"I believe you have to take three of them," Castiel said, pointing at the sign that proclaimed this to be a 'three for 1' deal. He found the mix of writing out and not writing out numbers confusing, but he felt as if he was getting a bit more of a feeling of this by now. Shopping.
It wasn't that difficult, really. "I don't know if most of what you've picked up is really food."
"It's edible, it's good. You just need to fuel the car, doesn't matter what you put in the tank." He dropped his gummy sweats into the basket and let Castiel handle the carrying as he paused in front of microwave TV dinners, studying them with great interest.
"What do you think? Mac and Cheese or nuggets and fries oooor ... whatever the brown one is." He looked at all of them and then shrugged, grabbing all three. "Whatever."
They could just try all three and see which one was best.
"We do not have a car," Castiel told Raphael, as he appeared to be getting strange ideas again. He glanced into the basket and wondered. A lot of sugar, but Raphael always said that he could handle a lot of sugar. Castiel doubted he could handle as much as he claimed, but Raphael had left his life behind for him without a second thought so there was a lot of gratitude and guilt playing into this. He would let him get gummi pizzas and burgers, sure.
"I liked the mac and cheese. We should get more sandwich bread as well. And peanut butter." He had his clear favourites so far. "Maybe we need to buy apples."
"To keep the doctor away? Sure. Tell you what, I'll get bread, you get apples and we'll meet in that aisle that has shampoo." Because they both desperately needed something to wash with. They had been using the leftover dish soap in the apartment and his curls were getting very dirt and limp.
He picked up bread, jelly, peanut butter and luncheon meat, carrying it all in his arms as he met Castiel again.
Who was lingering weirdly by the hair products. "Do you wanna smell like a lavender field or like icy moss? Oooor we go the axe route and smell like skateboards."
"What do skateboards smell like?" Castiel had never really smelled one. He really wasn't sure what to imagine and how they would possibly pair well with roses. Moving the basket closer to Raphael, he let him drop everything he had gotten inside it. "I don't mind. Flowers smell nice."
There was that.
"You'll want this." Usually, Sam wouldn't have bothered anyone else shopping, but the boy was at least roughly his age and had curls strongly in need of some loving care, so he held out his favoured shampoo to him. "Avocado extract. Really makes those curls bounce."
"I do?" Raphael spun around and almost slapped himself into the strange hunk talking to him. What the fuck? He looked at the guy for a long time and then slowly, he took the shampoo with an almost suspicious look in his eyes. He wasn't used to strangers approaching them. Or strangers. They lived with people they grew up with and everyone knew everyone at the compound.
It took him a few to work out how he felt. "Thanks, friendly giant. I was starting to worry, I'm losing my shiny coat." He turned to Castiel and held it up. "I think avocados are the green thing."
"Yeah, they're green. Guacamole is made from it," Sam offered helpfully, although he should probably just take off and leave those two to their shop. They both seemed to be very much on edge.
Castiel made sure to stand next to his brother, just in case. He didn't want to risk any trouble arising, even if the stranger appeared friendly enough. "Do you want your curls to bounce?" He asked Raphael very seriously, wondering what that even meant.
"Everyone wants that." Reaching up, Sam sprung one of his own curls. "Like so."
"I see." Castiel nodded. "Then we need it with the avocado extract."
"Clearly. I got compete with guys like that in the world, that's wild." He was handsome. Dark skin, he really liked that too. everyone they knew were just whiter than white. He liked the difference, the contrast. "You live around here or--"
"Sammy! Oi! Are you going to help me with this crap or -- who are you talking to?" Matteo asked as he came over, holding two very heavy cartons of washing powder. Since dad was gone, again, it was up to them to take on the household stuff and laundry had become a horrible nightmare so now they were tackling it. Head on. With Uber Weiss.
"Hi! I'm Raphael, this is Cas. We're new here." Raphael smiled, hoping they could blend and seem semi-normal. "We're college students."
"You know we've got to get the one with the teddy bear on the front, Matty. You're allergic to that one." Sam was just pointing out the obvious. "You know, the cute lil teddy bear with the pink bow for your sensitive skin." All right, maybe he was also being a bit of an ass and teasing his brother.
Looking back at Raphael, his eyebrows went up. "Did you just say college?" What the fuck? "Er, I'm Sam, that's Matty. We go to school."
"We also go to school," Castiel corrected Raphael's ridiculous claim. Then he looked at the boy carrying the cartons. "Do you need help getting the teddy bear cartons?"
"School, yeah. Sure." Raphael shrugged, happy to bargain down but college seemed cooler. Highschool did have potential though.
"You're the sensitive little asshole, Sammy." He shoved one of the cartons into his little brother's hand and looked Raphael up and down sceptically. Even high school seemed a slight push. "Sam can do the lifting but thanks. This is the only one that doesn't make you smell like some lame-ass pansy."
"We use the laundromat." Raphael shrugged his shoulders. "We don't get the laundry machine. I have a theory but last time, it bubbled over so he won't let me try again."
"Because your theory was to add more. How would more lead to less bubbles?" Castiel felt as if he had a point here. It was an obstacle, doing laundry, he had to admit that. "I will read the instructions next time."
That was how they'd conquered a lot of other things already, even if the vacuum cleaner still scared him.
Sam held the carton and nodded. "Laundry's tricky. I've still got some pink underwear from when Matty bought his red socks." And promptly used them to accidentally dye a lot of their stuff.
"Pansies smell nice, actually." Castiel told Matty. He used to help a lot with the flowers at church. "I like posies more."
Sam's eyebrows went up and he put a hand on Matty's shoulder, hoping that he'd not say anything offensive. "You know a lot about flowers."
"Right. Well. Good for you, princess. Maybe get yourself some potpourri and go wild." Matty had no idea what to say to this total loser so he gave Sam a look that screamed 'stop socialising with weirdos' and started to move towards the check out. "Come on, Sammy, we're losing daylight hours here."
"The sun already set, dingdong. And watch who you call princess." He wasn't going to let some jerk mock his bro like that. He put an arm around Cas and huffed.
Then he looked at Sam and raised an eyebrow. "Your brother's an impatient jerk."
"Oh yeah, tell me about it." Sam rolled his eyes and shrugged apologetically, "Sorry about him, Raph." Did Raphael get called Raph? Maybe not. Well, now he did. "See you around."
He'd no idea whether he'd ever see these two again, but he didn't want to be rude as well. So he smiled and then turned, following his brother toward the checkout.
Castiel looked after both of them, thinking about how he wasn't a princess and whether he should have corrected the assumption. But then, Raphael always called him weird names as well, maybe it was an outside world thing. He watched both brothers until they were out of sight, then turned to Raphael. "That boy was very beautiful."
He felt that deserved to be stated. "Probably the most beautiful boy I've seen." Easily. He shook his head and then turned to look at the products in this aisle. "Do I need different shampoo? My hair won't bounce."
"I think we can share, bud. Maybe you'll get bounce." He grabbed some shower gel and more tooth paste before frowning and leaning over. "I mean, yeah, he's pretty hot and all. He's got the build for a movie star and all that action man energy. It's all very-- wait, which one do you mean? Cause I'm thinking of the clearly hot one."
And when there seemed to be no recognition, he pointed not so subtly at Sam. "That one is a movie star. The other one is a dumb jerk."
He turned away to add some floss before checking over the basket. "We're done. Any unused coupons we need to make use of."
"The other one." Obviously. "He has kind eyes." Which was unlikely to ever have been the way Matty was described, but that was what Castiel saw. It did help that he hadn't realised that Matty had been mocking him. Maybe he should ask him for his number. Or give him his number on a tissue with some xxx next to it.
Although that idea alone was anxiety inducing, so maybe not. "We have a coupon for cereal. We should get something that makes for a healthy start to the day."
"You mean the meathead who called you princess? Yeah, he's a real winner." God, he hoped Cas was getting better at sarcasm because he really didn't need Cas falling for a jerk like that. He grabbed his sleeve and started to pull him along. "Come on, let's go get some cookie crisp and cleanse your brain. Who would have thought? You're a mess, Cas."
Of course he liked bad boys. That was the hell they were in.
"Okay, okay, I get it, lesson learned. I'm just looking for my bro, okay?" Raphael complained as he was dragged through the club and into a way quieter corridor. He knew he was too young to be here but asking for Lucifer at the door wasn't working and neither was trying to use a fake ID so he had to just leg it in and hope for the best.
And now here he was, being marched down a hallway and suddenly regretting his life choices. He suspected there was a big whoops here and he was going to end up swimming with the fishes.
Damn. Should have left Cas a note.
He was dragged into some over the top office and instantly held his hands up. "I can explain, I'm just looking for my brother. He's called Lucifer. Really! That's his name."
"It is," Lucifer confirmed while turning around in his chair with a bit of drama. He leaned back and put his legs up on the desk, crossed at the ankles. "That is my baby brother, boys. You can take off."
He waved the men away and they let go of Raphael, stepping outside. Leaving them alone.
"If it isn't little Raphael." Lucifer gave him a nod, reaching out for a pen so he'd have something to play with. "How are you doing, kid?"
"Really fucking good! I ditched the whole boring ass mormon scene and I'm living alone now, out in the real world, it's pretty fucking sick." He wasn't going to mention Castiel, he didn't want Castiel to be in trouble. He only cared about himself. "I remembered what you told me, about the vaults. They were used the same passcode so I got in and took the cash. I used it for a deposit and six months rent."
In Castiel's name. They didn't believe for a second he was 18 but Castiel managed to get by as long as he wore a suit and had his serious face on. Aka his normal face.
"Look at that, you did pretty well." Lucifer nodded his approval, looking Raphael over. "I never thought you'd stick around there for that long. Free spirit, I can sense that. We have that in common, you and I."
He'd always been a cute kid too. Looking up to his big brother Lucifer as he was supposed to. "So, why look for me, Raphael? What can I do you for?"
He supposed he could share some of his hard acquired wisdom.
"I need money. To stay in this world without like, I don't know, people getting awkward, I need cash. But I don't want to really work, it seems boring. And you never, ever do boring things. Ergo - you have to have a trick, right?" He knew his brother and he had learned every trick from him. So this one, he was eager for.
A way to live in the world and hack the system.
"Bro, how do you do it? How do you get by as best you can but do the absolute least?" Cause he really didn't want some shitty Walmart job.
"Good question. Excellent." And how did he do it? Well. "First thing I did was tell some business woman that I could do what she assumed I could do for her and by the time she found out I'd lied about that I'd already gotten most of her assets and laid with her for a few months, so that was a good start."
He could recommend it, but he wasn't quite certain it would work. "People are always scared of me and usually they want to have sex with me too. That really works in my favour."
"Yeah, people don't really want to fuck me. I'm 5'4 and I keep being asked where my parents are." He was hoping he'd age up soon and look a lot hotter but for now, this was the vibe he was with. He was at least someone who accepted it. "I don't think I can do it like that. Can't you just -- give me a job. An easy one! Like, not too many hours but I'd do it. I can like... supervise. In the club."
And drink and watch the people dance, maybe check out the girls. Could be fun. "Cause I don't think I have the same scary sexy vibes, Luci."
"No, you really don't... That's all right, you've got a certain vibe. Better than Michael and Gabriel, anyway." Although he supposed Michael was down with the scary, if one was scared of the utter boredom that man represented. Whatever, here his favourite brother was, asking for a job.
"Can't really work at the club with that babyface." Lucifer thought about it and leaned back. "I suppose you could make some deliveries for me. That pays well."
"Sure, I'm down. Just give me the stuff and I'll deliver it." He had no idea what it was that he would deliver but as long as he could reach it by the bus, he would be fine. "I can do a few every day, if you have any. And I could get it in cash, maybe." Then he had to try and convince Cas he had a very good and reputable job and he wasn't just doing shit for their dodgy older brother.
"I got one more question too, if you're open?" Cause he had to know. "How does the washing machine work... do you know?"
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waywarddone2023-08-05 03:25 pm
no subject
It wasn't that difficult, really. "I don't know if most of what you've picked up is really food."
It was entirely too colourful, Castiel felt.
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"What do you think? Mac and Cheese or nuggets and fries oooor ... whatever the brown one is." He looked at all of them and then shrugged, grabbing all three. "Whatever."
They could just try all three and see which one was best.
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"I liked the mac and cheese. We should get more sandwich bread as well. And peanut butter." He had his clear favourites so far. "Maybe we need to buy apples."
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He picked up bread, jelly, peanut butter and luncheon meat, carrying it all in his arms as he met Castiel again.
Who was lingering weirdly by the hair products. "Do you wanna smell like a lavender field or like icy moss? Oooor we go the axe route and smell like skateboards."
no subject
There was that.
"You'll want this." Usually, Sam wouldn't have bothered anyone else shopping, but the boy was at least roughly his age and had curls strongly in need of some loving care, so he held out his favoured shampoo to him. "Avocado extract. Really makes those curls bounce."
no subject
It took him a few to work out how he felt. "Thanks, friendly giant. I was starting to worry, I'm losing my shiny coat." He turned to Castiel and held it up. "I think avocados are the green thing."
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Castiel made sure to stand next to his brother, just in case. He didn't want to risk any trouble arising, even if the stranger appeared friendly enough. "Do you want your curls to bounce?" He asked Raphael very seriously, wondering what that even meant.
"Everyone wants that." Reaching up, Sam sprung one of his own curls. "Like so."
"I see." Castiel nodded. "Then we need it with the avocado extract."
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"Sammy! Oi! Are you going to help me with this crap or -- who are you talking to?" Matteo asked as he came over, holding two very heavy cartons of washing powder. Since dad was gone, again, it was up to them to take on the household stuff and laundry had become a horrible nightmare so now they were tackling it. Head on. With Uber Weiss.
"Hi! I'm Raphael, this is Cas. We're new here." Raphael smiled, hoping they could blend and seem semi-normal. "We're college students."
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Looking back at Raphael, his eyebrows went up. "Did you just say college?" What the fuck? "Er, I'm Sam, that's Matty. We go to school."
"We also go to school," Castiel corrected Raphael's ridiculous claim. Then he looked at the boy carrying the cartons. "Do you need help getting the teddy bear cartons?"
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"You're the sensitive little asshole, Sammy." He shoved one of the cartons into his little brother's hand and looked Raphael up and down sceptically. Even high school seemed a slight push. "Sam can do the lifting but thanks. This is the only one that doesn't make you smell like some lame-ass pansy."
"We use the laundromat." Raphael shrugged his shoulders. "We don't get the laundry machine. I have a theory but last time, it bubbled over so he won't let me try again."
no subject
That was how they'd conquered a lot of other things already, even if the vacuum cleaner still scared him.
Sam held the carton and nodded. "Laundry's tricky. I've still got some pink underwear from when Matty bought his red socks." And promptly used them to accidentally dye a lot of their stuff.
"Pansies smell nice, actually." Castiel told Matty. He used to help a lot with the flowers at church. "I like posies more."
Sam's eyebrows went up and he put a hand on Matty's shoulder, hoping that he'd not say anything offensive. "You know a lot about flowers."
Castiel simply nodded. Well, he did.
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"The sun already set, dingdong. And watch who you call princess." He wasn't going to let some jerk mock his bro like that. He put an arm around Cas and huffed.
Then he looked at Sam and raised an eyebrow. "Your brother's an impatient jerk."
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He'd no idea whether he'd ever see these two again, but he didn't want to be rude as well. So he smiled and then turned, following his brother toward the checkout.
Castiel looked after both of them, thinking about how he wasn't a princess and whether he should have corrected the assumption. But then, Raphael always called him weird names as well, maybe it was an outside world thing. He watched both brothers until they were out of sight, then turned to Raphael. "That boy was very beautiful."
He felt that deserved to be stated. "Probably the most beautiful boy I've seen." Easily. He shook his head and then turned to look at the products in this aisle. "Do I need different shampoo? My hair won't bounce."
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And when there seemed to be no recognition, he pointed not so subtly at Sam. "That one is a movie star. The other one is a dumb jerk."
He turned away to add some floss before checking over the basket. "We're done. Any unused coupons we need to make use of."
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Although that idea alone was anxiety inducing, so maybe not. "We have a coupon for cereal. We should get something that makes for a healthy start to the day."
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Of course he liked bad boys. That was the hell they were in.
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And now here he was, being marched down a hallway and suddenly regretting his life choices. He suspected there was a big whoops here and he was going to end up swimming with the fishes.
Damn. Should have left Cas a note.
He was dragged into some over the top office and instantly held his hands up. "I can explain, I'm just looking for my brother. He's called Lucifer. Really! That's his name."
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He waved the men away and they let go of Raphael, stepping outside. Leaving them alone.
"If it isn't little Raphael." Lucifer gave him a nod, reaching out for a pen so he'd have something to play with. "How are you doing, kid?"
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In Castiel's name. They didn't believe for a second he was 18 but Castiel managed to get by as long as he wore a suit and had his serious face on. Aka his normal face.
"I've been looking for you for days now."
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He'd always been a cute kid too. Looking up to his big brother Lucifer as he was supposed to. "So, why look for me, Raphael? What can I do you for?"
He supposed he could share some of his hard acquired wisdom.
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A way to live in the world and hack the system.
"Bro, how do you do it? How do you get by as best you can but do the absolute least?" Cause he really didn't want some shitty Walmart job.
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He could recommend it, but he wasn't quite certain it would work. "People are always scared of me and usually they want to have sex with me too. That really works in my favour."
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And drink and watch the people dance, maybe check out the girls. Could be fun. "Cause I don't think I have the same scary sexy vibes, Luci."
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"Can't really work at the club with that babyface." Lucifer thought about it and leaned back. "I suppose you could make some deliveries for me. That pays well."
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"I got one more question too, if you're open?" Cause he had to know. "How does the washing machine work... do you know?"