"Tell me again how you convinced your father to let you stay with me?" Cas asked Dean for about the two hundredth time since they had figured out the arrangement.
"Let's just say... I know which strings to pull," Dean told the boy standing next to him on the concrete drive of the Novak residence. It had been four days since John Winchester had met Dean and Sam at the motel with Castiel in tow, and Dean and Cas were currently watching the large truck with John and Sam stowed away inside pull away from the curb. The two Winchesters were headed for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Bobby Singer had found something on the demon John was hunting.
Dean's Impala was parked in the garage, sheltered from the weather. John had told Dean to keep it when he left town. John didn't need it as long as he had his truck, and it was no use to Sammy, who wasn't even eligible for a learner's permit yet.
After Dean had convinced his father to let him stay in town, they had set to thinking about options for Dean's boarding. Seen as they didn't really know anyone is town, besides Cas that is, their options were rather limited. Either let Dean stay at the motel by himself, which Dean was all for, or let Dean stay at the Novak residence for the time being. John decided the later was the better of the two options. Sure, the two hormonal teenage boys would have full access to each other's bones basically twenty four seven, as Mrs. Novak left for her shift at the hospital before the boys got home from school at four and returned between one and three in the morning. But they would still have that with Dean alone at the motel. So, John might as well leave Dean somewhere with an adult. Make sure that he wasn't just living on cheeseburgers and coke, and that he was getting his course work done.
"C'mon, let's head inside," Dean suggested. They were now staring at a quiet suburban street, as the truck had driven out of sight a few minutes earlier.
"Alright," Cas replied before turning up the front walk and holding the door open for Dean, who followed behind him. Dean reached out for Cas's hand, tangling their fingers together, as Cas pulled the door closed behind the two of them. Dean pulled Cas towards the living room and turned on the television, then plopped down on the couch and pulled the fuzzy blanket from the back of the couch to cover himself and Castiel.
"So..." Dean drawled in a low tone, biting his lip.
"So?" Cas raised his eyebrows at the boy seated beside him.
"We're all alone. Will be for hours. Wonder what we could do?" Dean moved closer to Cas as he spoke, stopping just before their noses brushed. His eyes flitted down to Cas's lips, then back to his startlingly blue eyes. Cas gave Dean a quick peck before leaning back and chuckling light heartedly.
"Well, we could have some dinner," Cas told Dean. He rolled off of the couch and got to his feet, swaying his hips obscenely. Dean flipped onto his stomach before burying his face in the couch cushions and releasing a groan.
*BE MY ESCAPE * BE MY ESCAPE * BE MY ESCAPE *
"I got it!" Cas called at the bell for the front door sounded through the house. Dean was upstairs, just getting done with a shower, and Cas was preparing to make dinner for the two of them in the kitchen.
Dean had been living at the Novaks' home for two weeks now, and everything had been smooth sailing. Cas and Dean almost seemed like a just married couple with their level of domesticity. Cas cooked dinner every night as Dean set the table. As good as Dean was with canned and frozen food, he'd burn down the kitchen trying to actually make something from scratch. Cas didn't mind. Quite the contrary, actually. Dean was Cas's test subject for new concoctions he decided to whip up on a whim. They were usually good, but one night Cas had found himself dumping his idea into the trash as Dean put a pizza in the oven.
"Okay, be down in a second!" Dean shouted down from the guest bedroom. Dean rarely actually slept in the guest bedroom. That little piece of their plan had cracked when Dean had awoken his first night in the house to Cas screaming and crying in his sleep. Dean had woken Cas up and calmed him down, but he had been reluctant to leave Cas's side. Instead of going back to the guest room, Dean had crawled into Cas's bed behind him and curled around him, as if he could protect Cas from everything bad in the world.
Cas opened the front door with a smile on his face, which quickly fell when he spied his company. Castiel's blood went cold as his mind sent off signals to every part of his body, alerting them that something was wrong. Something was very wrong if he was here. Castiel tried to shove the door back closed but the man shoved his arm out, forcing the door to stay ajar. Castiel backed up into the front hallway, putting as much distance between himself and the threat.
The man sneered as he began to speak. "Now, Castiel," the man's tone was chiding, "is that any way to treat your father?"