Title: Just This Side of Okay

Author: ColorMeContented

Disclaimer: Supernatural and pretty much everything here belong to their respective owners. All I have is the plot.

Rating: M because of stressful situations? Is that a thing? I just don't want kids reading this kind of angsty shit. Oh, and violence.

Warnings: AU, Fluff, booze, swearing, blasphemy and the like, violence and emotional distress

AU: I preach love, peace, and acceptance and urge you to do the same! I do not condone the derogatory word 'fag' in fact, I despise it, and so I apologize if it offends anyone, it is simply a plot device. Review please!

Chapter 2: Make Yourselves at Home

Dean threw his arms wide open at the dingy foul-smelling barracks in front of him and smiled.

"Great isn't it?"

While it is true that Castiel had gaped in awe at the setup it was most definitely not because he liked it.

The mattresses were six inches thick and a musty green color that Castiel would rather not think too hard about. The lights were dirty and dim and though the place seemed impeccably clean to the naked eye Castiel felt certain that if he ever stepped bare footed on the wood floor he'd be picking splinters out of his feet for weeks.

Cas pointed towards one of the many two-man bunk beds pressed up against the walls.

"I get a bunk?"

Once again Dean took Castiel's dismay for awe. He nodded erratically.

"Yup! We got a full house now that you two showed up. Besides you, me and Garth we got Benny, Sam, and Gabe." Dean flashed Castiel a mirthful smile, "You'll be my bottom bunk and Garth'll be Benny's top bunk."

Castiel nodded solemnly, forcing the flush threatening to overtake him to keep the hell away from his face. He sauntered over to his bunk and sat down, hating the way it felt like he was sitting on a brick.

Dean put a finger to his lips in thought a moment, "What do you need to know that the officers would have told ya? Right, lights out's ten, rise at six, hospital corners on yer bed, work hard, don't talk back, Bobby'll be your best friend in a week if yer a smoker, I think that's all?"

Across the room Garth opened his mouth to ask a question when the door slammed open and three other men drenched in water, sweat and covered in mud piled in.

The tallest one ran a hand through his long hair and shook a bit of mud from his body, a glob of which landed on Castiel's glasses.

"Dude, Dean, where'd you go? It took forever after you left." The other two nodded in agreement. Castiel noticed how Dean's face lit up when the other man had entered the room.

"Calm down Sammy, Bobby needed me to patch up a few of the new recruits 'n get 'em settled in." he turned to Cas and Garth. "Cas, Garth, these guys are Sam, Benny and Gabe. Tall, southern and blonde, in that order."

Garth simply nodded and Castiel replied with a polite 'hello' as the ring of a bell resounded through the camp. Immediately the boys who'd been working began to strip off their clothes which wouldn't have been a problem for Castiel if it were a dream, but it wasn't. He gawked a moment before tearing his eyes from the men furiously scraping the filth from their bodies.

"What's going on?!" he demanded over the hustle only to get his answer in the form of a suit and tie being shoved in his face by Sam.

"You better put that on kid," he said kindly, "the officers get real pissed if you don't wear a tie to dinner."

Castiel ignored the fact that he was obviously a few years older than Sam who'd just called him a child and slipped into the suit. It was a bit big on him considering that he had to borrow Sam's spare. He and Garth would have to go to the supply house and get their army surplus uniforms and suits later in the week. He managed to get it on though he fumbled with the light blue tie until Dean took the time to help him fix it.

Was it just Castiel's imagination or did Dean keep staring at his lips?

The bell rang again and the six of them shuffled out of their cabin past hundreds of others on a lightly graveled road towards the mess hall. Though throngs of other boys flowed out of doors to form one immense crowd the six bunk mates stuck close together.

"Hot damn!" Garth exclaimed when he came face to face with the buffet table. "I never seen this much grub in ma whole life!"

Benny patted a hand on his shoulder, "It gets less overwhelming over time brother." He said cordially.

"Wow," Castiel said, also struck by the sheer quantity of foods laid before him, "the last time I saw this much food was… at the soup kitchen in New York." Dean may or may not have raised an eyebrow at his pause though he didn't allude to catching Castiel in his lie. In all honesty the last time he'd seen so much food had been the last day he was at home before he ran away.

"Well what the hell are you waiting fer?" Dean asked, clapping a hand on Castiel's back, "Dig in!"

If Castiel got one of everything then the other boys got two. There was barely enough space to put their arms on the table whatwith all the plates of everything ranging from apples to ravioli to zucchini.

Dean, who sat across from Castiel, groaned around a particularly large slice of meatloaf. "It just gets better and better every day!" he cried. Gabriel laughed and launched a pea at Dean with his spoon, effectively lodging the squishy green projectile in Dean's collar. This prompted a small scale food fight. Garth was talking adamantly with Benny and Sam was reading a tattered history book. Probably in a night course, Castiel thought.

His eyes scanned the room around him observing the mob of boys laughing and talking as well as the officers table where he recognized Bobby talking quietly with a posh looking brunette man in a suit.

A shudder crawled suddenly up his spine as Castiel detected someone's eyes on him. He glanced to the left and stopped upon locking eyes with two murderous pale blue orbs.

Alistair was staring him down and it wasn't the kind of stare that assured Cas that he was going to get laid later. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and turned back to his table as Zach joined in the threatening looks.

"Don't worry about them," Sam piped over his book, he glanced at Cas then back at the pages, "if they don't know not to mess with five thirty-one now they will sooner or later. Dean, Gabe, Benny and I, we protect our own and if that doesn't work we'll have uncle throw his weight around a bit."

Uncle? It suddenly clicked in his mind why Dean had reminded him of Bobby earlier, the officer was Dean and Sam's uncle.

"Thanks Sam." He looked down at his plate to keep his forlorn look from his new friends. Hadn't even known the guys for two hours and they already treated him like a part of the family.

Castiel yawned and collapsed onto his bed, the other boys were off showering and Castiel had returned from the bath houses early. Now that he was dead tired his stone hard mattress felt like his feather soft hard back home. For a moment he wondered how his sister was faring without him, Anna always had disliked being left alone, and how his father was reacting to his absence. Castiel snorted and rolled over deciding that daddy probably threw a party after finding him gone.

He sat up when the cabin door creaked open and Garth came scurrying in. he made a beeline for Cas' bed and threw his arms around his friend with an exasperated sigh that may or may not have been a poorly disguised sob.

"Garth, are you okay?" Castiel asked, his worry growing when Garth paused a moment before sitting back. He shook his head.

"I dunno man, I came up here thinkin' it wouldn't follow me but I'm thinkin' – damnit, I'm gross aren't I?" the boy sighed again and hung his head.

"What are you talking about?" Castiel placed a hand gingerly on Garth's shoulder, "You seem perfectly not gross to me."

Garth sniffled a bit and smiled at his friend, "Thanks Cas, you're a nice guy you know that? If I –" Garth took a deep breath before continuing, "If I tell you somethin' 'bout me can you promise you won't run off screamin' or rat me out or nothin'?"

Okay now Castiel was curious. He nodded.

"No, you gotta promise." Garth demanded. Castiel rolled his eyes.

"Alright, I promise I won't tell anyone and I won't act any differently, okay?"

Garth nodded, satisfied with Castiel's vow and beckoned for his friend to lean in closer, Castiel did and Garth cupped his hand around his mouth and glanced behind him.

"I'm gay and… and I think I got a crush on that Benny guy." He finally whispered.

For a second or two Castiel just stared at the terrified look on his friend's face before erupting in an uncontrollable fit of laughter. He peeled his glasses from his face to clean the happy tear stains from them as he finished laughing.

"Garth –"

"Don't kill me!" the boy shrieked, throwing his arms up in defense.

"Who are we killing?" asked Dean as he and the others walked in. Garth sputtered something inaudible and Cas simply smiled.

"No one really, Garth was telling me that LaVerne Sophia of The Andrews Sisters is his "special lady" and I was telling him that while I feel the same about the group I much prefer Maxine Angelyn." He sent a discreet wink at Garth and relief washed over the boy's face as their bunkmates accepted Cas' story and settled in for bed.

Dean shrugged, "Whatever man, I fancy Martha Boswell myself." He climbed over Cas' head to his bunk and flopped back on the mattress with a grunt, letting his leg dangle off the side of the bedframe. "Hit the lights would ya Sammy?"

Sam barked something about no longer being a pudgy twelve year old and then the room was bathed in inky darkness.

Cas could only smile as his consciousness dimmed and he fell asleep.

"Sam!" Dean whispered harshly. He'd rolled onto his stomach and leaned over the side of his bed to look across the aisle at Sam who groaned as he woke up and untangled himself from the sheets.

"What the hell man? It's the middle of the night, why are you awake?" Said Sam as he poked his head out into the cool night air.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Well I could!" Sam hissed, "look man, you know tomorrow's gonna be rough, why are you up?" his expression softened when his brother didn't answer him right away.

"Dean, what's wrong?"

Dean smiled sourly and swung his legs over the side of the bed, climbing down past Castiel's bunk carefully so as to not wake him. Sam sat up, giving his brother a questioning look.

"Take a walk with me Sammy." Sam sighed and leapt from his bunk a little less gracefully than his brother had and followed Dean outside.

After lights out the only place the boys could go were the restrooms, the closest to the Winchesters' barrack was right next door but the brothers opted to cross the camp in order to buy more time alone. Once they were far enough away from the other houses Dean deflated. His shoulders hunched over and his feet dragged lazily through the mud.

"I'm in trouble man," he said, finally sitting on a fallen log on the edge of the path. "I know I promised Dad if he sent us up here I'd keep a hold on myself but it's so damn hard."

Sam went rigid, immediately knowing what his brother was talking about.

"Who?" he demanded.

Dean smiled down at his hands, "Cas."

"Damnit." Sam muttered. It wasn't that he had a problem with his brother's sexuality; Sam was an oddity in that way. He just wished his brother could be happy.

A certain rage burbled up in Sam's gut though not anger at Dean for being different or at Castiel for being the object of his affections but at society. As a boy he heard their father's friends telling stories about 'that old pair-o-fags that ain't there no more.' A kind couple of men who had lived on the outskirts of Lawrence Kansas and who always treated Sam and Dean with candy whenever their paths crossed had been killed by the townsfolk for no reason other than that they would rather be with each other than a woman. It made Sam sick with anger and fear causing him to prompt Dean to carefully school his wandering eyes.

Sam sat next to his brother on the log and wrapped a protective arm around his shoulder.

"There's no way I can ever understand what you're going through Dean, but the way I see it you've got three options here: talk to him and figure this thing out, ignore it until we can go home and get married to some girl, or go home –"

"No!" Dean barked, "I can't go home… I promised Dad." He sighed and shrugged, "You'd think I'd be able to just avoid the guy and keep my head in my work but I just can't man. He's just – sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable Sam – he's gorgeous, I'm sure he could be to me what Jess is to you and I've only known him a day."

Sam's eyes widened at his brother's impromptu confession.

"Dean, I had no idea."

"Fortunately we did." Dean's head shot up, a look of astute horror on his face as Gabriel and Benny came trotting down the path towards them.

"You know?!" Dean gasped and scooted a bit closer to his brother, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

"We didn't know before," Benny said with a smile and a comfortable creole drawl, "but the way you look at that boy there's no mistakin' it brother. You're gone."

"But we don't think anyone else's noticed." Gabriel said around the lollipop in his mouth, yet another piece of contraband Bobby handed out on a regular basis. He clapped a hand on Dean's shoulder, "Just be careful Dean-o, we can only protect you from so much."

"Right." Dean took in a shaky breath, forcing down a vicious panic attack, "be careful…"

"And it just so happens," Gabriel chimed happily, "that the big galoot here bats for the same team," he nodded towards Benny who smiled sheepishly, "and he's pretty sure four eyes is givin' you the same looks."

Dean looked to Benny hopefully. The Louisiana man nodded and smiled. Dean leapt from his seat, pumping his fist in the air.

"I'll talk to him first thing tomorrow!"