There's a god sitting on his bed.
Dean takes to the news like a fish to water.
It's been twelve years since a fire killed his mother, and he's just been running on anger all that while. They never found who lit the match, and all he's ever wanted is to know.
He's a sixteen-year old parent to a brother who is four years younger to him, and all he wants to know is why.
Mary Winchester dies. John Winchester disappears in the bottom of a bottle.
His father isn't bad to them, not really. He loves them, in his own way – Dean knows this. But Mary was his soulmate; and when she died, he lost the part of himself that made him him.
He loves his children, but they're not enough to keep him tethered to the world.
Dean and Sam grow up in the Roadhouse and at Singer's Salvage Yard, and in their own way, they're content. But Bobby isn't their father and Ellen isn't their mother, and Sammy's all too aware of that.
Dean's the only family he has left, so it is Dean who raises him.
Honestly, Dean doesn't mind being told that Sammy's only his half-brother. It might just make Dean's opinion of his father drop even more, but Sammy – he's still his brother, and nothing's going to change that.
No, what he does mind is being told that his brother needs to attend a summer camp to learn how to be safe, and he can't come. He doesn't care if Sam's the son of Mary Winchester or Hecate or whoever – Sam's his brother first and foremost, and he's not about to let him out of his sight.
He's only twelve, and he's lost almost all his family. Dean's not going to be the next to leave him if he can help it.
But no matter how much he argues, he's not quite sure he'll be allowed to go along – but then the guy in the wheelchair (and does he really expect Dean to believe he's half horse) gets this odd glint in his eye, and the next thing Dean knows, he's packing his stuff along with Sammy.
Dean likes Camp Half-Blood. He likes it better than he likes the outside world, that's for sure.
Sure, he's not part-god (and wasn't that a shock, knowing that gods exist), but that doesn't stop him from flourishing in the place. He's easily the best at archery and sword-fighting – Sammy jokes about how all the fights he got into at school are coming in handy here – and he might not be able to perform magic or conjure up flames, but somehow, he's still the one most attuned to the supernatural.
The last bit disturbs him a bit – he has a feeling it has something to do with the reason he's been allowed here at all – but he ignores it. Because more than anything, he likes the camp for what it gives him.
It's been him and Sam against the world for longer than he can remember, but at the camp, there's Adam from the Hecate cabin, the only other kid there apart from him and Sam, Charlie from the Hermes cabin and Kevin from the Athena one. They're all Sam's age, and somehow, Dean finds himself with four younger siblings instead of just one.
There's also Crowley, who's one of Hades' chief assistant and insists on popping up at odd times, but that's a different matter. Their relationship is rather – complicated.
The first time Dean wakes to find a god sitting on his bed, his sword is at the man's throat before either of them can blink.
He just blinks and vanishes the sword out of existence, and Dean collapses back onto his bed with a groan. Of course he'd wake to a god staring at him – it just figures.
How is this even his life again?
The man- god- whatever continues to stare at him, not saying a word, and finally Dean can't take it anymore. "Dude, I know you're a god and all that, but could you at least introduce yourself?" he asks.
"I am Castiel," the god answers. Dean waits for him to continue, but it doesn't look like he's about to say another word, so he figures that the bulk of the conversation rests on his shoulders.
That's okay. Getting Adam to talk to him was a bit of a bitch, and don't even get him started on Crowley – he's experienced in talking to closed up divinities by now.
"That's brilliant," he says. "What's your domain then?"
Castiel – Cas, he dubs him in his mind – just looks confused, so Dean sighs and continues. "You know, Cas," here he pretends not to notice the slightly confused look on the god's face. If he can poof onto his bed in the middle of the night, Dean can give him a nickname. "What're your powers about? Like Athena's the goddess of wisdom and Hermes is the goddess of too many fucking things to remember?"
"I am a minor god of healing," Cas answers, and Dean figures that he doesn't get out too much. He's met a couple of gods here at camp – Hermes and Apollo's visit was a rather memorable one, and Mr D basically lives here forever – and they're definitely not so awkward around people. He- Hades, Hermes and Apollo got along better with mortals than most humans did. (He kind of worships them for their kick-ass pranks, but that's really a different matter altogether. Cas is the issue at the moment.)
So yeah, he doubts that Cas leaves Olympus all that often, and he says at much.
Cas just nods in agreement. "I do not often leave Olympus, no. But I have been assigned to protect you by both Lord Zeus and my father, and so protect you I shall."
"Protect me from what?" Dean asks, but Cas is already gone.
It's perhaps one of the most interesting things that happens to him at the camp, and considering which camp he's in, that's saying a lot.
After that, Cas seems to pop in just as often as Crowley, if not more frequently.
He won't tell Dean just what he's being protected from, which is extremely annoying, but apart from that, he isn't all that bad. Plus, he's there to pick him and Sammy and up and bring them back to the camp when Sammy decides he doesn't actually want to spend most of the year in the mortal world – a month or so works perfectly fine.
Dean finds that he's in perfect agreement with his brother for one of the rare instances in their lives. The camp's a million times better than watching their dad slowly drink himself to death.
Besides, no one lets him play with swords in the "real" world, and Dean rather enjoys being the best at something for once.
So he's perfectly okay with returning to camp, even if there is some unknown thing out for his blood.
Every time he asks Cas – Dean isn't one to give up easily, after all – Cas refuses to tell him. So he goes to Chiron (turns out he was telling the truth about being half horse), and the centaur just smiles mysteriously at him.
He refuses to tell him too, but at least he gives Dean a reason. He doesn't much care for prophecies, and he has no idea how they can reveal themselves, but at least it's a start.
Cas is interesting.
Sure, there are a bunch of kids who are about the same age as Dean at the camp, but he doesn't quite fit with them – unlike with Sam and the others, when he's around them, he's always reminded of his lack of divine heritage.
They aren't all bad – there are a few that are cool, Percy Jackson and his friends among them, for all that they're a couple of years older than him and have already saved the world twice over – but they're almost always out on quests, and that's not somewhere Dean can be without leaving Sammy behind. That's not something that Dean's willing to do, so – no go.
The ones that do stay back – sure, a couple of them are interesting. Garth comes to mind, as does Jo Harvelle.
Cas though- Cas is different. Cas is a god, in his mind Dean knows that. But somehow – for all his awkwardness and general cluelessness about human life – Cas is so much more real and human and a lot of the half-bloods Dean's bumped into.
He likes Cas, which is really saying a lot for him.
Honestly, Dean doesn't know what prompts him to do it.
Though, looking back, it might just be the beer Percy and his friends managed to sneak in for the party. Everyone there's sixteen and above, and that might seem a bit young, but Percy just shrugs and says something about the half-blood lifespan.
So yeah, Dean might be just a little drunk when Cas just appears. And all he can think about at that moment is that the god is actually rather good looking, and then he's kissing him.
Gods don't have a long attention span when it comes to humans, Dean knows this. But this is Cas, who Dean knows so well, and he's almost certain that he isn't going to be just another god.
As for the still-unsure part of him- well, Dean's drunk. He takes the leap.
Cas stays.
He finally hears the prophecy when Rachel Dare makes a personal visit to Hecate's cabin.
It's a little overwhelming, hearing he's an expected monster-killer who will go down in history – he's heard all about what happened a couple of years back with Percy Jackson and Luke Castellan, and he's not exactly looking forward to being in their shoes – but he accepts it. There's really nothing else he can do – Olympus and Cas are at stake, and in a way, so are Sam and everyone else.
He likes the family he's built here and he's willing to anything to make sure he gets to keep it.
There's a god sitting on his bed.
Dean shoots him a tired smile and pats the miniscule space next to him, inviting him in.
an: This takes place about a year or so post Gaea's defeat, so Percy would be about two years older than Dean.
so i don't really know what this is, apart from the fact that there is so much similarity in the two canons that it isn't even funny. i mean, come one - killing monsters/fighting gods? how isn't that sam and dean's life?
also i tried to match spn people with godly characteristics: so sam with his demon powers and charlie with her tech thing and kevin cause he's smart. crowley obviously can't be king of hell, so he's just top of the pile of the people who work for the lord of the underworld. and cas is a minor god of healing cause dean just gets hurt that often.
so yeah. i might write more in this au, but i'm not sure. for now, have this. *offers to fandom*
i hope you guys liked it! please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)