Set in AU
When Dean Winchester was six years old, his parents took him to a carnival. It was small, but amazing to Dean. He ran around, playing games and going on rides as his parents went on the baby rides with his little brother Sam.
Dean was running towards the swings when he saw him.
There was a boy, about his age, sitting against the fence near the Ferris Wheel. He was crying.
Dean frowned. The carnival was such a happy place. This boy shouldn't be crying. So he went over.
"Hi," he said curiously. The boy's crying paused, and he looked up at Dean, sniffling.
"Hi," he replied, his voice wavering.
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying." Dean sat down next to the boy.
"Yes you are. What's wrong?" The boy hesitated, then started to talk.
"My Dad promised he'd take me to the carnival, but then he couldn't go, so I had to go with my siblings and they're mean. And when I got off the swings I couldn't find them, and I've looked EVERYWHERE and they're not here and their car's gone too and I know they left me on purpose, and now I don't know what to do."
Dean thought for a moment.
"You could come with me! My mom will know what to do, and she could call your dad!" He offered. The boy looks wary
"Dad said not to go anywhere with strangers."
"I'm not a stranger! I'm Dean."
"I'm Castiel."
"Cas-cast-castee-" Dean struggled to pronounce the name. "Can I call you Cas?"
"Okay."
So, seeing as they weren't strangers anymore, Dean took Cas to his parents, who got his dad's phone number from Cas. While Mary tried to reach Cas's father, the two boys ran around the carnival, laughing and having fun. At one of the games, Dean won a big teddy bear that was dressed up in a bee costume-it even had little wings. He gave it to Cas, who freaked out and loved it.
A few hours later, the carnival closed for the night, and Dean and Cas ended up waiting on a bench outside the entrance, as Dean's parents talked to Cas' s father.
"Cas?"
"Yes Dean?"
"Can we be best friends?"
"YEAH!"
Dean grinned.
"Hey Dean?" Cas asked, still hugging the bee bear he had gotten. "Do you like girls?"
"Eww, No!" Dean declared. "Girls have cooties."
"I'm never gonna get cooties."
"Why not?"
"Cause I'm never gonna kiss a girl. EVER!"
"What about when you get married?" Mary asked, walking over to the boys. Cas thought for a minute.
"Well, I'm not marrying some cootie girl," Cas replied. "I'll.... I'll marry my best friend! That's what Luci did!"
Dean gasped.
"But Cas, WE'RE best friends!" He announced. "Are you cootie proof?"
"Course, Dean. Everyone knows only girls have cooties."
"I'd we're married, does that mean we have to kiss?"
"I guess so." Mary laughed at the boys.
"Kisses are gross." Dean declared.
"How would you know?"
"....They look gross." Dean corrected himself.
"Well, what about this kind of kiss?" Cas asked. He leaned over, still clutching the bear, and kissed Dean on the cheek. Dean's eyes went wide.
"That wasn't so bad." He admitted, blushing slightly.
*****
A few days later, Dean and Cas met up again for a playdate. Cas brought two mood rings with him, wedding rings, he deemed them.
So, with Cas' s siblings Gabriel and Hannah, and the stuffed bear from the carnival as witnesses, Dean and Cas got married. Balthazar googled what was said at a wedding and recited it for them, and they kissed on the cheek. But when they went to put on the rings, the boys discovered that their fingers were far too small for the rings.
So Dean got some string, and they wore the rings on necklaces until they see big enough for them to fit in their fingers.
A year later, Dean and Cas were as close as ever, and still married, of course. The boys were laughing in Dean's house when Dean's father came home with a friend.
"Bobby!" Dean exclaimed.
"Hey Dean," Bobby replied. He smiled at the boys. "Who's your friend?"
"Oh, Cas isn't my friend." Dean explained. "He's my husband."
"He what?" John Winchester questioned. Bobby just grinned knowingly.
"Okay then." He agreed. Dean smiled, grabbed Cas's hand, and they ran from the room.
*****
When school started again, the boys were in the same class. On the first day, Dean was back by the cubbies when a red haired girl approached him.
"Hi!" She exclaimed. "I'm Charlie!"
"I'm Dean," he replied, eyeing Charlie. "Do you have cooties?"
"No." Charlie declared. "I got my cooties shots."
"Okay!"
Cas, of course, chose that moment to walk back and see them.
"Dean!" He proclaimed. "Who's this?"
"This is Charlie, don't worry, she's cootie free."
"Hi!" Charlie offered.
"Hello," Cas replied. "I'm Cas." He wrapped his arm around Dean. "Don't go kissing him cause we're married."
"You're married?" Charlie questioned.
"Yep! For five whole months!" Dean confirmed. Cas kissed Dean's cheek and they smiled.
"You two are SO cute together!" Charlie declared.
****
Cas, Dean, and Charlie were best friends from then on. One day, the trio was in class, drawing pictures for the teacher to hang up around the room.
"Castiel, what's your name mean?" Charlie asked.
"I'm named after an angel," Cas explained.
"Really?" Dean questioned. Cas nodded, and Dean's face brightened. "Then that's gonna be your nickname!"
"My what?" Cas asked.
"My parents have special nicknames for eachother, like sweetheart and honey and stuff. So I'm gonna call you angel."
"Oh. Okay." Dean grabbed a crayon and quickly added something to his drawing.
The teacher came around shortly after, looking at each child's drawing. She paused at Dean's.
"What's this?" She asked gently. Dean smiled and explained the picture.
"That's me," he began, pointing at the poorly drawn, smiling figure. "And that's Cas, and thats Charlie. We're at our wedding." He explained, so that the flowers he had drawn made sense.
"And what's on Castiel?" The teacher questioned, gesturing to the odd arrow shapes on Cas.
"Those are his wings." Dean grinned. "I have him those cause he's my angel." He ruffled Cas's hair and the boy let out a screech of frustration.
"I told you not to touch my hair! Now it's messy!" Cas complained.
"I like it messy!" Dean declared. Charlie sighed happily at them
"So cute." She whispered. The teacher raised her eyebrows and slowly backed away from the trio.
*****
Years passed, and Dean and Cas stayed 'married'. They are closer then ever, despite the challenges they'd faced- being in separate classes, Dean's father dying, Cas's family falling apart around him, Dean joining the football team and becoming popular whereas Cas stayed apart of the nerds.
They are fourteen now, and are in Dean's bedroom, doing their homework. Cas fiddled with the mood ring that still hung around his neck. The rings were starting to fit their fingers, but both of them were too stubborn to throw out the chains they were on and just wear the ring.
Cas wanted to tell Dean something, but he was afraid to. He knew Dean was one of the only people he could tell, but he was still afraid. What if Dean didn't like him anymore?
Dean groaned, throwing his pencil down on his desk. Cas glanced up from his spot, sprawled out on Dean's bed, a history book open before him.
"I HATE Geometry!" Dean declared passionately. He leaned back in his chair, locking eyes with Cas. "Angel. Distract me PLEEEEASE!" He begged.
Cas rolled his eyes, but tried to think of something that would entertain the teenager. But am of his thoughts were covered in what he needed to tell Dean.
He figured he might as well get it over with.
"I do have to tell you something," he admitted, still messing with the chain. Dean's silliness faded and he turned to properly face Cas, noting the seriousness.
"Are you dying?" Dean demanded.
"No"
"Are you moving?"
"No"
"Okay, what is it?" Cas took a deep breath, staring into Dean's eyes.
"I'm gay." He announced. Dean say there, waiting.
"...And?" He asked finally.
"And what?" Cas frowned.
"That's it?"
"Yes." Cas' s frown deepened as Dean grinned.
"Cas, we've been married for eight years. I've known you were gay since I found out what the word meant."
"Oh." Cas said blankly. That had gone much differently then he had expected. "...Are you gay?"
"I think I'm bi." Dean offered. Cas gasped.
"HAVE YOU BEEN CHEATING ON ME WITH A GIRL?" He demanded.
"No!" Dean declared. "I just stumbled onto a couple of my dad's playboy magazines, and looked at them and... well..."
Can burst out laughing as Dean's face grew red.
*****
By the time the two reached high school, they were in completely different social circles. Cas was with the geeks like Charlie, Sam, and his friends Kevin and Jo. Dean was with the popular football players and cheerleaders like Micheal, Lisa, and Crowley.
Dean hadn't changed though, to Cas' s relief. He was still best friends with Charlie, and ate lunch with them. The other members of Dean's crowd didn't like that he spent time with the geeks, but Dean didn't care. His place was with his husband, he said.
Cas, unlike the other needs and geeks, had never once been bullied. Everyone in the school had learned long ago that he belonged to Dean, and Dean Winchester was not someone you crossed.
The mood rings fit perfectly now, and Dean had removed his ring from the chain and had started wearing It on his ring finger. Cas had grown so accustomed to it being around his neck the he refused to move his ring. But Dean liked wearing it wear everyone could see, so that everyone knew he was taken.
Lisa didn't get that message at first, but after Cas started showing up to the football games wearing Dean's Letterman jacket, she surrendered.
Charlie had become the ultimate fangirl and swore that Destiel, as she called them, was the ultimate couple.
Life for Dean and Cas was good.
*****
It wasn't until they were sixteen that it occurred to Cas.
They were leaving school, hand in hand, and Cas suddenly stopped walking as realization hit him like a truck.
"Dean." He announced.
"Yeah?" Dean asked, watching his husband curiously. Cas turned to stare at him.
"Did you know that we've never kissed?" Dean raised an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about- we kiss all the time."
"Never on the lips." Cas explained. Dean's face slowly changed as he realized.
"Oh my gosh, you're right." Dean gaped at him. "We need to fix that immediately."
But Cas, being the drama queen that he was, decided to have a little bit of fun. He yanked his hand away from Dean and crossed his arms.
"Cas?" Dean asked, looking confused.
"TEN YEARS!" Cas howled, drawing the attention of the students who hadn't left yet. "TEN YEARS WE'VE BEEN MARRIED DEAN, AND YOU HAVEN'T KISSED ME!"
Dean facepalmed, his face going red.
"Angel, please-" he started, but Cas cut him off.
"DON'T YOU ANGEL ME! I FEEL UNLOVED, DEAN! DO YOU EVEN LOVE ME?"
Charlie suddenly appeared out of nowhere, looking fearful.
"I sensed that my ship was in danger." She offered.
"Alright, Cas, that's it." Dean proclaimed. He started towards Cas, who yelped and took off running. Dean chased after him. "I'M THE RUNNING BACK ON THE FOOTBALL TEAM, CAS, YOU CAN'T OUTRUN ME!"
Cas screeched and darted behind Charlie. Dean stopped, and they circled around Charlie like she was a tree Cas was hiding behind.
Finally Dean got ahold of him, and Cas dropped dramatically into Dean's arms.
"I give," he admitted. "Kiss me Dean. Kiss me like I've just been stabbed and I need to know how much you love me."
"You're such a drama queen," Dean grinned.
"Yes I am. I have the crown and everything- now KISS MEEEEEE!!"
Dean smirked deviously. Now it was his turn.
"Nah." He offered.
"What?" Cas asked.
"One day, I will come to you, and I will kiss you. And it will be epic." Dean promised.
"But when?" Cas whined.
"That's for me to know, and YOU to find out!" Dean declared before kissing Cas's cheek and taking off.
"YOU TEASE!" Cas yelled after him.
*****
"Smile Dean!" Mary Winchester ordered.
Dean rolled his eyes, fiddling with his suit. He was a senior in high school and he and Cas were going to the prom together. There had been some light teasing, but Dean had ignored it. He and Cas were soul mates. They had been married for twelve years now. The mood ring shined on his finger. It didn't change color anymore, after so many years, but Dean loved it all the same.
"I hate prom pictures." He declared.
"Me too." Cas agreed, loosening his blue tie. He never wore a tie the right way, but Dean didn't mind. Cas' s tie brought out his eyes, and it gave Cas style.
"Just one more!" Mary pleaded. The boys groaned, but posed for another photo. Which turned into ten more photos. Finally, Dean just turned and kissed Cas on the cheek, his mother snapping a photo as they did so.
She was content after that one.
They drove to prom in Dean's car. It was an old Impala that Dean fixed up himself. Cas had attempted to help him, but they figured out early on that Cas was NOT a good mechanic.
The two danced all night, to every song. For fun, they'd jump around to the slow songs and slow dance to the fast rock songs.
A classic Kansas song was playing as Dean leaned over and kissed Cas on the cheek.
"You tease," Cas joked, pulling Dean close and properly kissing him on the lips.
Charlie had filmed the whole song, of course.
*****
Graduation came fast after the prom, and before Cas knew it, he was receiving his diploma.
"Castiel Novak." His name was called. The crowd clapped politely, along with the members of Cas's family that had bothered to show. Cas's friends, on the other hand, were a bit more dramatic.
"YEAH CAS!" Charlie shouted as Cas walked up to the stage.
"WORK IT ANGEL!" Dean crowed, causing the crowd to chuckle. Cas was blushing fiercely n the time he sat back down.
"Dean Winchester," was called a while later, and the students roared with applause and shouts from the football players, cheerleaders, and Dean's friends. But as Dean took the piece of paper in hand, Cas's voice stood out in the crowd.
"YOU TEASE!" Cas yelled out. "MARRIED FOR TWELVE YEARS AND YOY WON'T EVEN KISS YOUR HUSBAND!" Dean was laughing so hard he nearly fell off the stage.
****
The two were separated for college, much to their dismay, but they found a way to make the long-distance relationship work.
After his chain broke, Cas finally gave in and started wearing the old mood ring on his finger, although his college friends didn't understand it like everyone back home did.
After college, Dean took over Bobby's mechanic shop. The old man had retired and was planning on moving somewhere warmer.
Cas moved in with Dean right after he graduated, and the pair lived happily in their little house.
And because Cas is stubborn and Dean will always eventually give in to his angel, they got a kitten too.
*****
Dean is twenty-six now, and awkwardly staring at the items on a shelf in the grocery store.
Cas had sent him to the store to buy flour, but Dean found himself deep in thought, unconsciously staring at the various flours and sugars.
"You alright, dear?" A calm voice asked, snapping Dean out of his trance.
"Oh, um, yeah." Dean offered. "just...
It's a big anniversary for me today and I want to do something special, but I'm also terrified to do it." He laughed nervously.
"A wedding anniversary?"
"Yep. It's a big one."
"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure your husband will love it," the woman declared. Dean studied her for a moment, wondering how she had known.
"I hope so." He muttered, grabbing a bag of flour.
"What anniversary is it?" The woman asked. "Your first?"
Dean laughed.
"My twentieth, actually." He grinned. The woman's eyes went wide.
"Dearie, how old are you?"
"I'm twenty-six!" Dean exclaimed, walking away and leaving a very confused woman behind.
That night, Dean proposed to Cas. With a real ring, this time.
They got married two months later, although all the guests thought it was just a formality, seeing as they'd been married for twenty years already.
They'd done it all exactly like their first wedding too. Sam was the ring bearer, and Balthazar officiated the wedding. The stuffed bear dressed as a bee that Dean had won for Cas the day they had met had its own seat in the front row, and Cas's hair was messy. Just like Dean liked it.
And Dean and Cas lived happily ever after, mood rings and wedding rings wrapped around their fingers til the day they died.