That Destiel/Sabriel High School Fanfic. No, the Other One.

Chapter 27

A/N Half these things Luci says in the beginning he's said in the show and I can't help but hear him say them. Also, double chapter! I didn't mean for it to be this long but it is.
"Hey, kid, let's talk," Lucifer says randomly that day as the family is lounging around the living room in silence, playing on various electronic devices.
Castiel looks up from his phone, taking a break from texting Dean to see who Lucifer is talking to. Surprisingly, he's looking at Castiel. Castiel feels his pulse quicken, wondering what Lucifer wants with him. Lucifer gets up and gestures for Castiel to follow him. He hesitates a moment, then allows Lucifer to lead him into his bedroom in silence. When Lucifer shuts the door behind him, Castiel begins to panic. What's he doing?
"So, let's chat," Lucifer says, leaning against the desk that's never been used for educational purposes.
Castiel waits silently for him to continue.
"It's hard to chat if the person you're chatting with isn't talking," Lucifer observes. "Come on, Castiel, talk to me!"
Castiel can't contain his surprise at that. "'Castiel?'" he repeats.
Lucifer nods slowly. "Yeah, that's your name, isn't it?"
Castiel nods, but he doesn't push it. He can't help but wonder what made Lucifet decide to call him by his actual name. It's such a small thing, yet it's something his mind is stuck on.
"Come on, talk to me!" Lucifer insists.
"Why?" Castiel asks cautiously.
"Why? Because I'm your brother, jackass."
Castiel nervously takes a small step back.
"Aw, come on, Castiel!" Lucifer whines. "I want to talk!"
"Why now?" Castiel rephrases his earlier question.
"Would it be better if I asked you tomorrow?" Lucifer asks teasingly.
"No, I mean..." Castiel trails off, deciding it isn't worth explaining.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Lucifer tells him. "I was just messing with you. You want to know why I wanted to talk to you now, even though I never do, right?"
Castiel nods silently.
"Let me ask you a better question. Why did you decide to talk to me yesterday, even though you never do?" Lucifer counters.
Castiel's frown deepens when he brings that up. So he isn't just here to have a nice, civilized conversation. Lucifer is mad about that. Castiel knew this time was coming, and he was surprised at how long Lucifer waited to mention it.
"No, really," Lucifer says. "Why? I want to know."
Castiel just shrugs.
"I asked you a question," Lucifer says in a low, threatening tone. This is the Lucifer Castiel is more accustomed too. It's actually comforting, in a strange way, that Lucifer is back to normal.
Not wanting to upset him by not answering, Castiel says the first thing that comes to mind, without thinking about what it is until he says it.
"Because you were picking on Dean, and he doesn't deserve that."
Lucifer raises an eyebrow at that. "First of all, yes, he does deserve it," Lucifer says. "But why would he deserve it any less than you?" He sounds genuinely interested, like he's finally trying to figure out Castiel after all these years.
"No reason, never mind," Castiel mutters, not feeling like explaining it. Lucifer wouldn't believe it, anyway. Sure, Castiel hasn't done anything wrong to deserve his brother's torment, but neither has Dean. If anything, Dean did tell opposite. He tried to stick up for Castiel, which he thought was the right thing to do. He doesn't deserve any grief for that.
"Come on, Castiel," Lucifer prompts him.
"Why do you care?" Castiel asks.
Lucifer shrugs. "Well, your silent little brother finally says something, it raises a few questions, ya know?"
Castiel doesn't know how to answer, so he doesn't say anything.
"Clearly, that didn't last very long," Lucifer adds. "Why won't you talk to me anymore? You talk to Dean." He adds the last part accusingly.
Castiel isn't sure how to respond to that. What answer could he possibly give to please Lucifer? He hates Dean, so Castiel can't tell him that Dean is easier to talk to. Besides, Castiel values his life too much to say anything bad about his brother.
"You know, Castiel," Lucifer says when it becomes clear he isn't getting an answer, "I used to think I could get you to talk. Like, start an actual conversation with you. Just once, you know? But no matter what I did, you would never talk to me. Imagine my surprise when I find out that after one single day, you're already best buddies with no other than Dean Winchester? So tell me, honestly. What did he do that I didn't?"
Castiel shrugs. He doesn't know exactly what Dean did different. He just knows that it worked.
"Really, Castiel. I want to know what he did that I never could."
Knowing that Lucifer won't stop until he answers, Castiel finally does.
"Well, he was quieter about it. I'm sure you've figure out by now that I hate attention, so that was nice. He was friendly, so there's that. He was persistent, and responded to everything I said, no matter how dismissive I was. It was annoying as hell, but it worked. See, sort of like what you're doing right now, actually. You've never done this. You've never decided to get me alone and just talk like a civilized human being. That's what you were missing."
Lucifer looks surprised by his miniature speech. "Wow, that's the most you've ever said to me at once," he observes with an amused smile. Even with his grin, Castiel can see a trace of sorrow on his face. It's almost as if he really does want Castiel to talk to him; like he wishes he did things differently.
"It probably is," Castiel agrees. "Why do you care that I don't talk to you, anyway? You've got basically everyone else to talk to. Even at home, you've got Michael, Gabriel, Balthazar, Anna, and Samandriel. Why do you care about me?"
Unlike his snappy answer the first time Castiel asked this question much earlier in the conversation, he responds in a softer, kinder way this time.
"Because you're my brother," he says. "We're supposed to talk to each other. It's how siblings work. Hell, even Michael will start conversations with us, and he never talks to anyone else without them asking him to." It's true; Michael has a policy against starting conversations, but he doesn't mind as much as Castiel does once a conversation has been started. "But you never did. You don't talk to anyone, Castiel, and I just... I didn't want that for you."
Castiel is surprised at the brotherly affection from Lucifer, but he doesn't mention it. Instead, he says, "I talk to Anna."
"And the fact that you think that's friendship proves my point," Lucifer replies. "You say maybe 30 words to her every day, if that. I say more than that to people I make fun of in the hallways. Do you see the issue here?"
Castiel shakes his head. "No."
Lucifer frowns. "Do you really not realize how antisocial you are?"
"No, I realize it, I just don't see the problem."
"Because talking to people is fun!" Lucifer tells him.
"Not really," Castiel replies.
"What?"
"Talking isn't really fun to me," Castiel says. "Actually, it's kind of stressful."
"How is it stressful?" Lucifer asks as though it's the most ridiculous thing in the world.
"Because you have to listen to everything someone says, and then you have to think of something to say in a timely manner, and it can't be too boring, and then, if there's multiple people, you have to try not to talk over them, and it's just not easy."
"Really?" Lucifer says in surprise.
Castiel just nods, but inside, there are a million (extremely paranoid) questions. Is talking not this hard for everyone? Is Castiel not doing it right? Why does Lucifer sound surprised?
"Well," Lucifer says finally, "you know what they say. Practice makes perfect. I talk all the time and look at me!"
Castiel chuckles, which seems to make Lucifer overly happy.
"Really, though," he continues. "Just try to talk to us, okay? Even if it's just us. Because I guarantee you I'm not the only one who wants you to."
"It's not that easy," Castiel tells him.
"Why not? You're doing it right now."
"Yeah, but..." Castiel trails off, grasping for the right words.
"What?" Lucifer prompts.
"Like, right now, I'm already talking, but once I stop talking you'll have to hound me until I talk again, just like you did earlier."
"Then I guess you just have to not stop talking!" Lucifer replies with a grin.
"Sleep?" Castiel reminds him.
Lucifer waves a dismissive hand. "Ah, who needs sleep?"
"I do."
"Sleep is overrated," Lucifer says. "I guess I'll just have to continuously talk to you nonstop until you finally decide you can talk whenever you feel like. Deal?"
Castiel frowns. "Please don't."
"Why not? I'm a joy to be around!"
"Because even talking right now, I'm having a mental breakdown because I don't like this and I don't want to have to do it all the time and then especially at school because it draws too much attention plus-"
Lucifer interrupts him with a laugh. "You worry too much. I'll stop bugging you excessively at school if you start being social, even just at home. How 'bout that?"
Castiel nods gratefully. He can't imagine how much better life is going to get when he doesn't have to worry constantly about his brother showing up in class. Hopefully, anyway. He isn't sure what Lucifer's definition of 'excessively' is.
"Wait," Castiel says, something dawning on him. "You knew I didn't like your surprise visits, but you kept doing it anyway?"
Lucifer nods. "Of course I knew. I'm not a complete idiot."
"Then why'd you do it?"
"Because you hated it," Lucifer replies simply. "I was hoping that eventually, you'd get sick of it and tell me to stop. Had it been for any reason other than the Winchester, I would have been thrilled. Obviously, I wouldn't have acted like it, because I've got a reputation to uphold and I can't be seen helping out the little people, but I would have been happy anyway."
"Okay, enough about your stupid reputation," Castiel says, rolling his eyes. Oh god, he just rolled his eyes at Lucifer. He doesn't do that. No one does that.
"As someone who doesn't have an awesome reputation to uphold, you need to stop bugging me about my awesome reputation," Lucifer says in a very civilized way, nothing like the Lucifer that rules the school.
"I don't find it very awesome," Castiel informs him as non-accusatively as possible.
"What do you mean? My reputation is great!"
"No one that I know thinks your reputation is great," Castiel tells him. "Granted, I only know, like, four people, but still."
"Four?" he repeats, most likely because he doesn't knows about Charlie and Kevin.
Castiel nods but doesn't tell him who he doesn't know. "Any none of them like you. At all."
Lucifer shrugs dismissively. "Ah, you can't please everyone."
"Right now, you're pleasing maybe twenty people," Castiel tells him. "You've got probably about as many people that hate you as I have people that don't know I exist at that school, and that's really saying something."
"I doubt that," Lucifer replies stubbornly.
"Trust me, they do," Castiel replies. "Not many people want to hang out with the guy that picks on littler kids and beats up people for kicks." Castiel bites his lip when he says that. He shouldn't talk that way to Lucifer. He values his life way too much to throw it away like that.
Surprisingly, all Lucifer says is, "Come on, they don't hate me that much!"
"Yes, they do," Castiel replies. "I doubt it bothers you, because they're the dweebs and nerds the unpopular people, but they do. If you asked them, they wouldn't say it, though, because they're afraid of you. I'm sure that's what you were going for when you decided to take over the school, but you don't realize how much it scares them when they see you in the halls. They don't know if that's going to be the time you decide to pick on them, and the thought of what you could do to them if you decided to honestly scares them. But you don't care, because to you, they're no one. Their feelings are irrelevant as long as you get s liv out of it."
Lucifer is silent for a moment. His face is expressionless, so Castiel doesn't know what to expect from him. Finally, he speaks. His voice is sad, and, though it's unlikely, it sounds regretful.
"You're talking about yourself, aren't you?"
Castiel nods once. "Not just me, though. Every kid that you've ever shoved in a locker or knocked their books away has felt that way. You just never cared enough to realize it. So, next time you decide to pick on someone, think about that."
Lucifer is silent once again. Finally, in an overly calm and quiet voice, he says, "I think this conversation is over. Please get out of my room."
"Lucifer-" Castiel begins, wanting to figure out what emotion he's feeling, wanting to know what he's thinking that he's hiding behind his fake calm.
Lucifer cuts him off with a much louder response. "I said get out of my room."
Immediately, Castiel scrambles out of the room and to his own, shutting the door behind him. What did he just do?