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Dean gripped his Mommy’s hand tightly, just like she always taught him to do when they were walking. He always tried to be good for Mommy, especially since Sammy was such a handful. He loved his baby brother, obviously, but he didn’t like seeing Mommy worn out and tired. She didn’t even play with him anymore, Daddy was too scary to play with, and Dean got yelled at when he tried to play with Sammy because he was ‘too little’. Dean pouted a little as he walked down the street with Mommy. He began to drag his feet along the sidewalk, but perked up as he noticed Mommy had taken the turning to the playpark. Dean loved the playpark, he loved the slide, and the monkey bars, and he especially loved playing with the other kids. Gripping his mother’s hand tighter, he began to skip as they made their way down the street, giggling the way four year olds often do. Once they reached the wooden gates of the familiar playpark, Dean let go of the hand and ran forwards across the bark chippings, filled with excitement to see all his friends.
“Cas? Cas did you come today? It Dean! Mommy took me to here again!” Dean spoke as he rushed over to the slide, ignoring her laugh and shake of her head, as she sat on the bench with other Mommies, cradling Sam in her lap. Dean dodged around the other kids until he spotted his best friend, standing alone in the chaos. Castiel was about three, at least that’s what Dean thought, Cas had never told him his age, despite Dean holding up four chubby fingers proudly upon their meeting. Dean grinned at his friend’s messy hair, which had clearly been attempted to be slicked back, and obviously by the state of it his Mommy had failed to do so. Dean ran over as quickly as his little legs could carry him, and stopped mere inches from Castiels face.
“Hi Cas! Missed you! I didn’t see you in so long!” exclaimed Dean, stumbling over a few words in his haste to speak to his best friend. “Hello Dean.” Castiel smiled at Dean, and Dean giggled at the swirly feeling in his tummy. Castiel spoke like the grown-ups, and it made Dean laugh quite a lot. “I missed you too Dean, it’s a pleasure to see you again, and as happy as you are.” Castiel looked at Dean, staring into his eyes, causing Dean to squirm as a blush crept onto his cheeks, highlighting the smattering of freckles across his face.
Dean looked at his feet, then back up at Castiel, grinning a little. “You wanna play pretend house?” Dean asked shyly, most boys didn’t play pretend house, leaning towards pirates and adventures, but it was Deans favourite game. Dean looked hopefully into Castiels eyes, willing the other boy to say yes. To Deans relief, the answer was, “I’d love to play any game with you Dean.”
Dean fought back the blush creeping back up his cheeks and failed miserably as he held his hand out to Cas, “Normally there’s a mommy and a daddy, but since we’re both boys we can both be daddies.” Dean spoke solemnly, as pretend house was a very important game, in his eyes. “I could ask Mommy if we could use Sammy for our baby but I don’t think she’d let me.” Deans lower lip wobbled slightly as Cas stared out his outstretched hand and didn’t take it. “Cas you gotta t-take my hand to play the g-game.” Dean sniffed as he spoke, against the tears threatening to slip out his eyes at the blatant rejection of his friend.
Castiel reached his hand out slowly and cautiously took Deans hand in his, squeezing it lightly, as he spoke “I like this game.” Dean grinned at the cool hand in his clammy one, and gripped it tightly as he began half running half galloping around the slide, towards the sand pit. Castiels small smile as he held onto Deans hand made Deans tummy do the swirly thing again, and he stopped abruptly.
He stood closely to Cas and pressed their noses together, “in house mommies and daddies kiss each other, and so daddies and daddies will kiss too which means you gotta kiss me Cas. It’s part of the game.” Dean looked hopefully into his best friend’s eyes, as he started sucking on the end of his thumb in fear that Castiel wouldn’t want to play. He watched Castiels mouth turn up in a smile, as he took deans thumb out his mouth and held onto his hand as he leaned in and pressed their closed lips together for a short second. Dean pulled back and scrunched his nose, “that was weird, why do grown-ups kiss?” Dean asked through his shy giggles. Castiel shrugged his shoulders, smiling slightly at what had just taken place. Suddenly, a voice yelling cut through their moment.
“Dean? Dean honey, daddy says it time to go home we gotta go now!” Dean sighed at his mommy’s voice as she came around the corner to see him and Cas. “mommies are so mean! Is your mommy mean?” Dean asked Cas, to which he got a frown “I haven’t seen my mommy in quite a long time.” Dean frowned, “Why not? Has she gone to get ice creams? Sometimes my mommy gets ice creams and goes for aaaaggeeesss but she always comes back!”
At this point Mary had reached her son, so Dean hugged Cas tightly, then ran over to his mommy and gripped her hand tightly as she shifted Sammy on her hip. “Bye Cas!” Dean yelled out happily as he left his best friend standing alone next to the slide.
As they walked out of the playpark Dean heard his mommy mutter to herself, “Imaginary friends are normal, Mary don’t let it bother you.” Dean frowned, and craned his neck back to see Castiel wandering across the length of the playpark and onto the grassy part with the stones for the dead people. Dean frowned, because his mommy didn’t let him go on that part. She didn’t want him going where the dead people sleep. Dean watched his sit cross-legged gently in front of one of the little stones, and lean his head against it. Dean yelped, worried that Cas might get in trouble, and ran over to where he sat. He heard his mommy yell his name but he had to make sure Castiel didn’t get in any trouble.
He reached his friend and tapped him on the shoulder, frowning as his fingers sank through his friend and swiped back out again. “Cas I can’t touch you. My hand won’t let me?” Dean asked in a slightly panicked voice, as his friend reached up a small hand to point at the slab of stone sitting in front of them. Dean concentrated hard, until he saw the c, a, and s on the stone, along with a whole bunch of letters after it. “Cas? Is this yours? Why is your name here? This is for the dead people to sleep silly, that’s not you!” Dean babbled in his childlike tone. Castiel simply stood, and pressed a kiss to Dean’s chubby cheek, “you’re my best friend Dean. I’m happy for our friendship, for you, and forever, I will always be here.”
Dean smiled to Cas happily, not really understanding their situation, "you're my best friend too!". Until Mary finally walked up and yanked him forwards, back home, away from Cas.