(Three weeks later)
It had been three weeks since they'd moved into the dorm. There had been a few more days where Rick had harassed Castiel while Dean was gone, but he didn't run away again. Sometimes it seemed to make Rick stop when he didn't react, but other times it made him angry.
Their lessons with Charlie were going well and they were able to sign some short sentences to each other. Castiel had taken to it so easily that Charlie was teaching him more than Dean and would occasionally hang out with Castiel when he was alone so they could practice.
Dean had also started dating the blonde from his math class, Jo. They had only gone out twice so far, but Dean really liked her.
It was the weekend and they were taking their first trip home to visit the family. Mary greeted them at the door with tight hugs.
"I've missed you two." She kissed Dean's cheek before pulling away. "I can't wait to hear about everything you've been doing."
"Well, we've got a lot to tell you."
The whole family sat together in the living room while Dean told them about everything that had happened: Rick, Charlie, Jo, and Balthazar.
"If you need any help with Rick, you call me." John had been angry when Dean told them how he was acting and what he'd been doing to Castiel. "I'd be more than happy to put a little fear of god into him."
Dean laughed. "I'm sure. I'm hoping it won't come to that."
Mary spoke, hoping to change the subject. "So, you two have been learning sign language? That sounds fun."
"It is." Castiel nodded in agreement. "Charlie is really awesome too. I'm glad she was standing in front of me the first day." Dean couldn't imagine how bored he'd be without Charlie.
"I'm glad she's a good friend."
Sam piped up from the arm of the couch he was straddling. "They really let an angel teach at the university? I don't think I've ever heard of that happening."
Dean nodded. "I was a little worried about him at first, but he's been really cool. He's very blunt and honest about angels and what they go through. I'm glad I took that class."
They ate dinner and talked more about the college before Dean and Castiel went back up to the bedroom for the night. It looked like no one had touched it since they left. Dean took out his guitar from the closet and played quietly for a while before they went to sleep. Castiel sat on his bed and listened.
The weekend was spent going to a couple restaurants, sleeping in, and shopping for a TV for their dorm room.
Sunday afternoon, they were loading up the Impala with the new TV, Dean's guitar, and some leftovers courtesy of Mary. Dean drove them back with a feeling of contentment. He needed to visit home more often.
After getting back to their room and dropping off their items, Dean got a text from Jo and left to meet up with her. Castiel stayed behind and set up their TV. He was hooking up a couple wires when Rick entered the room.
Castiel had looked up, expecting Dean, and frowned when he saw Rick. He had hoped to avoid him until tomorrow. He focused on the TV again and ignored Rick.
The quiet only lasted a couple minutes. "Where's Dean?"
He didn't even look up from the remote as he tested to make sure it worked. He just had to ignore him.
"Is he in the bathroom or gone for the night?" Rick stood by his desk and crossed his arms. This is what he'd do most of the time, just ask him endless questions.
Castiel put the remote in Dean's desk drawer and moved to stand by his bed. Rick walked a little closer.
"You guys go on a trip this weekend? Where'd you go?" Rick just stood behind Castiel and waited for an answer he knew wouldn't come.
Castiel took a slow breath and pulled out his phone. If Rick said one more thing, he was going to text someone, either Charlie or Dean.
Rick had paused a while when he saw the phone come out, but just laughed when Castiel didn't do anything with it. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to call Dean to come running back to save you? I'm sure you didn't get enough from him this weekend."
Anger flared in his chest and he typed a quick text to Charlie and put his phone back in his pocket. He still faced away from Rick and moved to sit at Dean's desk.
"Are you not even going to look at me?"
Castiel sat at the desk and put on the headphones connected to Dean's laptop. He was in the process of opening the music player when a strong hand pushed him on the shoulder.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you, angel."
Rick had almost made him fall off the chair. Castiel pulled the headphones off forcefully and stood quickly, making the chair fall behind him. He rounded on Rick with an angry look on his face, wings flaring up behind him slightly.
Rick took a small step back but kept his face in a contemptuous expression. "You gonna finally fight back?"
His heart pounded loudly in his chest and everything in him made him want to fight, but he took a slow breath and relaxed his wings. This was the first time Rick had physically come after him or touched him.
"I figured you were too much of a chicken shit to do anything." Rick took a step forward like he meant to push him again when there was a knock on the door.
Castiel smiled slightly when Rick looked confused. He walked to the door slowly and opened it, knowing who was on the other side.
"Hey, Cas!" Charlie smiled and hugged the angel. When she pulled back, she brought her hands up to sign. 'Is he still bothering you?'
'He shoved me, yes. He's never done that.' Castiel was slow and clumsy with his signing, but Charlie got the gist.
'Don't worry. I got you.' She smiled again and walked towards the beds like she owned the place. Rick was at his desk. "Hey, you must be Rick. Name's Charlie." She held out a hand to shake.
Rick seemed confused by the greeting but took her hand. She gripped his hand tight enough to make him wince and pulled him closer.
"I just want to let you know that I know about all the shit you've been dishing to Dean and Castiel, and I don't like it. You better watch yourself. I could get you kicked out of this place so fast you wouldn't know what hit you."
Rick rolled his eyes and tried to pull away. Charlie tugged his arm to keep him in place. "If you hurt Cas or Dean, so help me, I will destroy your life. Got me?" She put on a wide fake smile and tilted her head.
"Sure." He didn't seem convinced but was wary enough to back away and leave when Charlie let him go.
'You didn't have to do that.' Castiel moved over to stand by her.
'Don't worry about it. I'd love the chance to make that jerk wet himself with fear.'
Castiel laughed and sat on his bed.
"You guys have a TV now?!" Charlie just noticed it now that Rick was gone. Castiel nodded. "Sweet! Now we can marathon movies together."
Charlie stayed until Dean returned. He was furious when Castiel explained what had happened and hugged Charlie for what she'd said.
"I mean it, Dean. If you want me to, I'll hack into everything involved in his life and take him down. Just say the word."
"I may take you up on that." He walked her to the door. She stopped in the doorway.
"I'll see you both for your lesson tomorrow."
Castiel nodded but Dean's eyes widened briefly. "Um, about that…"
"What?" Charlie put her hands on her hip.
"I won't be able to make this one."
"Why not?" Dean's eyes shifted away from hers. "Don't tell me. Would the conflict be Jo by any chance?"
"We're gonna meet up around that time, yeah." Dean smiled in an attempt to relax Charlie, who was looking at him with a raised brow.
"Can't you see her after your class together?"
"She's helping me with the assignment for our class that's due Monday."
Charlie sighed. "Okay, well don't think I'm gonna halt lessons for you. Cas and I will just have to learn more without you."
"I'll have him catch me up, I promise."
"Yeah yeah. You have fun with your girlfriend, lucky bastard." She smiled at him and dropped her arms. "See you tomorrow, Cas."
Dean shut the door and locked it behind her. He turned to Castiel. "You alright?"
Castiel nodded. 'Fine.' He tried to keep his sentences short when signing with Dean since he had to spell everything for him.
"I can't believe he pushed you. I never thought he'd do anything physical." Dean was worried again about leaving Castiel alone.
'I'm okay.'
"You said that it seemed like he wanted you to fight him, right?"
'It seemed that way to me, yes.'
"Maybe he does. Maybe he wants you to attack him, hurt him." Dean pulled his chair out to sit.
'Why?'
"Because then he could have us thrown out, or moved at least. He's trying to give Benny cause to have us evicted." It all made sense to him now. He couldn't figure out why Rick would keep bothering Castiel if he hated angels so much. "Maybe Benny still refuses to move him and he's getting desperate."
That didn't make Castiel feel good. He felt like he would really be in danger alone with Rick now. He would push him until Castiel fought back.
"Maybe if we told Benny about this he'd finally get him moved."
'I don't know, Dean.' Castiel sat on his bed and sighed. He didn't want to talk about this anymore.
"I've got some homework to work on for tomorrow." Dean could tell Castiel was done and didn't want to push the angel.
'Okay.' Castiel took out his phone and opened one of his game apps to entertain himself while Dean worked.
About an hour later, Rick came back. Dean tried to ignore him but failed. He closed his computer and stood to face the other boy. Castiel watched from his bed.
"Look, I know what you're trying to do and you need to stop."
Rick looked between the two of them. "Really?"
"Yeah. Picking a fight with Cas to try and get us kicked out of here isn't gonna work. Stop it before you make a huge mistake."
"You know, I got the same kind of speech from the red haired bitch. Empty threats don't scare me." Rick crossed his arms, trying to look casual.
Dean's lip sneered at the insult to Charlie, but his voice stayed calm. "You should be scared of Charlie. Her threats aren't empty. Neither are mine. If you want to know why you should be worried, look my family up. I think you'd find what you need to be properly worried about how you treat me and Castiel."
"I don't give a shit who you are." Rick clearly didn't believe anything Dean was saying.
"You should." Dean smiled and turned back to his desk. "That's all I'm gonna say about it."
"I'm terrified." Rick rolled his eyes before sitting at his desk.
It was a tense night as they all tried to ignore each other. Castiel hoped he'd be alright but he was nervous for tomorrow.
As Dean left in the morning, he handed Castiel a note that told him to let him know if anything happened and to text him or Charlie if he needed help. He also said he could always try Benny too.
Castiel just pretended to be sleeping when Rick did get up so he left without any issue. He spent his morning browsing the internet and practicing his signing. Since Dean was meeting Jo between his classes, he probably wouldn't see him until around dinner.
At 11, Charlie texted Castiel to let him know she was ready for him to come over for their lesson. He let her know he was coming and shut the computer.
'Hey, come on in.' Charlie stepped aside to let him enter. 'Any trouble today?'
'No, not so far.'
'Good. Let's get started.'
They spent about an hour going over different phrases and practicing together. Then they went to the food court for lunch.
'So Cas, have you met Jo yet?'
'No.'
Neither one of them had met her yet and they were both curious. Castiel figured that Dean would introduce them whenever he was ready. Charlie didn't want to wait.
'You know, I could probably just hack into the school registry and look her up.'
'Charlie, no.'
'Why not?! I've done it with other people already.'
Castiel shook his head and laughed. 'I don't think Dean would appreciate that.'
'Well, then he should bring her over.'
They both then finished their lunches and headed back upstairs. Charlie didn't have her next class for a couple hours so Castiel stayed and learned as much as Charlie could show him.
Dean came back after his last class finished and he'd talked to Jo a little. It had felt weird for him to not come back to his room all day and he'd been worried about Castiel, but he'd never gotten a text from him.
His worry kicked up again when he found the room empty. Castiel's phone was on his bed, just like the night a few weeks ago.
"Cas?" Dean picked up the phone and looked around the small room. A yellow note on his laptop caught his attention. He walked over and pulled it off his computer. It had his name written in Castiel's writing.
The laptop was open slightly so he sat down and logged back in. A word document was open with some typing on it.
Hello Dean. I left this in case I wasn't out of the shower when you got back. I'm fine. Rick was gone all day. I spent most of the day with Charlie. She is very eager to meet Jo by the way. She's threatened hacking into the school files to look her up. I just wanted to let you know so you didn't worry when I was gone.
Dean sighed in relief and saved the document in a folder he had made back in high school right after showing Castiel how Word worked. There were dozens of files in that folder and occasionally Dean would look at them. They were little notes he and Castiel would leave for each other when the other was gone.
He would never forget the first one Castiel had left. It just had his and Dean's names typed over and over and the words 'I'm safe' repeated. Dean thinks the only reason it was left open was because Castiel didn't know how to close the document, but Dean saved it anyway.
After saving it, Dean closed the program and shut his computer. He figured Castiel would be done soon. He wanted to see what he'd learned from Charlie today.
They spent the night going over what Charlie had shown Castiel. Dean said he would have them meet Jo soon. Castiel told him to tell Charlie that so she didn't get herself in trouble. Rick showed up when they were getting ready for bed. He didn't say a thing to them. Dean took that as a win.