Some people think all Christian teenagers are wither brain-washed or secret rebels against the system. It was a huge misconception, of course; teenagers were plenty able as much as adults to make their own decisions when it came to religion or their lifestyle. A religious lifestyle keeps people grounded, to remember that life is not meant to be fun, it's meant to be selfless, learn humility; have true values in life. Chasing after Earthly things were pointless and only ended in emptiness. Only true fulfillment could be found in God.

Being the pastor's son made all this very easy. They were the Novaks, father and son, haunted by the background of a unfortunate death of a mother during childbirth, and a rouge daughter who was too focused on her own desires.

Castiel was the last hope, and Zachariah Novak would not let him fail.

As for today, it was Wednesday, that meant Wednesday night prayer service. It was when all the devoted followers of Christ would come to church on a day in the middle of the week to check their servitude and heart, and share with their fellow brethren their concerns and prayer requests. Usually, their concerns were focused on other people, and how the world needed help. Their excuse was that their prayer requests needed to be selfless, and Christians had to focus more on helping others than themselves. Castiel begged to differ, but didn't dare say a word against it. That'd be suicide.

The GarrisonBaptistChurch split into two groups on Wednesday nights, one group with the elderly, more sophisticated church-goers discussed their prayers. The second group was full of the junior-high, and senior-high school students that had their minor issues to discuss. Castiel often thought he'd rather be in the adult group; he found the youth group very childish.

"I shouldn't have to remind you guys that we have a Midnight Madness Friday," Raphael, the youth group leader, wrote 'Midnight Madness' on the white board.

Midnight Madness was just as the name expressed; madness that ran until midnight. Everyone in youth group, which was summed up in about twenty kids. Each kid, excluding Castiel, would bring one or two friends (often, Gabriel brought at least six), and the entirety of the group would play games and run around the church, and Raphael would often put on music in the main foyer (Christian contemporary, because that's what the kid's would think was 'cool').

Like Castiel mentioned; very childish.

Samuel Winchester was at Youth Group tonight, he himself was a strange character - but that was a judgment, and Castiel shouldn't be judging. That would be sinful.

It was just that the boy never came into church with anyone else, it was usually just him with his colorful bowties and occasional dressy slacks. He had shaggy hair that you could tell from a mile away was never professionally cut - if ever. As far as Castiel knew, he was in seventh grade.

Castiel knew Samuel had a brother. His name was Dean Winchester, and he should've been in several of Castiel's classes at school - but the child never showed up.

Also, as far as Castiel knew, there were no parents to speak of. He'd never seen any adults around Samuel. Dean was still yet to be seen by Castiel's eye.

The Winchesters poked at his curiosity, but it didn't consume him. Whatever mess they had gotten themselves into, was to no concern of Castiel.

At least that's what his father would say.

Everyone called Samuel 'Sam', and one time Gabriel called him 'Sammy', and Samuel had gotten uncomfortable. Castiel wasn't used to nicknames, but since he rarely talked to anyone in youth group besides Raphael, it didn't really matter.

Sam was requesting prayer that his brother would come to the Midnight Madness on Friday. Castiel doubted that would happen; the older sibling obviously had no responsibility or care for his younger brother.

That was an assumption, and Castiel had been taught not to assume, because that was judging character without actually knowing them, and that was gossip within the mind. The rules and regulations were very clear to him.

Andrew Gallagher asked prayer for his test Wednesday, which was a ridiculous prayer request. As if God had any care about some foolish test a high school student had. Didn't these people know what God had to do?

Gabriel asked prayer that all his friends would go to Midnight Madness, for salvation; part of Castiel would want to believe he wanted them to come for that reason, but the real reason was probably that he just didn't want his friends to 'flake out' on him. He'd heard that term sometime in the hallway at school, he couldn't remember who had said it.

It was strange because he went to public high school, while most strictly religious families would prefer to homeschool their students. Especially with Pastor Zach's (another nickname) background for trouble with his family. Sometime school was fun, other times it was... less than that. He figured it wouldn't have been that bad if he'd found some more friends to accompany him. He had one he could name right of the bat - Joanne Harvelle. She was a quick, witty person, who made Castiel smile at least. He didn't laugh often, but smiling was an accomplishment in it's own. She was well-known around school, not exactly 'popular', but people knew who she was, and she was an easy conversationalist. It was all down to pure luck that Castiel had gotten partnered with her in French class in freshman year that their friendship got off on a good note. He was very grateful for Jo's (more nicknames?) friendship.

Maybe he should invite her to a Midnight Madness.

It may be too... lame... for her.

Wednesday night prayer service ended with Raphael closing in prayer, hitting every useless prayer after another on the board.

Castiel's prayer request was always an 'Unspoken'. Unspokens were prayer requests that you had for God; and God Himself would be the only one who knew that prayer request. No one else would know what that 'Unspoken' was except Castiel and God, and no one was allowed to ask questions. He was grateful for that, because it would be bad if anyone knew.

o0o

Home life was usually a fine time to relax and work on his studies and devotionals. Devos (for short, also a nickname...) were alone time in the Bible, and the Novaks took their devotionals very seriously. His father usually assigned him to certain passages, including Ecclesiastes, which was a book in the Bible about how life is meaningless without God, and Jonah, about his agreement to do what God had ordered him to do, but with a poor heart, so the rest of his life was miserable because his attitude was in the wrong place.

And every week, one verse in Leviticus.

But he was going to therapy for that, so it would all be better.

Zachariah Novak was a joyful man on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, but during the week, away from the church's eyes, his sadness and anger that had been pent up over long years of suffrage showed. Pastor Zach often spent nights alone in his study, frantically flipping pages in the Bible, looking for answers - which the Bible usually held. Other nights, he would be in the kitchen, and all Castiel would hear from his room was crashing glass, and groans, and occasional screams.

Luckily, Castiel had never been in the crossfire.

o0o

The first game at Midnight Madness was usually the famous 'Chair Game'. The game itself was simple; chairs were put in a circle and sticky notes were put underneath each chair. Each sticky note had a number on it. Raphael, who was the 'referee' for Midnight Madness, would call out numbers. If the number underneath your chair was called, you had to get up and find another chair. If you couldn't get to a chair in time, you were put in the middle and had to say your name and name something you liked. And when more numbers were called, the person in the middle could get a chance to get a seat; and the cycle went on.

Everyone had brought a friend or multiple (Gabriel had only brought five this year), which made the whole gymnasium they had in their small church fairly packed. Which was all a bit overwhelming for Castiel.

Not many people ever talked to him, and apparently it wasn't just a public school thing because people in youth group cleared whenever he even started in their direction.

It's all he'd ever known, so he didn't really know what he was missing. Maybe friends would be nice, maybe it was a hassle. He doubted he'd ever know.

6. That was the number underneath Castiel's specific chair. There were a lot of unrecognizable faces around - more than usual, and he refused to make too much eye contact. Meghan had a guy with her, and Castiel quickly darted his eyes away from it, even though nothing was even happening.

He turned his head towards Sam Winchester, who had someone next to him, and he'd be extremely surprised if that was his brother. The person wasn't visible from the front, their feet were posed at Sam, talking with him, so only the back of his brown leather jacket was seen.

"8, 2, 12, 7, 10," Raphael called out. Five people jumped out of their folding chairs and raced to find the nearest one open. Of course, one was left out with no seat. It was like a twisted version of musical chairs.

"Um, I'm Meg," Meghan started, using a nickname, "I like horror films."

She did a impersonation of the Catholic 'Sign of the Cross' in mockery, and that earned a few laughs. Baptists loved to make fun of the Catholics, but they both worshiped the same God, so Castiel didn't quite understand it.

"3, 20, 5, 18, 16."

The older Winchester - Dean - got up, almost rolling his eyes in doing so, as if this whole game was foolishness. Castiel didn't look too closely at him. He quickly found a seat.

"Hello, I'm Jessica and I love baking."

"21, 25, 8, 1, 4."

"I'm Balthazar. My parents were obviously smoking something heavy when they picked out the name. I'm a fan of Greek Mythlogy."

"16, 12, 6, 10, 23."

Castiel jumped and tried for the nearest available chair, but was beat by another.

Dean Winchester gave him a wink while he got comfortable.

And oh no those eyes.

His staring caused him to be the last one standing so, flushed and embarrassed, he made his way to the center of the circle.

He said the only thing he knew how to say.

"Hello my name is Castiel Novak. I am the pastor's child."

o0o

The game continued on fluently, with laughs and accidental tripping over metal chairs. Gabriel's friends - of course - broke one, which Castiel didn't even know was possible. Dean often caught Castiel's eye, and every time Castiel had to fight to look away. It was very simple to get lost in those surreal jade eyes. His whole stature was all enticing to Castiel. It was dangerous territory, and oh gosh did he know this was not okay on so many levels. But Dean's set jaw, his relaxed posture made his person seemed like he would be ready for anything. Just looking at him Castiel could tell he was a daring character, but behind that was a stern expression on his face, that seemed to vanish when he threw a joke or gave out a laugh, but if you paid enough attention, you could see the tension still in there.

This was selfish acting, he was worshiping a body that for starters was a male body. Along with that being wrong in an entirety, this night was not supposed to be about finding someone to drool over, it was about connecting with people and trying to reach through nonbelievers a small image of Christ that a group of teenagers had no hint of. Castiel was supposed to be talking with people, being sociable.

But that never worked with him in the past.

Pizza and snacks came and went. More games followed and passed. Sweaty bodies were everywhere, stomping up stairs, sliding down the railings, climbing over the pews messily. They'd have to clean all this up later.

The next game was called Demons vs. Vampires. It was one of the 'famous' games played at Midnight Madness, funnily enough. Castiel thought it was strange how a church would play games called 'Demons vs. Vampires' when strict churches would never approve. Maybe their church wasn't as strict as Castiel assumed.

Maybe they could have fun in church. He'd need to go to a few more Midnight Madness's to find out if fun was actually fun.

It was a fairly simple-minded game. Two demons with green glowsticks around their wrists and necks went after humans. Two vampires with red glowsticks and they went after the demons. One angel with blue glowsticks around their wrists and neck saved the humans if they had gotten caught by a demon. It was basically just a complicated version of freeze tag.

Castiel was the angel.

The perks of being an angel was that you didn't have to run whenever you saw a hint of red or green coming around the corner. The downside was hearing "Angel!" being screamed every minute from all different directions in the church. Which meant a lot more running than what Cas was expecting. No matter how many times they were saved, they always needed one more saving.

Funny metaphor.

Castiel himself was getting very tired very quickly. The church was dark now, since it was heading onto about ten p.m. There were little electric candles on the shelves that were scattered through the downstairs, but when you got to the top level of the church it was hard to see two feet in front of you. Once again, Castiel questioned why the youth group, a church organization, would hold such a wild event.

Yells were still being screamed but Castiel couldn't find it within him to care about rushing. He'd done more than enough of his cardio today.

Before he knew what was happening, someone grabbed the blue glowstick around his neck, brushing their fingers more than was strictly necessary and ran and hooked it to another kid down the hallway. Castiel gave a puzzled look and tilted his head to the side, even though no one could see his confused expression. Then, another peculiar occurrence happened as a hand grasped his own quickly and dragged him into one of the bigger storage closets. It must be the children's storage where they keep the baby bibles and childish skit materials. A rather bizarre place to take someone into.

At first he thought it was one of Gabriel's friends, who all had a knack of frightening Castiel every available chance. But he was mistkaen.

"Hey angel," Castiel heard a voice say, and whoever it was, they were in close proximity to him. Too close, in fact, to be platonic.

Then, Castiel understands who it is.

"Dean Winchester," Castiel let out in a low voice, not really understanding what else to say.

"Winchester. Dean Winchester." Castiel had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the way Dean said it as if he were James Bond.

Castiel didn't know what to do, because whatever was going to happen was not going to be in any way, shape, or form, pleasing to God. Maybe he should get out, that would be the correct thing to do. But some force was holding him back.

"Should I be going-"

"Nah," Dean said flippantly, grabbing a hold of Cas shoulders, smoothing his arms towards the back of his neck, pushing him to the wall.

"Um, I don't necessarily think this is an appropriate setting for..."

Castiel trailed off. The setting was definitely not what the problem was here.

"Tell me... what was your name again?"

"Castiel Novak."

"Alright, tell me... Cas, who stuck the stick up your ass?"

Castiel tilted his head to the side, confused.

"No one has pressured any branch up my..."

He didn't finish the sentence, but it didn't take Dean to poke fun.

"Damn, someone shoved it up there real nice haven't they?"

This was awkward and uncomfortable.

Castiel tried to wiggle out of Dean's grip, and succeeded - surprisingly. That was the moment he should've ran out of there, but he was giving into an impulse that was sinful.

Although it was too dark to see, and too loud to hear, Castiel knew that Dean was observing him - somehow. He shifted again and became increasingly aware of the lack of space between them.

And Dean's cologne was making Castiel dizzy.

"Ever kissed someone?" Dean's breath ghosted Castiel's lips, and he inhaled sharply in either shock or anticipation... he begged for the former. This was probably all stupidly cliché, and it was definitely sin. There was no denying that now. His legs felt numb - no, his whole body felt numb. His knees were going weak, and he felt trapped and confused about if he wanted this or not. It was as if he was frozen.

Sin, sin, sin, sin.

Every thought escaped him as lips pressed onto his.

He should be switching off into panic mode, but there were pliant lips pressed on his, and it was new, and excited Castiel in a dangerous way. They were moving, sowly, ever so slowly on Castiel's own, it was almost intoxicating, and dangerous...

And suddenly they were off.

But not far.

"You know, Cas, usually this is supposed to be a two-man effort," Dean's voice was lower than usual, and through all the noise still going around the church, it seemed all muffled compared to what was happening right now. He felt dazed, as if this was an outer world. He'd just shared his first kiss with someone he didn't know, a boy, in a church of all places...

"Are you like, okay?"

Castiel snapped his head up and realization hit him like a dull brick. He suddenly want to crack his skull open on the shelves behind him because why was he so dumb. Here Dean Winchester was, who could've been snogging anyone he wanted tonight, and for all Castiel knew; maybe he already had - was trying to kiss him while he sat idly by probably projecting the completely wrong message.

"I - sorry, just... nervous?" Castiel tried, grinning dumbly even though through the darkness the act would have no hold on Dean. But he almost felt a smile cross across the slightly taller boy. Castiel shouldn't have wanted those lips back on his own, but they were too tempting to resist.

Suddenly hands slid to his waist, and the smaller boy had to suppress a squeak to keep from embarrassing himself further.

"Just relax," Dean whispered into his ear, and no matter how pathetic it sounded, his voice sounded to enticing for his own good, and Castiel thought he would melt into the ground right there.

Lips pressed a line from his ear to across the plain of his cheek, finally reaching its destination at Castiel's lips, hesitating slightly, then sensitively pressing their mouths together. This time, they waited for him to respond. No way was he letting it slip by this time.

He softly brought a fist up and laid it gently over the top of Dean's chest, it was more comfortable feeling than letting them stand by his side.

They kissed. They kept the pace slow, and Castiel tried not to think that the reason for that was because Dean knew he was inexperienced. It wasn't hard to tell that Sam's brother had some definite talent, and that didn't just happen over night. Dean's amazing lips were moving with Castiel's clumsy mouth and nothing had ever felt so perfect and daring. His body felt on fire, and he felt above clouds, and this was something he had never had happen before. Everything was always strict; no time for pleasure. But this sin; this boy he didn't even know was bringing that danger of selfishness in.

And it felt so good.

"Game over!"

Castiel almost crashed his head open on Dean's from surprise. Raphael's voice rung through the halls as lights simultaneously flickered on around the downstairs level of the church. The world slowly came back into view.

If Casitel swore, now would've been the correct time, but Dean took that liberty.

"Shit," Dean sighed and Castiel whipped his head away from Dean's chest, as if it was hot.

Everything rushed back into play.

He'd just kissed someone.

A boy.

Sin.

Sin.

Castiel was a sinner. He'd just sinned, a deadly sin. A sexual immoral sin, and he'd been taught those are the worst offenders.

His breath was panicky, he felt himself slowly losing sanity, and almost didn't catch Dean leaving the closet through blurred vision.

No.

No, no, no.

This had been against everything his father had been trying to prevent. This was ruining all of his progress. He was a disappointment, not only to his Heavenly Father but to his earthly father.

But oh Dean Winchester had felt so comfortable.

Why had he been comfortable?

Why could he have been a girl, then this all would've been okay.

Castiel shrunk to the floor, clawing at his head with his hands. He wanted to scream, to do something irrational. The secret was out, Dean Winchester knew, and that was all not acceptable. Zachariah would kill him. This would end him.

Cas.

Dean Winchester had made him hell-bound.