2 - Lucien, stop hitting on the newcomer!

"Just shorten it a bit, then", Rachel sighed. "I like you more with a shorter beard." She actually pouted using her charms, trying to get Chuck to comply to her little whim.

And, completely unaware, Michael was still chatting with Raphael. He did stiffen when his brother looked behind him, though. But maybe he wouldn't have time to brace himself before the strike.

Chuck bit back another protest. He knew it was better to get on his wife's good side, especially when she was actually being nice about it - and besides, that request wasn't that unreasonable. Yet. He forced his smile to stay. "Well, if that's how it is, alright then", he conceded.

And indeed, it was too late for him to avoid the harsh smack he got on the naked part of his neck, while a sadly well-known voice greeted him. "Mike! It was about time we saw each other again", Lucien said, his voice falsely sweet. His smile was truly evilish, though. "Aren't you going to say hello to your little brother?" Of course he wore a look that his mother would have hated, a tattoo peeking from his shirt and one ear pierced, along with tattered jeans, heavy shoes and an old t-shirt.

Rachel had been so pleased she was actually going to congratulate Chuck with a quick peck on the lips - which, admittedly, grew rare these days, when Michael let out a yelp so hard that had her almost jump. She sighed heavily when she recognized who was to blame for it, though.
"Lucien!" Michael yelled, slamming his hand against his neck while he turned to glare back at his brother. "I told you I hate sudden touches!" Michael was known to only lose his calm when faced with his cadet - much to his displeasure, it always made Amelia laugh.

Meawhile, Castiel sighed heavily, and slumped even harder by Dean's side. It had begun.

Chuck made a displeased noise at the missed opportunity for actual physical affection, and turned to glare - uselessly - at his own cross to bear. Yeah, it wasn't like anyone could disagree. Lucien was known to be a real burden, when he wanted to.

"Oh, c'mon, Mike. Grow a sense of humor!" Lucien grinned at him, eyes glinting with mischief. "It's not like you say that to your fiancée too, right? Well, at least. I hope for her you don't." He winked to Amelia, thrusting his hands into his pockets.

Amelia giggled some more. "My, what a bad boy," she commented. That comment seemed to offend Michael, who threw a death glare at his brother. "Well, grow up. It's been fifteen years since your teenage crisis, it's time you put on actual adult clothes," he sighed heavily. "Also, your cross is upside-down", he said, pointing to his ear piercing.

"Just as bad as you wish me to be", Lucien winked at her again and threw a venomous smirk at his brother. "I know. Thanks for noticing. While you're at it, you should check that over-sized ego of yours. Another bit and we won't fit in this room anymore!" While arguing with Michael, he was scanning the room, looking for other people he could possibly annoy. And his eyes stopped on Castiel. His smirk grew.

Amelia was now eyeing Lucien with a renewed interest, Michael was about to protest loudly, Castiel actually wished he could disappear, and Rachel just exploded.
"Lucien, this is a family gathering," she snarled, getting up. "You told me two hours ago that you went up to put on a decent shirt. What is this!" Welp, so much for soothing her down, Chuck.

Chuck groaned, hiding his face in his hands. So much for a quiet evening.
"It's a clean shirt. That makes it decent enough to me", Lucien commented carelessly, actually joyful about that sudden change of atmosphere that his arrival had brought. Yes, he delighted into bringing chaos around him. Especially if it made someone angry or uneasy. If it was his mother, even better! "And if it is a family gathering, mom, who is that then", he asked on a second thought.
Dean flinched when Lucien's eyes caught his. Welp. He had hoped he hadn't been noticed.

"This is Cassie's friend, so please don't make a whole scene, will you? What will this poor man think of us, now?! Charles, say something," she said, turning to her husband to support.
Castiel threw Dean a quick, sorry smile, hoping Lucifer-Lucien would just calm down.

Chuck got up from the couch, hating the fact that his so-called 'fatherly anger' was being called upon. "Lucien, that's enough. Start behaving properly and maybe I won't have to cut your allowance", he said seriously, frowning.

Lucien's smile froze slightly and he glared at his father. "Resorting to threatening again, dad", he said, almost spitefully. "I wouldn't expect any better." But the fear to actually stay stuck in that house for longer than necessary drove him to calm down, at least a bit. "Alright. Who's this friend? Will someone introduce me, at least?"

Rachel actually exited the room, pretending she had to look after her dinner, to escape her responsibilities. Let's be real.
Castiel took a deep breath. "Lucien, this is Dean, my best friend. Dean-" he hesitated just a bit. "Lucien's my second eldest brother." Better keep it simple. Dean knew how much of a bother he was already.

Of course Dean knew that. Lucien was in his personal top-three most hated members of Castiel's family. "Hello. Nice to meet you", he said, offering his hand to him, his expression neutral.

Lucien critically glanced at Dean, examining him from head to toe. When he deemed himself satisfied - after some unnecessarily long, uneasy seconds - he finally let a smirk curl on his lips again. "'Best friend', hm. I see." He let his gaze hover a bit longer than necessary on Dean's broad shoulders, then finally accepted his hand.

"He's also Castiel's roommate," Raphael said casually, hiding back a smirk, especially when Castiel threw him an offended glance. He wasn't planning on letting his hell of a brother know too many details! Oh Lord, why was he alone in this mess now!
"He's a very, very special friend," Raphael underlined, having obviously too much fun with this. He was always a shady member of the family - either being somewhat acceptable, or giving Lucifer some more fuel to keep his ruckus on.

Lucien's smirk got larger and possibly more devious. He let go of Dean's hand, and his cold eyes shifted on Castiel. "Oh, now that is interesting", he cooed. "Something I finally want to hear about. Just how 'special' is he, Cassie?", he asked, turning fully to his younger brother.

Dean didn't really seem too shaken by what Raphael was trying to insinuate. In fact, he was about to open up his mouth when someone intervened in his place, saving him the embarrassment of exploding in front of the whole room.
"Well, Raph, I am sure all friends to you appear as 'very, very special'. Since you actually have no friends, it doesn't surprise me that you see dirt everywhere, and that you have absolutely no idea how a 'friend' looks like. Must be like a mythological creature to you!", Gabriel candidly observed, finally hopping down the stairs with a dashing smile. He had come to the rescue to chastize his literal evil twin.

Castiel had felt cornered. He had understood that Raphael knew, for some reason, about his feelings for Dean. And it was neither the time or the place he wished to confess, so he had started to panic, when Gabriel all but saved him. He even sighed with relief when his brother showed up, shutting Raphael up.
Raphael, who felt really, really unhappy with his twin's intervention, and sighed. "I have plenty of 'friends', thank you very much." yet again, he was wounded in his pride, and Gabriel had him shut uo for a while now.

Gabriel just flashed Raphael a smirk. "Surrendering already? What a shame. I still had to even really get mean!" He was happy enough he had 'won', however, so he simply took place next to Castiel, patting his arm. Silently assuring that no one could put him into a shameful position until he was around!

Dean silently thanked whatever divine force had pushed Gabriel to come in and save the day.
Even though he hadn't taken in account Lucien, King of Uneasiness. "Thank you for sharing with the class what we all knew, Gabe, but I was actually trying to get a bit more background about this... seemingly deep friendship! Let me worry for my younger brother a bit, will you", Lucien said, eyes still on Castiel, his smile terrifyingly innocent. "So. You've known each other for a long time, Cassie?"

Castiel felt like he was on a roller-coaster that night. Just when Gabe had managed to reassure him, Lucien was pestering him again, obviously looking for either a clue that he had a blatant crush on Dean, or perhaps even a hidden relationship with him, that would drive his mother mad. "We met this year," he replied carefully. "We got along well, and decided to share roo- rent." Damn it, Cas ! Way to dig your own grave!

Lucien's smile twitched. He was clearly trying to repress a grin that said 'gotcha'. "Sharing rooms, eh? Well that sure sounds fun!" He slouched forward a bit, always holding Castiel's gaze like a snake would with a prey. "And who gets to have the top bunk bed?", he whispered, still smiling. "Because I am betting on him."

Before someone could get over that double entendre, Dean stepped in, trying to answer calmly. Trying was the keyword, damn did he want to punch that shit goblin in the face! "It seemed right for me to leave the bedroom to Cas, since he was the first in the apartment", he observed. "The living room is kind of 'my' room now. But we are looking for a place where each of us can have their own, stand-alone room, right Cas?" He patted his friend's shoulder, letting out a short laugh.

Castiel felt like dying inside when he knew, just knew that Lucien had guessed about his crush, given how his tongue had slipped. He bit on his lips, and then looked at Dean, who had so mercifully saved him. In fact, he even relaxed, when Rachel came back into the room.
"You two should focus on finding yourselves adorable girls to move in with, or you'll end up sad and lonely together. Anyway, dinner's ready! ~"

Lucien opened his mouth, no doubt to answer something equally mean-spirited like he had before, before he got interrupted by his mother's arrival. He huffed, and glanced meaningfully to Castiel. A glance that definitely meant "It's not over". He moved towards the kitchen, hands still in his pockets.

Dean took a deep breath when Rachel - unknowingly - saved their lives. He was not exaggerating, she really had! "Ah, ha ha, that's... something I'll definitely think about when I'll be done helping my brother with his tuition fees", he blatantly lied, letting out a laugh. "Uh, you need some help, ma'am- Rachel?", he corrected himself.

"Why, thank you Dean," Rachel said, beaming. "Take the meat on the table, will you? And Lucien," she said, menacingly, grabbing shirt to sniff it. "Have you been smoking in your room again?" Well that odd sulfur smell was maybe due to something else too, who knows.

While Dean walked off to do as he had been asked to (as quick as he could - he didn't want to leave Castiel alone with his family for too long!), Lucien just rolled his eyes, smirking at his mother. "Relax. I didn't." He yanked the t-shirt from Rachel's grasp, with yet another rebellious glint in his eyes. "I smoked on the balcony." Yeah, he was lying. He hadn't smoked, lately - he just liked too much to piss his mother off.

Rachel made a displeased face, and sighed heavily. "Then go wash your hands, if you don't plan on using your cutlery like a civilized man." There were fries for dinner. She knew she had never managed to force her son to eat his fries the proper way.
Castiel kept Dean a seat by his side. Fortunately enough, he would manage to squash him just between Chuck and him, while having Gabriel at his other side. He would be safe!

Lucien rolled his eyes, but raised his hands in mocked surrender, walking to the bathroom and obeying, for once! He sat down in between Michael and Raphael, so that he could be able to annoy his older brother as much as he wanted.

Dean murmured a sincere 'thank you' to Castiel, who had managed to keep him safe! Chuck smiled jovially at him when he sat down, offering him something to drink.

Castiel offered a smile to Dean, and actually relaxed for most of the evening, for once. That is, until one of his brothers would start pestering him about anything.
Rachel actually was happy to have everyone around the table, so happy she even laid her hand on Chuck's wrist at one point, without thinking much about it. Progress!!