Breathe (5.1/?)

[littletreetopper]

Fandoms: Supernatural
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Dean/Cas
Words: ~4,600
Summary: In which Dean is the new kid and everyone seems to like him except for the one person he's most intrigued by. A town plagued by family issues and betrayal, high school is not quite what Dean signed up for.
Warnings: None.

Notes: Sorry it's been a like two weeks! I had prom over the weekend (which didn't live up to all the hype) and then went into an intensive Hawaii Five-0 marathon. I'll try to get the next part up sooner. (:

Dean pulled into Balthazar's driveway at five after noon. He'd already picked up Anna and Gabriel, and Cas was next up on the list. They waited for five minutes before Gabe reached from the backseat and laid on the horn. A middle finger made a brief appearance in one of the second floor windows.

"Should we leave without him?" Dean asked hesitantly.

"Nah, he'll come," Gabe said. "Just give him another minute or two."

Another five minutes later and they were still waiting. From beside Gabriel, Anna reached for the radio and blasted it. "He might've fallen asleep again," she yelled over the electric guitar.

After that, it didn't take long for Balthazar to come through the front door. He wore his usual V-neck—Dean could only imagine to the teasing Balthazar was going to have to endure—and sported just-rolled-out-bed-hair. Not as good as Cas's, Dean thought before shaking himself.

"Good morning, princess!" Gabe greeted as he swung open the door.

"What, Cassy gets the front seat?" Balthazar asked sourly, ignoring the comment.

"He'll feel crowded," Anna murmured as Dean turned the radio down to a reasonable volume. Once they got on the highway, he had no doubt it would get cranked up again. Mostly, Dean remembered Cas' reaction to when his dad was home and Dean didn't want to piss Mr. Novak off.

Dean got out his phone and sent a text to the number he'd wiled from Cas yesterday saying they were on their way.

* * *

Castiel's dad was still asleep when Cas got Dean's text. He was passed out on the couch and Cas avoided walking by him: one, he didn't want to wake him up, and two, the smell of alcohol was so strong it made him want to choke.

Cas brushed his teeth and slipped a navy sweatshirt over his head. He'd taken a shower a little under an hour ago and his hair was still damp, but it was too late to do anything about that now.

He stared at the stack of yellow sticky notes before him, swinging the pen between two fingers. He hadn't mentioned any of this to his dad, but even if he had, his father wouldn't remember. Cas could just go without leaving any note, but that would really piss his dad off. He finally settled on, Went out. Be back Sunday. The vagueness of it was almost comical, but if his dad read it in the wrong mood, the consequences wouldn't be funny at all. He stuck the note on the fridge where his dad was sure to see it when he went for another beer just as his phone buzzed again in his pocket. It was from Dean again. "Here." Cas was thankful that Dean had the sense not to honk the horn. Or maybe it was just coincidence. Either way.

Outside, the sky was a typical fall gray. Gabriel, Anna, and Balthazar were piled into the back, and Castiel repeatedly told himself that they used to be friends, they liked him, they didn't want to smear his guts all over town. And Dean was there.

"Cassy!" Gabe greeted with a grin.

"Gabriel," Cas returned quietly.

"It's great that you're coming," Anna said sincerely.

"Let's get going," Balthazar urged. "I didn't bring anything to drink."

Some things never changed.

"I think you can make it an hour," Anna teased.

While the backseat trio bickered and mocked, Dean asked Cas if he was okay with classic rock.

“I’m not a picky listener,” he answered.

“We’ll be stopping at the gas station before we leave town,” Balthazar announced. “I need to get some food.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Gabe said. “I forgot about lunch.”

“Just stop at McDonalds,” Anna recommended. “It’s not so out of the way.”

“And who’s paying for this indulgence?” Dean asked.

A wad of dollar bills came flying in from the back and smacked Dean’s head. Cas let the money fall into his open palm.

“Great!” Dean said with a grin. “I guess I’ll get something too then.”

“Just don’t buy the whole menu,” Balthazar said.

“That looks like enough to buy two whole menus,” Dean said.

As they pulled up to the drive-thru, Dean warned, “No spilling. Not drinks, not grease, not ketchup, nothing.”

Gabriel saluted. “Aye-aye, sir!”

“Good afternoon, welcome to McDonalds, what can I get for you?”

At the moment, it dawned on Cas that there was mostly likely someone working their from the school and they’d see him and—

No. He wouldn’t worry about that until Monday. He refused to be miserable as always this weekend.

“They have the McRib, don’t they?” Balthazar mumbled. Then louder, “Get me the McRib, some fries, and a Coke.”

Dean relayed.

“I’ll take a Caesar salad with grilled chicken…and a wild-berry smoothie,” Anna said.

Gabe got a hot caramel sundae and a shamrock shake, and Dean got an Angus something or other with fries and a Coke.

There was a beat of silence and then Dean prodded, “Cas?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Oh, shut up, Cassy. Yes, you are. Get him something with chicken,” Balthazar instructed. “And sweet tea. He couldn’t have stopped liking tea.”

Dean ordered him the tea, some fries, and a crispy chicken club sandwich. Cas hadn’t ate that much all in one sitting in ages and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to manage.

“You’re way too skinny,” Dean said in explanation as Cas passed him the money as they drove up to the first window.

“At least I’m not way too fat,” Cas quipped.

The cashier restated the cost after doing a double take on Castiel in the passenger seat. Refuse to be miserable, refuse to be miserable, refuse to be miserable.

As soon as the tea was in Castiel’s hands, he was reminded of how much he loved it. He used to drink it all the time—Anna’s mom used to always buy tea when she and Cas’ father had lived together, but after she moved out he’d stopped drinking it. It wasn’t as if his dad bought it on his own, and Cas didn’t dare ask.

So even the not-so-great McDonalds sweet tea tasted delicious.

“Could we get some air circulation going?” Balthazar hinted as they pulled back onto the road.

“Somebody’s demanding today,” Dean noted.

“You woke me up early,” he complained.

“Right,” Dean said with a laugh.

Castiel nibbled a fry.

“Don’t be such a bird,” Dean commented, green eyes watching him.

“Eyes on the road,” Cas said with a frown.

“Castiel is a bird,” Gabriel said matter-of-factly.

“He doesn’t have feathers,” Dean said as he lifted one of Cas’ arms up by the elbow to check.

“I’ll spill all over your car,” Cas threatened.

Dean pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare.”

“Well, none that you can see,” Gabe said. “But they’re there, I promise you.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, not the bird puns again. We do not need to bring those back.”

“Bird puns?” Dean asked curiously.

“Oh, yes, we’ve got lots of great stories to tell,” Gabriel said with a wicked grin. Cas gave him a warning look, but it was ignored. “When he was little, maybe three or four, we used to go to the park all the time. And whenever he’d see a bird hopping along in the grass, he’d shout ‘BIRD!’ and chase after it. I swear, he used to think he could fly if he tried hard enough.”

Cas sunk into the seat slightly and opened the box his sandwich was in and took a bite of it, just for something to do besides turn pink.

“And then remember when he got a little older,” Anna said, “and he’d tried to creep up on them and catch them before they flew away?”

“The feather collection,” Balthazar said simply.

Anna squealed. “Oh my gosh, Cas! Do you still have that? You had so many feathers. It was unreal.”

Cas took another bite, this one larger, and tried to pretend this wasn’t actually happening.

“No way he could’ve gotten rid of that,” Gabriel said. “It wouldn’t have fit in the dumpster.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Cas said after a swallow and before another bite.

“Only a little,” Gabe said innocently.

The truth was, Cas did still have his feather collection. Buried somewhere in the back of his closet, long untouched but not forgotten. Several shoeboxes held an abundance of sparrow and robin feathers, some cardinal and blue jay ones too. He had some grey ones from mourning doves and several peacock feathers, just to name a few. There were countless others.

“Remember when we went to the zoo,” Anna recalled, “and you were soooo excited when you found a bright blue feather from one of the macaws?”

“I think that’s enough feather talk,” Cas said.

“Aw, but we were just getting warmed up!” Gabriel replied around a mouthful of ice cream.

“If I recall,” Cas said, “you had a fairly large collection of bottle caps—“

Gabe glared at him. “Those were from all the Snapples you drank.”

“You’re the one who kept the caps.”

“The facts are interesting!” Gabriel defended himself. “And some of them come in handy in school.”

“Gabe,” Anna said. “Stop talking.”

“Animals that lay eggs don’t have belly buttons.”

“Oh no,” Anna said, covering her face with her hand.

“Camels have 3 eyelids.”

“Here we go,” Balthazar said with an eye roll.

“The Hawaiian alphabet only has twelve letters.”

“I can’t believe he still does this,” Cas said incredulously.

“Fish can cough.”

“Is this...”

“Mosquitoes have 47 teeth.”

“…normal?” Dean asked.

“Only a starfish can turn its stomach inside out.”

“For him? Yes,” Anna said decidedly.

“A pigeon’s feathers are heavier than its bones.”

“Dear Lord, shut up, Gabriel,” Balthazar said.

Mr. Snapple Facts leaned across Anna and whispered something.

“I don’t care if crocodiles can or can’t move their tongues!” Balthazar shouted.

* * *

Dean had never heard Cas laugh before—like, full out, can’t hold back, burst of joy laughter. Balthazar’s crocodile comment got it out of him. Dean didn’t think about how he thought that smile could light up the night, because Cas was a guy and Dean was a guy. But it was still a nice smile.

Anna wrinkled her nose. “Do you have a Snapple fact for how to get ranch off a shirt?”

Gabe gave her a funny look, then his eyes followed hers to a spot on his shirt.

“Damn it! This was a decent shirt.”

Balthazar smirked.

But it didn’t take long before the group was singing along with the radio at the top of their lungs—even Cas.

They passed a road sign that said five miles to Lawrence and Gabe let out a whoop. “Finally! So Dean,”—Dean turned the radio back down to a somewhat acceptable volume—“tell us a little about these friends of yours.”

“Well, there’s Jo, Ash, Garth, and Adam. Jo’s practically a sister, and the guys are great to hang around with—Jo and Ash are cousins. Garth is…well, you’ll see, but he grows on you. And Adam’s tons of fun once he warms up to you.”

“Mmm…is Jo cute?” Balthazar asked.

“I wouldn’t go there,” Dean said. “She’s little, but she’s a ball of fire.”

“You basically just called her hot,” Gabe said.

Dean shot him a look. “Not helping.”

In a matter of minutes, they were pulling into a driveway plenty familiar to Dean.

* * *

Cas was silently starting to panic. He was about to meet four people he’d never even seen before, and hang out with Gabriel, Anna, and Balthazar for the first time in ages, and Dean would be there too. You could say his “people skills” were “rusty”.

As the others were getting out of the car, Dean offered Cas a comforting squeeze on the shoulder. “They don’t bite,” he promised with a wink. “C’mon,” he prodded when Cas didn’t make an immediate move to get out of the car. Castiel forced his limbs to work and he somehow managed to make it to the front door.

Dean didn’t bother with knocking.

The five of them walked right into the house, and followed Dean, who appeared to be following the sound of music. (No, not the movie.) He swung open a brown door at the foot of the stairs and loudly announced, “The party has arrived!”

“Dean!” A petite blonde girl practically tackled Dean to the ground in a hug.

He gave a breathless laugh. “Relax, cupcake, I’ve only been gone a week.”

“Well, do you think those three would give you hugs? I have to make up for them.” She had a warm, pleasant voice. She made Cas want to paint sunlight.

“Right, sure,” Dean said, somewhere between sarcastic and dubious.

Jo stuck her hand out at Cas, who was—oddly enough—nearest. “I’m Jo,” she said with a grin.

Cas took half a moment before he reached out to shake her hand. “I’m Castiel.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Nice name.”

She moved onto Gabriel, then Anna, then Balthazar, and finished with, “It’s good to meet you all. This is Adam, Ash, and Garth,” she said, gesturing around the room at a boy with dark blonde hair, a scrawny kid, and some guy with—was that?...yes, with a mullet, who Cas was absolutely certain would grow up to work in a bar.

“Have a seat,” Jo said. “Can I get you anything? Water, beer, Mountain Dew, Pepsi…”

Cas took a seat on an empty couch. Gabe wanted a Mountain Dew, Anna asked for water, and Balthazar, of course, requested a beer. Jo looked pointedly at Cas, and it took him a moment to realize she was waiting for him to say something.

“I—I’m fine, thank you.”

“Alright,” she said.

Dean stood to presumably help her bring the refreshments, but Cas found himself staring at Dean, selfishly asking him not to leave him, without even fully realizing he was doing it. That was all it took for Dean to sit back down beside him.

“Hey, Jo, get me a beer, too.”

She gave him a look. “You know, if your friends weren’t here, I’d call you an asshole and tell you to get it yourself.”

He gave her a cheesy fake smile and she rolled her eyes.

On her way out the door, mullet-man said, “Get me a beer too. Or two.”

She gave him the middle finger without turning around and said a loud, “Screw you.” But she came back with everyone’s drinks nonetheless.

“See, her new waitressing job is paying off,” Adam—they’d each been more specifically introduced—said smartly as she handed him the beer he hadn’t asked for.

“Hey,” she said., snatching it away from his grasp. “I could always give this to Garth, here.”

“Okay, okay!” Adam surrendered. “Sorry, jeez.”

“And let’s not forget that I’m the only one of you three—you four,” she said, looking pointedly at Dean, “—with a paying job.” She handed out the rest of the drinks. “What happened to you?” she asked Cas.

“Oh, I fell off my bike a few days ago.”

“Nasty fall.”

Cas shrugged. “It happens.”

“So. What are we gonna do today?” Garth asked.

“There’s a new horror movie at the theater tonight,” Adam offered.

“It’s hours until then,” Ash said. “And we’d have to go see the midnight showing.”

“Oh, we’d have to, would we?” Jo asked.

“Well, yeah,” Ash answered. “You don’t go to watch a horror movie at seven. It’s just not right.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, so movie tonight? Cool?”

Everyone nodded in consensus.

“We could go wreak some havoc in Walmart until then,” Garth suggested.

“Now there’s something I haven’t done in awhile,” Gabriel said.

Dean shifted on the couch beside Cas and his shoulder brushed against Castiel’s. Out of the corner of his eye, Cas didn’t think he saw Dean react at all. But it sent a strange feeling traveling along Cas’ nerves.

“We’ll head out in a little while,” Adam said. “We should get to know each other first.”

“Yes, please,” Ash said. “Tell us about yourselves. How many kids do you want to have? Where are you going to live? What are you going to do with your life?”

“I’m going to have two homes,” Balthazar said. “One back in England and one over here.”

“You’re British,” Adam noted. “When did you come to the US?”

“Oh…sometime around fourth grade, I’d say.”

“And you held onto your accent?” Garth was obviously surprised.

Balthazar shrugged. “The ladies love it.”

Ash pointed a finger at him. “I like your reasoning.”

Adam kicked his feet up on the edge of the coffee table. “How about you, Gabe? You’re lacking an accent.”

Gabriel ignored the latter comment and said, “I’m going to own a bakery.” He gave Cas a pointed look and he knew what was coming next. This used to be their plan when they were kids, late elementary school, the early middle school years. “And Castiel is going to decorate the cakes.”

Cas rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Of course. What was it you were going to call it? Gabe’s Goodies? No, no…it had something to do with baking…”

“Get Baked,” Balthazar provided.

The room burst into laughter and Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Balthazar, then Cas. “Very funny. Let’s not forget the dirt I have on you—or rather, feathers.”

Cas sat up a bit straighter, subconsciously accepting the challenge. “Oh? I’m fairly certain I could drown you in bottle caps.”

Gabriel downed the rest of his Mountain Dew in one gulp and threw the can at Cas’ head.

Anna gave Jo a sorry look. “You’ll figure it out eventually.”

“Do I really want to?”

Anna shrugged.

“And Castiel, the boy with the name. What are you going to do with your life?” Ash inquired, imitating holding a microphone out to him.

A smile tugged at Cas’ lips. “I’d like to be a painter.”

“Ahhh, an artist,” Ash said.

Garth spoke up. “You, good sir, should do my next art project.”

Cas folded his arms and leaned back in mock professionalism. “I’ll consider and get back to you.”

They moved on to Anna. “And the lovely ginger lady,” Ash addressed her,” how many children are you going to have?”

Anna grabbed a throw pillow and threw it at him. “Sexist,” she said with a laugh.

Balthazar pointed at his new acquaintances. “Your turn.”

From where he sat at on the pool table, Ash announced that he’d was going to own a bar. Adam planned on signing up for the military and Garth had absolutely no idea.

“I’m co-owning with Ash,” Jo said. “And I’m thinking about doing some creative writing on the side.”

“You write?” Cas asked, immediately interested, his usual detached mask slipping away even more-so.

She smiled shyly. “A little. It’s just silly stuff, it’s really rough.”

“I’d like to read it sometime,” Cas said earnestly. “I mean—if that’s okay.”

She nodded. “Yeah, sure. Most people don’t take an interest,” she said, gesturing around the room. “Do you write?”

“Not so much, I just like reading.”

“Well,” she said, “you come over sometime and bring some of your paintings for me to see and you can read some of my stuff.”

His lip muscles danced upward. “Deal.”

A song came on the radio that Cas was pretty sure was by Asia. “Aw, it’s too bad Sammy’s not here,” Dean said. “This is his favorite song.”

Ash laughed. “Oh, don’t we know it.”

Garth shook his head. “At least the kid can recognize bad music.”

“Hey, now!” Dean warned.

Once the group got to talking, they lost track of the time and Walmart didn’t happen. But once they arrived at the theatre later that night, Cas realized going along with this was definitely not one of his best decisions. Number one, he didn’t do horror movies, and number two, the smell of movie theatre popcorn made him feel sick. No one seemed to remember this until they were at the front door when Anna whispered to him, “Do you still have the thing with the popcorn?”

Cas shrugged and said, “It’s been a while.” He hoped he’d out-grown it or something.

As soon as he stepped inside though, he knew he hadn’t.

He hid it well, though, and Balthazar ended up buying him a raspberry iced tea and—at Dean’s insistence when he learned Cas had never tried them before—a bag of Sour Patch Kids. Ash bought a large bucket of popcorn to share and Cas was trying to figure out where he should sit to avoid it but he ended up mindlessly following behind Dean while he tried to figure out who would eat the least or even none at all. He sat at the end of the row, which was a painfully obvious solution to the popcorn problem since Gabe was sitting on the opposite end and Ash beside him.

Just before the lights went down, Dean whispered, “Are you a screamer?”

Cas sunk deeper into his seat and didn’t respond.

Twenty minutes in, Cas found himself desperately wanting to run out of the theatre. Or even hide under a blanket—despite how childish that was—if only he had one. Someone lost a finger, which he didn’t mind as much, but every time something jumped out, Cas found himself also jumping. When the rest of the group found the first dead body, Cas instinctively grabbed ahold of the nearest thing—it just happened to be Dean’s arm. In the dark theatre, Dean’s eyes, illuminated by the light of the screen, shifted to him, but Cas avoided looking at him and let go of his arm.

Idiot.

By some miracle, Cas made it through the whole thing. In the last few minutes, there was a major build up, and everyone in the theatre jumped—even Dean—and there were several screams. Cas and Dean’s hands hit each other when they jumped and Castiel instinctively pulled his back. But by then, it was only a matter of minutes until the movie ended.

Cas had forgotten about his Sour Patch Kids, and when the credits began rolling he reached down and picked them up off the floor from where they’d fallen, unopened.

On their way back to pile illegally into Adam’s mom’s seven-seat van, Ash declared, “Best. Horror movie. Ever.”

Anna shook her head. “Next time Adam suggests a movie, I am not going.”

“They had really nice effects,” Jo said. “I thought it was going to be cheesy.”

“We’re not taking Garth next time,” Ash said. “He spilled the popcorn halfway through.”

Balthazar snorted. “I’m surprised there was any left.”

“Are you trying to say something?” Ash asked.

Gabe slung his arms over Balthazar and Ash’s shoulders, almost empty Icy in hand. “Boys, boys, boys. I think you’re getting grouchy because you’re tired.”

Balthazar shoved him off playfully. “And I think you’re getting loopy because you’ve had too much sugar.”

“There’s no such thing,” Gabe stated.

“When you turn forty, I think you’ll believe otherwise,” Anna said.

Halfway to the van, Garth started running. ‘I’m not sitting in the back again!” he shouted.

Jo chased after him, hollering, “I’m getting shotgun!”

Part 5.2