If Dean Winchester were to say this was not how he would have imagined his life being almost a year ago, well, that would be a huge understatement. After his father died, and CPS sent him and his younger brother to Bobby Singer, a friend of their dad's, his rebellion was at a peak, as was his apathy. He would put on his usual carefree façade when his brother was around, but it didn't change the hurt he felt inside.

Needless to say, when Bobby dragged them to enlist in school when fall rolled around, Dean was not happy. His first few weeks were disastrous, and he would have dropped out if it weren't for Bobby riding his ass. He was failing, to put it lightly, considering he did nothing and had zero grades to even speak of. Life was hell.

That is, until he met Castiel Novak.

It was September 15th 1995, he would never forget the date, and he was about to walk out of Math class and to lunch when a short, skinny, bespectacled kid with wild black hair stopped him.

"Hey, I'm Castiel. You're Dean, right?" He asked a little shakily, looking up at him. Dean hadn't made many friends yet, and he wasn't expecting to. Before, when he was moving from place to place with his dad, he wasn't in school long enough for anything to matter. He was at a loss for what to do now, being forced to settle in one place.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" He knew he was being rude, but he didn't want to make any friends. Castiel looked slightly affronted by this, but he continued, eyes narrowed.

"I'm new this year too, and I can tell you're having some trouble, and I was going to offer my help, but it seems you rather aren't interested." He stated angrily before picking up his bag and walking to the door. Dean didn't know what to say; it was the first time someone had cared enough to ask about him, but also the first time someone had stood up to him.

Just as Castiel was reaching for the door Dean stopped him. "Wait." Castiel turned and looked at him expectantly. "I-I'm sorry." He looked down at his shoes and trying to stay cool and aloof about this, "A little help wouldn't hurt." Cas smiled, and so began their friendship. It wasn't for another 3 months and many hours at the library and studying at Castiel's house that he finally worked up the courage to ask Cas out.

Now, 11 months later, Dean was on honor roll, the captain of the wrestling team, and was happier than he had ever remembered being. It took a lot of time for Dean to open up to Cas, about his parents, about his brother, and even about his insecurities, but Cas had ended up being the best thing that had ever happened to him. Dean was at work in Bobby's garage, like he normally was just to make some extra cash, and he smiled as he read a text from Cas.

'I can't stop thinking about you.'

He and Cas had a picnic by the lake the night before, but they usually text each other silly little things that crossed their minds throughout the day.

'you have the most beautiful smile i've ever seen'

He replied, and then pocketed his phone so he could get back to the car he was working on. He knew it was cheesy, but he couldn't help it. He loved Cas, and that scared the hell out of him.

He was wiping his hands when he heard his phone go off again.

'What are you doing tonight?'

'hopefully seeing you'

'Well… Gabriel is staying the weekend at Kali's so, we'll have the house to ourselves(;'

This caught Dean's attention. He and Cas had been together for almost a year, but they hadn't had done anything beside making out and heavy petting, ignoring the time Cas made him come in his pants like a stupid kid. Dean wanted to, more than anything, but he had a history of jumping to sex too quickly, and he never even had a real relationship before. Cas had never been with anyone before Dean, and he was nervous about going all the way, even though he cared for Dean a lot. But, he told him that sex didn't matter, and he liked just being together. But, if Cas was ready...

What time?

And that's how at 8 o'clock found himself at his boyfriend's front door. He had been over enough times to be able to just walk in. He let himself into Gabriel and Cas's apartment with his overnight bag in tow, along with a few choice items he had picked up at the drug store. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that he was definitely not nervous.

"Cas?" He called out.

"In my room!" Came the reply. Dean toed off his boots before making his way to Cas's bedroom. He had spent enough nights in Cas's bed, just sleeping that he knew the boundaries, but he could still appreciate getting a good glimpse of Cas's ass when he walked in as he was pulling boxers on. He obviously was fresh out of the shower because his hair was dripping and his skin was still damp. He pulled on a grey Metallica t-shirt that was obviously Dean's before turning to smile at his boyfriend.

"Hey there, stranger." He said before pulling Dean into an embrace and giving him a chaste kiss.

"Mm. Stranger? I saw you last night," Dean laughed as Cas nuzzled his neck and Dean kissed the top of his wet head.

"Entirely too long." Cas mumbled as he was kissing Dean's neck. Dean laughed, but didn't say anything else. Rather, he rubbed his hands up and down Cas's back and hummed appreciatively at the attention. Even since they had started dating Cas had been very affectionate and touchy, and Dean would be lying if he said he didn't love it.

"So," Dean said after a moment, "What do you have planned for tonight?"

Cas pulled back and looked at Dean. "Just a movie night. I made some cookies, we can pop some popcorn. I bought you some Jiffy Pop." Cas said the last part in a sing-song voice knowing how much Dean loved Jiffy Pop and laughed.

Dean's eyebrows rose and his smile fell a bit in confusion, "Oh."

Cas's eyebrows furrowed and he stepped back a little wrapping his arms around himself. "Was there...something else you wanted to do? Sorry, I mean we did just have a movie night a couple of days ago."

Dean was quick to save himself the hurt of seeing Cas disappointed, or god forbid upset. "No, no. I love movie night, babe. Don't get me wrong. It's just...your text. I thought you meant…it was stupid of me." Dean shook his head and huffed out a little laugh.

Cas looked at him for a moment before realization dawned on his face. "Oh," his cheeks turned an adorable shade of red before he looked to the floor. "We can…we can still do that...if you want."

"Only if it's what you want too. I can wait, Cas. I love just being with you." Dean said as he cupped Cas's jaw.

Cas looked up and bit his lip. "I really want to…but, I don't think I'm ready just yet."

Dean smiled and leaned down to kiss his forehead. "Then we won't. I want it to be special. Something we both want. Okay?" Cas smiled widely and nodded his head.

Dean gave him a tight hug and another, longer kiss before leading them both into the living room. Cas sat on the couch and hugged a pillow while Dean shuffled through a pile of movies. "So what do you want to watch tonight?"

"Star Wars! But you pick which one." Cas laughed.

"You got it." Dean said before popping The Empire Strikes Back into the DVD player. He sat down on the couch next to Cas, who quickly snuggled up next to him, and he wrapped a protective arm around his boyfriend's shoulders.

As the credits rolled later that night, Dean looked at Cas sleeping with his head in Dean's lap. Dean smiled softly and brushed the fringe out of his eyes. It had been 11 months but Dean still hadn't told Cas how much he really means to him. "I love you," he whispered to his sleeping boyfriend.

"I know," he whispered back.