Summary: Love-grams aren't known to bring two oblivious teenage boys together, but sometimes they do anyway.

Pairing: Castiel/Dean Winchester

Characters: Castiel, Charlie Bradbury, Dean Winchester

Tags: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Valentines Day

Notes: since FF doesn't allow strikes in text. So when you see a sentence or word bracketed between a dash mark '-', then that means the words inbetween the dashs are supposed to be crossed out. But purposely left so the reader can read it.

It was that time of the year again, and students were happily spreading their fondness for each other through superficial gifts and incoherent text messages. The Valentine festive was frivolous, but Castiel couldn't help smiling in contentedness at all his classmates. He couldn't say that he wanted to openly share his affections with anyone like all his peers, but Dean Winchester was a good contender for the position – perhaps maybe the only. That was exactly why Castiel had chosen recklessly to buy him a love-gram.

It did take some prompting from Charlie, who was selling them.

"Buy a love-gram and you can write a message to someone you care about and give them chocolate without the hassle of actually having to do it! Only one-fifty each!" Giggling students were lining up in front of the set up table to buy some, and the ones who already had the notes were writing either summarized love letters to their crushes or jocular ones to friends. Castiel was about to walk on ahead like he always had for the past three years of High School until Charlie stopped him.

"Hey, Castiel! You wanna buy one for a special someone?"

He stopped in his tracks and smiled politely at the redheaded girl. "Sorry," he said, the apology automatic after years of rehearsal. "I'm not interested."

He was about to continue walking, but Charlie refused to let him go so easily. "Come on," she told him, absentmindedly collecting one girl's money and handing her a slip of paper to write her message on. "You can buy some for yourself and support the school. Or…maybe you want to write a special secretive message to someone in the school?" She grinned at him, and Castiel hesitated. Charlie definitely knew that there was someone Castiel had his eyes on, but it was the question of who it was. He had no intention of telling anyone that he liked Dean, but an unsigned love letter wouldn't cause any harm. Dean got plenty of love letters from other students fawning over his looks in the past years, and it wouldn't be atypical for him to receive another one this year.

"Fine," he finally said, agreeing. He searched the pocket of his trench coat for some loose change and handed Charlie a fistful of coins. She took it and gave him a pen and a slip of paper, frowning at the coins and adding up the amount. Meanwhile Castiel was hunched over the paper, pen poised to write and eyebrows furrowed in thought. He ended up writing something short and sappy that would embarrass him if anyone ever found out who wrote it. He hurriedly gave it to Charlie, wanting to get it out of his sight before he chickened out and rip it to shreds. "Thanks," he said, wrapping his trench coat tighter around himself and heading away toward his original destination with brief steps.

"Wait! Cas, you gave me way more than it cost," Charlie called after him.

"Keep the change," he called back.

When he went home, thoughts of the message plagued him, rendering him unable to sleep. He paced his bedroom long after everyone in the household was sleeping. "Dean will not notice," he told himself in the dark in an attempt to alleviate the panic. "He receives love letters every year. What makes mine special from the rest? No one will notice. Except Charlie, maybe." Charlie Bradbury had a knack for figuring things out.

Castiel continued to assure himself out loud until he heard banging on the wall from the room next door. "Shut up!" the muffled voice of his brother Gabriel called through the walls. "Some people are actually trying to sleep here, you know!"

Sleep had been generous enough to offer him reprieve. The next morning, Castiel could no longer remember why he was so nervous about the card after all. There wasn't anything personal enough that Dean could single him out. And what were the chances that Dean would regard it as anything more than a letter from an entranced student that he didn't even know the name of?

When he walked out of the house, Dean was waiting there for him in the Impala, grinning at Castiel widely. "Happy Valentine's Day, Cas!" Dean said once he opened the door to the passenger's seat. "Got anything special planned for anyone?" He looked at Castiel, eyes soft and smile bright.

Castiel stared back at him, drinking in the vibrant colour of his eyes. I'd like to count your freckles during St. Valentine's Day, if you'd allow me, he said, "No, nothing in particular."

He thought he saw Dean's expression fall, but Dean had already turned to face the road before Castiel could assess his expression any further. "Yeah, me neither," he said, his voice less cheery from before.

"What about Lisa?" Castiel asked, feeling slightly confused. Lisa and Dean had been talking a lot more often than they had the previous years, and Castiel would be lying if he didn't feel a stab of jealousy every time he watched them together. He was quite sure they were in love, and Dean would reveal any time soon that they were dating.

"Lisa? Oh – uh, we're just friends, Cas," Dean dismissed. "What, did you think we were dating?" he asked in a carefully detached tone, eyes leaving the road for a second and flicking to Castiel's face briefly.

"Yes," Castiel admitted, feeling a little better about Dean's statement. "Did you write a love-gram to anyone?" he asked without preamble.

"Love-grams? Oh – those rip-offs? I got one for someone," he said nonchalantly. When he looked over again, he must have seen something in Castiel's expression because he quickly amended his words. "Just to a friend as a gift."

The school was in sight now and Dean pulled up in the parking lot. "I got one for someone too," Castiel said without thinking over his words. The emotions from last night came rushing back and his heartbeat picked up. "I have an important test right now and I need to be in there early to ask the teacher some questions. I will see you in Mathematics." He opened the car door and hurried out without looking back at Dean.

Charlie was in his class first thing in the morning. The girl had bags under her eyes but still looked positively cheerful as she chatted away with Dorothy about a video game they were playing last night. "Charlie. Is it possible to remove my entry in the love-gram that I gave yesterday?"

"Sorry, no can do," she replied. "I don't have the cash or the notes anymore. And even if I do have them, I can't go looking through them after they've been submitted. Sorry. It couldn't have been that bad, right?" she asked him.

Castiel thought back to the love-gram and frowned. "I suppose not…"

"Then you have nothing to worry about!" Charlie told him. "Here, we got a few spare chocolates. Want one?" she asked, holding out one to Castiel. He took it gratefully and headed back to his seat, trying not to worry too much about it for the entire period.

When the period was over, he walked slowly to Math, wanting to delay the inevitable. Dean was sitting next to his seat and smiled at Castiel when he saw him at the door. He had just taken his seat when a student came in holding a bag of love-grams.

"Happy Valentine's Day," the student said in monotone and bolted the moment the teacher took the bag. Love-grams were passed around, and the class erupted into mindless chatter and excitable noises.

Dean smiled nervously at Castiel, fidgeting with the pen in his hand. It wasn't surprising when Dean got at least ten love-grams. He didn't even look at the notes. Instead, he started unwrapping the chocolates and shoving them unceremoniously in his mouth. Normally Castiel didn't care whether Dean read the messages, but now that he knew his notes was among the pile, he felt irritation and worry starting in the pit of his stomach.

"Aren't you going to read them?" he prompted Dean.

"After I finish these," Dean said with his mouth full, moving on to the hard candies now. Castiel frowned but didn't say anything else on the matter. Maybe it was better if he didn't read them at all.

To his surprise, two love-grams were dropped on Castiel's desk. He usually didn't get them – or at least he didn't get ones with messages on them. He picked one of the notes up and read the message.

TO: CASTIEL

FROM: QUEEN OF MOONDOOR

It's Charlie in case you didn't realize. Anyway, good luck with your love-gram! ;)

And thanks for the donation. I attached double the treats for that.

Castiel smiled, folding up the note and placing it in the pocket of his trench coat. Before he could read the other one, Dean asked, "What was that about?" He turned to see Dean's eyes narrowed suspiciously, one cheek stuffed with candy.

"It was from Charlie," he said, reaching for the next note. Dean jumped up, snatching the next one away from Castiel. When he gave Dean a confused tilt of his head, Dean gulped. "Uh, I don't think you should read this one."

Castiel snatched it back, more determined to read it now that Dean had told him not to.

TO: CASTIEL

FROM: -

I'm not poetic…so, I just want to say that you have -beautiful- very blue eyes. I don't want to sound creepy or anything, but the first time I saw those eyes -I thought wow, he sure is gorgeous- I was lost. This is so fucking cheesy. -Oh god I'm so sorry-. But I just want to say that…you're amazing and I uh, might have feelings for you. It's my final year, so I guess this was worth a shot?

I -am in love with- like you a lot. -And I'm also the idiot who sits beside you in class and was your best friend for the past three years oh god this is getting pathetic-

The lines that were scribbled out were done sloppily enough for him to see what had been written there, and he turned to face Dean, surprised and elated at the same time. "You wrote this," he stated.

"No! I, uh – fine I wrote it," he said, looking flustered and embarrassed. "I crossed a line. I'm sorry. But at least you got free food?" He tried to smile.

Castiel didn't respond, but instead chose to dig through Dean's pile of love-grams and found his own. He held it in front of Dean, smiling widely. "I wrote this," he said.

TO: DEAN WINCHESTER

FROM: A SECRET ADMIRER

(Is that how you're supposed to sign it?)

My brothers have always told me to be more straightforward if I want to tell you my feelings. This is my attempt. I love you, Dean Winchester. I hope this is straightforward enough.

"Well," Dean said, dragging his eyes away from the paper. He kept his expression schooled. "You weren't straightforward enough to sign your name."

Acting on impulse, Castiel pulled Dean toward him and pressed their lips together, kissing him. When he pulled away from the chaste kiss, Dean was dazed and flushed. "How's that for straightforward?" Castiel asked him, grinning.

Dean went in and kissed him again this time, mashing their lips together and oblivious to the catcalls from some of the students who had caught them. Castiel kissed back eagerly, Dean's heated wet lips against his creating a warmth in his stomach. Dean pulled away a little for air and Castiel kissed him again.

They finally pulled away when their teacher let out an exasperated sigh and told them to quit it with the PDA or separate desks. They smiled at each other, feeling giddy with excitement. As their teacher continued the lesson, Castiel brought their desks closer together and the both of them held hands for the rest of the class.

Notes- I wrote this on AO3 for Valentines and decided to cross-post here. I probably won't be posting all of my future destiel stuff here.

AO3: ifonlydolphinswereblue