.......You're going to pin all of this on Ikki again aren't you?
Okkkkk but then why did you come to the house of Fenix's official Kamen Rider? What are we suppose to do then? Send you some Fenix recruits and say 'good luck'?
Sorry for the wait!!! Here we have our special guest star, who threw a spanner in the metaphorical works by bringing up angles I hadn’t even considered. Enjoy!
Dean woke to a pounding on the door of Castiel’s apartment. He opened one eye.
“You expecting anybody, Cas?” he asked blearily.
“Mmmf,” Castiel replied unhelpfully. He wrapped his arms tighter around Dean. There wasn’t much space in the bed, so the nights they slept here were spent smushed right up against each other. Dean wasn’t complaining.
There were a few more loud bangs, and then the sound of a key in the lock. Dean sat up and planted his feet on the floor.
“Cas, who has a key to your—“
“Cassie, baby! I’m ho-ome!”
The door flew open and a man stepped in, arms outstretched, plastic bags hanging from his hands. He went straight to the kitchen counter and started unloading groceries.
“Mmmf,” Castiel repeated. He tried to grab at Dean, but Dean shook him awake.
“Cas, you gotta get up, angel, there’s someone here—“
“It’s just Gabriel,” Castiel muttered. “Come back to bed.”
“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!” The man—Gabriel – shouted from the other side of the apartment. “I’m making breakfast, and you’re going to love it!”
Dean got up and reached for his shirt and pants, dressing quickly.
“You must be Dean-o!” Gabriel said brightly, measuring flour into a bowl. “I can see what Cassie sees in you,” he added, giving Dean a once-over and a lurid wink. Dean blushed.
“Yeah, I’m, uh, I’m Dean, Cas’s—um, boyfriend,” Dean said. Dressed, he walked to the kitchen and stuck out his hand. “Gabriel – Cas’s brother, right?”
“That I am!” Gabriel said. “Twizzler?” He held out a package to Dean. Dean shook his head. “More for me,” Gabriel said, putting one in his mouth. “Get up, Cassie, we’ve got places to be! Things to do!”
“It’s Sunday, and I go to space in three days,” Castiel muttered, still under the covers. “Let me sleep, Gabriel.”
“Not a chance,” Gabriel shot back.
“I’ll… I’ll make coffee,” Dean said, completely thrown off balance. If this was the kind of energy Gabriel had at seven a.m. on a Sunday, no wonder he owned a cupcake franchise that was fast taking over the Southwest.
Once the coffee was made and pancakes were sizzling in the pan, Castiel did get up. He didn’t bother getting dressed, just slouched over to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee, practically inhaling it as he perched on a stool.
“Tired, angel?” Dean asked. Castiel shook his head.
“I’m going to need this if I’m going to deal with him all day.”
Gabriel took that as a cue to set three heaping stacks of pancakes on the counter.
“Dig in, boys!” Gabriel commanded. Dean did as he was told.
“Holy shit,” Dean said around his first mouthful. “These are awesome.”
“I’m not just a pretty face,” Gabriel told him with a smirk. “Though the rumours that I slept my way to the top are true.”
“Baker’s hours, little bro!” Gabriel told him, waving a spatula in his face. “I’ve been up for four hours already, while you were busy cuddling with your space cowboy.”
Castiel made a face, but he ate his pancakes anyway while Dean and Gabriel demolished their own stacks.
“I’m serious, man,” Dean said. “What do you put in these?”
“Crack,” Gabriel told him soberly. Dean froze. Gabriel burst out laughing. “Come on, man! I can’t tell you that!” He tapped the side of his nose. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”
“Alright, Gabriel,” Castiel said, draining his coffee, “what do you have planned?”
“Oh, I don’t plan,” Gabriel said breezily. “I go where the universe takes me.” Castiel stared at him.
“We have a ribbon cutting at one and a gala reception at five,” Gabriel said. “You’re coming.”
“To which?” Castiel groused.
“Both of them!” Gabriel announced. “Cassie, baby, we’ve got to show a little family togetherness! I’m opening locations all through the Bible Belt, they wanna see my family values!”
“Then you should get a new family,” Castiel told him. Dean looked from one brother to the other, and couldn’t tell who looked more stubborn.
“No can do, baby bro,” Gabriel said, “We’re all stuck with the one we got.”
“Get Michael to do it,” Castiel argued. “Or Luke. Or anybody. Hire an actor.”
“No, no, no,” Gabriel said. “My public need authenticity! They want to meet the man behind the magic! The cup behind the cake! The heart under the chef’s hat! Besides,” he added, “Michael’s on assignment and I haven’t heard from Luke since his band broke up.”
“His band broke up?” Castiel asked, eyebrows knitting together. “I thought they were doing okay.”
“When has anything Luke turned his claws to ‘gone okay’?” Gabriel asked. “Truth is, Cassie-cakes, you are truly the most stable, most successful, most likable of my brothers, and I need you to come smile for the cameras. And bring your boyfriend.”
“Wait,” Dean said. “I thought you wanted Cas to make you look good because you were opening locations in the Bible Belt, and you wanted them to see your ‘family values’… wouldn’t bringing your little brother’s boyfriend kind of mess with those plans?”
“Not at all,” Gabriel told him. “It’s all part of my master plan. Get up there, talk about how important it is to honour family, values, tradition, all the things that make little old ladies cry tiny tears of joy, and then as an example of that, introduce them to my baby bro and his adorable, male-modelling astronaut boy toy.” Gabriel sighed. “I have visions of angry op-eds dancing in my head. Even better than sugar plums.”
“You’re baiting people?” Dean asked.
“Not a surprise,” Castiel said, staring at his plate.
“Exactly,” Gabriel said. “Finally, someone who gets it. They criticize me, I look innocent – ‘o, whatever could you mean? This is my family’ – then other people criticize them for criticizing me, and boom bang pow, the opening of my one hundredth location moves from page six to page one. And,” he added, “if there’s a picture of the three of us, we go above the fold. The headline: Brave Baker Stands By Bi Brother.”
“Did you even consider,” Castiel asked evenly, “that I wouldn’t want to be a prop in your publicity stunt?”
“Never crossed my mind,” Gabriel said sweetly. “I know you’re a sucker for duty, loyalty and family. And for my pancakes.”
“No,” Castiel said, soaking up the last of the syrup on his plate with a bite of pancake.
“Then, consider this a practice run.” Gabriel said.
“Practice for what?” Dean asked.
“You really don’t see it?” Gabriel asked. “You two are about to become the First Gays in Space.”
“No, we aren’t,” Castiel said. “Ever heard of Sally Ride?
“Drop the act, Cassie, you know there’s a world of difference between a retired astronaut coming out in her will and two astronauts who are in a relationship with each other going on a mission.” Gabriel looked from Castiel to Dean and back again. “Before you take off, there’ll be reporters. While you’re up in the atmosphere, there’ll be bloggers. And when you get back down again? Book deals! Speaking engagements! Oprah’s couch!”
“Oprah doesn’t have a show anymore,” Castiel corrected.
“Ellen’s couch then!” Gabriel said, exasperated. “What are you two planning to do with all that?” Dean looked at Castiel.
“I never thought about it,” Dean said. “I mean—I’ve been out for years, but it’s never really been newsworthy.”
“Well, you’re newsworthy now,” Gabriel told him. “And you better decide how you’re going to tell your story before you get in front of a microphone.” He threw the spatula into the sink. “I have things to do, so do these dishes and talk amongst yourselves. But I will be back—“ he looked sternly at Castiel – “to pick you up for the ribbon-cutting. Wear something nice.”
Gabriel strolled out of the apartment, and silence descended. Dean looked at Castiel.
“So?” Dean asked. Castiel shrugged.
“So what?”
“So, what are we going to do?” Dean asked, filling the sink with water. “About today, Gabriel’s thing, about all the – publicity and reporters and stuff.”
Castiel got up and stood behind Dean, putting his arms around his waist and laying his head on his shoulder.
“We don’t have to do anything we don’t want to,” Castiel told him. “If you want us to keep our relationship private, we can do that.”
Dean turned around in Castiel’s arms.
“And what if I don’t want to keep our relationship private?” he asked. “What if I want everyone to know how much I love you?”
Am I the only one who feels that the recent "UPS lets a 4-year-old be a driver for a day!!!" thing really is just a not-so-subtle way to cover up the Peggy Young case?
I mean I might just be cynical here but tbh the Peggy Young case is too important to be shushed down, and although the UPS kid story is cute I feel pregnancy discrimination should be the story in focus here
I think I'll just put myself in this tag for a moment. Check out this blog! I am liveblogging the entire Warrior Cats series for nostalgic purposes. Also, these books rock. Send me ideas and stuff if you want to! May Starclan light your path.
