Covered in skin
~13~
“Don’t yell!” Gerard says tired. “Why did you even call?”
“Because I think you need to hear my voice outside your brain, so it makes an impact. You can’t ignore me when I’m yelling into your fucking ear, Gee!” Mikey answers.
“I can’t ignore you when you’re in my head either,” Gerard says.
Mikey sighs. “You do. You do ignore me and tell the fucking Winchesters that Pastor Jim died on our watch. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’m tired of all this bullshit. I am tired of them hiding, I want them to be afraid and I want them to know we’re hunting these bastards down and I tell you something, Mikes, Sam doesn’t seem like someone who’s cool with shit like that.”
“Maybe you’re right about Sam, but I sure as hell know you’re not about Dean. They’re cold-hearted hunters.”
“No, they aren’t. Because they have each other.”
Mikey is silent on the other side of the line, Gerard waits. He hears Mikey light a cigarette and inhale, exhale, inhale deeply again.
“Okay, maybe they won’t kill you two. But they know about William now-“
“I didn’t tell them.”
“Sam saw him, Gee.”
“Sam saw something,” Gerard stresses, “They’re looking for skin walkers, not shifters here, and they won’t find any.”
“You really want to bet your life on that? William’s life?” Mikey asks.
“No. We’re packing up right now and heading home soon.”
“Thank god,” Mikey answers.
~+~
William is washing the last dishes when someone knocks on the door. They fixed it late last night. It was nice to do something with his hands with Gerard so close by.
Gerard has a knife in hand as he opens it.
“Sam,” he says. He sounds surprised, William thinks.
“Way,” Sam answers with a short nod.
“You wanna come in?”
“You wanna put away that knife?” Sam asks.
Gerard nods, lets Sam enter and puts the knife on the kitchen table. “You fixed the door,” Sam observes.
“Had to, we don’t want people to think we’re violent freaks,” Gerard answers. Sam’s cheeks go a bit pink.
“Sorry for that. Dean is more the shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later type,” he says.
“I figured. So, what do you want?”
“Tea?” William asks, carefully. Gerard turns to look at him and smiles.
Sam looks a bit startled. “Tea would be nice, thank you.” He sits down far away from William. William really appreciates the gesture. Sam wants him to know that he isn’t a threat. William smiles at him and turns to make tea. The mugs he uses leave wet rings on the counter.
“What brings you here?” Gerard asks again.
“Pastor Jim and the other hunters… and that your parents died in a fire,” Sam says.
William sets mugs down on the table and sits close to Gerard. Gerard gives Sam a look.
“My mother died in a fire when I was six months old,” Sam continues.
“Mikey was one year,” Gerard says. “Both our parents died. I don’t see a connection.”
Sam seems to battle with himself for a moment before he says. “Do you have powers?”
“Like a Jedi, young grasshopper?”
Sam laughs. It sounds like it was startled out of him. “Yes… I think,” he bites his lip. He looks really young like that right now, William thinks.
Gerard is having a conversation in his head with Mikey. William knows them well enough by now to know these things. Sam gives him a look and then his eyes linger on William’s face. He seems, to William, like he’s ashamed of something. Like he knows exactly what William went through. William crosses his arms over his chest and stares at the tabletop.
“We do,” Gerard says and William’s head snaps up. He can see Gerard’s profile. Even like that, staring Sam down, he looks really pretty to William.
“We?” Sam asks.
“My brother and I. We can read minds.”
“You can read minds?” Sam asks, sceptical. William snickers.
“Not other people’s. Just each other’s. “
“You can have whole conversations in your head with your brother?”
“He had one just right now. I imagine Mikey is pissed about this,” William throws in.
“He’s pissed as hell. He doesn’t trust the Winchesters,” Gerard answers, “You guys have a reputation,” he adds in Sam’s direction.
Sam nods. “I saw him,” Sam admits after an endless eternity of silence.
Gerard’s body gets tense. “You saw him?”
“In my dreams. Nightmares. I have nightmares about things that are going to happen. Usually, that is, and then when we investigated Pastor Jim’s disappearance I had dreams about William. I didn’t know then it was him. I didn’t know anything about him.”
“You can see the future in your dreams?” Gerard asks.
“Yes.”
“And your brother?”
“He can’t.”
“Obviously. But what can he do?” Gerard asks.
“Nothing. He is normal. He isn’t a…” Sam waves his hand in a universal gesture that tells everything and nothing at once.
“Freak?” William supplies quietly.
“Yes,” Sam says. He sounds defeated to William. Like he kind of hates it and doesn’t at the same time. It’s how William felt all the time before he was with the Ways.
“You sure your brother doesn’t have any powers?” Gerard asks.
“Yes. He would’ve told me,” Sam answers. “Why?”
“Because all the people with powers we know about who have siblings, well, their siblings have powers too.”
“Dean doesn’t,” Sam repeats firmly.
William thinks he doesn’t sound too sure, but Gerard nods like he believes it. What else can he do, anyway? If Dean didn’t tell his brother, he was either telling the truth or he was lying and Sam wouldn’t know any better. No one would.
“So, there are other people like us?” Sam asks.
Gerard nods.
“You’re not going to tell me who they are, are you?”
“No. People who helped us deal with the hunter-ring that killed and raped children. They aren’t hunters, don’t even bother trying to find them via Bobby Singer,” Gerard answers.
“You know Bobby?”
“Everyone knows Bobby,” Gerard replies with a smile.
“And Bobby knows everyone,” Sam gives back.
“Well, he knows people who know people…” Gerard admits.
~+~
Gerard is playing Bowie while they drive back to Bob’s. William knows they’ll stay the night at a motel somewhere, but he isn’t afraid of it. He’d done it on the way to the cottage once before.
All in all, he thinks this little trip was worth everything. Being with the Winchesters and eating dinner with them wasn’t too bad. He feels stronger now and doesn’t think Sam and Dean want to kill him for what he is, but maybe protect him for who he is instead. At least Sam, maybe.
~+~
Mikey is holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other when they park the car in front of the house. He’s wearing one of Gerard’s hoodies.
“I want to punch you,” is the first thing he says when Gerard gets out of the car.
“I want to hug you,” Gerard replies and Mikey huffs out smoke. “Did you tell Bob and Emilie?”
“Of fucking course. They want to punch you, as well.”
Gerard smiles and Mikey hands over the coffee. “Thanks.”
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“That they can’t be that bad…”
“You based that purely on Dean’s car,” Mikey sighs.
“And how he is with Sam.”
Mikey nods, because he understands.
~+~
“You think we should call Jared and Shannon?” William asks. He’s clutching a mug of apple tea while Gerard makes a sandwich.
“Yes. It’s possible that Dean wants to find them.”
“It’s possible that Sam wants to find them. He is the one with the freaky Jedi powers,” Mikey throws in.
“Hey, maybe he could! I mean, you just said it yourself: Freaky Jedi powers.”
“Well, fuck,” Mikey answers.
“Definitely going to call them.”
“They’re going to kill you for talking about this shit to the Winchesters, you know that, right?” Mikey asks with a grin.
“I would like to see them again,” William says softly and Gerard smiles at him.
“I would like that, too.”
~14~
Dean is very aware that Sam is staring at him all the fucking time now. Since he came back from his little chat with Way he’s looking at Dean like Dean’s hiding something from him. He has no idea what Way and Sam where talking about, but he knows that he doesn’t like it. Not one bit.
“Okay, spit it out!” he says, frustrated.
“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sam replies. He stares out of the car window instead now.
“You went to Way - against my better judgement.” Sam rolls his eyes at him, but he ignores it, continuing with: “And now you’re staring at me like I’m hiding something. I’m not the one hiding something here, Sam.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sam asks sharply.
“You didn’t tell me about your nightmares until it was nearly too fucking late. You go out in the middle of the night, you talk to Way and now you’re refusing to talk about shit with me.”
“Dad never taught us to talk about shit, Dean,” Sam stresses.
“Maybe, but I’m sure Jess talked.”
“Oh fuck you!” Sam answers hotly. He is nearly yelling at Dean and Dean doesn’t care one bit. This is as close to a conversation as they’ll get.
“Tell me what is going on in that head of yours!”
“Fine! Way - Gerard, said that all the siblings with powers he knows about, all have powers.”
Dean huffs. “What are you saying?”
“Do you have powers?”
“Like your Sixth Sense thing?”
“Yes!
“No,” Dean answers calmly.
“But Gerard and Mikey they can read each other’s minds and-“, he bites his lip and keeps quiet.
“I don’t have any freaky powers, Sam,” Dean repeats, his voice soft.
Sam nods. Dean knows he’s still not believing it, but there is nothing he can do about it.
They drive to Bobby’s in silence.
~+~
“Jim is dead then?” Bobby asks, pouring whisky into glasses.
Dean nods. “That’s what Way said.”
“You believe he’s done it himself?”
“I don’t know. If it’s true what Way told us, yeah, maybe. It would explain all the crazy shit if Pastor Jim was possessed,” Sam says.
“So a bunch of hunters and other scum were hunting non-human children to amuse themselves?” Bobby asks, and he sounds disgusted.
Sam feels dirty just thinking about it. He nods. “Seems like it. The boy Gerard had with him, I’m sure he is the one from my nightmares. He… the things they did to him.” He grabs a glass and downs it in one go.
“They want our help on this case?”
“I wouldn’t mind helping them to find all of these people.”
“We have to find Dad first,” Dean throws in.
Sam doesn’t bother to point out, again, that Dad doesn’t want to be found. It’s like talking to a brick wall.
Bobby shares a look with him and Dean pours another shot.
Sam knows his brother; Dean is going to get drunk and then get laid. He’ll stumble into their room in the wee morning hours and will wake Sam up with it and then fall face down on his bed.
Sam can’t wait for it to happen.
~+~
Sam calls Gerard as soon as he can’t hear the Impala anymore.
“I want in,” he says.
“I - what?”
“Gerard?”
“Mikey,” the voice on the other side answers. “Winchester. Sam, I guess?”
“Yeah. Can I talk to Gerard?”
“He’s showering, but he’s listening in.”
“In your head, right…”
“I know how crazy that sounds, but you dream the future.”
“And apparently the past, now, too,” Sam replies.
“So you want to help us find these bastards?”
“Yes, and I want to find some answers, as well,” Sam says.
“About who you are? How this Jedi thing works and why your brother doesn’t have any powers?”
“He says he doesn’t have any, but I didn’t have them as a child; they came after. You and Gerard, you were always like this, right?”
“Yes.”
“And the other people you talked about? Where they always like this as well?”
“Yes. As far as I can tell,” Mikey answers.
“Maybe my freakishness has nothing to do with yours….” Sam says.
“I don’t know, man, it seems pretty unlikely. Siblings with powers. There aren’t that many. We only know of you guys and another pair of brothers.”
“Oh…” Sam seems to think stuff over. “Their parents died in a fire as well?”
“I have no idea. They aren’t hunters. They don’t even cross paths with hunters often…”
“I can sense an epic back-story here,” Sam says.
Mikey laughs and it sounds really amused. “You have no idea.”
“Does Gerard want to meet up to compare notes?”
“Yes, Gerard does,” Mikey answers and gives him his e-mail and an address.
~+~
Sam doesn’t have much on his dreams and nightmares, but he is good at research, so he digs a bit deeper. With Gerard’s help, he’s sure, he can find a common denominator. There’s always something. And how the hell does Pastor Jim fit into all that?
He sighs, leans back in the chair and closes his eyes. If only Dean had powers, too; then… well, but Dean doesn’t. Never had, so it’s a moot point to think about and wish for it.
Working with the Ways, finding the ring of hunters, and the demon that possessed Pastor Jim, that’s important now.
Also: finding Dad.
It’s more important for Dean than for Sam, but still.
~+~
Sam is drumming his knuckles against the tabletop nervously while he waits. He recognizes the melody and stops. Fucking Dean, seriously, he thinks. Smoke on the water, of course.
He’s just ordering another coffee when Gerard enters the coffee shop. He’s smiling, but Sam honestly can’t tell what it means.
Gerard sits down, orders a coffee and only says hi, as they’re waiting for the waitress to bring it to their table.
“So, comparing notes, hmm?” he smiles again and takes a sip of his coffee.
“Yeah,” Sam answers, staring, because it looks obscene how blissed out Gerard is after just one sip of coffee. It’s a bit like porn. Sam feels uncomfortable watching it.
“Let’s see what you have, then,” Gerard says and Sam takes out his laptop.
He doesn’t have much, he has only vague ideas of things that happened and things that will happen - or maybe not, if they can get there in time.
Gerard nods and hmms and doesn’t say much. Sam is kind of glad for it. All this sounded much more sane when it was only in his head.
“And we have no idea how Pastor Jim fits in here,” he closes. He takes a sip of his nearly cold coffee and grimaces.
Gerard looks sympathetic. “Mikey and Bob have an idea,” he answers. Sam makes a vague ‘go on’ gesture. “They think that Pastor Jim was possessed to lead us there. To lead Jared and Shannon there as well. To lead you guys there. The demon knew you would investigate his disappearance.”
“Yeah, sure but they couldn’t know you would meet William in a parking lot somewhere in the middle of nowhere,” Sam counters.
Gerard hmms again like he’s thinking this over. “I’m not so sure. They have ways of finding stuff out. I just have no idea what they would want with us.”
“Well, I have an idea and it isn’t pretty,” Sam answers. “Maybe they wanted us to kill you guys for what happened with Pastor Jim. Dean would. I know he would.”
Gerard nods. “We’ve established that he’s more the shoot-first-ask-questions-later type already.” He’s smiling like this doesn’t bother him one bit now that it’s over. He’s fucking strange, even for a hunter, especially for a hunter, Sam thinks.
“So we have nothing but a bunch of very vague assumptions.”
“We’re hunters, that’s what we usually have at the beginning of a case,” Gerard answers.
Well, Sam thinks, yeah. True enough.
~+~
Dean is not amused by all this. He is really pissed off because Sam wanted to meet Way alone. Maybe it was for the best, because Dean still doesn’t trust them and he knows Dad wouldn’t either. This is not how they work their cases. They keep stuff in the family, especially stuff that is about the family. What the hell is Sam even thinking?
“Are you even listening?” Sam asks, looking up from his papers.
“Sure.”
Sam sighs. “What?”
“I have not the slightest why we’re sharing our family business with other people.”
“Because they knew Pastor Jim as well. He raised them like he raised us. He was like family,” Sam answers.
Damn Sam for playing that card. “They aren’t family.”
“They’re like us.”
“No, Sam, they’re like you,” Dean answers, and wants to smack his head against something really hard immediately. Sam’s face closes off like it always does when they try to talk about Dad or Sam’s powers. Powers that freak Dean out and are still developing.
“Fine! They’re like me and I want to know what the hell is wrong with me, what makes me such a freak of nature.”
Dean keeps silent, he has really no idea what the hell he can say to that. After all, he wants that, too.
~+~
Dean doesn’t dream often, and when he does dream he dreams about sex with faceless, hot women. An endless variety of big breasts, small hands and long legs. Perfect women in every way. It’s always the same - a bit like real life, but better.
So when he wakes up hard, his hand already around his dick, he doesn’t think much about it. Later when he lies there spent listening to his breathing calming down he closes his eyes and groans. Well, fuck. This dream wasn’t about one of these faceless women. Dean isn’t even sure it was about a girl.
When he thinks back to it, it seemed more like a graceful, slender male body. A boy, maybe or a girl with very small breasts.
He sighs; this shit is getting to him.
~15~
“We have nothing,” Mikey says.
“We have the Winchesters on our side.”
“We have Sam on our side, that’s the difference,” Mikey replies. He’s paging through one of the ancient books Emilie keeps lying around like they’re New York Times bestsellers and not worth a lot of money. It’s something about runes, he puts it away. Maybe he’ll come back to it later.
“Where Sam is going Dean is following. You heard Bob. Dean practically raised Sam… It’s a bit scary how co-dependant they are.”
“You’re one to talk,” Mikey says.
Gerard smiles. “Well, we aren’t that messed up.”
“We don’t even have sex alone, Gee…”
Gerard leans back in the chair and waves his brother’s objection away. His cigarette leaving a grey line in the wake of his hand. “I still think we’re the most sane hunters out there. Even if we’re constantly in each other’s heads.”
Mikey can’t really object to that. After all, he thinks that, too.
~+~
Gerard is a bit more than just slightly surprised when Dean calls him on a Saturday morning. He’s groggy, he hasn’t had any coffee yet.
“Hello?”
“You stole our gig,” Dean says.
“Who’s that?” he mumbles and really thinks about just hanging up. He doesn’t feel like dealing with crazy people right now.
“Winchester.”
“Dean…uhm, hello?” He gets up, pats Mikey on the leg to let him know he’s getting up and leaves the room.
“You stole our gig a few weeks back in Jersey?”
“Oh, yeah. It wasn’t a Chupacabra.”
“It wasn’t?”
“Did you read the reports?”
“Yeah, wasn’t pretty.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Gerard answers, balancing a mug, a tin of coffee and the phone. He needs coffee right the fuck now. He doesn’t want to deal with Dean Winchester and the horrors of that case without caffeine in his blood.
“You did steal our gig then,” Dean says.
“We didn’t know it was your gig. We didn’t know who the hell you guys were,” Gerard answers, while he waits for his coffee.
“Same here,” Dean says, and he sounds like he regrets knowing now.
“So, why are you calling?” Gerard asks. He can feel Mikey stir in his brain. Soon enough he’ll ask questions. Gerard has no answers to right now.
“It’s about the kid you have with you.”
“William, his name’s William,” Gerard says firmly.
“Right, William. What is he?” Dean asks. There is an edge to his voice Gerard can’t specify.
“Just a boy we picked up in a parking lot,” Gerard answers as he’s pouring coffee into a mug. Blessed be coffee and the person who first thought of making it out of those funny plants.
“Bullshit, Way!”
“What the hell is going on?”
“He a siren or something?”
“What?” Gerard asks, because, seriously, what?
“A siren? Or something like that?” Dean repeats.
“No, he’s not a siren. Are you okay? You sound stressed,” Gerard says. He feels like laughing, but just knows that it wouldn’t be a good idea.
“Not your business,” Dean grumbles.
“Okay. So he is not a siren and he is not bewitching Sam or you or whatever it is you’re thinking. He’s ours. He’s family.”
“Not by blood,” Dean interrupts.
“What does it matter?” Gerard answers. He takes a sip of coffee and sighs. He starts to feel like a real person again. Dean makes a noise.
“You make porn noses when you drink coffee,” he says and Gerard laughs. He just can’t help himself.
~+~
Something about Dean is fascinating to William. His strength, maybe. He can't really pinpoint it, but his body is reacting to it - the non-human side of him likes what it feels, what it sees. Since they came back to Bob's, William’s feeling restless again. He’s pacing the backyard and doesn't even try to sit down with a book on the porch or in the grass or on the bench. Gerard’s giving him looks, as is Emilie. The only one who isn't giving him looks is Bob, thank god for Bob. Bob is a rock in the fucking stormy sea that is his life, his feelings, his... being a fucking teenager, maybe.
William really has no idea what the hell he’s supposed to do with himself. He thinks he will go crazy and tear his skin from his flesh, and maybe that from his bones too. It's not like he doesn't do it on a regular basis anyway.
Sometimes he feels like snapping at someone, but there’s no one he can snap at.
~+~
Mikey is constantly on the phone with Shannon and Jared because Jared refuses to talk to his brother until he doesn't want to kill Gerard anymore. Those were his exact words. And Mikey believes him. Just because Shannon is the one who can make someone burn like a Christmas tree with only his mind doesn't mean that Jared can't kill people just as well. He is as skilled as anyone Mikey and Gerard have ever seen with a fucking knife.
“So?” Gerard asks when Mikey puts down the phone.
“He still wants to cut out your insides, and other parts of you we're not talking about, to give them to the dogs.”
“They don't have dogs,” Gerard says.
Mikey gives him a look. “I didn't say their dogs, Gee, and that is beside the fucking point, anyway. You lost their trust.”
“I know,” Gerard sounds defeated.
“I know why you did it, but it still was wrong. You should have talked about this first with the Letos.”
“It's not like I gave the Winchesters their names!” Gerard tries to explain. He takes out his pack, lights one and takes a violent drag. Mikey waits. Gerard takes another drag and doesn't say a thing for a while. “I know it was wrong, but I need the Winchesters on our side. They know these kind of hunters.”
“Because they are these kind of hunters?” Mikey asks carefully.
Gerard shakes his head. He doesn't think so. “Because they were raised by one.”
“You think the disappearance of John Winchester has something to do with all this, do you?”
“We can't be sure. He can be possessed and out to get us, or the Winchesters, or someone else. Who the hell knows?”
“Unlikely.”
“His disappearance is suspicious at best.”
“Not going to object.”
~+~
It happens the first time three weeks after he's back at Bob's. He's alone at home because Gerard makes sure, now, that he has at least one day a week for himself to do whatever he wants to do. William knows he’s thinking about shifting, but sometimes he doesn't shift. Sometimes he just sits around or runs in the backyard. Tries to write something like a normal person.
He's standing in front of the big mirror in the upstairs bathroom with the white tiles and tries not to think about who he's becoming.
When it's over he's breathing hard and staring at himself. He was expecting Gerard because Gerard always felt safe and warm, like a part of him maybe. Or Emilie because she feels like love and like being cared for. What William wasn't expecting was this body; Dean fucking Winchester. He knew he was kind of obsessed about the guy from the first time he saw Dean, but this? This takes his obsession to a whole new level.
He stretches a hand out carefully and touches the mirror. He has no idea if it's safe to touch himself. Probably not, the last time he tried that he was Gerard, and things got a bit messy. The surface feels cold against his fingertips. He runs along the lines of Dean's body with his finger on the glass. It's a good body, a strong body and a good looking one. He can understand why people want that body, want to share a bed with that body. Want to share a bed with Dean.
He takes a deep breath and turns away. He switches the shower on. The blood, bones and flesh need to be washed away. He knows he'll shift back in a few hours anyway and will have to do it again, but he can't stand being like this. It always feels like parts of him are dying.
~+~
The second time it happens it isn't such a shock anymore, because he had time to think about it. It's strength; Dean is a strong person inside and out. That’s what his own non-human side is looking for right now. His body tries to make these qualities his own. William isn't sure how he feels about it, but it can't be a bad thing to be strong and independent.
He is staring at himself when he hears the sound of the front door. He knows immediately that it's Gerard, he recognizes him by the way he walks. Well, fuck, he thinks, but the panic he is waiting for doesn't come. He’s still naked and his body is a poem in blood and small bones, but the panic doesn't set in.
Strange.
He hears Gerard run up the stairs and then he hesitates at the door to the bathroom.
“You in there, William?”
“Yes,” William answers.
“Okay...I left my wallet on the sink, could you just throw it out or something, please?” Gerard asks.
Oh, William thinks, that is the reason Gerard is back. He looks around and yeah, on the ground close to the sink is the wallet.
“Sure,” he replies scooping it up. He doesn't really think when he turns and opens the door.
Gerard is staring and then takes sharp breath. “You're him...” he whispers and his hand reaches out to touch, like he doesn't even know he's doing it. Like the first time he did it. The panic still doesn't come, William's own breathing is very calm.
“Yes, it just happened,” he answers and Gerard's eyes snap to his face, he wants to snatch his hand away, but it's too late. It makes contact with William's skin and he can't help the noise he makes. The wallet falls to the ground with a soft noise.
~16~
Dean is dreaming. The only difference this time is that he knows he's dreaming. He is standing in a bathroom. He doesn't know it, but that doesn't matter, he's seen a thousand bathrooms over the years he's been hunting things now.
Something falls from his fingers to the ground with a soft noise, it looks like a wallet. Gerard is staring at him, his hand touching Dean's chest carefully. His fingers feel surprisingly soft. Dean is kind of horrified and a good part turned on. Gerard bites his lip, like he isn't sure what the hell he's doing or should do. Dean knows exactly what Gerard should be doing right the fuck now. A part of Dean is shocked about the sheer lust he’s feeling in that moment. It's like he'll burst if Gerard doesn't touch him. He makes a noise, can feel it in his whole body. It makes him shiver and then he grabs Gerard's hand, pulling him close against him. Gerard's shocked breath hits his neck, his clothes feel uncomfortable on Dean's skin.
“Off,” he says, tearing at Gerard's shirt.
Gerard’s still hesitating and Dean should, too, he knows he should. He is not fucking attracted to men at all - or wasn't before, at least; but strange shit is happening and this, at least, will lead to orgasms in the near future and Dean’s never had anything against orgasms since he first discovered their existence.
“I-” Gerard tries to say, but Dean cuts him off by grabbing his jaw and crashing their lips together. Even Gerard's lips feel soft, not like a girl's, no girl he ever met had lips that chapped, but they still manage to be yielding under Dean's own. He bites softly and Gerard makes a delicious noise, his hands come up to Dean's hips and he presses closer. Dean can feel Gerard's desperation like his own.
“Off,” Dean repeats into the space between their lips and Gerard nods. It borders on physical pain to let go of Gerard and let him take his clothes off. Gerard is so fucking pale that Dean would’ve thought he was a vampire if he hadn't known better. Dean can see every vein under his skin - they're like lines, like roads, like vines; crossing, meeting and disappearing again. As soon as the last piece of Gerard's clothing (a sock) is gone, Dean has him against his own body again. Skin-on-skin contact, warm and firm. He lets his hands run down Gerard's sides, his thighs, his ass. Gerard's fingers are restless on Dean as well - hot points of contact, fuelling the fire inside Dean even more. He has no idea what he wants except for Gerard not ever stopping doing this. Gerard kisses his neck, his throat, and licks over his collarbone. He knows what he's doing, there is no shame or hesitation now. Gerard is fully into this. Dean can feel his dick against his thigh, swelling. Gerard is rubbing against him in a maddeningly slow way.
“What do you want?” Gerard whispers and Dean wants to answer ' to fuck you senseless', but he can't because he has no idea what he's doing. So he goes with the things he knows. He backs Gerard against the wall and kisses him hard and messy to shut him up. He needs time to think about this. It's not that he has no idea how gay sex works, he fucked some girls that way when he was younger. When he didn't want to look at them because he didn't want their faces to blur together with time.
Gerard bites his lip hard enough to make it sting, he gasps. “The hell?”
“Tell me what you want.”
“You're into talking, aren't you?” Dean asks.
Gerard grins. “You have no idea.”
From there it's just a blur of emotions and feelings. Gerard's soft pants and gasps as Dean strokes his hip, digs his fingernails into his pale skin. The harsh intake of breath when he grabs Gerard's dick. Gerard's mouth is absolutely filthy; it makes Dean crazy looking at it and hearing the things he's saying. Dean always liked having partners who left shame at the door as soon as they entered a bedroom. Gerard is for-fucking-sure that kind of person.
Gerard grabs his hips hard and buries his face in Dean's neck, where he bites down onto that tender place between shoulder and neck when he comes.
Dean tangles his fingers in Gerard's hair and lets him catch his breath before he guides his head against the wall again. Gerard's lips are shiny red. His eyes half closed, his lashes look really dark on his cheeks. Sweat and come cooling between them on his stomach. Dean wipes his hand on a close by towel and looks at Gerard until Gerard smiles and looks back at him. He smirks then, and sinks to his knees slowly.
“You can't talk with your mouth full...” Dean says, his breath hitching.
Gerard smirks. “As if you weren't thinking about it all the fucking time.”
Dean really wants to answer to that, because he wasn’t, or he thinks he wasn’t, but what the hell. Gerard blows on his hard dick to make him pay attention and Dean puts his hands to the wall while he looks down. He isn't sure he could control himself if he tangled his fingers into Gerard's blood-red hair.
The first lick is a shock to his system, he shivers because it's so fucking good and then Gerard is done with playing around and just goes down to business. Gerard's short, bitten fingernails are digging into his ass as he's dragging his tongue over Dean's dick. Dean doesn't think he can take much more of this.
“Gerard...” he presses out, because it's always fucking polite to let someone who’s sucking your dick know that you're about to come. Gerard sucks harder and Dean nearly expects him to not fucking care, but then his lips are gone and his fingers tighten around Dean's dick. It doesn't take much more, he leans his head against the wall and tries to catch his breath. Fuck, he thinks. “Fuck,” he whispers.
Gerard, that smug bastard, kisses his thigh and makes a muscle quiver with it. Dean takes another sharp breath and ignores the urge to kick him.
~+~
Sam looks at him the whole fucking time in the diner while they're having breakfast. He doesn't want to know. This dream wasn't a normal dream. When he woke up he could fucking feel a bruise forming there where Gerard bite him in his dream. The flesh there feels tender and when he touched it during his shower this morning it made him shiver. He was suppressing a fucking moan. No matter what Way says , that kid is something and he does something to Dean. That or he's going crazy, which is a real possibility.
“Okay,” Sam says and puts his knife aside. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Something's eating at you, spit it out!” Sam says, and Dean chokes on his pancake. Fuck his brother, seriously.
“Just a dream I had,” he answers, taking a sip of coffee. Sam gives him a look and Dean thinks: Oh. “Not one of those! I still don't have freaky Jedi powers.”
“What was it, then?”
“You don't want to know.”
Sam gives him a sceptical look and then says: “Oh, yeah, no, I really don't want to know anything about those kind of dreams! Urgh...”
Sometimes it's a blessing how well he knows Sammy.
~+~
A few hours later, Dean is ready to kill something. He is rubbing that bruise restlessly and thinking about Way in a way that he really shouldn't. While Sam is gone for groceries, he grabs his phone and dials Way's number.
“Yeah?” comes the sleepy answer. His voice sounds rough, Dean thinks, like he sucked dick all night. Mental images, mental images, he chants in his head.
“Were you sucking dick last night?” he asks.
“Uhm, are you psychic?” Gerard says with an uneasy laugh. He's still not fully awake, Dean knows, because no sane person would admit something like that to a stranger. Dean sighs.
He wants to say he's not, but he thinks they might have a problem. He might have a problem.
“Mine?”
“Uhm, William's... but he was in your body. Wait! What the hell is going on?!” he asks. Dean can hear him grab for something. He's sure it's coffee or a cigarette. When he hears Gerard exhale he knows it's a cigarette.
“Shit just got from bad to worse, I think,” Dean answers.
“Dean?”
“We're on our way over and I'm not fucking happy about this shit,” he says and doesn't wait for a reply before he hangs up. Well, fuck. He puts his phone away and rubs the damned bruise again and then he waits for Sam to come back.
~+~
They stop at a nondescript hotel somewhere in the middle of nowhere and he dreads going to bed, but they drove like crazy people and he is really fucking tired.
He dreams as soon as he hits the pillow.
~+~
The next morning he feels like he didn't sleep at all. The bruise is a reminder that everything that happened really happened and they need to get to the Ways soon. He remembers everything from the last dream, as well; it wasn't about him, but it felt like it. He was someone else. He was someone else and he was masturbating in a very careful, soft, tender way. Like he had all the time in the world to do it.
Dean honestly can't remember when he had enough time to jerk off like that.
~+~
“The gruff-looking guy on the front porch is Bob, I imagine,” Sam says as they stop a bit away from the house.
Bob is holding a cigarette with one hand and a shotgun with the other, like he does it every fucking day. Dean just knows that Bob doesn't take shit.
“Yeah, seems so,” he answers, and gets out of the car.
Bob nods once when they pass him to knock on the door.
A pretty red haired woman opens the door and smiles. “They're in the kitchen, making dinner and plotting the death of dragons,” she says. “You can't miss them, just cross the hall and follow the noise.”
“Okay,” Dean replies with a smile. Bob makes a noise.
“Bob!” she laughs, and he shrugs. “Have to go. See you guys later!” She says and is running over the grass to a small green car. Suddenly she turns around and runs back. She grabs Bob, kisses him messily, and says: “Give them the good blankets,” before she's off again.
Bob shakes his head and takes a drag of his cigarette.
“They think we're staying,” Sam says, astonished.
Dean nods, he has the same feeling.
~+~
When they enter the kitchen, it's a complete mess.
“Tomatoes?” Mikey asks, waving a knife in their direction.
“Sandwiches?” Dean wants to know.
“Yes, so tomatoes?”
“Yes,” Sam says. “Thanks.”
“Tea? Coffee?” William asks, Dean thinks he seems more in control now; less afraid.
“Coffee,” Dean replies.
Sam takes a chair and the tea and waits. They both do, even if Dean was the one whose idea it was to come here. Dean needed to see Gerard - he has just no idea why.
~+~
Later, after they've eaten, Gerard takes him aside to the fucking library and pours him a whisky.
“Okay, what the hell is wrong?” he asks, he's taking out his pack and lighting one, takes a deep drag. Dean can't not stare at his lips for a second too long.
“Shit is going down. I have no idea how or why, but,” he downs the drink, puts the glass down a bit too hard and drags the collar of his shirt aside.
“Oh, fuck,” Gerard says, staring at him.
“I reckon you remember that?”
“Uhm, yeah, but I didn't have sex with you - I mean, he looked like you, but it wasn't you!” Gerard takes a nervous drag of his cigarette and exhales slowly.
“Really? How the hell can this happen?” he demands to know.
“Maybe you’re not so different from us after all?” Gerard speculates.
“What do you mean?” Dean seriously doesn't like where this is going.
“Maybe there is a connection between you and William, you and me, and Sam and Mikey -”
“He doesn't even have siblings!” Dean explodes.
“We don't know that,” Gerard says calmly.
Dean pours another drink, he doesn't think he can deal with this. “So, what? I have weird sex mojo?”
“Do you get easily into other people's pants?” Gerard asks.
“Yeah, but, well, I’m hot,” Dean answers. Gerard rolls his eyes. “You would so do me.”
“I did you,” Gerard smirks and Dean has to look away. This is too fucking weird. He pours another drink.
“Don't get drunk, now. Does Sam know why you're here?”
“Does it look to you like I'm talking about sex with my baby brother?” Dean bites back.
Gerard laughs. “Oh, fuck. This - I was your first man!”
Dean drowns the drink and makes for the bottle, but Gerard is faster. Their fingers brush and Gerard nearly lets the bottle slip and crash on the ancient-looking carpet.
Dean closes his eyes as he snatches his hand away. “There’s something else. I was dreaming again tonight. But I wasn't me, I was someone else, and it was one of those dreams again.”
“Care to share some details?” Gerard asks. He is standing a few feet away now, cigarette between his lips and hands in the pocket of his hoodie.
“I really don't. Can't you just ask him what he did last night, and who he was?” Dean says.
Gerard cocks his head. He takes the cigarette, puts it in the ashtray and nods. “Sure.”
“Thanks.”
~+~
Gerard is back some fifteen, twenty minutes later.
“He was Jared - uhm - this is getting really messy.”
“I guess Jared is the name of one of the other siblings you know with powers?” It's not a real question. Dean knows the answer to that.
“Yes. Strange.”
“You think?”
“I just don't get how this all fits together.”
“I think you should call Jared and his brother.”
“They're already on their way here, Mikey called them. Jared isn't talking to me and I think he still wants to kill me.”
“Just blow him, I'm sure he'll forgive you.”
“Done that and, yeah, no,” Gerard answers, he looks a bit crushed. Dean decides he seriously doesn't want to know.
“Okay.”
~17~
When Gerard stumbles into the kitchen the next morning he is greeted with the smell of coffee and a death glare.
Jared is chain smoking in Emilie's kitchen. Mikey shrugs and hands Gerard a mug of coffee. It seems that Jared isn't anywhere near ready to talk to Gerard without first holding a knife to Gerard's very sensitive neck.
Dean looks like he slept with a gun under his pillow; he probably did. Gerard can't even blame him. He would've done the same thing if it was him in that situation. Jared is drinking tea while he talks to William quietly in a corner. Gerard has no idea where Shannon is, maybe with Bob. He takes a sip of coffee and closes his eyes while he sighs.
Dean makes a noise and Jared laughs. It sounds surprised. Gerard bets everything he has that even Jared was surprised by his own laugh.
This whole situation is pretty messed up, even by their standards. He takes another sip of his coffee and lights a cigarette.
“So, you got to him, hmm?” Jared asks, exhaling. For a second Gerard isn't sure Jared actually is speaking to him, then he nods.
“Seems so. For the record: It wasn't my fault.”
Dean puts his head into his hands and exhales. Gerard feels a bit sorry for him.
“So, what the hell are we going to do?” Sam asks from the corner, and everyone turns to look at him.
“We have no idea. We should just gather and exchange all the information we have so far and keep it to ourselves.”
“Uhm,” Sam says.
“What?”
“We told Bobby,” Dean mumbles.
“Great!” Jared takes a violent drag of his cigarette.
“Bob knows, too, and Emilie,” Mikey throws in.
“We trust them,” Shannon says from behind. Gerard doesn't turn around. If Shannon wanted to set him on fire he would've done it already.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Dean snaps.
Great, Gerard thinks. This is going really great.
“That we don't trust you guys, isn't it obvious?” Shannon says and to Mikey: “He's the slow one, right?”
Gerard steps in front of Dean to prevent a fight. “Shannon,” he says softly. Shannon's eyes bore into him as he turns in Gerard's direction. It's kind of creepy as fuck. Gerard takes another drag of his cigarette.
“You're lucky I didn't set your favourite hoodie on fire,” Shannon gives back, and Mikey snickers. Sometimes it's hard to tell whose side Mikey's on.
’Yours. Always yours, Gee.’
’Thanks,’ Gerard answers.
“Okay, not a word to anyone. After all, hunters are hunting these kids. I bet one or the other is still interested in William.”
“Hunters don't seem to be the only ones,” Jared throws in.
Gerard nods. “True. Something is after us and William. Something big and scary.”
“And Dad's missing,” Sam says.
“You think he was tracking that thing down?” Jared asks, exhaling smoke. Gerard has no idea how Jared does it, but even smoking looks like fucking seduction when he does it.
“Possibly. Since I can remember he’s been trying to find that thing that killed our mom,” Sam answers. Dean doesn't look like he loves to share their family business, but he keeps quiet.
“She died in a fire, right?” Jared asks.
“Yeah. When I was six months old. Dad saw her burning on the ceiling of the nursery.”
“Sounds like someone was making a statement,” Jared answers.
Dean’s head snaps in his direction. “A statement?”
“Yes, a statement. That thing wanted your Dad to see it, wanted you to possibly go after it. You Dad’s an ex-marine, right?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Dean wants to know.
“Well, he was trained to go after a threat. This thing killed his wife... One and one makes two.”
“You think we were set up!” Sam throws in.
Mikey lights a cigarette. “Makes sense to me. I have to admit, Helena was preparing us for war, as well; after our parents died.”
“How do they fit in?” Dean asks with a nod in the Letos direction.
“Our parents were hunters,” Jared answers.
“What?” Gerard says. What the fuck?
“They were killed?”
“In a car accident. It burned out,” Shannon confirms.
“I see a pattern here,” Sam says.
“No shit,” Gerard takes another drag of his nearly finished cigarette. “Kids with hunter parents - and powers.”
“Our parents weren't hunters at that time,” Sam throws in.
“But they knew your Dad would go after whatever killed your mom, because that's your Dad's nature,” Mikey says.
“True enough.”
“I don't have hunter parents, either,” comes William's soft voice from the corner.
“We don't know that,” Gerard answers.
“Oh... okay.”
“And you sure as hell have powers,” Dean says.
“That is because I'm not human,” William replies.
Dean looks a bit taken aback at that simple statement. It came kind of out of nowhere. “What?”
“I'm a shape shifter,” William says softly.
“You live with a shape shifter? Don't you know they're all crazy?” Dean snaps, at the Ways in particular and everyone in general.
“He doesn't seem crazy to me,” Sam says.
“Anyone would be nuts after what they did to him!”
William flinches in his corner and Jared is instantly at his side without touching. Just hovering.
“Don't do anything stupid, now, or I'll have to kill you,” he warns, and Dean puts his hands flat on the kitchen table.
“Maybe we should calm down now and meet again for lunch in a few hours?” Gerard asks.
The Letos nod, and so does Sam. Gerard counts that as a win. “Great.”
~+~
“Maybe that wasn't the best time to tell them about you, Bill,” Gerard says.
“I don't think there is ever a good time to tell someone something like this,” William gives back. He's sitting curled up on the couch, and Gerard tries not to stare at him. They had sex. It's so fucking weird, and the weirdest thing is that Mikey didn't know. He couldn't feel Mikey at the back of his head during the whole thing, but he knows that Dean could feel everything at his end, and he was miles away, states even. What the fuck.
“We're connected in some way, and I have no idea why or what for,” William says into Gerard's thoughts.
“Same here. I know Dean could feel everything while we...” he waves his hand and William smiles.
“Had sex,” he supplies.
“Yes, but Mikey wasn't there. He doesn't know yet.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but now I am. I just want to know what they want us for.”
“They as in who?”
“Demons? I have no idea,” Gerard admits. “And we have a house full of hunters.”
“What demon would want a bunch of hunters with powers and a shape shifter against them? That's kind of suicidal, isn't it?”
“Maybe this whole thing wasn't planned like this? After all, the Letos aren't hunters.”
“But maybe they should have been,” William says.
Gerard nods. Yeah, he was thinking that, too. “Something somewhere went wrong and now we're here and have no clue.”
~+~
“Someone else find it odd that you are seven guys with powers?” Emilie asks.
“I don't have any powers,” Dean throws in.
“You have a mind link with a shape shifter. I'll call that a power,” Emilie answers, rolling her eyes.
“That's not... I didn't do it. He does something to me.”
“Maybe, but he’s never formed a link with anyone else,” Mikey says softly.
Dean keeps quiet, as does William.
“Okay, so seven? Seven boys with powers. What would they want us for?”
“And we have really odd powers - I mean, mind reading and healing, Shannon can kill someone with his mind-”
“As can Sam,” Dean throws in.
“Can he?”
“I can only see things in my nightmares. I have no Jedi powers.”
“Maybe they're still developing, who knows?”
“I think all of your powers are developing, and fast, now that you’re together and linked,” Emilie says, firm.
“I don't like where this is going,” Dean replies.
“I don't like it either, but I think Emilie is right. I was able to heal much more severe wounds after I met Gerard.” Jared says, leaning back in his chair.
“I think you're feeding off each other and magnifying your powers that way.”
“That's a good thing, right?” Mikey asks.
“I would say so, but it always depends what they want that power for - and I’m sure it isn't something good.”
“Ancient prophecy?” Mikey asks.
“There is one I can think of immediately-”
“She's going to say the Apocalypse, right?” Dean interrupts.
Gerard nods, he has that suspicion, too.
“The apocalypse,” Emilie finishes.
“You’re freaking kidding me!” Dean says.
“No, Bob and Bobby are on that one. There are seven big seals and, well... you’re seven guys with powers. What are the odds?”
“I, maybe, kind of hate everything right now,” Shannon says.
Jared and Gerard nod.
~+~
Gerard is having his third cigarette in a row when Dean sits down next to him on the porch.
“The freaking apocalypse, hmm?” he says.
“Seems so.”
“I wish I never crossed paths with you guys,” Dean sighs.
“Same here. I guess.... well, I mean-” Gerard takes a deep drag, blushing a bit.
Dean laughs. “Yeah, the sex was hot.” He stares at the gate in the distance and Gerard waits. “I usually don't go for guys at all,” he confesses.
“I figured; not during, but after... I mean, it was kind of weird, like William wasn't himself. Because he knows everything about sex that there is to know,” he takes a deep drag and tries not to think about it anymore. William is safe now, no one can do him any harm here.
“He seems like a good kid,” Dean admits.
“He is a good kid, and I want to kill everyone who did that to him with my bare hands.”
Dean nods in understanding.
“So, you think we have a chance on surviving that thing?” Gerard asks.
“The freaking apocalypse? Yeah. I do.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Sam can see the future,” Dean answers with a grin.
~end~
“Don’t yell!” Gerard says tired. “Why did you even call?”
“Because I think you need to hear my voice outside your brain, so it makes an impact. You can’t ignore me when I’m yelling into your fucking ear, Gee!” Mikey answers.
“I can’t ignore you when you’re in my head either,” Gerard says.
Mikey sighs. “You do. You do ignore me and tell the fucking Winchesters that Pastor Jim died on our watch. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’m tired of all this bullshit. I am tired of them hiding, I want them to be afraid and I want them to know we’re hunting these bastards down and I tell you something, Mikes, Sam doesn’t seem like someone who’s cool with shit like that.”
“Maybe you’re right about Sam, but I sure as hell know you’re not about Dean. They’re cold-hearted hunters.”
“No, they aren’t. Because they have each other.”
Mikey is silent on the other side of the line, Gerard waits. He hears Mikey light a cigarette and inhale, exhale, inhale deeply again.
“Okay, maybe they won’t kill you two. But they know about William now-“
“I didn’t tell them.”
“Sam saw him, Gee.”
“Sam saw something,” Gerard stresses, “They’re looking for skin walkers, not shifters here, and they won’t find any.”
“You really want to bet your life on that? William’s life?” Mikey asks.
“No. We’re packing up right now and heading home soon.”
“Thank god,” Mikey answers.
~+~
William is washing the last dishes when someone knocks on the door. They fixed it late last night. It was nice to do something with his hands with Gerard so close by.
Gerard has a knife in hand as he opens it.
“Sam,” he says. He sounds surprised, William thinks.
“Way,” Sam answers with a short nod.
“You wanna come in?”
“You wanna put away that knife?” Sam asks.
Gerard nods, lets Sam enter and puts the knife on the kitchen table. “You fixed the door,” Sam observes.
“Had to, we don’t want people to think we’re violent freaks,” Gerard answers. Sam’s cheeks go a bit pink.
“Sorry for that. Dean is more the shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later type,” he says.
“I figured. So, what do you want?”
“Tea?” William asks, carefully. Gerard turns to look at him and smiles.
Sam looks a bit startled. “Tea would be nice, thank you.” He sits down far away from William. William really appreciates the gesture. Sam wants him to know that he isn’t a threat. William smiles at him and turns to make tea. The mugs he uses leave wet rings on the counter.
“What brings you here?” Gerard asks again.
“Pastor Jim and the other hunters… and that your parents died in a fire,” Sam says.
William sets mugs down on the table and sits close to Gerard. Gerard gives Sam a look.
“My mother died in a fire when I was six months old,” Sam continues.
“Mikey was one year,” Gerard says. “Both our parents died. I don’t see a connection.”
Sam seems to battle with himself for a moment before he says. “Do you have powers?”
“Like a Jedi, young grasshopper?”
Sam laughs. It sounds like it was startled out of him. “Yes… I think,” he bites his lip. He looks really young like that right now, William thinks.
Gerard is having a conversation in his head with Mikey. William knows them well enough by now to know these things. Sam gives him a look and then his eyes linger on William’s face. He seems, to William, like he’s ashamed of something. Like he knows exactly what William went through. William crosses his arms over his chest and stares at the tabletop.
“We do,” Gerard says and William’s head snaps up. He can see Gerard’s profile. Even like that, staring Sam down, he looks really pretty to William.
“We?” Sam asks.
“My brother and I. We can read minds.”
“You can read minds?” Sam asks, sceptical. William snickers.
“Not other people’s. Just each other’s. “
“You can have whole conversations in your head with your brother?”
“He had one just right now. I imagine Mikey is pissed about this,” William throws in.
“He’s pissed as hell. He doesn’t trust the Winchesters,” Gerard answers, “You guys have a reputation,” he adds in Sam’s direction.
Sam nods. “I saw him,” Sam admits after an endless eternity of silence.
Gerard’s body gets tense. “You saw him?”
“In my dreams. Nightmares. I have nightmares about things that are going to happen. Usually, that is, and then when we investigated Pastor Jim’s disappearance I had dreams about William. I didn’t know then it was him. I didn’t know anything about him.”
“You can see the future in your dreams?” Gerard asks.
“Yes.”
“And your brother?”
“He can’t.”
“Obviously. But what can he do?” Gerard asks.
“Nothing. He is normal. He isn’t a…” Sam waves his hand in a universal gesture that tells everything and nothing at once.
“Freak?” William supplies quietly.
“Yes,” Sam says. He sounds defeated to William. Like he kind of hates it and doesn’t at the same time. It’s how William felt all the time before he was with the Ways.
“You sure your brother doesn’t have any powers?” Gerard asks.
“Yes. He would’ve told me,” Sam answers. “Why?”
“Because all the people with powers we know about who have siblings, well, their siblings have powers too.”
“Dean doesn’t,” Sam repeats firmly.
William thinks he doesn’t sound too sure, but Gerard nods like he believes it. What else can he do, anyway? If Dean didn’t tell his brother, he was either telling the truth or he was lying and Sam wouldn’t know any better. No one would.
“So, there are other people like us?” Sam asks.
Gerard nods.
“You’re not going to tell me who they are, are you?”
“No. People who helped us deal with the hunter-ring that killed and raped children. They aren’t hunters, don’t even bother trying to find them via Bobby Singer,” Gerard answers.
“You know Bobby?”
“Everyone knows Bobby,” Gerard replies with a smile.
“And Bobby knows everyone,” Sam gives back.
“Well, he knows people who know people…” Gerard admits.
~+~
Gerard is playing Bowie while they drive back to Bob’s. William knows they’ll stay the night at a motel somewhere, but he isn’t afraid of it. He’d done it on the way to the cottage once before.
All in all, he thinks this little trip was worth everything. Being with the Winchesters and eating dinner with them wasn’t too bad. He feels stronger now and doesn’t think Sam and Dean want to kill him for what he is, but maybe protect him for who he is instead. At least Sam, maybe.
~+~
Mikey is holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other when they park the car in front of the house. He’s wearing one of Gerard’s hoodies.
“I want to punch you,” is the first thing he says when Gerard gets out of the car.
“I want to hug you,” Gerard replies and Mikey huffs out smoke. “Did you tell Bob and Emilie?”
“Of fucking course. They want to punch you, as well.”
Gerard smiles and Mikey hands over the coffee. “Thanks.”
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“That they can’t be that bad…”
“You based that purely on Dean’s car,” Mikey sighs.
“And how he is with Sam.”
Mikey nods, because he understands.
~+~
“You think we should call Jared and Shannon?” William asks. He’s clutching a mug of apple tea while Gerard makes a sandwich.
“Yes. It’s possible that Dean wants to find them.”
“It’s possible that Sam wants to find them. He is the one with the freaky Jedi powers,” Mikey throws in.
“Hey, maybe he could! I mean, you just said it yourself: Freaky Jedi powers.”
“Well, fuck,” Mikey answers.
“Definitely going to call them.”
“They’re going to kill you for talking about this shit to the Winchesters, you know that, right?” Mikey asks with a grin.
“I would like to see them again,” William says softly and Gerard smiles at him.
“I would like that, too.”
~14~
Dean is very aware that Sam is staring at him all the fucking time now. Since he came back from his little chat with Way he’s looking at Dean like Dean’s hiding something from him. He has no idea what Way and Sam where talking about, but he knows that he doesn’t like it. Not one bit.
“Okay, spit it out!” he says, frustrated.
“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sam replies. He stares out of the car window instead now.
“You went to Way - against my better judgement.” Sam rolls his eyes at him, but he ignores it, continuing with: “And now you’re staring at me like I’m hiding something. I’m not the one hiding something here, Sam.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sam asks sharply.
“You didn’t tell me about your nightmares until it was nearly too fucking late. You go out in the middle of the night, you talk to Way and now you’re refusing to talk about shit with me.”
“Dad never taught us to talk about shit, Dean,” Sam stresses.
“Maybe, but I’m sure Jess talked.”
“Oh fuck you!” Sam answers hotly. He is nearly yelling at Dean and Dean doesn’t care one bit. This is as close to a conversation as they’ll get.
“Tell me what is going on in that head of yours!”
“Fine! Way - Gerard, said that all the siblings with powers he knows about, all have powers.”
Dean huffs. “What are you saying?”
“Do you have powers?”
“Like your Sixth Sense thing?”
“Yes!
“No,” Dean answers calmly.
“But Gerard and Mikey they can read each other’s minds and-“, he bites his lip and keeps quiet.
“I don’t have any freaky powers, Sam,” Dean repeats, his voice soft.
Sam nods. Dean knows he’s still not believing it, but there is nothing he can do about it.
They drive to Bobby’s in silence.
~+~
“Jim is dead then?” Bobby asks, pouring whisky into glasses.
Dean nods. “That’s what Way said.”
“You believe he’s done it himself?”
“I don’t know. If it’s true what Way told us, yeah, maybe. It would explain all the crazy shit if Pastor Jim was possessed,” Sam says.
“So a bunch of hunters and other scum were hunting non-human children to amuse themselves?” Bobby asks, and he sounds disgusted.
Sam feels dirty just thinking about it. He nods. “Seems like it. The boy Gerard had with him, I’m sure he is the one from my nightmares. He… the things they did to him.” He grabs a glass and downs it in one go.
“They want our help on this case?”
“I wouldn’t mind helping them to find all of these people.”
“We have to find Dad first,” Dean throws in.
Sam doesn’t bother to point out, again, that Dad doesn’t want to be found. It’s like talking to a brick wall.
Bobby shares a look with him and Dean pours another shot.
Sam knows his brother; Dean is going to get drunk and then get laid. He’ll stumble into their room in the wee morning hours and will wake Sam up with it and then fall face down on his bed.
Sam can’t wait for it to happen.
~+~
Sam calls Gerard as soon as he can’t hear the Impala anymore.
“I want in,” he says.
“I - what?”
“Gerard?”
“Mikey,” the voice on the other side answers. “Winchester. Sam, I guess?”
“Yeah. Can I talk to Gerard?”
“He’s showering, but he’s listening in.”
“In your head, right…”
“I know how crazy that sounds, but you dream the future.”
“And apparently the past, now, too,” Sam replies.
“So you want to help us find these bastards?”
“Yes, and I want to find some answers, as well,” Sam says.
“About who you are? How this Jedi thing works and why your brother doesn’t have any powers?”
“He says he doesn’t have any, but I didn’t have them as a child; they came after. You and Gerard, you were always like this, right?”
“Yes.”
“And the other people you talked about? Where they always like this as well?”
“Yes. As far as I can tell,” Mikey answers.
“Maybe my freakishness has nothing to do with yours….” Sam says.
“I don’t know, man, it seems pretty unlikely. Siblings with powers. There aren’t that many. We only know of you guys and another pair of brothers.”
“Oh…” Sam seems to think stuff over. “Their parents died in a fire as well?”
“I have no idea. They aren’t hunters. They don’t even cross paths with hunters often…”
“I can sense an epic back-story here,” Sam says.
Mikey laughs and it sounds really amused. “You have no idea.”
“Does Gerard want to meet up to compare notes?”
“Yes, Gerard does,” Mikey answers and gives him his e-mail and an address.
~+~
Sam doesn’t have much on his dreams and nightmares, but he is good at research, so he digs a bit deeper. With Gerard’s help, he’s sure, he can find a common denominator. There’s always something. And how the hell does Pastor Jim fit into all that?
He sighs, leans back in the chair and closes his eyes. If only Dean had powers, too; then… well, but Dean doesn’t. Never had, so it’s a moot point to think about and wish for it.
Working with the Ways, finding the ring of hunters, and the demon that possessed Pastor Jim, that’s important now.
Also: finding Dad.
It’s more important for Dean than for Sam, but still.
~+~
Sam is drumming his knuckles against the tabletop nervously while he waits. He recognizes the melody and stops. Fucking Dean, seriously, he thinks. Smoke on the water, of course.
He’s just ordering another coffee when Gerard enters the coffee shop. He’s smiling, but Sam honestly can’t tell what it means.
Gerard sits down, orders a coffee and only says hi, as they’re waiting for the waitress to bring it to their table.
“So, comparing notes, hmm?” he smiles again and takes a sip of his coffee.
“Yeah,” Sam answers, staring, because it looks obscene how blissed out Gerard is after just one sip of coffee. It’s a bit like porn. Sam feels uncomfortable watching it.
“Let’s see what you have, then,” Gerard says and Sam takes out his laptop.
He doesn’t have much, he has only vague ideas of things that happened and things that will happen - or maybe not, if they can get there in time.
Gerard nods and hmms and doesn’t say much. Sam is kind of glad for it. All this sounded much more sane when it was only in his head.
“And we have no idea how Pastor Jim fits in here,” he closes. He takes a sip of his nearly cold coffee and grimaces.
Gerard looks sympathetic. “Mikey and Bob have an idea,” he answers. Sam makes a vague ‘go on’ gesture. “They think that Pastor Jim was possessed to lead us there. To lead Jared and Shannon there as well. To lead you guys there. The demon knew you would investigate his disappearance.”
“Yeah, sure but they couldn’t know you would meet William in a parking lot somewhere in the middle of nowhere,” Sam counters.
Gerard hmms again like he’s thinking this over. “I’m not so sure. They have ways of finding stuff out. I just have no idea what they would want with us.”
“Well, I have an idea and it isn’t pretty,” Sam answers. “Maybe they wanted us to kill you guys for what happened with Pastor Jim. Dean would. I know he would.”
Gerard nods. “We’ve established that he’s more the shoot-first-ask-questions-later type already.” He’s smiling like this doesn’t bother him one bit now that it’s over. He’s fucking strange, even for a hunter, especially for a hunter, Sam thinks.
“So we have nothing but a bunch of very vague assumptions.”
“We’re hunters, that’s what we usually have at the beginning of a case,” Gerard answers.
Well, Sam thinks, yeah. True enough.
~+~
Dean is not amused by all this. He is really pissed off because Sam wanted to meet Way alone. Maybe it was for the best, because Dean still doesn’t trust them and he knows Dad wouldn’t either. This is not how they work their cases. They keep stuff in the family, especially stuff that is about the family. What the hell is Sam even thinking?
“Are you even listening?” Sam asks, looking up from his papers.
“Sure.”
Sam sighs. “What?”
“I have not the slightest why we’re sharing our family business with other people.”
“Because they knew Pastor Jim as well. He raised them like he raised us. He was like family,” Sam answers.
Damn Sam for playing that card. “They aren’t family.”
“They’re like us.”
“No, Sam, they’re like you,” Dean answers, and wants to smack his head against something really hard immediately. Sam’s face closes off like it always does when they try to talk about Dad or Sam’s powers. Powers that freak Dean out and are still developing.
“Fine! They’re like me and I want to know what the hell is wrong with me, what makes me such a freak of nature.”
Dean keeps silent, he has really no idea what the hell he can say to that. After all, he wants that, too.
~+~
Dean doesn’t dream often, and when he does dream he dreams about sex with faceless, hot women. An endless variety of big breasts, small hands and long legs. Perfect women in every way. It’s always the same - a bit like real life, but better.
So when he wakes up hard, his hand already around his dick, he doesn’t think much about it. Later when he lies there spent listening to his breathing calming down he closes his eyes and groans. Well, fuck. This dream wasn’t about one of these faceless women. Dean isn’t even sure it was about a girl.
When he thinks back to it, it seemed more like a graceful, slender male body. A boy, maybe or a girl with very small breasts.
He sighs; this shit is getting to him.
~15~
“We have nothing,” Mikey says.
“We have the Winchesters on our side.”
“We have Sam on our side, that’s the difference,” Mikey replies. He’s paging through one of the ancient books Emilie keeps lying around like they’re New York Times bestsellers and not worth a lot of money. It’s something about runes, he puts it away. Maybe he’ll come back to it later.
“Where Sam is going Dean is following. You heard Bob. Dean practically raised Sam… It’s a bit scary how co-dependant they are.”
“You’re one to talk,” Mikey says.
Gerard smiles. “Well, we aren’t that messed up.”
“We don’t even have sex alone, Gee…”
Gerard leans back in the chair and waves his brother’s objection away. His cigarette leaving a grey line in the wake of his hand. “I still think we’re the most sane hunters out there. Even if we’re constantly in each other’s heads.”
Mikey can’t really object to that. After all, he thinks that, too.
~+~
Gerard is a bit more than just slightly surprised when Dean calls him on a Saturday morning. He’s groggy, he hasn’t had any coffee yet.
“Hello?”
“You stole our gig,” Dean says.
“Who’s that?” he mumbles and really thinks about just hanging up. He doesn’t feel like dealing with crazy people right now.
“Winchester.”
“Dean…uhm, hello?” He gets up, pats Mikey on the leg to let him know he’s getting up and leaves the room.
“You stole our gig a few weeks back in Jersey?”
“Oh, yeah. It wasn’t a Chupacabra.”
“It wasn’t?”
“Did you read the reports?”
“Yeah, wasn’t pretty.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Gerard answers, balancing a mug, a tin of coffee and the phone. He needs coffee right the fuck now. He doesn’t want to deal with Dean Winchester and the horrors of that case without caffeine in his blood.
“You did steal our gig then,” Dean says.
“We didn’t know it was your gig. We didn’t know who the hell you guys were,” Gerard answers, while he waits for his coffee.
“Same here,” Dean says, and he sounds like he regrets knowing now.
“So, why are you calling?” Gerard asks. He can feel Mikey stir in his brain. Soon enough he’ll ask questions. Gerard has no answers to right now.
“It’s about the kid you have with you.”
“William, his name’s William,” Gerard says firmly.
“Right, William. What is he?” Dean asks. There is an edge to his voice Gerard can’t specify.
“Just a boy we picked up in a parking lot,” Gerard answers as he’s pouring coffee into a mug. Blessed be coffee and the person who first thought of making it out of those funny plants.
“Bullshit, Way!”
“What the hell is going on?”
“He a siren or something?”
“What?” Gerard asks, because, seriously, what?
“A siren? Or something like that?” Dean repeats.
“No, he’s not a siren. Are you okay? You sound stressed,” Gerard says. He feels like laughing, but just knows that it wouldn’t be a good idea.
“Not your business,” Dean grumbles.
“Okay. So he is not a siren and he is not bewitching Sam or you or whatever it is you’re thinking. He’s ours. He’s family.”
“Not by blood,” Dean interrupts.
“What does it matter?” Gerard answers. He takes a sip of coffee and sighs. He starts to feel like a real person again. Dean makes a noise.
“You make porn noses when you drink coffee,” he says and Gerard laughs. He just can’t help himself.
~+~
Something about Dean is fascinating to William. His strength, maybe. He can't really pinpoint it, but his body is reacting to it - the non-human side of him likes what it feels, what it sees. Since they came back to Bob's, William’s feeling restless again. He’s pacing the backyard and doesn't even try to sit down with a book on the porch or in the grass or on the bench. Gerard’s giving him looks, as is Emilie. The only one who isn't giving him looks is Bob, thank god for Bob. Bob is a rock in the fucking stormy sea that is his life, his feelings, his... being a fucking teenager, maybe.
William really has no idea what the hell he’s supposed to do with himself. He thinks he will go crazy and tear his skin from his flesh, and maybe that from his bones too. It's not like he doesn't do it on a regular basis anyway.
Sometimes he feels like snapping at someone, but there’s no one he can snap at.
~+~
Mikey is constantly on the phone with Shannon and Jared because Jared refuses to talk to his brother until he doesn't want to kill Gerard anymore. Those were his exact words. And Mikey believes him. Just because Shannon is the one who can make someone burn like a Christmas tree with only his mind doesn't mean that Jared can't kill people just as well. He is as skilled as anyone Mikey and Gerard have ever seen with a fucking knife.
“So?” Gerard asks when Mikey puts down the phone.
“He still wants to cut out your insides, and other parts of you we're not talking about, to give them to the dogs.”
“They don't have dogs,” Gerard says.
Mikey gives him a look. “I didn't say their dogs, Gee, and that is beside the fucking point, anyway. You lost their trust.”
“I know,” Gerard sounds defeated.
“I know why you did it, but it still was wrong. You should have talked about this first with the Letos.”
“It's not like I gave the Winchesters their names!” Gerard tries to explain. He takes out his pack, lights one and takes a violent drag. Mikey waits. Gerard takes another drag and doesn't say a thing for a while. “I know it was wrong, but I need the Winchesters on our side. They know these kind of hunters.”
“Because they are these kind of hunters?” Mikey asks carefully.
Gerard shakes his head. He doesn't think so. “Because they were raised by one.”
“You think the disappearance of John Winchester has something to do with all this, do you?”
“We can't be sure. He can be possessed and out to get us, or the Winchesters, or someone else. Who the hell knows?”
“Unlikely.”
“His disappearance is suspicious at best.”
“Not going to object.”
~+~
It happens the first time three weeks after he's back at Bob's. He's alone at home because Gerard makes sure, now, that he has at least one day a week for himself to do whatever he wants to do. William knows he’s thinking about shifting, but sometimes he doesn't shift. Sometimes he just sits around or runs in the backyard. Tries to write something like a normal person.
He's standing in front of the big mirror in the upstairs bathroom with the white tiles and tries not to think about who he's becoming.
When it's over he's breathing hard and staring at himself. He was expecting Gerard because Gerard always felt safe and warm, like a part of him maybe. Or Emilie because she feels like love and like being cared for. What William wasn't expecting was this body; Dean fucking Winchester. He knew he was kind of obsessed about the guy from the first time he saw Dean, but this? This takes his obsession to a whole new level.
He stretches a hand out carefully and touches the mirror. He has no idea if it's safe to touch himself. Probably not, the last time he tried that he was Gerard, and things got a bit messy. The surface feels cold against his fingertips. He runs along the lines of Dean's body with his finger on the glass. It's a good body, a strong body and a good looking one. He can understand why people want that body, want to share a bed with that body. Want to share a bed with Dean.
He takes a deep breath and turns away. He switches the shower on. The blood, bones and flesh need to be washed away. He knows he'll shift back in a few hours anyway and will have to do it again, but he can't stand being like this. It always feels like parts of him are dying.
~+~
The second time it happens it isn't such a shock anymore, because he had time to think about it. It's strength; Dean is a strong person inside and out. That’s what his own non-human side is looking for right now. His body tries to make these qualities his own. William isn't sure how he feels about it, but it can't be a bad thing to be strong and independent.
He is staring at himself when he hears the sound of the front door. He knows immediately that it's Gerard, he recognizes him by the way he walks. Well, fuck, he thinks, but the panic he is waiting for doesn't come. He’s still naked and his body is a poem in blood and small bones, but the panic doesn't set in.
Strange.
He hears Gerard run up the stairs and then he hesitates at the door to the bathroom.
“You in there, William?”
“Yes,” William answers.
“Okay...I left my wallet on the sink, could you just throw it out or something, please?” Gerard asks.
Oh, William thinks, that is the reason Gerard is back. He looks around and yeah, on the ground close to the sink is the wallet.
“Sure,” he replies scooping it up. He doesn't really think when he turns and opens the door.
Gerard is staring and then takes sharp breath. “You're him...” he whispers and his hand reaches out to touch, like he doesn't even know he's doing it. Like the first time he did it. The panic still doesn't come, William's own breathing is very calm.
“Yes, it just happened,” he answers and Gerard's eyes snap to his face, he wants to snatch his hand away, but it's too late. It makes contact with William's skin and he can't help the noise he makes. The wallet falls to the ground with a soft noise.
~16~
Dean is dreaming. The only difference this time is that he knows he's dreaming. He is standing in a bathroom. He doesn't know it, but that doesn't matter, he's seen a thousand bathrooms over the years he's been hunting things now.
Something falls from his fingers to the ground with a soft noise, it looks like a wallet. Gerard is staring at him, his hand touching Dean's chest carefully. His fingers feel surprisingly soft. Dean is kind of horrified and a good part turned on. Gerard bites his lip, like he isn't sure what the hell he's doing or should do. Dean knows exactly what Gerard should be doing right the fuck now. A part of Dean is shocked about the sheer lust he’s feeling in that moment. It's like he'll burst if Gerard doesn't touch him. He makes a noise, can feel it in his whole body. It makes him shiver and then he grabs Gerard's hand, pulling him close against him. Gerard's shocked breath hits his neck, his clothes feel uncomfortable on Dean's skin.
“Off,” he says, tearing at Gerard's shirt.
Gerard’s still hesitating and Dean should, too, he knows he should. He is not fucking attracted to men at all - or wasn't before, at least; but strange shit is happening and this, at least, will lead to orgasms in the near future and Dean’s never had anything against orgasms since he first discovered their existence.
“I-” Gerard tries to say, but Dean cuts him off by grabbing his jaw and crashing their lips together. Even Gerard's lips feel soft, not like a girl's, no girl he ever met had lips that chapped, but they still manage to be yielding under Dean's own. He bites softly and Gerard makes a delicious noise, his hands come up to Dean's hips and he presses closer. Dean can feel Gerard's desperation like his own.
“Off,” Dean repeats into the space between their lips and Gerard nods. It borders on physical pain to let go of Gerard and let him take his clothes off. Gerard is so fucking pale that Dean would’ve thought he was a vampire if he hadn't known better. Dean can see every vein under his skin - they're like lines, like roads, like vines; crossing, meeting and disappearing again. As soon as the last piece of Gerard's clothing (a sock) is gone, Dean has him against his own body again. Skin-on-skin contact, warm and firm. He lets his hands run down Gerard's sides, his thighs, his ass. Gerard's fingers are restless on Dean as well - hot points of contact, fuelling the fire inside Dean even more. He has no idea what he wants except for Gerard not ever stopping doing this. Gerard kisses his neck, his throat, and licks over his collarbone. He knows what he's doing, there is no shame or hesitation now. Gerard is fully into this. Dean can feel his dick against his thigh, swelling. Gerard is rubbing against him in a maddeningly slow way.
“What do you want?” Gerard whispers and Dean wants to answer ' to fuck you senseless', but he can't because he has no idea what he's doing. So he goes with the things he knows. He backs Gerard against the wall and kisses him hard and messy to shut him up. He needs time to think about this. It's not that he has no idea how gay sex works, he fucked some girls that way when he was younger. When he didn't want to look at them because he didn't want their faces to blur together with time.
Gerard bites his lip hard enough to make it sting, he gasps. “The hell?”
“Tell me what you want.”
“You're into talking, aren't you?” Dean asks.
Gerard grins. “You have no idea.”
From there it's just a blur of emotions and feelings. Gerard's soft pants and gasps as Dean strokes his hip, digs his fingernails into his pale skin. The harsh intake of breath when he grabs Gerard's dick. Gerard's mouth is absolutely filthy; it makes Dean crazy looking at it and hearing the things he's saying. Dean always liked having partners who left shame at the door as soon as they entered a bedroom. Gerard is for-fucking-sure that kind of person.
Gerard grabs his hips hard and buries his face in Dean's neck, where he bites down onto that tender place between shoulder and neck when he comes.
Dean tangles his fingers in Gerard's hair and lets him catch his breath before he guides his head against the wall again. Gerard's lips are shiny red. His eyes half closed, his lashes look really dark on his cheeks. Sweat and come cooling between them on his stomach. Dean wipes his hand on a close by towel and looks at Gerard until Gerard smiles and looks back at him. He smirks then, and sinks to his knees slowly.
“You can't talk with your mouth full...” Dean says, his breath hitching.
Gerard smirks. “As if you weren't thinking about it all the fucking time.”
Dean really wants to answer to that, because he wasn’t, or he thinks he wasn’t, but what the hell. Gerard blows on his hard dick to make him pay attention and Dean puts his hands to the wall while he looks down. He isn't sure he could control himself if he tangled his fingers into Gerard's blood-red hair.
The first lick is a shock to his system, he shivers because it's so fucking good and then Gerard is done with playing around and just goes down to business. Gerard's short, bitten fingernails are digging into his ass as he's dragging his tongue over Dean's dick. Dean doesn't think he can take much more of this.
“Gerard...” he presses out, because it's always fucking polite to let someone who’s sucking your dick know that you're about to come. Gerard sucks harder and Dean nearly expects him to not fucking care, but then his lips are gone and his fingers tighten around Dean's dick. It doesn't take much more, he leans his head against the wall and tries to catch his breath. Fuck, he thinks. “Fuck,” he whispers.
Gerard, that smug bastard, kisses his thigh and makes a muscle quiver with it. Dean takes another sharp breath and ignores the urge to kick him.
~+~
Sam looks at him the whole fucking time in the diner while they're having breakfast. He doesn't want to know. This dream wasn't a normal dream. When he woke up he could fucking feel a bruise forming there where Gerard bite him in his dream. The flesh there feels tender and when he touched it during his shower this morning it made him shiver. He was suppressing a fucking moan. No matter what Way says , that kid is something and he does something to Dean. That or he's going crazy, which is a real possibility.
“Okay,” Sam says and puts his knife aside. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Something's eating at you, spit it out!” Sam says, and Dean chokes on his pancake. Fuck his brother, seriously.
“Just a dream I had,” he answers, taking a sip of coffee. Sam gives him a look and Dean thinks: Oh. “Not one of those! I still don't have freaky Jedi powers.”
“What was it, then?”
“You don't want to know.”
Sam gives him a sceptical look and then says: “Oh, yeah, no, I really don't want to know anything about those kind of dreams! Urgh...”
Sometimes it's a blessing how well he knows Sammy.
~+~
A few hours later, Dean is ready to kill something. He is rubbing that bruise restlessly and thinking about Way in a way that he really shouldn't. While Sam is gone for groceries, he grabs his phone and dials Way's number.
“Yeah?” comes the sleepy answer. His voice sounds rough, Dean thinks, like he sucked dick all night. Mental images, mental images, he chants in his head.
“Were you sucking dick last night?” he asks.
“Uhm, are you psychic?” Gerard says with an uneasy laugh. He's still not fully awake, Dean knows, because no sane person would admit something like that to a stranger. Dean sighs.
He wants to say he's not, but he thinks they might have a problem. He might have a problem.
“Mine?”
“Uhm, William's... but he was in your body. Wait! What the hell is going on?!” he asks. Dean can hear him grab for something. He's sure it's coffee or a cigarette. When he hears Gerard exhale he knows it's a cigarette.
“Shit just got from bad to worse, I think,” Dean answers.
“Dean?”
“We're on our way over and I'm not fucking happy about this shit,” he says and doesn't wait for a reply before he hangs up. Well, fuck. He puts his phone away and rubs the damned bruise again and then he waits for Sam to come back.
~+~
They stop at a nondescript hotel somewhere in the middle of nowhere and he dreads going to bed, but they drove like crazy people and he is really fucking tired.
He dreams as soon as he hits the pillow.
~+~
The next morning he feels like he didn't sleep at all. The bruise is a reminder that everything that happened really happened and they need to get to the Ways soon. He remembers everything from the last dream, as well; it wasn't about him, but it felt like it. He was someone else. He was someone else and he was masturbating in a very careful, soft, tender way. Like he had all the time in the world to do it.
Dean honestly can't remember when he had enough time to jerk off like that.
~+~
“The gruff-looking guy on the front porch is Bob, I imagine,” Sam says as they stop a bit away from the house.
Bob is holding a cigarette with one hand and a shotgun with the other, like he does it every fucking day. Dean just knows that Bob doesn't take shit.
“Yeah, seems so,” he answers, and gets out of the car.
Bob nods once when they pass him to knock on the door.
A pretty red haired woman opens the door and smiles. “They're in the kitchen, making dinner and plotting the death of dragons,” she says. “You can't miss them, just cross the hall and follow the noise.”
“Okay,” Dean replies with a smile. Bob makes a noise.
“Bob!” she laughs, and he shrugs. “Have to go. See you guys later!” She says and is running over the grass to a small green car. Suddenly she turns around and runs back. She grabs Bob, kisses him messily, and says: “Give them the good blankets,” before she's off again.
Bob shakes his head and takes a drag of his cigarette.
“They think we're staying,” Sam says, astonished.
Dean nods, he has the same feeling.
~+~
When they enter the kitchen, it's a complete mess.
“Tomatoes?” Mikey asks, waving a knife in their direction.
“Sandwiches?” Dean wants to know.
“Yes, so tomatoes?”
“Yes,” Sam says. “Thanks.”
“Tea? Coffee?” William asks, Dean thinks he seems more in control now; less afraid.
“Coffee,” Dean replies.
Sam takes a chair and the tea and waits. They both do, even if Dean was the one whose idea it was to come here. Dean needed to see Gerard - he has just no idea why.
~+~
Later, after they've eaten, Gerard takes him aside to the fucking library and pours him a whisky.
“Okay, what the hell is wrong?” he asks, he's taking out his pack and lighting one, takes a deep drag. Dean can't not stare at his lips for a second too long.
“Shit is going down. I have no idea how or why, but,” he downs the drink, puts the glass down a bit too hard and drags the collar of his shirt aside.
“Oh, fuck,” Gerard says, staring at him.
“I reckon you remember that?”
“Uhm, yeah, but I didn't have sex with you - I mean, he looked like you, but it wasn't you!” Gerard takes a nervous drag of his cigarette and exhales slowly.
“Really? How the hell can this happen?” he demands to know.
“Maybe you’re not so different from us after all?” Gerard speculates.
“What do you mean?” Dean seriously doesn't like where this is going.
“Maybe there is a connection between you and William, you and me, and Sam and Mikey -”
“He doesn't even have siblings!” Dean explodes.
“We don't know that,” Gerard says calmly.
Dean pours another drink, he doesn't think he can deal with this. “So, what? I have weird sex mojo?”
“Do you get easily into other people's pants?” Gerard asks.
“Yeah, but, well, I’m hot,” Dean answers. Gerard rolls his eyes. “You would so do me.”
“I did you,” Gerard smirks and Dean has to look away. This is too fucking weird. He pours another drink.
“Don't get drunk, now. Does Sam know why you're here?”
“Does it look to you like I'm talking about sex with my baby brother?” Dean bites back.
Gerard laughs. “Oh, fuck. This - I was your first man!”
Dean drowns the drink and makes for the bottle, but Gerard is faster. Their fingers brush and Gerard nearly lets the bottle slip and crash on the ancient-looking carpet.
Dean closes his eyes as he snatches his hand away. “There’s something else. I was dreaming again tonight. But I wasn't me, I was someone else, and it was one of those dreams again.”
“Care to share some details?” Gerard asks. He is standing a few feet away now, cigarette between his lips and hands in the pocket of his hoodie.
“I really don't. Can't you just ask him what he did last night, and who he was?” Dean says.
Gerard cocks his head. He takes the cigarette, puts it in the ashtray and nods. “Sure.”
“Thanks.”
~+~
Gerard is back some fifteen, twenty minutes later.
“He was Jared - uhm - this is getting really messy.”
“I guess Jared is the name of one of the other siblings you know with powers?” It's not a real question. Dean knows the answer to that.
“Yes. Strange.”
“You think?”
“I just don't get how this all fits together.”
“I think you should call Jared and his brother.”
“They're already on their way here, Mikey called them. Jared isn't talking to me and I think he still wants to kill me.”
“Just blow him, I'm sure he'll forgive you.”
“Done that and, yeah, no,” Gerard answers, he looks a bit crushed. Dean decides he seriously doesn't want to know.
“Okay.”
~17~
When Gerard stumbles into the kitchen the next morning he is greeted with the smell of coffee and a death glare.
Jared is chain smoking in Emilie's kitchen. Mikey shrugs and hands Gerard a mug of coffee. It seems that Jared isn't anywhere near ready to talk to Gerard without first holding a knife to Gerard's very sensitive neck.
Dean looks like he slept with a gun under his pillow; he probably did. Gerard can't even blame him. He would've done the same thing if it was him in that situation. Jared is drinking tea while he talks to William quietly in a corner. Gerard has no idea where Shannon is, maybe with Bob. He takes a sip of coffee and closes his eyes while he sighs.
Dean makes a noise and Jared laughs. It sounds surprised. Gerard bets everything he has that even Jared was surprised by his own laugh.
This whole situation is pretty messed up, even by their standards. He takes another sip of his coffee and lights a cigarette.
“So, you got to him, hmm?” Jared asks, exhaling. For a second Gerard isn't sure Jared actually is speaking to him, then he nods.
“Seems so. For the record: It wasn't my fault.”
Dean puts his head into his hands and exhales. Gerard feels a bit sorry for him.
“So, what the hell are we going to do?” Sam asks from the corner, and everyone turns to look at him.
“We have no idea. We should just gather and exchange all the information we have so far and keep it to ourselves.”
“Uhm,” Sam says.
“What?”
“We told Bobby,” Dean mumbles.
“Great!” Jared takes a violent drag of his cigarette.
“Bob knows, too, and Emilie,” Mikey throws in.
“We trust them,” Shannon says from behind. Gerard doesn't turn around. If Shannon wanted to set him on fire he would've done it already.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Dean snaps.
Great, Gerard thinks. This is going really great.
“That we don't trust you guys, isn't it obvious?” Shannon says and to Mikey: “He's the slow one, right?”
Gerard steps in front of Dean to prevent a fight. “Shannon,” he says softly. Shannon's eyes bore into him as he turns in Gerard's direction. It's kind of creepy as fuck. Gerard takes another drag of his cigarette.
“You're lucky I didn't set your favourite hoodie on fire,” Shannon gives back, and Mikey snickers. Sometimes it's hard to tell whose side Mikey's on.
’Yours. Always yours, Gee.’
’Thanks,’ Gerard answers.
“Okay, not a word to anyone. After all, hunters are hunting these kids. I bet one or the other is still interested in William.”
“Hunters don't seem to be the only ones,” Jared throws in.
Gerard nods. “True. Something is after us and William. Something big and scary.”
“And Dad's missing,” Sam says.
“You think he was tracking that thing down?” Jared asks, exhaling smoke. Gerard has no idea how Jared does it, but even smoking looks like fucking seduction when he does it.
“Possibly. Since I can remember he’s been trying to find that thing that killed our mom,” Sam answers. Dean doesn't look like he loves to share their family business, but he keeps quiet.
“She died in a fire, right?” Jared asks.
“Yeah. When I was six months old. Dad saw her burning on the ceiling of the nursery.”
“Sounds like someone was making a statement,” Jared answers.
Dean’s head snaps in his direction. “A statement?”
“Yes, a statement. That thing wanted your Dad to see it, wanted you to possibly go after it. You Dad’s an ex-marine, right?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Dean wants to know.
“Well, he was trained to go after a threat. This thing killed his wife... One and one makes two.”
“You think we were set up!” Sam throws in.
Mikey lights a cigarette. “Makes sense to me. I have to admit, Helena was preparing us for war, as well; after our parents died.”
“How do they fit in?” Dean asks with a nod in the Letos direction.
“Our parents were hunters,” Jared answers.
“What?” Gerard says. What the fuck?
“They were killed?”
“In a car accident. It burned out,” Shannon confirms.
“I see a pattern here,” Sam says.
“No shit,” Gerard takes another drag of his nearly finished cigarette. “Kids with hunter parents - and powers.”
“Our parents weren't hunters at that time,” Sam throws in.
“But they knew your Dad would go after whatever killed your mom, because that's your Dad's nature,” Mikey says.
“True enough.”
“I don't have hunter parents, either,” comes William's soft voice from the corner.
“We don't know that,” Gerard answers.
“Oh... okay.”
“And you sure as hell have powers,” Dean says.
“That is because I'm not human,” William replies.
Dean looks a bit taken aback at that simple statement. It came kind of out of nowhere. “What?”
“I'm a shape shifter,” William says softly.
“You live with a shape shifter? Don't you know they're all crazy?” Dean snaps, at the Ways in particular and everyone in general.
“He doesn't seem crazy to me,” Sam says.
“Anyone would be nuts after what they did to him!”
William flinches in his corner and Jared is instantly at his side without touching. Just hovering.
“Don't do anything stupid, now, or I'll have to kill you,” he warns, and Dean puts his hands flat on the kitchen table.
“Maybe we should calm down now and meet again for lunch in a few hours?” Gerard asks.
The Letos nod, and so does Sam. Gerard counts that as a win. “Great.”
~+~
“Maybe that wasn't the best time to tell them about you, Bill,” Gerard says.
“I don't think there is ever a good time to tell someone something like this,” William gives back. He's sitting curled up on the couch, and Gerard tries not to stare at him. They had sex. It's so fucking weird, and the weirdest thing is that Mikey didn't know. He couldn't feel Mikey at the back of his head during the whole thing, but he knows that Dean could feel everything at his end, and he was miles away, states even. What the fuck.
“We're connected in some way, and I have no idea why or what for,” William says into Gerard's thoughts.
“Same here. I know Dean could feel everything while we...” he waves his hand and William smiles.
“Had sex,” he supplies.
“Yes, but Mikey wasn't there. He doesn't know yet.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but now I am. I just want to know what they want us for.”
“They as in who?”
“Demons? I have no idea,” Gerard admits. “And we have a house full of hunters.”
“What demon would want a bunch of hunters with powers and a shape shifter against them? That's kind of suicidal, isn't it?”
“Maybe this whole thing wasn't planned like this? After all, the Letos aren't hunters.”
“But maybe they should have been,” William says.
Gerard nods. Yeah, he was thinking that, too. “Something somewhere went wrong and now we're here and have no clue.”
~+~
“Someone else find it odd that you are seven guys with powers?” Emilie asks.
“I don't have any powers,” Dean throws in.
“You have a mind link with a shape shifter. I'll call that a power,” Emilie answers, rolling her eyes.
“That's not... I didn't do it. He does something to me.”
“Maybe, but he’s never formed a link with anyone else,” Mikey says softly.
Dean keeps quiet, as does William.
“Okay, so seven? Seven boys with powers. What would they want us for?”
“And we have really odd powers - I mean, mind reading and healing, Shannon can kill someone with his mind-”
“As can Sam,” Dean throws in.
“Can he?”
“I can only see things in my nightmares. I have no Jedi powers.”
“Maybe they're still developing, who knows?”
“I think all of your powers are developing, and fast, now that you’re together and linked,” Emilie says, firm.
“I don't like where this is going,” Dean replies.
“I don't like it either, but I think Emilie is right. I was able to heal much more severe wounds after I met Gerard.” Jared says, leaning back in his chair.
“I think you're feeding off each other and magnifying your powers that way.”
“That's a good thing, right?” Mikey asks.
“I would say so, but it always depends what they want that power for - and I’m sure it isn't something good.”
“Ancient prophecy?” Mikey asks.
“There is one I can think of immediately-”
“She's going to say the Apocalypse, right?” Dean interrupts.
Gerard nods, he has that suspicion, too.
“The apocalypse,” Emilie finishes.
“You’re freaking kidding me!” Dean says.
“No, Bob and Bobby are on that one. There are seven big seals and, well... you’re seven guys with powers. What are the odds?”
“I, maybe, kind of hate everything right now,” Shannon says.
Jared and Gerard nod.
~+~
Gerard is having his third cigarette in a row when Dean sits down next to him on the porch.
“The freaking apocalypse, hmm?” he says.
“Seems so.”
“I wish I never crossed paths with you guys,” Dean sighs.
“Same here. I guess.... well, I mean-” Gerard takes a deep drag, blushing a bit.
Dean laughs. “Yeah, the sex was hot.” He stares at the gate in the distance and Gerard waits. “I usually don't go for guys at all,” he confesses.
“I figured; not during, but after... I mean, it was kind of weird, like William wasn't himself. Because he knows everything about sex that there is to know,” he takes a deep drag and tries not to think about it anymore. William is safe now, no one can do him any harm here.
“He seems like a good kid,” Dean admits.
“He is a good kid, and I want to kill everyone who did that to him with my bare hands.”
Dean nods in understanding.
“So, you think we have a chance on surviving that thing?” Gerard asks.
“The freaking apocalypse? Yeah. I do.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Sam can see the future,” Dean answers with a grin.
~end~