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Dean tried to calm himself by humming his favorite AC/DC song while he gathered the ingredients for dinner. He was planning on telling his dad and brother something very important about himself and he didn't want to make his dad any madder by not having dinner ready. Dean knew his dad could be scary when he was unhappy about something. He thought about the first (and only) F on his report card earlier in the school year. Oh, had John been angry. He had raged at Dean for close to fifteen minutes before stopping suddenly. He'd sat down and rubbed his hand over his face. John apologized and said that he only wanted a better life for his boys than he had had growing up.
John often spoke of his hopes for both of his sons. Dean was close to turning 18 but still had no clue what he wanted to do with his life. His younger brother, Sam, had his entire life planned out already though. Sam was the golden child, Dean thought to himself. Dean knew he was a screw up. His grades were mediocre and he had no hope other than getting into community college. He had no real hobbies and no good close friends. Mostly he avoided doing school work and just marathoned shows and movies on Netflix.
That was, at least, until Castiel Novak entered his life. Castiel had been assigned as his tutor to help bring up his English grade. Though their paths hadn't crossed before then, they quickly became friends. Which, in turn, became good friends, best friends, and somehow led to becoming boyfriends. Because their relationship had been built on a solid foundation of friendship and trust, it wasn't very surprising that the two boys had fallen in love.
And it was because of this love that Dean knew it was time to introduce his boyfriend to his family. He was fairly sure that Sam had already worked out who he was dating. There was only so much you could hide in a small house after all. No, Dean was worried what his dad would think. John hadn't said anything negative about gays before but he hadn't seemed very supportive either. He wanted to tell them that he was gay at dinner. If they reacted poorly, there was no way Dean was going to bring his boyfriend into the house when they were home.
Which leads us to tonight. Dean knew his dad would be home for dinner soon. Usually John worked nights and the boys only really saw him on the weekends. He'd be asleep when they left for school in the morning, home together briefly after school, and then gone again before dinner. But tonight was a rare night that John would be home for a family dinner. Dean prepared his dad's favorite meal and had Sam set the table. Because they normally ate watching TV together, John knew something was up.
"Dean, do you have something to talk about?" John asked.
Dean took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I'm not sure how to say this and I don't want you to be mad. I met someone and we've been dating for a couple of months. I, uh, have a boyfriend." He looked down at his plate not wanting to see the disgust he knew he'd find on his dad's face.
"I knew it! It's that's Cas kid, isn't it?" Sam seemed pleased with himself that he had accurately figured out the relationship between his brother and the tutor.
"What Cas kid?" John asked. Dean looked up and was surprised to find that his dad didn't look disgusted or upset. "You've never really talked about liking anyone before. What lucky guy finally caught your attention?"
Dean stared at his dad. This was not the reaction he expected. "Castiel Novak. He was my tutor for English that I had to get because of the F."
"Aha. Castiel? Yeah, I vaguely remember the name now, it's pretty unique. Well, he must be something special. Smart enough to help you bring up your grade. Pulling your F up to a B was no easy task. You know I'm proud of you for that, son. How about you bring him around for dinner sometime soon? I'd really like to meet the guy."
"For real?" Dean asked incredulously.
"Yeah, for serious real. What's wrong? Afraid I might embarrass you?" He teased.
"No, I just thought you'd be upset that I'm gay," Dean replied with the start of tears in his eyes. This was not going how he expected at all and he wasn't sure what to do. He looked up and saw that Sam was trying to hold back laughter which only upset him more.
John got up from the table and put a comforting hand on his elder son's shoulder. "Dean, you know I love you no matter what. I might be tough on you but that's because I know you can accomplish so much more than you think you can. I don't care who you love as long as you're happy." At this, Dean broke down and started to cry into his dad's shoulder, relief flooding through him.
Though Sam knew he shouldn't laugh, he couldn't help himself. He laughed out loud and startled his dad and brother.
"Sam, stop! Your brother is upset, you need to calm down."
Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm not laughing at Dean being upset. I'm laughing about him totally forgetting about Uncle Bobby and Uncle Fergus!"
Dean rubbed at his eyes. "What about them?" he asked after a moment.
"Why would Dad have a problem with you being gay when his best friend is gay?"
"What! Uncle Bobby is gay?"
"Duh, Dean. Their house only has two bedrooms and one of them is a guest room. Where do you think Uncle Fergus sleeps?"
Dean didn't know what to do with this new found information. Uncle Bobby was gay? How did he not know this? Uncle Fergus had been living with Uncle Bobby for as long as Dean could remember. Thinking back, he wasn't sure when the man had become Uncle Fergus rather than Mr. Crowley.
"I think we broke him," Sam joked after Dean didn't respond for several moments.
Dean looked between his dad and brother, still not quite believing this turn of events.
"Could I invite Cas over for dinner this weekend?" Dean asked hopefully.
"Sure, I'm looking forward to meeting him." John replied with a smile.