Dean unlocked the door to their room and was slightly worried that maybe they would find another roommate inside. When they entered, the bunk beds were gone and there were just two single beds. Dean let out a relieved breath.
"I guess it's just us now." Dean looked at Castiel with a smile. He was glad they wouldn't have to worry about another dick roommate.
Castiel felt good about it too. They both stood between the beds for a minute. Castiel didn't want to sleep where Rick had been, but he didn't want to tell Dean that either.
Dean could see the look of concern on Castiel's face. He could guess what it was about. "Well, I'll take this bed," he pointed to Rick's old bed before dropping his bags on it, "that one was yours to begin with anyway."
Castiel nodded and silently thanked Dean as he put his things down. He took out his new camera and turned it on. He could hear Dean unpacking so he turned before Dean could stop and lined up a picture of his face while he wasn't paying attention.
When the shutter sounded, Dean looked up, unaware that he had just had his picture taken. Castiel looked at the picture and smiled. Dean shook his head and continued to unpack.
They had almost gotten settled in when Charlie came bouncing into their room.
"What's up, bitches?" She smiled at their startled faces.
"Charlie, you scared me." Dean laughed as he went to hug her.
"I like surprising people." She hugged him and then turned to hug Castiel, who had followed Dean over to her. "How was your break?"
"Pretty good. Good Christmas and Cas here turned 20." Dean gave him a slap on the back.
"Right, happy birthday!" She smiled at Castiel. "You're not a teenager anymore. They grow up so fast." She looked at Dean and acted like she was getting choked up.
Castiel laughed and brought his camera up to take her picture. She stuck her tongue out as soon as he hit the button. He gave her a disapproving look but kept the picture on his camera.
"Sweet camera. Who gave you this?" She took it from Castiel to look it over.
"I did." Dean said as he took out his phone and started playing an app.
"Wow, these are expensive. Really went all out for a birthday gift, huh?" She handed it back to Castiel.
Dean shrugged. "It was a part of his Christmas gifts too."
Charlie nodded and waited until she knew Dean wasn't looking to sign to Castiel. 'So I take it you didn't tell him about your dream?'
Castiel licked his lips and glanced at Dean. 'No. It never seemed like a good time.'
She shook her head. 'You should tell him. He loves you.'
'You don't know that.'
'I think everyone knows that, except you.'
Castiel sighed. 'I don't want to lose his friendship.'
'I don't think you will, Cas. You might be missing out on something even better.'
Castiel wasn't able to answer as Dean put his phone away and looked at them. "What are you guys talking about?"
"Oh, Cas was just telling me about all the fun stuff you did on break." She lied like a champ.
"Oh yeah? I guess we did have some fun watching TV and playing in the snow." Dean laughed at the memory of them having a snowball fight.
Charlie laughed. "Aww, you guys played out in the snow?"
"Yeah, we probably looked like five year olds. It was fun."
"That's adorable." She looked between them and smiled as Dean's eyes almost sparkled from the memory. "You guys wanna go get food?"
They went to the food court that was practically empty and ate the first meal of the semester.
The first week went by quickly. Dean learned his new schedule and routes to class and was looking forward to this semester. Things were going to be better this time. He wasn't sure if they could've been any worse.
Their first weekend back, they had decided to walk about half a mile to a restaurant for a late night meal. It was a good meal and they were content on the walk back. They were close enough to the dorms again to see the students inside the windows, but far enough away that no one would see what was about to happen.
A few boys were hovering around the sidewalk heading towards the buildings doors. They hadn't thought about it since they were too busy talking to each other. They were close to crossing their path when they moved and blocked their way.
Dean stopped and looked at them. "Excuse us." He tried to move past them, holding Castiel's arm so he would move too.
One of the boys put a hand on Dean and moved him back. Castiel moved to stand behind Dean, not knowing what to expect.
"Are you Dean?" The boy that had moved Dean asked while looking both him and Castiel over critically.
"Who's asking?" The three boys that were blocking them looked a couple years older than him and seemed angry.
"I'll take that as a yes. We're friends of Rick." He crossed his arms and sneered at Dean.
Dean cursed internally and felt his fear skyrocket. Castiel grabbed his arm tightly. "Okay, I'm gonna assume you're not happy with me?"
The guy laughed. "That's an understatement. Our friend is in jail. His future is ruined because of you and that thing." He gestured at Castiel with a look of contempt.
Dean's fisted balled up as his fear turned into anger. "His name is Castiel, and your friend deserves to be in jail after what he did to him. My dad is the sheriff and he will become your worst nightmare if you do anything to us."
"Hiding behind your dad? Thought you could fight your own battles."
"Bring it on. You gonna avenge your dick friend and ruin your future too?" Dean loosened Castiel's grip on his arm and moved to stand fully in front of him.
"If your dad ever finds you."
All three of them moved together and soon Dean was on the ground taking kicks to the face and gut. He was just beginning to think how fucked he was when everything stopped. His hearing was made up mostly of the whooshing of his blood but he heard the three guys saying something.
Dean looked up and saw Castiel glaring at them with his wings fully extended. The look was one that even scared Dean. Castiel's wingspan was shocking to behold. He hardly let his wings open at all.
In a flash, Castiel had charged the leader of the group and knocked him to the ground. The other two ran at him and he spun around, using his wings to smack both of them at the same time. They both stumbled away and had to fight hard not to fall down.
Castiel had seen red when Dean hit the ground. Instinctual rage filled him and he targeted the group's leader again. He was coming at Castiel with a raised fist. Castiel kicked and landed it right in his stomach. He stumbled away coughing.
The other two came at him again and Castiel once again used his wings to smack them both, this time harder. They both fell with bloody mouths and noses. He knew they wouldn't get up to attack again.
He looked at the leader and still saw defiance in him. He raised a brow and waited for him to move. As he ran at him, Castiel got ready. When he got close enough, Castiel fell to his knees and slashed his wings sideways so they would cut him. His shirt ripped over his stomach and blood began soaking into the fabric.
Castiel looked up from his kneeling position. With one push he was on his feet and punched the guy in the nose, breaking it thoroughly.
"Fuck, let's go." The leader held his gushing nose and ran off with his friends close behind.
Castiel watched them leave and puffed his wings wide in victory and happiness. Adrenaline coursed through him and he felt his whole body shaking. He looked down at Dean and was met with an amazed expression.
Dean was far beyond speechless. He didn't think Castiel was even capable of fighting like that. Looking up at him in his current state made Dean realize how powerful a being he really was.
Castiel dropped his wings and fell to his knees in front of Dean. He helped him sit up properly. His face was starting to bruise and worry began to fill Castiel. He wasn't sure what exactly happened but he wanted to kill those guys once they'd touched Dean, and would have if they hadn't left.
Castiel cupped Dean's face and looked into his eyes. He had been scared but he wasn't going to lose Dean, or have him be hurt by someone else. Dean had a look of awe on his face and Castiel felt warmth in his chest. He pulled Dean's face close to his and kissed him hard.
Dean didn't think he could be shocked any more tonight, but the passionate kiss Castiel pulled him into definitely did that. Dean felt something go through him and he let his eyes close.
Before he could really kiss him back, Castiel pulled away and helped Dean stand. He put his arm around his shoulders and walked him back to the dorm.
They were quiet as they rode the elevator up to their floor. Castiel was starting to panic about what he'd done. Why would he kiss Dean like that? Was Dean freaking out about it? How badly was he hurt?
When they got back to their room, Castiel sat him down on his bed and quickly began looking over his injuries. Dean just stared at him with a mix of awe and confusion. He looked at Dean's face closely and determined that he didn't have any broken bones in his face and moved to look at his chest.
"Cas?" Dean finally got his voice back and had so many questions.
Castiel pushed up Dean's shirt and cringed at the bruises on his abdomen. He might have bruised or broken ribs. He touched them gently and Dean hissed in pain.
"Cas?" He asked a little louder. The angel wasn't looking him in the eye.
Castiel stood up to get Dean an icepack. Dean reached out a hand and grabbed his wrist. He stopped but didn't look at Dean.
"Castiel, look at me." Dean wasn't sure what was going through Castiel's mind and didn't want him to run off.
He turned to look at Dean slowly. He wasn't sure how he was going to react and hoped to avoid talking about anything right now.
"Come here." Dean tugged on Castiel's arm gently, wanting him to stay there and talk to him.
Castiel moved to stand in front of Dean again. He braced himself for whatever he was going to say.
Dean let go of Castiel's arm. "You kissed me."
Castiel nodded and looked down at the floor. Dean sounded confused, and Castiel felt that way too. He wasn't sure what got into him earlier.
"Why?" Dean had been shocked by it and now he was trying to figure out what brought this on.
Castiel looked Dean in the eye and felt a twinge of fear. Had Dean been angry about the kiss? Was he freaked out by it?
Dean could see the worried look on Castiel's face. "I'm not upset by it, Cas. I just want to know why."
'I don't know. I guess all I can say is that I wanted to kiss you.' Castiel watched Dean's reaction to that. He seemed surprised.
"You wanted to?" Dean didn't understand that. Had he always wanted to kiss him or was it just a heat of the moment thing after the fight? "How long have you wanted to do that?"
Castiel swallowed as he tried to think of a time when he didn't want to. He hadn't always thought about it, but once he'd seen Dean and Lisa kissing he'd had an urge to do the same. He shook his head and shrugged.
"You don't know?"
'It's been a couple years, Dean. I just wasn't always sure what it was exactly that I was wanting.'
"A couple years?!" Dean couldn't believe he hadn't been aware of this.
'I'm sorry. I didn't plan on ever doing anything, but after what happened I just felt like it was something I needed to do.'
Dean let that sink in for a moment. Some of his angel studies lectures were coming back to him, he shook that knowledge away and just sighed. "Don't apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. I was just taken by surprise."
Castiel nodded. 'I'll get an icepack for your face.'
Dean laughed. "Yeah, thanks." He groaned as he shifted to sit farther back on his bed. "When will I stop getting the shit beat out of me?"
'You must just have one of those faces.' Castiel handed Dean the icepack with a smile.
"Gee, thanks." Dean took the offering and held it to his bruising face.
'Do you want to call your dad?' Castiel sat on his bed and faced Dean.
"No, he doesn't need to get worked up about this. I don't think those guys will be bothering us anymore."
Castiel nodded. He certainly hoped not. He really didn't want to go through this semester with all the fear of the last one.
"By the way, you're pretty badass when you want to be, Cas." Dean smiled at the angel.
'Thanks.' Castiel smiled and rubbed his slightly sore hand. Breaking that guy's nose left a slight mark.
"Seriously, how did you know how to fight like that? I've never seen you do anything like that. You've never hurt anyone or fought back when someone was hurting you. What changed?"
Castiel shrugged. 'This time they were hurting you.' He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Dean felt a clench in his chest. "So, you don't care about defending yourself, but you'll defend me?"
'Yes.'
"You realize how screwed up that is, right?" Dean chuckled.
Castiel smiled. 'I'll fight for anyone I care about, Dean. When they were hurting you, something changed inside me. I had to stop them.'
"You just don't care enough about yourself to fight for you?"
He sighed and rolled his eyes. 'I fought for years when I was alone. I had to practically kill to get one scrap of food or shelter. I got tired and decided that I would just let what needed to happen happen. Then you found me and I knew I wouldn't have to fight so much anymore.'
"Sure you don't need to fight for survival, but if someone is attacking you, you have the right to fight back."
'I know. I just don't want to.'
In his angel studies course, Dean had learned that angels were typically very peaceful beings and weren't interested in conflict. He had never been sure about the truth to that until now.
"Okay, well," Dean put the icepack on his desk, "I'm gonna sleep. We can talk more tomorrow."
Castiel nodded in agreement. He stood to go get his pajamas and Dean stood beside him. He wondered if he'd have any dreams tonight after what happened, but he was glad that what he felt was at least out in the open.
Dean looked at Castiel and tried to figure out why he would want to be so close to Dean or kiss him. He hadn't thought about Castiel that way before, but he'd definitely felt something when Castiel kissed him. Maybe it was some freak adrenaline thing with him but he wasn't sure.
"Cas," Dean was standing close to him already and when the angel faced him, Dean couldn't find his voice to say what he wanted so he signed to him. 'I'm gonna try something. If you want me to stop or not do it at all, tell me.'
Castiel wasn't sure what he meant but he nodded to him.
Dean suddenly felt nervous. He took a step closer to Castiel and looked into the blue of his eyes. He reached up with his right hand and gently held Castiel's chin, tilting his head up slightly for the small height difference between them.
Castiel had an idea of what Dean was going to do now, and his heart thumped loudly in his chest. He took a shaky breath as Dean carefully pulled his face a little closer.
Dean knew it was now or never. He leaned down and pressed his lips to Castiel's. His hand moved to hold Castiel's head as they kissed. A rush of pleasure went up his body and he curled his fingers into Castiel's hair.
His wings perked up and he pressed up into Dean to deepen their kiss. He reached out but was worried about hurting Dean so he let his hands rest on his waist loosely. Nothing had ever felt so good to him.
Dean felt Castiel kiss him back and he used his free hand to hold Castiel around his back. The angel moved closer happily and gripped Dean's shirt to keep him there. He huffed out a laugh in their kiss and then felt a stab of pain from his rib and nose.
"Ow," Dean pulled back with a small laugh. He took a few short breaths and looked at Castiel. He was smiling at him and asking if he was okay. "I'm fine, just sore."
Castiel let go of him and stepped back. 'You need to sleep.'
"I know. I just don't want to."
Castiel smiled. 'Come on, we need to sleep.' Castiel led him to the closets and they both took out their pajamas and changed for sleep.
They went to their beds and both fell asleep quickly. Good dreams came to both of them.