Sorry this took so long darlings! I kept forgetting about it, but I've got it covered now! I think there were two more chapters? I'll try to upload next week if I remember (but don't trust me on anything I say. Never ever trust me when it comes to updating)

Love you guys!

-Idontgiveaflyingfuck


Dean paced back and forth in his living room, surely wearing a hole in the carpet. He stopped and glanced at his watch, then the clock on the wall, then his watch again to make sure he was getting the right time.

"8:44…" he muttered. He thought back for a moment. They did say Monday at eight, didn't they?

Dean nodded after a while. Yes, they did. He even said, "See you at 8," to Castiel as they passed in the hallway today. Cas had replied with a yes.

8:45.

Maybe he forgot, or he can't find the house? I'm sure he won't be coming now… Who cares anyway? I could be doing something more valuable with my time. Like Lisa… Yeah… Doing, I mean, doing something with Lisa…

Dean had pulled out his phone and started to type her number in when he heard voices. Loud voices. Shouting voices right outside his house. Dean hears a car roar to life before squealing from the tires as they burn out before they get a grip and the car speeds away. There's a tentative knock on the door almost a full minute later.

Dean moves quickly to open it and almost blanches when he fully registers the sight in front of him.

Castiel stands in the doorway, smaller than normal. His black long-sleeved shirt is rumpled and dark on the shoulder, his hair ruffled more than usual. His eyes have large bags underneath them that weren't there before, his face is wet, most likely tears. And right on his left cheek, a large, fist sized, purple and blue bruise was starting to form.

His hands were visibly shaking as Dean opened the door further for him. Castiel ran a hand through his hair nervously before stepping in.

"Cas, you look like shit. What happened? Who was that guy? Why were you shouting? Why are you so late?" The questions flowed from his mouth before he could find the off switch, although lucky he finally did because he almost said he was worried. It's not like I'm friends with the guy…

Cas walked silently over to the living room and set his bag down on the couch, griping the back of it tightly before releasing it, standing straight and turning around. "I uh… I fell."

"You fell?" Dean asked skeptically.

"Clumsy me didn't tie his shoelaces properly and took a tumble down the stairs leading up to my apartment. That guy was my friend and he was a little upset about having to give me the ride. I was late because I needed to talk to him about it."

Dean's never seen a worse liar. He took a step towards Cas, but he flinched and took a step back. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again," he rushed out.

Dean eyed him doubtfully. "You sure you're okay, Cas?"

"Yes, yes… It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Dean continued to eye him suspiciously for a minute or two more, the tension in the air think until he shook it off. He's not my friend, it's really none of my business.

"Okay… Well, I'm sure you don't want that scratch to get worse than it already is…" Dean said noticing the scratch on the bruising cheek because a thin line of blood had formed and pooled over. "So I'll get you something to drink while I go find the med-kit. I've got Coke, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, and Sprite," Dean said with a glance into the mini fridge he kept stocked in the living room for parties.

"Do you have any beer?" Castiel asked tiredly. Dean raised an eyebrow at him over his shoulder. Cas was sitting on the sofa, almost pushing himself into it, like he wanted to disappear into it, his eyes closed as he tried to relax. When Dean didn't reply he cracked an eye open to see the look he was giving him. "It's been a long night," he explained.

Dean reached into the fridge and grabbed him a Coors and tossed it to him before shutting it and going to the bathroom to search for the first-aid kit. He heard Cas pop the tab and take a long gulp before sighing contently.

"Do you want me to set up?" he called.

"Sure, my books are on the table," Dean replied as he pulled the kit out from under the sink.

When he came back out of the bathroom Cas had set up all the books and turned Dean's notes to a fresh page.

Dean sits on the table and patches up Cas's cheek, who to Dean's surprise, is not very squeamish. He manage to cover a good portion of the text, and as much as Dean hated to admit it, he actually learned something about Physics. Castiel was a very good teacher. Castiel had managed to relax quite a bit after a bit, he's charming, very sarcastic and very funny to Dean's enjoyment. Yet he kept fiddling with the long sleeves on his shirt, tugging on them, pulling them down.

But Dean didn't hate having him over, oh no. Quite opposite, he found himself enjoying the younger man's company. He figured out he didn't actually hate him, not really.

Dean glanced up at the clock, which read 9:58, and threw his pencil down before putting his fingers in his hair and groaning.

"Uggg! We've been at this for an hour! If I keep going at it like this my head is going to explode!" he whined.

Cas chuckled as he closed his books. "Well, do you feel like you'll do good on the test next Thursday?"

Dean stopped scratching his head to look at Cas with wide eyes. "There's a test next Thursday?"

Castiel let out a full laugh before shaking his head at the hapless student. "I suppose you'll be wanting my help with studying then?"

"If it's no trouble…" Dean muttered.

Castiel smiled at him. "If you don't mind, I can probably come over some time during the rest of the week to help you with the rest of the material, then we can spend next Monday studying."

"Sounds good," Dean replied with a smile.

They sat like that for another minute before a loud knock sounded on the door at 10 PM exactly. Well, Dean wouldn't call it a knock. More like someone was taking a sledgehammer to the door.

Cas quickly gathered his things and hurried over to the door. "It's my ride," he explained.

The guy at the door was roughly the same height as Dean, maybe a bit taller. His hair was a shade or two lighter than Dean's, closely cut and spikey in the front with dark brown eyes. Castiel immediately moved to his side, keeping his head down until the guy put two fingers under his chin and wrenched it upward before smashing his lips to the smaller man. It couldn't even be described as a kiss, because while the guy bit and tugged at Cas's lips, Cas just tensed up and took it. When the guy pulled back, Cas had a split lip from where he had bit too hard and it was currently bleeding.

That's just messed up… Dean thought.

Cas looked away, avoiding Dean's gaze. "Dean, this is my friend from earlier, Luce."

"Boyfriend," Luce corrected with a growl.

A million thoughts flew through Dean's mind. He's dating this dick? Did he give Cas that punch? Does he make Cas cry? Why is this getting me so angry? I don't know, but I'm getting really, really, really mad right now. And why am I talking to myself? I should stop now.

Dean stopped before he could realize he was also getting jealous.

"C'mon, Cas. We've got to go. Mikey and Gabe are home waiting for their turn," Luce growled at Cas.

With that, he grabbed Cas's upper arm and practically dragged him back to the car.

Dean stood shocked until they had gotten about halfway through his yard. "I'll text you later for our next session, yeah?" he called after him.

Cas looked at him with sheer terror etched across his perfect face after Dean had spoken. "Y-yeah. I'll get back to you on that. I'll see you later," he replied after managing to return his face to a mask, acting like nothing was wrong. But Dean saw right through it.

Luce said something, barely audible. It sounded like, 'We'll see about that.'

What an ass…

Dean shut the door after watching the car peel down the street and turn sharply out of sight. He moved to the living room and started picking up his textbooks. Maybe there was nothing to worry about with Cas. Maybe he was just extremely clumsy, and Luce actually was a nice guy, and Dean's judgment was just clouded. Dean thought about it, because Cas was a good guy, and maybe Luce was a good guy too. Because in all honesty, would Cas be with him if he wasn't?

Dean grew slightly worried throughout the week. He called and texted Cas, tried to get a hold of him with no answers. He never saw him at school the rest of the week. When he finally caught him in a fairly empty corridor Cas just told him not to worry about him and stop blowing up his phone. He'd had several bruises on his cheeks and a fairly large gash across the top of his eyebrow. When Dean asked him about it, Cas gave no reply and walked away.

Dean couldn't tell if he was actually looking forward to Cas's company or the fact that he would be able to check if Cas was okay come Monday night.

The knock on the door came and ten after eight, so Dean thought nothing too bad had happened. He thought wrong because when he opened the door Castiel stood there looking worse from when he saw him on Friday.

He let Cas in before moving to the bathroom. "Did Luce do that to you?" he called out.

"No, I fell again. My things put me off-center and I tumbled down the stairs."

Dean came out of the bathroom with the medical kit with a disbelieving frown covering his face. He couldn't be worse of a liar if I paid him to be.

Dean sat in front of him as he patched his up, Castiel avoided his gaze the entire time.

When he finished they sat down and did Physics for about forty-five minutes before Dean threw down his books again.

"It's too stuffy in here, wanna watch TV for a little bit?"

He nodded his head and closed his books before leaning into the back of the couch. They sat through one show for about twenty minutes in silence before Dean broke it.

"Cas?"

"Yes?

Dean ran the words through his head to make sure that's what he wanted know before asking, "Where do you live?"

"Bucks, near the river."

"Do you live with both of your parents?"

"No… I live with Luce."

Dean took a moment to process what he said. "You live with him? But you're only 17. The only reason I got this place to myself is because my parents divorced and I didn't want to end up picking a side. My little brother, Sam, lives with my mom though… How did you get out?"

He was silent, carefully mulling over his words before he spoke. "I didn't really get along with my parents."

"Care to elaborate?"

Cas sighed and shifted further back into the couch. "They wanted a girl, I'm obviously not one, among other things. They hit me around a lot too, sent me to the hospital once. Hospital called up social services, who told me to choose. Live by myself, because I was close to legal age and no foster home would take me, or live with Luce, who was 22 at the time, almost 23. I chose Luce, because I honestly didn't want to be alone."

Dean frowned. "That's gotta suck… But is it honestly worth it to live with him?"

Castiel shrugged his shoulders. "It's satisfactory. Like I said, I don't want to be alone, so it all works out in the end."

Dean wanted to say that no, it doesn't work out, because if it did actually work out then he wouldn't be getting his ass kicked by his boyfriend… But he bit his tongue and said nothing.

They sat in relative silence, the only noise coming from the TV and the occasional small talk they made. When Cas finally left, Dean had walked him to the door and outside waiting for him was a taxi, and not Luce to Dean's surprise.

As Castiel took a step off the front porch Dean grabbed the crook of his elbow to turn his attention to him. He rubbed the back of his head as those crazy blue eyes stared at him, waiting for him to speak. "Um… If you, like, ever need a place to go… If Luce is being a Douche-dick, or you just need to get away and clear your head… Feel free to come over, or call me and I'll come and get ya. I have a spare room and what-not, so you wouldn't have to sleep on a couch or anything… But, um… Yeah… That's about it."

Cas gave the faintest smile, his eyes had the sheen of tears forming, and a rosy blush filled his cheeks. "Thanks, Dean," he whispered before running off to the taxi. He waved at him before ducking into the cab and left the street.

On Thursday, Dean was getting ready for bed. Straightening up a bit, finishing off his beer, turning off the TV, when a knock sounded from the front door. He glanced at the clock, reading 11 PM.

Who the hell could that be so late at night? He wondered as he opened the door.

He should have known.

Castiel stood in front of him, bruises covering his face, what he thought looked like fingerprints on his neck, his shirt was in tatters and his pants have seen better days. His nose was dripping blood, puddling on his shirt, his lips were split and scratches covered his face.

"Hello, Dean. I'm sorry to come over unannounced, but do you mind if I stay the night?" Dean was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Cas had taken his advice and come over if he needed. Castiel shifted unevenly on his feet at the silence. "I wouldn't ask unless I absolutely needed it."

Dean shook himself out of his stupor and invited him in. Cas knew the drill by now and sat on the couch while Dean got the med kit, muttering something about needing a bigger one. Once he was done, he pulled Cas up the stairs and put him in the guest bedroom, then went into his room and grabbed him something to sleep in. Cas gave a small, 'Thank you,' before shutting the door.

Dean totally didn't stay outside the door until he was sure Cas's breathing was even and was sound asleep.

That was soon the drill. Cas would come around two, three, the occasional four nights a week, almost always bleeding. There was one time he came over and was perfectly fine, but the next night he was exceptionally bad. Dean would fix him up, he didn't have to show him the bedroom anymore, he would just go to his room and grab Castiel something to sleep in. Sometimes Cas would ask him to stay until he fell asleep, other nights it was quiet. Some nights Cas would wake up screaming and sweating, Dean would get up and get him a glass of water and sit with him until he calmed down. Cas never let him turn on the lights, though. Other nights, Cas would wake up scared and wander to Dean's room, asking quietly if it was alright for him to sleep in there. Dean would groan out a yes because he was tired and Cas would crawl in next to him. Dean never admitted he would rather have him sleep with him every night, especially when he smelt like him. But when morning came, Cas was always gone and they went back to not really speaking at school.

Dean still captained the football team and dated Lisa and no one knew about him and Cas.

Dean still can't figure out why he's still with Lisa, why he puts up with her. It's not like she's not that cool, or funny, or that pretty. She's got brown eyes, and Dean likes more of a shocking blue, and darker hair, darker than even her natural color. He'd rather date someone like Cas.

And when he says like Cas, he means Cas. Yep, pretty sure I wanna go out with Cas… he finds himself thinking.

But Castiel is going out with Luce, totally not interested in Dean what-so-ever. Whatever. He'll get over it. It's just a crush, plus he's only known Cas for, what, a little less than a month? He'll be over it in a few days.

At least, that's what he keeps telling himself.