Disclaimer 1: I do not own Supernatural and am not making money by writing this story

Disclaimer 2: The title is from the song, Chasing Cars and I am not making money by using it as the title of my fanfic.

Chapter five

June 2009

The excitement of the summer was evident amongst the busy chatter of the students in the cafeteria. It was a few weeks before the summer break would begin and all the students would go off on their separate adventures, or more likely, their well-awaited naps.

Dean was quite excited himself but tried not to show it. He sat down at a table near the windows and unwrapped his sandwich. As he was unwrapping his sandwich, he heard giggling. He looked up and noticed the swarm of girls who were passing him. Lisa, one of the girls and Dean's classmate smiled shyly at him. He winked at her and she blushed. Then they took off.

Dean chuckled to himself as he took a bite of his sandwich. He knew that he was handsome, plenty of girls and women had told him so. Didn't mean that he wanted a girlfriend, even though most of his classmates were after that and anyway, he was only ten. There was only one person who he Dean really liked- Speak of the devil.

"Hey, Dean." Castiel threw his backpack down and slumped forward in his seat.

"Tough day?" Dean asked when he noticed the frown on Castiel's face.

"I-uh-." Castiel stuttered as he tried to open his own sandwich but got stuck with the zipper on his lunchbox.

"What happened, Cas?" Dean asked.

"Nothing." Castiel scratched at his neck.

"Don't lie to me, Cas. Is Zack bothering you again?"

"NO!" At the pointed look Dean gave him, Castiel looked down at the table and whispered, "Yeah." His voice cracked a bit at that but he tried not to show how upset he really was. You're a man, Castiel. Be a man. His father's voice rang through his head.

He didn't even look up until he noticed that Dean had gotten up from their table.

"Dean, what are you doing?" Castiel asked as he noticed that Dean was headed toward Zack's table. He tugged on Dean's arm but Dean pushed him away lightly and said, "Stay here."

Castiel sighed.

Dean arrived at Zack's table. Zack's friends, well more like followers were laughing as Zack stuck some popcorn in his nostrils and blew them out. Dean couldn't fathom what could possibly be funny about that. It was actually pretty disgusting. He cleared his throat.

Zack looked up and his eyes seemed to have a mischievous glint. But upon closer inspection, they looked mean, sinister even.

"May I help you?" Zack said as he smirked.

"You know Cas?"

"Is that what you call him? I just call him twerp or nerd." One of the goons laughed.

"You think that's so funny. Well let me tell you, in ten years, you'll be a college dropout, working on a minimum-paid salary, hoping to pay off the loans for the college that you didn't even finish. No one will care about you, none of these so-called 'friends' of yours. And you know where'll Cas be? He'll be among the stars. He'll be doing great things and if you ever touch him again, I will hurt you."

"Is that so?" Zack said. He was smirking, but the fear was evident in his eyes. Good, my work here is done. Dean thought angrily.

Later, Dean told Castiel what had occurred and Castiel shook his head and said, "You didn't have to do that." But the small smile on his face proved otherwise.

A few days later, Zack had tried to get under Castiel's skin again. Dean punched him in the face and said, "I told you I'd be watching you. Oh and since you didn't understand me the first time, I'm going to tell you something else. My dad's an ex-marine, just in case you ever try that again." He made sure to stress every syllable.

Dean got a detention for the fight and a speech from his father. "Threatening that boy with my veteran status wasn't really smart. You know the crap I had to go through while talking to his parents?" John had asked. And Dean told him that the kid had been picking on Castiel nonstop and that Castiel didn't deserve it, on top of the home abuse Dean knew he was forced to endure. John just sighed and sent Dean to his room.

Dean was supposed to be grounded for a few weeks but John let up after a few days because he knew who was really at fault and that Dean was just doing what he thought best.

Dean didn't regret punching Zack nor did he regret the detention. It was all worth it. Because a few days after the fight, Zack and his goons stayed out of his way and if they even tried to mess with Castiel, they knew that Dean wouldn't let them. And it turned out that Zack and his parents were moving away anyway.

On the last day of school, Dean and Castiel ran out of the school laughing hysterically. Dean grabbed Castiel's hand as they ran and tried not to let it go until they were halfway down the street. It was the happiest they had been in a while.

It was also the happiest memory that both of them held on to after everything that had occurred the following years.

A/N: Please review.

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