Tell Me Your Story

Chapter Sixteen - I Just Can't Win

Now that Thanksgiving was over, Christmas decorations were springing up everywhere, but Dean wasn't really in the mood for the whole peace on earth thing. He mostly just stayed in his room. Or Cas'.

Dean had tried talking to Charlie, but she had made it very clear she wasn't interested in anything he had to say anymore.

One day, not long after everything happened, Dean came home from school a little late, having... spent time with Cas. When he came in the door, the first thing he saw was Sam and Gabe sitting next to each other, Gabe looking worried and Sam staring off into space.

"Sammy? Are you okay?" Dean asked. Sam's head snapped around to look at Dean and he stood up.

"Dean... what are you doing with Cas?" Sam asked. Dean froze.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Don't shit with me, Dean! Is Gabriel right? Are you having sex with Cas?" Sam demanded.

"I... yes," Dean said.

"And you don't have any feelings for each other?" Sam asked. Dean shook his head. A cloud passed over Sam's face. "And you didn't tell me. Dean, did you not learn anything? We need to tell each other things! God, I can't believe you! Did you really think this was going to end well? Because if you keep going like this, it's going to kill you, and you know it!"

"Sammy..."

"Get out. Just get out, I can't do this," Sam said, turning back to Gabriel, his shoulders slumped. Dean turned and hurried back to his car and took off back down the road.

***

Dean knocked on the door to Cas' house, not even sure what he was doing there. The door opened a few moments later to reveal Cas' father.

"Yes?" He asked.

"I came to see Castiel," Dean said. Cas' dad stepped back, letting Dean in.

"Castiel! You have a visitor!" He called into the house as he closed the door behind Dean. There was the sound of footsteps and Cas quickly appeared. His dad turned and walked away as soon as Cas arrived. Cas looked at Dean, probably wondering why he was here.

"Sammy found out. He told me to leave, this was the first place I thought of," Dean said, not meeting Cas' eyes. Cas grabbed Dean's wrist and led him up to Cas' room.

Stay as long as you want.

Cas flopped onto his bed and went back to whatever he was doing on his phone. Dean sat at the desk and looked around the room again. Dean's eyes came to rest on the picture on the corner of the desk and this time he actually looked at it. It was a picture of two people sitting on a blanket in a park. One was a little kid maybe seven years old that Dean thought must be Cas. The other was a woman with her arms around Cas. She looked a lot like Cas did now, except she was smiling. Dean stared at the picture for a few minutes before turning his attention to the Cas that was in the room with him. Cas was still scrolling through something on his phone.

"What are you looking at?" Dean asked. Cas looked up at him and tapped the book on his bedside table. "You're reading?" Cas nodded. "What are you reading?"

Does it really matter?

"I guess not," Dean said. Cas stood up and walked over to his window, looking out at the road. Dean watched him as he turned back to the room and his eyes seemed to catch on something. Dean looked around and saw that Cas was looking at the picture. Dean stood up.

"Cas?" He asked. Cas jumped, his phone slipping from his fingers. Dean stepped forward and scooped it up from the floor and checking the screen to see if it cracked. He didn't see any cracks, but he did see...

"Romance of the Forest?" Cas snatched the phone from Dean's hands, his face turning red. Dean worked to repress a laugh. "Is, uh... is it good?" He asked, coughing once to cover his amusement. Cas ignored Dean's question and sat back on his bed. Dean sat back at the desk and they sat there for a while in silence, before Dean, all common sense suddenly seeming to leave him, opened his stupid mouth.

"What happened to your mother?" He asked. Cas' eyes snapped up to him, and Dean had the feeling he was about to wish he'd never gone over to Cas' house.