Chapter 2

Castiel lay completely still, eyes practically clenched shut but mind still racing. Only an hour ago had he decided to put away his text books and attempt to sleep, but he had to be up for school in 45 minutes and he knew he would be having a bad day. After 10 minutes of contemplating, Castiel decided to just get up and face the day with not a single minute of sleep, and made his way to the shower.

Rubbing the excess water from his hair with a towel, Cas decided to venture downstairs, half dressed with his school shirt unbuttoned. With his physical wellbeing in mind, he grabbed two slices of bread and dropped them in the toaster, planning to add butter to them, but when they eventually popped up, he didn't have the energy to waste on buttering them and instead chewed slowly on the dry toast.

Cas didn't see any of his family that morning, which was fortunate because they would have noticed his lack of sleep and either scolded him, or kept him off school, which wasn't something that he could afford at this late stage in the year. Castiel made his way into the building just as his first lesson was about to start. He had missed the bus due to his inability to focus on the bus times, or even what time it was and how long he had been waiting for.

He showed up to English only a few minutes late and took his seat. It took him a long while before he looked up and his eyes locked on the boy sitting directly opposite him, scribbling down some essay that Cas hadn't listened to the instructions for. His usual table consisted of himself, Jo, Adam, and a spare seat, making Cas feel particularly unlucky that this was the only spare seat in the class. He felt his heart beat just a little fast in his chest when he remembered the text in his phone that still remained without a reply. He didn't want to seem disrespectful, but he just had no interest in talking to Dean, let alone texting him in his spare time.

"Cas… Are you okay?" Jo was waving her hand in front of his face, indicating that he had been spaced out.

"Yeah, just, uh, tired" He replied, blinking his eyes back into focus and grabbing his pen before asking Jo what he should actually be writing.

Cas spent the rest of the lesson in the background, listening to Jo and Adam converse about things that didn't really matter to him. When Dean finished his work, he sat with his earphones in pretending to be writing, but Castiel could tell that he was just tracing over the words he had already written .

By lunch, Castiel felt too ill to eat, and even though he knew he wouldn't be able to supply energy to his muscles to keep him upright and awake if he didn't, he couldn't stomach anything. He noticed Dean had brightened up, smiling and joking, even ruffling Charlie's hair at one point. This earned him a glare that he quickly brushed off, making a joke out of it by pretending to hide behind Jo for protection. Cas said a few words, mainly for the purpose of convincing the group that he wasn't about to pass out from 29 consecutive hours awake. He knew this didn't completely douse their concerns, but did enough to get him to his next lessons undetected.

As he leaned against the wall outside of his Chemistry classroom, partially due to his reluctance to enter the room, but mainly to keep himself upright, he noticed Dean was there again. Castiel cursed his luck, trying to decide which god he had been unkind to, and why they were punishing him so severely.

Eventually, he realised he would have to move from his all too comfy spot on the wall and actually learn, but pushing off the wall seemed too much of a difficult task, and instead he slumped to the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced for the impact of the ground, but fell unconscious before he could feel it.

He awoke to the sight of green eyes filled with panic and the feeling of a calloused hand around his wrist. Cas willed someone else to take over, uncomfortable and slightly frightened at any contact between himself and Dean, but when he heard only silence and Deans rugged, panicked breaths, that idea was washed away. Now all he wanted was for Dean to take him to the Nurse's office and then leave him there.

Cas never got to find out how he got to the nurses office, whether it was in the arms of Dean, if others had helped support him or if he was dragged along the floor, he would never know, all he knew was that at that moment he was laying down on a small bed, in the nurses office that he'd never actually been in before, that there was an ice pack resting underneath his head where the should have been a pillow, and that Dean Winchester was there, arms folded and eyes staring at the floor, planting a tinge of annoyance is Cas' head.

Cas closed his eyes as quickly as he had opened then, apologising furiously in his head to the god he must have upset, hoping maybe he would be kind to him and Dean wouldn't notice he was awake. But as always, luck was not on his side, and he let out a long sigh, disguising it as a yawn and stretching his arms, pretending to have just woken up as Dean gently nudged his shoulder.

"Cas?" He almost whispered. His hair was tousled and sticking out at all angles as if he had run his hands through it too many times. Cas sat up on his elbows and looked towards Dean, he tried to speak, but couldn't think of anything to say and instead resorted to a confused look, pulling his eyebrows together.

"Look I'm sorry. I tried to get Jo or someone you liked better but the nurse said I couldn't and that I had to stay with you, something about not disturbing other classes. I know you didn't want to wake up to the sight of me but someone had to stay with you and I couldn't just leave you there on the floor and I don't know dude I'm sorry for-'

"Dean" Cas interrupted him. Suddenly, he felt a wave of guilt wash over him, realising that Dean was only trying to help and he wasn't some cocky badass who only cared for himself. A more intense guilty feeling overcame him now as he took in what Dean had said and mulled over the fact that Dean knew he was uncomfortable with him, and Cas had no reason as to why he felt like this.

Words were tumbling out of Castiel's mouth before he could even think them up in an effort to try and dull the twisting in his stomach and rid himself of all his guilty thoughts. "I don't hate you. You're just new and I guess I'm not too good with new people."

"I like to think I'm not that intimidating." Dean said, speaking louder than he had been, his smirk that seemed to be forever glued to his face returned and he leant back in his seat, looking a lot more relaxed than before.

"The first time I ever heard of you was because you punched someone and the first thing I ever saw you do was grab Charlie's wrist and wink at her." Cas said pointedly, only half joking. Dean chuckled and stood up. At first Cas thought he was going to leave, startling himself at the fact that he felt a pang of disappointment, not wanting to be left alone for the remainder of the day, but Dean only went as far as the desk to the other side of the room, retrieving a dark blue stress ball and squeezing it in his fist.

"That, my friend, was just a matter of asserting myself, becoming the alpha male and that shit." He tossed the ball up in the air, catching it casually with one hand.

"Thats a very… Neanderthal personality, don't you think?" This time, it was Castiel who smirked, an unfamiliar feeling rising in his throat, confidence.

"And I think you have a very rude personality, what with ignoring my texts." Cas couldn't find a reply to this, he couldn't pretend that he hadn't gotten them, it had been a whole day since he received them. Dean must have recognised Cas' discomfort because he spoke up again, "Dude its okay, it was invasive of me anyway." His confidence returned with this.

"That's some pretty advanced language for a neanderthal." He suppressed the urge to let out a small giggle and crumble his confident, charismatic persona.

"If you keep this up I will just leave you here to fend for yourself"

"Oh no," Cas whined sarcastically, "whatever will I do without you here to toss a ball in the air while I lay on my deathbed." The ball came flying at Cas' head and he was forced to duck out the way, making him nauseous and leaving him with a god awful headache. He pressed his fingers to his temple and groaned.

"Take it easy dude, you need to rest. What's up with you anyway?" Dean moved over to his chair and sat back down, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knee's.

"I'm okay," Cas replied, but the wince he gave at the vibrations of his voice box told another story, "I didn't get much sleep last night." Dean gave a huff, sounding half amused and half disbelieving.

"You don't pass out for not getting much sleep." He emphasised the last words and made air quotes with his fingers.

"Okay fine. I was awake for 29 straight hours." He admitted.

"Why?" Dean asked, leaning further forward, obviously intrigued in Cas' sleeping habits.

"Why not?" Cas replied teasingly. He was enjoying this new found confidence and wanted to use it as much as possible before it inevitably fell apart.

"Oh I don't know, physical and mental health?" Dean retorted quickly, obviously more used to this kind of quick witted conversation than Cas was.

Castiel was saved from struggling to think of any reply as Charlie stormed in.

"What the hell did you do to him?" She screeched at Dean, her own face only centimetres from his as she breathed heavily, waiting for a reply.

"Me? I saved his life and brought him here!" Dean's tone was defensive, and Cas had a small hunch that Dean might be beginning to become afraid of Charlie, and he didn't blame him, she could skin them all alive with her teeth if she wanted. She looked at Cas for confirmation, but he could only muster a nod, scared she would rip his head off for siding with Dean.

Charlie gave a huff and perched herself on the end of Cas' temporary bed. Dean moved his head to look at the floor, trying to hide the small smile that was concealing his laugh.

"Are you even allowed to be here Charlie? I thought everyone had to stay in their lessons?" Cas moved his feet so they were resting on her lap, glad for the movement as he was beginning to cramp up.

"No actually, I'm not, but when word got around that you had passed out and Dean carried you away, I was slightly worried."

"Who do you think I am?" Dean sounded offended, but Castiel couldn't tell if it was mock offence or not.

"An arrogant bastard." Charlie blew him a kiss, before quickly informing them of something about getting back to a lesson, standing up and leaving the room.

Cas and Dean spent the next half hour conversing about anything and everything that came to mind, from sports, to school, to family. When cas had informed Dean that his mum wouldn't be picking him up today, Dean insisted that he give him a lift home, under the impression that Castiel was in a state where he was completely incapable of making his own way home. For a good 10 minutes Cas had refused, promising that he was fine and could get the bus home, not wanting to bother Deans family. But Dean wouldn't take no for an answer, and that's how Cas ended up sitting in the back of a Chevy Impala, making small talk with a boy he met yesterday, his little brother, and his mother.

"So Castiel," Mary started, "What are your plans for after school?"

"Uh, I'm thinking about going into something medical, a doctor, maybe." Small talk was not Castiel forte and he was sure he was going to say something wrong and make himself seem like an idiot.

"How about you rub some of that ambition off on Dean, he would do well in an academic job, you don't have to be a mechanic like your father you know, Dean."

"Shut up." Was all that Dean said. He seemed mildly embarrassed and pulled his phone out.

Castiels phone buzzed in his pocket. He picked it from his pocket and realised that Dean had texted him from a meter away.

She's so embarrassing, i apologise.

For the first time, Castiel replied.

She's your mother, stop being so mean.

Dean smiled at this, pocketing his phone and Cas did the same. It was only a short drive to Cas' home, but in that time they had already discussed his grades his hobbies and his family. Mary had thrown around some ideas of him tutoring Sam, and even Dean, but nothing had been confirmed, which Cas had been extremely glad about, he was far too busy with his own studies to help anyone else with theirs.

"Thank you Mrs Winchester," Cas waved as he got out of the car, "Goodbye. Bye Sam, Dean." He nodded towards Dean and gave Sam a soft smile. He had realised as soon as he saw him that Sam was the boy that had took Dean aside yesterday. It was obvious to Cas that the boys had a very strong relationship, and that Dean was an overprotective type of brother.

"See you tomorrow." Dean nodded back at him. Castiel hadn't comprehended what he had said until they were already half way down the street.

Bit of a shorter chapter but its like 1 in the morning and I'm tired, I just wanted to update quick. Again, I hope you enjoyed it and please review.