"Do you mind if i sit here?"
With a. Start, blue eyes glance up in surprise, and Castiel automatically closed his sketch pad, hiding his latest creation. He looks up at the lanky boy who was standing beside him, gesturing towards the desk that sat empty next to Castiel. It was a seat Cas had expected to stay empty, considering everyone at Kripke High thought he was one of the biggest weirdos in the school. Realising the dark haired stranger was still waiting for an answer, his smile slipping into a slightly worried look, so Cas shook his head slightly and waved at the neighbouring desk. The brilliant smile returned with force, tinged with relief, and lit up the boys face, which looked vaguely familiar to Castiel. As the boy took the seat and dumped his ratty backpack onto the desk, he pulled out a cheap notebook and a pencil case.
"I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Merlin" the boy introduces with a slight accent "We both went to that book club over the summer."
Of course, now Castiel recognized him. It would be hard to completely forget the person that was so accident prone that he had caused some kind of disturbance during almost every one of the meetings the group had organised. A flicker of a smile touched Castiel's lips as he remembered a particularly spectacular disaster involving the refreshment table, an untied shoelace, a pitcher of grape juice and a young woman's pristine, white dress. As if he knew the situation Castiel was thinking of, the boy, Merlin as he had called himself, grimaced.
"Yeah, the complete klutz, that's me" He laughed self-depreciatingly. "I don't think that lady is ever going to forgive me for ruining her dress. Anyway, what's your name?
"Castiel." The quiet boy replied, ducking his head back down as if he could hide away from Merlin's piercing gaze. Castiel wasn't used to such attention. He was much more accustomed to sit by himself during classes, his only human contact during school hours coming from his class teachers, and occasionally his adopted brother Gabriel during lunch. But Merlin wouldn't just ignore Castiel, like everyone else in his classes does, and instead suggests that they sit together at lunch.
"I just moved here from Wales at the beginning of the Summer." Merlin explains. "That's why I went to that book club, to meet people before the school year started. I wasn't expecting it to be mainly older women, so that plan would have failed if not for you. Thanks for that, by the way. So yeah, I thought it would be nice to sit with someone I have at least met before."
"Umm, I don't mind" Castiel mumbled, looking down at the black cover of his drawing pad, tracing shapes with his index finger. "You may have to put up with my older brother, he sometimes joins me. A lot of people find his personality too much to handle"
"Just your brother?" Merlin asked. "You don't sit with anyone else?"
"No."
"...Oh."
Castiel sighed as he slowly re-opened his sketch pad and continued the slow sweeps of pencil lines making up the wings of his latest Angel design. This was it then. This was the moment that Merlin realised the person he was sitting beside was obviously strange if no one in the whole school other than his own family chose to sit with him. Oh well, it had been nice to pretend he had made a friend, even for a short time
"So!"
Castiel startled at Merlin's enthusiastic exclamation. Looking at the black haired boy, he was met with another bright grin.
"You're an artist huh?" A nod to Castiel's angel. "Maybe you could illustrate for my book if I ever finish it. If you want to, i mean. No pressure. It probably won't be for a while yet though, I've been working on It for a couple years now, and haven't got very far. Are you any good at drawing dragons? They're an important part of my story and-"
Merlin continued to ramble, only stopping when the English teacher, Miss Oswald, entered and began the class. Castiel allowed himself a small smile as he opened the required reading. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to pretend to have a friend any more. Wouldn't Gabriel be proud.