Strings Attached

Chapter 20

"Castiel! Where are you going?" Chuck asks, looking up from his laptop.

"To my room to do homework," Castiel replies. He really just wants to be alone, but he does have a bit of homework to do.

"Do I need to write this down or something?" Chuck asks, exasperated. "I don't want you --"

"To have any privacy whatsoever," Castiel finishes. "Right. But Lucifer's being loud and obnoxious and I can't focus."

"Hey!" Lucifer yells. "I'm a joy to be around!"

"See?"

Chuck pauses for a moment to think before saying, "Go do homework in Michael's room with him. He's just studying. It shouldn't bug you."

"Fine."

Castiel heads to Michael's room to find his eldest brother leaning over a textbook with his head resting on his hand, looking exhausted. He's muttering something under his breath, so quietly Castiel wouldn't have noticed if he didn't see his lips move.

Castiel drops his backpack on the ground and pulls out his history notes. Alright, research paper. Fun. He has some books from the library and his phone to use, so he gets started, taking some brief notes. The paper should take them a month, but Castiel already has it all typed on his phone by the time Chuck calls out that dinner is done.

Neither Castiel nor Michael get up. Castiel still has a mountain of work to make up, and lord only knows what Michael's doing. Castiel pulls out his math homework. He has to be one of the only sophomores in calculus. He reads over what he's missed, then takes a few minutes to stare at it uncomprehendingly. This is why math is the one class he would never consider taking as an AP class. It's just freaking hard.

After at least two hours of doing other classes' homework, he returns to math, watching it as if it will solve itself.

Michael sighs, putting some papers in his textbook and closing it before turning to Castiel. "I'm gonna go get food. You coming?"

"No," Castiel replies without looks up.

Michael crouches down next to him and looks over his shoulder. "Oh, I remember that. Want help?"

"Sure," Castiel agrees reluctantly.

Michael spends the next half hour teaching Castiel everything he's missed in five of his 90 minute classes. Whether it's due to Castiel's ability to absorb things quickly or Michael's ability to teach, they don't know, but it's entirely possible the school system just sucks.

"Thanks," Castiel murmurs.

"No problem," Michael replies. "Now, wanna order a pizza?"

They order a pizza, passing up Chuck's now cold fried chicken. They eat in silence, and by the time Castiel gathers his stuff from Michael's room, Gabriel is already in bed in theirs. Castiel lies down on the top bunk, one which was very rarely used until recently. It's weird, sleeping in here. Castiel has yet to move his stuff from his bedroom because no one trusts him enough to do it alone. It's getting really annoying, but Castiel tolerates it. He tolerates just about everything, and he's beginning to wonder if one day, he'll decide he's had enough, and he'll snap. He just hopes there's no one nearby, because there are only two options when you finally give in. To fight, or to die. Either way, Castiel loses.

~~

The next day starts the same once again. An annoying bus ride to school, a beat down before first block. The usual. The only thing that keeps him going is knowing that he gets to meet Dean in the band room for lunch.

"Hey," Dean greets him as Castiel walks in the room.

"You look stressed," Castiel observes. It's not as obvious as yesterday; there's no pacing back and forth, but Castiel can tell there's something up. "Want to talk, or should I just drop it now?"

"Actually, yeah, there is something I need to tell you," Dean replies.

"Alright. I'm listening."

Dean hesitates. "I... Okay, so I'm really, really bad at talking about my feelings, just as a heads up, but..." Dean sighs. "I'm just gonna come out and say it. I think I have a crush on you."

Castiel groans, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Oh my god, I can't believe freaking believe this!"

"What?" Dean asks.

"You!" Castiel practically yells. "You guys fooled me once, but I'm not falling for it again. I should have known this was a trick. There's no way Dean freaking Winchester would want to be friends with a loser like me."

Dean tries to stop him, but Castiel ignores him as he runs out of the room, going to his only other safe place. The bathroom. But today, it's not that safe. Alastair, Azazel, and Crowley are leaving together, probably searching for him. When they see Castiel, they don't grin. They may be about to beat the crap out of him, but they aren't happy about it. Not this time.

"Novak!" Azazel yells angrily, grabbing Castiel by the arm and dragging him to D wing, where they know they'll be left alone. Azazel throws him into the lockers as hard as he can.

"You're going to regret telling your brother about us," Alastair hisses, punching the boy in the face. They've never done that. They love to make fun of him. He's spent more than enough time pinned against lockers. But this? They've never done anything like this.

"You're lucky he cares too much about Sam to risk getting some of the best players on the team kicked off," Crowley adds, kneeing Castiel in the gut. "If we got the boot because of you, you wouldn't live to see another day."

Castiel opens his mouth to tell them he didn't say anything, but Azazel takes him by the shoulders and throws him into the lockers again. His head slams against one of the locks this time, and he thinks he feels a trickle of blood.

"We didn't give you permission to speak," Azazel hisses.

The next few hours — or maybe it's just a few minutes; Castiel can't tell — are full of pain. It's everywhere, nonstop. Castiel loses track of what's happening, his eyelids fighting to stay open as he feels his pain multiplying exponentially every second. He doesn't know when they leave him alone, but he knows he doesn't get up, even when he's in the clear. He's not in the clear, really. He's just in pain. So, so much pain. Finally, he can't take it anymore, and everything drifts away.