Rating: T for now, might be bumped up to NC-17

Summary: Castiel Novak is a socially awkward teenager with a best friend whose name he doesn't know, whose face he's never seen except under a mask, and who has a massive crush on him, but Cass is already pining over someone else.

Pairings: Dean/Castiel, (may be more, please comment with suggestions)

Warnings: none for this chapter

Genre: romance, humour, drama, AU

Author's notes: I'm Australian and not at all familiar with the American schooling system, also my school is like…imagine those stereotypical rich schools in tv shows etc. and that's my school. Also there is no bullying here and no formal cliques. I could walk up to one of the popular groups (that accounts for pretty much 3 quarters of the grade) and have a friendly conversation with them. If you're not nice, you're not liked here. The few gay classmates I have are well loved. Our last fight lasted half a minute and ended with the two guys hugging it out. So everything I write about stereotypical schools and bullying etc. is entirely second hand knowledge from pop culture and fanfiction so don't judge me if it's inaccurate. Thank you. :)

~Enjoy

D: he sounds like a total douchebag…he doesnt deserve u

C: D, we've talked about this. He's a great guy…deep down. What we see on the surface is all just an act, you won't realise what a wonderful person he is if you only scratch the surface. Give him a chance, at least.

D: …i still dont like him

C: You don't have to like him. I'm the one with the raging crush on him.

D: sure i cant interest u into switchin to me? i wouldnt hurt you like this douchewad

C: You're just saying that because you want to get into my pants.

D: guilty. ;P

C: You're terrible.

Castiel leant back in his chair and fondly reread his conversation with his partner. He let a small, amused smile play at the corners of his lips as his eyes flicked over the words. The front legs of his chair rose off the ground and the enigmatic teen softly rocked back and forth as he waited idly for a reply.

Castiel let out a yawn and scrubbed his eyes with his palms. It had been a long day and he begrudgingly reminded himself for the umpteenth time that evening that he really ought to be finishing his chemistry report that was due tomorrow rather than chatting to his mysterious pen pal (he had already rewritten the report to make improvements three times, he's just very serious when it comes to school). His tired gaze moved to his bedside clock and half lidded eyes attempted to read the glaring red 12:34 between his lashes.

A soft bell chime rung the air, indicating a new response and Castiel instantly threw himself forward. The legs of his chair unstably wobbled a bit at the sudden unexpected jolt of movement and rough return to the ground. He usually sat with his laptop on his bed so he wasn't too familiar with the different seating arrangement.

D: not denying that. wanna set me on the right path. a little tlc might do the trick. if not how bout somethin a little more hardcore? ;)

C: I do not understand.

D: Aww, youre adorable

C: …D, please.

D: yeah yeah. been great talkin to u sexxy but I gotta get my beauty sleep x

C: Good night, D. Sweet dreams.

D: love u 2 ;)

Castiel's eyes passed over the last sentence without a second glance. A while ago he may have blushed or fretted over the simple word but now he paid it no heed. D threw it about so casually it had lost most of its meaning. Mind you, on the odd occasion, usually when talking to or about Castiel, it was spoken with such sincerity that he was taken aback. It was no secret that D had a massive crush on Castiel; he'd admit it almost every time they saw each other.

Another chime was heard and Castiel pulled his attention back to the present.

D: c u friday?

C: I wouldn't miss it for the world.

D: perfect. good night my angel x

Here's the really weird part of Castiel and D's relationship. They'd already met. In fact, they usually met at least once a week but despite this, they still didn't really know who each other were. How many people could say they've met their mysterious pen friend (who you confided everything with) numerous times in person and still not even know their real name? If that's not enough, their first meeting was face to face too…well…sort of…

It was at a 'youth club for antisocial and introverted young people under and including the age of 20 to socialise in a comfortable environment without the pressure of identity.' Or so the flyer one of Castiel's elder brothers, Gabriel, had shoved into his hand had said.

It was a small underground club called 'Introverts Identified' with one main rule: no faces. Yeah, sounds odd but it's quite simple really: the dress code required a mask but most of its patrons took advantage of the anonymity to dress in strange attire. So…basically it was an underground youth masquerade club. Castiel had been sceptical at first but he had grown to love the place like a second home.

It was small and not particular popular. In all the times Castiel had gone there he'd never once seen more than 30 patrons at a time. It was small, quiet, and secluded. Just the way he liked it. The music was never too loud, never too aggressive and never so upbeat it triggered the uncomfortably close proximity required in dancing. Instead was a soft, comfortable genre, albeit a little dark. The cozy, serene décor only helped to further create the perfect atmosphere for people like Castiel to interact. People that were too quiet, too introverted, or too socially retarded to handle normal contact. Castiel, unfortunately, fell into all three of these categories.

This only begged the question: What on earth was a guy like D doing there?

Castiel's first impression of him had not been a good one. Gabriel had ensured him that the club would be quiet and he wouldn't be forced into interacting with others if he didn't want to. Well…he'd been wrong.

Essentially, he was on the right track. The place was perfect for Castiel to relax in an attempt to develop his severely famished social life…D however, was not.

He'd barely been there for half an hour and was only just starting to relax when two brothers had burst through the doors. The younger of the two, despite being the taller, looked slightly uncomfortable with his elder brother clinging to his shoulders and moving in confident strides – a way so clearly extroverted that Castiel wondered what the hell he was doing there. He assumed it was like Gabe who definitely needed no assistance in socialising but was there to keep his younger brother company and support him on his trek into real human contact.

Castiel was not about to let his maiden voyage into a healthy social life be ruined by some inconsiderate buffoon so he pointedly ignored the two brothers. After seventeen years of a relatively uneventful life, Castiel had finally come to the realisation that the universe hated him and he would never get what he wished for.

"An angel, huh?" A deep voice sounded from behind where Cass was sitting. He could practically hear the amused smirk in his voice and it send shivers down his spine and set the hairs on the back of his neck on end in a way that was definitely not positive. "Well-

"I swear if you compose a flirtation in the form of some cheesy pickup line about my outfit, I will pour my drink down the front of yours." Castiel shot him down coldly.

The stranger winced in mock hurt. "Oh my dear angel, you have me all wrong…" he paused a moment to wink at Castiel, "but an angel with bite is damn sexy."

Castiel just stared at him with an unamused blankness.

The stranger rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet in contemplation for a short moment before collapsing in the arm chair opposite Castiel's so they were facing one another. They were in a small circle of seats of various styles in the corner of the club, away from everyone else (although most of the patrons were in similar locations).

"Well, my dear angel, may I ask your name?"

Castiel wished he would stop it with the angel stuff; he got enough of that from his brothers who insisted he was their own little angel, their gift from God or something like that. He wasn't at all surprised when Gabriel had thrown together a simple angel outfit for him to wear to this stupid costume club. At least it was tasteful and far from gaudy. His mask was pure white with intricate silver patterns you would only notice close up. On one side of it extended 5 pale feathers in different lengths adorned with a string of fake pearls and tiny white flowers. He also wore what he knew was an incredibly expensive pair of gorgeous white wings. Gabe had at least allowed him to wear a simple black shirt, skinny jeans and his old and battered, tan trench coat rather than the embarrassingly frilly and breezy angelic robe he'd picked out for him. Castiel shivered slightly at the memory of his three brothers cooing over him and taking what seemed like hundreds of photos before he managed to push Gabe out the door, the elder escaped with only a plain black mask. Lucky bastard.

He also didn't like the fact that this new character reminded him so strongly of his crush he pined for, not just in physical appearance but body language.

"…Okaaaaay," D said to himself and Castiel mentally cursed himself for zoning out despite his brothers' warnings. "Well, you can call me D, isn't privacy sort of the point of this place, anyway?" He extended his hand, indicating his desire for a hand shake, Cass carefully noted. See, he was learning this socialising thing.

After what felt like an eternity of awkward silence, Castiel spoke. "If you are insistent on using singular letters for identification than a simple 'C' will suffice." Castiel hesitantly shook Dean's outstretched hand with probably one of the most pathetic grips in the history of handshakes. He snatched his shaking hand back as soon as it was socially acceptable (or at least what he thought was socially acceptable, his brothers were struggling in mentoring him on that particular field). Extended physical contact made him panic.

"C…" D tapped his chin lightly, "what's that short for? Chris? Charlie? Callum? Cameron?"

"Just. C." Castiel growled out.

D tipped his head back and let out a genuine laugh that rung through the air, what was so amusing, however, Castiel was unsure of. "Alright, don't get your panties in a twist, Just C."

Castiel tilted his head to the side. "I do not think you understood my last comment, I apologise. Just C as in the letter and the letter only."

D choked back another laugh at this but seemingly failed if the soft shaking of his shoulders and restrained smile was any indication. "You're one weird dude."

"I…apologise?"

D shook his head lightly. "It's a good thing, don't worry."

"So I should take it as a compliment?"

"Yes. Yes you should."

Castiel actually felt himself warming up to the guy and his lips curled up lightly with bashful hesitation. "So, what are you dressed as?" He gestured to D's outfit, a simple leather jacket, shirt, and jeans combo with a mask.

D, who had been staring at Castiel with what seemed to be slight adoration startled at his comment. "O-oh, right…I'm the devil, I think…or a demon. I really don't know. Ask Sa-…um…S, my brother, he picked it out for me. I've never really been one for dressing up." He pointed to his mask.

D's mask was a deep red, bordering on black and featured four, flat, spike-like horns that ran parallel to his forehead. The ones on the inside were far smaller than the ones on the outside. The red seemed to make his eyes stand out more. Castiel thought they reminded him of fields of windswept grass; he was amused by the image and his desire to roll around and play in a similar scene. He forced himself to maintain conversation, he had a habit of zoning out in the middle of things; a habit his brothers affectionately reprimanded him about.

"You know the devil is actually an angel, right?"

D looked at Castiel like he had just told him the sky was made of cotton candy. "What?! No way! But he's so…so…evil. Angels are supposed to be good, compassionate…in your case: beautiful, right?"

Castiel ignored the last part. "Lucifer is a fallen angel." He coughed into his palm lightly. "And not all angels are nice. Did you know the Archangel Michael once burned a hole into some man's skull so as to force him to build a monastery dedicated to him?"

D whistled appreciatively. "That's wicked."

Castiel nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, angels are warrior of God, soldiers. They're pretty…um…badass." The word was foreign and tasted weird on his tongue. He had blindly groped in his mind for an adjective off the list of commonly used casual words his brothers had written up for him in yet another attempt to help ease him into social competency.

"I'll say." Castiel sighed in relief that his word choice had been suitable. "How'd you learn so much about angels?" D asked with genuine interest.

Castiel shrugged. "My family has always been interested in this sort of thing. We're rather religious. In fact, all my brothers and I are named after angels."

D laughed heartily. "So I'm assuming you're not called Cameron, then?"

"Not Cameron then, it's not very angelic, is it?"

"Hey! Don't diss angel Cameron! He's my favourite!"

Castiel couldn't resist the small grin that commandeered his face.

They'd spent an hour or so after that just chatting before Gabriel came over with the biggest grin on his face and cooed over his younger brother for finally learning to hold a long conversation without having a panic attack or seriously offending someone. D and Castiel split ways with an im address and a promise to meet again next Friday in their pockets. Gabriel had enthusiastically recounted his dear baby brother's progress to his other two older brothers, Michael and Lucifer, who were both card carrying members in the let's-make-Cass-feel-awkward-and-uncomfortable-with-overly-enthusiastic-displays-of-affection club.

Castiel awoke with a jolt to the soft knocking on his door. He hadn't even realised he had nodded off after his im conversation with D and berated himself that he had wasted time he could have spent on his assignment. He gave a soft call in the direction of the doorway for whoever was there to enter and sighed at his obviously sleep-rough voice.

Michael poked his head around the doorway. "Hello, Cassie," He said in a soft whisper and nudged the door open with his foot as both his hands were occupied with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and a plate of biscuits, "did you fall asleep at your desk again?" Castiel nodded regretfully and his eldest brother sighed as he placed the snack on the desk next to Cass' whopper chemistry text book.

Michael was the eldest of the Novak brothers at age 27, and was currently working as a lawyer at a small firm in the city. Lucifer was next, he was 25. As the more troubled son he had gone to jail for a short time for some crime or another (Castiel had reason to believe he ran a small but influential gang) but now that he was out he was studying business at a community college while juggling a part time job and, unlike Castiel, his active social life. They weren't bad off, far from it, but Luci just liked having independency and his own money in his pocket. The same couldn't be said for Gabe.

The second youngest son always leeched off his family's seemingly bottomless pockets but ever since the four brothers had begun living together, Michael, the most responsible, had forced Gabriel to work for his board. He worked his dream job at the nearby lolly shop so he couldn't complain. His two eldest brothers certainly did not get along, Michael was the perfect son in every way and a model citizen while Luci…well, Luci wasn't…he loved freedom and hated authority, two things Michael certainly disagreed on. They were at each other's throats whenever the opportunity arose but had an unspoken agreement to stay out of each other's way and not fight for Gabriel and Castiel's sake.

Cass…well, Cass was the socially awkward, mentally unstable, eccentric, nerdy little brother in his senior year in high school. That, in conjunction with his three fiercely overprotective big brothers, was a terrible combination.

"Any chance I could convince you to stop working and get a good night's sleep for once?"

"No." Castiel said simply, it wasn't intentionally cold, he just didn't quite understand what the best thing to say in reply was.

Michael brushed his brother's jet black hair with his hand affectionately, trying to tame his perpetual bedhead to no avail. "Okay, just remember you'll do great and there's no reason to push yourself. Make sure you get some sleep or I'll have to make you." He said the last words teasingly in such an obvious manner that even Castiel would understand.

"Yes, Michael."

After placing a light kiss on Castiel's forehead, short just the way Cass liked it, Michael left the room, exchanging pleasant good night's before he shut the door.

Castiel worked on his report for a while longer and next thing he knew, he was being woken up by his alarm clock. Preparing for school was almost a mindless activity for Castiel now and he had made it downstairs with little memory of his preparations. As per usual Michael had cooked breakfast for them. Pancakes, the youngest had noted with happiness, with extra, extra maple syrup on Gabriel's part. He chomped down the sweet breakfast and watched with little interest as Michael wished both of them a good day and the best safety as per usual before he rushed out the door for work. Gabe had offered Cass a lift to school which he gladly took.

At school, Castiel quickly made his way to his locker, sliding gracefully past the crowds unnoticed and invisible. He ducked his head into his locker and felt his face heat up as a small group walked by lead by Sam and Dean Winchester. It seemed like all other heads in the hallway turned as they walked by. Sam was popular, sure, but it was more due to his association with his brother. Castiel was sure the younger boy would have been just another nerdy kid holed up in the library without him. It was Dean everyone was really looking at, he was the most popular guy in school and his presence alone demanded everyone's attention.

Castiel tried to shrink even further into his locker as the boys got closer and he overheard their conversation.

"So I noticed you were up late again last night, Dean." Sam started, punching his brother's shoulder lightly as he teased him. "Talking with your boyfriend again?" His smirk was obvious in his voice.

"Shut up, Sammy. Keep your nose outta it." Dean pushed his brother's shoulder causing the sasquatch of a 15 year old to lose his balance slightly.

Castiel just wanted to jump into his locker and slam the door closed as he felt Dean pass by him so closely he could almost feel it. The raven haired teen mentally cursed himself. Damn him and his stupid crush on the eldest Winchester brother.

Popular and perfect guys like Dean don't fall for socially retarded, nerdy angel boys like Castiel.

Please review and tell me what you think. :)

Hahahaha, also I had to rewrite the "Don't diss angel Cameron! He's my favourite!" line a few times because I kept realising how you could assume I was talking about Chris Angel or Charlie's angels. XD

Also, any comments about Michael being too nice will be treated as white noise on the basis that I love him to death. (And the thing about Michael burning a hole into some guy's skull is actual lore for the foundation of the Mont St Michael in France.)

I want to thank my best friend, Tiggy, for the title Introverts Identified.

Also please give me suggestions for other pairings. Just don't say Sabriel because I am not a fan. I'm thinking good ol' Sam and Jess but I dunno. ;P

Remember the review button is your friend.