A Destiel story with a bit of Sabriel on the side. This is kinda whimsical and cute and totally inspired by the picture above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Castiel Novak is seventeen years old and he has never seen his reflection.
It's not that his family has a thing against mirrors- heaven only knows they've got enough prejudices without having one as odd as that. In fact, there are multiple mirrors in every bathroom in their extensive house, and of course there are mirrors in public bathrooms and in the bathrooms at school.
So it's not out of lack of mirrors- or effort- that Castiel has failed to ever see his reflection. And sure, he's caught sideways, half cut off glimpses of himself, but never much.
See, Cas knows what he looks like, because of pictures and because people have remarked on his features before. 'Such lovely blue eyes,' they'd say, or 'such soft, dark hair,' or something like that. That's how he knows for sure that the boy who stares back at him every time he looks in the mirror is not himself.
The boy Castiel sees in the mirror now- and, in fact, has seen every day since before he can remember- is very different from how Castiel knows he looks. This boy has green eyes, not blue, and his hair is sort of sandy-blond, but darker than normal for that color. This boy has a lovely spattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks and he has such lovely lips that sometimes it's a struggle for Cas not to lean over and kiss himself- that is, the boy that stands where his reflection is supposed to be. That would look absolutely crazy, especially since no one but himself seems to be able to see the difference in his reflection.
When he was younger, he would talk to his mother about the boy in the mirror, and his mother would smile and nod and turn back to her work. After she died- Castiel was ten then, and he really doesn't want to think about that awful, awful day- he stopped talking about the boy. Stopped looking in mirrors, really, until one day when he was about fourteen, he happened to look up and notice how lovely the boy had grown.
He took to carrying around a little hand mirror in the pocket of his trenchcoat- a gift from his mother on his tenth birthday- and would sometimes take it out between classes to gaze at the boy. He was always there, always waiting for him. Sometimes he smiled, and his smile would cause a warm blossom of happiness in Cas' chest. He usually put the mirror away immediately after that.
Everything changes the day that the tall man comes to school.
He's wearing a suit- inexpensive, Castiel notes, made of cheap, itchy fabric- and he surveys the school assembly with a tiny frown. Castiel thinks that he's probably the only one who notices the man's presence, at least the only one of the students. Several teachers are glancing nervously his way as the principal mumbles into the microphone about sportsmanship in the face of defeat- they'd lost the most recent lacrosse game- and how they would continue to practice hard and on and on and on. Normally, Castiel would pull out his mirror and look at the boy, but he's far to interested in the man right now.
The man suddenly seems to catch sight of him and his eyes widen dramatically. He turns to someone beside him, a man in much more casual clothes, and gestures frantically towards Castiel, muttering something. The second man- who Castiel decides looks suspiciously like his older brother, Gabriel, though he hasn't seen him in months, so he can't be sure- pops what looks like a piece of candy into his mouth and glances up at him. His eyes widen as well and he turns to his partner, speaking quietly.
Castiel sighs and finally digs out his mirror. The boy is waiting, as he always is, and wiggles his fingers in greeting. Cas gives a small, private smile, and surreptitiously waves back. The boy grins in delight and Castiel is about to attempt further contact when he realizes that assembly is over and that everyone is spilling out of the gym. He grimaces and waves goodbye to the boy before hiding the mirror in his pocket again.
