Chapter Text
“I am going to kill you, Gabriel.”
The reason Castiel Novak was currently cursing his older brother under his breath was because it was because of said brother that he was stood in the Lawrence, Kansas Mall dressed like an elf in the middle of December.
He was dressed head to toe in green and red, from the shocking jade green shoes with bells on the end to the stupid pointy red hat that kept falling into his eyes.
He flicked the point of the hat away from his face for the tenth time that hour, and caught a glimpse of his damn older brother. Gabriel was watching Cas with a menacing smirk on his face, holding his phone up, taking as many pictures as he could. Cas glared at his irritating brother, making a slicing action with his finger across his throat, before turning back to the excited toddlers with a bright smile.
“Okay! Which one of you is next to see Santa?!”
The piercing shrieking that suddenly shot up in volume, taking over the irritating Christmas music with ease made Castiel’s eye twitch.
“If I have to hear that sound one more time, I am going to take Gabe and shove him down the chimney.” He thought to himself, trying to stop his anger bursting out and scarring a bunch of idiotic children. “Surely I don’t need money this much?! Perhaps Michael would let it slide if I beg…?” He stifled a bitter laugh as he thought of his strict brother letting anything slide. Michael wouldn't let him off his debt if he was dying in hospital.
~~~ *Flashback to last week*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“CASTIEL NOVAK GET YOUR UNGRATEFUL ASS DOWN HERE. NOW!” The booming yell of Michael echoed throughout the nearly empty house, rattling Cas from his studying. He shot down the stairs like a bullet, skidding on the wooden floor meticulously polished by the maid into the kitchen. He stood ramrod straight, sweat starting to bead on his brow as he thought of what he could have possibly have done wrong. Because, even though Castiel was the rebel of the Novak family, he was still terrified of his older brother.
Stood behind the marble breakfast bar, clutching onto a letter, crumpling it in his hand, was Michael Novak. His trademark scowl was accessorized with eyes that could turn the younger to ice easily. He took a deep breath and said in a stern, calm voice,
“Care to explain the meaning of this?”
He lifted the letter in his hand and held it to Castiel’s face.
Cas’ face went white as a ghost. Presented in front of him was a police report letter, stating that two days ago, Gabriel and Castiel Novak were caught driving a vehicle while highly intoxicated, and stayed in the Lawrence police station for one hour before being bailed out by—
“Michael Novak.” Castiel gulped loudly, keeping his eyes locked on his pacing elder. “Not only do I not remember raising such rude, rebellious, and irresponsible brothers, but I have no recollection of paying $1,200 bail money and Gabriel I know you’re out there, get in here!”
Peering round the open archway to the kitchen, Gabriel’s dirty blonde head poked its way round the corner, an innocent grin on his lips, but slight fear in his eyes.
“Sup bro?” A rustle of paper as Michael thrust the letter into Gabriel’s hands. A moment of silence passed before Gabriel looked back up, and stage whispered to the youngest of the three,
“I think he may know about the police Cassie.”
~~~~~~~~~~~*Back To Present Day*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So here they were. Michael wouldn't allow them to use money out of their college funds, and the only other money they had been from odd jobs or pocket money. Gabriel already had a job at a candy store in the centre of the mall, and managed to get Castiel a job as Santa’s Elf over the Christmas Holidays, and then as a waiter in the food court once school started back up.
“At least I won’t have to wear this ridiculous outfit when I'm in school.” Castiel caught himself mumbling under his breath again. He’s been talking to himself a lot during this job. Perhaps it’s the face-paint fumes getting to him.
The tingling bell went off to announce the start of lunch time. Castiel sighed in relief as he shuffled to behind the grotto. The hour went by in a blur, Castiel staying slumped on a chair letting the bright colours fade as he lightly napped the lunch time away.
He jumped slightly when a hand clamped tightly down on his shoulder. He looked up to see the one friend he has in this hellish X-Mas nightmare.
“Wakey Wakey, Clarence! Get your Christmas cheer back on!” Meg called, a smirk gracing her elfish features. You would think that one of the most rebellious girls in Kansas would not be a fan of Christmas and would definitely not dress as an elf in the middle of the mall handing candy canes to children. But she is. Castiel sighed and let him be dragged back to work.
It was a slow few hours; the amount of children had died down from a waterfall to a slight stream. Castiel’s stomach was growling so loud Meg asked if he had eaten a puppy. He decided to take a quick break and get a snack from the coffee opposite the grotto.
Stepping into the coffee shop in green tights and shoes with working bells on them may have knocked down Cas’ confidence just a tad. Waiting near the till to order, he was suddenly much more aware of the bright red circles painted on his cheeks. He tapped his finger nails against the wood and waited for the man with his back turned to him to take his order. A minute passed when he turned around to face the elf.
“Oh Shit.” Castiel hissed under his breath.
Stood opposite him, dirty blonde hair sticking up and the greenest eyes ever staring in surprised shock; was the most popular boy in school Dean Winchester.
Most teenagers exaggerate when they call someone the most popular person in school, but in all honesty, Dean Winchester truly was the most popular boy in school. He was captain of the baseball team, went out with a different cheerleader a week and drove the most badass car in the world.
And here Castiel was stood in front of him, red circle painted over his cheeks and a red felt hat falling into his eyes which were the size of plates.
A moment of awkward silence passed. Well, awkward for Cas, amusing for Dean. Castiel cleared his throat and said in a monotone voice,
“Can I have a coffee and a chicken sandwich to go please?” Dean chuckled slightly and went to make the coffee; he looked up from where he was mixing the liquid and said with thinly veiled amusement,
“Sure you don’t want a cookie? There’s Christmas tree shaped!” The dark haired boy chuckled slightly, not sure how to act around the boy behind the counter because: 1) He was not a popular boy, and did not know how to talk to the jocks of this world. And 2) it’s hard to relax when the person you are talking to is the most gorgeous person in the world.
A coffee and sandwich slid across the table, and Cas looked up to see Dean gazing at him with expectant eyes. He shook his head slightly and slid the money across to the green eyed boy. He smiled at him and said one shy,
“Thank you, Dean.” And turned to leave the coffee shop. He stopped when the deep gravelly voice of Dean called out to him,
“By the way, I like the costume!” He stifled a smile and a very girly giggle and left the store. He was opening the pack to his sandwich when he saw a small bag hidden in the container.
He opened the bag to see one of the Christmas tree cookies placed in there, with a little note in chicken scratch handwriting saying,
‘Merry Christmas Cas! ;)’
After that it was very difficult not to hide a squeal.
After Castiel left the coffee shop, Dean was caught off guard by a cough sounding from the table behind the till. Dean turned around to look at his fourteen year old brother who was raising his eyebrow behind a heavy English book.
“Any reason why you’re staring at one of Santa’s Elves butts?” Sam said with a smirk. Dean threw a table cloth at him, but the younger Winchester caught it before it got anywhere near him. He started chuckling while singing in a sing song voice,
“You’ve got a crush on Caaas~” Then a sugar packet hit him in the nose, that just made him laugh even more as he saw the blush that had creeped up his brothers cheeks. “Your cheeks are as red as that face paint on his cheeks!!” Dean managed to get even redder as he cleaned the mugs.
“I do not have a crush on Cas! There was some mild flirting, but that’s it!”
Sam, being the one that knows Dean was bisexual, just smirked as he looked back to his book. Comfortable silence stretched on as the atmosphere went back to normal.
“You stare at his butt in school too.”
“DAMNIT SAM!”