Burned - Destiel

VIII

Dean's day just got worse and worse. The slightest bad thoughts, made his his breath quicken, as well as his heartbeat. With every whisper he heard, he tensed up, worried about the chance that the rumours were about him. His hands were constantly shaking and he couldn't find himself to communicate with people. At lunch, he sat down under the same tree he had found himself a day before, drawn to the shadow filled nature. He looked around expectantly, somehow hoping to see a familiar face around, but he was disappointed by the lack of presence.

His head rested against the timber, letting out a deep sigh as he closed his eyes. Immediately, flames burned behind his eyes and a scream filled his head, making him open his eyes quickly. He was caught off guard when he saw Castiel stand in front of him. A breath escaped his lips, sounding more strangled than he had expected it to be. The bruise on Castiel's chin had developed a dark blue colour, which caused his attention to shift quickly.

"Are you OK?" Castiel asked, kneeling down and placing his lower half against the grass. Dean leant back again, shrugging. He felt Castiel's eyes burn into the side of his face, and when he finally looked up after a minute, they shone with worry. Again, he felt the amount of oxygen decrease and his hands shake. His eyes were itching, glossing over slightly.

"Hey, Dean. Look at me," he heard Castiel's voice. It brought back memories of when he had gotten a panic attack in the movie theatre. His voice was just as soft, just as careful. "What happened isn't your fault, OK? I knew you don't like getting touched, and I forgot about that."

Dean still looked at the sky above him, clouds mixing with the blue sky above him due to the tears blocking his view. He quickly wiped away a tear that fell. 'I hit my brother this morning,' he signed, not knowing - and secretly hoping - that the boy next to him hadn't caught the words.

"I saw him walk around with a bruised cheek and a split lip, yeah. What happened?" Castiel said. Instead of an explanation, Dean scrambled up and packed his bag. Castiel followed him quickly. "Wait, Dean. What's going on?"

Dean moved his hands around rapidly as he walked, and this time it was hard to understand what he was talking about. He explained how he'd had a nightmare and how Sam had woken him up, resulting a bruised cheek, and a bruised cheek only. Castiel's eyes widened.

"So, somebody else hurt him?" Dean didn't reply, but just continued walking. Castiel caught up on him again. "Dean, doesn't Sam have class right now? You can't just run in and pull him out of class. You'd draw too much attention."

Dean waved him off but continued walking. Castiel sighed in annoyance. This boy loved his brother so much it was gonna be the death of him sometime. He stopped walking, hoping it would draw the furious boy's attention, but it didn't, so he started walking behind him.

"If this was someone else that did this to your brother, do you really wanna give them possible leverage to hurt him again?"

This time, Dean did turn around, not expecting Castiel to run into him. He felt his hands on his sides in order to keep himself up, which caused the trembling of his own hands that were placed on the boy's chest to get worse. His eyes were wide in panic as he felt the burns on his side itch underneath Castiel's grip. That was, until he looked up and realized how close they actually were. Castiel didn't make any movement to push himself away, his head cocked to the right - Dean's left - slightly. It seemed as if he was curious.

Gently, Dean pushed against Castiel's chest to gesture him to pull away, which the boy did, snapping out of his daze. As soon as the pressure on his sides was gone, he instinctively reached for it. It didn't help and maybe even worsened things, but it felt like the fabrics he wore were burned all the way to his skin.