A/N: There are a lot of pairings that will be in this story, so I'm going to try and list them all! Dean/Castiel (Destiel), Sam/Jess, Jo/Anna, Adam/Meg, Dean/Lisa (at the beginning), Ruby/Gordon, Lisa/Victor (later). There will be sex in later chapters, so when I get around to that I'll be changing the rating to M. However, the sex scenes will not be explicit.

What Dean Winchester expected when he and his family moved to Lawrence, Kansas were just a few things. First, all of the girls would fall madly in love with him, as this had happened where they had used to live and because Dean was gorgeous. Second, the high school would be boring but good, especially for his brother Sam. Third, they were going to live in a very nice house in a very nice neighbourhood and the neighbours would not take kindly to his homemade fireworks.

Something Dean did not expect was for their next-door neighbours to be so weird.

The Winchesters were a perfectly normal family with perfectly normal names. John, Mary, Dean, and Sam. John was a lawyer and Mary worked in a restaurant. Sam was the model of a good kid. He was adorable, funny, sweet, not to mention smart.

At the age of fourteen-and-a-half, he was already saving up for law school. Dean was…different. He loved cars—especially his '67 Chevy Impala—and disliked school. Dean was smart. Enjoyed a good book, and was a fair writer. Played guitar in his spare time, too. But while he was a good enough kid and meant well, he was also a smartass.

Their next-door neighbours, however, were (to put it nicely) just downright strange.

Dean knew their names and general ages, if not the people themselves. There was the youngest and only girl, Anna. She was fifteen. After her there was Castiel or Cassiel—some weird name that Dean couldn't remember—who was the same age as him, seventeen. The next two were Gabriel and Balthazar, who were both either nineteen or twenty. The eldest were Michael and Luke, both in their early- to mid-twenties. Luke obviously was short for something, but because Dean's family had only been there for a week, they were not exactly clued in.

From what Dean could tell and what his parents had found out, they were all siblings, though apparently they didn't look much alike. Castiel/Cassiel and Anna were both registered at the local high school with the last name Novak, in any case. The odd thing was not the lack of parents. It was their demeanour.

Granted, Dean had not actually met any of them, but because his window overlooked their backyard he had seen them doing pretty strange things. The Winchesters had moved in late November, so there was a light layer of snow on the ground. The second night of having been there, Dean looked out of his window only to see them dancing wildly—or at least most of them.

He had also seen a face peering up at him. It had been too dark at the time to make out who it was or even what gender, but Dean thought the gesture was creepy and had shut his curtains tightly.

Only two nights after that he had been writing at his desk when he looked up. There was a window in the other house directly across from his own and there was a face peering at him. He just managed to see a pair of enormous blue eyes and a mop of unruly black hair before the face disappeared.

Dean was thoroughly perturbed, but also curious. The face could only belong to one of the youngest Novak's—Anna or Castiel/Cassiel. Unless, of course, one of the older guys had a creepy fetish or something. He had never seen their faces up close, so it was impossible to tell which of the two the eyes and hair belonged to.

Dean hoped it was the girl, but he wasn't quite sure why. He certainly wasn't homophobic—he had even had several gay friends at his old house, and shielded them from bullies. Maybe he just wasn't gay. Maybe it was because of the sheer sense of odd that emanated from the family.

The blue eyes plagued his mind through the entire night and through the weekend. For better or worse, Dean would find out who the owner was on Monday and he was anxious for the day to arrive.

Dean meandered slowly through the hall, not bothering to wait for the chattering crowds to disperse. A multitude of pretty girls were staring after him, overly-glossed lips practically on the floor. He smirked, but the cocky expression soon melted off of his face like hot wax.

The blue eyes. Their owner was hidden, blocked by the endless sea of people, but the eyes were staring so intently at him that Dean flinched. The hair was there as well, looking just as tousled as it had when he had first seen the person. Then the eyes flicked down to the short red-headed person in front of them and time resumed its pace.

Dean was buffeted by several kids before he snapped out of his reverie. Glancing down at his schedule, he saw that his next class, and surely the most interesting one, was biology.

The blue eyes had disappeared and he saw no more of them for the next day, try as he might. He had, however, gotten off to a fair start with all of his classes and had even gotten the number of a pretty brunette, Lisa Braeden.

Unbeknownst to Dean, his younger brother had already made a friend—Anna Novak, the girl next door. She was beautiful to Sam, with long red hair and pretty eyes. Being fourteen-and-a-half, he had no intentions of taking advantage of his newfound friend. That night, however, as soon as he fell asleep his dream were littered with her image. He had no clue about Dean's obsession with the owner of the blue eyes, so of course he didn't bother to mention that Anna's were brown.

The next few days came and went with no further sightings. In a fit of curiosity, Dean had purposely left open his shades in order to catch a glimpse of the face, but his attempts went sour.

It was not until Friday evening, when his family had gone out for a movie and dinner (Dean was not feeling too well and had decided to stay home), that Dean spotted them. He was catching the flu, but decided to go outside and do something before the sun went down.

Instead of going for a walk, Dean sat in their backyard, shivering but content. He had brought his guitar and a notebook and was attempting to compose a song. He kept messing up and restarting until he felt a great need to throw his guitar off a cliff. To calm himself down, Dean decided to play an old song his father had taught him. He wasn't really sure of the name, but it had always been his favourite thing to play.

And when I look into the sunset
I'll think of your eyes

How they shimmer in the sunlight
And how they made me cry

When it gets cold at night
I'll protect you

But when you find your way
I'll let you go on

It was simple, but his father had told him that sometimes simple was best. Dean was several verses in before he realised that he was being watched. A person was peering over the fence that divided his house and the Novak's. This was obviously the same person who had watched him the week before and on Monday.

"Hey!" he cried, leaping up and setting his guitar aside. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He heard a muffled thump and the person disappeared.

"Who are you!?" Dean yelled, hearing his voice echo in the cold evening air. "Why do you keep watching me?"

The face reappeared and Dean saw for the first time that it could not belong to a girl any more than his own face could. "I apologise," he said, his voice deep and gravely.

Dean felt something deep in his chest, but angrily pushed whatever it was away. "For what, stalking me?"

The boy sighed and neatly vaulted himself over the fence. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and jeans, but instead of a sweater or a winter coat he had on a dirty tan trenchcoat. "My name is Castiel. I believe that you are Dean."

"What kind of bastard names his kid 'Castiel'?" Dean wondered aloud. "Yeah, I'm Dean. You haven't answered my question, Cas."

"My name is—"

Dean held a hand up. "Yeah, buddy, I know what your name is. Given that it is a stupid ass name, I've elected to call you Cas."

The boy furrowed his brow. Now that Dean had actually seen him, he had to admit that the kid was attractive. For one, the whole deep voice thing was an extreme turn-on, especially since he was only seventeen. Then there were the penetrating blue eyes, which made you feel like you were being X-rayed. And of course the constantly mussed black hair. These only added to his general air of attractiveness—Cas was lean, but Dean could see the muscles in his legs and skinny arms. He had amazing cheekbones, which was a rare thing. Instead of attempting to grow sideburns or a beard, Cas had just a light five-o'clock shadow, which made him seem unkempt but sex-ready.

If only he didn't look so confused and talk like a frigging textbook.

"All right," he finally said with a calm smile. "I meant no harm. I was just observing you. You only moved here a week ago, right? Well, I was seeing what your mannerisms were. I don't have friends, you see, and I was trying to find out if you would make a good one. I enjoyed that song you were playing, by the way. My brother used to sing something like that, if only to make me be quiet. I hope I didn't disturb you."

Dean nodded, but he still felt sort of weirded out. Now that the kid wasn't talking like a college textbook, he was vomiting words out so fast Dean couldn't catch most of them. Instead of replying, he stood stock-still, mouth open slightly. "I…"

"Oh, sorry! My brother Gabriel's always saying that I talk too fast. Here, let me explain. I was observing your mannerisms in order to find out whether or not you would make a good friend. I also liked the song that you were playing earlier."

Dean swallowed. Here's my chance, he thought. Here's my chance to run inside and never see this weirdo again! But being Dean, he didn't move. Unfortunately, Castiel was interesting. More interesting, in any case, than anyone else he would meet in Lawrence. So instead he replied. "Oh, okay. Um, my dad taught the song to me. I was trying to clear my head. Did you want, uh, a drink or a snack or something? My parents and brother are gone, so…"

His voice trailed off and Dean cursed himself. Nice going, dumbass. You just told some stranger that you're home alone. What kind of grade-A idiot are you?

Cas perked up. "That sounds lovely, thank you! Do you have any tea, by any chance? I'm afraid Gabriel and Balthazar have banned me from buying any. They say it's a snobby drink, but I just love it. If you don't, that's okay, though. I'll drink water, too."

Dean chuckled in spite of himself. "Yeah, I think we might have some tea. I'm not really a fan of it, but my brother and mom drink it. Come in."

Cas grinned and followed Dean inside like an overly excited puppy. Dean found that while he was much too chipper, Cas was funny and he couldn't help being slightly attracted to him. Oh, he wasn't gay, though! No, that was absolutely preposterous.