Chapter Four
Dean sat quietly in homeroom, staring at Castiel's empty seat.
'What did you say was wrong with him?' Jo asked.
Dean shrugged. 'Just a bug. He probably caught it from that sketchy motel he stayed at on the way down from Colby.'
'Ew, he better not have given it to us.'
'I'm sure you're fine,' Dean muttered.
'I think Dean knows more than he's letting on,' Crowley said shrewdly, lounging back in his seat.
Dean rolled his eyes. 'Fine, you got me, but it's private.'
'You should have just said so,' Jo chided.
'Sorry,' Dean said. 'You know how tough the first week is.'
'Yeah,' said Jo, her voice softening. 'Come on, we've got chem.'
Dean was distracted most of the day, unable to focus on his classes over his own racing thoughts. He tripped over Kevin on his way to the cafeteria, then realised he'd forgotten to bring money for food.
'I'll cover you, just pay me back tomorrow,' Jo offered.
'Nah, I'll just go home and grab a sandwich,' Dean said, already moving towards the doors, glad of an excuse to leave school for a while. 'See you later.'
'Hey, we've got geography this afternoon, don't be late!' Jo called after him.
'Yeah, yeah,' Dean said, knowing full well that once he was home, he wouldn't be coming back.
He was already halfway home when his heart started racing and his mouth went dry. He was determined that his senior year would be different from the last two, but how was he going to survive the year if he was already skipping out on school at the earliest opportunity?
He sat in the car for a moment, once he'd parked it in the garage, preparing to explain himself to his mother. He braced himself, then exited the garage through the side door, into the kitchen.
'Oh,' he said, when he saw that Castiel was the only one there, sitting at the kitchen table, staring into space and absent-mindedly rubbing his beige coat against his cheek.
He blushed when he saw Dean and shoved the coat under the table. His arm was still violently spasming.
'Where's Mom?' Dean asked, crossing over to the kitchen and not asking about the coat.
'Walgreens,' Castiel mumbled.
'Oh cool, she's getting your medicine already?'
Castiel nodded.
'Do you want a sandwich?' Dean asked, as he rummaged through the cabinets for ingredients.
'No.'
'I'll make you a sandwich.' Dean slapped peanut butter and jelly onto some bread and placed the finished product on a plate in front of Castiel, who took a couple of tiny bites while Dean made his own sandwich.
Mary arrived home just as Dean was sitting at the table himself.
'What are you doing home?' she frowned, dumping her shopping onto the kitchen counter.
Dean just shrugged, chewing slowly and avoiding her eyes. He knew she would interrogate him later, when Castiel was settled.
'Here you go, sweetie,' she said, placing a brown medicine bottle in front of him.
'Thank you,' Castiel mumbled, unscrewing the cap and tipping out one of the tiny pills.
'Oh, what do you have there?' Mary asked, spotting the coat in Castiel's lap.
'Just a coat,' he said, clutching it tightly, refusing to look at either of them.
'Don't be embarrassed, it's perfectly normal to have a comfort object,' Mary said to him, putting the rest of the groceries away. 'Dean has one.'
Dean inhaled sharply.
'Really?'
'Oh, sure. It's this little t-shirt he used to wear when he was a kid. It's got a little bear on it, and it says "I wuv hugs" on it, it's just adorable. He grabs it to hold onto when he has a bad day.'
'Thanks, Mom,' Dean said wryly.
'You're welcome,' she said, patting him on the cheek. 'Is yours special?' she asked Castiel.
'My brother gave it to me,' he mumbled, fiddling with it in his lap.
'Oh, you have a brother?' Mary said lightly. 'Where's he?'
Castiel shook his head, frowning. 'I don't know. I lost track of him in Nevada; I imagine he got sucked in by the slots again.'
Dean glanced at Mary. He wasn't expecting to hear Castiel talk about himself so soon.
'Do you have any other family?' Mary asked, keeping up the same light tone.
'A sister,' said Castiel. 'She was adopted a long time ago. I haven't heard from her since.'
'Well, what's her name? Maybe we can help you find her,' Dean said. 'Right, Mom?'
'Yeah, I'm sure we can track her down.'
Castiel gave them a doubtful look. 'Anna,' he said eventually. 'Milton, I think.'
'All right, let me make some calls and see what I can do,' Mary smiled. She turned away to put away the dishes from that morning's breakfast.
'What's your brother's name?' Dean asked curiously.
'Gabriel.'
'When was the last time you saw him?'
'Not since this last foster home. About a year.'
Dean nodded, waiting for Castiel to continue.
'He hasn't been doing so well since he aged out. Up until then, we had each other if nothing else.'
'You couldn't go with your sister?'
Castiel shook his head. 'Gabriel was too old. No one wants a teenage boy. And people don't tend to want me either, when they find out I'm defective.' He gestured as his arm, still twitching, though it had started to subside.
'You're not defective,' Mary said immediately. 'You've just been through a lot.'
'Thank you.' Castiel sniffed, then climbed to his feet. 'Excuse me.' He left his half-eaten sandwich on the table and hurried upstairs, clutching his coat close to his chest.
Mary sighed, then turned to Dean, arms folded. 'I hope this isn't becoming a habit again.'
Dean drummed his fingers on the table. 'Probably not.'
'Dean, you've been doing so well-'
'I know, I know,' Dean said defensively. 'I just - I felt weird, okay?'
'Weird in what way?' Mary said sharply. 'Like before?'
'No, just weird.'
Mary narrowed her eyes.
'I'd better take this up to him,' Dean said, grabbing Castiel's sandwich and bottle of pills, eager to get away from Mary's shrewd gaze.
His phone vibrated in his pocket on his way up, and he pulled it out long enough to read a message that Jo had sent him.
"Where are you?" Then another came through. "You're gonna be late"
Dean just sighed and shoved his phone back in his pocket.
'Here,' he said, putting the plate and the bottle down on Castiel's bed in front of him. 'You all right?'
Castiel nodded, picking at the fraying cuffs of his red hoodie.
Dean sat down at his desk and loaded up an assignment he hadn't finished, and ignored his vibrating phone.
'Do you have bad days often, Dean?' Castiel asked, so quietly that Dean barely heard him speak at all.
Dean turned to face him, shifting uncomfortably in his seat under Castiel's intense stare. 'Not as much as I used to,' he said.
'Is that why you skipped school today?'
'It's a long story,' Dean said evasively. 'Not great, but not "I wuv hugs" bad. What about you? You get a lot of bad days?'
Castiel looked down at his lap. 'Most days are bad,' he muttered.
'Oh yeah?' Dean prompted.
Castiel just shook his head.
Dean grimaced sympathetically. 'Listen, my mom's really good with this kind of stuff, if you ever need someone to talk to. And my dad too, I mean, he doesn't ever really know what to say, but he's a really good listener.'
'I appreciate that.'
'And… you know, I'm here too… if you ever wanna talk about anything,' Dean stammered, his cheeks warming. He turned back to his computer, but spun his chair back again, when he heard a small, 'Dean?'
'Yeah?'
'You can call me Cas. If you want to.'
'Cas. I like it,' Dean grinned. 'You coming to school tomorrow?'
'I don't see why not.'
'Awesome.'
Castiel nodded to himself, then shuffled back on his bed, putting in his earphones.
Dean exhaled and turned back to his computer, putting in his own earphones, though he was very aware of Castiel's presence.
They sat in silence, listening as Sam and then John arrived home, and they were all called down to dinner.
Cas hesitated with his dinner, but sat down in the living room.
'Could use your help at the weekend,' John said to Dean, cutting up his sausages.
'What's in it for me?' said Dean.
'Twenty an hour.'
'Sold,' Dean said. 'Anything in particular?'
'Nah, just short-handed.'
'Got it.'
'What about me?' Sam said indignantly.
'Learn what a wrench is and you can come,' John laughed, mussing Sam's hair.
'I know what a wrench is,' Sam grumbled.
'Well, you wanna come clean and get the guys coffee?'
'Ew, no thanks.'
'That's what I thought,' John said fondly. 'How was your day anyway?'
'It was awesome,' Sam beamed. 'The whole library was free at lunchtime, so me and the guys got to play a whole bunch of our campaign.'
'Nerd,' Dean coughed.
Sam kicked him under the table. 'Well what did you do today, Dean, stick your thumb up your-'
'Whoa, hey, enough of that,' John interrupted.
Sam stabbed at his fries moodily.
'How about you, Castiel, how was your day?' John called through to the living room.
'Quiet,' he said, surprised at being spoken to.
'In a good way?'
'Yes. I like the quiet.'
'Good,' John smiled, then leaned over to kiss Mary on the cheek. 'What about you, honey, did you have a good day?'
'I did, thank you,' Mary smiled, pinching his cheek. 'Castiel and I had a great day, in peace and quiet.'
'Do you guys mind, I'm trying to eat here,' said Dean.
Mary rolled her eyes. 'Finish your sausages.'
Cas had gone upstairs by the time they finished eating and declined desert when they called up to him.
Dean again avoided going upstairs, and regretted going at all when he walked in on Cas shirtless.
'S-sorry,' he stammered, averting his eyes from the broad, muscled shoulders.
'It's all right, I was just getting ready for bed,' Cas said quietly, throwing on a long, baggy t-shirt.
'Right. I was going to do that too. I'll be right back.'
Dean fled to the bathroom and splashed cool water over his face. 'Get a grip, Winchester,' he muttered angrily to himself. He dried himself off and changed. 'It's just a tiny, little crush, get over it already.'
He held his breath as he walked into his room, but to his surprise, Cas had already climbed into bed and fallen asleep.
'Figures,' Dean muttered, sitting on his own bed. It must have been a while since Castiel slept properly. 'Goodnight,' he whispered, sliding under the covers.
Cas was awake bright and early the next morning, waking Dean with him. He already seemed to be in a much better mood, and the shaking in his arm was gone.
Dean yawned, taking his time to get out of bed, though Castiel was already fully dressed. 'You don't have any posters or anything you wanna put up?' Dean asked sleepily, looking at Castiel's side of the room. It was neat and tidy, almost obsessively so, but completely bare besides the textbooks on the shelf.
Cas shrugged. 'I don't have any. There's no point when you don't have your own space.'
Dean nodded. 'Makes sense, I guess.' He threw off his blankets and stood up, stretching. 'You got track today?'
'Yes.'
'Cool, I'll come pick you up when you're done. Can I get your number, by the way?'
'Oh, of course.' Cas plugged it into his phone, then left him to get dressed.
'Morning, sweetie,' Mary said to Dean as he shuffled into the kitchen. 'You're up early.'
Dean ran a hand through his hair and gestured at Cas. 'I guess he rises with the sun.'
Mary chuckled. 'Well, there's nothing wrong with an early start - hey, are those your running shoes?' she said to Cas, catching him packing them into his bag.
They were old, worn, and falling apart.
'Um - yes,' Cas said, freezing on the spot.
'Oh, honey, you should have said. I'll get you a new pair, then we can throw those right out.'
Cas bit his lip. 'Gabriel bought these for me.'
'Okay, you can keep hold of them if you want to, but you can't run in those,' Mary said. 'Trust me, you'll feel much better in a new pair of shoes.'
Cas didn't look convinced, packing his shoes in his bag anyway.
'Coffee?' Dean interrupted brightly, stepping over to the coffee maker.
'Yes, please,' said Cas, zipping up his bag.
He drank it quickly, then went to the front door.
'Come on, Dean, we're going to be late.'
'He sure is enthusiastic today,' Mary smirked, handing Dean the keys to the car.
'I hope it lasts,' Dean said, shouldering his bag.
The drive to school was just as awkward as the first time, so Dean turned up the radio for the trip.
Once in homeroom, Cas sat down in his seat by the door, and Dean was confronted by Jo.
'What the hell happened to you?' Jo demanded.
Dean groaned as he sat down. 'Nothing, I just couldn't be bothered coming back after lunch,'
'Come on, Jo, everyone can use a bit of time off every now and again, leave the man alone,' Crowley said, from his usual reclined position.
'Thank you, Crowley,' Dean said smugly.
Jo sat down in front of Dean. 'Dean, you know you can't go missing classes again,' she said in a low voice.
'I know that, it was a one off,' Dean muttered. 'It's fine.'
'Keep it that way.'
'Whatever, Mom.'
'Screw you.'
'Guys, can you shut up? I have a migraine,' Kevin groaned, lifting his head long enough to complain.
'You ought to tear yourself away from those books every now and again,' said Crowley.
'Yeah right,' Kevin grumbled.
Dean stopped paying attention to the other three arguing, and looked over at Cas. He didn't have his hood up anymore, but he was staring down at his timetable with a frown on his face.
'What's up?' Dean asked, catching up to him as they left homeroom.
'I don't know where to go for social studies,' said Cas. 'I didn't see it on that map they gave me.'
'Oh, that's 'cause it's in the English department,' Dean said. 'Mr Thomas shares a classroom with Mr Edmonson.'
'Really?' Cas said, raising an eyebrow.
'School's low on budget,' Dean shrugged. 'I don't think we have any classes together today, so text me when you're ready to get picked up.'
'Thank you, Dean.' He put his timetable away and turned to leave.
'Hey, Cas?' Dean called, stopping him.
'Yes?'
'I'm glad you're feeling better.'
Castiel smiled at him and butterflies filled his stomach. 'See you later, Dean.'
'Yeah. See you.'
Dean watched him go, until he disappeared in the crowd of students in the corridor.
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