It was finally the last class of the day, a time where all the students were restless and impatient as they all watched the clock slowly tick closer to home time. Even Castiel had grown bored of their teacher's presentation on good composition. Sure, he loved photography but they had literally spent the entire lesson sitting here and listening to their teacher drone on. It sucked.
Another thing that sucked was that Sam Winchester was also in his class. What were the odds? Why on earth did the Winchester pick photography of all electives to do. He was also in Castiel's other elective class, Law and Ethics. It wasn't even funny, it was like the universe had something out for Castiel, was trying to force him to talk to the Winchester's.
He glances towards the clock for the hundredth time that day, only five minutes to go. The energy in the classroom was restless and excited now, everyone sat on the edge of their seats, hands on their bags.
"Now, as for your homework-"
The teacher was interrupted by a collection of groans. Mr Palmer simply rolls his eyes, grinning at his disinterested students.
"Homework." He pulls on his purple tie thoughtfully, "I know, a pain, but this week its something a bit different, I want you all to do this as group... no a pair."
Castiel was the one to groan now, as everyone else cheered and sent meaningful glances towards their friends.
"In pairs, which means no threesomes boys." He was looking at a group of boys in the corner who were obviously trying to indicate they should all work together. "In pairs, I want you to make a collection of sorts, a portfolio per say," Mr Palmer spread his palms out. "I want you to each take four or five photos that represent your lives, personally, and then while working together, fill in the blanks around those personal photos... create a story!"
He starts to hand out papers. "I want to look at these photos and feel something, okay? I want to see the how you use photos to tell a story about you, and them - them being the two of you - and then go on to show the differences between the both of you. I'm talking portraits, scenery, abstract shots, black and white... anything you want."
Castiel blinks, none of this was making sense and the closer the teacher got to him, the clammier his palms got. He really, really didn't want to do this. Mr Palmer wasn't making it any easier, he was talking in such a confusing manner that nothing about this made sense.
"I want you to get to know your partner, get close to them, learn about their life's story, and then you will take photos that tell a story about them, that's the catch kiddos, you won't be telling your own story, but their story."
Mr Palmer placed a paper on Castiel's desk. "But don't just think you can take a few photos about each other and be done, I want you to remember to fill in the blanks, the space between those two people. Your differences, the journey between being one person and being the other..." He stops his rambling, taking a deep breath. "Right, those papers have some guidelines on them and the deadline, at the top you'll find your partners name."
Castiel flips his paper over, his stomach knotting up with nerves. Printed neatly at the top of his paper was the name 'Sam Winchester'. Great. Already other people were moving towards their partners, excited chatter filled the air.
"You'll notice," Mr Palmer nearly had to shout to be heard over the noise. "That I have tried my best to pair you up with people you may not know very well, after the point of this is to get to know someone new."
As it was, this was the exact kind of situation that Castiel hated. Socializing was terrifying. The fact that he was partnered with Sam Winchester made it all the more horrible.
The bell rang shrilly then, and the chatter grew louder, accompanied with the scrap of chairs and footsteps of students excited to escape for the day. Castiel takes a deep breath, throwing his stuff into his bag as he resigned himself to his fate.
There was no arguing with Mr Palmer when he had mad up his mind, all you got back was the most random of answers. Once, Castiel had tried to wriggle out of a group project, only for Mr Palmer to start saying 'All Hail' in the weirdest of tones and then babble on about a Glow Cloud. He was seriously mental.
Sam was lingering near his desk, playing with a piece of paper. Castiel got up reluctantly, moving towards the quiet boy.
"I suppose we're working together then," he says after a long, awkward moment.
Sam frowns, nodding.
Castiel wasn't exactly happy about the assignment, but he also wasn't going to slack off and get a bad grade. "We should probably meet up after school, get a start on it." They had 3 weeks to do it, but maybe with a bit of hard work they could have it over and done with in one week.
Sam hesitates for a moment, thinking it over. He nods, shouldering his backpack.
"We could do it at mine, but Lucifer might be... annoying. Gabriel has dance though so at least my rook will be quiet."
Sam's brows furrow for a moment, before he nods again. Cas had half expected him to try and get him to go to his house. Castiel was not at all ready for another awkward run in with Dean though.
~~~~
Sam was drowning. Or, at least, that's what it felt like as he walked up to the Novak's front door with Castiel. His chest was painfully tight, it seemed that panic was the only thing he could feel anymore. He focuses on slowing his breathing as Castiel unlocked the door and let them in.
The house was quiet as they stepped into the tidy entrance way. Sam follows Castiel down through a hall decorated by a simple rug, and up a set of stairs that had a couple of ping pong balls scattered across them.
Castiel leads him into one of the bedrooms, one half of the room looked like ground zero of some disaster, while the other looked barely lived in. It was weird, the way the two sides clashed so jarringly. Sam had never seen a room quite like it.
"Sorry about the mess, Gabriel is the worst roommate ever." Castiel comments, his voice lacking any emotions as he throws a sweater onto the bed that appeared to be covered in candy wrappers.
Sam waves it off, fiddling with the strap of his camera bag. He was aware, in that moment, of the air of awkwardness that hung between them. It seemed to Sam that neither of them were willing to be the one to start.
This whole project was stupid, there was no way he was going to tell Cas his story. There was too much darkness, too many bad spots. He couldn't tell Cas all of it, couldn't let the other boy see all of the cracks that ran through his soul.
He didnt care if he failed, because his story wasn't one that could be summed up by a few photos. He was just going to have to lie. There was no other way he could get around this.
Castiel had gotten out a notebook and pen, and was currently chewing his bottom lip as he stared down at the blank page. After a moment, he broke his own silence.
"Look, I'm sure we're both just wanting to get the project done and dusted," he looked up at Sam. "Am I correct?"
Sam nods. He personally would like nothing more than to simply not do the project. Unfortunately, he also didn't really want to start his new school off with a failed project, so for the sake of that he would stick this out.
How bad could it really be anyway? Just say a few lies about how not terrible his life was, what's the worst that could happen? Just as long as he didn't say that he was technically a killer... Sam breaks his thoughts off, refusing to let his mind run down that track again.
"Sam?"
Sam blinks, focusing on Castiel again.
Castiel opens his mouth to say something, only to be cut of by a surprised shout from downstairs.
They look at each other with wide eyes, abandoning their bags on the ground and running back downstairs. As they got to the bottom of the stairway, Sam could see Lucifer standing at the front entrance, another boy standing in front of him.
The other boy was silhouetted by the bright afternoon light, but he could still make out the familiar features of his face - now much older than when he had last seen it.
"Michael?" Castiel sounds shocked.
Lucifer, looking just as shocked as Castiel sounded, stepped aside. Sam's eyes widen slightly as Michael finally stepped into the house. His eyes were tired, it was a heavy tired look that Sam was very familiar with. There were dark shadows under his eyes, a large cut on his cheek that looked as though it needed stitches, bruising on his neck and his arms. He looked like he had been through hell.
Lucifer says nothing. Sam watched as the older Novak took half a step towards his old friend before pulling Michael in for a hug. That was when Michael's eyes teared up.