at Dean Winchester. She smiles at her brother softly. "He's dealing with his own stuff. You notice the people he hangs out with always change, right?" Castiel stares at her for a moment with sombre eyes before his gaze drifts back Dean's way.
The other student is leaning back in his chair, talking it up to some girl on his left. She's pretty; an Asian girl who's unbelievably tiny, with breasts that are obviously not completely hers. Dean says something, and they both laugh. The girl's laughter isn't fake but it's flirty, while Dean is obviously forcing his laughter. His eyes say it.
What Anna said to him suddenly clicks for Castiel, and his head whips around to stare at her, wide-eyed and trembling. "…He's getting made fun of because of glee club." Anna's lips purse as she twirls her fork.
"Well, not exactly… But not as many people are hanging with him, you know?"
The guilt is evident on Castiel's darkening features, and Anna hurries to explain herself. "Dean offered to join, didn't he? He knew what he was getting into, and he still wanted to be a part of it. He's your friend."
Castiel picks up a spoonful of Jell-O, but heaves a sigh through his nose before simply setting it down. He sets an elbow in the table, and plops his chin into his hand so hard it makes his glasses slide down his nose. And then, of course, it reminds him of the fact that he doesn't have any contact lenses, because the money that he'd usually spend in buying his month's supply was taken by Gabriel and used for booze.
"…I know he's my friend." Castiel says sullenly, still gazing across the lunchroom at Dean Winchester. That's the problem.
Anna gives her younger brother a sympathetic look before poking a hole in her juice box, and raises an eyebrow when Castiel's face loses some colour. But when she turns her head, she sees why. Dean's up and walking their way, lunch tray in hand, and the busty Asian girl from earlier is gathering her lunch with an irritated air.
Castiel looks like he wants to melt into the floor, and it shows on his face that he thinks that Dean caught him staring and is here to tear him a new one. But when Dean reaches their table, he smiles sheepishly and scrubs a hand over his hair.
"…Hey, Cas, Anna. Mind if I sit?"
Anna beams at him. "No, not at all!" She scoots over, glancing to Castiel, who's bending his chewed-on straw in every which way, and staring at it like it's the most fascinating thing in the world. Dean isn't disconcerted though, and he sits beside Anna with a grateful smile.
"So, Cas," He drawls after a moment, and the spoken teen's head snaps up, making him drop the straw. His glasses fall from their spot on his nose to clatter to the table, and he makes a small squeak of surprise at the sound. He scrambles to push them back up his nose.
When he finally gets them to where he can see, he looks to Dean with raised eyebrows, cheeks flushed with obvious embarrassment. "…Y-yeah?"
Dean's smile only grows. "Didn't know you wore glasses." Castiel's gaze drops to his plate for a moment before he nods. "…I usually wear contact lenses. But due to… Unforeseen difficulties… I'm wearing my old glasses." Dean sips on his Gatorade, leaning back to toss an arm behind the back of his chair.
"Yeah? Y'know, I kinda like 'em. They bring out your eyes." Dean winces, and Anna has to suppress a giggle at Castiel's dumbfounded and a tad panicky expression. "…And yeah, that's probably the weirdest thing I've ever said. Sorry."
Castiel nods jerkily, and Anna gives Dean a roguish smile that makes Castiel instantly cautious of whatever she's planning. "Hey, Dean," She starts casually, "Why not come over tonight? Castiel said something about a duet in glee club, and he probably needs to practice."
If it was possible to die from embarrassment, poor Michael would have to be planning (and paying) for his youngest brother's funeral.
But Dean doesn't seem weirded out or anything like what Castiel expected him to look like. He merely tosses Castiel a grin. "Sounds like fun. Sam was gonna go fishing with my dad's friend Bobby, so I'm free for awhile. I'll come over. …If it's okay with you, Cas."
"It's fine!" Castiel's response is immediate, and he inwardly grimaces. The brunet takes a moment to collect himself before calmly nodding with a shy smile. "…I'd like that, Dean."
The other boy's grin broadens. "Sounds like a party."
-x-x-x-
"…So you're finally showing your pretty face around here again, huh?"
Gabriel leans against the doorjamb with a cheeky grin, arms crossed on his chest, and his younger brother, Balthazar, gives him a smirk.
"Now's as good a time as any, don't you think? This place is nice, by the way. Very… homey."
Balthazar had left the family without a word to anyone (save for Gabriel) nearly a year ago to pursue an acting career, and he hadn't called or showed up on their doorstep since. He'd only kept in contact with Gabriel, with whom he was always closest. Castiel had adored Balthazar, and was pretty upset and confused as to why his big brother left without saying goodbye. Even a call to simply say how Balthazar was doing would be welcome.
But now, Balthazar stands with his usual, cocky smirk on his face, and Gabriel can't help but smile softly back.
"…Hey, what can I say? It's somewhere to live." The shorter Novak pushes himself off the doorjamb, giving his brother a coy look. "So? The gig in Phoenix didn't work out?" Balthazar scoffs.
"It was much too hot to get any work done. Even working inside with air conditioning, it dries my skin out just so."
Both of them giggle together on the doorstep, and when the last chuckles had faded away, their gazes meet. For a long moment, neither men say a word. They simply gaze at each other, small smiles on their lips, before Gabriel moves before he or Balthazar can think.
Balthazar's arms wind around his brother's waist, pulling him closer as Gabriel backs him up into the side of the house. The shorter man yanks his brother down by the sides of his face for an open-mouthed, desperate kiss to which Balthazar returns with equal abandon. He has to lean down some to kiss Gabriel, but it's obvious that he doesn't mind, if the hands smoothing up and down his older brother's back are anything to go by.
Gabriel is the one to break the contact, but it's obvious that he doesn't want to. Still, he pulls away to nuzzle Balthazar's jaw, breathless and shivering. He's almost speechless, for once in a great, rare while.
"…Fuckin' missed you." He says softly against Balthazar's cheek, and he feels the other man smile as arms tighten around him.
"Missed you too. More than you know, Cupcake."
Author's Notes/ *Waves* Hi there, readers! Thanks so much for taking time to read this fic. C: I'm pretty happy with it. Please don't let the warnings scare you off, either~ I currently have almost seven chapters written up so far, and I'm uploading them when I can. I'm planning for this fic to be ten to twelve chapters long, and I'm definitely finishing it. It'll be my first finished multi-chaptered fic.
Again, a big thanks to the people who read, put this fic on their alerts, and, especially, review. I won't chew your head off for telling me if you don't like something, or think I should do something differently. But either way, like it or hate it, do leave me a note if you have the time!