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Normally when Cas lets out his brother’s dog at three in the morning he runs back inside after about five minutes. However, on this particular morning he doesn’t. Cas doesn’t want to leave the door open to their ground floor flat as who knows wo could wander in.
Cas pulls on his dark blue slippers and wraps his dressing gown tighter around him to go outside. The night air is chilly and there is very little light in their small back garden – if it even passed at that. He squints into the darkness, letting his night vision settle and sees a large dark blob. A stroke of panic washes through him as he thinks someone is trying to steal his dog, but another, harder look and he sees that there is just some rather lanky guy petting him.
Castiel wanders over to where the Jack Russell Terrier is bouncing up and down, enjoying the impromptu early morning petting. “What are you doing?” He asks, the other man startles and looks up at Cas from his cross-legged position on the damp grass.
“Dogs are great. Aren’t they? They’re bouncy ‘n’ fluffy an’ jus’ awesome.” He slurs.
Great, Cas thinks, he’s got a drunk college student in his garden. He’s probably wandered the wrong way back to his student flat.
Suddenly the man on the floor is laughing as the Jack Russell licks his hand.
“Come on, you’re not supposed to be here. What’s your name?”
“’mm. I live here. Think… I… oh gosh.” He finishes and he retches and throws up the copious amounts of alcohol he’s consumed.
“Gross.” Cas says quietly, trying to control his gagging as the smell hits him. He steps back and allows the man to finish. “I’m gonna take you inside.” He taps the man’s shoulder. “Oh, Ajax! Stop, God, no that’s disgusting! Inside, Ajax.” He commands as he notices the small dog try to eat the puke. He pushes against the dog’s side to deter him away from the puddle of sick on the grass and he obeys and trots inside. He pulls up the man to his feet and he’s heavier than he anticipated and taller too, the guy, is all tall and lanky rather than muscle, fluffy and wild hair and hazel-green eyes. Cas just stares for a moment before realising that they’re both stood out in the cold.
Cas drags him inside by his jacket, suddenly thankful that his father had bought him the ground floor flat while he was at university and not the third floor flat that he asked for. He dumps him on the edge of the sofa and puts an empty rubbish bin in front of him. “If you’re gonna throw up again, do it in there.” He tells him, pointing to the bin, and the guy just nodded. Cas walked into the kitchenette and filled a glass with water and punched out two paracetamol from a packet. “You’re not allergic to paracetamol are you?” He asks before handing the tall guy the two tablets and watching him as he swallows them.
The man was clearly tired. “You should sleep.” Cas tells him.
“’kay.” He replies and shuffles himself on the sofa so his lanky form is mostly on the sofa. Just before his eyes begin to droop Cas catches the man staring at him. “You’ve pree’ eyes. ‘n’ you’re nice too.”
“Um, thank you.” Cas stumbles and fumbles with the ties to his dressing gown. “Sleep.” He reiterates and then retreats back to his bedroom after locking the door that leads to the small back garden.
It seems like forever that Cas is lying on his back, willing himself to sleep, but instead he’s imagining those hazel-green eyes and the lovingly lanky body. It’s five in the morning when he finally sleeps.
-x-
Cas sleep for two more hours and wakes up around seven blinking into the darkness of his room. Why is he up so early on a Saturday morning he’ll never know. Cas stumbles out of his room, swiping the sleep dust out of his eyes and filling the kettle with water and setting it on to boil. Just as he grabs a cup out of the cupboard he remembers about the anonymous sleeping man on his sofa.
He spins round, mug gripped tight in his hand and sees the lanky man he was dreaming about on the sofa, curled up on himself.
“Oh.” He whispers to himself. The kettle has finished boiling so he pours the now boiling water over his teabag and lets it sit while he steps carefully towards the man. Ajax is up on the sofa cuddled up to the stranger. He decides to let him sleep longer, remembering that he’d be hungover this morning.
-x-
“Good morning, Princess,” He coos when his cat decides to show for her breakfast. She’s mewing and getting herself caught up around his legs. He picks her up and the British shorthair paws at the side of his face. “Someone is hungry this morning.” He kisses the top of the cat’s head and gets a packet of cat food. Princess jumps from his arms as he fills her bowl and begins to eat as if she’s not been fed in a week. “Slow down.”
Cas pulls out a second bowl and begins to fill it with the dog food Gabriel left him for Ajax.
“Oof!” He hears from the sofa. Ajax is dashing towards the food having jumped on the student as his did so.
“Good morning,” Cas smiles, chuckling. The guy rubs his forehead.
“Where? What? Where the fuck am I?” He says confused.
“You, uh, you found your way into the back garden of this block of flats and were petting my dog in the middle of the night, before throwing up at my feet.”
“Oh, what? Dude, I’m so sorry.”
“Couldn’t just leave you out there. What’s your name?”
“Sam. Sam Winchester. I’m sorry. God, I must have been drunk last night.”
“I’m Cas. It’s really okay, I think Ajax enjoyed the attention.”
“Right. And a wonderful wakeup call too,” Sam laughs quietly.
“Coffee?”
“No, thank you. I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t even be here.”
“Coffee, then I’ll let you go?” Cas presses. “Besides you’re still half asleep and I recommend you grab a shower.” Cas screws up his nose.
“Oh gosh!” Sam smells himself. “I don’t smell that bad do I?”
“You did throw up last night.” Cas reminds him.
“Yeah… still sorry.”
“And it’s still okay.” Cas smiles at him and a warm feeling washes over him. “You wanna hop in the shower while I make coffee and toast?”
“Um, okay.” Sam smiles and wanders to the bath room.
“Towels are in the bathroom cupboard!” He shouts after him. Sam finds the towels and waits until the water is warm to step in. He makes it quick just rinsing off the smell of alcohol and throw up from him before stepping out again. When he does he can smell the toast cooking and the coffee floating through the air, his stomach rumbles.
Sam quickly pulls on his clothes from the previous evening, leaving off his jacket and plaid shirt so he’s just wearing jeans and a short sleeve V-neck.
When he returns to the kitchenette, Cas seems to be busy with buttering toast and pouring coffee to notice him straight away, so he stands and watches the guy. Watches as lean muscles ripple under his thin pyjama shirt and his skinny but sway in time to the music that’s quietly coming from the radio.
A sharp bark breaks him out of his reverie and makes Cas turn round.
Cas blushes as he realises Sam’s been watching him. “The music is catchy.” He states simply.
“I’m not complaining.” Sam blushes too at his compliment.
Cas decides to quickly change the subject before they embarrass themselves further. “So, you at SU?” He wonders.
“Yeah, I’m studying Law. Are you?”
“Yeah, I’m doing English Language and Latin Studies.”
“Nice. And nice place you got here too, I’m impressed, I’ve got some backstreet ding student housing,” Sam laughs. Cas seems to go quiet at the comment.
“My father bought it for me, refused to let me stay in student housing.” He mumbles eventually.
“Oh, that’s great! Believe me, you’re one hundred percent better off here!” Sam tells him. “And you have a dog!” Sam grins widely and Cas tries not to think just how much he likes seeing that smile.
“Ajax belongs to my brother Gabriel. He’s a pain in the ass, more the brother than the dog. He’s gone on holiday with some friends for a week so left him in my care. I do have a cat though.” Cas smiles and looks around for her. Spotting her tail poking out from behind the microwave he goes and picks her up.
“Oh,” Sam starts.
“Her name is Princess.”
“Oh, I bet it is, she’s gorgeous-” Sam turned to the cat and stokes her head with a finger “just like her owner.” Sam stops immediately and stands up straight, taking a step back from cat and owner. “I said that out loud.”
“…yeah…” Cas says.
“Sorry… I, uh, I should really be going. Thanks for the coffee and the toast and your hospitality.” Sam makes a quick beeline for the door, cheeks blushing almost maroon with embarrassment. Sam wasn’t into guys, he knew that, he’d had Jess and then Amelia, sure they hadn’t worked out but he was into the female variety. At least that’s what he thought.
Just as Sam is about to close the front door, he hears a shout. “Sam! Wait!” Cas calls after him, racing to the front door. Sam turns around to see Cas stood leaning against the jamb. The messy hair and the bright blue eyes reflecting the morning sun make him look hotter than Sam thinks should be possible. “The campus coffee shop? At three pm?”
“I… Cas…” Sam looks unsure for a moment, staring at his feet before returning his gaze back to Cas and those damn blue eyes. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Thank you.” Cas smiles.
“Thanks for taking me in last night. I really appreciate it. I’ll… I guess I’ll see you later then.”
“Goodbye, Sam.”