jhoomwrites:

thank you so much for the coffee 💕 hope you like the fic!! 

Above
the myriad of scents in the lecture hall, Dean catches a whiff of one that has
his heart beating rapidly and for a brief second he worries he’s going to
become slick right here in the middle of class. Even so, he closes his eyes,
blocks out the sounds of typing and writing and the droning of the professor,
and focuses on pinning down that delicious scent.

Mango, peppermint, and a dash of
something spicy. Cinnamon or cloves or maybe even sriracha. It’s mouth
watering, and he resolves to find the owner of that scent.

Dean forces himself to pay
attention to what the professor is saying. He’s missed a huge chunk of the
lecture, but he can hopefully get the notes from the textbook.

As soon as the professor
dismisses them, Dean’s on his feet and trying to get to the scent. His thoughts
are in a tailspin that he desperately tries to focus on finding
that scent instead of details like this
is the type of reaction people get around their true mate. Thinking about true mates right now will only
make it harder for him to keep his cool. Even if this other person is scent
compatible, he can still ruin it by being a total spaz.

Everyone else is filing out of
the lecture hall. There’s one other person, a guy with dark hair that’s tall
enough to see over most of the other college students there, who’s searching.
Dean scents the air, determines that is at the very least the right direction,
and goes over to him.

“Hi,” Dean says breathlessly once
he dodges around a group of sorority girls.

“Hi,” the guy says back with a
bright smile. He appraises Dean from head to toe and makes a show of scenting
him. “Leather and honey. Strong smells for an omega.”

Dean blushes but nods. “Male
omegas are like that. You wanna go grab a drink?”

“Hell yeah.”

He and Jimmy hit it off. Jimmy’s
funny and smart and they just have a ton of fun together. They like all the
same books and movies, have the same sense of humor, and even like the same
foods. They’re so damn alike…

… that Dean starts to get bored
with it. This isn’t compatible, this is just them being best buds. Sometimes
Dean is about to say something, but Jimmy would blurt out the same joke or
comment. Dean frowns and tries to shake off the strange feeling of wrongness.
True mates do finish each other’s sentences, but there’s
something off about this.

He knows Jimmy gets the same
feeling that something’s off. When Dean cracks a joke about their professor or
says something about the latest episode of Dr. Sexy, Jimmy sometimes gives him
a look. Dean has a feeling it’s the same look he gives Jimmy in those moments
when he’s unsettled.

The thing that seals it for Dean?
Jimmy’s smell that had once been so appealing, sometimes the spicy notes in
Jimmy’s scent had Dean wrinkling his nose and sneezing.

They don’t even do more than kiss
because the chemistry’s wrong.

Neither says anything, though.
They still make awesome friends, so they kind of just… fall into being best
friends and study buddies. The romantic things kinda fall out of their relationship
by mutual, unspoken agreement. There’s a sense of relief when one evening Jimmy
sits a respectable distance away from Dean on his bed and doesn’t make a move
to pull him in for a hug or a kiss.

A few weeks later, it finally
makes sense.

“My brother’s in town,” Jimmy
says as they leave the lecture hall together. “I told him to meet me at the
dining hall. Wanna meet him?”

“This the brother who you say is
a total dweeb and embarrasses you all the time?”

“Yep. Bet he’s even wearing a tie
because he’s a dork.”

“Then yes. Yes I do want to meet
him.”

Dean doesn’t know what he’s
expecting. He’s heard Jimmy talk about Cas every now and then, and the
descriptions always made Dean think of a shorter, younger, less attractive
version of Jimmy that looked up to his older brother.

What he gets is Jimmy’s twin
brother, who is equally attractive, equally tall, and probably not more than an
hour younger than his brother.

Dean wants to punch Jimmy for
misrepresenting the situation, but it’s so damn Jimmy he’s not sure why he
hadn’t figured it out earlier.

“Hello Jimmy,” Cas says in a deep
voice that is a full octave below his brother’s. Dean does not
shiver.

“Heya Cas. Cas, this is that guy
Dean I’ve been telling you about.”

Apple, peppermint, but instead of
that spicy undertone Jimmy has, there’s a floral note that’s so damn calming
Dean thinks he could bury his nose in Cas’ neck and take a restful nap there.

Given the way Cas is staring at
him, eyes full of longing as he licks his lips, that might be a possibility.

“Hey Cas,” Dean says. He tries to
swallow the lump in his throat.

“Hello Dean.”

They continue to stare at each
other without saying anything until Jimmy waves a hand in front of Dean’s face.
Dean blinks and frowns at Jimmy. “Huh?”

Understanding flickers over
Jimmy’s face, and then Dean somehow gets it too. Jimmy and Dean are close
to true mates. There’s potential there, but the details are all off. Everything
that’s wrong about him and Jimmy, it’s right between him and Cas. Cas’ smell
alone makes Dean confident that’s the case.

“Well shit.” Jimmy laughs. “I
probably should’ve figured this out months ago.”

“Figured what out?” Cas asks. He
hasn’t taken his eyes off Dean.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.
Hey, I just realized I’ve got a thing. Across campus. Far away from here. Dean,
you mind taking over for me and showing Cas around after lunch? Bet he’d
appreciate the company.”

Dean and Cas share a look and a
small smile. “Yeah, I think I can handle that.”

The tour of campus doesn’t make
it past Dean’s room, but Cas doesn’t seem to mind.

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