It was a cool Autumn day, when this all began. Cries of five year olds begging their parents to stay, even though they had to be at work in a half hour.
Dean walked in the classroom, freckles dotting at his flushed, damp cheeks. The redness of his eyes almost made his green eyes greener. If that was possible.
Mary kisses her son's forehead, saying a sweet goodbye before leaving to go to work.
Dean sniffled and rubbed his eyes, looking down at the bright yellow table that was stained with paint and crayons. Dean found himself wondering if said table was older than him.
"Hi…" Came a shy voice. Dean lifted his eyes to be met with bright blue ones. "I-I'm Castiel…"
Dean wiped his cheeks. "I'm Dean…" He mumbled quietly to the smaller boy.
"What are you crying for?" Castiel asked, curiosity getting the best of the dark haired boy.
Dean looked down at the colorful floor, padded with foam puzzle pieces. "I miss my mommy…" the green eyed boy replied. "Don't you miss yours?" He asked.
Castiel tilted his head. "I don't have a mama…she went away a long time ago…" He answered calmly.
"How come? Where'd she go?" Dean asked.
Castiel shrugged. "My father said she went away for a while. Wanna play with me?" He asked, playing with his hands. His eyes were planted on his feet, shuffling them shyly.
Dean smiled. "Yeah. Let's play! C'mon, Cas!" He grinned, grabbing the messy haired boys hand, pulling him towards the toys. "We can be friends, right?"
Castiel smiled shyly at the green eyed boy. "Yeah, forever." He said, playing with the sleeve of his coat.
"You pinkie swear?" Dean held out his fist with his pinkie extended out.
Castiel wrapped his pinkie around his new friends. "I pinkie swear."
And that was the start of a beautiful friendship. Or so they thought.
Twelve years later…
Castiel sat on Dean's bed, textbook open and papers scattered everywhere.
"I don't know, man. Look at all this paper. How many trees do you think were slaughtered just so we can write stupid shit all over them?" Dean grumbled, tapping his pencil on the edge of the book.
"Dean, that's a…disturbing outlook on the over-harvesting of trees to create paper." Castiel sighed. "I'm unsure of the exact amount of trees cut down per year, but I must conclude it's a rather large sum." He added.
Dean hummed in response. "Do you know what number eight is?" He asked.
Castiel checked over his own page. "It's seventy-two…I think." Castiel answered, chewing on the pencils eraser.
Dean nodded, scribbling the answer down quickly. "I'm takin' Lisa to prom…" He sighed.
"You seem upset about it…" Castiel stared cautiously. Lisa was a nice girl, but Dean and her just didn't seem to match. Dean loved to work on cars and talked about wanting to work as a firefighter, while Lisa wanted to have a family with a father who had a more set schedule. They were only seventeen, but Castiel still knew that they wanted different things. Sometimes, Lisa could be quite frivolous with her wants though.
"She wants a limo and to go out to eat at this five star restaurant. My mom said I can, but I don't know. I'm savin' up, Cas. Money's tight and Sammy plans on going to law school. I ain't paying hundreds of dollars for some weird ass fancy food." Dean ranted, rolling his eyes.
Castiel frowned. He listened as Dean ranted more. He always believed Lisa was a nice girl. He had to. She was Dean's girlfriend and he was Dean's best friend. That's it. That's life.
This had happened a lot. Dean lived next door, their windows faced each other. Cliché? Very. Dean would toss something at the thin glass, Castiels father has payed for at least seven new windows due to the freckled face boy next door. Dean would sit on the ledge, despite Castiels constant requests for him to remain inside so he doesn't fall. He never listens anyway.
Many nights, Castiel would sit with his elbow on the window sill and his chin rested on his hand. They'd talk as they gazed at the stars. The stars were hardly a distraction from the green of Deans eyes, especially the way they shined in the moonlight. Or the way they'd light up when he spoke of his ambitions.
Castiel could listen to him forever. He could tell when Dean was upset just by looking in his beautiful green eyes. Oh what he would to be able to just- no. Dean was happy with Lisa. Mostly happy. Castiel took a deep breath to try and steady his thoughts.
"Cas? You alright?" He heard a concerned voice ask him. Dean.
Cas pushes away the thought of being honest. That was a stupid idea, Dean taught him that people lie to get what they want. Bad lesson, but it works out in this situation. Lie that you're okay, keep your best friend of twelve years. "Yes. Of course." He replied in his calm manner.
Dean grinned slightly. "Are you takin' Meg?" He asked the blue eyed teen.
"I'm not going." Castiel said quietly. Meg was a girl at school. Yet again, nice girl. She has a crush on him, but unfortunately for her, it's unrequited. She was a nice girl, just not what Castiel wanted. God knows what Castiel wanted.
"C'mon, Man! You gotta come! It won't be fun without you!" Dean grinned, patting him on the shoulder.
Castiel sighed. He can never say no to him. It's a bad habit and frankly, gets him in trouble quite a lot. A small smile spread across his features. "Alright.. I'll go, but I'm not taking a date." He said, before the bright smile Dean gave him melted him from the inside, out.
That night they laid in Dean backyard, watching the stars and talking about exaggerated futures they wanted.
Truth be told, Dean was the only thing Castiel could ever want. But that was his exaggerated future. But, hey. Who's to say he can't dream?