I wrote kid!fic! Why, you ask? Because it's freaking adorable and I can. This is the start to a larger verse, which shall from here on out be dubbed the When You Were Young!verse. The continuation will be its own fic though, and it will involve a massive time jump. I'm not saying other kid scenes won't happen in the continuation, but it will not be pure kid!fic fluff like this. But I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, because it was an absolute joy to write. I kept squeeing to my beta as I was jotting it down lol. Speaking of!
Thank you to my beta PharoComics for the fantastic job she always does!
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. I would be too tempted to write more schmoopy scenes like this if I did.
Never tell his dad, but Dean really likes playing make-believe with Charlie from down the street. They have epic adventures that leave their small little town in Kansas far behind, where Charlie is a queen and Dean is her knight (and there had been that one time Charlie made him be her handmaiden, and while he'd wrinkled his nose and complained, he hadn't actually minded it too much). And it never hurt that they were adventures far from his new, crying baby brother (not that he hates him, except maybe he kind of does).
But John is starting to get impatient, citing worries that Dean is going to become some kind of sissy boy if he continues to only have the one girl as a friend. And Mary is far too tired to argue (and for that, Dean blames Sam because he really never does stop crying). But the last thing Dean wants to do is disappoint his father, so he takes it upon himself to find a new friend, one that's a boy and his father will like.
When he tells Charlie of his plan, she turns it into another quest. They aren't looking for a friend, she says, but a prince instead. And so they venture far from the castle (Charlie's backyard) to the enchanted woods (the local park), and Dean finds it's much more fun this way. But then again, it's always more fun with Charlie.
Their quest is a bust. They find plenty of peasants, and even one evil sorcerer that they try to vanquish (Alistair from next door, two years older than them and nothing but a bully), but no prince.
When they return to Charlie's, they are both in trouble for wandering off (Charlie makes it no better by accusing her parents of crimes against the Throne when they send her to her room), and Dean is personally escorted home by Mrs. Bradbury so she can make sure his parents know what he did. And yet again, Charlie makes it no better by yelling after him to be brave and protect the kingdom from the traitors until the end (sometimes she takes the make-believe thing a little too seriously).
As it turns out, Mary is already well-aware of their little adventure to the park, having heard about their fight with Alistair from his mom. Dean isn't allowed out of the house for two weeks, which he, personally, thinks is a little overboard, but he likes living, so he never says as much to his dad. But really, how is he ever supposed to find a new friend under these conditions?
When Dean is finally released from house arrest, Charlie is on vacation with her family, so Dean is still left to play by himself. He wants to tell his dad that if he'd never been punished he could have already found a new friend to be playing with, but yet again, he still likes living, so he doesn't.
Four days into Charlie's vacation and sixteen days into Dean's isolation-induced madness, Dean finally gets the opportunity to continue the quest for a prince.
It's the middle of the week, so it's just Mary and the two boys until 5:30. Sam is being particularly vocal and fussy, so Dean takes the opportunity to endlessly pester his mother about the park until, finally, in complete exasperation, she shouts, "Yes! Fine! Just go!" Sammy starts crying even louder at her yelling, but Dean bolts out the door too quickly to even care. Besides, that's his mother's problem, not his.
The park is mostly empty due to it being the end of summer. Most families are getting in their last trip of the season. Still, there are a couple of other children milling around, but Dean already knows most of them, and he already knows he doesn't like them. So, he ambles through the park aimlessly because it's still better than being at home.
There's some monkey bars at the back of the park, but hardly anyone plays on them anymore since they put in the new jungle gym last year. Dean heads to them anyway because, as much as he wants a new friend, he knows he doesn't want it to be any of the kids he's already seen. He'd much rather be all on his own.
But as it turns out, there actually is someone at the old monkey bars, and, as luck would have it, it's a kid Dean's never seen before. At the top of the monkey bars sits a small boy with clothes too big for him, a messy mop of black hair, and the brightest blue eyes Dean has ever seen (even bluer than Sammy's when they brought him home from the hospital). If this kid isn't a prince, Dean certainly doesn't know who is, so he quickly scrambles up the bars to sit next to him.
The boy doesn't acknowledge Dean at all, still just watching his feet as they kick back and forth. But Dean is nothing if not persistent.
So, he lifts himself over to sit in front of the boy, jostling their legs together until the boy finally looks up at him with impossibly wide blue eyes. Dean flashes him a wide grin.
"Hey! I'm Dean!" he says, extending his hand out . The other boy just glances at it quizzically.
Dean's smile deflates some, and when the boy looks back up at him, his brow is drawn together in confusion.
"What's your name?" Dean prompts, hand falling back to his side.
The boy stares at him a little longer, head tilted to the side, looking kind of like the puppy Jo had insisted Uncle Bobby get for her, before answering, "Castiel."
This time it's Dean's turn to look confused. It's an odd name, and feels a little beyond his four year old capabilities, so he says, "It's cool if I call you 'Cas,' right?"
Castiel looks a little startled, but nods slowly. Dean's grin boosts back up to full power.
"Awesome!" he says as he hops back over to beside Castiel, swinging an arm around his tiny shoulders. "So! You and I are friends now." And he really hopes just saying it makes it true because he's not sure what else to do. He's never had any other friends besides Charlie, but they've been together since they were babies, so it doesn't really count.
It seems to work, though, because Cas gives him the smallest of smiles in return. But as small as it is, it lights up his eyes brighter than Christmas, and it sends butterflies fluttering through Dean's stomach, giving him a giddy rush from his head down to his toes.
That night at dinner, he excitedly tells his parents about his new friend and begs to be allowed to go to the park tomorrow so he can see him again. Delighted by their son's enthusiasm, they agree. And for the next few days while Charlie is gone, Dean meets Castiel every day at the monkey bars and teaches him how to properly play make-believe.
When Charlie returns, Dean runs to her house first thing, bursting at the seams to tell her about how he'd finally found their prince. She, of course, demands to be taken to him. They plead with Charlie's mom to let them go to the park, turning two sets of full-blown puppy dog eyes on her. With a tired sigh and an amused shake of her head, she agrees. They both run double-time to the far end of the park.
And as always, there's Cas, sitting on top of the monkey bars, idly swinging his legs back and forth. Charlie lets out a small gasp of amazement, while Dean beams proudly.
When Charlie finally gets over her stupor, she leans over and whispers, "Dean, that's not a prince. You found an angel."