Horror High: Chapter Three

[vanimadin]

Title: Horror High

Pairing: Destiel

Rating: Explicit (in future chapters)

Warnings: Sex, Violence

Summary: John Winchester plants his eldest son at Caspar High in Jacksonville because weird things have been happening there: people disappearing. People reappearing only dead and drained of all their bodily fluids. Cocoons. It’s up to Dean to figure out what’s stalking Caspar’s halls and deal with it accordingly; but then he meets the New Kid—newer than him, even, the New-New Kid—Castiel Novak, and all his plans get severely derailed. Now Dean has to juggle the supernatural case—a really hungry jorogumo—and also the fact that he’s very quickly falling in love, something that is absolutely forbidden by his dad.

Meanwhile Castiel, shoved into the third new school in a year because his adoptive father—Chuck Shurley’s—job has them moving around a lot, struggles to fit in at Caspar High, not only because he’s the New Kid but because he’s the weird New Kid. Dean seems like a saving grace, a harbor in a storm, someone who doesn’t judge him—that is until Cas finds out about Dean’s night job. Cas’s life just got a whole lot stranger—but that doesn’t stop him from falling for Dean, regardless.

Notes: Some homophobia in this chapter. Can also be read HERE ON AO3. New chapter next Friday! :)
 

HORROR HIGH
Chapter Three
By Senashenta

By Monday the bite on Cas’s neck had healed enough that he didn’t need to keep it bandaged anymore. Now when he looked at it in the mirror it just looked like a particularly bad hickey. He didn’t know which was worse. The Hickey Look would definitely be more embarrassing, he could just tell already, especially since it was starting to get around that he and Dean were… together.

There were whispers when he walked down Caspar’s halls, now, especially if Dean happened to be with him. And everyone talked about how they vanished together every lunch hour.

Not all of the chatter was negative, but a lot of it wasn’t positive, that was for sure. Cas had heard insults muttered under people’s breath more than the odd time. Dean didn’t seem bothered by it, and normally Cas wouldn’t have been, either, he didn’t really care what other people thought about him, but these insults were particularly nasty and mean-spirited. He didn’t like hearing them directed at himself, but more than that, he didn’t like hearing them directed at Dean.
 

“I can’t believe you’re actually dating Dean Winchester,” Charlie grinned at him, twisted around in her seat to face Cas in calculus class as usual. “He’s been totally…” Waving one hand, she finished with, “unattainable. Right since he transferred in. And you snapped him up so fast as soon as you got here!”

“I didn’t mean to,” Cas admitted, “it just kind of happened.”

“It was meant to be.” Charlie told him, “and you guys are cute together. What I see of you, anyway. I can’t believe you still won’t tell me where you eat lunch with him!”

A little, almost amused smile tugged at Cas’s lips. “It’s a secret, Charlie. I told you.”

“You know she’s never going to stop bothering you about that, right?” Garth commented idly.

Cas sighed. It was probably true. Charlie was the type to be really stubborn when she got an idea into her head. He waved her closer. “Come here.” Then he leaned to whisper in her ear—and when he sat back, he gave her a serious look. “Don’t tell anyone, Charlie. Dean would be really upset if everyone knew.”

Charlie was grinning ear-to-ear and nodded emphatically. “I promise! And I won’t even come bother you in your love nest or anything, I swear it!”

Cas flushed red at the ‘love nest’ comment and palmed over his face to cover it. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Charlie’s grin faded into something vaguely fond, “you’re my friend. I just want you to be happy. That’s why I love seeing you with Dean so much, you’re so obviously happy with him.”

“I—” Cas made a surprised noise, the red flush returning to his face, and glanced down a little. He offered a smile of his own. “I am happy. Thanks, Charlie. For being my friend.” Then he looked up and offered, “you too, Garth, Jody. I don’t know what I’d do without you three.”

“Well, you’d be really bored in calculus.” Charlie was grinning again.

“We’ll introduce you to Jo and Kevin some time,” Garth added, “I think you’ll like them, too. By the time we graduate you’ll have a whole group of friends.”

Cas had to pause and ponder that. He’d never really had a group of friends to rely on before, it was sort of a novelty for him, but so far it was… nice. He liked Charlie, and Jody, and Garth. He liked them a lot. And he hoped they would remain friends, even after their high school careers were over in a few months, but it was hard to say where they would all even be.

Cas himself was tentatively looking at Florida State University, assuming he and his father didn’t move again—and it was starting to look like his father was going to keep his word, actually—he had presented Cas with a seminar tour schedule a couple of days before and hadn’t said a word about moving house again.

And he knew Dean would be on the road, or at least assumed he would be. It was only a matter of time before the older boy left Jacksonville.

But as for his other friends…

“Hey,” He said finally, “do you think we’ll still be friends, even after we graduate?”

“Well, I hope so.” Charlie hummed, tapping a finger lightly on Cas’s desk, almost an absent motion. “I’m taking a gap year after high school is over to travel, but we can keep in touch, the Internet and all that kind of stuff, you know? And I can send you guys postcards from all the cool places I visit!”

Cas smiled at that. “That would be nice, actually.” He glanced at Jody and Garth, “what about you?”

“Law Enforcement.” Jody informed him with a shrug, “I’m already enrolled in the academy for the fall semester.” Somehow this seemed appropriate for Jody, though Cas wasn’t entirely sure why. “I’m going to start off here, but I could end up assigned somewhere else in the end, right?”

“Dental college for me.” Garth piped up, making Cas blink in surprise. He didn’t know what, exactly, he had expected from the other boy, but Dentist certainly wasn’t it. “I’m starting in the fall, too, in, but I’m moving to Fort Lauderdale for it.” He shrugged, though, and added, “but Charlie’s right, we can all keep in touch.”

Charlie looked at Cas. “What about you, Cas?”

“I want to go for Theology, and maybe World Folklore and Mythology,” He offered, “a double major? I’m thinking about Florida State, since it looks like my Father and I might actually be staying here for a while.”

“Ooh, you guys all have real goals!” Charlie laughed, “I’m impressed! I’m not really sure what I want to do after my gap year, but maybe something with computers.”

“Computers?” Cas questioned.

“Yeah,” Charlie agreed, “I’m really good with computers. I can take them apart and put them back together blindfolded, practically, and I’m really good at coding and stuff. I’m definitely a computer geek. So, it’d be natural, right? Besides, you can make good money in the tech field if you know what you’re doing.”

That was a fair point. Cas nodded, but then added, “I wouldn’t have thought you were so into computers.”

“You don’t take computer class with me!” Charlie laughed, “I run circles around everyone else! Besides, I do other stuff too. See?” She held out one arm to show off the bracelets she was wearing, “I make jewelry, and sell it on Etsy. Beaded stuff like this and woven leather bracelets, friendship bracelets, that sort of thing. I do pretty well with it, actually!”

Cas stared at her blankly. “What’s an Etsy.”

Charlie patted his hand. “A store on the Internet, Cas. A store on the Internet. Uhhh, here! Have my business card!” She produced a business card for ‘Charlie’s Treasure Box’ from her backpack, then just changed the topic entirely:

“Now why don’t you tell us all about that massive hickey on your neck? Like, dude, you’re not even trying to hide it.”

–
–

That night, Cas was doing homework in his bedroom when he remembered Charlie’s business card. He dug it out of his backpack and opened his laptop up to go to her Etsy store, which was for some reason under the user name ‘charliesnotmyrealname.’ He made a mental note to ask her about that at some point.

Charlie’s Treasure Box was actually a pretty big store, and had a ton of feedback and reviews, all of it positive. She sold mostly bracelets, but a few necklaces, earrings and ornamental hair pieces as well. The store was divided into sections; bracelets, necklaces, earrings and hair pieces, and then each section was divided into sub-sections to make finding what you wanted easier.

Though she made no claims to be pagan or a wiccan, Charlie made bracelets with different gemstones for protection, healing, luck, all kinds of things. That was an interesting section. But the section that Cas found most interesting was the woven leather bracelets—some of them were feminine, but many were very masculine, and all had a sort of Celtic feel to them. He really liked those.

He had to admit that Charlie was talented, not that that had really been in question to begin with.

That got him down the Rabbit Hole of Etsy, though, from stick-and-poke tattoos to unusual candles to fake skeletons of mythological creatures—or possibly not so fake, his mind supplied—and before Cas knew it an hour and a half had passed, and he was way behind on his homework.

He was just shutting his laptop down when his phone binged with a text message from Sam:

[I know it’s none of my business, but please don’t do anything to hurt Dean. He likes you a stupid amount and I don’t want to deal with him if he gets his heart broken. Seems like he’d be a real pain in the butt like that.]

Cas stared blankly at his phone for a long, long moment before starting to reply. Typing. Then deleting what he had typed and starting over. He did that several times before finally hitting send:

[I don’t intend to. I like him a lot, too. Where is this coming from, Sam?]

There was a long pause before his phone pinged again:

[Just listening to him wax on about you, watching him stare into space while he obviously thinks about you. I’ve never seen him like this before. He’s my brother, I’m allowed to worry.]

Cas smiled, just a little. Both at the though of Dean acting like that when he wasn’t even around, and at Sam being so protective of him. Sam acted like a typical thirteen-year-old, but when no one was looking he was actually very mature for his age:

[You’re a good kid, Sam. Thank you for taking such good care of him.]

Another pause, then:

[You take good care of him, too, right? Promise?]

Another smile, this time fond:

[I promise.]

One more, brief pause before:

[Thanks, Cas.]

Cas didn’t bother to respond to that. He figured the ‘you’re welcome’ was a given. For now, he set his cell phone aside and got back to his history homework. It was going to be a late night.

–
–

The next couple of days passed mostly uneventfully, though on Wednesday when Cas finally remembered to ask Charlie about her Etsy url, she just responded with “you didn’t think ‘Charlie’ was my real name, did you?”

And Cas was somewhat stymied because yes… he… had?

But she cheerfully refused to elaborate, so he got no real answers.

Jody and Garth thought it was hilarious.

–
–

When Cas got to school on Thursday morning, he was delighted to find Dean leaning against one of the retaining walls, waiting for him. It had become habit for him to wait for Dean after school and for Dean to walk him home—especially after they’d been attacked, Dean seemed very worried it could happen again, since the thing had gotten away—but this was the first time they’d met up before classes.

Dean waved him over and Cas hurried his way through the crowd of students heading inside, over to where the older boy was waiting.

“Good morning.” He was trying not to smile too widely and probably failing miserably. Having a boyfriend was new to him, and it seemed to be dredging up a lot of happy feelings that he hadn’t even known he possessed.

Dean returned his smile with a small grin, reached to grab hold of his arm, and pulled him forward into a kiss. Cas returned it with a little pleased noise, ignoring the combination of whistles and jeers that came from the rest of the student body.

He was aware, of course, that there were a number of other kids that went to Caspar who were less than thrilled with their relationship. He’d heard the whispered insults as soon as people caught wind that they were ‘dating.’ But he supposed that no matter where you went, you would encounter people like that—so a high school was no different.

The important thing to Cas was that Dean didn’t seem to let it bother him, and also that his friends didn’t mind. Charlie, Jody and Garth didn’t give a damn that he was in a relationship with Dean—in fact, Charlie was all for it. But then again, she was gay herself, so it made sense that she would be supportive. Jody was glad he was happy, but worried about him because of the rest of the student body and Garth—well, Garth was just too laid-back to care. He had a ‘you do you as long as you’re not hurting anybody else’ kind of attitude. Cas could appreciate that.

Now, for example, he was pretty sure he wasn’t hurting anybody when he and Dean pulled apart, only for Dean to tug him close for another kiss. Cas hummed pleasantly against his lips. This was the first time they had kissed publicly like this, and it was… pleasing. To know that Dean didn’t mind. The muttered insults from some of those around them were less pleasing, though.

Still, Cas pushed them to the back of his mind and focused on kissing his boyfriend for a long couple of minutes… until they finally had to break apart to catch their breaths and Dean returned his earlier greeting with a smile and a murmured, “hi.”

Cas reached up with one hand to toy with one of the buttons on Dean’s jacket, a small smile on his face the whole time. “What was that all about?”

“Just felt like kissing you.” Dean shrugged, “it’s okay, right?”

“Definitely okay.” Cas agreed—and looked up when the warning bell rang. “We’ve got to go.”

“I hate school.” Dean grumbled.

“I know.” Cas patted his chest sympathetically, but still stepped back, waiting for Dean to join him before heading across the open front of the school toward the stairs to go into Caspar proper—and just before he hit the stairs, hands grabbed at the back of his backpack and shoved him forward, making him stumble and fall. Cas landed on the lower stairs with a pained little grunt, smacking his knees, palms and nose off the concrete, and twisted to look back—

The kid who’d pushed him spat out, “fuckin’ fag!”, but before he could say anything else Dean was on him, punching him right in the face. The guy went down like a sack of potatoes and Dean followed, grabbing hold of the front of his shirt and punching him twice more just for good measure while a crowd gathered in a wide circle around them.

Then he just let go and stood up, glaring the entire time, to turn his attention to Cas. “Shit, Cas, you alright?”

“Yeah, I think.” Cas let Dean help him up, looking down at his now-torn jeans with dismay. His knees and palms were skinned slightly and—

“Your nose is bleeding.” Dean pointed out, and Cas reached up to wipe at it, smearing the blood over the back of one hand. Dean glowered and turned another glare on the offender, who was still trying to collect himself on the ground. “Get the hell out of here, you little prick!”

The kid scrambled to his feet and dashed out of sight, though he looked like he might have more to say if Dean had been less of a threat. Cas, meanwhile, grabbed at Dean’s hand and pulled it up to look at the red-and-bruising knuckles there with a frown. He sniffed absently when blood continued to drip from his nose.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Dean.”

“I was supposed to just let him get away with that?”

“I know, but you’re going to be in trouble…”

“I don’t care.” Dean took his hand back and began steering Cas toward the front doors of the school again, “lets’ go get you cleaned up.”

They spent the entirety of first period in the first-floor boy’s bathroom getting Cas’s nosebleed under control and making sure his knees and hands were okay (they were.) Cas also fussed over Dean’s hand, which was steadily turning more and more black-and-blue, the knuckles red and angry looking. Cas knew, logically, that it wasn’t the first time Dean had ever punched someone—or something, he supposed—but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with. He didn’t like seeing Dean injured, even just minorly like that.

“You really need to ice that hand,” He commended worriedly while Dean worked on his nose, packing it with toilet paper to staunch the flow of blood and ordering him to keep his head back until it stopped.

“It’s fine.” Dean replied gruffly… and then heaved a sigh and ran his good hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Cas, but he shoved you and said that and I just…”

“I understand.” Cas assured him, words coming out a little garbled because of all the tissue crammed in his nose, “I just don’t want you to get in trouble for me.”

“You’re one of the few people I would happily get in trouble for, though.” Dean admitted and offered a wry little smile. “Besides, it’s not like I’ll go to jail or anything, I’ll just get detention. It’s no big deal, really.”

“You punched that guy in the face.”

“And we’ve already established that he deserved it.”

It was about that time that the door swung open, and the Vice Principal Patterson stepped into the room. He seemed… unimpressed, to say the least, and looked over the two of them before all but bellowing, “I’VE CURRENTLY GOT A KID IN THE OFFICE WHO LOOKS LIKE HE’S BEEN PUMMELED BY A PROFESSIONAL BOXER, BUT YOU WOULDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT, WOULD YOU?” And then; “DEAN WINCHESTER, CASTIEL NOVAK, PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE. NOW.”

–
–

Cas had never been a troublemaker but got the impression that Dean was more than used to trips to the principal’s office. The other boy seemed right at home seated in front of the Vice Principal’s desk, waiting for Vice Principal Patterson to join them and, presumably, get them in trouble.

“I didn’t do anything wrong.” Dean informed the man as soon as he came into the room, a frown on his face and his entire posture tense. Dean twisted in his seat to watch him walk across and take a seat behind the desk.

“You punched another student in the face.” Mr. Patterson informed Dean flatly. “Several times.”

“He was asking for it!” Dean insisted, “he shoved Cas down and called him a fag!” Then; “th—that’s totally a hate crime!”

“Only if Mr. Novak is gay.”

Dean rolled his eyes, grabbed hold of Cas’s shirt and pulled him over, kissing him firmly, then turned an expectant look on Mr. Patterson when he let go, leaving Cas to blink a few times in surprise. Mr. Patterson looked taken aback for a moment before he managed, “oh.”

“We’ve been together for a while now.” Dean explained almost casually, “you think I wasn’t going to defend my boyfriend from something like that?”

The older man turned his gaze to Cas, who was obviously banged up and still had bloody tissue in his nose. Cas hurried to tug it out, sniffing absently and wiping at his nose afterward, pleased that the bleeding appeared to have stopped. “I’m okay, sir. I just skinned my knees when I fell and banged my nose off the steps.”

There was a long, drawn-out silence, before Mr. Patterson cleared his throat and offered, “Mr. Downey failed to tell us this part.” Downey must have been the name of the kid who’d started this whole fiasco. Dean scoffed, but he was clenching one hand into a fist at the same time. Mr. Patterson shifted in his seat before continuing, “you can’t go unpunished, Mr. Winchester, it would set a bad precedent. But I can be lenient on you, considering.” His eyebrows lifted, “lunch time detention today, and try to stay away from Mr. Downey from now on. Alright?”

Dean was already standing. “Yes.”

“And boys,” A sigh, “please report any further incidents to myself or Principal Cavanaugh. Don’t take them into your own hands.”

This time Dean grinned. “No promises.” Then, “lets’ go, Cas.”

The two of them fled the Vice Principal’s office before he could change his mind.

–
–

Lunch hour just wasn’t the same without Dean, but they really had gotten off easy all things considered, so Cas didn’t feel like he had the right to complain. Still, he sat under the bleachers by himself and found himself wishing Dean was there, particularly when he went to dig out his lunch and came up with the usual two sandwiches.

Deciding he wasn’t all that hungry himself, he just settled for his bottle of water and fished out his needle and thread. By the time lunch hour was over he had managed to patch up the righthand knee of his jeans. The left side would have to wait until he got home later.

His classes after lunch were long, boring, and approximated torture, with the exception of calculus, where he had friends. Jody, Charlie and Garth were very interested in knowing the truth behind the rumors that were already flying around the school—and when he told them what had happened, they all came down on the Dean Was Right side of things, which was reassuring to say the least. Charlie offered to punch ‘that Downey kid’ herself, just in solidarity. Cas turned her offer down, but appreciated it nonetheless.

After classes let out for the day, Cas hurried down to where he usually waited for Dean, sitting on the steps, off to the side so as not to get trampled by the masses who were exiting the building, another school day over. It took a while longer than usual for Dean to make his appearance, but when he did Cas brightened considerably.

“Hey, Cas,” Dean’s feet brought him to a stop standing in front of Cas, and he smiled down at him with something that edged into fondness. “Sorry, Mr. Patterson cornered me after last class to reiterate that I am not to go around punching people in the face. It took a while.”

“It’s okay.” Cas smiled back at him, then looked away long enough to dig in his backpack—and held out the sandwich that had been meant for Dean at lunch. “You must be hungry.”

Dean laughed but took the sandwich anyway. Holding it with one hand, he used the other to help Cas to his feet. “You really look out for me, don’t you?”

Cas dusted himself off and shrugged into his backpack. “I packed it for you to begin with.”

“You fixed your jeans,” Dean observed as he began unwrapping the sandwich and they started to walk. Once the sandwich was unwrapped, he stuffed the wrapper into his pocket and began eating with enthusiasm. “Thanks, Cas.”

“I only got one knee done at lunch. I’m going to have to get the other one done later.” Cas shrugged slightly, then watched Dean eating out of the corner of his eye before smiling and adding, “you’re welcome, Dean.” He paused, then; “it was weird, spending lunch without you. I didn’t like it.”

“Neither did I.” Dean admitted around a mouthful of sandwich, “detention sucks. Mostly ‘cause you’re not there. At least it was just for today.”

“Mn,” The younger boy hesitated slightly, then reached one hand out to catch Dean’s free hand, tangling their fingers together and squeezing gently, “thank you for what you did. It was… a little excessive. But I appreciate it anyway. I’ve never really had anyone to stand up for me before you came along.”

The truth was, he had never really had friends before Caspar High, never mind a boyfriend to be protective of him. With all the moving around he and his father had done because of his father’s job, he had never been in any one place long enough to form lasting relationships. But for some reason, here, at Caspar, people were latching onto him right away—people that he hoped to be friends with (or more) for years to come.

“You never had friends before?”

“Not really.” It was like Dean was reading his mind. Cas smiled absently to himself—then a little more when Dean finished off his sandwich and adjusted his hand in Cas’s but didn’t pull away. “I moved around too much. But I think… maybe. Before my Father adopted me, I have this feeling like I came from a big family. I don’t actually remember it, though, it’s just… I feel it. In here.” He brought his free hand up to touch by his chest lightly. “So maybe I had people when I was really little, but… like I said, I don’t remember.”

For Dean it was different. He had Sam, and he had his dad, for better or worse, and through his dad he had a whole network of Hunters and people who were Hunter-adjacent that he could also rely on in a pinch. But when it came to actual friends, he kind of knew where Cas was coming from. It was hard to make friends your own age when you hopped schools—and cities—every six months or (usually) less.

Caspar High had thus far been usual for him, too—not so much in the friends department, he was purposely being distant with his classmates because there was no good reasoning in getting close to people he would be abandoning in a month—but because of Cas.

Right from the start there had been something about Cas that drew him in; one minute he’d been rescuing the other boy from bullies and the next he had been making out with him under the bleachers and now he was holding hands with him as they walked down the street. It was all very backwards from Dean’s hard-wired aloof character and his built-in self-preservation skills. He never let people get as close to him as Cas was getting. There was never any point.

But this, this thing with Cas…

It felt good. It felt right. Affection in a way that Dean had never felt before, and he was sure Cas felt the same, though neither of them had said anything yet. Dean didn’t believe in fate, but it was almost like they were meant to find each other the way they had.

“How’s your hand?”

Cas’s voice pulled Dean out of his thoughts, and he lifted his free hand to hold it out in front of him, looking at the bruises and contusions almost idly. “It’ll be fine. Just bruised. How’s your nose?”

“Not bleeding anymore.” Cas reached up to rub his nose absently, then; “really, Dean, you didn’t have to do that. I just got pushed down, it’s not the first time that’s happened to me.”

“He called you a slur.” Dean pointed out, “anyway, who’s pushing you around all the time?”

“I didn’t say ‘all the time’. And just kids at other schools, bullying me. I’m always the New Kid. And I’m weird. But you know how that is. Caspar’s actually been pretty good for the bullying… but I guess that’s mostly thanks to you.”

“You just called me weird.” Dean commented with a smile.

Cas tugged at Dean’s hand. “I meant the New Kid thing and you know it.”

Dean tugged back. “Why are we holding hands, again?”

Cas made a soft ‘I dunno’ kind of noise. “It just felt right. We can stop if you want.”

The older teen shook his head and squeezed Cas’s hand gently. “This is cool with me.”

The rest of the walk to Cas’s house was made in companionable silence, the two of them holding hands, fingers threaded in together comfortably and both of them wearing tiny, barely visible smiles that no one bothered to acknowledge.

When they got to the house and climbed the steps up to the front porch, there was a long hesitation before they let go of each other’s hands, and even after they had done so they stood close together for a while, just soaking each other in. Then Dean leaned in give Cas a quick kiss—and was about to leave when Cas caught his hand again, tugging gently.

“Do you want to come in?”

Dean hesitated. Even with walking Cas home every day, he had never been inside the house itself, only ever made it to the porch. “I could, at least for a little while. Then I’ve gotta get back to Sammy, though. Why?”

“I want to introduce you to my Father.” Cas informed him, “he should be home today.”

“Uh.” Dean balked significantly at that because meeting the parents? Was not something to take lightly, and even he knew that. He couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to introduce Cas to his dad. It would be a disaster. “Cas, are you sure that’s a good idea…? What if he hates me? What if he forbids you to see me?”

“I’d still keep seeing you anyway.” Cas blinked, then added; “but I didn’t mean I wanted to introduce you as my boyfriend, my Father is just concerned that I don’t have any friends at Caspar, so I thought it might put his mind at ease if he met one. If you’re not comfortable with it, I can bring Jody and Garth by some other day instead. But probably not Charlie quite yet, she’s the strangest friend I have. Including you and Sam.”

“Oh. Oh, okay, I get it.” Dean relaxed again. He ducked in to kiss Cas once more, then stepped back to a reasonable distance. “Yeah, we can be Just Friends for your Dad. Lets’ go inside.” But then he stopped and frowned a little as he asked, “Cas, would your Dad have a problem with us being together?”

“No, he wouldn’t mind that I was with another boy.” Cas shook his head, “I just don’t think he’s ready for me to be in a relationship at all just yet. He thinks I’m… delicate. Which I guess is true, in certain ways.”

Dean stepped closer again and tipped his head to press a kiss against Cas’s forehead. “I wouldn’t say ‘delicate’. ‘Sensitive’, maybe. And I don’t mind that you’re sensitive, it’s one of your good qualities.”

“Mm,” Cas hummed an agreement, eyes closing over, and reached with both hands to grasp at the front of Dean’s jacket, tugging him even closer. “You’re a good boyfriend, Dean. Maybe I should just introduce you that way after all.”

“You said your Dad wasn’t ready.” Dean pointed out, “we can give it some more time and then tell him.”

“I don’t want to give him a heart attack,” Cas murmured, then; “can I have another kiss before we go in? Or maybe more than one? Possibly several?”

A soft laugh, but Dean was already tilting his head to give Cas the requested kisses, “you’re going to get us caught.”

“Mm-mm,” Cas made a quiet negative noise into one kiss, pausing before the next to add, “my Father is probably in his office, he doesn’t even know we’re here.”

Making out on the porch was risky, though, because his father knew approximately what time he was supposed to be getting home, and if Cas was too late coming in the door, he might come looking for him. So, after another few, drawn-out kisses, Cas reluctantly pulled back, letting go of Dean’s jacket and moving to open the door and go inside.

“You don’t have to stay for long, I know you have to check on Sam.” He assured the older boy, “I just want to reassure my Father that I actually have friends. He worries about me a lot.”

Dean just shrugged. As much as he was always checking on Sam at the motel, most of it was because it had been drilled into him by his dad. Logically, he knew Sam was thirteen and plenty old enough to take care of himself, especially with the way they had been raised. The only problem was that Sam had been known to bolt when left to his own devices, only to be found halfway across the country a month later. If that happened (again) on Dean’s watch, he would never hear the end of it.

Still.

“Sammy can take care of himself for a little bit.”

“You should probably call him and let him know where you are, at least.” Cas said as they stepped into the house and he closed the door behind them. “Take your shoes off, please, my Father is kind of weird about that.”

“No shoes in the house, got it.” Dean nodded, stepping out of his shoes by the door. He pulled his phone out and quickly dialed Sam, letting his brother know, briefly, what was going on when he answered. Then he just hung up and dropped his phone back into his pocket. “Done!”

Cas smiled. He had already taken his shoes off as well and reached to give Dean’s hand a quick squeeze. “I’ll go get my Father,” He told the other boy, “you can wait in the living room if you want.”

Dean cast a look across the open concept main floor to the living room area and nodded, trying not to feel nervous. “I can do that.”

“I’ll be right back.” Cas promised, and headed for the stairs, climbing them quickly and wandering down the hall to the door of his father’s office. He paused, though, at the closed door, one hand raised to knock, to take a bit of a breath. He knew they were going to be introducing Dean as his friend, not his boyfriend, but he was still a little worried.

After a long hesitation, he finally knocked—and waited. Silence. His father was probably deep in his work. He might not have even heard Cas knock. So, Cas knocked again, louder this time, and cracked the door open to peer inside. His father was sitting at his desk, typing on his computer, the tak tak tak of the keys loud in the small room. “Father?”

The typing continued for another sentence or two and then stopped. His father turned around in his chair. “Hey, Cas. Do you need something?”

“I—um.” Cas hesitated again before clearing his throat and informing; “I brought a friend home from school. I thought you’d like to meet him? I know you’re worried about me making friends.”

His father brightened, smiling, and stood from his chair, “absolutely! This is great, Cas! You haven’t brought a friend home in ages.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Cas apologized, only for his father to wave the apology off. He stepped back out into the hall and headed downstairs with his father in tow. “Um, so Dean can’t stay long, he has to get home and look after his little brother, but he said he could come in for a little while. We just have to make this quick, that’s all.”

“Understood.” His father chuckled.

Cas made his way over to the living room where Dean was waiting, seated on the admittedly ugly but definitely comfortable couch. He stood up quickly when they approached, brushing invisible dust off his jeans, obviously nervous despite their earlier talk.

“Hello, Mr. Novak.” Dean greeted politely, “it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s Mr. Shurley, actually, Cas and I don’t share a last name.” Cas’s father corrected with a smile, “but you can call me Chuck. Dean, right?”

“Yes, sir. Dean Winchester.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Dean.” And then, “really. Call me Chuck.”

“Chuck, then.” Dean agreed with what he hoped was an easy smile. He held out his hand and Chuck shook it firmly. This really felt like meeting his boyfriend’s parents, even though they had agreed that wasn’t what it was. Not this time, anyway. “Cas tells me you’re a… motivational speaker?”

“Yes,” Chuck agreed, “I’ve written a couple books, I’m working on my next one. And I travel around the country doing seminars.”

“Mm.” Dean nodded, hands moving to his pockets because he felt like he was about to start fidgeting. “Cas said that was why he moved around so much. My family moves around a lot, too.”

“Dean’s Dad travels for his work as well.” Cas put in. So far, he was pleased with how things were going. “Right now he’s out of town, so Dean’s looking after his brother, like I said.”

“Ah. So, you’ve got something in common, hm?” Chuck’s smile was sympathetic now, “how did you two meet?”

“At lunch at school.” Dean offered truthfully, “one of the other kids was trying to pick on Cas and I stepped in. I know what it’s like to be new.”

“That was kind of you.”

Dean just shrugged and glanced toward Cas, who gave him a fond look when Chuck wasn’t looking. “I don’t like bullying.” He informed, and smiled again, “anyway, after that Cas and I just kind of hit it off. We’ve been friends ever since.”

Cas’s father seemed to like Dean a lot, and that was a relief. Cas was feeling much more relaxed about this entire idea now—and Dean appeared to be as well. Maybe having met Dean, Chuck would stop worrying about his son at school quite so much. That would be nice, to not have his father ‘mother hen’ him as much as he currently was.

Now they continued to chat for another few minutes, until Cas looked toward the clock in the kitchen and realized what time it was. It was getting late, and Dean really did need to go, unfortunately.

“Dean, it’s getting late,” He said reluctantly, “you should probably get back to Sam.”

Dean just nodded with a smile. “Yeah, you’re right.” Then he turned his attention back to Chuck; “it was nice to meet you, Chuck. Thanks for having me in your house and everything.”

“No problem, Dean, it’s just good to meet an actual friend of Cas’s.” Chuck waved one hand dismissively, but then added, “it is time for you to go, though, Cas and I still have to have dinner, and he probably has homework, right Cas?”

Cas nodded in agreement. Dean stepped out of the living room and headed over to pull his shoes back on, and Cas trailed along behind him. Chuck went to the kitchen to start preparing their dinner—Cas would help him in a minute, as much as his cooking skills would allow. For now, he reached to subtly squeeze one of Dean’s hands before the older boy could make his exit.

“Thank you,” Cas said softly.

Dean just gave him a smile and squeezed his hand back. “Anything for you, Cas.” They couldn’t do anything else, not with Chuck right there, not pretending to be Just Friends for him, but that was enough for now. “I’ll see you later.”