A/N: Hey everyone! My name is Elle and I'm a "retired" fanfiction writer. I regularly fail at actually being retired. I got a prompt on Tumblr and this story came of it! (Basically, it just said that they should share a kiss). I'm not good at writing short things so this story turned out very long and not as smooth as I was hoping, but that's okay, it was just for fun. Also, Gabriel might come across as a bit of a jerk, but I promise that it was with loving intentions of making him mischievous in the way adolescent boys can be, not cruel. Please let me know what you think, it's my first Supernatural piece and I hope someone out there is able to enjoy it :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural.

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"Eat it, Winchester!" Gabriel shouted directly into Sam's ear, making him flinch away as far as he could from the older boy's suffocating embrace.

Gabriel scowled down at his wriggling captive and tightened his headlock. Sam was younger but he was quickly getting too tall for such tactics. The embarrassment would be overwhelming if anyone knew Gabriel was standing on his tip toes right now just to keep from seeming too short next to Dean's little brother.

"Hey! Put that snowball down, you son of a bitch, or so help me" -Dean snapped, but the bite of his words were cut off by the face full of snow he got from one of Gabriel's minions that were flanking him on either side.

Sam shivered sympathetically at his brother's plight. The second they got out of school today they had been ambushed, stripped of their jackets, and made to fight a humiliatingly unfair snow ball fight in just their t-shirts against a whole pack of inter-related upper-years. Now they were freezing their assess off and being forced to surrender their pride or risk getting frostbite.

"Seriously, Balthazar? I thought you, at least, might have the dignity to side against your sneaky rodent of a brother," Dean whined, his defeated tone the only hint that there was more to this scenario than simple school yard bullying.

"I'm not siding with my brother I'm siding with the Snow Angels" Balthazar said, casually examining his snow-free gloves, as though to rub in Dean's snow-coated status. "It's our job to take down the cafeteria king, and instate a new regime where the Snow Angels get first pick at the cafe fries, not the Winchesters."

"Seriously?" Dean said again, with a derisive snort. "Snow angels? What, do you throw snowballs at defenseless ninth graders and then braid each other's hair on the bus home for fun?"

"Petty insults won't save you, Dean-o. Two Winchesters against all the Snow Angels combined will never be able to dominate the lunch line ever again," Uriel shouted from behind Dean.

Dean itched to turn around and ram a snowball so far down Uriel's throat that he'd puke snow for a month, but he knew if he so much as moved an inch that they'd burry Sam alive in what was just as likely to be ice balls as snow balls.

"Fine, two of you can switch places with us so you get first pick of the fries. Now let Sammy go already," Dean grumbled, swiping away at the snow that stuck stubbornly to the folds of his clothes, and refusing to meet Sam's eyes.

This was Sam's first year in high school. All Dean wanted was to show his little brother that there was nobody cooler and tougher than his big brother. He wanted to make sure Sam got the best pick of the fries (come on, that stupid cafeteria jerk Crowley made half of them out of turnips instead of potatoes anyways, it was basically Russian roulette).

He wanted to make sure that Sam knew how to ask a girl out. And above all, he wanted Sam to know that he had the right to do whatever he damn wanted, regardless of what people said or did to stop him (unless they were threatening to make him into a winter popsicle because then it was up to Dean to avenge him).

Catching a glimpse of the smallest "Snow Angel" hovering nervously behind several of the bigger and older kids, Dean let out a sigh that took the form of a white cloud in front of him. He wished someone had been there to teach him those things when he was Sam's age.

He wished everyone would just say these things outright instead of making people learn it the hard way. The truth was, it didn't matter how much you joked or made light of a situation. It didn't matter how likeable or popular you were or where you stood in the café line or whether you got turd fries or delicious deep fried pieces of heaven.

All that was just a distraction.

At the core, every kid in this God forsaken high school had some part of themselves they were ashamed of or worried about being judged for. And it made sense, because people would judge them for it. Their fears weren't unfounded, they just weren't worth it, in Dean's experience.

You could live trying to cover up your difference for the rest of your life or you could just live, easy as that. It was a simple choice, in retrospect.

And even if it was something as small as a stupid snowball fight with kids that weren't really trying to bully anyone, Dean wanted Sam to know that it was okay to throw some rebellion in their faces and show that Winchesters didn't roll over for anybody.

"Hey! Are you even listening, Dean?" He heard Gabriel's annoyingly pretentious voice snap, and Dean looked up in confusion from his thoughts, even as the other kids burst into mocking laughter all around him.

"Sorry, Princess Snow Angel," Dean said blithely, "I got lost in the sound of your beautiful voice. Seriously, it's almost heavenly."

"Screw you, Winchester," Gabriel sputtered back, holding Sam tighter in an attempt to look more threatening as his followers laughed at him.

"If you hold Sam any tighter, I'm gonna start thinking he's the one you want to screw," Dean said, gaining confidence and adrenaline as the Snow Angels continued to laugh at his jokes and throw Gabriel off his game. "Not that I mind if you wanna get with the guys, Gabriel," Dean continued patronizingly, "I just want you to know you have no chance with Sam. I'd never let his standards fall so low."

"Like I'd ever be as gay as you, Winchester!" Gabriel snapped back, and while it wasn't the most eloquent response, it did shift the attention of his lackeys. There was something of an awkward pause as the other boys waited for the sexuality conundrum to usurp the snowball drama.

Dean smirked a little, recognizing Gabriel's mistake. He took the attention away from the physical advantage he had through sheer numbers over the two brothers. When it became a smart-mouthing contest, Dean had a much larger advantage.

"You know what? Maybe you're not," Dean said, casually crossing his arms and giving Gabriel a sensual once over that was sure to make any straight boy uncomfortable. "Maybe you really are a straight-as-nails jackass," Dean continued, bunching his fists to hold in the aggressive tension rising within him, "And maybe you're a total closet case who just wants to pull pranks and fool people into thinking he's a clown instead of a queer. Doesn't really matter to me. But I know what I am, and that's the guy who's going to kick your ass six feet under the snow if you hurt Sammy. We'll switch places with you and whichever of your loyal bitches you want in the café line, fine. But that's it, you got me?"

"Were you even listening, Dean-o?" Gabe sneered, unconsciously loosening his grip on Sam as the other boys stared at his proximity to the younger Winchester. "Our demands aren't just that two people trade places. It's that all the Snow Angels get to go before you two whiny baby Winchesters."

"Fine, whatever, master hostage negotiator" Dean said with a careless roll of his eyes. "Because the cafeteria line is such a big deal."

"You know what, I don't think I like your smartass responses, Dean," Gabe said suddenly, a mischievous intelligence spreading across his face. Glancing around at his relatives he said, "You're grossly outnumbered and acting like this is no big deal. You want to make it seem like I don't have the power here, but guess what? I do. And I'm gonna prove it to you, by humiliating you even more. Maybe then you'll know your place under the Snow Angels!"

The other boys supporting Gabriel's tyrannical uprising shouted and stomped their feet in support like the wild little monsters they were. Everyone seemed caught up in the moment, but Dean couldn't care less about Gabriel's power play. After all, he'd already humiliated himself more than anything Gabe could do by reminding some of the more close-minded boys about his 'queerness'.

It had come out two years ago when someone caught him in the janitor closet with that stupid gangly nerd from biology. He barely even remembered that kid anymore, since he'd transferred school after the bullying began, but Dean still remembered the event with a bit of fondness. He probably never would've come out if not for that guy being so loud and awkward in that closet.

At first the bullying was bad, but Dean had never been easy to bully, especially when Sam wasn't at the same school and couldn't be used as a weakness. So now it came and went, but mostly the worst of it was just uncomfortable silences where people tried to forget about it.

After all, people hated to know that the gays could be hiding in the form of regular people. No lisp, no fashion sense, none of those stereotypes. How could such a normal person like guys, right? It was terrifying for them. Dean actually sort of enjoyed the power it gave him.

As long as it wasn't getting Sammy hurt, it was all fun and games as far as Dean was concerned.

"I'll go along with whatever stupid little prank you want me to," Dean said loudly over the ruckus, clenching his fists defiantly at his sides. "But just me, not Sam. He's already been humiliated enough having to spend so much time next to you, Gabe."

"Shut up, Dean!" Gabriel raged, eyes flickering around nervously for signs of disloyalty from his band of followers. "I was only going to make you do a snow angel for us, but now I think you should get something worse."

"Oh God, I'm so scared," Dean jeered, "Worse than making snow angels? My poor heart won't be able to take it."

"You think this is funny?" Gabriel demanded, suddenly shoving Sam down on his knees (which had nothing to do with the way his arms were aching from reaching up so high) and putting him into a tight headlock. Snapping his fingers, Michael and Zacharias help up their snowballs threateningly on either side of Sam's prone form. "Well then, Dean, if you think this is so funny, then try laughing at this: I want you to go lick a pole until your tongue sticks to it. Then we're gonna leave you and Sam here to try and get yourself out of that situation. Unless you'd rather your wittle baby bwother get an ice ball to the head," Gabriel pronounced dramatically, complete with a snicker that was echoed by his supporters that tittered with appreciation of his evil genius.

"Really?" Dean said, unable to help himself from staring numbly at Gabe, who's grin said that he didn't grasp his own idiocy. "You want me, to lick a pole? Any pole?"

"Yeah," Gabe said, not seeming to understand Dean's disbelief, "You got any objections? Cause I can take those up with Sammy's head, if you want."

"Any pole? You're sure that it can be any pole?" Dean continued to press, a smile starting to work its way onto his face as a plan of attack came to mind. That little flickering form in the corner of his eye was always giving him all sorts of ideas, but this was definitely one of the best ones.

"Gabriel," a voice suddenly blurted out, and several people turned as a smaller boy shoved his way forward to the front of the pack.

"What do you want, Cas?" Gabriel asked suspiciously, eyeing his ridiculous little brother who was swamped in a trench coat that dragged against the snow when he walked. That kid was always trying to be such a saint and telling him off in front of people. Seriously not cool.

"Well, I just think" –Cas began with a chastising frown, but Gabriel waved a hand cutting him off.

"Come on, Cas. You begged to be part of this. You said you'd do anything to join the Snow Angels just to help take on the Winchesters. You even promised you'd stop nagging me all the time and snitching to dad about my pranks," Gabriel said with annoyance, dismissing his little brother.

Castiel seemed to deflate for a minute, seeming small despite the fact that he was lean and tall, taller than Gabriel and not nearly as scrawny as he had been a year ago. Certain things had been…encouraging him to work out. To walk straighter, hold himself up taller, and above all –to live his own life and not a life cripple by fear.

Puckering his lips in newfound courage, Castiel took one look at Dean who was grinning a little lopsidedly despite himself, and, pulling himself up to his full height he said, "Well maybe I just thought someone should tell you what a hypocrite you're being. I don't care if you want to pull pranks, but really, asking Dean to lick a pole? Any pole? That's Freudian no matter how you look at it."

"Freudian?" Gabriel said slowly, screwing his face up in concentration. "Isn't that…the sex guy?" Even as he said it, horror seemed to dawn across Gabriel's face, and Dean laughed loudly as the pieces fell into place for the mischievous boy.

He might pull good pranks but he didn't always think ahead. Gabriel's eyes widened comically and shifted rapidly from Dean's knowing smirk to Castiel's confident stance. Just to drive the point home, Dean shifted his head toward Cas and gave him a long, obvious wink, complete with hand pumps and a tongue in his cheek to show exactly what pole he intended to lick. And to make matters worse, Cas didn't so much as blink. If anything, he blushed a little.

"Hell no, Dean," Gabe blurted suddenly, all but throwing Sam away from him. The younger Winchester quickly scrambled to his feet and ran to his brother's side to provide some protection should the snowballs start flying. "Hell no," Gabe repeated, a mixture of disgust and shock battling across his face, "I just…ugh, now I'm never going to get that image out…you son of a bitch, you're such a little shit. And Cas, I can't believe you just –and with Dean, and just…ugh!" He seemed incapable of coherence in the face of such complete and utter betrayal. In fact, he seemed more upset about Castiel taking part in Dean's escape plan than in what the actual escape plan was.

Several of the other boys added to the calamity, demanding to know why Gabriel had let their hostage go while others said, "That's so nasty! I did not sign up for this" and others expressed their utter confusion about what Dean was even talking about.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted me to get my tongue stuck to a pole," Dean said cheerfully, striding over to put his arm around Castiel's shoulders, and the people that previously didn't seem to understand what had been going on quickly began to realize the connotations and reacted with loud disgust that only fueled Dean's smile. He loved making bullies sick.

"You know that's not what I meant! How could you, Cas? I thought you were on our side," Gabriel said deploringly, holding his hands out to his little brother, like he could protect what little innocence he had left.

"Sadly, I cannot be on your side, Gabriel," Cas said gravely, though his cheeky little smile said he was enjoying his brother's anguish, "After all, how can I be on your side if I don't play for your team at all?"

"That's not even what I meant," Gabe raged, throwing his hands in the air, along with any hope he had that Cas might be a triple agent. His faction had fallen into complete disarray, several of the boys making fake puking noises or giving cat calls that only added to the chaos. Trying to regain some control, he pointed with one shaking finger at Dean who was already preparing to walk away in victory and proclaimed, "I'm not finished with you, Winchester!"

"What was that? Finish him? Now you're really looking for a show, Gabe," Dean called back, cupping a hand to his ear as though straining to hear Gabe over all the noise of his lackeys.

Beside him, Sam collapsed into laughter, and Dean felt a slight tug of appreciation. At least his brother never held any of this stuff against him.

Gabriel's wordless cry of frustration was music to Dean's ears. Leaning closer to Cas with a dauntless grin, he tried to pull the younger boy closer for a kiss that would be sure to destroy any loyalty Gabriel had left with his Snow Angels. Gabriel saw what he was going for a turned around in disgruntled disgust, but Cas pushed Dean back firmly.

"What?" Dean mouthed, frowning despite the sense of victory that was crowding all around him.

Cas didn't answer, he just forced on a smile and turned back to face Gabriel's huffily retreating form, though he didn't try to escape Dean's one armed embrace.

"Hey, assbutt!" Cas shouted, loud enough to be heard over his relatives who quieted down a bit as Gabriel froze, listening to the sound of his little brothers challenging voice. "How does it feel to get pranked by your goodie two shoes little brother? Guess it's you who should be delegated to the back of the cafeteria line."

"Assbutt?" Gabe spluttered, spinning around to face his stupid little brother and his stupid little boyfriend and his stupid boyfriend's stupidly tall brother. Truthfully, he wasn't all that surprised by Cas's sexuality, he'd caught whiffs of it here and there. But he would not stand for humiliation. "I thought I taught you better insults than that, little bro," he said with a small mischievous grin, and that expression seemed to remind his Snow Angels what they had come for in the first place. It was really Castiel's fault for bringing up the café line. After all, who cared who was gay and who was straight? This was about something a lot more serious than sexuality. French fries came before all else in their hungry adolescent minds. "You know what?" Gabe said swaggering a bit closer to the three who were still effectively pinned inside a loose circle of his loyal followers. "Let's forget all this pranking. Let's just do this the good old fashioned way. Attack!"

It was as though his shout released something in the tensed remaining boys, like they had just been waiting for a command, anything to push aside the weirdness that this ambush had become, and an excuse to forget it all by giving it a healthy bathing in snow. The Winchester's and Castiel never stood a chance as their attackers all launched their snowballs at once, raining snowball after snowball down on the huddled group.

Dean tried to launch a few back and attempted to cover the other two as best he could, but he was laughing too hard to be much good, and even when the snowball rain stopped and Gabriel had retreated with promises that "this wasn't over" and that he'd "see them in the cafeteria tomorrow", Dean still couldn't quite stop the laughter that poured out of him.

"I don't know what so funny, Dean," Sam grumbled between chattering teeth, brushing layers after layers of snow off his bare arms. "We still got totally creamed."

"Nah, they went way easier on us because Cas was here," Dean chuckled, pulling himself slowly out of his snowy entrapment, and giving Sam a hand up as well.

"Coulda f-fooled me," Sam said, and Dean rolled his eyes, going to grab their jackets form where the Snow Angels had tossed them at the beginning of their ambush. He acted nonchalant, but he still didn't want Sammy to get frostbite.

"He's right, Sam," Castiel said gently, pulling himself out of the snow as well, though much of it stayed trapped inside his curly brown hair. "Gabriel easily could have had them pelt us with ice, or buried us to the neck in snow, or forced Dean to lick a real pole. He didn't want to actually hurt us, though. He was just trying to act tough."

"All talk no walk, eh Cas? Just like you predicted," Dean said cheerfully, winking at the younger boy who had warned him yesterday that this ambush was coming, and convinced him to fight back cunningly as opposed to violently.

Cas knew that Dean was a hothead, and that if he could remain calm, he would see that Gabriel was not trying to be cruel. When things became about something bigger than just the cafeteria line, Gabriel was quick to settle things and retreat, rather than let the so-called "bullying" take on a more serious form.

"I'm glad you listened to me, Dean. And I'm glad I got to tell all of my relatives who I really am," Cas said gently in his usual blunt fashion.

"Uh, yeah," Dean said, shoving Sam's jacket into his arms and walking over to Cas to almost unconsciously help brush the snow out of his hair and off his shoulders. "About that. I hope I didn't make you too uncomfortable. I know you were cool with coming out and all, but I didn't mean to make it seem, you know, like we were a serious thing. Gabe might not have a problem with you being gay, but he might have a problem if he thinks it's for me."

"But that's precisely why I didn't kiss you, Dean," Cas said, sounding slightly baffled as he tilted his head at Dean's embarrassed expression. It was obvious Dean was trying to be selfless, and do the right thing but admitting he tried to take the 'act' too far, but Cas thought he had made it abundantly clear what his intentions towards the older Winchester were, even if he hadn't acted on them in the moment. Stepping closer to Dean, Cas put a slender hand on his shoulder and said, "I didn't want Gabriel to think my sexuality had anything to do with you, because it doesn't. I didn't choose how I feel about men in general; much less did I make any lifestyle choices based on my feelings for you."

"Well that's…that's real swell of you Cas," Dean said bitingly, as he shoved his hands into his pockets and tried to be both understanding and respectful while also wishing they could skip this conversation all together. If Cas wanted to reject him, he could have done it with one word, and preferably in private.

"I don't think you understand, Dean," Cas said, shifting even closer so that they stood nearly nose to nose. Dean felt his heart speed up, the way the stupid thing always had ever since he met this rugged kid who had no regard for personal space, and said everything so factually without any regret or second thoughts. "You see, coming out to my family was part one of my plan. I needed them all to know that I was not ashamed of being attracted to men, and that it was simply a part of who I was, not a part of any form of teenage rebellion."

"Yeah, I got that" –Dean started bitterly, but Cas cut him off.

"But that was only part one. My plan was a two part plan," Cas said coyly, clumsily straightening Dean's caller so it stood up straight. Dean tried to ignore the clumps of snow that fell down his shirt in the process. "Part two takes place in the cafeteria tomorrow. It requires you to kiss me publically as we storm the cafeteria line and take our rightful places at the front. Gabriel will have no choice but to see that I am not only interested in men but that I am also interested in you, and that while those two things are separate, so long as he doesn't wish to disown me completely, he will have to accept them both. You see?"

"A required public kiss, eh?" Dean said, feeling hope stutter back into his chest. One of his hand automatically snaked out to curl around Cas's waist, feeling his slender hip bones through his trench coat. "Do I get a say in the matter?" Dean teased.

"I suppose you do," Cas said with a small frown, as though this hadn't occurred to him. "I just assumed it wouldn't be a problem for you. I know you're interested in me. You made that pretty clear when we…talked earlier today in the pool storage room."

"Really, Dean? At least it's a step up from the closet at least," Sam interjected with a snicker, and Dean remembered that he was standing right there, listening awkwardly to every word they were saying.

"Well…well, so what if you're right," Dean sputtered in a flustered voice, as he glared slightly first at Cas and then at Sam. "The point is, your plan is still missing a step, Cas."

"What? What could I have missed?" Castiel asked, seeming baffled and a little annoyed that Dean thought his plan was flawed.

In reality, he was more embarrassed and nervous than anything else. Sure they had had an interesting… 'talking' session in the storage room, but that was nothing for most horny high school boys.

Walking in here and making all these demands about forcing Dean to publically declare his affection was his own way of flirting and ironically making it clear to Dean that he wanted more than stolen kisses and acts of rebellion.

But if that wasn't what Dean wanted…well, the thought was too frightening to think about, quite frankly.

"You've obviously got your family pegged, right?" Dean pointed out, a smile slowly making its way onto his face as he got a hint of Cas's nerves. "Hypothetically, you can even assume that I'm totally into you and that I'll kiss you in front of everyone and shock the whole school for the sake of getting you to go on a date with me. Sure, let's just say I'd be psyched to do that, no problem," Dean continued, not missing the way Cas seemed to brighten up at this 'hypothetical' version of the story. "But you've forgotten about one person. What about Sam?"

"Sam?" Cas asked at the same time that Same said, "Me? Don't bring me into this, Dean!"

"See, I think you need a step 1.5," Dean said, suddenly grabbing Cas by his hoodie drawstrings that swayed between the open buttons of his jacket and pulling him into a range where most heterosexual boys would normally start breaking out in hives. "Poor Sam, he's so young. What's he going to think when we start kissing in the cafeteria tomorrow and people start talking about his queer big brother and pool rooms and all that jazz? He'll be so embarrassed and confused. He won't have a clue what's going on. I think we need to explain to him before that, so that he won't embarrass himself."

"I swear to God, Dean, you are so ridiculous. I'm not ten, I understand what a relationship is," Sam insisted with embarrassment, scooping up some snow off of his jeans to toss half-heartedly at his brother.

Ducking the pathetic snow clump, Dean laughed, leaning closer to Cas as he said, "See? He's so distraught. He doesn't understand a thing."

"I think I know what you mean, Dean," Cas replied, inching forward towards Dean's lips. "I think we should explain it to him. May I suggest" –and whatever he meant to say after that was swallowed by Dean's overeager lips that parted around his softly in a kiss that was gentle enough to betray his excitement over Cas's semi-confession.

For a moment, everything was warm, and soft and focused solely around the feeling of kissing his crush and not on how soggy and wet they were. In fact, nothing was on his mind at all except more kissing. It took him several long kisses before anything other than more kissing could emerge from his hazy, love-drugged brain.

"Dean," Cas said, pulling away from the kiss after a moment, looking a little dazed, "If you promise to kiss me like that more often, I may let you take me on a date even before tomorrow."

"Well, if you're gonna twist my arm like that," Dean chuckled, proudly stealing another kiss that was way too soft for his proud expression, "I guess I might just take you up on that offer, Cas."

A/N: The end! Hope you enjoyed, let me know what you thought! :)