The Knock (Destiel)

Chapter five

5. Take me back to the time when life was easy

       Dean's jaw dropped.

       Castiel had pulled himself up, making eye contact with the surprised man for a second, before walking out. He decided to get some fresh air and get some coffee. Maybe that meant that he wouldn't have to interact with people. His plans changed when he saw it was Tuesday.

        He cursed inwardly, quickly grabbing his bag before running out of the room. He had sociology in less then fifteen minutes, which meant he had to run. Sam asked him where he was going, but, of course, didn't get any reply. He had decided to skip his lecture for today, so he could talk to Dean.

       At the same time, his brother walked out of the bathroom with an unreadable expression on his face. He began pacing around, not noticing Sam, who was looking at him with raised eyebrows.

       "Questioning your sexuality?" he teased. When Dean didn't reply, he knew something was really bothering him. "Dean, what happened?"

       "He talked to me," Dean replied. Sam's eyes widened, waiting for some kind of sign that his brother was joking. "He fucking thanked me and then walked away. Who does that?! Do you think he'll start talking more now? Why is he suddenly talking now? Oh my god Sam, his voice is so deep I actually shivered. Me!"

       "If I didn't know you were straight, I'd say you have a crush on the guy," Sam joked again, trying to use the exact same words Dean had used over the phone yesterday. Dean bitch faced him.

       "Stop using sexuality jokes, Sam. You know I've been questioning it for a while now," Dean glared, making him put up his hands in defence.

       "Alright, no more dick jokes. But seriously, what happened?"

       "Well, we found him on the bathroom floor, as you can recall. I wanted to ask about his last name, but never got the chance because he was having a panic attack. I pulled him in my lap and just calmed him down. Then he said 'Thank you, Dean,' and just left," Dean explained. In any other situation, Sam would have smiled, because Dean seemed to care about the man. Now, he just didn't know what to do. They fell in a silence, which wasn't comfortable nor uncomfortable

       "So, what did you find on the Novak family?" Dean asked, standing next to his little yet tall brother to have a look.

        "OK. So, I hacked into the police department where Cas's dad was held before he went to prison and got his family tree. As he said, he has two brothers. One of the two is actually in a coma now, as a result of the accident. The records show that both Chuck's parents are deceased, but their bodies were never found. They didn't show a name, which made me suspicious, so I went and looked through other databases in the area, looking at the name Novak. Then I found this:"

       "Wendell Novak. So I was right?" Dean asked, looking at his brother with an expectant look on his face. Sam nodded.

       "I think Castiel's grandparents were hunters."

       In the mean time, Castiel rushed into the classroom, which was filled with more students than he had expected. What he also didn't expect, were all the eyes on him. Mrs Milton looked away from the board, in his direction. He shrugged.

       "It's OK, Castiel. Go take a seat." He gladly did what she told him to, looking down. He sat down in his usual seat, feeling like he was being watched.

       "Mrs. Milton? Is he new?" some student in the front asked. Castiel wanted to hide away, like he'd always done, but it didn't seem to work like it usually did.

       "No, Hannah. Castiel has been in your class for two years," she replied, causing even more students to look his way. The blue eyed student swallowed, as the stares didn't go away. He tried to ignore them, listening to what Mrs. Milton had to say.

       "Hey Fagstiel. That's your name, right?" he heard beside him. He flinched slightly at the name, hoping it went unnoticed by one of the popular students in the room that was sitting next to him. He looked to the side, seeing Michael with a teasing smile on his face. This is why he hated interaction.

       The subject passed incredibly slow, much to Castiel's dismay. It felt like every move was being watched, while Michael and is friends were throwing pieces of paper at him. This day was absolutely horrible and all he wanted to do was go his dorm and hug Dean.

       Wait, what?

       The bell rung, interrupting his thoughts. He literally threw his books in his bag, hurrying out of the classroom. He knew his invisible days were over. He walked away much quicker than he usually did, not caring that he bumped into people. That was, until he felt a strong grip on his shoulder, followed by a tingling feeling on his back. He was slammed into a wall.

       Michael was looking at him nonchalantly, his eyebrows raised, eyes darting everywhere. Castiel tilted his head slightly, not understanding the action. When a fist collided with his cheek, he understood.

       "Rule number one in this school, Fagstiel: You don't ignore me when I'm talking you," the man almost growled. Castiel rolled his eyes sightly. Of course, that meant that this was probably going to happen more.

        All kinds of emotions went through Castiel's head. The first one was fear. He had been beaten up by his father, nearly to death. The man punching him reminded him of his father a bit too much. Second on the list, was anger. Yes, he was a little bit angry at Michael, but mostly towards himself. How could he have been so stupid to walk in on a full classroom? The third emotion, that was covering the two others, was numbness. He just didn't want to feel anymore.

       As he was getting beaten up by the obviously stronger man, he thought about death. It really seemed like an amazing solution. No more pain, no more suffering. No more nightmares or breakdowns. No memories haunting him. Yes, Castiel had officially decided that death sounded appealing.

       "Hey!" A strong, somewhat familiar voice exclaimed loudly from the hallway. Michael looked up, leaving Castiel alone. He just hugged his knees, looking forwards.

        "Ah, Sammy boy. Who is this? Your boyfriend?" Sam glared at the man, signalling with his head for Dean to go to the frozen, beaten up man.

       "Actually, he's my brother, you son of a bitch. Why don't you pick someone to fight of your own size?" Sam replied, his voice cold. He could see the excited look in the unknown man's eyes, before his fist went forwards. It never even scratched the Winchester, as he dodged the punch.

       In the mean time, as Sam was dodging punches and learning the bully some lessons, Dean sat down next to Castiel. He looked for any movement, but he didn't seem to get any. He wrapped his arm around the silent man.

       "What's going on in that cute little head of yours?" He didn't mean to say it like that. It just kind of slipped out, making him blush. Of course, he got no reply, so he opened his notes on his phone and gave it to the man. Without giving him any glance, Castiel grabbed the phone and typed the three easy words.

        I wanna die.

       Dean hadn't really known what to expect, but seeing those words, really made his heart shatter.

       "Please don't say that," he whimpered. He didn't exactly know why his voice had cracked during the sentence, or why a tear leaked from his eye, but he did feel a familiar pain in his heart. He had felt it before when Sam had lost Jessica and was completely lost. He had felt it when everyone he loved seemed to die.

       Can we see my brothers, please? Normally, Dean would've been happy that the man was reaching out to his family, but in this case, it almost seemed like a goodbye.

       "Of course, Cas. But first we need to clean you up." When the man didn't protest, Dean picked him up. Sam, who was now leaning against the wall met his brothers shocked green eyes. He had been right, Castiel was as light as a feather. With Dean carrying Castiel, they walked towards their dorm silently. What was there left to say?