Chapter Text
Sam and Eileen’s car had driven away from sight and yet Dean and Castiel stood at their front porch with Dean’s arm around Castiel’s shoulder and Castiel’s closely gripping Dean’s waist. They both were looking around at the vast nothingness which they had found quite appealing. Dean was pretty outgoing but even he wished for a place away from any and all kinds of intrusions in his daily life. And Castiel, well, he was happiest with minimal human interaction. Dean, Sam, Eileen, and Charlie were some of the very few whom Castiel enjoyed interacting with without ever getting tired of. And this old house in the middle of nowhere, with a garage ten miles east where Dean could work, was the perfect little place for their perfect little family. It took them six years to finally get a place of their own and they finally felt like they almost had everything they’ve ever wanted.
Castiel looked up to see Dean smiling softly down at him. The sunlight hitting his irises had lightened the verdant green to a pale amber glow. Cas smiled softly at his husband before he tilted up his head to plant a soft kiss onto his lips. Dean pressed into it and breathed him in before they both pulled away with giddy smiles on their faces for a tight hug.
“We made it.” He whispers to Castiel’s hair.
“We always do,” Castiel mumbles fondly into Dean’s shoulder.
"I know but, Cas." Dean pulls away to look at Cas with a twinkle in his eyes and lips curled up in a hopeful smile. "This is big. We have a place of our own, man. And we're married. Who would have thought?"
"I did." Castiel raised an eyebrow.
"Oh come on, dude. So did I. I'm just," Dean shakes his head, his hands tightening around Castiel's. "This is big. And I'm glad, Cas. I'm glad we have this house as our own. I didn't ever think I'd get any of this."
"You deserve this and more, Dean. It's only fair you got it."
Dean kisses him again. "Love you, Cas." Castiel hums a response against those lips.
Dean and Castiel did not have it as easy as Sam and Eileen. Castiel was not sure what job Eileen had. They were always vague about it but it definitely had something to do with helping people. And Sam was a very good lawyer. Dean and Castiel on the other hand earned enough to get by with an apartment all these years. But they had saved up enough to buy a house of their own and here they were under an actual roof they now own to themselves. They had to pay the mortgage and Castiel was going to be earning enough to pay that from the local paper he was writing for. And Dean was going to be earning enough for them to live a good life.
This was their new beginning and if things go splendidly maybe they can take up on that promise Charlie made about being a surrogate mother to a Winchester junior. But it was a bit too early for them with the new house and mortgage and all so Castiel shelves that wish for another year.
It was evening by the time they all were completely done with furnishing and cleaning the house, and Sam and Eileen had left soon after. Dean and Castiel collapsed in their beds as soon as they were in. Castiel does not know who fell asleep first but it was him who slowly blinked his eyes open in the dark. He quickly scrambled for his phone and turned it on to see that it was seven already. And even though it was late, Castiel sighed in relief because it was not well into the night. Dean would wake up the next morning and throw a fit because of his hunger if he doesn't get dinner. He jerked Dean until he was swearing a garbled mess and kicking off his sheets lazily and then dragged himself out of bed despite his body trying to drag itself back under the sheets, and trudged to his workspace.
He opened his messages to see that he had received four long texts from Charlie about a "hot" piece of information. Charlie can be a little over-enthusiastic sometimes and so Castiel called her up instead of reading all of what she wrote.
“Castiel?” Charlie’s high-pitched voice sounded from the phone.
“Evening, Charlie. I was calling about the emails you sent?”
“Yeah! Did you read them?” She asked excitedly.
Castiel winced. “Uh, no. I reckoned you would want to talk about it. Considering how you sent four long messages about it.”
“You know what? You’re right. Did you know that the house you live in, kind of has a history?”
“No..?”
“Figured. Anyway, I don’t think it’s going to bother you much. In fact, it is an amazing topic you could write a story on.”
“Is that so? What history does it have? Is it haunted?” He laughed lightly.
“No, silly. But you could make it one in your story.”
“Okay now, what is it?”
“Until a couple of years back, a woman named Margaret and her son Jesse used to live in your house and they did not live a good life there.”
Castiel unconsciously scanned the room, intrigued by where Charlie was going.
“But then the kid died in some sort of an accident and the mom had a psychotic break after which she sold the house.”
“Huh. The realtor did not inform us of this.”
“Well, duh. Would you have bought the house if you knew that its residents had a tough time there?” She huffs.
“Charlie, if you forgot, Dean and I don’t do “vibe checks” on people.” Yes, he used the finger quotes. No, he won’t let go of that habit. “Even if the realtor had told us about Margaret and her son, we would have bought this house. I’m just disappointed that we weren’t informed of this.”
“Yeah well shit happens, right?”
“This is no shit. Just plain miscommunication. And you were right about this being good story material.”
“Uhuh,” Charlie giggled. “Told ya. Oh and are you anywhere near catching up with your articles?”
“No, not at all. You know how busy I’ve been.”
“Castiel…You have to turn them in this weekend. And it’s Thursday already.”
“I know, Charlie. I know” He sighs. “I’ll catch up with them, I’m sure. It’s not like the extra five articles I have to write without being credited is a big deal at all.” He said with a humorless laugh.”
“Wish I could take some load off of you, bucko.” She sighs.
“That’s a nice sentiment. But you’re already doing wonders by being my friend, Charlie. For now, I think that would suffice. I will let you know when I want you to throw your life on the line to straighten up mine.”
“You know I readily would.” She said with a much serious tone than Castiel had anticipated. “Anyways, gotta go. You’re not the only one with pending work. Bubye.”
“Bye, Charlie.”
Castiel set down his phone and slouched back onto his chair. The brightness of his laptop in the dimly lighted room was blinding him and he just squinted at the damn thing. He hated them because he didn’t trust them. There was something oddly suspicious about computers that he won’t be able to explain to pretty much anyone without being ridiculed for thinking so. And then to annoy him further, a dialogue box saying that his laptop needs to be charged pops up. Lucky for him, the charger was already plugged into the socket so he just reached out for the charging pin and was about to plug it into the laptop when a sharp stinging sensation shot up his left forearm. Hissing, he dropped the charging pin and jerked his arm back, and shook it vigorously to get rid of the pain.
“Fuck!”
“Cas, C’mere,” Dean yells from the kitchen, and Cas snaps.
“What?” He thunders and continues rubbing up and down his arm. His heart was beating wildly from the mild electrocution and his frustration from having to work before has turned into annoyance.
“Babe, you good?” Dean appears at the doorway looking concerned. The very sight of his husband calms him down greatly.
“Yes. I just got a mild zap from the charging pin.” He says, gesturing at it with his hand.
“How mild?” Dean’s now at him, softly taking Castiel’s throbbing hand into his and running his hand down it soothingly.
“Mild enough to not have caused any injury but not enough to spare me from lingering pain.”
“I don’t see any burns. You’re peachy.” Dean says with a quick kiss to his forehead and grips Castiel’s hand. “Come on, I made rice and chicken.”
“Sounds delicious.” Castiel smiles and lets Dean lead him to the dining table.
Castiel tells Dean about Charlie’s call and the not so irrelevant detail their realtor left out when they had sold the house to him and Dean. Dean is absolutely offended that they did that to them although he agrees with Castiel that they would have bought the house anyway. He doesn’t fuss over it much longer and they talk about how much workload Castiel has and how excited Dean is about the new garage. Castiel will never understand what it is about cars that gets Dean so chatty and excited but he adores what it does to him. The crow’s feet, the wide grin, and the shine in his eyes as he talked about how he just couldn’t wait to get some dirt on himself made Castiel forget about his heap of pending work throughout dinner. If every dinner goes like this, Castiel knew that they were going to be happier than ever in this house.
But work got the better of their lives. Castiel did not miss his deadline but he rarely ever got any free time, and one of the best mechanics at the garage quit their job complaining of being underpaid and Dean wasn't home around during the daytime. They rarely met during the day and at night, Dean was too tired to talk or to do anything at all. Castiel was veering close to being unhappy. Their life can't just be Dean being away during the day and Castiel working his ass off at night and them just spending the weekends in bed. But those weekends in bed were everything. Staying in bed with his arm thrown around Dean's waist as he presses soft kisses into Castiel’s dark hair until both their stomachs growled with hunger were definitely their ideal mornings. This morning was their second weekend since they moved to their new place. After two weeks of being busy, Castiel was in Dean's arm for the third time, which wasn't enough. Castiel loved being held by Dean because he knew how much Dean loved just holding people. But Cas never forgot to do the same for his husband and Dean loved it just the same.
But even wrapped around in the warmth of Dean’s arms and despite not having slept over six hours for days, Castiel was still wide awake. Something was bothering him. He doesn’t know if it was the stress or a legitimate gut feeling. Something felt utterly and completely wrong. Suddenly, Dean lets go of him and turns around to snuggle his face into the pillow. Castiel just frowns at his back. This almost never happens. Well, maybe it does when they’re both asleep. Obviously, it does but Castiel is plain upset now. And a little cold. He sits up and rubs the back of his neck sighing. Contemplating to get some water to drink, he looks at the bedroom door that to his surprise is wide open. He remembers closing the door but apparently, he didn’t...? He gathers himself on his feet to make his way to the kitchen. The closer he gets to the kitchen the more anxious he feels and for good reason because in his living room was a boy, staring at him as if he was expecting Castiel.
Castiel stops dead in his tracks and huffs out a breath on seeing the child. Of course, the kid opened the bedroom door.
“What are you doing here?” Cas asks rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
The boy just looks up at him with wide guilty eyes and shrugs.
“What time is it?” Castiel asks himself but the boy answers
“It’s 2 AM.”
He glares lightly at the child. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Jay.”
“And I’m Castiel. It’s nice to meet you Jay” He tries smiling at the kid and he giggles up at Castiel.
“Do you want me to call your parents?”
“No!” The boys yelped. “Don’t call mama, please!”
“Well then I could take you home but I’m not sure your parents would have to say about seeing you walk home with a stranger in the middle of the night.”
“I can go home on my own. It’s not far.”
“Is that so?” Castiel hums. “Do you come here often? You feel quite familiar with the place.” He says in a slightly accusatory tone.
The boy nods and Castiel feels the urge to ruffle the child’s hair. But Castiel can see that the child’s guard is up a little so he just smiles at him.
“Wait, how did you get in?”
“The backdoor was not locked.”
“Of course, it wasn't.” Castiel sighs. This wasn’t the first time Dean had left the backdoor unlocked. They should have a serious talk about this. As friendly and unthreatening the child seems, it is not okay to have just anyone walk in through their backdoor in the middle of the night.
“Why did you come here?” Castiel hopes that he doesn’t intimidate the boy with his questions.
“I like it here.”
“Well, I’m afraid you might just have to stop dropping by like this. This is not a vacant house anymore, you know? My husband and I, we live here now. But you can visit during daytime with your parents' permission if you want.”
“That’s alright. I understand Mr. Castiel.”
“Castiel is fine.”
“Okay. I’ll just go now.” Jay starts towards the door and doubt fills Castiel’s mind.
“Do you want me to accompany you home?” He asks once again.
“No. Thank you.” Jay smiles again.
Castiel shows him to the door and waves at the boy as he leaves. Tiredness takes over again and Castiel shuts the door behind the boy without much thought and returns to bed. Now that he knew what caused the unsettling feeling within himself, he could do to sleep pretty fast. But not before throwing an arm around Dean and burying his face behind Dean’s neck.