The sudden ringing of the alarm clock was a harsh break to the comforting silence of the early morning- and to Dean's dream, which was actually a good one for once, rather than a nightmare. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, doing a small double-take at the exploding colors in his sight before remembering the prior two days.

He groaned again and hung his head. "Just fantastic. It wasn't a dream." He pulled the blanket off of himself, letting his feet rest on the unbelievably soft floor rug for a fleeting moment before finally standing up to face the day.

As he shucked his black AC/DC shirt off, a knock came at his door.

"Come in." He called, running a hand through his hair. The door swung open to reveal, to no surprise, Sam. He stood there, wide-eyed, a smile on his face. "Now why are you so happy, Sammy? It's a monday."

"Yeah, but we also can go to school and see how good Charlie's detective skills are." Sam replied with a smile, and Dean shifted his eyes. "Oh, and Bobby made waffles."

The sound of waffles actually perked Dean up, so he shooed Sam out of his room so he could finish getting dressed. He tugged on a gray Star Wars shirt, a red flannel and a pair of jeans, patted his hair down, then headed downstairs.

Sure enough, Bobby had made the boys waffles, a surprisingly large mound of waffles that Dean wasn't sure he could even finish. Then again, ever since they had come into Bobby's care, they had never ended a single day without a full and happy belly.

Bobby was often in the kitchen when they were home, always cooking up something for the boys to eat.

Whenever they had asked him why he cooked so much, he'd smile and just say that it was something to remember his wife by.

"Mornin' Dean." Bobby remarked gruffly, handing Dean a plate of waffles.

"Mornin' Bobby." Dean replied with a nod, taking his plate as he sat down. That was when Arizona emerged, wagging her tail happily. She was followed by Sam cooing at her, laughing as he ran his fingers through her fur. Dean couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Dean," Bobby murmured, as Dean turned his head, "How's your therapy been going?"

Dean pursed his lips and shifted his eyes for a brief moment. "It's been alright."

"You do like your therapist, right? I can get ya a new one."

"Yes, I like her, she's a good therapist. I guess I'm just still adjusting to the visits."

Bobby nodded his head in understanding. "I can imagine, boy. Not easy to talk about those things." Bobby gave Dean a small, reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You'll get better. But don't forget your appointment today. 4:30."

Dean nodded and shoved a forkful of waffle into his mouth. Meanwhile, Sam finally ceased petting Arizona and sat down, took a plate of waffles and ate them up happily.

The two brothers finished off a total of six plates of waffles each (Dean taking four and Sam taking two) before it was finally time for them to head out. They both grabbed their backpacks, bid farewell to Bobby, walked out the door and hopped into the Impala.

"Ready to face the day, Dean?" Sam asked, zipping up his backpack. He lifted his head and gazed at Dean, who rolled his eyes and groaned.

"No."

Sam bit back a laugh as he instead opted to just smile. "Well, the day will be over soon enough. Mondays never last too long."

Dean pursed his lips and fiddled with his phone, searching for a song to play on the ride to school. "They always seem to last longer than I want them to, though." His fingers finally landed on a tasteful song- Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin- and he placed his phone in the cup holder as the music began to play.

As soon as the song started, Dean dug the keys into the ignition and rolled the car out of the driveway, before heading off towards the school. He and Sam had a small conversation during the ride- mainly just about small little things, like movies and pop culture. The ride didn't seem to last long enough.

Before either of them anticipated, Dean was pulling into the student parking lot. As he stuffed his phone back into his pocket, he turned the car off and followed Sam towards the school.

Charlie was waiting for the both of them, sitting outside at a small table, tapping away at her phone. When she saw them, she stood and waved, a smile on her face. As soon as they got closer, though, she glanced at Dean and laughed.

"What is it?" Dean questioned, glancing skeptically at Charlie, who held her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

"Okay, I say this with no offense, but you're dressed like a lesbian." She laughed, taking a moment to scan the flannel he was wearing. "What color is it?"

"Red and black."

"Exactly my point." She laughed, her eyes twinkling. Dean just sighed and glanced at her.

"Alright. What's got you so happy on a Monday?" Dean inquired.

"Well," Charlie began, calming herself, "I'd tell you but I don't wanna force it in your face first thing in the morning."

Dean tilted his head inquisitively. "What is it?"

She sighed. "Okay, okay. I've narrowed down the list I got of the names of the kids at the party. There's only like twenty names left that I haven't checked off."

"Any of them say they can see colors?"

"Three, but all of them have been seeing colors for at least two weeks." She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at Dean. "Are you actually interested?"

Dean shrugged. "I figured I should pay attention, at least. I may not be super into finding them, but I guess I don't want to be completely deaf to it either."

Charlie gave a small, appreciative smile at that. "Great! Now, there's french toast sticks for breakfast!" She waved her hand and the brothers followed, and thus started the school day.

~~~~~

Gabriel certainly wasn't expecting to be woken up on Monday morning to a pillow thrown at his face, but that's exactly what he got. After he spluttered awake, he lifted his eyes to see a laughing Balthazar and a grinning Claire.

"Morning Gabe! Happy Birthday!" Balthazar laughed, earning a small glare from Gabriel.

Claire tilted her head and dispersed her grin. "Mom made your favorite- buttermilk chocolate chip waffles! She told us to come wake you up."

"Alright, well, I'm up." Gabriel groaned, rubbing his face into his pillow. He then shifted onto his side as Balthazar and Claire finally left his room.

Within minutes, Gabriel was awake and dressed. He put on the one shirt he always wore on his birthday- a light blue graphic tee of a llama wearing a party hat with the words 'Happy Birthday' in black lettering. After patting his hair down he headed downstairs, where sure enough, Becky had made his favorite breakfast for him. As soon as he stepped foot in the dining area, Becky whirled around and smiled at him.

"Gabriel! Good morning sweetheart, I made your favorite." She held up a plate and put it down in front of him as soon as he sat down. As he took the plate and cut his waffles, Becky gave a kind smile. "If you want, you can stay home today. It is your birthday, after all. You don't turn 18 every day."

Gabriel took a bite of his waffles and took a moment to think. Part of him actually wanted to go to school, probably to search for his soulmate. And then, another part of him wanted to continue the tradition of staying home on his birthday to either go to a theme park or watch movies while bundled up in a blanket.

"I'll stay home." Gabriel replied, after a few moments of thought.

Becky nodded. "Alright. I took the day off of work, so I'll be home today if you need anything."

Gabriel nodded and took a bite of his waffles. He glanced over at Cas, who was sitting quietly and eating the regular buttermilk waffles Becky had prepared. Cas shared a brief glance with Gabriel, before nodding his head as he continued eating.

As soon as Cas finished his meal, he went back to his room to get dressed. He was greeted with a loud meow from Gemini, who stared at Cas with an almost annoyed expression- as if to say "Why did you leave me?"

"Hey Gemini," Cas murmured, running a hand through her fur, "Good morning little girl." She ruffled her fur in appreciation, giving a soft meow in response.

Cas then searched for a proper outfit for the day, now gifted with the ability to see color and pick out an outfit more properly. He ended up settling on a multicolored sweater, striped with blues, whites and grays, and a pair of jeans. As for shoes, he chose a pair of black sneakers that he then tugged on. Once dressed, he bid goodbye to Gemini and Nox and descended the stairs.

By now, a few more people were active and awake, including their dad, Chuck. Chuck stood in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee and ignoring the playful barks from Alex, who was being held in Becky's arms. Jack sat happily at the table, raising his arms and laughing when Cas reappeared. Cas smiled and walked over to his younger brother, ruffling his hair before he went to gather his school supplies for the day.

Claire was still sitting at the table, though now joined by Anna, Hannah and Hael, all of whom were engaged in conversation as they ate their waffles. Claire gave a high five to Cas when he walked past her, smiling brightly. Lucifer, meanwhile, was finishing up a worksheet at the table, one that he had forgotten to do and that had apparently been due on Friday. Raphael sat next to him, drinking from a mug and already completely ready for the day. He sat with a bored expression, using his free hand to scroll through his phone.

The clock soon struck 7:40 and so chaos descended on those who were not yet fully ready to go to school. Gabriel stood by the door, a smug grin on his face as he gleefully watched the chaos unfold.

"Glad you're not going to school today?" Cas murmured, arching a brow.

Gabriel nodded. "Mhm. Now I can just watch the chaos, instead of being part of it."

"You are a weird one, Gabriel."

"Says the AHS stan." Gabriel shot a glance at Cas, raising both of his brows.

"And yet, you're one too."

Gabriel rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Don't reveal my secret."

"You have a Sarah Paulson poster in your room." Cas deadpanned.

"Listen, Cas, that woman could step on my face and I'd thank her."

"Exactly my point."

Gabriel opened his mouth to retort, but ultimately stayed quiet and stuffed his earbuds into his ears. Cas just smiled as Gabriel scrolled through YouTube to find a proper video to watch.

By 7:50, all the siblings were finally dressed, fed and ready to go. Gabriel ushered Cas, Balthazar and Samandriel into his car, and they all piled their stuff in before climbing into their respective seats- Cas took shotgun while Balthazar and Samandriel sat in the back. Once the doors were closed, he turned on his playlist and drove the three of them to school, dropping them off.

"Keep an eye out for my soulmate for me!" Gabriel called, before driving back home. Cas gave a wave in reply before shuffling his backpack higher onto his back.

"What did his soulmate look like again?" Samandriel inquired, a confused expression on his face as he glanced at his brothers.

"A tall guy with brown hair." Cas replied, checking the time on his phone. "I'm gonna head to my first period."

"This early, Cas?" Balthazar gave him a glance, his gray blue eyes locking with Cas's. "Class doesn't start for twenty five more minutes."

Cas paused. "Oh, you're right."
"C'mon, we can find a table in the cafeteria and talk for a while."

Balthazar grabbed Cas's shoulder and pulled him closer, grinning. "And, we can keep an eye out for your soulmate, while we're at it."

Cas rolled his eyes and let out a sigh towards his twin. "Do you even remember the face of the guy that made out with me?"

"Not really, I didn't get a good look. But I remember he was tall and had short, medium-ish colored hair. Probably some shade of blonde or brown."

"That's not a lot to go on, you realize that, Balth?"

Balthazar gave an exaggerated sigh. "Yes, I do. But it's something, at least, right?"

Cas opened the door to the cafeteria and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Well, soulmate or not, let's just try to get through the school day."

Samandriel supplied, glancing at the both of them. They nodded in response, as the door closed behind them. The cafeteria was relatively empty, as it was only 8am. The three brothers found a seat near the main hall and began talking about their classes as the crowds began to file into the building.

~~~~~

Lunch didn't seem to arrive soon enough. By the time it did arrive, Sam was grateful to finally have a break from the onslaught of school work. His Geometry teacher had sprung a test on them, his law studies and french teacher had both given them projects, and he had spent his culinary class making sure that Gabriel wasn't there.

And he wasn't, for some unknown reason. Whatever it was, Sam was grateful that he didn't have to worry about hiding his new found vision for colors.

He didn't know exactly why he was so worried and caught up about his soulmate's identity, given that he had been so adamant to find them. But something about his soulmate being an infamous trickster just deterred him. He wasn't a fan of the attention that he knew would follow that revelation.

He walked with Dean and Charlie to lunch from their shared art class. As soon as they did reach the cafeteria, however, Charlie ran off to the lunch line, leaving the brothers to sit at their table alone.

They thankfully weren't alone for long, as Benny and Jo soon sat down at the table, both right before the bell rang. They both noticed Charlie's absence from the table almost immediately.

"Where's Charlie?" Jo questioned, taking her lunch out of her lunchbox.

"She's in the lunch line." Dean replied, nodding his head towards the lunch line. Jo turned her head and pursed her lips.

"Ah, so she is." Jo paused. "That's weird. She doesn't go in the lunch line much."

"Probably looking for my soulmate." Dean whispered under his breath. Unfortunately for him, Benny heard that he said something.

"What was that brother?"

"Nothing."

"What was what?" Jo asked, peering at Benny.

"Dean said something." Benny replied, giving a nod to Dean.

"What did you say, Dean?"

Dean let out a small huff. "She's probably looking for my soulmate."

Benny glanced at him. "Why would she do that?"

"Because I met them. While I was drunk. At the party." Dean took a bite out of the sandwich he had packed. "And I don't remember who they were."

Benny's eyes widened, and Jo stared at him, starstruck.

"You met your soulmate?" Jo pressed her hands against the table, leaning over it as she stared at Dean.

"Yeah."

"Dude, that's cool. I wish I could meet my soulmate."

Benny patted Dean's shoulder. "Well, you're a lucky one brother. Not many people can say they met their soulmate in high school."

Dean shrugged and continued munching on his sandwich. "Yeah, I guess."

A few minutes passed before the four of them finally got suspicious and/or impatient. "Okay, what's taking Charlie so long?" Jo huffed, glancing at the line. She saw Charlie, but not in the line- she was talking to some girl right outside of the lunch line, a tray of food in her hand.

Dean lifted his head. "You see her?"

"Yeah." Jo replied, narrowing her eyes. "She's talking to some girl, but she has her lunch."

"You know the girl?"

Jo shook her head and took a bite of her lunch. Benny took a glance as well, but he didn't recognize the girl either.

Eventually, Charlie made her way to the table, setting her plate down before glancing at the stares greeting her.

"Who were you talking to?" Jo asked.

A wide, bright smile suddenly spread across Charlie's face, as she seemed to jitter with excitement- to the surprise of all those at the table. Dean glanced suspiciously at her, but he wasn't expecting what she said.

"I met my soulmate."

Jo almost fell out of her chair. "You're fucking kidding."

Even Benny was shocked. "Seriously? You met your soulmate in the lunch line?"

"Mhm." Charlie nodded feverently. "Her name's Gilda, and she's really really pretty. And she's a senior, apparently."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "A senior?"

Dean swallowed whatever he had been eating and stared at her. "Well why didn't you invite her to sit at our table?"

"She doesn't have lunch this period."

"Then why was she in the cafeteria?"

"Something about having to walk a friend here." Charlie shrugged. She glanced at Dean and raised her eyebrows. "Woah. Your eyes are really, really green."

"Are they?"

Charlie nodded. "Really green. A very pretty green." She pulled out her phone and unlocked, briefly looking at her own reflection in the camera. "You got lucky. I have blue-hazel eyes."

"They're still quite pretty, I don't know why you're complaining." Dean remarked, taking another bite of his food. "Oh, and question- why were you in the lunch line? Don't you have food?"

"It's one of my ways of finding your soulmate." She remarked, fiddling with her food. "I'm going around to people and checking if they see color. Oh, but don't worry! I'm very discreet, they don't have any idea."

Dean wanted to say something, but ultimately bit his tongue. "Well, thank you for being discreet."

Charlie nodded and smiled happily. "Wouldn't want you too uncomfortable, Dean."

Dean nodded at her, silently very thankful of her for her consideration.

Sam sat silent, munching away at his food. He agreed with Dean, Charlie's eyes were very pretty, but he stayed silent as he didn't yet want them to know that he could see colors. He had seen Charlie in action, and he wasn't sure he could hide the identity of his soulmate for long- especially since he hadn't been drunk and therefore had no excuse.

The rest of lunch was pretty uneventful- though then again, there wasn't much that could compare to finding one's soulmate in a lunch line.

Once lunch was over, Sam was grateful that he only had two classes left in the day. He was oddly tired today, but he shrugged it off as being just not getting enough sleep.

By the time that school was over, he was tired but more than happy to finally go home. Dean dropped him off at home before he headed out to his therapy appointment, and Sam enjoyed the peace of a silent house while he could.

~~~~~

"So, spot anyone who looks like they could be my soulmate?" Gabriel questioned as Cas, Balthazar and Samandriel loaded into his car.

"Sorry, no." Cas replied, setting his backpack on the floor. "Can you play a Studio Killers or Mystery Skulls song?"

Gabriel clicked on his playlist and scrolled down until he found the song Freaking Out, and clicked on it. As the song began to play, Gabriel dug his key into the engine and glanced at Cas as his car roared to life.

"Really? Aw man."

"It's only been one day, Gabe. You'll find them." Samandriel remarked softly, pulling out his phone.

Gabriel pulled out of the parking lot and made his way down the winding road. "Yeah, true. But patience has never been my strong suit."

Balthazar nodded at that, though thankfully out of Gabriel's line of view. Once off the winding road, Gabriel drove down the main road until he pulled into the parking lot of a shopping complex.

"Gabriel, where're you taking us?" Cas inquired, glancing around.

"I wanted some Five Guys." Gabriel replied simply, pulling into a parking spot in front of a Five Guys. "Consider it my treat. I'm paying."

"What got you in such a generous mood today?" Balthazar questioned, raising a brow skeptically. He glanced at Gabriel as they all got out of the car.

"Bro, I have a soulmate. I'm gonna be in a good mood for a while." Gabriel held the door open for the three of them, and they all walked into the Five Guys. "Now, order up!"

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!! here's my christmas present to y'all- a new chapter! sorry it took so long, i went to jaxcon in november, got my wisdom teeth out thanksgiving break, then i had exams at school. but i'm off on winter break finally, so i had time to finish this chapter! enjoy!!! also, since i prob won't have the next chapter up for a few weeks, happy new year as well. may 2020 be the best year yet!!!

also i got to meet jensen, jared, misha, rob, rich, matt, kim, bri, rachel, emily and jeffrey at jaxcon and i'm really happy!! rich even signed my drawing of gabriel and wrote birthday buddies on top since i told him we share a birthday :D  also misha stole my glasses and said i'm blind so that was fun