It starts with a choked noise; maybe cut off laughter, maybe someone accidentally breathing their own saliva out of surprise. The sound breaks the silence that fell what feels like ages ago to Dean, and after the first breach people begin to murmur amongst themselves. The sudden whispers last until someone laughs. Dean cannot see who, nor does he particularly care. He's stuck on the image of two wolves in front of him, afraid to look anywhere else. Or just unable.
The noise-level rises steadily, and people seem to find the situation amusing as laughter and giggling start to take over. Dean's bigger wolf is apparently done sniffing his new friend out, and starts poking Castiel-wolf's side with his muzzle. The smaller ball of silver fur drops to ground and rolls to his back. As if given a sign, which was possible since they are sort of animals, Dean's wolf settles half atop of the other and barks sharply once. Shit, Dean thinks, still in a slightly catatonic state. It's to be expected that his patronus should exhibit some of his characteristics but damn, did it really have to look so smug and satisfied cuddling his best friend's own patronus? He's getting legitimately afraid that it's gonna start peeing a circle around the other wolf any minute now.
Castiel, still totally frozen as a statue, has been getting more and more anxious-looking with every passing second and burst of giggles. The bark seems to get his brain back online since he promptly turns and literally runs away. The classroom door remains thrown open after him.
Dean's left completely lost. The class, naturally, laughs some more and he distantly hears Professor Crowley demanding for attention and would everyone please get back to their bloody seats this instant. Castiel's patronus just fades away when it's owner hastily leaves the room, leaving Dean-wolf howling after it before disappearing back to whatever ether it originally came from. Numbly Dean wonders if it went after the other creature. Maybe he should follow the example?
He gathers his things and tries to casually exit the lesson. Professor Crowley keeps his silence and let's him go, but Dean cannot find Castiel anywhere. He doesn't show up to the rest of that days courses, either.
On his way from herbology to lunch (Cas wasn't there and he never missed school, this was bad and stop panicking man) Jo ambushes Dean. She is a year younger quidditch chaser from his house that always talked to (harassed) him in their common room. Dean guesses that makes them friends.
"Hey Winchester, where's the boyfriend at?"
Make that former friends.
"How did you even-" Dean thinks better of it and speeds past her. "You know what, never mind. Bye."
Jo jogs to his side. "Like everyone wouldn't know already? Sharing is caring and that goes for info, too. People got used to a more exciting lifestyle what with all that crap back in the Potter-era, and don't get me started on how boring it's been since Gabriel graduated."
"I still wonder how he ever managed that", Dean muses, slowing down to a halt. "Still, we ain't your amusement, or nobody else's. Could you just give it a rest?"
"Ooh, now it's a 'we', is it?"
"Seriously, you wanna start with the kindergarten level crap? I couldn't even find the dude after he epicly freaked out after Crowley's class and this hasn't been the best day for me. To put it mildly. Leave."
He picks up his pace and heads for the great hall. Behind him Jo's shouting 'hey wait'' while running after him. "I'm sorry about all your man-pain Dean, I really am, but would you just fucking listen to me for a minute? I'm not just making fun of you y'know!"
He stops and whirls around to glare her. "Fucking what now?"
Before she can answer, someone coughs a little announcing their presence next to them. "Oh, hi Charlie!" Jo chirps to her teammate, and explains "I was just trying to counsel Dean here in light of recent events."
"You mean the Patronus-and-Juliet -shitstorm I keep hearing about?" Charlie asks raising an eyebrow at Dean. At this point he would give pretty much anything to have just failed the assignment instead of this.
"Got it in one, my dear Charlene."
Dean would really like to go now. "I don't see how you mocking me and my shitty life is helping, Joanna Beth?"
Jo sighs deep and looks him in the eye. "It's my job to make fun of you, silly, but the next question would have been 'are you okay?' I know you well enough to know of your allergy to feelings, but I'm serious. How are you doing?" Charlie turns to face him too. "Yeah, blondie's right. Is there anything we can do for you?"
Shoulders slumping a little, Dean rubs a hand over his face. "Look," he begins, "ugh… Right now I am just concerned for Cas. He didn't take it so well, and the panicking and hiding is just- what I'd like, would be to check him. And it wouldn't hurt if these random people stopped staring at me like I'm some rare zoo animal. So if you guys don't have an extra invisibility cloak, then you can do nothing. But thanks, ok?"
Jo just looks at him with pity bright in her eyes, but Charlie looks thoughtful. "So if I said I saw Cas not 15 minutes ago by the lake, you would be interested?" Just as soon as the words leave her mouth, Dean's running past them and yelling 'sorry' for nearly knocking Jo to the ground.
"Geesh, look at that boy run," Charlie laughs. "With that strength, why isn't he on our team again? The Slytherin game is coming and I still think that Madison girl isn't the ideal choice for a beater."
"Well, if Dean could fly without throwing up and practically passing out of terror, i think he'd be in the team." Jo bites her lip and gringes. "But you never heard that from me. The official explanation is that he likes to concentrate on his schooling. More like hang out with Castiel while he does." She grabs Charlie's arm and starts dragging her away. "C'mon, we can't miss lunch or we'll faint when the practice begins."
Dean sprints around the corners and over some fences (and students) on his way to the lake, though he hasn't the faintest why the fuck Castiel would be there. The fall is making way to winter, and it isn't warm anymore by anyone's definition. He silently wonders if Castiel has been slowly freezing here for hours now.
When he's passing a bench out in the yard he runs into Kevin. He's friends with Sam (same house, same nerdy tendencies and pastimes probably), though the boy's only a second year. Which is kinda scary, Dean thinks, and makes him feel old. "Whoa Dean," Kevin jumps out of his way, a smart move from his sense of self-preservation. "Why the rush? You'll maim someone. But if this is about Castiel, I heard Ruby mention that she'd seen him loitering around that way- hey is it true what they say about this morning 'cause-"
Dean's already running away. "Shut up, Kevin!"
There he goes, the small boy thinks as he watches the gryffindor nearly run into a tree in his haste. Typical. There are actual reasons why he likes Sam more than his brother, and the rude-thing is definitely one of them.
By the lake, there is a tree. Castiel has clearly been sitting under it since he first ran away, no coat no nothing. At this point, Dean's a little pissed because the tree couldn't just be some tree on the shore, but it had to be the one over the hill, under a cliff and behind three sets of spiky bushes. How anyone managed to find Castiel here was a mystery since Dean himself ever getting here was a minor miracle.
He stops in the middle of the offending bushes when he sees the hufflepuff and just looks.
Cas is facing the water, idly playing with his wand. He has drawn his knees into the circle of his arms to fight the cold air, since he's wearing just the normal indoor robes. His bag lay abandoned a few feet to his left.
The weird thing is that he's literally sitting on a pile of different kinds of colorful flowers. They push out of the ground all around him, creating a weird contrast with the dead grass of the ground. As he stands there, Castiel flicks his wand gently and a new blossom grows in front of him, as the others slowly wilt in the cold.
Dean realises that staring at someone from a bush could be considered creepy, rape-y twilight-style behaviour and steps forward, trying to make some noise.
Castiel tilts his head in the other boy's direction and smiles faintly. "I should have guessed you would find me sooner or later," he huffs. Dean takes a few more cautious steps towards him.
"Is that… a bad thing? I mean, I kinda get the vibe that you don't wanna be found."
Turning his head to the lake, Castiel sighs. "I don't think so. I didn't know what I should do so I just came here." He glances at Dean, still in the same bush. "Standing there holds no merit, you could at least come sit here if you came this far."
"Is it okay to sit on the flowers then?"
"Of course, I just made them to compensate for missing herbology." Dean snorts and plants his ass next to Cas, on a peony or something. Okay, here goes...
"Listen, Cas…"
The hufflepuff holds up a hand to silence him. "I don't know what you're planning to say Dean, but I think you should say it after I've told you why I behaved this way. I came here to sort my thoughts about that, myself."
Dean mutely nods and lays his hands on his stretched legs. Cas draws in a long breath before continuing.
"I know you… do the dating stuff and all that, but I have never really thought of that myself. It just didn't seem important. And you remember what happened when Meg Masters asked me out last year?" Dean nods. There had been a spark of possessiveness from his own mind, but Cas had panicked -very much like today- and promptly ran off. Dean had laughed until his legs gave out.
"Well, that's apparently how I handle these things. I was surprised, and then people started laughing. I left because I felt uncomfortable."
So Cas doesn't hate him, then. That makes Dean feel marginally better (he's a lying bitch, that makes him able to breath normally again). "Can we try the spell again? I just wanna be sure", Dean asks quietly. Somewhere in his chest hope blooms without permission. Castiel's answer is a silent 'expecto patronum', and Dean joins in; funny thing is that this time he doesn't even have to think happy thoughts to succeed. Huh.
The two wolves look exactly the same as before, and upon noticing each other their ears visibly perk up. The bigger one jumps in front of the other, wagging it's tail like a fucking dork, and clearly trying to get Cas-wolf to play. It honest to god licks the side of the other's face. Why does Dean get the awesome patronus that turns out to be the dumbest spirit-animal ever? Through his mental sigh he watches Cas watching their productions. His face is unbelievably giving compared to the usual mask; Dean sees happiness, wistfulness and heartbreak all at once. It's too much.
"Hey, Cas?"
"What?" Castiel turns his head and Dean kisses him.
It's over in a heartbeat, and Dean leans back a bit to observe Cas's reaction. Now there's the familiar blank expression, though this isn't the best time for it's reappearance. Just when the silence is getting really uncomfortable, Castiel's face scrunches up and he hits Dean in the arm. "OW!" Hard.
"You are straight!"
"Ow Cas what the fuck"
"You- you like girls like Lisa! And parties... and Bela, you never shut up about them-"
"Cas dude-"
"Exactly! I'm a dude you aren't supposed to do that Dean!"
"What, so now you're a homophobe?!" Dean is not liking how high he's shrieking now.
"Of course not!" Cas hit him again, ow ow ow. "But I sat right here for hours thinking that we'd just shrug this off since it's not possible and maybe we wouldn't end up awkward or hating each other or, i don't know, not friends anymore and… I…" He was basically hyperventilating at this point, so Dean had to take his hands and force him to breath.
"You done hitting me for now? 'Cause I'm not so into the gay-thing", Dean had to take a steadying breath, too, "but I think you might be a special case. For me."
Cas was still inhaling a bit too hard, but his gaze never wavered from the gryffindor's face. "You do actually mean that? If not, then I am not through with inflicting violence upon your person."
The next moment he's almost tackled to the ground by Castiel pouncing to kiss him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he hears the crunch of the frozen flowers, and the moment is long, sweet and right. Castiel practically climbs into his lap, kissing him hard while fisting his hands in Dean's hair and shifting closer. Eventually they part, just to press their foreheads together and share the air. Cas looks way too content with himself- wait a minute.
"Did you just use kisses to distract me so you could slide under my winter robes?"
Castiel smirks a little and shrugs as much as the cloth allows. "It was cold, and you didn't offer to save me."
"Oh god, this is what this relationship is gonna be like, I just know it." Dean smiles and re-wraps his scarf so that it circles both of their necks. "There, that chivalrous enough for ya?" Castiel, true to form, hits him again. But this time he get's a gentle kiss, after. Dean has never wanted to keep someone this much, and he really can work around the fact that he's feeling it for a guy. For Cas, he'll try his best.
Kevin Tran is traumatized. He risks glancing across the lake and yep, the two idiots are still at it. The stupid fuckers didn't apparently stop to think that the shoreline is very long, and water offers no cover at all from the people on the other side of the cove. Now there are even more curious onlookers ogling from a distance and he really wants to shout something about being in plain sight and possibly exhibitionism. God no.
Leaving for the castle, Kevin thinks he won't be able to look Dean in the eyes in near future. But Sam will be ecstatic when he tells him, the freak.