I am so beyond sorry but I literally got halfway through this chapter and suffered a really bad case of writer's block so... I don't really like the last half of this chapter, it was a bitch to write and I apologise if it sucks. Next chapter should be better :) Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm over my writer's block - fingers crossed ladies and gents - and should be able to churn out a few more chapters before my break ends.

Thank you so much for your patience. Enjoy! xx

"What do you mean he doesn't like Halloween? What does he mean you don't like Halloween?" Dean stared down at Castiel who busied himself with plopping marshmallows into his hot chocolate and pretending he wasn't paying attention. He seemed to realise this was a big deal to Dean and he didn't want to be involved, especially since Gabriel started it.

Sam chuckled and pushed the bowl of mini marshmallows closer to Castiel so he wasn't leaning over the table for them. He and Dean had been coerced into joining them for afternoon tea and dinner when Lucifer decided to go all mother hen upon finding out that they'd been ordering take out for the last week since John left on another work trip. He didn't approve even when Dean explained that they alternated between Chinese and Pizza.

Gabriel had mentioned Lisa's Halloween party to Dean, wondering if he was going to go. Sam had piped in when Dean seemed indecisive, asking if they'd rather go group trick or treating, even if they were too old for it. That was when Gabriel dropped the bombshell.

"He used to love it, we'd take him trick or treating every year but then a few years ago some kids terrified him by jumping out from some bushes at us and now he won't go anymore," Gabriel explained with a shrug.

Dean turned to Castiel with a stern expression that the younger boy ignored.

"Cas, you realise they're not going to hurt you right? They were just having fun?"

Castiel gave him a reproachful look and Dean smothered a laugh.

"Yeah, okay, I know you're not stupid. So... why the fuss?"

Castiel shifted uncomfortably, looking into his mug and fidgeting with the sleeve of his trench coat. Dean frowned.

"Is it because of those kids a few years ago?" Dean wondered. No response. "It is because you're scared of Gordon and the other guys?"

Castiel flinched a little but otherwise gave no response. Dean looked over at Gabriel with a frown.

"Cas, come on, look at me," Dean said gently, inching his chair a little closer and swinging his legs around so he was facing Castiel properly. Cas turned his head slightly and met Dean's eyes. "You don't have to be scared of those guys, okay? I won't let them hurt you again. I already promised, that, remember?"

Castiel nodded slowly and Dean smiled.

"So, what do you say you, me, Sammy and your brothers and Anna all go trick or treating this year?" Dean suggested.

Castiel shook his head adamantly and turned away. Dean sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, you tried," Gabriel teased. "You want some more hot chocolate, kiddo?" The question was directed at Sam who smiled at him and nodded, watching Gabriel wander into the kitchen.

Dean frowned and got up, following Gabriel.

"Hey, Gabe," Dean said. "I need to talk to you about something.

"Mmm?" Gabriel pushed a mug towards Dean as an order for him to help. "About Cassie?"

"Nah. It's about Sammy. Well... he kinda... I mean I think he-"

"Has a crush on me? Yeah, I noticed," Gabriel grinned. "He's kind of adorable about it."

"Gabe, he's fourteen," Dean groaned. "You can't-"

"Can't what? Treat him like a kid brother like I've been doing? Relax, Deano. It's just like you and Cassie, 'kay? We're friends, and I wouldn't do something like that to you, god knows you're as protective of your little brother as I am of mine. And besides it's a crush. He'll get over it. He'll realise he doesn't like guys and it was just that phase most everyone goes through when they're figuring out who they are and he'll start crushing on some pretty girl."

Dean frowned. "And what if he doesn't?"

"Then you are going to be a good big brother and support him no matter who he might like and I will let him down easy," Gabriel explained, pouring hot milk into the mug Dean was holding and adding the chocolate for him to stir in.

"And what do you mean, just like me and Cas?" Dean muttered.

"Hmm... okay, maybe not just like. It's definitely not something quite as special. But I mean, we're good friends and I'm protective of him," Gabriel mused. "My brother acts as if you're his favourite thing in the whole world."

"Cas or Michael?" Dean teased.

"Both."

They laughed.

The heard the front door opening and then Michael's voice greeting Castiel warmly in the dining room.

"Guests?" Michael said with a grin, appearing in the kitchen.

"Luci's picking up strays," Gabriel nodded and Dean shoved him, still chuckling.

"You and Sam are always welcome, Dean," Michael assured him. "Have you guys all done your homework?"

"Uh...?" Gabriel looked at Dean who shrugged helplessly and Michael rolled his eyes.

"Get to it then. You can all work in the living room if you don't feel like dispersing to work alone," Michael told them. "Go on."

Dean raised his eyebrows and Michael folded his arms suddenly looking very reminiscent of Ellen when Dean was pushing too far.

"You too," Michael informed him sternly. "And your brother. Go."

"Yes, Dad," Dean said sarcastically and earned himself a swat to the back of his head as walked past Michael. Gabriel laughed again.

"Watch it Mikey, or we'll think you're going soft!"

They gathered their books and spread them out in a circle in the living room, Castiel joining them after a few moments hesitation at the disruption to his usual schedule. One reassuring squeeze of his fingers from Dean was enough to settle him onto his stomach to write answers to English questions beside Dean.

Dean read over his shoulder for a few minutes, eyebrows inching up at each new line.

Why hadn't someone told him Cas was much smarter than he was? Why was he reading Harry Potter to the kid? Besides the fact that it was their thing of course.

"You know..." Gabriel began. Dean tore his eyes away from Castiel's work to look at him. "I don't really want to go to Lisa's party. Maybe for Halloween we could all stay in here and watch a bunch of horror movies."

"Cassie hates horror movies," Anna interrupted without looking up from her biology textbook.

"He can hide under Dean's arm. What do you guys say?" Gabriel wondered.

"I always go to Lisa's party," Dean said softly. He could feel eyes on him and he looked up at Sam who nodded to Castiel. Dean glanced sideways to him to find he had stopped writing and had a sad look on his face. "But I mean, it's always so boring. The girls at our school are old news... no point if I've got nobody to hook up with."

Gabriel chuckled and held his hand out for a fist bump. Dean obliged.

"Horror movies it is," he decided.

"Can we make sure the original Halloween is one of them?" Anna requested. "That's my favourite."

"What if everyone picks two and we vote for order on the night?" Dean suggested. Gabriel nodded in agreement. Dean looked to Sam to ask if he was okay with that but his eyes were still on Castiel, looking worried.

Dean looked at Castiel too and found that he was kneeling now, gathering his things.

"Cas?" Dean wondered. "Hey, what's wrong? We can put on some other movies, if horror movies really bother you. Come on, man, smile, please?"

Castiel looked at Dean, frowning at him as if Dean was a particularly difficult puzzle he wanted to solve.

"You know I would rather spend Halloween with you than those other losers, right? I'll make sure it's not scary for you. I promise."

Castiel continued to stare for a minute and Dean shifted uncomfortably but then Castiel settled back down, brushing his hand on Dean's for a moment before he went back to his homework. Dean let out a small sigh of relief.

So the following Thursday after school Dean and Sam drove, Anna, Gabriel and Castiel home to find that Michael and Lucifer had gotten bored on their day off and completely decked out the entire house and yard in Halloween decorations.

"We're going to scare the hell out of the little monsters," Lucifer said, a gleeful look in his eyes and even rubbed his hands together like some corny comic book villain.

"I understand why your parents named you Lucifer," Sam said, completely serious. Lucifer laughed and wrapped an arm around his neck.

"I like this one. Let's keep him and get rid of Dean," Lucifer decided.

"Hey!" Dean protested and Castiel took hold of Dean's hand possessively and glared at Lucifer.

"I was joking, baby bro," Lucifer assured him. "Right so, Michael, being the anally retentive weirdo he is, drew up a schedule for candy patrol. I've decided that whichever of you answers the door you have to each be a different horror movie villain to attempt to scare them. The scariest gets the leftover candy at the end of the night. I have all the costumes you will need. Fight amongst yourselves."

"Sweet!" Gabriel said, fist pumping. "Pun completely intended."

"Lame," Dean coughed at Gabriel.

"Wait until you see the living room," Michael basically sang as he joined them in the kitchen to fill up the last of the candy bowls.

"How much of that candy did you eat?" Dean questioned curiously.

Michael glared at him briefly. "I like Halloween, okay? And trust, me you'll appreciate the ambience. First-"

"Homework, we know. Jesus, you're a slave driver," Dean grumbled.

"It's a sign that he loves you. Come on, Deano."

"No going in the living room until it's movie time!" Michael ordered.

"Just go along with it, you two, it's better to accept his crazy than try to fix him," Lucifer winked. Sam grinned and followed Gabriel upstairs. Dean turned to Castiel.

"What do you say we skip homework for this afternoon and you teach me another song on the piano?" Dean requested. Castiel's eyes lit up. He'd been very subdued during the week and Dean wanted to cheer him up. Michael glanced at them but then nodded in agreement, having also noticed his brother's mood drop.

When they got to the piano Dean touched Castiel's hand to stop him playing for a moment.

"I have a song here," Dean explained. "It's pretty special to me so..." He shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed and self conscious so he just put the sheet music up on the piano and Castiel looked at it with interest. He reached out and trailed a finger over the title Hey Jude before casting Dean a questioning look.

"My mum used to sing it to me when I had bad dreams," Dean explained softly. "After she died it was a long time before I could listen to it again. Kinda hoping you can play it for me."

Castiel turned to the keys and experimented with the first line. Dean watched his process with interest. He worked his way through a line at a time, piecing together the song bit by bit. Dean started humming along as he made it halfway through. Castiel turned though and waved a hand to stop him until later he had the entire song down pat and he motioned for Dean to join him. He seemed delighted when Dean scooted a little closer on the bench and sang softly into his ear, a little embarrassed but pleased by Castiel's bright eyes when the song finished.

Dean caught his gaze and found he couldn't look away and was surprised when Castiel raised a hand off the piano and keys and hesitantly reached for Dean's face.

"Okay kiddos!" Lucifer's loud voice made both boys jump and Castiel scrambled a foot away from Dean and averted his eyes. "It's time for the marathon to begin! We have snacks prepared! Get your butts down here!"

"Come on," Dean said to Cas, a little frustrated but trying to keep that out of his voice. He was so curious about what Castiel was about to do but he'd been startled out of it. They joined the group in the living room and stared around in amazement. Michael and Lucifer had transformed the room into a castle dungeon complete with cobwebs and pile of fake human bones.

"You really do love Halloween," Dean mused. "Wait, I thought you were religious. Don't religious people hate Halloween?"

"Don't you know what stereotyping is?" Anna shot back.

"Not so religious as to hate holidays all about candy and scaring children," Lucifer explained. Michael rolled his eyes.

"So, our first movie from the list you guys made yesterday is... Halloween... the original, appropriate," Michael decided. He flicked off all the lights and Dean grinned when he noticed several glowing decorations of a cauldron and fake blood on the bones.

The ambience was pretty great.

Castiel took the seat beside Dean and shrunk into his side, almost touching him as he looked at the TV warily. Obviously the decorations weren't a source of discomfort but the movies were. Dean was aware of him as the others settled and passed around bowls of caramel corn, candy, regular popcorn, chips and basically every kind of movie snack Dean loved. He glanced at Castiel as the opening credits finished and the movie actually started. He seemed okay so Dean focused on the movie, smirking a little.

Old horror movies were the best. The blood was overly fake, nobody's wounds spurted that much, the acting as over the top dramatic as all acting used to be, and the music was the scariest part. And the music for this movie was particularly creepy.

When Michael went into his sister's room to stab her, Gabriel wolf whistled and Lucifer smothered cackles into a cushion at her ridiculous screams. Dean chuckled and glanced at Castiel to find him wide eyed and clutching a throw pillow in shock.

"Hey," Dean murmured. It took a few more goes but Castiel tore his eyes from the screen to look at him. "Want to know a trick to make it not so scary?"

Castiel nodded.

"Look at all of the way it's silly. See how fake the blood is and how bad the acting is? Just think of that, it makes you remember that it's a Hollywood set and a dummy knife," Dean explained. A little furrow appeared between the younger boy's eyebrows as he looked back at the screen.

He inched closer and closer to Dean as the movie went on and Dean peeked at him. He didn't seem too worried which was good, they still had a tonne of other movies to go through and most of them were scarier than this one.

Next up was Nightmare on Elm Street, the original of course, Dean had chosen it and couldn't even fathom why someone thought it necessary to remake a classic? There was only one Freddy, nobody could compare. Friday the 13th, sure, it was okay to remake that, Jason didn't even talk so anybody could play him really but Freddy was a horror villain with personality, you can't replace the original.

This one seemed to scare Cas more, he was jumping a little every now and then. When Johnny Depp's character was yanked into his bed though Dean jumped and yelped when a hand gripped his bicep tightly in shock at the huge spray of blood.

Everyone looked at him but he was busy looking at Castiel, stroking his hand with his fingers comfortingly.

"It's okay, buddy, really, it's so unrealistic, look, the human body doesn't hold that much blood, it's not possible," Dean murmured. "Shh, it's just a movie, Cas, it's alright."

Just when Dean thought he had the boy calm Jigsaw's laugh echoed through the house and Castiel made a terrified sound and dived under the throw blanket piled next to him on the lounge.

"What the hell?" Dean demanded.

"I changed the doorbell," Lucifer explained, grimacing.

"Change it back," Michael ordered. "Go and give those children their candy, we'll start the roster after." Michael moved in front of the trembling pile that was Castiel and murmured softly to them.

"Your brother is an idiot," Michael informed.

"A great big, bag of dicks," Gabriel agreed. Michael shot him a look and Lucifer shouted 'I heard that' before answering the door to a chorus of tiny voices shouting 'trick or treat!'.

"Everything's okay, Castiel," Michael assured him softly. "Dean's right beside you and the rest of us are here in the room. I know that you know movies can't hurt you, they're just make believe. Nothing to be afraid of. Besides, like Dean said, most horror movies are fantastical, most of the villains and the murders aren't possible."

Castiel finally peeked out from the blanket as Lucifer returned, throwing a Freddy costume at Gabriel and informing him he was on door duty for the next hour. Michael smiled warmly at Castiel.

"You can stay wrapped in the blanket if you want," Michael promised. "But don't worry, Dean's right there. You've got nothing to be scared of."

Michael returned to his seat and Dean laid his hand palm up on the cushion, wiggling his fingers until Castiel reached out and took them, squeezing gently as they returned to watching the movie. The trick or treaters started coming frequently from then and it seemed the constant interruptions to the movies made it easier for Castiel to watch. He still jumped and whimpered at the really tense parts and was especially scared when Dean's turn to answer the door came up but he wasn't shaking anymore.

Towards ten o'clock Dean glanced down at him, concerned because he hadn't been jumping a lot and found that he was fast asleep, fingers still curled around Dean's. He didn't wake up until Dean, seeing Sam nodding off against Gabriel's shoulder two hours later decided it was time for them to head home. As he tried to shake off Cas's hand gently the boy awoke, blinking up at him owlishly.

"I'm heading home now," Dean explained as Castiel tightened his hold on Dean's hand, clearly not wanting him to go. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Castiel looked at his face for a few moments before releasing him and snuggling further into his blanket. Dean smiled down at him before saying goodbye to the others and herding Sam out to the Impala.

"That was a good Halloween," Sam yawned as he curled into the passenger seat. "Much better than some dumb party."

Dean smirked a little. "Yeah, it had its moments," he agreed. He was still a little disappointed about not getting to go to Lisa's party though, he did go every year. He looked at the time as Sam stumbled upstairs to his room. It was only midnight, the party would still be in full swing until about two or three despite it being a school night. Lisa's parents were often away on business functions and she took full advantage of that.

Dean nodded to himself before scribbling a note in case Sam woke up and ducking back outside. A party would be a nice way to wind down, he'd spent so much time lately worrying about Castiel. He liked spending time with Cas of course but he needed to relax, be loud and drink.

It had also been way too long since he'd gotten laid.