He often found himself in the library. The quiet spaces on the 4th floor were tailor made just for him. No one seemed to feel the need to drag their work up there. The walls on the one side were lined with doors leading to quiet study rooms. The center was a mix of book racks and tables. If one had a mind to, one could easily find a space that would prevent social interaction for an entire day.
Cas lived in one of the loudest halls dorms on campus. He had learned early on that the only way to accomplish anything even remotely educational, he would have to leave. The library became his refuge, his little slice of paradise. It wasn't even that he needed to study so much. Sometimes he just wanted to avoid people, be in his own head for a bit. And so it was that Cas woke up bright and early on April Fool's Day, hoping to avoid all people for 24 hours. He managed to get out of bed without waking his roommate, a guy named Kevin, who was way more studious than he had ever been. He was glad that he slept though, because he believed that Kevin would find some way to create havoc for fun's sake.
Before leaving he peered out the window at the spring time tableau. The hills around the campus were rolling green and the light rain was seeming to brighten the colors of the world around him. It's funny to sequester one's self on such a beautiful day. Too bad it can't be helped. He pulled on a brown trenchcoat that had been laying on the back of the chair and toed on his shoes. He quietly closed the door behind him as he edged out into the hall.
It was quiet and empty. Yay, I have beaten them all. Cas smiled at the thought, but too soon. The door to his neighbor's room opened and out walked Dean. His golden, brown hair flattened out on the side in a patch that likely was molded by his pillow. Tell-tale creases traced the side of his face, showing that sleep was not a distant memory. He looked at Cas standing there, stupidly still. Dean was gorgeous, and Cas was struck by it again, as if he were seeing art that must be studied up close and with great attention to the finest details.
Dean just smirked, "See something you like?" He stretched out his arms overhead and laughed. His shirtless torso was now all that Cas could stare at.
Cas came to his senses and suddenly felt very awkward. "Um, excuse me." He pushed past him and made a beeline out the door.
"Hey, sorry. I was just being funny." Dean started to follow him, but Cas just strode right on out. It was difficult for Cas to even talk with Dean when he was fully clothed. He wondered if this man could even begin to know what effect he was having on Cas. It was half the reason that he had chosen to make the library his home today. Dean was a joker, the kind of guy that would swap out your shampoo for hair removal creme in the name of a chuckle. Dean's roommate had suffered for it, but he was the kind of guy that thought that it was funny too, and he had escalated the drama until the whole hall was engaged in a merry war of one-up-man ship. That was last year, and Cas had no desire to see a repeat.
He plunked down his backpack and laptop on a table near a corner of the 4th floor. He had snuck in a cup of coffee. This floor was supposed to be food and drink free. He didn't want to have to leave though, so he broke the rule quite consciously. After reading his econ. textbook, then his comparative lit textbook, Cas had grown bored. He had known that he would. He pulled out his laptop and connected to the library's wifi.
Nothing like trolling his tumbr dashboard to kill a few hours. The top of his dash had something that wasn't a part of his fandom. Executive Suite 2016. Without thinking he clicked it. "Shit, shit, shit." Everything changed. His icons became stupid. There was a copy machine hovering in the corner like some sort of stupid blast to his late 90′s word processor past. "God damn it." He pushed back from the desk and stared. He had thought that this would be a boredom escape, not a thrust back into irritation land.
It was then that he heard the voice. "So, you clicked it too?" Dean had slipped into the empty space behind his desk and was peering over at his screen. Cas quickly slapped the lid down and turned more fully to stare at him.
"What are you doing here?" Cas sounded harsh. He didn't want to sound harsh. Shit, this day is stupid.
"Well, hello to you too." Dean turned to go, but Cas got up and stopped him with a hand to his arm.
"Sorry. I was just surprised." The irritation that had briefly flirted with Dean's features fell away as he glanced down at Cas' hand on his arm. Cas let him go.
"Sorry, I was being nosy. I just heard you swearing away over there and I had to see what sort of thing it was that got the very reserved Cas Novak to lose the stick up his ass." Dean smiled as he said it, but something about it still made Cas squirm uncomfortably.
"I don't have a stick up my ass." Feeble. Stupid. Why do I even try to talk to this man. End it quickly before it gets worse. Instead, Dean laughed. It was an infectious laugh. It rolled out from his belly and seemed to echo through the too quiet room. If someone else had been there they would have been shushed, but no one was.
"Okay, Cas." He turned to go again. "I'll leave you to your studying. Enjoy that little Tumblr add-on." This time, Cas let him go. He returned to his computer, but occasionally he would glance around to see that Dean had not gone far. He had a spot on the other wall, looking out at the main quad.
Cas opened his browser to Tumblr again, thinking that maybe he just needed to shut it down and then restart it. That did not work. He did gain a follower though. Impala67. "Shit." This was becoming his mantra for the day. He clicked the profile name and trolled through his feed, mostly Dr. Sexy reblogs and some posts about a Spanish language program that he did not watch. He scrolled more and found some stories posted. He clicked them and read. He did his best to ignore the ugly little icons, and the invasive, stupid copier that wanted to comment on his every blessed action.
Dean had an Impala. A '67 Impala to be exact. Cas had admired it once, when Dean was out working on it. He loved his car. Cas had also admired the man working on it during the too hot October night last fall. He wondered sometimes if Dean knew the effect that he had, when just doing simple things. It had gotten to the point that Cas couldn't even look at him without the rush of a blush spreading up to his face. He often would try to avoid him. He viewed Dean as unattainable, so why torment himself. But sometimes avoidance did not work out, and torment became the thing. This moment was one of those torment moments.
Before he fully processed what he was doing, he clicked the follow button for Impala67. The damn copy machine had a comment for that too. A few minutes later, Dean was back. "So, uh, you watch Dr. Sexy?"
Cas tried to look calm, but knew that he was showing just how flustered he was when he stuttered out an answer. "Oh, uh, well, uh, yeah. You?"
"Clearly. You did follow me just now. Half of my dash is that damn show. I could earn a PhD and be a doctor myself if I would throw all of my viewing time at books instead. You know, be my own Dr. Sexy." He laughed and Cas laughed at him too. Cheesy. Super cheesy. Or was it flirting. No, shut-up, Cas.
"You can't just work all the time." Cas felt lame, but apparently the words were enough to get Dean to stay. He pulled a chair over and straddled it at Cas' side.
"Truer words have never been spoken. I just can't believe that they came from you." He laughed again. "So, you want me to fix your little Tumblr problem there?" The smile he threw at Cas made his stomach flip around a little.
"I think that I am stuck with it 'till tomorrow. It is just an April Fool's Day joke. And here I thought that I would avoid all of that by coming here. Last year was..." He stopped, realizing that his words might seem critical to Dean, the perpetrator of last year's pranks.
"I know. Last year was a bit much. I figured I would hide out today, so that the vengeance cycle would end. I am sure that a bunch of the guys have been planning their acts against me for the past year. Well, jokes on them. I won't be there." He smiled, genuine and warm. Cas grinned back, then felt like he maybe needed to dial it down. "I really can fix your dashboard if you want." Dean nodded to the computer. Cas reached out and pushed it to him.
"Go for it, I guess."
Dean clicked around a bit and Cas had trouble following. "Yeah, I totally did this too. Curiosity, am I right?" Cas was barely paying attention though. God, he has nice hands. He has nice everything. Shut it, Cas.
"Uh, yeah." He realized then that Dean was waiting for a response, but he didn't hear the question. Best to just agree.
"Awesome. Then I'll get the tickets later tonight. Seriously, Cas you've not lived until you've seen female mud-wrestling." Cas' jaw dropped.
"Uh, what?"
Dean laughed at him. "God, hanging with you might be the best April Fool's Day, I've ever had."
"Mud wrestling?" Cas could feel his stomach twist up. A day of Dean Winchester in close proximity was appealing, but watching the most sexist form of entertainment while doing so, seemed like no bueno to him.
"Yeah, it'll be fun." Dean was still grinning ear to ear.
"I fear that I may have agreed to your plan without actually hearing it first. I might need to, uh, retract my agreement."
"Do you always talk like that? So formal."
"I do." Cas tried not to stare too long this time at Dean as he stretched out in his seat, cracking his back as he did so. Instead he turned to the window.
"You do know that I was joking, right?" Cas turned back to Dean then.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, you weren't listening, so I just threw in a little mud wresting to see what you would do."
Dean looked smug and confident. The smirk on his face, the crinkle at the edges of his eyes, made Cas want to move, to erase that look with action. He didn't, though. Instead he went with insult, "Assbutt."
Dean laughed at him again. The 4th floor had not known so much laughter. "That was funny. Assbutt? Seriously, I've been missing out. Shoulda been hanging out with you all year."
"You would likely have grown bored. I am not always this entertaining." Cas found his hands the most interesting thing in the world then. He couldn't look at Dean, so hands became the focus. Dean's good-natured chuckle drew his eyes back though, as did Dean's hand on his arm.
He's touching me. Oh, God. Step one: don't fucking panic. Step two: don't fucking panic. He could feel his heart racing and he was certain that his pulse was slamming a fist into the underside of Dean's hand, still there. It's been five blessed seconds. Still there.
"Pretty sure I wouldn't." Oh no. I don't remember what I said. What is he replying to? I need to listen better. These are precious words. They are likely going to be the only conversation that we will ever have. I am making an ass out of myself and he is not going to seek this out in the future. Damnit.
"Pretty sure you wouldn't what?"
"Get bored." He paused then continued, "With you." Then Dean leaned toward him. Shit, is he leaning toward me? He's leaning toward me. Why is he leaning toward me. Is he going to kiss me? No, he isn't; he isn't into me. He's still leaning. He's resting his elbow on the table in my space. Cas looked down at his arm and saw that Dean was still touching him there. Then the quiet moment was interrupted by the sound of music pouring out throughout the library.
Why does the rain fall from above...Why do fools fall in love? The library was even getting in on the April Fool's Day bandwagon. Dean didn't move away though. In fact he seemed to find the song inspiring. He pulled Cas up from his seat. "What are you doing?" Cas found his words again.
"Dancing with you." He moved Cas away from the table and spun him out and then back to him. Cas wasn't sure that he could control his arms and legs anymore himself, so he let Dean do the moving for him. The song was not fast enough for a repeat of the swirl move, so Dean pulled Cas to his chest, singing as he did so. Dean raised his voice into a high, too high, falsetto. It was Cas' turn to laugh now.
"You are not what I thought."
"Really, what did you think of me?"
"I'd rather not say. I'm pleased though." And he was. Cas smiled up into Dean's face. And Dean slowed up even more in his moves. He leaned down just a little and pressed a kiss to Cas' lips. It was light and quick, a test to see if Cas would like it. "Quite pleased, actually."
"Good." Then, instead of kissing him right away again, Dean sang out the last lines of the song as they blasted out into the 4th floor of the library "Tell me why, why, why...Why do fools fall in love?" And Cas grinned up at him until the song ended and they could start a new one that was quieter and involved more kissing.