(I'm back! School and band have kept me so busy, however I took a sick day so that gave me some time to type. In the meantime, I'm now at 62 reviews! Holy crap you guys are amazing, I love you all so much! I'm feeling confident that this story could reach 100 reviews someday, maybe even before it's finished! Be sure to check out the tumblr page as well, I drew Gilda playing the flute in the band uniform recently and I posted it. I also got my band photos a little while ago, and if you guys want, I'll post it on the page so you can see what I look like irl.
Let me know in a review, and enjoy the chapter! It's a good one, you guys get to learn a bit more about Cas's brothers, and Dean seeks justice for Cas, while at the same time avoiding his inevitable sexualiy crisis.
I also have a beta now! Thank you for offering your services to me, TheKrystalCat, you're awesome :D)
After Cas had calmed down, Nurse Moseley asked Dean if he was going to return to class at anytime.
As much as he wanted to stay, Dean didn't want to get in trouble for skipping, so he asked Nurse Moseley for a note to his next class.
Dean gave Cas one more hug, and reassured him that he wouldn't let those scumbags get away with what they did.
And he meant it. If Cas was too scared to report them, Dean would do it instead. He was a witness to one major account, and he had heard about all the other accounts of harassment Cas had gone through from Cas himself.
Although, a big part of Dean's determination to bring justice was so that he wouldn't be able to think about the huge gay panic he was having.
It was major. He was in love with his best friend, and that best friend was male.
'Don't think about it,' Dean thought to himself, 'focus on Cas's problems. He's more important right now,'
He walked back over to the front desk, where Mrs. DeAngelo was now typing on her computer. When she finished, she looked over at Dean.
"Do you need a pass?" she asked.
"I'm good, I got one from the nurse. I was actually wondering if I could see Principal Shurley? Turns out the fight today wasn't the only incident, I'd like to report multiple other accounts of bullying from the same students I told you about earlier," Dean replied.
Mrs. DeAngelo nodded, "I see. Well, unfortunately Mr. Shurley is in a meeting, but if you could record it on a note, I can deliver it to him myself as soon as he's available."
She handed Dean a pad of paper and a pen.
"Sure, that'll work," Dean said, accepting the two items.
He sat down in one of the waiting chairs, and wrote down everything Cas had told him.
When he was finished he gave the paper and pen back to Mrs. DeAngelo, and then walked out of the office to head to class.
On his way, he overheard Marv, a freshman that Cas would often complain about, speaking.
"Did you hear? Castiel got the snot beaten out of him! One of our big, important leaders couldn't even handle himself in a fight! Some show of leadership, huh? Maybe they should pick someone to take his place, someone like me. I was born to be a leader, I would do way better than he could. Most importantly, I wouldn't let anyone push me around."
Word had spread already? This was ridiculous, why couldn't people give Cas a freaking break?
Dean clenched his fists, and stormed over to where Marv was standing, gossiping to all his little friends. He reached over and grabbed Marv by the collar, pulling him up so they were nose to nose, and Marv was dangling about an inch above the ground. Marv gulped, his air of cockiness vanishing.
"Alright Marv, listen up you little brat," Dean hissed.
"It's not- my name is-" Marv stammered.
"I couldn't care less about anything that's coming out of your mouth. What I care about is that you're bad mouthing my best friend, who first of all, is an officer and section leader and deserves your highest level of respect, and second, has gone through enough shit today and doesn't need any more problems to deal with," Dean snarled at him, "So shut your sleazy little mouth, or so help me I will report you to Mr. Turner along with the principal. And I don't think your mommy can talk you out of any consequence for verbal harassment of another student. Do I make myself clear?"
Marv nodded quickly, looking very intimidated. About time he was knocked off his self-built pedestal.
"Good."
Dean let go of Marv, letting him drop to the ground, and walked away. Cas would thank him later.
Cas did not thank him later. In fact, Cas was very pissed when Dean told him about reporting the bullies and his confrontation with Marv.
"How could you Dean!" Cas cried out.
"What do you mean, 'how could I'? I was trying to help you, Cas!" Dean argued.
He was back in the nurse's office, during his lunch a few periods later. He'd thought he would visit Cas, tell him the good news, and then they could celebrate. Apparently, he'd thought wrong.
"You shouldn't have threatened Marv, you're just sinking to the same level as Gordon. He threatened me to stay away from you, after you had us formally 'introduced'," Cas said, adding air quotes.
"Which wouldn't have happened if you had told me the truth about how you knew them beforehand, I could've protected you!" Dean exclaimed.
"It's not your job to protect me!" Cas spat back.
"Well maybe I want to protect you! Because I care about you!" Dean blurted out, feeling extremely frustrated. Why couldn't Cas be happy about this? He was trying to help!
Cas froze at Dean's words, looking at him with wide, sad eyes.
"You care about me?" he asked.
Shit. That sounded way less gay in Dean's head.
"Well, yeah, of course. You've become my best friend, Cas, of course I care about you. And it's driving me insane to see you getting hurt like you did," Dean answered, heat rising to his face.
Dammit, he needed to stop blushing, he wasn't some preteen girl with a crush!
Well, the crush part was true, but he wasn't a preteen girl. Which didn't help much with preserving his internal masculinity.
"Well, you're my best friend too Dean," Cas continued, "and it's going to drive me insane to see you get harassed for telling the principal."
Dean stared at Cas in disbelief. That's why he was angry?
"Cas, buddy, you don't need to worry about that. I can take a hit and I know how to defend myself, and I can easily squash any bad rumors, I'll be fine," Dean said, placing his hands on Cas's shoulders to reassure him, "don't worry about me, worry about yourself."
"But-" Cas tried to argue, but Dean cut him off.
"I'll be fine Cas, they can't hurt me," Dean repeated, "look, lunch is gonna be over soon. Do you want me to let Mr. Turner know that you're not gonna be at band today?"
Cas shook his head, "I can go, I feel fine. It's really not that bad."
He tried to sit up straight, but flinched and clutched his chest. Dean held on tighter to Cas's shoulder to help support him.
"Not that bad my ass," Dean said, "just stay here and rest, I'll explain what happened to Mr. Turner."
Cas sighed, but no longer tried to argue.
Dean gave him a gentle hug, careful not to put any pressure on his injuries.
"I'll see you later, rest up and recover quickly, ok?" he said, giving Cas a lopsided grin, which Cas returned in full.
"I promise I will."
After Dean left to go back to class, Nurse Moseley insisted that Castiel call home and let his mother know what happened.
Castiel pulled out his cell, and dialed his house phone number. It rang a few times before it was picked up, however, the voice that spoke through the line was not his mother's voice, but the voice of his eldest brother, Michael. Castiel had forgotten that Michael had come home to visit for a few days.
"Hello?" Michael said.
"Hello Michael," Castiel answered.
"Castiel? Why are you calling?" there was a pause before Michael continued, "Is everything alright? You sound like you've been through hell."
"It's nothing, I'm fine," Castiel said quickly, starting to panic. How could he tell?
"No you're not. I recognize that tone of voice, last time you sounded like this you had just been pushed down a stairwell. What happened?" Michael said, voice full of concern.
Castiel sighed deeply, "Alright, I'll tell you. Some guys beat me up a little, but it's not that bad. Can we please talk about something el-"
"WHAT?" Michael interrupted, and Castiel had to bring the phone away for a moment to save his poor eardrums.
"Don't worry about it Michael, I said it's not that bad," Castiel tried to argue, but the call suddenly went dead.
Which meant that Michael had, for sure, hung up to tell his mother, as well as Lucifer and Gabriel about what Castiel had just told him.
About 7 minutes later, Castiel's phone started ringing, and sure enough, the caller ID read 'Gabriel'.
With another heavy sigh, Castiel answered the call.
"Alright Cassie, I just got a text from Michael saying you got beat up today? Who's organs do I need to rip out? Just give me names and it will be done," said Gabriel's angry voice on the other end of the line.
"Gabriel!" Castiel said, exasperated. "It's not that bad! Besides, Dean already took care of it."
"No, Castiel, nobody messes with my baby bro- Dean? Who's Dean?" Gabriel asked, sounding confused.
Castiel shifted nervously.
"He's my….friend," he answered.
"Friend, like, friend-friend, or friend like, friend-that-has-caught-your-romantic-interest-friend?" Gabriel pressed.
Castiel was baffled, how could his brothers tell so much just by how he spoke?
"The latter," Castiel replied, somewhat reluctantly, "although he's straight, like Balthazar, so it's not like anything is going to happen between us."
Gabriel sucked in a breath, "Ouch, that sucks Cassie. Are straight guys just your type or something?"
"I don't know, and I'd prefer not to discuss it over the phone."
"Ok, well, what did you mean when you said 'Dean took care of it'?"
"He fought back against the people that were attacking me and then reported them all to the principle. It was kind of noble that he stood for me, since the attackers were his friends," Castiel said. He may have still been a little angry at Dean's actions and that he hadn't consulted Castiel about it first, but he had still stood up for him and saved him, and Castiel was also in love with Dean, so he couldn't really stay mad at him forever.
"Let me get this straight, your friend, that you have unrequited romantic feelings for, is friends with the douchebags that beat you up?" Gabriel asked, suspicion in his voice. "Sorry Castiel, but that's sending up red flags over here."
"In his defense, Gabriel, Dean didn't know that they had been harassing me for years," Castiel argued calmly.
"Wait, years? Did you say years?" Gabriel questioned incredulously.
Castiel inwardly scolded himself for not keeping his stupid mouth shut.
"Are these the same jerks who picked on you since middle school, and then pushed you down the stairs after you tried to report them?"
"...yes…." Castiel admitted reluctantly.
"And you didn't try to report them again?"
"Gee, Gabriel, they pushed me down a stairwell for trying. What was I supposed to do? I thought they would kill me if I tried again! Anyway, as I said, Dean reported them, so they're sure to be apprehended."
"And you trust Dean?"
"Of course I trust Dean, he's one of my closest friends, and he saved my life," Castiel snapped, getting tired of Gabriel's insistent mistrust of Dean.
"Life? You said it wasn't that bad."
Oh crap.
"I, uh," Castiel struggled to explain.
"How bad is it? Don't lie to me Castiel."
Castiel was quiet for a moment, before caving in, and answered with, "Several serious bruises, a black eye, my lip is split, possibly a few broken ribs, and I was unconscious for about half an hour.
He heard Gabriel take a deep breath over a line, and knew that his brother was trying not to lose his temper.
"That settles it then. I'm getting Mike and Luci, those fuckers are dead. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, messes with my baby brother and lives to tell about it," Gabriel hissed.
"Gabriel, calm down. I appreciate your concern, but I don't want you to get in trouble for my sake. If you didn't know already, manslaughter is highly illegal, and you'd most definitely be sent to jail," Castiel said, "no matter how justified it may be."
Gabriel grumbled something that Castiel couldn't make out.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"I promise I won't get caught Cassie, those dicks deserve their 'just desserts'," he said.
"Gabriel, please. I don't want anyone else to get involved. Just let it go, would you? For my sake," Castiel pleaded. He just wanted this whole mess to blow over and be forgotten so his life could get back to normal.
"Ok, ok, I'll it be. But in the future, if anyone starts trouble with you, you let me know. What kind of brother would I be if my little bro is getting picked on under my nose? I'll see you later Cassie."
And then Gabriel hung up with a click.
Castiel looked down at his phone and sighed. He loved his family, but they were always either too much or too little. It was hard to deal with, when sometimes everyone was home and he was coddled and guarded over, or he was alone and God was the only one he could talk to because everyone else was too busy. But they were his family, and the only family he had, other than Anna. And he wasn't all that close with her, since her parents, Uncle Zachariah and Aunt Naomi, did nothing to hide their disgust with Castiel after he came out as Demisexual.
Nurse Moseley popped her head out of her office to tell Castiel that his mother had called, and she was on her way to pick him up. She suggested that he get some more rest in the meantime, so his body could start healing some more.
Castiel nodded, exhaustion starting to take over. He had been through a lot in only one afternoon. He closed his eyes and slipped into a light slumber.
(WOO! Ten chapters done, as well as 10 seasons of the show done! It'd be cool if this fic could be a show, I'd obsess over it in a second. So, Castiel has protective big brothers! And an lgbt+ phobic aunt and uncle! Don't worry though, Anna is accepting of Cas, even though I don't have it written. I'll probably mention it later on in the story.
Sick days can be productive, even though typing this took all day cuz I was working on this as well as a personal essay for my Advanced Composition class. I'm terrible at writing essays, so that was hard. Hopefully I get a fairly good grade for it! Enough about school though, let's not make me die from stress, ugh.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, hope it made you laugh, hope it squeezed your heart, hope it made you possibly swoon or something. Please leave me a review, and please go check out the tumblr page! Hope you all have a lovely evening, till I see you again in chapter 11!)