That Destiel/Sabriel High School Fanfic. No, the Other One.

Chapter 29

Castiel's phone vibrates about a minute after Anna leaves. He pulls it out of his pocket to see that Dean was texting him. He forgot they had been chatting before Lucifer grabbed him. He checks to see what Dean said.
U still here?
Hello?
Cas?
Cass?
How do I spell ur name?
Ok bai I guess
Castiel can't help but chuckle at his spelling of "bye." He did raise a good question, though. What even is his nickname? He quickly types a reply.
Hi! Sorry I got hung up on something.
Dean texts back almost immediately.
It's ok hi again u should cum ovr im bored
Castiel inwardly cringes at his lack of grammar and spelling.
Is your dad there?
Ya but u should cum anyway
Castiel hesitates. He doesn't really want to hang out around Dean's father, even if he is with Dean.
I'd rather not.
Plz
Can we meet somewhere else?
K sure were
I don't know.
Ok how bout the park?
Okay when?
Now
Okay. I'll see you soon.
Castiel clicks his phone off and tosses it in the pocket of his trench coat. He quickly hurries away, hoping that he can get out without being seen. Unfortunately, the sound of Anna's voice stop him just before he leaves
"Hey, Castiel, where you going?"
Castiel turns around to face her. "The park."
"Why are you going to the park?"
"Meeting Dean."
Anna nods, clearly having expected this but asking anyway. "Have fun. Don't be out too late!" She adds the last part in a joking way, though Castiel doesn't see the humor in it. He never quite understood what some people decide is a joke. It doesn't make sense to him.
Castiel leaves quickly, arriving at the park in record time. Granted, he's only been the the park a couple of times, and that was when his siblings would want to go so be was forced to. It's been years since he's been here.
The park is really a playground, but it's always been known as "the park." The majority of the area is covered in slides, rock walls,  swings, and all that other stuff kids love to play with. Castiel usually just spent his time on the swings when he would go with his siblings, wishing it would be over sooner.
There's also a field portion of the park, though it's rarely in use when there isn't a sports game. Today, there's one person sitting there. Castiel recognizes him, even from the distance. It's Dean. He hurries to greet him boyfriend, who smiles when he comes into view. Dean gives Castiel a hug; a nice welcome for him.
"Hey, Cas," Dean greets him, seeming overjoyed to see the boy.
"Hi, Dean," Castiel replies. He's not as quiet as he usually is. If there's one thing that Dean has done for him, it's giving him the opportunity to talk like a normal person. Of course, he's still fairly quiet, but with Dean, he feels welcome to raise his voice a little bit.
"How are you?"
Castiel shrugs. "Fine. You?"
"Great, because I'm here with you!" Dean replies with a big smile.
Castiel feels his face heat up, as it does with every comment like this that Dean makes. He's not used to the attention or the compliments.
"You're so cute when you blush," Dean says. He brushes Castiel's faintly red cheek with the back of his hand lightly. "You're so cute when you don't blush, too," he adds. "You're just cute in general."
"I'm not at your level of cute, though," Castiel adds. Wow, did he really just say that? That's not a Castiel thing to say.
"No, you're not," Dean agrees. "You're above it."
"No, I'm not," Castiel protests.
"Of course you are," Dean insists. He presses his lips to the top of Castiel's forehead. "You're perfect."
Castiel blushes harder, and Dean pulls him into a big hug. Castiel returns it, which he doesn't usually do to people. Dean's different, though. Dean's always been different.
"So," Dean says once the pull apart. "Whatcha wanna do now?"
Castiel shrugs. "I don't know."
"Well, you're no help," Dean replies. "Hey, what time is it?"
Castiel pulls out his phone to check, then says, "Sixish."
"Seriously?" Dean replies incredulously.
Castiel nods. "Yes."
"Well, I haven't had dinner yet, so I'm hungry. Wanna go get food?"
"Where?"
Dean gives him the name of some restaurant, and they drive down separately, because they each brought their own cars. Dean leads him there, and they walk in together. They get a seat together. Because it's a corner booth, they get to sit next to each other instead of across from each other without looking strange.
"Have you ever been here before?" Dean asks.
"No," Castiel replies. "I don't go out much."
"Really? Not even with Chuck?" Dean says in disbelief.
Castiel shakes his head. "No. When they want to go, I usually stay home."
"Why? Eating out is the best!" Dean says enthusiastically.
"I don't really like being out," he admits. "Especially with Lucifer or Gabriel or Balthazar. Ya know, the popular ones. Someone they know always shows up."
"Do they try to talk to you?" Dean asks, clearly not understanding the issue.
"No, but they talk to the rest of my family, and it just feels awkward. Just like all social situations."
"Come on, being social isn't that bad," Dean says.
"For me, it is."
Dean frowns. "But why? I mean, you're talking to me. Is this bad? Do you not like talking to me, then?"
Castiel shakes his head quickly. "No, of course I do!" he insists. "You're probably the only person I actually want to talk to. Like, ever. It's way less stressful."
"You've got to be exaggerating," Dean says.
Castiel shakes his head. "Why is everyone so confused when I say that? I'm just not about the social life."
"Everyone?" Dean repeats. "Who else did you say that to?"
"Lucifer."
Even though Castiel said it in a calm, conversational tone, Dean has a small freak out moment.
"Why were you talking to Lucifer? I thought you hated him!"
"How many times do I have to tell you I don't hate my brothers?" Castiel replies. "Really, though. Lucifer and I are cool now. Kinda." They were, before he started pushing his brother's buttons, and that didn't end well.
"Since when?"
"Since a few minutes ago. Lucifer stole me. That's why I stopped texting you."
"You ditched me for freaking Lucifer?" Dean repeats, sounding way more upset than Castiel had hoped.
"I wasn't going to say no to him," Castiel defends himself. "You know what he's capable of when he's mad." And when he's bored. And when he feels like it. His emotions don't really dictate whether he's a jerk or not.
Dean nods once, seeming to accept this. "Oh, yeah, true. Was he mad, though? About yesterday?"
Castiel shakes his head. "No, he was actually pretty happy about it. I guess he only bugs me because he wants me to talk to him. He just acted mad cuz of his stupid reputation."
Dean raises an eyebrow. "He annoyed you because he wanted to talk to you?" he repeats. "That is the worst logic I have ever heard."
"You did that, too," Castiel reminds him. "Just on a much smaller scale."
"Well, yeah, but..." Dean trials off, not sure what to say, but not wanting to agree that Lucifer is okay.
"Dean, he's not a bad person," Castiel tells him. "He just acts like it at school. He can be pretty nice, actually. I'm sure Sam can tell you. It looked like they were having fun this morning."
"Funny, because he didn't seem that nice when I got there," Dean replies coldly. "You know, how he didn't apologize for giving my brother a freaking concussion?"
"I think that's more because he hates you than because he's a jerk," Castiel replies. "I mean, you did challenge his reputation at school, which is something he takes incredibly seriously, God knows why." He can't help but hate Lucifer's obsession with what people think of him.
"That doesn't mean Sam deserved a concussion!"
Castiel sighs. "I get that you hate him, but I'm not picking sides on this."
"You don't need to pick a side. Mine's the only logical one, anyway!"
"I'm serious, Dean," Castiel says. "If you want to hate my brother, I can't stop you. But even though he can be a complete pain in the ass, I don't hate him. I can't side with you against him."
"Then side with the boy with the concussion!"
"Okay, I won't side against Lucifer at all," Castiel rephrases.
"Aw, that's sweet," a voice says from next to them. Castiel's head shoots up immediately to see Lucifer himself standing there. Glancing behind him, the rest of the family is seated somewhere nearby, while still not being right here.
"Speak of the devil," Dean mutters.
"Hey, Cassie!"
Castiel frowns. Back to that again?
"Sorry, habit," Lucifer says before correcting himself by saying, "Castiel. I thought you were at the park."
"We were," Castiel informs him, back to his quiet tone that he usually whenever he isn't alone with Dean.
"This isn't the park," Lucifer replies.
"So, we came to eat dinner!" Dean says. "Is that a problem?"
"No, no problem," Lucifer says in an overly innocent tone. "Just came over to annoy you guys."
"Well, you're succeeding," Dean replies. "Shoo. Leave." He flicks his hands as if he's swatting a fly away.
"But I want to hang out with Castiel!" Lucifer whines.
"You're waiting for me to say 'no,' aren't you?" Castiel says quietly.
"Bingo!"
Castiel rolls his eyes. "Please go away."
"See? You can talk!" Lucifer grins as he walks away and joins his family at their table.
"Why did you decide to come here?" Castiel asks Dean. "This is not what I was looking forward to today."
Dean shrugs. "They've got good pie."