Dean sat on the couch, head laying back against the couch, feeling the aches in his muscles go all the way to the bone. "God, Sid was not kidding when it said it was going to be a tough regimen."
Castiel walked in from the kitchen and tossed a bag of ice towards the exhausted hunter. It hit him in the chest, and he "oomphed!" at the cold, hard impact. "Thanks…I think," Dean grumped. He put it against his forehead, which was swelling up nicely over his left eye.
Castiel flopped down next to him, his usual buttoned-down shirt pulled open and exposing his shoulder, where he placed an ice-pack. "You're welcome."
The two guys sat on the couch, leaning back and simply letting their weary bodies rest. It had been a few days now, and Sid's regimen had gone from basic cardio and strength training to making Dean and Castiel spar. The last part had been confusing.
"Why are you making us fight each other? I though the whole part was so we'd kick other monsters butts together," Dean had said to Sid when he told them to spar.
The teacher simply said "You can't work together properly until you know each other's strengths and weaknesses. Now, fight!"
He grimaced in pain. "Yeah, hey Cas, next time don't pull your punches or anything. I might think you're going soft on me," Dean said sarcastically.
Cas looked him. "I'll bear that in mind next time. I didn't realize you were a fan of broken ribs."
Dean slowly looked at him, a wide-eyed look on his face. "Dude…was that sarcasm?"
Castiel rolled his eyes. "It does happen on occasion."
"Yeah, so does earthquakes and tsunamis," Dean said. He started to chuckle, but ended up hissing in pain instead. "Anyways, the real question is, how does a scrawny guy like yourself almost break my face with one hit?"
"Training was all I did at the sanctuary. It's something I've been doing all my life. Guess I've developed a bit of a right hook."
"'Sanctuary?' Don't tell me your some sort of kung-fu shaolin monk," Dean joked, smiling.
"We aren't monks. We just train in isolation," Cas said, staring off into the distance.
Dean took that to mean the conversation was over. He closed his eye again, and was resting, when Cas suddenly smacked his shoulder. He jerked awake, looked at Cas, then down at his shoulder. "Cas. Ow!"
"There's a homework assignment due tomorrow, and the book you need is in the library," Cas said matter-of-factly.
Dean gave his partner the most incredulous glare he could manage. "The library, Cas? Seriously? Now? You've gotta be kidding me! Look, I'm tired, I'm sore, and I don't wanna go at this time of night. Can't you just help me out on it tonight, and I'll do my own from then on I promise."
Castiel turned towards him, those intense blue eyes staring right through him. Luckily, Dean was already starting to get used to Cas's weird looks. "Please, Cas?" he asked.
Cas shook his head gravely. "If you don't do your own work, you won't learn anything, Dean."
"Yeah, thanks Mom, anything else?" Dean grumbled. "Whatever. Let's just go before I change my mind."
Bruised and sore, both boys left the apartment and made their ways towards the Academy Library at a slow and steady pace. The trip had been silent until about halfway, when Dean suddenly looked at Cas keeping stride next to him. "By the way, Cas. How come I never see you doing homework? I mean ever. You never crack a book yet you've got some of the highest grades in the class. What gives?"
"I do my work at night," Cas simply said.
"Bull! I never see you do anything school-related at night."
"I stay up late. After you go to sleep, I do what I need to do, when I won't get distracted."
"Wait. You go to sleep after me, and are almost always awake before me…how much do you sleep?"
"4 hours a night, give or take," Castiel said nonchalantly.
Dean scoffed. "Dude, you're a freak," he said, though there was good-humor behind it.
They continued in silence into the library, and made sure not to disturb anyone while weaving in and out of bookcases. After several minutes of searching one particular shelf in general with no avail, Dean smacked it loudly in frustration. A loud chorus of "shhhh!"s came from some of the tables near them.
"We trudged all the way out here and it's not even here!" Dean whispered the accusation at Castiel.
The weapon shrugged. "I don't have book radar, Dean. Let's just go see if someone's checked it out."
"Fine. If it's not there then I'm saying screw it to this homework. Man, I'm tired, sore, and hungry. And don't give me that look, Cas, skipping out on one assignment won't be the end of the world, I promise."
Cas gave him a look like he wasn't quite sure he believed that last part, but he followed Dean out of the book stacks anyways. As they walked past a table with books in the middle, Cas recognized the book Dean needed sitting on top of the stack. He grabbed Dean's shoulder, halting him mid-stride. "There it is," Cas said.
The guy from gym class was at that particular table, along with the two dark-haired girls. Though the guy was reading a book, the two girls were reading glossy-covered magazines.
"I feel like we're about to break into Font Knox," Dean whispered.
"Don't be so overdramatic," Cas said, although he didn't sound so confident. "Maybe just ask politely to borrow it for a few minutes?"
Dean sighed. "This is too much effort for a damn homework assignment."
Taking a breath, he walked up to the table and let out a tiny cough to get the girls' attention. The dark-haired beauty closest to him looked up at him from her magazine. Dean suddenly gave her a brilliant smile. "Uh, hi there. Well, this is incredibly awkward. See, it seems I lost my library card; do you mind if I check you out instead?"
Her mouth opened slightly, she was clearly shocked at the use of the terribly cheesy pick-up line. Though the guy never reacted, the other girl scoffed quietly to herself. Dean had never really talked to a girl his age before, and as he stood there, shifting his weight from one leg to another with nervousness.
Suddenly, the smile dropped from his face as he realized what he said. "Oh, crap, I'm sorry. I meant, uh, not you per say, I meant out the uh, check out the-"
She huffed at him in annoyance. What do you want?" she asked a little hotly.
Well, need to work on that delivery next time. God, next time need to not mix up pick-ups lines with normal conversation. Taking a deep breath, he let out an awkward chuckle. Next, Dean decided to try out his charm. "Well, beautiful, I had a quick question for you. That book right there, is there any way I can borrow it for a couple minutes? I'll give it right back, promise," he said with his most winning smile.
The girl looked at up him, and said smiled evilly. "Sorry, but no can do."
Dean looked from the book on the table (not being read by anyone) to her. "But…you're not even using it now."
"I plan on using it momentarily," she said with a mischievous grin. She was clearly getting back at him for the terrible line.
"I—I just—Lady, please? I'm tired and hungry and just want to borrow it for 5 minutes then you can have it back." Dean's voice went from charming to worn, the aches from the day coming back in force.
Before she could retort again, the boy looked up from his book. He had chin-length brown hair, a pointed nose, and hazel eyes. "Ruby, knock it off," the boy said. He grabbed the book in question and stood up before walking over and handing it to Dean.
"Don't let the snarky attitude fool you, she's actually not that bad," he said with an apologetic smile. Ruby huffed but didn't speak.
"It's fine. Look, I really appreciate this, um…."
"Sam," the boy said, holding out a hand.
"Dean," they shook hands.
"Well, Dean, this is Ruby, and Meg, my somewhat thorny partners," Sam said with a grin.
Ruby waved in annoyance, while Meg, the other slightly heavier vixen, actually winked at him. "Charmed, I assure you," she said slowly, her voice low and had a hint of a southern drawl to it.
"Right back at cha, sister. This is my partner, Castiel."
Dean was expecting him to simply nod, or give them one of his intense squints; instead, Cas actually stepped forward and held out his hand to shake theirs. Sam took it, but the girls didn't make a move towards him, leaving him waiting awkwardly.
Ruby actually crossed her arms while looking at his hand. "Look. I'm sure you're a great guy and all, I just don't want my hand burned off," Ruby said. "You understand."
Cas pulled it back and even though they couldn't read his seemingly stoic expression, Dean could tell Cas was hurt.
"Ruby, that was uncalled for," Sam admonished, his cheeks turning red in embarrassment.
"I never did that on purpose," Cas said quietly, trying to explain.
"It's nothing personal there, Clarence. Angel Blades and Demon Blades just don't get along," Meg explained, sounding more apologetic than her partner.
"But…my name is Castiel," he said, sounding horribly confused.
"Okay, okay, knock it off," Dean said, cutting everyone off. "You aren't Bloods and Crips; knock off the gang crap. We're all weapons and meisters, here, right? This means we're all on the same side against kishins and monsters. Which means our problems are not with each other."
Dean pointedly looked at Ruby as he said this last sentence, and she ended up turning away from his piercing gaze. Must be picking up the technique for the 'ultimate intense stare' from Cas, he thought to himself.
Dean smacked Sam's shoulder, grinning as he did so to show he held no hard feelings towards the boy. "Partners, man. They can be a pain, I know," he said cheerfully. "Anyways, thanks again for the book. And hey, maybe we'll catch each other around."
Sam nodded, and while Meg waved at them, Ruby ignored them. Dean and Cas left the library, book tucked inside Dean's jacket. "Man, who would've thought a trip to the library would be so exciting," Dean said, stretching his arms over his head as they walked.
Castiel, quiet for several minutes, now spoke. "What exactly did you mean by knowing partners can be a pain?" he asked, both an accusing and curious tone under his gruff voice.
"Nothing, really," Dean said. "I was just saying that to try and smooth everything out."
"So I'm not a pain?"
"Keep bringing it up and I will change my mind on that."
Despite the gruff response, the corners of the weapon's mouth turned up into a grin. You're not so bad yourself.
