((A/N One shot I wrote for ask-castiel-mcl for tumblr head canon contest. It was suggested that the characters have some sort of day to day ritual and focused on the relationship of OC and Castiel. That's all. ))
The clouds in the sky were painted different colors by the sun as it had begun setting. Diana sat on the bench watching the colors range from orange to pink, yellow, and red. Her long brunette hair was braided and fell over her shoulder, her eyes focused on the sky. Her attention was lost and her thoughts drifted away with the gentle breeze. Unfortunately her thoughts were not the only things drifting away from her at that moment.
Castiel grumbled as he walked with his Rottweiler dog, Demon, his fateful companion on a black leash. Castiel used his free hand to dig into the inside of his pocket for a cigarette while his other held on loosely to the medium length leash for Demon. "Where did I- I swear if I dropped the damn pack at the school, I'm gonna-…" the red head sighed as he stopped walking and Demon stopped as well, looking back at Castiel wondering why they stopped. The two were near the gate entrance to the park and stopping at it when Demon was so close was torment to the large black dog. Preoccupied with his thoughts on where his cigarettes were, Castiel was thrown off guard, and nearly face planted into the pavement, when Demon charged forward when a passerby opened the gate to the park. The leash flew out of Castiel's hand as Demon ran ahead into the closed fenced park. "Come on, I was about to open the gate! Demon! Demon, come here!" Castiel commanded as he ran towards the gate after Demon. He stopped for a moment to close the gate in case Demon came back and didn't go out into the streets unsupervised. The quick second it took to lock the gate Castiel cursed under his breath—Demon was far out of sight. At least it was a gated park. He chided himself for being caught up in searching for his smokes and not paying attention to his beloved companion.
Unaware of what was happening around her; Diana stretched her arms and leaned back into the bench. All was calm and thankfully it was Friday, no worries or cares caught in her mind today. "What a lovely day, eh Mackie-baby?" She leaned forward and laid one hand across her knees and her other further below to pet her dog. Not feeling her dog's warm fur, Diana quickly looked down and realized her animal companion was missing. "Shit…" her head hung low, upset with herself for being caught up in the sky. Quickly she was up, pulling down her light green vest and checking to make sure her high tops were tied. She didn't need to be tripping when it came to hunting down her dog. "Mack! Mackie, where are you?" She yelled out in a sing-song tone and began walking around the park to search.
Castiel spotted the black dog at the small pond, seemingly sniffing around it or maybe drinking from the water. "Oy, Demon! No sushi!" He called out to Demon, walking briskly over to him. Castiel laughed and shoved his hands in his black leather jackets outside pockets. For a moment he did worry over but he felt relieved to see Demon being his usual self. As he approached, he wondered why Demon hadn't turned towards him when he was called or when he said his name. Raising his brows as he got closer he leaned down to grab a hold of Demon's leash, to unhook it so it wouldn't get caught, and realized there was no leash on Demon's collar and the collar wasn't black and spiked with his skull name tag dangling from it. Instead, as Castiel inspected, it was a light blue collar with butterflies printed on it and a bone styled name tag. He blinked in confusion realizing the dog wasn't his though it bared striking resemblance to his own. The Rottweiler looked up at Castiel and he knew quickly it definitely was not his. The dog had brown eyes like his but he could see they were much more soft and playful than Demon's striking darker brown eyes. The two exchanges glances for a moment of silence before the dog jumped on Castiel, wanting to play. "H-hey, calm down. Heel." Without having to say the command twice, the rott heeled and looked up at him expecting something. Confused, Castiel petted the dog for rewarding its obedience. "Right…well," He leaned down and checked the name tag and took a glance below to see the dog's gender. "Your name is Mack and you're a girl. You're definitely not Demon." She barked at him and he tried not to scoff. The dog must barely be a year old; she hadn't got her bark yet. She jumped on him again then nuzzled her head into his legs. "You're not the first chick into me, yeah? Okay, okay, calm down…I need to find my dog. Seeya." He shook his head smiling at the playful antics his new playmate was doing. He searched ahead at the part of the park that had the large tree and a couple of big rocks, a place Demon frequently like to mark, in hope finding his own mutt. Unfortunately his new companion didn't leave his side as he expected she would. She kept pace with him and walked sometimes in front of him quickly, checking behind to see if he was behind her. Castiel rolled his eyes and continued looking for Demon.
"Mackie? Mack, Mack…" Diana's expression was sour, starting to become worried that her dog might have escaped the park. She crossed her arms across her chest and walked towards the big tree at the end of the park of the park to see if her dog maybe was resting below the shade. Quickly she spotted what she believed to be her dog sniffing a chocolate lab dog. "Oh Mack…" she let out a breath of air, happy that her dog was safe and sound. As she approached the two animals, the chocolate lab quickly left and headed back to its owner nearby on a bench. Diana smiled and started scratching the middle of 'Mack's' back. "Hey baby girl… sorry I lost track of time. Wanna fetch? I can find us a ball somewhere…" About to turn on her heel and find the nearest ball, she slipped and nearly fell on the moving leash caught on the ground. Her brows furrowed as she noticed the leash was connected to who she thought was her dog. She always left the leash at the gate and Mack didn't have a spiked collar. Her eyes rested on the dog, a little bit larger than her own Rottweiler she realized, and he looked up at her, his tongue winding down his jaw. "Oh my… you're a big boy. Well, sorry muffin. You just look a lot like my-" Before she got a chance to finish her sentence Demon pounced on the young girl, eager to play. "No, no, no! Heel! Sit, Stay! Insert a command here!" He didn't listen and continued to cover her in licks and small scratches from his claws. She didn't mind and laughed, pushing him back. "Oh geez! Come on man, I'm a first date type of girl." She said in between the licks and before she knew it she was on the ground trying to cover her face from his slimy 'kisses'.
Castiel noticed the commotion ahead and started sprinting quickly to see what was happening, realizing it had to be something to do with Demon. Mack trotted with him then ran full force towards Demon and Diana. She jumped in between the two and quickly started growling at Demon, her canines showing from her mouth. Demon followed the same pattern, the two dogs unsure of each other.
Diana quickly got up on her knees and pulled Mack towards her by her collar. "Mack, no Mack, no…don't growl, he's okay." Castiel was beside Demon in a heartbeat, petting his head and repeating words to him to calm him down. When the two dogs stopped growling at each other it was the two owners that began biting.
Castiel realized it was Diana on the ground with obviously her dog Mack. "You shouldn't bring a temperamental dog to the park…" he remarked Diana's dog's behavior towards Demon. Diana quickly got fully off the ground, still holding Mack's collar to keep the rott next to her. Realizing it was Castiel, her attitude changed quickly. "If that's the case, why are you here?" His eyes stared at hers and the two acting like two dogs about to fight over territory.
The two are classmates at the nearby high school and never got along. If Diana needed something or walked into him briefly, they talked and usually she ended up saying something that gave offense pretty quickly. Whatever he said usually did the same thing. Diana had an outgoing personality and was a day dreamer, an artist, and sometimes said too much. She loved joking around and telling jokes but sometimes it was too much and usually the person who took the most offense was Castiel. Castiel contained more of a sarcastic, care-free attitude, but didn't like how overbearing Diana was. When they finally figured out it was best not to talk to each other at all, they kept to it. The two hardly regarded each other in lieu of certain events that would happen at the school. Otherwise they didn't communicate unless they had to.
Castiel broke the contact first, rolling his eyes. "You're not worth it." He stated without a care, picking up Demon's leash. "Come on, Demon." As he began walking away, he noticed Demon didn't budge from his spot. Diana moved to do the same with Mack but she did not move either. The two dogs no longer had any growling or mean looks at each other and instead were whining—they wanted to stay together, probably to play. "Sweet heart, no… Let's go home." Diana commanded, tugging gently on Mack's collar. Castiel tugged on Demon's leash. "Hey, come on. Demon-?" Unsure of why the two dogs wanted to stick together when they were enemies moments ago, they were still torn apart by their owners. Castiel left with Demon to go to another area of the park and Diana left to get Mack's leash to go home.
The next Friday the two were at the park and avoided each other's company but the two canines were not so easily deterred by their master's squabbling. Whenever they were both free of their leashes the two dogs would somehow find each other and play. Diana and Castiel would find them playing tug of war on a random old chew toy left in the park or chasing each other across the large fences. At the end of the day, the two were always separated and the two owners didn't talk. Every Friday evening it was almost always the same.
A couple of weeks later, on Friday, Diana sat at the bench in the park, Mack sitting faithfully by her side. It was a long couple of days. The incident with the awful girl Deborah, the school turning against her, and sitting for what felt like a life time in detention made the week simply long and terrible. Coming every Friday to the park with Mack was something she did to be calm and make Mack happy. Today she noticed Demon wasn't at the park and of course neither was Castiel. It felt disconcerting and she didn't understand why. Mack also must have been feeling sad because her playmate wasn't there. She laid her head on Diana's brown skinny jeans, her two small brown spots for brows rising up as she looked up at Diana. "No…" Diana started to beg, trying to look away. "No, no, don't give me those puppy dog eyes…" Unfortunately Mack was giving her the look and the worst part was Mack knew how to get her master to obey her. "No, sweet heart… I don't know where Demon and Castiel are…" She petted the dog gently, her hands rubbing against the backs of Mack's ears. Mack let out a quiet whine and nuzzled her head into her master's lap, trying to get what she wanted. Diana only could pet her to try and ease her companion's sad behavior.
Diana thought back to the day before. When she saw Castiel walk away, defeated, she didn't know why but she hugged him from his back. She didn't want to face him, most days she didn't want to talk to him. Something happened though within that week. Seeing and hearing the stories, seeing the different point of views that she could imagine or see, it made her take her pride and throw it out the window just to give him a brief hug. Seeing someone as proud as him look defeated like a dog that fought so hard and ended up giving into the fight stirred something inside of her. She didn't know if it was good or bad and she wasn't sure if she really wanted to think too much on the idea. She did realize something and it was something she didn't want to admit—today she missed him. She missed avoiding him at the park, she missed her Mack wagging her curly fluffy tail at seeing Demon run into the park, and she missed how the two of them would say nothing while their dogs played.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice her dog heading off into a different direction not too far away to the nearby sidewalk in the park.
He didn't want to be out today. He didn't want to sulk, he didn't want to be near people, and at the moment he wasn't sure what he really wanted. He closed the gate behind him and removed Demon's leash from the collar so he could run, but Demon stood next to his owner. Castiel didn't know why but today the park seemed like a haven. The apartment was too lonely and quiet by himself and every Friday he always took Demon out to the park. It felt weird not to go and let Demon play and see Diana. Suddenly he hit his head with his palm, shaking his head wondering why he even thought of her. True, every Friday since they saw each other a couple of weeks ago it was like an unwilling ritual to be near each other, but he didn't want to think about her or much of anything. The events from school flashed in his mind, everything that happened with Deborah. Castiel wrapped the black leash around his arm and looked down at his best friend glumly. Demon whined and looked at Castiel, his eyes never leaving his master. "Great, you're down because of me…" His tone was irritated, with himself, for letting himself start to feel so pitiful. He ran his hand through his hair and started walking, Demon on his side, on the sidewalk. He reminded himself it was stupid to be upset. Everything that happened happened, and he had to move on. Staying stuck in the past did nothing for him or for others. He placed the black leash in his pocket of the long brown coat and stuffed his other hand in the other pocket, looking down at the ground.
As the two walked, Demon stopped and so did Castiel, surprised that Demon paused. He watched Demon start sniffing the air before he barked. In mere seconds almost an exact copy came hurling towards Demon and tackled him. Caught off guard, Castiel was about to pull the dog off of his before realizing it was Diana's dog, Mack. The two rolled around in the dirt, making playful noises, and then got up to start chasing after each other. Castiel's expression softened, a small smile placing on his lips seeing the two play together. He didn't understand why the two got along when the first time they met they growled and nearly started a dog fight. Why did the suddenly get along so quick and settle their differences? He watched them run around the park and his eyes eventually drifted away from them and towards Diana who came running towards him, wearing a hoodie and dark brown pants. She huffed out breaths of air and asked him if he saw where Mack went. He pointed towards the two black fluff balls playing together not too far away. "They're fine, just normal playing…" She let out a "Oh…" and caught her breath. He was surprised she hadn't left, still standing next to him on the sidewalk watching their dogs play.
He returned his attention to the dogs, forgetting that he was still smiling until it was starting to become painful. The two said nothing and it was fine.
Castiel felt better watching Demon be happy and it made him want to feel happy as well, not succumbing to useless sad attitude about life. Briefly a memory flashed in his mind of Diana hugging him from behind and his cheeks turned a light tint of pink thinking back on it. He closed his eyes, willing the color to go away, and it did. His cheeks didn't feel warm and he kept it that way. Today he didn't need to be feeling anything like that. When he opened his eyes, he turned his head to take a glance at Diana but he was surprised again to see her looking up at him. The two said nothing until Castiel said "I'm going to sit down on the bench. Feel free to sit down and we can keep an eye on the two mutts, Diana." He shrugged his shoulders and headed over to the bench, sitting down. She joined him and sat down on the edge of the further side of the bench from him.
"Di." She said.
"What?" He glanced at her before returning his view to watch Demon.
"I like to be called Di. Diana is too formal." She stated, her eyes locking with his for that brief moment before she too watched the dogs frolic. Castiel gave a nod of approval and said nothing.
Time passed and the sun was beginning to set. The dogs returned to their owners and played a lazy version of tug of war in front of their masters, the pups tired from playing as much as they did for the afternoon. Demon and Mack eventually lay down next to each other and started napping, tuckered out. Castiel figured now was the time to take Demon home and Di seemed to have the same thought in mind. The two woke up the sleeping dogs and leashed them to start heading home. Right as Castiel put the leash on Demon's spiked collar, he asked Di a question.
"These two fought when they first met. Why are they friends?" He knew they were dogs, but Demon was never just a dog and he would never think of him in that way. Demon had specific behaviors around certain people, strangers, and other animals. It was like the two never were going to tear each other's throats out.
"Well, Mack probably thought I was in danger and reacted so when they met. Then Demon probably thought he was in danger and reacted the same way. Sometimes when someone feels that they are in danger, they react acutely to it…" She shrugged her shoulders, strands of hair falling down from them to her side. She hooked the leash on Mack's collar. "Once they realized they had nothing to fear, it's like the slate is wiped clean I suppose? They forgive and forget."
Both masters took into consideration the idea of how the dogs became friends. The two said nothing else and walked out together, intentionally or not they were unaware, and did not goodbye to each other. The two dogs barked as they headed their separate directions as a way of goodbye it seemed to their friend.
The next Friday the two met again at the park with their dogs. They hardly spoke but the silence was welcoming. The two didn't know yet if there was something to fear and didn't know how to respond with each other. The silence was comforting with the other person's presence. Every Friday they enjoyed their calm time together, feeling the other out bit by bit.
(( A/N Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! This is based off of in my MCL game, I had -100 with Castiel for many episodes. It wasn't until during and after the Deborah episodes that it's at -85 or higher now. Seeing those episodes really made me see Castiel differently and we both have the same values on a lot of things. I tried to incorporate that with this drabble that you don't have romance or friendship in this, but the beginning of something. It's difficult for two very different people to communicate and sometimes it's best not to say anything. The dogs symbolized the two and how they could be if they let go of the fear that the other may harm them— words or other means.))