Castiel gets out the Impala, a smile plastered on his bruised face. He unlocks the door as silent as possible, not wanting to gain any attention that the bruise would surely call. Cas tip toes into the house and hears his family talking in the kitchen. He knows he won't manage to pass the kitchen without them noticing him, due to the open door. Sighing he let's the door fall shut and shouts:"I'm home!" An echo of "Hey" is flooding out of the kitchen, while Cas is taking off his jacket and shoes. Turned towards the wall he mumbles:"I am tired. Excuse me, but I need some sleep. Good night." With that he grabs his backpack and hurries up the stairs towards the bathroom on the second floor. After a quick shower, he puts on his pajama pants and a shirt with more holes than necessary in it on. Before leaving the bathroom he listens if anyone is around, when he can't hear anything he opens the door and closes the one to his room. Not bothering to switch on the lights, he just throws his dirty clothes into the corner of his room and let's himself fall on the bed. A sigh escapes his chapped lips and his eyes are slowly closing, making the darkness complete.
Cas wakes up as he feels the mattress drop beside him. His eyelids are lifted up, and he tries to get used to the darkness where he can already make out a shadow. His rapid breathing slows down as he recognizes the familiar silhouette climbing over him.
"Hey", Castiel whispers.
"Sorry, didn't want to wake you...", the intruder replies, settling down between Cas and the wall, "But now that you're up...Gimme a blanket."
"How lovely you are, dear brother." Cas mocks before grabbing for the blanket that's always stocked under his bed. He hands it over to his brother, who turns into a burrito and without another word closes his eyes.
Castiel knows that Gabriel is a very clingy person, who needs tons of love and affection. He is used to those visits since they were ten. Gabriel needs the closeness. As kids they slept in the same bed for years but when Cas reached the age ten, their parents separated them. Since then Gabriel just comes sneaking in when he's been having a shitty day or just not feeling good. That's exactly why Castiel has a hard time falling asleep when his brother is next to him. He is just worried about his little brother. Usually he doesn't sleep much for the rest of the night, but he never tells Gabe. Cas is just happy that his brother gets some sleep and feels save next to him.
On very rare days the siblings talk about what's bothering them, on those days neither of them get much sleep.
Castiel enjoy the provided warmth next to him, and regardless of the worry manages to fall into a light slumber.
The alarm goes off, Gabriel turns around and kicks Castiel out of bed. With a loud thump her lands on the floor.
"Assbutt." Castiel grumbles, practically crawling out of his room. He brushes his teeth and puts on clothes in the bathroom, moving a bit slower than usually when Gabriel starts hammering on the door shouting that he needs to pee.
With a sly grin he passes by a fidgeting Gabriel who only glares at him.
Their littler banter is forgotten when they and their parents are eating breakfast together.
"And the worst thing is...", Gabriel states, pieces of cornflakes falling out of his mouth, "That it's only just Tuesday."
"Don't talk with mouth in your food, Gabriel." Becky scolds him.
Gabe sighs over dramatically while packing sweets into his schoolbag.
"You are getting diabetes, if you eat all that...", Cas asserts.
"Whatever, Cassie." With that the youngest Novak is out the door, shortly followed by Castiel.
Castiel listens, takes notes, and even answers a few questions in class. School is a nice way to keep him distracted from his thought. First break comes and is spend together with Anna and Charlie in the library, talking about the new Star Wars movie.
"It's gonna be epic!" Charlie swoons.
The bell rings and they walk out the library. Castiel only catches a glance at Dean who is rushing down the hallway.
"Well someone's in a hurry." Anna states, raising her eyebrows while looking were Dean just disappeared around the corner.
Castiel just hums hoping his broody mood would go unnoticed. Of course it didn't. Both girls are looking at him now, hands on their hips, questioning Cas with their eyes alone.
"I can't be late again to maths..." Cas mumbles, tearing his eyes away from theirs and hurries away. His eyes stay downcast until he reaches the classroom and can let himself be distracted.