Work Text:
Castiel hates fire alarms. The fire alarm had gone off in his apartment building. He’d stumbled downstairs, somehow remembering that you weren’t supposed to use the elevators during a fire.
And that is why he is stood outside his apartment building at ass o’clock in the morning, surrounded by neighbours he’s barely spoken to with nothing on but a pair of sweatpants and a thin white T-shirt with ‘I Run Because I Really Like Food’ written in black block capitals. He doesn’t even have shoes on. Excellent.
“Hey buddy.” says a deep voice.
Castiel turns to see his upstairs neighbour stood in front of him. Dean. It’s unfortunate that Castiel has a huge crush on Dean. Really unfortunate. Not his fault though. Dean’s got the brightest green eyes you could ever see and messy blond hair and is downright gorgeous.
“Hello Dean.”
The minute the words escape his mouth, Castiel is cursing himself. Dean is going to wonder how he knows his name. Dean doesn’t say anything, just smiles.
“You know what’s goin’ on here?”
The question makes Castiel pause. Dean’s wearing his battered leather jacket, a T-shirt and jeans. He must have just come back from somewhere. A blonde woman’s walking over to him.
“Goddammit Winchester, what’ve you done now?”
“Fuck you Jo.” answers Dean cheerfully. “Cas, meet Jo. Jo, meet Cas.”
Jo gives Castiel a friendly grin, turns round and gives Dean a kiss on the cheek before leaving.
“You know my name.” says Castiel, the realisation sinking in.
He’s not an ass o’clock person.
Dean shrugs and rubs the back of his neck. “You know my name. Figures I’d know yours.”
It doesn’t, Castiel only knows Dean’s name because of the huge crush he has on the other man.
“Is that your girlfriend?”
Dean shakes his head. “Little sister. Sort of. Long story. You didn’t answer my question. What happened while I was out?”
“Someone set the fire alarm off.”
Dean nods and glances down at his watch. “Why don’t you have shoes on?”
Castiel answers, “I ran out of the apartment so I didn’t burn to death.”
The other man flinches but says nothing. They stand in silence for a while, Castiel shivering. Dean’s phone buzzes and he glances at a text.
“Fuck off Sammy.” he mutters.
“Problem?”
“My little brother. Wants to know why Jo texted him sayin’ I burned the block down.”
The blond man fires back a text and pops it in his pocket. He glances over at Castiel and frowns.
“Dude, you’re shivering.”
“I can assure, I am fine.”
It would sound a little more sincere if Castiel wasn’t stuttering. Dean seems to think the same, arching an eyebrow. Castiel opens his mouth to argue but Dean shrugs off his jacket and drapes it round Castiel’s shoulders.
“Better?”
“Better.”
Dean grins, like he’s just heard the best news ever. And it’s true. The jacket is comfortingly too-big and smells of motor oil and coffee, like Dean. The taller man grins.
“Are you a runner?”
Castiel glances down at his shirt. “I am. However, the shirt was my older brother’s. He outgrew it and gave it to me. It makes me feel closer to him.”
“You got a brother too?”
“Four.” replies Castiel, already waiting for the sarcastic answer. “And a sister.”
Dean nods. “I got a brother and two sisters. You the youngest?”
“My sister is. I am second youngest.”
“Oldest.”
Castiel pulls a face at Dean and the two spend minutes comparing the virtues of being an older or younger sibling. They’re still discussing it when the fire engine pulls up. The firemen go inside, deal with the fire and reappear to give the news.
“It’s a gas blow, only damaged three apartments by the time we got here.” announces the chief fireman. “The people living in apartments 5A, 5B and 5C will have to find somewhere else to room tonight.”
With that they leave.
“Which one are you Cas?” asks Dean.
Castiel replies glumly, “5C. I will have to call my brother and ask if I can stay there.”
Dean waves his hand. “Stay at mine.”
“Really?”
“Sure. What are friends for?”
The two of them go up into Dean’s. It’s a nice place, kept meticulously clean. There are several posters of different bands up in the living room and a huge collection of DVDs. Dean goes into the kitchen and starts getting ingredients out.
“You’re hungry?” asks Castiel in disbelief.
Dean explains, “I’ve been workin’ at my stepmom’s bar since five. Didn’t get chance to eat. Wanna burger?”
“Yes please.”
The burgers don’t take long to cook and before long the two of them are sat on Dean’s couch, watching Star Wars. Castiel has never seen it which offends Dean for some reason.
“This… is very satisfying. Thank you Dean. Most food I eat seems to taste of molecules.”
Dean chokes on his burger. “Molecules?!”
Castiel nods. “What else is food made up of? But you are a very good cook.”
“Thanks.”
Dean is clearly still laughing about molecules. But he moves onto to a different question.
“Would you class this a date?” he asks.
Castiel thinks about for a moment. They’ve eaten together and are watching a movie. This is what his brother Gabriel classes as a date isn’t it?
“I suppose so. Do you want it to be a date?”
“Do you?” asks Dean.
Castiel furrows his brow. “Dean, you asked me. What answer would you like?”
“I’d like to go on a date with you Cas.”
Castiel beams. “I would also like to go on a date with you Dean. Preferably without our idiot neighbour blowing up my apartment.”
Dean laughs. “Tomorrow? I got a day off.”
“Excellent. Dean?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t most dates have a kiss?”
Dean grins and leans over. Castiel loves fire alarms.