Cancelled. Cancelled. Cancelled...
As the dreaded words appear next to every flight on the departures list Castiel Novak lets out a deep sigh. He stares at the screen for a few more moments, hoping for some kind of Christmas miracle to make the word next to his flight to Boston change into a gate number. No such luck.
He turns away in disgust, looking out of the airport windows at the howling blizzard outside. Snowflakes swirl and splatter against the glass, rapidly covering the runways and the still, silent planes.
He looks down at his carry on case and sighs again as he wonders what to do about his checked luggage. All around him people are staring in disbelief at the screens, grumbling, cursing and, in some cases, crying. Cancelled flights on Christmas Eve are always awful. The sight of all the people who won't be able to get home to see their families' pulls at his heart but there's nothing he, or they, can do now. He's just going to have to go home to his tiny apartment again. He had been looking forward to seeing his brother Gabriel and his new boyfriend but he knows they'll understand. He will try and get another flight in a couple of days. He feels a small pang of guilt when he realises that he is a little bit happy at the prospect of a quiet Christmas Day spent alone with Netflix and junk food. Although he loves his brother, he also likes his own company and meeting new people always fills him with mild panic. Gabriel had hinted that his boyfriend's brother would also be there and he had a nasty feeling that he was being set up on some kind of blind date. Another thing that throws him into a state of nervousness.
"Oh for fucks sake!"
The voice from behind him makes him turn in surprise. A man in his thirties stands staring up at the screen, his face a picture of rage. Oh shit. Not him! What the hell is he doing here? His incredibly annoying upstairs neighbour Dean. The man moved in a month ago and Cas has already grown to loath him. He plays awful music at ridiculous volume at all times of the day and night. He doesn't seem to sleep at all. He has people over every fucking night and has extremely noisy sex to the point where Cas occasionally worries that the bed will come through his ceiling. He had debated saying something on the rare occasions that they cross paths in the hall, but it's hard to look someone in the eye when you've heard their name being screamed, accompanied by 'oh fuck yes, harder'. This is the only reason that he even knows the guy's name at all.
"Fuck! Fucking weather!" Dean groans as he turns away from the board, Cas can't avert his gaze quick enough and they are suddenly looking right at each other. Crap. Recognition dawns in the other man's eyes and his face lights up as he says, "Cas!"
Cas blinks in surprise, how does he know his name? He nods and turns his frown into a tight smile, "Dean," he says, hoping fervently that he won't be asked to explain how he knows Dean's.
Dean gestures at the screen with a grimace, "Can you believe this shit?"
Cas makes what he hopes is a sympathetic noise and nods, "Yes, it's very frustrating."
"That's one word for it. I'm supposed to be spending Christmas in Boston with my brother."
Under his annoyance Dean sounds sad and Cas finds himself feeling a bit sorry for his irritating neighbour but also deeply relieved because the thought that they might have ended up sitting next to each other on the flight makes him quietly horrified.
He smiles sadly and nods again, "Yes, me too."
"You got family there too?"
"Yes. My brother."
"Ah tough break Cas, what you gonna do now?"
Cas shrugs, "Get my bag and head home I guess."
Dean hefts the worn duffle at his feet over his shoulder and smiles, "C'mon then," he says and walks off in the direction of baggage claim. Cas frowns and, after a moments debate, sighs and follows after him.
Baggage claim seems to take hours. They standing side by side watching a seemingly endless parade of suitcases go around the carousel and making awkward small talk as they wait. Dean's bag arrives first but he stays and waits for Cas's to arrive.
"You got your car?" he asks, when Cas has finally dragged his old blue case off the carousel.
Cas shakes his head, "It's in the shop."
"Ok, c'mon, I'll give you a ride. Left my baby in the parking lot."
Cas is about to protest, make up some excuse, but he can't think of one and it does make sense to share. They are neighbours after all and Dean has waited for him. It seems rude to refuse. Also the prospect of public transport in this weather fills him with dread.
"Thank you."
Outside the snow is becoming somewhat apocalyptic and they can hardly see the parking lot, let alone the car.
"Are you sure you're ok to drive in this?" Cas asks, his long coat flapping around him in the wind.
Dean nods and points into the distance, "Yeah I'm good. She's over there," he says, his voice sounding strangely muffled in the snow bound surroundings.
Cas squints but he can't see anyone, "She?"
"The car, my baby," Dean explains. Cas raises an eyebrow but says nothing, of course Dean is the kind of guy to name his car. He has seen Dean's 'baby' before, parked on the street outside their building. It's a huge, old Chevy, shiny and black and extremely inefficient looking. The noise of its engine often wakes Cas up in the summer when he sleeps with his window open. He rolls his eyes and stomps through the snow towards the slick, black shape in the distance.
As he walks, the wheel of his case catches on the uneven concrete, the handle jerks out of his hand and he drops the case in the snow. Pulled up short, he loses his footing, slips on the icy ground and falls hard on his ass in the freezing cold.
"Oww shit!" he exclaims loudly, mostly to hide his embarrassment.
Dean turns, "Fuck! Cas, you ok?" He crouches down next to him, his hand on Cas's shoulder. There's no sign of the mockery or laughter Cas had expected, instead he looks genuinely worried. He looks at him with concern, a frown creasing his forehead. His eyes seem very bright green in the reflected light and snowflakes catch on his long eyelashes. Cas swallows and forces a smile, ignoring the pain as he takes Dean's proffered hand and pulls himself up. Well shit. Dean is actually kind of hot. Why hadn't he noticed that before? Too busy being annoyed at him he supposes.
"I'm fine, thank you Dean," he says hurriedly, blushing as memories of the sounds of Dean's 'visitors' fill his head.
Dean grabs his suitcase and pulls it the rest of the way to the car, ignoring Cas's faint protests. To be honest Cas is glad to be rid of the unwieldy thing.
When they get to the car Dean brushes the snow off the trunk and opens it to dump both cases inside.
"Well I'm back baby, sooner than expected," he mutters as he slams the trunk again and runs his hand lovingly over the cars smooth lines. Cas is oddly charmed by the gesture, despite knowing he should find it ridiculous.
Dean opens the passenger door and Cas climbs in, shivering in the chill interior as he looks around. The inside of the car is pristine, not a single piece of trash or scuffed upholstery. It's as if it just rolled off the production line despite its age. Dean gets in and blows on his hands to warm them. He smiles at Cas, turns on the engine and they drive carefully out of the lot.
The journey home is fairly slow, Dean does not drive the way Cas had expected him to. He is conscientious and attentive and says little, too busy watching the snow blown road. He switches on the heater, turning the vent toward Cas and shoves a tape into the player. As the sounds of loud rock music fill the car he gives Cas an apologetic smile, "Sorry dude, it helps me concentrate."
"It's ok, I like it," Cas says wondering what the hell is wrong with him. This is the music that drives him nuts every day when it blares down from Dean's apartment.
Dean laughs, "Yeah I can tell from the way you look like you're sucking a lemon."
Cas blushes and shrugs, "Well, it's your car."
Dean grins, "Damn right!"
They pull up outside their building and Dean pulls the cases out of the trunk and drags them into the lobby. Cas follows behind. They stand silently next to each other in the elevator, smiling awkwardly. When the door opens on Cas's floor Dean hands him his case, Cas takes it with a smile, "Thanks for the ride Dean, it's was very kind of you. Have a good evening."
"No problem Cas, you too."
As the doors begin to close Dean suddenly darts out a hand and stops them, "Wait! Um...would you...you wanna come up for a drink?" he asks, sounding oddly unsure.
Cas bites his lip. Is this really a good idea? The only things he knows about Dean is that he annoys the hell out of him and that he sleeps with A LOT of people, men and women as far as he can tell. Is this a come-on? He's about to politely decline but he suddenly sees his Christmas of TV and pizza stretching out before him and suddenly it just seems lonely and what the hell, he kind of wants to get to know this guy better. He has a suspicion that he may have mis-judged him. So he smiles and steps back into the elevator, "I'd like that, thank you."
Dean opens the door to his apartment and flicks on the light. He props the cases up inside the door and gestures to the large comfortable looking couch, "Make yourself at home Cas," he says, heading for the kitchen, "You want a drink?"
Cas sits down, "Yes please."
"Beer? Whiskey? Coke?"
It's only just five but Cas is freezing and since Dean is offering…"Whiskey would be great, I still can't feel my fingers."
"Man after my own heart," Dean grins, "Sit there and warm up, back in sec."
He disappears off into the kitchen and Cas listens to him clanking glasses and opening cupboards as he looks around the room. It's fairly sparsely decorated, wooden floors covered with a lot of rugs, the couch, a worn looking arm chair, a big TV, a lot of games consoles and a huge shelf, stuffed with books and displays of geeky collectables and merchandise. It's comfortable and welcoming and he feels himself start to defrost a bit. He takes off his coat, folding it over the arm of the couch.
When Dean returns he has also taken off his coat and scarf to reveal a dark blue button-up with the sleeves rolled up. It brings out the colour of his eyes Cas notices. He really is attractive, he thinks and then hopes he's not staring like an idiot. He looks away and clears his throat, "You have a lot of books," he says, for something to say.
Dean looks embarrassed as he hands him his drink, taking a sip from his own glass, "Yeah, I know. I keep buying more even though there's shit loads I haven't even started yet. Guilty pleasure," he laughs.
Cas laughs and takes a sip of his whiskey, the warm rush of alcohol burns down his throat, the smell of smoke and the medicinal tang of peat fill his senses. Dean has good taste in whiskey.
"Nothing to be guilty about," he smiles, "I'm the same. I have way too many downstairs," he says, thinking of the stack sitting unread on his nightstand below, "Sometimes I just want to read the ones I've already read a million times you know? Even when I've got new ones waiting. It's comforting..." he trails off because Dean is grinning.
"Exactly!" He agrees, nodding, "I've read some of these so many times I could recite them to you but that's part of what's great about them I guess. Familiarity."
Cas smiles, "When do you find the time for so much reading? You always seem so...busy," he finishes and feels his face heat up, he hadn't really meant to say that, "I mean...I presumed...not that I know really..."
Dean grins, "Well yeah, it's tough sometimes, this place is a fucking madhouse. Hope it's not too noisy downstairs? I was meaning to ask you," he takes another sip and Cas gives a dismissive 'it's fine' gesture, while yelling at himself internally.
"I blame it on my roommate Charlie," Dean continues, "she's the one who's always dragging people over here to play video games all fucking night," he laughs, "Sometimes I don't know why I put up with her. She's like the little sister I never wanted," he says fondly.
Cas blinks, he hadn't even realised Dean had a roommate, "Oh," he says, "it's fine, really. Don't worry about it." Brilliant. Well done for caving in at the first opportunity to mention the problem, he thinks to himself.
"So what do you do?" he asks to cover up his confusion.
Dean sits down at the opposite end of the couch and puts his feet up on the coffee table, "I'm a mechanic," he says, "I run a place downtown with an old friend of my dad's. It's not a huge place but we do ok, we specialise in classic cars, restoration work."
His eyes light up when he talks, Cas can immediately see that he loves his work, he wishes he felt that way about his job. He smiles, "That sounds fascinating, and if your car is anything to go by you must be great at it."
Dean almost glows with pride at Cas's words, "Thanks man, glad you liked her."
"It's a beautiful car," Cas says, and he means it. It might be huge and impractical but the Impala is a gorgeous car, something he didn't appreciate until he saw it up close.
"What about you? What do you do?" Dean asks.
Cas sighs deeply, "At the moment I work at an accountancy firm but that's not really what I want to be doing."
"No? What do you wanna do?"
"I want to be a writer."
"Awesome! What kind of thing do you write?"
Cas feels himself flush a little again, it's always awkward talking to people about his work, he never knows how they will take it, "Um...historical stuff mostly...kind of fantasy I guess?"
"Cool! That sounds great, I love that stuff. Have you had anything published?"
"Not really no, a couple of short stories, nothing I can make a living out of."
"You'll get there man, I worked a crap ton of terrible fucking jobs before I finally opened my place. Not that being an accountant is terrible!" he adds hastily.
Cas laughs, "Oh it's pretty terrible. It's just what I did at college, my parents were keen on me getting a 'proper' job, it pays well enough but it's mind-numbingly tedious to be honest."
Dean laughs, "Well, here's to you getting published then," he holds out his glass and Cas smiles and clinks his own against it.
"Hear, hear," he agrees.
Cas and Dean have been talking and drinking and laughing for what feels like hours when Cas looks over to the window and notices the darkness through the gap in the drapes.
"Wow, it's getting late."
Dean gets up and goes over to the window. He opens the drapes wider so they can both see the storm, a blanket of swirling static shrouding the dark neighbourhood. He whistles in surprise, "Shit, I'm kinda glad I didn't end up on a plane in this."
"You said you were going to see your brother?" Cas asks.
Dean nods, peering up at the pitch black sky, "Yeah. He lives in Boston, he's just out of law school, real hotshot," the words are accompanied by an eye roll but the pride in Dean's voice and wry smile would be obvious to anyone. Cas smiles, "That's great. Do you have a lot of siblings?"
"Nope, just the two of us."
"Do your parents live in Boston as well?"
"No, they're dead."
"Oh god, I'm so sorry Dean."
"No worries, you weren't to know. Anyway it was a long time ago - back when my brother was just a baby. Bobby - the guy I run my shop with - he raised us."
"Still, I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thanks."
They're quiet for a moment while Dean watches the snow fall and Cas mentally kicks himself.
"You got much family?" Dean asks, turning to Cas again.
"Yes, too much," Cas replies with feeling, before kicking himself again - is that an insensitive thing to say to an orphan? From Dean's laugh he assumes it's ok though. Dean laughs with his whole body, as if what Cas said is the funniest thing he's ever heard, there's no hint of affectation or insincerity though. Cas finds himself returning his warm smile as he continues, "I have four brothers and two sisters."
"Wow. You're not wrong - that's definitely too much family," Dean agrees with a grin.
Cas laughs, "My parents are very lapsed Catholics, but I guess old habits die hard."
"Which one were you going to see?" Dean asks.
"Gabriel. He's a chef."
"Ah cool, I guess you get a good Christmas lunch then?"
Cas nods, "Yeah, he does pull out all the stops. There's always more food than anyone can reasonably eat - or any army really. His cooking almost makes up for his incredibly unrefined sense of humour and his horrible practical jokes," he sighs, thinking of Gabriel's less than subtle hints about his boyfriend's brother, "To be honest I'm almost glad I couldn't go this year though," he adds in a confiding tone, "Gabriel has a new boyfriend - who seems lovely, he's not the issue at all - but the boyfriend's brother was going to be there too and I have a horrible feeling they were trying to set us up."
Dean laughs again, "Not up for a Christmas fling then?"
Cas flushes, then shrugs, "Not really, I feel like I've had enough flings in my time. Don't really want to waste time on one night - or one-Christmas - stands anymore," He replies thoughtfully, "But mainly I just hate blind dates," he adds.
"Yeah I get that man. I was in a relationship for a couple years and I thought it was gonna be forever you know? But it all fell apart about three months ago and here I am sharing an apartment with a friend like I'm at fucking college and I'm young, free and single again. Everyone was telling me it'd be awesome - you can do what you want, go where you want, fuck who you want. And they were right - for about a month and a half - I did kind of throw myself into it, but lately I've realised it's all fucking meaningless. It's like turning up the music loud so you can't hear the silence - which is something else I do, sorry about that by the way."
Cas smiles, feeling suddenly glad that he hadn't complained about Dean's music or noisy partners, or friends, "No problem."
"I just want to chill out a bit, find someone who likes the things I like, someone who makes me laugh I guess?" he rolls his eyes at himself, "God that sounds like some chick-flick crap huh?"
Cas shakes his head, "Not at all, I completely agree."
Dean moves away from the window, drawing the curtains against the raging snow storm. "Sorry, it's pretty late," he begins and Cas agrees, murmuring something about how he should be getting home at the same time Dean says, "You wanna get something to eat? Watch a movie?"
They look at each other for a moment and then Cas smiles, "That sounds great," he says, "But I don't want to out stay my welcome – if you have stuff to do?"
"Nah, I'd just be eating take-out and watchin' movies anyway. This way I get to do it with a cute guy." Dean laughs and walks back out to the kitchen leaving Cas staring after him with a ticker-tape of questions running through his head.
Before he's thought it through he's following Dean out of the room. He leans against the doorframe, arms folded while he watches Dean riffle through a pile of take-out menus. He admires the way the dark fabric of his shirt pulls across his wide shoulders as he moves, the muscles in his forearms, the jeans that show off his frankly spectacular ass. It's been a while since he saw someone who made him feel like this, he doesn't make a habit of staring at guys asses but he can't drag his gaze away from Dean. Not only is he dangerously hot he is, more importantly, not an asshole. He's almost embarrassed to think of the times he'd cursed Dean's name and considered yelling at him.
Dean turns, menu held aloft in triumph and stops, eyes widening as he sees Cas in the doorway. Cas blinks and swallows hard. Dean licks his lips and clears his throat, "Thai ok?" His voice is rough and Cas nods dumbly as he tries not to think about what it would be like to hear that voice against his ear, breathing his name.
"Cool."
Dean takes a deep breath and passes Cas in the doorway, headed back to the living room. As Cas follows he sees him shake his head and murmur something under his breath.
They sit back on the couch and Dean calls the restaurant while Cas flips through the movies on offer on Netflix. Eventually he settles on some superhero movie, which seems a safe choice. Dean grins when he chooses it and gives him the thumbs up.
When he hangs up the phone he leans back on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table again and sighs deeply, "Fuck man, this is exactly what I needed you know? Just to chill out and get a bit of peace. I'm actually kind of glad our flight got cancelled." He looks over at Cas who smiles,
"Yeah me too, this is really nice. Thank you Dean."
"Thanks for taking a chance on your annoying neighbour, I'm sure I haven't given you any reasons to think I'd be a good guy to hang out with. I've been a bit selfish the last few months. Sorry if I've been a dick."
"Not a dick, definitely a bit of an annoying neighbour? But you've redeemed yourself." Cas grins.
"Awesome."
Once the food has arrived, the movie is well underway and he's on his third drink, Cas is feeling warm and comfortable and finding it increasingly hard to focus on his food and the movie. He watches Dean out of the corner of his eye. He is shovelling noodles into his mouth and seems to be glued to the film, laughing at the jokes with his mouth full. Cas catches himself thinking he's adorable and almost laughs aloud. If he'd seen him just hours ago he would have thought him messy and uncouth. He picks at his food, finding his appetite has mostly deserted him. He turns back to the movie with a small sigh, its just his luck that the first man he's been attracted to in ages has just about sworn off sex.
He finishes his food and puts his feet up on the table next to Dean's and tries to focus on the plot of the movie. Just as he's finally getting into the story he feels a strange sensation as if someone was staring at him. He turns his head just in time to catch Dean looking away quickly. There is a small flush creeping over his cheek as he tries to pretend he wasn't staring. Cas smiles to himself and turns back to the tv.
They carry on watching, Dean's occasional funny and sarcastic comments make Cas laugh and he gradually relaxes into the easy companionship they seem to have developed without even trying. Dean's foot occasionally knocks against his on the table and every time Cas feels a rush of heat over his skin. He desperately wants to touch Dean's hand where it lies between them on the couch. He is hyper-aware of every glance Dean shoots his way, every movement he makes. He's fairly sure Dean has moved closer to him during the movie. He thinks Dean is attracted to him but he's still not sure he wants to doing anything about it. Gradually the warmth, whiskey and comfort seeps into him and he feels himself getting drowsy.
Cas wakes up with a start. He blinks rapidly, trying to figure out where he is. The TV is still on, credits are rolling and he remembers he is in Dean's apartment at the same moment he realises he has slumped to his side and is lying against Dean's side, his head on his shoulder. Dean turns to look down at him, "Hey, you're back," he says with a fond smile, "you were dead to the world."
Cas blushes and tries to sit up, he feels something stopping him and realises that Dean's arm is draped around his shoulders. He smiles, "Sorry, guess I was more tired than I thought," he says, still looking up at Dean.
"You looked cold, sorry I hope it's not weird…" Dean says, suddenly looking self conscious.
"No…it's fine. It's…nice."
Looking up into Dean's wide green eyes Cas swallows and thinks, what the hell. You only live once. He reaches a hand up slowly, giving Dean time to move away, but he doesn't, even when he places his hand gently on the side of his neck and pulls him slowly down to press his lips softly against him. Dean gives a small surprised huff of breath and then he is kissing back. His lips are soft and warm and he tastes of whiskey and coconut chilli and Cas buries his hands in his hair and licks into his mouth as Dean moans and grabs hold of his waist, dragging him into his lap, running his hands up and down his back as he kisses him deeper, turning from careful and questioning to hot and wet and passionate. Cas groans as he feels the hardness under Dean's jeans where he pushes against him.
Sometime later they both lie full length on the couch, sweat cooling on bare skin, panting as they catch their breath. Cas buries his face in Dean's shoulder as he traces his fingers idly over his chest.
"Holy shit," Dean says distantly, his heart is still thumping under Cas's ear, "Wow."
Cas nods, breathless. He listens as Dean's breathing slows, and breathes in the warm scent of his skin. He kisses his neck softly over one of the marks he left there.
"Your poor neighbours," he says with a grin, "Oh yeah, right…"
Dean laughs and wraps his arms around him tighter.
When they've both retrieved at least some of their clothes they lie in each other's arms under a blanket Dean dragged from the back of the couch. Dean looks at his watch in surprise, "Merry Christmas Cas," he says, kissing the top of his head.
Cas smiles, "This may be the best one ever," he says. "Thank fuck for the weather, to think I could have been sitting on Gabe's couch regretting eating too much and making awkward small talk with Sam's brother," he gives a fake shudder
Dean is still for a moment then pulls back to look him in the eye.
"Gabe? Oh my god, Gabriel – Gabe! And Sam is his boyfriend?"
Cas frowns, "Yes?"
Dean breaks into a wide grin and starts laughing, screwing up his eyes and shaking, laughing until he's gasping and there are tears in his eyes.
The End – Merry belated Christmas!