Sympathy for the Devil

But what's confusing you is the, nature of my game

If it wasn't for Meg, Cas didn't even know how he'd be getting through any of it. And if it wasn't for Cas himself, he was pretty sure Meg would have bashed Dean's face into a locker by then.

Cas had never expected he and Meg to get so close when that semester had started, but after he had come out to her on Homecoming night at the restaurant, something in their friendship had changed. It was like that moment bonded them somehow, and Cas was now left wondering how they had never been close before.

This had eventually lead Meg to showing a very vicious protectiveness over Cas, who had just barely managed to convince her that punching Dean in the face (again) wouldn't fix the problem. Even if sometimes Cas hoped that it might.

Even so, Cas still wished he had someone else to talk to. He wished he could talk to his family, but that was far from being a reasonable option.

There was always Balthazar, but he had been so busy lately that they had hardly gotten to spend any time together.

And his brothers…it was almost funny thinking about trying to talk to them about it. Samandriel still seemed unable to look Cas in the eye after their conversation in the car, and he didn't even want to think about telling Michael or Gabriel about Dean. That sounded like a death wish, more than anything. Or at least a one way ticket out of the family.

But that idea was what triggered Cas's line of thought for a few days. He did, after all, have one more brother, and if anyone in the family was going to understand Cas, it would be him.

The unfortunate part of this was that Cas hadn't spoken to Lucifer in six years. Nobody in the family had, to his knowledge. He also had no idea how he would go about contacting him, even if the prospect of talking his eldest brother after so much time had passed wasn't daunting.

"Castiel?"

The teen was startled out of his thoughts when Michael suddenly addressed him. He seemed to come out of nowhere sometimes.

Cas had one foot on the staircase, about to head up to his room when he turned around to face his brother. "Yes?"

"Is everything okay with you right now? You've seemed a bit off this week." Michael stood a few feet away from Cas, a concerned expression on his face.

Cas could have almost laughed at how quickly that sympathy would have drained if Michael knew about the real problem.

"What about Lucifer?" The words spilled out of Cas's mouth so fast that he almost startled himself that time. He didn't really think before he spoke, and with the look Michael gave him Cas half wished he could take the question back.

Michael stiffened up, his expression hardening. Nobody talked about Lucifer in the family anymore. Saying his name seemed to be on the same level as saying a bad curse word in their household. As far as Michael was concerned, at least. He was the one who always got so upset about the touchy subject.

"What about him?" Michael asked, looking suspicious.

Cas probably knew better, but he had already breached the subject, so he decided there wasn't really a point in turning back now. "Why don't we talk about him? I know he did a lot of bad things, but he's still our brother. He's still family."

"Lucifer made his own choices, Castiel. He knew what he was doing when he chose that lifestyle before his family."

"He's still our brother." Cas repeated fiercely, determined, now that he'd started, to defend his brother. He couldn't help it, really; despite all that Lucifer had done, Cas used to really look up to him. "And you kicked him out. He didn't decide to leave."

"Lucifer is a drug addict and a complete degenerate."

"So why didn't you help him?"

A dangerous look crossed Michael's face at Cas's words, and he seemed to loose some of his calm, collected attitude that he always held. Cas felt a little unnerved. "I tried."

"If you had tried then he would still be part of the family."

"Castiel, you were a child when all of that happened. You don't even understand the situation. I did what I had to do. For you, and our brothers, and this family."

Cas didn't know where this sudden sense of injustice regarding Lucifer's situation was coming from after all of these years, but it just made him so angry.

When he was a kid, Cas had looked up to Lucifer. Lucifer had taught him how to play the guitar, introduced him to music…he had even bought Cas his beloved Les Paul for Christmas years ago, not long before he had been kicked out.

"If you had tried you wouldn't have cut him out. All you care about is your fucking—"

"Castiel!"

"—Image! Do you even care about this family?"

Michael held himself high when he spoke, his words burning with anger that matched Castiel's. "This family is the most important thing in my life. If you understood all that I do—"

"No it's not! You don't care, and you never cared about Lucifer!"

Smack.

Cas had barely gotten the words out of his mouth before he felt a sharp sting against the side of his face.

Michael looked about as stunned as Cas felt, the anger on his face quickly melting in place of horror when he realized that he had just smacked his younger brother.

"Castiel, I-I didn't mean—" He tried, but Cas didn't even give his brother the option to finish his apology.

He stormed up the staircase and into his room in a few quick strides, slamming the door shut behind him, and for once, Michael didn't follow after.

The confrontation with Michael had done nothing to lessen Cas's foul attitude that seemed to have shrouded over him in light of the breakup. He had stayed in his room all night, skipping dinner, and Michael didn't pester him to come out.

At some time before he had gone to sleep his brother had knocked on his door, probably in an attempt to talk things out, but Cas had feigned sleep, even though it didn't come for another several hours.

Things only got worse the following day at school when Cas turned up in Mr. McLeod's office for gym, as usual, and had been issued a detention for later that afternoon because he hadn't dropped off the homework he had graded for his teacher before school.

"You just said it was for today!" he had argued, but unsurprisingly Mr. McLeod just assured Cas that he could complain all he wanted if he desired to spend the entire semester in detention.

He knew it was just because the man was trying to give Cas a hard time. He had been especially awful lately, nitpicking at the smallest things to get Cas in trouble, and had even made Cas join the rest of the class out on the track one morning.

So Cas was left to watch the fifty minutes of third period drag on at an agonizing rate, bubbling with fury at his teacher, his brother, Dean, and a little bit at himself, too. Well, perhaps he was more than a little angry with himself.

Seeing Dean and Benny playing basketball together out in the gymnasium didn't help either, and Cas felt a hot surge of jealousy mingle in with his anger.

That feeling only grew later when he sat alone during lunch, glowering over at the table that he had spent a glorious few weeks eating at: his old spot was now claimed by Benny.

It just wasn't fair that Dean had broken Cas's heart so easily, and was already moving on, making a new best friend.

And what if Benny was more than just a best friend? The thought made Cas sick. He firmly decided that he hated Benny, and that was that.

So it was with a very bad temper that Cas finally dragged himself back to McLeod's office after last period.

"This is completely unfair." Cas snapped as he slammed the office door behind him, determined to make his defiance known.

"Sorry, love." Mr. McLeod spoke from behind his desk, a gloating smirk on his lips. "You know I just can't bare to only see you during one class."

Cas dropped his backpack with a loud thump onto the floor and glared at his teacher.

"I have things I should be doing right now."

"Ah, well, it's a real shame you're stuck here for two hours, then."

Cas had been halfway through pulling a book from his bag when he froze, the object slipping from his fingers at McLeod's words.

"Two hours?" He yelled, the slightly subdued anger suddenly exploding inside of him again.

"Inside voice, angel. You heard me. Two hours."

"Detentions are only supposed to last for half an hour."

"Maybe for other teachers, but I don't think thirty minutes is quite enough time to reflect on your wrongdoings."

Cas wished he could smack that awful smile right off of McLeod's face.

"Wrongdoings." He repeated. "I didn't do anything wrong. You were unclear about what you wanted done."

"Perhaps you should listen a little better next time." He watched Cas with a calculating expression for a moment before going on. "I suppose I could be persuaded to lessen the punishment if you're willing to do some extra work."

"What else do you want me to do?" Cas snapped, frustrated. "Teach your class?"

McLeod laughed and it made Cas angrier.

"Come over here, sweetheart." He said, gesturing at the teen.

Cas pushed back his chair with more force than was really necessary and stormed behind the desk where his teacher sat.

He looked so vexingly smug about Cas's anger, and it really wasn't helping the situation at all.

"You need to let go of some of that aggression, angel. You might explode."

"Get to your point."

"How about you stop running your pretty mouth, and put it to better use. Then you can go."

McLeod turned in his chair so he was facing Cas, his legs open with an expectant expression on his face.

It took Cas a moment. Innuendo, as usual, always seemed to take a bit to work its way through Cas's mind, if it even managed to get that far. This time it did.

Cas's blank expression instantly dissolved into one of shock and disbelief as he gaped at his teacher, unsure of how he should even respond to an invitation like that.

"I-Is this supposed to be a flirtation!?" He stammered.

"Call it what you want, but I don't know how I can make this much clearer for you. Get on your knees, and wrap those pretty lips of yours around my cock. Then you can go."

A few months ago Cas had hardly even come to terms with his sexuality. He certainly wouldn't have even considered doing anything promiscuous, especially with his teacher, who was God-knew-how-old. It had taken him long enough just to feel comfortable enough to go down on Dean.

But it must have been some combination of his hurt and bitter feelings towards Dean, and his desire for rebellion from the altercation with Michael that caused Cas's normally unwavering moral standards on sex to wobble.

He really hated McLeod, but maybe there was something about that notion that made him shudder at the suggestion, and he found himself nodding in a slightly sheepish agreement with far less hesitation than he would have been willing to admit.

Cas didn't get much of a chance to think far beyond that before McLeod reached up to grab the teen by the collar of his shirt, practically dragging the teen into his lap.

A rough, scratchy kiss was forced onto Cas's lips. It didn't feel at all like kissing Dean did. The softness and warmth and what Cas had once thought was love were all missing, replaced with quick, sloppy aggression and a need for physicality and nothing more.

Cas wasn't sure how long he stayed like that, straddling the man's lap, his shaking hands gripping McLeod's shoulders as he tried so hard to ignore the growing feeling between his own legs. It didn't seem like very long, however, before McLeod finally got bored with the contact and shoved Cas off of him, clearly ready to get down to the intended business.

Cas fell to his knees, staring helplessly up at McLeod who rolled his eyes.

"Don't give me those eyes, kitten. You're not as innocent as you think, and I know it."

Cas dropped his gaze, and felt his cheeks grow hot with embarrassment when he really let it sink in what he was about to do. He couldn't believe he was agreeing to this. It was so sinful.

He pushed back the thoughts quickly though, deciding that the whole thing would go smoother if he just jumped right in, moral obligations aside.

But when Cas finally opened up the man's slacks he found himself feeling a bit nervous again.

McLeod certainly had a cock big enough to match his ego, and though Cas had gotten himself to nervously wrap his fingers around the base, he wasn't getting much further than that.

McLeod was clearly growing impatient with the teen. With an irritated noise, he finally reached a hand down to push through Cas's messy hair, fingers twisting around the strands. He gave a sharp tug, dragging Cas's head down so that McLeod could press the head of his cock against the boy's mouth, smearing precome over his lips.

"Suck." McLeod demanded with a low growl, and Cas couldn't argue that.

The teen opened his mouth willingly, taking the older man's thick cock into his mouth. He never would have considered Dean to be modest in size, but Cas had a little difficulty managing to stretch his lips around McLeod's cock.

"Well don't just sit there, Castiel. Didn't your boytoy teach you anything? Use your tongue."

Cas looked up at McLeod, feeling a bit humiliated at being in such a compromised position with his teacher, but he didn't ignore the demand. He focused back at the task on hand, pushing back the guilt that ate at him for enjoying this as much as he was.

Cas may not have had a lot of sexual experience in his time, but he was a quick learner, and his time with Dean had already taught him a thing or two about giving head, even if he still had a lot to learn.

The teen pulled his head back, sucking on the head of McLeod's cock for a moment, reminding himself with determination not to look up and meet the man's eyes as he so often did with Dean. He only stayed like that for a few short moments, swirling his tongue around the head before he dipped back down, once again trying with a slight struggle to take down as much of the older man as he could.

McLeod's hand remained on the back of Cas's head, still giving sharp tugs to his hair whenever he deemed necessary.

It was when Cas pulled back a second time to swipe his tongue over the slit, lapping up a small amount of precome, that McLeod changed his direction a bit.

He pushed Cas's head back down with more force than Cas had expected, forcing his dick deeper into the teen's mouth.

Cas's eyes watered and he felt his own cock twitch with unexpected excitement at the rough treatment, despite not being at all used to it.

McLeod held him like that for a few moments before he finally loosened his grip, letting Cas pull back to a more comfortable position again.

That didn't last long, and soon enough the teacher was holding Cas's head down again, drawing a muffled sound from the teen's lips that, judging by the accompanying groan that his teacher let out, had added some nice vibrations to the touch.

"That's right, angel," McLeod said breathlessly, beginning to rock into Cas's mouth. "Such a good whore…"

He gave a sharp snap of his hips, the head of his cock bumping against the back of Cas's throat, and it was taking everything in him not to choke.

He didn't get any warning when, after a few more thrusts and grunts from his teacher, McLeod was spilling into Cas's mouth, holding his head down with little thought as Cas tried desperately to gulp down the bitter taste.

It felt like ages before McLeod finally let him go, and the teen reeled back, gasping for much needed air. He heard the older man chuckle above him.

"Too much for you, pet?"

"No." Cas rasped, his voice rough as he scrambled to his feet. "May I go now?"

"Well, you can if you want, I suppose," McLeod stood up, his eyes trailing over Cas's body. "But I never said I wouldn't do you any favors."

"I don't want anything from you."

He laughed again, and Cas seethed.

"Nothing at all? Because I'm pretty sure your body is saying otherwise." The space between them was suddenly gone, and McLeod reached between Cas's legs, grabbing the teen's hard-on through his jeans.

Cas yelped and stumbled away, his cheeks flushing darker than they already had been. "D-don't touch me!"

McLeod laughed again. "After all that, sweetheart?"

Cas fumbled to pick up his school bag, slinging over his shoulder. He didn't give McLeod another look before he tore out of the office as quickly as he could manage.

It was that same night after dinner, when Cas was in his bedroom trying to focus on homework, which was proving to be very difficult. He couldn't get McLeod's voice out of his head, and every time he thought of what had happened he felt a sickening mix of guilt and arousal welling up inside of him.

He couldn't believe he had agreed to what he had done, but what really got him was the fact that he really hade enjoyed it.

Cas was lost in his troubled thoughts when Michael, who had barely spoken to him since their argument the previous day, showed up.

"Castiel, do you have a moment?" He asked, leaning in the doorway. He hadn't bothered to knock.

Cas wasn't feeing quite so warm towards Michael yet, but he gave his brother a begrudging nod and sat up, staring expectantly at the man.

Michael frowned, clearly sensing that Cas was not very happy with him, but he closed the door and sat next to Cas on his bed.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. And please don't look at me like that, Castiel, I'm being honest with you. I overreacted, and I never should have hit you like that."

Cas was considering replying with some snide comment, but the sincere expression on Michael's face made those words die in his throat. It wasn't very often that his brother admitted to doing something wrong.

"I just don't think it's right that we don't talk—" He started instead, but Michael cut him off.

"I am not finished. It was wrong of me to overreact the way I did, but you need to understand why. You were out of line, Castiel."

The small puddle of forgiveness that Cas had begun to feel immediately dried up, and his face showed it.

"Do not roll your eyes at me. You were eleven when Lucifer left, and you don't even know half of what went on during all of that. Do you know how many times I tried to get Lucifer into rehab? He promised me constantly that he was going to quit using, and he lied. He lied every time and I," Michael paused, and Cas stared curiously at him. Michael had always been more parental than brotherly for as long as Cas remembered, and he always sort of saw him that way. He was the one who was always calm under pressure, and knew what to do in bad situations. He got a little hot-tempered sometimes, but mostly he was very put together. There were very few times that Cas could remember seeing Michael as upset as he looked in that moment.

"I really did try, Castiel." He continued. "And it wasn't just the drugs. You have to understand what he was like…Always disappearing at night, and he...he slept with the girls I liked, and laughed about it later. He was terrible. And even then I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it until it started to affect you, Samandriel and Gabriel. You remember that, don't you, Castiel?"

Cas frowned, his eyes still on his brother's face. "Yes." He said a bit glumly. "I remember." He remembered sitting down to practice guitar with his eldest brother, but when he walked into his room Lucifer had been trying to give himself a shot—or that was what Cas thought at the time, at least. His hands had been shaking too badly to do it himself, and he had asked Castiel to help. He told Cas that he was sick, and it was some sort of medication. That had all been a lie, of course. He had been shooting up heroin for a while by that point, and Cas had completely panicked when Lucifer became all but unresponsive only moments after. He thought he had killed his brother.

And that was even aside from the time his brother almost had died. It had been in the middle of the night, Samandriel had wanted a drink of water but was too frightened to go downstairs himself. So Cas had walked his little brother down to the kitchen, but it turned out that they weren't the only two awake at the time. Lucifer had been sitting on the couch in the living room, and was just pulling the then empty needle from his arm.

They had both been too young to really understand the situation at first, but when Lucifer had collapsed only moments later, and seemed to be unable to breathe, they had panicked and gotten Michael.

He called 911. And ambulance came and took Lucifer away. He was stabilized, and came home. A week later he was gone, and Cas hadn't seen him since.

And then there was the car accident…but Cas didn't like to think about that one. Nobody liked to think about that. Gabriel in particular.

"But I don't think kicking Lucifer out was the correct solution to a drug overdose. How do you even know he's still alive?"

"First of all, Castiel, it wasn't just my decision. Dad put his foot down. He told me it was time to do it, but I agreed. And second of all, do you really think that I don't know where he lives?"

"…What?"

"I know you think that I couldn't care less about Lucifer, but you're wrong. He's my brother, and I still love him. Mom and Dad have helped me keep tabs on him since he moved out."

"Since you kicked him out."

Michael gave Cas a dark look, but didn't say anything. "The point is, he's moved around a lot, and I don't know much about what he has going on—if he's clean, or not, but I know that he's alive."

"So go talk to him!"

Michael looked at Cas like he was out of his mind. "Castiel, don't act like you honestly think that that is going to happen."

Cas glowered at Michael, hating how stubborn he could be.

"…I'll let you get back to your homework." Michael finally said, getting to his feet. "I just wanted to let you know that I really am sorry for yesterday."

Cas looked at Michael and nodded. "…It's all right." He said quietly, and watched as his brother walked away.

Michael had no idea what Cas would do with the information he had received. If he had, Cas knew Michael never would have told him any of it.

But as it was, Cas was driving slowly down a rural street in town, trying to find the address that matched the one he had scribbled down on a scrap of paper.

Michael was very organized, so it had been easy to sneak into the office in their house while he was at work and find where he had Lucifer's address copied down. Cas couldn't believe that Lucifer was still living in town. All that time and his oldest brother had only been 15 minutes away…

It wasn't a bad neighborhood, either, like Cas had sort of been expecting. He crept along the street slowly until he finally found the right address. The lawn was a little untended, but other than that it didn't look too bad. He felt dip in his stomach when he saw Lucifer's Buick parked in the driveway. The back was still covered in bumper stickers like Cas remembered, and fuzzy dice hung from the rear view mirror. Cas recalled Lucifer refusing to drive the car their parents had wanted to buy for him; he said it was too ritzy, and wanted to save up for one of his own. Michael had always hated it, saying that it was dangerous and it would backfire someday while Lucifer was driving. Apparently that hadn't happened yet.

Cas lingered there for a moment, lost in the memories before he regained himself and headed up to the front door. He could hear muffled music playing inside.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was going to do. Six years. People could change a lot in six years. That was scary to think about. His brother could be anyone by now.

Castiel knocked, and waited.

Nobody answered.

He knocked twice more, and rang the doorbell. Still nothing.

Cas looked around. The curtains were drawn on all the windows, but it definitely seemed as though someone was home. He cast one more glance down both ends of the street. Nobody was there. He stared at the door and hesitated before trying the knob. It was unlocked, so Cas walked in.

The music boomed much louder when Cas was inside. There were old shoes stacked haphazardly by the door, and it looked like the doorway hadn't been swept in…ever, really.

The whole place had sort of a strange smell that Cas couldn't place, but he walked in anyway, following the sound of the music.

It only took him a moment to recognize the voice singing and realize that it wasn't music playing from a stereo; Lucifer was singing, and probably playing his guitar, too.

"Never speak a word again, I will crawl away for good. I will move away from here, you won't be afraid of fear. "

Cas didn't know the song, but he followed the noise through to what appeared to be Lucifer's living room. It was a bit messy, with a few plates and food wrappers sitting on the coffee table. Most of the furniture looked old, but the television was a new looking big screen which had a Playstation 2 and an Xbox hooked up to it.

And there was Lucifer, standing in the middle of the living room, dressed like he was still living in '96 with torn up jeans, and a very old looking Grateful Dead t-shirt. He didn't even notice Castiel standing there; he was too busy strumming at his guitar. It was the same one he had used when he taught Cas how to play years ago.

"No thought was put into this, always knew it would come to this," he sang to an invisible audience.

"Uh…Lucifer?" Cas tried, but the amp was turned up too loud.

"Things have never been so well, I have never felt this well."

"Lucifer! Hello!"

"Paaaaaaaaaiiiiiiin! Paaaaaaaiiiiin!"

"Lucifer!"

"Paaaaaaaiiiiin! Paaaaiiii—"

"Lucifer!" Cas finally managed to bellow his brother's name loud enough for him to hear.

His pick screeched against the strings and the sound of jumbled notes lingered for a moment before the sound faded out. His blue eyes were wide and staring at Cas like he wasn't sure what to make of him.

Cas suddenly felt a bit sheepish under his brother's stunned gaze, and he shrunk in on himself a little. "Hello, Lucifer. It's—"

"Castiel." His brother said, sounding amazed. It made Cas a little uncomfortable.

"Yes. Yes, it's Castiel."

They stared at each other. What were you supposed to say to someone you hadn't spoken to in 6 years?

"Does Michael know you're here?" It didn't really surprise Cas that that was Lucifer's first question, oddly enough.

Cas shook his head. "He'd kill me if he knew."

Lucifer smirked. "I knew you'd take after me."

Cas wasn't sure how he felt about that, but he didn't say anything.

"Uh…you want something to drink? I've got…I don't know. I think I've got some Capri Suns in the fridge."

Cas stared maybe for a little longer than he should have before he nodded, only because he wasn't sure what else to do.

Lucifer turned to walk into the kitchen, but his guitar was still strapped over his shoulder and hooked to the amp. He stumbled a little when it caught, stopped, looked down at his guitar for a few long seconds before he finally decided to unplug it, rather than just taking the guitar off. He disappeared into the kitchen with Cas staring after him.

He'd barely been there five minutes and Cas barely knew what to make of Lucifer. Maybe he just seemed strange because it had been so long.

Cas took a seat on the couch just as Lucifer came back out with the Capri Suns.

"So," Lucifer flopped down next to him, handing Cas his drink. Cas waited for him to go on, but Lucifer had busied himself with trying to get the straw into the pouch. He ended up puncturing the back of the packaging, and stared at it a little distressed. "I hate it when that happens…" Lucifer stared at the drink for a moment longer before he seemed to realize that Cas was still there, and looked up again. "Are you still in school?"

Cas nodded. "I'm graduating in the spring."

"Holy shit. Baby brother's all grown up."

"Er…I suppose…"

"So, what made you decide to come find me? Especially behind Michael's back." Lucifer pulled the straw out of the Capri Sun package and immediately closed his mouth over the extra hole he had created, sucking the juice out so it wouldn't spill.

"Uh…a lot of reasons, I suppose. I've missed you. I don't think it's right that nobody talks about you."

"Nobody talks about me?"

"Not really…Michael doesn't like talking about you."

Lucifer scoffed. "Figures."

"And I suppose I just wanted someone to talk to."

"What about?"

Cas hesitated. He knew Lucifer didn't talk to the rest of the family, and if anyone was going to understand, it was him, but it was still difficult to talk about his sexuality to anyone.

"…Have you ever been with a man before?" Cas blurted suddenly.

"Well yeah, loads of times." Lucifer didn't even seem surprised by Cas's question, as though he had merely asked about the weather.

Cas, however, wasn't expecting that response. "You—you have?" He stammered, his eyes wide. He couldn't believe it. Lucifer had actually been with men before? And he seemed so casual about it. It seemed so ridiculous to say something like that with such carelessness.

"Yeah, I mean, I guess I don't really care who I sleep with."

"Oh."

"I know where this is going. You can just say it, I'm the only one here. I don't give a shit whose dick you're sucking." He gave a small smile and slouched down a little. "Man, I knew if anyone was gonna be gay in this family, it'd be you. Does Michael know?"

Cas raised his eyebrows and Lucifer laughed.

"Yeah, you'd be asking to bunk up here if he did, wouldn't you? That's not why you're here, is it?"

"You think Michael would kick me out?"

"Probably. He's all high and mighty, Jesus freak, you know…"

"People call me a Jesus freak in school."

"Yeah, they called Michael that, too. He's got such a thick head though, never mattered much to him. Most of the time."

"My boyfriend broke up with me."

"That's rough." Lucifer studied Cas's face "That what you wanna talk about?"

And despite the rocky start, Lucifer turned out to be pretty great company. Cas told him about everything, starting with how he and Dean had begun talking, all the way up through what he had done with Mr. McLeod a few days ago at school. It felt good to get it all out to someone, even if Lucifer did seem a bit spacy from time to time.

But he listened, and he understood. He didn't look down on Cas for anything he had done. He actually seemed to think it was a bit funny that he had gone down on McLeod. He told Cas that he'd slept with teachers before, too, and instead of worrying so much about everything, he should just do what made him feel good. Cas wasn't sure how sound this advice was coming from an (ex?) junkie, but he was grateful for it all the same.

"I dunno, Cas, Dean sounds sorta flaky to me. I think he just broke up with you because he's…you know, insecure or something. Not because you give bad blow jobs. I'm sure you give great blow jobs. I think that runs in the family. Probably."

"Oh…um..." Cas was spared answering Lucifer's statement by the sound of his doorbell ringing.

"Oh." Lucifer stared at the door. "There's someone here." He got up and slowly walked to the front door, where Cas heard a familiar voice greet him.

"Hey, Lu, how's it goin'?"

"Hi, Benny. Oh, are you…" But Lucifer's voice dropped quieter, and Cas couldn't hear what he was saying.

Cas felt his heart racing and anger that hadn't been there a moment before rose in his chest. Benny knew his brother?

He leaped off of the couch and hurried over to the door where and Benny were, wishing to know what was going on.

"Thanks, Lu, you got good shit, so—Oh." Benny stopped talking when he saw Cas. "Hey, Cas. What're you doin' here?" He tried to give Cas a smile, but it wasn't working very well.

"This is my brother." Cas replied stiffly.

"No shit?" Benny said, looking genuinely surprised. "You an' Lu are brothers? I never would have guessed."

"Benny lives next door." Lucifer explained to Cas before turning back to the other teenager.

Benny pulled a few bills from his pocket and handed it to Lucifer, who traded him what looked like a dimebag full of—

"Is that weed?" Cas asked, squinting at the stuff.

"Cas, you ain't gonna say nothin', are you?" Benny said, looking a little uncomfortable.

Cas's immediate thought was to go to the police and get Benny into as much trouble as he could. But if Benny had gotten it from Lucifer, Cas couldn't very well do much without possibly getting his brother into trouble, too.

"No." He replied begrudgingly, looking away. So Benny was a boyfriend thief, and a pothead?

"Well…I got company, so I'll talk to you later, Lu."

"Yeah, stop by anytime." Lucifer said with a smile. "You're always welcome to chill here."

Benny gave Lucifer a short wave and left.

As soon as the door was shut, Cas spoke.

"You sell drugs? To teenagers?"

"It's just weed, Cas. And I don't just sell to teenagers."

"But that's…that's illegal."

"You sound like Michael." Lucifer sighed, heading back to the living room.

Cas frowned and followed him, but he didn't sit down this time. "…I'd better head home." He mumbled, staring at his brother who looked a little upset by the news.

"Oh…well…you should come by again. It was nice seeing you."

Despite his distaste for Lucifer's apparent side job, Cas really had enjoyed talking with him. He gave his brother a smile and nodded. "I will, I promise. I'm glad now that I came by." He said sincerely.

They hugged then, and it was a little weird, but not terrible. Cas really had missed his brother.

All in all it had been a good visit, and Cas was feeling in a slightly better mood than he had been for a while.

It had helped to get everything out, even though he had talked things out with Meg, as well. Someone in his family knew, and didn't hate him, and that meant a lot.

For a moment he thought perhaps the rest of the night would go well. Maybe he'd go home, and stay distracted, read a book—that was, until, he stepped outside and happened to glance at the house that Benny apparently lived at.

Everything came crashing back down on him so suddenly that he felt a little dizzy with grief at first. Cas couldn't look away from the black, '67 Impala parked in the driveway next door.