Chapter Text
When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you.
It was just another boring night on the job. Castiel sat leaned back in the chair with his feet upon the table. He should be monitoring the many screens, but all he did was stare at the clock waiting for his shift to be over.
Castiel’s job was outdated this whole company was outdated. No one wished upon a star anymore. The only thing the cameras would pick up would be the occasional stargazer or some young couple lying in the grass.
They had the most up-to-date technology. Satellites equipped with highly sensitive cameras that would zoom in one everybody looking directly at it. The satellite was designed to light up like the brightest star in the black night, making sure that every Wisher looked at the right star for their wish to be assigned to one of the agents.
Castiel had once hoped that he would one day become a fairy godmother too, that is what they liked to call the agents at StarWishers Corperation. But with time he had recognized that his job was just as important as theirs, if he didn’t scout out the Wishers there wouldn’t be anything for the agents to do. But that was back then. A lot had changed since Castiel started working here as a young boy 15 years ago only 19 years old. Well, technically he had in some way always worked here, the place was owned by his dad and he had run around in these offices since he could walk and maybe even before that he had just crawled around.
His brothers had jobs higher up in the hierarchy, but in some way Castiel had always been the black sheep and so he had been placed in a tiny room with thirty screens to watch with only one set of eyes.
One of the little lamps connected to each screen started blinking signaling that someone was looking and talking at the star at the same time. Castiel grabbed his headset and set his computer to show him what was on screen 21. It was a little girl, her wild curly hair almost covering her face. She was looking directly at their satellite what she blissfully unknowingly thought was a star. He pressed the record button.
“Please, please, please.” She chanted, “give my dad his job back, I don’t like seeing him this sad.”
It was mostly kids these days that still believed in the magic of wishing upon a star. This girl moved Castiel. Usually it was just kids wishing for a new bike mistaking the stars for Santa, but when it was bullied kids or someone like this girl wishing for something that unselfish Castiel always felt a bit mushy on the inside.
He saved the recording and cataloged it properly and then sent of the case to the agents’ headquarters. In the matter of days the girl’s wish would come true. Thinking about it made Castiel remember why he loved his job. A few minutes later he received confirmation that the job had been received and assigned to a suitable agent, Hannah. Castiel knew Hannah, she was his cousin and she was a specialist when it came to kids’ wishes. She was trained in tracking down the families and obtaining all the information she would need and then get the job done.
Castiel always loved her work. He remember a time when he had just started working here he had recorded a young freckled boy, he couldn’t have been much older than 12, wishing that his dad would stop drinking and Hannah had been assigned to the case. A week after Castiel saw that same boy thanking the stars. He had no idea how Hannah, or any of the agents for that matter, did what they did, but it always worked out.
Castiel had, he looked up at the clock, thirty minutes left of his shift. Then he would be able to go home to an empty apartment. Castiel had considered many times wishing upon a star for someone to share his bed and the beers in his fridge, but the company wasn’t a dating service and the rules made that very clear. The list hung on the wall just beside Castiel, the list of wishes that were not to be recorded and cataloged. Making someone fall in love, make someone be resurrected, cure fatal diseases. And it went on, there was just something that they couldn’t change, they were only humans after all.
He went back to staring at the clock watching the time tick by. He only had a few minutes left and he slowly started packing his things. The sun would rise soon and everybody except the agents would be closing down for daytime. Other offices around the world would be swarming with people now getting ready for the night on the other side of the globe.
Castiel didn’t see a problem with leaving two minutes ahead of time, after all no one was up at this time in the morning. He flipped off the light switched and made to open the door, but just as he grabbed the handle a green light filled the room. Who was talking to the stars right now and why wouldn’t they let Castiel go home?
Annoyed he turned back to the desk and grabbed the headphones.
“Please help me,” Castiel’s curiosity peaked, this guy seemed familiar. “I don’t know if you’re an angel or something, but I know you helped me before and I need you right now.” Castiel made the camera zoom in as much as he could and he was met with bright green. Their cameras were of the best quality and Castiel was able to see every speck of gold in his irises as the rising sun was reflected in them. He was unable to breath for a moment. He would know those freckles everywhere.
And then the screen went black. The sun had risen and so the satellite shut off automatically.
“No!” Castiel pressed several buttons, but he knew it was for nothing. There wasn’t a direct request and so it wouldn’t be enough for a case. Castiel felt like he had to do something though. He sat down at his computer and opened the company’s archive. Every case since the beginning was saved in one simple program, you just needed something to enter in the search bar and luckily Castiel remembered the date of this boy’s first request. It had been exactly one week after he started working here. He typed in the date and several cases popped up, a lot more than he had expected. He typed his and Hannah’s name as the caseworkers into the search too and there it was. Dean Winchester, Lawrence, Kansas. It was a start.
Castiel wrote down the address and then went home. He packed a small back and then started on the long drive to Kansas. Maybe driving without any sleep was a bad idea, but Castiel had a goal and if he got too tired he would just stop at a motel and catch a few hours.
After six hours of driving Castiel was on the brink of passing out so when he reached Huntington, West Virginia he found the nearest motel and rented a room. He toed off his shoes and crawled under the duvet. He was asleep in the matter of seconds.
When he woke up it was late afternoon and his stomach was growling loudly. At the reception he asked after the nearest diner and according to the woman behind the counter the best diner in town was just around the corner. The weather was fine out and Castiel enjoyed the cool breeze as he walked the short distance to The Road House. He found it a peculiar name that seemed more suitable for some rest stop for truckers and not some fifties-themed diner in the middle of town. Still the name seemed familiar.
He sat down in an empty booth by the window with his back to the counter. He was looking through the menu when a voice caught his attention. Could it be? No, that would be crazy it had to be someone who just sounded like him.
“Dean Winchester, you can stick that macho crap up your ass! Just because I’m a female doesn’t mean I can’t kick some ass.” The female voice sounded like that of a younger girl.
“I won’t put your life at risk, Jo. Besides your mom would never let you anyway, I just have to wait till Garth can be here and hope to God that he will still be alive by then.” Castiel listened carefully to the conversation behind him, it sounded like Dean really did need some help. “I gotta go, Jo. I promise I won’t leave town before saying goodbye.” Castiel turned his head in time to see Dean jump off the stool he was sitting at by the bar and walk to the door.
The girl shouted after him, “be careful!” To which he just held up a hand signaling that he had heard her.
Castiel forgot everything about food and quickly got up and out onto the street. He looked both ways until he spotted the brown leatherjacket that Dean had been wearing. With a sensible distance between them Castiel followed behind him.
He followed Dean for a few blocks and it started to seem like the guy didn’t know where he was going, then he rounded a corner and when Castiel reached the corner too Dean was no where to be seen. Damn it, he had lost him. He kept walking though, he passed a little antique store and stopped to look through the window for a few minutes. They had a cute little teapot with bees on it, but the store was closed. He kept going and when he was passing an alley he felt someone grab onto his brown trench coat. The thought that he was now going to die popped into his head uninvited and he closed his eyes as he was slammed against the hard brick wall.
“Who are you and why are you following me?” Castiel opened one eye to see a very angry Dean Winchester only inches from his face. Up close the man was stunning. Even burning with rage his emerald eyes were breathtaking, his freckles stood out like little stars on the sun kissed skin and his lips were pink and full. Castiel felt his heartbeat pick up speed and he felt an urge to kiss those plump lips. Wait, what?
“Answer me god damn it!” The rough voice pulled him out of his trance.
“I… I…” He stammered unable to form words at the moment.
Dean pulled a knife out of nowhere, “or maybe I should ask, what are you?”
Now Castiel was thoroughly confused, “I just overheard your conversation at the diner and you sounded like you needed help.”
Dean screwed up his eyes skeptically, “yeah right, you’re some kind of crazy aren’t you? Running around and trying to play some sort of hero, well listen up bro you won’t be able to help me.”
Castiel squared his jaw and with a single finger gently pushed the blade away from his face, “well… Maybe I could help you, but not without knowing what the problem is.”
Dean looked at him like he was an idiot and then caved, “all right, me and my brother came here to investigate a nest of vampires, turns out there were a lot more than we had accounted for. They caught Sammy and know I don’t know if he’s still even human.” Dean stuck his knife back in its sheath and crossed his arms.
Castiel knew of supernatural beings, you had to in his line of work. It didn’t happen a lot, but from time to time someone, mostly kids, would complain about the monster in the closet or a ghost crying in the hallway and they would wish upon a star for help. They had several hunters employed as agents especially for jobs of this character. “Oh, so you’re a hunter,” Castiel said it as a statement more than a question.
Dean’s eyes widened and he looked utterly surprised, “wait, this is the part where you’re supposed to not believe me, then laugh and call me a crazy person.” Something seemed to dawn on him, “so you’re a hunter too?”
“Well, no. I just know a lot of things… and you were right I can’t help you, I’m sorry.” For a second there had been hope in Dean’s eyes, but now they were disappointed and sad. He didn’t say anything else, he just walked away and left Castiel alone in the alley.
Castiel watched the man leave and only then realized that Dean had bowlegs. The man’s walking was damn sexy and Castiel smiled to himself. He didn’t know this Dean very well, but he sure was aware of how hot he was and how Castiel’s knees felt like pudding.
When Dean was out of sight and out of earshot Castiel called the company. His sister Anna, an even blacker sheep than him, manned the phones at the agents’ service hotline. “Hey sis, so I followed a potential case out to Huntington, West Virginia and it seems like we need one with some hunting skills.”
“First of all, hello to you too. Second of all, dad is severely pissed that you didn’t show up for your shift tonight. Third of all, why would you be out on a case in freaking West Virginia? And last, if you need a hunter Bobby is in the area and he can be there in a two hours time.” Sisters and all their damn questions…
“I’m not really on a case, this guy talked to the star, but the sun rose and the connection was lost. I recognized the guy because I had a case with him when he was younger and I just couldn’t sit and do nothing so I decided to drive to Kansas, but…”
Anna interrupted him, “Kansas? Then why the hell are you in West Virginia?”
“If you would let me finish,” Castiel sneered, “it’s some kind of freaky coincidence. I stopped to get some sleep and then went to a diner in town because my stomach was sounding like a thunderstorm and there he was. Dean Winchester beautiful bowlegs and all. His brother has been captured by some vampires and I’m smart enough to know that it would be a suicide mission if I tried to help him myself, so will you please just contact Bobby and get him down here?” Castiel was out of breath from ranting and he knew he sounded desperate.
“Are you in love with this dude or something?” He heard her fingers tapping away on her keyboard.
“What?”
“Well, you were ready to drive half way across the country just to figure out if some guy actually did have a problem that he needed help for. I won’t judge you, bro. You just sound like you cut yourself on Amor’s arrow.”
“I only just met him, I don’t fall in love that easily.”
“Still… I pulled up his information and from his driver’s license I’ll say he looks damn fine. Well, enough of that. You go and get your ass home and I’ll call up Bobby, lover boy’s baby bro will be home in no time.”
And so Castiel drove back home and went back to work as usual. The same dull routine of his life.
He had gotten home from work one day at ass o’clock in the morning and had fallen into a deep slumber on the couch when the doorbell rang. Grumbled and disoriented he stood to open the door. He had opened the door a centimeter when it was forcefully thrown open and once again Castiel was faced with a furious Dean Winchester.
“Who the fuck are you?” Castiel tilted his head in confusion, “You show your face and then three hours later some burly old dude tracks me down with my freaking brother in tow.”
“Is he okay?”
“Who?”
“Your brother. Still human and still alive?” Castiel left Dean in the hallway as he went into his kitchen to grab a beer. He heard the sound of heavy boots following him and grabbed a second beer and slid it across the breakfast bar.
Dean looked at the beer and then at Castiel, “Thanks. Yeah, he’s fine he had a nasty wound in his forehead, but by some miracle that Bobby got there before they stuck their fangs in him. So what are you? A guardian angel or some shit?”
Castiel took a big gulp of his beer, “no, I’m all human. My name is Castiel,” when he saw Dean was about to speak he stopped him, “I already know your name Dean.” Dean looked confused and amazed all at the same time and once again Castiel felt something tug at his chest. “I want to show you something, but you can never tell anyone about what you saw, okay?” Dean nodded, “we’ll have to wait till the sun goes down. I’m pretty tired so I’m gonna go to bed, you do what you want, make yourself at home.”
Castiel woke to his alarm at eight in the evening. He was always grateful for summer, it meant he didn’t have to go to work too early. He found Dean asleep on the couch some trash hospital drama making noise in the background. He let him be and slipped into the bathroom to take a bath.
When he emerged with damp skin and a towel around his waist Dean was awake and he caught the way he licked his lips with his eyes fixed on Castiel’s chest. Castiel hurried to his room and got dressed trying his best to fight off thoughts of Dean or he would have some trouble putting on his jeans.
Dean followed him silently to his car and he didn’t speak on the way to the office. Castiel guided him onto the fourth floor of the building and into his little surveillance room. The screens would turn on in about five minutes. It was silent the whole time, but it didn’t feel awkward. Then one after the other pictures appeared on every screen. Castiel sat down in his chair and left Dean standing by the door.
He tried to act as normal as possible, but it was hard when he felt Dean’s eyes boring into his back. It didn’t take long for one of the green lights to go off and Castiel grabbed the headset. Out of the corner he saw Dean moving closer to the screen staring at the young boy with an unreadable expression. Dean didn’t have any sound, but Cas did and the words coming out of the boy’s mouth made his insides twist. He absolutely hated these kind of wishes, a young boy with tear streaked cheeks begging for his daddy to stop hitting his mommy.
Castiel saved the recording and then picked up the emergency phone. They had a special crew ready at all times for this sort of stuff that needed immediate action. Castiel explained the case and then hung up and turned to Dean.
“What is this?”
Castiel stood from his chair just to sit down on his desk facing Dean, “that early morning you looked to the sky and wished upon a star,” Dean snapped his head to meet his eyes, “I was that star. My job is to identify a wish, record it and then send it to the agents’ headquarters where they will assign someone to the case. Unfortunately the connection were cut off before you were finished that’s why you met me in Huntington, I was on my way to Kansas your last known address in the hope of finding you.”
“You… you did that?”
Castiel nodded and in a flash his head was turned upwards and lips connected with his. It was quick and chaste, but it sent sparks flying through his body. But as quick as the lips had been on his as quick did they disappear.
He opened his eyes to see Dean take a few steps back, “shit, I’m sorry I didn’t know what came ov…”
“It’s okay, it’s fine,” Castiel interrupted. He stood up and closed the distance between them recapturing Dean’s lips.
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true.