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Looking back Dean probably should’ve seen it coming.
It all started when he tried to ask Lisa Braeden out on a rainy Thursday morning as they walked out of Chemistry together.
"You free this Saturday?" Dean asked as they made their way between other students. The season was over and he was sure neither of them had practice.
"Yeah… Why?" Lisa looked up from her phone.
"Wanna go out with me?"
"Like… A date?" She frowned and so did Dean; he thought he was being clear enough.
"Yeah…?" They had stopped walking and were now standing at a corner close to the stairs.
"Wow, you’re a jerk!" Dean barely had time to register the anger in Lisa’s eyes before her hand met his face with strength enough to take him a bit off balance. "Castiel doesn’t deserve this."
Dean watched as she left him there with a lot of questions in his head and the distinct bright red mark of a hand on his face. Working on automatic, Dean went to the only person who could shine a light in this: Charlie.
"Woah, what happened to you?" He could tell she was trying not to laugh as she took in his distressed state.
"Lisa slapped me when I tried to ask her out." And Dean should’ve known there was no way Charlie could hold herself back after that.
"Well, guess she’s not as into you as you thought."
"No, but…" Dean sighed and Charlie closed her locker to look at him properly. "She said Casdidn’t deserve it.” He made a face attempting to show her how that didn’t make any sense.
"Oh so that’s what this is about!”
"Yes! Whatever that is…” Dean was getting more confused by the second. Cas was his best friend and they were always together but he couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out what he had to do with who he went out with.
"Come on, Dean, everyone in this school thinks you and Cas are dating." Charlie rolled her eyes when Dean froze and stared at her like she had grown a second head. "Don’t tell me you didn’t know that."
"No?!" He cleared his throat trying to cover up the previous high pitched sound. "Who the fuck came up with that?”
Charlie sighed again, this time a lot more theatrically, and shot Dean a pointed look. “Seriously? You know what, we’ll talk about this later. I gotta head to class.”
Dean glared at her retreating form but followed the only option he had: spend an hour at Literature cheering for the clock like it was about to win a marathon and then go home.
Actually, he wasn’t going home just yet. Castiel had been sick for the last two days so Dean made a point of getting his homework every day until he got better. Of course Anna, Castiel’s cousin who was in senior year with them, could do it but Dean wanted to make sure Cas got everything right.
So he drove to Castiel’s house and tried not to think about what Charlie had said.
Except he couldn’t not think about it because it was ridiculous. Why would someone take time to spread such an unbelievable rumor? And worse, what drugs were the people from his school on to buy it?
He and Cas were best friends and that was the end of it. Okay, so maybe sometimes they stood a bit too close to each other or spent too much time staring into each other’s eyes but that didn’t mean anything, right? Dean had no clue where that idea came from but it sure as hell wasn’t anything he was doing.
Dean parked the car in front of the Novaks’ house just as Gabriel opened the door to leave. He had been accepted into the local college so he could go home whenever he pleased, which meant Dean ran into him a lot more than he wished he did.
“Hey, Dean-o! How’s it going?” Gabriel asked around a bite of chocolate and left the door open.
“All good, man. How’s Cas?”
“Oh, I’m good too, you’re so nice for asking.” Dean rolled his eyes and Gabriel sighed. “Cassie’s fine; getting better, actually.”
“Great. I just came to bring his homework.” Dean motioned to his backpack.
“Like the good boyfriend you are.” Gabriel chuckled when Dean glared at him. What was up with everyone that day, seriously? “I’m just messing with you, bucko. It’s the running joke, isn’t it?”
“What is?” Dean frowned – he had been doing that a lot that day, Cas would be proud.
“See ya.” Gabriel waved and turned around, completely ignoring Dean calling his name.
“Asshole.” Dean muttered to himself as he entered the house and went straight to Castiel’s bedroom.
When he opened the door and saw his best friend wrapped in blankets with his face buried in a book, a wave of fondness hit him so hard he needed a second to regain his breath.
It had been like that with Castiel for some time now and while he tried to ignore it, it was getting harder and harder especially after what had happened earlier.
Dean shook his head before he could start agreeing with whoever came up with the dating thing and knocked on the door.
“Can I come in?” He grinned when Castiel looked up at him.
“You’re already inside, Dean.” Castiel deadpanned. He put the book on his bedside table and made room for Dean to sit on the bed with him.
“How are you feeling?” Dean pulled Castiel’s legs over his own while he rested his head on the wall.
“Much better. I think I’m going back to school tomorrow.” Castiel smiled one of his private smiles. “Thank you for bringing me my homework, Dean, you didn’t have to.”
“Don’t worry about it, just get better.” Dean smiled. “Listen, Cas… Have you ever heard people talking about us?” He played with the fabric of Castiel’s pajama pants. “Like, as a couple?” Castiel frowned as if he didn’t understand the sudden change in conversation.
“Yes. I suppose it’s because we are very close.” Castiel shrugged.
“And it doesn’t bother you? At all?” Dean was suddenly embarrassed by how much he seemed to care about the hallway’s whispers.
“I don’t see why everyone’s opinion over a thing that we built should matter.”
“Why do you have to be so goddamn smart all the time?” Castiel blushed. Dean looked at the clock on the wall and sighed, gently lifting Castiel’s legs so he could stand up. “Gotta go. Told mom I’d help with dinner.” Dean picked up his backpack and took a few steps closer to his best friend before planting a kiss on his forehead, not even thinking about what it could look like. “Take care of yourself.”
“I will talk to you tomorrow.” Castiel smiled. Dean winked at him and made his way to the door.
***
"Hey." Castiel smiled when Dean approached him.
"Good morning, Dean."
"Are you sure you should be at school?"
"It was just a cold, Dean. I will hardly be the cause of an epidemic." Castiel answered as he dug through his locker, sighing when he realized his sweater was at home.
"No, I mean are you sure you’re feeling good enough to be here?"
"Yes, Dean, I am feeling much better."
"If you need anything, let me know. Gotta run to English now, you know how Crowley gets when people are late." He squeezed Castiel shoulder and made his way to the classroom.
They didn’t meet again until second period was over when Castiel walked past Dean’s locker on his way to History.
"Come here often?" Dean grinned as he pulled his best friend by the arm.
"I do, actually. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed me." Castiel played along.
"Oh, believe me, I have." Dean winked. Castiel laughed and shook his head; it was only then that Dean noticed his hand was touching skin and not fabric.
"Where’s that horrible sweater of yours?" Dean crossed his arms.
"I thought it was in my locker but I took it home with me before I got sick and didn’t bring back." Castiel answered staring at his feet. It had been raining all night and winding all morning which made it extremely difficult for him seeing as he was only wearing a T-shirt.
"Come on, Cas, you can’t do that." Dean sighed. "Here." He took off his team jacket and put it around Castiel’s shoulders.
"But…" Castiel looked up surprised even as he enjoyed the warmth radiating from the jacket.
"Don’t wanna hear it. You’re not one hundred percent better yet and I’m making sure you get there."
Castiel smiled as a light shade of pink - that Dean refused to think was adorable - tinged his cheeks.
"Thank you, Dean. I will talk to you at lunch."
Dean watched him leave trying to ignore how good it felt to have Cas wearing his jacket while everyone stared and commented on it. He went back to gathering his things when Castiel turned a corner and only noticed Lisa standing there when he closed his locker again.
"I thought you said it was a rumor." So he didn’t want anyone thinking he was a cheater and called her to explain everything, sue him; Lisa still said no.
"It is." Dean frowned.
"He was wearing your jacket." Lisa stared at him like she didn’t believe someone could be that stupid.
"It’s cold and he was sick." Dean replied because come on, it was obvious.
"Right… See you around, Dean." He couldn’t decipher the look on her face but something about it had him on edge the rest of the day.
Hours later, Dean was staring at the stars on Charlie’s ceiling as she went through books and more books for their History assignment. He had been in this state of self-doubt ever since his early encounter with Lisa.
"You know we’re together on this project, right? Because it seems like I’m doing all the work here." She looked at him from the floor with one eyebrow raised.
"Are me and Cas dating?" He didn’t take his eyes from the fake constellations.
"What?!" Charlie’s gaze was filled with disbelief; there was no way Dean had said what she thought she had heard. "Correct me if I’m wrong but I think you should know more about this than me."
"That’s the thing: everyone keeps saying we’re dating and now I have no idea if that’s true." Dean let out a pained sigh.
"And do you want it to be?" Charlie was secretly vibrating with excitement because this was it: she would finally be able to guide Dean Winchester into the light.
"Maybe." Dean answered in a small voice and Charlie gave herself a mental high five for calling it.
"Well, he did spend the day wearing your jacket. I’d say there’s not a lot left to question."
"But it’s Cas! He’s my best friend, I don’t go around thinking if I do this or that it’ll look like we’re together… It just comes naturally." Dean finally looked at her.
"And have you stopped to think that maybe this is what makes people assume you’re a couple?" Charlie laughed when a memory crossed her mind. "I mean, your mom called me asking if I knew why you were hiding it."
"Wait, what?" Dean paused, horrified. The idea of even his family debating it was not something he wanted to think about.
"Oh, Dean…" She shook her head with a fond look in her eyes. "You two are the only ones oblivious to how you act. Just the way you look at each other makes me want to be buried alive."
Dean glared at her. “Shut up.”
"But seriously, you should go talk to him."
"Right now?" He was already putting his shoes back on.
"It took you too damn long to figure out what you felt for him, I’m not gonna let you waste any more time. Besides…" She continued as Dean shoved everything back inside his backpack. "It’s not like you were helping with this anyway."
Dean smiled and kissed the top of her head. “Thanks, Charlie. You’re my queen.”
"Yeah, whatever. Just go get your man."
Less than twenty minutes later Dean was pacing in front of the Novaks’ residence questioning his sanity and trying to understand how exactly he was supposed to go about this.
He had almost come up with a good plan when Gabriel opened the door.
“Let me guess: you finally realized you’re stupid as a rock and are here to confess your undying love for my brother.”
“What?” Dean whispered. There was no way Gabriel could tell.
“Oh my, I was joking.” Gabriel laughed. “But it’s about time!”
“Shut up.” Dean said before pushing past him and doing his best not to run up the stairs.
As he knocked on Castiel’s closed door, Dean was sure he was one step away from a heart attack. When a muffled voice told him to come in, he released the breath he didn’t even know he was holding.
“Dean.” There was surprise in his tone but a smile on his lips. “Aren’t you supposed to be at Charlie’s house?”
“Something…” He cleared his throat. “Something came up.”
Dean sat down on Castiel’s bed, this time opposite from him and nearly drowned in his blue eyes and in the thought that he had been oblivious to his feelings for Castiel when it had been right there the whole time.
“Is everything alright?” Castiel frowned, worried. And Dean wanted to scream from the rooftops because he had the best friend in the world and it was unbelievable the amount of time he had wasted.
“Everything’s perfect.” Dean smiled and slowly raised his hand so he could run it through Castiel’s hair before moving to cup his face. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat when Cas leaned into the touch. “Cas, look at me.”
Castiel opened his eyes again and Dean was sure he could see his soul. Suddenly, every little worry he had about this was dissipated. This was Cas, he knew every inch of Dean there was to know; nothing that came out of his mouth now would ruin what they had because looking into that infinity of blue, Dean was sure Castiel felt the same.
“Cas, I-I…” He took a deep breath. Just because he knew he wouldn’t be rejected, didn’t mean it was easy to say.
“I know, Dean.” Castiel took his hand and put their foreheads together. “Me too.”
So yes, Dean should’ve seen it coming. Because right there and then, he knew it didn’t get better and he had everything he would ever need.
And he would have to call Lisa again and say that you know what, it wasn’t a rumor.