In This Secluded Spot I Respond As I Wouldn't Dare Elsewhere

Watching a Movie

The evening went by more smoothly than Castiel anticipated. His mother and Dean got on amazingly well, to the point that they had an entire conversation all by themselves without Castiel uttering a word. He was happy to see that his mother liked Dean. Hopefully it would make the eventual task of explaining his and Dean's relationship a little easier to swallow — whenever he got brave enough to do it.

They wound up ordering two pizzas, one plain and one with vegetables at his mother's insistence. Dean impressed her even more by eating just the veggie slices.

Later on they were watching TV on the couch while Castiel's mother did crosswords at her desk behind them.

"Did you see The Mask with that guy Jim Carrey from In Living Color?"

"'Live in color'?"

"No, In Liv-ing Col-or," Dean enunciated more clearly. "It's a comedy show."

"I'll take your word for it."

"The movie is supposed to be really funny."

"I haven't seen it."

"It just came out on video, so I stopped after school and rented it. Did you wanna watch it?"

"Is that where you were? I was looking for the Impala everywhere."

"Yeah, my day wasn't as full as I planned. I'll tell you about it later."

"Would that be okay?" Castiel asked, turning around to where his mother sat.

"Hmm, what?"

"We'd like to watch a movie, Mrs. Agnus," Dean said.

"Oh, yes, of course. Don't let me get in the way of your boys' night."

"You can watch it with us, if you want," Dean said. "It's a comedy. Not even rated R."

"That's very sweet of you, Dean, but you and Castiel enjoy yourselves. I have some papers to grade anyway."

"Cool. Cas, I'll be right back. I just have to run over to my place, okay?"

Castiel nodded and Dean left.

"Cas?" his mother said with a smile, once Dean was gone.

"It's his nickname for me."

"I see. He's a lovely boy, this Dean of yours," his mother said. "You two seem very close."

Castiel shrugged his shoulders and looked down, trying to hide the blush of embarrassment seeping across his cheeks.

"I'm glad you found someone like him, Castiel. He cares a lot about you. That's something to value in a friend."

"I know."

Dean knocked once and entered with the movie and a plastic bag stuffed with candy. "Dessert!" he announced.

"You two enjoy the movie. Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks, Mama."

She disappeared to her bedroom and Dean took his seat on the couch next to Castiel. He slid the tape into the VCR.

"Before the film starts, tell me what happened at Principal Murphy's office," Castiel said.

"The usual," Dean said, rolling his eyes. "Blah blah blah, we don't use violence at Flour Bluff High School, Mr. Winchester, blah blah, Alastair could have been seriously hurt, blah blah, a week's suspension, blah blah, you should go home right now, young man."

"A week? That seems excessive."

"Well," Dean grinned, "I did punch that asshole first."

"Does your nose hurt?"

"Yeah, and besides my two black eyes there's a little bruise on my side where I hit the hood, but other than that I'm fine. You're the one that looks worse for wear."

"Murphy called my mother this morning and told her all about what happened. It didn't take her long to inspect my injury when I got home this afternoon."

"Sorry about that," Dean said. "Nothin' I could do. I tried lying but Mr. Singer had already gone down after class yesterday and reported what happened. I guess he had a feelin' I wasn't goin' to Murphy's office."

"I'm surprised. You're his favorite student."

"He didn't really have a choice, what with the fightin' in the middle of his class and all," Dean said. "He's cool, I don't blame him. Dad's gonna have a shit when he finds out about the suspension, though."

"Are you going to get into trouble?"

"Probably. Luckily I have a few nights before I tell him."

"What do you mean?"

"My dad's on night shift this weekend and the next two after that. I'll be by myself."

"Does that happen often?"

"Sometimes. It depends which base he's on. It was harder when I was younger. He's kinda...overprotective, I guess you can say. He hated leavin' me until he finally realized I could take care of myself."

"You have to do that a lot, I suppose," Castiel said. "Take care of yourself."

"Part of growin' up, y'know? Doesn't bother me now as much as it used to. I had a...um, a thing about the dark when I was a kid. Pretty bad, actually."

Castiel could sense there was something there Dean didn't want to talk about, and let it drop. They had spent enough time together that Castiel had picked up Dean's shorthand ways of avoiding a subject.

"If your dad is working, you're more than welcome to sleep over tonight, if you'd like," Castiel said.

"I didn't say I was still afraid of the dark now, Cas," Dean said, a slight smile on his face.

"No, of course not. I wasn't implying you were. But if you didn't feel like remaining home by yourself, you could spend the night. Mama wouldn't mind. I would have to confirm it with her, certainly, but there's plenty of room. You could have Michael's bed — "

Castiel and his mother had never stopped calling it "Michael's bed" despite the fact that he had been gone for over three years. At first Castiel kept Michael's side of the room just as he had left it, with clothes strewn across the headboard and nightstand, books left open on his desk where he had stopped reading, and a CD still in his stereo. The scattered remnants of his brother's life made him seem close and not really gone. But eventually Castiel slowly began to reclaim that half of the bedroom, and he placed all of Michael's things into boxes and stored them safely in the closet, since his mother couldn't bear the thought of doing it. Nothing was ever said about it — she came in one day, noticed Michael's things were gone, and she simply nodded. They both, however, would say things like, "Your clean clothes are on Michael's bed," or "I bought a new comforter for Michael's bed." The thought of dismantling it never occurred to either of them.

Castiel realized his obvious slip and tried to correct it.

"That is," he said, "you could sleep in the extra bed in my room."