Chapter Text
Book One: All the President’s Friends
“Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then, you destroy yourself.” - Richard Nixon (August 9th, 1974)
When Castiel Woodward arrived on his first day of college to Bernstein College, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting.
He followed the main hoard of students to the heart of campus where there was a large, square building to the left with enormous letters spelling out ‘Campus Centre’ and underneath that in blue and gold block letters a handwritten sign reading ‘Clubs Fair’. He wasn't going to go in, he really wasn't. Maybe he should have thought about making the best of this year. Everyone he'd talked to about college told him that it was going to be the best years of his life. Year in his case. But at this point college felt less like an amazing experience and more like being put on death row and knowing exactly when you're going to swing from the noose. It was the throng of the crowd that pushed him up the sweeping steps and through the heavy front doors.
The long hallway was buzzing with excitement and anticipation for the upcoming year. There were tables and booths set up down both sides of the hall sporting banners reading various things like ‘Join Alpha-Pi Nu!’ and ‘So You Think You Might Like Football?’ which Castiel was fairly certain he did not.
The crowd jostled him around awkwardly, the space felt too small and too cramped and he needed to get out of there now. Castiel found a smaller hallway that jutted off the main hallway that was far less packed. Here, he could slip through the crowd with ease, and surprisingly, he found himself unable to tear away from any of the displays here. He soon realized that he was signed up for newsletters and email alerts to clubs and events he’d never heard of before. He smiled softly at the girl behind the Pride Centre desk with electroshock purple hair, who grinned and waved energetically in reply. He paused to listen to a heated debate between what seemed to be two opposing political groups in the school and after hearing the boy in the blue shirt call the girl with the red banner a creep he signed up to join the girl's party. He stopped at the next booth to ask what exactly ‘Quidditch’ was and was pulled into a ten minute long discussion about why Harry Potter is the greatest book series of all time. The next table he came to had a relatively plain sign and a thin girl with striking red hair sitting behind the table.
“Hey there kiddo, I’m Charlie Bradbury. What can I do for you?” she smiled up at him expectantly. He peered closer at the sign.
“The… BC Post. You guys are the school newspaper?”
“Yep!”
“What do you guys write about?” he asked. She started up on a clearly pre-rehearsed pitch.
“The BC Post is committed to the highest standards of reporting, covering stories from sports news, to advice columns, to the most recent heated elections between the Blue Party and the CREEPs –”
“You shouldn’t call people creepy,” Castiel interjected, surprising the girl, Charlie, as much as himself. She gave him a confused stare before bursting into a fit of laughter. Castiel stared at her, completely befuddled.
“Aww, freshmen are so cute. What’s your name kid?”
“Castiel Woodward,” he replied softly.
“Castiel, everyone calls them the CREEPs because that’s what their party initials spell out. Well, technically it’s CREP, but no one wants to call them the CREPs. It stands for the Conservative Realist Electoral Party."
Castiel immediately felt silly and dropped his eyes to the floor. Whispering a small “oh”, he moved to walk away.
“Hey, hey! Hold up kid, it’s okay. What is it, like your first day at school here? You can’t be expected to know shit like that.” Charlie softened considerably. “Why don’t you come by the office tomorrow and we’ll see if we can set you up with a desk.”
Castiel perked up. “You mean I could be a reporter on your newspaper?”
“Yeah for sure, kid. Do you have any background in journalism?”
Castiel paused, deciding how he wanted to answer her question. It would have been easier if he had walked up to the ‘Young Catholics of Bernstein College’ booth and they asked him if he had any background in religious knowledge, he could have said yes and been telling the truth. Or if he had visited the astronomy club’s table and they’d asked if he knew about the stars and the planets and how fast the earth spins and how far it is from the sun, he could have said yes and been telling the truth. If he had approached the history department’s stall and they asked him what date the Peace of Westphalia was signed and what were the causes of the French Revolution, he could have said yes and been telling the truth.
But he didn’t. Castiel Woodward walked up to the booth that held BC University’s only professional newspaper and the nice girl behind the desk told him that he could have a place on the paper, he could belong somewhere, if he had any kind of background in journalism.
Castiel Woodward didn’t know a single thing about journalism.
“Yes,” he replied. “I love journalism.”
______________________________________
Bernstein College’s newspaper was, as Charlie had put it, ‘the pride and joy of this otherwise shit-hole of a college’. This was evident in the newspaper office itself. The Post’s HQ was located on the second level of the Arts building. It was a large L-shaped room that wrapped around what appeared to be half the floor. Massive floor-to-ceiling windows lined the exterior walls and let in enough light throughout the day to not warrant the stereotypical fluorescent lights found in most college classrooms. Instead, eclectic lamps of various sizes, shapes, and colours littered the desks of all the reporters. Castiel thought that it was perhaps some sort of initiation that everyone got one and he made a mental note to ask Charlie about it later.
While the room itself was an ideal location, and the original design must have been quite nice, he could tell that the place had aged somewhat and was no longer considered ‘modern’. The desks were doodled on and scratched up and the chairs didn’t look much better. While most of the students brought their laptops to the office, the computers they had running along the sides of one wall were at least eight years old. At a glance, there was little to no organization of the place, which was apparent from the papers haphazardly strewn everywhere and other pieces of furniture that seemed to be pushed around for whatever purpose the person was using them needed them for. There was a beaten couch in the corner that looked well-loved to say the least. For all that the school loved the paper, it was obvious it could not maintain a steady upkeep of the place with its limited budget.
Charlie Bradbury was a Masters student who worked as a TA and the head editor on the BC Post. She technically shared the position with a young man from Louisiana named Benny, also a Masters student, who had admitted to Castiel upon meeting him that Charlie really ran the ship around here. Castiel prided himself on being a fairly good judge of character and felt that while Charlie and Benny were both decent people, something about Benny was very standoffish. Cas figured that he just took some warming up to as everyone else on the paper that he had been introduced to so far seemed to like him quite a lot.
After Charlie and Benny, Cas was led around to meet the rest of the people present that Charlie called her ‘newsies’. First was a small, blonde girl in a checkered sweater vest and a grey pencil skirt named Becky Rosen. Becky was very intense and seemed to be constantly enthusiastic about everything. She pulled him over to a disheveled man who appeared to be very hungover, or perhaps even still drunk from the night before, and introduced him as Chuck Shurley. Chuck and Becky were friends from highschool and sat at desks across from each other in the office. Chuck was the reporter for the Department of English and Becky ran an advice column. Benny steered Cas away from the two reporters about thirty seconds after Becky started in on a tangent about something she called ‘shipping’.
The next person Castiel was introduced to was a girl from England who introduced herself in a sultry voice as Bela Talbot. Bela apparently wrote stories on whatever she felt like that week and Charlie and Benny appeared much too intimidated to tell her to do anything else. She was apparently, an amazing writer anyways and a popular reporter in the school. Despite the fact that Bela appeared to be undressing him with her eyes, Benny pulled him aside to whisper that she was way out of his league and that if he tried anything, she would probably eat him alive. Castiel promised that he would definitely not ‘try anything’.
At that moment, a petite blonde girl followed by a tall sandy-haired boy carrying a stack of boxes walked into the room having an argument about something that sounded like it had to do with superheroes.
“Jo, you’re freaking crazy. There is no way that Iron Man even comes close to the awesomeness that is Batman. I mean Batman is like the definition of awesome. If you look up the word ‘awesome’ in the dictionary, you get a picture of Batman.”
“Yeah well if you look up the word ‘idiot’ in the diction you get a picture of you!”
The boy set the boxes down on a desk close by and turned around to face the small gathering of people around Bela’s desk.
“Charlie, back me up on this. Iron Man, or Batman?” he asked Charlie emphatically. She crossed her arms and shook her head, a small smile creeping onto her face.
“You’re both idiots. Wonder Woman is where it’s at.” Charlie and the sandy-haired boy stared at each other for a short moment before Charlie threw her arms up with a wide grin and exclaimed “C’mere you big dork...”
The boy walked to her in three easy strides and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off the ground and spinning her until they were both cackling. He set her down and they continued to embrace for a few seconds. Castiel wondered if they were romantically involved, they seemed to have a lot of love for each other.
“I missed you, Charlie,” the boy said, pulling away.
“I did not miss you and your antics, Winchester,” Charlie grouched without any real resentment in her voice. Benny came up behind the boy as Charlie turned to greet Jo warmly.
“Hey, brother. How did summer treat you?”
“Benny!” the young man exclaimed, throwing his arms around his friend. The boy apparently seemed to enjoy hugging people quite a lot, Castiel noted. “It was great, man. Mom’s good, Sammy’s great. That’s all I need,” he smiled brightly.
“I think you also need to wear more sunscreen because you definitely got some more freckles there, man.” Benny chuckled at the boy’s obvious embarrassment, a pink flush covering his face brought out his already obvious freckles even more. His further embarrassment was averted when Charlie grasped Castiel’s shoulder firmly and pushed him forward slightly into the boy’s line of sight. Castiel’s gaze was met with the most startling pair of green eyes he had ever seen.
“Castiel, this is Dean.” Charlie’s voice echoed from somewhere behind his head but Cas wasn’t paying attention to the redhead behind him. All of his focus was centred on the man in front of him.
Dean was undeniably one of the most handsome people Cas had ever met. He looked as though he had been pulled off the cover of some romance novel. Though upon examining a certain uniqueness and effeminate nature of his features, Cas amended his earlier thought. Dean was gorgeous by modern standards, sure, but his beauty echoed a more classic time as well. It would be more accurate to say he was pulled out of an old knights tale, or resembled an ancient God from Greco-Roman times. Someone Homer would have described in the Odyssey, or Michelangelo could have chiseled from marble. A certain unstatable beauty from a more natural time played easily across his light tanned skin, dotted in freckles.
Upon realizing he had been staring in a trance at the man in front of him for quite some time now, and that he had an audience of people around him, Cas stiffly stuck out his hand for Dean to shake.
“Hello Dean,” he said a little more forcefully than necessary, but smiling nonetheless. Dean grinned back, his eyes shining. Cas privately thought that Dean looked a bit like the sun.
“Hey,” Dean smiled. “Sorry, what did Charlie say your name was again?” His smile faltered for a moment but the warmth in his eyes wasn’t lost.
“Castiel.”
“Cas,” Dean nodded. Castiel was surprised by the quick shortening of his name. His brothers always called him ‘Cassy’ but he was always under the impression that nicknames were given once you had formed a close bond with someone. Apparently things worked a little differently in Dean’s book. “That’s cool. Look, we’re all going to this party later this evening, so if you wanna get settled in we were all going to head down there around six.”
Cas paused for a moment. He wasn’t usually a fan of parties, or over-socialization, but this crowd seemed like a decent group of people, so he quickly agreed to go.
~
It wasn’t a frosh party, not quite. It was a party, and there were freshmen present, but the majority of party goers were upperclassmen that had heard about the free beer and decided to crash. The fraternity and its sister sorority had rented out one of the practice soccer fields and set up a massive white tent to accommodate the several hundred people present. While the grass floor had the benefit of not requiring mopping after spills, there was a consistent slosh underfoot from the amount of beer muddying the ground. The DJ catered to popular music tastes with remixes of top 40 tracks and there was a dance floor of sorts in the general center of the tent.
Circling the walls were tables with dozens of kegs of beer with red cups littered around them. Despite their best efforts, the lines for alcohol were frighteningly long considering the beer to water content in the kegs was nothing too desirable. To compensate most people chose to show up buzzed and brought with them their own concoctions that were mixed with whatever chase was available, or not at all.
Greek upperclassmen wore their respective spirit wear to support their ongoing rush. Some frosh were still wearing their faculty t-shirts but seeing the large amount of upperclassmen Cas was glad he had elected to wear his typical white collared shirt and blue tie so not to attract unwanted frosh jokes. Not that Cas’s choice of clothing went without it’s problems.
“Bro, what are you wearing? You on your way to church or something?” The frat boy was sadly living down to the worst of his stereotype with his brightly coloured polo with its collar up and a snap-back of some basketball team turned backwards. He leaned over Cas as he spoke, clearly having lost his judgement of personal space several Budweisers ago. Cas could smell his breath and was forced to lean away from the scent.
“No, these are just my clothes. Excuse me.” Cas avoided the frat boy’s eyes and slipped away, thinking that perhaps going to this party was not a good idea. Charlie had said she would meet him there, but Cas doubted he would be able to spot her in the massive crowd, and was not interested in looking through the dance floor.
Cas would not call himself a drinker, alcohol was rarely consumed in his house outside of wine on special occasions, so he had not thought to drink ahead of time, nor did he want to wait in a line of loud people for access to beer. He set himself off to the side, wondering if he should wait for Charlie or head home and claim he stayed longer to look for her. Cas disliked that he was already slipping back into his shy tendencies.
“Oooh I like your tie!” This time a short girl in health sciences, according to her neon green t-shirt that was shredded vertically across her midriff and sleeves covered in glitter glue swirls, was standing before him sloshing her drink in its red solo cup. “You look so professional! I love a man in a tie. It’s so raunchy.” She made a throaty sound and grabbed the offending article and tugged Cas towards her level.At this Cas froze. How was he supposed to deal with girls when they acted like this?
“Um, thank you?” he tried.
“You’re welcome. You’re cute by the way. I’m Sarah, what’s your name?”
Before Cas had the chance to answer, someone’s arm was reaching across his shoulders.
“Hey there Sarah, sorry to tell you this but Cas here is kinda busy.” Dean. “I’m afraid you’ll have to find someone else in a tie for the evening.” As he spoke he reached with his other hand and gently pried Sarah’s hand of Cas’s tie and turned her by the shoulder, giving a gentle push towards the centre of the tent. Sarah followed his gesture and glided back into the crowd, clearly already distracted. Cas let out a breath he hadn’t noticed he was holding.
“Thanks, I didn’t know what to say.” Cas looked at Dean’s hand still resting on his shoulder. Dean followed his gaze and quickly removed it. They stood awkwardly together, just outside the circle of bodies dancing to pumping music. Dean was both too close, and not nearly close enough. Cas painfully noted that he still wasn’t really sure what to say. This is exactly why he promised himself that he wouldn’t try and force himself into awkward social situations this year. Keeping to himself had always worked in the past.
“I guess this party isn’t really your scene, huh?” Dean said, practically reading his mind.
“It’s not what I spend most Friday nights doing, if that’s what you mean,” Cas shrugged. The corners of Dean’s mouth turned up a little.
“What do you spend most Friday nights doing then?” he said smirking. Meeting his eyes, Cas recognized the same heated look the girl, Sarah, had given him, but Dean’s was giving him a much different reaction. He was immediately thankful that Charlie finally decided to show up.
“Wow Dean. Way to cock-block.” Charlie sauntered over, holding two red cups, one of which she handed Cas. Dean scowled at her over his own drink.
“Did you see the look on his face, Charlie? That chick was not appreciated.”
“Sure, Dean,” Charlie laughed and winked. Dean cleared his throat and looked over her head at the dance crowd with the air of looking for someone. Cas watched the exchange with wide eyes and took a sip from the drink Charlie had handed him.
“Oh, that’s disgusting. What’s in this?” Cas grimaced and tried to swallow away the taste. Charlie and Dean shared a look and a quick laugh at Cas’s expense.
“That, my friend, is far too much vodka with far too little Mountain Dew. Don’t ask me why, or how, but that’s what we got out hands on, so that’s what we’re drinking,” Charlie explained, with a pitying expression. “Here, give me the rest of yours and Dean will get you something else.”
“I will?” Dean raised an eyebrow.
“Mmhm. And if you get Cas something he actually likes, I’ll move your story on the freshman that somehow managed to fall off a four story building and walk away to the third page,” Charlie said, smiling brightly.
“Fine,” Dean sighed, “but only if you promise to use your skills of persuasion for good.” He downed the last of his drink in one sip without a grimace and sauntered back into the fray.
Charlie turned to Cas and asked “So, kiddo, how’s it going at your first kegger?”
Cas smiled sheepishly. “Okay, I guess.”
“Uh-huh. Sure. Dean and I saw that girl fawning over you, you looked like deer in the headlights.”
Castiel paused, unsure of how much to divulge in only his third meeting with Charlie. “Dating is, unsurprisingly, not one of the things I’m good at.” It wasn’t a lie, Cas was terrible at dating, but he figured he’d probably be even worse at it with girls.
“Oh, hon.” Charlie threw him a sympathetic glance. “Not to scare you or anything, but I’m pretty sure that girl did not have dating on the mind.”
“Oh.” Cas gulped, his eyes widening and glancing around the room for any distraction.
“Seeeeex.” Charlie grinned devilishly. “She wanted to have the sex with you, Cas.” Charlie nodded in earnest. Cas’s eyes flicked between her and the girl, Sarah, from before. His parents had forewarned him about this when he first told them he wanted to go to college. Premarital sex was not tolerated under his father’s roof, nor was it acceptable for Castiel to engage in such activities elsewhere. His father had said that girls in college are not all Catholic and that they may tempt him away from God’s light. His mother had said that if any girls wanted to touch him, or asked him to touch them, that he should politely decline and ask them instead if they wanted guidance in finding God’s place in their life. Of course, a few months later his parents found much bigger issues with their youngest son that they thought should be dealt with first.
“What in the name of all that is good and holy in this world are you talking to this kid about to make him pull a face like that?” Castiel was pulled back from his thoughts by Benny, coming up behind Charlie and pulling her into a one-armed hug. Charlie smiled up at him warmly.
“Oh, nothing. School, alcohol, sex with girls.” Charlie sniggered back at Cas’s helpless stare.
Benny whistled, giving Cas’s rigid posture and downright frightened demeanor a once over before replying with a laugh “C’mon Charlie, give the poor kid a break. He looks like he’s never seen a naked woman in his life.”
“Oh yeah, you sympathetic to his cause?” Charlie teased back. Benny laughed heartily, taking the playful jibe in stride.
“Well we all know that you’re not...”
“Damn right. Don’t you forget it.”
“Don’t forget wha- holy shit, what the fuck did you guys do to Cas?” Dean returned, carrying two beers in one hand, and a bottle opener in the other.
“Oh don’t worry about him, he’s fine. You’re fine, aren’t ya Cas?” Charlie asked, clearly fishing for an answer. He nodded.
Dean popped both caps off the bottles, and handed one to Cas, meeting his eyes and mouthing ‘are you okay?’
Cas took the beer from him, tearing his eyes away from Charlie and Benny who were grinning at him expectantly. “I’m good,” he nodded and smiled. “A little overwhelmed with everything.” Dean grinned at him.
“Have a beer, you’ll relax. I don’t know what you like so I just grabbed you my favourite.”
“I’ve never had a beer before, so I don’t know what I like either,” he replied smiling.
“You’ve never had a beer before?” Dean asked, looking very puzzled.
Cas shrugged, glanced down at the label on the bottle. He’d never heard of it before but if it was Dean’s favourite and he’d gone to all the trouble to get him one too, he didn’t want to be rude. Cas brought the bottle to his lips, pausing a moment before tipping it back, and taking a small sip.
“You like it?” Dean asked him. Castiel stared at the bottle for a moment longer before looking into Dean’s eyes and nodded. Dean pumped the air.
“YES! My story gets the front page, ha!” he teased to Charlie.
“Woah, woah, woah. All I said was that it wouldn’t end up on the third page. That story isn’t worth front page news. Second page is yours.” Dean moped, but still took her offer well enough.
Cas took another sip. “It’s actually quite good.” Cas didn’t have much knowledge in what was good alcohol or not. His experience was limited to the wine they had during the Eucharist at church, but he enjoyed the taste of this beer enough. A warm smile spread across Dean’s face that did all kinds of things to Castiel’s insides. As a distraction, he lifted the bottle again and drained it after only a few seconds. Then he set the bottle on a the table next to them and wiped his mouth with his shirt sleeve.
“Holy shit, Cas!” Charlie exclaimed. “Who woulda guessed you’d be such a drinker...” Cas shrugged.
“Eyes front, soldier.” mumbled Benny. Cas looked at him, his brow furrowing, but Benny wasn’t looking back. He was instead not in fact talking to him at all but to Dean who was currently in some sort of transfixed state, his eyes fixated on Castiel.
“Shut the fuck up,” Dean mumbled, still focused on Cas.
Cas looked from Dean to Charlie extremely lost. “I didn’t s-”
“No. No rookie freshman who’s never had a drink in his life downs a full beer in ten seconds flat stays on his feet.”
“C’mon, brotha, it wasn’t that impressive.” Benny scoffed. “That beer you got there’s only 5%.”
“Fine.” Dean handed Cas his untouched beer. “Have mine too.”
“Deeeeeean...” Charlie sighed. Dean gaze doesn’t drift from Cas once as he holds out the bottle tauntingly. After a moment of deliberation, Cas takes the bottle from his hands.
“I believe the phrase is... ‘challenge accepted’.”
Dean stared unbelievingly back at Cas’s audacity as Charlie cheered him on. Their voices chanting ‘Cas! Cas! Cas! Cas! Cas!’ as he once again tipped the beer back, this time not breaking eye contact with Dean once. The green-eyed boy bit his lip and shook his head as Cas finished off the last dregs of the beer, Charlie still cheering madly in the background. Other members of the newspaper arrived at the party and joined her with their support. In some mad rush of confidence, Cas tossed the empty beer bottle into one of the recycling bins stationed around the walls of the tent about ten feet away. Even over the loud pumping music he heard the bottle slam through the hole at the top of the bin and crash into the pile of glass bottles beneath it, meeting its target with ease. He spun around, raising his hands to his side in a proud shrug.
Three or four members of the newsies ran over to clap him on the back. Jo Harvelle, who was currently too drunk to have any good ideas, decided at that moment to speak every thought on her mind.
“Dean Winchester, I challenge you to a drink-off on Castiel’s behalf! Someone get them ten shots each lined up!!”
As the crowd chanted ‘Drink off! Drink off!’ Cas looked at Dean shaking his head furiously, all of his previous confidence gone. Dean strided over to him.
“Dean, I don’t think this is a very good idea and I’m not quite sure if-”
“Cas shh. Calm down. I’m not gonna make you do anything you don’t wanna do.” he paused. “Unfortunately I don’t think I can say the same for Jo...” Dean replied apologetically looking back at Jo who was currently clearing off a portion of the table by sliding her arms along the top and knocking everything onto the floor obnoxiously, then lining up ten shots on either side. “Of course... if you think you can’t do it...” he teased.
Cas rolled his eyes and smiled slightly. Looking back into Dean’s questioning but serious expression though Cas dropped the facade.
“That’s the problem. I don’t know if I can do it. I have never had a serious drink of alcohol before this night. But...” he paused before looking wistfully into Dean’s eyes “... I want to do it. I’m just worried about what might happen.”
Dean rested a hand on his shoulder. “How about this. I challenge you to a drink-off, but I promise you that win or lose, I’ll make sure that nothing bad happens to you, and that you get home safe tonight.”
Cas paused for a moment to collect himself. His parents were wrong.
College students weren’t all rough or mean. The people he had met outside of the church community had so far been nicer to him than those within the community had been in the past few months. Charlie’s unwavering kindness from the moment they had met, right up until she had officially offered him the position two days ago, and all of the reporters’ such easy acceptance of a new member into their group was refreshing. And now Dean with his sweet promises of safety that made Cas feel cared for in a way that had been lacking so much in recent months. To be fair, there was probably a better time and a better place for this particular revelation than late at night at a terrible frosh party so he gathered himself together and met Dean’s eyes.
“Well I guess I’ll repeat what I said before then.” Dean waited, mouth parted slightly. “Challenge accepted.”
Cas was declared the winner when most of the way through their second round of shots, Dean, after missing his mouth completely and pouring the vodka into his eye, blindly slammed his hand down on the table to grab his next shot and overestimated the force necessarily, effectively smashing the small glass and slicing two of his fingers.
There had been a mad dash on behalf of the newsies who began looking for makeshift bandages, or the real thing if they could find it. They were currently sitting in a circle under the tent on a less soaked section of the grass which they had relocated to after Chuck had found some toilet paper and mostly clean dish towels. Jo and Cas had tracked down some duct tape to keep the whole thing together, and wrapped it tightly around Dean’s third and fourth fingers.
Dean himself was now rested lazily with his head in Charlie’s lap and his feet casually thrown over Jo’s legs. Cas was seated in between Jo and Becky, throwing glances to Dean every few minutes who seemed to be completely lost to the world and Cas’s constant apologies.
“Cas, man! It was not your fault!” Chuck cried after Cas’s fifth or sixth attempt at saying sorry to a completely unfazed Dean.
“Seriously if you don’t shut the fuck up I’m gonna kick your face in.” Jo added.
Cas shuffled a few inches away from her.
“Jeez, Jo. Way to scare the kid on his first day...” it was the first coherent thing Dean had mumbled in the past twenty minutes and every head in the circle snapped to where he was lying on the ground.
“You scared me you bastard!” Jo said, slapping his calf with a little more force than necessary. He giggled. Giggled.
“You caaaare about me Jo Harvelle.” He smiled, poking at her with his feet. The smile was quickly wiped off his face when she threw his legs out of her lap and stood up abruptly.
“You’re an asshole, Dean Winchester.” she looked to the rest of the group. “Does anyone want a water? I think I saw some in the back.”
Chuck, Bela and Charlie raised their hands. Jo turned and walked away into the slowly dissipating crowd.
“So Cas,” Becky started. “How has your first college party been?” Cas looked down at Dean who gave him an alcohol-induced, shit-eating grin.
“Fairly eventful, I’d say,” replied Cas, shaking his head at Dean.
“What are you majoring in, Cas?” asked Charlie.
“Or are you undeclared, like me?” Chuck laughed.
“Chuck don’t be proud of that. You’re in third year,” said Benny, a hint of honest concern in his voice.
“Yeah if you don’t get your shit together soon I’m gonna kick you off the paper,” Charlie added in a tone that Cas was coming to know meant ‘serious business’.
“Weren’t we interrogating the new kid a minute ago?” Chuck changed the subject quickly.
“Oh yeah!” Becky jumped. “You never told us what your major was, Castiel.”
“I’m majoring in Theology and English,” he replied.
“Ooh, he’s a good Christian boy,” Bela grinned. “Who wants to corrupt him first?”
“Oh please,” Charlie laughed. “His new boss is a left-wing, socialist lesbian. We have passed the point of corruption and are now moving into the territory of conversion.” she said as the group laughed.
“You’re gay?” Cas asked. Hope swelling in his chest of the possibility of being accepted on another level by these people as well.
“We’re all a little gay, Cas,” Charlie replied with feigned prolific seriousness. “Isn’t that right, Dean?” she added jokingly. He rolled his eyes up at her, sharing some sort of inside joke that Castiel obviously didn’t understand.
“Some of us more than others, Charlie.”
They both seemed so confident about the whole thing, it took Castiel by surprise a little. “We gonna have a problem with that?” Charlie added hesitantly.
“No no, not at all,” Cas reassured. “I just... I actually thought you and Dean were dating,” he said sheepishly, and realized immediately that he was very misinformed about the nature of their relationship as both Dean and Charlie had equal looks of horror on their faces.
“Oh, oh god, get off me,” Charlie said shoving Dean off her. “I don’t even wanna think about it.”
“Dude that would be like fucking my sister, ew no,” Dean cringed. shuffling a few spaces away from Charlie. The change in position seemed to shake him out of his delirium. Jo returned, four water bottles in hand, and plopped herself down in the large space between Dean and Charlie, pushing Dean even closer towards Cas.
“You are never gonna believe who I just saw talking to some freshmen over by the front entrance,” Jo said, throwing the bottles across the circle to those who had asked for one.
“Let me guess, was it that stupid pop star who was playing at the concert earlier?” asked Dean.
“No, dumbass,” she hit him. “It was Nick Richardson.”
The grumbles that passed through the circle alerted Cas that clearly he was an unfavourable character amongst the school, or at least in the group.
“Who is Nick Richardson?” he decided to ask.
“Nick Richardson?” Dean repeated, turning to his right to face Cas and grinning. “How do I even begin to explain Nick Richardson?”
“Oh no...” Benny groaned, as if he had heard this a hundred times and still refused to participate.
“Nick Richardson is flawless,” Charlie started, oozing with sarcasm.
“I hear his car is insured for $10,000,” said Chuck with false enthusiasm.
“I hear he does political commercials... in Japan.”
“His favourite movie is All The Presidents Men.”
“One time he met Sarah Palin on a plane-”
“-And she told him that he was handsome.”
“One time he punched me in the face.” Cas looked at Dean in shock.
“It was awesome,” Dean finished. The group broke into another ridiculous fit of laughter.
“Okay, but who is he, and why was that awesome?” Cas asked Charlie, decidedly not mentioning the strange inside joke that just went around the circle.
“Nick Richardson is the president of the BCSA, and a CREEP. He is such an absolute dick, that pissing him off has become a source of amusement for the Post,” Charlie explained. “We’re supposed to remain impartial, but come on. The guy isn’t exactly the embodiment of honesty, you know what I’m sayin’? I mean, it’s not like he’s done anything wrong, to be honest the school loves him. He’s only beginning his third year, and so long as he doesn’t do something stupid or illegal, he’ll probably get re-elected in April.”
Cas nodded in understanding and then paused. “Wait. His party is the CREEPs you said?” The group nodded. “Oh.” He looked down at his scuffed sneaker, picking at one of the laces looking a little ashamed.
“What’s wrong, Cas?” Becky asked.
He looked back up around the circle of people all staring at him, waiting for his answer. “Well...” he stopped, “I think I umm... accidentally on the first day... kind of... signed up to be a member of that group,” he trailed off quietly. The circle erupted into groans.
“Cas why?!” Jo exclaimed, shaking her hands at him.
“I didn’t know who they were! And I felt bad for the girl behind at their booth because the other boy was being mean to her.”
“Awwwwww, Cas,” Becky cooed. “That’s actually so sweet of you.” She smiled at him in adoration.
“Goddamn it,” Chuck groaned, “even when the kid fucks up he gets it right.” the tension in the circle relaxing somewhat. Cas smiled and looked down at his watch, noticing that the time was well after two o’clock.
“Oh shoot,” he scrambled to stand up “it’s really gotten late, and I’m in the residence complex across campus. I should probably head back.” Dean stood up, wobbling a bit on shaky legs.
“Alright buddy, let’s head back then.” Cas shook his head.
“No, no. You’re injured and obviously very drunk. I’ll be fine.”
Dean threw him a pained grin, stretching his arms above his head, his shirt riding up just slightly and Castiel definitely did not indulgently glance at the exposed inch of tanned skin just above the waistline of Dean’s jeans. And he definitely didn’t say a silent prayer hoping Dean had not caught him looking.
“Nah, I said I would, it’s no biggie. C’mon, Cas.” Dean slapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”
Cas waved goodbye at the rest of the group, earning a few waves back from those who were not too drunk to function, and stepped out of the tent behind Dean.
“So,” Dean started, peering down a little at Cas “first college party ever... what did you think of it?”
Cas worried his lips and considered Dean’s question. Under the tent had been dark and stuffy and the majority of the people there he had found himself wishing would just back off. He had worried during some parts of the night that he was crazy for coming here, that he would never fit in amongst the boisterous party-goers and those who seemed to have no care in the world, free of any consequence for their actions. But walking through the deserted streets of the college campus with the cool air blowing through his hair, Cas’s head cleared enough to reflect on the finer points of the party. The newsies, as Charlie continuously called them, had welcomed him with open arms and laughed and joked with him as if they had known each other for years. Even those whom he had a shaky first meeting with, like Benny, had warmed up to him. In their company, the party had been relatively enjoyable.
“It was... fun.” Cas decided. “First party ever, actually,” he added.
“Dude, what?!” Dean yelped. “How have you never been to a party?”
Cas smiled. “Apart from family events and my parents work functions-”
Dean cut him off with a hearty laugh. “Doesn’t count, dude.” Dean grinned. Cas secretly thought to himself that Dean had a very nice smile.
“I didn’t think so,” he replied. “I guess I’ve just never had the occasion.”
They talked the whole way back to Cas’s dorm. Surprisingly, Cas found it easy to make conversation with Dean, he’d never been able to make small talk with people easily before. He loves people, but they often this of him as closed off and cold.In reality, he just doesn’t know what to say most of the time. Dean on the other hand is warm and inviting and Cas finds it almost second nature to be able to respond to him.
They talk about everything from school to hobbies to their families back home. Cas learns that although Dean is very good at both mechanical and computer engineering, writing is his true passion which is why he’s majoring in journalism. Cas asks about the women’s studies minor and Dean replies with a laugh that it’s to pick up chicks, obviously. He says it differently though and there’s something off about his laugh. Cas doesn’t know him well enough to quite place the emotion but he’s pretty sure the answer was a lie.
Cas tells Dean that he always wanted to study metaphysics in college but his parents said that it wouldn’t be a useful degree and suggested theology instead. At that remark, they begin to talk about their families more. Dean learns that Cas has three siblings, all of which have now moved out of the house. Raphael who left some time ago, Anna who is at a community college for visual art in Oregon, and Gabriel who left just last year and has apparently been travelling the world doing odd jobs. Although Cas has almost no knowledge of the internet and whatever a meme is, he admits that he picked up a few choice phrases from Gabriel.
“Ah, so that’s where some technologically-inept kid from Chicago learns a saying like ‘challenge accepted’”.
“You got a problem with Chicago, Dean?” Cas chided him.
“I got a problem with the Cubs,” Dean smiled.
“I also don’t know anything about sports,” Cas conceded. He laughed at Dean’s over dramatic gasp and the falsely scandalous look on his face. Dean softened up and clapped him on the shoulder as they reached the entrance to Cas’s residence. He leaned against the brick wall beside the frame of the main door, looking at Cas warmly.
“All you gotta know about sports Cas, is that baseball is the greatest game ever played. You understand?” Cas smiled.
“I understand.” Dean’s grin widened at that and Cas’s heart fluttered in return. “How’s your hand?” he asks as a distraction. Dean looks down at his fingers still wrapped in the wash cloth and duct tape.
“I’ll be fine,” he shrugged. “My ego hurts more than my hand anyways.” Dean teased. “I just can’t believe I let some eighteen year old freshmen who doesn’t know the first thing about baseball drink me under the table.”
“You didn’t let me do anything. I won that fair and square.” Dean chuckled at Cas’s statement. “Oh, and I’m not eighteen.” Cas looked back up at him. Dean stopped for a moment, his mouth opening and closing.
“You’re... not...” Dean fumbled, looking puzzled. “Huh?”
“Well,” Cas started. “My birthday is in November so technically I’m still seventeen until then. That’s how birthdays work,” he joked.
Dean huffed an awkward laugh, breaking eye contact with Cas and looking around searchingly. “Alright, well,” he coughed. “It was uhh, nice meeting you then, Castiel.” He stood up straighter and stuck his hand out for Cas to shake which he did cautiously and with much confusion. “Goodnight,” he finished stiffly, turning around and stepping down the stairs.
As Dean walked quickly down the path onto the street, Castiel was left standing at the entrance to his dorm in utter confusion at the most uncomfortably puzzling encounter he’d ever been in.