If someone were to ask Castiel when he started receiving the gifts, he would have been quick to say it had started about a month ago. It was odd to him and he had not been expecting such a strange string of events to take place. He'd begun volunteering inside the school library during his spare period (his final period, actually) and not long after, he started receiving odd little gifts. It was interesting how they all appeared though because they always seemed to suit the conversations he was having with Anna.
Anna was his best friend, someone he'd known since he was a child. Part of him had thought it was her, but after a while, he realized it wasn't. She was too wrapped up with some odd guy who also worked inside the library. His name was Chuck - only thing was, he was a student teacher. He didn't pay much mind to it though, he was too distracted with the assortment of gifts he'd been receiving.
The first gift he had received had been two different CD's he had wanted. One was a classical CD, an arrangement of current popular songs. He had listened to different songs on it and had loved what he heard. He'd always been a sucker for classical music; and the other CD? A Led Zeppelin one; Houses of Holy. When he'd gone to the store to buy it, the last copy had already been bought. He had been frustrated and confused as to who would have bought it before him - but then again, it wasn't like Led Zeppelin was an unknown name.
When he'd come to the library at the start of his final period of the day, he'd entered the library where Chuck had told him that there was a bag waiting for him. Slightly curious, Castiel took the bag in hand and opened it up, only to see both CD's inside the bag. Chuck hadn't been there to see who delivered it, so Castiel never got a chance to find out who had given him the kind gift. He hadn't stopped talking about the nice gesture for two days, telling Anna how he wished he could return the favour to whoever had bought it for him.
Of course, in the midst of all his banter, he had brought up how he had been reading a new author. Well, the author himself was far from new, but to Castiel he was; Kurt Vonnegut. He'd been trying to find the book Cat's Cradle and had been unable to find it. Of course the school library didn't have it and this bothered him, so when he had gone to investigate it at other bookstores, he couldn't find it. He didn't want to buy it, didn't know if he should. And even if he wanted to, he couldn't. He couldn't find a bloody copy of the book anywhere!
And then the following week on Monday, another bag was waiting for him. The book, Cat's Cradle, sat inside in mint condition. Castiel was completely flustered and bewildered, pleading for Anna to just be honest with him. He needed to know if it was her and she swore up and down that it wasn't. This left Castiel's imagination open to explore the many different possibilities of who it could be.
Part of him had still clung to the Anna possibility - but he dropped this because of Chuck. Another side of him thought it was maybe the estranged boy known as Fergus McLoud (who insisted on forcing everyone to call him Crowley). He always seemed to shadow Castiel on the off day, so he couldn't help but to consider it. But then he remembered Fer-Crowley had gone ahead and ended up dating some older boy named Bobby Singer. It was a strange couple - but he had seen weirder.
The next gift he received was something much more simple. Castiel had a routine on Fridays. He liked to get a coffee before coming to the library and volunteering. When he'd stopped by to drop his bag off like he always did, the coffee was already waiting there for him. It was from his favourite place to eat and drink his hot chocolate and/or coffee. And this particular coffee? It was his exact favourite. Half coffee, half hot chocolate and a little bit of milk to cool it off. Taking a sip from it had felt like he was in absolute heaven and all he wanted to do was thank his secret admirer.
He had a plan in motion, one that he had explained to Anna. He would skip his fourth period class so that he could catch whoever it was giving him the gifts. He just wanted to know who it was, wanted to know if it was maybe Balthazar playing a practical joke on him. Or maybe it was Rachel. That girl had been obsessed with him for so long; though Anna said she was sure it wasn't her and had brought up a valid point on why. Rachel liked to leave love letters with her gifts - this person wasn't.
So who could it have possibly been?
His trail had ended on a cold note, especially when he had received a burned CD of random classic rock songs. He had not been expecting it, but it had gone perfectly with the Led Zeppelin CD. And as he prepared his little excursion into the world of skipping (something he had never done before), something dawned on him. It was this small little bump in the road he had never even thought about until now. He chuckled quietly as he entered the library, moving to an empty table away from the doors so he could watch them.
He wondered if there would be a new bag today, his mind replaying the different things he had mentioned this week. But the one thought he kept focusing on was the boy he had met only a few weeks prior. He remembered having a very brief conversation with him, finding out that he liked classic rock and drove around his dad's impala. A classic car, one that Castiel knew nothing about. He remembered the freckles on his face and the way he got this drawl when he spoke. It was cute.
All the music on the burned CD ranging from AC/DC to Boston to ASIA only made him think it was this particular boy. He was quiet, holding his book in his hand as he waited for the culprit behind all his small gifts. It had to be this boy though, Dean Winchester. He remembered him quite well, remembered his gorgeous eyes. He didn't think it was strange he could remember that after only meeting him that once. He knew he was because Dean was quite popular around their school.
Every time the doors opened up, Castiel would lift his head from the Kurt Vonnegut novel, wondering if it was the culprit. He was almost ready to give up, sick of waiting to see if anyone came. Grabbing his bag and the novel from the table, he heard the doors open up again and he stood there, watching.
Dean Winchester walked in, his school bag in front of him as he pulled a bag from it. Grinning, Castiel started forward before stopping dead in his tracks. Okay, so it was Dean Winchester. What the heck was he supposed to say now? 'Oh hey, you're the guy who's been leaving me gifts! YEAH YOU! Thanks a lot for that! Any reason why? Oh, you like me. Well, I fancy you too. Let's be mates and stuff and go on a date or something.' That just sounded stupid inside his head.
When Dean turned around, he spotted Castiel staring at him and the both of them were frozen. Castiel had thought he had moved out of sight (no, he'd been too busy staring at Dean's back) and as they both stared at each other, his ears started to go red. He stepped forward, giving Dean small nod, "Dean, right?" his voice was small and it was nervous as the boy before him nodded in return.
"Yeah, Dean Winchester's m' name," Castiel couldn't help but to smile as he listened to the small drawl he always seemed to have. He was speechless though as he glance to the bag and then back at Dean, "Oh, the bags.." he watched him fall quiet, eyes not leaving his own. Castiel could have sworn they were staring at each other for ages before Dean finally spoke again, "Sock monkey hat. You mentioned it t'-"
"To Anna, I know," he had mentioned it purposely, wondering if his personal stalker would get it for him. And Dean had, which he was more than okay with, "Why all the gifts though? I mean, they are so kind of you and you've been quiet about it. Why the anonymity?"
Dean shrugged, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, "I like you. Simple as that." Castiel flushed brighter, nodding his head as he looked down at his feet. He wasn't used to the kind of attention Dean had given him and he liked it. He liked having someone buy him anonymous gifts - but to know it was him? It made it a lot better for reason, "Would you.. would you like t' maybe go out sometime?"
Castiel finally looked up, watching as Dean ran his tongue over his bottom lip. The chill that ran down his back was indescribable as the bell rang for fourth period to end, "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot." The boy before him bit down on his own lip and stepped forward, reaching over and gently taking Castiel's hand in his own. Looking to their hands, he was silent for a moment before looking back to Dean, "Thank you."
