Own way

"Hey! Put it down right now!," a police officer's deep growl shouted.

Cas squatted to the ground while he pushed the remaining dirt into the grave. Dean watched him with scared eyes as his chest heaved up and down quickly. Cas pulled him down onto the ground when he was finished then ducked behind the oversized headstone.

Dean made low whimpering sounds as the footsteps got closer. Cas placed his hand over Deans mouth to muffle the sounds emanating from him. He could feel his hot breath pounding against his hand as he closed his eyes tightly.

The footsteps stopped a few feet away from the headstone. Cas prayed silently that they would turn around and go back. He could hear a rustling sound and laugher coming from somewhere in the distance. "Hey!," the cop called out as he ran to where the sound was coming from.

Cas glanced at Dean who looked just as confused as he was. He waited for another minute until he was positive that the cop was gone. He slowly lifted his hand off of Deans mouth then stood up.

He could barely make out the cop's flashlight waving around as he chased a few college boys. Obvious pledges. Cas sighed and let out a humorless chuckle as his heart rate returned to normal. "Fuck, I hate Hell Week," he declared.

Dean nodded in agreement. Cas brushed the dirt off his jeans before walking in the direction of Deans car. He could see the pledges being led away in handcuffs for trespassing most likely.

Dean caught up with him quickly but walked in silence until they reached the Impala. Dean popped the trunk open before taking the shovel from Cas and tossing it inside. Then, he turned to Cas expectantly with his eyebrows raised.

"So, what are we going to do now?," he asked him.

Cas frowned and glanced down at his watch to show that it was now four in the morning and the sun would be coming up soon. "Go home and put that cellphone in the magical cage you were talking about," he instructed him.

Dean nodded along. "Okay. And then what?," he continued.

Cas tilted his head at him. "And then nothing. You stay away from me and I'll stay away from you. We act like this night never happened and we go our own ways."

Dean looked deflated as he realized what Cas was saying. "So, that's it? We just walk away and pretend nothing happened?," he asked with a hitch in his voice.

Cas adverted his eyes to the ground but nodded. "Yes," he confirmed.

Dean slammed the trunk harshly, causing Cas to flinch. "Fine," Dean said coldly before walking off to get into the car.

Cas sighed softly but followed him anyway. It wasn't like he wanted to end it like this. He needed to. Dean made him feel things that he wasn't ready to feel yet.

Cas slid into the seat and managed to stay silent the entire ride back to the frat house. He looked over at Dean for the last time and frowned. "Dean, please understand that this is what needs to happen," he tried to explain.

Dean shrugged him off while looking in front of him the entire time and not giving Cas another glance. "Just go," he replied hoarsely as if he had been holding back tears.

Cas felt as if his heart had been torn in two as he stepped out of the car. He could see the sun begin to rise and usually he would very much enjoy a chance to take it all in but now he just felt defeated. He grabbed his backpack from the floorboard and slung it over his shoulder while keeping his gaze on the side of Deans face. He wanted to say something to make this right but there were no more words left in him.

He shut the door quietly and watched as Dean peeled out onto the street, disappearing into the sunrise. He groaned loudly then went back into the frat house where everyone was still sleeping. He just needed to take his own advice and forget this ever happened. Forget that Dean ever happened.

XXX

"Hey! I skipped you. You have to miss a turn, asshole," Gabe yelled loudly across the table at Aaron, another fraternity brother.

Aaron snickered but took back his Uno card. Four of them sat at the small, round table in the dining room with their cards high and a beer in front of them. Except for Cas who opted for water instead.

"You are so competitive its nearly barbaric," Raphael commented as he placed down a Draw 4 for Kevin Tran.

Kevin groaned loudly as he picked up four extra cards from the deck. All three of them laughed at Kevin's misfortunes and continued the game.

It had been four weeks since he had seen Dean and he was doing his best to push him as far from his mind as he possibly could. He had expected him to come back for the fraternity hazing but Gabriel informed him that he had quit.

"Hey, did you guys see on the news that Benny ran off?," Kevin quipped before taking a large gulp of his beer.

"Yeah, I think I saw that. They said he's probably in Colorado now from the last update. He's been gone for a month now," Raphael said as he rubbed his chin.

Cas let go of the breath he had been unaware he was even holding in. It felt great to know that no one had suspected them of it or that they even though he had been murdered. Everything was going according to plan.

"Didn't he get off on raping those girls though?," Gabe asked the group.

Aaron shook his head quickly in Benny's defense. "No, dude. They said he was innocent."

"That's what they always say but it doesn't make it true," Cas broke his silence. He could feel his body begin to quiver at the conversation.

They all raised eyebrows at him but decided to drop the discussion. They played in silence for a few minutes until Gabe coughed awkwardly. "Speaking of which, you guys are looking at the new campus security," he said with a smug smile.

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Who in their right mind would make you security?," he scoffed while Aaron and Kevin laughed.

"Well, technically I'm not security. I'm actually doing a major report on campus crime so I'm working closely with them. They're letting me in on an exciting case," he said with glee.

The boys smirked at him as they shook their heads. Sometimes, Cas forgot that Gabe is in school for Pre-Law. He never lets anyone see just how intelligent he really is.

"What's the case? Cutting down on pot smokers?," Kevin said with a laugh.

Gabe rolled his eyes. "No, you idiot. But if you must really know, we got a vigilante in our midst's."

Everyone looked up at him as he now had their full undivided attention. Cas gripped his cards in his hand to the point that they were bending. Gabe just smiled at them when he realized they were all interested now.

"What are you talking about? I didn't hear anything about it," Raphael commented.

"That's because it's a secret. They don't want anyone to become unnecessarily afraid. And this masked person is targeting frat boys," he replied as he set his cards down onto the table.

"Frat boys? Why? We're the ones that make college not so dreadful," Aaron said while leaning in.

Gabe nodded. "That's what I said. But it turns out that all these guys have backgrounds. I can't disclose anything else but the person doing this is kind of a hero."

Everyone high fived Gabe their excitement for him and congratulated him on his big report. Cas dropped his crumbled up cards and waited for everyone to calm down before he ran up to his room. They were onto him.

"And I can't wait to take him down," Gabe finished with a wide grin. The boys nodded in agreement and told him that was the best option for the fraternity's sake.

Cas cleared his throat and stood up on shaky legs. "I'm not feeling to well, guys. I'm calling it a night," he announced.

His brothers frowned but told him to feel better anyways. He nodded then immediately headed for his room. He didn't think there was a case to begin with. He had gone an entire month without so much as laying a finger on another person. And it wasn't as if he hadn't thought about it but he had no more targets.

It felt as if he had done his job of protecting people and cleaning up the campus. They couldn't pinpoint anything to him anyway. He got his grades up, he stayed out of trouble and he didn't even party anymore. No one, not even Gabe, would suspect a thing.

He climbed into bed and stared at the dark ceiling for who knows how long. He couldn't seem to get tired no matter how hard he tried to clear his mind. He was on the verge of falling asleep when he heard an annoying tapping sound at his window. He rolled on his side and tried to ignore it, figuring it was a tree branch but it droned on.

After another few minutes of this annoyance, he threw his covers off of him and stomped over to the window. He pulled the sill open and stuck his head outside it and into the cool night breeze.

Cas looked down at the ground below him and saw Dean standing in the lawn with a pile of pebbles in his hand. He tried to ignore the way his stomach flipped when he saw his face for the first time in a month. He still looked so vibrant and beautiful as ever.

"Dean? What are you doing?," he hissed so the other couldn't hear.

Dean discarded the pebbles onto the ground and ran a stressful hand through his hair. "I need to talk to you. Please, come down," he begged him.

Cas chewed on his bottom lip thoughtfully before deciding that he needed to hear him out. He shut the window quietly and managed to slip out of the house unseen. Dean was still standing in the same place.

"What's so important that you need to pull me out of bed at one a.m?," Cas asked him.

"Look, I know we didn't leave things on god terms but I need you to see something. If you decide that you don't care then we can go our separate ways," Dean told him. He looked as if he had seen a ghost and now Cas didn't have a good feeling about anything. And to think he had gone the whole month incident free.

"Fine," he agreed while shoving his hands deep into his jackets pockets. "But hurry. I have an exam in the morning."

Dean nodded and turned on his heel into the direction of wherever this mystery was. Cas followed him and frowned. "You didn't drive?," he questioned him.

Dean shook his head. "No. It's in campus. Not too far from here," he answered him.

Cas continued to frown as all the possibilities ran through his head on what could be going on. Maybe they were caught. Or Dean wanted to frame him for it. Or maybe they were going to turn themselves in.

A few blocks later, they stopped at the campus' public restrooms. Cas tilted his head as he looked up at the building. "The restroom? That's what was so important?," he asked in confusion.

Dean shook his head again. "No. I was here earlier but I wasn't paying attention so I ended up in the women's restroom," he started before pausing.

"And?," Cas asked, unamused.

Dean pursed his lips. "Go see for yourself," he said with a wave of his arm.

Cas looked around at the dead campus to make sure no one was watching them. It would seem pretty strange for two boys to enter the women's restroom at this hour. He shrugged to himself before entering the small, drabby room.

Dean turned on the lights but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next. The wall next to the stalls was filled top to bottom with names. Most were names that Cas clearly recognized and some were people he had never heard of. All boy names.

A large saying 'No means no' was written across the entire wall. 'Stay away from him' was written in smaller letters underneath it. He felt his breathing stop as he turned to Dean with tears in his eyes. "I don't understand," he whispered.

"Cas," he started while laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I know what happened to you. I know why you do these things. And now I know why you have to. These girls need you. They need someone to protect them. Don't you see? There's no one protecting them."

Cas nodded as his lip quivered. Of course, no one was listening to them. If you couldn't throw a football or have a rich family name, you were nothing. He couldn't let this continue. He turned back to Dean. "We have to stop them," he declared.

"We?," Dean asked with hope.

Cas nodded. "Yes. We," he stated.

Dean smiled as he dug something out of his pocket. He handed Cas a sharpie then gestured towards the wall. "Please. Let them know who it was. Don't let it happen to someone else," he told him.

Cas nodded slowly before walking over to the wall where dozens of names glared down at him. He had never felt so small in his entire life. He wrote the name in bold letters as a tear slipped down his cheek. He took a step back as the name 'Balthazar Roche' stared back at him.