AN: Thank you so much guys for all the kind words, especially those of you who wrote essays! I loved hearing what you all had to say. Anyway, you don't care about this, on with the story!

Dean played with his fingers on his lap, idly gazing around Castiel's room, not sure what to do with himself. Castiel, meanwhile, was leafing through a History textbook, feeling awkward. He looked up to see Dean staring mindlessly at the wall and frowned.

"I'm sorry I'm terribly boring. You should go and rejoin the party."

Dean frowned back; "no, I'm fine... Is there anything you want to do?"

Castiel shrugged; "not really... We could talk?"

"Sure... What about?"

"Anything; let's get to know one another."

"Yeah, cool... Shall we just take it in turns? You can go first."

Cas shut his book and rest his hands in his lap; "what do you want to do with your life? Go to college or, get a job...?"

"Wow, deep much?" Dean smirked, resting his right leg over his left; "if I'm honest, I have no clue... I don't know what I'd do at college, but I don't want to work in a garage all my life... I quite like travelling..."

Castiel nodded and picked up his drink; "fair enough... Your turn."

Dean chewed his lip; "have you ever had a girlfriend? Or boyfriend or whatever?"

"No. Relationships have never interested me. Besides, I'm not going to find my soul mate any time soon, I'm so young..."

"How cynical of you! You'll never find 'the one' until you get out there and date."

"I'm fine as I am... Maybe one day."

"Ok... Your go."

Castiel stared intensely at Dean for a few moments; "why do you want to be my friend?"

Dean frowned; "...I don't know. I just do. You're a cool guy, you just do what makes you happy, you're weird. You wear suits to school, and, you're good with words... If you weren't 'Castiel Novak' I'd still want to be your friend... I just do... Is that ok with you?"

A small grin spread across Castiel's face; "that's perfectly fine with me... I was so afraid of making friends, no one wanted to be my friend, they all wanted to be 'Castiel's' friend. Everyone was so fake... Not you though."

Dean smirked; "I like to lay all my cards on the table, I've moved around so much, it's just easier to be myself; straight-forward, tells it how it is, takes no shit and gives no shit..."

"Well... Thank you... It's your turn."

"...Have you ever had a crush on anyone? Ever?"

Castiel began fidgeting; "would you laugh if I said I didn't know? How do you tell if you like someone?"

Dean grinned; "I wouldn't laugh! And, well... When you're around them, you feel funny - the butterfly feeling in your stomach - you find yourself staring... You love being around them as much as possible... The idea of them being with someone else just hurts..."

Cas thought deeply; "...I think..."

"You think...?"

"Um, I'll have to get back to you on that."

"Oh, ok... Why?"

"You can only ask one question! My turn... Have you ever been in love?"

"No. I've never had a relationship serious enough, plus, I've never stayed in one place long enough. Maybe here would be different."

Castiel smiled; "maybe."

Dean grinned and was just going to ask Cas a question in response when his phone vibrated. It was a text from Gabriel.

"Get in the living room now! Operation Sam-prank is under-way!"

Chuckling, he shoved his phone back in his pocket and stood up; "come on Cas, I need to see this..."

Castiel slowly pulled himself up and followed Dean downstairs; Gabriel was stood in front of the speakers, grinning. Across the room, Dean could see Sam stood with Jessica, talking. Gabriel waved them over; Dean grabbed Cas' arm and pulled him with him, keeping a hold of him when they stopped.

"What's going on?" Dean shouted over the music. Gabriel tapped the side of his nose, before rushing around the stereo, turning the music off. People began groaning but Gabriel quickly hushed them, climbing on to a chair.

"Guys, guys, I have an announcement to make! Well, I say announcement, a request more like... Sam Winchester! Where are you? Make yourself known!"

The crowd around Sam parted, leaving him stood by himself looking sheepish. Gabriel grinned.

"Awesome, and where's the lovely lady you've been sucking face with all evening? Jess! There we are! Sam asked me to dedicate this song to you! It comes straight from the heart! Hit it!"

Gabriel pointed at his friend stood by the stereo, who pressed play; "I'm Too Sexy" began playing through the speakers full blast. Sam's face went bright pink, as did Jessica's; everyone around them began laughing. Castiel frowned, not understanding why everyone was laughing, but smiled when he saw that Dean was nearly in tears. Dean clapped Castiel on the shoulder before hurrying over to Sam, giving him a cheeky grin.

"Sammy! How's it going?" Dean laughed. Sam scowled.

"I bet you're behind this!"

Dean held his hands up defensively; "slow down there, this was all Gabe's doing! He text me to come see this awesome moment!"

"Well gee, I'm glad you could be here for my most embarrassing moment, EVER!"

"Aww, don't be such a grump, besides, what's this about you sucking face with Jess all night?"

Sam's face blushed from pink to red; "well, um..."

"Get in there! Nice one!"

"Um, thanks? ...How are things with Lisa?"

Dean shrugged; "no idea, I ditched her with Balthazar, I've been with Cas for ages."

Sam grinned; "aww!"

"Fuck off! Lisa was just way too, just no. I thought I'd ease Cas in to this whole friendship business. Oh, and, I'm not taking you home tonight, I'm staying here."

Sam's grin got even bigger; "sleepover!"

"Fuck off!" Dean snapped, punching Sam in the arm; "Lisa fed me alcohol, so I can't take you home! Cas said I could stay."

"Hold up, when did he become Cas, anyway?"

"When we became friends, problem? Anyway, find your own way home, or sleep at Jess', whatever, I'll see you later or tomorrow."

He gave Sam another punch in the arm before jogging back over to Castiel; "come on, let's go somewhere."

Cas nodded and led Dean back through the house; as they walked, Dean spotted Balthazar and Lisa again, Lisa kissing Balthazar's neck whilst he spoke to people. Dean cringed and made sure he didn't lose Castiel in the sea of people. They went out through the back, down near the bottom of the garden where there was a gate leading to the other house's garden. They walked back up through that garden in to the house. It was completely empty, everyone was over at the party.

"How often do you get a free house?" Dean laughed, following Castiel through the bottom floor, down to the basement. Castiel shrugged.

"Never? Come on, there's stuff to do down here; pool, video games, films, whatever."

"Books for you?"

Cas smiled; "yes."

Dean laughed and slung his arm over Cas' shoulders; "I get invited to the hottest party in town, get set up with a girl who's guaranteed to screw me at the end of the night, and instead I chose to spend my night with the nerd brother, playing video games whilst he reads? What is my life?"

"...Are you being sarcastic?"

"I am, yeah. This is the most fun I've had in a while. You sure you don't want to do something? Video games are more fun when there's two players."

"I don't know how to play, anything."

They finally got to the basement, Dean stared in awe at the grandeur of the room. On the far wall was the biggest TV Dean had ever seen, a huge leather sofa, nearly every console ever made on a desk under the TV; a pool table, a fuseball table, and,

"Is that a fucking hot-tub?"

Castiel smiled sheepishly; "Crowley insisted on it."

"Do you guys have one?"

"Um, yes... Balthazar's idea, Gabriel was right on board with it though... What do you want to do?"

Dean shrugged and walked over to the sofa, looking at everything around the room; "we could watch a film or something? Or play a game? We could pick one I've never played before to give you a fighting chance."

Castiel smiled and flopped down on to the sofa; "what game?"

Dean spotted the large collection of games and scanned the selection; Castiel sat staring at Dean, unable to take his eyes off the larger boy. Usually, his eyes would be on the floor at all times, but for some reason whenever Dean was around, he couldn't help himself. Dean suddenly spun around, holding up a game box.

"Blur! I've heard this is awesome! Come on!"

Castiel smiled and peeled himself from the sofa, helping Dean turn on the Xbox and TV before settling next to him on the sofa, controls in hand. Despite the fact the sofa was stupidly large, Cas and Dean still sat close, thighs pressed together. They both had a read-through of the controls for the game before heading straight in to a game. Not surprisingly, both were terrible, crashing their cars and driving off the course, however, their terrible performance caused the two to nearly give themselves hernias from laughing so much. At one point, Dean had to pause the game as he curled up on the floor, laughing at how Castiel's car veered off the edge of the map for the fiftieth time that game.

Eventually, the non-stop laughter hurt too much, so they turned off the game and searched the extensive collection of DVD's for a film to watch instead. There were at least 300 hundred titles lining the shelves, and Dean was actually horrified to find Castiel hadn't watched a single one of them.

"Right, even if it takes me our entire life, we're watching every film on this wall - apart from the shitty ones. We shall start with an Indiana Jones marathon!"

Cas frowned; "how many films would that be?"

"About... Just here, about 300? That I definitely want you to watch!"

"So, approximately 1.5 hours per movie on average, that's on average 54,000 minutes spent watching films! That's 900 hours!"

Dean paused for a moment, bewildered by Cas' quick maths before grinning; "yeah? Plus, you're forgetting things like Lord of the Rings! Three movies, three hours each! And there's quite a few epically long films here, it'll be more than 900 Cas! And you'll love every minute!"

"...For your sake I hope so. Otherwise, I'll have to terminate our friendship in a, um, less than legal manner."

"You'll kill me, yeah, now come on! Indie won't wait forever!"

Dean grabbed the Indiana Jones box-set and strolled over to the TV.

"I'll get us some sustenance, if we want to be conscious for all four movies."

"Three, Cas. We're not watching Crystal Skull, it's an abomination!"

Castiel shrugged and left the basement, whilst Dean stuck Raiders of the Lost Ark in the DVD player, setting up the sofa so they could comfortably sit for several hours. Cas returned with a selection of food and drink, some junk food, some healthy, and found some blankets and cushions in a wardrobe.

"Dude, you're going to love this, it combines History with badassery, and in the last one, Nazis!"

Castiel smiled and curled up in the middle of the sofa next to Dean, hugging his knees, whilst Dean sat sprawled out, a bag of Doritos on his lap.

Dean was jerked from his dream by a phone ringing; he could hear Castiel sigh and fumble about.

"Hello?"

Dean rubbed his eyes and stretched, sitting up. He and Castiel had fallen asleep on the sofa in the middle of the Last Crusade, but he didn't remember the blankets and he was sure Cas was sat next to him, instead of his place now on the other side of the sofa. Scratching the back of his neck, he watched Castiel have a sleepy conversation, his eyes barely open and his hair significantly messy. When he noticed Dean, a small smile spread across his face, he raised his hand in silent greeting.

"Please don't, Gabriel. I have a headache, the last thing I need is you and everyone making noise; don't you have cleaning to be doing anyway?
"No Claudia won't clean it! It's your mess!
"I'm aware it's her job, I have known her as long as you."

Dean smiled, clearly Gabriel still had the ability to drive Castiel insane.

"What happened to Sam?
"Dean's brother!
"Ok, I'll tell him.
"No, please leave us alone!
"Gabriel!"

Cas sighed angrily and shut his phone, looking at Dean's amused face.

"So?"

"Gabriel, Balthazar and Crowley are coming over, and Sam was found this morning sleeping on the sofa in the twins' room, with Jess. Gabriel told me to mention he was topless, had quite a few hickeys and Jess had quite a fwe of her own."

Dean laughed; "that sly bastard! I'm going to lay in to him for the rest of the year!"

Castiel smiled; "why? If Sam and Jessica are having fun with each other then-"

"-Because, it's funny? He's fourteen, weird-looking and massive, but he managed to get a hot girlfriend who wants to spend her evenings sucking on his chest! It's what brothers do! Do you guys not laugh at each other when you get girls?"

"Well I certainly don't, but yes, the others do. I never understood it though. It just seems to be an attempt at making one feel bad or embarrassed for succeeding where they failed."

Dean frowned; "you're saying I mock Sam because it feeds my ego?"

Cas smirked and finally sat himself up; "essentially, yes. Why else would you laugh at him for getting a girlfriend whilst you spent your evening playing video games and watching films?"

"Thanks Cas, for reminding me I'm not as cool as I pretend to be!"

"You're welcome... If it's any consolation, last night was probably one of the most fun nights I've ever had."

Dean grinned; "see, friends are good! And if you though last night was fun, you've seen nothing yet!"

"Well, I look forward to it."

The two boys smiled at each other until they heard laughter and banging outside the door. Gabriel, Balthazar and Crowley burst in, grins on their faces, laughing about something.

"Good morning lovies. Good night?" Balthazar asked, striding over to the sofa. Castiel nodded and sat properly, feet on the floor. Balthazar grinned when he saw Cas and Dean were snuggled under blankets.

"Aww, look at you two!"

Dean rolled his eyes and threw the blanket off him, standing, stretching his arms above his head. His stomach let out a loud grumble.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Cas asked immediately, throwing the blankets off himself. Dean smiled.

"Please."

"What would you like?"

He stood up and began folding the blankets, Balthazar still had a knowing grin on his face.

"Anything, so long as it's not healthy."

Gabriel laughed. Dean smirked and wandered over to where he and Crowley were setting up the pool table.

"Fancy a game?" Gabriel grinned. Dean shrugged.

"Sure."

"I'll make you some breakfast," Castiel smiled, heading for the door, Balthazar following.

"Need help, Cassie?"

"No, but the company would be appreciated."

"Good, we can have a chat, it's about time I caught up with my favourite brother - don't tell Zacky."

Castiel smiled; "oh, I need to talk to you anyway."

"What about?"

"...Let's get to the kitchen."

Balthazar nodded and followed his younger brother, grin still plastered on his face. He didn't say a word until Castiel began making coffee.

"So what do we need to talk about?"

Cas took in a deep breath and turned to look at Balthazar; "you know me better than anyone, don't you?"

"I do, I can read you like a book."

"Well... Have I ever had a crush on anyone? ...Dean and I were asking each other questions, and he asked if I'd ever had a crush and, I didn't know."

Balthazar smirked; "well, to my knowledge, you've never really had a crush on anyone before."

"Ok-"

"-But! You do have one, now."

"I do?"

"Yes, and it's obvious."

"Who?"

Balthazar grinned; "seriously? You can't think of anyone who... You can't take your eyes off? Anyone you talk about constantly? Anyone who makes you smile? Even if just their name is mentioned? Perhaps the person you've been thinking of whilst I said all of that?"

Cas' eyes widened; "there's no way-"

"-Cassie. You have a full-blown school-girl crush on Dean Winchester! Why do you think you let him become your friend? You told him 'things'. You went on that date-"

"-I went to see him at work!"

"And then went for a drink?"

"We went to run an errand for his colleague and got some coffee on the way."

"Look Cas, you've got it bad, all right?"

"...What do I do?"

"Nothing, unless you want to tell him."

Castiel grimaced; "wouldn't that make things awkward between us?"

"Which is why you do nothing, carry on as usual. Don't worry, he has no idea, he doesn't know you well enough."

Meanwhile, Dean was also having a somewhat deep conversation whilst playing pool.

"Lisa too much for you?" Crowley laughed, leaning on the table whilst Gabriel lined up his shot. Dean grimaced.

"Much too easy, with an awful reputation... If Cas is calling her a slag, then something's gotta give."

Crowley snorted; "Castiel called her that?"

"Not in those words, but basically yeah."

"Nice... So what is your type?" Gabriel asked, handing the turn over to Dean. Dean shrugged and began lining up his own shot.

"I don't have one... Whatever comes my way."

"What if she looked like a bloke?" Crowley grinned. Dean shrugged again.

"Don't care. It's not like I restrict myself to women anyway."

Gabriel coughed; "you're bi?"

"Eh, not really, I'm not anything... Wait, what was that thing Cas said he was?"

"...Pansexual?"

"Yeah... I'm that. People assume I'm straight - and I've been with way more women, but, I'll take whatever I can get... I had a boyfriend once. Only lasted a few weeks."

"Well well, Winchester, any more surprises?" Crowley laughed, watching as Dean potted several balls, one after the other. Dean looked up and grinned at Gabriel's look of defeat.

"I used to hustle people at pool, it's now Sammy and I survived."

Gabriel frowned; "that's not fair!"

"Does pool hustling pay well, then?" Crowley asked, nudging Gabriel. Dean shrugged and purposely missed a shot.

"Depends. Ten one night, fifty another... Sometimes a couple of hundred if people are really drunk..."

"So Dean, down to business. What are your intentions towards our Castiel?"

Dean looked at Crowley as if he was insane; "what?"

"He's very fragile! If you hurt him, you'll feel the wrath of the entire Novak family!"

"Um... I don't understand..."

Gabriel laughed and leant on his pool cue; "ignore Crowley, he's just messing with you. But, do be careful, Cas isn't as laid-back as the rest of us. He may not understand when you're joking or whatever."

"All right... I know what I'm doing, he's a person, not a rescue dog!"

"We're just saying!"

"And I'm just saying, I'm not stupid! Feed him twice a day, make sure he gets plenty of walks and don't be too liberal with the treats!"

Gabriel laughed; "and let him sleep on your bed, it keeps him calm."

Dean chuckled and took his go, potting the black just as Castiel and Balthazar returned with breakfast.

"Loser plays Crowley," Dean grinned, pushing his cue in to Crowley's hands. He followed Castiel to the small table, sitting opposite and tucking in to the mass of lovingly prepared pancakes. Neither of them noticed Balthazar, Gabriel and Crowley watching them, talking in hushed voices.

"Are they ok?" Castiel asked. Dean nodded, mouth full of pancake.

"They're awesome!" he managed, covering his mouth as not to be rude. Cas smiled.

"Good, I'm glad... What are your plans for the day?"

"Not bothered. Whatever comes up."

"Ok... Not to sound like a bore, but... Do you want to do some more History homework? I'll make it up to you!"

Dean laughed; "it's no problem, Cas. It's got to be done, now's as good a time as any."

"But you could be off having fun today, you don't have-"

"-It's fine! I'm not bothered!"

"I just don't want you to-"

"-Castiel. Seriously. I will do homework with you, if that's what you want to do."

Cas frowned; "but what do you want to do?"

"We did what I wanted to last night, today I want to do whatever you want to do."

"...Thank you."

Dean smiled, a held Cas' gaze until he needed to blink. Over at the pool table, Castiel's older relatives were grinning at the pair.

"So you really were too sexy for your shirt?" Dean grinned as he drove home. Sam was in the passenger seat, nursing his head, Castiel sat in the back reading. Sam glared.

"Fuck off. I just, drank more than I meant to, and, the more I drink the less I like to wear."

Dean laughed; and pat his brother on the shoulder; "anyway, well done, Jess is smokin'!"

Sam's face turned in to a massive grin; "I know, right!"

"She have a geek fetish or something?"

"Actually... Yes, sort of."

Dean burst out laughing; "ok my God!"

"Dean, remember what we spoke about," Castiel said from the back. Sam turned to look at him; "what did you speak about?"

Dean rolled his eyes; "Cas is under the impression I mock you about Jess because I'm jealous."

Sam laughed; "are you?"

"No! Life isn't all about sex, you know!"

"Oh isn't it? Enlighten me then, what is it about?"

Dean shrugged; "I don't know... Making worthwhile friends? Falling in love? Stopping at nothing to get what you want?"

"Aww, you should send that to Hallmark!"

"Fuck off!"

The rest of the ride was almost silent, the only noise being Dean's radio playing quietly. When they got to Bobby's, Dean asked Cas to stay in the car, not yet comfortable with showing him his home, especially when it must seem like a box in comparison to his house. He quickly grabbed his homework and ran back to the car, sliding in to the driver's seat. Castiel smiled at him.

"So this is Mr Singer's house?"

Dean cleared his throat; "um, yeah, he's a simple kinda guy, small house suits his needs, plus he hates new things..."

"It looks quite... Cosy... You know Dean, I don't care that you don't live in a big house. I may have a lot of money but I'm not a snob."

Dean looked down at his hands; "yeah, sorry, I just... And I don't think Bobby would really want students coming to his house..."

"I understand, maybe one day though."

Dean smiled meekly; "yeah, maybe."

"So, where are we off to?"

"Um, can you recommend a decent café?"

Cas smiled; "I will if you let me buy you a coffee?"

"I don't need you to buy me-"

"-I know, Dean. I want to, as, a thank you."

"For what?"

"Just, being my friend? For staying with me last night, for doing homework with me."

Dean sighed; "Cas, that's what friends do, you do things for each other, just because. I wanted to spend last night with you, and I want to do homework with you."

Cas nodded; "I know, let me buy you a drink Dean. Please. I want to."

"Fine..."

Dean smiled up at Castiel as he set their coffee down on the table, perching himself next to him on the sofa.

"Cappuccino ok?"

"Yeah... What did you get?"

Cas looked down at his drink, cup overflowing with all kids of sides; "don't judge me, ok? Gabriel ordered it for me once, and since then I've kind of loved them."

Dean smirked; "what is it?"

"A um... Caramel mocha latte, extra whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles... And little marshmallows on the side."

Dean chuckled and picked up his drink; "that is one hell of a coffee order, Cas!"

"Well, they're gorgeous! Totally full of sugar and it'll rot my teeth, but... Try some!"

Dean put his drink back down. Castiel pulled his drink closer, smiling at Dean who just looked at it as if it was full of poison.

"Dude, I'll get diabetes just from sitting near it!"

"Come on!"

Castiel grabbed the spoon, scooped up some of his drink, complete with cream, sprinkles, and a marshmallow, and held it up to Dean. Dean suddenly became hyper-aware of the small drip of melted cream seeping over the edge of the spoon, threatening to fall on to Cas' smart black dinner trousers any second. Telling himself it was for the good of Castiel's clothes, Dean lunged forward, wrapping his lips around the spoon and it's contents. Cas grinned.

"So?"

Dean nodded and slid the spoon out of his mouth; "um, yeah... It's a bit sweet for my liking."

"Yeah, I have four sugars in it too..."

"Fucking hell, Cas!"

Cas smiled sheepishly; "sometimes Gabriel's sweet-tooth rubs off on me..."

Dean grinned; "you're different now, I like it."

Castiel tipped his head to the side in confusion; "different? How?"

"From the Cas I first met, you're so much more laid back. Like, you're comfortable around me."

"Well, I am quite comfortable around you..."

Dean smiled; "good."

Cas smiled back, picking up his drink, keeping his eyes fixed on Dean's. After a long and oddly unawkward moment, Dean blinked and looked down at his coffee, having a quick sip. Castiel smiled even more and did the same.

AN2: Thank you to Angela for inventing the very elaborate coffee order, and for giggling with me as I wrote this massive piece of fluff. Don't forget to review (:

AN3: Went back and corrected some mistakes, like the Lisa/Jess cock-up, sorry for any confusion, I was so eager to get this out, I forgot to thoroughly proof-read. Ahh well. And I'm so glad you're all enjoying it so far :D