Chapter Text
Castiel Stevens moved to Lawrence, Kansas when he was four years old. He didn't remember much of Denver, and he sometimes felt as though he remembered too much of Lawrence.
His mother hadn't wanted him and Anna going to school in "the big city." It had never seemed all that big to Castiel. He could remember their home and a park, but not much else. Certainly nothing big. There was a postcard from his cousin that read "The Mile High City" in large orange letters. He liked that thought. It was like he'd been up in the sky. In elementary school, where they have those asinine introduction games, he'd stand up and say "My name is Castiel Stevens, and I'm from the mile high city." His teachers were always endeared to him afterwards, but it didn't help him make friends.
Castiel's luck changed in the fourth grade, waiting for Anna outside of Ms. Milligan's kindergarten class. He was running a little bit late - Ms. Rourke had held him after to ask about his science project. When he finally made it to Anna's classroom and glanced inside, he was relieved to find her still coloring while her teacher was fighting a boy into his coat. He sighed and looked over at the boy already leaning against the wall. He was obviously around Castiel's age, and more than likely the boy with the coat's brother. He was wearing a pair of just-a-little-too-long jeans, and a shirt that was a size and a half too big for him, but he pulled it off with his obvious attitude (If you asked Castiel today, he'd call it a Fuck You Attitude, or, under the right circumstances, Dean's Winchester Swagger). Castiel stuck out his hand - like he'd seen his father do - and introduced himself as Castiel, from the mile high city.
The boy looked at him, and his outstretched hand, for long enough that Castiel thought of pulling his hand back, but just before he could do so, the other boy reached his own hand out. "Dean Winchester," he said with a smirk, "I'm only from here."
Castiel smiled, but said nothing, just leaned against the wall opposite Dean.
"So," Dean broke the silence, "what grade you in? I'm in fourth."
"I'm in fourth, too."
"Yeah?" Dean grinned, "Awesome. Who've you got?"
"Ms. Rourke."
"Lucky. I've got Mr. Adler. He's an asshole."
Cas was surprised at Dean's easy use of a word that was forbidden in his home. He liked that Dean cursed. His cousin Gabriel cursed, but as far as he knew no one else in his family did.
"He does seem like a jerk." Castiel conceded.
Dean laughed, "Cas, dude, you don't even know."
Anna emerged from the classroom, clutching her drawing. "Here, Cast-eel, I made this for you."
She handed him the drawing; it was obviously the two of them, she'd adorned the head of the small stick figure with firetruck red hair - his stick figure head was topped with an alarming pile of black wax. Next to their stick figure selves was a large square with the word 'LIBRARY' written in the painstaking letters of kindergarteners.
"Thank you, Anna; this is great."
She grinned, "Come meet my new friend, Cast-eel! He helped me spell Li-berry!-"
"Library, Anna"
"His name's Sam, and he says his big brother takes him to the Li-berry after school, too!-"
"Lib-rary, Anna."
"Come meet him, he's right over there!" She pointed to where Dean was standing with the coat boy, who must be Sam. "Can we walk with them, Cast-eel? Please?" Anna whined.
"Anna why don't you ask if they want us to walk with them."
Dean looked up, "Cas, man, it's cool. I'm just glad Sammy's making friends."
Castiel looked at his sister, "We'll walk to the Library with them, Anna."
If you asked Castiel today, he'd say it was simultaneously the best and worst decision he'd ever made.