Chapter Ten

Cas and Dean had decided to head downstairs for a little while, they have now joined Gabriel and Ash in the living room.

Dean and Ash were talking about music, while Gabriel was quietly trying to get the scoop on what has happened so far from his little brother.

"We just talked, cleared the air." Cas huffed an annoyed sigh at his big brothers need for gossip.

"So what…you guys are friends again? Like the last 3 years never happened." Gabe scrunched up his face, trying to understand the situation and why it had been resolved so fast.

"Well…I don't know. It's going to take some time and I'm a bit wary that things may change when we go back to school…but he seems genuinely sorry about everything and like I said there has never been bad blood between us, in fact Dean admitted to not having a single friend these past few years. He has been miserable Gabriel."

Gabriel nodded in understanding, it was clear that Cas was hoping him and Dean could become friends again, but he was well aware that it could still go the other way.

"Aww poor Dean-o must have been so tough!" Gabe drawled out sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Castiel glared at his brother and lightly punched him on the arm.

"Stop it. Just leave it alone, we are talking and that's all that matters to me right now. So if you care for me at all, at least TRY to get along with Dean"

Gabriel bowed his head, shaking it slowly and let out a defeated sigh. He lifted his gaze up to meet Cas' and nodded, forcing a cheery smile.

"Thank you"

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

A couple of hours had passed; it was approaching 11:30pm. Gabriel and Ash were now playing video games, with Dean watching them, occasionally yelling "KILL IT" when a zombie approached the virtual characters on the TV.

Cas was silently watching from the chair in the corner of the room, laughing at how animated the three boys were getting over a video game. It was nice for him to just watch, seeing Dean sitting in his house after all this time, feeling relaxed and comfortable – it really was like re-visiting the good times.

Dean laughed out loud as Ash killed an army of 10 zombies in one bloody swoop and they high fived, Gabriel whining about how his controller had spazzed out and he couldn't get the gun setting to work.

Castiel rolled his eyes and headed for the kitchen to get a drink. Dean glanced back to notice Cas walking out of the room and decided to follow, realising he was spending probably too much time with Ash and Gabe, as opposed to Cas – who was the reason for coming here in the first place.

Dean made his way into the kitchen; Cas noted his sudden appearance and smiled, grabbing an extra glass out of the cupboard to pour Dean a drink as well.

"Drink?" Cas asked, holding up a bottle of Pepsi Max.

"Yeah that would be great."

Cas poured them both a glass and Dean took a seat at the kitchen counter.

"Hey sorry I've been all caught up in video games. I'm such a geek sometimes, I get so involved."

Cas simply smiled and handed Dean his drink.

"It's ok, I'm glad you feel so relaxed here, it's nice to see that again"

Dean nodded in agreement, Cas now pulling up a chair next to Dean, sitting extremely close, their knees touching slightly.

Laughing to himself, Dean shook his head and took note of how close Cas was getting.

"Guess you still haven't learnt about the personal space thing?"

Castiel's eyes widened slightly, worrying that Dean may have been offended at the closeness and shook his head.

"My apologies"

Cas went to move his seat away, when Dean's hand came down on his shoulder stopping him, his face suddenly serious and looking at Cas with a worried expression.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it. You don't have to move, I don't mind…it's just so…like you. Makes me realise that you're still the same old Cas and wouldn't have you any other way."

Dean smiled warmly and removed his hand, Castiel didn't make another attempt to move back, and he simply returned the smile. Both boys sat in a comfortable silence for 5 minutes, sipping their drinks and occasionally smiling.

Taking in his surroundings, Dean looked around the plain white kitchen, noticing how there was no wall decoration at all and it was incredibly basic, much like the rest of the house. It had always been that way for as long as Dean could remember. He cleared his throat and broke the silence.

"Speaking of change…or lack of. Your house is exactly the same as I remember…"

"Yes, you know Uncle Zach, never one for decoration. He likes to keep things plain and simple, with the occasional cross dotted around the house. It used to freak you out when we were younger, do you remember?" Cas laughed slightly, looking around the kitchen and back to Dean.

"God yeah! Your Uncle Zach always scared me; he is such a big guy! I remember telling you that your room needed posters and should be a lot messier than it was, way too clean and white. Because your uncle was so religious and you came from a religious background, I used to freak out that he was going to try and convert me. HA! He used to glare at me every time I came here, I swear he hated me."

Castiel laughed and nodded his head.

"You aren't far off, he never hated you…but he always thought you were a bad influence on me and that you would pull me away from the church. In the end I made up my own mind anyways, I might have my religion, but I certainly don't live and die by it. I'm not hardcore in that respect and Uncle Zach has come to terms with that now."

Dean smiled, he knew Cas was never heavily religious, but always feared his family would pull him in that direction. Especially since Gabriel had always rebelled against it and Cas was weaker, but he was glad Cas chose his own path and stood up for himself.

"Yeah I figured as much. I'm glad you made your own choices though…must have been hard"

"It was, but I'm my own person…for the record, you were never a bad influence on me. If anything you taught me how to live more and how to have actual fun…and not just Gabriel's mischievous, get up to no good, kind of fun – real fun, the type that kids and teenagers should experience and I never did…until you."

Dean smiled shyly and looked down at his glass of pepsi, before letting out a small laugh, more memories creeping back into his mind. There was a lot of reminiscing going on tonight and for good reason, it made both of the boys feel better about everything, they always had such fun together.

"Oh yeah, I am bundles of fun." Dean smiled and looked up at Cas, who laughed and nodded enthusiastically.

"You were! I'll never forget you deciding to run riot around this house, determined to mess it up a little. I was so scared at first that Uncle Zach was going to come home and throttle you"

"Oh my god, I remember that! I decided your house was too neat and tidy and we should live a little, mess it up. I wanted to draw on your bedroom wall and you wouldn't let me…"

Dean laughed hysterically, remembering how much of a little shit he could be at times.

"…You told me I couldn't, so I decided to play it safer and turned the crosses on the wall upside down instead. You thought it was hilarious until your Uncle was due home and panicked and turned them back. So funny! I'm guessing you did it for my own good, he would have killed me!"

"Definitely! It was kind of funny…but we would have been organising your funeral if I hadn't of fixed it, you could be so menacing at times…I wouldn't let you mess up the house too much, so you decided to turn on me, told me I should live a little and chased me through the house…"

Castiel was now in fits of laughter, something Dean hadn't seen in a long time and couldn't help laugh along with him.

They had only been 14 years old at the time; Dean was a typical teenager at that age and just wanted to run around causing trouble where possible.

"HA, yeah I remember chasing you through the house, sneakily knocking things off shelves as I ran after you, just to mess things up." Dean chuckled and Cas shook his head, smiling at the memory.

"Yeah, real nice of you Dean…then you decided you wanted an imaginary gun and tried to fake shoot me with it…"

"Oh yeah and you didn't get the idea of the whole thing, looked at me all confused, like I had gone crazy and you just refused to drop dead."

Flashback ~ 14 years old ~ Dude, personal space?

"Cas! You are supposed to die man, I have a gun" Dean whined, as his friend stood there looking down at his non existent gun shot wounds.

"No…I see no gun. I don't understand why you want me to die…and why are you making them silly noises?" Cas tilted his head, thinking Dean had lost the plot.

"Wow, you really need to lighten up Cas! Its pretend!" Dean shook his head and sighed.

A mischievous smile spread across the young boys face and he launched at Castiel, tackling him to the ground, attempting to wrestle. When Cas just lay there, looking confused and making no effort, Dean sighed and sat back.

"Come on, let's wrestle! It's what guys do! You are supposed to make some sort of an effort man!"

"I don't understand why fighting would be fun… I use it only in self defence classes…"

"Ok then self defend yourself, when I come at you" Dean laughed and jumped on top of Cas, pinning him down.

Cas looked up wide eyed at Dean and began to struggle, before deciding he could get the better of his friend…he had been practising self defence after all.

A sly smile appeared on Cas' face, which brought Dean's laughter to a stop. A sudden role reversal happened in one swift motion and Cas now had Dean pinned to the floor, sitting on his legs so he couldn't move and pinning down his wrists.

Dean let out a surprised yelp, followed by an 'oof' sound when his back connected with the floor and looked up in shock. *Where did that strength come from* he thought.

"Hey! No fair, I didn't know you were that strong" Dean complained, wriggling around trying to escape the death grip.

"I guess even after 4 years of friendship…there is still a lot you don't know about me" Cas laughed.

Castiel leaned down, merely inches away from Dean's face, invading his personal space…yet again. Dean was so used to his friend doing this; it was frequent behaviour and happened almost on a daily basis. No matter how often he told him about personal space, Cas didn't seem to grasp what it was all about.

Dean was beyond caring anymore, he figured this was just Cas and he accepted the creepy eye contact and the closeness for what it was, he liked Cas exactly the way he was and wouldn't have him any other way. That wasn't to say he still couldn't joke about it…

"Hey Cas…we have talked about this? Personal space?"

Cas rolled off Dean and lay next to him on the hard floor, both of them now laughing hysterically.

Present Day ~ 17 years old

"Good times…" Dean sighed

"They really were." Cas smiled in agreement

Dean's expression turned serious for a moment, as his thoughts lingered on one particular point.

"Hey Cas, don't get mad and I'm sorry in advance for bringing this up but…you are freakishly strong and KNOW self defence so why did you let Gordon beat the crap out of you?"

Cas looked up at Dean, and smiled sadly.

"You know me Dean. I'm a lover, not a fighter. I really didn't want to get involved in a full on fight…"

Dean nodded and looked down sadly.

"…besides, if I had…Gordon wouldn't have stood a chance." Cas smiled, causing Dean to look back up and smile along with him.

"Totally true"

Dean risked a look at the bruises on Cas, especially the black eye on his face and he studied it carefully with his eyes. Without thinking he reached out and very lightly brushed his thumb over the bruise, earning a small wince from Cas. Dean removed his hand quickly, looking slightly awkward.

"Sorry, did that hurt?"

"A little…but its OK…look Dean, I know I look pretty crappy right now, but you really don't have to worry about me."

Cas gave a re-assuring smile and met with Dean's eyes, he nodded in defeat.

The loud bang of the front door shocked them both out of their little exchange and the voice of Uncle Zach could be heard rumbling through the house.

Dean looked worryingly at Cas, who was clearly amused at Dean's almost scared expression.

Zachariah then entered the kitchen, looking slightly taken back by Dean sitting there and shook his head in frustration.

"Winchester. Long time no see. Why is it I come home to find a couple of stray dogs in my house…as if Ash wasn't bad enough, I now have to put up with you again?" Zachariah ranted, while shuffling around his kitchen. He clearly wasn't angry, just a little frustrated that his nephews friends are clearly people he dislikes.

"Yeah, it's been a while. But I better be off now anyways." Dean stumbled slightly over his words, glaring at the older man as he exited the kitchen, Zachariah not even looking up to say goodbye or acknowledge him.

Cas followed Dean to the front door.

"Yeah he still scares me a little" Dean laughed, turning around when he reached the front door to look at Cas, who laughed too.

"He will get over it" Cas said bluntly.

"I hope so…cause now we are back in touch, don't think you're getting rid of me that easily" Dean chuckled and winked at Cas.

He looked surprised at Dean's words, noting how genuine his tone sounded; maybe they really would get back on track.

"Phone?" Dean asked, snapping Cas out of his momentary daydream.

"Huh?"

"Phone, where is your cell phone?"

"Oh…here" Cas said, grabbing it out of his pocket and handing it to Dean, eyeing him up curiously.

Dean punched his cell phone number into Cas' phone and dragged out his own phone, which he retrieved from Cas' floor earlier, thankfully it wasn't damaged much, just a couple of scratches.

He handed Cas' phone back and motioned for Cas to put his number into Dean's phone.

"You want my cell phone number?" Cas asked carefully, before taking Dean's phone.

"Well yeah, not fair if you have my number and I don't have yours" He laughed and waved his hand at Cas to enter his number, which he did.

"Awesome, thanks…well I umm…" Dean stumbled on his words, yet again. Now feeling slightly awkward at their goodbye.

"…I guess I'll text you? Or see you in school Monday?"

"Yes, either would be good. Whatever you wish to do" Cas stated, holding back the smile that threatened to wash over his face.

"Totally, we could always meet up again before Monday or something. We can sort that out later…and thanks"

"For what?"

"Letting me come over to talk, so we could sort this all out. I hope this is a new start for us…I really have missed you, tonight was fun" Dean smiled shyly.

"It was and I hope so too. Goodnight Dean" Cas smiled back and Dean opened the door and headed home.

Cas closed the door behind Dean and leant against it, letting out a huge sigh of relief and content. A massive smile now spread across his features and he couldn't seem to shake it off as he went upstairs to bed.

As he reached his bedroom, his cell phone buzzed in his hand and he looked down and opened the message.

From: Dean

Night Cas