Content: In which Dean and Castiel meet again after fifteen years.

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Author's Note: So, since I didn't want you to wait too long, here's the next chapter for today :D Have fun with Dean getting all awkward and flustered!

And once again, thank you so much for your lovely feedback 3

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"Cas?"

Dean's voice is barely a whisper while he stares at the man in front of him in utter shock. His brain feels like it short-circuited the moment he laid eyes on Castiel, turning every coherent thought Dean might have had in the last few minutes or decades into a pile of useless mush.

He expected a lot of things to happen at this wedding.

A lot of things.

But meeting his freaking high school crush, the one guy he was never able to forget, the boy with eyes so blue that no one ever stood a chance compared to that – that's not been on his list of anticipations!

Dammit all to hell!

"You remember my name?" Castiel tilts his head, looking downright gorgeous doing so, and Dean has quite a hard time not making some embarrassing noises at the sight of this. He totally forgot how much Castiel was able to influence him just by being.

Castiel never had to do much to turn Dean's world upside down. Hell, one time Dean missed two hours of English class only because he noticed Castiel chuckling quietly after their teacher made some remotely funny remark about Hemingway – after that Dean was solely capable of thinking about this wonderful sound over and over again, ignoring his surroundings completely.

It got him detention in the end since Mrs. Jones noticed his absence of mind rather quickly after Dean didn't react to her calling his name several times, but screw it, it was so worth it!

He was so damned gone back then.

And now … well, due to his heartbeat picking up its pace spectacularly as soon as Castiel appeared, Dean didn't grow out of it.

"I actually thought you wouldn't remember me." Castiel tries to sound casual, as though it wouldn't have been a big deal if that actually had been the case, but there is something wavering in his tone that Dean is unable to decipher.

Dean blinks a few times, trying to overcome the mess in his head and find some coherent sentences in there.

"Forget about you?" Dean snorts while simultaneously being fairly proud of himself for his moderately steady voice. "The smartest kid in our year?"

Castiel's features soften, but Dean can't shake the odd feeling that the guy was kinda hoping for a different answer.

Whatever that might have been.

"I didn't expect to see you here," Castiel says, taking a few steps closer and making Dean shiver in the process.

Goddammit, the guy got so much in the last fifteen years!

It's not just the body – which grew up very nicely and undeniably hot –, but simply everything. His voice, so deep and sexy Dean can see himself whimper in the not so distant future just by listening to it. His movements, so graceful and yet so determined, the awkwardness of his teenage years clearly forgotten. His eyes, even bluer and more intense than back then.

Dean has got no fucking idea how to survive this.

"You … I …" he begins to stammer, ducking his head to hopefully cover up his blush somehow. "I – didn't expect that either."

The corners of Castiel's lips tug upwards. "It's a pleasant surprise."

Dean nods dumbly, too overwhelmed to find a proper reply to that. What do people usually say in situations like this?

Dean can't seriously remember if anyone ever taught him that.

And he also doesn't really know how to act now. Would a smile and a handshake suffice? A simple It's-nice-seeing-you nod? Or a hug of all things?

Dean feels like he forgot everything he ever learned about social manners in the blink of an eye.

"So … what are you doing here?" Castiel wonders, fortunately looking quite content just standing there and not expecting any sort of physical contact in the near future.

Thank God.

Or … maybe not?

Dean can't even tell if he's relieved or disappointed by that.

He starts to fidget awkwardly when he suddenly realizes he stayed quiet for too long. "Uh, the wedding?" He knows he sounds like kind of an idiot, phrasing that sentence as a question like he's not exactly sure why he's even at this place to begin with, but he can't help himself.

Castiel, in the meantime, raises a brow. "You're one of the guests?" he asks, clearly surprised. "Or … are you with the staff?"

He points at a few people in the background who are carrying some furniture around, looking super busy and fighting fit. Castiel obviously has no hesitations whatsoever to consider Dean to be one of these strong and heavy lifting guys and Dean finds himself flushing.

"Um … no." He shakes his head. "Jo …" He gestures in the vague direction of where he assumes Jo to be at this very moment. "Joanna Harvelle – I'm with her."

Castiel's eyes widen in recognition. "Oh." He blinks a few times, as though he needs a moment to process that information. "You're her plus one?"

Dean hates that word all of a sudden. He just wants to scream, "We're just friends, all platonic, and that will never change" and for a moment the urge is actually so strong that he has to bite his lips from yelling it right into Castiel's face. He seriously had no big problem smiling at Gabriel and letting the guy believe whatever story Jo might have told him before, but now, with Castiel in the picture, he suddenly absolutely loathes the fact that no one at this wedding will think him single.

God, why the hell did he agree to this?

"Uh … that's one word for it," he mumbles eventually, avoiding Castiel's piercing gaze which obviously has gotten more intense in the last fifteen years.

Dean never imagined that would be possible, but obviously he had been wrong.

"It's very nice meeting you again." Castiel sounds all polite and proper, but there is still such a sincerity in his voice it makes Dean shiver all over. "It's been quite a while."

Dean can't help an awkward laugh. "Yeah, well … graduation feels like a lifetime ago, right?"

Castiel nods in affirmation. "It sure does."

Then they both fall silent.

And stare at each other.

Castiel apparently didn't unlearn that specific habit. He still seems utterly content to just gaze into someone else's soul without moving or noticing how the time flies by. Dean is quite convinced Castiel could do this for ages without tiring or even feeling remotely uncomfortable with the whole situation. At least he did it back in high school all the freaking time (mostly staring the poor teachers down who more often than not didn't really know how to handle that) and he still appears to be the same weird guy as before.

And Dean finds himself eased at the thought.

Because after all, these unique quirks always have been what made him Castiel.

Undeniably.

"So you two know each other?"

Dean flinches at Gabriel's booming voice right next to his ear. He totally forgot that the guy even existed and he immediately feels another blush creeping up his neck. He seriously didn't need a fucking witness for that awkward reunion scene.

Like at all.

He tries to ignore Gabriel's shit-eating grin as good as possible and focuses on Castiel instead (which is not a hardship) who seems mildly irritated by his brother's interruption, but not overly surprised.

"Yes, we went to high school together," Castiel explains. "As you probably figured out already by the topic of our conversation."

Gabriel chuckles. "Don't be like that, Cassie. I'm just trying to be polite instead of a eavesdropping piece of trash."

Castiel sighs deeply, making it perfectly clear that he has to put up with similar shit on a regular basis. "Just go away, Gabriel, and harass your bride. I'll have it covered from here."

Gabriel beams like Castiel's sass is all he ever needed in his life. "Love you, too, bro." He turns toward Dean and slaps his back in a way that probably was meant to be encouraging, but only shatters Dean's ribcage instead. "Well, it's indeed one hell of a coincidence and I'm happy to leave you two boys be to catch up. Have fun and don't get too kinky, there are kids present."

Gabriel winks and Dean feels like his whole face is heating up so frigging badly even the astronauts in outer space won't be able to miss it. Castiel, however, doesn't look impressed at all, obviously well used to his brother's manners (and lack thereof), and simply scoffs lowly.

"Thank you for your input, Gabriel," he says, long-suffering. "We will keep it in mind."

Gabriel seems satisfied enough with that reply. He chuckles one last time before getting lost in a crowd of the bulky men carrying all kinds of heavy looking stuff into the house.

"I have to apologize," Castiel sighs as soon as Gabriel is out of earshot. "Gabriel's a menace."

Something tickles in the back of Dean's memories. "Yeah, I remember you telling me that back in school."

That day in the parking lot. With Dean bending into that hideous car's hood and having to deal with Castiel's body heat and any lack of personal space at the same time.

"You remember that?" Castiel seems fairly stunned by Dean's words. "We barely had one proper conversation a long time ago."

Dean bites his bottom lip, not sure what to answer. That he overthought that specific talk many times in the following weeks like an obsessed mad man? That he couldn't get rid of Castiel's voice inside his head?

Yeah, that wouldn't sound strange at all.

"Uh, I mean, you remembered my name just now, though I wasn't seriously anyone special," Dean counters, shrugging his shoulders. "Not like the school genius, at least. So let's just agree that we've both got good memory for our age."

He smirks and tries to wink, but unfortunately it turns out quite inept and pathetic.

Very smooth.

Castiel, however, just bluntly announces, "Well, those green eyes and freckles are hard to forget," like that's the most normal thing to say.

So yeah, Castiel obviously didn't change that much in the past years. He still doesn't seem to realize what's appropriate to voice in the presence of other people and what's not, he simply tells the world what's on his mind.

And there is honestly something wrong with Dean because he still finds this trait kinda endearing.

And way too much since he's unable to fight back his flush at the thought of Castiel recognizing him just by his eyes.

"Um …" Dean's got no clue how to proceed. A large part of himself feels like back in high school where he instantly turned the other way when he spotted Castiel in the hallway. But now he can't just run and hide like a freaking coward, no matter how desperately he wants to.

"I have a lot of questions," Castiel continues, apparently unaware of Dean's discomfort or maybe only kind enough to ignore it. "But maybe I should show you to your room first."

He points at the luggage at Dean's feet and Dean finds himself nodding because he figures that would be an appropriate response. Castiel smiles easily before grabbing one of the bags and gesturing him to follow.

And Dean does. For a crazy moment he can't help thinking that he'd go wherever Castiel would tell him to and damn the consequences.

Just a moment later Dean finds himself inside the beast's belly, walking through halls so long Dean's unable to even spot the end and crossing so many corners that he loses track quite soon. At some point he smells food, so he figures they're close to the kitchen somehow, but he can't for the hell of it determine the exact direction.

Damn, this is a freaking maze.

Dean will probably need the majority of the next four days to orient himself.

"Uh, it's quite big here," he eventually points out because he feels stupid just wandering around in silence. "I had no idea that you … I mean, that you're so –"

Castiel tilts his head. "That I'm what?"

Dean bites his lip. "That you're so … I dunno, man, why did you visit a public school when your family obviously has some money?"

Or more like, a lot of money.

Dean feels fairly intimidated once again, thinking about Castiel growing up in a place like this. He probably wouldn't be overly impressed by Dean's modest shoe-box apartment.

Castiel, however, chuckles. "I can assure you, my family doesn't have that kind of wealth. My mother was a nurse. Quite a good one, but her pay wasn't that high." His eyes roam over the luxuries that surround them. "Gabriel and I are only half-brothers. This estate, next to two of similar size, are the property of his mother. I admit I spent most of my summers here because Gabriel went to boarding school and that was about the sole time I got to see him apart from the holidays, but all this seriously wasn't my life. The little house I grew up in fits into the entrance hall with ease."

Dean can't help a relieved sigh. The image of Castiel walking through this hallways, all proper and rich, didn't sit very well with the Winchester. Castiel's already so far out of his league due to his intellect and his most likely stellar education, so you honestly doesn't have to throw a mountain of money into the mix as well.

"What about your dad?" Dean asks.

For a second there is a shadow running over Castiel's face. "He wasn't around a lot," he says, his voice steady so that an outsider might think him unaffected. But Dean detects a slight note in his tone, similar to the one Dean always uses when talking about his own dad, making it clear that his father's behavior bothered Castiel more than he would like people to think.

"Yeah, I know a thing or two about absent fathers," Dean murmurs. He's never been overly comfortable with voicing this fact to someone just like that, always begrudgingly claiming that this whole affair is family business and no one has to stick their nose into it, but somehow in this specific situation he can't just stay silent. This is a thing they have in common and Dean's unable to not acknowledge that.

Castiel doesn't respond to Dean's statement, but his brief glance says everything Dean needs to know. Castiel is obviously quite aware of Dean's situation – the kids in school probably gossiped passionately about the wild Winchester boy – and fairly grateful that Dean didn't just dismiss his pain in any way. Dean guesses that happened some times before in the past and though Castiel most likely took it in stride from the outside, it hurt nonetheless.

Dean can tell from experience.

"Well, I should have figured, you not being exactly Richie Rich," Dean says, more than eager to change the topic and lighten the mood. "I mean, you drove to school in that ugly old car everyday –"

Dean halts immediately and presses his lips into a thin line, cursing himself. Even after over a decade he can't help insulting that car, can he? There is something seriously wrong with him!

"Sorry," he mumbles, biting his bottom lip. "I didn't mean to –"

"It's quite alright, Dean," Castiel reassures. "It was indeed an ugly old car. You don't need to feel bad for telling the truth."

"It was?"

"Well, thanks to your amazing skills the carb did absolutely well until the end," he says, smiling and glancing at Dean in such a grateful way as if it's just been mere minutes since Dean fixed the Continental and not eons. "The rest of the car, though, wasn't so lucky. It eventually died on me, on the highway. In the middle of the worst rush hour."

Dean grimaces. That sounds like it sucked majorly.

"Sorry to hear that."

Castiel does something very complicated with his face that Dean would probably never be able to decode, even on his best day. "Me too, actually," Castiel admits. "I mean, I know it was old and not very pretty, but at the same time it used to be my very first car. I grew quite attached to it, as crazy as it sounds."

Dean barks a laugh at that. "You don't have to tell me that. I know the feeling very well."

Before he knows it he falls into a monologue about his Baby and her special place in his heart, mainly because it's easy to talk about her endlessly and forget at least for the moment the fact that he's face to face with Castiel Fucking Novak of all things. Dean's quite aware that he tends to either ramble incessantly or stammer like a huge fool as soon as he gets nervous, but he can't help himself. He seriously didn't expect to meet Castiel ever again – and especially not under such circumstances –, so he can't really be blamed for his terrible awkwardness.

Castiel, however, doesn't seem bothered by it. He listens intently to Dean's babbles as if there would be some kind of test afterwards, and he appears genuinely interested in everything Dean has to say about front bumpers and radio stations that sometimes switch by magic.

Maybe he's just being polite, but at the same time Dean can't shake the image of Castiel always being very blunt with people at school. He never cared about feigning interest for someone else's benefit.

So, is he seriously captivated by Dean's stupid stories?

Before he's got a chance to analyze this any further and perhaps outright ask the guy, Castiel suddenly comes to an halt.

"This is your room," Castiel announces, opening an highly adorned oak door at the end of the hallway. "I chose it because it's fairly quiet and offers a great view on the gardens, so you can have some peace in between the wedding preparations, but if you're for some reason dissatisfied with my decision, please let me know! I'd find you another room in no time at all."

Dean seriously doesn't doubt for a second that Castiel would rush through this fucking castle immediately in search for a more appropriate room if Dean just says the word.

It's kinda endearing.

But honestly unnecessary.

"Don't sweat yourself, man," Dean waves him off. "This room is way better than my bedroom at home, so you won't hear me complaining."

It's not exactly a room worthy a king, but it's a very close call. Super spacious, the furniture is unobtrusive and expedient, the high-definition flat-screen on the wall is huge enough to kill ten people at once and the balcony is such a wonderful addition that Dean almost considers staying in this room for the next days without ever coming out.

The only low point is the king-sized bed that, though it looks absolutely inviting and like a dream come true, makes Dean at the same time painfully aware once again that he has to share this space with his "special someone".

Nonetheless he plasters a smile on his face when he turns toward Castiel. "This is so awesome, buddy. I can't wait to never leave."

Castiel chuckles. "I sincerely hope you will show your face outside of this room as well, but I won't hold it against you if not."

"Yeah, unfortunately no can do," Dean counters, shrugging. "Emma would throw a fit if I'd confide her to this room."

His eyes wander to a small bed next to the big one, most likely intended for his little girl. A nice gesture to think about her, that's for sure, but Dean is quite certain that Emma will join them in the king bed without any kind of hesitation. She's never been good with staying isolated like that and Dean doesn't mind sharing a bed with her on special occasions like this one.

"Emma is your daughter, I presume?" Castiel smiles softly. "I'm looking forward to meet her."

"Yeah, that can be arranged rather sooner than later," Dean replies, trying for cheerful and hoping that the eagerness in his voice isn't too plain obvious. The thought of Castiel meeting Emma, the most important person in his life, thrills him in a way he didn't anticipate. Sure, he's always been keen on bragging about his little girl and showing her off, turning into a proud papa bear as soon as someone displays a tiny fraction of interest, but he can't recall whether he ever felt this need like he's sensing now. Like the world would actually be a darker place if these two getting to know each other wouldn't happen sometime soon.

"Well, I should let you settle down for a minute," Castiel says. "I assume you could use some brief rest after driving here, right?"

Dean wants to answer, "No, don't worry, the drive wasn't that long, I still living in the area, so it hasn't been far, and what about you, do you still live here too, please tell me you're stilling living somewhere close by –", but the only thing he manages is a motion that might have been a simple shrug or some bad indigestion and a muttered, "It was fine."

Castiel seems satisfied with that answer. "Take your time. I actually have a few things to discuss with my brother. You may find me in the kitchen – since I'm pretty sure it's where Gabriel's located right now – or just go right for the stables. We will definitely find each other again."

It sounds like such a heavy promise that Dean actually has no clue how to deal with that.

So he merely takes a deep breath and nods since he isn't entirely sure if he's able to trust his voice right now.

Castiel grants him one last, almost mind-blowing smile before he turns around and heads for the hallway. Though before he closes the door behind himself he throws a glance over his shoulder and says, "Dean?"

Dean blinks. "Yeah?"

"It's really nice to see you again."

The sincerity in Castiel's voice is almost too much. Dean hastily lowers his gaze to hide some prominent emotions he's not certain he'd be capable of repressing and mumbles, "Right back at ya, man."

Not his most glorious moment, but Castiel beams at him nonetheless.

And Dean just knows, without any doubt, that he's utterly screwed.