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With a frustrated sigh, Dean closed his Biology book. He’d been staring at the same question for fifteen minutes straight now, and he highly doubted that the answer to it would miraculously come to him at this point. He should’ve tempted Cas into a study date; Dean’s best friend was the Biology expert, whereas Dean was more of a Math person.
The smell of food suddenly invaded Dean’s room, and his stomach started growling as if on cue. Almost time for dinner, which Dean deemed a good enough excuse to give up on his homework for now, and go downstairs to enjoy his mother’s rice and chicken surprise.
He got up from his chair just as his phone started buzzing on the desk, stopping him in his tracks.
‘Castiel calling’ were the words that flashed on the screen.
Speak of the devil. Dean smiled despite his fairly irritable mood. For reasons unknown, Castiel often had that effect on him.
“Hey Cas, what’s up?” Dean greeted his friend.
There was the sound of rustling, but Castiel didn’t reply. Dean frowned, checking the screen of his phone out of habit before listening again.
“Cas? You there?”
Again, nothing. That’s when Dean heard it, the sound of voices, distant and muffled.
Look Cas, you have to man up! If you like him, tell him! It’s not rocket science…’
The chipper voice was familiar to Dean; it belonged to their friend Charlie.
‘There’s no point in that… He doesn’t have those kind of feelings for me, telling him equals throwing away five years of friendship.’
That was clearly the low, gravelly rumble of Castiel’s voice.
Dean’s curiosity was piqued. It was clear as day that this was an accidental phone call, and that the conversation in the background was definitely not meant for Dean’s ears. Nevertheless, this brand new information made something stir in Dean’s chest. Somethingunpleasant. Cas liked someone, and it was like a kick in the gut to Dean, for reasons he didn’t want to analyze.
There was more rustling, and Dean missed the next part of the conversation, until Charlie’s voice came through again.
‘Look dude, it’s up to you… But you know what they say, life is too short…’
Cas’ muffled reply was laced with sarcasm.
‘We’re seventeen, not seventy. I think this saying hardly applies to me.’
The selfish part of Dean was overjoyed that Cas seemed very reluctant to go after whomever he had a crush on. Then again, the other, more reasonable part of Dean, was telling him that he was being an asshole, and that someone like Cas deserved to be happy.
Dean briefly closed his eyes, slowly breathing in and out, hoping to calm himself down and to make the knot in his stomach go away. Charlie’s voice snapped him out of it.
‘Like I said, your choice… All I’m saying is, Dean is a good guy, and even if he doesn’t like you back, I trust he’ll be mature enough to not be a total douchebag about it.’
The phone abruptly slipped from Dean’s shaking fingers, then hit the floor with a loud smack. He stared at it as he used his thumb and forefinger to pinch his arm, making sure that he wasn’t dreaming.
Cas didn’t like some random guy, Cas liked Dean. Dean wasn’t sure whether to be excited or scared shitless. He felt dizzy as he picked up his phone from the floor; the screen was cracked, his mom and dad were not going to be amused.
Something told Dean that a broken phone was the least of his problems though… School tomorrow was going to be awkward as hell.
~
“So I told him no, but you know how Gabriel is, he kept insisting that I’d go with him to that party. I suspect he wanted me to drive so that he could get drunk without getting into trouble. I swear, my brother can be such a pain at times.”
Castiel was happily chattering away, rolling his vivid blue eyes at Dean as he complained about his older brother’s antics. It was lunch break, and the two of them were sitting across from each other at a small table in the back of the cafeteria.
Nothing out of the ordinary. Except perhaps that Charlie usually joined them, but today she had ditched them to spend some quality time with her girlfriend Dorothy.
“Are you eating that, Dean?” Castiel asked, giving Dean the puppy face as he hungrily eyed Dean’s French fries.
Dean forlornly shook his head, pushing his plate of fries towards Cas without saying a word. There was no way he was going to be able to eat with that army of highly confused butterflies terrorizing his stomach.
Cas’ smile at that was like sunshine on a rainy day; it never took a lot to make Castiel happy, one of the many things Dean loved about his friend. Castiel hummed appreciatively as he started munching on Dean’s fries. Everything was the same, yet it wasn’t. Cas looked content, a faint blush on his cheeks, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, as if he was simply happy to be here.
Come to think of it, it was quite possible that Cas always looked like that whenever he was with Dean, the difference was that Dean had never paid attention to it before.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Castiel asked, his face falling a bit. “You didn’t respond to any of my texts last night, did I do something wrong?”
“What, no!” Dean exclaimed defensively, surprised at the loudness of his own voice. “I- My phone had a little accident, that’s all.”
Not even a lie, Dean gave himself a well-deserved mental pat on the back.
Castiel didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push Dean either.
Dean heaved a silent sigh. It would have been so easy to simply ignore what he’d heard last night if it hadn’t been for Dean’s own feelings coming out to play. He’d been awake all night, imagining what it would be like to kiss Cas. To cuddle on the couch while watching a movie, to hold hands while taking a stroll in the park, to basically spend time like they already did on a daily basis, but with just that little extra. Dean longed for things he’d never even known he wanted from Castiel, but now that the idea had been planted in his head, he was unable to let it go.
Cas was cute, loyal, funny, smart. Dean could communicate with him by using nothing more than a simple look, and they could talk for hours without getting bored. Whenever Cas was near, Dean felt good, whole.
All of the sudden, Dean felt pretty stupid for not noticing any of these things before.
“You’re zoning out again.” Castiel’s voice was soft and concerned, not irritated.
“It’s… It’s just a headache.” Dean lied, only now dropping his fork, even though he’d stopped eating a long time ago. “Look, I gotta go, I’m meeting Benny and Victor at the library for our group project.”
“Oh… of course.” Cas answered, still looking worried.
As Dean got up from his chair and picked up his bag, he made a bold decision. He was going to stop being a coward. He was going to be honest with Cas the next time he saw him. All he needed was some time to figure out how he was going to broach the subject.
“Hey, would you be up for a study date tonight?” Dean asked, offering Cas a warm smile.
Cas nodded, and the smile that Dean got in return was nothing short of beautiful. Meanwhile, Dean tried not to panic at the deadline that he’d just set for himself.
~
They were both sitting at Dean’s desk, so close that their elbows touched occasionally. Cas was reading, but Dean had other plans. This wasn’t meant to be a study date, the problem was that Castiel wasn’t in on that secret yet. Cas looked too good like this, from the little furrow between his eyebrows as he concentrated, to his untidy dark hair sticking up in all directions from running a hand through it every now and then.
Dean cleared his throat before he placed his ruined phone on the desk, pushing it in Cas’ direction. Cas blinked up, taken by surprise.
“This is why I couldn’t text you back the other night.” Dean quietly informed his friend.
Cas laughed, shaking his head. “That does look rather bad.”
“Yeah… I dropped it after you called me.” Dean confessed.
Castiel’s laughter faded within a matter of seconds.
“I didn’t call you.” Cas’ denial sounded flat.
And that was it, the moment of truth. It was now or never, and although never seemed the safer option here, Dean preferred now.
“I heard you talk to Charlie… It was a pretty interesting talk you two were having.” Was all Dean said.
By the mortified expression on Cas’ face, he could tell that no deeper explanation was needed. Castiel turned beet red, pushing his chair back as if he was ready to make a run for it.
Dean loosely grabbed Cas’ wrist to stop that from happening. “Hey wait, it’s okay… It’s fine, Cas.”
Blue eyes were filled with embarrassment when their eyes met again, but Dean didn’t pay it any mind, instead moving his chair even closer to Castiel’s, until they were knee to knee.
Castiel looked uncertain, and it was Dean’s mission to change that asap. He touched the back of his hand to one of Cas’ overheated cheeks.
“That’s a really pretty blush you got there, that for me?” Dean complimented casually, trying to put Cas at ease.
Cas grimaced. Not the desired effect, but better than the look of utter terror that had been there before.
“But aren’t you… angry with me, Dean?”
And yeah, if Dean was going to be brave today, why stop now? He smirked, swiftly dipping his head to press the lightest of kisses to Cas’ pretty pink lips.
“Does that answer your question?” Dean asked, leaning back and cocking his head at a momentarily stunned-looking Cas.
When Cas climbed on top of him, eyes shining, Dean had his answer as well.
~
The next day, Charlie complained that she’d received a call from Cas, only to hear a very intense make out session in the background when she’d picked up. Dean made a note to make sure to educate his boyfriend on how to properly lock a cellphone before putting it in your pocket.