It's 1995, and Castiel's high school years are destined to be difficult: home-schooled until eighth grade, he is awkward, shy, and socially inept. The weird kid with the funny name would rather isolate himself and draw in his sketchbook than deal with the constant bullying he faces every day. Things only get worse in his junior year when he excels in home economics class, leading the captain of the baseball team, Alastair, to start taunting him for being gay. Then new student Dean Winchester arrives at Flour Bluff High School, sharing many of Castiel's classes. Castiel has seen his type before -- handsome, athletic, arrogant, and sure to be the most popular kid in school. But Castiel eventually learns that he and Dean have more in common than he thought, and they form an unlikely friendship. This story was originally published October 20, 2010 as part of the Dean/Cas Big Bang Challenge. Warnings: Bullying, homophobic language, some violence related to bullying. Cover for this story comes courtesy of @_thebat

Dean has had just about enough of Sam. Yeah, sure, he went through a break-up, but he's twenty-three for crying out loud! Sam has been driving Dean crazy, he never leaves, he never really moves, and Dean has been wasting away without his boyfriend Cas. Something has to be done. Sam just wants to know what went wrong. He's thankful for Dean's help, but that can only get him so far. Then one day Dean says that Sam is going on a date whether he likes it or not. And it's a guy. Sam has no idea what's about to hit him.

Dean Winchester has been going to Souix Falls High School ever since moving to his sort-of-uncle Bobby's place in his sophomore year with his brother Sam. He doesn't expect his senior year to be that enjoyable, but then he meets Castiel Novak, new senior and mute since he was seven. Dean has never fallen for someone harder, and Castiel doesn't seem to want anything to do with Dean. Cas asks Dean to stay away from him, but Dean just can't help himself...