Horror High: Chapter Nine

[vanimadin]

Title: Horror High

Pairing: Destiel

Rating: Explicit (in other 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: Second-last chapter, only one more to go after this! Also available ON AO3! :D
 

HORROR HIGH
Chapter Nine
By Senashenta

Four days into his convalescence, and Cas was already going stir-crazy.

Dean continued to visit him every day to keep him company for a while and help him with his bandages, but he could only stay for so long before he had to get back to the motel to keep an eye on Sam (or Cas’s father kicked him out so Cas could continue resting up from ‘the flu.’) They took to showering together each day, but somehow managed to keep their hands off each other after the first time (mostly.)

Cas had spent most of the first couple of days after being injured just sleeping through the pain, of course, but after that he started carefully puttering around his room, toying around on his laptop—looking up news reports about what had been found outside Caspar High the morning after the Hunt; apparently it was all being written off as a prank or vandals—and reading books. All things that didn’t pull at his wounds too much.

On the fourth day, he was sitting in bed, trying to read his copy of Good Omens and unable to concentrate at all when he finally dropped the worn paperback into the rumpled covers and flopped back. He winced faintly when the gashes on his ribs protested the movement and stared up at the stars on his ceiling for a moment.

He was bored.

A quick glance at the clock on the bedside table told Cas that Dean was late getting there: it was almost five and he was usually there by four at the latest. And it had been four days. Surely he could go outside now, at least for a little while. (His “I’ve got the flu” excuse could only last so long before his father got suspicious, anyway.)

So finally, he dropped his book on his desk and proceeded to get dressed, with only a minimal amount of wincing and cursing under his breath. His ribs really were on the mend, but there were some movements (particularly bending at the waist) that pulled them and made them protest. It made getting his shoes on when he got down to the front door an interesting feat to say the least. He was sitting on the little bench by the door, struggling to get his second shoe on when his father’s voice piped up: “Did I just hear you call your shoe an ‘assbutt’?”

Cas didn’t look up but shrugged with one shoulder. “I ran out of more creative insults.”

“Where are you going?”

“To see Dean.” He finally got his foot in his shoe and made a quiet triumphant noise as he quickly tied it.

“And you’re feeling better?”

Uh. Cas straightened, then stood, forcing himself not to wince, and gave his father a nod. “Yes.”

Chuck stepped forward and reached to rest a hand against Cas’s forehead, obviously checking for a fever, but when he didn’t feel one, he dropped his arm again and smiled. “Okay. Go on, then. Tell Dean I said hi.”

“I will!”

Cas scooted out the door before his father could change his mind, heading in the direction of downtown. It normally took just under an hour to walk between his house and the motel, but he kept having to stop and take rests or catch his breath, so this time it took longer. Still, his phone told him it was only just before six-thirty when he arrived on Dean and Sam’s doorstep, which he figured wasn’t all that bad, considering.

He knocked on the motel room door, listening for movement inside, and could hear Dean’s voice, raised, sounding aggravated—and it was Sam who finally unlatched the door and yanked it open with a surprised look on his face. “Cas!” And then he lowered his voice with a glance over his shoulder, “what are you doing here?”

“I was going crazy, cooped up in my room.” Cas lifted a hand to hold at his ribs almost absently, “and Dean was late, so I figured…” He trailed off when Dean’s voice raised another pitch before dropping back to normal again, “what’s going on?”

Sam looked over his shoulder again, then sighed and stepped aside for Cas to come in. Over by the kitchenette, Dean was pacing back and forth, his old flip phone up to his ear and a frustrated look on his face—he kept trying to say things, only to clearly be interrupted by the person on the other end of the line. Eventually he was down to simply “yes, sir” and “no, sir” over and over again. Cas very quickly figured out he was talking to his dad. When Dean looked over and saw him, surprise flitted across his face—and then he got pulled back into the obvious dressing down he was receiving from his father.

“Dad figured out he finished his Hunt a few days ago,” Sam explained, voice low, “he wanted to know why Dean didn’t call him right away.”

Cas winced at that. “Oh.”

“They’ve been going at it for almost two hours now,” Sam continued, “Dean doesn’t want to tell Dad about you, but I think he’s doing to have to. It’s… not good.”

Guilt crawled up Cas’s spine and he looked over, watching Dean argue quietly for a moment. “This is my fault.”

“It’s not.” Sam insisted. “All you did was get close to Dean. That’s not a crime.” The younger teen was currently shoving clothes into a duffle bag—

“—BECAUSE I MET SOMEONE HERE, DAD! I HAVE A BOYFRIEND!” Dean abruptly blurted from across the room, his voice nearly a shout. He had one hand planted on the kitchenette counter, green eyes glaring at the countertop harshly. “Yes, I mean a relationship, what else would I mean by ‘boyfriend’?! I—”

Cas and Sam both cringed when the voice on the other end of the phone got so loud that they could hear it demanding an explanation. Sam went back to shoving clothes in the duffle bag, shoulders hunched a little.

“—because he’s—sick—right now, Dad, and I don’t want to leave him while he’s—” Dean made a frustrated noise and glanced toward Cas from the corner of his eye. After a moment of yelling from the other end of the phone he kicked the counter in front of him and muttered, “yes, sir… I know, but—”

“Come on,” Cas was watching Dean worriedly, but Sam tugged at his arm, hefting the duffle bag of clothes up over his shoulder. “Knowing how Dean feels about you, and knowing Dad, they could be at it all night. There’s no point in standing around listening to it. I’m going to go do laundry and you’re coming with me.”

Though he was reluctant to leave, Cas understood the logic. There was also the fact that he was sure there were things Dean couldn’t say with him around. So, he gave a weak little wave in Dean’s direction and just followed Sam out the door.

The laundry room was just down the row of motel rooms, situated next to the office. It held two coin-operated washing machines and two dryers, as well as a vending machine with little boxes of laundry soap and dryer sheets, and a second vending machine with drinks and snacks. There were also a couple of cheap plastic chairs and a table to match, probably meant for folding your laundry on.

Sam dug in his pocket for some change to buy laundry soap, then emptied the bag of clothes, along with the soap, into one of the washers. A few more coins got it started, and the two of them sat down to wait. It was clear Sam had done this very thing many times before.

“I usually bring a book with me, or my laptop.” Sam explained, breaking the silence after a short while, obviously trying to ease the tension that Cas was feeling at the moment. “But having someone to talk with is good, too.” He paused, then asked, “Dean keeps telling me you’re doing okay, but he won’t let me come with him to visit you. How are you doing, really?”

Cas shifted in his seat, unwilling to admit out loud that the reason Dean didn’t want Sam to come along was that they kept climbing into the shower together. It would be more than a little awkward. Now he just shrugged and brought one hand up to rest against his own side absently. “I really am doing okay, Sam. I walked all the way here and I only had to stop and catch my breath a couple of times.”

“But your injuries?”

“They’re healing. They’re much better than they were before. I…” Trailing off for a breath, Cas smiled and offered, “I haven’t been able to thank you properly, but Dean says you’re the one who patched me up. So, thank you, Sam.”

“I couldn’t just let you bleed out.” Sam shrugged.

“And I appreciate that.” Cas chuckled softly. “Really, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Cas.”

The rest of the time the laundry was washing and drying was spent with the two of them chatting about various things; classes at school, what it was like for Sam to take classes while on the road with Dean and his Dad, the times that the brothers were unceremoniously dumped off with someone called ‘Pastor Jim’, some of the times Sam had made friends along the way (he had two friends at Bedwin Junior High that he was going to miss, Andy and Ava), Sam’s views on some of his father’s views—but also books, movies and television shows. Cas was a little lost when it came to movies and TV, but he did know his books, and Sam had an impressive library in his head considering he was thirteen. The younger boy’s memory was impeccable.

When the clothes were out of the dryer and the two of them were folding them, still warm, on the sketchy table, Cas fell silent while he worked but Sam decided to address the elephant in the room:

“I see the way you look at each other,” Sam told him almost idly, then continued; “it’s okay if you’re in love with him, you know.” He didn’t even glance up from the shirt he was folding. “I’m pretty sure he loves you, too.”

Cas didn’t jump or jolt at the words, but he did blink several times and give Sam a surprised look. Sam didn’t flinch, just kept folding laundry. Cas looked away, eyes turning downward, and was silent for a long couple of minutes before he licked his lips and managed weakly, “I don’t think he can love me, Sam. With his life, with the way things are for him.”

Sam scoffed at that. “Just because he’s a Hunter doesn’t mean he can’t love. And the way he looks at you…” Trailing off a little, the younger boy laughed softly; “he looks at you like people look at Rembrandts or the Sistine Chapel. Like you’re the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. I’ve never seen my brother this way before, the way he is with you.” Finally, Sam spared a glance over to give Cas a little smile, “I think he might even give up Hunting for you, if you asked him to.”

“I could never ask him to do that.” Cas shook his head, “being a Hunter is everything to him.”

“Not everything.” Sam corrected knowingly. “And he’s already gone against Dad for you. That’s something I never thought I’d see.” He finished folding a hoodie and his hands paused halfway to grabbing the next item of clothing. He turned a frown on Cas. “The jorogumo thing.” He said firmly, “I’m sure Dean already told you, but you were stupid, Cas. You should never have gone there, never have gotten involved. You got hurt.”

Cas brought one hand up to his ribs again, pressing there with the faintest of winces, and his eyes flickered downward. “I know.”

“What I know he didn’t tell you is how absolutely frantic he was when he brought you back here. He was panicking and Dean never panics. If you’d died, it would have destroyed him.” Sam smacked a hand into Cas’s arm lightly for emphasis before going back to folding laundry, his energy full of frustration now. “Honestly, you two are driving me nuts. You spend practically every waking minute together. And some of the sleeping ones, too. You moon over each other constantly. You almost get yourself killed and he absolutely loses his shit because of it. You’re practically living in each other’s pockets, but you’re both dancing around the issue like freaking ballerinas. I wish one of you would just say it already and get it over with.”

“It’s not that simple, Sam.” Cas offered softly. “I know you know that. You’re a Hunter, too.”

“Not by choice.” The younger teen informed him flatly before frowning over at him, “and it’s not fair! When two people find each other like you guys have—people who were clearly meant to be together—they should be able to be together with no reservations.”

“You’re an idealist.” Cas accused with a little smile. “Don’t ever let the world take that from you.” And then; “Sam, listen, I… you’re right. About how I feel about Dean. I don’t know for sure how he really feels about me, but I…” Trailing off, he shook his head. “You know. And I plan to show him as much as I can before you two have to leave, even if I can’t tell him. Okay?”

Sam grumbled under his breath but nodded anyway. “Okay.”

“You care about him a lot, don’t you? His happiness.”

“Well, yeah. He’s my brother.”

Cas’s smile grew. “You’re a good kid, Sam.”

Sam gave him a little half-grin from the corner of his eye, and they continued to fold laundry until everything was done and re-packed in the duffle bag. Then they made their way back to the motel room. When they walked in, Dean was seated on the edge of his bed, his elbows propped against his knees and his head in his hands. The cell phone was discarded on the mattress beside him.

Sam just went about putting the clothes away, but Cas sighed softly and headed over to stand in front of Dean. Dean didn’t look up, but his arms lifted to snake around Cas’s waist, and he lifted his head just enough to press his forehead into Cas’s solar plexus, just under his ribs. Cas just brought one hand up to stroke through Dean’s hair gently.

“You okay?”

Dean mumbled something under his breath and tightened his arms around Cas just the slightest bit. “M’fine.”

“You’re not.” Cas continued petting through his hair, just warmth and affection. “I’m sorry about your Dad.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Dean shook his head slightly, bangs mussing against Cas’s shirt. “I’m in so much trouble.”

“You shouldn’t have told him about me.”

“I couldn’t help it. He was hounding me, and I just…”

“I understand.” Cas smiled down at him. “I’m glad you think so much of me, Dean.”

“I… yeah.” Dean’s arms tightened around him even more, making Cas wince just faintly. “I really do.”

“You guys are disgusting.” Sam protested from the other side of the room, “get a room already.” And then; “another room.”

That finally got Dean to lift his head, though he didn’t release Cas entirely, and he leaned over to glare at his brother. “Dude, we’re not even doing anything.”

Sam was just finishing putting the last of the clothes into the drawers of the small dresser that came with the motel room. He closed the last drawer and then crossed over to shove the empty duffle bag under his bed. “You’re always doing the sappy, lovey-dovey crap, though. I could live without it. In fact, you should go to Cas’s place. Like, immediately.”

Dean made a face and glanced at the clock on the wall. “Actually, that’s not a terrible idea.” Then he looked up at Cas and added, “it’s getting late, we should get you home. How did you get here, anyway?”

Cas blinked down at him. “I walked.”

“In your condition? Cas.” Dean frowned.

“I’m okay, Dean. I made it. I’m still alive.” Cas offered a reassuring smile and toyed with Dean’s hair a little more, almost absently. Dean leaned into the touch. “Do you want to walk me home?”

That made Dean smile, just a bit. “Yeah, I could do that. Maybe stay for a little while if it’s okay with Chuck.”

“Mm, I’d like that.”

Sam made an exaggerated gagging noise.

Dean glared at him around Cas again. “You are such a little bitch sometimes.”

“Yeah, well, at least I’m not a lovesick jerk.”

–
–

Cas’s first day back to school was a Friday. He’d tried to tell his father it was pointless to send him back on the last day of the week, but Chuck had informed him that if he was well enough to leave the house and visit his boyfriend, he was well enough to go to class. Cas could kind of see his point, even if he didn’t necessarily agree with it.

Dean, of course, had stopped going to class pretty much the instant the jorogumo thing was over and done with, so was obviously not there to meet him in the morning when he arrived on the steps of Caspar High. Cas hadn’t realized just how disappointing that was going to be until the exact moment that he automatically looked for the older boy and he wasn’t there. In the end he had to quash the discomfort in his stomach and just head on inside to his locker. Alone.

He wasn’t alone for long, though. He was standing in the drama hall, digging out his books for first class, when hurried footsteps approached him from the right and suddenly someone next thing to tackled him. “CAS!”

Cas nearly bit his tongue in an effort not to yelp out a curse, stumbling sideways while his wounds throbbed painfully. At least the tackle had been on the opposite side from his injuries. After a moment of catching his breath, he brought one hand up to pat against a familiar head of red hair. Platonic affection. “Hi, Charlie.”

Coming behind Charlie, at a much more sedate pace, were Jody and Garth, and Cas gave them a little wave, which they each returned in kind. Cas hadn’t been expecting much of a welcome back after being away for the week, and this was actually kind of… nice. If abrupt and somewhat painful.

Charlie squeezed him hard once more, making him wince, before releasing him and stepping back. She tilted her head slightly. “We missed you in calculus. Where were you?”

Cas rubbed at his ribs without even meaning to. “Sorry. I was sick. I had the flu.”

“Yeah, I heard that’s going around right now.” Jody commented, “I guess it’s that time of year.”

“Exactly.” Cas agreed. He felt bad, lying to his friends like this, but it was necessary. It wasn’t like he could tell them the truth about Dean and his family and the spider monster that had been living in the school’s basement. “But I’m fine, now.”

“Not contagious?” Garth joked with a grin.

Cas blinked. “Not to my knowledge.”

“Cough on him and we’ll find out!” Charlie suggested, obviously joking.

A little smile spread across Cas’s face as it occurred to him that, just maybe, the rest of his final year of high school wouldn’t approximate torture after all, even if Dean wasn’t there. He did have friends—and he was absolutely sure they would stand up for him if they needed to. (Especially Charlie.)

“Where’s Dean?” Jody again, sounding curious, “you two are practically attached at the hip these days, I’m surprised he’s not here with you.”

“Oh,” Cas wilted visibly, and everyone’s expression immediately shuttered into something obviously sympathetic, “uh.”

Charlie reached to squeeze his arm gently. “Breakups are hard. Especially when you’re really close to the person.”

Jody and Garth nodded in agreement—but Cas quickly shook his head. “No, it’s not like that, it’s—” Breaking off, Cas let his gaze fall to the floor, eyes shifting back-and-forth as he considered his words before; “his family moves around a lot, and his Dad’s job is taking them somewhere else now, so he’s… I mean. He’s in town for a couple more days, but he’s gone from school to pack up and everything. And then he’s taking off.”

“Oh,” Was the general consensus from the other three.

“Are you okay?” Garth asked after a moment.

Cas shrugged slightly and went back to digging his geography books out of his locker. “I’m… I mean. I’m not great. But there’s texting, and video calls, and video chat on the computer, and the phone and…” Trailing off, he shoved his books in his backpack and then admitted softly; “and I’m not actually okay.”

“Oh, Cas,” When Charlie hugged him this time it was gently and with more than a bit of sympathy. “I’m so sorry, I know you two are close.”

Cas accepted the hug with a sigh—even hugged back just a little. “It hurts.” He told them quietly. “I mean… it feels like we should be together forever, and instead…”

Jody made a soft agreeing noise. “Relationships can be like that sometimes.”

But Garth was the one who actually said it; “you’re in love with him, huh?”

Charlie looked up at him, curious to see his reaction even though she already knew what it would be, but still didn’t stop hugging him. Cas’s eyes skittered away and down, and he shrugged again before admitting softly, “yes, pretty much.” He was still avoiding saying the actual words out loud, though. “And I don’t know for sure, but I think… I think he feels the same way. About me.”

There was a round of murmurs amongst the three of them. Charlie gave him another gentle squeeze before finally letting him go again and giving him a reassuring smile. “I knew you two were meant to be. If that’s the case,” She told him firmly, “then do the whole phone calls and video chat thing, for as long as you can.”

“I always thought you two made a good couple. Maybe a little odd, but good.” Jody commented with a smile, “I’m sure you’ll make it work.”

“People make the long-distance thing work all the time.” Garth added encouragingly.

“That’s…” Cas offered a little, half-hearted smile in return, “that’s what I’m hoping. Because honestly, I can’t picture my life without him at this point. Even eating lunch today is going to be weird without him. I can’t just eat in our spot by myself, right?”

“Naaaaaah,” Charlie waved a hand dismissively, “Cas, my man, you are definitely eating with us at the Weird Kids table in the caf from now on. You are a Weird Kid, now.”

“I think I was already a Weird Kid.”

“Yeah, but now it’s official.” Charlie grinned, while Jody and Garth chuckled to themselves. When the warning bell for first class went off, they all glanced up, then back at Cas. “You gonna be okay?” Charlie asked, more seriously.

Cas smiled again, a bit more real this time. “I’ll be fine, Charlie, thank you.”

“Just checking.” She brought one hand up to squeeze his arm, “we’ll get you through this.” And then, “gotta go. Come to the cafeteria at lunch today, we’ll find you!”

“Okay.”

“See you later, Cas.”

“See you.”

They all hurried off to their respective classes while Cas slumped his way to geography.

–
–

At lunch time Cas made his way to the (dreaded) cafeteria, where Charlie waved him over to a table in the corner where she, Jody, Garth were already seated, along with a girl named Jo and a younger boy named Kevin. Jo was nice and kind of reminded him of Dean in a lot of ways. She wore a lot of denim and leather and after he watched her interact with the others for a little while he understood why she fit in with them so well. Kevin was a little harder to pin down because he was quiet and didn’t talk as much as the others, but what he did say was witty and sarcastic, if awkward at times, and everyone else seemed overly fond of him. Like he was the little brother of the group.

When Cas pulled his lunch out, he discovered two sandwiches—he had packed one for Dean strictly out of habit—and wilted a little, but the others quickly changed the subject and brought him back up again, even Jo and Kevin, who had apparently already been apprised of the situation.

So, lunch hour wasn’t so bad. No one bothered them in their little corner and, Cas thought, if it was like that every day then he could probably get used to it. He would always miss Dean and their little sanctuary under the gym bleachers, though, that much he was sure of. Still, this was a passable substitute. He could get used to it. Probably.

After school, once he had packed all of his homework into his backpack, Cas didn’t even bother going home, just walked straight to the Seafoam Motel, where Dean was waiting for him. He opened the door after the cursory check through the peep hole, locks all unlatching in quick succession until Cas could smile at his boyfriend face-to-face. Dean dragged him inside by the front of his shirt and pulled him into a long, drawn-out kiss that made happiness bubble up inside him.

When he looked around after they parted, he was surprised not to see Sam. “Where’s Sam?”

“School. He always goes until the very last minute.” Dean took his backpack and deposited it beside the door, then tugged him over to sit down next to him on one of the beds. “Bedwin gets out an hour later than Caspar does. Starts an hour later, too. Unfair, really. He always got to sleep in.” A shrug, then, “how was your first day back?”

“I did okay.” Cas reached for one of Dean’s hands, toying with the older boy’s fingers gently. “I ate lunch in the cafeteria with Charlie and the others, and they introduced me to a couple more people that I also don’t have any classes with. Jo and Kevin. I think you’d really like Jo, actually. She reminds me of you.”

“Is she roguishly handsome, too?”

“Stop.” Cas bumped sideways into him with a smile. “No, she’s just tough and strong and opinionated. She’s nice, though. So is Kevin. So, I guess I have a couple more friends to ride out the year with, which is good, even if I don’t have any classes with them. I think they’ll all get me through.”

“That’s good. I know I said just each lunch with Charlie and the others, but I was a little worried.”

“You always worry about me.”

“I do.” Dean confirmed, then, “speaking of which, how’re your ribs?”

“Well Charlie full-body tackled me this morning in greeting, and that was unpleasant,” Cas grimaced slightly, “she didn’t know, obviously. But other than that, they’re okay. They still hurt, but it’s more of a bruise hurt than a huge gouges hurt now, so it’s tolerable. And the actual bruises are almost gone, just a couple are left, the ones that were the worst.”

Dean made a little pleased noise at this news, though Cas was sure he would rather have made his own assessment. “That’s great to hear. I was worried you’d be in pain all day today.”

But Cas shook his head, “no. I only had to take some aspirin once. I was fine.”

“Good.”

They were quiet for a bit, then, just sitting next to each other while Cas toyed with Dean’s fingers absently. They were both going to miss little moments like this when Dean was halfway across the country. They were soaking them in while they could.

“I just keep thinking about all the kids who go to school there and have no idea.” Dean sighed finally, “Caspar High? More like Horror High, right?”

Cas just smiled, though, and leaned sideways against his boyfriend, wincing just the slightest bit at the movement. “It isn’t Horror High to me. I met you there. It could never be Horror High, even with a jorogumo in the basement.”

Dean chuckled and turned his head to kiss against Cas’s temple. “Subjective High, then? But I think that’s pretty much all high schools. Also, it doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

“Mm.” An agreeing noise. Cas turned a little to tuck himself closer into Dean’s side. Finally, he asked, “you’ll be leaving soon, won’t you?”

“I—” Dean had to pause and swallow hard. He wrapped an arm around Cas, careful of his ribs, as if that simple act would keep them from being separated. “Yeah, I—as soon as my Dad gets here from Utah.”

“Two, three days, then?”

“He’s just finishing out his case first, but yeah…”

Cas offered a sad smile and pulled him into a kiss. “So, we’ll just have to make the next couple days count, that’s all.”

“What do you suggest?” The question was asked against his lips, into the kiss.

“I think…” Cas leaned his forehead against Dean’s and met his gaze, blue clashing with green. “I want you to stay over again, even if my Father is around. I don’t care what he thinks, I just want to be with you as much as possible until I can’t be anymore.”

Dean smiled, just a sad little quirk of his lips. “Maybe we should go on a date. A real date. Before we can’t.”

Surprise. “I’ve never been on a date before.”

Dean chuckled, “neither have I, really. What do normal teenagers do when they go on dates?”

“I think the stereotype is dinner and a movie.” Cas hummed, “but we kind of did that already when you stayed over at my place.”

“Does pizza and Netflix really count, though?”

“I have no idea,” Cas admitted. He was kind of out of his depth with this sort of thing. “What if we go to a diner? I know you probably get lots of diner food on the road, but there’s one that I keep hearing about, I think it’s called Maggie’s. Apparently, they have really good cheeseburgers? I could look them up and check out their reviews.”

Dean grinned, “you had me at cheeseburger.” He squeezed his hand in Cas’s gently. “Maybe after we can just go for a walk, like normal people. Pretend the world isn’t as screwed up as it actually is.”

“That sounds nice.” Cas agreed. “And after, you can come home with me for the night. Okay?”

“Your Dad is going to kill me.”

“No, he won’t. I think as long as I’m happy he’ll be fine. As long as we’re not too loud.”

“Were we loud?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? But there was no one else home to tell us to keep it down, so.”

“Not for nothing, but it could be awkward screwing around with your Dad in the house.”

“Well, we don’t have to have sex,” Cas clarified, then, “I mean, I would like… to have that with you, as many times as I can before you go. But just being with you is enough for me, too.”

Dean chuckled, “’as many times as you can’, huh?”

“Mm,” Cas agreed, playing with Dean’s fingers where they were tangled up with his own once more; “you’re like a drug, Dean. I can’t seem to get enough. It’s been like that since day one, since we met, I…” Trailing off a little, Cas squeezed Dean’s hand again and continued; “I consider myself incredibly lucky, that you decided to befriend me, and then more. But I’ve been addicted to you since the very first moment, and it’s only gotten worse with time. The more time we spend together, the more I get to know you, the more we do together, how close we’ve gotten—physically and emotionally. It all leaves me craving more. I’m going to go through withdrawals when you’re gone.”

“We’ll still talk,” Dean reminded him, “video chat and all that stuff you drilled into me.”

Cas smiled. “I know, but it’s not the same, is it? As being able to touch you. Kiss you.”

A soft sigh and Dean joked, “Dad is going to get really pissed off with all the weekends I take off to meet up with you in some seedy motel.”

A laugh from Cas. “Specifically seedy motels?”

“Is there any other kind?”

“You just specifically look for the seedy ones, that’s all—ah.” Cas cut himself off with a wince, letting go of Dean’s hand and bringing his own hand up to rub at one ear harshly. “That hurts…”

Dean looked at him in surprise. “What…?”

He continued rubbing at his ear, even though he knew it wouldn’t help matters, as he responded, “ever since the jorogumo, when I hit my head, I keep getting this… it’s like a ringing in my ears. Or a high-pitched whine. Sometimes both ears, sometimes just one. But sometimes it’s loud and it hurts.” Not that he wanted to give Dean anything else to worry about, but… “I’m sure it’ll stop eventually, I just have to deal with it for a while until it does.”

Dean was just opening his mouth to say something, starting to look worried, when the sudden onslaught of sound stopped—and Cas worked his jaw a couple of times, dropping his hand back down again. “See? It goes away fast.”

“I feel like you should see a doctor about that.”

“Yes, but how would I explain it to my Father?”

“Just… tell him about the ringing in your ears. You don’t have to tell him about the jorogumo.”

A fair point. “I guess.”

Dean squeezed his arm around Cas and reached to take hold of his hand again. “Promise me you’ll get it looked at?”

Cas had to smile, just a little, at Dean looking out for him again. “I promise.”

They both fell into silence then, just sitting together for a few minutes before Dean asked, “did you have homework? You should probably get working on it if you do.”

“Mm-mm.” A soft negative noise and Cas shook his head, “I mean, I do. Have homework. But I’ll do it tonight after I get home.”

“I just don’t want you to stay up too late, that’s all.” Dean toyed with Cas’s fingers gently as he spoke, “you should still be resting.”

“You worry too much.” Cas accused fondly.

But Dean just came back with a kiss and: “I worry just enough, thank you very much.”