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Castiel was tired. He just wanted to go home and sleep for days. Work was awful. Working in the HR department of a major corporation meant he had to mediate a lot of stupid disputes that wouldn’t have even arisen if his co-workers didn’t act like children! Like today when he had to somehow resolve an issue involving the betting of a corner office over who could get into a male secretary’s pants first. He was surrounded by idiots.
He sighed again. Thinking of how cold and lonely his apartment would be tonight. He didn’t like coming home to a house without any lights or heating on. It made him feel like he didn’t really belong there. Still. Not much he could do. Castiel wasn’t what most would consider sociable at the best of times. So what if he didn’t enjoy the majority of mainstream media. So what if he didn’t enjoy large crowded places. So what if his humour was often misconstrued and misinterpreted. That didn’t mean that there was anything wrong with him! He was just different.
A sudden plaintive cry broke through Castiel’s inner monologue. Castiel tilted his head curiously and glanced around, wondering if he imagined the sound. It was almost ten pm and the heaven’s had decided earlier in the day to open and release intermittent showers of rain that were forecasted to last well into next week. In other words, the streets of Castiel’s hometown were empty without a soul insight. With most people taking shelter in warm shops or cuddling cosily with their loved ones at home. Like you wish you were doing, a voice in Castiel’s brain said spitefully. Great now he was taunting himself about his hopelessness at maintaining human interactions long enough to form proper attachments.
Just as he was about to set off down the street again, Castiel caught the sound of a pitiful whimper. Giving into the urge to investigate, he noticed a damp cardboard box sitting at the side of the curb, next to a trashcan. A foreboding feeling enveloping him, Castiel edged closer to the box. The whimpering, barely audible over the sound of cars driving by and raining hitting the pavement, increased in volume. He could feel his heart melting at the sound. It sounded like a wounded animal.
Tentatively he reached down and pulled open the top of the box and gasped. Curled inside, sat a shivering little green-eyed catboy. Castiel watched as the catboy’s bottom lip wobbled before he began wailing in tears. Without thinking, Castiel reached down and picked the kit up, cuddling his shivering form close and rubbing soothing circles into his back. He shushed the boys for a while before finally pulling back to peer at the shivering kit.
“Why don’t you tell me your name, huh?” Castiel said, fruitlessly wiping the catboy’s face of rain drops and tears. “I’m Castiel.”
“C-c-cas-s-s,” the kit’s teeth chattered. “’m D-d-dean.”
Castiel smiled softly, ducking his head to catch the catboy’s eyes. “Dean, hmm? That’s a nice name, a strong name. Are you a strong kit, Dean?”
Although Dean’s frail body and wobbly bottom lip indicated differently, the catboy nodded his head bravely. Castiel felt his heart give a little tug. “How would you like to come home with me, Dean?”
“R-r-really?” Dean gasped. His eyes were a whirlwind storm of hope and fear.
“Yes, Dean. I’d like to get you warmed up and fed, if that’s okay with you,” Castiel said, already adjusting his grip so that he could cover the catboy’s body with his trusty trenchcoat. “Come on, it’s not too far to my apartment.”
The walk home was uneventful after that. Dean was quiet from where he rested in Castiel’s arms with his head tucked under the man’s chin. He was fearfully light for his size, Castiel couldn’t help but think. The kit was clearly abandoned and most likely malnourished. He found himself wondering who could do that to their pet. Hybrids were so innocent and pure. Castiel knew for a fact that there was a shelter an hour or two outside the city. Clearly, dean’s owner was too lazy to bother looking after his pet appropriately. Catboys should be cherished and loved, not kicked to the curb with the trash.
When they arrived at Castiel’s house, Castiel immediately turned the thermostat up and began switching all the lights on. He carried Dean into the master bedroom and set him on the bed. He wandered into the bathroom, figuring a hot soak in his bath would be the easiest way to warm the trembling catboy up. Once he was satisfied that the water was adequately warm, he went back to fetch Dean who was still in the same position he had been left in, looking very uncertain.
“Come on, get into the bath. We need to warm you up,” Castiel said, taking Dean by the hand and guiding him to the tub.
The catboy paused at the edge of the tub and glanced up at Castiel fearfully. “’m scared.”
Castiel knelt down and put what he hoped was a kind expression on his face. “Why’s that, little one?”
Dean’s hands fidgeted nervously in his lap. “Never taken a bath alone before.”
“You won’t be alone, Dean. I’ll be right here,” Castiel promised, reaching out to pet the catboy’s shoulder comfortingly. “And you said you were a brave boy, didn’t you?”
Dean bit his lip and nodded. He held his arms above his head and it took Castiel a moment to realise that he wanted help to remove his clothes. Castiel helped him to lift the t-shirt over his head and to step out of his shorts. Castiel bit back a sharp gasp at the motley of colourful bruises that coloured the side of the catboy’s right thigh.
“Dean…” he whispered tenderly as he tentatively reached out to touch the spot. “What happened?”
Dean sat down abruptly in the water, splashing waters over the sides and surprizing Castiel. “I fell.” The catboy muttered, his tone defensive and so unlike the kit’s behaviour before this.
Castiel bit his lip and nodded, not willingly to argue the put but not believing him either. He pushed it out of his mind and set about washing the little kit. He soaped him down twice and had to refill the bath once because Dean was so filthy. The catboy squirmed and splashed, a hidden playful nature showing. It made Castiel smile, even though his front was mostly soaked by the time they were through.
He easily lifted Dean out of his bath by hooking his hands under his arms and set him on the bathmat. He quickly wrapped a towel around the catboy’s shoulders and started rubbing vigorously, causing Dean to erupt into giggles. Castiel realised he couldn’t remember when he had last felt so light and happy. Somewhere during the process of drying, Dean’s giggles turned to content purrs as the boy’s lively green eyes slipped shut.
Castiel took his chance to really study Dean while he wasn’t watching. The catboy had dirty blond hair that got lighter as it trailed down his spine apart from a dark grey splotch on his right shoulder. Besides Dean’s two regular human-like ears (Castiel had heard that they were mostly for show but did have some hearing capacity), he had a secondary set protruding from his hair. One ashy blond and the other grey. His tail was a mix of the same ashy blond and grey tones.
From what Castiel had already seen, Dean’s teeth were still quite dull, showing that he had yet to present a secondary gender. Dean was slightly bigger than an average catboy already, almost up to Castiel’s mid-thigh and Castiel was no small man. Castiel watched as Dean’s pink, obviously slightly barbed tongue darted out to lick his plump almost-girlish lips. Complete with a button nose and glossy green eyes, Dean was a picture perfect calico catboy.
Finally Castiel couldn’t make any more excuses under the pretence of drying Dean. He helped Dean to pull an old long-sleeved Henley over the kit’s fluffy head. It stopped just above his knees, the neck slipping slightly off one shoulder revealing that splodge of grey fur and the sleeves hung several inches past Dean’s small hands. In short, it was nothing but adorable on the kit. Giggling, Dean raised his hands to eye-level and waved them around, pleased with the floppy nature of the sleeves obviously.
Castiel just chuckled and stood. He peeled off his own shirt and trousers to pull on his pyjamas ready to get comfortable. When he was finished he looked back over at the kit and found him staring at him, his mouth hanging open slightly in surprize.
“What?” asked Castiel defensively. Was he not supposed to get naked in front of hybrids? Was there some unspoken social rule that forbade him from doing it, a rule that everyone but Castiel knew about? Well, it wouldn’t have been for the first time.
“I- er… Nothing,” Dean stuttered, his cheeks turning a pleasant pink as he ducked his head. “I just n-never seen a m-man undress before.”
Castiel bit his bottom lip, a thought suddenly striking him. “You’re safe here, Dean you know that, right? If I do something to make you uncomfortable, I want you to tell me. Don’t worry about making me mad, okay? I’d be more cross if you didn’t tell me.”
Dean swallowed, his bottom lip beginning to tremble again. Castiel was about to start apologising (for what, he wasn’t sure though) when Dean broke out a watery grin. “I like you a lot, Mr Cas.”
Castiel felt his insides light up like a Christmas tree in Times Square. “I- uh, like you a lot too, Dean.”
Castiel held out his hand for Dean but then the kit insisted he be carried. Castiel, unable to deny the catboy anything already, picked him up without hesitation. He brought him out to the kitchen/dining area and set him on a high stool. He was surprized to see that it was almost midnight on the oven clock. Unable and unwilling to put in any more effort, Castiel slipped four slices of bread into his toaster and grabbed the butter out of his fridge.
“You’re, uh, not allergic to anything, are you?” Castiel asked, beginning to feel the day’s tiredness begin to set in.
Dean yawned, a cute adorable thing, and shook his head, blinking his eyes blearily. He looked just about to fall asleep when suddenly the toast popped and he let out a yelp. He shifted his weight backwards, away from the sudden movement causing the stool he was sitting on to begin to topple backwards. Acting quickly, Castiel leaped forward and snatched Dean from mid-air as the catboy scrambled to keep his balance on the tipping chair.
Dean let out a plaintive meow and burrowed into Castiel’s hold, resting his head against Castiel’s shoulder so he could gaze up at him in wonder. “You saved me.”
Castiel didn’t really think that stopping the little kit from falling deserved all the awe and disbelief on Dean’s face but he also didn’t really want to argue semantics either (okay, maybe he liked Dean seeing him as a hero, sue him). “Of course, little one, I wouldn’t like to see you get hurt.”
Dean let out a little hum, happy to cling to Castiel as he went about collecting and buttering the terrifying toast one-handed. Castiel then brought them to the couch and handfed the kit. It felt a little odd at first but Dean refused to pick up the food himself and Castiel knew that the little kit had to eat something.
By the time they were finished, Dean was almost unconscious. Castiel carefully laid him down on the sofa and pulled a blanket from the back of the sofa to tuck him in. This night had really gotten away from him. His plan of a nice relaxing evening had been completely derailed by a single catboy. A catboy Castiel really didn’t want to let go of. Lightly brushing his lips against Dean’s forehead and pausing to stroke one velvety soft ear, Castiel wished Dean a goodnight and made a promise to protect the little catboy.
Castiel returned to his room, quickly scrubbing his teeth and cleaning up the rest of the mess in his ensuite. Fighting a losing battle against a powerful yawn, Castiel slid beneath his covers, thoroughly exhausted and ready for sleep…
And yet his thoughts were still occupied by Dean. Why had his owner thrown him out? Had Dean really gotten the bruise from falling? He didn’t believe it but there must have been some truth to it. Catboys were notoriously bad liars. How long had Dean been out on that street? With just a cardboard box and one layer of clothing for protection against the elements, he really couldn’t have lasted much longer out in the cold. It made Castiel sick to his stomach to think that someone would do that to a pet, a member of the family.
Castiel rolled over onto his back, his mind consumed by the enigma that was the giggly but shy, beautiful but frightened Dean. A prickly sensation of being watched crept down his spine, glancing up, he noticed Dean standing in the doorway with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders, fidgeting and shifting from one foot to another. He sat up and peered curiously at the shy kit.
“Are you alright, Dean?” Castiel asked softly.
Dean gave a small sniffle. “C-can I sleep wif you?”
Castiel smiled kindly and nodded before the words had even truly registered. “Of course, come here.” He spread his arms wide and let the small catboy crawl into them. “Just this once, though, okay?”
Dean smiled brightly, snuggling closer to Castiel’s body heat. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Castiel shut his eyes and began rubbing circle on Dean’s back, enjoying the comfort of sleeping next to someone for the first time in years. He felt Dean’s tail brush his leg and allowed himself a secret smile at the sweet little catboy. “Goodnight, Dean.”
Little did Castiel know how untrue that statement would prove to be.