"OH MY GOOOODDDDD"
"And that'd be Charlie." Cas said, laughing.
"CASTIEL FUCKING NOVAK. IF I WEREN'T STRAIGHT AS SILLY STRING I'D FUCK YOU RIGHT NOW YOU VISUAL PIECE OF TIRAMISU", a voice rang out into the large cafeteria. Cas walked through the tables, following the shrieking of Charlie to guide his way. Jo could barely contain her laughter as she ran over to the table.
"It's nice to see you too, Charles." He smiled, setting down his bag.
"Gimme a 360." She said excitedly. He held his arms out and did a little spin as he was told. Jo and Charlie whistled and clapped, nodding at each other.
"Very nice choice, Charles. Expert eye. The fit it is excellent." Jo said, golf clapping and giving Charlie a low, slow, acknowledging nod. Charlie bowed.
"Thank you, my good lady, I suppose I AM the master of birthdays." She giggled.
"Yes you are, and thank you for the shirt. As you can see, it's done me well." Cas said, sitting down, and ushering the other two to follow suit.
~~~~~~~
Dean strolled down the hall, on his way to the office, bundle of papers tucked under his arm. After grading papers over his lunch period, he was very thankful to have a free fifth block. As he entered the mail room, he saw Gabriel casually flipping through envelopes in front of his mail slot.
"Hey, Gabe." Dean said casually, walking over to his own mail slot.
"S'up." Gabe replied, shoving his mail back into the space below his name.
"Don't you have a class right now...?" Dean asked, looking at him as he took his mail.
"Yeah, but I put everyone into sectionals because I don't feel like teaching. You wanna come hang out during your free block?" Gabe moved towards the door.
Dean considered for a moment.
He shrugged. "Hey, why not?"
"Nice." Gabe said as he ushered Dean out the door and took his place beside him as they walked.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Alright, so what are we doing today?", Garth said, plugging the aux cable attached to his amp into his bass.
After all Cas's band mates had gotten over his new and different appearance, they had begun to settle into the room and pull out instruments.
"Work on originals?", Balthazar, who was currently sitting behind his drum kit, suggested.
"Eeeehhh, it's the first day of practice, I just wanna jam." Ash shrugged and looked at Cas for backup.
"Yeah, we can write next time, let's just do a cover today. Does that sound good?" He looked around. Everyone nodded, seemingly in agreement.
"Yeah, that's cool with me." Garth said.
Castiel thought back to when they had first started. Garth, Ash, and Balthazar had all began hanging out in the music rooms at lunch throughout the first semester to practice (really because they didn't have any friends), and Jo and Charlie had a different lunch period from Cas, so he trudged down to the orchestra room in hopes of hanging out with his brother, maybe even pull out his viola. They all slowly started noticing each other, eventually forming their ragtag little band and going on to kick ass at every school concert or talent show in the years to come.
"So, what song? I was thinking maybe a little 1975?" Cas asked, looking at his compatriots.
"YOU GUYS. Greta? Please?" Ash exclaimed, glancing hopefully at Garth and Balthazar.
"Actually, yeah, I've been wanting to play something off the new album for a little while now." Garth said.
"Me too, Danny's drum fills are SICK." Balth nodded.
"Alright, how about When The Curtain Falls?" Cas asked.
"HELL YEAH!", Ash exclaimed and hit the first chord.
(If you feel so inclined, you can begin Greta Van Fleet's When The Curtain Falls of off Anthem Of The Peaceful Army ((a fabulous album)))
The three instrumentalists sprang to life behind Cas.
They looked at each other, grinning.
The four of them screamed in unison with Balth's high hat, "ONE TWO THREE!"
"WOO", Ash yelled on four as they plunged the entire music wing into song.
~~~~~~~~~~~
When they got to Gabe's office, Dean sat down in one of the rolling chairs and plopped his papers down on the desk.
"Hey, I gotta go make sure no one died or broke anything, I'll be right back." Gabe said with only his head in the doorway and shut it behind him. Dean nodded at him and sat back. Suddenly, a faint sound infiltrated the walls of the office. He sat up, looking out the window to see if it had come from outside. Seeing nothing, he turned to the window facing into the classroom. All he saw was Gabriel correcting students on their bow placements and whatnot. It almost sounded like it was coming from above them.
What is that, the band room?
Curious, he got up and quietly exited the office. He made his way up the stairs adjacent to the orchestra room, the music getting louder with every step. Now he could clearly hear drums, bass, guitar, and a strong voice from up ahead. Dean slowly walked towards the room, seeing that despite the closed, glass doors, he could hear whatever was going on inside clearly. He hovered just outside of them, trying to get a look at the mystery band inside.
Damn, they're good. Is that students...? Maybe I haven't been giving the music department enough credit.
He could see amps and a bit of a drum kit, but the band was hidden by a large row of instrument lockers that separated the open space of the room from the front entryway.
Eh, fuck it.
He quietly slid a door open, creeping inside. Looking to his left, he could see Meg in her office and he waved awkwardly and pointed towards the band room before giving a thumbs up. She nodded at him and turned back to her laptop. Dean continued on, making sure to soften each step so as not to disturb the musicians behind the wall. He leaned against it, nodding to the beat.
They sound like Led Zeppelin. This is incredible, especially that vocalist, he's amazing.
When the curtain falls
Walk the hollow halls babe
Once a valley doll
Now you're not at all
No!
What Dean assumed to be the chorus kicked in and he was in heaven. He couldn't help himself, he had to see his serenaders. He crept towards the edge of the wall, peeking his head around the corner. When he saw who it was, he almost fell over.
Surrounded by Garth, Balthazar, and some guy with a very unfortunate mullet, was Cas. Silken shirt tousled hair ass-hugging pants Castiel Novak, mic stand in hand.
Dean was mesmerized. The way he moved, the way his face shone with joy, the way he danced with Garth and shouted with mullet guy, the pure passion that burned from within and spread to anyone around him.
Dean quickly ducked back behind the wall, his breath suddenly heavy.
Oh shit.
Shit shit shit.
"Hey." a voice whispered from behind him. Dean jumped. He whipped around to see Gabe smiling, hands on his hips.
"I see you've found 'Bathtub Dahlia'." Gabe said pointing to them. Dean nodded, swallowing thickly.
Thoughts of Castiel filled Dean's head. Cas standing in his doorway, a slight pink flush across his cheeks. Cas licking his lips as he looked up at him that first day in the hallway. Cas's sapphire blue eyes peering up at him as Dean stood in front of his desk. Cas open mouthed, the words of the song flowing from his lips as his voice struck every note perfectly. He held the mic stand and moved to the music, entertaining an invisible audience.
Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into?
They stood against the wall until what sounded like near the end. As the last guitar solo ended with a burst and the drums echoed through the room, Dean stepped out from behind the wall, clapping.
The boys all quickly turned their heads towards the sound, cutting off their joyous high fives.
"You sound great, guys. That was amazing." Dean said, looking around at the glowing boys.
"Thanks man." Ash said, holding out a bro-fist that Dean happily reciprocated with a chuckle.
"You sound better and better every time I hear you. Garth, are you going to wait until your last semester of high school to FINALLY join orchestra?" Gabriel said, holding his hands out.
"Well, you know, it's not like you've been asking for the last three years or anything." Garth chuckled. Gabe, Garth, and Balth began chatting.
Dean strolled over to Castiel.
"Damn, Cas." He said in a low tone.
"What?" Castiel smirked, thumbs in his pockets as he walked right up to meet Dean.
Dean rubbed the back of his neck. "You said you were into music, you never said you were such a good singer." He said.
Cas shrugged, "I dabble." Dean just laughed. "But thank you."
They stood, facing each other, Dean's arms crossed across his chest as he looked down into his the boys eyes, smiling. Cas shuffled the rings on his fingers around nervously, staring back up into Dean's eyes.
God, he's so PRETTY.
Castiel bit the inside of his lip, wanting nothing more than to count and kiss all of those freckles while wrapped in some crisp, white sheets on a clear, blue Sunday morning.
Okay, what the fuck was that...? Why does he make me so GUSHY?
He was roused from his thoughts by a clap on his back and a loud voice.
"Little brother! You've done it again." Gabe said, grinning brightly as he pulled him in for a hug.
"Thanks, Gabe." Cas laughed.
Dean's eyes went wide.
Brother...?
"Oh Dean-o, you didn't know?? This is my incorrigibly wonderful and painfully talented little bro bro, Castiel Novak." Gabe said proudly, arm around the small boy's shoulders.
"I AM in one of his classes, he knows who I am." Cas said, shrugging him off and shaking his head, smiling and rolling his eyes.
Dean shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
What the hell am I going to do?
"Hey, guys, that was really good. Garth, it's nice to see you again. Hi, Balthazar." Dean nodded at them, trying to avoid looking at Castiel. The last thing he needed was Gabe to catch him looking his little brother up and down.
Garth shot finger guns at him. "Whaddup, Winchester." Balthazar just waved.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Well we'll leave you to your rehearsal, thanks for letting us pop in." Dean said awkwardly, backing out.
"See you tomorrow!" Balthazar said. Dean nodded.
Castiel's eyes were burning into him.
"See you, Cas." He said as he reached the corner. Cas licked his lips and looked Dean up and down.
"See you, Winchester." Castiel's voice cut into him and his stomach churned. The younger boy turned away, maintaining eye contact with Dean until the very last second when his back faced Dean and he bent over to unplug a cable. He watched as Castiel's pants squeezed him in just the right way with the sudden movement. Trying not to be so obviously gazing hungrily at a teenager, he turned away, only to meet fire in Gabe's eyes.
I'm in deep shit.