Chapter Text
Dean Winchester loved pie. Everyone who knew Dean also knew that.
It amazed most people, including Dean’s little brother Sam, how much pie the boy could consume.
But like Dean liked to say “There can never be enough pie!”
It seemed only appropriate that the story of how Dean met and fell in love with the boy with blue eyes and bed hair, started with pie.
In Lawrence, Kansas you didn’t have secrets, because it was impossible to keep anything from the prying eyes of your neighbors.
Everyone knew everyone and the second you did something wrong or out of the norm that was accepted by majority of the people, it was known all over the city.
Because everyone knew each other so well it got boring after a while. So when someone new moved to the area it was like a party.
As long as they fit the norm. If they didn’t, well that was when the rumors started.
Lawrence High had a strict hierarchy that was respected by the students and a large part of the teachers.
On top were the football players, the jocks, and the cheerleaders, then came the rich kids whose parents donated a lot of money to the school every year, next were the jokers and the average kids with friends, after that there where the ones who flew under the radar.
And on the bottom were kids who were viewed as different by the popular kids. And that was exactly were Castiel Novak was.
The Novaks had moved to Lawrence four months ago from Wichita and Gabriel, Castiel’s older brother by two years, had fit in right of the bat.
Unfortunately it was not that easy for the blue eyed boy, who didn’t really understand sarcasm or jokes and who always wore a trench coat that was two sizes too big for him and a suit.
When Gabriel had noticed the looks his brother was getting he had tried to get Castiel to change his style so people would stop looking at him like he had the plague.
But the idea was dropped after their father Chuck had found out about it. He had been furious with Gabriel and had reminded him that Castiel had enough people telling him that it was bad being different, without his brother joining in the mix.
Castiel didn’t really mind being the weird kid, he was used to it. You could say it was kind of the story of his life.
Gabriel was the fun brother who made people laugh and was as carefree as they came.
Castiel on the other hand had always been different. Quiet, reserved, the one who preferred books instead of people. And he didn’t really like social situations anyway, what with feeling awkward and out of place, so the boy used his alone time doing homework and reading.
There was one thing he could live without, the constant insults that came from the popular kids. He was constantly reminded that even though being different had its perks, there were at least as much negatives to cancel out the good things.
Thankfully the insults were the only things people threw his way, apart from spit balls and drinks. Sometimes it did get physical, like that one time in the locker room when he had been accused of peeping on the other guys. That day he had left the locker room with a bruise the size of a football on his stomach and few cuts on his arms.
Castiel thanked his lucky stars that his brother hadn’t found out about the abuse, otherwise the jocks would have faced a vengeful Gabriel.
You didn’t want to get crossed with Gabriel, because even though his pranks were funny, if you got him mad they could turn worse really fast.
After taking a self-defense class couple of years ago Gabriel had got the notion that everyone should know how to fight. He had tried, unsuccessfully, to get Castiel to fight him. It had ended with Gabriel hitting himself in the face and Castiel laughing his ass off.
The only thing Castiel really missed was his best friend Balthazar, who lived in Wichita.
Sure they talked and messaged each other every day, but it wasn’t the same. Castiel didn’t mind not having friends, because no one really understood him. With Balthazar being the exception that confirmed the rule.
They had known each other for twelve years, ever since Balthazar had moved into their neighborhood. Even though they had been only four, somehow they had known that they would be friends forever.
They had tried dating for a while, when they were fourteen, but it hadn’t worked. It just hadn’t felt right.
Gabe finding out about it and him chasing Balthazar around the neighborhood for an hour, had kind of reinforced their decision of staying just friends.
Sundays were the busiest days for The Novak brothers.
Castiel had been nominated as the cook of their family, with him being the only one who actually knew how to use an oven. Gabriel had tried cooking once, but it had ended with the fire department on their doorstep. After that it was an unspoken agreement, that Castiel did the cooking. Nowadays Gabe didn’t even use the microwave.
While Castiel went to the shop, to buy the groceries but also to get away from his brother’s constant whining, Gabriel was left with cleaning duty. That meant cleaning the whole house, vacuuming, washing the floors and windows etc. And while Gabriel always completed the job, he didn’t do it without endless complaining.
On those occasions, it was more like a routine by now, Castiel simply put his headphones on and droned out Gabriel’s whiny words with Metallica.
Chuck always worked late, later than usual, on Sundays and came home at 7 pm.
Being a single parent wasn’t easy especially with two teenage boys, but he never took his frustration out on his sons.
Chuck was a 45 year old widower, his wife Naomi had died four years ago in a car crash. Chuck had always been kind and gentle, but after the death of his wife he became even more protective of his sons.
Castiel didn’t remember much of his mother and whenever he tried to ask Gabriel about her the other boy told him the same thing. That he should be happy he didn’t remember.
It was a Sunday and like on every Sunday Castiel was ready to head out to the shop that was down the street.
Unfortunately Gabe had some different plans that contained himself, Castiel and the diner a couple of blocks down.
It took the other boy fifteen minutes in total to get his brother out of the house, into the car and in front of the diner, including Castiel’s refusal to “take that stick out of his ass and have some fun”, quote from Gabriel.
Then Gabriel had to spend five more minutes explaining how it was mandatory for teenagers, even as weird as Castiel, to have fun from time to time. When all Castiel did was glare mutely at his brother it was becoming apparent that his words of wisdom hadn’t worked.
Castiel finally let his brother drag him to the diner, when the other boy promised not to whine the next time he had to clean the house.
The diner was pretty packed, but Gabriel didn’t seem to notice. The only thing he took notice of was the sugary pastries.
Castiel looked around the place and sighed when he didn’t see any empty booths, the seats on the counter were not available either. The boy was about to let his brother know about the lack of seating when he heard a yelp from Gabriel and someone shouting “That’s my pie!”
The last thing he saw before a pie was thrown into his face, were emerald green eyes.