Castiel believes that Dean is not going to show, but he's wrong. Sam Evans is not impressed with their song choices, although Gwen and Jane have come up with something that can work for regionals. Ianto struggles to get Jack to focus on the project. Castiel tells Unique everything, and her solution to his dilemma is kind of scary.

One hour late

The pizza was getting cold, the wings were drying up in the little box, and the breadsticks were becoming a little chewy. Castiel was hungry, but he wanted to wait until Dean came. He did have a breadstick because it was taking too long. Maybe the guy wouldn't show up at all? Something could have happened, or he could just have changed his mind.

Cas was holding his phone, wondering if he should call and ask, but that could look a little pathetic. Not that the meal didn't already look quite pathetic already. He should have told Dean that he was ordering, or at least asked him if he wanted some food when he came over.

For some odd reason, he and Dean were going to do a duet together. Did Dean ask for it, or did somebody else do the picking? Knowing a little bit about how Dean handled these assignments, Cas wouldn't be surprised if the two of them ended up on a team because Cas was absent.

If everybody else picked a partner, and Dean just sat there waiting for someone to ask him, as he often did, it was inevitable that he'd have to pair up with the one person who was not there.

After months together in that choir room, Dean was still the odd one out. He often got chosen for a lead if Mr Evans got his say, and for a few assignments he had been a quite popular choice, but most of the time he just ended up with whoever needed an extra voice.

That breadstick didn't do much to clench the hunger, so Castiel grabbed the pizza box and slumped down on the couch. He could just as well eat; it had been more than an hour since he came home, and Dean was obviously not in a hurry to get there.

It was still edible, and Cas didn't care if it wasn't warm anymore. He'd really looked forward to sharing this with Dean, and the disappointment was ruining his appetite. He only ate it because his stomach was growling, and he was pretty sure that a fresh-out-of-the-oven pizza wouldn't have made a difference.

Half way into his second slice, the doorbell rang. Castiel threw the slice back in the box and closed it. He picked it up and practically threw it on the counter as he ran through the kitchen to get the door.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

They didn't have any food at house, so Dean and Sam had to go to the convenient store to get some supplies before they went home. When they got there, the building was surrounded by police cars, and two of the meth-heads in the basement were lying face down on the pavement.

Getting to the door unnoticed would be impossible, so Dean just turned the car around and drove away. He could just go to Castiel's and explain that he had to bring his brother. Cas already knew that they lived in a crappy house with whores and drug addicts, so he would probably understand.

"I could go home." Sam shrugged. "I'm clean. There's no reason for them to bother me." Dean shook his head and threw a quick glance at his brother. "You think? What if they start asking questions? What if they find out that dad hasn't been there for months?" He rolled his eyes. "I think it's better to wait until they've gone. I'm sure Cas will be fine with it."

Sam had picked out his phone and scrolled through his contact list. "Okay, okay. But let me call Kevin. You can take me there if he's home." He put the phone to his ear. It didn't take long before he had Kevin on the other end. "Are you home? Can I come over? I'm in a little bit of a pickle." Dean noticed that Sam smiled a little shyly as he listened to his friend's reply. "Okay. I'll be there shortly."

He hung up and turned to Dean. "Jo is there. They are working on the duet." He couldn't stop grinning, and Dean just huffed. Kevin lived in the totally opposite direction from Cas, and not too far from McKinley. "This will take time. I should probably call Cas and tell him."

Dean never did that, and he felt like shit when he finally parked outside the house. Cas knew where they lived and could have estimated how long it would take for Dean to drive Sam home. He had probably expected him to be there almost an hour ago give or take. He pressed the doorbell and hoped that Cas wouldn't be too disappointed.

"I'm so sorry. We had a little bit of a problem on the way. I was going to call…" He walked behind Castiel into the kitchen. "Oh, you have pizza?" He looked at the box, and could feel that his mouth watered up. He hadn't eaten anything for almost eight hours, but with everything going on he hadn't realized how hungry he was.

"Yeah, but it's cold. I was hungry, but I didn't really have much of an appetite." Castiel opened the box revealing almost a whole pizza. "I can heat it up if you like?" He shrugged and nodded towards the microwave.

Dean was too hungry to even care. "No it's fine. So I can just…" He grabbed a slice. "Man, if I'd known, I would have kicked Sam out of the car and come over immediately. This is so good." He took another piece before he realized that Cas was just standing there watching him eat. "Sorry. Are you not having any?" Castiel shook his head. "No. I'm fine. Go ahead."

Never ever had cold pizza tasted so good. After the third slice, Dean started to explain what happened that made him so late. "We knew about it all along, and I'm just happy they didn't blow up the house before they got busted." He pointed to a little box next to the pizza. What's that? Wings?"

Castiel didn't seem to hear him. He's eyes widened, and he looked a little scared. "Are you telling me that there is, er, was a meth-lab under your apartment?" He seemed to have a hard time breathing. "Did we actually sit on a bomb on Christmas day?"

Dean could understand Castiel's concern; he had never thought about it that way though. "Well no. I don't think they were cooking that day. It's just a small business. Crappy stuff. Is that chicken wings?" He pointed to the little box again.

"Sure, sure." Cas pushed it towards him. "They have dried up I think, but you're welcome to them. Seriously. You can't live in a place like that." The concern in his voice was a little bothersome, but Dean chose to ignore it. "It's not like we have much of a choice. Cheap housing like that is not easy to come by."

He didn't like where this was going. He didn't want Castiel to feel sorry for him. "Good!" He lifted a wing up. "Thank you so much for the meal. It suits me fine that you didn't have an appetite. Sorry. That came out wrong." Dean chuckled a little. "Don't worry about me. We get by. Should we get to work, or…" He realized that he hadn't mentioned Castiel's troubles. "Oh, man. I totally forgot. I'm so, so sorry. How's your dad doing?" He put his hand on top of Castiel's. "How are you holding up? I'm such a lousy friend. Just coming here eating your food, not giving much thoughts to your struggles."

Castiel pulled his hand away slowly. "It's fine. I'm fine. He is okay for now." He sighed heavily. "You are not a lousy friend. You came and you took my mind off it. Let's look at some songs. There's nothing we can do about any of our problems right now."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Did you all collaborate on this assignment, or is this just a coincidence?" Sam held up a pile of papers. "I mean it's okay, but…" He picked one out. "Gwen and Jane. I never even heard about 'Little MIx' before, but I did listen to the song. Girl-power?" He pointed to the paper. "This is almost a declaration of war."

It didn't look like he was angry or annoyed by their choice, but he sent them a crooked smile as he put the paper down on the desk. "And we have Chapman's song about revolution." He held up another piece of paper and then put it on top of the first one. "One about lost employment and poverty." He kept sifting through the pile.

"Wake me up when September ends? Kind of weird choice for the two of you, but it fits perfectly with the rest of these songs. He looked directly at John and Mason. "With Garth and Charlie's performance yesterday, almost all of these songs are political statements. Is it a coincidence?"

Most of the student's in there looked at each other and giggled. "We were not in on it." Gwen threw her hands out. "But if so, does it matter?"

Mr Evans shook his head. "No, not at all. I kind of like this. We can make it a theme for regionals. If all of you chose these songs because you really mean that they say something about your own feelings, we can utilize that." He bobbed his head a little. "Mind you, we have to be careful about our choices. We want to win, and we don't want to offend any of the judges."

He nodded towards Unique and Madison. "I really liked that 'Salute' song, but I think it would be better with more voices. You two are experienced. You can join Gwen and Jane on this. If you feel ready…" He turned to Gwen. "The two of you can do it now." He looked over at Jane. "But I want to hear the four of you next Monday in the auditorium."

Jane shook her head. "Sorry, sir. I haven't heard the song before either, and we need a little more time. Tomorrow, okay?"

Sam Evans just smiled before he panned the rest of the choir. "If anybody feels ready today, you can go ahead. If not, we have to work on a big number for all of you." He seemed to think about it for a moment. "My first suggestion could fit quite well into this theme." He lifted the marker and wrote on the board. 'Aquarius/Let the sunshine in from Hair.'

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Flirting and Confessions

"Of course Jane got the lead on that." Unique sounded a little bit disappointed, but she didn't make a fuss. She was seated next to Castiel and was obviously more interested in his collaboration with Dean than she was of the song they were going to rehearse right now.

"Did you talk to Dean yesterday? He said he was going to call you." She was leaning over a little bit and whispered into Castiel's ear. Cas nodded. "Yeah, we spoke. He called me when I was on my way back from the hospital. We met and talked about the assignment."

Unique looked a little flustered for a moment. "I'm sorry. Why were you at the hospital? What happened?" Cas realized that he never told her about his dad, and he wasn't sure if he should bring it up right now. Mr Evans was handing out the sheet music for the song, and the guys in the band seemed to be ready to play.

"I was visiting my dad. I can tell you later." he grabbed two sheets of paper from Sam and handed one of them to Unique. "We have work to do."

He wanted to tell her every little detail about what happened when Dean was at his house, but this was not the time and place. He wasn't even sure if it was the right thing to do. Unique knew more about him than anybody else in there, and Cas was pretty sure that she wouldn't share the information with anyone. It was still a little scary to reveal his feelings about it. Putting them into words would make them real.

That Unique knew that he liked boys was scary enough at the moment. The fact that she had also guessed that Cas liked Dean, was even worse, but up until now, they hadn't really talked about that so much.

The urge to talk to someone about it was very strong, but it was also the most terrifying thing he could think of doing.

"Cas? Are you with me?" Unique nudged him a little. "Can you come over later? I'm very curious."

It wasn't possible. "Sorry, I have to go to the hospital, but we can…" He made a quick decision. "I'll call you. I'll tell you everything, but you have to promise not to blab about it to anybody."

It could look like Unique was about to pass out. She was fanning her face with her hand and she was almost hyperventilating. "I can't wait. I promise. Really."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Gwen and Jane was hogging the basement, and they refused to let Ianto and Jack down there. It was quite annoying. Not only was the stereo system there, but it was also kind of embarrassing to invite Jack to his room. He had never thought about it when John came over even if his room was a little messy. Another small issue was that being alone with Jack was kind of intimidating in itself.

Last night had been bad enough, but Ianto had done his best to keep them both focused on finding a song. After the awkward moment when Jack started questioning the text message, they had not mentioned that anymore.

Not being particularly religious, he still thanked God for the fact that Gwen didn't suspect anything. She was a blabbermouth and a selfproclaimed faghag, so it was very importaint for Ianto to keep his feelings about Jack a secret for her.

Even if he had to admit to himself that he had a crush on Jack and that the guy turned him on big time, he was absolutely sure that he didn't want to go there. What happened between John and Jack after the party was bothering him too much.

The two of them hadn't confirmed or denied anything, but Ianto wasn't stupid. No matter how drunk Jo was when she saw them, Ianto was quite sure that she didn't make it up. That they ended up in bed together could only mean one thing. John had, ever so subtly, bragged about his experience with both boys and girls, and Jack had clearly showed that he wasn't particularly picky either.

"I'm sorry. It's a mess." Ianto opened the door to his room. "I didn't expect to have to bring you up here." He hurried to pick the dirty clothes off the floor and throw them in the hamper behind the door.

"I'm surprised." Jack walked over to the sofa and slumped down. "You always look so neat and clean cut, but you obviously have a split personality." He chuckled. "Didn't mean that. I don't care." He patted the seat next to him. "Come on. You don't have to tidy for me. I don't give a shit. We're here to rehearse, right?"

Ianto finished picking up the clothes before he reluctantly sat down on the edge of the couch. "Yeah, but we don't have music. I have all my CDs uploaded to my phone, but the speaker are..., uh, you know?"

Jack huffed. "Who cares? But do we need to find another song? Even if Mr Evans wants to go with the political theme for regionals, we don't have to do that for this particular assignment."

The two of them had picked 'Say say say', with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, but they thought of scrubbing that after the little speech from Mr Evans in the choir room. "Maybe not, but we should try. Do you know that song Gwen and Jane picked? We have to find something in that alley." Ianto shrugged and threw a quick peek at Jack.

He twisted his mind to find a suitable song. Pink Floyd, The Clash, and some other British band had a few good ones, but Jack was into musicals, so he went through a few in his head.

"So what if we can't find anything?" Jack cocked his head and smiled. "We have a song. Maybe we should…" He winked and reached out a finger and let it run down the outside of Ianto's thigh. "There's really no reason for us to spend time trying. We'll have a couple more chances to find something before the competition."

The subtle touch made Ianto lose his concentration. He swallowed hard and tried not to think of what Jack was insinuating. "RENT!" He hurried to get up and started to sift through the playlists on his phone. "We can find something from Rent."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I, er. Dad is home now." Castiel had made good on his promise to call, but it took a little while before Unique managed to guide the conversation into what she really wanted to know about. He told her what happened to his father, and she tried to comfort him.

"But he's home now, and he's fine?" She could easily understand Castiel's concerns, and she wished that she could have been there for him. "He is fine for now. He may need surgery, but they said it would be okay for him to go home."

Unique wasn't sure if she should change the subject abruptly, or ease into it. "How about you? Are you fine?" Cas confirmed that he was coping with it. "Rachel will take time off of work to help out at home, and Michael will take care of his pastoral duties. My brother is in the Seminaries you know."

She didn't know. Maybe Cas had told her at one point in time, but she couldn't remember. "Sure. So you can go about your own business as usual? I mean, you can come to glee-club and stuff."

There was a little hesitation before Cas replied. "Yeah, I guess. I don't know if I can… I think I have to help out a bit as well, so there may be limitations to my freedom." He chuckled a little. "I don't know if I can do that duet with Dean. We won't have time to rehearse, I think." It was probably her cue. "So what about Dean. You promised to share. I'm holding you to it."

Unique laughed out loud when Cas told her about the pizza incident. It was kind of sad though. She pictured Cas sitting there with his cold food waiting for Dean, and she felt for him. It didn't prevent her from finding it quite humorous. "So you didn't tell him that you got it for him?"

Cas emitted a scoff. "You think? That would have been too awkward. Anyway, I was hungry myself, so it I ordered it for myself really." He paused for a second. "It was just silly. I should have just eaten while the food was hot, and let him have the leftovers if he was interested. Sitting there like a fool waiting while my stomach was growling was just, er, silly."

It was kind of silly, but also quite adorable. "And then what happened. Did you… was there any flirting?" Another scoff came through the line. "No. He did touch my hand. It was probably just because he wanted to comfort me when I told him about my dad. I pulled away though, and after that, we pretty much only talked about the assignment"

It was a little disappointing. "So nothing? But he likes you, and you like him. You should have…" Cas cut her off. "You don't know if he likes me that way. He was just being friendly. I don't even know if I would go there anyway. That I like him doesn't mean I want to, you know, that I'm ready for, er, anything."

Unique sighed. "Cas, come on. I've seen it on his face. He is not only being a friend. Dean is into you big time. You have to be blind not to see it. And he knows that you like him back." She held her breath for a second. That was not suppose to slip out. "How would he know? I haven't told anyone but you. No, you didn't? Did you?" Cas almost sounded a little terrified. "I trusted you!"

There had to be a way out of this. Unique didn't want to lose Castiel's trust, but she knew she had been a little careless at John's party. "I'm sorry. I didn't really say much, but he was looking at you and… It was, I just said that you liked him. Not that you were in love or anything. It was at John's and I was a little tipsy at the moment. Forgive me, but I, I just… I was just joking."

Castiel was quiet for a long time, and Unique was afraid that he'd hang up on her. "Are you there?" When he finally replied, he didn't sound angry which was good but he was clearly a little annoyed. "I should have known. Joking? Yeah right. What exactly did you say?"

Unique decided to try to explain the whole conversation she had with Dean; from the trading of the leis, and up to that moment when she asked him to get her a drink. She omitted Dean's comment about Unique being delusional, and only said that he thought she was just being silly and refused to get her a drink.

"Okay. No damage has been done as long as nobody else is informed. Nobody else is informed, right?" Cas sounded a little more relaxed now. "No, I swear!" She wasn't sure if Gwen could have a suspicion, but decided not to mention it. "I don't think he's that into me. We did talk at that party, but he didn't even give me a hug on the rooftop. He was probably afraid I'd take it the wrong way." Cas sighed. "I was drunk enough not to be scared about it, but he just, he just walked away."

It was Uniques time to huff. "He was probably more scared than you. I'm sure he was afraid he wouldn't be able to let go. Dean has a reputation to maintain, so I think he needs time. You have to step up. He's never going to do anything if you don't show him that it's okay."