Chapter Text
~*~*~*~
The sun shines into the waiting room where Cas sits alone. His trembling fingers run along each and every pin that lines his blood spattered denim over piece. The door beside him swings open, but his body doesn't flinch.
“Cas!” The familiar voice of someone he knows washes over him with a comforting warmth.
He looks up at her, avoiding her eyes and look of worry. “Hey, Emmy.” His fingers retreat away from the cool, metal accessories that align his clothing.
She sits down on one of the chairs that are supposed to make you feel comfortable. Tucking a strand of blonde behind her ear, the girl sighs deeply.
“Are you okay?” Her question confuses Castiel… she does this a lot, you know – ask him if he's okay, whenever he's been hurt.
“Yes,” his rehearsed response takes over what his mind really thinks.
Slowly withdrawing the scarlet stained tissue away from his nose, he then carefully places it into the nearby waste bin. “I'd like to go home now,” retrieving the cracked glasses from his upper pocket, he places them over his cut ridden nose.
Emmy looks over at him as if she's feeling his own pain personally. “I'll walk you,” she's adamant that this is going to happen, because she always does this. Cas doesn't argue anymore, he just lets her walk alongside him in a mutual silence.
Cas trusts Emmy. And, Emmy trusts Cas.
The hands that were shaking uncontrollably when he got into the nurse’s office are now feeling much calmer, as he shoves them into the pockets of his black jeans. His feet pad along the leaf painted pavement, and Emmy walks alongside him. “I can't see out of these glasses anymore,” he states a little sadly.
His friend chuckles. “You have a new pair at home though, I'm assuming?” Knowing that she doesn't really need to phrase this as a question, Emmy looks up at him.
“Yeah,” Cas kicks at a nearby stone. “I might go back to the half-framed ones.” He begins to think out loud, and his friend nods in agreement.
“I like those,” she replies. But, Castiel isn't listening. The corner where he's supposed to turn right by the playing field is being blocked by a fellow student. A fellow student who's leaning up against a tree, smoking a cigarette and polluting the world around him.
Angrily stomping his Converse closer and closer to a potential social situation, Castiel keeps his head down. “What happened to you?” An obnoxious tone causes Cas to physically flinch, before he stops still in the middle of a paving stone.
“None of your business,” his staring contest with his worn out sneakers is way more interesting than eye contact with Dean Winchester. Honestly.
“Leave him alone, he already gets enough shit from your so-called friends,” Emmy’s voice is laced with a loathing tone as soon as she mentions the small group of bullies that are today's culprits.
Strangely, Dean’s brow furrows. “Who hurt him?” He directs his question to Emmy, and the cig that hangs in-between his lips waggles as he talks.
“The one and only captain of the football team and his trusty sidekick… I'm assuming,” her eyes flit over to where Cas is toying with his favourite bumblebee pin.
His shoulders rise up, and then down again. “I'm sorry,” the green eyed smoker tries to catch Castiel’s eye, but he won't get so lucky today.
“Sure you are,” Emmy gently takes Cas by the hand. “Let's go.” She whispers reassuringly into his ear, and then carefully tugs him from the spot that he's glued onto.
The smell of smoke slowly drifts away as they clear the area, and they finally make it onto the block where Emmy lives, about five minutes later. “Do you want me to walk the rest of the way?” She tilts his chin upwards, forcing their blue eyes to meet.
A faux smile appears, as he shakes his head. “I'll be fine – parents are still at work,” he tells her. An actual hint of happiness glimmers inside of him… He’ll probably draw something whilst they're gone.
“See you tomorrow?” The blonde engulfs him in a small hug, and he gratefully returns it.
He nods his head. “Tomorrow,” Castiel’s mouth curves just slightly. “This spot?” His head cocks to the side, and Emmy laughs.
“It's always this spot,” she stands up on her tiptoes to ruffle his hair. “Have a good night!” She calls out, and begins to walk away.
As soon as Castiel gets home he eats his dinner, and changes into his pyjamas. After doodling in his journal for a while, he makes sure he's tucked up in bed before his parents are home.
~*~*~*~
The next morning.
Castiel grips tightly onto the cuffs of his sweater paws. The neckline of the bright yellow sweater is aligned with five different pin badges. His previously deep black trousers have faded into a dark grey colour, and they somewhat clash with his black Converse sneakers.
One of his fashion favourites is wearing odd socks. Pins on his jackets, and odd socks on his feet. Today he's wearing one yellow sock, and one black one. Like he told Emmy yesterday, he's chosen the half-framed black glasses.
They're hurting the scattering of red cuts that litter the bridge and tip of his nose, but he's learnt to act like they don't bother him. There's also a reddened bruise on his upper left cheekbone, which is half hidden by the glass from spectacles.
Glancing down at his wristwatch, his brow furrows. Emmy is two minutes late… She's never late. Preparing to begin walking towards her house, a sudden blurred figure appears in the distance. The figure is running so fast, that it takes Castiel’s eyes a good few seconds to adjust to who it is.
The out of breath and grinning from ear to ear girl skids to a halt, just in front of his feet. “Emmy?” He pokes his glasses up his nose.
“Cas!” She flings her arms around his body, but then immediately lets go as she feels him flinch.
Making sure to study his facial expressions and body language closely – she's learned how to read him exactly like a book, over the years – she checks that he's alright. “Sorry,” her smile disappears for less than a second.
“It's alri –”
“I'm getting a puppy!” Her over excited shrill tone pierces the air, and cuts his own sentence off at the end.
Cas’ brain takes a few moments to process her extreme burst of happiness. “That's great… But, we’re now five minutes late.” His finger taps his watch face, and Emmy rolls her eyes.
She links arms with him, and then turns them around. They begin walking along the path together. “She's an adorable Labrador, and I pick her up next weekend!” His friend continues to beam about her dog. “I need a name though,” her mouth twitches sideways.
“Call her Cas,” he chuckles lightly, and Emmy smiles – it makes her happy when he laughs.
As they begin to join other students that are walking to school, Castiel grows a little quieter, and more tense. “What about Honey? Oh my god, that’s perfect!” Her index finger and thumb touch the necklace that Cas bought her for her sixteenth birthday.
“I like that name,” his face softens, “reminds me of bees.”
The blonde quickly pulls his arm in order to dodge him around a second grader, on a skateboard. “Eyes up, Novak.” She reminds him helpfully, and he does as he's told.
They're now five minutes away, and walking past the tree that they met Dean at yesterday. He's not there right now, but just up ahead are three students – dressed in all black. The middle guy, he's the tallest. Grey smoke trails behind him, and then his Dr. Marten boot stamps the cigarette out on the ground.
The two guys beside him wave goodbye, as they spot two girls up ahead. Of course, Emmy begins to walk closer and closer to the only obstacle in their way. She doesn't pull Cas with her, but she's already overtaking the student and he doesn't want to be alone. So, he follows her.
They both walk past the now stationary stranger, who is shortly identified as Dean. “Why are you in such a hurry? It's school!” He yells after Emmy… Or, maybe he's yelling after Cas. But, Cas doesn't look back.
Emmy, however, does look back. And, she flips Dean off in one swift and graceful movement. Castiel starts laughing, and they both enter the school building in fairly high spirits.
~*~*~*~
For first period, Cas has English Lit. He chose the maximum choice of five subjects for his A levels – English Literature, Math, Physics, Art and History. He's extremely clever, and has been in the top set for every class, since he reached the age where the schooling system separates their kids by intellect. This is mostly to being on the spectrum, or, as most people refer to it as – ‘being a nerd.’
He sits next to Charlie Bradbury in this class. She's actually very friendly, despite only having sat next to him at the start of the new school year. She often asks him about each pin that he's wearing, and smiles along as Castiel shyly explains them to her.
He likes Charlie. Her hair is always shiny, and sometimes she braids it really small – it’s rather aesthetically pleasing. She never has an unkind word about anybody, and Cas often sees her supporting LGBT+ rights, whether it's a rainbow hair ribbon, or a supportive pin.
“So, are you going to Dean's birthday party?” The redhead snaps him out of his daze. He has an unfortunate habit of zoning out into space, and this happens at the worst of times.
He frowns, and turns his head slightly. Charlie continues, knowing that she has his attention now. “It's on Saturday!” The girl flashes her pearly whites.
“Probably not, I hope he has fun though.” Castiel brushes a finger along one of his bumblebee pins. “Are you going?” He rarely prompts longer conversations, but it's nice to pretend to be sociable sometimes. Especially in this class, as it's such a quiet, and safe atmosphere.
“Well, duh!” She flicks a section of hair over her shoulder. “You should come… So should Emmy,” Charlie sighs, and then goes back to writing in her book.
Sitting in thought for a while, Cas looks at the side of his lesson partner’s head. “Do you like Emmy?” He asks a little bluntly – but, Charlie is almost fully used to his quirks by now.
She chuckles a little, and her cheeks tint a light shade of pastel pink. “Who doesn't? Straight, or not straight.” A playful smile accompanies her shrug, and then she turns back to her half-full page of writing again.
Having already written a page and a half, Cas rests his pencil down on the desk. He's having worries about how Emmy will most likely want to attend this party, and how she will most likely persuade him to come along. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad… Dean has never directly upset Cas to his face, unlike the majority of his friends.
The almost silent classroom is abruptly interrupted by the class door swinging open. The enthusiastic head of sixth form bursts in, and smiles widely. “Is Castiel Novak in here?” He looks around the room, and notices someone slowly raising their hand.
“Could I speak to you, for a moment?” The main pokes his glasses up his nose, and Cas nods.
His chair scrapes backwards across the floor, and he carefully makes his way to the front. He's lead outside of the room, and listens as the door thuds shut. “W – what's wrong, Sir?” Cas grips at one of his pins, whilst flickering his eyes up to the teacher’s face.
“Don't look so worried!” He chuckles heartily, placing a hand on Cas’ shoulder.
Trying his best not to tense up, Castiel fakes his own laugh. “I'd like to ask you of an opportunity, of sorts,” he gets closer to the point. “Would you be willing to tutor one of our retake students, for extra credit towards university?” Finally, he gets to the question he's been wanting to ask.
Cas lets go of his pin, and frowns. What retake student? He hasn't been made aware of anyone retaking their grade… Everyone in his grade are the same as last year. “Who?” He quickly realises he's going to start staring into space if he doesn't continue the conversation soon enough.
“Dean Winchester – he's retaking grade eleven, but we let him move up with the rest if you. So, please keep this confidential.” Castiel’s ears must have deceived him. Tutoring Dean? No way.
He swallows hard, and then clears his throat. “Could I have some time to think about it, please?” Remembering Emmy’s usual ‘eyes up, Novak’ he forces himself to (almost) look his teacher directly in the eye.
“You're our most gifted student, Novak…” He begins, rubbing his chin. “Come by my office Monday, with your final decision. You're free to go back to class now,” he tells him, and Cas nods as his ‘thanks.’
Ignoring the wave of whispers that slowly die down as he re-enters the classroom, he keeps his head down and makes his way back to his seat. Charlie – being the inquisitive person that she is – narrows her eyes at him. “Are you in trouble?” That's her first guess.
“It's nothing, just telling me about some extra work I can do.” He replies, doodling little stars in the margin of his page for a temporary distraction.
Charlie scrunches up her nose in distaste. “Extra work,” she mutters, shaking her head at the clever student next to her. “Rather you than me!”
~*~*~*~