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Dean adjusted his aviators against the morning sunlight, and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible on his perch as his workday began. This was his second summer as a lifeguard and he had no complaints. Sure it got pretty boring sometimes, and the weather wasn’t always great, but he got a pretty solid tan, had a great view of all the sexy singles hanging out at the beach, and occasionally he got to help some people.
Technically he’d only saved one life, last summer. It was a gorgeous day, one of the nicest in July, but there was supposed to be a storm coming in the next few days so the water was pretty rough. The beach was packed; days like these were a little stressful because there were so many people and a lot to keep track of. Normally on really busy days there would be two lifeguards to a section, but three people had called out so Dean was by himself. For the most part it had been going smoothly, the water was a little cold so not many people were swimming, most were just soaking up some sun. There were a couple teenagers boogie boarding on the shore Dean had his eye on, an experienced surfer way out in the distance, and a little boy whose mom was not paying very close attention. Dean’s focus shifted continuously through the crowds and the water, to the few people who got his attention.
Lucas was hanging out on the sand drawing, while his mom was reading. He didn’t really like the beach, but his mom insisted they go outside on such a beautiful day. Lucas was finishing a really good picture of his bike when a strong breeze took some of his papers into the water. He ran after them, desperate to reclaim his art, but the next thing he knew, he had waded out too far in the water, and got caught in a strong current. Lucas was not a very good swimmer, and he had never been so scared in his life. It was like he had no control over his body, he was being dragged further and further into the cold depths of the sea and he could barely keep his head above water. Luckily Dean had his eye on Lucas, and saw the kid flailing not too far out. Shock ran through him. Sure he was trained and certified, but he never actually had to save anyone before. He called in on his radio, his voice a much higher octave than normal, and he grabbed his gear. Jumping off his perch, he started to blow his whistle, sprinting toward the waterline; he had caught a lot of people’s attention, including Andrea, Lucas’ mom, who only then realized that her son was gone. Filled with panic, she ran to the edge of the water, shouting his name, as Dean paddled through the waves to reach him. People began to gather closer to the water, watching the scene, as some of the other lifeguards and personnel were responding to Dean’s radio call. When Dean finally reached Lucas, the kid looked petrified, still thrashing in the water.
Dean called for his attention, "Hey! Don't worry kid, I've got you. Everything's gonna be alright." After getting him to calm down enough to take the raft, Dean secured him in, and swam them both back to the safety of the shore. He carried Lucas out in his arms, to a round of applause from the impromptu audience, and laid Lucas down. Another lifeguard, Dean’s friend Jo wrapped him in a towel and Andrea immediately took him into her arms. After getting him checked out by some medics, he seemed to be ok and hadn't swallowed too much water. Dean was so relieved that everything had turned out alright, and he had got the kid back to shore before he was swept up into the riptide. Andrea was so incredibly grateful she was in tears. That was Dean’s proudest day of being a lifeguard.
Sure, there were a few other times, like when a divorced soccer mom had been choking on a hot dog and Dean gave her the Heimlich and got her breathing again. He didn’t consider that one as important, although she did offer to show him a good time to return the favor, and gave him her phone number, but he still isn’t sure how he feels about that.
But that was last summer. Now, it was only the very beginning of the season, so he hadn’t had any excitement after he started up again two weeks ago. Since then, the only excitement of his day had been the gorgeous morning jogger.
He ran every morning at 8am like clockwork, and he had Dean continually checking his watch all morning. Dean really tried not to stare, he didn’t want the poor guy to think he was a creep, but he was unbelievably sexy. With his sweaty running clothes clinging to his perfect ass, his strong muscled legs, and the days he ran without a shirt? Forget it, Dean could hardly keep from drooling. But he sees barely dressed fit people all the time, so why was this guy so special? It’s his tousled dark hair, and stunning blue eyes. They were so bright Dean could see them from a distance. Plus the guy would wave to him most mornings, which basically made Dean’s day.
So last Wednesday at 7:57am Dean was practically pulling Jo out of the equipment room where they were getting their gear so that he wouldn’t miss him.
“Hurry up, Jo!” he called over his shoulder, speed walking to his post.
“Since when are you so punctual?” she griped, struggling under the weight of all the gear because he wouldn’t let her make more than one trip.
“You know- gotta be ready to save lives, all that crap,” he answered distractedly, looking up the beach.
“Dude I literally caught you taking a nap on duty yesterday,” she rolled her eyes.
“I was resting my eyes,” Dean argued, finally getting to his post, and organizing his stuff, glancing up every few seconds, until he finally saw him, in the distance. Dean smiled to himself as he watched the guy run, so graceful he made it look easy. He was wearing black running shorts and no shirt, because of the already sweltering temperature. Dean heard a sound to his right but he couldn’t care less when the highlight of his day was running toward him with Greek god level hotness. It wasn’t until he felt a sharp pain in his ear that he was broken from his stupor.
“Ow! What the hell?” he looked to Jo while rubbing his freshly flicked ear.
“Well it looks like that’s the only way to get your attention!” Jo laughed. “Did you seriously rush me out here so you could stare at your crush?”
“I don’t have a crush,” he protested weakly, turning back to see that the guy was approaching earshot. “And if I did it’d be none of your business.” Dean reached down into his bag for his whistle, coming back up just to see the guy pass them with a bright smile, waving. Dean waved back, a little too enthusiastically if you were judging by Jo’s snort.
“Why don’t you just ask him out?” Jo asked once he had gotten far enough away.
“How? He never slows down! What am I supposed to do, run along with him and tell him I’ve been watching him for weeks, please date me?” Dean sighed.
“Sure! Why not?” Jo prompted, climbing onto their post.
“Why would he say yes?” Dean huffed, joining her.
“Dude he’d totally go for you, you basically belong on Baywatch,” Jo encouraged.
“Yeah right, I sit on top of this stupid wooden thrown all day, Baywatch my ass,” Dean retorted, gesturing to his lax position.
“More like you want to watch his ass, and be his bae,” Jo smiled at her turn of phrase and waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Dean rolled his eyes dramatically at her horrendous pun, shaking his head, “I don’t even know the dude’s name Jo, besides he’s probably not even into guys.”
“Would you stop talking yourself out of this Winchester?” Jo scolded, giving him a punch to the arm. “Quit pining over the guy and ask him out!”
“Fine, maybe I will,” he muttered noncommittally, rubbing his arm.
Now, it was Saturday more than a week later, and despite Jo’s pushing, Dean still hadn’t worked up the courage to ask the guy. But he was feeling a little more confident today, and he was eagerly awaiting his favorite jogger, but he seemed to be a little late. 8:03 came and went, then 8:10, by 8:15 Dean was ready to call a search party. He had never missed a day, where could he be? He didn’t look sick yesterday, in the 15 seconds Dean had seen him. What if he moved? Or went on vacation for the rest of the summer? Wildly outrageous thoughts were brewing in his mind, when a young teenager came running up to his post.
“Hey! Help! We need help!” The kid yelled, causing Dean to leap down from his seat.
“What wrong? Who needs help?” Dean called.
“Down further that way,” the kid explained, “this guy was running and all of a sudden he started to slow down and out of nowhere he collapsed, he’s unconscious!”
Dean knew immediately that it had to be his guy. He called into his radio for assistance, grabbed his first aid kit, and instructed the kid to lead him. They ran a little less than a mile out, further than the public beach reached, where there was a private beach with no supervision. Dean saw Cas lying on the ground, a few other kids around him. Dean took a deep breath, and jumped in, instructing them to give him some space. He looked down at the guy, he had no visible wounds, and he was still breathing, but it was shallow. He felt for his pulse, and began taking his blood pressure. He radioed in his exact location and what he knew so far. When the guy started to stir beneath him. He opened his beautiful blue eyes slowly, and Dean hovered above him.
“Hey man, can you hear me?” Dean asked, voice stronger than he felt.
“Yes,” the jogger answered, voice deep and hoarse.
“What’s your name?” Dean inquired.
“Castiel Novak,” the gorgeous mystery man answered.
“Ok Cas, can you tell me what happened?” Dean ran through his first responder questions.
“I was running and I started to feel really dizzy, I guess I passed out.”
“Alright, when was the last time you ate or drank?”
“Nothing this morning,” the jogger admitted.
“And last night?” Dean asked, taking Cas’ temperature.
“I may have gotten very drunk last night,” he blushed guiltily, "it was my brother Gabriel’s idea."
Dean smiled a little to himself, “So no water, just booze?”
“Pretty much,” the guy cleared his throat, attempting to sit up.
“Are you on any medications, or did you take any drugs?”
“Nope, nothing like that,” the guy shook his head.
Dean paused and cleared his throat, “Are you -uh- sexually active?” he tried to ask casually.
Cas’ eyes widened, but he answered, “Not recently, no.”
Dean worked to keep his face professional, while inwardly jumping for joy. “Alright man, it sounds like you’re just really dehydrated, I called for backup so we’ll probably get you into an ambulance and they’ll send you to the hospital for an IV with some fluids, ok?”
Cas smiled appreciatively, “Thank you. I didn’t get your name?”
“Dean, Dean Winchester,” he smiled glad to see that Cas was doing ok, and that they had finally met, despite the stressful circumstances.
“I see you every morning, I’ve always wondered,” Cas blushed slightly. “Thank you, Dean.”
Before they could speak anymore, back up arrived, and as Dean had predicted, they brought Cas to the emergency room just in case for fluids and observation.
After the ambulance had left Jo smiled and nudged Dean, “Dude you’re totally his hero.”
Dean laughed a little in response, “He’s just dehydrated, I didn’t save him from a burning building or anything.”
“You’re totally in, he has to date you now,” she declared.
Dean just rolled his eyes in response, but he couldn’t hide the smile on his face for the rest of the day.
Two days later, Dean was at work again, when he saw someone making their way slowly up the beach around 8. He squinted at the figure from afar, but he couldn’t tell who it was, but they were moving too slow to be Cas on his morning jog. Dean sighed slightly in disappointment, and decided that maybe he should rest his eyes before the morning crowd showed up. Next thing he knew, he heard a deep sexy voice calling his name.
“Huh?” Dean sat up straight, looking for the source of the voice.
“Hello, Dean,” Cas greeted, looking up at him, his hand shielding his eyes from the sun.
“Cas!” Dean exclaimed, jumping off the chair to see him, “How’re you feeling?”
“Much better, thanks to you,” he smiled, making Dean’s heart race as green eyes met blue. “And I will no longer be letting my brother convince me to party to such extremes.”
“Well you are still entitled to some fun,” Dean teased, “but I’m glad you’re ok.” He looked down at his feet for a second, and decided to gather up all his courage. “I gotta admit I missed you these last few days, my mornings aren’t the same without you.”
“I agree, I was actually hoping-“ Cas paused and he cleared his throat as his face began to grow red. “I was hoping maybe I could take you out for dinner, as a thank you.”
Dean’s eyes widened and his heart leapt. All this time he was working up the courage to ask Cas out, and he beat him to it. “Yes!” he blurted out, “I’d like that.”
Cas let out a sigh of relief as his whole body visibly relaxed, “Great! Is tonight at 7 ok?”
“Perfect,” Dean smiled.
That night Dean had donned his favorite green button-up and black jeans, and met Cas at the Roadhouse for dinner. Cas wore a blue tee that made his eyes an other-worldly blue that had Dean completely entranced. Cas was going to college for Library Science, Dean learned, and his school was practically next door to where Dean was going for Pre-Med. They talked practically all night, from the Roadhouse to the beach for a moonlit walk, to Cas' front porch where Dean was nervously wiping his sweaty hands on his jeans.
"Thanks for again dinner Cas, I had a really great time."
"So did I, I've never been more grateful for a visit to the hospital," Cas laughed.
"Maybe don't make it a habit," Dean laughed.
"Can we do this again sometime?" Cas asked, leaning closer to Dean.
"Yeah, absolutely," Dean practically whispered, moving closer and closer to Cas as if a magnet were pulling them together.
When their lips met, it was unlike any kiss Dean has ever had before. His whole body felt the warmth and excitement of the moment, and as he reached for Cas' hips, they practically melted together. After several minutes, and one or two soft moans, they reluctantly pulled apart.
"What're you doing tomorrow?" Dean asked with a laugh.
Needless to say, they spent the rest of the summer getting ice cream downtown, going for long drives, staying up late for movie marathons and kissing under the stars. Now it wasn’t just the mornings that were Dean’s favorite, it was every second he got to spend with Cas.