The following day at school, Castiel still was not there. Or the next day. Or the next.

Dean was sick to death of seeing Michael every single day, tired of the way he preached his bullshit to the class like he was the greatest person to grace their presence. It made him want to knock the guy down a few pegs.

When Lisa texted him after school to let him know she had a family thing and couldn't see him today, Dean found himself sitting in front of his laptop while Sam played video games in the living room. He wasn't sure exactly how deep he was supposed to go with this essay, but he definitely wasn't going to turn in a sob story. He watched the subject of his assignment take down another round of zombies, and then started typing.

Surprisingly, an hour later, he was done. Dean was shocked, for he had never finished an assignment that quickly. It wasn't even time for dinner yet, and he now had the entire weekend to do whatever. Awesome. He stretched, getting up to go grab a drink from the kitchen. He brought one for Sam as well, tossing him a bottle of water.

"Thanks, Dean. Did you finish your assignment," Sam asked, not looking up from the screen.

"No biggie," Dean dismissed, plopping back down into his spot. "Yeah, I'm all done. Nothing else due for the week."

"Cool. So, what are you doing this weeke- shit!"

"Dude, if Dad comes back and hears you swearing, he is going to kick both of our asses," Dean grumbled, pulling his computer back into his lap. "I'm not sure yet. Obviously, a game tomorrow night, and then probably a party after. What are your plans?"

Sam paused the game, uncapping his water to take a drink, "Tomorrow, Kevin and I are coming to game so we can see you play, and then his mom's going to pick us up." He smiled, turning to face his brother, "If you don't have any other plans this weekend, do you think we can go see a movie? It's been awhile since we've been able to go."

Dean considered this, doing a mental tally of how much money was left from their Dad's most recent check, "Yeah, I think we can do that as long as you promise not to go crazy with the snacks."

Sam stared at him incredulously, "Dude, that's you. All I care about is popcorn."

"Whatever," Dean muttered, looking back down at his laptop. Since he was done, he might as well just send it to Cas, right? He looked back over his work, proofreading and making a few changes before pulling up his email. He looked at the address, wondering where the man had been all week.

From: Dean Winchester allidoiswinchester44

To: Castiel Novak castfromthepast83

Date: September 17th, 2020, 5:53 PM

Subject: Alternative Assignments

Mailed by:

Hey, Mr. Novak,

I just wanted to let you know I got my next assignment from your brother and that I finished it. I'm going to attach it to this email. I know you don't owe me any explanations or anything, but I hope everything is okay with you. Your brother mentioned on Monday that you had needed to take a personal day, but since you haven't been in class, I just wanted to say that your class isn't the same without you there.

Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend.

Dean

He clicked send, then shut his laptop, getting up to go make dinner.

The locker room was silent All the others had long since left. Dean sat alone on the bench, still wearing his uniform. They had lost, and it was his fault. He had tried to run the ball to the end zone instead of passing it, and he had fumbled it when he was tackled. The other team had recovered the ball and managed to score a touchdown in the confusion. With the extra point, they beaten his team by one point.

"Dean?"

Dean picked his head up, looking around, "Sammy? Is that you?"

Sam rounded the corner, coming to sit by his brother on the bench. "Dean," he began carefully, "You do know that it wasn't your fault, right?"

Dean ran his fingers through his sweat-mussed hair, sighing, "Sam, what are you even doing here? I thought that you were going with Kevin and his mom?"

"I was, but when you didn't come out of the locker room with the others, I knew you would be in here beating yourself up about it because that's kind of what you do, Dean," he complained.

"It was my fault, Sam," he yelled, standing up and throwing his helmet. He turned to face his brother, cheeks flushed in anger. "I got cocky, I dropped the ball. It was my fucking fault!" He yanked his jersey over his head, tossing it carelessly on the ground before tearing at his pads.

Sam flinched at Dean's sudden outburst, wondering how to get through his brother's thick skull, "So you made a mistake. So what? People make mistakes all the time, dude. It makes us better. Dean, it makes you a better athlete."

Dean had noticed his brother recoil when he threw his helmet, feeling his anger quickly turn to guilt, "I know, Sam. I'm sorry."

"I know you are," Sam offered, giving his brother a small smile.

"Is Kevin still here," Dean asked, grabbing his shower supplies.

"No, his mom came to get him," Sam answered. "I know you usually go to a party tonight, but I thought maybe you would want to hang out with me instead. If not, that's totally okay."

"What did you have in mind," Dean asked curiously.

"Horror movie marathon," Sam suggested, "In less you would rather do something else."

Dean grinned at his brother, "You know me so well. Hatchet Man?"

"Hatchet Man," Sam agreed. "Dude, don't take offense to this, but you reek."

"Sit tight, I'm gonna go grab a quick shower," he announced, grabbing his clothes. Just before shutting his locker, his phone lit up with a notification. He froze, ignoring the texts from Lisa and Benny, focusing on the most recent preview.

GMAIL 1m ago

Castiel Novak

Additional Assignments

Hello, Dean.