1 - Why do I have a crush on YOU of all people?

If there was ONE thing Dean loved, it was going to highschool. Yeah, as weird as it might sound, he enjoyed the hell out of it! He had a ton of friends, he was your regular popular-ish boy, girls raced to get at least one minute in his company during the breaks. Sure, he wasn't particularly good at anything, but hell. Who cared, right?
However. If there was ONE thing Dean hated, was science class. For one, he legitimately sucked at science, and no one actually wanted to get paired up with him. He would ahve loved to be paired up with Sam... if only his brother wasn't younger than him, and in another class! And two, as a consequence, he always, always ended up at the side of - "Hey, Cas", he greeted him with a big grin, sitting down next to the other young man. "Excited for another terrible science hour?"

Cas, as a teenager, was a good boy. He looked... innocent. Almost pure. Yet his strange name, and his strange behavior for a teenager - calm and not really sensitive to irony - almost made him an outcast. He had no close friends. No one was really bothering him because he was not looking for trouble.
One thing for sure, he was clever. That was running in the family. His family was also totally the reason why he was so quiet : his brothers were so weird, and some were so hungry for attention, that he learnt not to take that much space.

High school was a good place for him, because he was in peace here, not hearing about the achievements of the eldest or the last crime Lucien had committed. Yet he couldn't help but feel a bit agitated each time thet had an assigment in science. Because he knew one guy, one flashy and stupidely handsome guy, would come to sit next to him, greet him, and forget him as soon as they would go out of the classroom.
"I don't think it is something to be excited about" he answered carefully. "We have to be careful not to hurt ourselves with the chemicals. We cannot go crazy arout it"

Yeah, Castiel 'Cas' was weird for sure. Dean knew nobody who actually hanged out with him after school, and the rare people who knew something about him always said the same thing: he is weird. Thank you very much! Dean saw what they meant of course - the times he had tried to chat with the guy about something that was not science class, he couldn't find anything.
He wasn't into sports, there wasn't a girl he particularly liked, he didn't really care about cars and motorcycles... But still. Castiel wasn't bad. He was ok, he was smart. He could be fun, with his scarce understanding of irony! Dean laughed at his very down-to-earth observation. "Oh, c'mon. Where's the fun if we don't mix up stuff!", he said, elbowing him gently. "Do you remember the last lesson? We did a great number there!"

"Well you did scare the teacher and he almost gave you a D" Castiel sighed, shaking his head. "Next time you want to mix up stuff, you should be sure it won't create a toxic cloud in the classroom, you know." Yes, because Dean was able to do that by accident

"Well, isn't that why you are sitting next to me?" Dean never lost his grin - to him, a D wasn't all that bad. "I am the mad scientist and you are the one reminding me which stuff is actually able to poison us to death. Or to make the school blow up!" He winked at him, looking for a second at all the chemicals they had on the shared table.

"I am not the one... You're the one coming to me everytime" Cas was a bit... flustered. When he was with Dean, and this one was teasing him, it was easy for him to lose his cool. His classmate was so... everything he was not! He didn't know how to deal with that!

"Well, you're the best at this", Dean observed, distractedly playing with a... dangerously open flask of whatever-that-was. "And I am the worst, apparently. We complete each other. Like a perfectly balanced team!" The professor had just entered the class - and immediately squibted at Dean, trying to convey the 'put-that-down-immediately-Winchester' he wabted to say in a single glare.
Not that Dean seemed to care!

"...." Cas coughed, and took gently the flask from the hands of his classmate. "I'm sorry but... I think you like to have eyebrows, right?"

Dean blinked, but he shrugged and laughed when he heard his classmate. "I guess, yeah. I'd look like a complete idiot without eyebrows, eh?" He winked again, throwing a large smile to the professor.
The professor rolled his eyes and started giving out a very boring assignment, who didn't require for anything to explode!
"This is sooo underwhelming", Dean whispered annoyingly to Castiel, hiding behind his book.

"Well he.... doesn't have a choice, right?" Cass said, a bit uneasy. He was not used to talk when the teacher was explaining. "I mean... we cannot build a bomb here."
A student did, years ago. The story was still told everywhere. A hero for some, a tote psycho for those who knew. Lucien

Dean kind of huffed. "I thought he had to make us interested in this stuff. Just to make things change color is a bit... lame." He put his book down, trying to follow the instructions the professor was giving. "And besides, people already made the lab explode before. It wouldn't be new! Everyone knows about the story of that one student..."

Cass winced and looked away. "That is not a funny story, Dean Winchester. People almost died. And that student just wanted to... hurt people"

Dean raised his hands a bit. "Hey, hold the brakes Cas. I don't really think that particular episode was any fun - it was all people could talk about for days, and the hospital was full of students. But, remember that one time I made charcoal smoke and it made everyone get dirty?" He laughed. Well, that kind of harmless pranks was stuff he liked!

"..." Cass nodded and even couldn't help to smile a bit. "Teachers went crazy and you got scolded really bad. But you became the hero of the school"

Dean snorted. "Yeah, the one who scolded me more was my old man. I couldn't get out for a week - but everyone looking like distressed pandas? Unforgettable", he chuckled. Yeah, he had a fond memory of that! "And you looked just like me, because you were sitting next to me when the bowl started fuming!" He elbowed him, still grinning.

"But no one took a pic of me, so there is no proof" Cass said, very seriously. And hopefully he was right. Otherwise Gabe would have made fun of him forever!

Dean's smile was all but reassuring. "I have a picture of the whole class. And you are right in it", he said, apparently very satisfied with his misdeed! He hid away his phone as he showed said photo to Castiel. "Look, look - hey, all that black suits you really fine! Brings out your eyes", he joked, still chuckling.

"...." Cass was not feeling well, to see that. He looked ridiculous on that! "You... You're not going to spread that picture, right?!" He murmured, already afraid of the answer!

Dean laughed. "Nah - if I wanted to, I would have done that already, Cas. ... oh, speaking of which", he added immediately, on an after thought. "Could you stop calling me Winchester? Just go with Dean like everyone else - it's weird, if you do that your way." He had to turn right away, to pay attention to the professor.

But Cass didn't want to be like everyone else. Even if he was not really understanding why he had that thought, he decided to bury it and to focus on the lesson. Of course, he was good, so he managed to have the highest grade. And Dean benefited from it too

Dean did benefit - so much that science was the subject where he had his best grades, along with PE! He silently rejoyced when he saw the good mark, and patted vigorously Castiel's shoulder. "So glad you understand this stuff!", he exclaimed.

"You should try to understand it yourself" Castiel sighed and put the paper in his bag. At least his mom would be happy. "I mean. During the exam, you will be alone, you know that?"

Dean shrugged. "I know that. I'll ask around for a bit of help, study whatever I need to pass, and then go to get a job. I'm not really interested in getting into University. My brother will - I'll save the expenses of tuition for him." He glanced at Castiel. "You'll go further with your studies?" True he didn't talk that much with Cas, but he was genuinely interested!

Cass was surprised to hear Dean saying something so... mature. And nice. He seemed to care a lot about his brother, and truth was that he felt a bit of jealousy. His brothers, most of them, did not care about him. "I... Think I will. I need to get a good job. To move out"

Dean raised a brow, smiling. "Want to get away from your place?" He sighed. "From one side, I do get you. I felt the same for a good while, but... Oh, well! I'm sure you'll do good at Uni. You're a smart guy and all that", he smiled at him, raising up and collecting his stuff when the bell finally rang.