Anonymous

Chapter 23

"Okay, that was cute and all," Charlie says as Dean and Castiel come back to their corner, "but what the hell just happened?"

"It's a long story," Castiel says.

"But surprise, I'm bi," Dean adds. "In case you couldn't tell."

"We'd have to be blind to not guess that," Benny says.

"You could have told us earlier, you know," Charlie says. "Especially after I had come out and you already knew no one would have cared."

"That goes along with the long story," Dean says. "Sorry."

"We'll probably explain it some day," Castiel says.

"But right now," Dean says with a grin, "it's time to par-tay!"

But their so-called partay doesn't last very long until Gabriel walks over to them, and suddenly, they're all silent. Castiel looks down at the ground, purposely avoiding his brother's gaze. This is bad, this is bad, this is —

"Hey, Cassie, can I talk to you for a minute?" Gabriel asks.

"I'm kinda in the middle of something," Castiel mumbles. He's really not doing anything he couldn't stop and resume in a few minutes, but he can pretend.

"Just for a minute," Gabriel says. "I swear."

Castiel hesitates, then sighs. "Okay, fine."

Gabriel leads him to a quieter spot along the wall, where they're sort of isolated so they hopefully won't be overheard.

"Please don't make a scene," Castiel says quietly.

"I won't," Gabriel says. "I just want to talk."

"Then talk," Castiel says.

"I'm sorry," he says, must to Castiel's surprise. "I know that's not how you wanted me to react to finding out that you're — you're bisexual or whatever word you used. And I know that was when you could have used a friend the most, and I'm sorry that I haven't been there for you."

"Thanks," Castiel says uncertainly. "I don't want to push it because this has been a really nice 20-seconds, but you haven't really made it clear. Does this mean you support my sexuality?"

Gabriel hesitates, then says haltingly, "It means I support you. You know I've been raised in a really... what's the word..."

"Homophobic?" Castiel guesses.

"But I don't like that word," Gabriel says. "What's another word?"

"Heteronormative?" Castiel suggests.

"That's about 20 times longer than I wanted but yes," Gabriel says. "I've been raised in a really heteronormative household, so this is all still weird to me, and I can't genuinely say I support it. But you're my brother, and I love you. And if that means I have to be nice to your boyfriend over there, I will. So, basically, what I'm trying to say is that I don't like this whole silent treatment thing. I just want things to be normal again. Okay?"

Castiel just looks at him for a moment, which probably makes Gabriel nervous, but he doesn't care. Without warning, he wraps his arms around his brother.

"Thank you," Castiel says quietly. "I hoped you'd come around."