Neon Lights

Chapter 1 - Born to Die

•Castiel's POV•
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November 6, 1967
4:05 p.m.
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"Where's your brother lately?" I asked my good friend Sam, listening to his pencil scratching the paper with every careful number he wrote in complicated math equations. I saw his work - freshman math. I miss it, it was so much easier back then.

"Probably spending most of his spare time down at The Dime. It's his favourite drinking hole," Sam rolled his eyes, "He'll come staggering in long after you've gone."

I nodded subtly. How he managed to get with sweet, polite little Lisa Braeden I don't know in the slightest. Something my sister Hester once told me came to mind: Good girls like bad boys.

What about good boys like bad boys? Seems to be the case for me. I'm an over-achieving senior year Catholic boy from a big and wealthy family. My main focus is getting good grades, passing this semester, and getting into a good college. Innocent, yeah? Hardly. I'm a fag, to be direct, and I've managed to fall for a boy who smokes, drinks his liver to death, rides a motorcycle, wrecks houses, gets in fights, and has been arrested twice. That's right - a greaser. Gang boy.

"I'm tired of my brother's shenanigans," Sam growled, "I worry about him. It's all Dad's fault - he wasn't there for us, and look what's happened. Everyone's scared of Dean, even you!"

I laughed disbelievingly, "Me? I'm not scared of your brother!"

"Right," Sam raised an eyebrow at me, "Is that why you always shy away when he gets close to you, and you stammer when you talk to him?"

That's not fear, I thought, that's trying-to-hide-an-awkward-halfie. "He's just intimidating. That's all."

Sam nodded, humoring me. Really, I don't care what he thinks, just so long as he doesn't know I have the hots for his brother.

The door slammed downstairs, and I heard thudding steps up. "Hey Sammy," Dean burst in, taking a lingering look at me, "Where's Dad?"

"Out," he shrugged.

Dean rolled his eyes, "I'm going out. Stay safe!"

See? Soft side.

"Where?!" Sam yelled after his older sibling.

"The beach!"

We heard the door slam again. "Someone's in a bad mood," I commented idly. "He's always in a bad mood," Sam countered.

"I should go," I muttered, putting away my work, "It's late."

***

"Heya, Cassie!" My older brother Gabriel swung his arm around me, "It's been boring with you gone! Where ya been, broseph?"

"Tutoring," I said flatly, "At the Winchesters'."

"Ah," Gabe mumbled, "Come join us in the living room. We're playing Cherades."

I reluctantly followed him to where my eleven siblings all crowded in the room, watching Hester try to act out The Beatles.

"Heyy," Anna waved at me, "Where ya been? We missed you!"

"Sam and Dean's place," I murmured, "Tutoring."

"Which head did you use for that?" Naomi sneered, "The big one, or the little one?"

"What are you implying?" My eyes widened at her. How does she know?!

"She's saying," Rachel joined her, "You like Dean!"