Sooooooo, this is my attempt at writing after a longass time. my mental health has made it difficult to write recently and this isn't as good as I hoped it would be. Nonetheless, this is the first thing I wrote in over a year that I didn't leave in between. Please be kind to this poor author, but constructive criticism is appreciated and welcome.

As usual, English isn't my first language and this is unbeta'ed so feel free to point out any mistakes I made.

With that out of the way, Happy Reading :)

Tonight was the night. Tonight was the big ball where the Royal Family of Winchestershire was looking for a suitable subject from their kingdom to marry their elder son, Dean. People from the entire kingdom were invited for a masquerade ball. They would all get the chance to have a dance with Prince Dean and use that time to leave a lasting impression.

When Prince Dean was born, his father, King John, had made the announcement that if, by the age of 25, Prince Dean wasn't already married, the ball would take place on Dean's 25th birthday, to give the prince the opportunity to meet people and decide who he wanted to marry. Dean had broken many women's hearts the day he announced that he had no interest in women and would only marry a guy, but it had also made many men, including Castiel, very happy. The king, however, was furious to learn that his son would most likely not give him a grandchild that would carry on the family's name. Soon, he changed his mind and took back his harsh words and said that it didn't matter to him if the prince wanted to marry a man, as long as it made Dean happy.

That was more than what could be said to Castiel's stepmother, who shunned him when he revealed his preference for men. Even though Castiel still lived in the house, he was treated like garbage and more often than not, he wondered if it was all worth it.

Skipping to the present, Castiel was pulled out of his thoughts by a sharp kick to his side, courtesy of his stepbrother, who wanted Castiel to wash a buttload of clothes and have them ready in an hour for the ball. Castiel scoffed internally; anyone who knew anything about house work knew that one hour was not enough to get the clothes washed and ready, but damn if it wasn't going to try. Castiel spent the better part of the hour washing the clothes and drying them in the oven to get them ready for his 'family'. The boys of the family were going to the ball because they were invited and the girls were going in the hopes of changing the prince's mind.

The rest of the evening was rushed as everyone needed Castiel to help them out with a billion fucking things. Finally, after they left, Castiel let out a sigh of relief. He had the entire evening to himself and he was going to spend it fantasizing about Prince Dean and what it would have been like to be able to actually go to the ball and have a dance with him. Prince Dean was gorgeous and Castiel knew that this would only ever happen in his fantasies. Just as he was getting to the good part of the fantasy, there was a knock at his door. Even before opening the door, Castiel knew that it was Balthazar, his only stepbrother who treated him like a human. Castiel opened the door to let him in.

"How can I help you?" he asked. He knew Balthazar hated it when Castiel was so formal with him but by now the habit had been beaten into him and Castiel preferred to keep it up with everyone.

"Glad that you asked, Cassie. See, the thing is, I don't want to go to the stupid ball, I'd much rather enjoy the night with my lady friend and try to convince her to take part in a ménage e – what's the French for twelve? – Anyway, I don't want to go and mother would be furious if I didn't so I want you to go on my behalf. And before you say anything, this isn't a request, I insist. Have some fun, you deserve it after what the family has put you through for all these years."

Castiel shook his head and gestured towards Balthazar who was already stepping out of his clothes. Thankfully Castiel and Balthazar were close enough in size that the clothes fit, with only small adjustments that needed to be made, and those were easily fixed with the help of a couple of pins.

After putting on Balthazar's clothes and his mask, Castiel turned to look in the dirty mirror in a corner of his room and let out a surprised gasp. He looked surprisingly good, and most of it was thanks to Balthazar. Now he just hoped that no one noticed the different hair color. When they both were ready to leave, Castiel made Balthazar promise to be back by midnight, so that they had enough time to change back into their clothes before the rest of the family returned. They both knew that if they were caught, the blame would fall solely on Castiel.

When Castiel reached the castle, he was surprised by the grandeur. His family was wealthy, coming from a long line of rich ancestors, but it paled in comparison to how beautiful and grand the castle was. And if Castiel thought the outside of the caste was beautiful, the main hall left him breathless. The entire room was decorated with green and red, the colors of their flag, and it was so huge that Castiel couldn't see the other end of the room from where he stood.

Castiel stood on the edge of the party, not wanting to disturb anyone or catch anyone's attention when someone bumped into him from behind, almost tripping him. He turned around and immediately, his breath caught in his throat. Looking at him was no other than Prince Dean himself. Castiel managed to not make a fool out of himself by moaning at the sight of his beauty as he stared into the deep green eyes of the prince. Standing this close to the prince, Castiel could see that not only were his eyes green, they were freckled with golden specks, just like the rest of the prince's skin.

Castiel hadn't realized that he had been holding his breath until he let it out when Prince Dean opened his mouth to apologize to Castiel.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm so tired of this party and talking to people who think they can make me want them even though they're women, I'm just tired of talking to them about nothing. Oh boy, I'm rambling, I apologize. Wow your eyes are really pretty. What's your name?" Prince Dean was rambling, and by this time, Castiel was blushing.

"I'm Cast- Cas. My name is Cas" he corrected himself before he could tell his real name. the prince would most likely forget about Castiel but he didn't want to risk anyone in his family finding out that he had been here today.

"Cas. Nice to meet you. Would you like to dance with me?" Dean smiled charmingly, and who was Cas to say no to a smile like that?

They spent the entire night dancing together and talking about nothing in particular. By this time the entire kingdom knew that Prince Dean had found someone but thankfully no one knew who it really was.

All of a sudden, Castiel was brought back to reality by the city clock chiming twelve. It was midnight and Castiel was late in getting back home! He removed his hand from Dean's arm where it was been gripping the Prince the entire night, and rushed out, running to get home on time. He ran until he was out of breath and then some more until he reached home. And just in time too, because as soon as he and Balthazar changed back into their clothes, the rest of the family returned, gossiping about the mystery man who had caught the prince's attention.

Not knowing who it was sunk Castiel's heart because as much as he would have loved to be the one to catch Dean's attention, he knew that there was no way the prince would want to marry a nobody whose family didn't even acknowledge him.

Balthazar had somehow figured out the truth and did his best to console Castiel as the news spread that the prince was going around the kingdom to find the man who had accidentally left a handprint on his arm. At the mention of the handprint, Castiel's hopes lifted because he might have been the man but he didn't let it get to him because if his family found out, it would be a disaster of epic proportions.

By the time the prince got to their home, Castiel had lost hope because surely by now the print would have faded. When their family got the notice that the prince would be arriving at their place in a few hours, they all began hounding Castiel about cleaning the house and washing their clothes and by the time the prince actually arrived, they told him that after serving the prince, he was to go to his room and pretend that he didn't exist.

Doing as he was told, Castiel retreated to his room with a heavy heart. He had really hoped that he would get to see the charming prince once more. But, he thought to himself, good things never happen to him.

He stayed in his room, lost in thought until he was interrupted by a knock at his door. This confused Castiel to no limit. Balthazar only knocked when there was no one at home, and no one else ever knocked. As he opened the door, he was shocked to see Dean standing in front of him with a shy smile on his face.

"It was you, wasn't it?" asked Dean.

Castiel didn't need Dean to explain himself, they both knew what he was talking about.

"Dean, I can't go with you. As much as I'd want to, my family would kill me if they ever found out I was at the ball-"

Dean interrupted him by pressing their lips together in a chaste kiss that made Castiel's mind stop working. It was a very short kiss but it was Castiel's first. And with the Prince no less. If he had any friends to share the story with, they would never have believed him.

"Don't you worry about that. You made me fall for you on the night of the Ball and there's no way I'm letting you go without a fight. If your family has anything to say about that, they can talk to me themselves."

With that, Dean grabbed Cas' hand and pulled him behind himself. Cas looked down at their entwined hands and smiled softly. Maybe good things do happen to him.