Slipping

Gabe eyed Dean and Cas suspiciously. He grabbed onto Cas' arm and pulled him away from Dean. "Can I talk to you?," he asked him while continuing to stare at Dean.

Cas firmly stomped his foot on the ground to prevent Gabe from dragging him into some corner to whisper his suspicions about Dean. "I think anything you want to say to me, you can also say in front of Dean," he said unwavering.

Gabe looked between the two of them once more before sighing and giving up on getting Cas alone. "Fine. You really want me to say it, Cas?," he asked him while frowning deeply.

"Yes, I do. Say what we all know you're thinking out loud," Cas challenged him with a wave of his hand.

"Okay," Gabe agreed while nodding his head, "I think Dean here is the masked man. I mean, what do you even know about this guy?"

Cas clinched his fist next to his side and tried to calm himself down but he couldn't. Not after everything. It was all falling apart right in front of him. "What do you even know about me, Gabe?," he asked angrily.

Gabe looked hurt at Cas' acquisition. "I know you're my best friend and I don't want to see you get hurt," he said sincerely.

"Yeah well, it's a little too late for that," he shot back before pushing passed a confused Gabe.

He could hear murmurs from his brothers about the confrontation then could tell that Gabe had said something to Dean. He stomped angrily up the stairs until he reached his room. Deans soft footsteps snuck up behind him as Cas pushed his door open angrily.

"I can't even believe him," Cas said while shaking his head and tossing his backpack into the corner. "I mean, what have you ever done to him? Why is he so insistent on me being miserable?" Cas questioned quickly while dropping himself into his desk chair.

Dean took a seat on Cas' bed and sighed. "I don't know, Cas, maybe because," he paused and looked around before turning his tone into a quiet whisper, "I am the masked man."

Cas laughed incredulously. "I wouldn't say the masked man. More like my sidekick," he commented.

Dean rolled his eyes at the remark. "Either way, they're onto us. The campus is locked down until they can find one of us," he reminded Cas.

Cas lifted his sweatshirt off of his body before stretching with his arms high in the air. He looked at Dean who only looked horrified at him as if there was a large creature on him. Cas dropped his arms and tilted his head at his friend. "What?" he asked him.

Deans mouth had dropped slightly as he continued to stare. He gestured to his own neck while not saying a word. "Dean, what's going on?" Cas asked him with more fear in his voice than he wanted to show.

"Y- your neck," Dean stuttered with wide eyes.

Cas stood up quickly and walked over to his bedrooms' mirror hanging by his closet. He immediately noticed the welts the size of human fingers seemingly burned into every angle of his neck. Cas lightly traced over them with shaky fingers and hissed when the pressure stung.

Both Dean and Cas' phones chimed at the same moment. They gave each other questioning looks before pulling them out of their pockets. Cas almost gasped as he saw the notification sent to them by campus police.

"Assault details. At nine thirty-five p.m. an attack was made a few blocks away from KSU Bar in the campus square. Two victims were attacked at knife point by a masked assailant. One victim is said to have been able to choke the suspect to the point of leaving behind marks on person's body. Campus police will be going by every dorm, fraternity and apartment on campus to look at every males' neck to match the description. Updates will be posted," Dean read out loud.

He shoved his phone back into his pocket before running his hand through his hair. "Fuck. What are we going to do, Cas? They'll know it's you. And Gabriel already suspects me so we can't get him to cover," Dean said hastily.

Cas slipped his university sweatshirt on and made sure it covered his neck completely. "I have a plan. It's crazy and reckless but I'm going to need you to go with it," he said after a few moments of thinking it through.

Dean bit his lip as he nodded along with whatever it was Cas was asking him to do. "We're going to go downstairs and act like everything is cool. Can you do that?" Cas asked him slowly.

Dean nodded again and Cas breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. The rest of the plan I will not be telling you," he informed him as he walked over to the door.

Dean stood up quickly. "What do you mean you're not going to tell me? Cas, we're in this together. We both fall down," he said as he grabbed onto Cas' arm.

"This isn't your mess, Dean. It's mine. I started this and now I need to finish it and I won't have you endangering yourself. So, please go downstairs, make small talk and act like everything is good in this world," Cas begged him softly.

Dean pursed his lips and fought internally with his emotions. "I can't do that," he finally said.

Cas frowned. "So, do it for me. If you can't protect yourself for yourself then do it for me," he pleaded with him.

Dean's face struggled as he tried to find another solution to everything happening but he couldn't. He gently lifted his hand to Cas' face and smiled softly when he leaned into his touch. "I'll do it for you," he agreed quietly.

Cas smiled back at him for a few seconds before pulling away and heading down the stairs. He earned a few curious stares from some of his brothers for seeing him with the first boy in almost a year. He shot them a tight smile as he walked over to Gabe's side of the couch and sat down next to him.

Dean took a seat next to Cas and smiled warmly at Gabe as if nothing was bothering him. "You got the update, too?" Gabe asked his friend as he held up his phone for Cas to see.

Cas nodded. "Yeah. When do you think they're going to get here?" he asked nonchalantly.

Gabe shrugged. "I don't know. Could be minutes or it could be hours. All I know is our asses are staying inside until this whole thing blows over," he answered.

"Well, how about you do me a favor then?" Cas asked him with a soft smile that he knew Gabe couldn't deny.

Gabe squinted his eyes at him but smiled along anyways. "Fine. I'll bite. What is it?" he asked.

"I really need to take a shower. If the police show up will you tell them I'll only be a minute?" he queried.

Gabe sighed. "Alright. But you owe me," he said with a large grin.

Cas nodded and matched his smile. "You bet. I'll be back. Try not to make Dean uncomfortable please," he said before walking away.

"I make no promises!" Gabe shouted after him as Cas made his way up the stairs.

He shook his head to himself and decided to listen in to their conversation before putting his plan into motion. He could hear Dean clear his throat nervously. The poor guy had no idea what was happening but he just couldn't risk getting him caught as well.

"You understand why I'm so suspicious of you, right, Dean-o?" he could hear Gabe ask as soon as Cas had made it up the stairs.

"Um, yeah. I get it. I'm new and the whole shit storm going on right now," Dean replied back. Cas could tell that he was nervous but hopefully Gabe couldn't tell.

"Yeah, whatever, man. I don't trust you and I don't think Cas should either," Gabe said in a no-nonsense way.

"And he should trust you?" Dean shot back. Cas' heart sped up at the words of their confrontation.

"You're damn right he should. Cause I'm his best friend and I will always be his best friend," Gabe defended himself.

Dean scoffed. "A best friend should notice when his best friend isn't the same."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Gabe asked with anger.

Cas walked backwards and away from the conversation. He didn't want to hear any more of this. He wanted things to go back to normal. He frowned when he realized that nothing in his life would be normal ever again. All because of him.

He shook his head quickly and walked into the bathroom where he turned on the shower. He quickly walked across the hall to his room and picked up the discarded backpack. He could only hope that this would work.

He tossed the backpack into the bathroom and locked the door. He then removed his sweatshirt and stared at his injured neck in the mirror until it fogged up from the shower.

He quickly slipped into his vigilante outfit then pulled the mask over his face with ease. He held his breath as he opened the bathroom door slowly and was relieved to see that no one was around. Cas did a double take to make sure he had left the bathroom's window open before he shut the door with the sound of the lock clicking into place once more.

This was it. No going back now. He slowly crept to the top of the stairs and listened in for any signs of the police. He could hear some rustling downstairs but no other unusual voices.

"You know what, just drop it. I'll be more than happy when the cops come and drag your ass out," he could hear Gabe say to who he assumed was Dean.

"Hey guys, the cops are next door," Garth announced.

Cas squeezed his eyes shut and tried to remember that this was for the best. This is what would get them either out of the mess or into an even worse one. But Dean would no longer be involved.

He tightened his grip around the wooden baseball bat he had picked up in front of Raphael's room and silently thanked himself for wearing gloves so it wouldn't slip from his sweaty palms.

He opened his eyes. It was now or never. Cas ran down the stairs causing everyone's heads to shoot up in shock. "It's him!" a few of them yelled but no one made a move to do anything.

Except Gabe. He stood up from his spot on the couch and attempted to block Cas as he tried to run out the front door. He had to do what needed to be done to get him away from Dean and back into his own lane.

Cas brought the bat back before swinging hard and hitting Gabe directly in his shin. Gabe yelled as he fell to the ground but he still didn't give up. His hands frantically reached for Cas' ankles with hopes to bring him down with him but Cas was more trained than Gabe.

He jumped over his hands with no effort and continued to run to the front door. He pulled it open quickly before looking back at the scene he had just made. A few of his brothers were at Gabe's side as they checked him over while some were staring at him or taking quick pictures of him on their phone.

Dean stood the closest with a hurt look on his face that he couldn't stand to see any longer. He turned his head back around and dashed out of the door. A group of three campus police were casually walking down the sidewalk towards his frat house and didn't notice him at first.

Until his brothers all poured out onto the houses porch and began to scream at the police that the assailant was standing right in front of them. The cops realized what was happening and started to take quick steps towards Cas who was gripping the bat with all of his strength.

He swung the bat at them but was careful enough not to actually hit them. He only wanted them to back off. A few of them began to walk away slowly but one brave one lunged at him. Cas tossed the bat into the frat house's lawn and then he ran.