Chapter One

Cas stared at himself in the mirror, brushing out creases in his clothes and trying, unsuccessfully, to tame his hair. He was up early and dawn had not yet broken.

It was his first day, and was in equal parts nervous and excited. After all his hard work studying, he was finally on the path towards becoming a teacher, and this job as a teaching assistant was the first step.

He barely managed to force breakfast down past his nerves, but he new he would need all his energy for the class of first graders he was about to join, and after some pacing around and more fussing over his clothes, it was finally time to leave.

Cas snatched up his bag, waved to the picture of his brother Gabriel, that he kept on the coffee table, and hurried out to his car. He only took a moment to buckle himself in and take a deep breath, then allowed an excited smile to take over his face as he drove.

The school itself was picture perfect. All the windows were shiny and clean, the painted walls were vibrant, and the classrooms all had access to their own little gardens, as well as a communal playground filled with things to climb, brightly coloured toys and activities, and a wide open grassy space for ball games, or even just to run.

Cas had been there before when he was called in for an interview, but he'd been too nervous to take it all in at the time.

Some of the staff had already parked in the faculty parking lot, and Cas pulled up next to a shiny, black car. It was old, but clearly well cared for. Cas got out and shouldered his bag, then strode towards the main entrance, quickly before he could get too nervous.

The receptionist was already sitting behind his desk, and smiled when he saw Cas.

'You're our new TA?' he asked.

'That's me,' said Cas.

'I'm Alex, nice to meet you,' he said, getting up to shake Cas's hand. 'Here's your lanyard.'

Cas took it and proudly hung it around his neck.

'Come on, I'll take you back to the staff lounge.'

Cas followed Alex through a door at the far end of reception into another bright, airy room.

There were clean tables and chairs, a comfy looking couch, and a functioning kitchen complete with coffee machine.

There were several people already in the room, but a man with a grizzly beard approached him first.

'Principal Singer,' Cas smiled, recognising him from their interview.

'Bobby,' he said. 'Let me introduce you.'

He brought Cas over to the kitchen area, where another man was filling a large mug of coffee straight from the machine.

'This is Dean Winchester,' said Bobby. 'Dean, your new TA, Castiel Novak.'

The man turned around, sipping his coffee, and raised an eyebrow.

'Castiel? What kind of a name is that?'

'You'd have to ask my mom that,' Cas said nervously. He thought he'd dressed nicely that morning, but standing in front of Dean, he felt very self-conscious.

Dean was wearing a red plaid flannel shirt, already splattered in paint stains, and a pair of worn jeans.

'Bow tie?' Dean smirked.

'I'm getting the feeling I might be slightly overdressed,' Cas said.

'Just a smidge,' Dean grinned. 'Not much we can do about it now, but at least ditch the tie.'

Cas smiled and pulled off the tie, then Dean handed him a cup of coffee.

'Trust me, you'll need it,' he said.

Cas took it gratefully.

'Come on, I'll show you to the classroom.' Dean walked away, and Cas followed him, sipping his coffee as they went.

The halls were bright, with artwork and photos of different field trips papering the walls.

'I dunno if Bobby already went through this with you, but we work on a loop system here,' Dean explained as they walked. 'We do kindergarten through second grade, and then they move up to third through fifth. These are the upper classes here.' He gestured at the doors they were passing. 'We're down here.'

They walked down a small incline, and everything was suddenly more brightly coloured, while the furniture became much smaller. The air smelled of crayons and grainy watercolour paints.

'That's Jo - Miss Harvelle - in there,' Dean said, stopping at a door and pointing at another one opposite.

A woman with long blonde hair appeared in the doorway with a big smile.

'Hey,' she said. 'New guy?'

'Cas,' he said, shaking her hand.

'Cool. We've got first grade in here - Ash, come over here.'

Another man came over. His hair was styled in a mullet and he grinned at Cas.

'Hey, new guy,' he said, vigorously shaking Cas's hand.

'That's Jody down there with kindergarten,' said Dean, pointing down the hallway. He opened the door to his own classroom and showed Cas inside.

'Don't scare this one off,' Jo called through the door.

'I did not scare off Artie,' Dean called back.

'Well, you kept calling him Artie.'

'He wasn't teacher material.'

'Whatever, Dean. See you later.'

Dean then caught Cas staring at him. 'What? He wasn't! Didn't want the kids touching his nice suit.'

Cas frowned.

'Don't worry about it, I've got a good feeling about you.'

He patted Cas's shoulder, and Cas smiled, pleased.

Dean's classroom, too, was bright. One wall was almost entirely windows, with a door leading out to the garden. At the front of the classroom was an old-fashioned blackboard, complete with cups of chalk, varying from brand new, to barely more than nubs. Dean's desk sat in front of the blackboard. It was worn and made of heavy wood. Drawings were tacked all around the edges, paper and pencils littered the surface, and the computer had been shoved to the corner of the desk.

Along the wall by the door leading in were some more large, updated whiteboards, one digital and one dry erase. At the back of the classroom were some cabinets, and a row of cubbies for the kids to put their bags in.

All the desks were covered in drawings, each with a namecard and a plastic chair in a bright, primary colour.

Papier-mache stars and planets hung from the ceiling, along with each of the students' handprints, made from different coloured sugar paper.

Along the windowsill were empty plastic cups.

'We're planting radishes today,' Dean explained, catching Cas looking at them. 'Okay, a few things before they get here. Here's the register,' he said, passing Cas a clipboard. 'I'll need you to keep an eye on a few of them. Jack sits here.' Dean moved over to a little desk near the windows. 'He's a little sensitive, gets overwhelmed pretty easy, so he might need your help. Adam and Mikey are twins, but they get themselves into trouble if they spend too much time together. I keep them separated during class, but they're allowed to run around together at recess. Charlie likes to bring her tablet from home, but she's not allowed to use it during class. Let's see, what else… Grace can be kinda clingy, she might need some convincing to actually go play at recess…' Dean trailed off at Cas's apprehensive expression and laughed. 'They're great kids though, really. Don't tell anyone, but they're my favourite bunch so far.'

Cas smiled. 'All right, what do you need from me?'

'First thing we're doing is getting them to redo their desk tags. All the art supplies are in the cabinets at the back, can you help me set them up?'

'Sure.'

Cas followed Dean's lead, and set out crayons, pencils, paints, and pieces of card on all the desks.

Just as they finished setting up the room, they heard footsteps and shouts echoing down the hallway outside.

Dean smiled widely. 'All right, here they come. You ready?'

Cas nodded, nerves and excitement churning his stomach.

Dean opened the classroom door, and Cas hovered by his desk. As soon as Dean saw the kids approaching, he knelt down to greet them.

'Yeah, Alfie, first one here! High five!'

A little boy in a red hat reached up and smacked Dean's hand, before running to his desk.

Most of the other kids also high-fived Dean, though some fist bumped him instead, and the little girl called Grace politely asked him for a hug.

'Sure, you can have a hug,' Dean smiled, and she reached up, standing on her tiptoes to wrap her tiny arms around his neck.

Dean clapped his hands together and all the kids fell silent. 'All right, morning everybody,' he smiled.

'Hi, Dean!' all the kids called back.

'First thing's first, what can you see that's different today?' Dean asked them.

They laughed. Some pointed at Cas and others shouted, 'There's a man!'

'You got it,' Dean grinned. He patted Cas on the back. 'Why don't you introduce yourself.' He took a step back so the kids focused on Cas.

'Hello, everyone,' Cas said, pushing away his nerves. 'My name is Mr Novak and I'm going to be your new classroom assistant.'

'Like Mr Ketch?' one of the girls asked.

'Exactly. Only better,' said Dean. 'Why don't you write your name on the board, Mr Novak?'

Cas turned around and caught an amused glitter in Dean's eye. 'They call you Dean?'

'They're like seven, they can't pronounce my name,' Dean shrugged.

Cas wrote his name on the blackboard, but turned back to the kids. 'You can all call me Cas, if you like,' he said, adding it to the blackboard.

'Hi, Cas!' the kids called, and Cas smiled.

'I'll be at the back of the classroom if anyone needs my help,' Cas told them, before walking around the room and perching on an empty desk at the back of the room.

'All right, guys, I'm thinking we gotta update our nametags,' Dean said. He stepped back to his desk and pulled his name card off his desk, encouraging the kids to do the same. 'If you still like your tags you can keep 'em in your desks, but, if you don't like it anymore…' He dramatically shredded his card, throwing the pieces in the air so they rained down like confetti, and the kids all laughed. Some of them followed suit, but some carefully put their cards inside their desks.

One of the boys put their hand in the air, while Dean handed out fresh cards.

'What's up, Alfie?' Dean asked, passing him his card.

'Does Cas get one too?' he said.

They all turned to look at Cas, and Cas's eyebrows rose in surprise.

'Of course he does,' Dean grinned, leaning over to Cas and handing him his own card. 'This desk can be yours for now.'

Cas accepted it, smiling.

All the kids got to work, enthusiastically writing their names and drawing little pictures. Cas carefully wrote his name on the card and drew a little picture of a bluebird. He cast his eyes over the kids, and noticed that one of the boys was just sitting at his desk with his head in his hands.

Cas wandered over and knelt down next to the boy. He realised that this was the desk Dean had shown him earlier, so this boy must be Jack.

'Hey, Jack,' Cas said softly, noticing that he had not yet started on his name card. 'Is everything okay?'

Jack lowered his hands enough for Cas to see his miserable expression.

'I don't know what to put on my card,' he told Cas. 'I don't want to do the same as before, but I can't decide what to put on it now.'

Cas nodded. 'Why don't we start with your favourite colour?'

'I like all the colours!' Jack said, distressed. 'I can't pick just one, then the other ones will be left out.'

'I see,' said Cas. 'You can use all of them, if you like.'

Jack shook his head. 'But then it'll be all messy.'

Cas considered the card carefully. 'Hmmm… Why don't we draw a border around the edges? Then you can use all the colours and still have your name nice and neat in the middle.'

Jack considered it. 'Okay, I think that could work.'

'And there are plenty of cards you can use to try again, if you don't like how it comes out,' Cas reassured him.

Jack nodded, already carefully drawing a border on his card.

Cas smiled, satisfied, and stood up again, but froze when he saw Dean staring at him. The intensity of his gaze glued him to the spot, but only for a moment, before Dean's expression lightened and a grin spread across his face.

After surveying the room, Cas then noticed Charlie hiding her tablet under her desk. Cas stepped over to her.

'Should you be using that?' he said.

Charlie looked at him sheepishly. 'Dean said I could when we're doing art,' she told him.

Cas raised an eyebrow, and caught Dean's eye, who was watching in amusement.

'Did he, now?' Cas said. 'And if I ask him, is that what he'll say?'

Charlie pouted. 'No,' she admitted.

'Come on, then, put it in your desk until recess.'

The class settled down, concentrating on their work, and Cas wandered amongst them. Jack had decided to use paints and turned to call Cas over, but didn't realise that Cas was behind him and accidentally smeared paint all over him.

Jack looked horrified and his eyes filled with tears.

'No, no, it's okay,' Cas said hurriedly, crouching beside him. He took a brush a swiped it on himself. 'See? It's just a shirt.'

Jack's lip wobbled, so Cas covered his whole hand in red paint and pressed it to his shirt.

'Do you want to try?' Cas offered.

Jack nodded and let Cas paint his hand green, then made his own, tiny handprint on Cas's shirt. Soon enough, all the children were asking to paint on Cas's shirt, and he was more than happy to let them.

'Now I feel left out,' Dean said, coming over to them with a huge grin.

Cas laughed and stood up. His hand was still covered in red paint, which he planted on Dean's shoulder.

'Perfect,' Dean smiled. 'All right, everybody, back to our name cards now.'

Cas went over to the sink to wash his hands. 'Sorry for disrupting your class,' he mumbled to Dean.

'Don't be. That meltdown Jack was about to have would have distracted everyone anyway. You did good.'

'Oh. Thank you.' Cas smiled to himself, pleased.

The rest of the day went smoothly. Cas helped the kids plant their radishes, and watched them play at lunch.

'How are you doing?' Dean asked as he joined Cas outside, handing him a cup of coffee. 'First day going well so far?'

'Why don't you tell me?' Cas said, taking a sip.

Dean chuckled. 'Well, from where I'm standing, you're making a great start.'

Cas smiled. 'I think it's going well too.'

'They definitely like you more than the last guy. Jack got paint on him too, and he started yelling at the kids about it.'

Cas frowned. 'No wonder Jack was upset.'

'Yeah. All right, finish your coffee, lunch is almost over.'

Cas did as he was told and drained his mug, ready for the afternoon.

The kids were tired after lunch, so they did quiet activities. Dean read to them, and they practised their spelling.

Finally, the day was over. The kids all grabbed their bags and ran from the room, laughing and shouting.

Dean and Cas stayed behind to tidy up the classroom, then Dean held the door open for Cas.

'I'll walk you to your car,' he said.

Dean signed Cas out at reception, and they walked together across the parking lot.

'I'm sorry about your shirt, by the way,' Dean said, looking over the handprints all over Cas.

'Are you kidding? I love it, I'm keeping this forever.'

Dean smiled, but it quickly dropped from his face as they approached Cas's beige Lincoln Continental. 'Oh my God, what is that?' Dean said incredulously.

'I know, it's horrible,' Cas laughed.

'And you have it because…?'

'It was a gift from my brother,' Cas explained, 'and it's harder to argue with him now that he's dead.'

'Oh, I'm sorry.'

Cas waved a hand. 'Don't worry, he loved humiliating me, so this is perfect. Trust me, if he could see us, he'd be laughing.'

'That's kinda sweet, I guess,' Dean smiled.

'Which is yours?' Cas asked.

'This one,' Dean said, his face lighting up as he ran a hand over the roof of the black car parked next to Cas's.

'Ah, I see. Much more attractive than mine.'

'You bet.' Dean opened the door. 'See you tomorrow.'

Cas watched him pull out, the car purring as he drove away, then took a moment to himself, breathing deeply, letting his nerves from the day fade from his body. He was exhausted when he finally got home, and sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, and the photo of Gabriel.

'Hi, Gabe,' he said softly. 'I hope you got to see me embarrassed by your car in front of my new boss. I miss you.' Then, his phone rang. His parents had started a video call, so he propped his phone up against his coffee cup.

'Hi, honey!' his mother said excitedly, as his face appeared in the camera. 'I hope we're not interrupting, we just wanted to see how your first day went.'

'It's okay, Mom, I was just talking to Gabriel.'

'He say anything back?'

'Not this time. He was probably too busy laughing at me about the car.'

There was a moment of sombre silence, but it was soon broken by his father.

'Don't leave us hanging, tell us about your day! Your shirt looks like it had a good time.'

Cas laughed and told them all about it.

'The kids are so sweet so far, and the teacher thinks they like me.'

'What's not to like?' his dad said.

'What's the teacher like?' asked his mom.

'He's… not what I expected,' said Cas.

'In what way?'

'I don't know, he's…' Cas searched for the right words. 'Different.'

'That means he's hot.'

'Dad!'

His mother giggled. 'Well, is he?'

'I hadn't noticed,' Cas said, his cheeks flushing.

'Okay, so you definitely noticed,' his dad laughed.

'You think you can handle it?' his mom teased.

Cas blushed even harder. 'Excuse me, I'm very professional,' he protested.

His parents just laughed.

'Aw, I'm sorry, kiddo. Can I buy you dinner to celebrate your first day?' his dad said

Cas rolled his eyes, but accepted the offer.

'I'll have it delivered, you just relax, okay?' He got up to go order food, leaving Cas and his mother alone.

Cas glanced at the picture of Gabriel. 'Do you ever get the feeling that Gabriel's still…around?' he asked quietly.

His mother smiled. 'All the time,' she said. 'I like to think he watches us, so he can laugh whenever we fall over, or something.'

Cas chuckled. 'That's a nice thought.'

'Why, have you been feeling him?'

Cas shrugged. 'When Dean saw my car, that felt very like Gabriel.'

His mother sighed. 'I know how much you miss him,' she said softly. 'He'd be proud of you.'

'Thanks, Mom.'

Then, his father returned. 'All right, I've ordered you a pizza, I hope that's okay.'

'It's perfect, thanks, Dad.'

'We'll go and let you get some rest,' said his mother.

'Enjoy your pizza.'

'We love you.'

'I love you both too,' Cas said back, before they ended the call.

Cas again looked over at Gabriel's picture and smiled at it. 'Love you, Gabe,' he whispered.

He changed before his dinner arrived, carefully hanging his painted shirt in the closet. As soon as he'd showered and eaten, he collapsed into bed, asleep within moments.

Welcome! Should I be starting a new project when I already have so many on the go? Probably not. Am I doing it anyway? Hell yeah. I hope you enjoy it :)