My exams are all over! I have three weeks of more or less complete freedom... so to celebrate, today I have finished my HP fanfiction and written my longest ever update for this one. I hope you like it! Oh, and I hope it makes sense, I don't have a beta and I'm starting to feel that that's a bit obvious looking back over the errors in previous chapters – I'm very sorry about that! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed last time, I love hearing your feedback, and when I'm happy I write more! You all get an awkward Cas hug. Please review this chapter (pretty please) so I know what you think! Feel free to make suggestions about what you want to happen next as well. Everyone who reviews gets virtual pie!

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of the characters. If I did, Destiel would be canon, Gabriel would be alive, and Metatron would never have gotten away with banishing all of the angels from Heaven *sob*

Dean was very quiet when he sat down for lunch with Charlie and her friends – who had been hastily introduced as Becky, Kevin and Madison – and was barely paying attention to their enthusiastic chatter. His head was swimming in confusion after his encounter with Cas. The guy was like some kind of impossible riddle, but despite all of that, he really wanted to figure him out. The really strange thing, though, was the way Cas had reacted when Dean had suggested getting to know him. He knew it was perhaps a bit presumptuous asking to see him again when they had barely spoken to each other, but he felt inexplicably drawn to Castiel and wanted a chance to figure that out. Still, the last thing he had expected was that response.

"I'm sorry, but I don't spend time with people, outside of the Academy. At all."

What did that even mean? That he was a recluse? Or was it just his way of getting Dean to back off because he really didn't like him?

"Hey, Dean! You're daydreaming more than I do after I've watched a new movie with Scarlett Johansson in it! What's put your head in the clouds?" Charlie nudged him and Dean blinked slightly as he realised where he was.

"Sorry, I'm just... thinkin' about stuff."

Becky suddenly gasped, gesturing wildly at Dean. "You've got the hots for Castiel!"

Dean's eyes widened and he spluttered slightly. "What? No!" How could this girl tell who he was thinking about?

"Oh don't deny it, I saw you two looking at each other when you first came in! I'm going to call it... Destiel! That's it, Destiel! Oh, you two will be so adorable together..."

Dean could feel himself turning bright red. Fortunately, he was saved by Kevin rolling his eyes and interrupting Becky's flow.

"Don't mind her, ever since she started dating Chuck and he got her into her first fandom she's been obsessed with gay shipping. Ignore it. We all do."

Becky mock-slapped Kevin. "Hey! All of my ships are should totally be canon – and Destiel is obvious!"

Feeling slightly awkward, Dean turned to Madison, the only member of the group who wasn't joining in the discussion.

"Are they always like this?"

She laughed, before taking another bite of her sandwich. "Pretty much. Becky and Charlie spend half the time fangirling over fictional characters, and Kevin tries to keep them in line and stop them harassing real people too much. I just tend to stay out of it, it's pointless arguing with Becky, you never win."

Dean wasn't entirely sure how to continue the conversation, but he wanted to avoid discussing Cas, so he randomly asked,

"So what sort of artwork do you normally do?"

Madison shrugged. "Personally, I'm into abstract horror stuff. I take a normal everyday thing, or a person, and I twist them into a form of abstract horror. Jess hates it – it's the only thing I don't like about having her as a teacher, she doesn't like anything evil or gothic. Last year's teacher, Alastair, he was a complete dick to everyone but he loved my work, even if he hated me. He had some great ideas for making everything more terrifying."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "Fair enough. I wouldn't have pegged you as the horror type, to be honest."

Madison laughed again, brushing sandwich crumbs off her hands before sitting back. "What, because I go around wearing paint-covered baggy shirts and no makeup when I'm at the Academy? You should see me when the local boarding school holds open parties and invites Academy kids – I give Ruby a run for her money."

"Ruby, as in, Ruby Cortese who I met earlier?" Dean could vaguely recall the girl who had introduced herself at the start of the day – straight brown hair, black leather jacket, skinny jeans. Not exactly gothic, but certainly in a similar scene.

"That's the one. She can seem like a real bitch, but she's nice when you get to know her. Looks after her own if you know what I mean."

"Are you photographing her then?"

Madison shook her head. "Nah, I did that last year, for Alastair. We're sort of friends, and she says modelling's a nice sideline to acting. I've got Lisa Braeden. She's alright, a serious girly girl but it makes her a nice challenge to do in my usual style. The face she made when I told her she had to go gothic was priceless, I should have taken a picture of that."

Dean chuckled. "Yeah, I can imagine that."

A loud bell rang again, and Madison stood up, pulling her backpack over one shoulder.

"You ready, Kevin?" She called.

Kevin walked up and Dean smiled at both of them.

"It was nice meeting you."

"You too." Madison smiled, before wandering off.

"Yeah. Sorry about Becky, she's nuts. Especially with new people." Kevin clapped Dean on the shoulder before following Madison.

Dean shook his head. Another few hours of following Michael's orders and trying to work out what to do about Cas. Well, at least if he wasn't required to talk he could think in peace. He needed to come up with a plan to either get Cas out of his head – probably the best option – or work out how to get Cas to trust him so that they could get to know each other. The ting was though, Dean's only friends were his brother Sammy and possibly Benny – and Benny he only put up with because they were garage partners at college. Friendship wasn't exactly his forte – he supposed the fact that he spent all his time looking after his brother had something to do with that. When you never had time to make friends growing up, you got a bit out of practise.

It was only then that Dean realised everyone had wandered off and he had no idea how to find his way back to the right studio. Great. Well, this should be fun...

A few hours later, Dean had a serious headache.

It wasn't that it was bad modelling for Michael – he seemed to have eased off a bit on the military precision, and was allowing Dean to relax a bit more, following Castiel's idea of natural shots. True, he was using lighting that was way too bright and making Dean squint a bit, but aside from that there was nothing physically giving Dean a headache. No, the source of this particular problem was Cas – and Dean had no idea what to do about it.

When Dean had arrived back at the studio – ten minutes late, after getting lost and having to ask some random person who looked very irritated for help – Cas had once again been set up at the back, nice and out of the way. He had avoided eye contact with Dean, and for a moment Dean had forced him to the back of his mind, instead listening to Michael and getting changed into a new set of clothes, before reapplying his makeup and posing himself on the park bench which had randomly appeared in front of the screen.

However, after that Cas had not stopped staring. Of course, he had to look at Dean in order to photograph him, but it was much more intense than it needed t be – and half the time, it was like he seemed to have forgotten about his camera and was just boring his eyes into Dean's skull. Dean had very carefully masked his discomfort, assuming the calm facial expression that he needed for this modelling thing, but inside it had set his thoughts whirring at such a speed that now it was making his head hurt. He really needed to stop thinking about Cas – but how could he when the guy was practically attacking him with his eyes? Cas had claimed not to want anything to do with Dean, yet with the way he was acting, Dean was getting an entirely different story – and it confused him. He didn't like being this confused. This was why it was so much easier when he didn't interact with people outside of his family, college and the occasional one-night stand.

Dean's train of thought was broken when Michael stepped up onto the modelling platform.

"Thank-you very much, that's all done now. We need to go back to Miss Moore's classroom so that you can be debriefed, and you will be allowed to see mine and Castiel's finished artwork at the end of the term when it was been graded."

Dean blinked, standing up. "Cool. Shall I just get changed again then?"

"Wait." Castiel's voice drifted out from the back of the classroom.

"It's the end of the day, Castiel, we need to finish now." Michael's voice was firm.

"One more picture. It won't take long. You can go on, explain we will both be there in a few minutes."

Michael nodded stiffly, before starting to pack up his camera.

"Ok, Cas... what do you want me to do?" Dean was surprised that Cas had asked.

"Go and lean on the edge of the park bench. Yes, like that. Out your hands in your pockets. Now, tilt your head back slightly – yes, there – and look up. Like you're watching birds."

Dean assumed the requested pose, trying to ignore the slight crick in his neck that it gave him.

"That alright?"

"Yes." Cas was silent for a few moments, and Dean heard Michael leave.

"You have beautiful eyes." Cas suddenly said.

Dean blinked, and barely avoided moving out of position. He could feel his cheeks heat up. Why would Cas say that?

"Um, thanks."

"Don't mention it." Cas was quiet again.

Dean had no idea to think. After everything that Cas had said earlier, was he hitting on him? It was a very strange situation.

"I'm done now. You can get changed, I'll wait for you."

Dean stood up, moving his neck around to ease the slight stiffness. "Thanks, Cas. Get some good pictures?"

"I believe I have some suitable photographs, yes."

Dean nodded, pulling off the jacket and shirt he was wearing before hunting around for his own.

"Here." Dean turned to see that Cas was holding his shirt.

"Thanks." Dean reached out to take it, not missing the way that Castiel's eyes raked over his bare chest.

"What you said before, about wanting to get to know me." Castiel interjected suddenly. "I – I wouldn't mind that. I looked over my schedule, I have time in the week. I wouldn't know what to do, though. I've never really socialised with anyone before."

Dean paused from where he was pulling his jeans on. "Sounds great, Cas! But why have you never really hung out with anyone before? You seem cool, I'm sure there are plenty of people who'd love to be your friend."

"Work has always been more important. When I was younger, my family was – they were strict with what I could and couldn't do. Friends didn't really fit. Now I've escaped from that, I need to work to remain here. I never really thought about making friends, it would take too much time."

Dean blinked. Cas was a strange guy, there was no doubt about that.

"Well, I'd be honoured to be your first."

Dean closed his eyes and silently berated himself. Why had he made that sound so sexual? He didn't know if Cas liked him in that way – he didn't even know if he truly liked Cas that way either.

"Are you done? We need to go back to the classroom."

Dean finished buckling his belt and grabbed his jacket. "Yup. Let's go."

The walk back was mostly held in comfortable silence.

"So, when are you free then? On your schedule?" Dean felt slightly weird saying that.

"I was thinking Tuesday evenings between six and seven, if you're free. I don't know where to arrange a meeting place though."

Dean thought for a moment. "Yeah, I'm free most evenings, as long as I can get away from Benny. You can come to my place if you want – it's not great though, yours is probably better."

"Yours will be fine, if you are comfortable with that." Cas paused. "Is Benny your boyfriend?"

Dean stopped walking, shocked. "What? No, he's my garage partner at college. He likes to drag me along to the pub to pick up chicks. He's like, the straightest dude ever, seriously."

"And you are as well?" Castiel asked.

Dean wasn't entirely sure where Cas was going with this. "I'm not sure. I mean, I've only been with girls, but I'm not exactly adverse to trying things with a guy. I just never have. Maybe I'm bi-curious or something?"

Castiel nodded, seeming satisfied with that answer.

"So, if we're gonna meet up, can I have your mobile number? That way I can text you my address or whatever."

"I do not have a mobile device."

"Seriously?" Dean was amazed that any teenager nowadays could survive without a mobile.

"I have an email address for the Academy, if you would like that."

"Yeah, that works." Dean smiled internally as he traded email addresses with Cas. It felt like some kind of achievement.

Realising that they had arrived back at the classroom, Dean gestured to Cas to go in first before following him in, subtly checking out his ass as he did.

"Right, that's everyone back. I hope everyone got some good photographs, and I hope all the models enjoyed that experience." Jess smiled at everyone.

Well, Dean had to admit, the day had had its perks – Cas being one of them.

"The portraits and other artwork that is done based on those photographs will be showcased on an open evening in one months time. All of the models are welcome to come to that. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed today, and you may all leave." Jess looked at Dean. "Can I talk to you?"

Dean had expected to stay behind, so just leant against the wall as everyone filed out. He raised his eyebrows at Lisa Braeden, who winked very obviously at him, and smiled as Charlie and her friends left the room. Cas was the last to leave – he nodded at Dean as he did, and Dean couldn't help but grin back.

"I'm sure that wasn't too bad, was it?" Jess asked, gathering her own stuff up.

"It was bearable... there are some nice people here."

"I noticed you had lunch with the scholarship group – I presume you're talking about them?"

"Charlie's certainly awesome, and Madison's nice enough, as is Kevin – Becky's insane, strange kid."

Jess laughed. "I don't speak ill of my students, but I know what you mean." She paused, gesturing for Dean to step out the door. "What did you think of Castiel and Michael?"

"You want me to assess your students?" Dean thought for a moment. "Michael's alright – very much a follower of the rules, he must be from a rich, military background. He called all the shots, but he knew what he was doing, and he wasn't harsh about it really. Just strict."

"His dad's very high up in the military and his mum's a fashion designer. I think the idea is that he'll join the army if he doesn't do well enough in the art or design world. What about Castiel?"

"He's a weird kid. Extremely nice, but weird. Doesn't seem to fit in."

Jess sighed. "I haven't been here long, but from what I can tell, he's from a bit of a troubled background and he tries to distance himself from people. I feel sorry for him, he doesn't seem to have any friends. I know the other scholarship kids would accept him if that was what he wanted, but he chooses to stay away from everyone. He's one of the most talented artists I've ever met, entirely eclectic with no real pattern, but a great artist. I'm trying to encourage him out of his shell, but it's not easy."

Dean decided not to mention his burgeoning friendship with Cas – nor his blooming attraction, which was probably one-sided. Jess was acting too much like an over-protective mother.

"I really wanted to ask you, though – do you think Sam's going off me?"

Dean spluttered. "What? Why would you think that? Sammy adores you, he's bloody lucky to have you, he's not gonna waste that."

Jess gave Dean a stern look. "It's not all about looks you know. Look, Sam's a clever guy, and he likes intellectual girls – he likes to be able to talk about stuff. I'm not really challenging enough for him – I might be ahead of others my age in the art world, but when it comes to traditional subjects, I'm really behind, and I think that bothers him. He'd never say anything, but I can tell he's having doubts."

"Jess, I know Sammy – I practically raised him, and I'm still looking after him now, when he's not at school. Trust me, he loves you, he really does, I've never seen him act with anyone else like he does with you. Just talk to him if you're not sure about things."

Jess didn't look sure, but she smiled anyway.

"Thank-you, Dean. I'll see you for dinner tomorrow then, at the Roadhouse."

"See you."

Dean wandered out of the Academy and sighed. After meeting Cas and Jess and Sammy's relationship showing its first problems, today had certainly been eventful. He really needed to take a long shower and relax before work tomorrow.

Actually, considering how he was starting to feel about Cas, a cold shower might be a better idea...

I need to stop with the bad sexual innuendos. I'm sorry. Please please review so I know what you thought – constructive criticism is welcome!