Academica Inferno
Title: Academica Inferno
Author: mybrokenwingzz
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairings: Dean/Castiel
Rating: PG-13 (rating will increase later)
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. I am making no profit from this fanfiction.
Warnings: None
Summary: Highschool!AU:Dean goes to a new school. Things are normal until he falls for an angel. Now that all the ‘demons’ are out to get him, and with a lil’ brother to look after, can he stop this ‘apocalypse’ before everything goes downhill?
Author's Notes: Run-of-the-mill high school story, except when it's not.
Cross-posting: FanFiction.net
Back to Chapter 2
Chapter 3 : The One Where They Meet
Dean slammed the door to his room with more force than strictly necessary.
He was fully frustrated with the situation by now.
For one he hadn't been able to talk to Castiel the whole day. And now, Sam was on his case.
Oh yes, he saw the twinkle in his brother's eyes all right. And if past experiences were anything to go by, then his brother was already planning ways to make Dean talk.
There would be pie for breakfast tomorrow. For sure.
On second thought, that was at least something to look forward to.
Dean flopped down onto his bed, face up and stared at the ceiling. He eyed the bland white paint like it held all the solution to his problems.
After a few minutes of wallowing in self-pity, he sighed at his ridiculous (omg-I-have-a-crush-but-I-don't-know-what-to-do-about-it)) behavior, before he heaved himself up with a groan.
This was stupid; Dean Winchester was not a fucking chick and he certainly didn't mope around for some guy.
He decided to take a walk to clear his mind. Grabbing a khaki jacket from the closet, he descended the stairs from his room on the second floor jumping three steps at a time before bounding into the kitchen due to the momentum.
"Hey Sammy, I am going out for a walk', he called out in what he supposed was his normal cheerful voice. "You gonna be okay?"
No one could ever say he was a bad brother.
"No Dean, I will start crying for my big brother the minute you step out of the house", Sam deadpanned. He silently wondered if Dean even realized how much of a mother hen he really was.
"You did use to cry for me, you know."
Sam didn't bother to answer, and just gave an exasperated sigh with a bitch face that clearly said real low, Dean Winchester, bringing up stuff I don't even remember doing, real low!
"Fine, I'm outta here. Keep studying, bitch."
"Whatever, jerk!"
Sam kept his eyes on Dean as he grabbed the house keys, put on his favorite biker boots then exited the house.
When Dean was out of the view, he leaned back into his chair.
Huh.
Dean just didn't just take a walk. Ever since he got his baby, he only drove.
It had to be something really big if Dean was taking walks nowadays.
Sam silently wondered if he should get Dean checked for some sort of aneurism. Or maybe Dean was secretly in a gang and he didn't want Sam to know. Or something cooler.
A little voice in his head suggested that maybe Dean was crushing on somebody (case in point, Cassie from fifth grade) but he instantly laughed it off. Dean wouldn't get so much wound up over some girl.
He could psycho-analyze/grill Dean when he came back. For now, it was him and Napoleon and a shit-load of war.
Stupid History.
--
Dean closed the door to the house before he heaved a sigh of relief.
Sam was watching him like a hawk today, and it seriously didn't help him much. He wanted to tell him about him but didn't know how the kid would react to the whole I-might-not-be-as-straight-as-I-thought-I-was news.
Then again it was Sam! He had probably already figured it out somehow. Either way, he didn't want to deal with it now
He crossed the street to the sidewalk on the other side, and started walking to the right. The street was pretty empty at the time. The setting sun painted the quiet neighborhood in a breath-taking golden palette. The sky was dotted with cottony clouds lined with the same golden color as everything else. The moon was just a vague silvery shape in the eastern sky now, half covered by the clouds.
Taking in the beautiful sight around him while setting a brisk pace, Dean didn't notice much of the road ahead of him.
As a result, he didn't hear when a voice screamed a 'Hey, look out!' ahead of him and only saw a flash of gold before something rammed into him, propelling him backward with the force of the impact.
He let out a pained groan as his head hit the pavement, though not hard enough to black him out, and an uncomfortable weight settled on his ribcage.
He wondered if he had been hit by a car, his head still trying catch up with what was happening.
It took him a moment to figure out that the wet thing on his face was a tongue. A tongue of what seemed like an over-excited, over-grown Golden Retriever which was seemingly taking great pleasure in licking his face and slobbering all over him. He shoved at the huge dog to make it move; it only retaliated by giving a happy bark and pinning his shoulder with its front paws and giving him another quick makeover with his tongue.
He tried shoving again (damn, the dog was heavy!) and this time it did move. Dean immediately sprang to his feet, moved two steps away from the dog before pinning it with a hateful glare.
Dean didn't have anything against dogs. He actually liked them. They were faithful and nice, unlike cats. But he didn't quite enjoy being covered in saliva and this one deserved it!
Only then he noticed that the dog was currently held by the collar by a hand, the person was sitting down beside the dog (probably to put on the collar) and was surrounded by three other dogs. He could only see part of the stranger's dark hair peeking out from under the hooded sweatshirt from his position.
He waited until the person moved to stand to start his angry rant.
"You know you should really keep Bigfoot there on a-
Dean only got halfway through the first sentence of the lecture he had planned in his head before the stranger turned to look at him, the hood falling back slightly, revealing stunning blue eyes and the sharp face he knew so well. Dean's brain automatically blanked out and he said the first word that came into his mind.
- Castiel?"
Dean watched as the blue eyes changed from an apologetic look to shock, then flicker to confusion before realization crept in. The chapped pink lips formed an 'o' before he said, "Dean."
He could not stop the grin that came on his face.
"The one and only!"
Castiel opened his mouth to answer and as if on cue, the Golden Retriever tugged on its chain hard causing Castiel hunch forward, eyes going wide as he flailed his arms in an insane attempt to regain balance.
Dean jumped forward on instinct to catch the flailing boy, as the body slumped forward. Dean grunted as he bore the full weight of the dark-haired boy. Castiel's face was pressed into his sternum and Dean's hand was pressed into his shoulder holding some of the weight of the boy.
Time suddenly seemed to stop for Dean as he realized how close they were and it seemed like an eternity before Castiel pushed against Dean's chest with his face, and used the slight reaction force to tilt backward into his feet but immediately fell forward towards Dean again. This time Dean caught the other guy by the shoulder, and their eyes met, face mere inches away. Dean felt blood rush to his cheek as the gaze didn't break for a few moments and he started to feel light-headed. After the staring went for enough time to mark it as awkward (in Dean's book, Castiel seemed unperturbed) , he looked down to avoid the gaze. He then noticed that Cas's legs were intertwined with the four leashes he was holding.
"You, uh, need help with that?", Dean muttered keeping his gaze on the pant-clad legs.
"Yes, please."
There was another tug from the retriever, which was immediately followed by an stern, "Down boy!". Dean would deny it to his grave that the tone of authority from the other boy caused a tingle to run down his spine and straight to his groin.
Dean didn't bother looking up before he dropped down on one knee, grabbing one of the leashes to get to the work of untangling them.
Dean fought a blush as he forced his mind to focus on the job at hand instead of focusing on the girlish mantra of 'Ohmigod it's Castiel, Castiel is here, in front of me, ohmigod, we are so close' going through his head. He didn't even notice the dogs circling him and sniffing at him experimentally.
After half a minute, he was done and he tilted his head up to look at Castiel peering down at him with inquisitive blue eyes. Dean flushed immediately under the stare, he averted his eyes only to end up looking straight at Cas's crotch which was level with his face and his brain immediately jumped to give him very detailed visions of what he could be doing to Cas from his current position.
He scrambled to get up, only to draw a deep growl from one of the dogs and falling back on his butt.
Dean flinched, and actually looked at the dogs surrounding for the first time.
Other than the retriever, there was a grey and black Siberian Husky, a sharp looking black Doberman and a huge grey St. Bernard. All of them were pinning him with inquisitive glances that only canines can muster, though none of them seemed that intent on hurting him.
Except maybe the Dog from Hell, who was basically eyeing him with a sort of manic glee from where he sat restlessly, tail wagging lazily. Dean was sure he was getting the doggy version of a smirk at the moment.
"Why do you have four dogs?". Dean said the first thought that popped into his mind, as he accepted the hand offered to him and was hauled to his feet. The grip was strong and firm.
"They are not mine. Well, actually Jimmy there is mine, the others are not." Castiel pointed at the husky with his thumb absent mindedly as he tried to re-arrange the four leashes in his hand.
"So you walk dogs or something?"
Castiel chuckled lightly before replying, "Yeah, I wish they would pay me to keep up with this. The other three belong to my brothers and sister. Who are too busy to walk their own dogs and so I end up with all of them."
"Oh." Dean really wished he could think of a more intelligent reply at the moment. But it seemed that his IQ level dropped steadily the longer he stayed near Castiel.
"Dean, I am sorry."
"Huh? For what?" Why the hell are you apologizing to me?
"For Loki and well, for falling on you."
You are more than welcome to fall on me anytime. "Loki?"
"The dog." As if on cue, the golden retriever gave an innocent happy bark with what seemed like an evil grin.
"Figures. And don't worry about it, it's not really your fault that the dog has a penchant for mauling people. And it's 'kay. Don't sweat it."
Castiel just gave him an amused chuckle.
Dean nodded back.
They stood in silence for a few moments before Dean ventured, " I ,uh, I wanted to thank you for helping me out in math today. I tried to tell you in school but…."
"Don't mention it. And it was very unfortunate that we didn't have time to talk in school today."
"Why do you talk like that?"
"I don't understand."
The look on Castiel's was just adorable as he cocked his head to the side like a puppy.
"You know, like those people do in old English films and books. All perfect grammar and stuff." Dean made a vague sweeping hand gesture that was somehow supposed to help Castiel understand what he was saying.
"I don't understand the use of colloquial English as well as most. I am originally from Russia. And I have been home-schooled until last year. So I can't speak like", Castiel paused a bit, obviously trying to find the right word, "the youth of today."
Dean's snigger at that sounded vaguely like something between a fart and a pig squealing in mud, before he started to openly guffaw at Castiel.
Castiel who just furrowed his brows, and looked at Dean like he was acting like weird.
"Dude, don't ever change!"
The shorter boy just frowned at him. Then for good measure, he added, "I wasn't planning to."
Dean bit back a shit-eating grin that threatened to overcome him and looked away when he felt something cold and wet poke at his hand.
He smiled when he saw Jimmy look at him with the sort of innocent childish curiosity; head tilted up and blue eyes studying him quietly.
"Hello Jimmy." He patted the dog on his head (which caused Cas to gasp) who just angled his head sharply to catch Dean's hand between his strong jaws. He wasn't exactly biting Dean, but the grasp was tight, teeth digging into his skin slightly. Dean didn't move his hand, he just sat down gently beside the dog and patted his head in a comfortable manner till the dog opened his mouth and let his hand out before giving a small apologetic lick to Dean's hand.
"Good boy." Dean couldn't help but smile. He did like dogs after all. Specially ones which belonged to Castiel.
Belonging to Castiel. Now that's a great thought.
"You are very good with dogs. Do you own one?"
"Nah. Sammy had a dog called Bones once, he was like your hell hound there. We really didn't stay in one place long enough, so it's kind of hard to keep a pet. Had to leave him with a family friend, didn't really bother to get another one after that."
"Oh."
The next few moments the level of awkwardness rose and rose until Dean just had to clear his throat to break the silence.
Castiel didn't seem that affected by it, perfectly content with looking at the dogs as they wandered within the reach of their leashes and petting them occasionally.
He looked very much in his element. Like he seemed in his element in class, answering question diligently. Like he seemed in his element while interacting with any of his friends. Like he seemed in his element performing flawless kickboxing techniques.
This was the best thing of the guy. He was always himself, no matter where he was. No pretentious shit.
Dean appreciated that.
That being said, there was very little that Dean didn't appreciate in the guy. What? Dude was fuckin' perfect.
"Um okay, then, you should go back to walking your dogs. And I will get back to, well, my pesky nerdy younger brother."
"Okay."
Dean turned back to walk towards his house, and walked a few paces only to look back at Castiel upon hearing footsteps behind him.
"Dude, are you, like, following me?"
Castiel looked visibly uncomfortable. "My house is in that direction too."
"Okay, then. Let's walk together! It's better than you tailing me like a stalker."
"I had no intention of 'tailing' you." Dean could almost hear the quotation marks in his voice.
"Yeah, okay, Captain Literal. I was joking. Let's go."
After this they walked in companionable silence, Cas still trailing behind him with four dogs circling him. Well not exactly silence since Dean gave out blasphemous curses every now and then as Loki nipped at his ankles and generally got in his way. Cas suffered through the same with no complaint, which probably spoke volumes on how much time he spent with the damn dog!
When Dean reached his house, he turned only to find Cas' face only inches away from his, their chests nearly touching. And he should jump, jump back or at least be surprised, but all he could do is look into those blue eyes and wonder why he was looking into them! As if, it was not a conscious choice on his part at all and the blue (like the ocean after a storm, Dean would say if he was feeling particularly poetic) forced him to look at it and he had no choice.
"Goodbye, Dean."
Dean shivered at the flat monotone. He nodded not trusting his voice, only to tuck-tail-and-run towards the safety of his home.
And the weird thing was there was nothing dangerous about the boy at all.