#saltnqueue

When they had put their applications in at Sioux Falls High School, Dean and Castiel hadn’t really expected that either one of them would get a position, let alone both. But they had—and now they’re Mr. Winchester, the new Physics teacher, and Mr. Novak, teaching History.

They’d decided not to ride to work together or act like they were dating, since they hadn’t been sure of the policy regarding workplace relationships. Besides, Cas gets up way too early in the morning to go to the gym for work, and Dean loves his boyfriend, but not quite enough to sacrifice the small sleep-ins he gets.

And so, considering they drive to work separately and do their best to act professional at work, their colleagues have no idea that they’re dating. Which… does not have the repercussions that Dean and Castiel had been expecting.

It starts off with small things.

Other teachers find excuses to make themselves busy if they’re talking in a group, sidling away with knowing looks and leaving Dean and Castiel to talk alone. Cas finds the other Arts teachers sending him over to the Science offices with questions or paperwork, and Dean is always the one who comes over to the Arts offices with coffee. Some of the teachers have dubbed Dean ‘Jim,’ while Cas has become ‘Pam’—a reference that Castiel didn’t understand until Dean introduces him to The Office after work one night.

The little things go on for a while, but by that point, there’s no way that Dean and Cas can come clean. Dean is pretty sure that there’s a work betting pool based on when they’re actually going to get together, and telling them that they’ve been dating for the past three years feels like they’re spoiling the fun. And so they keep pretending, turning up the flirting and the bashfulness when they feel like fucking with their colleagues, until it feels like the entire school staff is going mad with the will-they-won’t-they.

And then Castiel’s car breaks down.

It’s been pouring with rain all day, so when Cas shows up at the door to the Science offices, he looks like a drowned rat. Dean can’t remember the last time he saw his boyfriend this grumpy and miserable, but his lips can’t help twitching up at the petulant expression on Castiel’s face.

“Everything okay, Cas?” he asks as he packs up his things. At the desk next to his, he sees Charlie perk up in his peripheral vision. Cas runs a hand through his wet hair and scowls. “My car is refusing to start, and it’s raining too heavily to walk. Do you think you would be able to drive me home, please?”

Beside him, Charlie seems to be almost vibrating out of her seat with barely-bottled excitement at the possibility of her ‘ship’ becoming realized. He can feel her gaze burning into the side of his head, and only just manages to suppress his amusement.

“Sure, Cas, I can do that. You’ll have to remind me where you live again?”

Cas gives him a look that means Dean, I can’t believe you’re really doing this right now. It’s clear that he only just manages to avoid rolling his eyes. “I believe I can do that,” he snarks. “I’ll see you at your car.”

One pissed-off heel turn later, and Cas is gone from view.

Charlie can’t hold it back any longer.

“Dean! This is your chance! Drive him home and ask him out for dinner, for fuck’s sake!”

If only you knew, Charlie, Dean thinks with amusement as he finishes packing up his things. “You wouldn’t happen to have any money riding on me asking Cas out, would you?” he asks, shoving his laptop into his back and swinging it up onto his shoulder.

Charlie’s silence is damning.

“Alright,” he tells her with a laugh, watching as her cheeks turn as red as her hair. “I’ll see you next week, Charlie. You’ll have to wait and see what happens with me ‘n Cas.”

“Bye!” she calls after him, as he leaves their office. “Go win me some money, handmaiden!”

~

Dean finds Cas standing by the Impala, holding an umbrella he must have snagged from the teachers’ room and looking grumpy as ever. “My knight in shining armor,” he grumbles sarcastically as Dean joins him under the umbrella, breathless and a bit damp from his run to the car.

“Sorry, babe,” Dean says with a grin. “I couldn’t resist.”

Despite himself, the corners of Cas’s mouth curve up in a small smile. “It is pretty amusing that they all want us to date so badly. And—don’t look now, but I do believe some of them are watching us through the window.”

Dean snorts, turning a few seconds later as casually as he can to catch a glimpse of Charlie and a few other teachers watching them from the second floor. They must look a sight, both squeezed together beneath the flimsy shelter of the umbrella. “You know they’ve got a betting pool going?” he asks as he turns back to Cas. “Feel like winning Charlie some money?”

Cas grumbles something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like ‘you’re a nuisance,’ then curls his fingers into the front of Dean’s jacket, leans forward, and kisses him. Despite his grumpiness, it’s slow and sweet, and Dean smiles against Cas’s lips.

“There,” Cas mutters as they break apart. “Maybe the office will stop gossiping about us now.”

“Unlikely,” Dean quips, and Cas narrows his eyes, then tugs the umbrella back so that Dean finds himself standing in the rain, just for a second.

“Son of a bitch.” Dean fumbles for his keys, trying to pretend like he hadn’t yelped at the feeling of cold rainwater on his neck, while Cas just chuckles.

But, grumpiness and pranks and office betting pools aside…

Whenever Dean is having a bad day, he goes to Cas.

After so many years together, Cas knows him better than almost anyone—except for Sam, but Sam always tries to make Dean talk about his feelings, so Sam is definitely out of the running.

But Cas always knows just what to do with Dean whenever he’s in a bad mood, or even just bummed out by something. Whether to talk with him about it, or distract him, or just give him the touch and the physical proximity that he needs sometimes.

And today is definitely a touch kinda day.

Dean has been feeling just generally tired and anxious all day, and now it’s dinnertime and the feeling still hasn’t disappeared, and he’s over it. He’s sick of the world, and he’s sick of being stuck in the bunker, and damn it, tonight he just wants to be fuckin’ cuddled.

Thank god Cas is always able to read him.

“Do you want to watch a movie with me after dinner?” Castiel asks quietly as Sam serves them up some casserole. His knee bumps gently into Dean’s beneath the table.

Dean takes a second to weigh up the offer. He’s not sure that he’s a hundred percent up to socialising—he had honestly been considering just withdrawing to their room with some whiskey to read Vonnegut and be depressingly existential for a bit, as fucking pretentious as it sounds. But watching a movie with Cas will be light-hearted and relaxing, and totally the opposite of what he’d planned.

Maybe that’s what he needs right now.

Having made up his mind, he gives Cas a quick, small smile, and nods. “Yeah,” he says, his voice soft. “I think that’d be good. Thanks, Cas.”

Castiel just smiles back, that soft, understanding smile that says, you’re very welcome.

And so after they’ve eaten, once Sam has said goodnight and disappeared off to the library or wherever Sam goes, Dean and Castiel tidy up the dishes together, then make their way through to the den. Cas leads, with an arm curled around Dean’s waist that’s half-guiding and half-supporting and exactly what Dean needs right now. The physical contact, the warmth and familiarity of Cas…

And his wings.

Cas doesn’t bring his wings out into the material plane very often. It’s usually only for special occasions, and honestly, Dean is kinda flattered that Cas loves him enough to bring them out just to cheer him up. It always works, and when Cas sinks down into the couch with ink-dark feathers sprawled everywhere, Dean is quick to follow, He slots himself in against Castiel’s chest and tucks his head against Cas’s shoulder, humming quietly under his breath when the softness of Cas’s wings embraces him.

Somewhere in the background, Dean vaguely registers the sound of the Netflix logo, but he has no idea what Cas has put on, and he really doesn’t care. He’s here with his angel, arms and wings wrapped snugly around him, heartbeat slow and steady beneath his ear. There’s nothing that could ever make him feel better, and nowhere else in the world that he’d rather be.

“Love you, Cas,” he mutters against Castiel’s shoulder, and feels the angel smile against the top of his head.