Dean watched the snow fall as he went in search of a place to sleep tonight. He had taken Sammy to the only shelter that had space left, but there was only one bed left, and damn if he was going to let his baby brother sleep in the cold.

As he rounded the corner, he saw a faint glow of a shop window in the distance. It looked warm and inviting, and when it was so cold that you could smell the cold, anything warm drew you in.

Inside the small record store was a boy, about Dean's age with mussed up raven hair and face he couldn't quite make out, handing cups of probably something warm to the customers inside. The idea of hot liquid sliding down his throat made Dean ache to go in, all too aware of his blistering surroundings.

Dean, however, knew he couldn't afford to waste any money in there when he had much more pressing matters, like Sammy's school fees or their next meal. Waiting in the shadows until the boy who seemed to work there closed, saw the lights flicker off and advanced to the front door. At least this place had an awning and heat lamps, so he wouldn't have hypothermia when he woke up. He sat down on the cold pavement, leaning into the crook of the door until he felt his eyes get heavy.

Castiel had just switched off the lights in the shop and was about to make his way up to his apartment above when he saw a figure curl up in front of the door. It shuttered to make him think how much it must suck to be sleeping in that merciless weather. He contemplated ignoring it, but a nagging in the back of his head told him otherwise

He found himself turning the lights back on and cautiously walking up to the door, seeing the figure much more in detail. Turns out the figure was a boy around his age, hunched over in a thin leather jacket, the cold pricking his tanned skin. He carefully opened the door a tad and gently nudged the boy's shoulder, quickly retracting to avoid assault.

The boy jolted awake, looking at him with wild green eyes and ruffed up fallow-colored hair. "You want to come in? It's rather cold out there." The boy's ridiculously green eyes flicked around the room before returning back to Castiel's as if asking for permission.

Castiel pivoted out of the doorway, watching as the boy timidly entered the threshold, eyes everywhere as if he's trying to drink in his surroundings. "You want a hot chocolate?" Noticing the ambivalence in The boy's eyes, he added a little too quickly, "I usually give a free cup to anyone who walks in." He saw the boy's shoulders relax slightly and hopefully not too quickly went to go fetch him a cup from the kitchen.

Dean, taken aback by the raven-haired boy's abruptness, casually glossed through the store's expansive collection of vinyl to relieve the awkward tension in the room.

He had hardly had enough time to decide if this kid's hospitality was worth the risk of getting Social Services called on him and Sammy before he was thrusting the cup into his hands. He focused his energy on absorbing the warmth radiating from the coffee cup into his numb fingers when his stomach betrayed him, growling at the tantalizing aroma arising from the hot chocolate.

It wasn't until then did he notice sharp cerulean eyes analyzing him. Seriously, what was with this guy? Does he stare at all his customers like that? Tilting his head like a confused puppy, i mean seriously, who does that?, the boy said, "Are you hungry? I was about to get dinner, I know, pretty late for a dinner, right? Anyways, it wouldn't be any trouble if you joined me. I'm Castiel by the way."

" 'M Dean," he managed to muster out before he found himself following the awkward boy into the back of the store. Sitting in the quaint little kitchen, he watched the b-Castiel run about the kitchen, totally not noticing how his shirt rode up a little as he grabbed the bread out of one of the cabinets, showing a little strip of hipbone as he did so.

Dropping a grilled cheese in front of him, Castiel slouched down into his seat across from Dean, moaning around the sandwich in a way that should be considered illegal. Trying really hard not to gawk at Cas, he stared at the food, not sure if it really was ok for him to eat it. Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw Cas do that adorable puppy head tilt again, burrowing those indescribable blue eyes into his very soul.

"You know you can eat that if you want to. It's not like it's any trouble to me. I wouldn't have done it if it was a hassle."

Dean did his best not to devour the sandwich in one bite, but he couldn't help a moan that may have escaped his mouth as the warm cheese melted on his tongue. He noticed Cas chuckle to himself at the noise.

"You like it, huh?" Cas smirked at Dean, who was practically glowing.

"Yeah," Dean shrugged as he slowly lost the will to savor the food.

"Now I know my food isn't that good. When was the last time you ate?" Noticing Dean tense up and avert his eyes to the floor, Castiel appeared to drop the subject, probably figuring out his answer from Dean's reaction.

Slowly, Dean looked up into Cas's blue swirls and muttered nervously, "You've got an uh awesome collection of classics, Cas. So uh why the Nickelback?"

Cas smiled warmly at that, visibly erasing the tension in Dean. "No one's ever called me Cas before."

"I uh I didn't mean to offend you..."

"No, no. I like it. And I also happen to like Nickelback, thank you very much. But I'm glad to know you like the store."

I think I can like this kid.

After hours, but only felt like minutes, of talking to Cas about Vonnegut and Zepplin, Dean noticed how late it was getting.

"I should probably get going. Thanks for everything, Cas."

Shooting out of his chair, Cas practically flew towards Dean and said, "It's really cold out there. I have a room in the back if you want to stay the night."

Dean gawked at Cas in disbelief. The fact that he let him in, gave him free food, and spent time with him was crazy enough. Now he was offering to let him stay the night! "Cas, I can't possibly let you do that. It's too m-"

Cas gently laid his hand on Dean's shoulders, looked into his eyes tenderly, and said, "Dean. I offered. It's not too much. Plus, it's freezing outside. I'm not letting you sleep in that."

Before Dean could rebuke that, he was being led back through the kitchen, to a door on the side. Cas opened the door and motioned to the room. "This is your room. You need anything, just holler. I'm a pretty light sleeper, anyways. Good night, Dean."

Dean managed to spit out a " 'Night" before Cas had fled the room and ran upstairs to his own room. Looking around the room, he noticed how atypically sparse this room was, only containing a small closet, a dresser, and a full size bed with a plain white duvet. He must not get many visitors. Dean sat down on the bed and noticed how comfortable the mattress was. Huh. Memory Foam. Hesitantly, he stripped down to a t-shirt and boxers and slid under the covers. Dean, for the first time in a long time, fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.