Chapter Text
It was the third time that month already that Dean had woken up late and had had to rush. He had to forget about his morning shower, no time for that, and he wouldn’t be surprised if he forgot some of the books he had to bring to school. Clothes were thrown on carelessly. He was almost on his way out of the door when a small voice came from the kitchen.
“Dean, where are you going?”
Dean’s baby brother Sam peered out of the kitchen doorway, eyes large and hazel and fully dressed. Shit, Dean had forgotten. “Dean, we gonna take the car?” Sam asked hopefully. How could Dean have forgotten? He smiled warmly at his baby brother and squatted down in front of him. “Sure, Sammy, we’re gonna take the car,” he said, gaining a large smile from Sam. It was Sam’s first day of kindergarten after all. Dean’s school could wait half an hour. Or, well, half an hour more.
When Sam and Dean arrived at Kripke’s Kindergarten for Talented Kids (an idea Dean found completely stupid, because at the age of six who were to say what children were more gifted than others?) Sam was visibly starting to get nervous.
“Dean, you sure the other kids’ll like me?” Sam’s voice was small and fragile, and when Dean looked over to check his face, the kid had his eyes cast downwards, making his bangs fall over his face giving him the look of a beaten puppy. Oh dear, Dean thought and rested his elbow on the back of the passenger’s seat.
“Sammy, look at me,” and Sam did, because he always did what Dean told him to do. “There are going to be nineteen other kids in there - now, some of them might not like you, and that’s okay,” he smiled warmly, hoping it didn’t seem forced at all, because he was slowly getting nervous about getting to school anywhere near on time.
“But nineteen kids, Sam, I’m sure there’s going to be at least one in there who you will become best friends with, okay?” Sam nodded and the beaten look had melted mostly away. And Dean felt a surge of pride that Sam was looking out to become such a great kid, when in fact it was mostly Dean who brought him up.
“But can you still walk me to the front door?” his little brother asked and Dean just snickered and nodded, “sure can do, Sammy,”
In fact Dean ended up going inside the place with his little brother and turned in the papers for the kid, smiling widely at the teacher who was going to be Sam’s go-to for at least the next year. They seemed nice enough that Dean wouldn’t worry about his sensitive baby brother, so that was a thing he could check off his internal keeping-Sam-safe-and-sound-list.
As Dean was about to leave Sam behind for the teacher and other students to take care of (after having debated with the six year old kid that Dean really had to go, because he had school too), a small figure bolted right past Dean, accidentally shoving the Winchester painfully in the thigh. Dean wasn’t going to pay the small figure much attention (though he cursed the kid for hitting him, cause damn, children elbows were sharp), had it not been for the much larger figure doing almost the same trick right after.
Of course this figure was an adult and his elbow didn’t exactly meet Dean’s thigh as much as his chest. It still hurt like a bitch, though. An “oof!” was all Dean could manage.
“Come back here this instant, Castiel!” yelled the adult of the two figures, voice rising over the yelling voices of the children and making the teachers look nervously at the chasing couple. The kid looked over his shoulder as he ran and whined as the big figure almost caught him, but with a zig-zagging maneuver and a twist he got away from the grabbing hands.
The adult then began cursing, much to the teachers’ dismay and the children’s amusement.
Dean (who still felt violated by both of the figures) caught sight of Sam, who was sitting with a blonde girl both of them with crayons in their hands and their eyes huge from focusing on the wild goose chase. Dean sighed and decided that he couldn’t really leave the kindergarten before knowing how this ended, and since he was already late for school the best way to find out was to actually take part.
So the next time the little fleeing kid came by Dean (the bigger figure still shouting) he grabbed out and caught the scoundrel underneath the arm pits and hauled him into the air, where the little body went completely stiff with surprise. The entire kindergarten was suddenly dead quiet except for the heaving breathing of both the kid in Dean’s arms and the adult that had run after him.
Dean thought an applaud would have been more suiting.
After a few moments of complete silence the kid in Dean’s hands - Castiel was it? - started twitching half-heartedly again and said “Let me down.” It didn’t sound rude though, it was just a plain demand and Dean obeyed and put the child down on his feet.
When Dean looked up his eyes met with the adult figure’s for a moment. Just a short moment, not even a second but it was enough.
Dean hurried out of the kindergarten doors giving Sam a short wave as the kids yelled after him and an almost curt “I’ve got school, Sam!” as he brushed past the adult that was the caretaker (and oh god he thought, probably his dad too!) of Sam’s new class mate.
As Dean was driving from the kindergarten to his own school he had to breathe slowly because he knew that he was royally screwed. He’d known he was gay for a while now, even if no one else around him had a clue. Because hey, he had an old fashioned dad, so instead of coming out the closet in a pink feather boa drinking apple martinis and cosmopolitans he stayed in said closet tucked safely away with a beer in one hand and a first-base-only girl on the other arm. He didn’t deny who he was, he just pretended he was someone else.
And not five minutes ago had he experienced the most cliché and stupid case of irrational attraction. It was nothing more, surely. Just strong physical attraction for no reason what-so-ever. He barked out a laugh as he told himself he didn’t believe in love at first sight. It was a forced laugh at best.
Dean was forty-seven minutes late for school that day.