Chapter Text
<< Si alors un enfant vient à vous, s’il rit, s’il a des cheveux d’or, s’il ne répond pas quand on l’nterroge, vous devinerez bien qui il est. Alors soyez genitls! Ne me laissez pas tellement triste: écrivez-moi vite qu’il est revenu…>>
Castiel flipped the last page of his book, and with a smile, he placed it on the bedside table…it was only then that he saw the red numbers on his yellow Lego clock … 4:43 am.
“Merde! I mean, fuck! Great, Cas, you did it again,” he said to himself.
It was the third time that week he had sworn to himself he would go to bed early and sleep the number of hours any person should… and it was the third time in the week that he had failed to fulfill his promise…he took his glasses off and put them on the bedside table as well, and after rubbing his eyes with more strength than it was necessary, he turned off his lamp.
Sleep didn’t come easy anyway; he knew he needed to sleep during nighttime, it wasn’t his fault that his brain sometimes decided to be active at night, he was resigned to it... he liked being awake late at night because everything seemed quieter and simpler, and he felt like his mind worked better at those hours. And maybe some of his meds influenced his sleep schedule, but whatever, it was a small price to pay and he didn't hate the idea of being awake later than "normal people".
The thing was that according to the “social norms”, his sleep issues had always brought him a few problems; he remembered one time when he was eight, his teacher had called his parents to talk about his behavior, which meant, that Cas kept sleeping during classes, he still couldn’t understand why everybody was making such a big deal about it, his classes were boring anyway and he was an expert when it came to taking naps at school… that memory led to another one of the first time they sent him to the school psychologist, and then he remembered the tests ant the pills and… 'oh! Fuck, 5:32 am… great Cas… you’re doing it again... stop thinking!' ... Eventually, he fell asleep.
Dean opened the door to his apartment and let Lisa in, “so…this is it…the Batcave,” Said Dean, helping Lisa with her coat.
“Wow, it’s really… not what I expected; it’s pretty clean and…in order”, Lisa kept looking around her, the place was spotless.
“Hmm… thank you? ” Replied Dean shyly and slightly confused.
“No, I mean… it’s just that, when you told me you shared the place with your best friend, I imagined, I don’t know, a lot of pizza boxes on the floor and dirty dishes… I mean, sorry it’s just, when you grow up with 3 brothers,” Dean relaxed after Lisa’s explanation.
“Well, I’ve always been a little obsessed with cleaning, and Cas loves to order things by color or alphabetically, so… yeah”.
Lisa started to inspect the place, It was neatly ordered; it wasn’t a big apartment, and it wasn't small either. The images she had created in her mind started to change once she saw the real thing. There was a certain charm to the place, and it somehow let her know more about her new boyfriend. n
Next to the entrance door, there was a living room, with black walls, a blue leather couch, and a couple of bean bags in front of the TV. Lisa immediately noticed what Dean meant when he told her about the way Castiel liked to order things. One of the walls of the living room was covered by shelves with movies and video games meticulously ordered, it was like watching a movie store. The wall behind the couch had framed movie posters and a few pictures of Dean with different people.
Dean continued with the tour around the apartment, they walked through a hallway that had 2 doors on each side, "those are the bedrooms," he explained pointing to his left, "that's the bathroom and that's just a linen closet," he pointed to his right. The hallway led to an open area that doubled as a dining room and kitchen, that part of the house, was also spotless.
“So…Breakfast,” Said Dean while pointing at a chair, she took a seat and giggled.
“Breakfast,” repeated her, Dean smiled and walked toward the fridge, he soon gathered everything to cook, and Lisa just sat there watching her new boyfriend acting like an expert in the kitchen.
Cas woke up to the smell of bacon; he was feeling like shit, he opened one eye and saw his clock, 9:17 am… 'Great, I only got like 4 hours of sleep', he thought; he stretched, took his glasses from the bedside table, put them on, and then started his every morning routine. Which consisted of 1) rolling to the left side of the bed 2) sitting down 3) taking his notebook 4) writing down his dreams from the previous night 5) complaining about the lack of sleep.
It was a Friday, which meant that Dean was cooking eggs, bacon, and pancakes; Cas smiled, he was so lucky to have a best friend like Dean, not everyone could handle living with Castiel (not even his mom could, she left them when he was 12 because of him), it wasn’t easy, he was aware of that, he tried his best to adapt and be “normal” on the outside world, but acting all the time was exhausting… here, at home, he could be himself. Cas was aware that he was drifting off so before he fell asleep again, he decided to stand up and face the day.
When Castiel opened his door, the first thing he saw was Dean, sitting at the table and having his breakfast. His best friend greeted him with a smile.
“Hi, Cas… it’s good you’re up man, I want you to meet someone”, said Dean when he saw Castiel walking toward him.
Cas walked the few steps that separated his room from the dining room, and when he turned to the kitchen, he saw a brunette woman pouring some coffee into a cup. “Hi,” said Lisa with a shy smile (Dean had told her about Castiel’s autism and she didn’t know how to act around the guy).
“Hello, you must be Eliza, Dean’s new girlfriend,” Said Cas with a monotonous voice (he was still asleep and in no way ready to interact with strangers).
“It’s Lisa,” Said Dean, Cas was silent for a few seconds. Something in his gut told him that “I really don’t care” wasn’t the ideal answer, so he settled for the second-best option.
“I apologize … I’m not very good with names… I tend to mix them sometimes,” Answered Castiel.
“It’s OK. Hmm… do you want some coffee?” Asked Lisa with a smile.
“No thank you, Lisa, I don’t drink coffee, it upsets my stomach”.
Everybody went silent after that, the atmosphere was awkward, what was Dean thinking? Of course, it was stupid to try to introduce his new girlfriend to Cas at that hour in the morning, the dude was still asleep, for Christ's sake.
“Uhh… Cas, why don’t you sit down and I fix you some breakfast?” Cas smiled and gave Dean a slight nod, then he sat at his usual place and watched as his friend moved to the kitchen.
“I can help you,” Said Lisa,
“No, it’s fine, why don’t you sit down with Cas… I’ll handle this”.
Lisa went back to her place at the table, she wanted to start a conversation but didn’t know what to say. Dean moved fast in the kitchen, he decided to kill the awkward silence again.
“Cas, you look like, uh... did you get any sleep at all?” Cas ran his hand through his messy dark hair and took a deep breath.
“No, I was about to go to bed but then I saw this article online… a list of different types of books you should read during the year, like a challenge… and one of the options was ‘ a book in its original language,’ and then I remembered Dad gave me a copy of ‘The Little Prince’ in French a few years ago, so I read it,” Dean smiled and kept cooking Cas’s breakfast.
“Man… I told you last week, you need to turn the damn computer off if you want to go to bed early”, Dean could sound like a mom sometimes.
Lisa stared at them in shock, Castiel had just told Dean that he randomly decided to read a book, in French, in the middle of the night, and they were acting like it was something that happened every day. Dean approached the table with Castiel’s breakfast; he passed the plate to his best friend and returned to the kitchen to get more coffee.
“So… You speak French then, Cas?” asked Lisa.
“Yes, I’m also fluent in Spanish and I’m currently learning German,”
“Wow,” said Lisa. Dean returned from the kitchen and sat next to his girlfriend; he then handed a cup of tea to Cas.
“The guy is a freaking walking encyclopedia; it’s pretty cool,”
“I enjoy learning,” Said Cas with a smile, he then proceeded to eat his breakfast.
The rest of the morning was uneventful, Cas washed the dishes, and Dean explained to Lisa how they had a system to make the roommate situation work, "we split all chores equally, and if one cooks, the other one has to clean the kitchen. If we're getting takeout we always text the other one to ask if they want something... I've heard some people complain about living with a roommate but I've enjoyed the experience so far," Lisa listened carefully, sneaking glances at Castiel from time to time.
"I enjoy it too, Dean," said Cas with a soft smile.
Dean then switched the conversation and started sharing childhood stories with Lisa. She found it fascinating that they were such good friends after all those years, she could barely remember the face of her best friend from second grade, but Dean and Cas were incredibly close. She wondered if it was wrong of her to feel that their friendship was both cute but kinda weird at the same time.
Dean was making an effort, he wanted Lisa to like Cas and to see all the amazing things he saw in his best friend. Cas -just like every time he met someone new - was acting shy, but he tried his best to interact with the couple; everything was going fine until Lisa said it, one of the top 10 ‘don’ts’ when it came to Castiel.
“Wow Cas, you definitely are a gifted guy… you know, you remind me of someone, I bet they tell you this one a lot, but I mean, it's true… you’re like Sheldon from that TV show, 'The Big Bang Theory ', you’ve seen it?”
If looks could kill, Lisa would have dropped dead right there… Cas took a deep breath and lowered his head.
“Yes I know that show, and no, I am not some over-stereotyped character created for people to laugh about the characteristics of my condition, now if you’ll excuse me… I’m going back to bed, I'm exhausted”.
Cas stood up and before Dean or Lisa could say another word, he locked himself in his room.
As soon as Cas got into his room, he went back to bed… he just lay there, staring at the ceiling ‘What is it with people comparing me to stereotyped characters of TV and movies? ... Stupid new girlfriend, she’s just going to take him away from me… oh, God, what am I thinking? Dean isn’t mine, he’s just my friend, my best friend… the one that I’m in love with.’
Castiel took a deep breath, he didn't want the anxiety to win, but sometimes it was hard to "think happy thoughts"... 'This is exactly why you need at least 7 hours of sleep at night, Castiel. You are tired, your brain is tired'; he hated feeling like this, but he was right, he probably would have handled his emotions better if he wasn't so sleep-deprived, but it was too late at this point, and somehow, he didn't care.
‘Stupid feelings, and stupid girlfriend, and ... stupid Sheldon Cooper’, he thought.
The only way to avoid spiraling, or a meltdown was to sleep; he was tired, upset, and worried about what Dean would think of him, and with all those thoughts clouding his mind he let himself drift into sleep.