My Greatest Mistake

3. Telling

Cas spent the entirety of his bus ride home trying to figure out ways to tell his brothers about his detention. He wasn't worried, per say, more like dreadful. He could easily tell how they would react, but what he was concerned about was how it would change their opinions of him.

You see, in a family as large as Cas's, impressions were everything. It was easy to get lost among a household of seven, especially when you were as quiet and consistent as Cas was, and so his family had an impression of him. An impression that had been held for sixteen years. An impression that he was not about to break. Castiel had to be very careful about what he told his brothers, otherwise his reputation would be shattered, and the, if faint, respect his family had for him would be lost.

Cas was jolted out of his thoughts as the bus halted. He nodded a thank you to the driver and hopped out onto the gravel driveway. The vehicle drove away, and Castiel craned his head back to look at his house in apprehension. Three stories, twelve bathrooms, and ten bedrooms stared back at him.

The Novaks were a rich family, and one as large and ancient as theirs tended to gain sizeable bank accounts quickly. So when Cas and his sibling's mother left not long after Cas was born, their father, Chuck, built a large house on the mountainside and invited their cousin Crowley to move in. He told his boys it was because their mother never wanted to move, but they could tell it was his way of apologizing.

Chuck, too, left not long after that, leaving the care of the family to his eldest: Raphael.

Music suddenly filled Castiel's ears as his twin brothers, Gabriel and Balthazar drove up to the house. 

"Hey, little bro! What's gotcha down?" Gabe stopped the car, silencing the music, and opened the door. Balthazar, having already exited the car without bothering to open his door, patted the hood of the red mustang and added, "Sit right here, Castiel, and let the doctors take a look."

Cas shook his head. "I don't think so. As much pleasure as it would give me allowing you two to poke around in my brain, I must decline, as I believe the volume of your music turned it to mush." He walked around the car and up the steps to the house. He fished out the key from his pocket and opened the door, not bothering to close it behind him; he knew his brothers wouldn't be far behind.

His hunch proved correct as the twins strode through the door, and immediately Gabriel launched into a tirade about how 'his music' was masterful, and a gift to the world. "It's Asia, Gabe. Not Mozart." Castiel rolled his eyes but Balthazar lost it at the comment. "He- he got you good! HA! 'Asia, not Mozart.' HAHAAA!"

Castiel rolled his eyes again and left the twins to their jibing. The two of them were the pranksters of the family; always playing practical jokes and stealing things from the teachers. Any opportunity they got to make fun of each other they took, but everyone knew they were closer than anything. They were also Castiel's biggest supporters. They had figured out Cas was gay a long time ago, and never told anyone, nor had it changed their opinions of him. Despite their many flaws, Gabe and Balthazar were good people, they just tried to hide it.

Castiel wandered across the foyer and through the living room, reaching a giant, winding staircase that started at the west end of the house and ended up on the right. Cas hated to admit it, but as he climbed the staircase to the second floor, he had to admire the workmanship that allowed for it to float almost unnoticeably above the heads of everyone on the story below. Reaching the second floor, he continued down a long hallway past bedrooms and bathrooms until he reached a smaller, more hidden staircase. Climbing it, he reached a single door which he opened without hesitation. Castiel walked into his bedroom, which consisted of the entire attic, and slouched down onto his bed.

His head was spinning with different ways to tell his family about the detention. Finally he decided to just tell the truth. Well, most of it at least.

***

Castiel heard cars pull onto the gravel driveway as each of his family members returned. Sinking back into his pillows, Cas let his thoughts wander back to the pep rally.

He couldn't seem to get Dean Winchester off his mind, and he continually kept replaying the quarterback's run around the gym, until he had every movement memorized. The thin sheen of sweat shining on his skin by the time he completed the laps. The muscles in his back and shoulders contracting and releasing. By the time the last car had pulled into the driveway Cas could have mimicked the exact movements.

He pushed thoughts of Dean to the back of his mind as he headed down to dinner.

Upon entering the large dining room he found most of his family already seated. Raphael, the oldest and the traditionalist at the head, with the oldest set of twins: Michael and Lucifer, on either side of him. Next there was Gabriel and Balthazar; they refused to sit across from each other and always took a seat beside each other, despite Raphael's protests. Across from the twins sat Cas and his cousin Crowley. It was here Cas sat down and grabbed a plate.

Dinner commenced; spaghetti; and conversation flowed. Not from Cas, he was not very social even with his family, but he took great entertainment watching Gabe and Balthazar. They exaggerated their movements and stories, making them quite comical, and annoying everyone else at the table.

Finally, though, came the moment Cas was dreading.

"And Castiel? How was your day?" Raphael's voice reached Cas's ears, and he had no choice but to tell them.

"It, uh, it - it was good. Although tomorrow I need to stay late after school, so perhaps Raphael, you could pick me up after you're done work?" Castiel cringed inwardly and hoped to God that no further questions would be asked.

God was not listening.

"And why do you need to stay late? Some... extracurricular that you've not yet deigned to make me aware of?" Raphael asked.

Cas flinched at his harsh tone, and quickly stuttered out, "I, uh, um, got detention. Someone texted me in class and when I checked my phone - t-to make sure it wasn't you, of course," Cas backtracked quickly, "the - the teacher gave me crap for it."

Raphael looked very displeased, but Castiel could tell his older brother believed him. Thankfully.

"Alright Castiel. I will be there when I am done work."

"What?" Gabe was clearly outraged, "When we get detention we get grounded but when pretty-boy Cas does he gets an 'alright'?"

Raphael glared at Gabe, silencing Balthazar in the process, who had also opened his mouth in protest. "Perhaps if you didn't get in trouble so much," he said, levelling them with an icy glare, "you would be let off the hook as well."

Castiel glanced apologetically at the twins, worried that their anger carried over to him, but a wink from Balthazar told him that they were just poking fun. Cas grinned and shook his head resignedly. He should have guessed it.

||A/N: Whew, Novak manor established! I literally drew a map of all three floors so this story would be consistent because let me tell you, keeping track of twelve bathrooms and ten bedrooms spread over three floors is not fun....

Thanks for reading!