Flannel Punk

Chapter One

Dean picked up his broken glasses and sighed. This time one of the lenses was scratched, and the frame was bent. He wiped the dirt off the lenses with his shirt and put them back on. Maybe Sammy can fix them again. He's good at fixing things. Dean winced at the pain he felt in his ribs. Probably cracked another one.

His papers had been dumped out of his folder and onto the ground, in the mud. A strong gust of wind picked up all but the few papers that were stuck in a pile of mud and blew them away, across the street. Great, there go all my notes and my homework. Can I ever catch a break? Dean gathered his muddy papers and put them back into his folder. His black swiss army backpack that he had gotten from Bobby had been tossed up into a tree.

Oh come on, this is overkill. I really don't want to climb that damn tree again. It started raining again and Dean groaned. He shimmied up the tree for what seemed like the hundredth time that year. He finally reached the branch that his backpack had caught on, and when he reached for it, Dean lost his footing and fell out of the tree. He caught himself with his right wrist, and heard a sickening cracking sound.

"Ow, fuck," Dean said. There were shooting pains running up his arm now. He pulled himself up off the ground gingerly. He looked around to see if his backpack had fallen out of the tree with him. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and Dean began to mentally prepare himself for the excruciating climb up the tree.

Dean felt someone watching him, and he turned around, only to find that no one was there. He turned around again and stifled a scream. A boy had appeared on the sidewalk a few feet away, and he was holding Dean's backpack in his hands.

The boy was a sight. His eyeliner was running, and he was completely soaked from all the rain. Dean saw a tattoo curling up out of his shirt and onto his neck, behind his left ear. He had several ear piercings, and his ears were stretched (A/N only to about a 4g though). He also had two silver nose rings in his right nostril. His light brown hair was shaved on the left side, and he had eyes the color of the ocean.

"Here, you're going to need this," the boy said, and tossed Dean the backpack. Dean caught it and winced. Concern flashed through the boy's eyes, but it was gone in an instant. "Hey, thanks for getting this-," Dean looked up, but the boy was gone.

Okay, weird. Maybe he had to leave. Dean started the trek back home with a heavy heart and muddy clothes.

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Castiel Novak watched those kids beat Dean Winchester into the ground. He watched as they kicked him, spit on him. He cringed when he heard the crunch of Dean's glasses being stepped on, the crack as his ribs rebroke. He kept thinking that this was the day. This was the day when he would finally stop them. Castiel may be a punk, but that didn't make him brave.

After a while they left him lying in a fetal position on the ground, gasping for air. Before they left though, they dumped everything out of his backpack and threw his homework and notes everywhere. They left laughing, complimenting each other on what they had done.

Castiel continued to watch Dean, to observe him. He ignored texts from his brothers, Gabriel and Michael, asking him where the hell he was. He tried not to think about his other brother, Luci, who left after their father kicked him out for being transgender. Luci could have gone back to the Novak house after Mr. Novak passed away, but he was afraid of what Michael would do to him. The last time Castiel and Gabriel saw Luci, it was when Gabe was nine and Castiel was five, at their father's funeral. Luci stood up after the service and said that he would like to say a few words. All he said was, "I wish I could spit in that old bastard's face one last time," and left. Castiel tried to go after him, because Luci was always his favorite brother, but Gabe stopped him. Gabriel told him that it would just make Michael mad, and that some day Luci would come back, because he wouldn't abandon them.

After a few minutes, Dean picked himself up off the ground. He picked up his papers from the mud, but a lot of them were blown away before he could grab them. He looked around for his backpack, which Castiel already knew was in the tree. It started raining again, and Castiel heard a loud groan come from across the courtyard. Dean shimmied up the tree and onto the branch where his backpack was. As he was standing up though, he fell and landed on his right wrist, and Castiel cringed as he heard a sharp cracking sound.

While Dean lay prone on the ground, Castiel darted across the courtyard and up the tree. He jumped up into the tree as Dean got up and began looking around for the backpack. When Dean's back was turned, Castiel jumped down from the tree and landed lightly on the ground behind Dean. Castiel saw the elder Winchester boy stiffen. He turned around quickly and squeaked, clutching his crushed glasses to his chest.

"Here, you're going to need this." Castiel gently tossed Dean the backpack. Castiel noticed Dean's wince when he caught the bag. He hurt himself falling out of the tree. "Hey thanks for getting this-" Dean pulled his gaze from the cracks in the sidewalk, but Castiel was already gone.