Destiel One-shots

Stressed Out

Set in AU

Castiel had exactly one thing going right in his life. And that thing was his boyfriend, Dean.

Cas had no clue why Dean had started dating him in the first place, but by God, he was glad for it. Dean was the only thing that made Cas get out of bed in the morning.

Dean made life worth living.

Too bad nothing else did.

Cas's parents fought constantly, screaming at each other and at their children. It was almost a relief that they were getting divorced, but the blow still stung at the Novak children.

Cas's siblings hated him for being gay, or most of them, anyways. Gabriel, Lucifer and Hannah didn't mind, but Michael, Raphael, and Anna were determined to make Cas's life a living hell.

Not that that was a difficult job.

School wasn't much better. Cas didn't have many friends- he just tagged along with whoever Dean was talking to. Before he had started dating Dean, school had been full of bullies and silent lunches eaten in bathroom stalls. Dean had changed that, though. He had called dibs on Cas.

And nobody dared to mess with anyone Dean Winchester called dibs on.

They were seniors in high school, and Cas had hoped that college would be his escape from all of his problems, but that didn't look like it was going to happen. Cas had taken the SAT twice already, and he had basically failed it both times. He was a smart kid, but Cas was just awful at tests, especially one that put so much pressure on you.

His last chance to take it was next week, and Cas had abandoned the rest of his classes in order to study for the SAT. Dean came over after school to help him study, but Dean didn't even know how studying worked.

Dean was a solid C student, and he didn't plan on going to college anyway, so he didn't care about the SAT. He knew what the test meant to Cas though, and was willing to try and help.

They were sitting on Cas's bed, study materials sprawled around them, when things started to go to hell.

"Jeez Louise," Dean commented, flipping through Cas's hundreds of flashcards while Cas stared at a textbook, chewing on the end of his pencil. "Do you really have to know ALL of this, Cas?"

"Yes." Cas declared, never looking up from the page.

"Well, I dunno. When I took the SAT, it didn't mention anything on the Evolution of man."

"You never know what could be on it." Dean glanced up at his boyfriend, noting how tense Cas looked. He set down the flashcards, and slid over to his boyfriend, Cas's back to him as he stayed focused on the textbook.

"Maybe you should take a break." He advised. "There's no way you can cram all of this stuff into your head at once."

"You think I don't know that?" Cas said anxiously. He laughed manically. "I just have to remember as much as I possibly can."

"Cas-" Cas didn't hear another word, a loud buzzing filling his ears.

He was just SO stressed out. With everything, with the stupid test, with the fact that his grades were slipping, his parents screaming at each other all night, practically his whole family hating him and shoving him down the stairs because they thought he was wrong- everything was just too much.

Too damn much.

And finally, as Cas stared blankly at the textbook before him, he snapped, cracking his pencil in two.

"You need to leave." He told Dean with the little self control he had left.

"What?" Dean looked confused. Cas only looked more strained now.