Falling in love isn't easy. It takes much time and a great amount of patience. Castiel knew from the get go that he was heavily attracted to Dean Winchester—even as a little five-year old, putting Legos together and making a deranged form of what he said to be an Angel. Dean smiled at him and told him it was "awesome" and that was when Cas knew.
Every day following that, he would sit near Dean and just watch him. He would watch him blink and breathe. He would watch him talk to his friends about his little brother, Sam, and of how amazing AC/DC was. He would watch him eat his snack, and maybe, when he wasn't looking, steal a goldfish from his pile.
He was young, so he didn't quite understand his infatuation, but he knew who it belonged to. It didn't belong to Amy or Rachel or Naomi. It belonged to the green-eyed kid that wore layers of clothes and walked weird. It belonged to the kid that wore a pretty necklace around his neck. It belonged to the kid that told him that something he made with his own hands was to be admired. Castiel knew enough about love to know that, whatever was going on in his kindergartner tummy, it was the beginnings of love.
Dean, eventually, caught Cas staring at him every day. He would smile shyly at him and give a small wave, only to be greeted by a blank look and cheeks reddening from embarrassment. So, as a result, he decided to ditch Benny and company to go over to the kid that sat alone at recess and talk to him. Cas leaned up against the wall of the school, twirling a ring with a pair of silver wings sprouting from it in between his fingers. Dean looked down at him, tilting his head to the side. "What's that?" He asked him.
Cas glanced over at him, blushing at the question. "It's a ring."
"No duh, I can see that."
"My older brother, Gabriel, gave it to me," Cas said, looking at Dean from the corner of his eye. "He says it was my other older brother's, Lucifer, before he ran away from home. He left it, though. Gabe says it reminded him too much of whom he left behind."
Dean gave a small "Oh" and fell silent. He flicked a pebble across the ground, watching it as it bounced out of sight. Kids ran around, and adults walked on the sidewalks, making their way around the city of Lawrence. He caught sight of Ruby, her brown hair pulled back into one, thick braid. Their eyes met and she threw him a fat raspberry before snickering and running off to join Meg at jump rope. Dean grumbled to himself, flicking another pebble.
Cas caught sight of what Ruby did and turned to Dean. "Is she being mean? I can tell her to stop." Dean shook his head.
"Nah, it's cool. Ruby's got some issues with me, but she acts nice towards me when I am with my dad and Sammy."
"And your mommy?" Cas cocked his head to the side, his blue eyes blazing with question. Dean shook his head, again, saying that his mother passed away two years ago. "Oh….that's sad," Cas said, patting Dean's back.
"It's okay…. My dad does his best, but sometimes he gets really mad and yells at me for something stupid I did." Cas furrowed his eyebrows in sympathy. Dean gave a small laugh. "It's okay. I know he still loves me, no matter what." They both smiled at each other before Cas looked back down at the ring. Dean bit his lip. "Hey, uh, I wanted to ask you something…." Castiel looked over at him. "Do you…I mean, is it okay if you….hang out? With me?" Dean could feel his face heating up, but he chose to ignore it.
Cas grinned at him, nodding his head vigorously. Dean cracked one, as well. "Great! We can walk to my house after math class! I hear we are doing some more addition—yuck!" Cas laughed, agreeing with Dean. Math sucked.
Years pass and they are in high school. Dean and Cas walk to the bus every morning, discussing how much they hate getting up at six o'clock in the morning. They walked to their classes together, and ate lunch with Benny, Ruby, Meg, Crowley, and Kevin. People always teased them of their bromance, constantly ebbing them to admit that they were gay for each other. Dean would groan and cuss them out while Cas blushed and ducked down his head—Dean never noticed.
It wasn't until the middle of English class that Dean realized something about his and Cas's relationship. He was casually looking around the room, thinking about what Frodo and Sam did to prove that they were heroic when his eyes landed on Cas. Cas, whose head was ducked down and his hair falling in front of his burning, blue eyes. Cas, whose pencil flew across the paper, held in his perfect hands. Cas, who wore a button-down shirt and a dirty trench coat to school. Cas, who was his best friend. He looked at him as if it were the first time. He looked at him as if he held the answers to the universe. It was then that Dean Winchester realized that the perfect counterpart to him was attached to his hip since he was just five years old. Cas was the answer to his most burning question—who was he meant for.
Castiel felt Dean staring at him and looked over at him. He raised an eyebrow in question. "After class," Dean mouthed to him. He gave a curt nod and turned back to his essay, wondering what Dean was thinking about. Dean, however, couldn't help but glance up at the clock every minute or so to count down the minutes left before class ended. If he were to be honest, he finished that essay half an hour before the teacher had expected him to, but he drew it out so he wouldn't be left alone to squirm in his chair restlessly and undeniably get in trouble.
When the bell finally rang, he leaped up from his chair, placed his essay atop several other student's and rushed out the door. Castiel, among several of his peers, stayed back to finish up writing. When Cas did finish, he handed it to the teacher and went out the door.
He saw Dean leaning up against his locker, his foot pressed to the lower half of it, his filthy shoe inevitably leaving a shoe mark. Sighing, he walked over to him. "What did you need to tell me?" His English text book was held tightly to his chest, his fingers wrapping around the edges.
Dean turned his head to look at Cas, his eyes widening for a moment before returning to normal size. He smiled at Cas. "You know how people always tease us about being a couple?" Cas flushed, but nodded his head. "Well, I was doing my essay, right, and then…. Well, I sort of had an epiphany."
Cas cocked a skeptical eyebrow at him. "Is that so, Dean?" Dean nodded excitedly. "Care to elaborate?" Dean, smirking over at Cas that moment, grabbed either side of his face and pressed their lips together. Cas's eyes flew open to the size of saucers. He hands released the heavy textbook and it fell to the ground. Neither really took notice of the sound as Dean slid his hands to the back of Cas's neck and pulled him closer. Cas felt useless with his arms hanging by his sides, so his shoved them into Dean's hair. The other moaned excitedly, twisting his head to the side, Cas moving in the opposite direction. Several passing people turned to stare at them, most wearing a smug and knowing smirk and others wearing a casual "Hey, it's a couple kissing in the hall, how original" face.
When Dean pulled back, Cas blinked at him in shock. His mouth opened and closed several times, but Dean hushed him. "Want to come to my house after school to….'study'?" Cas could only nod in agreement. Dean smirked and swaggered off, his hips swaying dramatically as he did so. Cas pressed his fingers to his lips, smiling softly to himself. A sort of shot of giddiness went through him, a wide grin cracking his face in two. He had finally gotten Dean to kiss him without as much of a fight as he had originally planned in third grade (he even drew a rough sketch mostly containing of locking Dean in a cage, but that was no longer necessary). With a new sort of bounce to his step, he skipped over to math and watched the clock as the minutes drew closer to the end of the day, where he could kiss Dean until his lips bled.