Chapter Text
Sam took a deep breath and did his absolute best to focus on finishing getting ready. He didn't want to go to this stupid event, but Dean was making him, and his Dad said that it was something that they had to do for the neighboring kingdom. It was still stupid. He frowned when he got handed another jacket. "Bobby, I'm already wearing a jacket!"
"This is an overcoat, you need to wear this," Bobby said, holding out the heavily jeweled jacket. "You're a prince of the realm, so you need to make sure that you are giving the appearance of one."
Sam pouted. "I don't want to wear one, why do I have to?"
Bobby laughed. "Because even at eight years old, little princes need to obey the rules," he said, setting the jacket aside, picking up shoulder chain instead. "I'll make you a deal though. You wear this, you don't have to wear the heavier jacket."
"Deal!" Sam cried, standing still as Bobby settled the chain over his shoulders. "Can I go play now?"
"Don't you dare get dirty when you go to play or your father will have your head," Bobby cautioned, but opened the door for him.
Sam grinned, bright and wide. "I will stay the cleanest that I have ever stayed!"
Bobby snorted and watched Sam bolt down the hallway of the castle. That wasn’t going to happen. Kid had an eye for trouble, especially when it came to official events. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that Sam liked making an embarrassment of his father. He wouldn't have been surprised, but it was no way for the two of them to go through life.
"Bobby!" Dean shouted, coming around the corner, barrelling into the old man's legs. "Why does Sam get to go play? I want to go play with him!"
Bobby laughed. "Sam isn't the crown prince."
Dean pouted at Bobby. "I don't want to be crown prince."
"Yes you do," Bobby corrected. "Now, if you're good and we can get things done here quickly, I bet that we can finish you off quickly enough to go play with Sam."
Dean lit up. "Okay!"
Bribery did certainly have its moments, for sure.
~!~
Sam skipped down the hallway and snuck out of the castle the second that he knew no one else was watching. It wasn't his fault that he was able to give them all the slip and know a dozen ways out of the castle!
Well, maybe it was, but it was mostly Dean's fault first, since he was the one who found everything!
Sam tilted his face up to the sunshine and spun around in a slow, lazy circle as he waded into the grass around the castle. This was why he wanted to be outside. It was perfect and noisy and he loved it and there was nothing that anyone could make him do out here. Here, he could just be Sam and he didn't need to worry about royal clothes, or stupid events that he had to behave for!
He let himself fall back into the grass and closed his eyes, relaxing as the sun continued to shine.
"You're going to get in trouble."
Sam opened his eyes and scowled. He got told that a hundred times a week from Dean and Bobby, he didn't need some other snot-nosed kid saying it too! "What are you talking about? I'm not doing anything!"
The other boy stared at him. "You're wearing nice clothes and you're laying in the grass. You're going to get in trouble because you got dirty and you weren't supposed to. I know it, I get in trouble for that all of the time."
Sam frowned and looked at the other boy in front of him. He was wearing weird clothes too and he was staring a lot. He scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "I am Prince Sam Winchester and I can do whatever I want on castle grounds!" He paused and considered his statement. "Well, within reason," he added and smiled at the other boy. "I just wanted to get outside before everyone had to be all stupid and stuffy!"
"I'm Crown Prince Castiel," the other boy said, sticking out his hand. It was only a little bit dirty from the sweets that Castiel had stuffed in his pockets. "We're supposed to meet later."
Sam blinked and stared at the boy in front of him. This was the crown prince that everyone was talking about? "You have a bee in your hair," Sam said, reaching out to shoo it away.
Castiel smacked his hand away and Sam frowned, pulling it back. He watched the other boy carefully remove the bee from his hair and let it go buzzing on its way. "It could have stung you!"
Castiel shook his head. "They never sting me. I don't know why, but they never do."
Sam squinted his eyes at Castiel. "You're weird."
Castiel shrugged. "You're the one laying out in a field. You're the weird one."
"I am not!" Sam defended, giving Castiel a shove. The other boy immediately went tumbling to the ground and Sam raced after him, afraid that he had hurt him somehow.
Castiel stared up at Sam in surprise. "You pushed me! Only Gabriel pushes me, and he's allowed to do that, because he's my cousin!"
Sam crossed his arms over his chest, straightening his back to be as tall as he possibly could. "Well, I can do whatever I want here, this is my home!"
Castiel scowled and stood up, carefully dusting off his pants. "I think you are mean, Sam Winchester. I am going back inside and I am going to tell everyone that you pushed me into the dirt and they are going to believe me, because I'm dirty and you aren't!"
"No!" Sam shouted, grabbing Castiel's arm, spinning him around. "You can't do that, I'll get in trouble! Why would you want to tell them I shoved you?"
"You did!" Castiel shot back, glaring at the other boy.
"Yeah, but I didn't mean to hurt you or anything!" Sam protested. "My brother and I shove each other all of the time. Try shoving me, you're supposed to do it back!"
Castiel frowned. "My father will be very angry with me if I get into a fight," he said, watching Sam spread his arms.
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "But I hit you, so that means you need to hit me back! Come on!"
Castiel reached out and gave Sam a small shove before stepping back quickly, squinting at him. "Like that?"
Sam laughed and shook his head. "Is that the hardest that you can push someone?"
"No!" Castiel defended, his lips curling sullenly. "I didn't want to hurt you."
"You're not going to hurt me, come on!" Sam teased, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Castiel scowled and ran towards Sam, slamming himself into the other boy. They tumbled head over heels and ended up in the mud of the riverbank. "Our clothes!" he said, looking down at the mud staining his bright white shirt. His father was going to be furious with him.
Sam looked down at the jewels he was wearing that were now caked with mud. Bobby was going to give him his disappointed look. But, if they were going to do this, there was no reason that they shouldn't keep doing it as much as possible. "See? Wasn't that fun?"
"No!" Castiel protested, glaring down at Sam. "This is all your fault. I never should have pushed you! Why did you tell me to push you!"
Sam shrugged. "Because it's fun. Watch." He grabbed Castiel around the waist after he had started to get up and threw him into the mud again. Castiel blinked at him, his blue eyes wide and Sam smirked, raising an eyebrow. "See? Fun!"
"I do not understand how getting oneself covered in mud could possibly be considered fun," Castiel said, looking down at himself. "However, I suppose I must allow for cultural differences between the both of us."
"Do you always talk this much?" Sam asked, flopping down in the mud beside Castiel.
"I like talking and reading," Castiel said, looking down at the river. "I read too much."
Sam gasped. "There is no such thing as reading too much! I get in trouble for reading books that I'm not supposed to all of the time! But no one tells me that I read too much!"
Castiel turned and blinked at Sam. "You like reading?"
"I love reading," Sam corrected, smiling wide at Castiel. "My brother, he's the crown prince, he doesn't like reading much at all. He'd rather play with swords, which, I like doing too, but reading is better."
Castiel gave a shy, hesitant smile. "I've never met someone else that loves reading before."
"Well, we can talk about reading any time that you like!" Sam said, bouncing himself into a sitting position. "Tell me about your favorite book!"
It was easy to lose track of time - they talked for hours, and Sam only realized what time it was when the bells started chiming above the castle, signaling the dinner hour. His eyes went wide and he flew to his feet, grabbing Castiel by the hand. "We're late!"
Castiel stumbled as Sam started to drag him towards the castle. "Late for what?"
"Dinner!" Sam cried, pulling Castiel into one of the secret passages that the servants used. He dashed around the people in his way and headed for the dining hall. Several people shook their heads at him, but he pulled Castiel behind him. They were both covered in mud, leaving a trail of it as they ran, but maybe if they weren't too late, neither of their Dads would notice what had happened.
Sam slid open another secret door and stepped into the main dining room, and froze when he realized that everyone's eyes were on him. Dean glared at him, but Sam could tell he was more jealous than angry. He grinned and waved, tugging Castiel the rest of the way out of the secret passage. Whispers immediately started and Sam looked at Castiel. "We're in trouble."
Castiel looked around the room and squirmed when he met his father's angry eyes. "Yes, I believe that we are."
Sam looked at Castiel and bit down on his lip. There was one really good way to get out of trouble that he knew, and maybe it would stop Castiel's Dad from being angry with him. "It's my fault," he said, scuffing his foot against the stone of the floor. "I was taking Prince Castiel down to the river to show him it and we both slipped and fell. 'm sorry."
Sam could feel everyone staring at them both, but slowly, the tension started to ease in the room.
"Well," King John said gruffly. "If there were ever an appropriate way to introduce my youngest, him getting into trouble playing around would be the way to do it."
Sam smiled at his father gratefully and stepped forward, his shoes squelching with mud. He gave a small bow and stepped in front of Castiel's father. "I'm sorry, sir. Castiel told me that we should have come back to the castle, but I was excited to show him a couple of things."
"Very well," the other King said, inclining his head. "Castiel, go with Gabriel to get cleaned up. I expect you to be presentable and return to dinner immediately."
Castiel bowed his head. "Yes sir."
Sam waved to Castiel as he left and followed Bobby out of the dining room, grinning bright and wide. He was still going to be in trouble, but at least Castiel wasn't going to be in trouble.
"That was a good thing you did back there, Sam," Bobby said. "Even if it was a bunch of horseshit. What the hell were you two doing? Wrestling in the mud?"
Sam cleared his throat. "No, absolutely not."
Bobby snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'm old, kid, not blind," he said, steering Sam to his bedroom. "Now you get cleaned up and presentable and get back downstairs in a hurry, you hear me?"
"Yes," Sam agreed, stripping off his muddy clothes.
When they both got back to the dining hall, dinner was in full swing and Sam left the table for a few minutes to go to where Castiel was sitting. The other boy ignored him, so Sam poked him in the back until bright blue eyes met his. Sam held out his favorite book to the other boy as a peace offering. "This is the book I told you about."
Castiel blinked in surprise and slowly took the book into his hands. "You're...you're giving it to me?"
"No, I'm letting you borrow it," Sam said, grinning bright and wide. "You're going to give it back to me the next time that you visit!"
Castiel nodded and traced his fingers over the cover. "Why are you doing this, Sam?"
Sam shrugged. "Because you're my friend and friends do things like let each other borrow their books. Besides, you said you liked books and I bet that you are going to love that one!"
"Thank you," Castiel said, curling the book closer to his chest. "I've never had a friend before."
Sam's eyes went wide. He had lots of friends, Dean and Jo, and Charlie, even though Charlie was a servant, she was one of his bestest friends, because she was funny and made him laugh, but he couldn't imagine having any friends. "Well," he said. "I am going to be your friend then. Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll be your best friend!"
Castiel blinked and nodded. "I, I would like that, Sam."
Sam grinned again and gave Castiel a quick hug. "Good! Maybe I'll sneak over to your room later and we can do some reading together. I know the room you're staying in!"
"I don't want you to get in trouble..." Castiel said, looking up at his father, who had noticed them talking, but didn't appear to be bothered by it.
"I'm always in trouble!" Sam said, laughing and shrugging. "Don't worry about that. I don't mind being in trouble. Besides, you're here for a little while and I can take you on all sorts of adventures and teach you about being friends!"
Castiel cleared his throat and looked down at the table, and the book in his lap. "I would like that very much, Sam."
"Done deal!" Sam said, mimicking something that he heard his brother say all of the time.
Castiel nodded as well, turning his attention back to dinner. "I'll see you later then?"
"Yes you will!" Sam agreed, and hurried back over to the seat by his brother.