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"When did that Cas-whatever guy say he was coming?"
Dean was standing in the doorway to his recently moved in room, trying to figure out how someone had managed to jam the key so far into the lock that it seemed impossible to twist it back out. He was sorely tempted to immerse himself in a few calculations evaluating the necessary force, angle and dedication applied by the person who must have obviously held a personal vendetta against the poor safety device, when Benny walked by, a box of nails and a hammer in his hands. Dean snapped his eyes away from their close inspection of the lock and turned to face Benny, who had come to a stop with a long-suffering expression peaking out from underneath his winter break beard.
“Brother, I told you this how many times already? His name’s Castiel and he plans on arriving around six. That’s in about ten minutes.”
Benny moved further down the hallway before turning around with a smirk. “I also told him we’d help with his boxes and the ah-“ A raised eyebrow. “Cage for his tortoise.”
“His tortoise? Isn’t that the same as a turtle?” Seeing that Benny made to open his mouth, Dean continued quickly. “Actually, never mind, how come I wasn’t informed our new roommate has a reptile pet?”
Benny snorted and walked on into his room, speaking back over his shoulder. Seriously, Dean was fifty percent of the decision-making committee here and a pet should warrant mentioning. Even though turtles were pretty hilarious with their sturdy little legs and wiggle-y walk, not that he’d ever admit to that out loud. Benny would probably crack a rib laughing at him.
“That’s because you never listen when you’re at Sam’s. If you wanna know why I don’t call you during break; it’s like entering a war zone via phone line every time I ring you up at Stanford.”
Aw, yeah. The prank war Dean had dragged his little genius brother into during his last visit had been one of their more memorable ones. And no matter how often Sammy insisted on stating that Dean was too old at twenty-three and should be too wise after having worked a full-time, family supporting job for four years to be participating with that much fervour, didn’t make the fact that prank wars were appropriate at any and all ages less true. It might be possible that Dean had missed a teeny tiny detail of Benny’s account of his meeting with their new roommate. Castiel. Weird-ass name, but Benny had said the guy was decent. Adding something like Chose him especially for you, brother. Whatever that was supposed to mean.
“Okay, well, I’m good with the turtle as long as it stays off the kitchen counters and doesn’t pee on the floor.”
Benny’s laughter filtered through the hallway, bouncing off the walls, making Dean grin.
“Dean, it’s a tortoise and I’m pretty sure it ain’t gonna climb into your precious Fruit Loops, no worries.”
Before Dean could protest that he was very decidedly not the one who insisted on buying the brightly colored kid-themed sugar lumps masquerading as cereal, someone knocked at their door. Which was the right thing to do, considering that their doorbell didn’t work because someone had hacked into the electric system of their apartment building out of boredom. Said someone being the mad computer hacker named Ash, who lived next door in an apartment with Dean’s equally as crazy and frighteningly-talented-at-skirting-the-edges-of-illegality other best friend Charlie and his surrogate sister Jo - who was insane for completely different reasons. Her ever-growing knife collection and the mighty punch she packed into her tiny fist being glaring examples.
God, Dean loved the bunch of dorks.
Sadly, daydreaming about how awesome his friends were did not open the door and before Dean could pull himself out of it, Benny had stomped by him, snapping his fingers in front of Dean’s face on the way.
“Stop spacin’ out. Can’t have you droppin' any boxes on your toes, I ain’t carrying you to class, brother. Not again. You might look like a princess, but man, are you ever heavy. And I think I scared your engineering buddies shitless last time I did it. Probably thought I was kidnappin' you.”
Dean surged after Benny, getting him in an off-kilter headlock just as the broader man opened the door. In the doorway stood a stack of boxes supported by slightly wobbly legs, covered in what looked to be a trenchcoat and black, fitted slacks. Plus sensible shoes.
What?
Dean decided to abandon the punishment he was about to inflict on Benny for making fun of his quote-unquote delicate features and bringing up the piggy back instance they had sworn to never mention again when the top box started to slide towards him. He discovered that the cardboard tower also had a voice when a gravelly yelp indicated that Dean was not the only one noticing the upper box making a run for it. Dean decided to take mercy and grabbed it before it could hit the floor - or more likely Benny, who was wheezing for breath and not registering the mortal danger his head was currently in.
“Thank you.”
Whiskey and smoke and wow, Dean did not know a cardboard-trenchcoat hybrid could have such a sexy voice.
Benny had recovered from his spluttering and had taken over two of the boxes, revealing messy dark brown hair, tan skin and Jesus Christ, surely those have to be contacts because nobody has eyes that blue by nature. Or if they do, they don’t get paired with wide, pale pink lips because that’s just not fair on anyone. But especially not on Dean.
Apparently staring at the newcomer in slack-jawed awe did not cut it in Benny’s book and it was Dean’s turn to wheeze. For a man with that much bulk, his best friend had fucking pointy elbows.
“Yeah, uh, you must be Cas - Castiel. Sorry. I’m Dean. Your roommate. Well, the other roommate.”
Smooth, Winchester. Stuttering at him will very likely make him go away. Not that this gorgeous why did Benny not mention this Cas guy actually had the opportunity to stay away for long, what with them living in the same apartment from now on for at least a year.
Crap.
“Hello, Dean, it’s very nice to meet you. Thank your for saving Samandriel.”
Thrown for a loop by the odd statement, Dean resumed his gaping like a mentally constipated fish. Benny had taken the other boxes from Castiel’s hands and was putting them down by the counter that separated kitchen and living room. The action left Cas in his entirety to Dean’s observation and Dean liked what he saw. A lot. The amount of I LIKE that would make hiding it a massive pain for the foreseeable future. The universe hates Dean Winchester, it’s a generally accepted truth.
“Who’s Samandriel?” Was all Dean could come up with, and it made Castiel’s face scrunch up in a confused frown.
“Samandriel is my tortoise, but you can call him Alfie, if you want. He’s in that box.”
Following Castiel’s finger pointing at the box in his hands, Dean noticed light shuffling and the air holes poked through the cardboard.
“Um, you’re welcome?”
Castiel’s confused frown melted into a bright smile and Dean decided that now was a good time to turn around and set the box down, to safety. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if Dean’s sudden dizziness resulted in Alfie making a harsh acquaintance with the floor, after all.
“Move your pretty butt, you slob. I bet Castiel has more boxes down there that need carrying, huh?”
Sometimes Dean was really grateful for Benny always being there to have his back and save his ass, even if it came with the occasional (regular) insult.
*
A couple of months into the spring term Dean had decided to give up on trying to keep his sanity while living in close quarters with Cas. The first thing that had to go was the guy’s full name. Then came Dean’s self-proclaimed rule to never fuss over an animal. Who knew a tortoise could be so fucking adorable? Not Dean, that’s who. After that, it went downhill quickly. Cas’s disregard for personal space and open friendliness made it very hard on Dean to keep his platonic distance. Sometimes he got so tired of keeping on his toes around Cas that he had to blow off steam with good tunes and some warrior grub.
Today was such a day. Benny had worked the late shift at the Roadhouse the night before and because Dean was just that amazing a friend, he’d decided to make him a full breakfast for when he showed his scruffy face. The temperatures had been rising to a level that made Dean wish he wasn’t too dignified to wear shorts and he couldn’t be bothered to put on anything but his boxers and socks this morning. Castiel had said he’d be out early, so no one would see him anyway. Well, besides Benny, but their friendship ran on a notoriously low level of personal boundaries. There might or might not be a photo of them dressed up as Rapunzel (shut up, everyone said it was the eyes) and Flynn for Charlie’s last themed LARP party circulating on Facebook.
The bacon was sizzling, the pancakes turning a golden color while Dean sang along to Sir Elton crooning his heart out. He flipped the spatula in his hands, turned up the volume and got ready for his solo, fully intent on making Benny wake up before the food got cold.
“But they’re so spaced out - B-B-Benny and the Jetsssss!”
By now Dean was in full-on dancing mode, swinging his hips to the beat, using the spatula as a makeshift microphone and skidding across the kitchen tiles in a well-practiced cha-cha slide move that brought him right in front of his mildly annoyed and majorly amused sleepy-eyed best friend.
“Ain’t no weirdo that makes a better post-shitty shift breakfast than you, bub.”
Benny’s hand ruffled through Dean’s hair when he passed him to grab a plate laden with a staggering amount of food and flopped onto the couch, digging in with obvious delight. Dean huffed, pleased to see his food being appreciated after a weekend visit by Sam who’d lectured Dean all three days about healthy alternatives à la you don’t even have basic salad in your fridge and if you do it’s for Cas’s turtle (- It’s a tortoise, Sammy!).
“Yeah, yeah, I know I’m awesome.”
“That you are.”
“It’s your night off today, right? You still gonna come to Death’s Door with me? Tessa and the girls are playing tonight.” Dean had swayed over to the oven to turn it off and let the pans soak in the sink. Benny’s affirmative grunt was all Dean needed and he turned around, plate in hand, to join him on the couch. He didn’t get very far before he noticed the by now well-known form of a sleep mussed Castiel standing just outside the room. The thing Dean did not recognize was the odd expression marring Cas’s face. He seemed wistful and.. disappointed? No, that didn’t make any sense.
“Yo, Cas, I thought you’d left already!”
Cas’s eyes had slid down to Dean’s chest and it struck him that he was clad in nothing but his underwear. So, that’s why Cas seemed off, he probably didn’t want to see Dean flaunting his naked skin all over the place. Dean curled his shoulders in protectively and turned to prepare a plate for Castiel as well.
“Sorry, I’ll put on some clothes in a sec. You want breakfast? Oh, and you can come with us tonight. Up to you.”
Cas still looked like he had something stuck sideways in his throat. Then he seemed to shake himself out of it, dropping his eyes to the floor.
“No, Dean, I can’t - I wouldn’t want to impose. My apologies.”
With that he turned around and shuffled back into his room, shutting the door firmly behind himself. Dean’s good mood had all but evaporated and he felt bad for obviously making Cas uncomfortable.
“That was weird. What’s up with him?”
Benny looked at him pitifully, rose to his feet and stacked his plate into the dishwasher.
“Brother, if you don’t know what that was about, I ain’t gonna tell you. I’m takin’ a shower, you better go and talk it out.”
Sometimes Dean really hated that Benny always knew what was going on but considered it a good anti-emotional-constipation measure to make Dean figure it out himself. Grumbling under his breath, Dean made his way over to Cas’s room, stopping only to pull on a shirt. Should he apologize for running around half-naked? Or for offering Cas a night out? That was hardly something to get upset about. And what was Cas talking about; imposing on what? Dean thought he’d been pretty obvious about the fact that he wanted Cas to impose on him a great deal more. Hell, even Jo had told him to dial down the doe-eyed looks or do something about it already, and she usually left the matchmaking comments to Charlie.
“Cas? Can I come in?” After a tentative knock the door opened and deep blue eyes peered up at Dean from under an epic case of bedhead. Cas hesitantly pushed the door open wider and indicated for Dean to sit on the bed while he took the chair and busied himself with some notes lying around on his desk.
“Did you want something, Dean? I am sorry for bursting in on you in the kitchen.”
“Dude, you didn’t interrupt anything, no need to apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong.” Dean dragged his hands through his hair and looked over at Cas. “Look, man, I’m sorry I seem to rub you the wrong way sometimes, I swear I don’t do it on purpose.”
Cas only blinked in apparent confusion.
“Okay, now that that’s said, you sure you don’t wanna join us tonight?”
The confusion in Cas’s eyes turned into something darker and he avoided Dean’s gaze when he replied. “It’s very generous of you to ask me, but I really don’t want to interrupt your date.”
At first Dean thought he’d somehow outed himself and Cas was trying to let him down gently but then the words registered in his brain and he was once again thrown for a loop.
“What date?”
Cas frowned and looked back up at Dean, albeit reluctantly.
“Your date with Benny. Anna has to work today, so she had to reschedule. That’s why you weren’t alone this morning and I -”
Completely taken by surprise, Dean didn’t even wait for Cas to finish his sentence before blurting “What in hell gave you the idea that Benny and I are dating?!”
Cas stared at him for a moment, then scrunched up his nose and Dean had to remind himself not to smooth the wrinkles out with his hand.
“You are very affectionate with each other, you’re constantly touching and every time you’re sitting on the couch, five minutes in you’re cuddling and being generally all over each other. You seem completely comfortable being mostly unclothed in Benny’s company, but when I come in you turn around and make futile attempts at covering yourself. You went to Charlie’s party as Rapunzel and Flynn. I might miss most clues society operates on but I am not stupid, Dean. It is very obvious you two are in a stable, committed relationship. And I’m happy for you, I just -”
“Benny is straight. And even if he weren’t, he’s my best friend, that’s all he is and all I want him to be.”
“I just - what? But I thought -”
“Yeah, well, you thought wrong. I just like being cuddled sometimes, okay, and Benny doesn’t mind.” Dean could feel a blush spread over his cheeks when he thought about how much more he’d enjoy being snuggled up on the couch with Cas instead.
“Oh. Oh, I - um. But you are.. interested in males?” Cas was fiddling with his fingers now, shoulders rigid and a glimmer of what might be hope in his eyes if Dean wasn’t completely delusional.
“Well, chicks, guys, I don’t really give a shit as long as they strike my fancy. But right now I’m only interested in one person.”
The glint in Cas’s eyes died and he swivelled his gaze to the window. “Oh, I see.”
Though it had seemed impossible mere minutes ago, Dean was now about 99 percent certain that his ridiculous crush was not as one-sided as he’d made himself believe. He slowly stood up and slid down in front of Cas’s knees. When he laid his hand on Cas’s thigh, Cas snapped his eyes back to him, gaze wide and bright.
“Do you, really? We’re a couple of dumbasses, huh? It’s you, Cas, and it’s been you for a damn long while. Since you almost killed Benny by dropping Alfie on his head, if you wanna be precise.”
A tentative smile made its way onto Cas’s face and he laid his hand softly on top of Dean’s, sliding their finger against and in between the other’s.
“You don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you say that.”
Dean’s smile turned into a face-splitting grin and he rose to his knees, bringing his face bare inches away from Castiel’s.
“Actually, I think I do. I’d like to kiss you now, if you don’t mind.”
“No, Dean, I don’t mind at all.” Before Cas could close his mouth completely, Dean had weaved his hand against Castiel’s cheek, pulled him down and slid their lips together in a tilted, soft kiss. The butterflies of hope in his belly gave a whoop of joy and it felt like they would make his heart flutter out of the cage of his ribs any second. His hands found their way into Cas’s silky hair, messing it up even further before settling on his shoulder, thumb tracing Castiel’s collarbone through the soft fabric of his shirt. When Cas moved his palm to rest on Dean’s neck, fingertips calloused and ink-stained and perfect, another thought struck his mind.
“Son of a bitch, he totally knew!” Grabbing a nonplussed Cas by the hand, he made his way to the living room, where Benny was pulling on the second sock he’d grabbed from the drying rack. When Benny saw the two of them stumbling into the room, his gaze slid to their entwined hands and his face broke into a smug grin of epic proportions.
“Finally figured it out, brother? Ash and Jo owe me twenty bucks.”
He laughed outright at the look on Dean’s face, clapping his hands on Cas’s shoulder with a “You take care of him tonight, I ain’t going to a bar on my night off from my gig at another bar, you hear me?”
Cas only nodded and squeezed Dean’s hand. A small, satisfied quirk was playing around those pale pink lips, making Cas’s eyes crinkle and Dean quickly forgot about his righteous fury because in this moment Cas was the fucking most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and he’d be damned if he wasted another thought on his scheming, bet-making friends when he could be kissing that smile off Cas’s face.
“Come here, you dumbass.” Sneaking his arms around Cas’s waist, Dean managed to yell “Don’t wait up for us!” at Benny’s retreating form before he was pulled up close and into prime kissing position.
He intended to make good use of it, right then, that night and for every day to come.
fin