I Promise | A Destiel High School & College AU

CHAPTER 2 - The New Guy

"Who fixes broken people? Is it only other broken people, ones who've already been ruined? And do we need to be fixed? It was the messiness and hurt in our pasts that drove us, and that same hurt connected us at a subdermal level, the kind of scars written so deeply in your cells that you can't even see them anymore, only recognize them in someone else."
-Leah Raeder

"Hello-o...anybody there?" Dean asked, waving a hand in front of Castiel's face.

Castiel was snapped out of his trance as he felt a blush creeping up. "S-sorry. Uh...uhm, just a black coffee with sugar, please." Castiel couldn't remember the last time he had to say his order out loud - the words were almost foreign to him. He was so used to having Meg there every day to make it. By the time Castiel had thought about the recent change made in his everyday life, Dean had come back with his coffee.

"There you go. Let me know if you need anything else," he said with small smile.

Before he could leave, Castiel blurted out, "Excuse me, uhm...what happened to Meg?"

Dean came back, wiping his hands on a towel, and said, "I just moved here...started my shift today. I took Meg's hours so I could still go to school and work afterwards. Meg works during the day now."

"I see," Castiel said. He had to admit, not seeing Meg every day was going to be rough...and he was genuinely sad. Meg was one of the few people Castiel could count on to be kind and not critical, rude, or abusive. I truly have no one, he thought.

Dean noticed Castiel's obvious change in demeanor and dropped his grin. "I hope that's okay with you. I'm Dean, by the way," he said, reaching his hand out. Castiel took it and said, "Yeah, sorry. It's fine...it's just gonna take a while to get used to the change, that's all. I'm Castiel."

Dean released his grip and leaned his hands on the counter, hunching his shoulders a bit. He said, "Well, Cas, sometimes change is good." After a quick smile Dean retreated to talk to someone else sitting a few seats away. Castiel watched him with great interest. Dean was talking to a boy who looked to be a few years younger than him who was doing schoolwork. Castiel couldn't help but feel somber at the thought that Gabriel would have been about the same age as the boy Dean was talking to. Maybe they could have been friends.

They occasionally started laughing and Castiel saw it as an opportunity. He grabbed his camera out of his bag and waited. When Dean started to laugh again, he pointed the camera at Dean and had nearly clicked the button when Dean shouted, "Hey! No pictures, man."

Castiel was taken aback, but didn't give in. Other than a camera, his mother's stubborn nature had also stuck with him. "I meant no disrespect. One picture can't cause that much damage." He got ready to take the picture again.

"I said NO PICTURES!" Dean screamed. He ran over and pushed the camera down, but the shock of the act was enough for Castiel to drop the camera from his hands. He flinched as he heard metal colliding with tile as his mother's camera shattered into pieces.

Castiel went to his knees and feebly attempted to piece it back together. The attention of the other people in the diner was directed at the boy in the trench coat, crying over a broken camera. They had no idea how much that camera meant to him. The only material thing he had of his mother laid shattered in front of him, and it was enough for muffled sobs and tears to threaten escape. But Castiel had learned a long time ago that he's better off if no one sees him weak.

Dean had calmed down and was slowly making his way near Castiel when the younger boy he was talking to grabbed his arm and shook his head, indicating that he'd done enough damage, and shouldn't risk inflicting any more.

"Cas?" Dean whispered.

Castiel grabbed his backpack and ran out of the diner, nearly in tears. Instant guilt washed over Dean when he saw the pain he had caused. He had his reasons for not wanting his picture taken, but he knew he had taken it too far.

He moved over to wear the broken camera was laying on the floor, and saw a picture. It must have come out before I broke it, he thought. He picked it up and hated what he saw. The picture showed Dean, mid-rage, mouth agape and a terrifying look on his face as he was about to break something that obviously meant so much to someone he just met.

Way to go, Winchester, he thought. One more thing you broke.

Dean couldn't place the reason this incident was hanging so heavily over his head, but he sure as hell felt sorry for that boy in the trench coat.