Castiel meets the Winchesters when he's six years old.

It's his first time visiting his dad in Lawrence since he moved away with Ms. Amelia and he's terrified the whole ride there. It's his first time going anywhere on his own let alone taking a plane and he tries to be very small in his seat near the back so that no one talks to him.

His mom put him on a flight with no stops and tearfully waved him off at the airport but not before running through his list of things to make sure he has for his flight and to tell him to be brave. He carries her words with him even when the plane jerks and when it dips enough to make his stomach feel a little funny.

He falls asleep on the flight, predictably. The lull of the plane pulling him under around two hours and three packs of fruit snacks in. When he opens his eyes again, it's to the sound of people hustling to get their bags and idle chatter from the people near him as they wait to make their way off the plane.

Castiel stretches his arms, finding that he has a slight crook in his neck from his position sleeping, and shuffles out into the aisle.

The man who'd put his suitcase in the overhead bin for him when he got on the plane is nowhere to be found and he knows he'll have to wait for one of the attendants to come to the back to help him get it down. He'd much rather leave the plane with everyone else, afraid of being on the big plane with no one else but the flight attendants around him.

The man in front of him is laughing at something his wife said, eyes crinkled up in the corners and Castiel remembers the way his dad used to laugh before. He remembers the way he'd laugh and throw his head back and hold his stomach like he might lose it all if he didn't. Seeing his parents happy always made Castiel feel the same and he soaks in the phantom memory that the man's gentle smile evokes.

Something about the man runs warm to Castiel, breaking through his shyness a bit and allowing him to say, "Excuse me." The man doesn't turn around, obviously not hearing.

He tries again and tugs on the man's shirt to get his attention. "Hello, my name is Castiel" he starts off with because his mom always taught him to be polite.

The man, turned away from his wife now and giving Castiel a slightly inquisitive look, responds with a smile. "Hey little guy" he says holding out his hand to grasp Castiel's smaller one where he's been holding it out for the last couple of moments.

"I'm not little" Castiel tells him to the man's, and his wife's, amusement. Castiel doesn't see what's so funny though. His mom tells him all the time that he's her big guy. "I'm already six and a half." The man nods his head in acquiescence. "Of course you're not little. My mistake big guy." The endearment makes Castiel wish his mom was there with him.

"Did you need something?" The man asks and Castiel remembers exactly why he'd bothered the man in the first place.

"Yes," he says. "I can't reach my bag up there." He points to the bin above his head.

"Aww, no problem I can get that for you" he tells Castiel. "I'm John by the way" he offers as he lifts his bag out and onto the floor.

John. His mother has a friend named John that lived four houses down and came by every Thursday with a dish and something Castiel knew he wasn't supposed to drink. He names the new stuffed animal his mother buys for him to keep with him at his dad's house John. His mother had just smiled and stuffed it into his backpack so he didn't lose it on the way to the plane. Castiel didn't need it once during the ride for security. With his bag clutched in his tiny fingers, Castiel says thank you, offering up his last pack of fruit snacks since it's the only thing he has to give for his help, but John tells him to keep them for his wait in the terminal.

As they shuffle forward, Castiel notices as the woman turns, a toddler attached to her front, eyes closed and heavily breathing like he's been asleep a while and to her side another little boy who looks to be about his age. He's sure he didn't see them as he waited to get on the plane nor did he hear a peep out of them the entire ride. Granted, he was asleep for a large portion of it, but he hadn't even noticed another child sitting so close to him. It's probably for the best though, he wouldn't have wanted to play with Castiel the same way most kids don't.

Finally, they're able to all leave the plane, everyone heading off into different directions, some heading over to other flights and others stopping to get a meal before getting their rides out of the terminal.

Castiel is happy that his dad is there to pick him up right outside of his gate, waiting with Ms. Amelia with a 'Welcome Castiel' sign written with a forest green sharpie. They're both smiling and happy to see them and Castiel tries not to run to him when he sees him there waiting, but it's a near thing.

They quickly say their hellos and Castiel is ready to head out to the car but before he does he catches sight of brown hair and a set of green eyes staring over at him in the line for Smoothie King. He stares, even though his mom has told him time and again not to, and the boy holds it until he's pulled farther and farther away, concealed by the crowds of the airport.

- Castiel meets the Winchester boys properly when he's in Lawrence for two weeks. James had made a list of things he wanted to do with Castiel his first couple of weeks there and the first was going to the local swimming pool as soon as the overcast went away and stopped threatening showers. They're only there for fifteen minutes before Castiel sees the man, John he remembers, walk through, no toddler in tow but the same boy whose eyes he remembers staring back at him unflinchingly. He doesn't spot Castiel right away but he does eventually and the rest of the day at the pool is an exercise in trying not to seem overeager at finding the boy again. Castiel is pleased at having found the nice man who helped him and when he tells James his father goes over to John to introduce himself.

The two men fall into idle chatter as the boys navigate farther away, gentle horseplay not being something Castiel is used to but he takes to it easily.

"I'm Dean" the boy tells him finally, right before dunking him underwater for a few seconds. Castiel comes back up only sputtering for a few short moments.

"Castiel" he says back and proceeds to splash the largest amount of water he can manage into Dean's face before swimming off.

- Castiel learns, after a month, why his mother was so tearful as she'd said her goodbyes at the airport. He wasn't ever going back home to her.

He'd cried on the phone with her and begged to just let him come home but she wouldn't budge. She'd told him she loved him over and over and told him to never forget it. She sang their made up song amidst Castiel's tears, and eventually James had taken the phone away and said his goodbyes to her as well.

Castiel doesn't understand what's happening but after awhile all of his tears dry up. He doesn't know how to keep on crying, especially when there's nothing he can do, so he grabs his favorite stuffed animal, the one his mom had given him, and curls around James as he strokes his hair into nothingness.

Dean is there when he wakes up, sitting at the other end of the couch, and Castiel can hear voices in the kitchen, both female. He'd forgotten that their parents had set up a play-date for them while at the pool and that it was today, but Castiel can't. He doesn't want to be mean to Dean but he can't muster up the energy to manage being fully alert. He goes back to sleep and hopes that Dean isn't too mad at him when he opens his eyes again.

Surprisingly, Dean does come back for a second time a week later. And after Castiel's mood brightens a bit, not by much but every little bit is something he heard his dad telling Amelia, going outside doesn't seem so bad.

Getting to see the look on Dean's face when he's riding his shiny red bike down the sidewalk makes it seem even less so.

Begrudgingly, Castiel smiles his first smile in what seems like forever.

Eventually Sam joins them and their twosome increases by one. With Sam, the secret little terror by their sides, their quiet neighborhood doesn't know what hit them. They're punished more often than not, but it's all worth it. And when they see Mrs. Moll's face through her window as the sprayer on her sink squirts water all over her when she turns on the tap, the week inside that they know they're going to get is definitely worth it.

- "What?" Castiel asks him one day. They're sitting in an ice cream parlor, Dean eating the strawberry petite cake that he loves so much but hates admitting to, when he notices Cas sitting across from him with traces of ice cream on the side of his mouth. He's noticed Cas before, the way his glasses slide down his nose when he's reading or the shape of his mouth when he's trying not to smile. But this is the first time he's actually noticed him, actually saw him and he can't look away.

"Is there something on my face?" Cas tries to wipe whatever it is that has Dean staring away but he can't, can't ever come close to doing that.

Dean rolls his eyes at Cas' bumbling, drawing snickers from the girls a table over who've been watching him. He doesn't notice.

He reaches over and bats Cas' hand away because he keeps missing the spot. "Here, let me." Dean rubs away the little bit of ice cream and only barely resists the urge the lick his own finger.

He quickly wipes it away on the napkin, throws away his mess and comes back to drag Cas along toward the run-down park down the road.

It's been their favorite place to come since Dean told Cas about when they were ten. They sneak away whenever they can, knowing that they can't ever tell their parents where they're going because they'd freak if they knew that they spent their time in what's become the town's public landfill.

"Push me?" Cas requests. He's already sitting on their swing. The make-shift one they created when they realized that there was no way they could even get near the one set up in the middle of the park. So Dean had made Cas one on a tree just off from the park itself.

Dean smiles at Cas indulgently, fingers sliding over his where they cling to the rope. He'll probably need to change it out soon.

"Something wrong with your legs Novak?" Dean teases but he starts pushing Cas anyway. His head tips back as if he's trying to get as much of this time alone in as he can before they have to head back.

"Shut up and push me Winchester," he shoots back.

As Cas' eyes fall closed, Dean takes in the curve of his lashes on his cheeks and for one horrifying moment he thinks he won't be able to contain himself and that he'll stop the swing and kiss Cas. But somehow he restrains. His body won't allow him that one fuck up and he stays rooted to the spot even though every single inch of him is screaming to do it already.

"Remember the day we first met?" Cas asks him, a slight wistful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He doesn't wait for Dean to respond.

"I had just come down to Lawrence to visit my dad for the first time, or what I thought was a visit and I was terrified." Cas says this as he begins to slow himself down, legs no longer pumping slightly to gain just a little more momentum.

He goes on after a few moments, his voice barely above a whisper. The thumb of his right hand peeks out to brush along Dean's. "The moment that I got onto the plane by myself I missed my mom but I remembered her telling me to be brave and so I tried to be." It's so easy to hear the melancholy creep into Cas' voice when he talks about his mom. He wishes that his friend could see her again and that for reasons still unknown to him she hadn't left him behind.

Dean still smiles though because he can imagine little Cas in that ridiculous sweater he refused to take off for months after he came to Lawrence.

"Yeah, yeah I've heard the story from my dad a million times Cas. You were so adorable and polite and asked for him to get your bag down yada yada" Dean says trying to lighten the mood a bit. Cas leans back and punches him in the shoulder as hard as he can with the awkward angle.

"Anyway" Cas says pointedly. "So your dad helps me get my bag down because I'm scared that I'll be stuck on the plane by myself and then there you are."

"And I remember, when you looked at me for the first time" Cas whispers. From here Dean can see the way his throat is working , afraid that he shouldn't say what he's about to and trying to choke down the words.

"Back when I was with my mom, I didn't think anyone cared enough to be my friend. It always seemed like whenever I tried to play with them there was some reason they'd give about why I couldn't."

"Cas" is all Dean can get out because even though he knows his friend is quirky to say the least, he can't imagine anyone, not ten years ago, not even one year ago treating Cas like he isn't worth their time.

"It's ok Dean" Cas assures him. "I'm over it now, mostly. But when I saw you in that airport terminal I thought that you'd be just like them and that you wouldn't want to be my friend."

Dean's hand falls to his shoulder. "Well you were wrong. Obviously."

"No shit" Cas shoots back, sarcasm coloring his tone. "But it wasn't just that I was wrong. When you looked at me, it felt like you were seeing me when all of the other kids wouldn't. Like you were seeing me and you didn't mind what you saw."

Of course he didn't mind. The memory is hazy, mostly gone except for the fact that Dean remembers what his dad tells him of when they met Castiel for the first time.

But he can't imagine a time when he'd ever have looked at Cas like he wasn't someone important.

When Dean leans forward to kiss Castiel for the first time it's with the purpose of showing Castiel just how much he sees and how much he likes what he sees.

They break away and Castiel looks at him like maybe he noticed Dean all those years ago but that this is the first time he's ever truly seen him.

- There are more graceful ways to lose your virginity. Candles, maybe. A bed, preferably. But Cas isn't expecting it to be in Dean's Uncle Bobby's junkyard. The request to go along with the Winchesters on their family visit wasn't met with any objections. Mostly because Castiel had become a part of the family years ago and because James and Amelia trusted them to take care of their boy.

Dean's under the hood of what's looking to be scrap metal soon when Castiel walks out. The sun's almost setting and Dean skipped dinner and hasn't even come in for a snack.

He pushes a bag of chips towards Dean who hasn't even noticed him come up. "Eat" he orders and Dean almost bumps his head on the hood he's so startled. "I'm not going back to Lawrence less a boyfriend because he can't be bother to eat something every now and then."

"Jesus Cas don't" he catches his breath. "Don't do that. I could've chopped off a finger or something," he huffs, but he's not mad. He takes the proffered chips and starts munching away after dropping the hood of the car and heading inside.

Castiel stops him with a hand to his wrist and Dean can see that he's nervous. He hasn't bitten his nails in years. He seems to think for a moment before grabbing the bag on his back and twisting the straps in his hands like they're the neck of someone who just broke his telescope.

Without words, he grabs hold of Dean's hand, salty with chips and a little grease and takes him over to an obstructed part of the yard where there's a patch of grass that still grows.

All Dean can do is watch. There's a blanket that Cas takes out first and ok, but no they're not sleeping out here. But his mind jumps on board and gets the picture when the rest of the contents of the bag are revealed. His mind is glued to the cherry flavored lube bottle for so long that he doesn't notice Castiel taking off his pants, or when he slips his shirt over his head. But when he does look up, Dean sees him standing there with a nervous smile and white tube socks. What else is he supposed to do but grab him and kiss him breathless?

So he does.

- There are some things that Dean never knew about Castiel. Parts of him that were always hidden until the moment he slid down to his knees and told Dean to hold still, he's seen this before and he can make it good.

Since then Dean has fucked Cas every chance he's gotten. He's found the buttons Cas likes pressed, the ones he doesn't, and the ones he's willing to negotiate. More often than not though Cas will let Dean do whatever it is he likes.

Tonight is special. Tonight means letting Dean do something he's never allowed him to do before.

"Alright baby lay on your back" Dean tells him and Cas takes the order easily. He's already pliant and loose and Dean's fucked him for so long that he isn't sure that Cas' legs will even be able to hold up for very long. So Dean takes the initiative, because he likes to be proactive, and grabs hold of Cas' legs for him before the weariness in his bones grabs hold.

Cas is still so lithe and lean, his body easily bending into almost any position Dean tries to put him into. This time is no different but Dean is sure that he's going to break Cas with how hard he's pushing on his legs, how wide he's trying to make them go.

Dean lets go of one of Cas' legs to tentatively touch his hole and it's squeezes instinctively, come oozing out as it flutters around the barely there touch of his thumb. It's trying to shy away and hide, but Dean is having none of that.

"Uh uh, open up for me" he admonishes. "Gotta let me get a good look at you."

Cas just lies there and allows him to pump his thumb in and out to his heart's content, adding a second finger when Cas loosens up around him.

"Are you gonna take my cock again?" he asks because his hole is still slick with lube and come and Dean knows how much Cas can take before enough is enough. He just grunts and Dean doesn't really know if that's an affirmative grunt or a don't put your cock in me again grunt. Either way, Cas isn't leaving the bed. Dean's not even close to being done with him.

He's never done this before and finding the right angle with Cas as worn out as he already is is proving to be a little difficult. With him like this he won't be able to get to where he wants to be.

He has an idea though and swivels Cas around the side of the bed. He grabs the pillow on his side of the bed, lifting Cas' legs gently to position it underneath.

"Relax, ok?" Dean says once Cas' ass is scooted off the edge of the bed and he's giving it his all to keep his legs bent for Dean. Cas does relax though. His legs become even more like jello than they already are, an almost unnoticeable shaking overcoming them as Cas struggles to keep them up.

Dean gives Cas' hole a few more thrusts before thinking here goes nothing and going in. It's at once everything and nothing like Dean expected it to be. He gives a few experimental licks, tasting his own come and lube on his tongue and he knew that it'd be there. He's tasted his own come before, licked it off Cas' ass after he'd come all over it, but it's nothing like how it tastes hiding away in the slicked up walls of his asshole. It's addictive the way Cas tastes and Dean spreads him wider just to get more of it on his tongue. It's perfect. Made even more so by the tortured noises Cas is making above him and he can't tell if he's wanting him to stop because he's so oversensitive but he doesn't say the words. He just keeps writhing on Dean's tongue and pitching his ass forward ever so slightly to plant Dean's face firmer where he wants it to be.

Dean takes the hint, lies his tongue flat on that perfect little hole and licks a long stripe up like he's trying to activate all of his taste buds, wanting to taste all of Cas in one go.

Cas' hips stutter and Dean wonders if he's going to come again, what it would feel like to feel his hole contracting on his tongue as he drains himself dry.

Dean's face is a mess by now, he's alternating between licking and placing his mouth around Cas and sucking like he needs it all out. Like he needs it fresh and shiny and new so that he can do it again, can fuck him raw again, fuck him to tears one more time.

He grabs hold of Cas' legs and he's so lost in it, has been lost truth be told but he can't imagine coming up not yet. He needs it too bad.

Dean, ahh ahh Dean Cas keeps saying over and over like he can't find the words for what he wants, or that he knows but can't get them out, the only words willing to make an appearance are just his name on repeat.

But Dean knows Cas, he knows what his boy needs and he can only oblige in giving it to him.

He's learned that more than anything Cas likes it when he comes inside. He likes it so much that he'll clamp his legs shut trying to hold it all in, squeezing so tight, so, so tight just so that Dean can load him up another time and he'll be so full.

Right now though, Dean doesn't know how to stop. He can't stop searching out more of that musky, earthy scent that he knows is only found where no one else can go. He knows it'd never be the same, never feel the same, taste the same or as good as it does now with anyone else and it's as if he needs to take as much as he can to keep for times when he can't get it right away.

He runs his tongue along Cas' hole, eyes closed blissfully before pointing his tongue to fuck Cas with it. It's not enough if the whining above him is anything to go by. He takes one more slurp and he's pretty sure Cas is clean or almost cleaned of his come before soothing the ache that comes back no matter how many times Dean feeds him his come.

"Don't worry, gonna fuck you" Dean tells Cas. He breaks his mouth away reluctantly and positions himself to fuck into him in one long, smooth stroke. Cas' legs fall then. They've obviously checked out and are done with the rest of this night but Cas is still on board.

His eyes are open now, a little glassy but Dean can still see the heat lingering there.

"Gonna give it to me Dean" he slurs but it's not a question, not an order, just a statement of fact.

Dean doesn't respond, because what could he say beyond fuck yes.

Neither of them were going to last very long like this. They're too strung out, and it only takes a handful of thrusts before Cas is spurting out short, thin streams of come onto his stomach. Dean follows soon after and it's I love you, I love you, fuck that spills from his lips when he fucks in hard on the last one.

He comes down and Cas is looking up at him like he just got given the world and maybe a little of the moon as well.

"Hey" Cas says eloquently.

"Hey back" he responds before attempting to pull out.

"No, no wait." Cas clamps his legs around Dean's waist to keep him in. "Not yet." He grinds his hips and Dean's cock gives a valiant, yet feeble effort at getting hard again.

"Come on Cas" Dean tells him as he pries his legs open.

"Ok, fine let me just-" He scoots back onto the bed a bit and Dean gets the picture. He doesn't want the come to start running out when Dean pulls out so he's trying to get leverage to lift up his lower half.

But Dean, ever the helpful boyfriend helps lift his legs up for him, folding him in half for a second time that night. He leans down, because he can't help it, and gets one last lingering lick in before digging around in his bedside drawer.

"It's the second half of the anniversary surprise" he says as he starts to work the plug into Cas' ass and the shock on Cas' face is worth every fucking penny the thing cost. If he still had it in him he'd jerk off again at just the sight of Cas' hole all stretched around the plug and sloshing around his come inside.

After it's nice and snug he lowers Cas' legs, rubbing away the pain that he knows has to be there at this point before pulling the covers up around him.

It doesn't take long before Cas is drifting off but he's awake enough to manage to rub along his rim where the plug is opening him up, no doubt relishing in the burn of it and excited about how open and ready he'll be in the morning.

Dean has at least ten more ideas about what he wants to do to Cas in the morning. This is just the beginning.