So I had to edit a few things from the last chapter cause I totally forgot that this is meant to be in like, 1988.

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Gabriel cursed when he realized that he could see the posters on his wall. He'd stayed up all night again, and would now have to take a math test on three days running of no sleep. It was 6:17 am, according to the watch that he kept on his dresser. Gabriel briefly wondered if he could sleep for the next 30 minutes and then decided it wasn't worth it.

"Gabe I know you're awake! I'm making pancakes!" He heard Samandriel call through the door. Gabriel literally rolled out of bed, leaving the covers pulled half off and padded over to the door.

"Blueberry or chocolate chip?" He asked suspiciously as he cracked the door open and inch.

"Both." Samandriel replied with a knowing grin. Gabriel flung open the door and hugged his younger brother tightly.

"Alfie you have finally learned! I'm so proud!" Gabriel sniffed dramatically and wiped a fake tear away. Samandriel laughed and extracted himself from the hug.

"Get Cas and Luce please." The youngest Novak requested as he went downstairs again. Gabriel walked down the hall to Lucifer's room and rapped on it sharply.

"Wakey wakey devilany!" He sang and the door creaked open, revealing a single hand with the middle finger stick up.

"Alfie made pancakes!" Gabriel said lightly and skipped away, hearing the door fully open and Lucifer emerge from the hellhole that was his room. He danced down the stairs to the landing, where a door lead off to Castiel's room.

Gabriel carefully opened the door, poking his head inside. The walls were covered in splatters of paint and murals, and canvases were propped against all surfaces. Various art utensils lay scattered across the room and clothes lay in a heap in the corner. Castiel was eagle-spread on the small mattress against the far wall, fast asleep. Gabriel carefully picked his way through the maze of canvases and clothes to Castiel's bed, kneeling beside him to shake him awake.

"Wa-waz goin' on?" Castiel mumbled, blinking blearily at Gabriel.

"Alf made us pancakes. It's the start of school again, you're going to be a junior."

The ages of the Novak children were a little clumped. There was Samandriel at age 13, then Gabriel at 15 followed by Castiel at 17, Lucifer at 17, Balthazar at 19, and then Anna and Raphael at  22 and 24 consecutively. Due to a very long labor and a fucked up school system, Castiel and Lucifer were in different grades despite being fraternal twins. Castiel was born on November 2nd while Lucifer was born two days before that, on October 31st.

"I'll be down in a minute." Gabriel was shaken from his thoughts by Castiel sitting up and creating a crinkling noise.

"Cas is the plastic wrap still on the mattress from when we bought it three years ago?" Gabriel asked with a wide eyed expression.

"Maybe...now get out." Cas said while making shooing motions. Gabriel rolled his eyes and left the room, heading down the rest of the stairs to get breakfast.

~

Dean woke up to a throbbing eye and sunlight in his face. He groaned and rolled over, flinging an arm over his face to block the harsh light. A harsh beeping was going off and Dean fumbled blindly for his alarm clock, hitting the button repeatedly until it stopped.

It's too early to be awake, Dean thought as he sat up and yawned. It's only 7:30 am.

"Dean?" He heard Sam call quietly through the door. "Are you up?"

Sam was speaking this morning, that was good. Most mornings were silent for him, still half-trapped in his nightmares. Dean had done everything he could to protect Sam from their father, but there were times when he wasn't around and John had his way with the youngest Winchester. Far too many times...

"Yea I am! Get your stuff, we're leaving in 10 minutes!" Dean threw back the covers and ran around the room, pulling on what he hoped to be clean clothes.

With a last glance around his room to make sure he had everything, Dean opened the door and walked down the hall. Sam was in the living room, watching The Wonder Years on their 12" color TV.

"What's the latest?" Dean asked while grabbing a granola bar from the cluttered coffee table. "Did Winnie and Kevin get together?"

"No not yet," Sam said and Dean groaned in annoyance.

"They make a perfect couple!" He argued and Sam nodded in agreement. The episode ended just then and Dean grabbed his bag.

"Come on, school's awaiting us."

They left the house and got into Dean's '67 Impala, Dean humming the Wonder Years theme song the whole way to school.

"What would you do if I sang out tune?" Dean sang as they pulled up in the school lot.

"I would get you singing lessons." Sam replied as Dean parked the car. Dean laughed and ruffled Sam's hair.

"I know you would."

They left the car and started towards the high school building, avoiding the clumps of teenagers in the parking lot. Dean let a neutral expression settle over his face as they entered the grounds.

"I'll see you later, be careful and stay out of trouble." Dean said to Sam before walking along the path to the junior lockers. He hated letting Sam out of his sight but there wasn't much he could do about it, other than giving him a switchblade and some advice on how to stay out of trouble.

~

Castiel was silent in the car ride to school. This morning had been slightly hectic, between Lucifer forgetting where his textbooks were and Gabriel having to change outfits after his first choice was deemed "too San Francisco club at 3 am." They had finally gotten out the door only to find a flat tire on Lucifer's car. To sum it all up, mornings sucked.

A sigh escaped Castiel as he watched the scenery go by. Trees turned into houses as they drove the long, winding road to get to school. It was quite annoying really, the way they lived on the edge of town, separate from the rest of the "poor citizens." All that stupid money, being earned faster than it could be spent. Sure, it kept them well off but it also kept their parents way from home almost all the time.

"What'cha thinking about Cassie?" Gabriel asked, leaning forward over Cas's shoulder. Not wanting to tell his brother his true thoughts, Castiel said the first thing to come to mind.

"I'm thinking about my next painting. I'm thinking of doing Luce with shades of red like his name."

Ah yes. The other thing that separated Castiel from other kids. The doctor calls it synesthesia. Apparently the wires in his brain were crossed, meaning that his senses were all mixed up. They weren't sure why it happened to Castiel and not to Lucifer, considering that it was genetic and they were twins. Albeit they were fraternal so they didn't have an identical genetic code but it still was a puzzle to doctors.

"Cool," Gabriel replied and sat back. Castiel looked out the window again as the school building came into view.

"Now remember, Luci you've got sports practice after school until 7pm. Cas I'm picking you up here at 3:20 and then we'll head over to the middle school to pick up Alf. You two got that?"

The two boys nodded and Lucifer parked the car. Gabriel didn't have his own car yet and everyone had decided that Cas was too reckless of a driver. They left the car and started through the gate to the main building.

"I have to see the principal. See you in the afternoon." Cas said and walked up the concrete steps. He entered the building and the secretary looked at him.

"This was Mr. Novak." she said and lead him to a small office. Castiel entered the room where the principal sat at a large wooden desk.

"Mr. Singer? You wanted to see me?" Castiel asked politely and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"You won an art competition. That piece you submitted in June? It won. You get a $50 check and this weird keychain thing." Mr. Singer told Castiel.

"That's amazing! Thank you!" Castiel's face lit up with joy. Mr. Singer smiled at him and gave him a form.

"Just sign here and here."

Moments later, Castiel left the building with a smile on his face and a spring in his step. He half skipped down the path to the junior lockers, nearly knocking into a sandy haired boy and tripping over a rock.

"Hey there freak."

Castiel's steps faltered and he turned around. Crowley and his friends were leaning against a tree and passing a cigarette back and forth.

"What are you so happy about? Mummy and Daddy finally get you into electroshock therapy?" Crowley sneered as he stopped closer, the red glow of the cigarette glowing dimly in the light.

"Or maybe the electricity didn't work and it needs to be beaten out!" Crowley spat and his fist sank into Castiel's stomach. Purple and red pressure exploded in his abdomen and Cas doubled over in pain, yellow seeping into his brain. A sharp blow to the head had him on his knees and his vision tinted with sparks of red as Crowley dropped the cigarettes on the back of his neck.

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

Cas looked up and saw the sandy haired boy walking angrily over. He tried to open his mouth to tell the boy not to come but couldn't speak through the waves of color and pain in his body. His eyes fluttered shut and he wrapped his arms around his abdomen, instinctively protecting himself.

~

Gabriel was one of the only people by the sophomore lockers as most people were still doing the whole "end-of-summer find the friends and scream" thing. The only other people nearby were a girl with a pile of textbooks and a guy with a camera. Gabriel elected to bother the camera guy.

"Hi there!" He said as he strolled up the guy fiddling with the camera buttons. Camera Guy looked up with a startled expression on his face and stared at Gabriel.

"Uh hi?" He whispered quiet enough that Gabriel had to strain his ears to hear.

"Wow you're quiet, aren't you?" Gabriel joked and the boy shifted nervously, looking more and more like a deer caught in the headlights. He eventually shrugged a little and Gabriel smiled, glad to habe gotten a response.

"I'm Gabriel and you are?" Gabriel asked while holding out his hand.

"Sam." The boy whispered and lightly shook his hand. Gabe smiled wider at the boy and pulled out a sucker. He unwrapped in and popped it in his mouth, watching as the other boy changed the roll of film.

Sam had wavy brown hair and wide eyes that seemed to be a multitude of colors. There was brown and green with hints of blue and what seemed to be white. His lower lip was caught between his teeth in concentration and he was just a little taller than Gabriel.

"What year is that camera?" Gabriel asked after a few minutes of watching Sam change the film and settings.

"Canon '84." Sam replied softly as he fiddled with the lens.

"Gabe!!!"

Gabriel turned around to see his friends waving at him from across the quad. Well, technically they were his friends but honestly they were kinda jerks.

"One moment!" He shouted back, not seeing Sam's slight flinch at his raised voice. "Sorry, I gotta go. See ya around Samwich!!"

Gabriel waved at the shy boy as he ran off to join his friends, again not seeing the small smile that danced it's way onto Sam's face.

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I did have a different ending but I forgot it and this wrote itself instead...whoops!