the butterfly project | destiel

2 | notebook.

dean smiled down at the reply that appeared on his skin. he looked at the small, neat cursive letters for so long that mrs. macleod called him out in front of the class.

"is your arm that much more interesting than my teaching, mr. winchester?"

dean's head snapped up and suddenly everyone was looking at him. he rolled down his sleeve. and felt heat rising to his cheeks.

"no ma'am." he mumbled without looking at her.

"good." she smiled. "then we can continue." she kept droning on for the rest of the class period about imaginary numbers until finally, the bell rang and the students were freed. dean rushed out and in his hurry, and dropped a green composition notebook in his wake. castiel, a scrawny kid with glasses in a blue zip-up hoodie, saw it on the ground and picked it up. he shrugged and quickly stuffed it into his bag as not to hold up the line of people trying to get out of the small classroom. he hurried off with the rest of the kids to lunch, where he met up with his best friend, charlie.

he saw her in line and walked up, pretending to ask her something, so he could cut in inconspicuously.

"hey charlie." he said. cracking an uncontrollable smile as he looked down to meet her gaze. she playfully punched his shoulder.

"hey baby daddy." cas rolled his eyes and laughed.

"someone's gonna hear you, think it's true, and start rumors." he replied as the line started inching forward. he played it off as a joke but there was something behind his eyes  that reflected his anxiety.

"oh, you worry too much."

they finally got their food and went to sit down, and that's when castiel pulled out the green notebook he had been toting around.

"i found this, someone dropped it in english." he flipped it over to see some chicken scratch sharpie reading 'dean winchester'. castiel instinctively reached up to touch the name as he repeated them out loud.

"oh-!" charlie said excitedly through a mouthful of food. "i know that guy! that's jo's best friend."

cas nodded his head. charlie and jo had been dating for a couple months, despite not being soulmates. she claimed that she wasn't going to put her life on hold for someone that she might not meet until she's 80. cas always respected this. he assumed jo had the same mentality.

"maybe you should have her give it to him." he handed the notebook over, but she pushed it back.

"why don't you just go give it to him?" she pointed to a table near them, but not right next to them. "he's the one with the sandy hair and the leather jacket." cas followed her gesture and recognized him almost immediately. he was the one that got called out in class that day. cas snorted.

"you're shitting me. there's no way i'm getting up and walking over to a table full of jocks to give return a damn notebook."

"oh come on!" charlie persuaded. "i'll go with you!"

the boy sighed. "fine, but we're waiting to ambush him until he's mostly alone." charlie nodded in agreement before diverting her attention back to her burger.

after a while, most of dean's friends had left to go hang around for the rest of the free period, spare three kids at the other side of his table. he didn't seem involved in their conversation though. castiel nudged charlie.

"it's time." he said dramatically. he looked over to charlie with a smirk and adjusted his glasses. she smiled back.

he picked up the notebook and quickly stood up, only to let charlie take the lead in the end. joking aside, he really didn't like talking to people.

"hey." charlie approached dean and he looked up at her.

"hey!" he smiled crookedly, his bright white teeth making cas feel self conscious about his slightly yellowed ones. "you're uh, charlie right? jo's girl?"

"yup!" charlie smiled proudly before stepping back and giving cas more of the attention. "anyways, my pal here picked up a notebook of yours that you dropped and wanted to return it." castiel shuffled forward and held out the green notebook, keeping his eyes off of dean's. dean seemed to take this as a challenge and bent down to purposefully meet the smaller boy's eyes.

"hey, thanks man, i was looking for this." his eyes showed sincerity and castiel noticed how bright his evergreen orbs were. he looked up so dean could straighten himself and nodded, feeling a sudden surge of confidence.

"no problem really. it's what any decent person would do." dean grinned wider and it sent a warmth through castiel's body.

suddenly, dean's expression turned serious. "you didn't read it, did you?" castiel sputtered.

"w-what? no, i, uh-"

"i'm just messing with you pal. it's only my spanish notes." dean broke back out into his usual smile. he gave cas a pat on the shoulder, which left electricity surging through his veins. "what's your name by the way?"

"castiel." he said, still flustered. dean nodded approvingly.

"i like that name." he stood to leave. "i'll see you around, cas." and suddenly, castiel was alone. he realized that not even charlie was by his side. he searched around for her and finally spotted her across the cafeteria, taking selfies with jo.

he wished he had something like that.