Unlikely Lovers

Chapter 1

Castiel was late to school once again, since he didn't actually have a family to take him on time, nor a bus paid for. Because of this, he had to walk every single day the five miles from his foster home to school. Castiel never knew his biological parents and the only life he ever knew was going from place to place, family to family, never staying in one spot. He really hated this particular foster home since his foster parents always beat on him. He arrived at school wearing a very large sweater that was far too big to fit his small frame. He wore it to cover the various cuts and bruises that crossed his torso, hoping no one would see. Not that anyone would care, but on the off chance that they did, he didn't want to add anymore conflict into his life. He entered the school the only one in the halls besides the few other students skipping class. He made his way to his locker and dropped off the textbooks that he didn't necessarily need. He didn't have a coat although it was the beginning of December and it was already freezing. His cheeks and his nose were rosy from the cold, he was shivering but was thankful that the school had heat.

Castiel knew he wasn't going to be adopted since he was 16 years old, and no one wanted to adopt a teenager. They all wanted babies or toddlers, and he wasn't getting any younger. The only thing he had to look forward to was when he turned 18 and he could finally live his own life the way he wanted, and away from the system. Cas kept his head down, avoiding any curious eyes on his way to first period. He didn't want anyone to see his face even though he had very charming features. He didn't talk much and everyone knew that, so no one really bothered him. He didn't mind, he always kept to himself, mostly. But sometimes he desperately wished he had someone to talk to. He didn't have any friends to sit by at lunch so he sat in a stall in the boys bathroom avoiding any bullying from sitting alone. He felt like a loser since he had absolutely no friends. He tried his best to do what he was told but he was so overwhelmed with everything else he couldn't take it. He often had thoughts of killing himself and how much better everyone else would be without him. He felt that his life wasn't worth living since no one really cared about him. The thoughts scared him and he pushed it away to the depths of his mind. You see, Castiel wasn't like most other boys his age, he was introverted and not attracted to females in the slightest. He had his heart set on the class clown Dean Winchester. Everyone looked up to Dean. All the girls wanted him, heck even some of the boys who claimed to be straight. Dean had his own car, he was a rebel and he was devilishly handsome. He was a father figure to his little brother Sam, who was only a freshman that year. He made sure no one picked on Sammy or else they'd have a bone to pick with him. Dean was a senior and Castiel was a junior. One year behind Dean and he freaking loved him, even though Dean probably didn't have a clue he existed.

The bell rang for first period to end; surprising Cas a bit since he wasn't paying attention to the clock or anything that was going on in the class for that matter. He quickly gathered up his things and headed out the door to his next class, study hall. He enjoyed it since he didn't really have to pay attention and he could just sleep the whole hour. Once again he kept his head down walking through the hallway and wasn't looking where he was going and ran into someone. His books fell out of his hands, slamming onto the floor and he looked up to see who he had run into, Dean Winchester. His cheeks flushed red and the rest of his face went pale as he mumbled under his breath "I'm so sorry."
Dean smiled a bit speaking, "Can I help?"
It didn't really matter what Cas had said because Dean was helping him anyway. Dean picked up one of the books carefully looking over the title, "To Kill a Mockingbird, huh?" He chuckled a bit at the book, he wasn't much of a reader himself.
Castiel stuttered. This was Dean Winchester and he was talking to him of all people.
"Oh, yeah... I have to read it for English, but I barely even read it..."
This was obviously a lie since the bookmark inside the book was nearly at the end.
Dean looked at the bookmark, but chose not to say anything. He held out the book to Cas gesturing for him to take it. Cas did so and his fingertips brushed against Dean's and he was blushing all over again.
"Thanks for helping me," Cas smiled, the minute bell had rung indicating that all students had a minute to get to class.
Dean smiled, "No problem, see you around, Cas." winking at him just before he left.
Castiel hurried to class as his mind raced through the events that had just occurred. He knew his name! Dean Winchester knew that Castiel existed. Cas sat in his assigned seat just seconds before the bell rang. He opened up his book to where he left off and a little piece of paper fell out onto his desk. Castiel curiously unfolded the paper, confused as to why it was there. The hand writing and named signed at the end indicated it was from Dean. He had written down his cell phone number and hid it into his book. Surely this had to be a mistake, why would Dean give someone like Cas their phone number? Either way there wasn't much Cas could do about it since he didn't have a cell phone and his foster parents never let him use the landline. But still his heart was beating fast and for the first time in forever he had hope. One way or another he was going to call Dean whether he got beat up for it or not. This would be worth it.
The rest of the day went by really slow; the time was dragging everyone down because everyone just wanted to go home, especially Cas. The final bell rang and it washed over Cas like a wave of happiness. I can call Dean, he thought. The fact that his temporary family might beat on him didn't matter to him right then. He got home earlier than he usually did because now he had something to look forward to. Luckily, they kept the garage door open all the time because they sure as hell wouldn't give him a key or a garage code. Cas didn't even have his own room, he had to sleep on the floor with a poor excuse of a pillow and a ratty old blanket. The blanket was thin and torn so he barely slept at night due to the fact that he was freezing and uncomfortable. The family wasn't even poor they just neglected him.

Did they even want to foster him? Or were they just doing it because they thought it would be a nice thing.

If that was the case they sure weren't nice. When Castiel returned to the house no one was home, Castiel was so relieved that he wouldn't be questioned or hit he could just relax without worrying about something that he shouldn't even have to worry about. The family had multiple phones in their house that he had to choose from. No one should be home for another hour so hopefully that'll give him enough time to use the phone without anyone noticing. Castiel took the folded piece of paper out of his pocket, picked up the phone and punched in the numbers that matched the writing on the piece of paper. He hesitated to click talk, which would make the call go through.

What would he say? What would they talk about? Why did Dean even give Cas his number?

The thoughts were racing through his head a mile a minute and his anxiety got the best of him and he pressed the end key canceling the number.

You idiot, why couldn't you just press talk, it's just one simple button and you couldn't do it.

His mind questioned him; he wanted to do it more than anything but he couldn't.

It doesn't matter he probably wouldn't have even picked up anyways, he thought to himself.

He pushed the thoughts away and went upstairs into the bathroom and took off his shirt examining the bruises on his chest from that morning. He pressed on them harder and harder and flinched at the pain. He stopped pressing on the bruises and placed his head into his hands thinking to himself.

Why me? Why does all this shit happen to me? Isn't there one good thing that could happen to me? He thought to himself, praying in a way.

He removed the rest of his clothing, throwing them onto the floor and turned on the warm water of the shower. Before he stepped into the water he made sure to lock the door, even though no one was home. He slowly inched each part of his body under the steady stream of warm water until it engulfed his whole body in its warmth. He put his head back letting the water run down his face as if to wash all his problems away. He washed his hair and his body and then soon got out. He dried off his body and put a clean pair of clothes on that he had received from the orphanage. He placed his dirty clothes into the washer, making sure to wash everyone else's clothes as well. Maybe they'd finally realize all the good he was doing for them and stop hitting him. It didn't really matter because in a month he'd be placed in yet another foster home. With a new family, and new rules to follow, and maybe this time the family would actually be nice. Cas laid on the floor where he'd been sleeping since he had been here. He closed his eyes hoping everything else would just melt away and he wouldn't have to wake up for a year. It had only been twenty minutes or so and he awoke to the family cat rubbing against his side purring asking to be scratched behind the ears. Cas smiled since the cat was really his only friend. The cat was short haired and she was mostly gray with a few white markings on her paws and nose. She was a friendly little thing, the family had named her something ridiculous but Cas just called her Hope. It seemed to fit her, and she responded to it so he kept calling her Hope. That cat was the only thing he liked about that home. Hope was the only one who never hurt him, beside the occasional play scratches.
"Hey Hope, how're you today?"
She answered the question with a high pitched "meow" causing Castiel to smile. He loved cats, hell he loved all animals. What he wouldn't give to have one of his own. The thought brought a smile onto his face as he continued scratching behind the cat's ears, resulting in soft purrs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of a car pulling into the garage and the engine turning off alerted Cas to close his eyes and pretend to be asleep. Don't let them know you're awake. The garage door opened and closed with a slam. He could hear the drunken man come into the house yelling to anyone who was home. Castiel couldn't make out the words he was saying since they were all slurred due to the mass consumption of alcohol. The man tripped over himself a few times before going up into his bedroom passing out drunk. Castiel knew he wouldn't be coming back down until the next morning, so he felt safe moving around. The car had a few new dents to it from the drunk driving. This man didn't care about anyone but himself he probably killed someone without even knowing it because he was too drunk to know what he was doing, the thoughts raced through his mind filling him with more hatred for the man. But he was too tired to care right then, so he fell asleep on the floor, cold, uncomfortable and afraid of what new bruises would appear when he opened his eyes.