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Human folly does not impede the turning of the stars. -Tom Robbins
***
This had been a particularly rough year for Castiel.
Well, “year” was relative, as he didn’t exactly experience “years” like most planets did while hanging aloof in the cosmos. Time ceased to be in his little galaxy where he did his work; it washed over him like a gentle breeze trying to bend a mountain.
That being said, it had been a particularly rough recent period of existence for Castiel, and it was all because of one completely insignificant human.
“Castiel” was, of course, the name he gave himself and not the name he was known by to the humans of earth. He was called Alpha Aquarrii to the more scientific of their world, or Sadalmelik - the second-brightest star in the Aquarius constellation.
He was, first and foremost, a wishing star.
Castiel was proud of his track record with granting wishes. Making a wish come true while working within the bounds of Earth’s physics and probabilities was no easy task for a star, but Castiel was billions of years old by now and had practice with millions of different worlds - and the art of bringing to pass a desire that had been given to him was something that he’d mastered. He was well familiar with the feeling that let him know the wish had successfully taken effect. It was like a spark of lightning coursed through his form; igniting the stardust he housed inside.
Some of the newer stars had to intervene more... personally, but that wasn’t an approach Castiel had needed to take in nearly half a millennia.
Naturally, he’d been absolutely confident when one Dean Winchester had made a wish that Castiel had granted tens of thousands of times. It was one of the simplest of wishes, even.
It had started the same as any other wish. Castiel felt an intentful gaze on him and immediately tuned in to the proper area to hear the words.
Earth.
North America.
United States.
Kansas.
Lawrence.
A human was lying on the hood of a black vehicle, staring up at Castiel in the night sky, shivering slightly against the cool breeze.
“I wish…”
Castiel waited. Listened.
“I wish I could… find someone.” There was a pause before the man sighed and shook his head, grumbling to himself about being stupid before hopping off the hood and climbing back into the car.
This was about love .
Love was easy enough for Castiel to create - he just needed the right scenario. With a little biology, mathematics, and timing, he’d been successful in creating unions in the past without much difficulty. Just last week (perhaps it was more than a week, but time was difficult for him) he’d succeeded in granting the same wish to another human, one Jimmy Novak, by finding his own true love. Creatures like humans had interactions that were fairly predictable and easy to manipulate; they often just needed a push in the right direction. That wasn’t to say that humans weren’t constantly surprising Castiel. They absolutely were - but that didn’t mean they were mostly simple people with simple needs.
As Castiel watched the man - Dean Winchester - drive off down the road, he could still sense that, despite the misgivings, his hopeful little mind was still allowing the wish to linger.
So, Castiel went to work.
The first person he sent to Dean was Cassie Robinson.
She was attractive, intelligent, and they were entirely genetically compatible. It was the perfect match.
Castiel made sure the two of them were filling up at a gas station at the same time when he blew Cassie’s hat off of her head, effectively hitting Dean in the face.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Cassie said, running in his direction.
“It’s no problem,” Dean said, holding out the hat towards her. “I can use a good slap in the face every once in a while, anyway.”
They both laughed, Cassie took the hat, and they parted ways.
If a cosmic entity such as a star could frown, Castiel would have done so. This was usually the point when he would feel the warm lighting across his being, signifying a wish granted - but no such feeling came.
Meaning that he’d gotten it wrong.
It wasn’t unheard of for him to get a wish wrong, but it was rare enough for him to be confused by it. The circumstances had been perfect, the timing was just right, and their compatibility was undeniable.
Castiel continued to watch the two, just in case he hadn’t messed up somewhere, but they continued to persistently not interact with each other.
Huh.
Cassie must not have been the right person.
The next person Castiel sent in Dean’s direction was Lisa Braeden.
Castiel had watched Lisa extensively before finally deciding that there was no possible way he could fail with her as the choice.
The conditions were perfect.
Dean was walking down the street, just as Lisa flung the door open to her yoga studio, smacking Dean in the face.
Castiel wasn’t sure if he was smacking Dean in the face again because it was a brilliant plan to bring two hearts together, or if he was just frustrated at Dean.
“Oh my god, I didn’t - I didn’t see you!” Lisa’s hand flew to her mouth as Dean rubbed at his forehead with a grimace.
“Don’t worry about it,” Dean said, wincing and smiling when he got a good look at Lisa.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Lisa asked in concern, and Castiel didn’t miss the way she looked Dean over.
“Well,” Dean shrugged his shoulders and letting his charm take over. “You could let me take you out to dinner?”
Lisa blinked, then smiled at Dean.
“Well, that sounds like the least I can do.”
Castiel relaxed as the two talked, but didn’t let himself get comfortable in the match quite yet. He still hadn’t felt the wish be granted, so there was a chance it wasn't going to work.
Dean and Lisa went on three dates before parting ways amicably.
How? They were perfect in every way possible. It was ludicrous that Castiel had failed to make the wish come true twice in a row.
The third person Castiel sent towards Dean Winchester was Aaron Bass.
Aaron was charming in an endearing kind of way, and was sure to compliment Dean’s own personality nicely. Yes, Aaron was a perfectly logical choice for Castiel to make on Dean’s behalf.
Castiel created a detour on Dean’s way home from work, forcing him to drive by a club that Aaron worked at - and just as he’d suspected, Dean decided to drop in for a while after a long day.
“What can I get you?” Aaron asked, smiling at Dean warmly as Dean took a seat at the bar.
“Ah, just surprise me,” Dean replied, matching the grin.
Castiel waited for it, the spark signifying success - but nothing came.
Dean and Aaron flirted for the better part of an hour before Dean left him with a small wave of his hand.
Castiel couldn’t understand it. The sheer improbability of it all was absurd. It was as if he were back being a recently-formed star that was still trying to figure out how to grant wishes, instead of the seasoned space dust that he was.
An entire rotation of the earth around its sun was spent studying Dean Winchester and finding him matches that should have been perfect for him in every way, shape, and form.
And that was why it had been a particularly rough recent period of existence for Castiel.
One interesting thing had come from all of this, however. Castiel’s gaze had always bounced so rapidly between wishes, that he’d never really had the opportunity to study one creature so intently and so… thoroughly. As aggravating as the situation was, Castiel found that he actually quite liked this Dean Winchester. He was funny, clever, witty, kind, caring, and so many more descriptions that Castiel could easily have dedicated an entire human week to reciting. Not all of the humans that Castiel had studied for whatever period of time had been like this.
None had, in fact.
Getting to know Dean Winchester only made Castiel want to find him happiness even more.
After a while of more searching, Castiel had found her.
The perfect match.
Or at least, the sixty-seventh match, so she would have to do.
Jo Harvelle was similar to Dean in a lot of ways - perhaps too similar, but only time would tell. Castiel had a good feeling about her, though. If he could just make it happen, they would bond immediately.
He’d decided to make it happen at a library. It was neither of their favorite places to be, necessarily, so maybe putting them both on foreign soil would force a connection.
This time, it wasn’t going to fail, because Castiel was going to intervene… personally.
A star could take a different form in they chose to, and the younger stars were the ones who did it the most. Making a wish come into fruition was a lot more likely when one could mold the situation in one’s own two hands, so to speak.
It made Castiel feel a bit like he was giving up - but he cared about this human now, and Dean needed the best possible chance at finding that someone.
Castiel was going to be a librarian.
In an instant he shot a small tendril of his immense power down to earth, taking the form of the last person he’d helped find love, for luck. A Jimmy Novak copy now stood behind the desk of the library, trenchcoat on, hair a mess, and blinking rapidly.
Having eyes again was a bit of a shock.
Alpha Aquarrii could still exist in the sky while his consciousness was on earth - it acted as an anchor or a homing beacon, which was a good thing for anyone invested in his constellation.
After a moment of adjustment, Castiel picked up a pile of books, and began putting them away, trying to blend in with the other librarians.
Jo came in, just as Castiel had planned, and he watched her head over to the history section. A few moments later Dean came in, and Castiel felt more alive just looking at him than he had in his entire history of being a cosmic entity.
Castiel took a deep breath and walked over to the man he’d been secretly helping for over a year; Dean was meandering through the young adult novels. Castiel cleared his throat, determined to send him to the history section and seal the deal.
“Excuse me -” Castiel said, his voice lower and raspier than he’d been expecting. Jimmy hadn’t sounded like that.
Then again, Jimmy also hadn’t been home to a star.
Dean turned, and in that moment everything he’d been planning went up in smoke. The dialogue, the plan, even Jo. All of it was gone now.
There was a small spark that made him jolt; it started in Castiel’s heart and emanated outwards, making the tips of his fingers feel like they could burst with untapped energy.
“I’m -” Castiel struggled to make words, “I think I’m here to… grant a wish.”
Dean laughed and ran a hand through his hair in a way Castiel had seen him do while flirting.
“Mine, I hope.”
“Yes,” Castiel said after a moment, smiling to match Dean. “I hope it’s yours, too.”