Work Text:
The 11th Shade
Dean hopped out of his apartment on one foot, trying to balance while he attempted to pull his other shoe on and locked the door at the same time. He grinned with satisfaction as he somehow managed, turned around—
And froze.
There was a boy sitting on the floor in the hallway. Dean was pretty caught off guard. Who wouldn’t be, right? He looked closer. The guy was just chilling, it seemed, legs pulled up to his chest, knees pressed to his face and—wait…was he crying? Dean studied the slouched figure. Yep, definitely crying.
‘I did not sign up for this,’ Dean told himself as he turned back to his door. ‘I better get back inside before he sees me.’ Of course, while fumbling to get his door unlocked, Dean’s keys leapt out of his hand, hitting the wall before falling to the ground. Of course. He heard the boy recoil at the noise. Kicking himself mentally, Dean turned back to face him, excuses at the ready.
“Are you alright?” the boy asked first, surprising Dean. He seemed to just realize that Dean was trying to leave. “O-oh sorry, am I in your way? Can you get through?”
Knowing he was as good as trapped, Dean shook his head. “No, I’m fine.” He cleared his throat. “But uh, are you okay?” He kicked himself again. He could clearly see the tears on the kid’s face. What a stupid question.
“I’m fine, I’m just…having a rough time,” the boy assured him. A smile erupted on his face and his eyes narrowed with it, framed by his messy dark hair.
Dean’s eyes widened and his cheeks tinged pink. He curses his reaction as it flustered him more and he fumbled over his words. “That’s too sorry—er, bad to hear that. I meant...geez.” He bent down to retrieve his keys and hide his face. What was he supposed to say? The guy was still looking when he stood back up, probably an uncomfortable several seconds for him. Dean winced.
“Well anyway, do you....need anything? I mean, I’m going shopping, um, soon. So I can get it for you. You know, if you needed something.” Even to Dean, it sounded pathetic.
The guy seemed to appreciate the effort anyway, though. He shook his head and grinned, wiping off a few tear streaks from his cheeks. “God, this is embarrassing. I’m alright, though, really. Thank you anyway, it’s sweet of you to offer.”
Dean nodded and blushed a little more, unsatisfied with the answer and still unsure of what to do. After a small pause, he nodded again. “Well, I guess I'd better…” he trailed off, gesturing down the hall.
“Right, of course.” The boy pulled his legs tighter to his body.
Dean squeezed by him, resisting the urge to look back as he continued on outside and into his previous plan.
Which was… what again?
“The store,” Dean declared to himself. He was out of instant coffee and there was no way he’d be functioning well enough for work early in the morning without it.
He decided to walk since the weather was fine enough. He wanted something that took more effort anyway, as his mind was always heavy with problems of the past. But this time his mind was weighed down by other things, like the crushing guilt of ignoring an obviously crying guy outside his apartment.
‘It wasn’t even my problem to get involved,’ he argued with himself.
‘It’s called kindness,’ himself argued back.
His eyebrows remained furrowed the entire walk there. By then, though, he’d made up his mind, however unhappy he was with that. He hurried through the store, knowing exactly what he needed. When he left, the small bag in his hand contained no coffee.
“So much for a nice walk,” Dean grumbled as he power-walked back to his apartment. “He’s probably gone anyway. I don’t even need all this, I just needed my freakin’ coffee.”
When he got back, Dean was pleasantly surprised to see that the guy was still there after all. In fact, it looked like he hadn’t even moved much in the half hour since Dean had left. He debated the best way to get noticed without being weird: saying ‘hey,’ coughing, asking if he was okay, or making a joke of the situation.
He went with the joke because his life was a joke.
“You’re still here?” he said, even though that was what he was hoping for. He hoped his incredulous tone conveyed humor and not judgment, but he couldn’t really be sure.
The kid didn’t move.
Dean nodded to himself and tried again. “So uh, hey. Are you feeling better?”
He looked hopeful for a response, but none came. The dark-haired stranger didn’t even so much as flinch. Rude.
Only a bit crestfallen, Dean shrugged slightly and made to move past the hunched over figure once again. His shopping bag smacked against the wall and the kid jerked his head up, startling Dean, who hopped the rest of the way over him.
“Oh, you’re back, how did it go? I hope you got what you needed,” the guy said from the floor, voice cracking. “Sorry if I scared you; I fell asleep out here on accident it looks like.” He gave Dean another winning smile.
Dean severed eye contact immediately, not needing this charm in his life. He wanted it though, and he looked back as he rummaged through his bag. “I picked you up something actually,” he muttered. From the bag, Dean produced an ice cream bar, which he held out to the other tentatively. “I hope this makes you feel better, or… yeah…”
The guy took it, a puzzled expression clearly covering his face. “Oh, that’s… sweet. You didn’t have to.”
Dean rubbed his neck, hoping it wasn’t as red as it felt. “It’s no problem or anything, you just seemed like you needed it.” The smile he received made everything well worth the effort.
“That’s very kind of you but…” His dark hair swished as he looked around quickly. “I suppose I shouldn’t eat it here. I don’t want to be the only weirdo in this building eating ice cream in the hallway.”
‘Wrong again,’ Dean said to himself with a grin. “Actually, you don’t have to be,” he said out loud, reaching back into his bag and retrieved a second, identical ice cream bar. “I’ll hang out here until you can get back home.” He backed up against the wall and slid down until he was sitting across from the stranger. “I’m Dean, by the way.”
“My name is Castiel.” Castiel unwrapped his ice cream, and Dean followed suit.
“Well, Castiel, how long were you planning on having a breakdown in the hallway,” Dean tried to joke. Castiel’s expression immediately made him panic. “I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with breakdowns. O-or hallways either.”
Castiel took a thoughtful bite, chewing slowly.
Dean watched him, ready to add ‘making another kid cry’ to his list of sad accomplishments. Or ‘young adult.’ Whatever.
After a drawn out and uncomfortable few seconds, Castiel spoke. “I’m not exactly sure what I was going to do, actually,” he said slowly.
Dean leaned in as he continued, choosing his words carefully.
“I actually just came out to my family in there and it… well, it didn’t go very well.” He laughed bitterly. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go home any day soon.”
Dean’s heart froze. His expression must have been of pure horror, because Castiel chuckled sheepishly at him.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to drop that on you like that.”
Dean shook his head vehemently. “No, that’s not fair. How can you kick out your own kid.”
“Maybe it was time to move out anyway.” Castiel shrugged. “A bit sudden for my taste, but maybe it’s for the better.”
“Do you...have a place of your own to go to?”
“Nope.”
“So you’re homeless..?”
“Oh… I guess I am, yeah.”
Dean stared in amazed shock. He didn’t even realize he was homeless. Of course Dean would be the one to ruin that. He had to make up for it somehow. But how though? Think, you idiot, think.
“Well if you need a place to stay, I’m just across the hall,” he found himself saying. “It’s not much, but I have a couch that isn’t too bad.” Met with a blank stare, he continued babbling. “I don’t have much food though. I kind of got preoccupied while shopping earlier so…” He trailed off, shaking his empty shopping bag pathetically.
Castiel was silent. His empty ice cream wrapper crinkled in his hands as he fiddled with it. Dean took perceived the silence as awkward and immediately tried to fix it.
“Or you don’t have to. Maybe you’ve got other family here, I don’t know. Besides, who am I to get involved, right?” The words poured out of his mouth before he could stop them.
Castiel looked up wildly. “Oh, no it’s not that. Not at all; I appreciate it, really.” He took a breath. “You’re right that I have other family here, but I don’t doubt that word will spread. I doubt I could stay there.”
It sounded like there was more he was going to say, and Dean waited patiently.
“In any case, I’d rather not sleep out here, and definitely not outside. So maybe...if you really didn’t mind.. could I take you up on your offer?”
Dean perked up and smiled widely. “Of course! Of course you can, no problem. Me casa is your casa, or however that French saying goes.”
Castiel sighed with relief, not commenting on Dean’s use of language. He didn’t want to ruin the moment right now.
Dean shuffled back up to his feet. “Let me just get some things ready and I’ll be right back, alright? Don’t go anywhere.”
Castiel nodded from the floor.
Dean disappeared into his apartment for only a second before reappearing.
“Oh and uh, I’ll probably have to pick up a few things later. If either of us want to eat dinner today, that is.”
Castiel beamed. “That sounds great.”
-END-