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Art by the amazing and talented sketchydean
“Cas!”
Dean jogged up to his boyfriend with a soft smile on his face, leaning in to brush his lips against the corner of Castiel’s mouth. The action went unheeded, despite the busy hallways, because it wasn’t unusual. Dean and Cas had been together since the end of sophomore year and now they were halfway through their senior year. To see them being affectionate with each other was commonplace.
At the kiss, Castiel blushed with happiness and Dean was reminded how lucky he was. They’d been flirting for all of sophomore year, but Dean had been firmly in the closet. He’d made the cut for the football team every year of high school, and had been terrified that he would lose his place if his sexuality became public knowledge. He was banking on a sports scholarship for college, after all. Thankfully, everything worked out and he was able to keep his place on the team.
“You ready to go to the meeting? Charlie is expecting us,” Dean hummed, taking Castiel’s bag from him and slinging it over his shoulder, before casually draping his free arm over Castiel’s shoulder as they walked
Castiel nodded, leaning into the touch with still-pink cheeks. Dean thought it was adorable how Castiel still flushed at his affection, even after they’d been together for almost two years.
They were heading to an LGBT+ meeting, one that Charlie headed. She hoped that with at least three openly out students attending, more people would be willing to be open about their sexuality, to talk about it with other people. Even if that didn’t work, she hoped there would be an attendance of allies, or people who wanted to learn more about different sexualities. It wasn’t exactly a huge turnout, but the numbers were starting to increase each week.
There were a few new faces as they walked in the door, plain white chairs places in a bigger circle than usual. Even Gordon Walker, captain of the football team was there, and Dean could do little other than stare in disbelief. He had never made a secret of his heterosexuality, reaffirming it whenever the opportunity presented itself.
“Walker? What are you doing here?”
Gordon grinned. “Winchester! Glad to see a friendly face, come and sit down.”
Dean glanced at Castiel, who shrugged, before they headed over. Dean dropped into the seat beside Walker, while Castiel took the seat on the other side of Dean.
Gordon leaned over, glancing around before lowering his voice. “I just started dating Anna Milton. It was just going to be a one-time thing, but then I found out she’s bisexual. You know what that means, right? Threesome!” He crowed, triumphantly, before clearing his throat and checking to make sure Anna hadn’t heard.
Dean forced a smile, but he was a little disgusted. He was sick of the assumption that bisexuals were more open to threesomes, that people thought that was what their sexuality boiled down to. It was infuriating. He couldn’t even object, his hands were tied. If Dean wanted to stay on the football team, he couldn’t get on the wrong side of Walker.
He leaned away, as if to pay attention to Charlie as she got up and welcomed everyone for coming, before asking if anyone wanted to speak. One of the newest members, a junior called Kate that Castiel had seen in the library once or twice, raised her hand timidly.
“I think I might be asexual, but… I’m not too clear on the boundaries. I think I could have sex if my partner wanted it, but … I don’t really feel sexual attraction?” The last part was phrased as a question, and Kate ducked her head in embarrassment at having spoken up about something that she clearly wasn’t used to discussion. Dean understood what that was like and nudged his boyfriend.
“That’s perfectly fine,” Castiel spoke up, quietly. His voice carried across the room and his soothing tone made the girl look up. “There are always shades of grey and degrees of sexuality. I’m asexual myself, but I don’t ever want to have sex. I’m happy to lend my boyfriend a helping hand on occasion, but most of the time I can’t. I guess I consider myself a sex-repulsed asexual. You’re not, but that doesn’t mean you’re not asexual. You’re perfectly normal.”
Dean softened at Castiel’s words, not even ashamed that he brought up their limited sex life to the whole group. What Cas needed was far more important than Dean’s sex drive. He could take care of that himself without making Cas uncomfortable. Kate herself looked a lot happier after Castiel’s words, taking a few moments to herself to process them.
Unfortunately, Dean hadn’t banked on Gordon.
“Damn, Winchester, you’ve gone two years without getting some from Novak?” Gordon cackled at the new information. “Yo, Novak, what you afraid of? Bad experience? It’s just because you haven’t been with a stud like Winchester. Trust me, a night with this Casanova and you’ll be fixed good as new, am I right?”
He held his hand up in expectation. Dean was put on the spot and reached up to high-five Walker, laughing along with him uneasily. He knew that was a bad thing to do, but he hoped Castiel would let him explain after the meeting. Awkwardly, he turned to Cas and his smile dropped. From the stunned look on his boyfriend’s face, there wasn’t going to be a chance for an explanation.
Concealing a look of hurt on his face, Castiel picked up his bag and swept out of the room. Dean didn’t need to look up to feel all of the glares on him, but he did anyway as he got to his feet.
“You’re an idiot, Dean,” Charlie muttered, gesturing for him to follow Castiel. Dean didn’t need telling twice.
“Cas! Cas, wait, please!” Dean called after him, running down the hallway at top speed.
To his credit, Castiel did stop, but the look on his face was anger, and Dean felt ashamed when he saw a few tears on his cheeks.
“Why?” Castiel demanded. “Why would Walker assume we were having sex, huh, Dean? Is that what you do in the locker rooms after your games? Talk about how lucky you got last night?”
Dean blinked, completely taken aback by the question. That wasn’t what he’d expected Castiel to have a problem with, but he tried to placate his boyfriend anyway.
“Of course not. How could you even think that? I’ve never even mentioned our sex life, or lack of sex life to anyone! Gordon just assumed, that’s all. It’s not unreasonable to assume that after two years…”
“Right, because a normal couple would have had sex by now, is that what you’re saying?” Castiel cut Dean off with a sneer.
Dean felt helpless, starting to get upset from the way Castiel was looking at him. “Cas,” he tried again, his voice softer. “You’re putting words in my mouth. You know I consider us a normal couple. You’re normal. I’ve never thought you were anything else. You know that.”
“Do I?” Castiel’s voice broke, giving away how upset he was. A few tears dripped down his cheeks, betraying just how badly Dean had fucked up by agreeing with Walker. “I thought I did. But you completely invalidated my sexuality in there, Dean. Considering how long it took you to come out of the closet as a bisexual, you think you’d understand what you just did.”
Dean did. It came a little too late, but seeing Castiel in tears and with the personal example, he knew he’d fucked up big time. How could he make Castiel think that asexuality wasn’t valid? They’d already had this discussion, had worked through it together. Dean had held Castiel and promised him that their relationship wasn’t broken, that this was more than enough for him. Two years he’d gone without sex, and he was surprised by how easy it was. So long as he had Cas, a sex-free life was a small price to pay.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” he whispered, reaching out to take Castiel’s hand.
Castiel shook his head and flinched away from the touch. Swiping at his eyes, he turned away. “I don’t want to hear it, Dean. I’m going home.”
Dean watched, his heart aching as Castiel walked away from him, knowing somehow he’d just fucked up the best thing that ever happened to him.
He spent the rest of the night, lying on his bed. He sent Castiel a few texts, but didn’t get a reply to any of them. When dinner came and he was forced to make an appearance, he picked at his mom’s pasta and didn’t even allow himself any pie for dessert. His parents were concerned, but Dean just told them he’d had a fight with Cas and returned to his room. He didn’t know how to fix this and he felt miserable from it.
Everything about his night was off. Normally he’d call Cas until one of them fell asleep, but he knew without a doubt that he wouldn’t pick up, so he just pushed his cell phone away and curled up in a ball until sleep eventually came.
At school the next day, Dean kept a look out for Cas, but his boyfriend just avoided him entirely. They only had a few classes together, and when Castiel wasn’t able to move seats he just outright ignored Dean. He kept his eyes to the front when he wasn’t taking notes, and didn’t acknowledge Dean’s presence or whispers.
Dean was at a loss for what to do. Even Charlie wouldn’t speak to him. He couldn’t walk down the halls without getting glares from everyone who’d been present at the LGBT+ meeting. It was like everyone knew he’d screwed up, but nobody was willing to give him the chance to make amends.
By lunchtime, Dean had had enough. He stormed over to Walker, determined to set the record straight. He couldn’t blame Gordon for what had happened, that was all on him, but Dean could make sure he wasn’t going to be ignorant again.
Standing in front of Gordon and Anna, Dean folded his arms. “Listen, Walker, I need you to know something. I was a jerk to Cas yesterday by agreeing with you. He’s not broken and he definitely doesn’t need fixing. Cas doesn’t enjoy sex, and I don’t need it to be happy with him. In fact, I’m especially okay with blue balls because I know you’re about to get them too. You can kick me off the team if you want, but it’s worth it if you realise that you’re a complete dick. Anna, you know he’s just with you because he thinks you’ll be up for a threesome, right? That’s what bisexuality is worth to him.”
Dean turned away, so he didn’t actually see Anna slap Gordon, but the sound of the connection echoed throughout the room. Unlike the rest of the cafeteria, who had started jeering, Dean barely heard it, however, because he was face-to-face with Castiel, who had once again, clearly heard every word.
Dean swallowed. “I’m sorry, Cas. I never meant…”
Before he could finish apologising, Castiel leaned in and kissed him, quickly and chastely. He pulled back with a soft smile. “I heard. It’s okay, Dean, I understand. I just needed to be mad for a little while, to make you see what you said wasn’t okay.”
“So, I’m forgiven?” Dean asked hopefully, tentatively reaching out for Castiel’s hand.
Castiel allowed him to take it and threaded their fingers together gently. “You can buy my lunch and then we’ll talk.”
A small price to pay.
“Deal.” Dean murmured, and leaned in to kiss Castiel again.