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The grass is green.
Of course the grass is green, Castiel knows that. Everyone knows that. It’s one of the very first things they’re taught in school; the sky is blue, the sun is a fiery mix of orange and yellow, and the grass is green.
What Castiel can’t seem to understand, however, is why he is seeing that the grass is green. He’s not quite sure what green looks like but the grass is certainly no longer a dull light grey color, so it must be green.
He had accepted the fact that he would probably never see the world for anything other than the dull grayscale it had been to him his whole life. Never, once, did he think he would be able to see color.
When Castiel gets out of work that day, he drives to the park just so he can sit there and look at all the green. He see’s every shade of the color, from the light green of the grass to the dark green color of the leaves that hang from the tree branches above him. He decides that—although green is the only color he’s ever seen—green is, in fact, a very lovely color.
He sees green in some of the clothing people walking through the park wear. One young girl is wearing an extremely bright green tutu around her waist, to the point where it’s starting to hurt Castiel’s eyes. Neon, he thinks. Extremely bright colors are called ‘neon.’
He sees green again, in the eyes of a woman who is staring at another woman as they walk hand in hand through the park. Her green eyes stare with such love and adoration that Castiel knows, without a doubt, that this woman is looking at her soul mate.
Castiel’s eyes widen in realization.
According to legend, every human is destined to live in a world where they only see in black and white until they meet their soul mate. Meeting one’s soul mate is supposed to drench their world in color once and for all. A soul mate brightens one’s dark and grayscale world.
However, in order for a person’s entire world to be painted in color, they must look directly in the eyes of their soul mate. If they simply bump into them on the street or pass them by out of the corner of their eye, then they will only see the color that will become their favorite until they officially meet their soul mate.
Castiel had always figured that it was a simple lore. He thought that it had been a way to give hope to all of the people who were doomed to live a life of grayscale. How was he to know if someone were telling the truth about color? He had never seen anything other than black and white. But as he looks around now, at the green grass and the green leaves that hang off the trees, he figures it must be real.
A leaf floats down next to him on the bench, a single dark green leaf. Castiel picks the leaf up and twirls it around in his fingers for several minutes, comparing it to the varying shades of green he had seen recently. He eventually decides that, while green is an extremely lovely color, he enjoys the shade of the leaves more than any variation of the color he had seen that day.
After several hours in the park, Castiel is ready to go and see what shades of green he may have in his home. There was an entire spectrum of black, grey and white. Surely there had to be more than just a couple of shades of green as well?
When Castiel gets into his car he notices that the time flashing on the radio is a bright green, almost but not quite as bright as the neon color Castiel had seen the girl with the tutu wear from earlier. Color is fascinating to him, and he wonders when he will ever get a chance to truly and officially meet his soul mate so he can see all the other colors of the world.
If legend was correct, even after seeing all of the colors he would still prefer green over any other. Castiel figures that it’s probably a safe bet. He’s not quite sure any color could be as lovely as the color of the leaves that litter all of the trees.
When Castiel turns his keys in the ignition, the car does not start. He furrows his eyebrows and frowns before trying to turn the key again. After several more tries, and the car still refusing the start, Castiel finally accepts defeat. He runs his fingers through his hair and lets out a deep sigh before pulling out his phone.
He searches the internet for the nearest auto shop to him and dials the number listed on the website. Once he explains the situation to the man on the other end, the man huffs and tells him that someone is on their way to tow the car into the shop. Castiel smiles in amusement at the southern drawl in the man’s voice.
As Castiel waits for the tow truck, he finds a way to pass the time. Castiel pulls his phone out of his pocket once again and looks up ‘green.’ His eyes widen when he clicks the images tab and sees all of the varying shades. There’s more than Castiel could have ever imagined. He clicks through and looks at as many as the time allows. He sees as much from sea foam green to hunters green, and after several minutes of searching Castiel decides that his favorite is a green called ‘forest green.’ It’s the color of the leaves on the trees.
He startles when there’s a knock on his window, having been too absorbed in the discovery of the color green to notice when the tow truck had arrived.
Castiel slides the phone back into his pocket and climbs out of the car. “Thank for coming to my aid, I sincerely appreciate it,” Castiel tells the mammoth of a man standing before him.
The man is tall, extremely tall. Castiel is looking up at him in disbelief that human beings were allowed to be such a height. He chuckles and runs his hands through his hair, which is long and falls down near his shoulders, before replying with a “It’s kind of my job but, hey, no problem, man.”
Castiel nods his head and stands by as the man hooks his car up to the tow truck. He is wearing a plaid printed shirt, and Castiel can see just the faintest hint of green hidden among the plaid.
Once the man is done he nods his head towards the truck. “You can go ahead and hop on in and we’ll head towards the shop.”
Castiel simply nods his head and gets into the passenger seat. The man climbs in and folds himself into the truck several seconds later, turning around to look at Castiel and fixing him with a smile. “I just realized how rude I’ve been,” he begins. He holds his hand out towards Castiel, “My name is Sam.”
He takes Sam’s hand and gives it a firm shake before replying, “Hello, Sam. My name is Castiel.”
Sam continues to smile and drops Castiel’s hand, turning to start the car.
The shop is not that far of a drive; it had been the closest one that Castiel could find online, after all. Castiel is content to sit in the silence and watch the blur of green out the window as they drive by all of the trees until Sam clears his throat.
“So,” Sam begins, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as they’re stopped at a light. “Has your car ever given you any trouble like that before now?”
Castiel shakes his head. “No. Not that I can recall,” he replies. “I attempted to start it several times before I called you.” Sam simply lets out an ‘ah,’ and turns his attention back to the road once light turns green—a shade of which, Castiel realizes, closely resembles the green of the radio clock in his car. “How long have you been a mechanic?” Castiel asks Sam.
Sam laughs and shakes his head. “I’m not a mechanic,” he replies. “The owner of the shop and my brother, they’re the mechanics. I guess you could say I’m sort of like a secretary. I don’t really do cars, but they still keep me around for some reason. I just do this during the summers while I’m not going to school.”
Castiel is able to keep the small talk going from there. He finds out that Sam is studying law in a school out of state and comes home every summer to be with his brother. While Sam loves his brother, he says he misses his soul mate, Jessica, like crazy because she stayed in California to visit her parents for the summer. Soon, as if no time had passed at all, he and Sam are pulling into the parking lot of the garage.
“Bobby!” Sam calls out once he’s out of the car. “I’m back!”
Castiel gets out and stands next to Sam, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You don’t gotta yell, boy,” a man donning a truckers hat grumbles.
Sam laughs and pats the man, Bobby, on the back. “Where’s Dean?”
“He’s over there,” Bobby jerks his head in the direction of the garage. “He’s almost done with a car we got earlier today. When he’s finished, then he’ll see what’s wrong with your car,” Bobby says, now looking at Castiel.
Castiel nods his head. “Thank you for your service,” he says. Bobby scoffs and begins grumbling about taking a late lunch in his office under his breath before walking away from Sam and Castiel.
“So, uh,” Sam begins. “We’re not really sure what’s wrong with your car and we’re about to close in, like, thirty minutes. So, in case we have to keep your car overnight, is there anything in there you should take home with you?”
“I suppose I should go and see,” Castiel replies.
Sam laughs and nods his head. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
Castiel goes to his car and looks through it for anything that may be of value that he wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving there overnight, but finds nothing. The only thing of value he has with him at the moment is his cell phone, which is in his coat pocket.
Castiel shuts the door to his car and looks around the parking lot. He does not see Sam or Bobby. He sighs and ventures into the garage, searching for Sam.
He does not find Sam upon entering the garage. He does, however, find a man bent over under the hood of a car. He figures that this man could only be Dean. Castiel watches as Dean taps his foot against the ground while working on the car, his hips swaying from side to side as if he were listening to a song no one else could hear. His eyes rake over Dean, taking in the tight jeans that sculpt his legs and backside as he sways along to the silent music.
“Excuse me,” Castiel clears his throat, flustered at the sight before him. “I truly don’t mean to sound rude, but do you know how much longer you will be working on this particular car?”
“Just finished, man,” Dean laughs, standing up straight and slamming the hood of the car shut. He wipes his grease stained hands on a hand towel that’s hanging through one of his belt loops before turning around. “I’ll go ahead and get started on your car right-”
Dean stops still when he turns around to look at Castiel. “Holy shit,” he whispers in exasperation.
Castiel’s eyes widen when he notices that Dean and the world surrounding him are beginning to fill in with color. He takes a step closer to Dean and the colors around the two of them intensify. This man, this is Castiel’s soul mate. Upon looking at him, Castiel’s world has been drenched in color.
And while Castiel is extremely ecstatic to finally see all of the colors and to have met his soul mate, he can only focus on one thing. Color continues to seep into Castiel’s vision, and while the last hint of grey disappears from sight Castiel can still only focus on Dean’s wide, shocked eyes.
They are a beautiful forest green.