Dean spends over an hour trying to calm his friends down and NOT confront Castiel. He doesn't understand why they're all so upset in the first place. Dean is shaken up, but it's not as if Castiel set out to give him an anxiety attack. Sam takes Dean home, even though he had a 'study date' with Jess. Dean feels like crap because he knows how much Jess means to his little brother. They all go home and tell their parents what's going on. Bobby tells Dean to buck up and face it like a man. Dean agrees, readying himself for his confrontation with Castiel the next day.
Dean's the one late the next day, by an hour. That earns bitch face #43 from Sam, silent mumbling from Adam, and the promise of a serious talking to from Bobby. Of course, this means he misses Cas in English. Dean silently curses; it's not like catching up was going to be easy in the first place. Ms. Talbot just makes it worse by giving him detention for being three fucking seconds late to her class; all because her boyfriend dumped her.
He walks as slowly as possible to Band, not really wanting to talk to Cas. A small part of him wonders what Cas has been doing all this time, away from him. The bigger part of him, the part of him that wants to punch Cas really hard, reminds the smaller part that Cas left them alone. For years. He gets to Band and sits with Garth and Ash like normal, not even looking at Cas. The entire class period is spent goofing off when some girl asks Mrs. Barnes about her honeymoon and they all congregate to one side of the room to giggle and tell girly stories. Dean thinks he wouldn't like her as much as he does if it weren't for the fact that she could be a badass when she wanted to. Before he can figure out what to do, Ash is whispering to him that Cas is coming over here. Dean looks and, sure enough, he's making his way across the room to him.
"Hello, Dean." Dean can't really figure out how Cas' voice got that deep, but he isn't complaining. He isn't happy either, he really isn't!
"Cas." Dean stares at the chair ahead of him, trying to ignore Cas' presence.
"It's good to see you again."
"You too, I guess."
There's an awkward moment where Dean won't look up at Cas and Cas won't leave. So Garth, the little shit he is, invites Cas to sit in the empty chair next to them. Cas, however seems to fidget before agreeing and sitting down. They sit there for a few minutes before Ash pipes up.
"So how do you know Dean?"
Dean just glares at his friend because he knows how they know each other; he'd given him the run down not too long ago before the refresher course yesterday.
"Dean and I knew each other when we were younger."
Dean stops himself from saying something he knows he'll regret and bites the inside of his lip. He doesn't stop even when he tastes blood. He hates how awkward this is; he hates that Cas seems unaffected even more. Garth and Ash talk easily with Cas and Dean hates how easy it is for Cas to make friends, especially with his friends.
"Dean, are we still doing the barbeque this Saturday?" Ash asks him.
"Of course. Just hoping Crowley doesn't bring his damn dog." Dean knows he's making the face of a petulant six year old, but he really hates Growley.
"But he's so cute with his chubby ol' cheeks!" Garth really is weird, Dean thinks to himself.
They all spend the period making polite small talk, about this and that; which teachers Cas has, and which teachers he should avoid like the plague. They also breach the topic of the LARPing club, but Dean squashes that topic like it's a spider near Garth. When the bell rings, they all stand up together and head out the door. Cas follows Dean out the door before stopping him.
"Dean, I was wondering if we could talk, in private. I'd like to know how you've been over the past few years." There's a bit of silence before he tacks on, "I've missed you."
That ugly thing he bit down earlier comes out without his permission, "Then why didn't you pick up the phone? I know you had my number memorized Cas. It's not that hard to call and say 'Hey, guess what, last minute, but I'm dropping you and high tailing it out of town!'" Dean knows Cas should have a good reason, but he's still hurt.
"I had a lot going on, Dean. I didn't have time to call. I didn't really have any time to myself."
"Bullshit, Cas." He snaps, and he knows It came out harsher than he'd meant it to. "I bet I had a lot more going on than you and I still found time to call every day for over a year, Cas." Dean won't ever admit out loud that at one point he'd called him twenty seven times in one day.
"I doubt that, Dean." Cas' voice is low and Dean's never seen Cas angry, but he has to admit he is a bit scary.
"Well, you wouldn't know, would you? You left. You have no idea what my life has been like since you left." Dean turns on his heel and leaves before Cas can get another word out.
Dean wants to punch something and he really doesn't want to go home to get teased by Crowley. He kind of hopes Sam will be willing to spar with him after school. Maybe Adam, but he's got an unfair advantage on him. Jo, maybe, if his day gets any worse. He forgoes lunch, feeling too upset to eat, which just earns him a bunch of shit from his friends. Sam seems to be in just as bad a mood as he's in, so they sit together on a bench far away from their friends and brood, like Winchester Men do.
After lunch, Dean gets lost in repairing that ugly Junker Bobby had given the Auto Shop Class last year. Dean couldn't understand how it kept getting worse after all the work he put into it. He had a hunch it was the Intro kids, but he had no proof. Two hours have never passed so fast for Dean, ever, and he hates that he has to go to Theater with Cas.
It's not so bad, they do a class exercise and Dean spends most of the time the focus isn't on him, guessing the answers Cas will give. He gets most of them right, and he doesn't know if he should be happy or mad at the fact that Cas hasn't changed all that much.
After school, he drags himself to Ms. Talbot's only to have her tell him she's joking. She pokes some more fun at him and he decides to attack Sam after he gets to that field. He makes his way to the empty field behind the school to find everyone standing around just talking. He throws his bag down with all the others there and runs at Sam. He tackles Sam hard, using Sam's body to cushion his fall. Sam's had an equally bad day apparently, because he just throws Dean off and swings wide at Dean's head. Dean easily ducks, and hits Sam in the gut. He's going to be sore, but it's not going to bruise. Dean loves his brother too much to actually hurt him. Sam recovers from his stumble and drops to kick Dean's legs out from under him. Dean jumps, avoiding that but can't avoid the blow to his chest. He'd only just managed to cover his solar plexus.
'Sam must have had a really bad day.' Dean thinks before going back in. He knee's Sam in the gut, hard. He can hear Jess yell at them to stop. After all this time, she still doesn't understand how this is therapeutic for Winchesters. This is how they get things off their chest. Teasing is how they say they love each other.
After thirty minutes of stalemate, they both lay down on the grass, panting and out of breath. Dean and Sam can both tell Jess is pissed, but Dean doesn't care, and Sam will make it up to her in a couple minutes when he has his breathe back. Dean's mind goes down a dirty path, but he stops that because that's his brother and gross.