It was the day the big storm was meant to be arriving and Dean and Castiel were both preparing for it in very different ways in their own homes, completely oblivious to the fact that their lives were about to change forever.
Dean was collecting all of his belongings he would need for the day including his little microscopes to look at the beach wildlife, and even his swimming shorts, as he hadn't actually been in the sea for so long maybe he'd treat himself. It had been 6 years since he'd given up hunting after Sam had passed, but still he thought about him everyday, and still blamed himself for the fact he wasn't able to save him. He swore everyday, that even though he'd given up hunting, he'd never let another human die if he could do anything to stop it, and to this day he'd kept to his word.
Castiel had long since given up trying to be an angel years ago. It just never really worked out for him, he was always either being scorned by his siblings or told off by Dad, and all he'd ever wanted to be was normal, so this was his way of giving it a go. He'd started surfing about 6 years ago now, and he'd been enjoying every minute of it, he had given up his grace about 4 years ago, so he could simply enjoy living life as a normal human without all the stress of being a reject from heaven.
Dean arrived at the beach shortly before 11am, and sat down on the beach near the surf to watch the surfers, he did it every time he went down to the beach, he just couldn't help himself, they always looked so, free. He was scanning the rows of surfers as he always did to see if anyone new had come down to try it out, or if anyone caught his eye. For a moment he could have sworn he saw Sam riding the waves, but with a quick shake of his head he saw it was just one of the regulars with the same floppy hair. This also happened almost every time Dean went down to the beach, he couldn't help my see Sam everywhere he went. He started setting up his equipment just as the big storm clouds started rolling in from the sea. This was perfect for Dean to examine the wildlife that was on the beach when it was wet, it was the ideal weather to do so. He put up his tent to keep all of his belongings dry as he noticed the lifeguards hold up the yellow flag, to say that the weather was about to get really bad so it was advised for people to come in from the water. However, as usual no one really took any notice, as the storm was actually what the surfers were waiting for.
Castiel had arrived at the beach bang on 8am to get the most of the morning to re-familiarise himself with the water, as he hadn't surfed in this bay for a good few months now, before the big storm came with the good waves. He's surfed all morning without interruption until about 11am when he noticed a man in his mid thirties come down on to the beach. He really didn't fit in there, he was good looking, like model worthy, and seemed too gruff to come down to the beach. But it was what he did next that really caught Castiel by surprise, he started setting up a little camp with all this equipment that looked like it was from a lab. Castiel could't help but laugh a bit at the sight of the man fiddling around with the rocks obviously looking for something in particular. Castiel looked away from the man and continued surfing to his hearts content when he saw the storm clouds begin rolling in. This was exactly what he'd travelled all this way for, this storm would produce some pretty awesome waves. It was then that the yellow flag went up on shore, perfect, that meant the waves were coming for them to have some real fun with.
Dean was just settling into his work when he noticed a surfer he hadn't seen before. He had dark hair and even from the distance he was Dean could see that he had the most piercing blue eyes. He was lean, the nice lean, with his muscle definition just showing through the wetsuit he was wearing. He moved with such ease over the waves Dean couldn't help but stop working and simply watch the man. He was catching every wave he wanted, whilst others around him would tumble from their boards before resurfacing and trying again, mostly to no avail. It was just one of the most amazing things Dean had witnessed in as long as he could remember, and before he knew it the rain was pounding down on the beach soaking him through, but he didn't care. There was something so intriguing about this guy, Dean just couldn't break his eyes away. The red flag went up on the beach calling everyone in as the waves were getting too dangerous even for the most experienced surfers. Dean watched as all the surfers slowly made their way back to shore but one. The dark haired guy was still idly floating around just off shore, it looked like he was waiting for one wave in particular, but Dean couldn't understand why he wasn't coming back into shore when it was clearly too dangerous for surfer's to still be out there.
Castiel saw the red flag fly up on the beach, but he hadn't had his perfect surf yet, he knew there was one wave coming that would just make the top of his surfing highlights. He could feel the wave coming, and didn't want to miss this opportunity. He was just scanning the beach to see if any of the lifeguards were calling him in, but to his surprise he saw the man he'd noticed earlier staring at him. He quickly flashed his eyes away as Castiel met his eyes, but Castiel could see that he had the most amazing candy apple green eyes he'd ever seen, they were just magical. Castiel continued waiting for the perfect wave with his hands running along in the water beside him, when he could swear he felt the vibrations of the biggest wave he'd felt so far, he knew this was the one. Castiel was prepping himself for the wave, as he stole a quick glance behind him and saw that the green eyes guy had his eyes fixed on him again. This would show him just how awesome a surfer Castiel was. He smiled as he began paddling towards the wave. It was coming straight for him, and just as he had done so with all the rest of the waves today, Castiel stood up at the exact moment the wave hit his board so began soaring through the tunnel of water that was forming over his head. This had to be one of the biggest waves Castiel had ever ridden and he couldn't help riding along with a big grin on his face and couldn't resist stealing one look back to the beach to see the man's face lit up with excitement as he watched Castiel ride the wave. Castiel brought his gaze back to the way he was riding, and noticed with a sudden panic, how far ahead of him the enclosing water tunnel had got. He tried to ride the wave faster but to no avail, and the wave came crashing down around him dragging Castiel under the water with the water swirling all around him dragging him further into the depths.
Dean was watching the man with fixed curiosity as he soared through the wave, no one other than Dean seemed to be watching him, which is why Dean jumped when the man suddenly turned towards him and flashed him a quick smile whilst riding along. It caused Dean to get all nervous and he suddenly became very aware of himself. As he struggled to regain his composure, he watched as the wave crashed down on the man, and Dean jumped backwards as he held his breath waiting for the man to re-emerge with a smile on his face, but it never came. Dean became more panicked, and looked around to see if anyone was going to see if the man was alright, but to his surprise, it looked like the lifeguards hadn't even noticed anyone was still out in the sea. Dean jumped to his feet and started running towards the surf as he ripped off his clothes down to his boxers. He knew he must look ridiculous, but couldn't help feeling responsible for the fate of this man he didn't even know. He dived into the water and began swimming as fast as he could to where he last saw the man, it took his body a few moments to adjust, but as soon as it had Dean had remembered why he had come to seek refuge at the coast after Sam had passed. It made you feel at one with nature, and Dean would never forget how good it would feel to swim with the surf and let the water guide you to where you wanted to go. Dean was brought back from his memories when he realised he had reached the point where the wave crashed, he searched around but all he saw was the mans board floating about 10 meters away. Dean dived down underwater and searched around for any sign of the man, he thought he saw a glimpse of what looked like a hand, but had to come up for air before he could dive back down again. This time he went down exactly where he thought he'd seen the hand, and sure enough when he got down there he saw the man on the seabed. Luckily the sea was only about 5 meters deep here or Dean would never have been able to get down far enough to get him back. He reached down and grabbed the mans hand before kicking off the sandy base of the beach and resurfacing into the waves. The storm had really started to get bad now and as Dean looked back over to the beach he saw it was nearly completely deserted apart from his tent and a few people a long way up the beach. He would have to swim the man back to shore on his own.
Dean struggled against the waves for about 5 minutes before finally reaching a depth where he could put his feet down and began pulling the man back to shore. Dean guessed he was about 6", just a couple of inches shorter than himself, he was slim but muscular, and looked like he'd been surfing for years due to his tanned skin and muscles yet Dean found himself wishing he could see his bright blue eyes again. They finally reached the shore and Dean dragged the man up to his tent, so that they would be in shelter from the storm a bit. He knew he had to get the water out of the mans lungs, and the only way he knew how to do that was with the use of mouth to mouth. Dean knew what to do so followed the correct procedure before beginning the compressions and mouth to mouth. He found himself becoming more and more flustered and nervous with each failed attempt. He'd only had to perform mouth to mouth once before, and that was on a woman who'd barely been under for 30 seconds, this guy had been under a good few minutes. Dean found himself checking for a pulse after every try to make sure he could still feel the mans steady heartbeat, but found it getting weaker and weaker each time.
Finally, after about 12 tries, the man finally opened his eyes wide and rolled onto his side before choking up a lungful of water. He looked back up at Dean after several heavy breaths and Dean saw the eyes he'd been willing to open gazing straight up into his own. They were an even brighter blue than he had first thought, and found himself staring straight into them. They kept eye contact for a good 10 seconds before the man opened his mouth again, Dean moved back afraid he was going to cough up more water, but instead he spoke with a voice so gruff and deep, yet extremely sexy, it took Dean completely off guard,
"Well, that's not exactly how I imagined our first kiss to go!" He looked so sincere for a moment, it actually looked like confusion before he cracked a smile and began laughing so hard, Dean couldn't help but join in.
"The name's Castiel by the way, thanks for saving my life out there!" Castiel found himself still staring into those bright green eyes, that had been so full of worry when he'd first opened his eyes again, but were now full of pure delight and happiness. He looked at the guy in more detail now that he was up close to him, he looked a few inches taller than Castiel, and quite a bit more muscular, he was sat looking over Castiel dripping wet and only his boxers, maybe not such a dork after all.
"My name's Dean, Dean Winchester. It was no problem, I wasn't exactly just going to let you drown out there was I" His voice was so soft, yet so certain it made Castiel shudder a bit, Dean, which was apparently his name, was just dreamy, and a lifesaver.
Castiel and Dean continued to talk whilst they waited the storm out in Dean's little tent on the beach getting to know each other a little better. Dean realised he was more comfortable with Castiel than he had been with anyone in years and even found himself talking about some of his memories he had with Sam, whom he hadn't spoken about since his death, it was refreshing to hear his name said aloud again. Castiel also at once felt comfortable with Dean, he found himself talking about how he hadn't had the best of childhoods, which was why he'd ended up leaving his family and travelling around the world surfing, leaving out all of the stuff about the fact his dad was actually God of course, he had no idea that Dean would be completely accepting of his past due to his own background, but that was for them to find out in their own good time.
Once the storm had finally blown over, it was time for Dean and Castiel to head their separate ways, but Dean just couldn't bare to say goodbye just yet, so asked Castiel if he wanted to go back round to his place to grab a bite to eat and relax for a bit after his "traumatic" morning. Castiel agreed and helped Dean gather up his things before they began to head back to Dean's place, but before they left Dean had one small question for Castiel,
"Hey Castiel, I just have one quick question for you, would you mind if I called you Cas? It just seems to suit you so much better you know?" Castiel stared back at Dean with a look of amusement on his face, never once had anyone asked him permission to call him a different name, and before he knew what he was doing he had burst out laughing and Dean had simply stared at him with a look of amusement on his face, "I'll take that as a yes then!"
And so, even though, as of currently, neither of them knew the whole story from before they met, one day they would find out, as Dean and Cas set off together, and unbeknownst to them, they'd end up staying together for the rest of their lives, but that's a whole other story ;)