It had been five years since they had seen each other; their terms on parting weren't exactly the best, seeing as Castiel just vanished without so much as a goodbye, something which he deeply regrets.
He'd left just after the apocalypse to go battle in Heaven. Truth be told, when Castiel had told Dean he was going to go back, a huge part of him hoped the hunter would try to stop him in a way, anyway way. But he didn't.
So he left.
After five years long battle, the civil war in Heaven was over and Castiel was no longer an angel, yet just another human, walking the Earth trying to find purpose; he would lie in bed at night trying to cling onto the ever-fading memories that he had collected over his two thousand years as a servant of Heaven, but the more he tried to remember, the more he would forget.
The only thing that he still remembered as clear as crystal was Dean Winchester; how could he ever forget? The times Castiel spent with Dean, fighting by his side or just generally being there for him had been the time of his existence. For this human being had pulled out such emotion in Castiel that he never knew he had, had taught him many human qualities and taught him to love.
Dean would never know this though, as Castiel wasn't even sure where he was; he had tried calling old contacts to see if they knew of his whereabouts, but there was never any solid information to lead Castiel back to Dean.
It was as if Dean didn't want to be found.
Castiel wandered into the nearest diner he saw, slipping into a booth and taking a seat at the far back beside the window; he removed the old blue jacket he had bought from a market a few months back and placed it on the empty seat beside him, just as a waitress wandered over to ask for his order.
"I'll just have a coffee, thank you," he murmured as the woman nodded and told him to shout if he wants anything to eat.
He fingered the pink paper menu in from of him absently before the waitress was back with his coffee. As he was taking a sip, he glanced around the room taking in the faces of the people who were sat eating or reading the newspaper; although Castiel wasn't an angel anymore, he still found the human species very interesting.
His eyes stopped on a young male who was in the booth facing him; he had both hands wrapped around a double cheese burger, mustard oozing from the top and sticking to his lips with each bite. Castiel continued to watch the man with fascination as he began to also stuff fries into his mouth.
"What?" the man suddenly asked as he lowered his burger, eyebrows furrowed.
Castiel just shook his head before awkwardly muttering "You remind me of someone I used to know."
When the man just blinked with a blank expression plastered on his face and continued to eat again, Castiel looked away taking another sip of his coffee, hoping that one day he would see Dean again, that maybe it would be him that he happened to bump into in a diner or that Dean would think of the ex-angel from time to time; most of all though, Castiel hoped that wherever Dean was, that he was safe and happy.