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Dean remembered having the talk with his mom about soulmates.
"Everyone has a soulmate, Dean. You usually find them when you're young, around seventeen. I had just turned seventeen when I met your dad," She had told him.
"But, Mama, how did you know it was Dad?" Dean had asked, looking up at Mary from her lap.
"You've seen my tattoo, right sweetie?" she asked. Dean nodded. "That's called a soul mark. You and your soulmate share the same ones. If you get a lot of them in a little bit of time, that means you'll meet your soulmate soon. I got my first and only soul mark when I was fourteen. I met your dad three years after.”
“But how were you sure it was him?” he’d questioned. “There must be a bunch of people with the same mark.”
“Once you meet them, their name will show up by your first mark. That’s how you know,” Mary explained.
Ever since then, Dean had wondered what his soul mark would look like, and if he’d have more than one. He thought about his soulmate when school got stressful or he got sad. It was a comforting thought, knowing that there was someone out there meant just for him and vice versa. He quite liked the idea.
Dean’s first mark appeared two months before his seventeenth birthday. He noticed it when he was changing out of his school uniform. It was a pentagram surrounded by flames right over his heart. He ran downstairs to show his parents, yelling, “Mama! Mama! I got one! I got a mark!” He ran into the kitchen where John and Mary were making dinner. They both smiled at him and asked to see it. He showed them proudly, completely overcome with excitement. When Sam came in, he showed him too. They all congratulated him, John saying, “Congratulations, son. It is a little odd, but I like it.” Mary hugged him and told him she couldn’t wait to meet the lucky person.
Dean barely slept that night, his mind too excited to think about much besides who his soulmate might be. He thought about everyone in his grade, deciding that it probably wasn’t one of them. However, he did have someone in mind. There was this guy in his grade who was totally hot. But Dean wasn’t going to get his hopes up. He’d just have to wait and see who his soulmate was.
When he got to school, Jo nearly tackled him with a hug. He just laughed and hugged her back, still riding on the high from yesterday.
“What was that for?” Ash asked once the blonde girl let go of Dean.
“Didn’t you hear? Dean-O here got his first soul mark,” Jo replied, grinning.
“And it’s about time! All you’ve done recently is gripe and groan about how you haven’t gotten a soul mark yet. I think God finally answered my prayers!” Sam exclaimed.
“Shut up! Bitch,” Dean said, his cheeks dark red.
“Jerk.”
“Well I’m glad Dean got a soul mark,” Chuck spoke up. “Now we just need to know who this soulmate of his is.”
“Maybe it’s Castiel. Dean has been pining away at him for years,” Charlie aid finally looking up from her book.
“Have not!” Dean whined. He and Charlie went back and forth like children for two entire minutes until the bell rang for homeroom. They all went to class grinning as Dean blatantly stared at a head of dark hair that was passing through the crowd of students. Dean knew they were laughing at him, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.
His second soul mark came about three weeks after the first. Dean was taking a shower when he looked at his left arm and there was a handprint right on his shoulder. He almost fell in surprise. That had Not been there a minute ago. He finished showering and wrapped a towel around his waist, going to his mirror to get a better look.
The handprint was large and most likely male. Though that might not mean anything, Dean thought it might be a hint as to who his soulmate was.
It would probably be a guy. “Maybe it is Cas,” he wondered.Dean pushed that thought away before he could get his hopes up. No way was Castiel Novak his soulmate. Dean just wasn’t that lucky.
He put on his pajamas and pulled out his phone, making a group text.
<To: Charlie, Chuck, Jo, Ash>
Got another soulmark. Big ass handprint on my shoulder
Almost immediately he got a reply from Jo and Charlie.
<From: Jo>
Congrats dean.
<From: Charlie>
Awesome. Now all we have to do is get Cas shirtless and see if he’s got a ‘big ass handprint’ on his shoulder too
Dean blushed at Charlie’s text and hit reply.
<To: Charlie>
Although I am not opposed to the shirtless part, (shut up) I highly doubt that he’ll have the same one.
As he waited for her reply, Dean turned off the lights and got into bed. Just as he had settled, his phone buzzed with Charlie’s reply.
<From: Charlie>
You never know. Goodnight, Dean.
Electing to leave Charlie to her mysteries, Dean sent back a simple ‘goodnight’ and fell asleep.
Dean Winchester’s third and final soulmark came three days before his birthday. He had wandered into the kitchen shirtless on Sunday morning only to be laughed at by Sam. When he asked what was so funny, Sam could only giggle and say, “Dude, your back.” Dean got tired of being laughed at and went upstairs to his room to see what was so funny about his back.
Dean saw what Sam meant when he finally saw his back. There were two dark wings on his shoulders and shoulder blades.
“Holy crap,” Dean said quietly, shocked.
“Holy crap is right. You have wings. Wings, Dean,” Sam said, appearing in Dean’s doorway.
“Holy crap. I have wings. Goddamn. Well, I guess I’m stuck with them,” Dean said. “Nothing I can do about it.”
“Are you gonna show Mom?”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah. I guess I should,” Dean said. “MAMA! COME SEE!”
Mary appeared in his doorway next to Sam, saying, “What is it, sweetie?” Dean turned around to show his mom and she gasped. “Oh, my. Wow.” She seemed a bit shocked. Dean turned around and smiled sheepishly at her.
“They’re a bit big, aren’t they?” he said nervously.
“I like them. They’re quite pretty, actually. Kind of realistic,” Sam said. Mary just nodded and pulled Dean into a hug.
“They’re lovely, sweetheart. That’s three in a month, right? You’ll be meeting your soulmate soon. This week, even. Maybe even on your birthday.” Dean smiled at that, glad that maybe he’d meet the love of his life on his birthday. Wouldn’t that be a great present? “Come on, boys, let’s go make breakfast,” Mary said, pulling away and turning to smile at Sam. “I bet you’d both live some bacon and pancakes.” At that, both boys looked at each other and took off, racing to the kitchen to help their mom make breakfast (Read: watch her and occasionally get ingredients.)
It was Tuesday when he noticed Castiel’s soulmark. Dean was changing in the locker room after gym class, careful to hide his back, when he saw what looked like a handprint on Castiel’s shoulder. He couldn’t see clearly enough to decide whether or not it was actually a handprint, he decided that he’d ask. Not Castiel of course, but his brother Gabriel. The guy sometimes hung around with Dean’s group, so it didn’t seem too weird to ask.
The next time he saw Gabriel was right after the second-to-last class ended. Dean walked up to Gabriel’s locker and tapped him on the shoulder. Gabriel turned around and grinned.
“Hey, Dean-O! Heard you got your soulmarks. What are they?” The shorter guy asked.
“Actually, that’s kind of what I wanted to ask you. Has your brother Castiel gotten any soulmarks?”
Gabriel grinned, “Actually, he got three. In the past month. His face when he saw the last one was priceless. They were huge wings right on his back and-“ the bell cut him off. Dean almost wanted to pull Gabriel back and demand he finish telling about Castiel’s soulmark but he had to get to class.
Dean couldn’t focus at all during last period, almost jumping out of his seat once the bell rang. However, the teacher was still talking, so Dean had to wait until they were dismissed to run out of class. Once he got into the hallway, he looked everywhere for a familiar head of messy, dark hair, but he couldn’t find it. After what seemed like forever looking, Dean gave up and went to his locker. He’d talk to Castiel tomorrow.
Dean’s birthday could not come fast enough. He barely slept that night. All he could think about was the fact that there was a chance that Castiel was his soulmate. Castiel Novak. This could not be real. But it was.
When morning finally came, Dean couldn’t get to school fast enough. After eating his traditional birthday pancakes, he nearly ran out the door. He was only stopped when Sam yelled that he needed to find his notebook. Dean nearly cried in frustration. He needed to get to school, and he needed to get there now. Sam took almost fifteen minutes to find his notebook, and Dean had seriously considered leaving him.
Once they finally got to school, Dean almost ran to the library. It was Castiel’s normal place to hang out. It only took a minute to find him, but Dean nearly ran to his booth when he did.
“Castiel! I need to talk to you!” Dean said once he reached the booth that Castiel was sitting in. Castiel looked up at him, surprise showing in his eyes.
“Dean! Wha- Why? What do we need to speak about?” he replied finally.
“What are your soulmarks?” Dean asked abruptly. He tried not to blush when Castiel knew his name.
“Oh. Um. I have an anti-possession symbol, a handprint and, uh, wings,” he said, sounding confused. “Why?”
“Because I saw one of them in the locker room yesterday and so I asked your brother and he told me about the wings and I have the exact same ones,” Dean explained quickly.
“Wait, what? You have- We have the same soulmarks?” Castiel asked once he understood what Dean had said. The other boy nodded, too excited for words.
“Should we check for names?” Dean asked after a while of just staring at each other.
“Hmm? Oh, yes, I guess so.”
The pulled down their shirt collars to see the marks on their chests. Under Dean’s anti-possession symbol, in Castiel’s neat cursive, were the words Castiel Novak. Underneath Castiel’s mark was Dean Winchester in Dean’s lazy scrawl.
Both boys looked up and grinned at each other.
“What do we do now?” Dean asked.
“Dean Winchester, will you go on a date with me?”
“I’d be honored, Castiel Novak.”
Before Dean could get another word in, Castiel grabbed him by the collar and smashed his lips against Dean’s. Before Dean could react, Castiel had pulled away.
“I cannot wait to do that for the rest of my life,” Castiel breathed.
“Me either.”
Later on, when they talked about that day, Dean would say, “I never thought it would be you. I had had a crush on you since the sixth grade when you when you stood up in front of the whole class and read the story you wrote about the bees in your garden. I’ve been a goner ever since.” And Castiel would say, “Really? I’d never thought you might like me like that. You were so good to your brother and so loyal to your friends, and I was just me. I remember, in sixth grade when you got into a fight with a sophomore because they had taken Sam’s book sack and thrown it in the mud. I think that’s when I started noticing you.” Dean would laugh then and say, “Well, we’re both here now, after all these years. Finally together.” Castiel would kiss Dean on the cheek and say, “Yeah. Finally.” And Dean would peck Castiel on the lips and whisper, “I love you, Cas” and Castiel would whisper back, “I love you, too.”