Chapter Text
“Cassie is a chubby twelve year old. It’s Cas.”
Gabriel scoffed. “Sorry. I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am!” he called from the kitchen.
Castiel sighed with frustration. He was glad his brother was back. He truly was. But he did not anticipate a day when the older man didn’t make him crazy. “When are you getting your own place?”
“Ooh, chocolate!”
He cringed. “That’s my dark chocolate to add to my smoothie mix for tomorrow.” He wasn’t sure why he was bothering. If Gabriel had found the one sweet indulgence in his kitchen, it was already a lost cause.
Just as he suspected, Gabriel had his chocolate bar hanging from his mouth when he returned to the living room. “Too dark,” he said. “What is this? Seventy percent?”
“If you don’t like it, you could stop stealing it. It’s the only-“
Gabriel spoke over him. “It’s the only real food you’ve got in the place!”
He heaved another sigh. “It’s the only candy, Gabe. There’s plenty of real food. Just not sweet stuff. Some of us don’t have the metabolism of a hummingbird.”
“What’s this about me getting my own place? I just got back to town! Why wouldn’t I want to hang out here for a while? Aside from the lack of food, I mean.”
Castiel shrugged. “Gabe, you know you’re welcome to stay as long as you like. I’ve missed you. It’s been…” Lonely. But he couldn’t push those syllables out of his mouth, so he changed them. “It’s been quiet without you here.” Then he frowned. “Gabe? You’re here because you want to be, right? Not because you don’t have anyplace else to go. You haven’t somehow managed to spend all your-“
Gabriel waved this away carelessly. “I’m fine. I had my fun. But I’m not a moron. I have plenty invested, and I’ve got plenty in savings. Dad set us up, and I’m not going to blow through what he gave us in under a year.”
“Nearly broke, then?” Castiel teased with a small smile.
His brother laughed. “You’re still a little shit, Cassie. No, I’m good. Just need a place to land and catch my breath before I fly off again. I’m thinking Norway this time.”
“Norway? Why Norway?”
“Fjords,” he said through his mouthful of chocolate. “I liked Frozen.”
Gabriel hadn’t changed since Castiel was born. He was impulsive, snarky and moody as always, but also full of fun and light. Their father’s money had not changed either of them, not in any ways that mattered. Gabriel was still the larger-than-life, charismatic creature he had always been.
And Castiel hadn’t changed much either, though he had tried. He was still the awkward, serious child standing a step behind his golden, grinning brother. The only difference now was that he was taller, instead of just larger, than Gabriel.
Castiel sighed. He seemed to do that a lot when in the presence of Gabriel.
The older man dropped onto Castiel’s couch, and lifted his feet to rest on the coffee table. Castiel didn’t like that much, but saying so would just get him teased. “What about you, Cassie? Got any plans finally?”
“Plans?” He lifted a dark brow. “You mean to spend money.”
Gabriel looked exasperated. “No! Not to spend money!”
Castiel tipped his head and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Then…”
“To blow loads of money!”
He snickered. “Ah. Uh, no. No plans.”
“None? You’ve got nothing in your little brain that’s-“
“Gabe, I’m not interested in tearing through Dad’s money. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. But I have everything I need. And I’m not changing anything about my life just because I’m more financially comfortable.”
“Dude. The only thing Dad did for us his whole life was make money. Correction: He made the money for himself. The thing he did for us was die without spending it all.”
Castiel frowned down at his hands. “It isn’t right to talk like that. You’re not glad he’s dead.”
His lowered gaze kept him from seeing the flash of pain in his brother’s whiskey brown eyes, and it was gone in an instant. “No. Of course I’m not glad. But he’s dead, Cassie. And the only thing that changed for us when he died is we inherited a bunch of money we didn’t know he had, money he didn’t want going to any of his wives.”
“He took care of them too,” he answered quietly.
“Yeah. But the point is, he set us up. I don’t care why. And I’m not going to pretend he was dad of the year any year of our lives, just because he did. I’m taking his bundle of stash as back-pay for every day he didn’t spend with us growing up.”
“It still isn’t right to be disrespectful, just because he wasn’t around much.”
Gabriel scoffed. “Much? Dude, you never had an entire conversation with the man!”
He looked up again finally. “But you did.”
A bitterness crept into Gabriel’s voice. “Yeah. You weren’t missing much. Look, kiddo. I’m just saying that not spending his money isn’t going to bring him back. And even if it could? He’d walk right out the door again. It’s what he did. He was never around. And I loved him. You know I did. But the only time he ever thought about you or me was when he chose to leave us a bunch of cash to spite his ex-wives.”
Castiel swallowed hard. “You really think that’s why he did it?”
“I think his sense of humor was a little twisted, yeah. Point is, Cassie, there’s zero reason not to enjoy your sudden windfall. If the money makes you uncomfortable, go to Vegas. It’ll disappear as quick as the man who earned it did.”
It was a hard truth, but Castiel knew it was the truth. Carver Edlund had never shown any interest in either of his sons, not for as long as Castiel could remember. Gabriel had worshipped the man; they both had. But Gabriel he disapproved of, and Castiel he ignored. No matter what he did to earn the man’s attention, years at a time went by without contact. Then they had gotten the call from the law firm, and they were suddenly millions richer and a father poorer, and Gabriel was right that not much had changed in Castiel’s life because of it. He had never had a father. Not having one now was painful, but not all that different from his entire life up to that point.
Gabriel took another bite of his chocolate and waited.
“There’s…” Castiel cleared his throat. “There’s, um, a conference. A tech conference that I’d like to...It’s always been a little too expensive to justify, but-but I guess…”
His brother clapped him on the back. “There you go! Just the boring kind of splurge I’d expect from my boring little brother. Where is it? And when?”
He licked his lips thoughtfully. “It’s not far, actually.”
“Even better! And by better, of course, you know I mean even more boring. When?”
His face was flushing red. “Uh, it’s in just a few weeks. It’s a big deal. It’s a tech conference, with workshops, and a showcase of new tech, and-and it includes concept car tech, and-“
Gabriel let his eyes widen. “Concept cars? My dorky, boring kid brother wants to go to a concept car show?”
He never should have brought this up. “Yeah. I mean, and the rest of it too. It’s going to have engineers and folks from every major tech firm, all the best innovators in the world come to this thing. But it’s expensive, and I could never really justify-“
And that was the end of the conversation. Gabriel had tickets, hotel suites and flights booked before Castiel could reconsider. Every time Castiel turned around, Gabriel was telling him about another thing he had added on to the trip. Rental cars were just the beginning, it seemed. Castiel was nearly dizzy by the time the day came to depart on his adventure.
“Go on. Make big brother proud!” Gabriel was teasing. “Spend some cash. Do not just drink those awful green smoothies every day. Promise me!”
His face was burning with embarrassment. It felt like everyone in the entire airport could hear them. “They’re part of my nutrition plan,” he grumbled.
Gabriel waved this away. “Whatever. Promise me you’ll at least go out to a local steakhouse or something while you’re there? Something?”
If only to move this along, Castiel nodded. “Okay. Yeah, I promise. I’ll eat at a local place.”
“That’s something.” Gabriel sighed. “Have fun, okay? Don’t just do the nerd stuff. Do some fun things too.”
“I will. I need to go, Gabe. I’ll miss my boarding.”
Gabriel pretended to wipe away a tear. “My Cassie, off on a nerdy field trip without a chaperone. I’m so proud!”
“It’s Cas,” the young man growled, then he turned and walked through the security, where Gabriel couldn’t follow.
He was already regretting this entire thing.