"Heyyoo Cassie!" Came an exuberant voice from outside the room.
Dean was fidgeting nervously as a boy who he instantly recognized to be Gabriel, came bounding around the corner with a giant goofy looking smile on his face. The boy had longish sandy blonde hair that was slicked backwards and tucked behind his ears like always. He was wearing a pair of very tight looking jeans and a blink 182 tank top that nicely showed off his muscles and little glimpses of the tattoos that he had hidden underneath.
"Cassie you missed it last night!" Gabriel was saying his hair glinting slightly in the poor classroom lighting. "You shouldn't have cut out on us so early last night baby bro! You should have seen the chicks we scored last night!"
Another boy, Dean assumed it could only be Balthazar, came into the room with an equally as broad smile as Gabriel's. Dean had never really seen Balthazar up close before. Yeah they had passed each other in the halls before, and he thought that maybe they might even be in a class or two together, but Balthazar was so new to the band that most people didn't easily recognize him. Not to mention that he was a transfer student from another school.
Balthazar was a slight man with hair that was shorter and lighter than Gabriel's. His hair was style in a choppy cut, leaving it to spike up ever so slightly in the front. Balthazar's shirt was dark gravy with an unusually low V-neck for a guy, with a black leather jacket over top. Around his neck Dean could see the silver chain of some necklace that was hidden underneath the shirt. Because of his jacket you couldn't tell if Balthazar had any tattoos but he did have a silver stud earing in both ears.
Both boys seemed to be in high spirts and very happy to share their good moods with everyone else in the room.
"Cas ol' mate, blimey they were so bendy and damn you should have seen the size of their-" Balthazar was saying. Dean was just a little shocked when he heard the accent. He had fully expected Balthazar to have an American accent, not a British one. Almost as quickly as Balthazar started his sentence, he broke off and his smile faltered a little as his eyes landed on Dean, "Well, what do we have here? A guest perhaps?"
Both Balthazar and Gabriel looked towards Cas with unasked questions in their eyes as they tried to figure out who Dean was.
"You didn't tell us to expect visitors Cassie!" Gabriel said with a cheery smile. Unlike Balthazar, Gabriel made it seem as if nothing could dampen the mood that he was in now. Maybe those chicks from last night really had been that great, or maybe that was just Gabriel's normal attitude. Time would only tell Dean guessed.
Right now, all he had to do was impress the others so they would let him stay.
"I actually did tell you. Twice."Cas said with an amused smirk on his face. "Guys this is Dean, Dean Winchester. He's the new guy I was saying we should bring into the band."
"Ah, right! Now I remember! This is the newbie you were talking about." Gabriel said smirking back at his brother. Dean's heart fluttered slightly at the idea that Cas had already been talking about him. He hoped it was all good things they heard about him.
Dean was always just a little uncertain and paranoid that people wouldn't like him when they met him. Kinda an irrational fear he guessed, but when you usually have bullies on your ass 24/7 and almost no friends to speak of, you just begin to assume that nobody likes you.
"Hey, wait… I know you!" Balthazar said in a sudden realization as a smile formed on his face.
Dean's eyes widened and his racing heart seemed to freeze for a short span of time. If someone in the band already knew who he was, then his hopes of joining the Fallen Angels had just been dashed against the spikey rocks of an ocean shoreline. No one would want a nerdy guy in their band. Especially if that nerdy guy was him…
"Wait, you already know him?" Cas asked excitedly as he smiled broadly back at Balthazar. Apparently Cas assumed that it was a good that one his bandmates already knew him. Clearly Cas didn't know Dean quite as well as he thought he did.
'Well Duh!' Dean thought to himself 'You're the one who knows Cas well, Cas only met you yesterday dumbass! Why should he know who you are?'
Dean tightened his lips slightly, realizing his error. He had known Cas for years, but never spoken to him so it was clear that Cas wouldn't know him better than a stick on the ground.
"Yeah, you're that nerdy guy in my Auto Tech class with the nice car." Balthazar said excitedly pulling Dean's attention back up to him.
"You're in auto tech?" Dean asked in shock. To be completely honest Dean had never noticed Balthazar before. 'Probably because you're too busy thinking about Cas or your baby!' He scolded himself.
"Yeah, I know, someone the likes of me in an auto tech class, though I suppose it's understandable why you never noticed me what with your arse always buried balls deep in that car of yours."
'Oh shit. That was truly a terrible wording choice.' Dean thought as he felt himself blush in embarrassment, he had honestly hopped that no one had really taken notice of him, but apparently he was wrong. 'I was so fucking wrong. Maybe that's why no one likes me… I'm just a self-absorbed, antisocial dweeb…'
"Your words are always just so flattering aren't they Balthazar." Cas said with flatly. Dean couldn't help but notice a slight pink tint on Castiel's cheeks. Maybe it was just the lighting but damn he looked so hot and kissable right now. He almost lost his cool as he watched Castiel's pink tongue dart out of his mouth and wet his lips quickly. Suddenly, before Dean had time to look away Castiel turned his head and looked towards Dean.
For a moment it seemed as if time itself had stop and they were left frozen, suspended in the moment.
Fortunately, before Dean had a chance to do something stupid and unmistakably regrettable Gabriel broke the moment between them by saying, "So Deano, I can call you Deano?"
He tried to shake off the strange moment to answer Gabriel, but before he could answer Gabriel just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Eh, well it don't matter anyways cause, that's what I'm gonna call you."
Dean pursed his lips slightly before opening his mouth and closing it again wordlessly. Slowly he gave Cas a sideways glance and found that the boy was trying his hardest not to laugh. He too seemed to have shaken off the awkward moment they had share. 'Maybe he didn't even notice the moment. Maybe it was only you. Did you ever think of that?' He scolded himself quickly.
'I bet now he's probably just gonna laugh at me…' Dean thought sadly, 'He's probably realizing what a loser I am and how big of a mistake he made by inviting me into his band.'
Dean closed his eyes for a second and shook his head slightly trying his hardest to focus on Gabriel's words once again.
"Tell me nerd boy, why should we have you apart of our fabulous band. Or should I say, show us your talent my geeky little friend. I dare say that you have a good bit of talent if Cassie there invited you." Gabriel said, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a sucker from the depths of his pants pockets. He quickly opened up the candy and popped the cherry flavored treat into his mouth.
"I-uh..." Dean stammered nervously, uncertain of what the hell he was supposed to say as he watched the little sucker stick wiggle around in Gabriel's mouth.
Cas shook his head, no doubt laughing at the dumbstruck look on his face as he walked closer to Dean and said, "Jesus Dean please forgive me. My brother can uh... Come off a little bit strong when you first meet him... I swear he runs off of only candy and moon beams as you can clearly see reflected in his personality."
"Moon beams? What the fuck Cassie, where'd you come up with that one?" Gabriel snorted, grinning wickedly and sucking on the sucker harder.
"I dunno, it just seemed to fit." Cas said with a little shrug of his shoulders.
Gabriel continued to snicker, rolling his eye at Cas before saying, "I was just getting awkward introductions out of the way."
"Yet you still never gave him your name!" Cas exclaimed with raised eyebrows.
Gabriel batted his hand in dismissal saying, "Pshh... He probably knows who I am! I mean you did say you met him at our concert right? So I'm sure he's at least heard of me and you already!"
Castiel suddenly squinted at his brother in sudden realization. He opened his mouth slowly as he tried to search for something to say. However, he quickly closed him mouth again clearly at a complete loss for words now.
"You know who I am right?" Gabriel asked, directing his attention to Dean once again.
Dean nodded a quickly before adding, "Yeah, I know who you are."
"See! Problem solved. Introductions out of the way! You're the only one here making things awkward Cassie!"
"Shut up Gabriel!" Cas grumbled, his joking sarcastic tone of voice prominent as he spoke.
"So uh...fuck all this talk of names and I've already forgotten yours!" Gabriel exclaimed looking back over at Dean as Cas sat down on the side of the small wooden stage again. "I know I gave you a nickname, but who are you again?"
Dean chuckled, sitting down next to Cas. He was about to repeat his name to Gabriel when a sudden dorky idea struck him. "You can just call me the doctor." Dean told them with a cheesy grin on his face.
Gabriel's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he said, "Wait, what? Doctor? Doctor Who?"
Cas immediately began to laugh followed by Dean's laughter too. Dean hadn't expected Gabriel to ask that he had just taken a shot in the dark and nailed.
"Nothing more, just the doctor!" Dean gasped through his laughter. It was clear that Gabriel was clueless, but what made it even better was that Cas understood the reference.
Cas was just getting better and better every second.
"Ah, never mind Gabriel, just one of my 'nerdy moments' I guess." Dean said as he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes.
"Well you better keep those moments coming doctor cause we need some nerdyness in this band of ours so Cas can stop rambling on to me and Balthazar every time one of his fandom's does a canon or whatever it is that makes him lose his mind." Gabriel said smirking at Cas now.
Dean having just recovered from his laughing fit; quickly fell into laughter again at Gabriel's strange choice of words. As he laughed, Dean couldn't help but notice how Castiel's cheeks flushed red again, but he brushed it off to mean that he was embarrassed about being calling a nerd.
Cas soon seemed to push aside the embarrassment as he too began laughing again, his mood apparently being influenced heavily by Dean's.
"What did I say this time?" Gabriel asked while Dean clutched his stomach from laughing so hard.
"Holy fuck!" Tears were now streaming freely down Dean's face as he gasped, "Does a-a cannon."
Castiel's and Dean's laughter was soon filled by the smirking faces of Balthazar and Gabriel as the room with a wonderful light and airy mood.
Dean could totally get used to this! 'These guys are amazing!' He thought to himself.
Once Dean and Cas had finally both calmed down again it took the two of them at least five more minutes to explain what canons and ships were.
"And that's why us fandom geeks flip out when something becomes cannon, and it's not 'does a cannon' in case you were wondering." Cas said as he leaned up against Dean just a little bit.
Dean's heart, which was already racing from excitement, fluttered even faster now as Castiel brushed up against him. What made it even better was that Cas wasn't even pulling away. If anything he was leaning more into Dean's arm the longer they stayed like this.
"Well Deano!" Gabriel paused before exclaiming, "Hey! I remembered you're name! I can still call you doctor if you want though..."
"Either name works, though the doctor does have a nice ring to it... just saying" Dean murmured, looking up at the ceiling what he assumed probably looked like a dazed sort of look on his face. Unintentionally he imagined himself In the TARDIS, Cas his companion by his side-
"Okay dreamer boy, come back down to earth." Gabriel said as he snapped his fingers a few times in front of Dean's face.
Dean blinked one, twice, a third time and laughed to himself, flushing just a little bit for letting himself zone our like that. He would save that kind of nerdyness for when he finished early in class or late at night when he couldn't sleep and needed an adventure to run off into.
"Uh, sorry. Sorta blanked for a second there." Dean said apologetically as he flushed deeper red and looked down at the floor again.
"I noticed. Cas does that little blanking out thing too. It's like… you're here, but your mind is a million miles away, off on some secret world adventure." Gabriel said laughing cheerily. "So don't worry about it! We have plenty experience with that kinda thing."
"I think he goes into his own world at least ah… four or five times a day." Balthazar said with a teasing wink at Cas.
"God guys nothing like giving away all my secrets to scare off our new recruit!" Cas said with a light glare at Gabriel and Balthazar.
The others just smirked and pulled the chairs they had sat in closer into the circle, tightening the little group they had all formed. "Just watching out for ya Cassie!" Gabriel said in a mocking voice.
"So, what do you think?" Balthazar said as he looked over at Gabriel.
Dean's eyes were instantly weary, unsure what was going to come out of Gabriel's mouth. He knew what was being asked. This was the moment of truth, the space of time that could very well change his entire life.
Gabriel pondered the question for a moment, a look of deep consideration on his face. After what felt like years Gabriel made Dean jump by suddenly thrusting his hand towards Dean and saying, "Welcome to the Fallen Angel's Deano! I hope we don't end up scaring you too badly."
When Dean managed to unfreeze himself from the trance he had been thrown into he reached out and excitedly shook Gabriel hand. Then he moved to shake Balthazar's too as he extended his and said, "Welcome to the band mate! Thanks for becoming the newest newbie. Now they can't call me that anymore!"
"Oi! Don't thank that gets you off the hook newbie!" Gabriel said, punching Balthazar lightly in the arm before adding, "This boy here was clearly the doctor remember? And in our band doctors can't actually be newbies! Plus you're still new to this school."
"I'm actually the 10th doctor! David Tennant with all of his sexy hair." Dean chimed in, hoping to God he want overstepping his boundaries.
Castiel immediately turned to Dean and gave him a high five as he said, "Fuck yeah! Tennant all the way!"
Then Gabriel Balthazar again and said, "See! He's number 10 so he can't be new! Wait what happened to the other ten doctors behind you?"
Dean laughed while Cas answered for him by saying, "Gabe it's a long nerdy story that you probably don't wanna hear so let's just go with the fact that the others died and regenerated."
"Okaayy then!" Gabriel said with an amused smirk on his face. "Let's just go with that then, but you're still the newbie Balthazar."
"Well, fuck you all then." Balthazar said as he flipped them off.
"See I told you he would fit in great!" Cas said beaming.
"Oh clearly!" Balthazar said, carefully eyeing the nonexistent space between their shoulders. "You two already seem to be all buddy, buddy. You needed someone in the band who was more like you!"
At the mention of their close proximity they both immediately moved apart, Cas clearing his throat awkwardly as they went.
Dean couldn't help but notice the growing smirk on Gabriel's face and the way his eyes seemed to flash with some unreadable emotion.
"Right, anyways so, will you be able to come to practice with us tonight?" Gabriel asked slowly tossing his now empty sucker stick aside and pulling another one from the depths of his pockets along with a small chocolate bar.
"Yeah..." Dean said airily squinted at Gabriel's pockets in wonderer. They seemed much too small to hold that much candy. "How do you-"
Cas leaned closer to Dean, interrupting him before he even finished his questions by saying, "Their bigger on the inside."
Dean immediately shut his mouth and tried his hardest not to fall into another fit of uncontrollable laughter. Now was so not the moment to be laughing his ass off.
"So uh, right! Tonight!" Dean said, trying hard not to laugh while Cas fell apart beside him.
"Yes! I can come, Cas already invited me, I'm gonna give him a ride there, but I gotta drop my brother off at home first."
"Ah pshh your brother can come too!" Gabriel said casually smiling and flicking his wrist lazily in dismissal.
"I'm not sure he'd wanna come..." Dean said uncertainly. "I mean, yeah he likes rock music, but I don't think he'd wanna get his homework done while listening to us practice."
"Well, at least inquire about it." Gabriel said with a small welcoming smile on his face. Dean was a little bit surprised by the warmth he saw in Balthazar's eyes. Dean's first impression of Balthazar was that he was a little cold, sarcastic and stuck up, but that was only half of his personality. He could see that once Balthazar warmed up to a person his whole attitude shifted and he became just a little bit softer.
Suddenly, Gabriel began to stand up both Cas and Dean threw him a look of confusion.
"Where are you going?" Cas asked as he watched his brother.
"Well I imagine that the bells about to ring, if you ever cared to pay attention Castiel." Balthazar said with a smirk, "Unless bells have suddenly ceased to exist in that imaginary world of yours."
Cas simply rolled his eyes as Dean looked down and checked his watch. Sure enough there was less than a minute till the bell was supposed to ring.
Even as he started to look up they all heard the shrill Twang Twang Twang of the bell as it signaled for classes to be dismissed.
"Fuck." Dean swore in disappointment. It was clear that none of them wanted to leave.
Dean personally wished that they could stay here all day. As he stood up, Dean suddenly realized that he now truly understood the meaning of 'Time flies when you're having fun'. Yeah he loved hanging out with Sammy and he always had a lot of fun with his brother, but this felt different.
There was a different type of atmosphere that hung around this small group of people. They were all comfortable with each other and they all seemed like they belong there. It was like they found home and shelter together. This almost felt kinda like a second family to Dean. This was a family where everyone actually got along with one another. Yeah, they teased each other, but they didn't seem like the people who would purposely set out to harm or put each other down. It was a nice change to have fun and actually act like his age for once. Dean only hoped that it would be like this way more often. He could totally get used to this.
Cas sighed in and looked up at him slowly with a slightly saddened look as he said "It feels like we just got here!"
"I know right!" Dean agreed pursing his lips sadly as Cas groaned and stood up beside him.
"Oh well, we'll just regroup at lunch or whatever." Gabriel said as he stood up and clapped Balthazar on the shoulder.
"Sounds like a plan." Balthazar said as Dean stood up and moved to go retrieve his backpack from where he had discarded it earlier.
When he turned back around he found that both Cas and Gabriel were close behind him while Balthazar was still sitting backwards in the same chair.
Dean looked at him confused and asked, "Aren't you coming with us?"
Balthazar just shook his head slowly and said, "Nope. My next class is band, but good luck out there trying to navigate the halls and all. Try not to get completely trampled by the ass monkeys who dwell outside this room."
"Gee thanks for the fair well and good wishes Balthazar." Cas said wait a sarcastic smile.
"What? Would you have liked me to send you off with flowers and loving kisses? Isn't part of the reason you keep me around because of my blunt honestly? Or is it just because of my obvious charm and good looks?"
Gabriel snorted and said "What good looks? You're lucky Cassie doesn't make you wear a paper bag over your head on stage."
"Well fuck you too then you candy consuming oaf." Balthazar said in a mocking voice.
"Ah, shut up, I'm just teasing you." Gabriel said with a smirk as he walked towards the door while Dean and Cas both followed.
Dean couldn't help but smile to himself just a little bit when Cas quickly fell into step beside him. 'Don't get too worked up Dean. Just because he's walking next to you doesn't mean a damn thing.'
"Well duhh I thought you were being serious!" Balthazar said, rolling his eyes dramatically.
Gabriel then snorted cheerily and finally walked out the door holding up both of his middle fingers up over his head so Balthazar could see them.
Dean and Cas quickly followed Gabriel out of the classroom as Balthazar shouted after them, "Fuck you too mate!"
Dean simply smile to himself and marveled at the amazing bond that the three boys shared with each other. 'How the hell did I end up here?' Dean couldn't help asking himself. 'What did I ever do to end up hanging out with this bad ass group of people?'
"So Deano, what classes do you lot have next?" Gabriel asked as he slowed his step and fell into place on the other side of Castiel.
"Uh..." He paused for a moment trying to remember where he was supposed to go next. "I've got Physics with Jody Mills."
"That's cool!" Gabriel with a broad grin. "I heard her classes are great! Cool teacher, pretty hot, but I'm too stupid to take anything she teaches. Although, I would love an excuse to stare at that sweet ass of hers sometime!"
Dean chuckled, not commenting on Gabriel statement since he hadn't ever paid attention to if Jody was hot or not. Honestly he didn't ever want to think of her in that way.
"Don't you think she's just a little too old for you Gabe?" Cas asked with a slightly skeptical look at his brother.
"Well I didn't say I wanted to bang her did I?" Gabriel retorted.
"But if you had the chance would you?" Cas shot back.
When Gabriel fell silent Cas began to laugh, "Well there you have it."
"Shut up!" Gabriel snapped with a disapproving look at his brother, "It doesn't matter anyways! I'd never end up in one of her classes!"
Dean shrugged slightly and said, "Her classes aren't too hard."
As the halls filled up around them, Dean carefully watched everyone they passed. He usually tried to avoid this hallway at all cost, especially around third block. There were a lot less teachers down here and a lot more places to get your ass handed to you. Not to mention that Raphael took band this hour. Dean could only hope that the band kids took a little bit longer to get to class than normal. Then maybe he wouldn't have to see Raphael.
'Jesus fuck Winchester, you even get picked on by the band geeks!' Dean thought bitterly to himself. He hadn't quite thought about that until just now. 'Can you be any more of a fucking worthless loser than that? What would the others think, if they knew that about you?'
"Yeah 'it's not too bad' say the nerd!" Gabriel scoffed. "I'm taking environmental science for a reason! Not really an easy 'A' but the teacher isn't too hard to sway when flashed a twenty dollar bill every now and then."
Dean rolled his eyes and snorted, he should have guessed that someone like Gabriel would have found a way to work the system to where he could get his grade to hover just on the brink of passing so he could graduate at the end of the year.
"Lemme guess, you're in the AP Physics class right Dean-o?" Gabriel asked, looking over at him for confirmation.
Cas answered for him quickly by saying, "He's in the same AP Physics class that I am."
"Oh is he now!" Gabriel said with obvious interest now.
"Yep!" Dean said cheerily as the moved through the seas of people.
Dean was glad that most of the people who passed them simply ignore him and moved on without a word. Instead, their eyes were all following Gabriel and Castiel as they walked down the halls.
It was totally understandable. They were super-hot, rising superstars.
Dean was usually one of the people staring at them as he walked past them, though he generally wasn't quite as direct with the staring as these other people were being. As long as no one paid any attention to him, Dean didn't care.
Dean couldn't help but notice how Cas and Gabriel completely ignored the attention. How could they not notice it? It was so painfully obvious. Had they just become immune to it over the years?
As they continued on down the hall, Dean realized how happy he was that he had decided to walk closest to the wall. Now he wouldn't have to feel like he was imposing himself on the other two. If they didn't want to be seen with him they could simply speed up and act like they had never been talking to him.
"What's your grade in that class?" Cas asked curiously. Dean could feel the boy turning his head to look at him as he spoke. Dean couldn't help but feel his cheeks turning a deep shade of red. He was sure that Cas could see it too.
All of a sudden, Cas quickly backtracked, realizing that his question might be intrusive so he said, "Well I mean, I'm not trying to pry. If you don't wanna tell me your grade it's totally-"
Dean looked over at Cas with a concerned look on his face as he quickly said, "Oh! No! I don't mind! I mean, you don't have to be worried about asking me that!"
'Good job Dean he took the blushing to mean that you're embarrassed about your grades great. Now he probably thinks your grades suck!'
"Uh… Last time I checked my grade in that class was like a 97." Dean said slowly as he thought about it for a second.
When he finished talking Dean noticed that Cas stayed completely silent. He was too nervous to look at the boy but he knew he was still there because he could still feel Cas walking beside him, (just a little closer than a normal person Dean quickly noted) , but as the halls filled up even more their close proximity wasn't unusual enough to be questioned by anyone.
When Cas still said nothing Dean finally risked looking up at Cas only to find a pair of piercing blue eyes gazing back at him wide with shock.
"What?" Dean asked in a small voice, quickly breaking eye contact and feeling his cheeks heat up once again.
"How the hell do you have a 97 in that class? I mean yeah Jody is a pretty chill ass teacher but still! Her grading standards are a bitch!"
Dean shrugged, trying to scramble for a response for Cas.
"Jesus you must be sleeping with the woman or something!" Cas joked making Dean's face flush an even deeper shade of red.
"I imagine he'd have to be a pretty good lay to sway Jody! If her grading scale is difficult try and imagine what her bed game standards are like!" Gabriel chimed in.
Dean couldn't help but look up shyly at Gabriel and Cas only to see the shit eating smirk on Gabriel's face and the pondering look on Castiel's.
He was still watching the two of them as Cas suddenly winked at Gabriel and said, "Hey! He might have mad sex skills! You never know!"
Dean's heart felt like it had just exploded. 'Holy fuck!' He thought to himself 'Not only is Cas casually discussing the topic of sex like it's a no big deal, but he's talking about me having sex with someone AND CAS WAS FUCKING THINKING ABOUT IF I'M GOOD IN BED.'
Dean was trying his best not to hyperventilate at the thought. He forced himself to think about anything but having sex with Cas in the hopes of avoiding one of those annoying ass surprise boners. He could not afford that happening right now.
However, he was so focused on his breathing that he completely missed what Castiel said next.
Only when Cas repeated what he said did Dean realize that Cas was talking to him. "What? Sorry! I didn't hear what you said, could you repeat that?" Dean asked with an apologetic look on his face.
Cas just chuckled and said, "It's all good Doctor Sex God! I just was asking if you could possibly give me like some after school help with Physics stuff."
Dean's eyes widened in shock as he stammered he tried his hardest to ignore the sex God comment and instead tried to focus on the real point of Castiel's question, "Y-you mean like... like… Tutoring?"
Cas nodded and smiled slightly as he replied, "Yeah! I mean if you're okay with that and all."
Dean's face absolutely lit up and he felt like he was on the borderlines of a legitimate full blown panic attack! This was too much to absorb all at once. He fought hard to hold back all the fan boyish feels that's were building up inside of him.
'Me tutoring Cas? Does this mean alone time with Cas? Holy shit I think it does!'
"Yeah! That… That- I would be cool with tutoring you!" Dean said as he rushed to find his words again.
"Awesome!" Cas said, beaming back over at Dean. "We can meet at my house if you want or yours if it's more convenient for you."
"I don't care either way!" Dean said cheerily. At this point he didn't care if they met in a dumpster. As long as he was with Cas everything was all good.
"Great! Maybe we can do tomorrow or something!"
"O-Okay!" Dean stammered. He couldn't believe that this was happening. "I don't usually have anything to do on Saturdays."
"Cool! So we can just chill afterwards then!" Cas exclaimed.
"Absolutely!" Dean felt like he was in heaven. He was going to hang out with Cas one on one tomorrow! This was a dream come true. The only thing that would make this better was if him and Cas actually ended up together.
Carefully, Dean quieted this idea before it developed. He didn't want to get his hopes up only to fall something that he knew would eventually end up in defeat and disappointment. Besides, they had only officially met less than 24 hours ago, and well… he was pretty sure that Cas was straight.
"Well, I hate to break up our little planning party here, but I'm going this way." Gabriel suddenly said, as he slowed down and pointed to the art hall right beside them.
"Alright, later Gabe!" Cas said, clapping his hand on his brothers shoulder.
"See ya at lunch Cassie, and I'm glad to have you in the band Deano." Gabriel said as he turned onto the hallway to their left.
Dean smiled at Gabriel and said, "Bye. See you later on!"
As soon as Gabriel had gone, both Cas and Dean quickly took started walking again before people could yell at them for stopping in the middle of the halls.
Neither boy said anything as they pushed open the doors that lead out of the band hallway and into a bigger hallway.
The silence between them wasn't natural, but it wasn't uncomfortable either. It seemed as if they had both run out of things to say while at the same time it didn't feel like any words needed to be spoken.
After another minute of this silence Dean's mind started to wander like normal. He hoped that he wasn't the only one who was okay with the silence between them. Maybe Cas wanted nothing more than to leave Dean standing here by himself. 'He probably doesn't want to be seen associating with me…' He thought to himself.
Carefully, Dean glanced up at Cas and said, "Uh… hey Cas…"
Cas looked over at Dean with a soft, happy sparkle in his deep blue eyes. "Yeah?"
Dean's face flushed red as Castiel's eyes met his. 'God he's so perfect.'
After a second, Dean quickly looked down at the floor in front of him so he wouldn't get nervous and forget what he was saying. "You know… You don't have to stick around with me if you don't want to." He must have said the words almost too soft for anyone to hear in the crowded hallways, because Cas had learned his head in towards him to hear what he was saying.
Dean glanced up at Cas as he finished talking and saw a look of shock and confusion on Castiel's face. "Why would I care if someone saw me with you?"
Dean shrugged and fumbled for an answer Cas. They had somehow made eye contact once again, but this time Castiel's stare was so intense that Dean couldn't bring himself to look away. It was like the boy was holding him in some sort of trance like state of mind. It kind of made Dean wonder if Cas could look deep into his soul and see everything that was hidden there.
"N-no reason… I was just saying…" Dean finally mumbled his cheeks turning an even darker shade of pink.
Cas pursed his lips into a tight line. It was clear that Cas could tell he wasn't being told the whole truth. 'Please don't push it. Please don't push it…' Dean begged in his mind 'Please just let the subject drop.'
Cas finally nodded his head slowly as he looked away from Dean carefully and looked down the hallway in front of him.
Dean let out a sigh of relief, especially when he saw that they weren't too far from their classroom now.
As the classroom got closer, Cas finally spoke up again and said, "You don't have to worry about that Dean. I like hanging out with you."
Dean's heart swelled at those words, but he could only half believe them. He had heard those words before and yet that person had still left. That person had still left him behind when he learned more about him and who he really was. Dean shook his head, he wouldn't think about that person right now. He had better things to think about. 'Just think about right here, right now Dean. You're with Cas. Calm down, okay?'
Dean felt like he needed to answer and sort of clarify his point with Cas without giving away the true meaning of his words so he said, "Well… I mean if you see some of your other friends or something, you don't have to hang around with me."
Cas shook his head and said, "That won't happen, besides, all my friends would probably like you! You're a pretty chill guy."
Dean couldn't help but laugh bitterly at that and mumbled, "Yeah, whatever you say."
This time, Dean knew that Cas was going to try and press him more on what he had just said. However, used an evasion method and quickly ducked into the classroom and rushed away from Cas so he could get over to his normal seat at the front of the classroom.
There were only a few kids already in class, but this was pretty normal. Dean was almost always one of the first to arrive since he was such an over achiever and well… there was no one that he really wanted to talk to in between classes, so he would just go straight to class. It was a great method for avoiding bullies too. They knew better than to try something in front of the teachers. Most of the other students in this class took their time and didn't get to class until the late bell was about to ring.
Quickly, trying his hardest not to look at Cas, Dean set down his backpack and started pulling out his books. He could feel Cas slowly start to move so Dean figured that he was heading to his own seat, which was basically in the very back of the room.
They didn't necessarily have assigned seats in this class, but the seating arrangements were pretty much all settled out. Well, except for the seat right beside Dean. People always fought on who would have to be the one to sit next to him. No one wanted that spot.
Since this was a science class, every table seated two people per desk, and they had just enough kids in the class to fill every seat. This meant that there was always someone sitting next to Dean, unless for some reason someone didn't come to class that day. It wasn't a secret to anyone that no one ever wanted to sit with Dean. People didn't care how smart he was, they still didn't want to sit with him. Over the years Dean had just associated that with something normal. Everyone just knew that there was just a mutual agreement that the last person in the room was simply stuck sitting next to him.
Dean pursed his lips sadly, as he realized what he had just done. 'You fucking dumbass, you just walked away from Castiel fucking Novak...' He thought to himself. 'He probably hates you now you know.'
As Dean fought against his thoughts he looked up at the teacher's desk for a brief second and saw Jody flash him one of her small smiles. Dean could easily say that she was one of his favorite teachers, well aside from his Auto Tech teacher Bobby Singer. She was really nice to him and always tried to comfort him, even though he always tried to act like everything was okay. She knew it was a lie so she would tell Dean on multiple occasions that she was there for him if he ever needed her.
Dean tried his best to smile back at her, but he knew it probably looked completely fake and unbelievable. Jody's, eyebrows seemed to scrunch up in confusion probably realizing that his smile was fake. He hoped that she wouldn't come and try to talk with him after class today. He just wasn't feeling it. Dean just wanted it to be Saturday already.
Suddenly, Dean's attention was torn from Jody as someone pulled out the chair right beside him. Dean's mind scrambled for a moment, knowing that the class was nowhere near full yet.
"Think you could get rid of me that easily doctor?" Asked a smug gravelly voice.
Dean turned his head and saw that Cas was setting down his backpack and running is fingers through his black and blue tipped hair.
"But- why… what are you doing?" Dean asked in confusion as he looked towards the back of the classroom to where Cas normal sat.
The spot next to Castiel was always fought over in the class. You could always find girls fighting over any chair that was in Castiel's general area. Hell, Dean had even seen one girl pay someone twenty bucks in order to sit next to Cas for one class. It was pretty ridiculous actually.
"I'm sitting." Cas said bluntly. "What do you think I was doing?" There was a little smirk of amusement playing on Castiel's lips as he finally sat down in the chair.
As he sat, Dean got a strong whiff of that amazing cologne that Cas always wore. He inhaled deeply, trying to treasure the scent before asking, "Yeah, but… why are you sitting here?"
"I dunno… Cause I wanted to sit here. I thought I was the doctor's companion. You can't get rid of me that easily." Cas said with a shrug as he leaned back in his chair, balancing it against the table behind him and putting his feet up onto the table. "Is there a rule about sitting next to you or something?"
"Companion?…" Dean stuttered with wide eyes as Castiel smirked at them.
"Get your feet off the table boy!" Suddenly came Jody's harsh demanding words as she broke into their little world. "You know better than that!"
Cas snorted with laughter and gave Dean a guilty look as he took his legs off the desk and put all four legs back on the ground. "My bad Mrs. Mills." Cas called back to her before quickly turning his attention back to Dean.
"Yeah, companion, as in the doctors partner! They don't always have to be chick companions you know." Cas told him with a wink. "Anyways, l like I was saying, is there some reason why I can't sit here?" Cas looked at Dean with a new intensity in his eyes.
Slowly, Dean shook his head and struggled to clear his thought as he said, "Well no… uh… there aren't any rules against it, but-"
"Then we're perfectly good then." Cas said, interrupting him.
"But it's just that if you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly the most popular guy to sit with." Dean said, trying to explain.
"Nah, they're just jealous of your obvious charm and are much too intimidated to come sit beside you." Cas said, grinning broadly at Dean as he blushed once again.
"I don't exactly think that's what it is, but thanks for trying." Dean said with a small smile at Castiel. "You honestly don't have to sit next to me it you don't want to."
Cas rolls his eyes and give Dean a serious look as he asks, "Why do you keep thinking that I wouldn't want to be around you?"
Dean shrugs and looks away.
"No, I'm serious! Stop avoiding this 'I'm not important' topic." Cas say, speaking up just a little louder, but not loud enough to draw attention to themselves.
When Dean still refused to say anything Cas asks in a softer voice, "Can't you please tell me Dean?"
Dean couldn't help but feel a strange tingling in his throat at the way Cas say his name. It was soft, light and caring, but demanding at the same time. Dean knew he would never get sick of hearing his name roll off of Castiel's tongue. Somehow, Cas made his name sound like the name of an angel. It was like he genuinely cared, and that was something Dean didn't hear often in peoples voices.
Slowly, Dean looked over at Cas, not meeting his eyes as he said, "I just don't want you to be hanging out with me because you feel like you have to okay?"
Dean then busied himself by opening his notebook and picking up his pencil to draw little doodles along the side of a page.
"Listen, I promise you that I want to hang out with you! Hell, we actually have a lot in common! You need to really believe that I want to get to know you better."
Dean nodded his head slowly, still drawing on his paper, still not exactly believing what Cas was telling him. People can lie. It was simple as that. Dean was scared that this was just all one giant cruel joke.
He risked a glance in Castiel's direction and saw that strange intense look in his eyes again. It seemed as if he wanted to say more, but just at that moment the late bell rang and broke the moment that was taking place between then.
Dean looked around in surprise; he hadn't even realized that the room had quickly been filing up around them as people took their seats.
Immediately, Dean could feel the eyes of almost the entire class watching him. He knew that they were all wondering why Cas was sitting with him. This wasn't something that wasn't supposed to happen in a million years. Dean had never believed there would be a day where he got to sit next to Cas. Things like this just didn't happen to him.
As the bell quickly quieted, Jody Mills got up and shut the classroom door just after the last person, Ruby, entered the classroom.
Ruby gave both Dean and Cas a strange look as walked past them to get to the last available seat in the room.
As she passed the desk she suddenly stopped and turned to look at Cas as she said, "Castiel, would you like to sit with me today so you don't have to sit next to that?" She shot Dean a look that clearly said that she thought he was the scum of the earth. Then, the bitch looked back at Cas with wink as she twirled her hair in what she clearly hoped would seduce him to move.
At Ruby's harsh look, Dean felt his face heat up in shame. She was one of the many people in the school who helped beat him up. Well, she got her goon squad to kick his ass for her so it was basically the same thing. So, what that ultimately meant for Dean was that he always did whatever he could to stay on her good side, not that any side of her was really good.
Dean was sure that Cas was about to have some awakening moment and realize that sitting with him wasn't cool and get up to move. However, Cas surprised him by saying, "Actually Ruby, I think I'm fine where I'm at. And if I ever fucking hear you refer to Dean 'that' again, I will personally see to it that you will never be at another Fallen Angel's concert again. Bitch." There was an obvious threat in Castiel's voice that made even Dean shiver with fear.
There were gasps of shock and confusion from everyone in the room. No one knew what the hell had gotten into Cas, this wasn't like him. He was never flat out mean to the other students. Dean's eyes were focused hard on the paper in front of him. He once again wanted to sink into the floor and disappear. 'Go away.' Dean silently begged of Ruby. 'Just go away already.'
"But- what did I…" Ruby stuttered, her air of mighty confidence had been stripped from her in an instant and left her fumbling for words.
Ruby seemed to be stuck to the floor as Cas glared at her and asked, "Are you still here? I believe class is starting."
As those words hung in the air, Ruby made irritated huffing sound and finally stomped off to take the last seat next to one of her goons Azazel.
Dean could feel Cas watching him as he now focus even harder on his paper. Dean knew he was going to pay for this little fiasco later on but Dean still couldn't help but feel grateful for Castiel's presence. Under the cover of the hushed whispers in the room Dean tilted his head slightly towards Castiel and whispered, "Thank you." To Cas.
No one ever stood up for him like that. Ever.
"Anytime." Cas answered back as Dean felt the boy nudge him in the leg gently with his knee.
When Ruby took her seat, Jody stood up and looked at the class with a stern look of silent fury and disapproval. Immediately everyone fell silent.
You could literally hear the contained anger in her voice as she said, "I am going to say this one time, and one time only. I will not be seeing another display like that again. Ever." Jody glared at Ruby, making the girl shift uncomfortably. "So, get a good look at where you are now, because as of today I am making these your permanent seats to prevent any further disputes."
Immediately the silence in the room was broken by immediate shouts and complaints from the other students as they protested Jody's binding words. It was very rare that she ever went back on her word and they all knew it.
"You can't do this!" One girl shouted.
"That's not fair!" Came another voice from someone in the back of the room.
"Complain all you want, this is how it's gonna have to be from now on. If you've got a problem with it, I've got plenty of referrals up and here and well… there's the door." Jody said as she crossed her arms stubbornly.
"This is bullshit!" One guy shouted.
"Yeah? Well so is the way you guys hurt each other and fight over seating arrangements." Jody snapped back. "So, if you're gonna act like five year olds, I might as well treat you as such. You have officially activated the mommy mode teacher."
There was dead silence in the room. No one knew what to say back to Jody. Dean could feel the hate rolling through the room directed at both Dean and Jody now.
As the teacher sat back down at her desk she added, "If anyone has any legitimate seating arrangement problems, we can talk after class."
They all watched silently as Jody slowly turned on their classroom projector and opened up a PowerPoint for the day's lesson. Suddenly, she looked up from her screen and gave them all a hard serious stare as she said, "And if your argument for a new seat is 'I'm not sitting next to my friend' you best keep it too yourself if you have your best interests at heart."
Dean had to remind himself to breath once Jody began to teach. His heart seemed to be racing at a million miles an hour while his insides seemed to churn with a mixture of joy and fear. He was beyond happy that he was now sitting with Cas permanently, but at the same time he knew his ass was going to be beat by all the pissed off kids sitting around him. This new arrangement was both a blessing and a curse.
How could Jody have known what the possible outcomes of this would be? No one knew that Dean always got beat up. It was just a regular thing that happened to him, he couldn't stop it, and he would become a nark if he told anyone. That's why it was best to just keep his mouth shut. Besides, this was his last year of high school, after this was college and people who had no idea who he was.
After this year, he had the whole world ahead of him. The start of a whole new life. Dean knew he could tolerate the beatings just a little bit longer, especially if it meant that Cas was his new lab partner and desk mate.
'This is worth it.' Dean thought to himself, trying his hardest not to feel the glares all around him. 'This is TOTALLY worth it.
"Guess I made a pretty great seating choice today didn't I?" Cas whispered under his breath.
Dean glanced towards the boy saw the little curve at the corner of his mouth that told him that Cas was wearing one of those adorable little smug smiles of his. There wasn't even a hint of sarcasm in that face. Cas was being one hundred percent serious and Dean couldn't be happier.
He smiled at Cas but forced himself to stay silent as he quickly jotted down notes from the PowerPoint.
After about five minutes of silence between them Cas suddenly pushed a little square of paper across the desk.
Carefully, Dean glanced at the note. His mind was showing him those unpleasant flashbacks to the earlier notes he had been passed.
'Do I dare to read it?' Dean asked himself carefully. Even as the words formed in his head, Dean's body had already made the decision for him. He watched himself slowly reach out and pull that little note close to himself so he could read Castiel's beautiful scrawled spidery writing.
He had to hold back his laughter as he read:
'What language is Jody talking in? I don't understand any of this lesson.'
Dean slowly moved his pencil and wrote underneath Castiel's words: 'Have you even been paying any attention to the lesson?'
He pushed the paper carefully back over to Cas so he could read his response.
Seconds later the paper was pushed back over to him with only two words on it.
'Not really. Should I have been?'
Dean rolled his eyes gave Cas a sidelong look. He quickly found Castiel's blue sparkling eyes looking back at him with arched eyebrows.
Dean gave the boy his best are you kidding me look before nodding his head towards the board indicating that he should really start paying attention.
Cas chuckled silently and took back the small piece of paper.
This time, Castiel actually started trying to take notes for the lesson, so this let Dean get back to his own note taking.
However, Castiel soon gave Dean's arm a little nudge to break his concentration as another slip of paper was slowly slide across the desk.
This time the note read: 'What's your favorite TV show?'
Dean quickly scribbled back, 'Cas, focus.'
'I've never heard of that show before. Is it good?'
Dean shook his head slowly at Castiel's sarcasm and wrote back, 'Smart ass'
Beside him, Cas snorted and Dean could feel it when the boy looked over at him with another one of those smirks on his face.
'That's kinda a new one. Smart isn't always quite the word pared with me. It's more of dumb ass actually.'
'Well maybe you're both then.'
'Probably.'
Dean couldn't help but smile to himself and roll his eyes as he finally pushed the paper aside and started taking notes again.
However, Cas was a very persistent person, so the note traveled back over to Dean's side of the table pretty quickly with a new message on it. 'My favorite show is a tie between Doctor Who and Sherlock. Just in case you wanted to know.'
Dean smirked and pushed his note book to the side as he realized that Cas wasn't going to stop passing him notes so he might as well just play along with it.
'Mine is Doctor Who too, but I've never watched Sherlock.'
Castiel's response was almost instantaneous when he read Dean's reply. Dean looked up at him and met the horrified expression on Castiel's face. He simply shrugged at Cas as if to say, Sorry. So sorry.
'That's not even possible! Those two go hand in hand, like Rose Tyler and the Doctor or peanut butter and jelly! That's it. You are going to have to crash at my house one day at watch it with me. It's going to happen.'
Dean had to bite his tongue so he wouldn't start laughing. Castiel gave him a look of complete seriousness as he reached over and added,
'I'm dead serious. You have to watch it. After tutoring tomorrow. Hell maybe even instead of that! We can met at my house and watch it.'
Dean licked his lips with nerves and anticipation as he wrote back, 'That sounds fun!'
Dean's mind was racing at what felt like a million miles an hour. Cas basically just set them up to have a movie date. Well, minus the date part. But still it was going to be a day where they could hang out all day, watching Sherlock while getting to know each other better.
Cas smiled at Dean excitedly as he took back the piece of paper and stuck it in his pocket.
After that, both of them went back to taking notes for real this time so they wouldn't get too behind when it came time to do the work that Jody would give them later on.
Surprisingly, the rest of the class went along very smoothly as the two of them finished copying the notes and worked on the assignment together. By the end of the class, Dean had shown Cas how to work the days problems and made him understand the parts of the lessons that he hadn't gotten.
By the end of the class they were the only group to finish the assigned classwork and at least half of the homework that that were assigned over the weekend. They even had five minutes left to spare!
"Dude, I see why you have a 97 in this class!" Cas exclaimed in a happy whisper as they packed up their bags. "You're a fucking natural at this stuff!"
Dean shrugged and said, "I've just got a good memory is all."
"Well thank God for it!" Cas said with a laugh, "Maybe with you tutoring me I can actually pass this class with a B minus.
Dean smiled at Cas as they both stood up and hoisted their backpacks onto their shoulders.
"What class do you have next?" Dean asked as he glanced at the clock that sat over the teachers desk.
"English…" Cas grumbled, as he made a puke face.
"Ew… that sucks…" Dean said as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"Yeah… it's not the worst thing ever, but you know, still not great." Cas said as he they began to walk closer to the door.
"Where are you going next?" Cas asked as he leaned up against the wall by the door.
"Auto tech." Dean said with a fond smile. It was one of his favorite classes. He had taken all four levels that the school offered and his teacher; Bobby Singer loved having him in class.
Most of the time Dean just got an 'A' for showing up, not that it had always been that way, but Bobby, knew that Dean got his work done.
Usually, Dean would just drive baby into the garage and fine tune her or see what kind of sweet upgrades and modifications he could give her. Like Balthazar had mentioned earlier, it was hard to find Dean in there without his head buried in the car.
"Who would have guessed…" Cas murmured with a soft smile. "A nerd with a mechanically inclined side."
Dean shrugged, "Eh, look at Balthazar. Would you have ever guessed that?"
"No… not really." Cas agreed with a smirk
As the two of them laughed and joked; waiting patiently for the bell to ring Jody suddenly broke into their conversation and said, "Mr. Novak. May I speak to you for a moment?"
Dean and Cas gave each other identical looks of confusion as the dismissal bell decided it was the right time to ring.
Cas turned around to face Jody, walking over to her as he slowly said, "Uh… Yeah, sure."
Dean watched as Cas glanced back at Dean momentarily.
On a sudden whim Dean asked, "You want me to wait for you?"
Castiel's eyes softened as he said, "Na, it's alright. I don't want ya to be late for class. I know Auto Tech is kinda far from here."
Dean nodded and gave Cas a small smile before turning to walk out the door after the rest of the students who were filing into the hallways.
"See ya at lunch geek." Cas called after him with a little smile.
Dean waved and called back, "See ya!"
Then Dean rushed off to class. As he walked he realized that he had a smile on his face and new life in his step. He hoped that this meant his day was only going up.
"What's gotten into you today boy?" Bobby asked, walking over to Dean as he dropped his wrench for at least the tenth time that day. Dean hands had been shaking uncontrollably as energy and excitement flooded thought his veins.
"Nothing. It's nothing!" Dean said quickly as he picked up the wrench and used the back of his hand to wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead.
"Don't lie to me son." Bobby scoffed. "Do you think I'm a natural born Idjit? I can see that somethings up."
Dean sighed, a small smile pulling at his lips as he said, "I just can't wait for the weekend is all."
"Is it a girl?" Bobby asked with a knowing smirk.
"No!" Dean exclaimed as his eyes widened in shock.
"A guy?" Bobby pressed as he arched his eyebrows in curiosity.
"What?" Dean gasped before spluttering, "No! Come on Bobby, stop it! I just wanna keep working on my baby!"
"Well, excuse me for trying to help you out." Bobby said rolling his eyes as Dean turned back to his baby and reached up to shut the hood. He needed to check under the car now since he had finished under the hood.
"By the way, I'm pretty you won't be getting very far without the fan belt." Bobby grumbled as watched Dean.
"What the-" Dean lifted the hood of the Impala back up and saw that the belt was nowhere to be seen. "Fuck…" He swore as he realized his mistake. He could have sworn he had put all the parts back on.
Quickly he looked around in search of the missing part. Finally, he spotted the belt on a nearby chair. He must have set it over there earlier, yet he barely remembered taking it off in the first place.
"Yeah, fine my ass. I just hope whoever this little crush of yours is worth your time." Bobby muttered as he walked over and retrieved the belt for Dean.
Dean carefully avoided Bobby's eyes as a small blush filling up his cheeks.
"You need to pay more attention ya damn idjit." Bobby told him with another roll of his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. I know…" Dean mumbled as he leaned against his car and started to put the belt back.
"Still not gonna talk about it?" Bobby asked with growing persistence.
Slowly, Dean stood up straight and looked at the old teacher, giving him a serious look.
Dean rolled his eyes and set his jaw in irritation. "You sure are a persistent bastard…" Dean complained.
Bobby didn't move and Dean soon realized that the teacher wasn't going anywhere until he gave him something. He sighed and said, "Okay, look you know that band The Fallen Angels?"
"You mean that one band that started up here a few years ago?" Bobby asked curiously as he airily scratched at his scraggily beard.
"That would be the one." Dean said with a small smile before whispering, "Well, they invited me to join their band."
"Have you ever even touched a musical instrument?" Bobby teased him with a smirk.
"Shut up! I actually own a guitar."
"But the question is can you play it?"
Dean quickly busied himself with finishing the final adjustments on the car as he said, "Well no, but Cas said he'd teach me how to play. They wanted me as vocalist anyways."
"Well, congratulations boy." Bobby said with a laugh as he shook his head and clapped Dean on the back. "I think this is gonna be a good thing for ya son."
"Thanks Bobby." Dean said as he closed the hood of his car and turned around.
Bobby smiled at Dean and said, "Well, now that I'm done being Doctor Phil; get yourself back to work boy."
"Yes, sir." Dean said with a laugh as Bobby walked away to go rag on some of the other students who had decided to slack off. Specifically Balthazar, who seemed to have produced a few cans of soda from the depths of his backpacks and was busy passing them out to the people working around him.
When the bell rang signaling the end of class Dean couldn't have been more relieved. Never in his life had he wanted his Auto Tech class to be over so badly, but today was different. He was eating lunch with Cas!
Dean quickly grabbed his backpack and rushed from the garage, calling out a quick goodbye to Bobby as he raced across the grass and back inside the main school building.
As soon as he got inside he quickly slowed his speed down to a simple walk for fear of getting yelled at by the teachers or members of the school administration.
However, Dean didn't make it very far before someone ran into him from behind and wrapped their arms around him, trapping his arms by his sides. Before Dean could even react he was being dragged into the boy's bathroom, a sticky sweaty hand placed over his mouth to keep him from shouting out.
Once the inside the bathroom he was slammed into the wall, while his backpack was ripped away and thrown carelessly off to the side.
"Fucking Winchester." Growled the angry voice of Lisa's boyfriend… Michael. "I've heard all kinds of interesting stories about you today. You're really drawing some attention to yourself aren't you Winchester."
"Michael come on man please don't do this!" Dean pleaded. His hopes of avoiding getting his ass kicked today had been crushed in an instant.
'This is what you get for not paying attention Dean.' He told himself.
"Oh look, he's trying to get out of this." Michael cooed in a taunting voice as he looked around him. Only now did Dean notice that Michael wasn't alone. "Nice try, but I've been itching to kick someone's ass, and you're my favorite punching bag."
'Of course he's not gonna leave me alone…' Dean thought sourly.
Behind Michael were the cold dark faces of Michael's brother Lucifer, and their longtime friend, Zachariah. All three of them could kick Dean's ass single handedly. With all three of them here… well the scratches and bruises weren't gonna be all that easy to hide.
"Come on. I have somewhere to be!" Dean snapped with coldness in his voice. He didn't usually fight back against his tormenters, but today he just wished they would give him a break.
"Not a chance Winchester." Michael sneered, "My fist and your face currently have a date."
Dean closed his eyes and braced himself for impact as Michael pulled back his arm.
Pain erupted on the side of Dean's face as the boy's fist connected with his own, making him gasp and cry out.
Seconds later the same fist connected with him again, this time hitting him in the stomach and making him double over and clutch his stomach.
"This will make you think about who you chose to talk to and what you say next time." Michael growled in Dean's ear as he brought his knee up and connected it with Dean's face.
Stars flashed before his eyes and he felt blood suddenly start to pour from his noise.
Michael must be really pissed, because he usually tried to avoid the face. He didn't want people to have a reason to question what happened to him, so he left the marks where no one could clearly see them. Today, it was clear that Michael didn't care.
As Dean clutched at his face he was suddenly thrown to the bathroom floor and kicked hard in the back.
Dean shouted in pain again, hoping that they would be done soon so he could clean himself up and get on with his day.
Unfortunately, at this point both Lucifer and Zachariah though that this was a perfect moment to join in.
All Dean could do was lay there on the cold, hard, disgusting bathroom floor while he was ravaged from three sides. If they even thought he was attempting to fight back they would have made it a thousand times worse, so it was better just to do nothing.
"Awe, Winchester looks tired." Zachariah sneered as they finally backed off and stopped hitting him.
Dean was hugging himself, blood still pooling from his nose as he panted and tried his hardest to catch his breath.
'Maybe, just maybe they're done now.' Dean thought to himself. 'Please for the love of God please just let them be done.'
"I think maybe he might need a little cooling down, what do you think?" Lucifer said with a truly evil laugh.
"I think your right my brother." Michael said as he bent down and grabbed Dean by the back of his shirt.
He was hoisted to his feet and quickly shoved into one of the bathroom stalls.
"Jesus! Fuck! You asshole!" Dean roared as he legitimately tried to fight back now. The last thing he wanted was to get a mouthful of the schools toilet water. Fighting back was a big mistake, as the rammed his head into the stall door to daze him.
"Awww is nerdy widdle Winchester afraid of a widdle water?" Zachariah cooed in a truly insulting tone of voice.
"I think he's talking entirely too much." Michael said as he pulled one of his hands off of Dean's shirt and tangled it into his hair.
Lucifer than moved in and punched Dean in the face again, making his nose bleed even heavier than it had been before.
More stars flashed in front of Dean's face and he barely recovered in time to take a deep breath before his face was force into the toilet water.
Cold nasty water surrounded his face and filled his nose with the foul water. A sickening taste quickly filled his throat and he began to get light headed.
He squirmed and fought desperately to get free and he was sure that this time they would actually end up killing him. This time would finally be the day they finally went too far. Black spots started to appear in Dean's vision when he was forced to let out his breath of air resulting in water filling his mouth, as he began to choke.
Suddenly, Michael was just gone. He wasn't being forced under the water anymore and he came up spluttering for air.
Behind him, he heard strange grunts and shouts of pain but he was too tired and light headed to even bring himself to turn around.
He could hear someone behind him talking in a dangerous tone, but it sounded like everything was being filtered through a veil and he couldn't make out the words being said.
All around him, everything was blurred and unfocused as it seemed to fade in and out of existence.
He jumped violently and struggled a little bit when someone was suddenly standing behind him and tried pulling him close.
"Hey, whoa Dean calm down it's just me." A voice whispered in his ear and he was held tighter to prevent him from moving and hurting himself even more. "It's Cas."
"C-Cas…" Dean murmured through a daze as he tried to place the name and the voice with a face.
He looked up into those brilliant blue eyes, filled with concern and suddenly everything came rushing back to him. This was Cas, like his crush Cas, Fallen Angel's founder Cas.
'Shit shit shit shit.' Dean thought in horror. 'He can't see me like this!'
Hurriedly, Dean tried to squirm away from Cas again.
"Dean! Stop it! You're going to hurt yourself even more!" Cas complained as his tightened his grip around Dean once again.
After about three more minutes of this Dean finally calmed down and gave up the fight. It was clear that he couldn't get away from Cas. The kid defiantly had some hidden strength, not to mention that any strength Dean had, was currently drained from exhaustion.
"Are you done?" Cas asked, trying to look Dean in the eye.
Dean slowly nodded as he flat out refused to look at Cas, keeping his eyes down and locked with a crack in the floor.
"Stay right here. I'm gonna get some paper towels to try and clean you up okay?" Cas told Dean. It was clear to Dean that Castiel's words weren't a request, it was a demand.
Only moments later Cas was back, having wet the paper towels with water from the bathrooms sinks.
"Why were they doing this to you?" Cas asked slowly as he gently cupped Dean's face in his hand and used the paper towel to gingerly wiped blood from Dean's injuries.
Dean shrugged and still refused to look Cas in the eye, wincing in pain as he passed over what was probably a cut.
"Sorry." Cas apologized, "They got ya pretty good."
"It's okay." Dean murmured.
"No, it's not okay Dean." Cas said with clear anger in his voice. "You shouldn't- they… they're lucky that I stopped when I did."
Dean didn't miss the dark sound of anger in Castiel's voice. He instantly felt that feeling of fear and intimidation rolling off of Cas once again.
"How did you get them to leave?" Dean asked, not really remembering what happened.
"I gave them a lesson they're not going to forget." Cas said darkly.
There was silence between them as Cas set down the first paper towel and picked up a second one.
"There were three of them though…" Dean mumbled in confusion.
"And?" Cas said with a small tired smirk on his lips.
Dean fell silent. There was no way that Cas had taken on all three of them was there? It must have been true since there was no one but them in the bathroom now.
When Cas set down the paper towel he had been using, Dean saw a scary amount of blood coating it, but he didn't really care right now.
"I should be taking you to the school nurse, but I'm pretty sure you'd try to fight against me on that." Cas said with a unhappy pursing of his lips.
Dean let the corner of his mouth twitch upwards in amusement, wincing only a little when he found out that his lip was split. "Well, you're not wrong with that theory."
"You stubborn son of a bitch." Cas said with a bitter laugh. The mood seemed to darken again as Cas asked, "Have they done this to you before."
Dean was silent.
"If you don't answer me I'm going to take that as a yes." Cas warned him.
Dean sighed and mumbled, "I'm used to it by now."
"How long has this been going on?"
Dean shook his head slowly and opened his mouth a little before saying, "As long as I can remember."
Cas stopped moving completely. Gently he took Dean by the shoulders and forced him to look at him.
Dean finally looked up into Castiel's face, expecting to see pity and disgust in his eye. However, Dean instead saw sorrow, and a thousand unspoken apologies reflected back at him.
"I'm so sorry Dean." Cas whispered.
"S'not your fault." Dean said back in a hushed voice.
"No, but from today on, I swear to you this won't ever happen again. As the doctor's companion it is my duty to help make sure that you're okay."
Dean's eyes dropped and he looked away from Cas. He didn't believe it; he couldn't bring himself to believe it. He didn't want to be disappointed and left behind like every other time that he had tried to make friends with someone.
"Dean you have to believe me." Cas said, cupping Dean's chin and lifting his head back up. "I swear that I will protect you. I'm going to make sure that you're never hurt like this again, okay?"
Dean didn't say anything.
"Okay?" Cas asked again with renewed force in voice.
Slowly, Dean nodded to show that he acknowledged Castiel's promise.
Seconds later he was being pulled into one of the gentlest hugs he had ever received in his life and it was utterly amazing.
Castiel's ripped jean jacket felt rough and scratchy against his sore face but his boy was solid and warm. Dean could literally feel the promise Cas had made radiating from his body.
So lost in the moment Dean almost forgot to breathe as he inhaled the scent of Castiel cologne.
When their hug finally broke apart Castiel looked at Dean and asked, "Do you think you can stand?"
Dean nodded slowly and he stood up on shaky legs. He had to lean on Castiel for support as he suddenly saw dark spots in his vision and nearly fell over once again.
Outside of the bathroom the bell rang signaling that lunch was now over and they had to be heading back to class.
"I-I'm sorry I wasted your lunch Cas." Dean said apologetically.
"Don't be sorry." Cas assured Dean as they slowly walked over to where Dean's backpack had been discarded.
Cas quickly threw away the bloody paper towels and leaned Dean against the wall so he could reach down and pick up both their backpacks.
"Put your arm across my shoulders." Cas ordered Dean as he moved back over to his side.
"I'm alright Cas." Dean tried to argue. "We need to be getting off to class before-"
"Nu uh! No you don't. I'm taking you home Dean." Cas insisted as Dean finally threw his arm across Castiel's shoulder.
"But-"
"Nope. I'm not gonna hear it. If you're not gonna let me take you to the nurse I am gonna take you home." Cas said stubbornly.
"But Sam…" Dean said in horror, thinking about how Sam would get home if he left early.
"I'll have Gabriel drive him. I've met your brother before. Him and Gabe should get along great." Cas said as he pushed open the bathroom door and walked out into the nearly empty hallway.
'We must have been in there longer than I thought.' Dean realized as they walked down the almost empty hallways.
"What am I gonna tell the teachers?" Dean fretted, thinking about his nearly perfect attendance.
"I'll take care of that too." Cas insisted. "Like I said, I'm gonna look after you okay?"
Dean just nodded slowly as he started to feel light headed again. He was begging to think he had the onsets of a mild concussion but he refused to tell Cas this. Dean didn't want him worrying anymore that he already was.
The time seemed to pass in a strange mess of colors and sound as Cas lead Dean out of the school and into the parking lot. He had to explain where he had left his car as he slowly passed his keys over to Cas. Cas then disappeared momentarily as he slipped inside and pulled Dean's car out of the auto tech garage. Some small part of Dean's brain wondered how the hell he had gotten the Impala out of the garage without Bobby making some sort of huge hissy fit over it. Then again, maybe Bobby hadn't returned to his classroom yet. He and Jody Mills often chatted together during lunch and free blocks.
Once Cas had pulled the Impala around, Cas got out and quickly helped Dean get into the passenger seat.
The next span of time just flew by strangely, leaving Dean in a haze. He wasn't even sure where they were or how he had gotten there.
When Dean finally could focus on reality again he found himself in his own room. He quickly noted that it was almost dark outside and there was a cool wash cloth resting on his head. When he looked beside him Dean almost jumped out of his skin, because there was someone sitting right beside him.
"Son of a bitch!" Dean gasped in shock as he tried to scramble away from the person, only to go still moments later, his body wracked with pain.
"Dean, hey calm down." Came Castiel's calm soothing voice through the darkened room.
"Where- why are you in my room?" Dean asked, wincing in pain and trying to shake off the confusion to figure out what the hell was going on.
"You were jumped by Michael, Zachariah, and Lucifer in the bathroom, and I ended up taking you home and watching after you." Cas explained.
All at once everything came flooding back into Dean's mind and he felt his cheeks heat up in shame.
"Oh my God…" Dean gasped. "I am so sorry Cas. You probably hate me now."
Castiel scooted closer to Dean and asked, "Why would I hate you Dean? I want to take care of you."
"You probably don't want to have to deal with this or any of the shit that comes with it." Dean sighed, "Knowing me is more of a burden than a blessing.
"I don't think it is. I don't mind watching over you." Cas insisted, his piercings glinting softly in the dull lighting in the room.
"H-how long have I been out?" Dean asked, trying to change the subject.
"A few hours. It's almost 8 o-clock now. I was worried that I'd have to take you to the hospital there for a few hours. You were pretty out of it."
"Where's Sam?" Dean asked hurriedly, realizing that he hadn't brought his brother home.
"He's watching the band rehearsal with Balthazar and Gabriel, though I'm assuming that their just chatting and eating since I'm not there." Cas said with a soft laugh.
"The rehearsal! Oh my God Cas! I'm so sorry!" Dean began to blubber, worrying that he was already damaging the band and sending it downhill.
"Hey, don't worry about it! We practice all the time. Right now I'm just making sure you're okay." Cas told him. "I didn't tell the others what happened, I just said that you weren't feeling well and needed to go home early."
Dean looked at Cas gratefully and whispered, "Thanks Cas. You're the best."
Cas chuckled and said, "Well, I'm glad you think so."
After a moment Dean said, "You know you don't have to stay here if you don't-"
"Don't even say it Dean!" Cas said with a smirk. "I am going to be here at least until Sam comes back, maybe longer if he lets me."
Dean looked at Cas with wide eyes. "You would stay longer than that?"
"Of course!" Cas exclaimed. "I'd stay the night if you wanted me to!"
Dean's heart seemed to die in his chest. The reality of this whole situation was finally crashing down around him. Here he was here alone, in bed, with his long time crush, and new best friend, who had now sworn to protect him. Now Cas was literally asking to sleep over. If Cas slept over that would mean he would either have to sleep on the sofa, the floor, or in Dean's bed.
"I- I mean… yeah! That would be great! I can sleep on the floor or the sofa-"
Cas interrupted him and said, "Nopee! You stay right here in this bed."
"Well, then you better be in the bed too, cause you aren't gonna sleep on the floor." Dean insisted.
"That's fine by me." Cas said coolly, a little half smile on his lips.
Dean was sure that if he died right now he could leave this world a happy man. Cas just said that he would sleep in the same bed as him. Dean's heart felt like it was gonna explode.
Before Dean knew it, Cas had texted Gabriel saying that he was gonna stay the night to watch after Dean. Then it was soon established that Sam was going to stay over at Gabriel's for the night as well.
"He'll be in good hands." Cas assured a slightly worried Dean as he turned on an episode of Doctor Who.
"Are you sure?" Dean asked, giving Cas a look of doubt.
"I swear I wouldn't leave your brother in incapable hands." Cas assured him. "Now, you need to get some sleep. I would suggest we watch Sherlock, but I'll save it for later."
Dean nodded slowly, and sighed in content as Cas climbed under the covers beside him. They ended up scooting closer together when Dean shivered.
It was like this, pressed up against one another, Doctor Who playing softly, that the two boys finally drifted off to sleep.
Dean knew right then in this very moment despite all the shit that had happened today, that he was the happiest guy around.
He couldn't wait and see what tomorrow would hold..
Dean let out one last sigh of content as he settled deeper under the blankets and curled himself into Castiel's warm strong body.