I fix my still damp hair, using the microwave door as a mirror. Sighing, I give up. There's no way I can get it any better than it is now.
I hear Adam running down the hall and he bursts into our apartment. "Are we ready to leave yet?" Why is he so excited?
"No, Sam is taking his time in the bathroom." I tried to be loud enough so Sam would hear me and hopefully get the message.
"Jerk!" I guess he heard me.
"Just hurry up, bitch!" I call back.
Adam slumps down onto the couch and sighs dramatically. "But I'm hungry." He whined.
"You ate like an hour and a half ago." This kid is like a freaking vacuum.
"Yes but that was an hour and a half ago. I'm hungry now."
"You do realize the dinner won't be ready for almost another hour, and that's if we eat soon after we get there."
Adam groans and slides down the couch until he's almost on the ground. Just then Sam opens the bathroom door, running his hands through his wet hair to comb it.
"You ready yet? We're going to be late if we don't leave soon." I'm getting really impatient. If he was going to make me go to this thing, the least he could do is get ready on time.
He slips on his shoes and walks over to me. "Yeah, let's go."
I turn to say something to Adam, but the kid had already jumped up and was waiting by the door. I roll my eyes. I mean, seriously, he could at least tone down his excitement a little.
Once we get out of the apartment building, I gesture to Sam. "Lead the way."
Considering it's just a little past 5:30, the streets are filled with cars, and people are practically spilling off the sidewalk. We walk through the crowd, trying not to get separated or pushed around too much, which is not an easy task.
After about twenty minutes of enjoying the perks of rush hour in the city, we turn onto a road with a lot less people. Barely anyone, really. This street, named Pontiac I believe, is nothing but a dead end road with about ten large houses lining it.
"There is no way your friend lives in one of these houses. Are we taking a shortcut or something?" I glance down at him, waiting for a reaction. Seriously though, in a city like this, houses like these must cost a fortune. Our apartment is expensive enough.
"Gee, thanks." He stopped at the walkway of the house on the very end of the street. "Here we are."
The house was huge. Okay, maybe it's not huge, but it is certainly larger than the apartments. I have a couple friends that live just outside the city, but their houses weren't this large either. There's an extravagant garden that takes up half of their front yard. Crap, am I dressed well enough for this? I mean I know it isn't really a formal thing, but this place looks really classy and I'm just wearing a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. I look over at Sam, who is currently giving me a strange look, and to my relief he's just wearing jeans and an old plaid shirt.
"Are you going to stand there all day and stare or are you going to come with us?" Sam stared at me, Adam bouncing at his side. Nothing excited him more than food, and I am pretty sure all that bouncing burns off all the calories he eats.
"Yeah, yeah." I stuff my hands in my pockets and follow them up the stone path to the front door.
Adam raises a hand to knock on the door, but someone opens the door before he had the chance. The boy who stepped outside couldn't be much taller than Sam. He's got three, maybe four inches on him.
"Hey Gabe!" Sam smiled and Gabriel gave him a quick hug.
"Hey there, Samwich. Glad you could make it."
This is Gabriel? He is a little short to be 17, I think. Sam is short for his age and he's four years younger than the slightly taller boy. Honestly, I'm more focused on the hug. Is that normal? Do people do that? I know I don't. I'll hug Jo every once in a while, but it's more of a family thing. Sam's friends are very different than mine, though, so maybe it's something that they do.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when Sam elbowed me in the side. I give him a quick look and force a smile. "Hey, I'm Dean."
Gabe smiles back. "They call me Gabriel." He nods over to Adam. "Hiya Milligan." He just nodded in response. Does everyone know this kid but me? Sam hadn't ever mentioned him before... I think. Sometimes I don't really pay attention, though you won't ever hear me admit that.
We all stand in silence until Gabriel steps inside and holds the door open. "Are you guys going to stand there all day, or are you going to come inside?"
Adam rushes into the house first, followed by Sam, and then I walk in, nodding a thanks at the smaller boy holding the door.
I don't really want to be here, but whatever is cooking in the kitchen smells really good. Burgers maybe? God I hope so.
I could tell Adam was getting impatient, so I sent him a glare telling him not to ask when dinner would be ready. He looks down sadly and I bite my lip so I wouldn't laugh.
Sam went upstairs to hang out with Gabriel, leaving Adam and I standing awkwardly in the living room. "I'm going to go upstairs with Gabe and Sam. Don't wanna leave them alone for too long." He winked at me and bounded up the stairs.
Don't want to leave them alone? What is that supposed to mean? I turn to follow him up the steps when a tall boy, compared to Gabriel at least, with dark hair walks into the room. "You Sam's brother?"
I nod. "Yeah, I'm Dean."
"Michael." He replies, reaching out a hand.
I shake it firmly, doing it as my father had taught me. "Gabe's brother, I'm guessing."
"So you've met Gabriel. Has Castiel been around yet?"
Castiel? Interesting name. Never heard of him though. "I don't think so." I shrug.
He rolls his eyes. "I'll go get him. Dinner will be ready in a while. You can just take a seat on the couch or something. Fortunately dinner should be peaceful tonight, as Lucifer left for football practice a little while ago."
With that he walks up the stairs and I sit on the couch. Shit. I put my head in my hands. Of course this is Lucifer's house. Of course I'm missing practice. Awesome. Coach is going to kill me.
I hear Michael yelling to someone about something. That kid seems kind of tense. Or something. Wonder what's going on with him.
I lift my head when I hear footsteps, and I see Michael coming down the stairs, followed shortly after by a shorter, obviously younger, boy.
"I'm going back into the kitchen to finish dinner." Michael turns to face the other boy. "Castiel, maybe you should try to socialize." He walks away and that leaves just Castiel and I.
I'm not going to lie to myself. This kid is attractive. No, I'm not gay, I'm just not blind. If you can't recognize someone is easy on the eyes just because they're the same gender as you, then I don't understand you and I really don't want to.
He's not very tall, but then again I don't know how old he is, so I can't judge him there. He's about Adam's height I think. He has these really intense blue eyes and dark hair. He looks a little bit like Michael, and that seems to be the only resemblance between any of the four brothers.
Realizing I hadn't said anything, I stand up from the couch and walk over to Castiel, reaching out a hand. "Hey, I'm Dean, Dean Winchester." I give him the best friendly smile I can manage. Normally that wouldn't be so hard, but the fact that I'm missing football practice, and losing any chance I have at college, leaves me not wanting to be here. Even if I did I certainly don't feel like smiling about it.
"Hello, Dean. I'm Castiel." He squints slightly at me instead of returning the smile. I bite my lip to keep from laughing at his expression.
"Yeah, I guessed that much." He squints more and tilts his head, and I can't help but laugh.
"I don't understand. What's so funny?"
"Nothing, sorry." I take a few deep breaths to calm my laughter.
He doesn't say anything so I sit back down on the couch. "So, Castiel, tell me about yourself."
"Is that a customary thing to do?" Castiel walks over and sits down, and he's kind of in my personal bubble.
"Yeah, it kinda is." I shift a little bit away from him, but I'm trapped by the arm of the couch. "Uh, personal space?" I mumble awkwardly.
"My apologies." He moved over and I let out a breath I didn't really realize I was holding. I relax into the couch a bit. "If you want, I'll go first."
He says nothing, just looks at me with his head tilted slightly. Does he do that a lot? Anyway, I take his silence as my que. "So, I'm Dean Winchester, I'm 17, I play football..." Crap, that's really boring, c'mon Winchester think. "...I'm an Aquarius. I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women." I smirk as I say the last part.
Castiel just narrows his eyes at me. "Dude, do you always look constipated?" I laugh, and he almost looks hurt. "C'mon, man. I was just messing around with you." He visibly relaxes and smiles a little. "So are you going to say something, because I'm running out of things to say. I'll start singing if I need to, and trust me, you don't want that.'
"No, that won't be necessary." He shook his head. This kid talks like some kind of holy tax accountant or something. "My name is Castiel, though you already know that. I'm 14, and I play soccer."
Oh good, a sport. While I may not know much about soccer, I do know enough to make some sort of conversation. "Soccer, huh? Cool. Didn't really expect you to be the sports type." Castiel looks at me in a somewhat confused state, and I continue to try to clear things up. "You look more like a bookworm, or the I-actually-give-a-crap-about-my-grades type."
"Well, I do care about my grades. Don't you?"
Crap. I'm not going to spill my story to him, so I'm just going to do what I do best: play stereotypical jock. "No, not really." I decide to change the subject again. "So, mister soccer, what position do you play?"
"I play defense. I'm actually the captain of the middle school team." He shrugged.
"Impressive." I nod.
We sit in a slightly awkward silence until Adam comes running down the hall upstairs and falls down the stairs. "No fair! Sam pulled me down!" He yells up to Sam and Gabriel who are laughing hysterically.
"What's the matter Adam? Little brother too much for you?" Gabriel says back, trying to stop laughing.
"Yeah! Too bad, Adam! You're trapped in hell now!" Sam calls down, and the two at the top of the stairs start to run off.
"Wait! Aren't you going to try to rescue me?"
Sam turned and poked his head around the corner. "Hm, probably not." He runs off again with Gabriel and I hear a door shut.
Adam grumbles to himself before I get up, walk over to him, and reach a hand out to help him up. "What was that all about?"
He takes my hand and wipes invisible dirt off his knees. "Some stupid game they made up."
"What kind of game involves falling down the steps?" I say. Seriously though, how is that even remotely fun?
"It's called heaven or hell, and it was fun until Sam dragged me down here."
"Heaven or hell? I've never heard of that."
"Like I said, they made it up."
Before I could say another word, Sam and Gabe come bounding down the stairs. "Dean, do you wanna play?" Sam starts that bouncing like an excited puppy thing again.
"Sure, I guess." If I'm going to miss practice, I might as well do something fun instead of sulking and making everything miserable. I turn to Castiel, suddenly remembering he was in the room. "You going to join us too?"
Castiel shifted uncomfortably in his place on the couch. "I'm no good at games, Dean."
"Oh come on! Lighten up kiddo!" Gabriel seems like an excitable person, and that can go one of two ways.
I smile over at the younger boy to try to get him to join in. The smile grows when Castiel gets off the couch and walks over to us.
"Okay, I'll play."
"Awesome." We all go upstairs and crowd into Gabriel's room. Well, crowd isn't really the right word, since the room is very... spacious. Other than the candy wrappers everywhere, that is.
We sit in a circle, and I have Castiel on one side, Sam on the other. "So how do we play?"
Gabriel shuffled a deck of cards and put it in the center of the circle. "So, first we have to pick who the Hellhound is."
"The Hellhound?" Falling down stairs? Hellhounds? This game just keeps getting weirder. Well, Sam did help make it up, so I guess it makes sense.
"I was Hellhound last game, so someone else should be this time." Sam stated.
"I'll go. It'll help while I explain anyway." Gabriel put a pair of dice on the ground in front of him. "So, basically the Hellhound, me in this case, starts. You roll the dice and take that many cards from the stack. Don't look at the cards, and put them in six stacks in front of you, face down. Say you roll a 7. You would put the first six cards in a row in front of you, and then put the seventh on top of the first pile."
"What is the point of this game?" Castiel said beside me. I completely agree with him. I'm really not seeing the point here.
"You didn't let me finish." Gabriel groaned. "We go clockwise until all the cards are gone, then we all flip our piles over. If you have 2 red kings, 2 black queens, or a joker, then you go to hell."
"You go downstairs." Adam interrupted.
"Yeah, that. If you get 2 black kings or two red queens, then you go to heaven. AKA you sit on the bed in the corner. You with me so far?"
"Okay..." I say slowly.
"Yes, I suppose." Castiel shrugs.
"Good. So if you get 2 aces, then you pick two people, which can include yourself, to fight."
"Fight?" Seriously, what the hell even is this game?
"It's just Rock Paper Scissors. Best two out of three." Sam laughs.
"Oh. Continue."
"If you get three aces, two of them being red, you are dragged to hell by the Hellhound. If you get three and two of them are black, then you pick someone to be dragged down. If you get both jokers, then you are dragged down."
So I guess that's what happened to Adam. This game is very... interesting.
"If you get all four of the kings, queens, or aces, then you can do three things. You can pick someone to go to hell, or you can save someone who's going to, or already in, hell. Also, you can make a deal with the Hellhound to save someone who is in or going to heaven. If you do that though, then you are sent to hell by the Hellhound. However, just because you can do this, doesn't mean you have to."
Adam grumbles to himself. I guess that's what his problem was earlier.
"This game is very complex." Castiel mutters, and I can't help but laugh.
"If you get a pair of any cards in one stack, then you are saved for that round. The last person alive wins. Everyone understand?" We all nod, and Gabriel rolls the dice.
We go around the circle until the cards are gone, and we flip the cards over. I have four queens, Castiel has four aces, Sam has three kings (two black), Adam has both jokers, and Gabriel has the last king.
Luckily for Adam, though, he has two fours in one of his stacks, and he is safe.
"I have to die? Already?" Sam says, disappointed.
Even though it is just a game, I hate seeing Sam like this. "No, you don't. Gabriel, I'd like to make a deal."
Sam starts to protest. "Dean don't do-"
"Okay, Dean-o." Gabriel interrupts. "Everyone up, I gotta drag Dean to hell."
We all get up and head to the staircase, and I turn around, saluting as a goodbye, and Gabe pulls me down by my sleeve. He runs back up, and I smile at the boys at the top. "See ya 'round, Sammy."
They all go back into Gabriel's room to start the next round. As soon as I hear the door shut, it opens up again, and Castiel comes down the stairs and takes my hand, pulling me back up to the top of the stairs. "Thanks, Cas. You should've left me down there though. Why'd you save me anyway?"
He squints and tilts his head, again. "You don't think you deserved to be saved?"
I shrug, and we walk back into the bedroom. "Not really."
We all sit back in the circle, but before we can get started, Michael calls us for dinner. Adam jumps up and runs toward the kitchen and we all laugh, all but Cas, who I think actually smiled a little. It was small, but I liked seeing it.