A/N: This is my birthday present to my lovely little sister! High school AU of Supernatural in which Sam and Dean are a year apart for practical reasons. (Hopefully) cute little Destiel one-shot. Happy birthday, sister!
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…
It is in fact someone's birthday. It is January twenty-fourth, just a couple weeks after winter break and one week after the end of finals. Castiel, the victim of a father who was into rare names, stands at the entrance to Brook River K-12 School in Palmyra, Wisconsin. Castiel's older brothers are all early or late, including Luc (pronounced Loose) and Gabe. He's the only one on time
Cas walks to his locker and dumps the piles of books. He's working up the courage to confess a certain something to a certain someone. There is a note in his hand and butterflies in his stomach. After school, he promises himself. Not lunch, when everyone's watching. After school.
"Cas!" Sam calls just before precalculus. Sam's a year ahead in math. "Cas. Have you seen Dean?"
"No," Cas answers stiffly. He has not seen Sam's brother since yesterday, when Cas went to Dean's track meet just to see Dean run.
"Oh. Cuz I made him a card. You know, just something nice? Because Dad's gone…"
Cas nods. He walks into precalculus with a nervous heart and an even more nervous stomach.
All three of them have fifth period lunch. Cas does not sit with his brothers and sisters at lunch, and they do not sit with each other. Anna stops by sometimes, and so does Meta. But usually, it's Sam, Dean, and Cas. And sometimes a jerk who enjoys throwing grapes at them.
"Happy birthday, Dean," Sam says, handing Dean a shoddily made card.
"Thanks, Sammy. What a considerate piece of crap."
Sam rolls his eyes and shifts his weight backwards. "You know, we should all sing."
"No. No way," Dean says.
"Yes way," Sam insists, smiling mischievously. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU…"
Cas joins in, but much quieter. He's hardly ever sung the birthday song before. "Happy birthday dear De-ean."
By this time, the whole cafeteria is singing. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
Dean's face turns a possibly dangerous shade of scarlet. "What the hell, Sammy? You know I hate that!"
"I do," Sam says. "Happy birthday."
"Dean," Cas says, before he loses his confidence. Dean's humiliation has opened a brief window in which Sam and Dean won't be arguing.
"Yeah, Cas?"
"Can you meet me after school near the children's playground?"
"Sure, Cas. What's up?"
"I will tell you then."
Dean gives Cas a slightly befuddled look, but shrugs and continues to eat his way through a hamburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. Sam has a chicken salad and two cartons of milk; Cas himself does not usually eat lunch.
"Have a fry," Dean says, handing Cas a fried piece of potato. "You're gonna waste away to nothing."
"I'm not hungry," Cas says, and it's not a lie. He's honestly just not hungry a lot. He's hardly ever sleepy, either. Just a quirk of nature, he supposes.
The day passes slowly; it is winter and everything is moving more slowly, as if the cold air is some sort of slow paralytic. Cas is nervous enough. He nearly forgot his favorite trench coat today, and his school uniform is messy and the tie is on backwards. On the other hand, that's partially because no matter how hard he tries, Cas cannot tie his tie properly. Or run the washing machine in the basement.
Crowley sneers at Cas in the hallways and Cas ignores the bully. Crowley is not worth his time. Cas proceeds to his locker and, once again, dumps everything he doesn't need. He checks his supplies for homework: history notebook, math notebook, Latin folder, book for English. Pencil case, calculator, cell phone that Cas is impressively bad at using. And a card carefully made of construction paper, a green pen, and a printer. And Gabe's laptop, but Cas's older brother wasn't supposed to know about that.
Cas walks out to the playground slowly, trench coat on his shoulders and backpack flung over his back and card concealed in his hand. Dean is already waiting there. Sam is talking to a boy and a girl who he believes are in the engineering club on the other side of the schoolyard. This is his chance.
"Happy birthday, Dean," Cas says timidly, thrusting the card at his friend.
Dean takes the card, smiles approvingly at the cover (which contains a generic birthday greeting), and opens the folded construction paper. Will you be my boyfriend? is written there in the best cursive Cas could muster, alongside a picture of roses, because Cas could not find a flower store he could afford.
"Cas?" Dean says. "Do you mean this?"
"Y-Yes?" Cas stammers. He's never been this anxious in his life.
"Really, really?"
"Really, really," Cas nods frantically.
Dean grabs Cas's backward tie and kisses him full on the lips, with absolutely no warning whatsoever. Cas goes completely limp, as is his reflex when faced with something like this. What is he supposed to do? He's never kissed anyone before, despite being nearly seventeen. But it is like sparks snapping under his skin and Dean's lips are strangely soft for such an (occasionally) outwardly opposite-of-soft personality. So Cas kisses back and hopes he's doing it right.
Dean eventually lets go of Cas's tie and Cas stands there with his mouth gaping, teetering just a bit.
"Dude, are you gonna pass out?" Dean asks with concern.
Cas manages a shake of his head.
Sam waves from the other side of the schoolyard. "Gotta go," Dean says. He's a few feet away when he turns back to a stunned Cas and winks. "By the way, the answer is yes."