The Story Teller (Destiel)

9 | The Old and the New

2 years ago, mid December

"Hurry up Casteel!" Benjamin yelled through the locker room door. Castiel was hunched over a bench lacing up his soccer boots. He threw a dirty glare at Benjamin.

"Stop calling me that, Benjy," he said, scowling. Benjamin laughed at him and began drumming a tune against the door impatiently. He was holding it wide open, and Castiel caught glimpses of passerby's looking down at Benjamin. Figuratively and physically.

Finally, Castiel's boots were laced and tied and he was ready to go. He followed Benjamin out to the pitches in a jog, where his team mates were all waiting. The only ones he really spoke to where Benjamin, Hannah, and Christopher. He knew them from church, and it was Hannah's mother that had suggested she ask some fellow church goers to join when three members, all siblings, left. Castiel was unsure why she'd asked him - they never spoke.

He would have declined too, if she hadn't mentioned that Christopher was going.

It had been four months, but this was their first real game. Hours every week had been spent practicing in sun and rain alike, but this time was different. Hannah's mother, coach Julia, had told them not to worry, that this game was the same as any other they'd played. But it wasn't. This game was 7-a-side as opposed to their usual 5-a-side. This game was against people they'd never met before. This game was in front of a crowd of friends and parents with high expectations.

The only person here for Castiel was Anna. And she couldn't even stay for the full game because she had a job interview in an hour. He couldn't even her on the bleachers - there were too many people.

The game was at Hannah and Benjamin's high school, as it was one of the only two in the county with a soccer field. Castiel wondered what school Christopher went to, but he was afraid to ask.

Throughout the game, Castiel still had next to no clue what the hell he was doing. He really really hated this sport - but it was literally the only thing he had going on besides school and church, and it was a chance to feel normal. To feel like a normal teenager with normal hobbies and normal friends.

When he was at church or school, he couldn't feel like this.

So he figured he'd stay. No matter how bad he thought he was at the sport, he'd stay until he was kicked out.

They ended up winning the game, thanks to Christopher who scored 4 out of 6 goals. Hannah scored one, and some boy he never spoke to scored one. After some cheering and hollering and being issued soccer medals, coach Julia took them all out for pizza at some new, independent restaurant.

Everyone was talking and joking and eating so much they didn't want to move. At one point, Castiel felt so stuffed that he had to go outside for a breath of fresh air.

"Hey, I'll join you," Christopher, who had been sitting opposite him, said. Castiel smiled and thanked God that his face was already red from the heat, so his crush wouldn't see him blush.

All throughout dinner, Castiel had caught Christopher looking at him more than once. Ever since they'd joined the team, Castiel felt like there was something there. Some sort of connection between the two. He didn't consider for a second that he could be just imagining it. Christopher was always talking to Castiel and laughing at his jokes - even at the really lame ones that Gabriel had taught him.

The two of them sat together on a brick wall out the back of the restaurant, overlooking the parking lot. A stranger was outside smoking, but he retreated indoors when they sat.