Everyone knew about the keys.

It was difficult not to, seeing as nearly everyone had one.

When you were born, a necklace with a key on it would appear. Usually it was just a boring old-fashined key on a plain black cord. You couldn't take it off, and you couldn't change it. The key only disappeared when you found your soulmate. No warning- it would just vanish and you had to figure it out. Some people had fancier keys, with engraved designs. Some had silver or gold ones rather then dull copper. Some had theirs on a chain or a purple colored string rather than a cord. 

No one knew what the differences meant, and it was very rare for anyone to be born without a key. Half the time, when someone was born without a key, they died young. Everyone just assumed it meant that since there were gone so soon, they weren't mean to have a soulmate. Others were just keyless. It was a pitying thing, because then people assumed you would never find love and never be happy. 

After all, why would anyone want to be with someone that wasn't their soulmate?

******

Dean Winchester didn't care about the keys. It just wasn't a big deal to him. Love wasn't a big deal to him. And after all, the key thing had paired up his parents, and he had seen how badly their relationship had gone.

The system had flaws. Dean knew that. So he didn't believe in its perfect design or the fact that it had properly matched him up with his soulmate. Whatever.

If he found his supposed soulmate, sure, he'd give it a try. He had nothing to loose.

But if it didn't work, then it didn't work, and Dean would end it. Keys be damned.

*****

Castiel Novak thought the keys were fascinating. He didn't quite believe that the universe could match everyone up with their soulmate on the day they were born, though. After all, people grew and changed all the time. He was a completely different person now then he had been when he was eight, and yet he still had the same soulmate. How could the universe know who he was meant to be with before it even knew who he was?

But the subject still interested him. He'd spend hours examining people's keys and researching them. 

His key, for example, was silver with a slight twinge of blue. It was an old fashioned key, but there was an interesting etching trailing down it, like old runes or symbols. Cas liked tracing the etching, and he'd drawn it dozens of times, wondering what it meant or if his soulmate's key was the same.

He had a feeling that had something to do with it. Two people got the same key, and had to find their match. Or maybe it had something to do with the string the key hung on. It's shape. The weight of it. There were an endless amount of details. Cas just wanted to find his soulmate to compare it, but that was the endless problem.

Once you met your soulmate, the key vanished and never returned.

That's what made them so hard to study.

*****

Sam Winchester was born keyless.

He didn't know what that meant. He didn't feel any different, or that he was incapable of love. He just didn't have one.

Dean didn't care about it. Said he was better off without one. 

Mary was a little sad for him, but if Sam didn't mind being keyless, then she wasn't going to make a big deal about it.

John had minded though. Had seen it as some sort of birth defect, or a sign that Sam was going to die in his childhood, and that Mary shouldn't get too attached.

But John had been wrong. Sam had grown up just fine. 

He thought about the keys a lot though. He couldn't help it. Sam came to the conclusion that him not having a key didn't say anything about him. It said everything about his soulmate. He saw the keys as the key to your soulmates heart. You met, and you unlocked each other's hearts, so the keys were no longer needed. That's why they vanished.

But if you didn't have a key, then Sam thought that could mean one of three things. 

1. His soulmate had died. Sam couldn't unlock someone's heart if they were dead. 

2. His soulmate would never open their heart to him. His soulmate might be someone so lost and secluded that they never trusted or loved anyone enough to let them into their heart. Sam couldn't unlock his soulmate's heart with a key if he needed eight of them and a top secret password.

3. His soulmate's heart was always open. Maybe his soulmate was so loving all the time that he didn't need a key because he never locked his heart. They'd be someone easy to love, so Sam wouldn't even need the key in the first place. He personally liked that idea best.

Then of course, there was always just the possibility that Sam might not have a soulmate at all. He was just destined to be alone.

He didn't like thinking about that one.

******

Gabriel Novak's key was broken.

Sure, he had the string, (his was made from a green material that looking similar to a strip of licorice) And he had the first half of the key. But the rest of it just looked like it had been snapped off.

He didn't know what that meant, nor did anyone else. Although Cas loved studying it.

No one knew what to do in the case of a broken key. It made Gabe a little worried. If his key represented his soulmate, what did that mean? Was his soulmate broken? Was he or she okay?

It was a worrying thought that kept him up at night.

*******

The Novaks were new to town. They had moved to Lawrence shortly after the death of Castiel and Gabriel's mother.

Their father didn't talk about her, and the boys were unsure if she had even been Chuck's soulmate at all. They didn't know if Chuck had a key, although Cas swore up and down he had seen a glimpse of a black cord peeking out of their father's shirt one day.

They started school that Monday, and while Gabriel walked in with a feeling of dread, Cas smiled.

Supposedly, the key system was set up so that you crossed paths with your soulmate at least once in your life. It was up to you if you ended up meeting them. So new places always excited Cas, because it always had a prospect of his crossing paths with his soulmate. 

He tried not to think about the idea that they had already passed by each other, and never spoken. Cas was seventeen after all, and he had heard that by the time you're sixteen, there's an 80% chance you have already met the person you're going to marry.

That was kind of a scary thought.

He tried to ignore it as he and Gabriel walked up the steps to Lawrence High School.

"Do you even know where we're supposed to go?" Gabriel questioned.

"The office, I think?" Cas looked around the crowded hallway and frowned. Lawrence High was a big school, and it wasn't like there was a map for him to consult. "Maybe we should-" His sentence was cut off as someone slammed past him, knocking him to the ground.

"Woah!" A new voice called out. "You okay?" Cas glanced up, and mentally let his jaw hit the floor.

He had always wondered what a 10 looked like.

Now he knew.

The hot guy before him held out hand and helped him up.

"I'm fine," Cas insisted.

"Sorry about that," Mr. 10 apologized. "When my brother wants to get to the library, it's either move or be moved." Cas smirked.

"I know what you mean," Gabriel cleared his throat, reminding Cas that he was still there, and they still had no idea where to go. "Oh! Right. Do you know where the office is?" Cas asked.

"Down the hall," Hot guy pointed. "Are you guys new?"

"Yeah."

"I'll take you, then. It's easy to get lost around here." He held out a hand. "I'm Dean." 

"I'm Cas." Cas shook his hand, surprised to find that it was cold.

Cas's hand was also eerily icy, and Dean couldn't help but shiver a little. It was like dropping a stone in water, and you feel the ripples it made.

"This is my brother Gabriel," Cas went on, brushing off the strange feeling. "He's only a freshman."

"Yeah? So's my brother." Dean said. 

He took them to the office, and they went about their days as normal.

Cas ended up being in Dean's math class, a fact that made him glad. There was just something about him that Dean liked. He couldn't really place it.

It wasn't until late that night that Dean figured it out.

It was spaghetti night at the Winchesters, and, as always, that meant Dean and Sam got into a food fight. Mary just rolled her eyes at her boys as they flung noodles t each other and laughed.

"There were some new kids at school today," Dean commented. "One's in your grade,"

"Yeah?" Sam questioned. "Guy or girl?"

"Guy."

"Nice."

"Those must be the Novaks," Mary insisted. "I sold their father a house last week." Mary was a realtor, and she always made notes of houses who's buyers interested her. "Over on Archangelo road."

"Cool," Dean and Sam replied, not caring. The food fight kicked up a notch shortly after Mary left, until Sam uncapped the tomato sauce and poured half the jar down Dean's shirt. Dean let out a yelp and Sam laughed as his brother removed his sauce soaked shirt and grimaced.

But Sam's laughter faded as he noticed it. He stared at his brother, stunned.

"What?" Dean questioned, picking sauce bits off himself. 

"Dean," Sam whispered. "Where's your key?" Dean frowned and glanced down. Sure enough, the key was gone. His eyes widened and he clawed at his neck.

It was gone. No trace. No warning.

"I-I don't know," Dean stammered. "I must've lost it."

"You can't just LOSE it. You met your soulmate?!"

"What? No! That- that doesn't make sense. It probably just fell off or something!"

"Dean, they CAN'T fall off. That's the point!"

"Well this one did!"

"Do you not remember all the hours I spent yanking on that cord, trying to rip it off? Nothing. Hell, Bobby tried a chainsaw to get his off once and it didn't even leave a scratch! You met your soulmate!" Dean looked terrified at the prospect. "So? Who is it?"

"I don't know."

"How do you NOT know? Who did you meet today?"

"I don't know- it was like the first day of school! I met everybody!"

"THINK!" Dean raced through his mind, scanning for anything, anything weird that might be soulmate related....

There.

His handshake with Cas.

That had been weird.

Dean ran out of the room, Sam following close behind as they barged into their mother's office.

"Where did you say the Novak's lived again?" Dean questioned.

*******

Ten minutes later, Sam and Dean were heading to the Novak's house.

"This is awesome," Sam was bouncing in his seat. I can;t believe you're going to meet your soulmate!"

"And it's a dude," Dean commented.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, I just didn't really expect it. Huh."

"Well, it was a 50/50 chance. You are bi-er than the N'sync song."

"Did you just-"

"BABY BI BI BI!"

"Oh my god."

*****

Dean hesitantly rang the doorbell, and he and Sam stood awkwardly at the door.

"What are you going to say to him?" Sam asked.

"Uh...." Dean stopped, realizing he had no idea. But then the door swung open, and Cas was standing right there.

"Dean," He blinked, slightly surprised. "What are you doing here?" Dean opened his mouth to respond, and then nothing happened. 

"This is going to be a weird question," He started finally. "But, um.... Are you missing your key?"

"What? No-" Cas reached toward his neck and froze. 

Sam blinked to make sure the world hadn't paused around them. He'd never seen a person so still before.

And then Gabriel walked up behind Cas, peering at them.

"What's up?" He questioned, pausing at the sight of Sam. "Oh HELLO."

"Hi," Sam frowned. Gabriel smirked.

"I'm calling dibs on this one, kay?"

"What?"

"I'm Gabriel," He offered. "But you can call me whatever you want to." Sam smirked.

"Okay cactus-licker. I'm Sam." Gabriel grinned.

"I like this one." 

"Gabe," Cas whispered. "Not the time."

"Why?" Cas shot his brother a meaningful look.

"....I may be missing my key," He admitted. Gabriel's eyebrows shot up.

"NO WAY," He declared, his head whipping back towards Sam and Dean. "You and green eyes?"

"Apparently," Dean admitted.

"Well, at least you found a cute one, buddy. Maybe now you'll stop obsessing over those stupid keys."

"Don't you care about the keys?" Sam questioned. Gabriel scoffed.

"No, and besides, it wouldn't work for me."

"Why not?"

"Because the stupid thing is broken, see-" Gabriel reached at his neck, intending to show Sam his broken key, but there was nothing there for him to grab.

His key was gone.

Gabriel blinked and stared at Sam.

"Well," He commented. 

"Well what?"

"Well fuck in the ass and call me Sally. My key is gone." Sam's eyes widened and Cas and Dean glanced at Sam.

"What about your key?" Cas asked.

"I don't have one." Sam admitted. "I'm keyless."

"I had a broken key." Gabriel said. "Half of it was missing." All four of them stared at each other.

"Fucking keys," Dean muttered.

"A broken key and a keyless paired together?" Cas frowned. "Two brothers, matched with another set of brothers but- why- WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS MEAN?!!?!?!" 

"Exactly." Dean declared.

"I HATE THESE THINGS!" Cas shouted. Dean grinned.

"Maybe we are soulmates then."

"What about us, Sammoose?" Gabriel asked. "Are we soulmates?" Sam thought for a moment.

"Well, if your key is gone, and it's not Dean, then I guess we have to be, right?"

"No one has to be soulmates. Everyone just chooses to be." Sam half smiled.

"You know, I always had this thought that some other keyless person would find me and kiss me, and then we'd just know we were soulmates, even without the stupid keys." Gabriel smiled.

"Well, I wasn't born keyless, but I am now." He shoved past Dean and Cas, grabbed Sam, and kissed him, despite the cries and complaints from Dean and Cas. 

"So?" Gabe asked as Sam stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Yep," He whispered. "We're soulmates."