Castiel recalled someone saying to him a long time ago that if it seemed too good to be true then it probably was!
However, he purposely ignored that advice when he saw the apartment.
It wasn't overly spacious but it would be sufficient for Castiel living alone.
The front door opened to a short hallway with one door in the middle on the right, two doors on the left and a bathroom at the very end. On the right, the door led into an open-plan living room on the right of the doorway and a kitchen area on the left. On the left hand side the doors were more spaced out and led to two small bedrooms, the front one Castiel had claimed for himself and the back he had turned into an office.
The place was painted with white throughout with the odd touch of pastels here and there giving the whole place a feeling that it was much bigger than it actually was. The furniture came included and the whole complex had a utilities area the size of an apartment without walls in the basement. Castiel almost bit the manager's arm off, with the rent as low as it was he wondered why on earth the previous tenants would have moved out.
Perhaps the two bedrooms were no longer of a sufficient size for them or perhaps the neighbors were noisy but, although he'd never met any of them, Castiel hadn't heard a peep when he'd viewed the property or while he was moving in. His apartment was on the top floor and at the very end so he only shared one wall with neighbors and that was the wall of his bedroom and study.
The way the complex was set out meant that the apartments on the end of each side of the building, like Cas', were mirrored with the others. Meaning, as the manager explained, that on the other side of Cas' bedroom wall was the neighbor's bedroom and that's why, when Cas had viewed the apartment, the man had suggested moving Cas' bed to a different wall. Cas had shrugged and said he didn't mind. He noted that the beds looked almost brand new and when the manager said he would be replacing the couch Cas noticed it looked like hell. When he asked about it the manager said he thought the previous tenants slept in the living room. Cas thought it was strange, to sleep on a couch in the living room when there were perfectly good and nearly new beds in bedrooms but didn't want to press too much before he signed a lease.
He moved all of his stuff in on the Monday and unpacked his bedroom first, logic telling him that he might not finish unpacking before he had to go to bed for work.
He'd already had a job in the area for five years but had to move out of his family home when he realized his family were not healthy for him. His older brothers Michael and Lucifer were at each other's throats, Gabriel had disappeared a year ago having had enough, Anna had ran away in the middle of the night saying that she felt like she was going insane in that house and Balthazar barely even lived there anymore; he touched base whenever he needed cash, either for drugs or bail money, but that was it.
Cas had stayed for as long as he could, he really had. He'd excused every insane trick, every wicked word, every back stab, every time that one of them got caught in the crossfire and every time he'd felt like a pawn, every time he'd done something he felt immoral at the hands of his brothers, every time he'd lowered himself to the same standards in the hope of ending this grudge match to no avail.
And then he'd had enough.
In the end it took something so stupid to make Cas see.
It was a bagel.
A bagel that sat there for nine days. Michael had been spreading cream-cheese on a bagel when the argument had started, over what, Castiel could not remember, but voices had begun to raise, gestures getting wilder and wilder until it became physical and in the process the bagel had fallen down the side of the refrigerator and wedged its cream-cheesy self there. After the punch up it stayed there, both of them claiming it was the other's fault so they should remove it and bin it. Usually Castiel would shake his head and do it himself but, looking at Michael almost unrecognizable with a broken nose, burst lip and fractured elbow and Lucifer with black eyes, swollen left cheek and a bandage on his sprain ankle, Castiel wanted to see just how far they'd go.
Apparently they'd even let mice discover the bagel first before they'd do anything. And Cas didn't even know what they'd done about it because after seeing the mouse scurry in the kitchen at night he'd known there was only one reason why, after their parents inheriting the house from their grandparents and never having a vermin problem, they'd have one now. So, Cas called for a hire truck and moved his stuff out in the middle of the night not really considering that he had nowhere to go.
And that's how, after living in his hire truck for nearly two weeks, Castiel was now hanging up a painting of a honeycomb in his bedroom.
He'd spent all of that day moving in, having taken it off work just to do so, and that night he'd crawled into his bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
And everything seemed to go so well after that.
On Wednesday he was coming out of the elevator after work, pulling at his tie as he did so and a man was standing with his back to Cas at his neighbor's front door, whether he was locking or unlocking the door, Cas didn't know but he turned when he heard Cas walking past him.
He looked at Cas and then smirked as he looked down him, appreciating what he saw. "Hey," he said, his voice harsh but simultaneously smooth, like whiskey.
Cas smiled back and felt his cheeks heat up. "Hello," he replied, still walking towards his door.
The man turned to look over his right shoulder at Cas he passed. "You the new guy?"
Cas turned to look at him, slowing and wondering if he should stop. "Yes, I've just moved in." He gestured to the man's door as he did indeed stop. "Do you live there?"
"No, I'm breaking in," he replied then laughed. "Yeah, I live here." He turned the key, rattled the handle and then bundled his keys into his pocket while stretching his right hand out. "Dean."
Cas took it, noting that it was warm and strong. "Castiel."
Dean licked his bottom lip. "Religious family?"
Cas remembered his family home and how big his dinner table used to be, now it was only big enough for two and that other chair was always empty. "Used to be," he replied, dropping Dean's hand.
"Well uh," the man looked over Cas' face then down him again, making Cas wonder if he was aware he was doing it, "you should come over for dinner one night, it's just me and my brother in here." He gestured to the apartment but didn't take his eyes off of Cas. "And he spends most of his time at his boyfriend's house so." He shrugged, biting his lip.
"I'd like that, Dean," Cas watched the man nod and found himself looking over his face. The freckles, the tan that seemed to keep going under his tshirt, Megadeth, revealing from under his jacket, the t-shirt was tucked into his jeans at one side, not deliberately but as if he'd had something on his belt or, Cas wondered, as if he'd put his hand inside the right side of his waistband for some reason.
"You alright?" the man asked and Cas looked up suddenly, realizing he'd been staring. And not at the man's face.
"Yeah, uh, yes." Cas nodded. "Yes, I am. Sorry, I'm just tired, from work." He gestured over his shoulder. "I have to- I should go but dinner sounds good, just let me know one day."
"Will do," Dean said as he stood there watching Cas retreat.
Cas was very aware that he didn't move until Cas had closed the door and exhaled to himself. "Bonehead," he chided himself. "Complete and utter idiot." He walked into his bedroom and started to undress. "He was trying to be polite, neighborly, and I stand there checking him out." He shook his head. "I'm going to Hell for the embarrassment alone."
