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Castiel is a good person, the kind that always gets to work on time, and has never had a drop of alcohol in his life. The worst thing he's done is listen to a song with the word “fuck” in it. And today, of all days, he does not expect that to change. He is at the grocery store, buying organic kale and apples for Anna, and gummy bears for Gabe and Luci. He is often considered the boring one in their family, the only one with a stick up their ass, as Lucifer puts it. He doesn't mind though, being the one who makes sure that they don't spend all their money on alcoholic whipped cream and organic produce. Despite being the youngest, he's the most responsible, by far.
He is trying to decide between Non-GMO honey and sweet agave nectar, when the most attractive person he has ever had the good fortune to lay eyes on sidles up next to him to browse the dizzying array of peanut butter. He has dark blonde hair and green eyes, the kind of green that the world turns in spring. His face is covered in freckles, which is frankly adorable. He's wearing a tight fitting ACDC shirt over black skinny jeans and combat boots, with rings piercing his eyebrow, lip and nose. He is, in Castiel's opinion, God's only perfect creation, and they have not even spoken yet. He has a tattoo that Cas can just see sticking out of the edge of his shirt. Cas didn't realize until now that he was turned on by tattoos and piercings. He is. After making a safe selection of Jif chunky peanut butter, the stranger glances at Cas's shopping basket, and after taking in the contrasting contents says “Dude. Brussel sprouts and Oreos? You do realize those two things are about as far apart as any food ever, right?” And just like that, Cas is in love.
His name is Dean. He has a brother named Sam, works at an auto shop and he likes pie. His one great love, however, is his car, a '67 Chevy Impala. That's all Cas knows about him, but it doesn't prevent this feeling of something being torn out of him when Dean leaves without a backward glance. At that moment Cas feels as though he would do anything to find him, just to talk to him. But he is not a stalker, nor does he posses the tools to pull off that level of creepiness. So instead he goes home and gets drunk for the first time in his life.
A week comes and goes and Cas has not seen Dean again, and has gotten drunk every night, and made out with a complete stranger for three of them. Last week he hadn't even been kissed, but now his every thought is consumed with Dean, Dean, Dean and he is doing anything and everything to forget him. Two days ago he tried ectasy. It was fucking awesome. Tonight he is no different. He is wasted by nine o'clock, and there is a fairly pleasing (at least aesthetically) man who is flirting with him hardcore, so Cas goes home with him and loses his virginity to a stranger, and all he can think about is green eyes and freckles, and he doesn't even feel bad. He falls asleep drunk, and he is one step closer to hell.
The next day he leaves the man's (Greg? Gavin? He's not really sure) house at 4:30 in the morning and goes back to the grocery store because he's hungry and they're out of vodka. His life has become a slow descent into madness, because of a chance encounter among jars of peanut butter and bottles of honey. He's a mess.
When he goes out again that night he is struck breathless because in the parking lot is a '67 Chevy Impala. And that might mean that Dean is here, right now. Inside the club, there is a sea of pretentious teenagers who think they're cool because they have fake ID's, and there are also deliciously desperate single men, the only reason he really comes to this place. But no Dean. He's not sure if that's worse or better that him being here. Then he feels a hand on his shoulder, and he's turning around and all he can see is green eyes. Dean's green eyes, and his piercings, and tattoo, and he's feeling all the things he spent all this time drowning away with alcohol. He's pretty sure that some kind of conversation is in order but he can't even get the words out of his mouth. Fortunately, Dean beats him to the punch. “Hey, contradictory grocery guy! Your name is Castiel, right?” Jesus Christ he remembers his name, and it's like a new wound is tearing its way through his heart. “Cas,” he finally manages. “You can call me Cas”. He's so fucked.
Dean ends up buying Cas a drink, and they talk. It's none of the meaningless flirting Cas was using to get into people's pants. It is nice, and refreshing and it feels like the beginning of something.
Dean offers to drive him home at the end of the night, and he tries not to read into that, he really does. It doesn't end up mattering though, because Dean grabs his hand 3 minutes into the drive and all of a sudden Cas is having trouble breathing. When they pull up outside Castiel's house, Dean turns to him and says “I knew that any guy who could actually compare the values of Non-GMO honey and agave nectar was worth my time. I guess I was right.” And all Cas has time to realize is that Dean knew what he was looking at honey and agave without having talked about it, and then Dean's lips are on his. They are soft, with just enough pressure behind them to make it a kiss without it becoming something that will, inevitably, lead to sex. He tastes like alcohol and something sweet and sugary behind that. Cas can feel his piercing brushing his lips and vaguely hopes that Dean never pulls away from him.
When he goes inside much later, Lucifer says “I'm glad you finally got the stick out of your ass, brother, and decided to live a little.” Despite himself, Cas feels his mouth stretch into a wide grin, and simply states “I know.”