Chapter Text
Dean's superhero origin story was pretty run of the mill.
When he was fifteen, young, stupid, and angry at the entire universe, he decided to sneak out one night to attend a party.
He'd been invited to plenty of parties before. After being the perpetual new kid for pretty much his entire school career, Dean had perfected the 'too cool bad boy' persona to the point that he was just cool enough to not become a target for bullies, but not cool enough to catch the attention of the 'popular crowd'. So yeah, he'd gotten his fair share of party invitations.
This party should not have been any different.
He'd been invited by some girl in one of his classes, whose college-aged sibling was throwing the party. It was by the docks of the crap town they were currently staying at (Dean had stopped bothering to remember the names of all the places by that point). It was supposed to have loud music, alcohol for all, and girls.
All things that fifteen-year-old Dean had decided that he had to be involved with.
So, after making sure Sam was safely asleep, and triple checking that all the windows were locked and he had the keys to the front door, he snuck out.
Later, Dean remembered getting to the party. He vaguely recalled the booze and loud music.
He remembered the cops showing up barely an hour after he arrived to shut the party down. He remembered running because no way did he want to deal with foster care again, which is exactly where he would end up if he was caught. He remembered following some fellow party goers and jumping over the fence to some factory in an attempt to ditch the police.
He remembered the cops throwing tear gas, or something, in his direction.
He doesn't remember what happened next.
He doesn't remember getting home.
But he definitely remembers waking up the next morning, at home, in his bed, with a pounding headache, pure black eyeballs, and super strength.
~~~
EXPLOSION IN SMALL TOWN, NO CAUSTILTES,
Elaborate Government coverup?
~~~
Dean never set out to be a hero. He'd like to make that very clear. It was honestly the last thing on his mind after he woke up with powers. His childhood dreams of being a firefighter and rescuing people were just that, dreams.
In no way at all, when this whole mess had begun, had he imagined himself as a superhero.
He knew there was nothing remotely heroic about him, and he was fine with that. Why bother getting involved with other people's lives? What was the point?
Sure, by some freak accident and bad judgment, he had super powers. That didn't mean he had to use them, no matter what Sam insisted about power and responsibility. Hey, he’d seen that movie too. He knew what that meant. He knew what would happen to his closest male relative if he misused his powers.
And so, Dan spent the better part of the next decade of his life hiding his powers from everyone but Sam.
He should, and did, focus on things that actually mattered. Like making sure Sam didn't fail his final project of the semester because the printer decided to expel all the ink inside of it and being an awesome big brother by running to the 24-hour corner store at a quarter to midnight to grab more.
That should have been his life, taking care of Sam and fixing cars.
But yet, there he was, crouched behind some powdered donuts while a guy with a gun threatened the poor cashier, in a corner store, at a quarter to midnight, trying to decide which of the bandannas on display to his left would cover the most of the lower half of his face.
I'm going to regret this, Dean thought to himself, choosing a black one with the word HUMANITY on it in solid white block letters, and tying it around his face. I am really going to regret this.
He straightened up and let his eyes turn black, just at the robber pointed the gun at the cashier, and moved .
~~~~
NEW SUPERHERO IN TOWN?
Humanity saves local Cashier
~~~~
The failed attempted robbery was front page news the next morning.
Sam was beyond pissed.
Dean woke up to find his younger brother standing over him, shoving the morning newspaper in his face. Why they still got newspapers delivered, he had no idea. Though he really regretted not canceling their subscription because a blurry gray-scaled picture of him in a bandana and Sam's bitchface was honestly far from the first thing he wanted to see in the morning
Dean rolled over and told Sam not to worry about it.
The fuss would die down soon enough. Superheroes were a dime a dozen these days. No big deal, unless they were part of the International Superheroes Association. And Dean, a high school dropout turned car mechanic trying to put his brother through college with super strength and black eyes was far from the type of person the association accepted.
Everyone would forget about him in a couple of days, he told himself and went back to sleep.
~~~~
WHERE IS HUMANITY?
The People Demand to Know
~~~~
It didn't die down.
Instead, the media made a huge deal out of Dean's actions that night and the fact that he hadn't been seen since. Sam said he was ‘viral’ whatever the fuck that meant and he even had fan clubs on several social media sites (what the fuck ?).
Dean wanted to ignore it all and continue on with life like always.
Sam, instead, sat down and in the span of twenty-fours hours, created an entire superhero persona for Dean, complete with a black and red costume that was much nicer than the bandana and a social media presence, which according to him, everyone had these days, “stop being such an old man, Dean.”
And that's how Humanity was born.
~~~~
OH THE HUMANITY!
He’s back and better than before!
~~~~
Yeah, the name was stupid, but the media and public had decided, and there was no way to really change it.
(Secretly though, Dean kinda liked the name)
~~~
HUMANITY SAVES OLD LADY FROM FALLING BUILDING
Is there anything he can’t do?
~~~
And that's how Dean spent the next year.
He worked on cars during the day, from 8 to 6, came home, made dinner, and teased Sam. Then he changed into his costume and went on patrol until around 1 or 2 in the morning and came home and slept until 6.
Then he woke up and repeated the cycle.
~~~
HUMANITY FALLS
And lands unharmed to save a bus full of children
~~~
Dean had been a superhero for nearly a year before he met another superhero.
It wasn't a great meeting.
The night started with him patrolling the streets as usual, not really expecting to encounter anything more a robbery or two.
Then the explosions started.
Then he got tackled by some large thing with huge ass wings and which picked him up and flew away .
Dean did not do well with any type of flying. He preferred both feet firmly on the ground, thank you very much.
So he did the first thing that came to mind the second he landed safely on nice, solid ground and the creature released him.
He turned around and stabbed the fucker right in the heart,
And then properly looked at him.
Shit.
It wasn't a creature, it was a guy. A guy dressed in all black, with a black mask and fucking huge ass wings.
Oh shit, he’d just killed a fellow superhero.
“That wasn't very polite,” the man said, pulling the knife out and letting it fall to the floor.
Holy Shit .
“What the hell are you?” Dean demanded, backing away.
The guy frowned at him. From the little that Dean could see of his face, he could swear the guy looked offended. “Angel.”
“Angel.”
Dean didn't get the chance to ask him if that was his name or his species. Another explosion went off, this one much closer, and he ran towards it, before the guy could grab him again, because fuck that.
~~~
EXPLOSIONS PLAGUE PALO ALTO
Where was Humanity?
~~~
“I think we need a new roommate.” Sam greeted him when Dean came home.
It was almost three in the morning.
Dean was exhausted.
All he wanted to do was fall face first into bed and pass out and forget about this horrible night. He had no idea what had caused the many explosions that night, they had stopped as suddenly as they had started, and he hadn't seen the guy he stabbed again in the commotion.
After that disastrous night, he really didn't want to deal this right now.
Dean gave a short laugh that was more of a sigh as he grabbed the remote and collapse onto the sofa. “Yeah, not happening.”
“Dean, I'm serious,” Sam said, with the sort of manic urgency only college students could fully achieve. “We're fine for this month, but I really don’t think we'll be able to make rent next month.”
“We’re not getting a roommate, end of discussion,” Dean said flatly.
Sam sighed.
“I guess you could ask for more hours at work,” He mused out loud.
Dean raised the volume.
“But that would really cut into your patrol time, wouldn’t it?” He continued. “I just hope the city will be fine without you patrolling it at ridiculous hours.”
Dean determinedly stared harder at the tv.
“Or maybe I could cut back on my classes this semester and find some part-time work,” Sam said, mock-thoughtfully. “I'll have to graduate a semester late, but--”
“Okay,” Dean said loudly, switching the tv off and turning to glare at his brother.
Sam immediately shut up, trying and failing not to look smug beyond belief.
“I don't care anymore,” Dean said, throwing the remote at Sam, who caught it grinning. He'd caved and Sam knew it, the little bitch. “Just do whatever the fuck you want.”
Sam beamed. “Is that a yes to getting a roommate then?”
Dean flipped him the bird as he walked out.
“I'm taking that as a yes!” Sam yelled after him.
~~~
NO EXPLANATION FOR EXPLOSIONS
What is Humanity doing? Rumors of Angel in town rampant
~~~
A week later, Dean came home from an all-nighter patrol to find out that Sam had already found a new roommate. He barely had any time to pull a t-shirt over his head and kick his costume out of sight under his bed before Sam came barging into the room.
“Finally,” Sam said, giving Dean a thoroughly disapproving glare. “Castiel's been here for ages to check out the room. I told him you were in the shower, so pretend that's where you were.”
Dean paused in the middle of pulling on his jacket.“Casti-who?”
“Castiel,” Sam called, going back out and motioning for Dean to follow him.“This is my brother Dean, he's in the room that'll be just across from yours.”
Castiel turned out to be a scruffy-looking accountant with messy hair and an ugly trench coat.
Dean turned to Sam, because seriously? This was their new roommate?
“Hello, Dean,” Castiel said, and whoa, his voice as a lot deeper than Dean had been expecting. “It's very nice to meet you.”
“Uh, yeah, same,” Dean said.
As long as this dude kept his nose firmly in his own business and didn’t compromise Dean’s secret identity, then everything would be great.
There was a bit of an awkward silence, as Castiel stared at Dean, and Dean just kinda stared back, not sure what else to do.
Castiel had kinda nice looking blue eyes, Dean couldn't help but notice.
“Right,” Sam said, breaking the silence. He gave Dean a look, which simultaneously said, what the hell is that and were you actually raised in a barn? “How about I show you your room, Cas?”
Dean shrugged, feeling a little off balance as he followed them both to the storage room, which was to be Castiel’s new room. Maybe it was the whole secret superhero thing, but something about Castiel was really putting him on edge.
“Why the hell did you choose this guy,” Dean hissed at Sam a few minutes later, eyeing their new roommate suspiciously as the man surveyed his new room.
All that the guy was doing was standing in the middle of the room, staring at the window. Dean was further convinced that this guy was a grade A freaking weirdo.
“Be nice,” Sam hissed back, the smile not dropping from his face. “He's going to be staying here for the next six months, at least, so try not to immediately piss him off. And he's not that bad.”
Castiel walked over to the window, cracked it open, and just stuck his hand outside.
Dean and Sam watched him silently.
“He paid for the six months in advance with cash,” Sam admitted, quietly.
Dean snorted. Of course he did.
Well, at least Dean had super strength, so it didn’t really matter if the guy turned out to be a psycho.
~~~
RUMORS OF ANGEL CONFIRMED
Palo Alto’s New Guardian Angel
~~~
Dean was prepared to have to be more sneaky after Castiel moved in. He put together a list of excuses to give in case Castiel ever saw him sneaking in through the fire escape (“I go out there for a smoke, don't tell Sam”) or ever saw him in costume (“It's a cosplay for some con thing that my friend is making me go to”). He was ready to answer any possible question his new roommate could possibly ask.
But Castiel never asked.
Actually, Dean never even saw the guy after the first day. He knew the guy was around, there was some food in the fridge that wasn't his or Sam's, and he could see the light seeping out from the crack under the door of Castiel's room sometimes, but that was honestly the only indication that he and Sam had another roommate.
The guy had kept weirdest hours of anyone he had ever met, and that's saying something, considering his schedule.
It quickly became obvious that if Dean wanted to, he could walk around the apartment in his costume and Castiel would not be around to notice.
He stopped worrying and focused on more important things.
Like Angel.
After their first disastrous meeting (which was not his fault), Dean had stolen Sam's laptop and looked up everything he could about the newest masked vigilante in town.
There was a surprisingly large amount of information on him, because, holy shit, Angel was actually pretty famous.
Dean scrolled through pages and pages of Google Search results, feeling slightly stunned.
Angel was apparently a superhero that roamed the entire country, stopping crime and all that jazz.
And that's not all.
Angel had an official fan club, with merchandise . He had a Twitter thing that, as far as Dean could tell, was devoted to tracking the hero's every known movement. He also had his own Wiki page.
Dean didn't even have a Wiki page yet.
“Fuck,” Dean muttered, stopping at a news article dated a couple of years ago, which had a color picture of Angel, shaking hands with two big name Heroes, Holy Soldier and the Tempter. He stared at the headlines, feeling ill.
Angel had been offered a spot on the International Superheroes Association.
Fuck.
Of course, Dean had picked a fight with a member of the most powerful group in the entire world. How the hell was he still walking around?
Dean had grown up hearing tales about the ISA. It was composed of the most overpowered superheroes in the world. They were the sole reason the earth hadn't had a serious evil villain in decades.
They were also shady, secretive, and could do whatever they wanted because no one was strong enough to actually stop them.
And Angel was a member.
Dean clicked on another link, which took him to some site called Instagram where someone had posted a candid of Angel in mid-flight. His dark wings were stretched out behind him, pitch black in the dim light of a street lamp. The black mask that covered a majority of his face did nothing to hide his eyes, which were glowing a vivid blue. His sword was raised high, as he prepared to strike down whatever poor soul he was fighting.
He looked ethereal and extremely deadly.
Dean vowed right then and there to avoid Angel. The guy had good reason to hate him (Dean really regretted stabbing him, but he was not apologizing), and if the multiple news articles where any true, he was seriously strong, even without his ISA status.
He stared at the picture a little longer before pulling out his phone and taking a quick pic of it. He was going to avoid him, as best he could.
Even if Angel was kind breathtaking.