Back To The Start [Destiel AU]

two

July 26, 2016

[Cas's P.O.V.]

Cas got there a few days before the reunion and stayed with Charlie. He had dug out his tux since it was formal, and was surprised when it still fit. Apparently he hadn't grown much in twenty years. He and Charlie were going to go to the reunion together, and Kevin and Gabe had promised to be there as well.

Charlie, Gabe, and Kevin were secretly overjoyed. Their plan to get both Dean and Castiel back here was working so far. For the days leading up to the reunion, they plotted how to get the two together again, but all of the plans got shot down.

Cas was not looking forward to this.

Charlie was way too smiley and giggly. When he asked her what she was laughing at, she mysteriously smiled and refused to tell him anything.

Dread was settling in the pit of Cas's stomach.

At seven p.m., Cas couldn't avoid the inevitable any longer. He got in the passenger seat of Charlie's car and stared wistfully out the window the whole drive there, letting his imagination run wild with different ways these past twenty years could have turned out. He knew he was just making himself sad and vulnerable, but he couldn't help it.

As they were walking in, Cas spotted Anna, an old friend. He really did not want to go inside, so he muttered some bullshit excuse to Charlie and went over to Anna.

"What have you been doing the past twenty years?" he asked.

"Well, Cas," Anna started. She almost glowed when she smiled. "You remember my boyfriend, Dante? We went to Venice and he kissed me under the stars in a gondola, then proposed to me." Her smile looked like it could take on a life of its own and survive in the woods for several years. "Oh! I became a therapist for teenagers, and I have three best-sellers!"

"Anna, that is amazing. It's so nice seeing you. Have fun," Cas said. Charlie was waiting for him, and he hurried to catch up.

It looks exactly the same, Cas thought as he and Charlie made their way through the hallways. Noise coming from the gym told them that they should probably head in that direction. Cas took a deep breath and pushed opened the door, ready to make small talk with old classmates about what they had been doing in life.

He scanned the gym anxiously for Dean, but to his relief (or maybe he was sad, Cas had no idea anymore) the other man was nowhere to be seen.

[Dean's P.O.V.]

"We're thirty minutes late," Lisa said, slightly worried.

"Fashionably late," Dean argued.

She huffed.

Everyone was laughing and dancing to songs that were cool in 1996 when Dean pushed the doors open. He was in an AC/DC shirt and jeans and immediately felt underdressed.

Lisa was in a yellow knee-length dress and her lips were painted cherry red. She was holding onto Dean's arm like she needed it to live and his fingers were going kind of numb.

Dean looked around, partly hopeful, partly scared.

Then he saw him.

Cas.

His Cas.

Cas was in a tux with a blue tie, his hair messed up as always, the blue of his eyes visible even at this low lighting level, this far away.

Lisa followed his line of sight and scowled when she saw Cas. She pulled Dean's face down, connecting his lips with her own. Dean tried not to convey his disgust in the kiss, figuring that if he did, he was as good as dead.

After a very, very long fifty-three seconds (he didn't count, he didn't wish the whole time that it would be over faster, he totally didn't count), Lisa pulled back and smiled over in Cas's direction.

Dean couldn't take his eyes off of Cas.

He was wearing the tux he'd been wearing the day they had gotten "married" and Dean attributed that to Charlie and Kevin. He smiled softly at the memory of that day and moved his hand to the amulet Sam had given him. The ring was hanging on there. He wondered if Cas still had his ring.

No, stupid. He hates you, because you were an asshole. Why would he still have it?

Two hours passed. Dean lost himself in the dancing, in the rhythm, and could almost forget it was Lisa by his side instead of the one he really wanted there.

"Could the prom king and queen come up onstage?" the DJ asked. Dean swallowed. His mouth had suddenly gone dry.

Anna beamed at him as they made their way onto the stage. Dean had talked to her a couple times and he was pretty sure her grin had been surgically attached.

The DJ handed them replicas of the crowns they had worn twenty years ago.

"Would their dates from prom please come here as well, for a special dance?"

Anna's husband joined her, and they slowly began to waltz around.

Dean watched as Charlie literally shoved Cas up onstage. The latter was clearly uncomfortable, and Dean's heart felt like it was constricting in his chest. He hadn't meant to cause Cas any pain, hadn't ever meant to hurt him. He had, though, and it made him feel like the biggest asshole in the world.

Cas didn't say anything, and Dean shifted his weight nervously.

"Right! Music!" the DJ said. "Whoops."

Can't Help Falling In Love With You started to play.

Neither Dean nor Cas moved.

Finally, Dean couldn't stand it any more. He grabbed Cas's hand and they started to dance.

It was weird. They still hadn't said anything to each other. But they remembered how to dance together perfectly.

Dean noticed the little things that Cas always used to do while they were slow dancing, like looking down every now and then and mouthing the lyrics.

He couldn't help but draw Cas closer and closer until it wasn't really appropriate any more, since, you know, Dean was dating Lisa.

As the song ended, Dean met Cas's eyes one more, and he was so close that Dean couldn't think.

He blamed that for what happened next.

Cas shifted imperceptibly closer, and that was all it took.

Dean bent down slightly ( god, he hasn't grown in twenty years ) and kissed Cas, gently, for only a couple seconds. (Two. He didn't count, he didn't wish the whole thing would last an eternity, he totally didn't count.)

Cas pulled back first, disbelief stark across his face and in his eyes, those blue eyes that Dean never fell out of love with.

Everyone was watching them.

Well, except for Sam and Gabe, who were making out in the corner.

Charlie was bouncing up and down and Kevin had a genuine smile on his face.

Dean's only thought was a never-ending loop of oh, shit .