Anonymous

Chapter 3

It will come as a surprise to no one reading this that "Smith and Wesson" is really Dean Winchester, using a different gun brand as a pseudonym. It's possible you figured it out by the brand, or maybe the Winchester's fake identities in that one episode of season 5, or, most likely, you guessed it because this is a Destiel fanfic, and that alone makes it pretty obvious. Either way, you're absolutely right.

Dean had never thought much of Castiel Novak. He knows Gabriel, of course. Everyone loves Gabriel. But Castiel? Dean's only spared the occasional glance. He's rather easy on the eyes, but he's always seemed too shy to try to talk to, so Dean never paid him much attention until he saw that picture on tumblr.

The next day is a Monday, and that means they're back at school. Dean is in the middle of a conversation about YouTube videos when he sees Castiel Novak appear. Gabriel is by his side, of course, greeting all his friends as he walks down the hallway like he owns the place. Castiel tries to stay out of their way, trailing a few feet behind his brother.

"Hey, brother, you okay?" Benny asks, bringing him back to reality.

"Yeah, fine," Dean says quickly. "Zoned out a little bit."

"Trust me, we noticed," Charlie says. "You weren't very subtle about it."

"Oh, shut up," Dean says instinctively.

He can't help but watch Castiel as he walks by. He looks so uncomfortable. He slowly drifts farther and farther behind his brother, trying to get out of Gabriel's friends' way as they try to talk to him.

"Hold on," Dean says, pulling out his phone.

"What is it?" Benny asks.

"Sam texted me," Dean lies.

He opens up his tumblr app and goes to his conversation with Castiel. They hadn't spoken since the other boy's disappearance the night before, but he wants to make sure that's not the permanent end to their conversation.

smithnwesson: Your brother is quite the attention whore isn't he

He locks his phone and slides it back in his pocket. Castiel won't see the message yet, so he doesn't have to wait for a respond until just before class starts, when Castiel gets a chance to look at his phone.

"What does Sam need?" Benny asks.

"He's looking for his pencil case," Dean says, the first thing he can think of. "I stole it last night and forgot to give it back."

"Dean, Dean, Dean," Charlie says, shaking her head at him. "What a horrible brother you are."

~~

Castiel gets away from his brother as quickly as he can. He doesn't want to deal with Gabriel any longer than possible. He heads to his first block class — the first kid in the room, as always. He takes his usual spot in the front of the room and pulls out his phone to scroll through tumblr, only to find that he has a message from Smith and Wesson from just a couple minutes ago.

smithnwesson: Your brother is quite the attention whore isn't he

marvelbutmostlyloki: What do you mean?

He waits impatiently for a response, but it doesn't come. What's up with that? It's only been a couple minutes since he got the message. Smith and Wesson couldn't have gone far.

He sighs softly to himself. Well, that's a disappointment. He might as well just scroll through his feed while he waits. He'll be there as soon as he gets a response.

But after a few minutes, Castiel's one and only friend, Aaron Bass, appears, and tumblr is soon forgotten.

"I got a cat," is the first thing Aaron says as he sits down next to his friend.

"Okay, I was not expecting that," Castiel says. "What's its name?"

"Golem," Aaron replies. "He's big and annoying and I hate him."

Castiel raises an eyebrow. "It's been two days and you already hate your cat?"

"It's been one day and yes," Aaron replies.

"Why?"

"He's obnoxious and he purposely gets in my way and he meows so freaking loudly —"

Castiel props his head up on his hand and stares down at his phone, waiting for a notification to distract him from Aaron's long rant about his cat. But even when he sees the message from Smith and Wesson — He's like a people magnet the second he walks in the room. Sucks to be you, huh, you little awkward muffin — he knows he can't respond without being rude to his friend. Well, this is just peachy.