Awkward hugs

Chapter Ten

Dean drove for a couple more hours until they reached the campus Gabriel was at. Castiel seemed much more happier this round. He was more talkative and he sang along with Dean to most of the songs. He was learning to love the rules of the road.

It was a pretty barren campus, considering it was summer and most boys went home. There were two kids walking around so Dean decided to ask them if they knew Gabriel Novak.

"Hell yeah we do!" Said one of the boys who name was josh.

"That guy is hilarious. Pulling some shit crazy pranks." The other boy named aiden explained. He was like a legend at the school, but that's all people knew about him. To Cas that sounded like Gabriel. Gabriel was quite a trickster. His parents would punish him often when he broke a rule, but if anything that only fueled Gabriel desire to pull more pranks. Cas would sometimes help Gabriel with his shenanigans, but he never let his little brother Cas get in to trouble for that.

"Dudes dorm is the last one down the hall. Can't miss it." Said josh pointing them towards the building. Dean and Cas thanked them both and headed into the dorm. They headed down the hall. Cas could hear his hart beating. His hands were sweaty and he was gripping the cookie plate tightly.

"You want to knock on the door?" Dean asked standing behind Cas. He could tell he was nervous so he out his hand on his back to try and calm him down. It worked. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. They could hear Gabriel mumbling something sounding like he just got out of bed. He threw on a pair of sweatpants and a tie-dyed color shirt before answering the door. Castiel never saw Gabriel happier.

"Hey little brother." Gabriel smiled from ear to ear. He practically attacked Castiel with a hug. He almost collapsed under his weight. Castiel buried his head in Gabriel's neck. He missed him so much. After a couple of minutes Gabriel finally spoke. "Are you holding cookies?" He asked letting Cas go.

"Monster cookies. Your favorite." Cas smiled holding the plate out for him.

"Hell yeah!" He took the plate from his hands and removed the covering. A dozen cookies the size of his hand with giant rainbow m&ms inside of them were revealed. To Gabriel the only thing that would make this moment better if he had a hot girl lying on his bed. He would take this though. The best moment he had in two years. Gabriel set the cookies down on his bed and put His arm around Cas neck messing up his hair like when he did when they were younger. Castiel laughed struggling to get out of his grip, but this was no use though. Dean smiled. Anytime he saw the light glow in cas' eye he couldn't help, but smile. He was happy. Maybe the happiest Dean seen him. He could never imagine not being able to see sam for two years. That would kill him.

Gabriel let go of Cas and turned his attention towards Dean. He still kept his arm around Cas's shoulders though. "So you must be Cas's boyfriend......Dean." Said Gabriel.

Dean laughed, "I wouldn't say boyfriend......" He said scratching the
back of his neck.

"Oh really?" Said Gabriel going to his desk pulling out a shoebox. He opens the lid and it was filled from Cas's letter he sent to Gabriel every week. "Every single one talks about you. Cas pretty much sent me a novel on Dean -Apple green eyed -winchester ." Said Gabriel closing the shoebox and tossing it to Dean. Dean caught it. Maybe Cas did feel the same way. He grabbed a couple letters and stuffed them in his
jacket. He would read them later. "You look sweeter in person" he said inspecting dean.

"You got my letters?" Cas asked smiling

"Yeah, but you never got mine." Said Gabriel, "chuck and Ann threw them away. They told me to stop writing them cause you never got them." He was talking about his parents, but those people weren't his parents anymore. Not after what they did to him as a child and especially now. The hell with 'em. Gabriel sat down on his cluttered bed and grabbed a cookie. "Never said that you planned on coming down here." He said crumbs flying out of his mouth.

"I always hoped you got my letters.....I wanted to surprise you." He said sitting down next to him. Gabriel wrapped his arm around Cas again. He was pretty sure he missed him more than anything.

"I heard a lot about you Gabriel....." Dean was cut off by Gabriel.

"Gabe, please." He said eating another cookie.

"Well, gabe, it's just nice to finally meet you. Cas always goes on about you and-." He said

"I think you guys should just hookup already." Gabe said in between bites of his cookies.

"What do you mean?" Cas asked not understanding what he meant.

"Cas just-" Dean sighed

"Just fuck each other or something. God Cas I wanted to say that to you for so long. Just kiss the boy for god sakes before I go out of my mind." Gabriel said looking over at Cas.

"Is that what best friends do?" Cas asked gabe. Cas just didn't know what he was supposed to do. He never had any friends except for Dean and gabe. He has a hard time forming relationships, he was Lost and not sure what he was feeling.

"No--Cas...don't let your brother talk you into somethin you ain't ready for." Dean said glaring at gabe. That's not how he wanted it to go down. He had to be sure Cas was ready for that kind of relationship. Hell Dean didn't know If he was even ready. It's not like he had a lot of serous relationships under his belt.

"Alright alright fine fine I'll keep my opinions to myself, lover boy." Gabe said putting his hands up. Dean rolled his eyes.

"I'm gonna go get our bags from the car." Said Dean heading out of the room.

Gabe puts his arm around Cas again. "Things been Better with Dean around right?" He asked

"He helps me. He makes everything better." Cas smiled. He was with his two favorite people In the world. Nothing could get better than this.

"Chuck and Ann are going to fucking kill you for coming here you know that right?" Said gabe smiling dropping. He knew better than anyone what their parents could and would do. They were like a tornado and Cas drove right in front of them.

He nods hugging gabe. He tried not to think about it. He just wanted to be with his brother. He didn't even want to leave him again. Cas didn't cry often, but he did then. He didn't want to leave him again. He couldn't, he needed his brother and his parents were going to kill him when he got home. It was all too much for him. Gabe pulled him into his lap and hugged him tighter.

"Hey I'll go back with you. Don't worry nothing is going to happen to you." He said rubbing his back. Cas just cried harder. He knew Gabriel couldn't go back with him and he knew his parents would probably punish him and that's the way it would go. He just had to accept it.

Dean came back with their bags to a sobbing Cas in Gabriel's arm. Dean never saw Cas cry before. It broke his heart. He wanted to hold him until everything was okay again. He set the bags down on the ground and sat on the bed next to him. He started humming a song his mother sang to him when he went to sleep, Hey Jude by the Beetles. It calmed cas down until he was just a ball of sniffles. He fell asleep soon and gabe laid him down on the bed crawling next to him. He couldn't stand seeing his brother like this.

Dean crouched down next to Cas and pushed the hair out of his face wiping away his tears. "If Cas wants to stay here I won't stop him..." Dean said wiping away his own tears with the back of his hand. Seeing Cas like this was killing him. He didn't deserve this. He deserved so much more.

"No he is going to go back home. I have to stay here and after I finish school I'll come home and take Cas. You have to make sure nothing bad happens to him. You gotta make sure he doesn't get hurt." Said gabe hugging him. "I'll send the letters to your address and you give them to Cas. I'll give you and Cas my number, but Cas will need another phone so our parents don't know anything." Said gabe looking down. He wanted so badly to just take Cas away from everything and give him a good, quiet life or at least away from their parents. If he went home now though there would just be more trouble. Cas needed to go home and stand up to his parents. It had to be done no matter how much they didn't like it. Dean nods kissing Cas forehead. He would protect him.