Castiel hadn't asked his dad about the party all week because he was afraid of what his reaction might be. Usually, he wouldn't even try it, but since his dad seemed so keen of Castiel spending time with Dean, he thought maybe he'd go for it.

"What are you all dressed up for?" he asked when Castiel came down the steps. Castiel was wearing jeans and his trench coat, like usual, but underneath he wore a blue button-up shirt instead of a tee shirt.

"Dean invited me to a party. I'm staying at his place after, so don't wait up."

His father had a stern look on his face and Castiel got scared. "You mean that this boy invited you to a festival for cretins and you accepted the invitation?"

Castiel stared at the ground. "You told me to make friends with him."

"Yes, but not to stoop down to his level! You are not like other people, Castiel!"

He was always saying that and Castiel hated it. "What if I want to be like other people? Dad, that's what Dean's teaching me! To be a normal person, to have friends! Because of you, I was always afraid to do that, but Dean... Everything's different now. And I like it this way."

Uncle Michael came forward, towering over Castiel even though he was six feet himself. "What your father must be thinking, hearing this," he said shamefully.

"Stop acting like dad's here. He's not."

"No, he is, Castiel. He's always here."

"Just stop! My dad's not here and he never will be! He's just a dead-beat who left me and Gabriel with his brother! You're my dad now, okay? Forget about him!"

Uncle Michael's face contorted with fury and he hit Castiel across the face. Castiel fell back onto the stairs. "Do not speak about your father that way! I won't have it in this house!"

"But it's true! And I'm not going to pretend it's not anymore!"

"Fine then. As long as you feel that way, you aren't welcome here."

Castiel almost felt something in his chest break. His father sometimes hit him, sure, but he never told him to leave. And he always meant what he said. He wasn't the type of person to take it back later. "But... Dad..."

"I'm not your father, Castiel! And until you realize the wonder of your true father, you'll leave my house! Pack a bag. Get out!"

Castiel stared up at Uncle Michael, his eyes burning. Then he nodded and treaded up the stairs, packing some clothes.

He came back down and Uncle Micheal wasn't even there to see him off.

A tear fell down his face as he walked into the night.


Gabriel was sitting in the car already, waiting for Castiel.

"Hey man! I thought you might have been joking when you said you needed a ride to the party, but here you are! You decided to get a life?"

"Yeah..." Castiel said.

"Hey, dude, what's got you down? You nervous or somethin'? You're gonna have a great time!"

"I'm sure," Castiel muttered.

"Hey, you're killin' my buzz, man."

"Sorry," Castiel muttered.

Gabriel looked over again. "Why do you have a bag?" he asked, his voice suddenly more serious. "Castiel, what happened?"

Castiel cleared his throat because just thinking about what had just happened made him feel all choked up. Gabriel leaned over for a second, then turned on the light. Castiel tried to turn his face towards the window, but Gabriel was faster than him. He grabbed his chin.

"Shit, Castiel, what'd you say this time?" he asked, sounding exasperated and sad at the same time as he looked at the bruise that Castiel had already figured was forming on his face.

Castiel bit his lip. "I—I spoke ill of our father," he finally said.

Gabriel sighed, turning to the windshield. "You should know better than that, man. You know how Uncle Michael is."

"I should've, I know."

"Just don't say it again and you'll be fine."

"Yeah," Castiel said. He didn't want to admit the whole truth to Gabriel. He was too ashamed of what had happened.

They were halfway to the party when Gabriel remembered.

"You didn't tell me why you have a bag."

"I'm staying at Dean's tonight."

"Dean Winchester? You mean our fate?" Gabriel chuckled.

Castiel looked over to him. "Does da—Uncle Michael say that to you too? That our fate is—"

"—intertwined with that of the Winchester's? Yeah. He said I had to make sure you met Dean someday. It was all fuckin' weird, so I ignored him and his destiny bullshit."

"Well, I think my destiny was taken from me," Castiel said.

"There's something you aren't telling me," Gabriel accused.

Castiel sighed. "He kicked me out."

Gabriel slammed on the brakes, going to the side of the road. "Damn it!" he yelled.

"What? I—I'm sorry," Castiel whimpered.

"No, no, I'm not mad at you. Sorry, that's not it. I get not having faith in our father when he's never around. I just… I want our family to be together again. I want Raphael to come home and dad and mom to appear so we can all be together. Even Uncle Michael's other brother that he hates so much, that he never names. Why can't families just be together?"

Castiel understood what Gabriel was saying, but Castiel wasn't sure he wanted to be controlled by Michael anymore, or wait for his father to come home.

"Well I screwed everything up," Castiel said. "Like I always do."

"Hey, Castiel, don't talk like that. Arguments aren't one sided. And honestly, Uncle Michael starts them usually. You just speak your mind. We can talk sense into him tomorrow," he said, beginning to drive again. They got to the house and Castiel still hadn't responded.

"I don't know if I want to fix it," Castiel said. Gabriel looked over to him.

"Castiel, you're just mad. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

Castiel didn't want to argue with Gabriel too, so he nodded and Gabriel got out, going inside without Castiel. Castiel didn't want to go in, not without Dean. Ever since he walked out of that house, he wanted to see Dean again. Well, actually, ever since he walked out of Home Ec. on Tuesday he wanted to see Dean again. Out of nowhere, he felt like there was a place that he belonged… and that place was beside Dean.

And Dean wanted to try to hook Castiel up with some girl. He hadn't seemed to catch the hint that girls were never really Castiel's type. Not that Castiel had ever dated anyone, boy or girl, but he was never likely to think girls were good-looking. But Dean Winchester… it was almost indecent, how attractive he was. Castiel usually tried to ignore thoughts like that, because Uncle Michael would beat him into next June if he knew about that, but now Uncle Michael couldn't do anything about it…

But he needed to stop right there. Either way, Dean would never reciprocate any sort of feelings and Castiel knew that. He was friends with Dean, that was it.

Just then, the song Iron Man could be heard playing in the distance, which Castiel assumed was Dean and Sam. He found a moment later that he was right. Sam and Dean got out of the Impala—and Castiel vaguely noticed that Sam looked a lot better than he had earlier that day, not so exhausted.

And Dean… well, he didn't look all that different, but it was enough. He had a green button up shirt thrown on over his tee shirt, which made his eyes brighter green than usual. Dean caught a glimpse of Castiel and smiled, approaching him.

"Hey, I'm glad you came," he said. Then his smile faded and he turned Castiel towards the house so that the right side of his face was in the light. "Dude, what happened?" Dean asked sternly, in that don't-you-give-me-any-nonsense sort of voice. Castiel tried to avoid looking at Dean, but Dean turned his face towards him, meeting his eyes. "Tell me." Castiel tried to meet his eyes steadily, but it made his eyes burn to watch someone have so much concern for him. Castiel thought Dean might have noticed the tears forming, because he let go. He then said quietly, "You said that when you do something wrong, it doesn't go well. Is that what happened?"

"Dean, can we please talk about this later? I thought we were having fun."

"Can I be honest with you?"

"Of course," Castiel replied.

"I'm not really in the mood for this right now. I'll stay if you want to, but after today… I don't know, I'm just feeling kind of tired," he said, but then repeated, "I'll stay if you want to."

Castiel was inwardly relieved. "There'll be other parties, Dean. Want to go home?"

"Kind of, yeah."

"Good, then let's go."

Dean found Sam and told him he was leaving. Sam said that he would find a ride with someone else.

The two of them got in the car and headed for the Winchester place.