Hopelessly Devoted (Part 1)
Title - Hopelessly Devoted (Part 1)
Length - 14,545 overall.
Author - lafleurdumal85
Rating - PG-13
Summary - Have you ever really wanted to read a Dean/Castiel fic based on the musical Grease? No? Well, I've written one anyway.
Warnings - CRACK. Complete violation of the plot of Grease. Extreme silliness.
Spoilers - Um... if you've seen Grease then you're good.
Disclaimer - I own nothing, I earn nothing. I can only apologize.
A/N: A birthday fic written for the lovely ladypapalade over on tumblr. Also, I made a title cover but it went a bit wrong. Cas wears glasses in the fic, and somehow he's turned out looking a lot like Harry Potter. So yeah. Sorry about that. And everything else. This is seriously the most ridiculous thing I have ever written.
Hopelessly Devoted
The sun was setting gloriously over the ocean as Dean pulled Castiel in for another kiss.
“Oh, Cas...” he sighed.
“Oh, Dean,” the other boy replied dreamily.
The waves gently lapped around their bare feet.
“Dean, what if I never see you again? I have to go back to New York tomorrow, and you’re going back to Kansas. I don’t want this to be the end.”
Dean caught hold of his chin. “Hey, don’t say things like that! Of course we’ll see each other again.”
When Dean kissed him one more time, Castiel had to concede that love was indeed a many splendored thing, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe the other boy’s words.
“This isn’t the end,” Dean said when he pulled back, his eyes full of conviction and tenderness. “This is just the beginning!”
~*~
The sun was shining brightly in Lawrence, Kansas on the first day back for the kids at Rydell High. Adam, Gabriel and Ash sauntered across the campus, all wearing their matching leather jackets with ‘Team Free Will’ written across the back in silver studs. None of them especially liked school, but it was good to get the gang together again. Besides, they were seniors now. They didn’t have to answer to anybody.
Gabriel hailed an impossibly tall boy, who grinned when he caught sight of them. “Sam!” Gabe cried, trading punches on the arm with the tall guy. “Where the hell have you been all summer?”
Sam laughed. “What do you mean, where the hell have I been? I’ve been working! See, unlike you slobs, some of us would actually like some cash in our pockets. Me and Dean are thinking of going halves on a set of wheels, so I got a job down at Singer’s auto shop.”
“You seen Dean yet?” Ash asked as they headed towards the school.
“Oh yeah,” Sam replied, gesturing towards the school. “He’s doing what he does best.”
The others looked where Sam was pointing and caught sight of the final member of their gang standing by the front doors, leather jacket slung casually over his shoulder, flirting with a group of enthralled juniors. The gang were far from surprised - there were few attractive students (male or female) that Dean Winchester hadn’t seduced. He was even rumoured to have hooked up with a couple of faculty members.
However, he broke away from his circle of fans when he caught sight of his friends, and after an appropriate number of manly arm punches had been traded between them all, they went inside.
“You have a good summer, Dean?” Adam asked.
Dean laughed softly. “Dude... you have no idea.”
Just after Team Free Will had entered the building a shiny pink Cadillac pulled up in front of the school. A blonde girl got out, shrugging on a pink jacket, followed by a brunette and a giggling redhead. Jo, Gwen and Anna had already made names for themselves as the coolest girls in school, and from the impressed glances their new car was receiving from fellow students, that wasn’t likely to change any time soon.
“Well,” Jo sighed. “Here we are again.”
Gwen grinned at her. “Yeah, but we’re seniors now! We’re gonna rule the school!”
Anna snorted with laughter, sucking the cream centre out of her Twinkie.
Gwen wrinkled up her nose. “Anna, that’s gross! Stoop acting like a teenager!”
Anna rolled her eyes. “Hello, I am a teenager!”
“Well, there’s no need to be so obvious about it!” Gwen retorted, looking around to make sure that no boys were watching.
Jo heaved a sigh and linked her arms through her two friends’. “Come on, ladies!” she said with a grin. “Let’s go get ‘em!”
None of them noticed the fourth member of their group as they passed her, but that was probably because Becky was standing with a very nervous looking scruffy-haired boy, wearing glasses, black pants, a blue fair-isle knit sweater and an oversized trenchcoat.
“I don’t know, Becky,” he sighed, looking up at the school with no small amount of trepidation. “I’m just not sure I’ll like it here.”
“Are you kidding? Castiel, you’re gonna love it!” Becky enthused. “Everyone here is super awesome, and Rydell is a very liberal school. No one is going to give you a hard time for being gay.” She said the last word in a loud stage whisper and with such a huge grin on her face that Castiel began to wonder whether he should have shared that particular bit of information with his new friend.
“Don’t you worry about a thing,” Becky told him, grabbing hold of his arm and practically frog-marching him into the building. “I’m gonna take good care of you.”
Going to the principal’s office was the easy part. Principal Harvelle was obviously a no-nonsense kind of woman, but she had kind eyes, and gave Castiel the registration forms to fill out with a smile.
“Welcome to Rydell!” her assistant said with a nervous grin.
“Chuck!” Principal Harvelle exclaimed. “Where is this year’s student register?”
“Oh! Um, I gave it to you?”
“No, you gave me last year’s and a chapter from your latest novel. I want this year’s!”
“Oh God. Uh, I know I had it earlier...”
Principal Harvelle rolled her eyes at Castiel as her assistant scrabbled around the office, dropping paper wherever he went.
“Here!” Chuck cried triumphantly, flourishing a folder at the principal which Castiel noticed had a large coffee stain on it.
The principal took it and flipped it open, almost immediately groaning with despair. “Gabriel’s back again? Weren’t we supposed to get rid of him two years ago?”
Chuck laughed nervously. “Oh, he just can’t stay away. Except when it comes to summer school, I guess.”
Principal Harvelle shook her head resignedly. “You’d better get to class, hon,” she told Castiel. “The bell’s about to ring. Here’s your schedule.”
Castiel grabbed it and hurried away. He hated being late.
~*~
“So did anyone see the new guy?” Gwen said at lunchtime, taking a swig of her cherry soda. “He’s kinda cute, in a dorky sort of way.”
“You know who else is looking good,” Anna said. “Dean Winchester.” Both girls grinned knowingly at Jo, who rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please, that’s ancient history. Would you get over it?” Jo dearly wished that her friends would shut up about Dean already. It had been bad enough that after dating for a month or so last year he’d decided that the two of them were better off as friends, but... Jo had the horrible feeling that she wasn’t quite as over her feelings for him as she’d pretended to be. It was galling; she’d always valued her head over her heart and never thought she’d be the kind of girl to fall for someone she knew was completely inappropriate. Her one consolation was that no one else knew.
“Hi, girls!” Becky chirped as she joined them at their table. “Has everyone met Castiel? He’s just moved here from New York, and I’ve been showing him around. Move up so he can sit down, Anna!”
Castiel seated himself nervously on the bench, toying unenthusiastically with his sandwich.
“What d’you think?” Becky whispered the Jo. “Can he be part of the gang? You know, an honorary Pink Lady? He’s really great, and you know I’ve always wanted a gay BFF!”
“I dunno,” Jo replied, looking at Castiel appraisingly. She took in the dorky sweater, the lack of personal grooming, the slightly askew glasses. Castiel certainly wasn’t like any of the guys the Pink Ladies were used to hanging out with. “He looks too pure to be pink,” she decided.
“So, Cas,” Anna said, stealing a handful of the new boy’s potato chips. “You’re gay, huh?”
“Um, yes.” Castiel smiled at her shyly.
Anna shared a grin with Gwen. “So I bet you got a lotta action in the Big Apple!”
Castiel blushed crimson and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Ah... no. No, I’ve... never had the occasion.”
“Never checked your V-card, huh?” Gwen said.
Becky nudged her under the table with her foot. “Leave him alone! There’s nothing wrong with wanting to wait for someone special!”
Castiel gave her a small smile of gratitude. “Actually,” he said, “I did meet someone special over the summer. Though I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again.”
“Omigod!” Becky exclaimed. “You have a boyfriend? A summer romance? Cas, that’s amazing! You have to tell me absolutely everything right the hell now!”
Before Castiel could say anything, or even recover from the shock of Becky’s rabid enthusiasm, they were interrupted by a neatly dressed young man carrying a bunch of fliers and smiling at the group enthusiastically.
“Afternoon, all!” he said cheerily. “Isn’t the first day back at school always the best?”
“Nothing better!” Jo replied sarcastically.
“Well, I’m running for student rep this year, so make sure you all vote!” the young man carried on obliviously. “And I’ll be organizing the dance-off this year, so if you ladies have any ideas, you let me know!” His eye’s fell on Castiel. “Hey, who’s your new friend? I don’t believe we’ve met!”
“Balthazar, this is Castiel,” Becky said. “Today’s his first day.”
Castiel found his hand being shaken enthusiastically by Balthazar. “Great to meet you, Castiel! I’m sure we’ll be great pals. Hey, you have to come to the pep rally tonight, everyone’s gonna be there and it’ll give you the chance to introduce yourself!”
Castiel smiled weakly. After the stresses of his first day there was nothing more he wanted than an early night with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book, but he supposed he should make an effort. His parents were always telling him to be more sociable. “Okay,” he said.
“Castiel was just telling us about the boy he met over the summer!” Becky said. “He’s gay. And he’s my friend. I have a gay friend.”
“Ooh,” Balthazar said, eying Castiel with interest. “Tell me more!”
Castiel bit his lip in alarm. As much as he wanted to talk about his time with Dean, the attention was making him nervous. Still, he couldn’t expect to make friends if he kept everything in, could he? He smiled at Becky shyly. “Well... it was really romantic...” he began.
Cas wasn’t the only one being given the third degree. While the Pink Ladies did lunch and critically appraised the new boy, Dean and his gang were spending the lunch break hanging out on the bleachers, checking out passing girls and laughing at the jocks.
“Okay, spill,” Sam sighed. “You hooked up on vacation, didn’t you? Come on, you’ve been dying to talk about it all morning.”
Dean couldn’t suppress a grin. “Well... I did meet one guy down at the beach. He was... pretty cool.”
Adam laughed. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to go the whole summer without getting laid!”
“Oh... we had a blast,” Dean replied.
“It all happened so fast!” Castiel told a rapt Becky on the other side of the campus. “But he was wonderful...”
“Yeah, but what about the important stuff?” Gwen interrupted, looking at Castiel over the rim of her horn-rimmed sunglasses. “Like, did he have a car?”
“How far did you get?” Ash asked Dean with a suggestive leer.
“A gentleman never tells,” Dean replied with a grin. “But he was crazy for me. I mean, we met because I saved his life - he nearly drowned!”
“I liked him because he was such a big kid,” Castiel said, trying not to feel uncomfortable with all the female attention his story was receiving. “He was always splashing around in the water, showing off to get me to look at him...”
“And was it love at first sight?” Balthazar asked, his eyes starry.
Castiel shrugged, trying to hide a blush. “I don’t know, we just had so much fun, going to the lemonade bar, staying out late...”
“So how long did it take you to get in his pants?” Gabriel asked Dean.
“Dude, I’m not telling you about that shit!” Dean punched him lightly on the arm. “But, you know, things would get pretty steamy under the dock...”
The rest of the gang grinned at him appreciatively.
“Aw, man, there’s no need to brag!” Adam complained half-heartedly. “I didn’t get any action over the summer.”
“Tell me more, Cas!” Becky squealed. “Tell me more!”
“Yeah,” Jo sighed. “Cause right now the guy kinda sounds like a drag.”
“He was sweet, and a gentleman!” Castiel retorted defensively. “He wasn’t afraid to hold my hand in public...”
“Yeah, but how much dough did he spend?” Anna interrupted.
“Man,” Dean sighed. “I tell you one thing, the guy sure liked getting friendly down in the sand. He was damn good if you know what I mean.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Dean, I think we’ve all managed to correctly interpret your oh-so-subtle innuendo.”
Ash was looking at Dean with wide eyes. “Hey... this guy of yours didn’t have a sister or female friend you could set me up with, did he?”
“But then it got colder,” Castiel sighed. “And that’s where it ended. We promised to stay true to each other...”
“I told him we’d always be friends,” Dean said, looking out over the bleachers. He wondered what Castiel was doing now. It was amazing, he thought, how those summer days had just drifted away. They’d thought their time together would never end, but in the end it had been ripped at the seams. Of one thing he was sure though: neither he nor Castiel wherever he was, would ever forget those summer nights.
“So,” Becky said, linking her arm through Castiel’s as they made their way to their next class. “Did this guy of yours have a name?”
“Yes,” Castiel replied. “He’s actually from this state, so I’m hoping I might be able to meet up with him again at some point. His name’s Dean. Dean Winchester.”
Castiel was a little bemused by the hysterical giggling this announcement provoked in his new friends.
Jo elbowed Anna, who looked like she was about to say something, in the ribs. “Well, maybe if you wish real hard you will see loverboy again,” she told Castiel. “Who knows, it might be sooner than you think!” She walked off with a slightly bitter smile.
“Do you really think it could happen, Becky?” Castiel asked.
“Um... sure,” Becky replied awkwardly. “Anything’s possible, I guess. We should... we should get to class...”
~*~
It looked like the whole school had turned out for the pep rally, and Castiel was beyond nervous. It was bad enough that he really wasn’t good with crowds, but he’d somehow been roped into trying out for marching band. Balthazar was scarily persuasive, as it turned out. He had told Castiel with such conviction that if he wanted to get into a good college he would have to be proactive with his extracurricular commitments that Castiel had been powerless to refuse. And that was how he found himself standing on the sidelines that evening wearing a too-big band uniform and a plumed hat that would not sit straight, trying not to throw up with nerves as Coach Rufus delivered a deeply disturbing motivational speech about ripping and crushing and salting and burning the opposing team, and Balthazar relentlessly hissed advice in his ear. “Don’t forget to smile, and stick out your pinkie when you twirl your baton, and for God’s sake, lift your knees up when you march, and...”
...
“I thought you did really well,” Becky said loyally afterwards, handing Castiel a cheeseburger.
Castiel looked at her pitifully. “I lost control of my baton and hit Zachariah in the eye.”
Becky patted him on the arm. “It could’ve been worse. Come on, there’s still the party to go to. It’ll be fun!”
Castiel smiled weakly and trudged along in her wake. If there was one thing his seventeen-and-a-half years had taught him, it was that other people’s ideas of fun rarely coincided with his own. He missed Dean. Dean, with his kind eyes and his bright smile, who had wanted nothing more than to spend long summer days hanging out at the beach. If Dean was here tonight, all of this might be a little more endurable.
...
Dean didn’t know why he’d bothered showing up to this dumb post-pep rally party. All he knew was that he needed a distraction. Besides, he and Sam had finally picked up their car from Singer Salvage, and they were eager to take her for a spin. Sadly, she still needed some work. Make that a lot of work. The paint was peeling off, the doors were rusted, one of the wing mirrors was missing, and Dean really did not like the sound the exhaust was making. Still, the car was theirs. Their car, the fruit of all the plans they had made, all the money they’d saved. As far as Sam and Dean were concerned, all she would need was a little bit of loving attention and she’d be perfect.
The rest of the gang did not share their enthusiasm.
“Are you kidding me?” Gabriel exclaimed, eying the Impala with undisguised distain. “This is what you’ve been working all summer for, Sammy boy?”
Sam cuffed him round the back of the head. “If you wanna walk home, you’re going the right way about it,” he grumbled.
Gabriel wisely shut his cake hole after that, but Dean didn’t miss the dubious looks he exchanged with Ash and Adam. It pissed him off. He felt fiercely protective of his new wheels, and it wasn’t like any of them had a car. It hadn’t helped that that bastard Crowley from Hades High had sped past them in his hideous red sports car with that skank Meg at his side, both of them cat-calling and laughing. Dean winced; he really wished he hadn’t had sex with Meg that one time last year. He glanced over at Sam, and suspected his best friend was thinking the same thing.
It would have been a pretty unremarkable night if it hadn’t been for Jo. They pulled up in the parking lot and cracked open a couple of beers. Gabriel was being obnoxious, Adam talked about asking Anna Milton to the school dance but couldn’t get up the courage to do anything about it, and Dean was thinking vaguely about trying to hook up with someone in a futile attempt to forget about Castiel. But then there was Jo.
Dean knew he’d fucked up royally with that one. It was rarely a good idea to drunkenly make out with girls you’d been friends with for half your life, and an even worse idea to try and make it work once you were sober and knew in your heart that friendship was all you really wanted. But then Jo was so cool, and they really had gotten along well, and Dean knew she liked him, so... yeah. Really big fucking mistake, and he didn’t blame Jo in the least for being mad at him. But then when he caught sight of her stalking towards him with that vindictive glint in her eye, and especially when he saw Gwen and Anna hurrying along behind her grinning like a couple of harpies, his stomach sank and he immediately started looking for an exit. He slid off the hood of the car and edged closer to his friends, thinking that at least he’d have some support in the face of the imminent female tyranny.
“Hello, Dean!” Jo said a little too brightly. “We’ve got a surprise for you.”
Giggling, Anna shoved someone towards him. A tousle-haired young man wearing a dishevelled band uniform. The boy’s eyes grew wide, and Dean was struck with recognition like a punch in the gut.
“Dean?” the boy breathed, his head canted to the side a little.
An enormous grin was beginning to spread itself across Dean’s face. “Cas!” He pulled the other guy into a rib-crushing hug. “Oh my God, Cas, I can’t believe you-what the hell are you doing here?”
Castiel was grinning too now, and Dean’s heart hurt with how much he’d missed him. “My father’s company relocated him to Lawrence!” he said. “I knew you lived in Kansas, but had no idea that you’d be here! Dean, this is unbelievable.”
Dean was just about to say something horribly sentimental and chick-flicky, possibly something about destinies colliding and fate bringing them together, when he suddenly became very aware of his friends standing behind him, staring at the two of them with incredulity. Dean cleared his throat and looked away from Castiel, his grin going lopsided. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
He caught Cas’s bemused frown. “Well... would you like to maybe go somewhere where we can talk?”
Dean shrugged. “Not right now, babe, I’m hanging with my guys.”
Castiel wrinkled his nose. “Babe? Dean, what’s the matter with you? You’re acting strangely.”
Dean affected a laugh. “Dude, what the hell do you want from me? Look, we had some times, but you can’t just expect me to drop everything! I’ll see you around. We’re cool.”
Castiel’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and Dean suddenly felt like he should be featuring in a nature program called When Nerds Attack or something. He tried to look unfazed.
“Dean Winchester,” Cas growled. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, but until you figure it out, you can just keep away from me!” He stormed off, shoving his way through the milling crowds until he was out of sight.
Dean struggled against the temptation to run after him and beg for forgiveness. He looked away from Castiel’s retreating figure and realised that Jo had seen the regret in his eyes. She smiled at him bitterly before following after Castiel. Well, he supposed her revenge was complete now. She’d found the one person Dean had ever managed to fall for, who he’d really been himself around without any of the image-conscious bullshit he usually carried around with him, and she’d shown Cas what a coward he really was. Too scared of what other people would think to go after what he really wanted. Dean sighed, hitched the smile back on his face, and went to join his friends.
...
When Becky found Castiel, he was sitting by himself on the bleachers, a picture of dejection and misery, absent-mindedly pulling the feathers out of his marching band hat. The worst part of it was that he’d really thought what he’d had with Dean was real. Yes, he knew that people had summer romances and then went back to their real lives and forgotten about it, but it had felt... Anyway, he’d obviously been a fool. Everything that Dean had said to him had been a lie. His heart ached as he thought of Dean’s shy smile right before they’d kissed the first time. How could it all have been fake? Castiel wasn’t experienced, but he liked to think that he was no fool. He’d always been pretty good at reading people, and Dean had seemed so genuine.
“Men are pigs,” Becky said, plonking herself down on the bench beside him. “Present company excepted, I mean.”
Castiel shook his head. “I don’t understand why he’s acting this way.”
Becky sighed. “See, what you have to understand about Dean Winchester is... he’s kind of a douche. I mean, he’s a pretty decent guy really, but he’s got this reputation that he feels like he has to protect, and that doesn’t exactly allow for having, you know, feelings for people. He’s kind of a slut, truth be told. He treated Jo pretty crappily last year, and he had a fling with Anna once too. Gwen’s his cousin so that wasn’t really an option, but otherwise...”
Castiel felt something twist uncomfortably in his gut. He’d known, of course, that Dean had been with other people, but it was quite another thing to hear about it. He’d thought that that last night of the holiday, when he and Dean had gotten to third base under the dock, had been special for both of them. Now he supposed he’d just been another in a long line of conquests. He was glad, suddenly, that they hadn’t gone all the way. It wasn’t that Castiel was prudish, but he hadn’t wanted to share that with anyone unless it actually meant something to both parties. He’d thought he’d meant something to Dean, but... obviously he’d been wrong.
Castiel buried his head in his arms. “Becky, have you ever felt like smiting someone?” he mumbled.
Becky wrapped an arm around him. “All the time. Look... if it helps at all, he did look really sad after you left. I think, maybe... maybe he’s just scared, you know? Reputation’s a big thing for guys like Dean, and he’s always been so concerned with being cool.”
Castiel sighed. He thought about Dean in his leather jacket and his biker boots, and his gang of friends. He supposed that a quiet, intellectual band geek (failed band geek, he reminded himself) wouldn’t exactly be a cool person for someone like Dean to date.
He raised his head and looked at Becky. “Did... did you ever...?”
“Noooo. Dean’s not really my type. Besides, I happen to be in a very serious online relationship with a guy called Carver Edlund. He’s a writer as well, you know. Come on, the girls are coming over to my place tonight for a sleepover. You should come! It’ll take your mind off Dean for a bit.”
Castiel seriously doubted that spending the evening with two girls he now knew Dean had slept with would help him forget, but Becky had been so sweet to him and he didn’t want to disappoint her. “Okay,” he sighed.
...
Jo would never admit it, but she was feeling kind of guilty. She’d never been one of those girls who did things out of spite, and the look in Dean’s eyes when Castiel had stormed off hadn’t made her feel good. Truth be told, she’d felt kind of bad for Castiel as well. She’d wanted to show him, show everyone, what kind of guy Dean Winchester really was, and everything had gone exactly according to plan, but... she couldn’t explain it. She told herself that she was saving the guy a lot of trouble in the long run. Castiel was so painfully innocent, so unable to comprehend double meanings or deception, and he’d been so obviously smitten with Dean. Better to find out what he was really like early on.
Then again, her guilt was slightly offset by how weird Castiel was. How he’d just sit there and stare at you with that little frown on his face. How he wouldn’t accept any of the vodka Anna offered him. How he looked like he’d wandered straight out of Bible Camp. The guy had a serious rod up his ass, and Jo just couldn’t tell what Dean had been thinking. Castiel was just different, and it felt like he was almost looking down on them all for not being more like him.
“Cas, let me pierce your ear!” Becky enthused. “Come on, I’m really good; I did my own. You know, I’m going to drop out of high school altogether and go to beauty college. My mom wants me to, anyway. She has this dream when I was little that I’d have my own salon one day, and I guess it could be fun. I could practice on you!”
“I don’t know.” Castiel was edging away from her nervously.
“It’s fine! All you need is some ice, some antiseptic and a darning needle. Come on, Cas! I know which one’s the gay ear!”
Castiel let himself be dragged into the bathroom, a look of panic on his face.
“What the hell is his deal?” Gwen said incredulously. “It’s like he’s never been around other people before. I can’t believe he’s the guy Dean was with this summer, I mean he doesn’t even put out!”
Becky edged back into the room a couple of minutes later looking guilty. “Um... Cas got sick. It was the blood, it, um... Well. I’m gonna fetch him his toothbrush.”
“Well, you’re definitely not coming anywhere near my ears!” Anna exclaimed.
Jo sighed. “He’s probably the type who won’t put out at all until he’s legally wed.”
Gwen snorted.
Jo put on Becky’s dressing gown in imitation of Castiel’s oversized trenchcoat, and tried to make her face as passive and expressionless as possible. “I couldn’t possibly let you do that, Dean,” she rasped in the closest likeness of Castiel’s voice as she could manage. “I wasn’t brought up that way.”
The other girls collapsed into fits of giggles.
“I don’t drink or swear,” Jo continued, on a roll. “I’m far too busy being wholesome and pure to engage in sexual congress with you. I couldn’t possibly-”
Becky pulled a face at her, and Jo turned around to see Castiel standing in the doorway with a bemused frown. “Are you making fun of me, Jo?” he asked.
Jo shrugged off the dressing gown and sat down guiltily. “Some people are so touchy,” she muttered.
Fortunately, the awkward moment was interrupted by the sound of a car pulling up outside. Jo glanced out of the window and saw that it was the run-down Impala that Dean and Sam had bought. Perhaps the evening could still get interesting after all.
“What the hell are they doing here?” Becky hissed. “My parents are gonna kill me!”
“It’s okay,” Jo said, “I’ll get rid of them.” Before any of her friends could stop her, she’d clambered out of the window and shimmied down the drainpipe.
Gabriel whistled appreciatively. “Hey, Jo, nice can!”
Sam cuffed him round the back of the head.
“Would you quit doing that?” Gabriel glared up at the taller boy. “Seriously, gigantor, if I get brain damage you’re covering my medical bills.”
Sam ignored him in favour of smiling apologetically at Jo, and Gabriel walked off in a huff.
“Sorry about him,” San said. “He’s a good guy but he’s an idiot.”
Jo shrugged. “Nothing I’m not used to.” She’d never noticed before what a nice smile Sam had.
He looked at her almost shyly. “Hey... do you maybe wanna go for a drive?”
Jo smiled. “Love to.”
“Dean, that okay with you?”
Dean had got out of the car and was staring up at Becky’s bedroom window with a mulish expression on his face. “Whatever, man,” he replied. “I think I’m just gonna walk home.” With one last glance up at the window, he turned the collar of his jacket up and strode off into the night.
Sam turned back to Jo with a smile. “Your chariot, m’lady,” he said, opening the passenger door for her gallantly.
Jo climbed in with an unfamiliar warm feeling in her chest. Maybe chivalry wasn’t dead after all.
...
Castiel had changed into his pyjamas. They were blue and had little fluffy clouds printed on them. He still wasn’t feeling well, and knowing that Dean had stopped by had unsettled him further. All he wanted was to go home and sleep, and preferably forget this whole day ever happened. Becky was busy tapping away on her computer, so Castiel sat awkwardly nest to where Gwen was sprawled on the bed writing a letter. She glanced at Castiel’s pyjamas with a smile. “Sexy.”
Castiel didn’t know if she was mocking him or not so he kept quiet.
“I’m writing to one of my boyfriends,” Gwen said, not noticing his discomfort. “Becky’s all about the email, but I prefer the traditional approach myself.”
“One of your boyfriends?” Castiel asked, incredulous.
“Oh yeah, I’ve always preferred keeping my options open.”
Castiel glanced at the purple prose Gwen had written on her sheet of lavender paper. “And... they like it?”
“Oh yeah! Trust me, men love to feel like you’re hopelessly devoted to them.”
Castiel bit his lip. “Please may I borrow a sheet?”
“Oh, sure. Hey, I’m sorry about my idiot cousin, okay? He’s a nice guy really, beneath the layers of obnoxiousness. You just need to make him wake up and smell the coffee.”
Castiel frowned. “I don’t understand that reference. What does coffee have to do with anything?”
Gwen laughed. “You’re adorable! Just let him know you’re not gonna wait around forever. Better yet, make him jealous. Dean responds well to jealousy.”
Castiel smiled at her. “Thank you, Gwen.”
She grinned and shook her head, turning her attention back to her letter. “No problem.”
Castiel wandered out into the garden. The night air was soothing, and he felt a little calmer. He had thought that he might write to Dean, but now he didn’t know what he would say, and he let the sheets of notepaper flutter to the ground. He had never felt more torn in his life. Dean had publically rejected him, made it clear that Castiel wasn’t important enough to sacrifice his image for, pushed him away. Castiel should just move on; if Dean had only ever thought of him as a summer fling, then that was it. But he kept thinking of the boy he’d fallen in love with that summer. That, he felt, had been the real Dean Winchester, not this aloof, devil-may-care persona he put on for his friends, and Castiel couldn’t bring himself to give up on him.
Castiel sighed. He supposed that his wasn’t the first heart to be broken. His eyes weren’t the first to cry. He was positive that he was not the first person to feel so sure that he’d never got over someone, who knew they were being a fool, but was still willing to sit around and wait for the one they loved to come to their senses. But couldn’t Dean see? There was nothing else that Castiel could do.
Dean had pushed Castiel’s love aside, and his head was telling him that he was a fool, and that he should forget Dean and move on to someone who would appreciate him. But his heart... Castiel’s heart said not to let go. He knew that no matter what, he would hold on till the end. He was just too... hopelessly devoted to Dean.
...
Jo had not planned on ending up in the backseat of the Impala making out furiously with Sam, but she’d never been one to turn down a good offer when one came along. She realised that she liked Sam. He was kind and handsome and smart and, she had recently discovered, one hell of a kisser. Dean had always been so forward, so sure of himself, that Jo hadn’t really noticed his quiet best friend before. Maybe that had been a mistake. Still, she was certainly making up for it now.
The mood had only been spoiled slightly when a couple of kids from Hades High had driven past them earlier and the guy had made a rude comment about Sam’s car. And about Jo for that matter, but she wasn’t petty enough to care about that. Sam had scowled. “Crowley’s such a dick. You know what? I’m gonna fix this car up and I’ll challenge him at the next race at Devil’s Gate. That’d wipe the smug grin right off his face.” Sam had looked grumpy, so Jo distracted him with a kiss.
Sam’s hands travelled up under her shirt, and Jo smiled against his neck. “You got anything?” She whispered.
“Um... yeah. Yeah, in my wallet. It might be a little old though, I’ve had it a while...”
Jo sighed. She supposed really that they should cool things off and wait until a better time. But then it was very difficult to think clearly and sensibly when Sam was sucking on her pulse point like that. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she gasped.
She felt Sam grin. “Awesome.”
~*~
Sam’s idea of racing at Devil’s Gate caught fire with Dean. The Hades High kids had been allowed to think they were the best for way too long. Besides, the Impala was a really cool car, okay? She just needed a lot of work.
“I give up!” Sam sighed dramatically and sitting down on the hood of one of the other cars in Bobby Singer’s auto repair shop. “We’re never gonna get this car in shape in time.”
“I did tell you when you bought the damn thing that it was gonna give you trouble,” Bobby Singer said, glancing up from the paperwork he was sorting. The gang had assembled in his auto shop that weekend to work on the car, and Bobby had been alternately offering them advice and grumbling about the mess they were making. Dean knew that the older man didn’t really mind though - Bobby was an old friend of his dad’s, and Dean knew for a fact that he loved having something to distract him from having to do office work.
“Maybe you were right, Bobby,” Sam groaned, rubbing his oily hands on his overalls.
“Don’t say that!” Dean protested. “It’s gonna work out great.” He looked round at his weary, dirty, miserable friends.
“Dean,” Adam sighed. “I think Sam’s right. Seriously, what makes you think we can get this car in shape for the race? Or, you know, ever?”
“Well,” Dean said stoutly. “Look at it! This car’s a classic! It’s systematic, it’s hydromatic, it’s ultramatic-”
“Dude, is ultramatic even a word?” Ash interrupted. “You’re just making random sounds now, aren’t you?”
Dean ignored him, focusing his attention on Sam who was beginning to look a little more encouraged. “I’m telling you, if we get this thing back in shape, she’s gonna run like greased lightening! All we need is some overhead lifters, some four-barrel quads... oh yeah...”
Sam was starting to smile. “Keep talking.”
“Cut off the fuel injection, get some chrome-plated rods-”
“Are you kidding me?” Bobby cut in. “Do you bunch of idjits seriously think I’ll just give you that stuff for free?”
“Come on, Bobby!” Dean cried. “Think what this’ll do for your reputation! If you’re turning out classic four-speed motors like this, they’ll be queuing at the door! Besides, think of all the action we’ll get - chicks love classic cars.”
Bobby stomped off, shaking his head and muttering to himself.
Sam jumped to his feet with fresh determination. “I’ll do it! I gotta get her ready.”
“You’ll be burning up the quarter mile, Sammy!” Adam said encouragingly. “Crowley won’t know what’s hit him.”
“Yeah, you’ll be coasting through the heat lap trails!” Gabriel said, grabbing a wrench and getting to work.
“We can get some purple pitched tail lights and thirty inch fins!” Dean enthused. “Maybe... maybe a palomina dashboard and duel-muffler twins...”
“Take it easy, dude,” Sam said, giving him a small shove. “We don’t want to turn her into Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.”
“Are you kidding me?” Dean protested. “She’ll be a total pussy-wagon! We’ll need boosters, plates, shocks-”
“To Greased Lightening!” Ash cried before Dean could get any more carried away.
“Greased Lightening!” the others repeated, punching their fists in the air before getting to work on the car. It was going to be a long day.
...
“See?” Dean said triumphantly through a mouthful of cheeseburger. “I told you guys it’d work. She just needs a bit more engine work, a paint job, and she’ll be the smoothest ride you ever had. My old man always said that if you couldn’t fix a car it’s because you hadn’t worked on it hard enough.”
They’d got themselves a booth at Lawrence’s best burger bar and were enjoying a well-earned meal after all their hard work in the garage.
Sam grinned. “I guess you were right, Dean. Hey, um, you mind if I take the car on Tuesday night? I wanna take Jo out to see a movie.”
“No problem. You guys hitting it off then? I warn you, man, she’s a firecracker.”
Sam scowled at him. “Maybe you should’ve tried treating her a little better, Dean.”
Dean grimaced.
“You think you can get her to put in a good word for me with Anna?” Adam asked, his eyes wide and appealing.
Dean rolled his eyes. “You know, you could always try putting a good word in for yourself. Have you even spoken two words to her?”
Adam blushed. “I don’t know what to say!”
“It’s really not that hard. Just tell her you think she’s hot and you’d like to take her out some time. Easy!” Dean took a large bite of his blueberry pie and made an indecent noise of pleasure.
“Hey,” Sam said hesitantly (and Dean really should have been warned by the ‘let me share your pain’ look on the guy’s face). “What’s going on with that Castiel guy? Have you spoken to him?”
Dean swallowed thickly. It was too cruel of Sam to try and ruin his pie time. “Nothing’s going on,” he replied in his best back-the-hell-off tone. “It’s no big deal.”
“Right,” Sam said knowingly. “It’s just that, you know, he’s right over there.”
Dean turned around so quickly a muscle in his neck spasmed. Castiel was sitting at a table for two on the other side of the restaurant, drinking a milkshake. And he was with Balthazar. Dean’s stomach did an interesting thing where it felt like it was trying to wrestle its way out of his body. Balthazar. His Castiel was on a date with Balthazar. It took all his self-control not to storm over there and drag Cas away. Dean forced himself to turn away, but angled his chair so that he could still watch the couple out of the corner of his eye. “No big deal,” he repeated, his voice strained.
His friends wisely didn’t say anything, but Dean’s appetite was ruined. He couldn’t believe he’d been given a second chance to be with Castiel and he’d screwed it up. Fuck what everyone else would think, he had to go and make things right.
When Cas got up to order another milkshake, Dean saw his chance. He made an excuse about wanting more pie, and sidled over to the counter.
“Hey, Cas,” he said nervously.
“Dean.” Castiel wouldn’t even look at him. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“Uh... look, I’m... I’m sorry about the other night. I was a jerk.”
“It’s fine.”
It obviously wasn’t.
“Cas, I... I just wish I’d known, you know? I mean, if I knew you were here I’d have-”
“What, arranged to meet me somewhere alone where you wouldn’t be embarrassed by me in front of your friends?” Castiel looked at him now, fixing Dean with that icy blue stare of his.
Dean instinctively took a step backwards. “Uh... Look, I really am sorry. I’m not embarrassed by you. It’s just that I can’t, you know... it’s not cool to show your feelings and shit. People expect me to be a certain way and...” He sighed. “I’m just really sorry, okay? Can we be... can we try this again? I’ve missed you like crazy, Cas.”
The corner of Castiel’s mouth twitched a little, but then he blinked and was passive again. “We’re fine, Dean.”
“Right. Um, okay. Do you maybe wanna get out of here?”
“I can’t. I’m here with Balthazar and I don’t like to let people down.”
Dean grimaced. “Balthazar? I mean, are you serious? The guy’s an enormous dork!”
Castiel looked up at him furiously. “At least he’s doing something with his life! At least he’s brave enough to be himself no matter what people think about him! What the hell have you done, Dean?” Castiel grabbed his strawberry milkshake and stormed off (and it takes a lot of effort to be impressively huffy while holding a strawberry milkshake), leaving Dean staring miserably after him
Part 2
Length - 14,545 overall.
Author - lafleurdumal85
Rating - PG-13
Summary - Have you ever really wanted to read a Dean/Castiel fic based on the musical Grease? No? Well, I've written one anyway.
Warnings - CRACK. Complete violation of the plot of Grease. Extreme silliness.
Spoilers - Um... if you've seen Grease then you're good.
Disclaimer - I own nothing, I earn nothing. I can only apologize.
A/N: A birthday fic written for the lovely ladypapalade over on tumblr. Also, I made a title cover but it went a bit wrong. Cas wears glasses in the fic, and somehow he's turned out looking a lot like Harry Potter. So yeah. Sorry about that. And everything else. This is seriously the most ridiculous thing I have ever written.
Hopelessly Devoted
The sun was setting gloriously over the ocean as Dean pulled Castiel in for another kiss.
“Oh, Cas...” he sighed.
“Oh, Dean,” the other boy replied dreamily.
The waves gently lapped around their bare feet.
“Dean, what if I never see you again? I have to go back to New York tomorrow, and you’re going back to Kansas. I don’t want this to be the end.”
Dean caught hold of his chin. “Hey, don’t say things like that! Of course we’ll see each other again.”
When Dean kissed him one more time, Castiel had to concede that love was indeed a many splendored thing, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe the other boy’s words.
“This isn’t the end,” Dean said when he pulled back, his eyes full of conviction and tenderness. “This is just the beginning!”
~*~
The sun was shining brightly in Lawrence, Kansas on the first day back for the kids at Rydell High. Adam, Gabriel and Ash sauntered across the campus, all wearing their matching leather jackets with ‘Team Free Will’ written across the back in silver studs. None of them especially liked school, but it was good to get the gang together again. Besides, they were seniors now. They didn’t have to answer to anybody.
Gabriel hailed an impossibly tall boy, who grinned when he caught sight of them. “Sam!” Gabe cried, trading punches on the arm with the tall guy. “Where the hell have you been all summer?”
Sam laughed. “What do you mean, where the hell have I been? I’ve been working! See, unlike you slobs, some of us would actually like some cash in our pockets. Me and Dean are thinking of going halves on a set of wheels, so I got a job down at Singer’s auto shop.”
“You seen Dean yet?” Ash asked as they headed towards the school.
“Oh yeah,” Sam replied, gesturing towards the school. “He’s doing what he does best.”
The others looked where Sam was pointing and caught sight of the final member of their gang standing by the front doors, leather jacket slung casually over his shoulder, flirting with a group of enthralled juniors. The gang were far from surprised - there were few attractive students (male or female) that Dean Winchester hadn’t seduced. He was even rumoured to have hooked up with a couple of faculty members.
However, he broke away from his circle of fans when he caught sight of his friends, and after an appropriate number of manly arm punches had been traded between them all, they went inside.
“You have a good summer, Dean?” Adam asked.
Dean laughed softly. “Dude... you have no idea.”
Just after Team Free Will had entered the building a shiny pink Cadillac pulled up in front of the school. A blonde girl got out, shrugging on a pink jacket, followed by a brunette and a giggling redhead. Jo, Gwen and Anna had already made names for themselves as the coolest girls in school, and from the impressed glances their new car was receiving from fellow students, that wasn’t likely to change any time soon.
“Well,” Jo sighed. “Here we are again.”
Gwen grinned at her. “Yeah, but we’re seniors now! We’re gonna rule the school!”
Anna snorted with laughter, sucking the cream centre out of her Twinkie.
Gwen wrinkled up her nose. “Anna, that’s gross! Stoop acting like a teenager!”
Anna rolled her eyes. “Hello, I am a teenager!”
“Well, there’s no need to be so obvious about it!” Gwen retorted, looking around to make sure that no boys were watching.
Jo heaved a sigh and linked her arms through her two friends’. “Come on, ladies!” she said with a grin. “Let’s go get ‘em!”
None of them noticed the fourth member of their group as they passed her, but that was probably because Becky was standing with a very nervous looking scruffy-haired boy, wearing glasses, black pants, a blue fair-isle knit sweater and an oversized trenchcoat.
“I don’t know, Becky,” he sighed, looking up at the school with no small amount of trepidation. “I’m just not sure I’ll like it here.”
“Are you kidding? Castiel, you’re gonna love it!” Becky enthused. “Everyone here is super awesome, and Rydell is a very liberal school. No one is going to give you a hard time for being gay.” She said the last word in a loud stage whisper and with such a huge grin on her face that Castiel began to wonder whether he should have shared that particular bit of information with his new friend.
“Don’t you worry about a thing,” Becky told him, grabbing hold of his arm and practically frog-marching him into the building. “I’m gonna take good care of you.”
Going to the principal’s office was the easy part. Principal Harvelle was obviously a no-nonsense kind of woman, but she had kind eyes, and gave Castiel the registration forms to fill out with a smile.
“Welcome to Rydell!” her assistant said with a nervous grin.
“Chuck!” Principal Harvelle exclaimed. “Where is this year’s student register?”
“Oh! Um, I gave it to you?”
“No, you gave me last year’s and a chapter from your latest novel. I want this year’s!”
“Oh God. Uh, I know I had it earlier...”
Principal Harvelle rolled her eyes at Castiel as her assistant scrabbled around the office, dropping paper wherever he went.
“Here!” Chuck cried triumphantly, flourishing a folder at the principal which Castiel noticed had a large coffee stain on it.
The principal took it and flipped it open, almost immediately groaning with despair. “Gabriel’s back again? Weren’t we supposed to get rid of him two years ago?”
Chuck laughed nervously. “Oh, he just can’t stay away. Except when it comes to summer school, I guess.”
Principal Harvelle shook her head resignedly. “You’d better get to class, hon,” she told Castiel. “The bell’s about to ring. Here’s your schedule.”
Castiel grabbed it and hurried away. He hated being late.
~*~
“So did anyone see the new guy?” Gwen said at lunchtime, taking a swig of her cherry soda. “He’s kinda cute, in a dorky sort of way.”
“You know who else is looking good,” Anna said. “Dean Winchester.” Both girls grinned knowingly at Jo, who rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please, that’s ancient history. Would you get over it?” Jo dearly wished that her friends would shut up about Dean already. It had been bad enough that after dating for a month or so last year he’d decided that the two of them were better off as friends, but... Jo had the horrible feeling that she wasn’t quite as over her feelings for him as she’d pretended to be. It was galling; she’d always valued her head over her heart and never thought she’d be the kind of girl to fall for someone she knew was completely inappropriate. Her one consolation was that no one else knew.
“Hi, girls!” Becky chirped as she joined them at their table. “Has everyone met Castiel? He’s just moved here from New York, and I’ve been showing him around. Move up so he can sit down, Anna!”
Castiel seated himself nervously on the bench, toying unenthusiastically with his sandwich.
“What d’you think?” Becky whispered the Jo. “Can he be part of the gang? You know, an honorary Pink Lady? He’s really great, and you know I’ve always wanted a gay BFF!”
“I dunno,” Jo replied, looking at Castiel appraisingly. She took in the dorky sweater, the lack of personal grooming, the slightly askew glasses. Castiel certainly wasn’t like any of the guys the Pink Ladies were used to hanging out with. “He looks too pure to be pink,” she decided.
“So, Cas,” Anna said, stealing a handful of the new boy’s potato chips. “You’re gay, huh?”
“Um, yes.” Castiel smiled at her shyly.
Anna shared a grin with Gwen. “So I bet you got a lotta action in the Big Apple!”
Castiel blushed crimson and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Ah... no. No, I’ve... never had the occasion.”
“Never checked your V-card, huh?” Gwen said.
Becky nudged her under the table with her foot. “Leave him alone! There’s nothing wrong with wanting to wait for someone special!”
Castiel gave her a small smile of gratitude. “Actually,” he said, “I did meet someone special over the summer. Though I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again.”
“Omigod!” Becky exclaimed. “You have a boyfriend? A summer romance? Cas, that’s amazing! You have to tell me absolutely everything right the hell now!”
Before Castiel could say anything, or even recover from the shock of Becky’s rabid enthusiasm, they were interrupted by a neatly dressed young man carrying a bunch of fliers and smiling at the group enthusiastically.
“Afternoon, all!” he said cheerily. “Isn’t the first day back at school always the best?”
“Nothing better!” Jo replied sarcastically.
“Well, I’m running for student rep this year, so make sure you all vote!” the young man carried on obliviously. “And I’ll be organizing the dance-off this year, so if you ladies have any ideas, you let me know!” His eye’s fell on Castiel. “Hey, who’s your new friend? I don’t believe we’ve met!”
“Balthazar, this is Castiel,” Becky said. “Today’s his first day.”
Castiel found his hand being shaken enthusiastically by Balthazar. “Great to meet you, Castiel! I’m sure we’ll be great pals. Hey, you have to come to the pep rally tonight, everyone’s gonna be there and it’ll give you the chance to introduce yourself!”
Castiel smiled weakly. After the stresses of his first day there was nothing more he wanted than an early night with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book, but he supposed he should make an effort. His parents were always telling him to be more sociable. “Okay,” he said.
“Castiel was just telling us about the boy he met over the summer!” Becky said. “He’s gay. And he’s my friend. I have a gay friend.”
“Ooh,” Balthazar said, eying Castiel with interest. “Tell me more!”
Castiel bit his lip in alarm. As much as he wanted to talk about his time with Dean, the attention was making him nervous. Still, he couldn’t expect to make friends if he kept everything in, could he? He smiled at Becky shyly. “Well... it was really romantic...” he began.
Cas wasn’t the only one being given the third degree. While the Pink Ladies did lunch and critically appraised the new boy, Dean and his gang were spending the lunch break hanging out on the bleachers, checking out passing girls and laughing at the jocks.
“Okay, spill,” Sam sighed. “You hooked up on vacation, didn’t you? Come on, you’ve been dying to talk about it all morning.”
Dean couldn’t suppress a grin. “Well... I did meet one guy down at the beach. He was... pretty cool.”
Adam laughed. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to go the whole summer without getting laid!”
“Oh... we had a blast,” Dean replied.
“It all happened so fast!” Castiel told a rapt Becky on the other side of the campus. “But he was wonderful...”
“Yeah, but what about the important stuff?” Gwen interrupted, looking at Castiel over the rim of her horn-rimmed sunglasses. “Like, did he have a car?”
“How far did you get?” Ash asked Dean with a suggestive leer.
“A gentleman never tells,” Dean replied with a grin. “But he was crazy for me. I mean, we met because I saved his life - he nearly drowned!”
“I liked him because he was such a big kid,” Castiel said, trying not to feel uncomfortable with all the female attention his story was receiving. “He was always splashing around in the water, showing off to get me to look at him...”
“And was it love at first sight?” Balthazar asked, his eyes starry.
Castiel shrugged, trying to hide a blush. “I don’t know, we just had so much fun, going to the lemonade bar, staying out late...”
“So how long did it take you to get in his pants?” Gabriel asked Dean.
“Dude, I’m not telling you about that shit!” Dean punched him lightly on the arm. “But, you know, things would get pretty steamy under the dock...”
The rest of the gang grinned at him appreciatively.
“Aw, man, there’s no need to brag!” Adam complained half-heartedly. “I didn’t get any action over the summer.”
“Tell me more, Cas!” Becky squealed. “Tell me more!”
“Yeah,” Jo sighed. “Cause right now the guy kinda sounds like a drag.”
“He was sweet, and a gentleman!” Castiel retorted defensively. “He wasn’t afraid to hold my hand in public...”
“Yeah, but how much dough did he spend?” Anna interrupted.
“Man,” Dean sighed. “I tell you one thing, the guy sure liked getting friendly down in the sand. He was damn good if you know what I mean.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Dean, I think we’ve all managed to correctly interpret your oh-so-subtle innuendo.”
Ash was looking at Dean with wide eyes. “Hey... this guy of yours didn’t have a sister or female friend you could set me up with, did he?”
“But then it got colder,” Castiel sighed. “And that’s where it ended. We promised to stay true to each other...”
“I told him we’d always be friends,” Dean said, looking out over the bleachers. He wondered what Castiel was doing now. It was amazing, he thought, how those summer days had just drifted away. They’d thought their time together would never end, but in the end it had been ripped at the seams. Of one thing he was sure though: neither he nor Castiel wherever he was, would ever forget those summer nights.
“So,” Becky said, linking her arm through Castiel’s as they made their way to their next class. “Did this guy of yours have a name?”
“Yes,” Castiel replied. “He’s actually from this state, so I’m hoping I might be able to meet up with him again at some point. His name’s Dean. Dean Winchester.”
Castiel was a little bemused by the hysterical giggling this announcement provoked in his new friends.
Jo elbowed Anna, who looked like she was about to say something, in the ribs. “Well, maybe if you wish real hard you will see loverboy again,” she told Castiel. “Who knows, it might be sooner than you think!” She walked off with a slightly bitter smile.
“Do you really think it could happen, Becky?” Castiel asked.
“Um... sure,” Becky replied awkwardly. “Anything’s possible, I guess. We should... we should get to class...”
~*~
It looked like the whole school had turned out for the pep rally, and Castiel was beyond nervous. It was bad enough that he really wasn’t good with crowds, but he’d somehow been roped into trying out for marching band. Balthazar was scarily persuasive, as it turned out. He had told Castiel with such conviction that if he wanted to get into a good college he would have to be proactive with his extracurricular commitments that Castiel had been powerless to refuse. And that was how he found himself standing on the sidelines that evening wearing a too-big band uniform and a plumed hat that would not sit straight, trying not to throw up with nerves as Coach Rufus delivered a deeply disturbing motivational speech about ripping and crushing and salting and burning the opposing team, and Balthazar relentlessly hissed advice in his ear. “Don’t forget to smile, and stick out your pinkie when you twirl your baton, and for God’s sake, lift your knees up when you march, and...”
...
“I thought you did really well,” Becky said loyally afterwards, handing Castiel a cheeseburger.
Castiel looked at her pitifully. “I lost control of my baton and hit Zachariah in the eye.”
Becky patted him on the arm. “It could’ve been worse. Come on, there’s still the party to go to. It’ll be fun!”
Castiel smiled weakly and trudged along in her wake. If there was one thing his seventeen-and-a-half years had taught him, it was that other people’s ideas of fun rarely coincided with his own. He missed Dean. Dean, with his kind eyes and his bright smile, who had wanted nothing more than to spend long summer days hanging out at the beach. If Dean was here tonight, all of this might be a little more endurable.
...
Dean didn’t know why he’d bothered showing up to this dumb post-pep rally party. All he knew was that he needed a distraction. Besides, he and Sam had finally picked up their car from Singer Salvage, and they were eager to take her for a spin. Sadly, she still needed some work. Make that a lot of work. The paint was peeling off, the doors were rusted, one of the wing mirrors was missing, and Dean really did not like the sound the exhaust was making. Still, the car was theirs. Their car, the fruit of all the plans they had made, all the money they’d saved. As far as Sam and Dean were concerned, all she would need was a little bit of loving attention and she’d be perfect.
The rest of the gang did not share their enthusiasm.
“Are you kidding me?” Gabriel exclaimed, eying the Impala with undisguised distain. “This is what you’ve been working all summer for, Sammy boy?”
Sam cuffed him round the back of the head. “If you wanna walk home, you’re going the right way about it,” he grumbled.
Gabriel wisely shut his cake hole after that, but Dean didn’t miss the dubious looks he exchanged with Ash and Adam. It pissed him off. He felt fiercely protective of his new wheels, and it wasn’t like any of them had a car. It hadn’t helped that that bastard Crowley from Hades High had sped past them in his hideous red sports car with that skank Meg at his side, both of them cat-calling and laughing. Dean winced; he really wished he hadn’t had sex with Meg that one time last year. He glanced over at Sam, and suspected his best friend was thinking the same thing.
It would have been a pretty unremarkable night if it hadn’t been for Jo. They pulled up in the parking lot and cracked open a couple of beers. Gabriel was being obnoxious, Adam talked about asking Anna Milton to the school dance but couldn’t get up the courage to do anything about it, and Dean was thinking vaguely about trying to hook up with someone in a futile attempt to forget about Castiel. But then there was Jo.
Dean knew he’d fucked up royally with that one. It was rarely a good idea to drunkenly make out with girls you’d been friends with for half your life, and an even worse idea to try and make it work once you were sober and knew in your heart that friendship was all you really wanted. But then Jo was so cool, and they really had gotten along well, and Dean knew she liked him, so... yeah. Really big fucking mistake, and he didn’t blame Jo in the least for being mad at him. But then when he caught sight of her stalking towards him with that vindictive glint in her eye, and especially when he saw Gwen and Anna hurrying along behind her grinning like a couple of harpies, his stomach sank and he immediately started looking for an exit. He slid off the hood of the car and edged closer to his friends, thinking that at least he’d have some support in the face of the imminent female tyranny.
“Hello, Dean!” Jo said a little too brightly. “We’ve got a surprise for you.”
Giggling, Anna shoved someone towards him. A tousle-haired young man wearing a dishevelled band uniform. The boy’s eyes grew wide, and Dean was struck with recognition like a punch in the gut.
“Dean?” the boy breathed, his head canted to the side a little.
An enormous grin was beginning to spread itself across Dean’s face. “Cas!” He pulled the other guy into a rib-crushing hug. “Oh my God, Cas, I can’t believe you-what the hell are you doing here?”
Castiel was grinning too now, and Dean’s heart hurt with how much he’d missed him. “My father’s company relocated him to Lawrence!” he said. “I knew you lived in Kansas, but had no idea that you’d be here! Dean, this is unbelievable.”
Dean was just about to say something horribly sentimental and chick-flicky, possibly something about destinies colliding and fate bringing them together, when he suddenly became very aware of his friends standing behind him, staring at the two of them with incredulity. Dean cleared his throat and looked away from Castiel, his grin going lopsided. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
He caught Cas’s bemused frown. “Well... would you like to maybe go somewhere where we can talk?”
Dean shrugged. “Not right now, babe, I’m hanging with my guys.”
Castiel wrinkled his nose. “Babe? Dean, what’s the matter with you? You’re acting strangely.”
Dean affected a laugh. “Dude, what the hell do you want from me? Look, we had some times, but you can’t just expect me to drop everything! I’ll see you around. We’re cool.”
Castiel’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and Dean suddenly felt like he should be featuring in a nature program called When Nerds Attack or something. He tried to look unfazed.
“Dean Winchester,” Cas growled. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, but until you figure it out, you can just keep away from me!” He stormed off, shoving his way through the milling crowds until he was out of sight.
Dean struggled against the temptation to run after him and beg for forgiveness. He looked away from Castiel’s retreating figure and realised that Jo had seen the regret in his eyes. She smiled at him bitterly before following after Castiel. Well, he supposed her revenge was complete now. She’d found the one person Dean had ever managed to fall for, who he’d really been himself around without any of the image-conscious bullshit he usually carried around with him, and she’d shown Cas what a coward he really was. Too scared of what other people would think to go after what he really wanted. Dean sighed, hitched the smile back on his face, and went to join his friends.
...
When Becky found Castiel, he was sitting by himself on the bleachers, a picture of dejection and misery, absent-mindedly pulling the feathers out of his marching band hat. The worst part of it was that he’d really thought what he’d had with Dean was real. Yes, he knew that people had summer romances and then went back to their real lives and forgotten about it, but it had felt... Anyway, he’d obviously been a fool. Everything that Dean had said to him had been a lie. His heart ached as he thought of Dean’s shy smile right before they’d kissed the first time. How could it all have been fake? Castiel wasn’t experienced, but he liked to think that he was no fool. He’d always been pretty good at reading people, and Dean had seemed so genuine.
“Men are pigs,” Becky said, plonking herself down on the bench beside him. “Present company excepted, I mean.”
Castiel shook his head. “I don’t understand why he’s acting this way.”
Becky sighed. “See, what you have to understand about Dean Winchester is... he’s kind of a douche. I mean, he’s a pretty decent guy really, but he’s got this reputation that he feels like he has to protect, and that doesn’t exactly allow for having, you know, feelings for people. He’s kind of a slut, truth be told. He treated Jo pretty crappily last year, and he had a fling with Anna once too. Gwen’s his cousin so that wasn’t really an option, but otherwise...”
Castiel felt something twist uncomfortably in his gut. He’d known, of course, that Dean had been with other people, but it was quite another thing to hear about it. He’d thought that that last night of the holiday, when he and Dean had gotten to third base under the dock, had been special for both of them. Now he supposed he’d just been another in a long line of conquests. He was glad, suddenly, that they hadn’t gone all the way. It wasn’t that Castiel was prudish, but he hadn’t wanted to share that with anyone unless it actually meant something to both parties. He’d thought he’d meant something to Dean, but... obviously he’d been wrong.
Castiel buried his head in his arms. “Becky, have you ever felt like smiting someone?” he mumbled.
Becky wrapped an arm around him. “All the time. Look... if it helps at all, he did look really sad after you left. I think, maybe... maybe he’s just scared, you know? Reputation’s a big thing for guys like Dean, and he’s always been so concerned with being cool.”
Castiel sighed. He thought about Dean in his leather jacket and his biker boots, and his gang of friends. He supposed that a quiet, intellectual band geek (failed band geek, he reminded himself) wouldn’t exactly be a cool person for someone like Dean to date.
He raised his head and looked at Becky. “Did... did you ever...?”
“Noooo. Dean’s not really my type. Besides, I happen to be in a very serious online relationship with a guy called Carver Edlund. He’s a writer as well, you know. Come on, the girls are coming over to my place tonight for a sleepover. You should come! It’ll take your mind off Dean for a bit.”
Castiel seriously doubted that spending the evening with two girls he now knew Dean had slept with would help him forget, but Becky had been so sweet to him and he didn’t want to disappoint her. “Okay,” he sighed.
...
Jo would never admit it, but she was feeling kind of guilty. She’d never been one of those girls who did things out of spite, and the look in Dean’s eyes when Castiel had stormed off hadn’t made her feel good. Truth be told, she’d felt kind of bad for Castiel as well. She’d wanted to show him, show everyone, what kind of guy Dean Winchester really was, and everything had gone exactly according to plan, but... she couldn’t explain it. She told herself that she was saving the guy a lot of trouble in the long run. Castiel was so painfully innocent, so unable to comprehend double meanings or deception, and he’d been so obviously smitten with Dean. Better to find out what he was really like early on.
Then again, her guilt was slightly offset by how weird Castiel was. How he’d just sit there and stare at you with that little frown on his face. How he wouldn’t accept any of the vodka Anna offered him. How he looked like he’d wandered straight out of Bible Camp. The guy had a serious rod up his ass, and Jo just couldn’t tell what Dean had been thinking. Castiel was just different, and it felt like he was almost looking down on them all for not being more like him.
“Cas, let me pierce your ear!” Becky enthused. “Come on, I’m really good; I did my own. You know, I’m going to drop out of high school altogether and go to beauty college. My mom wants me to, anyway. She has this dream when I was little that I’d have my own salon one day, and I guess it could be fun. I could practice on you!”
“I don’t know.” Castiel was edging away from her nervously.
“It’s fine! All you need is some ice, some antiseptic and a darning needle. Come on, Cas! I know which one’s the gay ear!”
Castiel let himself be dragged into the bathroom, a look of panic on his face.
“What the hell is his deal?” Gwen said incredulously. “It’s like he’s never been around other people before. I can’t believe he’s the guy Dean was with this summer, I mean he doesn’t even put out!”
Becky edged back into the room a couple of minutes later looking guilty. “Um... Cas got sick. It was the blood, it, um... Well. I’m gonna fetch him his toothbrush.”
“Well, you’re definitely not coming anywhere near my ears!” Anna exclaimed.
Jo sighed. “He’s probably the type who won’t put out at all until he’s legally wed.”
Gwen snorted.
Jo put on Becky’s dressing gown in imitation of Castiel’s oversized trenchcoat, and tried to make her face as passive and expressionless as possible. “I couldn’t possibly let you do that, Dean,” she rasped in the closest likeness of Castiel’s voice as she could manage. “I wasn’t brought up that way.”
The other girls collapsed into fits of giggles.
“I don’t drink or swear,” Jo continued, on a roll. “I’m far too busy being wholesome and pure to engage in sexual congress with you. I couldn’t possibly-”
Becky pulled a face at her, and Jo turned around to see Castiel standing in the doorway with a bemused frown. “Are you making fun of me, Jo?” he asked.
Jo shrugged off the dressing gown and sat down guiltily. “Some people are so touchy,” she muttered.
Fortunately, the awkward moment was interrupted by the sound of a car pulling up outside. Jo glanced out of the window and saw that it was the run-down Impala that Dean and Sam had bought. Perhaps the evening could still get interesting after all.
“What the hell are they doing here?” Becky hissed. “My parents are gonna kill me!”
“It’s okay,” Jo said, “I’ll get rid of them.” Before any of her friends could stop her, she’d clambered out of the window and shimmied down the drainpipe.
Gabriel whistled appreciatively. “Hey, Jo, nice can!”
Sam cuffed him round the back of the head.
“Would you quit doing that?” Gabriel glared up at the taller boy. “Seriously, gigantor, if I get brain damage you’re covering my medical bills.”
Sam ignored him in favour of smiling apologetically at Jo, and Gabriel walked off in a huff.
“Sorry about him,” San said. “He’s a good guy but he’s an idiot.”
Jo shrugged. “Nothing I’m not used to.” She’d never noticed before what a nice smile Sam had.
He looked at her almost shyly. “Hey... do you maybe wanna go for a drive?”
Jo smiled. “Love to.”
“Dean, that okay with you?”
Dean had got out of the car and was staring up at Becky’s bedroom window with a mulish expression on his face. “Whatever, man,” he replied. “I think I’m just gonna walk home.” With one last glance up at the window, he turned the collar of his jacket up and strode off into the night.
Sam turned back to Jo with a smile. “Your chariot, m’lady,” he said, opening the passenger door for her gallantly.
Jo climbed in with an unfamiliar warm feeling in her chest. Maybe chivalry wasn’t dead after all.
...
Castiel had changed into his pyjamas. They were blue and had little fluffy clouds printed on them. He still wasn’t feeling well, and knowing that Dean had stopped by had unsettled him further. All he wanted was to go home and sleep, and preferably forget this whole day ever happened. Becky was busy tapping away on her computer, so Castiel sat awkwardly nest to where Gwen was sprawled on the bed writing a letter. She glanced at Castiel’s pyjamas with a smile. “Sexy.”
Castiel didn’t know if she was mocking him or not so he kept quiet.
“I’m writing to one of my boyfriends,” Gwen said, not noticing his discomfort. “Becky’s all about the email, but I prefer the traditional approach myself.”
“One of your boyfriends?” Castiel asked, incredulous.
“Oh yeah, I’ve always preferred keeping my options open.”
Castiel glanced at the purple prose Gwen had written on her sheet of lavender paper. “And... they like it?”
“Oh yeah! Trust me, men love to feel like you’re hopelessly devoted to them.”
Castiel bit his lip. “Please may I borrow a sheet?”
“Oh, sure. Hey, I’m sorry about my idiot cousin, okay? He’s a nice guy really, beneath the layers of obnoxiousness. You just need to make him wake up and smell the coffee.”
Castiel frowned. “I don’t understand that reference. What does coffee have to do with anything?”
Gwen laughed. “You’re adorable! Just let him know you’re not gonna wait around forever. Better yet, make him jealous. Dean responds well to jealousy.”
Castiel smiled at her. “Thank you, Gwen.”
She grinned and shook her head, turning her attention back to her letter. “No problem.”
Castiel wandered out into the garden. The night air was soothing, and he felt a little calmer. He had thought that he might write to Dean, but now he didn’t know what he would say, and he let the sheets of notepaper flutter to the ground. He had never felt more torn in his life. Dean had publically rejected him, made it clear that Castiel wasn’t important enough to sacrifice his image for, pushed him away. Castiel should just move on; if Dean had only ever thought of him as a summer fling, then that was it. But he kept thinking of the boy he’d fallen in love with that summer. That, he felt, had been the real Dean Winchester, not this aloof, devil-may-care persona he put on for his friends, and Castiel couldn’t bring himself to give up on him.
Castiel sighed. He supposed that his wasn’t the first heart to be broken. His eyes weren’t the first to cry. He was positive that he was not the first person to feel so sure that he’d never got over someone, who knew they were being a fool, but was still willing to sit around and wait for the one they loved to come to their senses. But couldn’t Dean see? There was nothing else that Castiel could do.
Dean had pushed Castiel’s love aside, and his head was telling him that he was a fool, and that he should forget Dean and move on to someone who would appreciate him. But his heart... Castiel’s heart said not to let go. He knew that no matter what, he would hold on till the end. He was just too... hopelessly devoted to Dean.
...
Jo had not planned on ending up in the backseat of the Impala making out furiously with Sam, but she’d never been one to turn down a good offer when one came along. She realised that she liked Sam. He was kind and handsome and smart and, she had recently discovered, one hell of a kisser. Dean had always been so forward, so sure of himself, that Jo hadn’t really noticed his quiet best friend before. Maybe that had been a mistake. Still, she was certainly making up for it now.
The mood had only been spoiled slightly when a couple of kids from Hades High had driven past them earlier and the guy had made a rude comment about Sam’s car. And about Jo for that matter, but she wasn’t petty enough to care about that. Sam had scowled. “Crowley’s such a dick. You know what? I’m gonna fix this car up and I’ll challenge him at the next race at Devil’s Gate. That’d wipe the smug grin right off his face.” Sam had looked grumpy, so Jo distracted him with a kiss.
Sam’s hands travelled up under her shirt, and Jo smiled against his neck. “You got anything?” She whispered.
“Um... yeah. Yeah, in my wallet. It might be a little old though, I’ve had it a while...”
Jo sighed. She supposed really that they should cool things off and wait until a better time. But then it was very difficult to think clearly and sensibly when Sam was sucking on her pulse point like that. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she gasped.
She felt Sam grin. “Awesome.”
~*~
Sam’s idea of racing at Devil’s Gate caught fire with Dean. The Hades High kids had been allowed to think they were the best for way too long. Besides, the Impala was a really cool car, okay? She just needed a lot of work.
“I give up!” Sam sighed dramatically and sitting down on the hood of one of the other cars in Bobby Singer’s auto repair shop. “We’re never gonna get this car in shape in time.”
“I did tell you when you bought the damn thing that it was gonna give you trouble,” Bobby Singer said, glancing up from the paperwork he was sorting. The gang had assembled in his auto shop that weekend to work on the car, and Bobby had been alternately offering them advice and grumbling about the mess they were making. Dean knew that the older man didn’t really mind though - Bobby was an old friend of his dad’s, and Dean knew for a fact that he loved having something to distract him from having to do office work.
“Maybe you were right, Bobby,” Sam groaned, rubbing his oily hands on his overalls.
“Don’t say that!” Dean protested. “It’s gonna work out great.” He looked round at his weary, dirty, miserable friends.
“Dean,” Adam sighed. “I think Sam’s right. Seriously, what makes you think we can get this car in shape for the race? Or, you know, ever?”
“Well,” Dean said stoutly. “Look at it! This car’s a classic! It’s systematic, it’s hydromatic, it’s ultramatic-”
“Dude, is ultramatic even a word?” Ash interrupted. “You’re just making random sounds now, aren’t you?”
Dean ignored him, focusing his attention on Sam who was beginning to look a little more encouraged. “I’m telling you, if we get this thing back in shape, she’s gonna run like greased lightening! All we need is some overhead lifters, some four-barrel quads... oh yeah...”
Sam was starting to smile. “Keep talking.”
“Cut off the fuel injection, get some chrome-plated rods-”
“Are you kidding me?” Bobby cut in. “Do you bunch of idjits seriously think I’ll just give you that stuff for free?”
“Come on, Bobby!” Dean cried. “Think what this’ll do for your reputation! If you’re turning out classic four-speed motors like this, they’ll be queuing at the door! Besides, think of all the action we’ll get - chicks love classic cars.”
Bobby stomped off, shaking his head and muttering to himself.
Sam jumped to his feet with fresh determination. “I’ll do it! I gotta get her ready.”
“You’ll be burning up the quarter mile, Sammy!” Adam said encouragingly. “Crowley won’t know what’s hit him.”
“Yeah, you’ll be coasting through the heat lap trails!” Gabriel said, grabbing a wrench and getting to work.
“We can get some purple pitched tail lights and thirty inch fins!” Dean enthused. “Maybe... maybe a palomina dashboard and duel-muffler twins...”
“Take it easy, dude,” Sam said, giving him a small shove. “We don’t want to turn her into Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.”
“Are you kidding me?” Dean protested. “She’ll be a total pussy-wagon! We’ll need boosters, plates, shocks-”
“To Greased Lightening!” Ash cried before Dean could get any more carried away.
“Greased Lightening!” the others repeated, punching their fists in the air before getting to work on the car. It was going to be a long day.
...
“See?” Dean said triumphantly through a mouthful of cheeseburger. “I told you guys it’d work. She just needs a bit more engine work, a paint job, and she’ll be the smoothest ride you ever had. My old man always said that if you couldn’t fix a car it’s because you hadn’t worked on it hard enough.”
They’d got themselves a booth at Lawrence’s best burger bar and were enjoying a well-earned meal after all their hard work in the garage.
Sam grinned. “I guess you were right, Dean. Hey, um, you mind if I take the car on Tuesday night? I wanna take Jo out to see a movie.”
“No problem. You guys hitting it off then? I warn you, man, she’s a firecracker.”
Sam scowled at him. “Maybe you should’ve tried treating her a little better, Dean.”
Dean grimaced.
“You think you can get her to put in a good word for me with Anna?” Adam asked, his eyes wide and appealing.
Dean rolled his eyes. “You know, you could always try putting a good word in for yourself. Have you even spoken two words to her?”
Adam blushed. “I don’t know what to say!”
“It’s really not that hard. Just tell her you think she’s hot and you’d like to take her out some time. Easy!” Dean took a large bite of his blueberry pie and made an indecent noise of pleasure.
“Hey,” Sam said hesitantly (and Dean really should have been warned by the ‘let me share your pain’ look on the guy’s face). “What’s going on with that Castiel guy? Have you spoken to him?”
Dean swallowed thickly. It was too cruel of Sam to try and ruin his pie time. “Nothing’s going on,” he replied in his best back-the-hell-off tone. “It’s no big deal.”
“Right,” Sam said knowingly. “It’s just that, you know, he’s right over there.”
Dean turned around so quickly a muscle in his neck spasmed. Castiel was sitting at a table for two on the other side of the restaurant, drinking a milkshake. And he was with Balthazar. Dean’s stomach did an interesting thing where it felt like it was trying to wrestle its way out of his body. Balthazar. His Castiel was on a date with Balthazar. It took all his self-control not to storm over there and drag Cas away. Dean forced himself to turn away, but angled his chair so that he could still watch the couple out of the corner of his eye. “No big deal,” he repeated, his voice strained.
His friends wisely didn’t say anything, but Dean’s appetite was ruined. He couldn’t believe he’d been given a second chance to be with Castiel and he’d screwed it up. Fuck what everyone else would think, he had to go and make things right.
When Cas got up to order another milkshake, Dean saw his chance. He made an excuse about wanting more pie, and sidled over to the counter.
“Hey, Cas,” he said nervously.
“Dean.” Castiel wouldn’t even look at him. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“Uh... look, I’m... I’m sorry about the other night. I was a jerk.”
“It’s fine.”
It obviously wasn’t.
“Cas, I... I just wish I’d known, you know? I mean, if I knew you were here I’d have-”
“What, arranged to meet me somewhere alone where you wouldn’t be embarrassed by me in front of your friends?” Castiel looked at him now, fixing Dean with that icy blue stare of his.
Dean instinctively took a step backwards. “Uh... Look, I really am sorry. I’m not embarrassed by you. It’s just that I can’t, you know... it’s not cool to show your feelings and shit. People expect me to be a certain way and...” He sighed. “I’m just really sorry, okay? Can we be... can we try this again? I’ve missed you like crazy, Cas.”
The corner of Castiel’s mouth twitched a little, but then he blinked and was passive again. “We’re fine, Dean.”
“Right. Um, okay. Do you maybe wanna get out of here?”
“I can’t. I’m here with Balthazar and I don’t like to let people down.”
Dean grimaced. “Balthazar? I mean, are you serious? The guy’s an enormous dork!”
Castiel looked up at him furiously. “At least he’s doing something with his life! At least he’s brave enough to be himself no matter what people think about him! What the hell have you done, Dean?” Castiel grabbed his strawberry milkshake and stormed off (and it takes a lot of effort to be impressively huffy while holding a strawberry milkshake), leaving Dean staring miserably after him
Part 2