If Dean was going to keep Castiel from being able to use the bathroom in the morning, Castiel was going to do the same to him in the afternoon. Dean had informed him of his schedule, and Castiel was well aware that Dean had to go to work almost immediately after he got home from school. Dean said he usually only had time for a quick shower and to grab a sandwich to go before he had to head out again. That schedule was about to change.

He didn't know exactly what time Dean would be home from school, but he had a pretty good idea. He had to leave class a few minutes early, but it would be worth it if he beat Dean back to the house.

When he rounded the corner, Dean's car was nowhere to be seen and Castiel couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. He made his way into the house as quickly as possible, grabbing everything he'd need and rushing into the bathroom. His plan wouldn't work if it didn't look like he'd been in there for a while.

After starting the flow of warm water into the tub, he dumped half a bottle of bubbles into the stream. He knew that the chances were fairly high that Dean was going to end up in the room, and he didn't want the man to see anything he shouldn't.

While he waited for the tub to fill, he lit the candles he'd brought. He had never actually taken a bath like this before, but it was part of the scene he was going for. Total relaxation. He even filled a glass with wine and set it on the edge of the tub. Yes, that would do nicely.

The tub was nearly filled, so he stripped down. He made sure his robe was within reaching distance, before stepping into the water.

It quickly became apparent that he had done something wrong as fire crept up from where the lower half of his legs were submerged. The water that had felt pleasantly warm to his hand felt like lava on his feet. He quickly reached forward and turned off the hot tap, hoping the cool water would be enough to lower the temperature. Thankfully, it seemed to be working.

Just as he started to swish the water around a bit, mixing the cold in with the hot, he heard a sound from the main room, and knew he was out of time. He shut the water off, hoping that Dean hadn't heard it running. The sound of the front door closing made him believe the timing had been perfect.

He could hear the other man moving about in the house, and tried to convince his body to continue into the tub the rest of the way. His whole plan would be blown otherwise.

There was a quiet knock at the door.

"Cas?"

"Yes?"

"Uh… Are you almost done in there?" Dean asked, his tone neutral.

"No." Castiel answered gruffly, but mostly because he'd managed to get onto his knees, and it was difficult trying to lower himself into a tub while simultaneously trying to keep his genitals from touching the water

"What the hell are you doing in there?"

"I'm taking a bath."

Dean let out a sound of frustration. "I need to take a shower."

"Well, I suppose you'll have to wait."

He hadn't even bothered to lock the door. He had no doubt that the other man could have picked the lock anyway. He was running out of time before Dean opened it and discovered him just hovering above the water. He needed to be in by the time the door opened. It was all part of the plan, and Castiel's plans never failed.

He took a deep breath and then forced himself to drop into the water the rest of the way.

Good god, that burned like hellfire! There was no chance his ass would ever forgive him for this. His poor dick would probably rebel and fall off. He wouldn't even blame it.

The deed was done, and it was too late to change anything now. He still had a chance to get one over on Dean, though. He scooped up the wine glass and leaned back into the water, draping himself in a way that should be the picture of comfort.

The door swung open at exactly that moment, as if Dean had been waiting for his cue. Surprise was etched across his face. He probably hadn't been expecting the door to be unlocked.

"What the hell, Cas?"

"I told you. I am taking a bath. It's rather rude to just walk in on someone like that, you know. What if I hadn't had any bubbles?" He kept his tone light, and unbothered, as if men barged in on his baths every day.

Dean seemed to completely ignore his efforts. "I told you that I try to get a shower in between classes and work."

"Yes, well, after the disaster of a morning I had, I needed a nice relaxing bath." Castiel said casually, swirling the wine in his glass.

"What disaster?"

"I was kept out of the bathroom all morning. In fact, I was almost late to class because I was unable to brush my teeth." Castiel took a sip of the prop wine he'd poured. He then had to train his features back into a casual expression as he forced himself to swallow the disgusting liquid.

Dean's expression turned from confusion to irritation in a heartbeat. "This is some kind of payback for taking too long in the bathroom this morning?"

Castiel tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"God damn it, Cas. This is ridiculous!" Dean threw his hands up in frustration, and he looked at Castiel as if he expected him to see reason, or apologize.

That was not happening.

"Fine. You know what? Two can play at that game, buddy."

Dean slammed the door on his way out.

Castiel did not pause to revel in his victory. Instead, he jumped up as quickly as he safely could. He scrambled out of the tub, getting his balls as far away from the scalding water as possible, and praying they would return to a normal color eventually.

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The next morning, Castiel was unsurprised when he couldn't get into the bathroom. Dean must have been very determined to be the first one in there, since he had gotten home sometime after Castiel had gone to sleep last night.

Luckily for Castiel, his classes didn't start as early today, so even if Dean stayed in there until the moment he had to leave for class, it wouldn't mess with his schedule today. That knowledge was enough to bring a smile to his face, even before he'd had his mandatory three cups of coffee.

If Dean planned to make taking over the bathroom in the mornings into some sort of habit, Castiel would just have to make sure he showered at night while the other man was at work. It might not be a bad idea to keep his toothbrush in his bedroom, either.

He pulled on some sweatpants and a t-shirt before heading to the kitchen to get his coffee started. Once the coffee pot was set up, and the sweet nectar of the gods was quietly brewing, he pulled out a book to keep him occupied while he waited.

When Dean finally came out of the bathroom, one look at the clock told him the man had waited until the last possible minute. With the drive to campus, and trying to find a parking space, he would be lucky to make it to class on time.

"Did I take too long in the bathroom?" Dean asked with a sweet tone that clearly said he knew he had.

"No, it's fine. My classes don't start until later today." He told the man breezily, casually flipping a page in his book as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Dean looked incredibly disappointed and Castiel added a point to his mental tally.

"Well, it's free now." He said, despondently.

"Thank you, Dean." Castiel said politely, but he couldn't stop the grin that crossed his face.

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Castiel knew there were only so many days that he could take up the bathroom between Dean's classes and work, before things started to get ugly. He put his limit at three days, and then he started to get really creative.

One day he discovered a chalk powder that was the same color as the towels usually found in the bathroom. Once the inside of the towel was covered, he only had to wait for Dean to dry himself. The roar of anger that came from the room, and the sound of the shower turning back on, was his reward.

He left it alone for two days before he tried anything else. He spent those two days learning how to pick the bathroom lock.

By the third day, it was easy to get into the room while Dean showered. First he went to the sink, and slowly turned on the hot water until it was completely open. Then, he crept over and flushed the toilet. He ran from the room as fast as his legs could carry him. His name was bellowed loudly from the room, followed by the sound of Dean ripping the curtain off the hooks in his haste to get out of the tub.

Dean had forced him to buy a new shower curtain, and had seemed abnormally angry at that one. It may have had something to do with having to rinse his hair in the sink, afterward. Castiel decided to go back to using that hour to bathe instead. He'd actually gotten used to his relaxing baths, and kind of missed them when he was finding other ways to mess with Dean, anyway.

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While Castiel preferred bathing at the most inconvenient times for his new roommate, Dean had his own ways of retaliation. On the days that he could keep Castiel out of the bathroom all morning, he did. But on the days where that didn't matter, he found other things.

One day, Castiel received a call from a name he did not recognize. He denied the call without a thought. It was nearly an hour later when he received a text from the same unrecognizable name that he realized something was wrong. If the name and the phone number were saved in his phone, how did he not know them?

He opened up his contacts to see if he could find out any more information about the person and instantly realized that he didn't recognize any of the names. Well, he recognized them, but not as friends of his. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Bruce Wayne, Kirk, and Spock were just a few of the names. There were some he didn't know, but he assumed they were also characters that he'd just never seen. Dean had changed every single contact in his phone.

It was incredibly embarrassing texting everyone he knew, asking them who they were. Some of his friends were understanding, but then some of his friends used this mix up to mess with him. The one that was the worst he marked as Balthazar, although the other man had never actually confirmed it.

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Castiel was a little concerned about the class they shared together. He didn't really know how to mess with the other man, and still get his work done, but he was worried that Dean wouldn't have the same issue. It turned out to be a needless fear. They sat at opposite ends of the room from each other, showing up early to ensure they wouldn't get stuck sitting any closer. They spent the entire class period acting as if the other didn't even exist.

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Once the weekend came, the script was flipped entirely. Dean worked most of his shifts during the week so that he could have his weekends available. Castiel worked only on the weekend. Luckily, Dean seemed to like sleeping in on the weekends, so Castiel had the bathroom to himself in the morning. Unfortunately, Dean had all day to think of ways to torture him when he got home.

Castiel only worked half days, most of the time. Even with the walk he now had to do, he could still make it back to the house before two. He usually reserved weekends for his larger school projects so he could work for uninterrupted hours at a time on them. Of course, that was before he'd become roommates with Dean Winchester.

As soon as he arrived at the house, he knew his homework plans were dashed. The sound of electric guitars could be heard from the end of the block, and the volume only increased the closer he got to the house. Opening the door was like stepping into an AC/DC concert.

There was no way he'd be able to concentrate with music playing at this volume. He sighed as he made his way into the house. He hadn't told Dean of his plans to study, but he knew that even if he did now Dean would be happy to continue messing up his plans.

Dean was in the kitchen, singing along with the deafening music coming from the speakers. He didn't even seem to notice that Castiel was home.

The bedroom door closing behind him did nothing to dampen the sound, and Castiel sighed as he dropped into the desk chair. He knew it was useless, but he had to at least try to get some work done.

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It was nearly two hours before Dean did something even more despicable.

Castiel had been mostly minding his own business, hiding in his room and trying to muffle the sounds, but eventually he'd needed food and he'd made his way into the kitchen to nuke himself a meal. The smell that struck him as he came from his room was enough to make him salivate.

Dean was cooking. And it wasn't the macaroni and cheese, or Hungry Man meals that Castiel had grown accustomed to. It was real food.

The man was throwing ingredients into a bowl carelessly, singing along to the music still blaring through the house, and upturning ingredients to the beat. There was a pie crust pressed into a pan on the counter next to him, so it wasn't hard to guess what he was making. What was hard to guess was what the heartier smell coming from the oven was.

There was no way in hell Dean was a good cook. That would just be an unfair advantage, and Dean already had way too many of those. Did the man have to be completely perfect? It just wasn't fair.

Sitting in his room with his disgusting microwave meal while the smell of Dean's gourmet meal wafted down the hall felt like the worst torture Castiel had suffered so far.

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Castiel only had to make one call to get back at Dean. He'd spent most of his shift daydreaming of ways to get back at the man, before he was stuck by brilliance. He called his ex-roommate to put his plan in action. Balthazar loved the idea, and promised he would take care of everything.

It was almost nine at night before his plan came into effect. The first knock at the door had Dean frowning, but he got up to answer it.

"Cassie!" Balthazar's voice rang through the house, and Castiel grinned. He pulled himself up and moved to greet his friend.

"Balthazar! It's lovely to see you!" Castiel threw his arms around his friend in a hug. It was truly only for show, so Dean wouldn't be too suspicious. It wasn't until they had been holding each other for a little longer than decorum permitted that Castiel realized he'd really needed that hug.

"I've missed you, my friend." He said as he stepped away. His tone was much more serious than he'd meant for it to be.

"You've only been gone a week!" Balthazar said with a laugh, but he slung his arm around Castiel in a friendly manner.

Had it really only been a week? It felt like eternity.

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It wasn't until the third person showed up that Dean started to look suspicious. He hadn't said a word about Castiel inviting his friends over. That is until Balthazar's best friend, Gabriel, showed up with a bottle of liquor in each hand.

"Are we having a party?" Dean asked, glaring at him in a way that said he was not happy at that turn of events.

"Oh no. It's just a small gathering of people." Castiel answered. He knew he wasn't fooling the other man, but he wasn't really trying to.

The sixth person to knock on the door was at least someone that Castiel recognized, although he didn't particularly care for her. Anna was Balthazar's baby sister, although she wasn't much of a baby anymore. She would be attending their college next year. He'd never really held any affection for the girl, and with the way Dean was looking at her, he liked her even less.

"Don't get any ideas there, pretty boy." Balthazar said before he could, coming up to stand next to the two of them.

Dean's attention swung back to them immediately.

"She's only seventeen, and she's my baby sister. You'll have to go through me and Cas, and it's just not worth it." Balthazar's tone was joking, but his eyes were deadly serious. Castiel wondered why he'd even invited his sister to begin with.

"You don't have to worry about me." Dean raised his arms in a gesture of surrender. "She's not really my type."

That just left Castiel angry in an entirely different way. What was wrong with Anna? She was a beautiful girl. She was intelligent and graceful and everything a man could be looking for. Other than the fact that she was illegal.

"Good." Balthazar clapped a hand to Dean's back with such force it knocked him forward a little. "Let's keep it that way, shall we?"

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Castiel saw the whole thing as if it was in slow motion, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Balthazar's idiot friends were play wrestling over a bottle of Jack Daniels someone brought. It was all fun and games, except there just wasn't room for two fully grown men to be throwing each other around. Even when the room wasn't full of people, it still would have been a bad idea. As it was, they were turning the room into a mosh pit.

This was not the kind of disruption Castiel had been aiming for, and he moved forward to stop the activity. Although he was hoping to upset Dean, this was still his home, after all.

He wasn't fast enough. One of the boys lost his balance, his arms windmilling in an effort to right himself. Everyone's attention was drawn as one of his arms collided with the collectables on top of the smaller shelf, sending them across the room. Most of them would be fine, but Castiel watched, horrified, as an ancient looking snow globe crashed to the floor and exploded.

"Alright! That is IT!" Dean had finally snapped it seemed. "Get the fuck out of my house!"

The rage coming off Dean was palpable, and no one even questioned his order. They gathered their things and got out as quickly as they could.

Balthazar gave Castiel a little hug before he left, whispering in his ear. "I think you did a decent job of pissing him off today."

"Thanks for a great party!" He threw over his shoulder as he walked out, sending a cheeky wave toward Dean.

Dean just scowled at the last of the interlopers as they headed out, and then he slammed the door after they were gone.

"Dean…" Castiel started, although he didn't really know what he would say.

"Just go away, Cas." Dean's voice was dejected.

Castiel moved to start cleaning up the mess on the floor.

"Leave it!" Dean snapped, stalking into the room and pushing him toward the hallway. "Just go!"

Castiel had never seen Dean look so angry before. He decided it was wisest to just take Dean's advice. He spent the rest of the night in his room, finally getting some of his homework done.

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Sunday turned out to be rather peaceful, with each of them just avoiding the other when he got home from work. It wasn't like in the beginning, when they were pushing boundaries. They barely even acknowledged each other when they were caught outside of their rooms at the same time.

Castiel actually felt pretty bad about how the party had turned out, so he took some time away from doing his homework to get the common spaces cleaned up. Only after Dean had made himself some food, though. He didn't want a confrontation.

Dean had already cleaned up the mess from the shelf being knocked over, but Castiel cleaned the rest of it. There were empty cans and cups and food wrappers that those heathens had somehow littered the house with. They weren't his friends, but the party had been his idea, and he felt like it was only fair to clean up after it.

He even had time to get his laundry done, since Dean seemed content to spend his time away from him. He nuked himself a meal and went back to his room. He still had plenty of homework to do, and since it was actually quiet, he might even be able to get it done.

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He should have known better, honestly. He'd been doing everything in his power to instigate a fight with Dean. Apparently, it was time for the man to retaliate.

Of course, Castiel had no idea anything was wrong until he went out to switch his laundry to the dryer. As soon as he opened the washer he cringed.

Every single white thing he owned was now pink. All of his boxers, his socks, and even his undershirts where now the color of pepto bismol. He sighed as he switched them over to the dryer. He didn't have the kind of extra money it would take to replace all the clothes that had been damaged. He might as well get used to the idea of wearing a whole lot of pink.

He chose not to retaliate over his new wardrobe. It was such a trivial thing after all, and he might have even deserved it. When he passed Dean in the hallway later he sent him a smile. Dean didn't need the satisfaction of knowing he'd got one over on him.

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The next morning things were even more odd. It was one of Castiel's early days, but instead of Dean taking over the bathroom, he was in the kitchen, humming while he made breakfast. Maybe all they'd really needed was a good night sleep, and some time away from each other.

As much as Castiel had been enjoying his bath times in the afternoon, he couldn't help but feel satisfied when he got to shower in the morning. He even got to take his time, since he'd gotten a healthy amount of sleep and had been able to wake at a decent hour.

Half an hour later he was clean, refreshed, and ready for his day. He headed to the kitchen to get himself some coffee. He might even have time to sit and enjoy a cup before he had to leave.

Dean was nowhere to be found, and Castiel was glad. The peace they'd somewhat established the day before was fragile, and the less time they spent together the better.

Castiel hadn't even been that upset when he'd had to pull on his pink socks on that morning. That was progress.

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Dean had done something to his coffee! That asshole! Castiel had never felt this worked up from drinking coffee before, and there was no other explanation. His hands were severely shaking, and he found himself yelling more often than not.

It was like he'd taken shots of pure adrenaline. It didn't help that he had to pee every hour for fear that he'd wet his pants.

Whatever Dean had done, it was not wearing off. He was lucky he didn't have any classes with the man that day, or there may have been actual fists thrown. Who did he think he was? Never mess with coffee.

After the third person he'd snapped at not to "fucking touch him" he decided it was time to go home. He was clearly not in his right mind, and being at school was pointless when he was distracted by the tiniest things.

On his walk home he'd ended up following a bee for blocks before he'd realized he had no idea where he was anymore. Luckily, he was still amped up, and he was able to jog around until he found something familiar.

Almost as soon as he got back to the house, the effects of his spiked coffee began to wear off. One second he was pacing his room trying to come up with a fitting retribution for Dean, and the next he was waking up.

He was face down on the floor when he opened his eyes, with no knowledge of how he'd gotten there, but fairly certain he never wanted to be there again. He'd never thought of his room as dirty, but the close up he had of the carpet now made him rethink that.

He peeled himself off the floor, rubbing his face. God, he felt like he'd been hit by a truck.

He could hear the sounds of someone moving around the interior of the house, and assumed that Dean was home from school.

Castiel cornered the other man in the kitchen, before he could leave again. "What will it take to keep you from messing with my coffee?"

Dean grinned at him, probably taking in his rumpled state. He held out the canister of energy drink powder that he'd apparently spiked the coffee with.

Castiel sighed. At least he hadn't actually been drugged. It was just considerably more caffeine than he was accustomed to. Or, at least, it had been delivered faster than he was used to.

"I need my coffee in the morning, Dean. I am willing to pay a forfeit to keep you from ruining my daily ritual. What do you want?"

"You mean, you'll make a deal with me? In exchange for keeping out of your coffee grounds?" The man looked highly intrigued by the idea.

"Yes."

Dean looked thoughtful for a moment, and Castiel worried about what he'd ask for. Instead of the evil grin he'd been expecting, Dean's face turned solemn.

"Alright. I'd like it if I could have the bathroom in the afternoon. You can't be in there from the time I get home from school until the time I go to work. No messing with my showers either. It can be my hour of peace."

Castiel hated to give that up. It was his favorite time of the day, after all. Was that worth having fresh, untainted coffee every morning?

"It's a deal." He said, and they shook on it. It would be hard, but he still had plenty of other hours in the day to torture Dean.