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Mary Winchester was startled by the phone ringing in the kitchen. She closed her book with a huff. It was just getting to the good part too. The charming anti-heroine was about to make her big character-defining choice: kill the man who murdered her parents, or let him go and save her lover from certain death.
She hopped out of her chair and caught the phone just as it was about to go to voicemail. She had no idea who would be calling at 11am, forgetting to look at the caller id before pressing ‘talk.’
“Hello?”
“Mary Winchester?”
“Yes, may I ask who is calling?”
“Hello Mrs. Winchester, this is Lawrence Elementary. Your son Dean is in the office and the principal requests that you come in.”
Panic clawed at Mary’s chest. “What happened? Is he hurt? I told them those monkey bars were inappropriate for the kindergarteners to play on. I swear—”
“Oh, no, nothing like that. Dean is just fine, Mrs. Winchester. He just had a… well, an ‘altercation’ I suppose, with another student.”
“An altercation? Dean Winchester was fighting with another student?” Mary asked skeptically. She wouldn’t believe it. Dean was without a doubt the sweetest little boy in the world. She may be slightly biased, but she’d never met a more thoughtful and caring five year old in her entire life.
“Not exactly…”
“Well then what happened?”
“The principal would prefer to discuss the situation in person, if that’s alright.”
“Alright. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Mary called over her neighbor Missouri to watch baby Sam before throwing on a pair of shoes and her heaviest coat, trying not to think about why her son was called to the principal’s office. She comforted herself with the knowledge that at least he wasn’t hurt as she made the short drive to the school. Snow was thick on the ground, but the roads were blessedly clear. She thought about calling John, but figured she’d hold off until she knew more about the situation.
When she walked into the office, she was greeted by the sight of Dean sitting on one of the molded plastic chairs, head down, legs swinging, with something green clutched in his chubby little fist. Castiel, the little boy who lived across the street from them, sat as far away from Dean as possible, red faced and scowling. She was even more confused. Surely Cas wasn’t the student Dean had an ‘altercation’ with. The two boys were damn near inseparable.
The secretary whisked her into the Principal’s office before she could do much more than wave at the boys, and she crossed her arms as she sat in the chair opposite a smiling redheaded woman. She had frequented the principal’s office quite often when she was in school. Hopefully Dean hadn’t inherited her lack of respect for authority, or she was going to be in for a hell of a time a decade from now.
Mary assessed the woman before her. She looked a little young to be a principal, but her smile was warm and genuine. “Hi Mrs. Winchester! It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Principal Bradbury, but you can call me Charlie.” She stood and extended her hand, and Mary grudgingly shook it before crossing her arms again.
She knew she must look defensive, but she wanted answers and no one seemed too keen on giving them to her. As if sensing her impatience, Principal Bradbury started explaining.
“I know you're probably wondering why I called you here. I thought it was kind of ridiculous, but the kids’ teacher is kind of old school and insisted that I bring you in and explain the situation.” The principal rolled her eyes and shrugged, as if to say ‘what can you do?’ before continuing. “So Dean’s class was learning about holiday traditions, and they covered mistletoe right before recess.
“Dean apparently got a hold of a bit and chased little Castiel around the yard until he climbed a tree to get away from him. I personally think it’s adorable, but Mr. Walker was adamant that it was inappropriate, so here we are.”
Mary flushed scarlet. Of course her little love bug would get in trouble for something like this. It was ridiculous that the teacher took it seriously enough to have the principal bring her in—they were kindergarteners, for god’s sake—but she was glad she knew nonetheless.
After a moment’s hesitation, Principal Bradbury asked the secretary to bring Dean in.
Dean shuffled in to the office with his head down, looking so forlorn that Mary didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around him and pull him onto her lap.
“Hey Peanut, you ok?” She asked him, rocking a little back and forth. Dean shook his head, pouting out his bottom lip. She brushed his hair back from his face and snuggled him closer. “You wanna tell me about it?”
“Cas said… Cas said that I got cooties momma. I don’t got cooties! Only girls got cooties. All ‘a everyone knows that!” He lifted his head from her shoulder to look her in the eyes, his filling up with tears. “I don’t got ‘em! I promise!”
“I know, sweetheart. It’s ok, I know.” She would’ve had to fight the urge to grin if her baby hadn’t found the situation so devastating. Dean nodded and laid his head back on her shoulder, wiping tears and snot onto her sweater. Oh the joys of having children, she thought wryly. “Why did you want to kiss Cas anyway?”
Dean lifted his head again, but this time instead of upset, he looked perplexed. “A ‘cause I love him, duh! We’re gonna get married, like you and dad. ‘Cept we’re gonna live in a Batcave, ‘cause that’s way cooler than some dumb ol’ regular house and we’re gonna have like a bazillion cats ‘cause Cas loves them furry things.”
She chuckled, and heard the principal squeak an ‘aww!’ as she hugged her little boy tighter. “Well that’s good and all, Peanut, but it’s not nice to chase people if you're not playing a game. And you should never ever kiss someone without their permission.”
“Oh.” Dean’s wide green eyes started to fill with tears again, and she rubbed his back a little to try and calm him. “What if… What if Cas doesn’t w-wanna be my f-friend any-mo-more?” Dean finished his question at a full wail, and Mary hugged him close as the waterworks started. She wondered if he had missed naptime over this.
“It’s ok, baby. I’m sure if you apologize, everything will be just fine. What do you say? Wanna get Cas in here so you can say you're sorry?” Dean sniffled and nodded against her shoulder. She was definitely going to have a wet patch of questionable composition when this was all over. She met Charlie’s eyes and nodded, and the other woman went to retrieve Castiel.
Little Cas walked in looking even more rumpled than usual, his dark hair standing up on his head like a halo. He took one look at Dean’s teary face and ran over, climbing up on the other side of Mary’s lap to throw his arms around his friend.
“Don’ cry! I’m really sorry! I didn’ mean it. I know you don’ have cooties.” Castiel squeaked, looking on the verge of tears himself.
“No I’m sorry. I shouldn’a chased you so much an’ try to kiss you if you don’t wanna. We don’t hafta kiss now. We can wait until we’re like, ancient like my mom.” Dean patted his friend on the cheek and Castiel nodded solemnly. Mary could hear the principal snort with laughter from where she sat, buried under the kindergarteners.
“Hey Cas. When you get home would you like to ask your parents if you can come over? I’ll make you boys some hot chocolate and you and Dean can watch Finding Nemo. How does that sound?” Mary asked, squeezing both of the boys.
She immediately had two pairs of arms squeezing her back and both boys started chattering excitedly, completely forgetting about their earlier disagreement. She returned Charlie’s wide grin and got a visitor’s pass to walk the boys back to their classroom.
After shooting Mr. Walker a venomous glare, she took her leave, driving home with a smile on her face. She hoped that Dean and Castiel’s friendship lasted, if only to remind them of this day when they became overdramatic, angsty teenagers.
And that afternoon, when she witnessed Castiel peck Dean on the cheek—causing her little boy to blush all the way to his ears—she couldn’t hold back an ‘aww’ of her own, stuffing her fist in her mouth to stifle the noise so she didn't ruin the moment.
She was so going to remind them of this every chance she got.