A/N: eeeee i think this chapter kinda sucks sorry but maybe you'll think it's good! it's kinda long though so anyway yeah here it is idk hopefully the next chapter will be like dramatic and stuff but idk

At home, Dean didn't know what to do with himself. He didn't want to play video games with Sam, he didn't want to work on cars with Bobby, he definitely didn't want to do his homework. He remembered Castiel mentioning at lunch that he lived in a big blue house just down the street from the Winchesters. Dean took his keys and headed for the door. "I'm going out!" he called, and he was gone.

As he was making his way to Castiel's house, he felt nervous, and he didn't know why. Dean Winchester didn't get nervous. But something about this new kid just made Dean feel different.

When he knocked on the door of Cas's house, a scrawny kid about Sam's age opened the door. "Are you Gabriel?" Dean asked, and the boy nodded. "Well I'm Dean. Is Castiel home?"

Gabriel nodded again and yelled out for Castiel. When Cas came to the door he was surprised. "Dean? What are you doing here?" Dean grinned.

"Do you want to hang out? I mean, if you're not busy or anything." Dean held up a six pack. "I didn't know if you would have any beer so I brought some. Anyway I figured you're new so I could show you around or something...if you want." Dean felt stupid but he tried to act confident.

Suddenly an older boy showed up at the door. Castiel turned to him and said, "Michael, this is Dean. He's from my school. I'm going to hang out with him. I'll be back later." Cas stepped outside and closed the door, not waiting to even see Michael's reaction.

Dean and Cas got into the Impala. "Want a beer?" Dean offered.

"I...okay." Cas took one and opened it, sipping it slowly.

"So, your brother...does he just let you do whatever you want or what?"

Castiel turned to look at Dean. "No, Michael is somewhat strict. But I do what I want anyway. I don't like to do what he tells me." Dean nodded, but he couldn't imagine being like that, at least when his dad was still around. Dean wasn't one to disobey orders from family.

"How do you like Lawrence?" Dean asked. Castiel shrugged.

"It's not my first choice of places to live."

Dean and Cas continued talking as they drove around the town, though Dean did most of the talking. Castiel was more interesting than you would've guessed.

In the middle of a conversation, Dean's cell phone rang. "Damn it, sorry. Hold on," he said to Cas.

"What, Bobby?"

On the other end of the call, Bobby said, "Were you planning to stay out all night, or did it ever cross your mind to come home, ya idjit?" Dean looked at the clock in the Impala. It was nearly one a.m.

"Shit. Sorry, Bobby. I'm on my way home." Dean hung up the phone and turned to Cas. "I gotta take you home, I guess." Castiel nodded.

They pulled up to Castiel's house to see Michael sitting, asleep, on the front porch. "I think maybe he wasn't too pleased about my absence." Castiel sighed. "I had a good time with you, Dean. We should hang out again."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, that'd be great. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."

When Dean walked inside his house, Bobby glared at him but didn't say anything. Dean shrugged apologetically and went into his room.

Castiel was...cool. Dean was intrigued by Cas's gravelly, monotone voice and his lack of understanding of most of Dean's jokes and references.

The next day at school, Cas was wearing the same suit and trenchcoat getup, and the same assholes were messing with him before homeroom. Dean walked over and surveyed what was going on. He recognized a kid named Alastair as one of the head guys. "Hey, what the fuck, Alastair?" As soon as they heard Dean, the guys backed off. Dean looked over at Cas. He was staring at the ground.

Alastair and his friends were gone and Dean stepped closer to Castiel. He looked a little shaken up. "Hey...do you want to skip homeroom?" Dean asked. Cas hesitated, and then nodded. "Okay, come on, let's go."

Dean led Cas to the back of the school, where they slipped out the door and walked out. Sitting in the Impala, Dean looked at Cas, who was staring out the window. "Do you want to go somewhere?"

"Sure," Castiel said, still looking out the window across the school parking lot. Dean drove Cas to a small diner near the edge of town. A bell rang when they opened the door and stepped inside.

"Dean, how ya doing?" Dean smiled at the black-haired woman behind the counter.

"Doing just fine, Pamela. How about yourself?"

"Oh, you know. The usual. The world's out to get me."

Dean laughed. "Pamela, always so melodramatic."

"Who's your friend?"

Dean turned around and dragged a timid Castiel away from the door. "This is Castiel. He's new."

Pamela nodded. "Nice to meet you, Castiel. Well, take a seat. Coffee?" She held up a pot of fresh coffee.

"Sure." Dean and Cas sat across from each other at a table in front of a window. The two sat in silence for a minute before Dean looked up into Castiel's eyes. "Why do you wear that suit?"

Castiel looked down at his clothes, then back at Dean. "I don't know. I just do. Do you not like it?"

"No, it's fine," Dean said. "It's cute."

Cute? Did he just say cute? Why did he say that? What was he thinking? Castiel just nodded, like there was nothing weird about Dean's choice of words, so Dean tried to not let on that he had something he didn't mean to say.

"Uhh, so, what do you think of school?" Dean asked, immediately wishing that he hadn't. He sensed that Castiel was having sort of a hard time.

"It's very...different. In Chicago I attended a smaller, more selective school... I'm not used to dealing with so many people."

Dean nodded. "That's okay. You'll get used to it. There's a lot of assholes but there's some good people there, too."

Pamela brought two mugs of coffee and set them on the table.

"Do you often skip class, Dean?"

Dean laughed. "Yeah, I do. Some days I just don't have the patience to put up with school and all that bullshit, you know?" Dean took a drink of coffee. "Do you want to go back to my house?"

Castiel cocked his head to the side. "Won't your father get mad that you're not at school?"

Dean shrugged and stood up. "Nah, my dad's not there, but Bobby is, and he won't care."

Castiel stood up and Dean dropped a five on the table. "Thanks, Pamela," he called out, and walked out to the Impala with Castiel. Dean felt nervous about bringing Cas to his house, but he tried to just shake it off.