Prologue

Thoughtful blue eyes slowly scanned the green field before them, numerous children ran about playing a variety of games. The boy these eyes belonged to had just been dropped off at the park, the instructions given to him by his father clear in his mind; "Stay out and play for a while, I don't want you wasting your childhood sitting in your room."

He'd been to this park a number of times in the past; the same play structure stood tall, surrounded by the same rocks and pebbles, made of the same creaky wooden frame. The field wasn't the biggest or best field, but to an 8 year old boy it was still pretty awesome. The swing set was still completely occupied, the sand box was still the place for the infants to play safely, and, of course, he would still need a friend to play on the teeter-totter/see-saw. He knew this play ground like the back of his hand and recognized a lot of the other kids that were dropped off though he never spoke to any of them previously. And today would probably be his last chance to do so.

His blue, cotton sweater was starting to overheat him in the afternoon sunlight so he attempted to remove it. He'd always been clumsy, a lot more awkward than most kids his age. His parents once discussed the possibility of him having some kind of mental or physical disability, but they had settled on the conclusion that he was just slower. He never aimed to correct his mom and dad, but he caught on just as fast as the other kids in his class, maybe even faster. He had no real problems, but in the eyes of parents who looked for perfection in their child, he was riddled with them.

As his small hands grasped the sweater and tugged at it, he began to question the efficiency of pulling shirts over his head to remove them. They always seemed to get stuck on his head which inevitably resulted in his disorientation. This time was no different; he took stumbling steps left and right as he struggled to take his sweater off. He knew after he put the thing on in the morning that the hole for his head was too small for him, but he had decided to fuss with it later. It was later now and he wished that he'd removed the thing with his parents' help earlier.

Like all kids do, he started to panic. The thought that he'd never get this thing off scared him to death, which led to him frantically tearing at the blue cotton over his head. Unexpectedly, a hand took firm hold of his shoulder and he heard an unfamiliar boy's voice, "You need help?"

He stopped and nodded his head. He felt two pairs of hands take hold of his sweater; one of the two individuals was very helpful and made a lot of progress. The other had weak hands and didn't help at all, if anything they hindered the progress made. It didn't take long before the sweater popped off his head.

His black hair was a disaster, it had been combed neatly when he'd arrived but now it was all over the place. He shook his head and looked to see who had freed him. There were two other boys standing there, one appeared to be his age and the other looked like he couldn't be any older than 4 years.

In a situation like that one the normal thing to do would be to thank the other boys, however he stood in silence. He'd never had any friends before and no one made a habit of helping him, so he honestly didn't know what to do. The older of the other boys frowned and crossed his arms, "Well?" He said.

The four year old quickly crossed his arms, not quite in the right position, and made an attempt to mimic the other boy's tone. "Well?"

The older boy shook his head when he received no response, "My name's Dean." He stuck his hand out for a hand shake, just like he'd always seen on TV.

"Uhm..." He looked at Dean's hand and gently took hold of it, "Castiel." His blue eyes looked up into Dean's, "My name is Castiel."

Dean smiled and looked down at the little one, "And this is my brother, Sammy." He looked back at Castiel, "Nice to meet you." He tightened his grip on Cas' hand and shook it. "And you're welcome."

Cas nodded, retracting his hand after the shake had been completed. Suddenly it dawned on him why Dean had sounded so impatient before, he hadn't shown them any gratitude for the help. "Thank you," Cas bowed his head a little.

This seemed to please Dean well enough. He reached down for Sammy's hand, the little one seemed more eager to hold his brother's hand which was obvious when he snatched it and held on for dear life. "Well let's go play," he started leading his brother along toward the play structure. Cas stood quietly and watched them for a moment before he started to walk away, having not received an invitation to join the brothers.

Dean looked over his shoulder to see if Castiel was following and saw that the other boy had turned around and was wandering off on his own. Frowning again, Dean almost didn't notice Sam's insistent tugging on his arm. "Deeeeeeeaaaan!" The boy whined, tears in his big brown eyes, "I have to go!" His motions mimicked something the people on TV called the potty-dance, or so Dean remembered seeing on a Pull-Ups commercial.

Dean quickly looked over at the bench where his mother was sitting and pointed her out, "See Mom, Sammy? Go tell her."

Sam looked over to her, nodded his head and started running to her. Dean sighed and looked back to where he'd last seen Cas. The black haired boy was sitting alone in the field, quietly plucking grass to see how big of a pile he could get. Dean trotted to his side and leaned over him, "Whatcha doin'?"

Castiel jumped and looked up, his eyes wide and very confused. "I'm..." He looked at the grass pile he'd started, "Not doing anything." He quickly scattered the pile in front of him and looked back up at Dean.

The brunette stared for a moment and shrugged, "Okay, whatever. Hey you wanna go play on those see-saw things? Sammy's too small so I haven't ever played on 'em before."

Cas stared at Dean, he didn't know what to say, no one had ever asked him to play on it before. He looked over at the see-saws and back at Dean, "I've never been on them before either." He stood up and wiped the grass off his pants, patting his back pockets with both hands for good measure. He smiled at Dean and nodded his head once, "I'd love to."

The boys walked together and stopped on either end of the see-saw. Cas stared at the thing, trying to remember how other kids had gotten onto it. He levelled the thing out and looked over at Dean who was already in position over the wooden seat. Cas swung his leg over and found himself sitting on it. Dean was heavier so his feet were still on the ground; he pushed off which lowered Cas. His blue eyes looked frightened at first but once the two got going, all fear had faded.

They stared across the wooden plank at one another, both grinning from ear to ear, neither having experienced this before in his life. It was exhilarating, amazing, and somehow beautiful. They continued the motions of the game but started to lose themselves in the other, both had the same idea that he needed a friend in order to play on this thing. Now both boys were playing on it across from someone, both knew that this someone was his new friend.

After what seemed like hours they had to get off the see-saw, they were sore from sitting on the wooden seats and having to split their legs so far apart for so long. Cas laughed as he attempted to get his balance again, his eyes still locked on Dean's face. "That was awesome!"

Dean stumbled off the see-saw and smiled at Cas, he looked over at the bench his mom had been on and saw her sitting there with Sammy, his little brother happily chewing on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He looked back at Cas and nodded over to the play structure, "Wanna play on the slide?"

Castiel quickly nodded his head, a big smile on his face. He energetically booked it toward the slides, "Race you!" He cried.

Dean took off after him, "No fair, head start!" He shouted.

The boys ran, slid, and climbed and before long both were sitting on the peak of the play structure. Cas smiled and looked up at sky then over at Dean. Neither moved, though it had only been a minute or two both boys thought they were staring at the other for an hour at least. "I really like you." Dean spoke first, his voice was soft, for some reason he didn't want anyone else to hear, almost like he believed that if someone else were there the magic between them would be lost.

"I like you too." Cas grinned and looked up at the sky again, the white puffy clouds slowly floating by against a beautiful dusk background. He hadn't noticed when the sun began to set, he'd lost almost completely lost track of time. "Let's make a promise." Cas sat forward, leaning toward Dean he locked their lips together in a kiss. Dean's eyes buggered out, he couldn't hide his surprise but made no move to get away from the kiss. When Cas pulled away he took Dean's left hand and squeezed it, "When we're old enough, let's get married."

Dean nodded quickly; it seemed to be the appropriate answer for their friendship. "When are we old enough?" He asked innocently.

"Uhm..." Cas let go of Dean's hand to hold his chin contemplatively and shrugged, "We'll know when we're ready." He said in a matter-of-fact tone and nodded his head confidently.

Dean smiled and nodded again, "Okay."

Before they could hash out any more details Dean heard a tiny voice cry up to him, "Dean!" He looked down to see little Sammy standing alone in the rocks. "Mommy says we're leaving."

Sighing Dean looked back at Cas, "I gotta go." He leaned over and kissed the blue eyed boy one more time, "See you later?"

Cas nodded, "Yeah, sure."

Smiling Dean climbed down and jumped off the play structure. He took Sam's hand and led him back to Mary, glancing over his shoulder to catch another glimpse of his new friend. He saw Castiel sitting at the edge of the play structure and for that brief second before Cas saw Dean looking, he noticed the other boy's solemn expression. Confusion spread over Dean like a wave but he didn't have a chance to ask Castiel why he looked so down, Mary took Dean's hand and walked him and Sam back to the car.

Castiel wiped tears out of his eyes and jumped off the play structure. He knew that this day would be his last day in the play ground, his father had gotten a promotion and they were moving the next morning. He watched longingly as Dean was driven away, wondering if he'd ever see him again.