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Cas should have known better than to get into the old, unreliable elevator in his dorm. It’s broken down several times in the last few months alone. But he really didn’t have a choice. He’s up on the fifth floor, and he has some groceries and toiletries to bring up, enough that if he’d carried them 5 flights of stairs, his arms might have fallen off. Instead, he’s trapped in this stupid elevator with the stupidly attractive guy that he sometimes sees in the showers. He must live on the same floor if he uses that shower.
He’s always been kind of awkward and nerdy. Now is no exception. While Mr. Perfectface is over there shouting into his cell phone, Cas stands awkwardly in the corner, having forgotten his phone in his room before he went shopping. It’s clear that he’s trying to get them help. But in the end he hangs up and grumbles at his phone. “It’ll be probably half an hour until they can get someone over here.”
“Oh. Thanks for calling,” Cas answers looking down at his shoes. Secretly, he’s kinda happy to be stuck in here with Mr. Perfectface. He doesn’t even know his name, but at least it’s good scenery, and yeah, Cas might have just a little crush on the guy. “Um, do you want to talk? I mean since we’re gonna be stuck here.”
The other guy nods and slides down the wall until he’s sitting on the floor. “Sure, why not. I’ve got nothin’ better ta do.” He holds out his hand and looks up at Cas, who still hasn’t taken a seat. “Name’s Dean. Dean Winchester.”
Cas stares at the hand for a moment before he realizes he’s supposed to shake back. “Oh! Castiel Novak. Nice to meet you, Dean.” He shakes the offered hand once and then lets go to fold his legs down and sit cross-legged next to his grocery bags. “So, uh…” He pauses unsure of what kind of small talk to make.
Luckily for Cas, Dean speaks up instead, “I’ve seen you around here. You’re right across from the shower, right?” He tilts his head. “What are you studying?”
Cas blushes a little and nods. He hadn’t realized that Dean had even noticed him. “Yeah I do. I’m majoring in Religious Studies and minoring in Archeology. You?”
“Engineering. Religious Studies? Looking to prove what the bible says is true?” Dean answers back with more questions. It seems as though he’s not going to give Cas a chance to ask any more of his own for now.
“Well, it was either that or my parents would send me to Seminary School.” He looks down. He dislikes how rigidly religious his family is. He hasn’t even come out to them yet, afraid of what the consequences would be. “Besides, they’re good stories and probably rooted in truth somehow. I just want to see the connection for myself.”
A startled look crosses Dean’s face before fading away. “Are you parents that religious? Would they really have sent you to Priest School? What about what you want? What would you be studying if you didn’t have to go for religious studies?” The questions just pour out of Dean. He can’t help it. He’s rather fascinated by all of this now.
“Yeah, they are. It doesn’t really matter what I want. With a Lawyer and a Doctor already in the family and my other older brother going for an Accounting major, I was really limited in what I could pick from. This seemed like the best solution,” Cas explains with a nod and a shrug. “I dunno what I’d be studying. English maybe? I like writing.” He’s never really thought about that before.
Dean’s not sure what to say to that. The silence quickly becomes uncomfortable before Dean asks, “What would they do if they met someone who didn’t conform to their religious ideals?”
Cas stares at him blankly. “Huh? What do you mean?”
Dean sighs and looks away, “What would they do if they met someone who was gay or an atheist or something?”
A furious blush spreads over Cas’s cheeks when Dean says the word, “gay.” He clears his throat and shrugs. “I don’t know. Probably go on some religiously based rant about how being gay is evil, or how non-believers are going to Hell. I don’t believe that though. I think people will love who they love, no matter what anyone has to say about it. I think that people will believe, and have a right to believe, or not believe whatever they want. So long as they aren’t hurting anyone with those beliefs or shoving them down anyone else’s throat, what does it matter?” He looks down. “I don’t like going home because of the things they say. I don’t feel… comfortable.”
Dean’s expression starts to flag when he hears what Cas has been brought up with, but his head snaps up when Cas starts in on his own views. “So what do you believe? Why don’t you feel comfortable at home?” His face scrunches up in confusion as he tries to figure that one out.
Castiel sighs heavily. “I don’t know what I believe anymore. I haven’t known for a long time.” He looks over at Dean and bites his lip. “I… I just met you. Why are you so interested in me?”
An aborted laugh chokes its way out of Dean’s throat. “I guess because I’ve been meaning to stop and talk to you for a while now. I’ve seen you around and,” He pauses and sighs heavily, rubbing his neck with awkwardness. “I’ve wanted to ask you out for a while now, but I didn’t know how you’d take that, or well, even if you swung that way. I guess I’ve been looking for someone I can just talk to about this stuff.”
Cas looks positively shocked. “I didn’t know you were…” He trails off and sighs and then smiles. “I don’t feel comfortable at home because I’m gay. I haven’t told anyone yet, but I am and when they talk about all that stuff, it makes me uncomfortable.” He bites his lip again. “You can always talk to me about this stuff if you want to, Dean. I’m in room 523, right across from the showers.”
Dean smiles back at him and nods. “I’ll be sure to do that. So, uh, do you wanna get some burgers sometime?”
After about an hour, the elevator got moving again. Dean and Cas kept talking, and started dating. In his Junior Year, Castiel told his parents he was gay, which started a whole huge argument and lead to them stopping paying for his education, got loans for school, and changed his major to English. In their Senior year, Dean asked Cas to marry him. They had bumps along the way, but all-in-all they were pretty happy. And all this because of a chance meeting in a broken down elevator.