Work Text:
“And we’re done,” you put the sliced fruit along with your son’s lunch, turning the paper sack to him. “Come on.”
If Castiel’s face wasn’t showing his excitement already, the happy exclamation he let out would have given it away.
This was his first day at school in this new town and your boy – who’d always been optimistic – was ready to make new friends.
You had just moved back to the same city where you’d attended college after a job offer, a place where you felt much more like home than where you were before.
This wasn’t a happy moving, though. Today it made 18 months since the death of your beta partner, and you and Castiel were on your own ever since. The decision of coming to the city was something you had debated both with your son and with his grandparents – from both sides – and you had all agreed that it was the best for the two of you.
“Come on.”
You checked the clock. There was enough time to drive him to school, walk him to the classroom door, arrive at the university and get accustomed to your classroom for a few minutes before your students arrived, you just needed to maintain your routine.
“Have fun,” you waved to your son as he entered the classroom. When the school year started – to avoid having to pull him from school – you had been homeschooling your son, and you knew he missed the social part of going to school. “And don’t forget to make friends.”
You let out a sigh as you walked away. Castiel was six now, the memories of your partner were foggy already in his mind, but yours were still very much alive. Since the funeral, it had been you and Cas against the world, and as much as you loved your son, sometimes the loneliness was hard to shake. Someone to share the cleaning and cooking, to cuddle on the couch after a long day at work and to rub their nose at your scent glands in search of comfort. Someone to simply share your life with.
“Okay…” you sighed to yourself. “Guess it’s time to go to work.”
. . .
You parked your car in the closest possible parking spot. You were never late to pick up Castiel, never. Well, except for today.
You rushed to the room where you knew he’d been sent to wait for you, sincerely hoping your boy wouldn’t be too upset. When you entered, though, you were surprised with a vision much different than what you expected.
Your son was playing with two boys, one around his age and another who looked about 10 years old, while two teenagers sat a few feet away, one of them with his face glued to his phone and the other watching the kids.
“Doctor Y/L/N?” the beta school employee questioned, and you offered her your ID to confirm your identity before entering.
The teenager watching the kids caught sight of you before your son did, and quickly stood on his feet. With a single sniff, you could see him and the other teen boy were both Alphas.
“You must be Doctor Y/L/N,” he approached you, extending his hand out. “I’m Michael Shurley.”
You shook his hand hesitantly. How did this boy know who you were?
“I’m Gabriel’s older brother,” he explained quickly, pointing at the light-brown haired boy playing with your son. “He wanted to stay and play with him while he waited, I hope that isn’t a problem.”
“No, no,” you shook your head. “I didn’t realise I was going to be late. Do your parents know you’re here?”
Michael nodded, and Castiel finally noticed your presence.
“Zaza!”
The other boys moved their eyes to see where you were standing, and Cas wrapped his arms around you.
“Zaza, come see,” he pulled your hand, bright blue eyes shining with excitement “I made a friend.”
You let your son drag you to where Gabriel was, and the little boy smiled to you.
“Zaza, this is Gabriel,” he introduced you two.
“Nice to meet you, Dr Y/L/N.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Gabriel,” you gave him a soft smile. “Thank you for staying with Castiel while I was away. It was very kind of you.”
You turned to Michael in worry.
“Do you live too far away? I can give you boys a ride, my car has enough space.”
“There’s no need to worry, I’m the one driving us home every day,” he assured you.
“Because he has a licence now,” the other teen boy said in a mocking tone.
He was one of those emo kids – or was it goth? - every generation had, wearing black from head to toe and standing in a very sloppy posture.
“Dr Y/L/N, that’s my brother Samuel, and the other boy is our 3rd brother, Raphael.”
“My name is Lucifer!” the teen protested.
You glanced at him with wide eyes. Oh, well…
“Sorry,” Michael said quickly. “He’s a bit… Weird.”
You nodded a bit but didn’t even think about saying anything about that.
“Again, thank you for staying. We’ll get going now.”
Michael confirmed, and you took your son’s backpack before walking him to your car. The whole trip, he talked about school and his new friends, especially Gabriel and Dean. When you arrived home, though, he seemed a little negatively affected.
“What’s wrong?” you enquired. He seemed so happy before.
“Gabriel and Dean… They are like me.”
That made you frown.
“Like you?”
“Gabriel’s mum… She left. He said he doesn’t remember her and they don’t even have a picture of her, and his dad gets sad when someone asks about her.”
Your heart ached. Those four boys were so young and already had to deal with rejection. What kind of parent would do that?
“And Dean’s mum died last year,” he continued. “And mannie died too…”
You took a breath. Hearing him talk about your partner was so… Weird. You couldn’t even remember the last time he used the nickname the two shared.
“Good thing they now have you as a friend, right?”
He confirmed.
You let out a sigh while watching him enter the house. Maybe you should get in touch with the parents of those kids.
A week later, the opportunity showed up. Castiel had been invited to Dean Winchester’s birthday, and the two of you made sure to get the little boy a nice gift. It was a bit of a surprise when you arrived at the house, noticing how it wasn’t close to as full as a party should be. Had his father invited any kids at all?
“Thank you,” Dean smiled largely after receiving the gift, before running off with your son to the backyard of the house.
“Thank you for coming,” John Winchester, his father, said when you approached him, shaking your hand with the arm that wasn’t supporting his younger son’s weight.
“Someone crashed before the cake,” you noticed.
He chuckled.
“Yeah, Sam’s not much of a party boy. That’d be Dean.”
You only smiled, glancing at the boys.
“Dean told me about you and Castiel,” the Alpha gave you a short glance before looking at your sons playing with the other kids. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
You sighed.
“Thank you. I’m sorry for your loss too,” you repeated.
“Thank you,” he shifted on his place. “Welcome to the town’s Single Parents Club.”
That made you grin and raise your eyebrows to him.
“Single Parents Club?”
You were about to continue questioning when a strong scent made you freeze. It was the first time in a long while that something had called you like that, not even your beta partner had smelled so good to you. This was an Omega.
“He means it,” someone said behind you.
When you turned around, you finally saw who it was, spreading such a smell. Pine and wood smoke, with a touch of freshly fallen snow.
“The other parents don’t like coming to our parties,” the Omega said.
He was of medium height but was towered by John Winchester.
“I’m Chuck,” he offered a hand, staring into your eyes. His eyes were beautiful, piercing blue and shiny, filled with you could only describe as a mess of feelings. “Shurley.”
“Y/N Y/L/N,” you shook his hand. “You are the father of the four boys, right?”
He confirmed.
“How did you find so many rhyming names?” you enquired, unable to contain your curiosity.
That made him smile. What a beautiful smile.
“I’m a writer,” he explained. “I know more names than people.”
You laughed, and Chuck turned to watch his sons and seeing Michael playing with the young kid along with Raphael.
“The other parents aren’t big fans of us. Something about broken families and bonds,” he moved a hand to where a mating mark was supposed to be, and you could see how he was uncomfortable with the single fact. “So we have our own club. The Single Parents Club. We got some mothers in it too, it’s not just me and John.”
Moving his hand from his neck, he pointed at the group with three women sat and talking.
“The one with brown hair is Ellen, she’s the mother of the blonde girl in jeans, her name is Jo,” he explained. “Black hair is Jody, she’s a sheriff in a small town nearby, but she’s always here for the kids’ parties and she’s Patience’s mother, the girl on the trampoline.”
You looked at the yard and could see who he was talking about. The little girl wasn’t older than seven and had darker skin, but her facial features were very similar to her mother’s.
“And the blonde is Donna, she’s a cop. She’s the mother of the other two girls, Alex and Claire, the ones in dresses.”
You nodded in acknowledgement.
“They are all betas The adults, I mean. You already know my boys, right?”
“I do, yes. They are very gentle kids.”
Chuck opened a small smile.
“I wish they were like that at home,” he sighed. “Michael and Samuel are both Alphas, you can’t imagine the level of tension between them most of the times. But they love their brothers, that is undeniable. I’m really glad they didn’t turn out to be like those Alpha that are pure ass-…” he interrupted himself when he realised he was talking to an Alpha.
“No offence taken,” you assure him. “I know many Alphas who are assholes, there's no use in denying it.”
His face quickly changed, and you moved your head to follow his look just before the omega by your side ran off to the food table.
“Gabriel!” he exclaimed, standing in front of his son to literally stop him from digging a finger into the cake.
John just laughed.
“That kid is the terror and the dream of every dentist,” he pointed out. “We always need to protect the cake from him. Always.”
You shook your head, amused.
“I’m sure they have a good dental plan.”
John laughed even more.
“The best in town.”
The Alpha by your side looked around a bit and moved his hand to his youngest son hair, caressing it between his fingers.
“Welcome to the club,” he sighed. “The other families may discriminate us, but we always have each other’s backs. Don’t worry.”
And, indeed, you had. With so many kids between Castiel’s class and the ‘Club’, birthday parties were shown to be a frequent thing, and you could see how the community wasn’t much open to non-traditional families; more than once you had been completely ignored when kids in your son’s class planned parties, and those you were invited to always ended up with you sitting for hours on end completely alone, as pairs of parents didn’t seem to want to even approach you, almost as if you were cursed.
Being in the club, though, had its advantages. You had your own weekend plans, always visiting new attractions in town and in the places around, and you always had each other’s back when it came to the kids, sometimes dropping them in one of the houses for numerous reasons and helping with things the other would be struggling with.
“The cookies are ready,” you announced loudly.
You had started frequenting the Shurley’s house almost on a daily basis now. So much so, that you were used to just entering their kitchen and cooking when Chuck was submerged in whatever writing binge he was prone to go into. The kids were the ones who seemed to like it the most – according to Raphael, your cooking was the best he’d ever had, Castiel and Gabriel could play as much as they wanted, and the boys would finally have a break from all the take-out they were used to eating.
“I don’t know how I survived without you,” Chuck took a bite from the cookie in his hand. “Holy shit, this is amazing.”
You chuckled, rolling your eyes.
“You were just fine before I arrived,” you reminded him. “Maybe eating trashier, but just fine.”
He smiled and seemed to zone out for a moment while staring at you, jumping when the kids ran into the room and attacked the hot cookies.
You grinned in response to their excitement, your expression turning into a scoff when Samuel snatched the cookie from Gabriel’s hand and held it away from his grasp.
“Sam, stop teasing your brother!” his father ordered, and the boy rolled his eyes for the 10th time that day.
“I already told you my name is Lucifer!” he exclaimed.
“No, it’s not,” Chuck covered his face in embarrassment. “I registered you, young man, your name is Samuel.”
But that didn’t stop the kid.
“Well, I’m gonna change it when I’m older and you won’t be able to stop me.”
To that, your Omega friend laughed.
“Guess what, little brat, most countries banished that name before you were even born.”
The teenage boy walked away with the most annoyed of the face, leaving the rest of you behind laughing at his mood until Michael elbowed his father with a hopeful look in his eyes.
“I’m gonna play some video games with the boys,” he announced, looking between the two of you. “Come on, guys. First to arrive gets to choose the character before I do.”
He left, and you frowned to the man in front of you, who was blushing deeply.
“So,” Chuck cleared his throat. “Uh… I was wondering if I could ask you something.”
You leant onto the counter, curious.
“Of course you can. What's wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said quickly. “Nothing, just… Uh… I know that it’s been a bit more than two years since Alex passed away.”
You nodded. You had told him about your partner a few weeks into this friendship of yours, when he had finally felt comfortable to open up about his wife.
“I don’t mean that I expect you to move on,” he said, his voice rushed and fast. “I don’t want to replace anyone in your life or in Castiel’s life, because I know how hard it is to raise a kid all by yourself, but…” he took a breath, calming himself.
You could barely contain what had come inside you. You had held yourself back from hitting on Chuck or even asking him out because of fear of ruining your friendship and making a fool out of yourself, but did he actually mean what you thought he meant?
“What I mean to say is,” he licked his lips. “Do you want to go out on a date with me?”