“Yup, that tastes like Dean Winchester.” Licking his lips, Orange Hat (Jake) leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “Short tempered, physically violent.” He smiled up at Dean, tilting his head and expressing a sarcastic innocence Castiel knew would lead to further rage from Dean. “Borderline abusive, especially with your baby brother.”
Castiel considered preventing another punch, but he let Dean send his fist into the already bruised jaw. He watched another blow land, taking a few steps to the left so he could observe from a distance as Dean grabbed the beaten jaw in his hand.
“Well, you seem to know everything about everything, don’t you?”
“Not really. I just know enough to get under your skin, and given how easy that is, I don’t have to know much to make it happen.” Bloody lips pulled into a grin, green eyes flashing.
Dean mirrored the expression, but darker and deader. “Do you know where Gadreel is?”
Eyes widening, Orange Hat looked past Dean to Castiel. “Ohhh, that must be why you’re back in the bunker. Because we both know you would still be homeless if there was even the slightest chance Dean had more lies up his sleeve that could help him control Sam.”
Castiel felt a flicker of anger in his chest, and he thought the first punch was justified, and perhaps the second and third as well, but when Dean went for the knife on the nearby table, he had to step in. “Dean.” He grabbed Dean’s wrist, getting between him and their subject. “You have no idea what can or can’t kill him, and we need to know what he knows.”
“Don’t listen to him, Dean,” Orange Hat quipped. “I’m a nonhuman, and you don’t like me; according to the Rules of Winchester, that warrants violent murder. You don’t need any other justification!”
Gritting his teeth, Dean flexed his fingers against the hilt of the blade, but regardless of how raw he was, he did as Castiel asked. “Yeah.” He lowered the knife.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Castiel started, turning to face Orange Hat and being somewhat surprised when a smirk wasn’t waiting for him, “that Dean prioritized Sam over myself.” Which wasn’t entirely true, but he couldn’t have the boy thinking he was as easy to set off as Dean. “I—”
“He didn’t, my dude. He prioritized himself over you. And Sam, for that matter.” Orange Hat shrugged, immediately wincing. “Oof. That hurt.” He bent his neck from side to side, groaning quietly.
“However you choose to describe it, it is not relevant to the conversation.” Castiel placed his hands over the bound wrists and leaned forward, forcing Orange Hat to push backward into his chair. “Crowley’s demons found you around a very bright, very powerful source of energy. What was that?”
Orange Hat replied with a chipper, “It was the Power of Friendship!”
I cannot express in words how much my soul needed a character like this to show up in Supernatural canon just once. And not one who shows up like this and then realizes, "Aww, Dean really does love Sam, he's just rough around the edges. But his heart's in the right place!" I needed a character who came, called out Dean, and even after Dean does a bunch of things right, just throws him some finger guns like,
But no, Supernatural would never dare, lest the rabid Dean girls consume them, so I'm left to cope with ma boi Jacob.
