Castiel groaned in agony as a small silver bullet fell from his wounded wing. He attempted to stretch it, wincing in pain as he did so. He watched it, expecting it to heal as all angels, fallen or not, healed practically instantly. When nothing happened, he narrowed his eyes in confusion and tilted his head to the side, looking curiously at the still bleeding hole torn through the muscle.
"It's not gonna heal Castiel, not soon at least," Gabriel informed him.
"Wings are a direct manifestation of your grace, if they get shot then so does it," Balthazar added. Castiel breathed out and shuddered as pain shot through his now blood-soaked wing. He found it almost too heavy to lift and it put him greatly off balance as he leaned reluctantly to his injured side, wing brushing the ground causing him to wince. He shook out his uninjured wing and laid it on the couch behind him, attempting to find some sort of comfortable position.
"Maybe you should put those things away, you're back's gonna kill for a couple of weeks but better than moping around with a practically useless wing," Gabriel sat next to Castiel's wing on the couch, shoving it gently away from him, "you're not getting off school tomorrow mister."
Castiel smiled half-heartedly at Gabriel's tone but was internally grinning like a child, of course he wouldn't think about missing school for a second. Dean was there, and for Dean, he could handle this, he could handle anything. He had watched over him for 17 years, since Dean's very beginning, there was no chance he would miss spending a single second of the so few he had with him.
Castiel concentrated on drawing his wings back into him and felt the pain dull slightly as it throbbed and stung through between his shoulder blades. His head fell back onto the couch, breathing with the effort. He knew he would have to maintain as much concentration on keeping them hidden or risk them getting loose. He remained in this position, eyes closed, breathing laboured, until he felt the warmth of sunlight creep over his face and light the room. The only image in his mind of bright emerald eyes.
x
Dean woke with a start, jolted into consciousness by the dark wings and startling blue eyes that invaded his dreams. Eyes that seemed so familiar as though he had been staring into them his whole life, and that just felt wrong. He felt along his bedside table, eyes only half open, for his watch to strap on and jerked his hand back and eyes flew open when he felt an unfamiliar softness. The feather he realised, it lay on the table, perched perfectly in the centre as if Dean had the patience to arrange it as such. Which of course he didn't.
Grabbing his watch, he ran out to the smell of toast and burning bacon to find Bobby, frying pan in hand, and Sam pouring over books after only one day at the damned school. He grabbed one of the plates on the kitchen bench with a couple of pieces of toast and some bacon on it and made himself a basic bacon sandwich.
Dean and Sam had luckily enough managed to get back to Bobby's before he had made it home and snuck into their rooms just as they heard the front door open after them. The two of them had agreed to try and find out as much as possible about the mystery winged creature and get this job over and done with as soon as possible. Most of Dean wanted to get out of town as soon as possible, get back on the road and continue his normal hunting routine -though a part of him already wanted to stay, if only for a short time and he couldn't pinpoint the reason why.
He wordlessly finished his breakfast and hurriedly got changed. He yelled for Sam to meet him at the Impala and waited, impatiently tapping on the steering wheel. Sam came out a couple of minutes later, bag in hand, and jumped in the passenger's seat beside his brother. One greeting later they were on the road, driving to school at Dean's usual alarmingly fast pace.
"Didn't realise you were so eager to get to school Dean," Sam half laughed at his brother seeming so intent on reaching the building he had despised the previous day.
"Just want it over and done with, you can do research in the library in your spare time, that's all," Dean stated, it was only a half truth. In all honesty, he wanted to meet with the blue-eyed stranger he'd met the day before. Castiel. He got weird vibes from the kid, but he felt strangely drawn to him, as if he meant something big. It was almost like the same feeling he used to get when his father was still around, as if he was important, more so than the clumsy boy let on.
They arrived within 15 minutes and Sam jumped out, nodding to Dean in good bye, receiving a stay-out-of-trouble look in reply. Dean watched his brother walk in the direction of the library with approval, he hated it when researching jobs became his responsibility.
It was approximately half an hour before the first bell went, and Dean looked around the slowly filling car park for black hair and a pair of ridiculously blue eyes. He found them within seconds, staring at a slightly older boy with concentration; his brother.
As much as Dean wanted to walk right up to Cas, he moved to wait patiently just inside the door. He didn't want to seem too eager, which of course he wasn't. Dean Winchester was never eager to see anyone with the exception of his brother.
When the shorter boy shuffled through the large doors of the entrance, Dean joined his side. He knew he shouldn't get too close to the boy, but something - no everything- about the kid intrigued him. There was no harm in getting to know him though, Dean rationalised, that didn't have to mean he would be missed when he left. Not that Dean cared. Of course he didn't care.
It took Dean longer than he would admit to notice that Cas was walking awkwardly, as though he had been injured. Dean had seen his brother, and felt himself, walk in a similar way often enough to spot a serious injury.
"Cas, you okay? You look..." Dean trailed off, gesturing to the angel's obvious discomfort in walking. A blush crept up Castiel's face as he heard Dean's voice resonating around his skull, sounding more and more enthralling each time it echoed through. Dean noticed but brushed it off as a symptom of his seemingly poor social skills.
"I'm fine Dean, my back is simply causing me discomfort," Cas winced as pain shot through the area between his shoulder blades. He ached to simply let them free and keep the wound in his sight, though he was stuck with an incomprehensible stabbing sensation deep within him. He rolled his shoulders, as if that would help alleviate the affliction.
Dean raised his eyebrow as Cas brushed the topic off, though he was clearly in more pain than one could usually manage.
"If you say so. What do we have first up?" Dean didn't push the topic any further, not wanting to overstep his bounds. Which was definitely not something he usually thought about.
"Mythology, I was surprised to see you are attending that class," Dean groaned. He already knew all that he needed to, he didn't need to take the class. He considered skipping out on it but immediately thought against it, definitely not for Cas's sake.
"My brother Sammy made me take it, he organised everything about as last minute as possible," Dean rolled his eyes, still not ready to forgive the kid for making him go through with this, he hadn't attended a real school since well before dad had died, and that's how he had wanted to keep it.
The two of them walk into the classroom, Cas tugging on the strap of his bag to keep it on his shoulder and Dean striding confidently and uncaring for his lack of preparation for the day. He had refused to take the books Sam had forced onto him the previous day out of protest. He would be gone soon, he wouldn't need them.
Dean was ushered over by the teacher and Castiel made his way to his usual desk that was yet again at the back of the room. Dean was forced to introduce himself and let out his usual 'parents on a business trip, temporarily staying here with my uncle' speech. He avoided the other students' gazes and his eyes fell on the only place they could, on Castiel. His head was tilted slightly, his eyes crinkled in a smile. He was giving Dean the kind of look a father would after seeing their kid win an award. As if he was proud.
So much about Cas confused him, and he had known him for barely a day. The moment their eyes had met, there was a recognition inside them, he could barely string together a complete sentence when he was near Dean and then Dean felt something when their hands had brushed. He almost wanted to get Sam to dig up info on him as well as the thing they has seen last night.
Cas's proud almost-smile dropped as soon as Dean mentioned he wouldn't be staying in town long. A look of confusion mixed with sadness washed over his features. Dean tried his hardest to ignore this, he didn't need to get too close to Cas if this was the reaction he was getting after only a day. It was if Cas had known him all his life.
Dean found that the only empty seat in the room was again next to Cas. He practically threw himself into the chair and found his hands to be the most fascinating thing in the room. His careful examination of the dirt under his nails was interrupted by several groans coming from his classmates around him, with Castiel remaining perfectly silent with slightly flushed cheeks. He looked up to the whiteboard to see a date written in neat black marker.
"This assignment can be about anything; a religion, a celebration, even angels and demons if you want to get into the specifics. Its due in a week and you'll be doing it in pairs. No complaints, no extensions," The teacher gave a couple of the students a stern look and turned back to his desk and began running through the specifics of the assessment. Dean felt Cas shuffle around his bag and got out a notebook and started jotting down the due date and criteria.
"Since you are new and I don't usually have a partner for such assignments, w-would you like to work on this together Dean?" Cas looked expectantly up at his neighbour and waited patiently for a reply.
"I guess, what should we do it in then?" Dean replied, already set on being the brains of the paper for once. No one could have more knowledge on this stuff than he could, hunters basically learn it on the job.
"I am fine with any topic of your choosing, though I would be particularly interested in writing about angels and demons," Castiel ducked his head in embarrassment and peered at Dean through his lashes. Dean was surprised at the answer, he wouldn't have picked Cas as someone into the whole demons deal.
"My uncle Bobby is kinda obsessed with this stuff and I've read pretty much all of his books if you wanna find stuff in those," He wasn't keen on letting anyone near Bobby's large collection of books, they were his main lead when he needed help on a job, but if Cas needed help he could probably-
"That won't be necessary Dean, my family was... Enthusiastic about the teachings of such lore," Castiel half-lied. Dean raised an eyebrow at Cas but shrugged and helped him plan the assignment for the rest of the lesson.
Once the bell rang to signal the end of the period, Cas started to pack his books away as Dean waited beside the desk.
"Dean, I-if we wish to get this assignment finished soon, I believe it would be better if we worked on it outside of school hours," Cas's eyes didn't leave his as he stuttered out the idea.
"That's great but my uncle doesn't really like having people over and the school library closes right after school finishes so I don't know how we could," Dean wanted to avoid spending as much time with Castiel as possible, fearing that he would let his guard down around him, though it was already seeming to slip.
"T-that's fine, if you're willing to you could come to my uncle's house this afternoon to work on it," Castiel didn't want to show how eager he was to spend more time with Dean. He felt he deserved to after waiting 17 years to meet him, and after learning that Dean would not be staying long he intended to make the most of it. He couldn't lose him after so short a time.
Dean considered declining but knew he couldn't just ignore the guy even if he would only end up hurting the both of them if he got too close.
"Alright Cas, after school then?" Cas nodded enthusiastically, a shy smile playing on his lips as he tugged his bag over his shoulder.
The two of them walked through the halls to their next class, exchanging quick glances but few words. The day passed much the same and the angel and hunter were walking out the entrance of the school to the car park. Castiel dashed over to his brother to tell him he would be driving home with Dean.
"Okay bro, just don't get up to any funny business," Gabriel waggled a finger at Cas teasingly, "the only reason I'm trusting you here is because you can smite the bastard in seconds just, make sure to hide the body," Gabriel winked before disappearing into his car. Castiel huffed in annoyance and turned to find Dean leaning against the front of his car talking to his younger but taller brother.
He walked over to the two and greeted Sam after a quick introduction. Dean ushered Cas to get into the car and made his way into the back seat as he watched the younger brother take the passenger's seat in the front. He sat directly behind Sam so he could still see Dean. They dropped Sam off at Bobby's and Dean nodded to the seat beside him, Castiel obliged and moved to the front seat. Dean smiled as Cas opened the door and was surprisingly glad to have him beside him.
Half an hour later, with Castiel's instruction, they arrived at the angel's house and Dean's jaw dropped in awe.
"Dude this place is huge!" Dean exclaimed. Castiel had no knowledge of what classified as 'huge' in human standards, but by angel standards the building was hardly significant so he merely shrugged in response. Though he couldn't help the heat creeping into his face as he felt Dean stare at him for a few moments.
"W-we'd better go inside," Castiel snapped out of his thoughts and lead Dean to the front door, finding it unlocked, and let him in. Dean whistled in wonder as he walked into the perfectly clean home-renovation-magazine-perfect interior of the house. Castiel couldn't sense Balthazar anywhere near the house and assumed he was out on his own questionable business. He didn't need to try and find Gabriel when he heard the unnecessarily heavy footsteps storming down the staircase.
"Hey there Cassie!" he yelled as he rounded the corner. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Dean, eyes narrowing in suspicion. This greatly confused both of the younger teens, Castiel's head tilted in its usual way and Dean couldn't help but offer suspicion back, "oh, you have company. You two have fun," Gabriel walked off back from where he came, confusing Castiel further.
Cas led Dean, tugging on his sleeve slightly and distracting him from the space where Gabriel had just been standing. They both sat down on the couch in the living room, Castiel covering a small blood stain with his leg. He grabbed out his notebook and a pen.
"So where should we start?" Cas and Dean's eyes locked and Cas was all but blinded by the intensity of his soul shining out from him, brighter than it had appeared all day. His face, which had just returned to its normal colour, flushed pink once again though he couldn't bear to look away. It was as much Dean holding the stare as Cas and neither wanted it to end.
Dean was lost in the depth of the brightest blue he had ever seen, as if Cas was staring directly into him, and he felt unnerved yet safe at the same time. He felt as though he could trust the owner of those eyes with his life if needed. He felt something warm spread through him, making him start slightly. Sure, Cas was a good looking guy - anyone would admit that - but he wasn't attracted to him. Was he? It had only been two days and that scared Dean more than anything; that he could be so far gone in such short time that he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to let go. He couldn't let it go any further so, much to his dislike, he broke the gaze and felt as though a weight that had been lifted had come crashing back down. As he blinked back into reality he found himself a lot closer to Cas than he had originally been.
"Do you believe in them, Cas?" He asked quietly, wanting to forget what had just happened as quickly as possible.
"In what?" Castiel asked, blinking in confusion, still dazed and blinded by the light emanating from Dean.
"Demons. A-and angels I guess," Dean shrugged as if it were no big deal when to him, it really was. He would hate to be called insane by Castiel because he believed in demons. He would be more than likely stuck in a mental hospital if he ever mentioned he hunted them.
"Of course. Of course they're real, angels and demons have been there since the beginning of time and walk the earth as we speak" Castiel stated matter-of-factly. Dean was taken aback. Wanting to do an assignment on them was one thing, but he rarely came across someone who believed they were real.
"You're the first person I've met who's agreed with me. About the demons I mean, don't you think the whole angel thing is a little out there?" Dean had never believed in the existence of angels, the world was too screwed up to host something so supposedly divine.
"The world may be a mess Dean, that doesn't mean there isn't something good out there," Castiel replied softly. Dean laughed sharply.
"They're not out there Cas. If they were don't you think we'd know there was some heavenly being walking down the street?" Castiel's expression showed more hurt than Dean had expected. He hadn't meant to insult him and certainly hadn't realised how much the topic seemed to mean to him, "I-I mean maybe - I guess - they could be really good at hiding. Like geez, you could be one for all I know if we're going with that theory," Dean mentally slapped himself as he awkwardly backpedalled.
Dean coughed as he felt his face heat up in embarrassment and tapped on the notebook in Cas's hands, "So... How about that assignment?" A smile grew on Castiel's face, much to Dean's relief, and he even laughed softly.
They continued to work on their assignment each day for the rest of the week, with Dean going to Cas's house every afternoon after dropping Sam at Bobby's. Both of them were surprised to hear how much the other knew about the subject of demons, and Dean continued to awkwardly joke about Cas and his angels.
X
Each day Gabriel listened from upstairs, thankful that he was able to hear from the distance, and got more and more worried about how much Dean Winchester seemed to know about the supernatural. It was much more than what any ordinary person would know, and too accurate to have been found on the internet by a fanatic. He would have to talk to Castiel about the boy, not willing to risk anything after he had gotten shot by a hunter a few days previously.
Thursday afternoon Gabriel waited until Dean left, later than usual, to talk to Castiel. Each day, as soon as Dean had left, Castiel's wings exploded from his back, groaning in pain as his wings refused to heal quickly. He spent most of his time grooming the area surrounding the wound, wincing every time his fingers brushed the tender area.
"Cassie, what's up with you and that Dean guy?" he asked, attempting to sound casual. Castiel's face almost seemed to be in a constant state of blushing due to the frequency, and this was no exception.
"Nothing Gabriel, what could be happening between us?" Castiel avoided eye contact with his brother, much more concerned with the tiny decorative faults within the floor tiles.
"You're not- you feel something for him, don't you?" Gabriel was glad his brother was finally moving on from Heaven and accepting his place on earth, but with Dean? The kid had only moved schools at the beginning of the week, it seemed too sudden for someone as level-headed and logical as Castiel.
"W-would it make a difference if I did?" he asked, attempting a defiant tone.
"Cassie... I'm happy that you're happy, just- something's not quite right about the kid," He couldn't bear to keep his brother away from Dean, even if he suspected something was up with him. Though he had to admit that he hadn't seemed like he was up to something, he just seemed too similar to many of the hunters he had met to be completely trustworthy.
"What do you mean Gabriel?" Castiel's head tilted and Gabriel rolled his eyes at how oblivious he seemed to be.
"It doesn't matter, just stay out of trouble okay?" He felt like he was talking to a child, though in comparison to himself, Castiel was a mere fledgling. He half-smiled, not feeling up to his usual mischievous smirk, and left his brother on his own in the room.