SPN: Insanity Means Angel-puppies 2/4
Part Two: Juvenile
Two years had passed, and Jimmy was in his junior year of high school. The novelty of staring at 'the insane kid' had worn off fairly quickly, and though there were a few teens who still gave him crap, most of the school ignored him - including his former friends. It was sometimes lonely being a quietly crazy misfit, but Jimmy usually didn't mind that much. Every afternoon when he got off the school bus, Castiel - now an enormous dog - was waiting to walk home with him. He also had his angelic visitor, who usually came to his dreams once or twice a week.
Not long before Christmas, Jimmy was sitting in home room trying to draw his angel. It wasn't easy, given it was made entirely from light, but he thought he was getting close. His concentration was broken when the classroom door opened to admit a new student.
The boy swaggered in, all easy charm and confidence, faded jeans and leather jacket giving him that edgy, cool look that he pulled off seemingly effortlessly, and Jimmy bit back a groan. Another cocky leader-type who wouldn't spare a second glance for those outside his circle. It didn't help that Jimmy had recently discovered that he found certain men rather attractive, and this boy definitely fit his type.
Shrugging it off, Jimmy didn't really pay much attention as the new kid talked to the teacher. He went back to his drawing, and tried to ignore it as the boy dropped into the seat next to him, turned around, and started chatting with the head of the track team.
~*~
After that, the day progressed fairly smoothly. The last class of the day was art, which Jimmy really enjoyed. He was busy carving a symbol out of wood, when someone sat next to him. Looking up, he found the new kid grinning at him.
“Hey,” the boy casually greeted him. “I'm Dean Winchester. Like the rifle. And you are?”
Jimmy blinked at the boy for a moment, before giving a tentative smile back.
“Jimmy. Novak.”
“Cool. So, what are you working on?”
“Just a statue... figure... thing,” Jimmy shrugged. He was so unused to people talking to him that he was starting to get nervous. “It's a new one for my priest. His statue got broken by one of the kids, so I said I'd make him another.”
“That's neat,” Dean was still grinning, and it didn't have that forced edge that most people got when he started to talk about religion. Jimmy found that he liked the way Dean listened to him. “Do you know what it's for?”
“Mmhm,” Jimmy nodded, then started sanding again. “It's to ward off demons. Has to be made of sandalwood to work properly. They don't like the smell. Or so the lore says, anyway.”
Dean was silent for a moment, watching as Jimmy's hands moved over the wood, and Jimmy felt his face heat up. There was a really cute guy talking to him, and he'd just had to go and show how much of a freak he was. He felt himself withdrawing again, before Dean spoke up.
“Think you could teach me?” Dean asked, seeming genuinely curious. “The wood carving stuff. Looks like a fun hobby.”
“Okay,” Jimmy nodded, feeling as though he'd slipped into a new dimension where he could actually interact with other teens without scaring them off or getting intimidated by them. “We'll need to get you some wood. And figure out what you wanna carve, y'know?”
“Could you show me how to make that thing?” Dean nodded towards the symbol still in Jimmy's hands. “One of my uncles is a priest. Might make a good Christmas gift.”
“Sure,” Jimmy agreed, thinking. “Um, they don't stock sandalwood at school though, we'd have to go buy it.”
“You busy this weekend?”
Jimmy's hands immediately faltered and he swallowed hard. No way did Dean want to spend time together outside of school... except apparently he did. He was scribbling an address down and sliding it across to Jimmy.
“Come over Saturday morning, you can teach me the fine art of wood procurement.” The boy winked when he said that, and Jimmy felt himself flushing at the innuendo heavy in Dean's tone. “For now, what does the finished symbol look like?”
“Here,” Jimmy opened his sketchbook and quickly flipped through until he found the reference sketches he'd done. He'd studied them so often before starting to carve that he didn't need to look at them now. “It looks simple when it's done, but it's tricky to actually carve it. I don't look at the design when I'm working on it 'cause it's too easy to get confused.”
“I can believe that,” Dean looked over the page appreciatively. “You're pretty good at this stuff.”
Jimmy looked down, embarrassed again - and kicking himself for it. This was just a conversation about something he knew well. Why was he so flustered?
“I get a lot of practice,” he managed to form a coherent sentence eventually. “It's something I can do by myself.”
“I hear ya,” Dean leaned back, doodling in his own sketchbook. “It'd be something I could do when I'm stuck at home watching my kid brother. I love Sammy and all, but he can be a real brat when he wants to be.”
Jimmy smiled as he started working again. Dean had a pleasant voice, smooth and low, that he could imagine listening to for hours. Then he uttered the fateful words.
“So, what about you? What's your story?”
Pausing, Jimmy briefly considered shrugging the question off, but he made it a point to tell the truth whenever possible. And anyway, it wasn't hard to get the story out of their fellow students, who would probably make it all sound much worse than it really was. Which meant that he had to give Dean at least the basics.
“I'm insane, and I have a dog.”
Dean blinked in surprise - then that damnable, cute grin was back.
“Well that was short. C'mon man, details! What sort of dog? Sammy's always wanted one, but we move around too much. Doesn't stop him from asking every year for his birthday though.”
“...He's a Great Pyrenese,” Jimmy glanced across, a little surprised that Dean wasn't making a bigger deal of it. “He's a big ball of fluff, follows me around everywhere... got him the day after I got out of the asylum.”
“Nice. Big dogs are the best, I hate those little yappy things.”
“Yeah,” Jimmy smiled and slowly started sanding again. “Castiel's awesome, and he almost never barks.”
“Castiel?”
“It's the name he came with,” Jimmy shrugged. “He answers to Cas too... when he feels like it, anyway. He can be pretty stubborn.”
They spent the rest of the lesson talking quietly while Jimmy worked on the carving, and Dean did little cartoony sketches in his book. He learned that Dean was very attached to his little brother, even if he kept casually insulting the boy. The fact that he kept talking about him, or just mentioning him, said a lot. Meanwhile, Jimmy found that it was fairly easy to talk to the other teen. There was just something about him that was comforting - and he didn't ask any questions about Jimmy's sanity or the asylum.
When the class - and the school day - was over, they parted company with the agreement that they'd meet Saturday morning at Dean's place. They didn't have any other classes together, which Jimmy was slightly disappointed about, but he still felt as though he'd made a friend for the first time since entering the asylum.
~*~
Castiel lay on Jimmy's bed, watching him get ready with a small pit of worry in his stomach. He wasn't sure if Jimmy intended on bringing him along, and he was worried that this Dean kid - who Jimmy kept talking about - was using him. He didn't know quite what for yet, but he wanted to come and meet Jimmy's new obsession to make sure he was good enough for Castiel's boy.
One of the more disturbing side-effects of his current form was that although he knew he was still an angel, Castiel had all of the instincts and needs of a dog. He was mostly used to integrating the two sides of himself, but in some circumstances - such as unanticipated separation from Jimmy - his canine instincts came forward full force. Without his permission, a whine slid from his throat, and Jimmy sat next to him on the bed.
“C'mon Cas,” he spoke as he grabbed Castiel in a hug. “You'll like him, I promise. And his brother loves dogs too.” He glanced up at the clock, then stood and patted his leg, their sign for Cas to follow. “Let's go!”
Leaping gracefully from the bed, Castiel stayed very close to Jimmy's side. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt his boy, not even another teenager.
~*~
“Hey Jimmy - what the hell is that?” Dean stepped back a little upon seeing Castiel. Jimmy frowned and looked down at the dog - whose head was roughly level with Dean's stomach, and who was also staring at the boy in an decidedly unfriendly manner.
“This is Castiel,” Jimmy explained, running a hand over the dog's head and back. The thick coat made him seem even bigger than he was, and for the first time Jimmy realised just how intimidating Cas must now appear to others, especially strangers who hadn't seen him as a playful puppy. “Cas, quit being unfriendly. This is Dean.”
Castiel continued to stare for a moment, then sat heavily and sniffed the hand that Dean tentatively held out. Seeming satisfied, he turned and licked Jimmy's fingers, making the boy smile.
“There you go, told you you'd like him.” He turned and smiled at Dean. “It's okay if he comes along, right? He doesn't like being left alone on weekends, that's when I'm meant to give him lots of attention.”
“Sure he can come,” Dean smiled back easily. “I'm not gonna try telling him what to do. He'd just laugh at me.”
At that, Castiel's tail twitched from side to side, and the large dog seemed to relax a little. Though Jimmy noticed that Cas kept between him and Dean for most of the day.
~*~
“Thanks for helping,” Dean grinned at Jimmy as they ate burgers by the river after buying Dean's supplies. “I never know what to do in art classes. We move around so much I can't start anything big. This'll be good. Dad's promised we'll be here for a few months, but... well, we have to go where there's work.”
Jimmy smiled as he fed Castiel the parts of the burger he didn't like. The dog was more fond of relish-covered plastic cheese than he was.
“Yeah. I've always lived here, except for the year I was locked up.”
“Why was that?” Dean asked. “You said that you're insane, and the guys at school keep saying you're nuts, but... I don't see anything abnormal about you.”
“Mild schizophrenia,” Jimmy spoke softly, threading his fingers through Castiel's fur. “I'm on medication, will be all my life, but I had to be locked up for a year 'cause the doctors thought I needed to be isolated from outside influence.” He paused and glanced at Dean, who merely looked sympathetic, and a little curious. Jimmy could hardly blame him for that when most people went straight for the curiosity and horror. “Angels... I thought I heard angels talking to me when I prayed.”
Dean looked slightly alarmed at that, and a little angry.
“So they locked you up for a year? What, did they think the angels were gonna tell you to shoot your class up or something? That's bullshit!” Jimmy blinked hard, then smiled across at Dean. To his surprise, Dean seemed to get nervous and looked down. “I just... y'know, you're pretty cool. I don't see you as being a danger to others.”
Jimmy felt his heart stutter and knew that he was developing a serious crush. His smile grew even wider, and Dean awkwardly smiled back.
Castiel chose that moment to break the mood, and leaned forward to steal some of Dean's fries.
“Hey,” Dean frowned, quickly moving the box away. “They're mine!”
“Cas,” Jimmy scolded lightly, though not really for stealing the food. He'd wanted to see what was going to happen, whether Dean might possibly be interested in him. Castiel, however, looked blatantly unapologetic. He finished chewing the chips, swallowed, then lay down watching the boys with that blue stare of his.
“That dog is just a little bit creepy,” Dean muttered. “You sure the mutt's not possessed or something?”
At that, Jimmy immediately turned a full-powered glare onto Dean, who flinched back.
“Don't you say things like that,” Jimmy growled, voice dropping low. Castiel seemed to sense his distress and was clearly glaring at Dean with his hackles rising, though he didn't growl yet - all of which possibly added to Dean's observations about Cas being creepy, but Jimmy didn't want to think about that. “Cas and the angel are the only friends I've had since that horrible year when everyone abandoned me! Don't you even joke about him like that!”
“Wait, Cas and the angel?” Dean looked rather unnerved. “I thought you said you were on medication. You're still hearing things?”
“No,” Jimmy spat, gathering his things. “And it's none of your business anyway. You insulted Castiel, that's it. Stay away from me.” He climbed to his feet and stormed away, aware that he was being unfair to Dean but too upset to care. He heard Dean scramble for a moment, then there was a sharp, intimidating growl. A few seconds later Cas was by his side, pressing his nose into Jimmy's hand every few steps.
<< Part One: Puppy | Masterpost | Part Three: Mature>>
Two years had passed, and Jimmy was in his junior year of high school. The novelty of staring at 'the insane kid' had worn off fairly quickly, and though there were a few teens who still gave him crap, most of the school ignored him - including his former friends. It was sometimes lonely being a quietly crazy misfit, but Jimmy usually didn't mind that much. Every afternoon when he got off the school bus, Castiel - now an enormous dog - was waiting to walk home with him. He also had his angelic visitor, who usually came to his dreams once or twice a week.
Not long before Christmas, Jimmy was sitting in home room trying to draw his angel. It wasn't easy, given it was made entirely from light, but he thought he was getting close. His concentration was broken when the classroom door opened to admit a new student.
The boy swaggered in, all easy charm and confidence, faded jeans and leather jacket giving him that edgy, cool look that he pulled off seemingly effortlessly, and Jimmy bit back a groan. Another cocky leader-type who wouldn't spare a second glance for those outside his circle. It didn't help that Jimmy had recently discovered that he found certain men rather attractive, and this boy definitely fit his type.
Shrugging it off, Jimmy didn't really pay much attention as the new kid talked to the teacher. He went back to his drawing, and tried to ignore it as the boy dropped into the seat next to him, turned around, and started chatting with the head of the track team.
~*~
After that, the day progressed fairly smoothly. The last class of the day was art, which Jimmy really enjoyed. He was busy carving a symbol out of wood, when someone sat next to him. Looking up, he found the new kid grinning at him.
“Hey,” the boy casually greeted him. “I'm Dean Winchester. Like the rifle. And you are?”
Jimmy blinked at the boy for a moment, before giving a tentative smile back.
“Jimmy. Novak.”
“Cool. So, what are you working on?”
“Just a statue... figure... thing,” Jimmy shrugged. He was so unused to people talking to him that he was starting to get nervous. “It's a new one for my priest. His statue got broken by one of the kids, so I said I'd make him another.”
“That's neat,” Dean was still grinning, and it didn't have that forced edge that most people got when he started to talk about religion. Jimmy found that he liked the way Dean listened to him. “Do you know what it's for?”
“Mmhm,” Jimmy nodded, then started sanding again. “It's to ward off demons. Has to be made of sandalwood to work properly. They don't like the smell. Or so the lore says, anyway.”
Dean was silent for a moment, watching as Jimmy's hands moved over the wood, and Jimmy felt his face heat up. There was a really cute guy talking to him, and he'd just had to go and show how much of a freak he was. He felt himself withdrawing again, before Dean spoke up.
“Think you could teach me?” Dean asked, seeming genuinely curious. “The wood carving stuff. Looks like a fun hobby.”
“Okay,” Jimmy nodded, feeling as though he'd slipped into a new dimension where he could actually interact with other teens without scaring them off or getting intimidated by them. “We'll need to get you some wood. And figure out what you wanna carve, y'know?”
“Could you show me how to make that thing?” Dean nodded towards the symbol still in Jimmy's hands. “One of my uncles is a priest. Might make a good Christmas gift.”
“Sure,” Jimmy agreed, thinking. “Um, they don't stock sandalwood at school though, we'd have to go buy it.”
“You busy this weekend?”
Jimmy's hands immediately faltered and he swallowed hard. No way did Dean want to spend time together outside of school... except apparently he did. He was scribbling an address down and sliding it across to Jimmy.
“Come over Saturday morning, you can teach me the fine art of wood procurement.” The boy winked when he said that, and Jimmy felt himself flushing at the innuendo heavy in Dean's tone. “For now, what does the finished symbol look like?”
“Here,” Jimmy opened his sketchbook and quickly flipped through until he found the reference sketches he'd done. He'd studied them so often before starting to carve that he didn't need to look at them now. “It looks simple when it's done, but it's tricky to actually carve it. I don't look at the design when I'm working on it 'cause it's too easy to get confused.”
“I can believe that,” Dean looked over the page appreciatively. “You're pretty good at this stuff.”
Jimmy looked down, embarrassed again - and kicking himself for it. This was just a conversation about something he knew well. Why was he so flustered?
“I get a lot of practice,” he managed to form a coherent sentence eventually. “It's something I can do by myself.”
“I hear ya,” Dean leaned back, doodling in his own sketchbook. “It'd be something I could do when I'm stuck at home watching my kid brother. I love Sammy and all, but he can be a real brat when he wants to be.”
Jimmy smiled as he started working again. Dean had a pleasant voice, smooth and low, that he could imagine listening to for hours. Then he uttered the fateful words.
“So, what about you? What's your story?”
Pausing, Jimmy briefly considered shrugging the question off, but he made it a point to tell the truth whenever possible. And anyway, it wasn't hard to get the story out of their fellow students, who would probably make it all sound much worse than it really was. Which meant that he had to give Dean at least the basics.
“I'm insane, and I have a dog.”
Dean blinked in surprise - then that damnable, cute grin was back.
“Well that was short. C'mon man, details! What sort of dog? Sammy's always wanted one, but we move around too much. Doesn't stop him from asking every year for his birthday though.”
“...He's a Great Pyrenese,” Jimmy glanced across, a little surprised that Dean wasn't making a bigger deal of it. “He's a big ball of fluff, follows me around everywhere... got him the day after I got out of the asylum.”
“Nice. Big dogs are the best, I hate those little yappy things.”
“Yeah,” Jimmy smiled and slowly started sanding again. “Castiel's awesome, and he almost never barks.”
“Castiel?”
“It's the name he came with,” Jimmy shrugged. “He answers to Cas too... when he feels like it, anyway. He can be pretty stubborn.”
They spent the rest of the lesson talking quietly while Jimmy worked on the carving, and Dean did little cartoony sketches in his book. He learned that Dean was very attached to his little brother, even if he kept casually insulting the boy. The fact that he kept talking about him, or just mentioning him, said a lot. Meanwhile, Jimmy found that it was fairly easy to talk to the other teen. There was just something about him that was comforting - and he didn't ask any questions about Jimmy's sanity or the asylum.
When the class - and the school day - was over, they parted company with the agreement that they'd meet Saturday morning at Dean's place. They didn't have any other classes together, which Jimmy was slightly disappointed about, but he still felt as though he'd made a friend for the first time since entering the asylum.
~*~
Castiel lay on Jimmy's bed, watching him get ready with a small pit of worry in his stomach. He wasn't sure if Jimmy intended on bringing him along, and he was worried that this Dean kid - who Jimmy kept talking about - was using him. He didn't know quite what for yet, but he wanted to come and meet Jimmy's new obsession to make sure he was good enough for Castiel's boy.
One of the more disturbing side-effects of his current form was that although he knew he was still an angel, Castiel had all of the instincts and needs of a dog. He was mostly used to integrating the two sides of himself, but in some circumstances - such as unanticipated separation from Jimmy - his canine instincts came forward full force. Without his permission, a whine slid from his throat, and Jimmy sat next to him on the bed.
“C'mon Cas,” he spoke as he grabbed Castiel in a hug. “You'll like him, I promise. And his brother loves dogs too.” He glanced up at the clock, then stood and patted his leg, their sign for Cas to follow. “Let's go!”
Leaping gracefully from the bed, Castiel stayed very close to Jimmy's side. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt his boy, not even another teenager.
~*~
“Hey Jimmy - what the hell is that?” Dean stepped back a little upon seeing Castiel. Jimmy frowned and looked down at the dog - whose head was roughly level with Dean's stomach, and who was also staring at the boy in an decidedly unfriendly manner.
“This is Castiel,” Jimmy explained, running a hand over the dog's head and back. The thick coat made him seem even bigger than he was, and for the first time Jimmy realised just how intimidating Cas must now appear to others, especially strangers who hadn't seen him as a playful puppy. “Cas, quit being unfriendly. This is Dean.”
Castiel continued to stare for a moment, then sat heavily and sniffed the hand that Dean tentatively held out. Seeming satisfied, he turned and licked Jimmy's fingers, making the boy smile.
“There you go, told you you'd like him.” He turned and smiled at Dean. “It's okay if he comes along, right? He doesn't like being left alone on weekends, that's when I'm meant to give him lots of attention.”
“Sure he can come,” Dean smiled back easily. “I'm not gonna try telling him what to do. He'd just laugh at me.”
At that, Castiel's tail twitched from side to side, and the large dog seemed to relax a little. Though Jimmy noticed that Cas kept between him and Dean for most of the day.
~*~
“Thanks for helping,” Dean grinned at Jimmy as they ate burgers by the river after buying Dean's supplies. “I never know what to do in art classes. We move around so much I can't start anything big. This'll be good. Dad's promised we'll be here for a few months, but... well, we have to go where there's work.”
Jimmy smiled as he fed Castiel the parts of the burger he didn't like. The dog was more fond of relish-covered plastic cheese than he was.
“Yeah. I've always lived here, except for the year I was locked up.”
“Why was that?” Dean asked. “You said that you're insane, and the guys at school keep saying you're nuts, but... I don't see anything abnormal about you.”
“Mild schizophrenia,” Jimmy spoke softly, threading his fingers through Castiel's fur. “I'm on medication, will be all my life, but I had to be locked up for a year 'cause the doctors thought I needed to be isolated from outside influence.” He paused and glanced at Dean, who merely looked sympathetic, and a little curious. Jimmy could hardly blame him for that when most people went straight for the curiosity and horror. “Angels... I thought I heard angels talking to me when I prayed.”
Dean looked slightly alarmed at that, and a little angry.
“So they locked you up for a year? What, did they think the angels were gonna tell you to shoot your class up or something? That's bullshit!” Jimmy blinked hard, then smiled across at Dean. To his surprise, Dean seemed to get nervous and looked down. “I just... y'know, you're pretty cool. I don't see you as being a danger to others.”
Jimmy felt his heart stutter and knew that he was developing a serious crush. His smile grew even wider, and Dean awkwardly smiled back.
Castiel chose that moment to break the mood, and leaned forward to steal some of Dean's fries.
“Hey,” Dean frowned, quickly moving the box away. “They're mine!”
“Cas,” Jimmy scolded lightly, though not really for stealing the food. He'd wanted to see what was going to happen, whether Dean might possibly be interested in him. Castiel, however, looked blatantly unapologetic. He finished chewing the chips, swallowed, then lay down watching the boys with that blue stare of his.
“That dog is just a little bit creepy,” Dean muttered. “You sure the mutt's not possessed or something?”
At that, Jimmy immediately turned a full-powered glare onto Dean, who flinched back.
“Don't you say things like that,” Jimmy growled, voice dropping low. Castiel seemed to sense his distress and was clearly glaring at Dean with his hackles rising, though he didn't growl yet - all of which possibly added to Dean's observations about Cas being creepy, but Jimmy didn't want to think about that. “Cas and the angel are the only friends I've had since that horrible year when everyone abandoned me! Don't you even joke about him like that!”
“Wait, Cas and the angel?” Dean looked rather unnerved. “I thought you said you were on medication. You're still hearing things?”
“No,” Jimmy spat, gathering his things. “And it's none of your business anyway. You insulted Castiel, that's it. Stay away from me.” He climbed to his feet and stormed away, aware that he was being unfair to Dean but too upset to care. He heard Dean scramble for a moment, then there was a sharp, intimidating growl. A few seconds later Cas was by his side, pressing his nose into Jimmy's hand every few steps.
<< Part One: Puppy | Masterpost | Part Three: Mature>>