AN: Thank you for the rapid feedback, it seems I have some explaining to do, so this chapter should cover it. After this, the story should properly begin to take off, so, yes. Thank you, don't forget to comment.
"The Winchesters! Nice to meet at last. The name's Crowley."
Dean groaned and turned to face Sam; "another one!"
Crowley smirked and walked over to them, confidently; "actually, the surname isn't Novak. No, I'm related through my mother, so we don't have the same surname, so you can talk to me. I see you're already off to a bad start."
"Yeah, well, your cousins keep talking to me!"
Crowley laughed and threw his arm over Dean's shoulders; "don't worry about it, look, I can help! It's what I do! I'm the guy, who gets things done. You want pop quiz answers, I'm your man, you need an extra locker, it's done. You want the Novaks away from you? Just say the word!"
Dean shot a glance over to Sam, who shrugged innocently; "what's the catch?"
"No catch."
Dean narrowed his eyes; "no good businessman offers his services for free."
Crowley grinned, putting Dean on edge slightly; "consider it, a taster. OR, one half of a deal yet to be made. I scratch your back, later, when I want mine scratched, I only have to ask?"
"I don't know..."
"Look Winchester. The kids at this school mean business. Especially when it comes to little Cas; the guy doesn't have any friends, he only has his family. Everyone wants to be the guy's first best friend!"
Dean finally pulled himself out from under Crowley's arm; "what do you mean?"
Crowley sighed; "Gabriel has plenty of friends, he's everyone's friend. Anna has her cheerleaders, Josh has his football players, Cas has, no one. No clique, no small group of friends, just us. And he's happy that way. For four years, the kids have been trying to worm their way in to his good books, no one's come close!"
Dean sighed loudly; "so, why be angry at me? Four years and no friends, I come along, like he's going to befriend me!"
"Stranger things have happened, boy. Besides, you get in good with Gabe, you get in good with the rest of the family, Castiel, included. Now, about you not getting your arse kicked. I can talk to the boys tonight, tell them to stay away from you, it's causing too much trouble."
"They know? About, the rule?"
Crowley laughed again; "of course they do! It's one of the main reasons Cas doesn't have any friends! No one will actually let him have a friend, and he doesn't want to befriend anyone here. Now, you go home, copy up your notes, and you bring Cas' book to me, ok? I'll give it to him. As for your study date, outside of school, you can do what you want. Go to their house for tea and crumpets if you like, just make sure no one finds out."
Dean looked over to Sam, who looked somewhat terrified. Crowley was good at striking deals, Dean would be completely on board if he wasn't having doubts about the possible repayment.
"...What do I have to do for you?"
Crowley smirked; "nothing. Yet... Now, do we have a deal?"
Dean took in a deep breath, glancing over to Sam - who was shaking his head - before nodding; "deal."
Crowley held out his hand, Dean shook it firmly.
"Pleasure doing business with you. See you tomorrow."
Dean pulled his bag further up his shoulder and walked over to Sam, watching Crowley march down the corridor.
"Why did you do it, Dean? He seems, dodgy!"
"It was the easiest thing. Day one and I'm in trouble! If we were just passing by like usual, you know I'd have jumped in, but I'm not getting in to a fight on my first day. Let's just go home, before another one comes along."
Sam shrugged and followed his brother; "just... Why was he English?"
Dean laughed; "no idea."
That evening, Dean was sat in the room he shared with Sam copying up Castiel's notes on 1984, spending half of his time marvelling at how amazing the notes were. Sam came over occasionally to wonder at some of the thoughts Castiel had on the book, things he'd never thought of himself.
"This guy's a genius."
Dean shrugged; "that's his thing. He's the nerd."
"Popular nerd? What is this place?"
"I have no idea, Sammy. But please, shut your cake-hole so I can finish these notes!"
Sam sighed loudly and got on with his own homework. The two worked in silence, only stopping to discuss something that came up in either of their note-making.
Dean was struggling to read some of Castiel's notes when his phone vibrated on the desk next to him. Not recognising the number, he sceptically opened the text.
"Hey, jst spkn 2 Crowley, sed we got u in2 truble w/ ppl. Soz. We'll stay away 4m u in lessons n shit. Still cum out 2mz, or Cas will flip his shit. Gabe."
"...What?"
Sam looked up; "what is it?"
"A text, from Gabriel, no idea what he's saying though."
Sighing, Sam snatched the phone from his hands and dictated the message. Dean shrugged and took the phone back.
"Can he not use proper words?"
Sam laughed; "it's text speak, Dean. You only have 160 characters to work with."
"Well... That's why you ring people."
"Old man, Dean."
"Fuck off."
Sam laughed again and went back to his work; Dean sighed and stuffed his phone back in to his pocket, finishing off the notes. Sam finished before Dean, and pulled his laptop onto his knee, deciding to play some games to wind down.
"Dean! Will you log out of your email when you go on my laptop please!"
Dean shrugged; "sorry."
"Oh, dude, you've got an email."
"Off?"
Dean heard some clicking before Sam scoffed.
"Castiel Novak!"
"What!"
Dean spun round in his chair, snatching the laptop from Sam, earning him a few shouts of abuse.
"RE: School.
Dean, firstly, I got your e-mail from Crowley. A terrible abuse of privacy and resources, but I needed to speak with you and 160 characters is certainly not enough. Secondly, I heard about what happened at school today, I'm extremely sorry. Those students follow me around like the plague, it's quite infuriating. However, I didn't mean to cause trouble for you and your brother, especially on your first day. I understand completely you giving my notebook to Crowley tomorrow, I'll try my best to avoid you - despite the fact we do share seats in lessons. However, I do ask you join us at the library tomorrow. This project needs to be done and as intelligent as I may be, I cannot complete a four-man-project by myself, and Lord knows Gabriel's not going to help - drawing pictures of naked women with a swastika arm-band does not constitute helping.
Anyway, I've rambled for long enough. I'm sorry for the hassle you've gotten on my behalf, I do hope you're up for a trip to the library tomorrow, please email me back, as soon as possible.
Sincerely, Castiel."
Dean read the email twice before huffing out a deep breath; "how did Crowley get my email?"
Sam frowned and took his laptop back; "I thought it was from Castiel."
"It is, he got my email from Crowley."
"Told you that guy was dodgy!"
Dean shrugged and took the laptop back; "don't cry, Sammy, I'm just replying! Then you can play your stupid, MMRGPs or whatever."
"MMORPGs, and they're not stupid."
"Hmm, sure. Maybe if you spent less time pretending to be a night elf and more time doing a bit of working out like me, you wouldn't need to me to look after you."
Sam glared; "I don't need you to look after me."
"Seriously? I saw you edging away earlier, I'd have been right in there to protect you."
"Yeah, well, you know I prefer brains to brawn!"
"But some fights you can't talk your way out of!"
Sam sighed and turned away from Dean.
The two brothers were completely different people. Dean prided himself on how athletic he was. When the boys were carted from state to state, Dean would occupy himself with lifting heavy things, working out, whilst Sam curled up somewhere with a book. Dean was more than capable with handling himself in a fight, managing to take on two bulky football players in their last school, and actually coming out on top. However, fighting on his first day of school seemed a little senseless, so he was happy to swallow his pride and go along with the pressure of his classmates.
Sam however, knew he was more a hindrance in any fight. He'd outgrown Dean, but was clumsy and uncoordinated. The last fight he'd actually gotten in to, he'd taken a swing at the guy pushing him into a wall and broken his hand. After checking he was fine, Dean had laughed about needing to teach Sam how to punch properly. Sam prided himself on being the intellectual of the family, spending his time with his nose stuck in a book, reading literary classics and reference books. He taught himself a lot of what he knew, travelling thwarting his chances of having a full and proper education, and life. It was that which caused a lot of friction between Sam and his father.
John Winchester was an engineer for the military, having to travel up and down the country working. After their mother died in a car accident when Dean was 7 and Sam was 3, they always travelled with him. And it was never a problem until Sam finally cracked.
They'd began to settle in a nice high school in Georgia; Dean had gotten a part-time job as a mechanic - inheriting his father's grease-monkey genes - and Sam had gotten to close to getting a proper teenage life, good grades, friends, and even a girlfriend. Just as they'd settled, John's contract at the military base ended and they were on the move again. Dean had spent that first night on the road playing referee to his father and brother as they screamed at each other about life not being fair. They didn't talk for three days, until John broke the news they were to go live with their Uncle Bobby to finally be settled.
"Here!" Dean snorted, pushing Sam's laptop back into his hands. Sam sighed and looked at the screen.
"You didn't log out, again!"
"Don't, in case he emails back."
Sam grinned; "aww, got a pen-pal now?"
Dean glared; "I will end you! Go play your World of Warhammer."
"Warcraft!"
"Sam, I don't, care!"
Sam sighed and shuffled up on his bed, opening up the window for his game. Dean turned back around to carry on with his homework, not finding it easy. After having Castiel's notes copied up, he had a sheet of algebra problems to solve, followed by some basic research on Europe for Geography. He'd just finished when the boys were shouted down for dinner. Dean threw his pen down and jumped up from his chair, nearly throwing himself down the stairs.
Bobby's house was moderately sized, for him alone. However, with Sam and Dean living with him, things were all over the place, boxes of books and tools, boxes of clothes, and just general possessions lay around. Dean jumped over a box of clothes at the bottom of the stairs and went through to the kitchen. Bobby was sat in his armchair, helping himself to a slice of pizza and a bottle of beer.
"All right Bobby?" Dean grinned, rushing over to the boxes of pizza on the worktop.
"Where's your brother?" Bobby grunted in response.
"Finishing his game or something, he mentioned a raid, whatever the Hell that is."
"That boy needs to get a life... How was school?"
Dean snorted and pulled himself a can of soda from the fridge; "oh you know, the usual. Wanted by half the school for talking to the Novaks."
"Ah, yes. They're always causing trouble."
"Well, you know, thanks for the heads up."
"You're a big boy, Dean. You can stand up for yourself."
Dean shrugged and sat down; "not on the first day! I'm not getting a reputation. Besides, Sammy can't, you know that. If they decided to fight him in some fantasy universe on that game of his, he'd do just fine. But as it stands, he's the least coordinated giant I've ever met."
Bobby smirked; "well. you know now."
"Yeah, thanks."
Dean got on well with Bobby, they both shared a love for cars, mechanics and TV. Bobby wasn't even their real uncle, just a friend of the family, but John trusted him enough to look after the boys. Sam got on with Bobby, but the two never had much to speak about, so stayed out of each other's way.
"So tell me, how much shit are you in?"
Dean took a large bite of his pizza and shrugged; "got off with a warning today, but, obviously they're not going to let this shit slide. Crowley said he'd do me a favour-"
"-No, Dean. Not Crowley! Already you're getting in with the wrong crowd?"
"It was just one favour!"
Bobby sighed and shook his head; "one turns in to two, which turns into five, which turns into you risking waking up in jail for something stupid! Crowley is the not the kind of boy who just does favours for people!"
Dean shrugged; "well, I'll stay away from him then..."
"It's too late now! If he's already done something for you, you're going to owe him!"
"Fine... Anyway, what do you know about these Novaks?"
Bobby grunted and had another swig of his beer; "rich load of snobs. Live over on the posh side of town, where the houses have their own landing strip for private jets."
Dean laughed; Bobby was supposed to be objective when it came to students, but his hate for the stupidly rich overtook his objectivity.
"As far as I know, four families, two houses, both live next door, so... Um, let's see. Castiel's father is no longer around, the mother died when they were young. They live with Uncle Raphael and the arch angels-"
"-Gabriel? Lucifer and-"
"-Michael, yes. As for the Masters and the rest of the Novak's, they live next door, with Aunt Lilith."
Dean nodded; "right. How are they so rich then?"
Bobby grumbled; "just, family fortune. Handed down, most have well paid jobs, doctors, lawyers, politicians, you name it."
"Right... So why, religious names? Angels especially?"
"Who knows, just a family quirk."
"Fair enough."
"Why so interested in them?"
Dean shrugged; "well, I've been told every other scrap of information about them today, may as well have all of it!"
"...Is your brother coming down or what? I'm not feeding him anything else!"
"I'll go get him."
Picking up another slice of pizza, Dean went to the bottom of the stairs and shouted up to Sam. After a few moments, he didn't hear any signs of movement, so stomped up the stairs. Sam was huddled in the corner of his bed, looking intense.
"Sammy! Dinner!"
"Yeah yeah, just a few more minutes."
"No Sam, now, or else you're not eating."
"Well I guess I won't eat then."
"Sam!"
"Fine!"
Sighing loudly, Sam threw his laptop from his lap and stormed downstairs, purposely bumping in to Dean on the way. Dean smirked and went over to the laptop, minimising the game and pulling up his emails. Castiel had replied.
"RE: RE: It's fine Dean.
I do not wish for you to "handle yourself", you should not be running in to any problems at all, especially not at my family's expense. I could talk to the people involved, but I fear that would make it worse. If there was a way to make it right, I would, I do not like to see people victimised in my name. I also do not want to hear of you getting in to fights. You say you're more than capable of looking after yourself in a fight, but you're just one man. I do wish there was something I could do. I don't know where this obsession with my family came from, I only discovered it was happening in September!
I do not wish to burden you with my problems, so I'll move on. Thank you for agreeing to join us in the library. In the future, I'll try to find a way for us to work together without being seen together, I'm aware of how quickly gossip can be spread through school, and I don't want to risk your well-being for my History grade.
Sincerely, Castiel."
Dean smiled and debated writing a reply, but his stomach growling told him more pizza must be had first. Jumping back down the stairs, Dean joined Sam and Bobby in the kitchen, the only hope to break the awkward silence between the two.
"So Bobby, in shop class, how do I address you? Mr Singer? Bobby? Uncle Bob?"
Sam smirked at Bobby's eye roll.
"Mr. Singer!"
"All right, just checking. Just, as a warning, any Novak's in that class with me?"
"I don't know, I'd have to check."
"...Right."
"Did Castiel email you back?" Sam asked, a mouth full of pizza. Dean nodded.
"Just saying we could figure out a way to work on the project without actually going out."
Bobby looked up; "you're mailing one of them?"
"Well, we have a project together, we have to talk about it some how."
The older man shook his head; "don't let the kids find out, they'll string you up by your entrails!"
"Well, I've already started butting heads, maybe I should just full on kick some ass of my own!"
"How about," Sam interjected; "earning people's respect. You're a fair football player, Dean. Join a team?"
Dean shook his head, grabbing another slice of pizza; "can't be bothered. School work seems to be a total drag already, plus, I'll be working at the shop, no time!"
"It's called prioritising, Dean."
"Yeah, first school, then work! I have no time for play! I want to spend my downtime watching TV or something, not grabbing other dudes!"
Sam sighed and finished off his slice before helping himself to another. Life at Bobby's was relatively calm; Bobby had few rules and gave the boys nearly free reign of the house, so long as they cleared up after themselves and didn't break anything. Sam usually sat in his and Dean's room, playing computer games, whilst Dean lounged on the sofa watching TV. They'd only been at Bobby's a few days, but they already had a routine that worked. Dean had also landed a job at Bobby's garage to earn some money for himself in the future. It was the closest thing to a real life they'd ever had.