Too Young To Be In Love (Destiel Highschool Au)

nothing can mend my teenage heart again

First there was crying. A lot of crying. So much crying. Cas' cheeks would get chapped from all the crying.

And then there was anger. Rage, even. Not at Dean, but at himself. At God. At the world. But mostly at himself.

Then more crying.

Until finally, he's done crying. The wells have run dry. Cas will only do the bare minimum of things needed to survive. Eat, (occasionally) drink water, and sleep. That's it. He hardly talks, barely does anything else but what he has to. The patterns are all too familiar to him and his family.

He practically never leaves the field, except to go home to sleep. It doesn't calm him as much as it used to when he was a kid, but this was a different situation.

Anna and Charlie will check up on him at least once every other day. Castiel is glad it's summer break, because he can sleep all day without jeopardizing his future.

Today, it's raining and he can't go to his beloved field so instead Cas sits in his room, not daring to leave the bed. He listens to Too Young To Be In Love on repeat and stares at the ceiling as if it has all the answers to his problems.

"Hey, Cas?" His mother asks, softly opening the door. "You haven't eaten today, so I brought you a sandwich and some water."

"Thanks, mom."

She hesitates to sit next to Cas on his bed. "When's the last time you took your medicine?" She asks.

"Tuesday, I think."

"Cassie, we're all worried about you. And you know you can't just stop taking your medicine, that will only make it worse."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"I know you loved him..." Cas clamps his eyes shut in an attempt to drown out reality. "But you can't let this consume you. It's been weeks. Trust me, by the time you finish college and you've settled down with someone, you won't even remember how this felt."

Castiel sniffles but doesn't offer any other response. When his mother leaves, he takes a bite of the sandwich and checks his phone for messages from Sam.

The day after Dean broke up with him, Cas made an agreement with Sam. Sam would send updates on Dean's health and in return, Cas tells him stories about Gabe for blackmail.

[From Sam]: He's doing okay, I guess. I had to beg him to take a shower and eat something. And I'm starting to get sick of hearing Too Young To Be In Love over and over again. Seriously, it's nonstop.

[From Sam]: Oh yeah, and Charlie stopped by too. She comes over every once in a while, sometimes she brings her girlfriend. They usually talk him into doing normal hygienic things.

[From Cas]: Thank you, Sam, you're a blessing.

[From Sam]: Duh

Shortly after, there's yet another knock on his bedroom door. This time, Anna walks in.

"Hey, man. How you feeling?"

"Fine," Castiel croaks hoarsely.

She sighs and sits across from him on the bed. "If it makes you feel any better, he's taking this just as bad as you are."

"That really doesn't help."

"Okay, sorry, I won't mention it again. I brought some movies with happy endings, and Charlie's downstairs baking a cake."

Castiel nods and sits up, cursing his seemingly perpetual headache. He walks downstairs to the basement, wondering where his mom and dad went as he past the empty living room where they usually reside.

~~~

"This is getting too sad. I don't like it," Deanna says, giving Cas the biggest doe eyes she can muster.

"It gets happier, don't worry."

"You promise?"

"Cross my heart."

"I have a question," Cassandra says. "Why didn't you just call him? It would have made you both happier."

"I-I... I don't know, that's not really how it works, I guess."

She looks unconvinced but nods her head anyways.

~~~

Three days later, Gabe and Balthy take Cas out to eat in order to get him out of the house. They end up taking him to the diner and Castiel wasn't able to stomach any of their food. Cas tells himself they didn't know any better, which they didn't.

Castiel wasn't sure why he couldn't just move on. It seemed like a simple enough concept, but it proved to be easier said than done.