The Fall

Part 6

Dean:

 He waited for Cas to come back to school, even going as far as to check up on him each morning. It became somewhat routine, actually. The first couple of days Gabe was the one to open the door, and Dean could feel his heart sink each time. Still, the apartment number gave him a laugh Cas heard him though, he could tell by the way the house went quiet every time he came by, it was a measured silence.  Eventually, Cas answered. When he did, though, Dean was surprised to see just how beat up he was. He didn’t heal very pretty, that was for sure. Dean didn’t care. He was glad the kid was healing at all.

Castiel:

          It took him the whole of five days to work up the nerve to go back to school again. Cas knew that he would much rather just stay at home with Gabe. After all, Gabriel was home pretty much all the time, because he didn’t  really seem to have a job. When Cas asked what he did for a living, Gabe just answered, “internet scams, usually Craigslist” and left it at that. Seemed simple enough.

          Still, Cas missed seeing Dean and his other friends, though it was mostly Dean he missed. Every morning he would show up at their apartment without fail, bright and early. On the fifth morning, after a night’s worth of contemplation, and a morning’s worth of white-knuckled hand wringing, he finally decided to go.

Sam smiled passively from the back seat, and waved distractedly at Cas as he stepped in. It didn’t seem as if much had really changed, but he sure as hell was more anxious about school than he had been the first day, and with good reason. Nonetheless, Dean seemed fairly enthused that morning to have Cas with them, and Sam did too. It didn’t take them long to realize that Cas felt differently though. Dean was the first to speak up.

“You nervous?” He asked, a note of playfulness sneaking into his voice. Still, his question was serious, so Cas felt compelled to reply.

“What if Alaistair does something this time?” He said, “You might not be there to stop him this time.”

“Well,” Dean said with a slight laugh, “He certainly won’t be saying anything, that’s for sure. I broke that little bastards jaw two days ago, and I’d be happy to break the rest of him at a moment’s notice.” Cs raised his eyebrows. Damn.

“What about Ruby or Meg?” Cas said.

“I’m not gonna hit a girl, but I still don’t think they’ll be much of a problem, I’m assuming they took the hint from Alastair.” He laughed again, “Not that he’ll be telling them himself, assume the reconstructive jaw wiring  would be a bit of an obstacle.” Cas smiled. He was glad to have Dean looking out for him.

The rest of the drive was a blur of rock music, Sam’s complaints about said rock-music, and then louder rock music. Finally, once, they’d actually made it into the school, Cas was in a much better mood than he was prior. This changed the second he walked into the doors. The walls were coated with layer upon layer of construction paper heart’s, and poster’s for a school wide dance. His heart sunk to his knees; Valentine’s Day.

Dean plucked one heart from the wall and clasped it dramatically to his chest. “Love is in the air, eh Cas?” he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Cas face blushed a deep red as his mouth set into an expression of bitter contempt.

“Not so much?” Dean asked.

“That would be an understatement.”

Cas pictured Dean, some wispy blond slung over one shoulder of his leather coat and cringed. The thought was enough to make him gag. No, Cas thought, he didn’t mind Valentine’s day, but he reviled the thought of spending it alone once again. He glanced over to Dean again, catching his eye accidentally. Dean smiled a crooked smile in his direction, the skin around his wide green eyes crinkled.