1 - Guardian Angel

Dean's expression was... unreadable. He wore a perfect poker face as soon as he caught side of just who was on the other side of the door. He critically observed him from the top of his stupid neat hair to the point of his stupid neat black shoes. He had very well clear in his mumd the fact that he was very underdressed - a tank top and a worn out pair of blue jeans - but damn if he cared. He turned to Castiel, his expression betraying only to his friend just the amount of hate he felt towards Michael. "You know this guy?", he asked, trying to sound casual.

Castiel looked at Dean, a bit confused by his answer, but was fortunately fast to catch on. Of course, Michael didn't know Dean had met him. "It's- It's my brother. Michael. Come in, I- Do you want some coffee?" he asked his brother, a bit uneasy. Michael had always made him feel slightly uncomfortable. After all, there was a 15-year gap between them, they had never been really close.
"Coffee would be nice, yes. And who are you?" He asked Dean, as if he owned the place.

Dean squinted at Michael, and begrudgingly stepped aside to let Michael come in. "I'm Castiel's roommate", he answered, a bit coldly. It was so, so evident, the difference between this meeting and the one time Balthazar had crashed in. It was jarring, honestly. "And his best friend." He tried hard to look more intimidating, standing straight. "Name's Dean Winchester."

Michael looked at Dean, judging him with one single look, from head to toe. "How old are you? You seem older than Castiel, I doubt you have met at university."
Meanwhile, a nervous Cas had gone to prepare a cup of coffee for his authoritarian big brother, a bit worried as to his presence here, and the fact that he was questioning Dean so much.

Dean shrugged. "We met at my workplace. I don't go to school - not everyone is wealthy enough to pay the fees, you know. And I'd rather my more intelligent brother to get his law degree, instead than wasting money on something I clearly dislike, like studying", he added, trying his best to stay calm. He was a good liar, but he was really struggling to keep up his polite façade.

Pure disdain could be read on Michael's face. "And why are you... living with Castiel then, rather than your brother? Again, how old are you exactly?" Hell, he was growing very suspicious.

"Twenty-five", Dean lied promptly. "And my brother is living in the campus building. I can't stay with him." He crossed his arms on his chest. "You can sit down, you know. And I don't see a warrant. You know, to justify the questioning." He let out a small smile, to signal he was just kidding. Or was he. His eyes remained cold.

Michael forced an even colder, shorter smile, and sat on the sofa, as if he owned the place, to wait for his coffee. "You seemed older to me. My apologies. I would have wondered why someone in their early thirties - a man, mind you - would be living with my baby brother..." The menace was clear in his tone. He was still highly suspecting Dean of lying to him.

Dean let out the short, dry bark of a laughter. "Early thirties? Wow. I look that old?" He shook his head. "That could alnost offend me. I put a lot of time into taking care of myself just to look ten years older than I am?" He squinted at Michael. "You on the other hand, look much older than Cas."

"I am his eldest brother, with fifteen years parting us. I do not less care about his well-being, though." He gave Dean a smile so polite it actually was offensive. Thankfully enough (?) Castiel came back with his cup of coffee. "So. Have you been living together for a long time?"

Dean was pretty offended by that assholish smile, but Castiel coming back into the room made him bite back an observation that would have been less than polite. Something having to do with how many broomsticks he could actually fit in his ass- "Just a couple of months. Cutting living expenses is nice, and Cas is a good guy. Great friend", he answered mechanically, flopping on a chair, eyes still on Michael. He wanted to sit down as far from that man as he could.

"Mh," Michael answered distractedly, before looking around the living room. His eyes darted particularly to the three doors in the room : the one leading to the kitchen, the front door, and the one leading to Cas' room. "And where do you sleep, if I may?"
"In the living room," Cas answered immediately, worried his brother might guess something about Castiel while drawing the wrong conclusions. After all, of all of the brothers, he was the most religious one. If anything, he was the exact male copy of who his mother had become over the years. "You're... actually sitting on his bed," he added a bit sheepishly, in a poor attempt to soothe his brother's attitude.

Dean had opened his mouth, actually wanting to answer that he and Castiel snuggled naked in the same every night just to have Michael get blue with anger and disgust - but once again, Castiel's intervention made him bit on his tongue. "That's right. Cas was the first in this apartment, so I didn't really fight him for the bed and the room. I just crash on the couch." He turned to Cas. "So, is this a regular thing? Big bro coming over without warning and doing a background check so thorough he'd put the FBI to shame?", he... just half-joked, letting out a cold laugh.

Castiel offered Dean a thankful, small smile. "No. I have 5 elder brothers, but surprisingly enough, none of them is as protective as Mike." Now, Dean knew him. He knew that by saying 'protective', the angel could guess he meant 'overwhelming', in the bad way.
But that seemed to ease Michael enough, for him to let out a small smile as well. "What can I say. I've always looked after you." He took a calm sip of his coffee. "I came on Mom's behalf, actually. She's hoping you'll come for the holidays, since you haven't replied to her latest texts. And I'll be in the area until then, so I could drive you home next Friday after your lessons, for the whole week."

Dean paled just a bit at those words. He knew. He knew that, even though that invitation seemed so carefree and casually thrown, it just really meant that Michael was there to bring Cas home, wether he wanted it or not. "Uuh, would that be next weekend?" He threw a glance to Castiel, looking genuinely unsure. He left Castiel the decision to either make up a lie, or go. As an angel, he was not supposed to interfere with his decisions.

"I- I actually have a lot of work for those holidays," Castiel started, a bit unsure. But he had actually admitted to Dean that his family didn't know about his part-time job, mostly because he knew his mother would have forcefully paid for his rent and school expenses otherwise. And he couldn't allow that.
"You can just study at home," Michael protested. Because Dean was right ; he wasn't there to offer to bring Castiel home for the holidays, he was merely giving the news to him. "It will do good for a while, not to worry about food, laundry, and just relax while we're all together. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Castiel threw a helpless look at Dean, as if he feared to just go alone."I'll- need to call mom. See if she doesn't mind me bringing a friend over," he blurted out, without thinking of the consequences.

Dean blinked. Well, he had to think fast - he surely couldn't leave Castiel in that kind of situation alone. And when he crossed his desperate gaze, his doubts dropped and his resolution peaked. "Oh, that would be nice!" He smiled brightly. "I mean, we had programs for the weekend anyway, so - we can just adjust that, and I'll get to meet the family you always speak so much about!" He threw that bright smile to Michael, too.

Michael blinked a bit, surprised by Castiel's suggestion. "I- suppose you could ask her what she thinks of it. And let me know by next Friday." He was trusting his mother to refuse, of course - or better, to definitely scare Dean off. She surely wouldn't like that man either, he probably was a bad influence on Castiel.

"Great! It's settled then." Dean sounded definitely too cheerful, given the situation. But, well. As said, there was no way he would have Castiel get back in that lion den alone. Either he was going with him or no one was. And that much could be read in his gaze. "I am sure it will be fun."

"Fun, yes," Michael replied automatically, thoughtful. He drank the remaining of his coffee in one gulp. "The house might be crowded, though. Raphael will be there with his fiancée. Mom has of course invited Gabriel and Lucien over." He was particularly stiff when mentioning the latter, for reasons that weren't to be brought up to his face. "I doubt Balthazar would come, though. As far as I know, he is in France."

"Oh - that's a shame. I won't meet up with everyone, then", Dean feigned honest disappoint, thinking it would have been better to avoid mentioning Balthazar's latest visit, for some reason. He turned to Castiel, raising a brow and mouthing silently, "What about his fiancée?"

Castiel blinked, and read Dean's lips, before he smiled. "Oh, and will Amelia be there too?" he asked Michael, quite enthusiastic.
"Why, of course," Michael replied with a proud smile. "We won't be staying home for the nights, though. As much as I love home, if Lucien comes home, we might run short of bedrooms. Raphael will probably do the same."
Safe for the fact that Raphael wouldn't sleep at home because he was, in fact, extremely loud in bed. But no one needed to know that.

Dean smiled at Michael. He did, because right now, smiling at him felt as if he was making fun of how pompous the guy was. "Oh, you have a fiancée? Congratulations! That sounds very nice. Are you planning to get married soon?" That conversation seemed casual and polite, but thinking of all the times Michael's soon-to-be brides had dumped him and ran to Lucife- Lucien, was just so soothing to him!

Also yes nobody needs to know about Raphael's masochistic streak. Nobody.

Michael did feel some sort of sarcasm, and squinted a bit. Actually, yes. We are planning our wedding mid-June, just before the local elections start- oh, by the way, Castiel," he added with a renewed pride. "I'll be running against Dad. Maybe it'll finally be time for him to retire, after all."

Dean simply turned to Castiel, to roll his eyes a great deal at just how annoying he found Michael to be. "Republicans, I'm guessing?", he said out loud, turning to his friend's eldest brother once again. With no hint of sarcasm this time.