Chapter 5 – Coming Out and Standing Up

One day at the end of October, Cas and Dean agreed that it was time for them to stop hiding. They walked into school that morning hand in hand, which earned them some curious looks. Then they gave each other a quick kiss before parting ways after biology, which earned them whispers from students passing in the halls. Sitting at their usual corner table at lunch, an unusual number of eyes were on them the entire time. But neither of them cared.
"Let 'em stare," said Dean defiantly through a mouthful of sandwich. "They'll get used to it."

It was passing period right before their final class of the day. Cas shouldered open the bathroom door and was greeted by some very familiar voices.
"Back off, assholes."
It was Dean. Cas frowned and walked silently toward his voice. Turning the corner, he saw Dean backed against the wall by Ralph and Marv.
"You talk big, pretty boy," Ralph said.
Cas slowly sneaked forward until he was directly behind them.
"That's my boyfriend you're threatening," he said calmly.
Ralph and Marv jumped and whipped around.
"You think you're so tough now that someone gives two shits about you again, don't you?" said Marv.
"No, I've just got someone to fight for again," Cas replied.
"Fight? Oh, I doubt that. Quiet little Cas Novak fighting us? Ha!" Ralph taunted.
"You know, Ralph, I think I've figured out what your problem is. You're just compensating for your tiny dick by acting like a huge one yourself," said Cas.
He had a split second to enjoy the look of triumphant glee on Dean's face before Ralph's fist made contact with his nose and he stumbled backwards into the row of stalls. Cas blinked rapidly and regained his balance, staunching the flow of blood already pouring from his nose with his sleeve. Ralph made for him again but Cas brought his knee up and caught him in the stomach. Marv started to hurry forward but Dean grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back against the wall. In the moment that Cas and Dean paused to grin at each other, Ralph recovered and tackled Cas around the waist, knocking him to the floor and Marv grabbed a fistful of Dean's hair. Suddenly, the bathroom door slammed open with a bang and they all froze and turned to see their English teacher standing in the doorway.
"What the hell is going on in here?" he cried.
Ralph got off of Cas, who scrambled to his feet, and Marv and Dean let go of each other.
"Come with me, all of you," the teacher said.

Ten minutes later, they were all sitting outside the principal's office. Cas was pinching his nose with a bloody tissue and Marv held an icepack to his head where Dean had slammed it into the wall. Dean had a split lip and a colorful bruise was already forming under Ralph's eye. The principal's door opened and they were beckoned inside. The four boys filed into the room and stood in front of the principal's desk.
"So, Mr. Novak, would you mind telling me what caused this little tussle in the bathroom?" she asked.
"Well, ma'am, I walked in and Ralph and Marv had cornered Dean so I told them to back off and then I, uh... well I sorta insulted Ralph so he punched me and it just went downhill from there..." Cas explained.
The principal rolled her eyes. She opened her drawer and took out four pieces of paper that Cas recognized immediately as detention slips. She scribbled a few words on each one and slid them across the desk at the boys.
"You'll be staying after school tomorrow for your detentions. The bell will be ringing in about fifteen minutes so you might as well go home now and tend to those injuries. I'll see you tomorrow," she said.
"Yes, ma'am," the boys mumbled, taking the detention slips.
They shuffled out of the room and split ways.

As Cas and Dean walked down the front steps, Dean's face suddenly split into a wide grin.
"YES!" he shouted. "WE KICKED RALPH AND MARV'S ASSES AND GOT DETENTION!"
"Um, Dean, I'm not sure detention is something to be shouting jubilantly to the heavens about," Cas said.
"Sure it is! We beat the crap outta those sons of bitches!" said Dean. He raised both middle fingers to the sky triumphantly. "Fuck those homophobes!"
"Dean, you're going to get yourself suspended," Cas warned.
"No I'm not," said Dean.
"Winchester, if you shout like that one more time, you'll have detention on Friday too," the principal called as she passed them on her way to the parking lot.
Dean blushed.
"Sorry, ma'am," he said.
"Dean, Cas!"
They both turned. Sam was jogging over to them.
"Is it true that you guys beat up those two bullies and got suspended?" he asked breathlessly.
"Well we only got detention, but yeah, we did beat them up," Cas replied.
"Damn, stories travel fast around here," said Dean.
"It's a small school," Cas pointed out.
"Yeah... well, let's get going," said Dean, leading the way to the Impala.
"I am so going to be grounded when I get home..." said Cas.
"Yeah, I don't know if Bobby's gonna chew me out for getting in a fight or throw me a party for putting those guys in their place..." Dean chuckled.
"Probably both," said Sam.
They all laughed and got into the car. They decided it would probably be best to skip their usual hour together after school that day, so Dean dropped Cas off at his house.
"See ya tomorrow. And good luck," said Dean.
"Yeah, you too," Cas said.
He leaned forward and gave Dean a kiss then ruffled Sam's hair and got out of the car. He waved as they drove off, then went inside.
"You're home early, Cas," his aunt said as he shut the door behind him.
She and his uncle were sitting on the couch together. She was reading a book and he was doing the newspaper crossword.
"Yeah, um, well... Dean and I sorta got in trouble at school today so we figured it'd be better to come straight home after..." Cas said.
"Trouble? What kind of trouble?" his uncle asked.
"We got in a fight with Ralph and Marv and got detention," explained Cas.
"Well I'm glad you didn't just take those bullies' crap but I can't say I'm glad for the fighting, or the detention," said his uncle. He turned to his wife and asked, "Extra chores?"
"Extra chores," she agreed.
"I figured that," said Cas, heading to the stairs.
"You can start with the laundry," his aunt called after him.
"I'm on it," Cas called back, trudging up the stairs to drop his bag in his room and start the laundry.