Rise up, gather round, rock this place to the ground
Burn it up, let's go for broke, watch this night go up in smoke

The first time Dean met Castiel was the morning after he'd moved into his halls. He'd gotten there late the night before after his car had broken down and delayed him by 6 hours. He'd managed to beg the key off the on call night manager who'd glared daggers and promised to make Dean's life a living hell for the next year at least.

His room mate had been out when Dean had let himself in at 11.40 pm and Dean had been too exhausted to stay up. So when he opened his blurry eyes the next morning and rubbed the sleep away the first time he saw his room mate was a shock.

Cas was lain out on his back, naked and breathing softly. Dean had always known his sexuality was fluid, in that he liked girls but he wasn't sure he liked them as much as he should do. Seeing the man so blatantly made his cheeks heat. The rustle of his bed must have woken him as he turned his messy head towards Dean and opened stunningly blue eyes.

"Morning."

"Yeah hey morning," Dean answered trying to keep his eyes off the man.

His room mate surveyed him for a long moment. "Oh right I'm not dressed." He heard a rustle and assumed his room mate was getting dressed. When he snuck a peak though he'd just rolled over exposing a perfect ass and back dimples. Dean decided back dimples were his new favourite thing.

Dean thought about introducing himself but it seemed strange to exchange names with a naked man.

With a heavy sigh the man pushed himself upright legs spinning to fall off the side of the bed opposite Dean. "I suppose I should get up. My name's Castiel."

"Dean."

Castiel considered him for a moment and once more noticed his averted eyes. "Right clothes." He pulled on a pair of boxers over sun kissed skin but left them hanging low. Dean supposed it was the most relief he'd get.

"You got something against them?" Dean asked meaning it to be a joke.

"Not really, they've just never been exactly necessary before.

Now Dean laughed in earnest. "How is that possible?"

Cas blinked and scratched his morning stubble. "I've been living in Brazil for the past two years. There was nobody there to care if I wore clothes or not."

"Still weren't there bugs and stuff?"

Cas shrugged. "I spent a long time on my mosquito netting."

Dean shrugged in return, an agreement almost with the strange man.

"So what were you doing out in Brazil?"

Cas didn't look much older than Dean, perhaps 23 to Dean's 21. Dean had held back off college till he was sure his baby brother would be all right and looked after back home so he was a mature-ish entry. He didn't let it bother him too much, he had a good excuse.

"It was for my PhD," Cas said as he rooted around in the mess of his exploded duffel for something more to wear, just a hint of crack over the top of his low slung boxers. Dean swallowed.

"Wait how old even are you?"

"22," Cas confirmed. "I've been in advanced placement since I was 6 years old."

"Cool." Dean had always wanted to be super smart, he got by with hard work and sports scholarships but never with the ease Sam and obviously Cas had. "In Brazil?"

"My dad's charity was sending some people over and I decided to stay, much to my guardians chagrin."

"Alone?"

Cas shrugged once more. Dean got the thought that talking wasn't easy for the man. After two years of solitude it shouldn't be a surprise. His lack of social norms would attest to that. "Pretty much."

Dean was having to work harder at this conversation than he could ever remember. He was close to just giving up and catching a few more minutes sleep when Cas spoke unrequested.

"What are you doing this week?"

It was Dean's turn to shrug as he lay back against his sheets. "Dunno. I got in late last night and just crashed. I haven't even had a look at the campus yet."

"Register and meet me at four. Don't unpack."

With that Cas left for the shower dropping his boxers on the way to the door. Dean groaned.

Don't unpack apparently meant road trip as when Dean got back from registration he found Cas loading his bags into the back of his jeep.

"We going somewhere?"

"Yes."

"Um that would be the point where you tell me where?"

Cas rolled his eyes. "Not yet." He slammed down the back hatch and jumped in the front. Dean followed unsure what else to do.

"Do you even know?" Dean asked when they'd been driving for a while.

A big grin spread across Cas's face. "Just driving."

And Dean suddenly felt a whole lot more comfortable.

They made it back in time for Dean's first training session. It had been a curiously quiet trip. Cas didn't speak much but it didn't really matter. Dean felt oddly comfortable with his room mate. Except for those times that Cas forgot clothes. Then he felt increasingly uncomfortable. Mainly because the more Cas wandered around naked the more Dean found himself looking. Soon he'd be openly leering.

Practice ran late and after a lazy summer it shattered him. Dean didn't stop for a shower rather dragged his feet all the way back to the door and dorm and fell onto his bed after peeling his sweaty shirt off.

He must have drifted off as he woke with a start to a damp t-shirt being dumped on his chest.

"I thought we had a clothes rule," Cas said grimly.

"Well you break it so damn often."

"Touché."

Cas kept his clothes on after that. Dean actually found himself disappointed. The sexual frustration was pretty much constant anyway so why not get a little reward.

Besides Cas didn't wear clothes well. He had terrible fashion sense, even Dean could tell that. Whereas Dean was pretty set on jeans and tees Cas would wear whatever was first on the rack.

The day he put on cargo pants with a shirt and waistcoat was the day Dean sighed, "Fine I take back the no-no-clothes rule, you win. I can't take it any more. A three-piece with cargoes, you're insane."

Cas blinked at him and straightened the waistcoat. That he wore well. It showed off the slender lines of his body and the width of his shoulders. Dean groaned inwardly.

"If I'm naked then I expect you to be naked too," he replied and Dean almost choked.

Not that Dean saw Cas for a week after that. He disappeared from the campus, his car gone, none of his clothes missing.

Dean started to worry when one week turned into two. He covered for Cas with his lecturers, ringing to tell the university that Cas had a particularly bad flu and was unrousable 20 hours a day.

When Cas did return though it was obvious he hadn't been sick. He was sun kissed, skin a beautifully burnt gold, hair perhaps lighter than before, still dark but shining with brass hints.

He dropped his case. A new case, Dean noted.

"Where have you been?"

Cas blinked at him. "The Ivory Coast."

"What? You just up and left for 2 weeks. To Africa!"

"Oh I'm sorry, I should have invited you."

"What? No. Hold up. I had classes. You had classes."

Cas shrugged. "I have 2 degrees, a masters and a PhD. I'm here because I wanted to try the normal college life." He fell onto his bed spread eagle. "It's not as interesting as I'd thought it would be. The Cote d'Ivoire though is. Dean next time you're coming."

Dean decided to just nod and cross that bridge when it came to it.

"I covered with your lecturers."

"Oh thanks." He didn't sound very thankful, but it was Cas after all.

"You've had the flu," Dean told him thinking how impossible that was to believe when Cas looked so good.

"Flu really works for me," Cas beamed cocking his head to look at his tan appreciatively. "You want to catch my flu?"

Dean's head spun. "Excuse me?"

"I'm bored already. We should go to Cambodia. My dad just brought a holiday home over there."

Dean supposed the holiday home was three times the size of the house he grew up in.

"What does your dad do anyway?"

"He's a televangelist," Cas shrugged on the bed. "But he made his fortune in travel development. He found these idyllic little places and turned them into the hottest tourist traps." He shut his eyes. "It's kinda sad really. The little corner of Brazil I lived in for a year is probably now a spa. And to think I did my thesis of geoconservation. Not to mention all the conservation charities my dad supports as part of his cover." He laughed without humour.

Dean wasn't quite sure what Cas was getting at, it all seemed overly hypocritical to him.

Cas already had his phone out. "Hello. My name is Castiel Novak. Yes I'd like to call in sick on behalf of my room mate. I've had the flu for the past 2 weeks and he's now caught it. Yes. It is such a shame isn't it. I myself will also be absent. I do not want to remain here where I may get ill again so I will be returning home for 2 weeks. I am aware that's not really a reason but my health comes first and it is a particularly bad flu. Thank you. Goodbye."

He hung up and Dean felt his jaw drop. He couldn't believe his room mate had just done that.

"Cas are you crazy?"

"You are now free for 2 weeks. Don't pack more than hand luggage, we can buy what we need over there."

Apparently that settled it.

Dean returned 2 weeks later tired and sunburnt. He couldn't deny he'd just had the most amazing 2 weeks of his life.

That Cas had decided to stay to explore with a conservation group wasn't so great, but he'd booked Dean flights and transfers in first class so he couldn't complain. He'd offered to call the university and explain Dean was still sick but Dean already had enough on his conscience.

That and if he had to go snorkelling with Cas wearing just swim shorts one more time he was going to drown himself.

He contemplated getting a room transfer but the truth was that he couldn't tear himself away from Cas. He preferred the pain of unrequited love – no - unrequited lust to separation.

Cas returned four days later. There were scratches on his arms and legs and a particularly bad graze on the angle of his jaw.

Dean sat him down as he protested and got a bottle of antiseptic and some gauze.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I fell. I got off lightly. Julian broke a leg."

Dean remembered Julian with his sun blonde hair and his six pack. Dean hated Julian. It was petty and mean but he couldn't raise a sorry.

"Shirt off," Dean ordered when he'd finished on Castiel's jaw. Cas hadn't got it cleaned properly and there had been grit beneath the weeping scabs.

He'd slapped a non-adhesive dressing on it taking great joy in fixing it to Cas's pretty face with Mefix.

Cas grumped but did as asked. His ribs were a mess of bruising but the only cut was on his hip.

Even though he was a mess Dean still noted how perfectly shaped his hips were, with the divots and the line of muscle. He ran his thumb over the bone as he looked at the wound.

"I could do with another holiday," Cas complained which sent Dean into floods of laughter. He was so on edge sitting so close to the mostly naked man that anything was a relief.

"Where would you go?"

"We go Dean," Cas corrected like it was the most natural thing in the world. "We could head down to Mexico."

"You'd probably get trampled by a mariachi band," Dean teased as he set to work on the hip.

"It'd be a story to tell."

Dean looked up to find Cas looking down at him. "You must have enough stories already Cas?"

"There're never enough stories to tell Dean." He smiled up with what Dean could only call fondness. "If I have the chance to forge new stories should I not go for it?"

"When you put it like that yeah," Dean answered eyes on the gravelly graze. "Only I want to finish my degree. We can't all be super brainbots like you."

"I suppose," Cas said wistfully. "I apologise. Maybe over spring break?"

"I have a family Cas."

"Of course, no worries."

Cas went strangely quiet then. Dean looked up to see him staring off at the wall, face expressionless. It wasn't unusual for Cas to go quiet, for all his wild ways he was introverted and strange. Cas forged his own path, he didn't need other people. Especially not Dean.

Yet he'd asked.

"You know I think that came out wrong," Dean said as he finished the hip dressing. "I have to go see my kid brother at Spring Break, he'd kill me if I didn't but maybe when I can squeeze another sicky out of class then we can go somewhere..."

Cas ignored him. He stood and examined the bandage. "Thank you," he said in a voice so normal Dean thought perhaps he hadn't heard him.

Things were painfully normal after that. Dean wasn't sure if he was imagining the subtext to everything.

Cas wore clothes. Cas went off on week long holidays unexpectedly and the university let him because he already had enough qualifications and was acing his course anyway.

Dean studied and tried hard to keep up. He looked forward to visiting his brother and tried to work out just what felt so wrong.

"What the hell?" Dean exploded one day after Cas had asked him how his day was. It was at that moment that he realised what had been bothering him. "Why are you asking me how my day was? You never ask me how my days been. You come in and invite me to Marrakesh and strut around half naked just to make me uncomfortable and eat pasta out of saucepans and sing along to anything even though you have no idea what the words are."

Cas was silent, a frown line forming between his eyebrows. Cas did confused well.

"Cas!"

"I was being polite."

"You're not polite Cas. You're not even rude, you're just Cas."

His room mate levelled a glare at him.

"And I'm not allowed to ask you how your day has been?"

"No! You've been weird, even weirder - well actually you've been more normal, which is weird - ever since you came back from Cambodia. What's going on?"

Cas sat down and looked lost. "I can't do normal?"

"Dude!"

"Fine then I'll be myself. Dean I'm going to Haiti on Sunday, I'll book you a ticket."

He'd surprised Dean enough it took a second to get his reply together. "I can't Cas I have class."

"Blow it off and I'll clear it with the college."

"What? You can't just do that."

"Actually I can. You want me to be myself then this is what you get. I will forget to put clothes on. I will forget you have a life besides this. I will quite unknowingly be rude to your family, friends, university staff and people on the street. I won't get your pop culture references. I won't even bother to pretend to understand your love of classic rock or old cars."

"Harsh man."

"The truth. Now should I book another flight or can I save the effort of talking to those insufferable sales clerks?"

"Fine book it," Dean said equally as pissed off.

Cas got his phone out immediately. The number must have been preprogrammed into his phone the speed he dialled.

Dean calmed as Cas spoke. He was right, he was unmeaningly rude to sales clerks.

Cas hadn't calmed by the time he'd finished the call. He threw his phone down and crossed his arms. "Happy?"

Dean frowned. "Not really. It still doesn't explain what changed after Cambodia."

Cas gritted his teeth and looked pointedly away. Sitting moodily in an open necked shirt over board shorts was a surprisingly good luck for him. Dean especially appreciated the flip-flop marks on his feet.

"Cas?"

He laughed, cold and harsh. "No reason Dean. Other than I have lived my entire life trying to be spontaneous and take chances. You make that so very hard."

Dean had no idea what Cas meant. He watched his room mate as he pulled at the spare button sewn to the bottom of his shirt.

"You're the most spontaneous person I've ever met. Last night at 11pm you decided to drive half way across the state for ice cream."

"It was worth it," Cas scowled.

Dean shook his head. So not the point.

"So what's this chance you want to take?"

He'd hit the nail on the head. Cas tensed, eyes glued to his flip-flops. He'd never seen Cas raise his hackles before, he was often pissed off but it was always in a superficial way. Now he was on the verge of violence.

Dean kept pushing.

"You wanna go somewhere you can't? You want to set fireworks off of main hall? You want to go kayaking down Niagara falls?"

Cas forcibly relaxed himself. Dean could still see the tension in his face but his shoulders were now loose. "Fireworks?"

"Don't get distracted."

He wasn't distracted, he was changing the subject.

Dean cursed his stupid imagination as he stood on the roof of the main university building. The campus spread out all around them. At his feet was a couple of hundred dollars of fireworks.

Cas was setting them in rows for lighting.

Despite himself he was impressed. It was going to be some display.

At the same time it was going to get him expelled.

"Don't look so scared," Cas teased. He'd finished setting up and had slid a lock onto the outside of the fire escape. Nobody was getting up to stop them. "Like you always say, It's better to burn up than fade away."

"I sing Cas, they're song lyrics, not a way to live your life."

"Seems like a pretty good moto."

"For you yes," Dean huffed as Cas handed him the control they were going to use to set off the display. Cas, always the chaos professional had brought a computer guided ignition system. He'd pre-set the routine and all it required was the press of a button.

"You sure about this?"

"Of course," Cas grinned.

Dean reached for his hand and made him hold half the control. "Together then." Cas put his thumb over Dean's and Dean watched his room mates now black eyes in the dark.

"Aw fuck it," Cas said and pressed down hard on Dean's thumb. The first firework lit immediately flying off into the sky. Cas reached forward at the same time, grabbing Dean's shoulder and pulling him in to a hard kiss.

Dean almost fell forward at the rough hands, but he steadied himself on Cas and tried to take in what was happening.

Cas began to pull away when Dean realised what was happening was that his room mate had kissed him. He grabbed the other man, pulling him in as the fireworks screamed around them.

Fire lit the sky, smoke choked the air but he didn't notice. He threaded his arms around Cas's neck and gave as good as he got.

Cas staggered under the force of Dean's return and they both fell into the wall.

Neither let up, the kiss too deep, too needy for any other comfort to be noticed.

Cas shoved into him, pressing him harder into the wall. Dean gasped for breath but there was no room for air. He didn't even want air, he wanted Cas.

Cas pushed a leg in between his, Dean rocked his hips and found what he'd been looking for.

Below the firework lit sky he had to wrestle so he could breathe, finally pulling away enough to gulp some air.

"Holy shit Cas," he hiccuped.

"Dean?"

"Was that the risk you wanted to take?" he said angry now. He grabbed at Cas's shirt and scowled.

"Yes."

"You idiot."

Cas's face changed colours as the fireworks exploded in the sky. It lent a flickering shadow to the darkness. He looked wrecked, lips slick and eyes hooded. His usually messy hair was disgraceful.

"Good idiot or bad idiot?"

"Fucking stupid idiot. I've been wanting that since I first saw you naked."

"Since you first saw me then."

"Was that all on purpose? Every time you wandered around with nothing on at all?"

Cas shrugged and smiled. "Pretty much."

"Asshole."

Dean kissed him again though pulling him closer so they were pressed hip to shoulder. Cas's leg was still between his own offering the friction he so desperately needed.

"Since you're such a risk taker," Dean said inbetween biting kisses. "Shirt off."

Cas had no hesitation. On the roof of the university during an illegal firework display. He threw the shirt to the floor playing with the edges of Dean's tee.

"Fuck it," Dean thought and let Cas remove his own. "We have like 5 minutes right before the cops arrive."

Right then the sirens blared into life between the screams and explosions of the still going fireworks.

"Shit. How long for them to break through the door?"

"I don't know. Minutes at least," Cas guessed as he kissed Dean's neck.

"Well would it really be any worse if they found us having sex?"

He didn't really mean it, although his brain was throwing up some very real possibilities now.

He finally pulled back, loving the way Cas scowled at him for it.

"Later," he promised.

Cas sighed and agreed. He grabbed the control up as the last firework exploded above them forming a perfect rain of stars.

"The display was pretty awesome Cas. Even if I didn't exactly get to see it."

For a moment Cas frowned and Dean grinned.

The police didn't have to break through. Cas opened the lock and they trotted down to meet the officers.

"Hello," he said breezily.

Dean had heard Cas be a lot of things since they'd met but breezy wasn't one of them.

"Was that your display?" the officer asked with a smirk.

"No. It was the universities. I just paid for their pleasure."

"Of course you did. Well the university didn't get a display licence."

"It was a private display," Cas argued. "Therefore no licence was needed."

The officer crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"I can still charge you with breach of the peace Mr..."

"Novak."

"Mr Novak. Even if your Dean does testify for you?"

"My Dean?" Cas turned to Dean and grinned. "Do you testify."

"Yes, but I told him it was a bad idea."

"And you are?"

"Dean." He threw caution to the wind and held out a hand. To his surprise she shook it.

"Well Dean I'm glad you agree. It was a damn stupid idea to be fair."

"Not that stupid," Cas complained. "It was pretty and I'll be having sex later so..." He shrugged and Dean punched him in the arm.

"Much later," the officer reminded him.

Dean had walked with a warning. Cas had paid a disturbance fee and got away without court because nobody could really be too mad at an impromptu firework display of that class.

It was 4.30am before they fell back through the door of their dorm room. Cas collapsed onto his bed.

"Remind me not to let you come up with our dates ever again."

"That was a date?"

"I kissed you didn't I?"

"I thought that was more of a 'fuck me I'm drunk on fireworks' kiss."

"That too."

Dean wandered over to Cas's bed and looked down at the gorgeous man.

"Whatever it was that was some kiss."

"It had been a long time coming."

Blue eyes opened to meet his own.

Dean snorted. "You take so many risks but you couldn't have taken that one?"

Cas was deadly serious, eyes locked with Dean's. "That was the one risk I was scared to take." He sat up and reached for Dean's hand. "I couldn't face that rejection."

It was Dean's turn to frown. "So when I refused to go travelling you thought it was some kind of rejection. Hell Cas it was more that I couldn't spend another week in the sun with you practically naked without jumping your bones. I don't take risks, that's not who I am. I plan and I'm reliable. I don't jet off to Cambodia and cut class. Until now anyway."

"Sorry."

"No, not sorry, just... just try to remember that, ok? Just because I'm not as wayward as you are doesn't mean I want you any less."

He sat himself on the bed and leant over only for Cas to pull him down. He was somewhat predictable after all.