Poised Dean stood looking down the barrel of the gun in his hands. Positioned he stood aiming expertly at the chest of the human shaped paper target. He held the gun at the ready. A single breath in, held until the moment of fire. The click of the much anticipated trigger it matched by the coursing vibrations from the phone at his hip. The bullet rips into the target just to the right of the bodies shoulder.
"Damn it," He muttered to himself under his breath. He hoped with every bit of his being that it was Cas. It was unusual for him to be distracted so easily with something as small as a text, but he had been waiting for days for Cas to text him. He was worried sick. Dean ignored the disappointed look on his fathers face as he set down the gun, fishing the phone from his pocket he saw it wasn't Cas. It was Ash. An invite to a party at Ashes house tonight. His parents never seemed to be home, so Ash had parties on a pretty regular basis, monthly at very least.
Even though the text itself wasn't from Cas his first thought was using it as an excuse to get Cas out of the house. Really he hadn't been very well off at all, recently it seemed worse though. He had skipped school twice this last week, which was so unlike him. Both Thursday and Friday Dean had spent entire class periods trying to get a hold of him, if only just to know he was okay. Cas was more the type of person who would come to school barfing his guts out just so she wouldn't miss anything. Actually if Dean hadn't skipped to care for him he would have don't just that once or twice.
Forwarding the message quickly to Cas, Dean picked up the gun shot the rest of the shots spot on and walked right out. Tired of waiting for only negative feedback from his dad. Really what he wanted to do was drive to Cas's. Even if he wouldn't admit it, Dean was worried sick. Worried maybe Cas wasn't sick, and missing Thursday and Friday was more than just a cold or the flu. Cas had answered all Dean's texts but all he could get out of him was that he was sick.
Dean was so done with his dad. The look on his face looked as if he had missed every shot. It was bad enough his best friend was breaking down, he didn't want to deal with his dad being an asshole as well. If he wasn't 20 miles from home he probably would have taken the car and left. Even through the anger the image of his dads face was plastered in his mind. He couldn't stand disappointing him. All Dean wanted was to not care, to be able to forget the cruel disappointment written all over his fathers face.
He carefully slid into the comforting leather seats of the impala, reaching across the center council to turn the keys in the ignition. The car roared to life, then fluttered into more of a gentle purr as John slid into the drivers seat of the car. Pulling out of the lot Dean can still see his fathers disappointment in his eyes as neither of them makes any effort to start a conversation. It doesn't help when Dean takes out his phone again holding it against his thigh, and checking it every few seconds to see if Cas had texted him back. He never did. It was all he could think of. The entire drive home his eyes rarely moved from the screen, just looking up to catch glimpses of the signs standing at the edge of the tar. He had been down it so many times, each sign he saw could tell him how far they were from home.
The silence that hung in the air was thick and uncomfortable. Unlike his dad he never drove without the radio on, at least then the music could take the place of the unsaid words. He wanted to say something, anything, but he wasn't sure how to begin. There were so many ways he could fill the silence but all were subjects he dreaded. So many starts to sentences floated through his head, trying to construct themselves.
He was failing Math, Science, and English. He didn't finish his paper last weekend because he was so hung over and was working through the fading haze of his unbelievable high. The only things he was known for at school were sleeping around and partying. But any of those thing would have been easier than the last. He was bisexual and firmly in the closet about it. He had known for a while and was becoming comfortable with it until the school had got wind that Cas had slept with a guy. The rumors and the talk had slammed and locked the door to any hope of being open with it. Although telling his dad was really what he dreaded most. He would take a lifetime of rumors and obvious chatter over his dads disappointment, no matter how much he hated to admit it. He was terrified of any more disappointment.
They got back to the house and still there was no reply from Cas. There was no way everything was fine. He always replied to Dean's party invites, and usually with a sarcastic reason not to go. Dean could feel the twist in his stomach as he checked the silent screen of his phone for the 600th time. He was unsure of what Sam had said to him. All he could focus on was the ringing of the phone as it tried to reach Cas. The voice on the other end of the phone was familiar but some what distant. It was everything Dean had hoped he wouldn't hear.
"Cas?" He said almost hoping the voice didn't belong to his friend.
"Dean," It didn't matter how hard he tried to hide it, Dean knew what someone in pain sounded like. It was something you picked up on after years of hunting.
"There's a party at Ash's tonight, I was gonna see if you wanted to go," He had given up asking how he was after the thousandth answer of 'I'm fine.'
"Dean, I have to call you back," The line went dead and Dean made up his mind. He didn't care anymore that Cas wanted his space. The voice he had heard over the phone had sounded almost begging for help. Dean was going to go over to Cas's and check on him if he like it or not.
Dean had never actually been in Castiel's house. And hanging out had been at Dean's since the day he was old enough to have anyone over without his dad or Bobby home. He knew the route to Cas's on foot bike or by car like the back of his hand. He had heard of Cas's family but had never met them. Just that to anyone else would be weird but Dean understood. He had his fair share of family problems so he got it that Cas had never had him over, or invited him inside. He hated his brothers Michael and Lucifer, his dad was an alcoholic, his mom was dead, and it seemed to be him and his brother Gabriel against the rest. Never had Dean pushed for more so that's really all he knew.
Pulling up to into the driveway he heard shouting from inside. Someone was very obviously mad about something. Dean approached the door carefully, ringing the doorbell and quietly waiting outside. Trying to drown out the fighting with a quiet hum, until the door swung open. After narrowly escaping a face full of the white wood he recognized Gabriel a from a picture Cas had. The yelling was louder when the door opened and the receiving end of the fight cried out briefly, deepening the worried look on Gabriel's face.
"Your Dean right?" Gabriel said more as a fact than a question, glancing worriedly between him and the wooden staircase to his right, the same place the yelling was coming from. Although it was louder with the door open Dean still couldn't make out what was being said. It seemed to be some kind of one sided fight.
"Yeah, can I talk to Cas?" Dean asked trying to scan the doorway for a good way to sneak past Cas's older brother. Gabriel seemed to pick up on his intentions and he stepped outside favoring his right foot and closing the door behind him.
"Dean you need to go," Gabriel sounded serous but he couldn't meet Dean's gaze. he looked down at the hard white concrete of there front steps. He heard a cry for help from somewhere he guessed was upstairs and the thought that it could be Cas sent a spike of ice through his blood. He tried to gauge if he could push past Gabriel to get upstairs or not. But even if he could get past him whoever was upstairs would be no walk in the park either. Every thought in his mind was how to get in. Gabriel was saying something unheard, as if it just floated away in the wind. Maybe he could get in a window. Maybe there was a back door. Maybe by some chance he could get past Gabe and whoever was upstairs. Then like the flip of a switch it stopped and a door slammed.
"Just go home," A door was shut in his face but he didn't move. For a moment he just stood looking caught between knocking again and leaving. Maybe by some chance it wasn't Cas that he had heard. Maybe they were just having an argument. Cas would tell him if something was going on right? He should leave. He should leave right now. He could text Cas later, or come back just before the party. That was definitely what he should do right? There was nothing more he could do. He tried so hard to convince himself that there wasn't anything he could do as he walked to the car. If he went inside Cas's brothers would just kick him out again. He could never take on all three at once. But as he started the car and started out of the driveway there was a terrified pull in his stomach telling him that this was the wrong decision, and no matter how much he hated to admit it he knew the feeling was probably right.