Set in AU

Lawrence High was a big school. Grades have hundreds of kids in them- you could go years and never pass the same kid in the hall twice. It made sense that you didn't know everyone.

So Dean Winchester wasn't surprised that there was a kid in his English class junior year that he didn't know. But once he met him, Dean just wanted know how he had gone this long without seeing him.

His name was Castiel Novak, went by Cas. He wore combat boots and black eyeliner that made his blue eyes pop like lightning. Owned at least three leather jackets, and had sex hair that mad any girl looking for a bad boy drool. He had a pierced ear and a nose ring, and Dean was positive that there was at least one tattoo lurking under the ratty T-shirts he wore.

Cas Novak was a kid you could spent hours staring at, and never run out of new details to find.

And Dean was good at finding details. His eyesight was terrible, but thick glasses fixed that. Dean was a nerd. A straight A student who wore cardigans and bow ties on days when he knew Doctor Who would be on. He was smart. Too smart for Lawrence High, if you asked his teachers, and yet, smart as he was, he still felt drawn to Cas Novak.

He didn't used to. But then day one of 11th grade English, Cas had strutted through the door, and examined the whole class as everyone stared back at him. Not many boys in Lawrence wore eyeliner.

But, out of the whole class, Cas had walked up to Dean.

"Nice shirt," He had commented, sliding into the seat next to Dean. Dean half smiled. It was an old, ratty Panic! At the Disco shirt, but it was his favorite.

"You like Panic at the Disco?" Dean questioned. Cas smirked.

"Of course I do," He declared. "Look." Cas pulled up the sleeve of his jacket, revealing a small inked tattoo of the band's logo, fit with the words "I write sins, not tragedies"

"Well then I guess I don't have to ask what your favorite song is," Dean presumed. Cas laughed.

"What's yours?" Cas questioned. "Favorite song, I mean."

"Miss Jackson is one of my favorites," Dean admitted. 

"Cool."

Dean didn't know that a simple choice of a T-shirt could spark so much.

He and Cas became quick friends, partnering up in class, walking around. They even ate lunch together, a fact that Dean's friends found weird.

Cas didn't have many friends, if any. He didn't really talk to anybody at the school, but he talked to Dean. Dean liked learning about him. There was just something about Cas- he wasn't like anybody else. And maybe that's what Dean liked about him.

He learned, for instance, that Cas had exactly six tattoos, including the Panic! At The Disco one.

He let Dean see most of them one day, when it had been warm enough out and Cas had taken off his shirt.

Dean's breath had caught in his throat, a bit speechless with how toned the teen was. But Cas didn't seem to think it was a big deal.

"What's that one mean?" Dean asked, pointing at a tattoo over Cas's ribs. It looked like some sort of rune writing, similar to hieroglyphics, if Dean wasn't mistaken. 

"It's a warding," Cas offered with a smirk. "Keeps me safe from bad guys."

"Fascinating." Dean offered, examining the tattoos.

His favorite by far was the one on Cas's back though. It was an intricate sketch of a pair of wings, their feathers sinking all the way down Cas's back. Cas shivered slightly as Dean traced the pattern of them.

"I like this one," He admitted. "Why'd you get it?"

"Well, uh," Cas fidgeted awkwardly. "That one's a bit more personal."

"Oh. Okay," Dean offered. He still traced the individual feathers. It was entrancing. "It's beautiful."

"I thought so." Cas smiled softly at him, and Dean grinned back.

Months passed, and the boys only got closer. And as the homecoming dance came into sight, a new thought popped into Cas's head.

"Hey Dean?" He asked one day, as they were hanging out outside the school during lunch. "You ever have a girlfriend?"

Dean nearly spit out his drink.

"Uh," He stammered. "Not really."

"What's that mean?" Cas questioned, grinning. 

"Well, uh," Dean adjusted his glasses. "There was one girl, back in grade school who kissed me. But," He crinkled his face in disgust. "I didn't like it."

"Can't blame you," Cas offered. "Girls are gross." Dean shuffled his feet.

"I had a boyfriend once," He admitted. "Only for a couple weeks, because he moved away, but I still count it. It was nice."

"Yeah?" Cas replied. "He kiss better then the grade school girl?" Dean grinned.

"Yeah... What about you? Ever had a girlfriend?"

"God no." Cas raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't all this eyeliner tell you anything? I'm more gay then Barry Manilow." Dean laughed. "I've had a boyfriend though. Two, actually."

"What happened?" 

"First one insulted my music,"

"Dealbreaker. Instantly."

"And the second one cheated on me with the first guy."

"Oof. Well, it is Lawrence, Kansas. Not too many gay guys to choose from."

"And yet it's taken me this long to find you." Cas offered. 

"I'm glad I found you." Dean insisted. 

"Why? I'm a weirdo."

"You're different."

"Yeah, in a bad way."

"No." Dean smiled. "You're different in a good way."

"I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment."

"Well, it's meant as a compliment."

"An insult it is then."

"I think your eyeliner might be giving you brain damage."

"Oh yeah?" Cas said incredulously. "I'd like to see you pull off this look."

"I could never pull off the combat boots. But the eyeliner I could handle."

"You think so?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let's find out." Cas grabbed his bag and dug around, producing a thing of eyeliner.

"I don't know how to put it on though," Dean admitted.

"I'll help you."

They ended up in the boy's bathroom, and Cas locked the door because A) he wanted to be alone with Dean, and B) he thought it would be funny if somebody peed their pants because he was putting eyeliner on a nerd like Dean Winchester.

"Close your eyes," He instructed. Dean took off his glasses and obliged, so Cas put eyeliner on him.

"AAAaaaaand, done!"  Dean opened his eyes, blinking and looked at Cas. 

"Well?" He asked. Cas was a little blurry, so Dean put his glasses back on, only to see Cas gaping at him, slightly shocked. "What?" He asked. "Is it bad?"

"N-no," Cas stammered. "Not bad." In fact, if he was being honest, Dean looked hot. Dean smirked.

"Did you just stutter?" He questioned. And there was something about it. Dean Winchester, looking hot as hell wearing black eyeliner and smirking at him. Well, Cas just couldn't take it anymore.

So he grabbed Dean by the collar and kissed him. And Dean didn't pull away.

And as they made out in a boys bathroom, smudging each other's eyeliner, they became a lot more then friends.

They were boyfriends by the end of the week.

Obsessed with each other by the end of the month.

And as four months passed, Dean realized something. But he didn't have the guts to mention for a while, until he and Cas were in study hall, talking instead of working.

"I've been thinking of getting a lip piercing," Cas offered one day. "Like snake bites or something. That'd be cool."

"Please don't." Dean insisted. "There's a shortage of perfect lips in this world. T'would be a pity to damage yours." Cas paused.

"Did you just talk me out of getting a lip piercing by quoting the princess bride and replacing breasts with lips?"

"Yes."

"See this is why we're dating."

"I hate my glasses." Dean proclaimed. "They're always getting in the way, and they're bulky. I hate them."

"I don't." Cas admitted. "I like them. They bring out your eyes."

"But contacts are so much easier,"

"But contacts would make your eyes look different."

"No they wouldn't." 

"Yes they would, and they're expensive. I like your glasses, you should keep them." Dean tilted his head, half smiling at Cas.

"What?" Cas questioned.

"You know, it's April," Dean began.

"So?"

"And we started dating in November."

"Point is...?"

"I read somewhere that if you crush on someone for more then four months, then it's not a crush-you're in love. And even though we've been dating, I've still been seriously crushing on you."  Cas tilted his head, grinning.

"Is this your socially awkward way of telling me that you're in love with me?" Dean fiddled with his hands.

"Yeah." Cas broke into a huge smile.

"You mean it?" 

"Yeah."

"Well, I love you too." Dean blushed, smiling like an idiot. Cas glanced around the library and then got to his feet. "Come on," He urged Dean. 

He led him out of the library, and they snuck into the janitor's closet.

"Why are we in the janitor's closet?" Dean questioned.

"Because you said you loved me, and it's against the rules to do this in the library." Cas then pulled him in and kissed him hard. Dean kissed him back just as fiercely, and the make out session began. 

That janitor's closet marked a lot of firsts for Dean Winchester.

The boys continued dating for the rest of the year, and the relationship only got more intense over the summer. Instead of cheesy dates to the movies on weekends, now it was whole nights spent in the back of Dean's car, parked in some random field.

The boys were ridiculously in love with each other.

"You know what I want?" Cas whispered one night, as he and Dean lay tangled up in the back of Dean's car. "I want to get another tattoo- right here." He tapped the spot over his heart. "And I want it to have your name." Dean smiled.

"If you did that," He offered. "Then I'd get your name too."

"I thought you didn't want a tattoo."

"I don't like the idea of how you get them," Dean explained. "But if you want to get my name written on you for the whole world to see, then I want to do the same." Cas smiled.

"I love you."

"Love you too."

The next day they ended up at a tattoo parlor, and got each other's names on their hearts. Dean freaked out at the sight of the tattoo needle, but Cas managed to get him calmed down enough to get the tattoo.

They both agreed that it would be better if Dean didn't tell his parents that he'd gotten a tattoo.

But it was summer, and one day Dean went to the pool and forgot all about it, nearly giving Mary Winchester a heart attack as she noticed the small, three letter word inked on her son's chest.

Cas.

Cas thought it was the funniest story he'd ever heard when Dean told him.

They kept dating strong as school started up again, and senior year flew by.

And then one day, shortly before graduation, they were lying on Dean's bed, and he found himself tracing the angel feathers on Cas's back, still not knowing their meaning.

"Can I ask you something?" Cas murmured.

"I was just going to say the same thing," Dean grinned.

"You first." Cas insisted.

"...Why did you get the wings tattoo?" He asked.

"...My older brother died when I was little." Cas admitted. "My mother always called us all little angels, but he was the only one that acted like it. I got the wings to remember him, because we all might be little angels, but he's the only one who really has wings."

"I'm sorry," Dean whispered. 

"It's fine. It was a long time ago." 

"Your turn." Dean offered, reminding Cas that he had had a question.

"Right," Cas smirked. "It's probably a little awkward to ask after telling you about my dead brother, but whatever."

"Pretty sure everything in our relationship has been a little awkward at one point or another." They grinned, and Cas sat up to face him.

"Would you wanna be the nerd to my punk?" He asked.

"I'm already the nerd to your punk."

"No, I mean like... for the rest of our lives." Dean smirked.

"Is this your socially awkward way of asking me to marry you?"

"Yeah." Cas admitted. "Will you?"

"Hell yeah." Cas gasped.

"Oh my gosh, the nerd swore!"