CHAPTER 9

"Mom."

Dean loked at his mother, who was folding the laundry while trying to write a list of the last preparations for Sam's birthday party next weekend.

"Dean, I've placed an order for decorations at the party store in town. Will you pick it up tomorrow before you go to Bobby's?"

"Sure. Mom."

"And we need to decide on a cake," she said and scribbled something down. It was the Sunday after Dean had spent the night at Cas'.

Dean took a deep breath.

"Mom, I'm in love with Cas. And he's in love with me."

His mother looked up. He could see she was confused, not really believing what she was hearing.

"What?"

"I'm in love with Cas."

"In love? With Cas?" she said disbelieving.

"Yes."

"Oh," she said. She was thinking for a while.

"Dean are you sure. I mean, you've always liked girls..."

"Mom, I love him. We're together."

"Together...?"

"We're in a relationship."

"What? Wait. Dean are you telling me you've had...sex...with him?" She whispered the last part so Sam wouldn't hear. "Is that why you wanted to spend the night at his house?"

"No!" Dean said a little too loud. He continued, calmer "No. I haven't. But I'm going to. Some day."

His mother took in a sharp breath.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," she said. She started folding the laundry with short, sharp movements.

"Mom.."

She suddenly stopped and looked at him. "Have you two been...doing things...in this house?"

"No, Mom. I respect you and Dad enough not to do that."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well...I don't know what I'm supposed to say. It's not every day that you'r little boy tells you he's...gay." She started folding the laundry again.

"Mom!" Dean groaned. "I'm not a little boy. And I'm not sure I'm gay. I just happen to be in love with a guy."

His mother huffed out a laugh.

"Mom, please. Don't be mad at me. I can't help who I fall in love with."

She sighed. "I'm not mad, Dean. It's just...unexpected."

He went over and stood behind her, putting his arms around her neck.

"You've grown so tall," she said.

Dean smiled. "I'm a big boy now," he said. "I really do love Cas."

She sighed again. "Alright, I just need some time to get used to the idea. Don't tell your Dad yet, ok? Actually, maybe I should be the one to tell him, just in case he freaks out."

"Ok," Dean said. He could definitely be on board with his mother being the one to tell him.

"And don't tell Sam either."

"Oh...," Dean said, looking to the floor sideways.

His mother looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Sam already knows, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, kinda..."

"Oh, boy. What did he say?"

"He thinks it's disgusting, but he likes Cas."

She laughed a little. Then the doorbell rang and Dean went to open up, though he knew who it was. He and Cas had planned for him to come over so they could look for a skateboard for Sam. Dean's mother came into the hall.

"Oh, hi Cas," she said, sounding a little awkward. Dean could see by the expression on her face that she was thinking about what exactly Cas had been doing to her son.

"Hi, Mrs. Winchester," Cas said.

"Mom, we're going upstairs for a while," Dean said.

"Um, Dean I don't think that's a good idea."

"Mom, we're going to look on the web for Sam's birthday present." Dean told Cas to go upstairs and wait for him.

When he'd left he said to his mother: "Mom, I told you we haven't done anything and we're not going to. I promise. You can trust us."

"Alright," she said hesitantly.

Dean went upstairs and closed the door behind him. Cas kissed him and Dean thought that kissing would be allowed, so he eagerly kissed him back.

"Did you have a row with your Mom?" Cas asked.

"Um, not exactly. I told her we're together."

"Oh? How did she take it?"

"I'm not really sure. She says she needs to get used to it. But she didn't forbid us to be together."

Cas kissed him again. "I'm really happy you did that, Dean."

"Me too," Dean said. He actually felt a little relieved.

They spent a while looking at skateboards on the web and found one they could get in a shop in town. Since Dean had to go to get the decorations tomorrow, he would go and get the skateboard as well. Cas said he would meet him there. He could take the skateboard home and keep it there so Sam wouldn't find it. Dean had to kiss him, then. He couldn't really figure out how he'd been so lucky to get a guy like Cas.


A while later, they went out on the street with Sam so he could try Cas' skateboard again. Their mother looked at them through the window. She didn't know Cas very well, only that he was well behaved and seemed like a nice boy. Boy. He was a young man. And so was her son. Dean had told her that Cas lived in the better part of town and his parents were sort of rich. She looked at Cas. He was trying to teach Sam how to flip the skateboard and land on it again. The board was really too heavy for Sam, who was a bit small for his age. But Cas kept giving him tips, never being impatient because Sam couldn't get the board to do what he wanted. Then she looked at Dean, who was standing across the street, hands in his jeans pockets, laughing at them. She had never seen that expression on his face before. He looked so happy. She couldn't hate something, or someone, that made her son that happy. She decided she would accept Cas into the family. Now she just had to find the right time to tell her husband.


The day after, Dean saw Ariana for the first time after their date. She looked like she always did, but when she saw Dean she quickly disappeared. Stan, who was standing next to Dean, tried to get him to go after her. Dean tried to tell him he wasn't interested in her. To distract Stan, he asked how his relationship with Helen was going. Stan completely forgot about Ariana as he staretd telling how great she was and how much fun they had and he was really sorry he hadn't spent that much time with Dean lately. Dean told him it was ok. After all, he thought, he had been with Cas.

After school, he quickly made his way to the party store and picked up his mother's order. Then he went to meet Cas. They quickly found the skateboard they were looking for and Cas took it with him as he went home. Dean was happy to see him. They usually didn't get to meet on the days Dean had to work. Then he quickly went to the garage, just in time for work. Bobby had slowly given him more responsibilities. Now he was allowed to greet the customers and take their details. It was easy for him to talk to people, and he was well liked by the people who came in. Bobby preferred to stay in the background and he thought it wouldn't hurt to have a good looking guy like Dean be the first person people saw when they came in. Most of his customers were women who couldn't do the little jobs their cars needed by themselves. Men tended only to come in for the bigger and more complex jobs.


When Dean came to school on Tuesday he met Stan who asked him about the guy he had seen Dean with the day before.

"What guy?" Dean asked, though he knew it was Cas.

"That guy you were with. He had black hair and a skateboard. I feel like I've seen him before."

"Oh, he's just a guy I know," Dean said. He wasn't ready to tell Stan yet.

"Is he your new best friend?"

Dean laughed. "No, we just hang out sometimes."

"Because if you think I'm spending too much time with Helen you'll tell me, right? I mean, we're best friends."

"Oh, sure. Don't worry. I'm happy you have a girlfriend."


On Wednesday, when the last bell rang, he ran into Ariana who was waiting for him outside his classroom. She wanted to talk to him.

"I have to go to work, but I can spare a couple of minutes," he said, thinking that was the least he could do.

"Well," she said "Stan says that the reason you told me you weren't interested is because you were nervous. Because you've never been with a girl before."

Dean's mouth opened and he made a strange sound. "He told you what?"

"He says that you're really sad that he has a girlfriend and you know you're missing out, so maybe I should try and speak to you."

Dean couldn't believe this. How had Stan gotten all that crap into his head?

"Ariana, I'm really sorry, but he's wrong. I'm fine with him having a girlfriend."

"Well, he says you're hanging out with this guy now. He has a skateboard?"

"So?"

"Well, I just thought you should know what people are saying about him. You know, so you don't get tarred with the same brush."

Dean was getting angry. People were talking about Cas?

"What are they saying?" He managed to stay calm.

"They say he...likes boys." She pouted her lips.

Right then, Dean spotted Cas at the end of the hall. He had his backpack with him and the skateboard in his hand. It was so unexpected, and Dean felt his heart skip a beat. Cas was smiling at him and Dean's eyes tingled.

"I just think...that..." Ariana stopped talking when she saw Dean wasn't paying any attention to her but rather to someone down the hall. She looked confused. Dean broke into a big smile and she looked from one to the other, suddenly realizing what was going on.

"Oh," she whispered.

"Sorry, Ariana, but I have to go."

Dean left her standing there. He really couldn't care less what she thought or wanted to save him from.

"Hi," he said to Cas when he reached him. "What are you doing here?"

"We were let off early so I thought I could walk you to work."

"Great!" Dean's day just got a lot better. As they walked, they dared to grab each other's hand sometimes but they never kept contact for too long.

When Dean came to school on Thursday he was expecting some sort of teasing or yells thrown his way. He was sure Ariana would have told everybody. But nothing happened. The day went just as it usually did. Not even Stan was different.

Dean had to go home to help with the decorations for Sam's party on Saturday, so he wouldn't be able to see Cas, but he was pleasantly surprised when he got home. As soon as he entered the house he heard Sam going on about a party one of his friends had had two years before. It had been great and Sam would like to top that.

"Well, we can try," he heard Cas' voice say. Dean smiled and let out a laugh. So he would get to see Cas after all. He went into the living room.

"Dean! Cas is helping with my party and he's promised to come."

"Just try to keep me away," Cas said and smiled when he saw Dean. He went over and kissed him, ignoring Sam's gagging noises.

"Shut up, worm," Dean said, but he wasn't angry.

Cas had been asked to stay for dinner. Dean's mother thought it would be a good idea to get to know him a little better. She still hadn't told her husband about him and Dean, but she knew she had to soon.

Cas helped set the table and she asked him about his parents.

"Oh, they work in banking, Mrs. Winchester."

"Do they get home late every day?"

"Yes, but we always have dinner together."

"And they aren't worried about you being alone all day?"

"No, they've raised him to be a responsible young man," Dean mocked smiling, as he used the same words Cas had.

"Well, they have," Cas said.

"I used to have a babysitter, when I was younger, Mrs. Winchester, but now I can take care of myself."

"Cas?"

"Yes, Mrs. Winchester?"

"Why don't you call me Mary."

"Alright...Mary." Cas beamed at her and she could understand why her son was so attracted to him. She decided to tell her husband after Sam's party.


Friday, during lunch, Dean went in search of Ariana. He wanted to thank her for not telling about him and Cas. He found her sitting alone on a bench outside.

"Hey," he said and sat down next to her.

"Oh, hi," she said.

"I just wanted to say thanks for keeping my secret. You know, about Cas"

"Is that his name?"

"Yeah."

"So are you two...together?"

"Yeah."

She was quiet for a while.

"That's very strange," she said.

"How so?" Dean couldn't help laughing a little.

"Well, I thought you liked me. Everybody told me you liked me."

"Well, I did. But then I met Cas."

"And he's better than me?"

"No, not better. I just...I don't know...it was like everything else disappeared when I met him. He was all I could think about."

"Oh..."

"I'm sorry, Ariana. About everyhting. About our terrible date..."

"Yeah, well, at least that makes sense now," she smiled.

Dean laughed. "Yeah. I'm sorry," he said again.

"That's ok."

"So, can we be friends instead?"

"Sure," she said, and smiled at him. But he could see she was still disappointed. He got up to leave and she said "I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks," he smiled at her. If he hadn't met Cas he would have had a great girfriend.