InsaneJournal

FIC: Screw Convenience (Dean/Castiel, AU)
Title: Screw Convenience
Author: KateKintail
Rating: R
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters or JKR’s world. This is just for fun!
Word Count: 699
Summary: Quick piece where Dean analyzes the mechanics of having a relationship with Castiel.
Notes: Written in the Supernatural Hogwarts AU verse.

Whenever Dean Winchester thought hard about it, which admittedly was not often, he always seemed to reach the conclusion that it would be easier dating within his own house.

At mealtimes, Castiel sat over at the Hufflepuff table, chatting and eating with his friends. The fact that Hufflepuffs had a reputation to be hands-on didn’t help when he watched others give Cas hugs or pat him on the back or snuggle right up to his side to tell him a joke or a secret. It made Dean, over at the Gyffindor table, tense up or spill his pumpkin juice. It was all he could do to keep from rushing over, shoving the others aside, and taking his boyfriend in his arms, which would have been monumentally stupid but immensely satisfying. As it was, he usually ended up cornering Cas outside the Great Hall, pulling his angelic boy aside and snogging him senseless in a dark nook until they were both almost late for whatever classes they had next.

At Quidditch matches, Cas stood in the Hufflepuff stands on the opposite end of the pitch from where Dean usually was. It was good to know his boyfriend was there, watching, caring. But it was little comfort when Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff and Cas couldn’t even root for Dean as Dean played his heart out. He knew Sammy, over in Ravenclaw, didn’t give a damn about house loyalty and cheered for him anyway, but Cas liked to do things by the book; he liked to follow the rules, the norms. Of course, he wasn’t objecting when Dean snuck him into the locker room after hours and they snogged in the shower, perspiration from the game giving way to pleasurable release.

At night, when the study hall and library closed and the professors ushered them back to their rooms at curfew, Cas obediently went off toward the kitchens where the Hufflepuff common room was located, leaving Dean to head up to his dormitory room in Gryffindor tower. They might meet up for a rendezvous in a broom cupboard or to stargaze and share a blanket up on the astronomy tower. They might even steal off toward the forest with a blanket, where Dean would keep tight hold of his wand through the whole thing, to protect Cas if something awful should come at them in the dark, knowing Cas could take care of himself just fine. But there was no way they could share a bed at night. There was no lying there, spooning, holding each other in peaceful silence for hours on end.

Their way was always about rushing and sneaking and hiding. Their way was about stealing moments and fighting for time together. Dean wondered if the fight was one of the reasons they were so strong and still together, though. If it had been as easy as crawling into the next bed, he might take it for granted. But this way he cherished the touch of his boy’s hand gripping his shoulder as he plunged inside and Cas held Dean up against a wall. He felt a giddy excitement whenever he turned a corner and Castiel was somehow standing right there, ready with a kiss and a stroke and a nuzzle. He felt honored when Cas lingered for a few minutes more after a tryst, not talking—because he never talked unless there was something to say—just holding onto Dean to let him know he was there and wanted to be there more than anything.

Whenever Dean thought hard about it, he imagined what their relationship would be like if he had been sorted into Hufflepuff or if the sorting hat had told Castiel he was a Gryffindor. Because Dean knew he could be loyal and fair and accepting just fine. And Cas was sure as Hell brave when he wanted to be. But he couldn’t really imagine not being a Gryffindor and couldn’t think of Cas as anything but a Hufflepuff. And if that wasn’t the case, then maybe they wouldn’t be the people they were now. They’d be shells with something different inside. And, deep down, Dean didn’t want anything different. He didn’t want anyone else.