Author's Note: A little short but something to let you know I haven't forgotten this.
Monday morning Castiel wakes up a full hour before his alarm.
After going through the required morning necessities, he gets dressed like normal just to stand in front of the mirror. He stares at it for too long with his head tilted a little, considering. Finally, smiling at his own image, he reaches up and ruffles his hair. The outcome is less than satisfying. It just sticks up on one side looking like he slept on it weird. Frowning, Castiel grabs a dime size dollop of gel, this time bunching his fingers then rubbing them back and forth roughly. There. It looks close to how Dean had it. Messy. "Sex hair" as Dory had put it.
He traps the corner of his bottom lip between his teeth while rolling his sleeves up to his elbows and loosening his tie. He could leave it off all together… but then Dean seemed to like playing with it and to be honest, he kind of enjoyed it too. It was oddly intimate.
Staring at himself, Castiel turns his arms inward to offer them to the mirror. He picks out each one with his eyes then after a few moments, drops his arms back by his side and runs his palms down his shirt. This was enough like him that he still felt comfortable, the end result making him look disheveled but kind of cool, or so he might think …if he had the nerve to leave it like this without giving in to fixing everything. He decides to just try it out today. There was no harm in that. Should he bring a jacket, just in case? He eyes Dean's flannel folded on his desk and dismisses that outright. Not only would it look completely ridiculous on him, it might freak Dean out to be wearing his clothes at school. He didn't want anyone to know.. yet. That would probably mean no kissing or holding hands at school either, a thought that makes him frown at his mirror self.
It was just for a little while until Dean got used to the idea.
His phone chirps and he checks it to see a text from Dean.
runnin late. might not make it to ur locker. if not see u at lunch!
Castiel sighs and with one last self-conscious grimace at the mirror, he throws his bag over his head to settle the strap across his chest and heads out the door.
"Look at you," Charlie hums approvingly as she walks up at his locker.
"Is it too much?" Castiel runs his hands down his front again as if he can straighten his whole appearance with that one gesture. At a party was one thing but maybe now...
"No such thing." She brushes at a random wedge of hair at his forehead, absently adding, "Dean's totally gonna break any day now."
Castiel turns to hide in his locker, messing with books he doesn't really need. He'd allow Dean some time to adjust but he'd have to ask about Charlie. If anyone would understand, it was her. She'd probably make them rainbow cupcakes or something and start babbling about their designated couple name.
He putters around with his books, waiting until its apparent Dean isn't going to show before starting off for first period. Charlie must chalk up his quiet demeanor to pining after Dean again because she hugs him goodbye at her class and he just feels that much more guilty.
Lost in his own thoughts, he's almost to his hallway when Dean comes rushing up from behind him.
"Hey," he gasps a little short of breath.
"Oh, hi..." Castiel says, startled to see him after all. "I mean, Good Morning."
Dean opens his mouth to say something then closes it to smile and give him a appreciative look, obviously just noticing he'd kept the changes to his appearance from the party. Castiel feels his cheeks flush after he drawls, "Lookin' good, Cas."
He almost moves his hands to fidget with his sleeves but remembers just in time they're rolled up. Instead he settles on holding his wrist behind his back. "Thanks. Um, where did you-"
"Gotta talk to you."
"Okay?"
Dean looks around at the meandering students dragging their feet to class. "Kinda thing I can't tell you here."
The last warning bell rings.
"Now?" Castiel asks, looking back towards his hallway. hated handing out tardies and he wasn't exactly a fan of the extra attention of walking in late.
Dean bends his head for a second, looking him up and down again before agreeing, "Definitely now."
He frowns as Dean does a head flick towards the boy's bathroom. Shifting in place only a moment, Castiel dutifully follows. Some guy rushes out just as they walk in and Dean catches the door, holding it open for him. The stalls are all open but Dean still does a quick survey to see they're empty while he stays by the door feeling dread quietly snowballing in the pit of his stomach.
Was Dean regretting kissing him? Did he do something wrong? Was Dean about to say forget it, just kidding? He couldn't do this? He was wrong after all, he wasn't into guys? Into him?
"Okay what's wrong? Just tell me."
Dean saunters back with a grin now. "Who said anything was wrong?"
He doesn't stop but keeps walking forward until he's backing Castiel up. Still smiling, Dean catches his lips just as his back smacks flush against the door. His hands go up on reflex to push Dean away before his brain catches up on what's going on and he plasters them behind him to the door. It's overwhelming to so suddenly be kissing, and like this, trapped by Dean's body. Too easily he forgets where they are and all about first period.
When Dean nips his bottom lip, he gasps and suddenly a warm tongue is licking into his mouth. His hand cups the side of Castiel's face, tilting his head a little to deepen the kiss that has his heart beating a mile a minute. He has time to think, so this is what kissing with tongue is like and he should be panicking but he isn't. Because Dean is really good at this, doing most of the work until eventually he coaxes him into meeting his tongue. Tentatively Castiel's hands reach up to rest at Dean's hips; a few second later he crooks a finger in the belt loop of his jeans feeling the cold stainless steel wallet chain on his knuckles.
The late bell rings and he could care less. The building could be burning down around them and he'd have just as hard a time pulling away. Thankfully Dean has more braincells remaining than him because he pulls back looking all too pleased with himself and murmurs, "Good Mornin'."
It takes more than a second or two to blink and focus on those cocky lips he'd just been kissing. They're a little swollen and spit slick, probably just like his. Dean kisses him once last time, too quick, before pushing off the door behind him to step away.
Castiel blows out a shallow breath and licks his lips. "You too."
The door is shoved open from the other side by a tall boy in a beanie and baggy jeans walking in. He hurries to sidestep out of the way as the newcomer scrunches his face in annoyance at Castiel like why the hell was he blocking the door but he must be a friend of Dean's because as soon as he sees him leaning against the sink, he goes over to do some complicated hand slap with him before heading to the urinals without a backwards glance.
"Well anyway, later Cas." Dean smirks knowingly, brushing past him and pulling open the door like he hadn't just tilted his world a little.
"Right. O-okay." He follows him out, trying to recover from the abrupt and intense assault.
Even though his heart was thumping like he'd just run an 8 minute mile for Phys Ed and there was definitely a reason to slide his messenger bag around in front of him as he walked, that had definitely been worth getting a Tardy slip for.
Unfortunately, didn't agree and at the first opportunity found a reason to zero in on him.
"Mr. Novak," he slowly draws out his name to make sure everyone in the class pauses to look at him. "You are smiling in my classroom. Is there something particularly amusing about my lesson?"
"Um, no, Sir?" he weakly answers.
"I suppose you have the answer to the question on the board then?"
He gapes for a second before looking down at his homework and forcing himself to shove aside the panic at everyone watching him. After a moment, he realizes…
"I do actually."
"Well?"
Castiel reads out the answer with a steady clear voice then pauses to grin and add, "Sir."
The teacher raises an eyebrow and exhales deeply in regret. "As you were then."
Benny smacks him on the back from behind in congratulations and he's feeling pretty damn good about himself... that is until Michael coughs the word "faggot" from across the room loud enough to carry over to him. A few of his jock buddies surrounding him laugh but that's it.
"Mr. Ashton."
"Uh, yeah?"
"Should you be coughing at your peers that are actually passing when you owe me more than two week's worth of homework?"
"Uh-"
"In fact, correct me if I'm wrong but if you don't pass your next exam I believe you will be transferred to a remedial math course more befitting your current knowledge base."
The class oooh's as Michael's face turns noticeably red and he hunches his shoulders to stare at his desk.
"Perhaps take a cough drop, hmm?"
Castiel presses his lips so they don't twist in satisfaction and tries to pay attention the remainder of first period.
"You're all doey eyed." Charlie remarks inbetween passing a bag of chips with him.
"I don't know what that means."
"Uh huh." She squints at him but he doesn't care because Dean's laughing with Jo and walking towards them.
Castiel tries to act normal through lunch but completely against his will he keeps smiling at Dean whenever he looks up. Dean does the same thing, glancing away when he realizes they've been staring too long and clearing his throat for no reason. He does it enough that Charlie asks if he's getting sick which makes Castiel laugh out loud before trying to cover it by ducking his head against the knee he's hugging.
"Yeah, must be." Dean shoves playfully at his leg, causing him to almost fall off their little bench.
Righting himself, Castiel sneaks another peek before pressing his lips again in an effort to stop them turning up. He hopes Dean's thinking about that morning, that kiss, because honestly he can't think of anything else. It makes him tingle with excitement and yes a little queasy at the same time just anticipating next time.
He doesn't even mind the cold lasagna he's poking at idly with his fork. Would it kill them to have some type of salad option? Supposedly some schools in California even had salad bars in their cafeterias. Chances were bleak of their small little town in Kansas ever seeing something like that. Suddenly, an orange creamsicle Hostess cake is plopped down on his plate. Castiel looks up but Dean's already turned away asking Charlie a question about some videogame. A warm fuzzy feeling takes hold in his stomach as he breaks off a small piece, not even trying to put up a fight.
"Hey," Charlie squints, pointing between Dean and Castiel. "What's up with that? Giving someone one of your creamsicle cakes is like a marriage proposal in some countries."
Castiel is already half turned away and pretends he's not listening to them but smiles to himself when Dean easily jokes, "Cas wouldn't marry me. All I could offer is half a Hostess cake everyday and a glovebox full of cassettes. It'd be no kinda life."
"Uh huh, well don't go thinking you can lure him to the darkside with these sugary bribes. Either he's neutral or Mages all the way."
"Hey, ya know that's not a bad-"
He's jarred out of his eavesdropping when Jo suddenly asks him, "So, Castiel, are you coming to the park later?"
He frowns up at her in confusion at the question but she's not even looking at him. She's watching Dean who looks up mid-sentence in his conversation with Charlie to see his answer.
"Course he is," Benny says, leaning forward to swat him on the arm. He almost flinches but it was the friendly way he'd seen them all do. Benny just had that particular way of doing it harder than he was used to being touched.
For some reason Andrea folds her arms huffily and whispers, "Cheater," at her boyfriend.
"Um. I… guess?" he answers uncertainly, glancing at Dean for reassurance.
"Cool." Dean smiles at him maybe for a handful of seconds too long before he seems to realize it again and pops the rest of his remaining orange frosted cake in his mouth, chewing around an almost comically large bite. It's ridiculous not to be disgusted by his eating habits. Instead he feels the smile on his face as he looks on fondly.
Charlie pipes up, "Shotgun!"
Dean manages to swallow without choking to death and says, "Oh so I'm driving you guys now."
"Aw that's so sweet, thanks Dean." She winks at Castiel like she's helping.
He doesn't meet her eyes instead glances back at Jo. He frowns to see her staring off into space almost seeming a little sad but she tries to smile at him once she notices him looking.
Charlie pulls him close a second later to whisper into his ear. "Dean has totally been staring at you all lunch! You need to make your move, Novak. Get some game and do something about it!"
He already did a lot of things about it. But Dean didn't want him to say anything. Maybe at the Skatepark he'd ask about Charlie. It wasn't a big deal. It'd only been one day after all. He could wait for Dean to feel comfortable enough to tell his friends. Especially when he's looking away in that cute way he knows is due to him. He never thought he'd be making Dean Winchester blush. Or that he'd kind of love that.
Everyone gets up to shuffle back into the school at the bell. Dean hangs back and at the last minute he snags his sleeve and pulls Castiel into the relative solitude of the alcove next to the doorway. He kisses him hard and quick, then says,"meet you at the parking lot later?" and rushes back in the school. Castiel likes it, he really does. He would have liked it even more if he'd done it a minute earlier with his friends standing around them.