AN: I had to read the bible for this shit.Y'all should be fuckin' proud. I haven't done that since I was like... nine.

Woah. Six years.

Tara, your atheist is showing...

Anywhore. Enjoy :)

Castiel couldn't sleep that night. Part of him was overjoyed at the day's events; Dean made him feel so complete and right that it almost physically hurt him. Then there was another part that felt guilty. Dean, who had said multiple times about how he'd hated heart-to-hearts and hallmark moments and all those sweet, sappy moments that were apparently in so many movies, had been so gentle, sweet and caring throughout the entire thing. He'd been so careful not to hurt him, neither physically or emotionally.

Then he told Cas that he felt as if he could tell him anything, and he had. Dean had literally told Castiel every single intimate detail about his life, and Cas couldn't even muster up the courage to tell Dean that he was going to Yale in September.

Why couldn't he just tell him?

Why couldn't he just man up and tell Dean that he was leaving in September?

It wasn't like he was leaving forever, and if he was, Dean could go with him.

But he wouldn't, would he? Castiel was knew he wouldn't. He knew that Dean was to devoted to his family and staying with his father for as long as he could. Dean had told him about this, how he knew that one day Sammy would get out of Kansas and go to a nice school. Castiel knew that Sam had his heart set on Stanford, and he knew the kid well enough to say for sure that he'd go there one day. The point was, Dean would never leave John alone.

Castiel was almost completely positive that Dean would break up with him the second he realized that Cas was leaving. Why drag out something that will just end in the end?

But Castiel didn't want to think about it. He wanted the last few months before he left for college to be amazing. Even if he had to leave his family and find a way to stay in Kansas for the remainder of his senior year, he wasn't leaving Dean any sooner than he had to.

He owed him that much.

"Castiel." Normally, at the sound of his uncle's voice he'd jump or cringe a little, just out of fear, but ever since his outbreak the other day, he wasn't scared anymore. He was comforted by the fact that he didn't have to listen to everything that he, or Michael, told him. He could stand up for himself.

"Yes, Uncle?" he responded. It was morning, just as Cas was getting ready to meet Dean to go to school. He didn't know why his Uncle was even addressing him. After Morning Prayer—which Castiel usually spent thinking about what he'd do the rest of the day—his uncle would usually completely ignore him; and Castiel was totally fine with that.

"Tell your friend that you don't need a ride to school. I will take you."

Castiel blinked at his uncle in confusion. Zachariah hadn't offered him a ride in almost a month, why would he start now? "Dean's almost here. He doesn't mind taking me at all," Cas responded, grabbing his school bag and throwing it over his shoulder without giving his uncle a second thought.

"I thought I told you to stop spending time with that boy?" Zachariah shot at him, his voice already angry, but then again, it didn't take him that long to get angry. Especially at Castiel.

"I'm not going to stop spending time with him just because you don't approve of him, Uncle. He's—" the one thing that gets me out of bed every morning, the most important thing in my life, the one I love more than anything else in this world, my boyfriend, family "—my best friend. I cannot just cut him out of my life."

"You can if I tell you to!" Zachariah fired back. Castiel felt the urge to roll his eyes, but he knew that would probably get him into even more trouble. "You aren't to spend any more time with him! If this persists, don't think I won't pull you out of school—"

"No!" Castiel screamed, feeling that rage that was almost always constantly settled into his stomach when he was in Zachariah, or Michael's, presence. He didn't know why he put up with these assholes anymore. He didn't have to… He didn't have to listen to every single thing they said; he didn't have to live under their constant control. "I'm not being pulled out of school, and I'm not going to stop spending time with Dean! You can't tell me what to do for the rest of my life, Uncle."

"I can make you do whatever I say until you turn eighteen, boy, and even then, I'd like to see you try and leave!" Zachariah snarled, an evil smirk appearing on his face.

"I'm almost seventeen," Castiel growled, turning from Zachariah and towards the door. Before he got there, he turned to face him. "And don't think I won't leave this 'family' one day… I don't have to put up with this any longer."

Before Zachariah could say anything else, Castiel opened the door and slammed it behind him. He'd almost expected there to be tears ready to fall from his eyes, but there wasn't. He felt… content. It was like every time he stood up to his oppressive uncle, he grew a little.

Luckily, Dean was already pulling into the driveway. Cas smiled a little and walked—ran, almost—to the Impala and opened the door, getting into the car and leaning over to kiss Dean. Normally, he'd just press a gentle kiss to his cheek, and on occasion his lips, but today he didn't. He pressed his lips against Dean's in a way that they'd only kissed in private; definitely, not with Dean's little brother in the backseat. Dean didn't seem to mind though, even if he was a bit startled at first.

"Wow, you're in another good mood," Dean said with a small chuckle. Cas felt his heart swell at the sight of those bright green eyes; he never wanted a day to go by when he couldn't see those beautiful eyes, or the face that carried them. It was almost insane how much he loved Dean.

"I missed you, Dean," Cas said with his own little chuckle. "I'm glad to see you again, that is all."

"I missed you, too," Dean responded, leaning back in to press a kiss to Cas' lips again. They kissed for only a mere second, before Sam cleared his throat in the back.

"Do you two mind? We're already running late, and I can't be late to first period—"

Dean pulled away from Cas' lips and looked back to his brother with a glare on his face. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," he grumbled, starting to pull out of the driveway before taking Cas' hand. "Wouldn't want King Of The Nerds to be late for school, would we?"

"Jerk," Sam muttered from the back.

Dean flashed his brother a playful grin from the front seat and laughed to himself. "Bitch."

Castiel took his seat in the back next to Dean—they'd decided to move ever since their teacher had caught wind of their passing notes—and smiled over at him. He always ached to lean over and kiss him, or hold his hand, or anything like the other couples did at school. It wasn't that Dean didn't want to, because early on in their relationship he'd told Cas that he 'honestly didn't give a fuck what anyone thought' about them. It was all on Castiel. He was still horrified of his family finding out. Especially about what Gabriel had said about them sending him off to one of those conversion therapy camps. He'd always known that was a possibility if they found out. He'd looked them up online once while at Dean's house and… well, he spent the next hour crying into Dean's chest, absolutely horrified with every single fiber of his being at what he'd read.

Ever since that day, not too long after they'd began dating, they'd decided to keep everything on the down low. The only people who knew about them were Dean's friends—Jo, Ash and Charlie— Dean's family—Sam and John—and Gabriel. They had all been fine with it—Gabriel had even admitted that he knew Cas was gay before he'd even told him—but Castiel was still scared of what his Uncle would do to him if he found out before Cas was of age. Until then, no one could know out of his and Dean's circle of friends. No one.

"Hey, Cas?" Ash asked, nudging him in the shoulder. Castiel turned to look at him, starting to ask him what he wanted but Ash went on. "Did you do the homework?"

"Look who you're asking," Jo said with a small laugh, rolling her eyes at Ash. "Of course he did."

Dean rolled his eyes at both of them and sat on the edge of Cas desk. "Just because you didn't do the homework Ash, doesn't mean you can mooch off of my boyfriend."

"I didn't do it," Castiel admitted, looking up at Dean. "I was… preoccupied last night."It wasn't a complete lie. He had been preoccupied… with guilt. The fact that he still hadn't told Dean about Yale was eating away at him.

"Jeez, Dean, how late did you keep him out?" Jo asked with an edge of snarkiness to her voice.

Dean turned to face her and stuck his tongue out at her. "Fuck you."

Castiel listened to the two banter back and forth for a while, but after a few minutes he zoned out and began to just stare at Dean. Half the time he didn't realize he did it until Dean, or someone else, usually Charlie, pointed it out; it was like when he often invaded Dean's personal space without realizing it. Luckily for him, Dean never minded. Usually when he got too close to him, Dean would just smile and pull him closer, or when he caught him staring he'd lean in and kiss his lips gently.

Cas could honestly say that he thought he had the best boyfriend in the world… Not that he had anyone to compare to Dean with, but still.

The teacher came in not long afterwards and began to yell at Dean for sitting on her desk. Innocently, Castiel reminded her that it was his desk and he didn't mind that Dean sat on it. The class erupted in laughter, but Castiel didn't understand why. People laughed at the things he said often, but he never understood why people thought he was so funny.

"Mr. Novak, these are my desks and if I tell someone—" Castiel tuned out after that, nodding in her direction and watching as Dean hopped down and sat in his own desk. Dean gave him a flirtatious smile and grabbed a piece of paper from his notebook and started to scribble a note down on it. He passed the note over to Cas with that same flirtatious smile.

I love you the note read in Dean's extremely messy handwriting with a small strange looking heart next to it.

Cas smiled at the note and grabbed his pen.

I love you too. Now please, I'd appreciate it if I could concentrate.

He passed the note back to Dean without looking at him before taking out his history notebook and beginning to jot down notes on the lesson Mrs. Watson was teaching. Dean didn't seem to want to leave it alone, however.

You're no fun. I hate this class… You're the only good thing about it. I'm bored, Cas, he wrote, adding a sad face next to the sentence.

Castiel rolled his eyes and huffed as he wrote, Maybe you should pay attention then, Dean… Much like I am attempting to.

He passed the note back to his boyfriend in another hope that he'd leave things as they were. Just because Cas had gotten into college, didn't mean he wanted his grades to start dropping. He wasn't going to be one of those seniors that gave up once they got accepted into college.

Will you at least skip study hall with me? Please? It's not like you learn anything there. We can go out to the bleachers.

Castiel sighed and shot a glare—which was at least semi-playful—at Dean. And what would we do?

Dean smirked at the note once he got it and began to write again. Whatever you like, babe.

Castiel bit his lip softly and crossed his legs under the desk, knowing that with Dean the statement whatever you like went a very long way.

I promise to skip with you if you let me pay attention right now, he wrote back, sliding the paper to Dean without looking at him yet again. He knew that looking at him would just lead him to want to kiss him, which definitely was not an option in the middle of history class.

"What if we get caught back here?" Castiel whispered as Dean kissed at his neck. Dean just laughed and continued to kiss his neck before making his way up to his lips, hungrily kissing him and pressing him against the wall of the bleachers. Cas moaned softly into Dean's mouth, trying to keep his hips from grinding against Dean's. "S-Seriously, Dean… What…?"

"Baby, calm down," Dean said, dropping his hands from where they had pinned Cas' hands up above his head and down to his boyfriend's hips; Dean could never get over how cute Cas was when he got nervous like this. "No one comes out here during the day," he pressed another kiss to Cas' lips, "and if you're so scared of getting caught then we can always stop…"

Castiel leaned back in and kissed Dean again, looping his arms around Dean's neck. "I don't want to stop," Cas whispered against Dean's lips. "But if we get caught, it's your fault," he added teasingly.

Dean laughed and leaned back in, pressing his lips against Cas' yet again. "You take my breath away, you know that?" Dean whispered with a small laugh. "It's fucking insane how you make me feel," another kiss, before he dropped his lips against Cas' neck again, "and how I can't stop watching you… and how I'm always thinking about you… and how I always want to be with you." Castiel moaned softly and moved his hands to tangle in Dean's short hair, pulling gently as his boyfriend continued to kiss and nip at his neck. "I've never felt this way about anyone before," Dean practically purred against the soft skin of Castiel's neck, taking in everything there was about him: his taste, his scent, the way his skin felt against his lips… everything. "I love you so much," Dean finished, throwing out the whole no chick flick moments out the window. He didn't feel that way with Cas. When it came to Castiel, he always felt the need to tell him one-hundred percent how he felt.

Even if it made him out to be sort of a girl.

"I love you too, Dean," Castiel whispered, nudging his face up so he could look into his eyes. "I was so lost before I met you…"

"So was I," Dean admitted, kissing Cas' cheek gently before going back to kissing his lips in an almost languid fashion. Cas' arms that had been looped around his neck tightened for a moment before they dropped to wrap around Dean's waist so that they were kissing in a tight embrace.

Everything was so comfortable with Cas… Dean never wanted the feeling to go away.

Cas hated having to leave Dean every night. Sometimes he wished he could just leave his family now and just be with Dean all the time. Ever since he and Dean had slept together—not had sex, actually slept together in the same bed—Cas had had a hard time sleeping. No position felt right unless Dean's arms were wrapped around him, or he could feel his body pressed against his own. It was all wrong, and he just wanted it to be right again.

Cas sighed gently and reached out to take Dean's hand for a moment. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Dean smiled softly and nodded, pulling his hand up to press a kiss to it, causing Castiel to blush softly. "Alright," Dean responded, sighing softly in return. Cas could tell that Dean didn't want him to go any more than he did.

"I love you," Castiel said, for probably the hundredth time that day. Dean's friends, and Sam, always joked around with them about how many times they told each other that they loved one another… but neither really thought they said it that much.

And in Castiel's case, he was afraid that every time he told the boy he loved him it may be the last.

"I love you too," Dean responded, giving Cas' hand a little squeeze before letting it go.

Cas gave Dean another short smile before grabbing his bag and getting out of the car. He walked up to the front door and opened it up, having forgotten completely about the conversation he and his uncle had that morning. The day had been too pleasant to think about things like that.

"Castiel."

Castiel sighed as he heard the voice, turning to see if Dean was still in the driveway. He was seriously considering turning around and taking Dean up on that offer of taking him away. "Yes, Uncle?"

"We need to have words."

Of course we do, Castiel thought. He turned to face his uncle and sighed softly. "Words? About what?"

"I was in your room this morning, after you left…"

At that, Castiel's heart simultaneously started to beat faster and drop; he felt as if he were going to have a heart attack. He saw Michael come through the door and into the room where Zachariah was standing. He looked to his left and saw Gabriel standing there, a look on his face that could only be described as sick… And he had a black eye.

"What happened, Gabriel?" he asked his brother, disregarding his uncle and brother for a moment.

"Me," Michael said with a sneer. "He wouldn't speak."

Castiel rose his brow a bit and turned to face Michael. "Speak? Upon what subject?"

"You," Zachariah answered. "You've been lying to us, Castiel. About everything."

Castiel felt his stomach twist and turn into a million little pieces. He wanted to turn around and run, but he was too close to both Zachariah and Michael. He was sure they wouldn't just let him run this time. "L-lying?" he stuttered, "Lying about wh-what?"

"Your… 'friend'," Zachariah growled. "Gabriel gave up the location of that little box you keep in your room, with all those notes and… pictures. And that letter from Yale," he growled. For the first time in a while, Castiel was truly scared of his uncle and Michael.

"This is a sin, Castiel!" Michael yelled, stepping closer to Castiel. "You've been letting that… abomination of a boy brainwash you. Letting him do things to you—"

"Don't call him that!" Castiel yelled, cutting off his brother and backing up, accidently running into the wall behind him. "And how I am… tha-this has nothing to do with Dean! I was like this before I even met him. I've always been like this!" he tried, stumbling through his words, but no one was listening to his reasoning.

"You must repent, Castiel!" Zachariah all but screamed, so loud that Cas was sure that their neighbors could hear. "This is a sin; an abomination! The bible says that a man shan't lay with another man!"

Castiel scoffed at his uncle and Michael. He was so tired of this, all of it. He was tired of living in fear and constantly having to hide who he really was. "The bible also says not to cut your hair or shave, Leviticus 19:27, both of which you've done in the last week; and not to wear clothes made of more than one fabric, Leviticus 19:19, and we're all doing this now! How is it that you're faulting me for this, when this is how I was born? Something I can't help nor choose? And even if I could… I wouldn't!" he retorted in a fit of anger.

Michael looked as if he were only a minute away from lurching forward and beating the living daylight out of Castiel, and at this point, Cas didn't care if he did. He knew that he wasn't the one in the wrong here. "It is not natural," Michael fired back, his voice low and full of anger. "This… this is disgusting."

He turned to face Zachariah after sending another disgusted glare towards Castiel. "Uncle, we can't let this… this faggot live with us."

The word hit Cas like a bullet. He'd been called the word before by kids in school, but he didn't think anything of it. He knew that for some reason, it was just a common insult, and that they didn't know the full and entire truth behind the word. But now, when being called the word by his very own brother, who knew exactly what he was saying, the word stung like a wasp.

"We must send him away," Zachariah decided, as if Castiel had no choice in the matter… and he didn't. "We'll send him to a church camps that fix people with his… sickness."

"No!" Cas screamed, feeling the tears start to prick at his eyes. He instantly remembered the things he read online about those conversion therapy camps. He thought of the 'treatments' he read about… just thinking of them made the tears start to fall. "I'm not going to one of those… those places! I'm not leaving here, and I'm not leaving Dean! I'm not going anywhere until I go to college!"

"You don't have the choice in the matter, boy!" Zachariah yelled. Castiel felt his body ache… he knew this day would happen one day, but he never imagined it to be like this.

"You can't m-make me do anything," Castiel fired back, tears still falling. "I'll leave… I-I'll leave and never come back. You won't ever have to see me again, but I-I'm not going to one of those camps."

"We can make you do whatever we want, Castiel," Michael snapped with an edge of sadism to his voice. "You're just a boy. You have to do what we say."

Cas barely held back a sob. "Or what?"

"Or this," Michael screamed. That's when the first punch hit him. Then another. And another. And by that point he barely felt it; only felt the hot tears falling down his cheeks mixed with a bright ache. He tried to fight back, but he couldn't.

With each hit, all he could see were green eyes, a bright smile, and the words I love you echoing in his ears.

AN: DON'T HATE ME FOR THE ENDING! :(

It gets better...

Ish.