Work Text:
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" hissed Castiel, pushing his way through bushes and errant tree limbs.
“‘Course it is, man,” replied Dean. All of his ideas were good ideas. In fact, sneaking into the local park after dark to go skinny dipping in the public pool was one of his best ideas, if you asked him.
Castiel, on the other hand, thought it had to be one of the worst and most foolhardy plans that his friend had come up with. They could get caught and get in trouble, and he was loathe for his father to have to hear that his youngest son had broken a law, even one as petty as being in the park after hours. Disappointing his father wasn’t even the worst thing that could happen; it was disappointing his brothers. Gabriel would understand, as his amber-eyed brother was a hot rocket himself, always going against the family plan, but Lucifer and Michael would chastise him for years to come. Castiel was sure that Mr. Winchester wouldn’t be too happy if he and his son got in trouble, either, but Dean never really seemed to care. He had a knack for getting himself in and out of trouble, what with his light dusting of freckles and large green eyes that could beguile any teacher into seeing his side of an issue, but Castiel doubted the same tricks would work on a police officer.
"Are you positive?" groused Castiel. They had reached the tall metal fence that surrounded the pool, and he eyed the clear water with trepidation. Dean acted as if he wasn’t paying attention to him and set off to quickly climb over the fence.
"Cas, when have I ever steered you wrong?" Once on the other side, the green-eyed boy shucked his shirt, pulling it up over his head and dropping haphazardly to the ground.
Castiel breathed in sharply, taking in the sight of the clear moonlight reflecting of his friend’s fair skin, casting a golden halo on his light brown hair. He had sworn to himself on pain of death that he’d never mention it, frightened of what it would do to their friendship, but somewhere along the way, he’d found himself developing feelings for the roguish boy-next-door, tiny little butterflies that would sprout up in his gut and gnaw at his insides and make his skin go clammy. He shouldn’t have agreed to do this, but before he knew it, he too had jumped the fence and was slowly unbuttoning his shirt.
Dean shimmied out of his jeans, left only in a pair of dark boxers, and ran up to the diving board.
"Watch this!" he called, executing a perfect dive into the deep end. Castiel admired the way his form gracefully twisted in the air and cut into the water without a splash. Moments later, he resurfaced, a grin splitting his face in two and his hair plastered to his skull. "C’mon in! The water’s fine!"
Castiel inched his way closer to the edge and dipped his toe in the water, pulling his foot back with a start. “It’s cold,” he grumbled, taking a step back.
"It’ll be even colder if you sit there whining all night." Dean cupped water in his hand and splashed it towards Castiel.
The dark haired boy rolled his eyes and acquiesced, pulling off his pants and folding them neatly with the rest of his clothing. Carefully, he took hold of the side of the pool and slid in, making a face as the cold pierced his skin. Once he was fully submerged, Dean swam off in the opposite direction, making sure to kick hard and splash Castiel in the face in the process.
"You are incorrigible!" Castiel took off after him, not one to be left behind.
"Aw, I love it when you talk nerdy to me," said Dean, winking at his friend.
A faint blush tinted Castiel’s cheek at that, and he swam back to the wall so that he wouldn’t have to tread water. He really shouldn’t have agreed to this. They could get into serious trouble with all of the noise they were making; they were lucky the pool was in a part of the park closer to the forest, or else the locals would have already called the police on them. What was worse, though, was dealing with Dean. His friend was absolutely beautiful in the water, his strokes seemingly perfect, swimming as if it was what he was made to do. He could feel his nerves knotting in his throat, making it hard to breathe. No, this was a terrible idea.
"What’s wrong, man?" asked Dean, resurfacing by the wall and poking Cas in the shoulder.
Castiel nearly jumped, having been lost in his thoughts when his friend appeared.
"Nothing," he replied, almost a little too quickly.
Dean frowned, unconvinced, and folded his arms on the edge of the pool, resting his chin on his hands. “You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?”
Castiel nodded, albeit unconvincingly, and tried to look in the other way, any direction but Dean.
The green-eyed boy wasn’t having any of his evasiveness, and he reached to grab Castiel’s chin between his fingers. “You know you can tell me anything; you’re my best friend.”
Castiel swallowed audibly. “I know.”
"Good," said Dean, and in the pool late at night with only the moon as their audience, he placed a light kiss - just the faintest brush of lips - on Castiel’s mouth.