Dean followed Castiel outside and the frigid air made him shiver slightly. He looked over at Castiel who didn't seem the least bit affected by the winter chill. "Aren't you cold?" Dean asked.

Castiel looked over at him, smiled slightly, and shrugged. "I'm not what you would call the sensitive type." He said, smirking.

"So Cas," Dean started. "Tell me a little about yourself."

"What do you want to know?" He asked as he sat down on a bench near the playground.

Dean sat down next to him and shrugged. "Have you lived in Lawrence long?"

Castiel shook his head. "No, I just moved here about a year or two ago. I live in a small apartment, nothing much, but it's cozy. You?"

"I've lived here my whole life." Dean said. "My brother, Sammy, is going to Stanford right now with his girlfriend, Jess. He wants to be a lawyer." Dean paused. "Do you have much for family?"

Castiel nodded. "I have three brothers, Gabriel, Michael, and Balthazar. My family is very religious, so we were all named after angels." Dean's heart sank at that confession. "I'm the youngest, which was super fun growing up." He said sarcastically.

"Did they tease you a lot?" Dean chuckled.

"Not really, but they blamed everything on me. Especially Gabriel. He was what we called the trickster of the family. He was always pulling pranks and could lie his way out of anything."

"That's rough." Dean said.

Castiel nodded. "Michael was the oldest. He was pretty much given whatever he wanted. Balthazar was extremely sarcastic and for some reason, hated the Titanic movie. He said if he could, he would go back and un-sink it if it meant that the movie would never be made."

Dean laughed. "That has to be one of the most ridiculous reasons I've ever heard. So he wouldn't care that he saved over 5,000 people, he just wanted to prevent the movie from being made?"

"Pretty much." Castiel looked at Dean. "So, what about you? Have any interesting family stories to tell me?"

Dean's breath hitched. He didn't really want to tell a man he's just met about how his mother died when he was four or about how his father was a homophobic drunk who kicked him out of the house when he was a senior. He didn't want to tell Castiel about how him and Sam hadn't talked in years because Sam was forbidden to call him because of his father. Sam called him about once every couple months to catch up.

"Uh, no. Not really." Dean stammered.

Castiel tilted his head slightly, looking confused. "Is something wrong, Dean?" He asked.

Dean felt himself blush at how Castiel could tell something was bothering him. He sighed. "Your family is just so much better-sounding than mine. Yours sounds like it actually gets along, unlike mine. My family is what you would call disfunctional"

Castiel nodded, seeming to be clinging to Dean's every word. "Okay then. Why don't you just tell me the good things?"

Dean looked at Castiel, a small smile creeping onto his face. He was happy Castiel wasn't pressuring him into telling him about his family. "Okay, um, one time, when we were driving across the country, Sammy crammed a little army figure into the ashtray." He chuckled. "Now I have the Impala and I still can't get it out. I also remember I shoved some legos into the heater vents. Whenever I turn the heater on, I can hear them. It's those little things that is the reason I can't let go of that old car. It still runs fine, but everyone else is trying to get me to buy a new car, you know. But I can't. I even crashed it a couple times and still couldn't let go." Dean smiled to himself. "It just reminds me of when my family was still together."

Dean looked over at Castiel, almost wishing he hadn't said so much. He had just met the guy earlier that day. "I'm sorry." He said, resting a hand on Dean's shoulder. Dean's eyes began to sting with tears for the comfort that he wasn't used to receiving. "You seem to be doing well now, though, I mean, you have a good job, you seem to have people you like here."

"Yeah, I know." Dean said. It was taking all of his self control to hold the tears at bay. "I just wish I had a normal family. One that actually had family Thanksgivings. One that didn't make it impossible to do simple tasks, like ask for favors." He scowled at himself. Why was he being so emotional? In the four years he worked here, he never spilled all this out to Charlie, Jo, or Kevin.

Castiel was silent for a moment after that, contemplating on what to say next. "First of all, if you think that's all a family does, you're wrong." Dean opened his mouth to protest, but Castiel held up his finger to stop him. "Do you at least have a member in your family who loves you and would do almost anything for you?"

Dean thought for a moment. Sam would do almost anything for him. He only stayed with John because he needed to get into college. He still kept contact with Dean and made sure he was okay. Dean nodded.

"That is what a family does." He replied. "Maybe someone in your family hates you, for a reason I'm not going to ask, but as long as you have at least one person who loves you, then you have family. Maybe not a big one, but you probably have more than some people in this world."

Dean smiled at him. "Thanks Cas." He said. "I-I needed to hear that."

Castiel returned the smile. One of the other monitors rung the bell that gathered the kids to line up to go back inside. "We should probably get going." He said standing up.

And with that, a tradition was born.