Chapter 3 – Friends and a Little Bit More
The Chevy Impala pulled up in front of Cas' house and Cas stood up, grabbing his beige bag.
"My ride's here, I'll see you after school!" he called.
"Have a good day, sweetheart," his aunt called back from upstairs.
Cas felt a little tug of nervous anticipation as he walked down the front lawn. He opened the back door of the Impala and got in, smiling.
"Hello Dean, hello Sam," he said.
"Hey Cas," said Dean. "Got everything?"
"Yup. Thanks again for the ride," said Cas.
"It's no problem, your house is right on the way," Dean assured him.
He applied the gas and they drove off. About halfway there, Cas piped up again.
"Hey, if you want, you can sit with me at lunch. I uh... don't really have anyone to sit with so, well... I'd be glad of some company."
Cas noticed Dean glance back at him in the rearview mirror and thought there was something like pity in his bright green eyes.
"That'd be awesome, thanks Cas," he said.
"I'd come too but, well... different lunch period..." Sam said, sounding a bit put-out.
"Have you met Rebecca Fields? She's in your year and I've heard she's nice," offered Cas.
"I think she's in my English class... how do you know her?" asked Sam.
"Well, I don't actually know her personally but... I uh... I knew someone who did," said Cas.
The person he spoke of was Balthazar but Cas carefully avoided mentioning him. He wanted to become friends with the Winchesters normally, not because they felt bad for him. He could sense Dean glancing back at him questioningly again but the oldest brother said nothing.
"Thanks, I'll try and meet her," said Sam.
"No problem," Cas said.
They pulled into the Lawrence High lot and parked. It had started to rain so Cas pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt before getting out of the car. He and the Winchesters walked inside, ill-prepared students with textbooks shielding their heads scurrying ahead of them. After they were safely indoors, Sam waved to them and parted ways, leaving Cas and Dean together.
"So what've you got first?" Dean asked.
"Biology," Cas answered. "You?"
"Me too! I wonder if we've got anything else together," said Dean, rummaging in his bag for his class schedule.
They compared schedules all the way to Dean's locker, which ended up being just across from Cas', and discovered that they also had English and P.E. at the same time. After storing their bags in their separate lockers, they walked to the biology classroom together. They were forced to part ways at that point because their assigned seats were three rows apart, but met up again for part of the walk to their next classes. Their last period before lunch was P.E., where the instructor had them running laps on the indoor track course. Cas was a fast runner but he held back a little to jog alongside Dean. At lunch, they sat together at Cas' usual corner table and afterwards they split ways again until English in final period. Dean had apparently been assigned the seat directly behind Cas and neither of them had realized this until now. It turned out to be a good thing in more than one way because Dean had yet to buy the book they were currently studying and was able to share with Cas. After class, they accompanied each other to their lockers to gather their stuff, met Sam on the front steps, then drove back in the Impala.
"See you guys tomorrow," Cas said as they dropped him off at his house.
"Same time!" said Dean.
Cas walked back up the driveway as the Winchesters drove away and practically skipped inside.
For two and a half weeks, they kept up this pattern. Though he still missed Balthazar terribly, Cas was feeling as though he really had friends again. He and Dean were becoming especially close and more than once Cas caught himself just sort of staring at Dean as they talked together at lunch.
Then one Wednesday morning, the Impala pulled up outside Cas' house and he noticed that there was no one in the front passenger seat. He frowned but Dean gestured for him to take shotgun. Cas opened the door and slid in.
"Where's Sam?" he asked.
"He's got the stomach flu or something so he's staying home for the next couple days," said Dean. "You ready?"
"As always," said Cas, then they drove off.
The day went by as usual but as they got back into the Impala after school, Dean turned to Cas and said,
"Hey, do you wanna... I dunno, go get ice cream or something?"
"I'd love to," said Cas, trying not to grin quite as huge as he wanted to.
"Great," said Dean, looking almost relieved, like he'd expected Cas to say no. "You've lived here longer than me, where's the best place for ice cream?"
"The Icicle, down by the grocery store," said Cas.
"Alright, The Icicle it is!" Dean said, turning on the ignition and pulling out of the parking lot.
Cas sent a quick text message to his aunt letting her know where he was going, then stuffed his phone back in his coat pocket and grinned. A few minutes later, they parked beneath the bright blue sign of The Icicle and went inside. They spent a little while browsing the flavors before ordering. Cas got chocolate like he always did and Dean got strawberry. Then they sat at a little table by the window and dug in. They ate for a few minutes in silence. Cas looked at Dean for a moment, then stuck his spoon into his glob of ice cream and cleared his throat.
"Um... Dean?" he said tentatively.
"Yeah?"
"I uh... there's something I want to tell you. About me," said Cas.
Dean set down his spoon and looked at him intently.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Well... I uh... this isn't something I normally tell people... actually, no one knows this... but even though we haven't known each other for long, I trust you and I, well... I want to tell you," said Cas.
Dean frowned curiously but said nothing.
"I... what I want to tell you is..." Cas took a deep breath. "I'm gay."
"Oh!" said Dean, unfurrowing his eyebrows; this was apparently not at all what he'd expected. "That's... well... I'd never have guessed."
For some reason, he seemed a bit flustered and seemed to be avoiding Cas' eyes.
"Is that... okay?" Cas asked nervously.
"What? Of course it's okay, it's more than okay," said Dean, looking at him again.
Cas smiled a bit sheepishly.
"Thanks," he said.
"For what?" Dean asked.
"For accepting me. Telling people, it's... it's not easy. Especially when you're already the favorite target of the school bullies."
"I get that, I totally do. Actually, I..." Dean cleared his throat. "While we're on the subject of confessions... might as well... I'm actually bi..."
"Really?" said Cas, a little surprised.
"Yeah, really," said Dean.
"I... well... you just seemed a bit of a, well... 'tough guy'... I'd think it'd be strictly chicks with you..." Cas admitted.
Dean laughed.
"Hey, who says a 'tough guy' can't dig dudes too?" he said. "And look at you, you may seem like a nerdy kid but you could outrun me any day if you wanted. If that's not hardcore as hell, I dunno what is."
Cas blushed a little and quickly took a bite of his ice cream in an attempt to cool off his cheeks. Dean seemed to have noticed because he too brushed off Cas' momentary embarrassment with a bite of ice cream. They fell silent again. Both of them seemed to have words on the tips of their tongues that they kept swallowing back with spoons full of ice cream. Suddenly, they both stabbed their spoons into their bowls of ice cream, looked each other in the eye and said simultaneously,
"Do you wanna go out with me?"
They stared at each other in surprise for a moment, both getting increasingly red in the face. Then they burst out laughing and didn't stop for several minutes. Finally they were able to catch their breath.
"So... will you?" asked Dean, his eyes still glittering from tears of laughter.
"Only if you will," Cas said with a sideways grin.
"Well, I'm in, so..."
"Then yes."
Cas and Dean smiled at each other a bit shyly.
"Hey, do you wanna try a bite of this ice cream? It's really good," Dean said suddenly.
"Sure, I've never had the strawberry," said Cas.
Dean dug his spoon in and scooped out a huge bite of ice cream.
"Open up, buttercup," he teased.
"Oh no, pet names already!" said Cas, rolling his eyes.
"Ah, shut up and eat your ice cream," said Dean.
Cas opened his mouth and ate the ice cream off Dean's spoon. There was so much that he got a brain freeze. Unable to speak through the massive amount of ice cream in his mouth, Cas nodded and gave a thumbs up. He struggled to finish off the bite and gasped as he swallowed.
"Brain freeze?" Dean chuckled.
"Yeah. Okay, now it's your turn," said Cas, scooping out a spoonful of his own ice cream that rivaled Dean's.
"Oh god, you're gonna kill me," said Dean.
"No I'm not, don't be an infant," Cas grinned, feeding Dean the ice cream off his spoon.
Dean's eyes began watering almost immediately but he smiled through it and reciprocated the thumbs up. Cas laughed and took another bite of his ice cream.
Half an hour later, they pulled up outside Cas' house. Cas turned to Dean and smiled at him.
"Thanks so much," he said.
"You're welcome. And thanks to you too," Dean replied.
"It was my pleasure," said Cas. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow," echoed Dean.
Cas picked up his bag from the floor of the Impala and began to open the door.
"Hey, Cas, wait," said Dean suddenly.
Cas turned back around.
"Yeah?" he said.
"I, um... come here," Dean said.
He leaned forward and, cupping Cas' cheek in his hand, gave him a soft and fleeting kiss on the lips. Cas stared at him a moment, surprised, then smiled.
"See ya, Dean."
"Bye, Cas."
Cas got out of the car and shut the door behind him. This time he stood on the curb and waved as Dean drove off before he went into the house.