Chapter Text
Chapter 1
When Dean was 4, he saw his mom die in a fire. He carried his six-month-old brother, Sam, out of the nursery where the fire had started. Since then, his dad, John, has been unable to stay in the same place for very long. By age 8, Dean had probably seen more of America than most people would see in their lifetimes. There was one place he had seen the most of. Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
A man named Bobby owned a Salvage yard out there. Dean wasn’t sure how they knew him, but he slowly started staying at his house more and more frequently. Whenever his Dad got really bad, he would drop Dean and Sam off at Bobby’s house for months at a time. Usually, from the end of September through New Year's, they would stay in Sioux Falls.
During one of their stays, Sam started complaining about not going to school. He was six, and Dean was ten, so Bobby signed them up for one of the local schools. Dean had started multiple different schools before his father stopped signing him up, so this was hardly his first, but this was his longest stay.
When he entered the classroom, Halloween decorations were already up. What a stupid holiday, he thought to himself as the teacher introduced him to the class. Dean put on the best and most convincing smile he could before sitting behind a boy with long hair. The girl behind him tapped his shoulder and giggled when Dean glared at her.
“Pull on his hair,” she whispered to Dean and pointed to the boy in front of him. He looked at the other girls around him, and they all nodded and giggled. Dean internally sighed but smirked when he pulled the boy’s hair in front of him. The boy immediately turned around, and Dean was hit with the bluest eyes he had ever seen. They had an incredible intensity to them that was only dulled by a purple discoloration around them.
“Stop it,” the boy whispered harshly before turning back around. The girls behind him giggled more and asked him to do it again, but Dean just ignored them. He looked around the rest of the class and saw three kids dressed the same way the boy in front of him was dressed. The two other boys had the same shaggy hair as the boy in front, and the single girl all had her hair tied up behind her head with a red ribbon. Dean had never been to a private school before, but he assumed they must have before switching to this one due to their button-up shirts, slacks, and skirts.
Dean didn’t pay any attention in class other than watching the clock, so when the teacher released them for recess, he was the last one out the door. He didn’t play all that much at home, so he wasn’t interested in any of the other children who were asking him to play. He walked towards the swings and saw the boy with blue eyes sitting on one. He held his head downward, and Dean noticed him trying to hide a bruise on his face.
“Sorry, I pulled your hair,” Dean said to him. The boy looked through his hair up at Dean. “How did that happen?” Dean asked. The boy moved his hand over his eye, pushing his hair back in front of it.
“Fell,” He answered in a soft voice. Dean glanced around the playground, mainly looking for nosy teachers who would report what he was about to show. He pulled his t-shirt up to reveal two large bruises on his ribs. They were halfway healed, but still very visible.
“I fall sometimes, too.” Dean lowered his shirt after speaking. “This swing taken?” The boy smiled softly before shaking his head. “I’m Dean.”
“Castiel,” the blue-eyed boy answered. Dean repeated the name out loud a few times before deciding to shorten it.
“Does anyone ever call you Cas?” Dean asked.
“No,” the boy responded. “But you can.” Castiel let a small smile creep onto his face. They didn’t say much the rest of the recess, but they sat in a knowing silence. It was the first time Dean felt like someone understood without even having to talk.
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On the walk back to Bobby’s house, Sam raved about his day at school. He expressed love for his teachers and his new friends. Dean loved seeing his brother that happy, but a part of him ached for when they would have to leave the school when their Dad picked them back up. It was always easier to stay at Bobby’s. They could do normal kid stuff there as long as they helped around the house. They actually got to stay in a house instead of a motel or the backseat of the Impala. And the best part, Dean didn’t have to deal with his dad. Dean knew his father loved him, but he sure had a weird way of showing it.
The next day, Castiel gave Dean a soft smile when he entered the classroom and sat behind him. Dean liked Castiel, but no one else seemed to. The girl who sat next to Dean grabbed Dean’s hand at lunch and forced him to sit with her and her friends so Dean didn’t have to sit with the ‘freak.’ A very similar thing happened at recess with some of the other boys in his class. Dean would rather stay under the radar, so he just let the other children pull him along. Still, every day, Castiel saved him that soft smile in solidarity.
The boys stayed with Bobby until the week before Christmas, and as much as Dean hated Halloween, he hated Christmas more. Halloween activities were really only one day, while Christmas was more than a month of being reminded he was differnt. He had to listen to kids talk about what they wanted for Christmas, visiting Santa Claus in the mall, decorating their house, and then, worst of all, hearing about all the gifts they received during that time.
Dean always tried to make Christmas fun for Sam. He would buy cheap dollar-store decorations for whatever motel they were staying in, try to find at least one cool toy, and buy as much candy for Sam as he could afford. Dean was silently hoping his dad would wait until after Christmas to pick Sam and Dean up because that meant they would get to spend the holidays with Bobby instead of sitting alone in a motel while their dad was who knows where.
When their dad showed up, he pulled Dean out of school in the middle of the day. Dean convinced John to let Sam stay the rest of the school day before pulling him out. Sam was excited to see their dad, but his good mood quickly turned sour when he realized that meant they were moving again. He threw one of his bigger fits, but it’s hard to explain to a six-year-old why Daddy is making them move again, especially because Dean didn’t really know the reason. Sometimes Dean wondered if he threw fits like Sam did, maybe their father would listen to him and let them stay.
Dean heard John and Bobby argue a lot that day. Bobby threatened to shoot John if he didn’t clean up his act and tried to convince John to stay in town until Christmas, but Dean’s father was having none of that. When John finally dragged Dean and Sam out the door, Bobby slipped Dean a few bucks for Christmas presents. Dean ended up spending a total of thirty-five dollars on Sam’s gift and used the rest to get himself a few candy bars.
He tried his best to cheer Sam up, but when their father didn’t show up at the motel on Christmas day, there wasn’t much use. Sam cried, begging Dean to let them be normal and have a real Christmas next year, and Dean tried his best to keep that promise. He stashed money he collected throughout the year, but ended up with less than the prior year.
Even though their Christmas was smaller than the year prior, Sam didn’t cry. It was like he was finally starting to understand that they weren’t going to have a normal Christmas like their revolving door of classmates seemed to have.
Sam asked Dean about running away to Bobby’s. They hadn’t seen him in over a year, since Bobby and John got into that argument. The next time John stumbled his way into the motel, Dean asked if they could go back. John grumbled some sort of response, but nothing was clear.