In This Secluded Spot I Respond As I Wouldn't Dare Elsewhere

The Kiss

Minutes later Dean met him in the parking lot, where Castiel was seated low in the Impala to avoid being seen. He had already found some paper towels in the back seat and was using them to wipe the mess from his face and neck.

"You didn't go to the principal's office?" Castiel asked, alarmed.

"Fuck, no," Dean said, getting behind the wheel.

Castiel handed him his keys with the miniature guitar dangling from them, and the Impala roared to life. Dean peeled out of the parking lot and was halfway down the road before he turned to look at Castiel.

"God, I thought he knocked you unconscious," Dean said, obviously shaken. "Shit."

"No, thankfully. I believe it has stopped bleeding."

"Why didn't you didn't go to the nurse?"

"I don't want my mother to discover what happened."

"We better get you home and cleaned up before she gets home, then," Dean said, still casting glances in Castiel's direction. "Although the second she sees your face she's gonna know. Are you sure you're all right, man? You scared the hell outta me."

"Based on my reflection," Castiel sighed, "I believe my lip is split."

"We'll get some ice on that as soon as we get to your house. You'll be okay."

"What about you?" Castiel asked, turning to look at him more closely. "Both of your eyes are turning black-and-blue."

Dean leaned over to glance at himself in the rear-view mirror. "Yeah, takin' a shot to the nose'll do that to you. I'm gonna look like hammered shit tomorrow."

Not long afterward they pulled into their apartment complex, where Dean immediately turned off the Impala and jumped out. "Lemme help."

"It's okay, Dean. A split lip isn't the end of the world."

"You talk like this has happened before."

"Freshman year I was pushed down the stairs and severely injured my arm," he said, walking to his front door and unlocking it. "I've had my glasses broken twice from being pushed into lockers. I've had items thrown at me in the halls. I've had a bloody nose from getting purposely hit with a book."

"I know you told me about the bullying, Cas," Dean said as they entered the apartment, "but I had no idea it was this bad."

There was a hint of emotion in Dean's voice when he said that, and Castiel wasn't sure he was upset over the incidents he endured or the fact that Castiel never really told him the whole truth about just how badly he had been victimized.

Castiel tossed his backpack to the floor and sat down at the kitchen table. "It's always been like this," he said. "Alastair is the latest in a long line of bullies that delight in causing pain."

"I'm sorry you've had to go through that," Dean said, sitting beside him.

Castiel merely shrugged.

Dean pulled his chair closer and slid his hand beneath Castiel's chin. "Look at me."

Castiel tilted his head up, meeting Dean's intense gaze. He didn't look away, even as Dean gently rubbed his thumb over Castiel's bottom lip, carefully avoiding the injured area. He let his finger trail to Castiel's top lip, slowly tracing its curve to the hollow just under his nose.

Castiel shivered. He instinctively ran his tongue over the gash.

"Hold on," Dean said, his voice whispery.

He got up, and Castiel could hear the freezer open behind him and the ice cube tray crack. Dean slid Castiel's glasses from his nose and put them on the kitchen table. Then he sat back down with a paper towel-wrapped cube, and brought it up to Castiel's mouth.