7 hours

~Chapter 4~

Deans' POV

Spending hours with Cas was amazing. We would talk while we walked to class, we would talk if we had time left before the bell rang. We would talk all the way to my car. I gave him rides after school to his house, and we talked all the way there. I remember the first day I drove Cas to his house.

*Flashback*

We were in English, watching a movie about Shakespeare.

"Hey, Cas?" I asked. He turned his head but his eyes lingered on the movie, only drifting them over to me when his head was fully turned.

"What's up, Dean?" He was playing with the strings on his sweatshirt, and honestly, I wanted to grab those strings and pull them so our lips touched, but I would never say anything.

"Do you want to ride home with me from now on? I got my fathers old car, and it think it would be fun." I began to become nervous. Maybe it was too soon. We had just become friends. We had met only two days ago. But whenever I talked to him, it was like we knew each other all our lives. Maybe he wanted it too.

"Sure, I'd love too." Cas smiled at me and all my doubts washed away.

"Cool. Meet me by the front when you're done at your locker." The bell rang and I grabbed my backpack, watching Cas stretch when he stood up. His pants hung loose on his hips and I just got a sneak peak at his prominent hip bones. I could feel my pants get a little tighter, so I decided to get out of there fast. I threw my bag onto my shoulders and walked out of there, grabbing my keys from my pocket.

I leaned against the cool brick of the building, waiting for Cas, when I saw Benny approaching me. I hadn't talked to him in a few days, not even bothering to call or text.

"Deano. What's up, brother?" He asked, putting his arm around me like usual.

"Nothing much, I guess. What about you?" I was a little nervous. He had all of this time to talk to me, but he decided on now. I had no idea what he was going to say, as I had kind of bailed on him and the others that first day.

"I dont know, thinking."

"About?" He looked at me and his eyes narrowed.

"You know your little boy toy, Cassie?" I looked at him, disgusted.

"Dont call him that! And he's not my 'boy toy'." I gestured with my finger at his chest. "What about him anyways?" He put his hands up in mock surrender and backed away.

"Easy there, tiger. Was only joking." He gestured with his hand to bring me closer so he could whisper in my ear. "You know hes a fag, right?" I whipped my head back and looked at him like he insulted me personally. I gritted my teeth, and fought the urge to punch him square in the face.

"Dont call him that! Dont even talk about him! If I see you even look in his direction, I will make sure you cant see ever again, got it?!" I yelled at him with a quiet voice, not wanting everyone to question what was happening and cause a scene. I turned to walk away and find Cas, but he roughly grabbed my wrist, and it hurt like hell. It was nothing like Cas' grip. Cas was soft and gentle. Benny; hard and brutal.

"You don't want your Daddy finding out about this now do we? If I see you two even touching each other, I will talk to your Dad about this. We cant have any fags running about." He emphasized the word fag, like it was a sin to just think about it. I ripped my hand away from his grip and turned away. I wasn't going to promise him anything. Cas isn't converting me into being gay. No one knew that I already was. I walked into the school building and turned the corner, bumping right into Cas.

"Oh! There you are. C'mon, lets get out of here." I grabbed his hand without even realizing it, interlocking our fingers and walking straight out of the door, and to the car. Surprisingly, Cas didn't protest, and even grabbed my hand again once we got into the car.

On the way to Cas' house, he was quiet, every once in a while looking over to me. "

"What's wrong Cas? You seem upset.." I asked. If there was something wrong with Cas, I wanted to know. I couldn't stand to see the look of sadness that had come to Cas' face. 

"Can you pull over real quick?" I looked over at him, and his face was filled with concern. I nodded and pulled over to the side of the road, turning the car off. I looked over to him, squeezing his hand a little to comfort him.

"What is it, Cas? What's bothering you?" I searched his face to look for an answer, only getting sorrow. I looked at his beautiful blue eyes, and watched them gloss over with tears. "Hey, hey, hey. Don't cry, it's okay." I scooted over to him and wrapped my arms around him. I felt his head go to my shoulder and I could hear his sobs. I had never seen him cry before. He lifted his head up and tried to form words, but I could see that he realized he had none. I reached up with my hand and wiped away his tears, my hand stayed on his face and cupped his cheek. "What's wrong, Cas?"

"B-Benny. He-he hurt me. I didn't want to-to tell you, cause hes your f-friend." He tried to hold back sobs, but he couldn't, so I hugged him close and rubbed circles into his back.

"Hes not my friend, Cas. Not anymore. Where did he hurt you?" I pulled my head back and wiped his tears again, not wanting to rush him into answering.

He motioned to his stomach with his hand. I tried lifting up his shirt to see the damage done, but I could see Cas flinch.

"Hey, its okay. I only want to see what he did to you. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, I wont. I don't want to make you feel like you have to do anything if you don't want to." I let go of his shirt and moved my hands away.

"No, no, its fine, its just that, no one has ever really...cared this much about me before." He looked around nervously, waiting for a response. I looked at his eyes and searched them, asking myself why no one would care about him. Cas was such a nice person. Caring and beautiful. Nothing like I have ever seen.

I reached out and lifted Cas' shirt over his chest, but not fully off. Cas didn't flinch this time. I saw a huge bruise starting to form, the size of a fist. I wrapped my hand around his hip and grazed my thumb over his ribs, where the bruise was. I could feel tears forming in my eyes, knowing I wasn't able to help Cas when he was punched.

"Dean. I'm fine, please don't cry." He pushed my head up with his fingers and searched my face. I saw him looking at each of my eyes, going back and forth, going over the freckles that were dotted there. I saw a faint smile form on his lips.

"What is it?" I questioned. My thumb drifted upwards, not wanting to touch the bruise. I still ghost my fingers over his ribs, providing comfort as needed.

He waited a little while before speaking. "You're beautiful, Dean Winchester." I smiled brightly. He was the reason I smiled these days.

"You're beautiful, too, Castiel Novak." He smiled a little more and caressed my cheek with his hand. I pressed a kiss to his palm, and pulled him into a hug. Not a tight one, though. A gentle, careful one. My hands found their way around his waist and rubbed small circles into his bare back. We stayed like that for a while; him pressed against my chest, and me singing faintly with my cheek resting on his soft, black hair. We only pulled away when we realized it was starting to get dark, and we had homework to finish. I took him to his house, and as he left, I gave him a kiss on the forehead, showing that I cared about him deeply. He smiled and waved, and walked into his house.

The ride home was silent, but I smiled, nonetheless.