Chapter Text
Castiel’s daily routine was: wake up, bright and early, before the sun was even over the city skyline. Shower, put on his school uniform (which consisted of a white button down shirt, blue suit and tie, shining black oxfords. He somehow always managed to put the tie on backwards or crooked, and if he didn't the wind messed it up for him.), brush his teeth, and rush out of his family's brownstone house.
Sometimes he would grab a banana or a granola bar or a cup of coffee for his walk to the subway, but for the most part he would forgo breakfast altogether.
Castiel’s parents were religious, but not in the sense that they cared what he did and hovered and invaded his privacy to make sure he was staying on the “straight and narrow,” they just wanted him and his siblings to come to church with them every Sunday, and pretty much ignored them the rest of the time, so Castiel’s school was private and expensive and pretentious, but it wasn't religious, which he was grateful for.
It wasn’t even that he had anything against religion, he just didn't much appreciate being told he was going to go to hell if he kissed a boy. Which, at seventeen years old, he had yet to do, but that didn't mean he wasn't ever going to, and it didn't mean he thought it was wrong or sinful for him to do, the opportunity had just not yet arisen.
He had taken a little too long in the shower that morning, so he forced himself into a slight jog to get to the subway station quick enough. His parents house was right on the outskirts of the city, his school smack in the middle, so he had to hurry to get there on time.
His leather satchel bounced against his hip as he jogged. He made it to the station and ran down the stairs, almost tripping over himself in his haste. He stepped through the doors of the subway train car and they slid closed directly behind him. He wrapped a hand around the pole to his right and breathed deeply for a few seconds, calming his racing heart.
He had made it. He wasn't going to be late, again .
It was mid-September, an entire month into the school year, and Castiel had already been tardy for at least a week out of those days. If he kept that up, his parents were going to be contacted, and he might even be asked to leave the school. They only wanted the “best” and the “brightest” and apparently that meant people willing to wake up at the crack of dawn every morning to get there.
So to please his parents, Castiel forced himself to be that person. In reality, his dream day would consist of: living somewhere that wasn't New York City, somewhere surrounded by nature and wildlife, waking up slowly to birdsong and the sunrise and maybe the smell of breakfast if he ever got around to that kissing someone thing and got into a relationship with someone who was a morning person. They’d spend the day at home, reading or playing records, cooking and dancing in the kitchen together, curling up by the fireplace with a cat or a dog, maybe they’d even adopt a kid. If there wasn’t that potential morning-person breakfast-making partner, there would definitely be that cat. They’d spend their evenings watching tv and talking and stargazing, Castiel would point out the constellations. He’d be a rich and famous writer, but under a pseudonym so no one would know him when he was out and about, and he’d never have to work an office or corporate job 9-5 job, he’d make enough money just by doing what he loved.
But that dream wasn’t real, he was stuck in this metal box of New Yorkers and tourists packed in like sardines being sped underground deep into the city.
Castiel loved the city, don't get him wrong, he’d lived there his whole life and there was so much to see and explore and learn and do, and he would forever be grateful that living there had let him be immersed into many different cultures, and learn about different ways of life, and people, since his early childhood, so it wasn’t too difficult for him to figure out who he, himself, was. He didn't know if he’d understand himself or the world as much if he had grown up somewhere more sheltered, more… conservative.
So Castiel loved New York City and what it had done for him, he loved the people there, thought that everyone was beautiful and loved their uniqueness.
But he would love somewhere that was maybe, sometimes, still and quiet, even more.
He got off after just a couple stops, and took the stairs two at a time, coming up the top into the daylight and the bustling New York City streets like a breath of fresh air. He weaved around people and up the stairs to his school, jogging, once again, down the hall, and barging into his home room with two minutes left to spare.
He dropped his bag on the ground and fell into his chair, breathing hard. He had made it.
He’d made it.
Now he just had to make it through the rest of the day.
x
Castiel didn’t understand it, but somehow, he had gained multiple friends since coming to this school in ninth grade, and most of them had stayed by his side since then. Everybody seemed to like him, despite him thinking they would find him weird and unapproachable after having been homeschooled his entire elementary and middle school years, so gaining friends had been a pleasant surprise.
He sat at his and his friend group’s usual table for lunch and waited for them to join.
Charlie, Stevie, Meg, Rowena, Benny, Garth, Balthazar and Kevin all joined him soon enough, talking and laughing amongst themselves as they took their places around Castiel.
Charlie and Stevie had been dating since tenth grade, and still going steady. Benny and Garth weren't official, but Castiel had a feeling they would be soon enough. Meg, Rowena, and Balthazar went through a different partner almost every week, sometimes actually dating, sometimes just hook-ups, and almost always different genders than the one that came before them. Kevin had had a girlfriend previously that didn't work out, but no one recently, leaving Castiel as the only one of the group with no sexual or romantic experience.
He didn't mind, really he didn’t. It wasn’t as if he had ever met anyone he actually wanted that with, it would just be nice to not always feel so left out whenever his friends talked about it, that was all.
So he sat and looked between them as they talked and laughed, chiming in whenever it felt right.
He missed his nonexistent farmhouse and baker boyfriend.
He might not have had any real life experience, but in his daydreams, that imaginary partner… it was always a man.
x
After school, he made his way back to the subway station, moving slower now that he didn't have somewhere he needed to immediately be, satchel bouncing gently, shoulders slumped.
It had been a long day, Castiel was exhausted.
One month into the school year, and he was already begging for it to be over.
Only this one more year, and then he was done.
Of course, his parents wanted him to go to college, get a degree, a good career, make lots of money. But he would be an adult very very soon, and then they couldn't force him to do any of that if he didn't want to.
The making lots of money part would be nice, of course.
But not worth it if the cost was to do something he dreaded for the rest of his life.
The subway came to a stop in front of him and he stood up from the bench he had been sitting on, letting people get off before he made his way onto the train. This car was slightly less crowded than the one he had rode that morning, so he was able to sit down on one of the plastic seats facing the aisle.
Directly across from Castiel was a boy who looked to be about his age, dark leather jacket, faded graphic tee, dark wash jeans, Doc Martens. He had wired earbuds in his ears, two or three piercings in his ears, a side nose ring, and a piercing under his bottom lip. Perhaps most notable was the boy’s hair, neon green and spiked into a mohawk. He had a straight freckled nose and dimpled chin. Castiel could only make out a few letters on his shirt underneath the jacket but he thought they read “d Zeppe,” probably for the band Led Zeppelin, who Castiel had heard of, of course, but never once listened to.
He continued studying the boy's face, the way his eyes stayed firmly trained on the ground in front of him, not looking up at any of the other passengers, and the way his mouth was curved down in a slight frown.
The train car slowed to its first stop and the boy's eyes flicked up for the first time, and Castiel realized he had been staring. The boy had already caught him, though, so he figured looking away would be pointless. Castiel held the boy's gaze and swallowed hard.
“Um.” He cleared his throat. “Hello.”
The boy yanked one earbud out of his ear, letting it dangle from the cord. “What?” he snapped.
“Oh, uh, sorry. I just said, hello.”
The boy held his gaze, eyes squinted.
Green , Castiel’s brain supplied. The boy's eyes were green.
After a moment that felt like forever of consideration, the boy nodded slightly and leaned back in his seat, visibly relaxing. Visibly forcing himself to relax, but Castiel could tell he was still on edge.
“Hey,” the boy said, voice slightly deeper than he had expected.
“I’m Castiel.”
Another pause, then, “Dean.”