I've Just Seen A Face

We'd just met, he's just the boy for me and I want all the world to see we've met

Castiel Novak was relieved, at the very least, that this was his final year of high school. Two weeks into the semester and it was as miserable as always, but he clung to the fact that it was almost over. Just a few more measly months and he'd be done, free to go to college, to move to the West Coast and get away from his family and this awful town.

He lived in an insignificant little hick town about forty-five minutes outside of Lawrence, Kansas, and he hated every square mile of it.

From the nasty kids at his awful high school, to the home he had to return to after classes, Cas felt an overwhelming amount of animosity towards the whole dang place.

But before he could leave, he had to get through one last year of high school, and if he had to waste his time there, he was going to make it worth his while; meaning that he was going to try his hardest to pile on a heaping amount of well-to-dos that he could put on a college application. Anything that would give him a better chance of getting him into a good school, far, far away from Kansas.

Two weeks allowed plenty of time for the various students to scramble to the tutoring lab, desperate even from the beginning to keep their grades from slipping, and Cas, despite lacking a bit in the people skills department, made a pretty decent tutor. He was smart, at least, and his patience made him a good teacher.

As soon as last period classes were over, Cas went straight to the tutoring lab.

He only had one student to tutor for the moment (it was still early in the semester, after all); a senior in his graduating class named Meg Masters who struggled in Chemistry. Surprisingly enough, they got along well, and Cas always enjoyed tutoring with her, even if she did have trouble focusing sometimes.

"Novak," The pretty dark-haired girl at the front desk said, the look on her face suggesting that she'd rather address a rat.

Cas wanted to groan but he held it back, remembering to be polite, and stepped over to the girl.

"Hello, Lisa." He said, blinking at the girl and waiting to see what she wanted.

"You've got another student after Meg." Lisa said, clicking her tongue and sliding a sheet of paper that had been filled out in a sloppy scribble from a student who had needed academic assistance, and a folder containing their class information.

This time Cas did groan out loud. "Really, Lisa?" He said as soon as he read the name scratched onto the paper. "Of all people? I know there are plenty of other open tutors here. Can't someone else take him?"

Lisa sighed with the air of someone about to explain something very obvious. "Because, Novak, you're the best tutor here, and while I hate to degrade the poor boy to having to spend time around you…I know that you're the one most likely to get him a passing grade. So you get him after Meg, no complaints, because I'm not changing it."

Cas moped as he dragged his feet over to the table where Meg was already waiting for him, her eyebrows raised at the look on his face.

"Alright there, Clarence?"

"No," He said flatly, folding his arms on the desk and pressing his forehead to his wrists. "I have a new student to tutor after you." The tone in his muffled words made it clear that he was not happy about this person.

"Uh-oh. It's not one of your little bully friends, is it?"

"No, thank the Lord, it's none of them." Cas didn't lift his head as he slid the tutoring application across the table to Meg who craned her neck to read the name scribbled on it. She let out a low whistle.

"Dean Winchester, eh? I hear he isn't so bad, Cas, I think you're just overreacting."

Cas didn't respond. The things he wanted to say he knew he shouldn't. He shouldn't have even brought it up in the first place, because he knew it was wrong to judge people, and he had never actually exchanged more than two words with the boy, but still.

Dean Winchester. Dean-in-detention-every-other-day-of-the-week-Winc hester.

It wasn't really any surprise that Dean needed tutoring, either. He was the type who skipped class constantly, and he probably didn't even turn in his work. This was going to be an utter nightmare.

Cas slowly lifted his head from his arms, sighing at Meg. "Let's just…get your Chemistry started. I don't want to think about what tutoring him is going to be like…"

Tutoring went pretty quickly when he got along with the student, so his sessions with Meg always seemed to go by too quickly—particularly that day when he was dreading the following lesson.

Forty-five minutes later, Cas bade Meg a miserable sounding goodbye, and pulled out the folder that Lisa had given him on Dean's class, deciding that he should at least figure out what he was going to be teaching when Dean got there.

If he got there.

Fifteen minutes past the start of their session and there was no sign of Dean.

Of course he was late. Had there really been any expectation that he would show up at the allotted time?

This was a complete waste of time. Cas could be doing—

The door to the tutoring lab finally burst open, and there was Dean, late as ever and panting as though he had just run a marathon.

He spotted Cas in an instant, heading over to the table and slumping in the chair, letting his backpack drop to the floor with a quiet thump.

"Sorry I'm late," He spoke immediately flashing a pair of very apologetic eyes on Cas. "I had to drop my brother off at school, so I ended up running behind."

Cas didn't feel like this completely justified Dean's tardiness, but he figured that if he was going to spend the entire school year tutoring the other boy, he had better not start off their first session by getting angry.

"It's…it's fine. Just don't make a habit of it." Cas decided not to give Dean a chance to give any retort, and immediately jumped into the lesson. The sooner they got this over with, the better. "Okay, so you have Dramatic Lit. With Ms. Hareville. She's a good teacher, I had her for a few English classes."

"Yeah, I guess she's good, but I just don't get this stuff. I kick ass in math and all that, but English is a bitch."

Cas was frowning hard in response to the other's language, but he didn't say anything about it.

Keep it civil.

"Actually, most people are like that. You're either good with math and science, or history and English."

"So, what, do you suck at math, then, since you're so awesome in English?"

Cas was able to push back the smirk that tugged at his lips, but the smugness behind his words wasn't completely masked as he spoke. "I do well in all my classes."

Cas looked up, his eyes catching Dean's. It wasn't any wonder that Dean was so popular with the girls, Cas could admit to that easily.

He had soft features, bright eyes, a dusting of freckles that Cas never would have noticed if he hadn't been sitting right across from the other teen…

"So," He continued to speak, swatting away the distracting thoughts. "Oedipus the King is the first play you're reading. You have to have a character analysis on any character of your choosing. It says you're supposed to have up to lines 337 read by now." Cas peered skeptically over his glasses. "Have you done any of the reading?"

"Yeah, I read it," Dean began in a defensive tone. "But I didn't get any of it. Might as well have been staring at blank pages for how much I got out of that damn play."

Well, at least he had made an effort. "That's fine, I'll walk you through it, and hopefully I can help you gain a better understanding of the subject matter." Cas reached for Dean's copy of the play, and propped it open in between them.

Dean wasn't dumb. Not like he seemed to think he was, anyway. He just needed things explained to him in different words, and suddenly it would click.

Cas caught on quickly to the way Dean's eyes would light up when he understood something, and his lips would twitch at the corners as he tried not to smile too wide.

As it turned out, Dean wasn't nearly as awful to work with as Cas had been expecting. Once they got going, he focused well, and listened to what Cas told him.

He was also a lot friendlier than Cas had anticipated him to be.

What really surprised Cas was the way Dean treated him. Cas didn't particularly care about his popularity at school, (he'd be gone soon, anyway) but he was well aware that he wasn't liked.

Jesus freak, pussy, and faggot were just some of the few choice words that people liked to throw at him from time to time, and the rumors about him that buzzed around the school weren't exactly kept on the down-low.

But from the way Dean acted, Cas would have thought that he'd never heard a word about Cas. And maybe he hadn't. Or maybe he was just nicer than most people.

"Uh, you in there?" Dean said, snapping Cas from his thoughts to meet a pair of concerned green eyes.

"Yes, sorry…what?"

"You were just kind of staring…it was a little freaky." But he was smiling at Cas still, his eyebrows quirked.

Cas shook his head. "I was spacing out…didn't get a lot of sleep last night…okay, well, it's—wow, it's almost four-thirty already." Was it really? When did time start zipping by so fast? "So we'll pick up where we left off yesterday, and probably be able to finish going over this section of the play, and then I can help you work on your character analysis." He stood up, reaching for his backpack.

"Awesome." Dean replied, getting to his feet as well, still smiling at Cas in a way that made the brunette's heart jump into his throat way to fast.

"Uh, then I'll see you tomorrow." Cas needed to get out of that room. He needed to get away from Dean, and away from the uncomfortable thoughts buzzing around in his head.

He was already walking out the door before Dean even finished saying goodbye, heading to his car in a flustered rush.

Cas started up the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot, his mind buzzing with thoughts, bringing him back to the conversation he had had a few months back with his cousin.

Balthazar had made him feel a lot better about everything after getting all of that off his chest that day, but this was the first time since then that Cas had gotten that awful dip in his stomach just from looking at someone, and it was a lot to think about.

He kept one hand on the wheel as his other instinctively went to toy with the small silver cross that hung around his neck on a thin chain. It was a nervous habit, and he usually didn't even think about the action, but today it felt comforting.

Before he knew it, he was pulling into his driveway, not entirely sure if he was glad to be home or not.

Home wasn't really much of a comfort anymore. Cas hated it almost as much as his school. His family drove him crazy, and Michael was nothing short of overbearing. Maybe if he was quiet Cas could slip up to his room undetected.

He cut the ignition, and headed up to the front door, being a silent as he could manage as he tugged off his shoes, and tiptoed towards the staircase.

But Michael was in the kitchen, and his hearing was as sharp as ever.

"Castiel?"

Cas's heart dropped into his stomach. He could tell just from his brother's tone that he was in trouble over something.

"Yes?" Cas called out, hovering at the food of the stairs with one hand on the railing.

Michael appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, frowning at Cas with a stern, disapproving expression on his face.

"Where on Earth have you been? Do you realize that it's nearly five o' clock? Why didn't you answer your phone?"

Cas groaned as though the conversation was physically hurting him. "I was tutoring, Michael. It'll look good when I apply for college."

"Well, that's something at least." Michael retorted, sounding unimpressed. "You're going to need that. But that's no excuse to come home late without any notice. You should have called me."

"Yeah, well," Cas said distractedly, staring longing up the staircase. "Sorry. It won't happen again."

Michael stared at his brother, his brows knitted together; he seemed to be thinking hard about what he was going to say next. "Listen, Castiel, I know that it's difficult to be seventeen, and—"

"Michael, can we not have this conversation?" Cas cut his brother off, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes.

That wasn't the right thing to say, obviously. "I am not going to deal with that drama today, Castiel. I'm being serious. You skipped out on church again yesterday—"

"I didn't skip out!" Cas said suddenly, his eyes snapping open as he scowled at the injustice in Michael's words. "I went—"

"Yeah, I know. You went to church with Balthazar. That's almost as bad as not going at all. You know I don't like you hanging out with—"

"Yeah, I know." Cas snapped. "You've made it pretty clear about a hundred times about since I was ten. Because it would be so much better, I'm sure, if I just didn't have any friends!"

"Oh, don't even go pulling the tragic teenager act on me, Castiel!" Michael's face was red with anger. "You're giving me a headache. Just…just go. To your room. For the rest of the night."

Cas rolled his eyes and stomped up the stairs, yelling over his shoulder. "That's where I was going in the first place before you had to drill me for information!"

Cas's chest was burning with rage. What was Michael's problem? He always acted like Cas was getting into trouble, and he wasn't.

The door to Samandriel's room was shut, and Cas was thankful that he was keeping himself out of this one. Cas was in no mood to talk about it, even if his youngest brother's intentions were usually to make him feel better.

He made a point of slamming his door shut when he stepped into his room, (so that Michael knew he was serious) and wasted no time before flopping onto the bed, and glaring angrily at the wall, wishing the day would just get over with.

The following day was tedious. AP History dragged. Calculus dragged. Gym was nothing short of hellish (though Cas found himself much more distracted by Dean in this class than he had ever been before), and the rest of his classes were just more of the same.

Even tutoring Meg seemed to take longer than usual, and Cas concerned himself, as her session was finishing with the thought that maybe everything had dragged on so much because he had been looking forward to the end of the day more than usual…

"You really should pay more attention when people are talking to you." Meg laughed, while Cas stared stupidly up at her.

"Huh? Sorry, Meg. What were you saying?"

She picked up her schoolbag, slinging it over her shoulder. "I said: was yesterday as terrible as you thought it was going to be?"

Cas just stared, his expression blank.

"Your tutoring. With Dean."

"Oh, yes. I mean no. No, it wasn't so bad, I suppose. I thought it was going to be worse."

"Well I'm glad to hear it. See you tomorrow, Clarence." Meg said with a smile and a wave before leaving the room.

"Clarence?"

The voice behind him made Cas jump, and he whirled around in his chair to stare up at Dean's smirking face. He wasn't late this time, that was for sure.

"What's with the nickname?"

"Oh my gosh, I didn't even know you were here yet, you scared me…And, uh, you know that movie, It's a Wonderful Life? Something about the angel and I'm sort of named after an angel and…I don't know, I don't really get it." Cas waved a dismissive hand, and reached into his bag to pull out his own copy of Oedipus the King from when he studied the play.

"Okay, let's get started." Cas had no idea why, but he felt like he desperately wanted to keep any chance of small talk between them to a minimum, and focus solely on the schoolwork. Maybe it was because he certainly hadn't turned a blind eye to how attractive the other boy was, and he wanted to push away any chance of developing a crush on him.

And it was funny, really, how quickly those things could develop. How you could have just one conversation with another person, and all of a sudden you couldn't stop staring at them, and you keep picking up on mannerisms right from the start, words and phrases that they commonly used…

For how slowly Cas's day had moved, his tutoring with Dean went at least three times as fast, and Cas was once again finding himself facing four-thirty much sooner than he had anticipated.

"Well, we didn't get to start your character analysis today, but at least we got you caught up on the reading, and you're understanding it much better. So tomorrow we can get started on that." Cas spoke, carefully packing his things into his bag.

"Awesome. Really, I'd be dead meat if I failed this class, so you're really helping me out here. I mean it."

Cas smiled a little bit as he pulled the zip on his bag. "It's no problem."

"And, uh," Dean continued on, his voice suddenly sounding a bit awkward. "Listen, I was wondering if you aren't busy all the time with your…school stuff or whatever it is you do, if maybe you wanted to hang out sometime?"

Cas froze, turning to stare up at Dean, his expression brimming with skepticism.

His heart was beating way too fast, and he had no idea why Dean would be asking him to hang out. They had spent barely two days together tutoring, and that entire time had been spent talking about Oedipus—nothing that included common interests or would give reason to spend time with each other outside of schoolwork.

"…Are you making fun of me?" Cas asked shrewdly.

"What? No! Of course not, why would you think…" Dean frowned at Cas from where he stood. "Okay, listen, this is really dumb but…my brother's been getting on my case because I haven't been getting out much as I usually do, and haven't really been hanging around my friends much."

He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck as Cas just stared at him, still frozen with his backpack half closed.

"So…he wouldn't stop bothering me about finding some more friends or something. I dunno, it's dumb, but I just want to get him off my case about it. You don't have to or anything I just—"

"No, it's fine." Cas was embarrassingly aware of how quickly he answered. He straightened up, hoisting his own bag onto one shoulder and struggling for a moment to capture the other strap so he could pull the bag evenly onto his back. "I mean, if you wanted to hang out or something. I could probably do that."

"Great. Well…when are you free?"

Cas frowned at Dean, thinking about his argument with Michael the previous day, and his desperation to avoid a second row.

"How about tonight?"

Dean laughed at first, but the sound quickly died in his throat when he caught the serious expression on Cas's face.

"Seriously? Tonight? Well…I have to pick my brother up from school, but… I guess I'm free after that."

"Well…" Cas glanced around, suddenly very aware of Lisa's eyes burning into the back of his head from where she sat at the desk. "I have to talk to two of my teachers about my classes, so…how about you just come pick me up here after you drop off your brother." That way he could avoid going home at all, at least until later.

Dean seemed to consider this option for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Alright. That works for me. So…I'll see you then."

He flashed Cas a half-smile that the brunette returned before he headed out the door.

Cas stood where he was for a long time, listening to the frantic beating of his heart, and trying to ignore the sick combination of giddiness and guilt that was curdling in his stomach, making him feel just a little bit ill.

He couldn't get the image of Dean's smile out of his head.