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Up until he ran away, Dean Winchester had lived with his father in an apartment in the middle of New York. His little brother Sam had left for Stanford for his first year of college. Dean spent a lot of time in his room. The window didn’t have a great view, it just looked over to the next building, so he usually kept his curtains closed.
One afternoon in the middle of May, he was bored and wanted to go outside to walk around the park near his house, but his father didn’t let Dean go because he was scared something would happen to him. New York had always been a dangerous city, there was too many people, usually tourists, and the criminals of the area liked to take advantage of that. So, he stayed in his room, bored and angry. Dean decided to open the curtain to at least be able to see outside.
Castiel had just moved to New York from Kansas to try to become a musician. His parents hadn’t been great fans of the idea, but they understood that in New York he at least had a better chance of becoming famous. His new one room apartment had been cheap, it had no view but of another building, and it was a little old. He entered the apartment and left his suitcase, his backpack and his guitar case in the middle of the room. He stood at the center and turned around taking in his new home. There was a really small kitchen to the right with just enough space for the stove and a microwave. He started thinking and planning, he could get a mini fridge for the corner if he had enough money, maybe a small couch to have somewhere to sit and he needed a table for the dining area. In front of him there was a space where he supposed the bed would go as there was a closet already there. The apartment was small but could be made into a comfortable place. When he turned to look at the only window, waiting to be disappointed with the view of a brick wall, he was surprised when he saw a really cute guy dancing by his window.
Dean decided that instead of being angry at his father for not letting him go, he was going to do something fun in his room. So, he played his music super loud and danced like nobody was watching. The problem was that he totally forgot about his open curtains, so there was someone watching. He finished dancing to his favorite song, Eye of the Tiger, but the song that came after did not match the mood of his little party, so he came close to the window where he had his phone and the speaker. He stood frozen in front of the window as his face started to turn bright red. There was a really hot guy watching him dance from the other building. He was laughing at his face. How could he forget that he had opened the curtains?
The new neighbor could not stop laughing. The guy had been dancing for a while, he probably though that nobody was watching. And when he saw him, his face lit up like a tomato. Castiel knew it was wrong, and creepy, so he grabbed some paper from his backpack and wrote in huge letters: “Hello, I’m Castiel. New apartment.” The guy left his view, probably to grab something to write in, and wrote back: “Hi, I’m Dean. Sorry for dancing.” Castiel thought that talking with the paper was a little bothersome, so he wrote his phone number. He then sat down in the floor, he really needed to buy furniture Castiel thought, when he received the text from an unknown number. The blue bubble simply said ‘Hi :)’.
They talked for hours; Castiel explained that he had just moved to his apartment like fifteen minutes before. Dean explained him why his curtain was open. They discussed their careers, how Dean was studying to be an architect and how Castiel was following his dream of becoming a musician. Castiel asked where he could get furniture for his apartment. What they didn’t talk about, was how fast they were falling in love with the other.
They texted every day, like all young adults in love do. It wasn’t until a month after their first meeting, that Dean asked Castiel out on a date. He was so glad they both felt the same way towards each other. They had a coffee in the café on the next block. It was the first time they talked in person. The new couple spent several hours together. After they finished their coffee, they went to walk around the park Dean loved so much.
When Dean returned home, his father noticed there was something different in his son. When asked as to why he was so happy that afternoon, he brushed the questions off. His father suspected something had happened and because he didn’t want to surrender the information voluntarily, he was going to keep a close eye on him. As their romance flourished, Dean had a more difficult time keeping it hidden from his father. He knew his father wouldn’t approve of his relationship with Castiel, so he thought that it was best to keep it secret.
Castiel was a romantic, he left hearts made out of post it’s in his window before texting Dean to open his curtains. They went on several dates over the curse of the next months before Cas asked Dean to be his boyfriend. After celebrating with some apple pie, Dean decided to tell his boyfriend of the situation with his father. They discussed what they could do to keep Dean’s father from knowing, they talked about moving together to another part of New York or just moving out of the state completely. They both understood that Dean’s life was in danger just because of who he loved, so they had to be careful.
That night when Dean returned to the apartment, his father was waiting for him. “We have to talk” said his father. They sat in the living room; sweat started to run down Dean’s back.
“I know what you have been doing this last few months,” his father started, “I can’t believe you are dating another man.” Tears started to well up in Dean’s eyes.
“Are you gay now?” asked his father, “or are you just experimenting?” The fear had now turned to anger in Dean’s eyes.
“No father, I’m not experimenting. I have been gay since I was sixteen. You were just too busy to notice. And even if not, I knew you would not have approved of this, so I hid my homosexuality.” The tears were now running free through his cheeks.
“You are not my son.” Spit out his father. With this, Dean stood up and ran into his room. He started packing a suitcase with his essentials. He transferred all his money to a secret account that he had created in case something like this happened. He was going to wait until it was late to leave the apartment. He texted his boyfriend a location in code, in case his texts were later intercepted, and continued to pack.
Cas was washing his few dishes when he received a text from his boyfriend. “Meet me in the place where we had our first kiss.” Castiel almost let go of the cup he had in his hand. He knew what that text meant, Dean’s secret was out and know he had to run. First Castiel asked his boyfriend if he was ok. After receiving a response, he calmed down a little bit. They had planned in case something like this happened. He texted one of friends, Gabriel who was in on the plan, to tell him what had happened. Gabriel was going to pick them up at the location to take them to the bus station. Later he was going to come by the apartment to pack all he could and sent it to them to wherever they end up going.
As Cas frantically packed, the memories of their first kiss came back. They had been in a bench on Dean’s favorite park, talking about their dreams. Castiel was looking at Dean while he was looking away. Cas was taking it all in, the green-brown eyes, the sexy square jaw covered with a stubble, his full lips. He was so in love with this man. He slowly placed his hand on Dean’s cheek and made him turn. Dean immediately stopped talking when he saw Castiel’s eyes. They kept glancing at each other’s lips afraid to make the first move. In the end, it had been Castiel the one who closed the gap between their mouths. It had been the most magical kiss of his life. Dean’s lips were as soft as he had imagined. Their first kiss had been sweet and slow. There was going to be more time later for more passionate kisses.
At two am, Dean left the apartment with all of his possessions that he could take. He started to walk to the spot. Castiel was running late because of the packing, so in his hurry he forgot to check his phone.
When Dean reached the meeting point, he did a last-minute checkup, in case he had forgotten anything important, when he realized that he couldn’t find his wallet anywhere. He frantically searched his suitcases, his backpack, his pockets and he couldn’t find it. So, he texted his boyfriend that he would retrace his route in search for his wallet. What he didn’t notice was that his wallet was in the ground hidden in the shadow of his suitcase.
The musician knew he was running late. He walked as fast as he could with all of his luggage. When he reached the meeting point, he immediately knew something was wrong. He couldn’t see Dean anywhere and he knew he had already left his apartment with a head start over him. Castiel reached the actual corner where they were supposed to wait for his friend Gabriel when he saw his boyfriend’s wallet in the ground. All the worst scenarios started to run through his head. Why was the wallet there? Had his boyfriend been mugged? Kidnaped? Something worse? Castiel started to panic. He called Gabriel to get there as fast as he could. The musician started to look around to see if any business was open at these hours. He scanned the area for other people. His heart sank when he didn’t see anyone around.
During this whole time, Dean had been texting his boyfriend about his missing wallet. He was almost back to the meeting point and he still hadn’t found it. He was starting to worry. His boyfriend wasn’t answering his texts and he couldn’t find his wallet. What if Cas left him to fend for himself? Did he regret dating someone who wasn’t out? Did he not love him? The emotions of the night were starting to catch up with him. Dean reached the block where the meeting point was, and as he got closer, he started to notice a figure waiting there next to a car.
Castiel saw his boyfriend walking towards him. He couldn’t contain the tears that started to flow from his eyes. He ran to hug his boyfriend who hugged him just as hard.
“What happened? Why are you crying?” asked Dean worried.
“I thought something had happened to you! I came here and I couldn’t find you, only your wallet was here, and I thought you had been mugged!” Dean hugged his boyfriend even harder.
“I thought I had lost my wallet, so I retraced my steps. I texted you about it.” Castiel’s face changed.
“So, all this worry could have been avoided if I had just checked my phone?” he grabbed his phone from his pocket and saw all the unread messages.
“Well, we are both here and safe, why don’t we start putting everything in the car?” said Dean. With the help of Gabriel that had gotten there in a hurry to help Castiel, they got all their luggage into the car. They drove to the bus station where they boarded a bus that would take them to Oregon where they could be themselves freely.