As Dean was walking home, a wave of realization hit him. He was gone all night. It was after 2 in the afternoon. John would be home. He was in deep shit.

With each step, Dean tensed more and more. Maybe, he'd be lucky and his dad wouldn't be there.

Of course, upon arriving, the 1967 Chevy Impala was parked in the spot for the Winchesters' at their condo.

"Great." Dean mumbled, walking up to the door, and opened it. Surprisingly in his expedition from the night before, the keys had never left his jacket pocket.

Dean opened the door and slowly walked in, hoping he wouldn't be noticed. Of course, his dad was sitting on the couch right by the front door, on the phone with his address book in front of him. Sam was sitting by John, a nervous look on his face. As Dean entered the house, the two of them snapped their heads up at the same time.

"Dean!" Sam exclaimed with relief in his voice.

"Dean Winchester!" John used his angry dad voice as he hung up the phone and stood up. He was steaming with rage. "Where the fuck have you been?!" he walked up to Dean, grabbing him by the shoulders.

Dean looked everywhere but John's eyes. "Out! I went to a friend's house! Get off me, Dad!" he tried to push John off to no avail. Dean was strong for a pubescent 15 year old, but John was stronger. Much stronger.

"Sam told me you were going for a walk. You never came back! Is that alcohol I smell on you? Where did you go!?" John shook his son by the shoulders.

"That's not alco-"

"Bullshit, that's not alcohol. WHERE DID YOU GO? I can't leave for one fucking night without you abandoning your 11 year old brother!" John screamed.

Dean went from nervous to relaxed. How ironic did that just sound? "You abandoned me when I was 11 and even younger all the time!" he scoffed. "And to do just what? Fuck hookers a few times a month? You have a decent mechanic job, and here we are, living at a shitty condo with barely enough food to get by because you spend all your money on whores! Get over it, dad. Mom's dead, and you fill the void by pathetically soliciting sex to girls who are half your age!"

John got even more heated at that. "Watch your MOUTH, Dean! I leave you two alone sometimes because I thought you could take care of your little brother and watch out for him! I was wrong, because you're a sorry excuse for a son. You go out and party, leaving your little brother alone, who might I add, was very worried about you." John tightened his grip on Dean's shoulders. "When did I ever say I had a decent job, huh Dean?" he asked, eyes narrowing. "I LOST my job at the garage almost a month ago, and now we're getting evicted next week! So yes Dean, I'm sorry that I'm such a horrible fucking parent, but what else can I do when all this happens? First your mom dies, and now this!? I can't take a little 'John' time?"

Dean froze. "Wait a minute. You lose your job and you're telling me we're going to be homeless? So you still go out and pay whores to suck your dick? What is WRONG with you?" Dean kicked John between his legs so he would loosen the grip. Dean could've sworn that he felt his shoulders bruising up. "I may have gone to a party last night, but I can assure you that I have never done anything as stupid as what you're doing." he spat angrily and stormed off to his bedroom.

After a moment of silence, Sam shyly spoke up. "Dad...are we really gonna be homeless...?" he looked at John innocently. "I don't wanna sleep on the street."

"I'll do something, Sammy. You're not sleeping on the street. Go to your room, alright?" John straightened up as the pain in his genitals began to fade.

Sam nodded and went to his room that he shared with Dean.

Dean was quiet for the rest of the weekend. He was angry with John, and nervous about the eviction. He could tell that Sam was even more nervous, so being a big brother, Dean had to step up and hide his nerves. Even though he was quiet overall, he'd mutter to Sam that it'd be okay, and that Dad would figure something out. Dean was doubting his own words, but he didn't like seeing his little brother upset. The two would definitely have their arguments, but at the end of the day, they were brothers. They were family.

The following Monday, John dropped the boys off at school, thankfully the middle school where Sam went was right next to the high school. Dean hadn't said one word to John since the fight. Dean didn't have a reason to speak to him. He was pissed off, and that was something he was having a hard time forgiving.

Dean walked into class, taking his usual seat off to the right side of the classroom in the very back. Before anyone could come in to take the seat right by dean, Castiel walked in first. Dean rose his arm up and motioned for Cas to sit next to him.

Cas looked around and behind him for another student, but it was only him walking in at this time. He shyly went over to Dean. "You want me next to you?" he asked, timidly placing his backpack at the foot of the desk next to Dean.

"Sure. I was hoping I'd get to know you more." Dean gave Cas a little smile. Dean had this charm where he'd always make friends. People couldn't hate him. He could be friends with the least popular person in the whole school and still be friends with the most popular. "Friday night, I was too wasted to talk to you." he lowered his voice as more students came into the room, followed by the teacher. "Saturday, I was too hungover."

Cas pulled out his textbook and notebook for the class. "I can't talk now, Dean." He looked into Dean's eyes nervously. "I have to do schoolwork."

Dean forgot that some people cared about grades. Dean was planning to drop out as soon as he could so he could get his GED. He would be able to at 16. That way, he'd have a GED before getting a diploma. "Alright, be a nerd. How about lunch then?"

Castiel nodded. "Yeah...okay." he offered a smile to Dean.

"It's a date." Dean smiled back. He could nearly feel Castiel blushing, flustered at his word choice.

The classes leading up to lunchtime went by very slowly. The teachers talking just felt like a loud buzzy drone in the background. Dean caught himself doodling on his math test, drawing band logos and cars. He didn't even realize the test counted as 10% of his grade for the semester. By the time the test had to be finished, there were doodles of everything ranging from cars to pieces of pie. No math work.

"Aha...Yeah sorry Mr. Flanagan. I had some trouble with this test." he winked as the teacher collected the tests.

Mr. Flanagan gave Dean an annoyed look, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for Dean to not do any work on a test.

Eventually, the lunch bell rang, and all the students rushed down to the cafeteria. Dean made sure he was one of the first people to get in line, so he had a bigger variety of food to choose from. He ended up getting a cheeseburger and tater tots. For school food, it wasn't half bad. At least the tater tots were always hot. Dean sat in his usual spot at the cafeteria, making sure to place his leg up on the chair to save Cas a seat. Sure, that was something elementary school kids did, but Dean always had someone sit next to him. Today, he wanted to make sure that someone was Castiel.

About five minutes into lunch, the table filled up with some of Dean's acquaintances before Castiel arrived. Cas stood about 6 feet away from the table, glancing at Dean with anxiety in his eyes.

Dean took his foot off the chair and offered a relaxed smile. "Come here, Cas." he waved his hand to motion Cas over.

Some of the people who were sitting with Dean looked confused as to who this 'Cas' was. One kid furrowed their eyebrows, giving Dean the look of 'who the fuck is that weirdo?' Everyone else just stayed silent with confusion clear on their faces.

Castiel shyly went over to sit by Dean, placing his tray of food on the table before sitting down. "Thank you for saving me a seat, Dean." Castiel thanked in his deep voice.

"No problem." Dean took a bite of his burger. "Don't mind everyone here. They're just confused since you've never sat here before."

"I usually sit alone." Cas began. "I'm more comfortable that way." he glanced over to the empty table where he usually sat, then looked back at Dean. His eyes read, 'I want to go there. I don't like these people.'

Dean gave Cas a charming half-smile. "We can go over there and be alone if it makes you more comfortable." he stood up, grabbing Castiel's bag as he did so.

"Winchester, don't tell us you're going gay for this nobody!" The kid who looked most uncomfortable by Castiel's presence spoke up. "It's one thing to be gay, and it's another thing to be gay for someone so weird!"

Dean rose a brow. "Shut the fuck up, man. He's not that weird. His brother is Gabriel Novak, after all. Good luck getting to one of his house parties. They're really awesome. I would know." He winked and led Cas away to the empty table. Once sitting down, Dean noticed the kid's face full of regret. He obviously learned to not talk shit about Gabriel Novak's brother.

"How would he know if your weird or not. He's never talked to you before." Dean rolled his bright green eyes before focusing his vision to Castiel.

Cas shrugged, taking a bite of his salad. "It doesn't matter, Dean."

"Why are you eating salad?" Dean made a disgusted face at the healthy choice Cas had before shaking his had a little. "Anyway, how are you so different from your brother? He's star of the football team. Party animal. Super popular. You're just a quiet kid who doesn't even take part in any of the parties at your own house. If people knew that Gabe was your brother, you'd be so popular. Not like popularity matters, but it's how you survive high school." he shrugged.

"I don't like people. They intimidate me." Cas admitted, looking down at his salad. "I have anxiety around people. I like being unnoticed. It makes everything go by smoothly. I don't have to worry about pleasing any friends, nor do I have to worry about being hated upon. Being invisible is probably the best choice I've ever made." He looked at Dean through his lashes.

"Having one friend isn't bad. Honestly, being popular doesn't necessarily mean you have friends though. Look at me. I'm pretty cool...but I don't hang out with anyone outside of school. Popularity is just a contest to see how many people have the most acquaintances." Dean gave the truth.

"I'm fine the way I am." Cas sighed with a mouth full of lettuce. "It's still intimidating to have so many people on my back. I don't like it."

"To each their own." Dean pat Castiel on the shoulder. "But...If it's not too uncomfortable for you...I'd like to be your friend." he smiled genuinely. Dean liked having a lot of 'friends' in school, but he often got bored hanging out with Sam all the time since nobody in school associated themselves with Dean after 3pm. Maybe if there was someone who wouldn't mind hanging out at his condo with Sam so the three of them-Oh wait, he didn't have a condo anymore. Well, not after this week. The smile dropped at that thought.

"You really want to? After finding out how awkward I am? After finding out I existed like three days ago?" Castiel asked. At this point, he was fidgeting with his sleeves instead of eating. It was unlike him to have someone wanting to be his friend. What happened?

"Yeah. You're a genuinely nice guy. I have a tendency to associate myself with assholes. And I've known of your existence, Cas." Dean let out a soft chuckle. "Our teachers call attendance at the beginning of class."

"Oh, right." Castiel was looking down at his fumbling hands. He refused to meet Dean's beautiful green eyes.

"Cas, look at me." Dean placed a hand at Castiel's shoulder.

Cas tensed at the sudden touch, but averted his eyes from his hands to look at Dean, meeting his emerald-like orbs.

"You seem to think that you're going to be totally fine going through life invisible. That's not how life works. You'll never truly be happy that way. This is coming from a friend, Cas." Dean had true concern in his eyes. "You need to step out of your shell. Open yourself up a little. Don't hide away so much. Maybe you'll enjoy yourself, rather than just existing. Existing isn't very fun. It's boring. This is coming from someone who has a brother that's just like you. Sammy, my little 11 year old brother...he got bullied all through elementary school. He just started middle school this year, and he's noticeably gotten quieter. I asked him about it a couple months back, and he told me that he was trying to be invisible so he'd get by without people hating him. It changed him, Cas. And not in a good way. I'm telling you this because I kinda think you're a great kid. You deserve to enjoy life."

By the end of the little speech, Castiel was speechless with wet eyes. They weren't wet enough for tears to fall, but definitely watery enough for Dean to notice.

"Don't cry. It's advice that you should take." Dean said before taking a couple hungry bites from his burger.

After some silence between the two of them, Cas spoke up to break it. "You're right, Dean. I need to live. I can't stand being so scared of everything. I do it to myself."

"So you should change something. Maybe this Friday night, you should go down and have a couple drinks. Meet some people." Dean offered, smiling sweetly.

"As fun as that sounds," Cas began sarcastically. "I don't think Gabriel will let me. He seems to think he's the boss of me now that our parents aren't around. He doesn't let sophomores in his parties."

"I'm a sophomore. He invited me." Dean shrugged.

"Yeah, well you're cool. You're popular. I'm not. He told me that nobody will come if they notice me there."

Dean huffed in exasperation. At first, he thought Gabe was pretty cool. Now, he was annoyed with him. "That's a dumb reason. It's your house...but whatever."

Cas simply shrugged and finished eating his salad.

"Hey Cas?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have a phone number?"

Castiel nodded. "Yeah." he got out a notebook from his backpack and wrote down the digits. "Gabriel will most likely answer, so just tell him you want to talk to me." He ripped the piece of paper and handed it to Dean.

Dean smiled a little as folded the paper and put it in his pocket. He was only going to have a house phone for a few more days, so he definitely planned on using it. There was something about Cas that drew Dean to him. "Will do. When's the best time I can call?"

"Anytime after school. Just give me 20 minutes to get home." Cas smiled shyly.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

"I'll see you, Cas." Dean ruffled the mop of hair atop of Castiel's head with a smile before throwing his leftovers out and walking to class.

"Yeah...seeya." Cas got up, grabbing his bag and his tray. He saw that Dean was going the same way that he had to go, but he felt awkward since they departed. Once Dean was out of sight, Cas went on to throw his tray out and off to his first afternoon class.