O.o

The following morning Cas stirred in his sleep to a large hand wrapping around his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open to a bleary figure looming over him. He stumbled for his glasses dangling off the edge of his dresser and put them on only to be confronted by a shirtless Sam. He sat up straighter, digging his heels into the back of his sheets. It was bad enough with morning wood; add Sam Winchester's naked chest and he wouldn't have the strength to move.

"Whoa there, don't get an anxiety attack. We haven't even gotten out of the house yet."

Cas rubbed his eyes underneath his frames and blinked a few times. "Where are we going?"

"C'mon, Cas, it's your first day off in centuries and you're telling me you haven't thought about what you're going to do with it?" Sam sat perpendicular to him, letting his hands fall in his lap. Cas tried not to focus on how he was rubbing in-between his thighs. "We could go to the movies, walk around town; go to the beach. We could even dine like kings at some outrageously expensive restaurant if you wanted. The world is our oyster."

"If the world was my oyster it would have let me sleep past noon."

"I said the world was our oyster, Cas," the taller man replied, tossing a stray pillow at him. "Besides, when was the last time you did something for yourself?"

I do not want to rejoin on that. "You mentioned food?"

Sam's lips perked up into a smile, revealing all of his teeth. "That's my boy!" he exclaimed, patting his leg affectionately before hopping off of the bed. Cas fumbled around for something more decent than a pair of boxers and a grey t-shirt and prepared for a day out on the town.

O.o

"What about this place?" Cas tossed his head above him to a big red Aéropostale sign. Prior to approaching the double-pane store ornamented with summer swimwear, the two traipsed around town, lugging around bags of clothes, jewelry, and whatever the hell else Sam could afford with his dad's credit card. (Law was the family business.) Lo and behold, the only bag that wasn't tossed carelessly over his broad shoulders was one branded with the Aéropostale emblem. The remarkably shorter man couldn't be too sure if Sam's intentions were pure in this circumstance. Two incredibly virile men stood on either side of the entrance in swim trunks that could easily be mistaken for lingerie.

"I-I don't know," he stammered, glancing from Sam to each men. Sam knew that Cas was gay but never questioned or pushed him into anything that he didn't want to do, but for one reason or another, it was obvious the younger Winchester was feeling more audacious today.

Sam was smiling so hard Cas thought that his dimples would suck him into another dimension. "Come on, Cas, they won't bite."

"I don't know about that, honey," one of the models drawled to Cas. He licked his lips delectably. "You could just end up getting me fired."

Castiel's face turned a profuse scarlet. Sam stifled a deep chuckle and pushed Cas's jello legs into the store. The younger man's head was still dizzy from the unlikely confrontation with the attractive specimen outside. He hadn't even noticed that Sam had him in front of the swimwear rack, holding him firmly in place so that he didn't trip over ecstasy.

"Have fun," he said, patting him on the shoulder and trekking off in the opposite direction.

"Wait, where are you going?" he managed through clenched teeth.

Sam turned around, laughing at the stoic man. "I'm going to board the U.S.S. Enterprise. I'm going to do some shopping, Cas. But uh, check in with me when you find the right swimsuit."

"Sam it's November." And more importantly, the question that I should be asking is why you want to look at me half naked in the first place?

"Thanks for the reminder. I have to pick up a birthday present for Dean. You think he'll dig Batman underwear?"

Cas threw his head back incredulously, "Definitely not."

"Sweet," Sam said, tossing him a wink before meandering off into the many isles of clothes, leaving Cas to stand awkwardly amid twenty different types of leisurewear. Something was definitely up with Sam. He wasn't usually this giddy…unless he'd been offered a full-time position somewhere; somewhere far from Stanford city lines. That would explain the shopping, the excessive smiling, the eagerness to get out of the dorm… he's preparing to say goodbye. Cas's stomach did a somersault. The mere thought of the Winchester leaving him behind for some big city offer put a wrench in his heart. He wanted Sam to be happy—really, more than anything after what happened to his mom and how hard he's worked to build a life of his own without relying too heavily on daddy's money—but he always imagined that they were going to be best friends forever. Potentially more, but that notion slipped through the cracks a few weeks ago.

He pushed his self-centered thoughts behind him and eventually settled for a swimsuit on the lowest rack. Like his eyes, a deep sapphire that touched down just barely enough to cover his upper thighs. Sam obviously promoted the choice, throwing an enthusiastic thumb up and turned away before Cas could see the obvious red coating his cheeks. Luckily, the freshman was just as discomfited and quickly changed into his prior clothes to check out the items (Batman undies included).

After a few minutes of silent walking, the taller man turned to Cas, concern clouding his hard features. "Cas, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm peachy. Why?"

Sam shrugged, switching one ginormous bag in his other less occupied hand. "I don't know. You just seem distracted."

"Of course I'm distracted; there are a lot of stores to look at," Cas said flatly.

"That's not what I mean."

Cas scoffed indignantly. "Look, I appreciate you taking me out today, but it's not going to make me feel better. In fact, it only makes me feel worse that you're spending all of this money on some guy that you'll never bother seeing again."

"Cas, I—" He looked pained. He physically looked like he got punched in the face. Before Sam could conjure a proper response, a hand was tugging him hard in the opposite direction. "Dean? What the hell are you—?" The older brother cut him off, pressing him even harder against a nearby wall out of vision from the crowd, cupping his hand over his mouth.

He glanced around him before uttering anything. "Look, I hate to do this but my ass is on the line for you right now."

"Why are you whispering?" Sam's words degenerated on his fingers.

Dean let go and spoke a little softer when he noted passing bystanders behind him. "Benny's coming."

"What?" the sophomore hissed heatedly. "How the hell did he find us?"

"I hate to break it to you, Sammy, but we don't have time to ponder the anonymities of the universe. I don't know how he finds this stuff out."

Sam's mouth dropped. "Wait—you didn't—?"

"What? No!" Dean exclaimed quietly, "You don't think I want you to live a long gay life with hipster central over there?"

"Alright, alright," Sam said. "What are we supposed to do?"

Dean shook his head, biting on his lower lip anxiously. "I don't know, he could be here any—" The senior was cut off by an ear-shattering howl and a loud thud on the pavement. Sam nearly hit the ground running, bags and all, trampling over the narrow cracks in the cement. Sure enough, Benny was standing there, looming over an abdomen-clutching Cas like the Hoover Tower. He had a big, sloppy grin plastered on his face. Cas's was already flushed of its color, minus a big rubicund splotch just above his chin.

"C'mon, Benny, it doesn't have to be like this, man," Dean said, stepping in front of a startled Sam. "He's just a kid."

Benny exploded into a fit of laughter. He arranged the straps of his suspenders back in place. "Yeah, he's a faggot kid, alright."

Sam was stepping in front of Benny now, pushing him farther off of the pavement with each sentence. Dean was already behind his brother, prepared to take the fall. "Now you listen to me, you redneck son of a bitch. You and your backwoods friends will not come anywhere near my best friend. If I so much as see your face within a square mile, I will beat you with an inch of your life and then some. You hear?"

Dean placed a cautionary hand over his brother's shoulder. Benny was already stumbling into the streets in terror, causing quite a commotion with a couple of inquisitive onlookers. Obviously he wasn't expecting his best friend's rhinoceros brother to be stampeding around town when he found Cas.

"Y-yeah, I-I'm just gonna—" Before he could finish his weak sentence, he stumbled over a rock and landed on his backside into the black gravel. He picked himself up diffidently and scrambled for the opposite end of street, out of sight.

Dean was already helping Cas to his feet, one arm wrapped around his waist. Sam took his other side, careful not to brush his arm across his throbbing cheek when he slipped it around his shoulders. Cas sank into the two men's weight, almost going completely boneless had he not had the support of the brothers. Cas may have been strong in the head, but his body was about as frail as a toothpick when he was beaten down.

"Some friends you have," he muttered to Dean, who just wrote it off along with the events from five seconds ago. On another hand, Cas couldn't be too harsh on him. Dean wasn't the one who gave him the weekly bruises on face and he did stand up for him, both physically and literally.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked tentively, once Cas found stability. Sam put his hand lightly around his waist to balance him just in case and brushed his thumb across the abrasion on his face.

"I've had worse," was all he said. Sam breathed a sigh of relief and eyed him from sapphire to sapphire, to his lips, and back.

Dean coughed vigorously, causing the people around him to scatter in different directions and the two men to break from their gazes on one another. "So, uh, are you two still on for dinner tonight?" he said, swinging his head to the establishment in front of them. Sam shot him a heated look. The older brother tried correcting his sentence before realizing that he had already screwed things up indefinitely.

"Dinner?" Cas shot his head to the place. "We had reservations?"

Sam mouthed uncouth words to his sibling. Dean shrugged and threw his hands up. "Well, we did. It was going to be a surprise."

"What was?"

Sam shifted nervously, retracting his hand from Cas's face. "I was, uh—I was going to ask you out on a date like a proper gentleman but I kinda got nervous."Cas's lips parted slightly, but he didn't utter a word. He just stood there like a stiff, eyes fixed on the ground beneath him. "Uh, Cas, I encourage you to say something before I puke here."

"Sorry," the shorter man said, shaking his head to dispel his musings. "It's just—I thought that you were dragging me around town to make up for lost time. I thought you were leaving Stanford for a job offer. You know, out with the old in with the new?"

Sam's eyes widened with the same compassion that carved its way into the no-major boy's heart. From day one the sophomore was a candid guy and Cas could tell that it deeply pained him that he sent him a false elucidation when all he was trying to do was return him with the same unrequited compassion and possibly, if the date went well, a small gesture to show him how compassionate he truly was.

"Cas…" He said is name like he had been the one punched in the gut. "Even if I did get a really awesome offer, I would tell you. But don't think for a second that I would leave you." He reached for his hand hanging nimbly at his side and cupped his larger one around. "We've built a life together here. I wouldn't trade it for some corporate office all the way out in bumfuck Texas. I need you, and I—" He faltered on the next words. Cas helped him by lifting up to press his lips to his. Sam leaned into the embrace, interlacing his fingers with Cas's and slipping his other hand into his dark brown ringlets.

He pulled back when he realized that his brother was staring at them the entire time with strange curiosity flecked in his emerald eyes. Sam narrowed his own pensive eyes and Dean got the message, clearing his throat in attempt to alleviate the awkward tension.

"I've gotta go—over there," he said, galloping in the direction from whence his friend exited from. Sam would have laughed had he not been preoccupied with a mouth desperate to be kissed.

"You know, I'd love to see you in those swim shorts again," the taller man said against his lips. "I—uh, I actually bought a Superman speedo for myself, if you wanted to see it."

And for once in his life, Cas didn't want to be proved wrong.