Destiel One-Shots

The CD (College!AU)

The CD was something Dean had been planning for months.

He'd had it on his desk in a little envelope, ready for the four songs he had so carefully picked out. One for each year he'd known Cas.

He met him a few weeks into freshman year in English, Cas the shy kid who focused too much on books and Dean the carefree slacker who really was only there because he wouldn't let his little brother graduate college before he did. Their teacher had paired them up in the hopes that Cas would be able to "tame" Dean a bit, but all that resulted in was him teaching Cas that there was much more to college life than studies. They'd turned in one hell of a short story, however; their common love of science fiction was more than enough to inspire them. So Dean figured it was a win-win.

They'd grown closer after that project. Cas would go to Dean's baseball games and he'd support him in Debate. They'd study together; if they were in Dean's room it would end in the both of them sprawled over the couch marathoning Star Trek but in Cas' they'd manage to get a bit of work done.

Cas figured if they roomed together it'd be a pretty even balance, so that's what had happened junior and senior year. If Dean had been indifferent about going to school the first two years, he was downright ecstatic about the last two. Sam had laughed at him, joking that his nerdiness had finally rubbed off onto his older brother. (That had earned him a punch on the arm.) But truthfully, he couldn't wait to spend even more time with Cas. He didn't care that people thought they were an odd mix, in his opinion they balanced each other out pretty awesomely.

That didn't mean they didn't fight or generally bother each other, however. Castiel would often complain about how loud Dean's music was when he was trying to study for an important test, and Dean griped about how the programs Cas was assigned to watch were always on at the same time as his favorite shows. Dean would bring back girls when Cas had people over to work on group assignments. Cas would replace Dean's junk food with healthy stuff, both because he ate way too much of it and he would never share. But no matter how much they disagreed, it would always end in one of them messing up a word or saying the wrong thing, which led them to collapse in laughter and forget why they were even arguing in the first place.

It was during those moments when Dean realized he was in love with Cas. From the stupid way his glasses were always crooked to the way his incredibly blue eyes lit up when he was talking about something he'd learned in Ancient History to when he was totally clueless about some of Dean's references to the way he wouldn't let anyone talk badly about Dean or his brother to his old lady music taste to the fantastic way his hair ruffled in the morning, it was what made Cas truly Cas, and dammit, Dean loved it all.

But he had no idea how the hell he was supposed to tell him that.

The idea struck him when he was watching some old movie with Cas, where the guy made the girl a mix tape to confess his undying love. He figured that if it worked for him then it was bound to work for Dean. And it spared him the embarrassment of telling him to his face. He didn't care how cheesy it seemed. Considering how Cas reacted to those soppy, cliché scenes, best case scenario he'd be overjoyed. Worst case scenario he'd ask for a room change and never talk to Dean again.

Dean didn't like worst case scenarios.

It took a few weeks for him to work up the courage to actually burn the disc; he wanted to make sure that the songs he'd chosen would give the best version of the message he was trying to send. He'd gone around to a few of his friends and asked for ideas (he'd failed to mention who they were for, but he had a nagging suspicion that at least some of them knew), and had listened to each song in its entirety; no matter how much some of them sucked he had to listen to every word. Finally he had narrowed them down to four, the ones he felt described how he felt the best. Dean still couldn't believe how cheesy it seemed, but he'd talked to Charlie, the only person he had entrusted with the full details, and she thought it was a fantastic idea. However, she didn't as much say that as squeal and grin. He took that as a good sign. And honestly, he'd seen guys do much lamer things.