Chapter Twenty-Four

Dean slept through most of the afternoon, and made it downstairs for dinner feeling mostly recovered. Cas came down after him and Dean stared at him. Cas didn't meet anyone's eye, keeping his head low under his hood. He picked up his plate and disappeared up to his room with it.

'What's up with Cas?' Sam frowned.

Dean just shrugged.

'I don't know,' said Mary. 'I'm sure he'll be okay though.'

Dean sighed and shoved down his dinner before hurrying back upstairs. He knocked on the wall next to the curtain.

'Cas?' Dean called, to no response. 'Are you okay?' Dean waited, but he only heard Cas tapping on his keyboard. 'I was thinking, maybe you wanna go out with your telescope again tomorrow?'

There was a rustling sound and Dean's heart leapt, but his hope was short-lived when he heard loud music issuing from Cas's earphones.

'Fine,' Dean grumbled, throwing himself back down on his own bed and falling asleep.

Cas avoided them all through the rest of the holidays, and sat far to the back of the school bus.

'What's going on?' Jo asked, glancing back at Cas.

'Why don't you ask him?' Dean snapped, sinking down in his seat.

'Hey, don't get mad at me, I only asked a question,' Jo said reproachfully.

'Sorry,' Dean muttered.

Dean sat in his usual seat in homeroom, but Cas stayed away, sitting in a seat near the door with his hood still up. Without Cas to distract him, Dean felt exposed, feeling Rhonda's eyes on him from the back of the room.

Crowley gave Cas an odd look, but didn't question him, and Kevin didn't appear to notice he had moved, glued as he was to his phone.

'Still working things out with Channing?' Jo asked Kevin.

Kevin shook his head without looking up. 'No, we're together now, we're just planning a date.'

A wave of jealousy rolled through Dean, but he pushed it down and spent the morning barely paying attention in class. He walked to lunch miserably, wondering how he would get through an awkward hour sitting at the same table as Cas, but he didn't have to wonder long.

He sat down at their usual table, pretending not to watch the door. When Cas came in, he hesitated, but moved to sit at a table with the track team. Dean then openly stared at him, his heart shrivelling inside his chest. Cas finally looked up at him, and Dean could see the hurt in his eyes.

Dean was just building up the courage to go up to Cas at his table, when the door burst open and the captain of the track team sprinted over to them.

'Guys!' he shouted, getting the attention of everyone in the room. 'We're going to national tryouts!'

A cheer rang through the room.

'We're up against the central states first, and if we win, we get to compete in the nationals!'

Cas smiled while the others celebrated, but Dean was the only one that noticed it was hollow.

A couple of weeks passed, and despite Dean's attempts to bring Cas around, he refused to talk. Even his teammates were beginning to be concerned by his almost complete silence.

'Do we know what's going on yet?' Jo asked, watching Cas sitting sadly at his team's lunch table.

Dean shrugged. 'Mom thinks he's going through a regression phase,' he said.

'What does that mean?'

'Some kids, when they start to feel too safe, start thinking that something's gonna go wrong, so they try to protect themselves and wait for the other shoe to drop.' Dean glanced up at Cas and sighed regretfully.

'That's so sad,' said Jo. 'Will he come out of it soon?'

'Who knows,' Dean muttered, struggling to push the guilt down.

Jo watched Cas for a few more minutes, then turned her attention back to Dean. 'What are we doing for your birthday?'

Dean started, having momentarily forgotten that his birthday was coming up. 'Just you guys over for some drinks, nothing crazy. If you wanna come.'

'Yeah, sure,' Jo grinned.

Dean smiled back, but he couldn't bring himself to be excited about it, not if Cas was still mad at him by then.

Everyone around him, however, began to get extremely excited for his birthday. Mary beamed every time she saw him, and John ruffled his hair whenever he was in reach.

Dean's birthday arrived on a sunny Saturday, and Mary let him sleep in as long as he wanted. He got up and gave the firmly closed curtain a longing look, desperate to hear Cas's voice say 'Happy birthday', but there was no sound.

Mary was the first upon him when he got downstairs, immediately putting a pointed party hat on his head.

'Happy birthday!' she exclaimed, squeezing him tightly and kissing his cheek.

'All right, all right,' Dean said with a smile, pushing her off.

'Pancakes?' she said, busying herself in the kitchen.

'Hell yeah,' Dean grinned, taking off the hat and resting it on the table next to him.

Drawn in by the smell of cooking, Sam emerged from his bedroom and John from the garage, each of them greeting Dean with a 'Happy birthday', of their own.

After eating a whole stack of pancakes, John clapped Dean on the shoulder and said, 'Come on, time for your present.'

Dean got to his feet and followed John through the house, and out onto the drive.

'Tada,' John said proudly, but all Dean saw was the Impala.

'What?' Dean said, confused.

John rolled his eyes. 'Seriously?'

'What?' Dean repeated. 'Is it in the car?' He squinted through the windows, and John laughed loudly.

'Oh boy, I almost don't wanna give it to you now,' he chuckled. 'I was sure you were smarter than this.'

'Dad, come on.'

John laughed again and held up the keys to the Impala. 'She's yours.'

Dean stared at him for a moment, not quite comprehending what he was saying. 'Wait - wait a minute,' he said. 'You're giving her to me?'

John chuckled and put the keys in Dean's hands, then put an arm around his shoulders. 'She was always for you, buddy.'

Dean gaped. 'Are you serious?'

'Yeah, she's all yours.'

Dean couldn't help himself, he hopped into the driver's seat and ran his hands all over the dashboard. He'd done it a million times before, but now she was his. He put the keys in the ignition just to hear her purr. When he was done, he got back out and almost barrelled John over with a hug.

'Thank you, Dad!' he said, grinning widely.

'You're welcome, kid,' said John. 'You take care of her, you hear?.'

Dean laughed. 'Come on, Dad, I take care of her better than you do.'

'You're not wrong. Come on, I'm sure your mom wants to fuss over you some more.'

They went back inside and Mary handed Dean a cup of coffee. He stayed in the living room most of the day, but kept glancing up the stairs, hoping for Cas to show his face, but he never did.

The sun began to set and Mary started setting everything up for Dean's party.

'Okay, you go and get the usual suspects, I'll order some pizza,' Mary said, giving Dean an excuse to drive around in the Impala.

He picked up Jo first, who had a six-pack in her hands.

'Happy birthday,' she said, jumping into the car next to him.

Next, they drove across town to collect Crowley, who gave Dean a gift card for Dave & Buster's.

'Uh, thanks?' Dean said, tucking it into his wallet where it would be forgotten about.

'You're welcome,' Crowley said, helping himself to one of the beers Jo had brought.

Lastly, they went to Kevin's, and he climbed into the back seat with Crowley, pulling Channing in with him.

'It's okay if Channing comes, right?' Kevin asked.

'Sure, why not?' Dean said, bemused.

Kevin and Channing spent the rest of the drive making out fiercely, while Crowley looked disgusted and pressed himself against the door, as far away from them as possible.

Jo was first through the front door when they arrived home, and Dean had to blast the horn to get Kevin and Channing to stop kissing long enough to exit the car.

Dean went inside and noticed that Cas's running shoes were missing. He sighed and tried to think about something else.

It wasn't long before the party was in full swing, though Dean took the alcohol a lot slower than he had on New Year's Eve.

Overall, the party was relaxed. They watched movies and played games whilst helping themselves to pizza and snacks. Jo chatted happily, as she always did when she got tipsy, and Crowley regaled them with tales of his adventures and hookups. Whether or not they were true was up for debate. Kevin spent most of his attention on Channing, but did disentangle himself from her long enough to beat Crowley at Mario Kart by a large margin.

Dean allowed himself to have fun, laughing at Crowley and Kevin, and slowly drinking enough beer to feel warm and fuzzy. He didn't notice Cas come back in from the garage and sneak upstairs.

Eventually, the party began to wind down. Channing fell asleep on the couch, and Kevin watched her fondly, brushing her hair out of her face. Crowley caught Dean's eye and made a vomiting gesture, making Dean snort beer out of his nose.

Mary, who had been keeping an eye on things, notice that the party was getting quiet, and came out to offer everyone rides home, which they all gladly accepted.

While Mary was out, Dean did his best to clean up the mess. He didn't make much of a dent in it and stumbled over the furniture, but when Mary returned, she gave him a kiss and thanked him for trying.

'Did you have a good time?' she asked him, reaching up to ruffle his hair.

Dean nodded. 'Yeah, I think I needed that,' he said, only slightly slurring his words.

'All right, time for bed,' Mary said, rubbing his back. 'I've got this.'

'Are you sure?'

Mary nodded. 'It's your birthday, you don't have to clean up on your birthday.'

Dean squinted at his phone. 'Technically it's not my birthday anymore.'

Mary laughed. 'Go on, go to bed.'

Dean hugged her tightly, then made his way up the stairs, gripping the bannister for balance. The curtain in their room was closed, but there was no sound behind it, so Dean assumed Cas must be asleep. He stripped his clothes off, slightly tripping over his socks. He pulled on his pajamas and flopped down on to his bed, shuffling under the covers with a quiet groan.

The room was silent, and Dean began to drift off, until he heard the curtain slide back, soft footsteps, and the bed depress at his side as Cas sat down on it.

Dean opened his eyes again, squinting up at him. 'Hey,' he said, voice slightly croaky. 'You okay?'

Cas didn't say anything, he just fiddled with the cuffs of his sleeves.

'You - um - you missed my birthday.'

Cas sighed deeply. 'I know. I'm sorry.'

Dean's heart fluttered. Cas hadn't spoken directly to him in weeks.

Cas opened and closed his mouth several times, looking for the words. 'You - what you said at the party… you really meant it?'

Dean tensed, the fluttering in his heart quickening to a painful hammering. 'Yeah,' he forced out.

Cas's shoulders slumped. 'I - I - I'm so sorry,' he said. 'I just - I thought that you - you figured out that I had - feelings - for you, and you were making fun of me for it.'

Dean pushed himself up into a sitting position. 'Cas, I would never-'

'I know,' said Cas. 'Well, I know now.' He took a deep breath. 'My therapist has been trying to convince me you might not have been joking, but I didn't believe her.'

'What changed your mind?'

Cas glanced at him. 'I bumped into Alfie yesterday. He was at the Christmas party - that one the swim team threw. He - um - he took a lot of pictures, and you were in some of them.' A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 'The way you were looking at me…'

Dean felt his cheeks burn. 'Well - yeah - I mean, why wouldn't I look at you?' Dean stammered, flustered. 'You're kind and smart, and you've got great hair and really pretty eyes, and - and - you have an awesome ass - and -' Dean blushed even deeper. 'I really wish you'd done this when I was more sober -' Before he could say anything else, Cas leaned forward and kissed him.

Dean gasped into his lips, completely caught by surprise. His thoughts were slow to catch up, and for a moment, he didn't move. Then, he leaned into it, kissing Cas back fiercely, holding him close. Cas's lips were chapped. Dean could tell he'd been biting them, but he didn't care. All the times he'd imagined this moment had never come close to the real thing, never prepared him for how warm his whole body would feel, or what the tingling in his fingers would be like.

Then Cas stopped to catch his breath, fingers shaking as he ran his hand up the side of Dean's neck. He cleared his throat and pressed his forehead to Dean's.

'Happy birthday, Dean,' he murmured.

Dean grinned, light-headed.

Cas kissed him again, then slowly pulled away, until he was backing away to his side of the room.

Dean lay back down, staring up at the ceiling with a huge grin on his face. Elated didn't even begin to cover it, and he fell asleep with the feeling of Cas's lips on his.

Welcome back everyone :) thanks to EmilyAnnMcGarrett-Winchester for the review! See you next time!