So, first thing I've written on here since 2008. Hopefully I can update as much as I want, I'm already a chapter ahead of this one.
I don't own Supernatural. Just Melanie I guess, and any other random characters that pop up.
Fuck dat Naomi shit. It's too early in the game for me to be making predictions about that situation, so yes, I'm going to just blatantly ignore it. For now.
Also, I listed this under Romance/Humor... definitely will be romantic. Not sure about the humor part. I usually have a pretty dry sense of humor, so we'll see how it turns out. In the future, the rating may go up, depending on what content I decide to include.
Cas quickly stood up, deciding once and for all that the new Fred Jones is going to be just as much fine as he is boring. It's been only 5 days, but Cas finds himself to have less patience these days. He readies himself for flight, but pauses.
Where will I go? he thinks to himself. He contemplates calling the Winchesters, but realizes that if he really wanted to be with them so soon, he would have just left with them in the first place. This thought brought him to his next question… What do I want to do?
Cas smiled a bit at his ability of freethinking, but it faltered when he realized that he didn't have the answer. He thought about Dean, and how he'd had his small slice of the apple pie life, when he was supposedly free of his hunting duties.
And he thought of Sam, who wanted a normal life more than anything. Sam, who had almost obtained that normal life twice.
I had a normal life, but Cas thinks on and realizes that he wasn't very happy with that life. He remembers how awful it felt to be missing pieces of himself, and he probably ended up ruining the life of the poor woman he'd left behind. He felt regret, but he felt a twinge of something else, too.
Cas wanted a do over, but not with the woman, or with his religious suburban life.
He may be an angel, but he's spent enough time as both a "human" and a psychologically imbalanced being exploring the world to know that religion on earth is just downright creepy. And misplaced, too, seeing as God is not even present (or he is, and he really just does not give a fuck).
I want to help people, he thinks, in a way that faith never could. As the wheels are turning in his mind, Castiel, angel of the Lord, grows just a little excited upon closing in on what he's decided to do with his time.
Castiel, angel of the Lord, decides to become an astrophysicist.
If Dean knew, he would laugh at the irony, and Cas probably wouldn't understand. Really though, Castiel, angel of the Lord, goddamn astrophysicist!
He knows most everything about physics anyways; he wants to apply his knowledge to teach humans how to move on and expand from their seemingly stuck states of mind. With 300 sextillion stars in the universe, why can't there be other forms of life?
A fleeting thought of That's where God must be crossed Castiel's mind, but really that just hurt his head (feelings?) to think about, so Cas just continued thinking his plan through,
He sat down again next to Fred while he sorted his thoughts.
A day later, he showed up at Garth's homebase with 32 napkins (all he had at his disposal) etched with his plans for what he decided is going to be a fairly normal, extremely enlightening "human" life.
The following week, Castiel was ready to go with numerous fraudulent documents: driver's license, passport, social security card, birth certificate, a car title (which came with a car and keys), a couple credit cards, and a debit card. Oh yeah, and he had an acceptance letter from a university, too; a double major in astronomy and physics was his chosen path.
Castiel had chosen to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. That way, he paid in-state tuition, and he was only about an hour away from his "hometown" of Pontiac, Illinois. That was a normal distance from "home" for students to go, right?
The week earlier, as Castiel was sorting through his napkins and explaining his plan to Garth, Garth brought up a good point.
"Dude, these kids are like… 18 when they start college. They're going to think you're a loser for looking like you're pushing 40 and starting freshman classes."
Cas slightly rumpled as Garth's comment, "I do not care if I look like a loser. Although… it could bring unnecessary attention to myself later on when I am being given credit for revolutionizing the way mankind perceives the scientific world (if Cas had any sense of narcissism, this would have been the moment he expressed it). I want my personal life to be questioned as little as possible. Also, at a younger age, I could stay on earth for at least 20 years longer than if I stayed as I am now. I think you may be right, Garth. The younger, the better."
Castiel tired out around at 20, which was fine by him. It was close enough. Garth however, protested.
"We can't say that you were homeschooled and then have a full-grown man enter college! Those kids graduate high school at like, 16!"
Castiel offered, "I travelled for a bit. Plus, I do not want to be under the age of drinking for too long."
"You're an angel, you can just zap in and out of a liquor store."
"I wish to be as 'normal' as possible," Cas said, using his famous air quotes.
Garth laughed, "You idjit." Castiel raised a brow at this, but other than that ignored the comment.
And that is how we've come to present-day, Castiel Novak, 20 years old with an old and brown 1984 Chevy Camaro and a mini U-Haul taking off to college and living in an apartment that costs him less than $400 per month (including utilities!) to rent.
Cas peeled out with a sickening screech, leaving Garth watching, waving, smiling, and with the threat of a slow and painful death if he tells any of this to either of the Winchester brothers.
"That crazy motherfucker, I probably should have taught him how to drive."
A month later, Castiel was feeling particularly stressed.
College is expensive. And so far, pretty useless. Astronomy 101 and Physics 110? Seriously? He was doing more work for his gen eds then he was for his core major classes.
Cas sighed and rubbed his eyes; balancing check books were not fun. So far, he'd had to buy a laptop ($1200 for an aluminum plated computer? He didn't want to stand out so… there goes $1200) and almost $600 worth of books.
Also, he met a guy in class and invited him over one day. At the time, his apartment was bare of all things made for consumption save for the 45 handles of whiskey that stocked his fridge, freezer, and kitchen cabinets.
Not only did this freak Max out, it also made Castiel really regret cheating and zapping in and out of a liquor store.
So Castiel spent another $50 on food that will go bad before he's ever curious enough to eat it, all just because he didn't want to look weird. He really didn't want to use either of the charge cards for these things (they were already being used to deal with things car-related and pay the interest for his education loan), so he decided he would be breaking another ATM sometime very, very soon.
He got a job at the undergraduate library.
It suited Castiel; it was quiet for the most part, and there was a coffee shop in the building. He had grown particularly fond of fancy coffee. Almost $5 per cup, but the chocolate-y peppermint taste that all but covered the actual coffee soothed him.
His life was peaceful, save for the money stress, but he was working on that. Dean would pray to him every once in a while. So far, help from him hasn't been absolutely imperative. It's usually just inquiring about where Cas is, or how he's doing.
On October 14th, Cas flew to Maine, just to call Dean (without being accurately tracked) and tell him yes, I'm fine, I'm doing things on my own for a while. Please don't call me unless you truly need my assistance. Cas went home and once again took the battery from his old cell phone and stashed the pieces in a drawer.
On October 22nd, he was working a shift at the library. On Monday's, he just works the front desk. He was doing some reading for his non-western slowly, normally, like a human he keeps reminding himself.
A voice clears, and he looks up.
Shit. Shit shit shit shit. Castiel would have repeated "holy shit" to himself, but he just didn't do holy any more.
This girl made his heart fucking jump. She was wearing a blue long-sleeved scoop neck top that was a little loose-fitting. This drew his eyes right to the expanse of her neck, which seamlessly connected her collar bone to her head. Her teeth were white and straight, and her lips were bowed similarly to Dean's, only hers were a bit wider and had a natural upward curve. There was a slight bump on her otherwise perfect nose and her eyes and wavy hair were almost the same honey-brown color and –
"Uh," she said.
Castiel blinked. He'd literally just been staring at her with his mouth open for almost 15 seconds now. "Can I help you?" he ground out.
"Yeah, I was just wondering if the help desk for the campus internet was on this floor?"
"Um, just go around this way," he pointed, "and keep heading back until you see the sign," his vessel's heart was still hammering away. She turned to walk away but whipped back very quickly.
"Hey, you're in my anthro class aren't you?" he barely nodded when she continued, "I think I may end up sitting around the same spot as you a lot. I was supposed to take the class with my friend but she couldn't fit it into her schedule. Do you want to get together and maybe review with me for the midterm next week?"
He once more nodded dumbly, reminding himself to blink.
"Cool," she said, "I won't bother you at work any longer, I'll just see you in lecture on Wednesday and we can work something out."
She waved as she turned to leave. As she walked away, the angel took the chance to admire her ass, which was covered by black leggings.
Once back at his apartment, Castiel quickly stripped down. He'd taken a shower only once before, after balancing his checkbook. He remembers Dean once saying it calms his nerves.
He turned the water all the way hot and stepped in, just standing there as the water gradually warmed up. He squirted some Axe stuff into his hands and rubbed it all over his body, even his hair. After rinsing off, he stood there for 5 more minutes just contemplating this new situation he's in before shutting the water off and drying himself and putting pajamas on. As he brushes his teeth, he congratulates himself on getting the hang of this whole human thing.
Staring at himself in the mirror, he wonders if the girl thinks that his appearance is attractive.
Later, he finished up a paper and lied down on his bed. He went into some freaky angel power-down mode.
If he could dream, it probably would be about that girl.
Tuesday passed by slowly. At night, he began to grow nervous for his anthropology class in the morning. Cas, being Cas, was a little excited to be what he identified as nervous, because nervousness is a human emotion. But then, he feels foolish.
I am billions of years old, he thinks, I'm not actually 20, and then he starts to wonder if staying in his vessel for so long is starting to affect him.
Wednesday morning, he does the entire human routine. Showers, shaves, brushes teeth, zaps away a pimple (20 years old, God damn it) and ties his shoelaces. Feeling like a real boy, he packs his bag and walks the 3 short blocks to the building that anthropology is in.
For the first 20 minutes of class, he is constantly craning his neck to find the girl. Disappointed, he gives up, and starts paying attention to the professor, occasionally taking notes. With 10 minutes of lecture left, the girl sneaks in through the back and steps over several people to sit next to Cas.
"Hey," she whispers, "I almost didn't make it… Wine Night Tuesday got the best of me last night," she joked.
Cas found it appropriate to give a small laugh, "Glad you could make it." She smiled and whipped out her notebook, writing down as many things as she could from the board with what time she had left.
"Oh fuck it, maybe I can find the recorded lecture online later."
9:50 came, and they packed up and stepped into the hallway outside of the lecture hall. On the way out, Castiel took in her appearance. Leggings again, with black leather boots and a gray half zip sweatshirt. Her straightened hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she wore no makeup, save for some under-eye concealer and left over mascara.
"So, do you know anyone else who'd like join in on our review?" she asked. "No, I am the only one I know who is taking the class," Castiel replied.
"Okay, so just us then. My name is Melanie, by the way. You can just call me Mel," and finally, she introduced herself.
"My name is Castiel. You may call me Cas." "Interesting name, I like it!" she complimented.
"I like Melanie," he awkwardly offered.
Mel smiled, "So, next week is our exam. Do you want to get together on Sunday to study?" He nodded, and she continued, "I'd offer my place, but I can't stand my roommate. Is your place cool?"
Is my place cool? Cool… cold? No… oh! Cas did still struggle with the language, sometimes.
"Yes, my place is… cool. I live on the corner of 4th and Armory," Cas smiled at his correct usage of the word "cool".
She frowned just a bit while she was thinking of the location and then she said, "Oh, okay. It should only take me about 15 minutes to walk there."
"I can pick you up, if you'd like. Where is your residence?"
Mel's eyebrow raised at his terminology, but answered, "I live in the Illinois Street dorms. You can pick me up on Sunday around 3 in the circle drive, if that works for you."
They continued chatting before reaching her next building and bidding goodbye. Once she was gone, Castiel realized that he'd walked with her to the wrong side of the quad, and would probably be late for his next lecture.
He shrugged. It was just that elementary physics class. Why can't he just be widely recognized like Neil de Grasse Tyson already?