3

Living with Dean Winchester had turned out to be a lot easier for Castiel. He wasn't the slob he thought he'd be. He was organized and clean, he maintained the house how it was supposed to be. Then again it had been only a week since he moved in and he wasn't going to settle a bad image for Cas.

Dean didn't waste time with readjusting in town either; he was quickly greeted by the people as if he had never left in the first place. Castiel hadn't been that lucky when he moved in, he had been ignored. Dean had found a job as a mechanic with his friend Bobby and he had gotten his Chevy Impala back.

To Cas the car seemed in perfect condition, but Dean spent most of his free time fixing it or cleaning it even more. He never really cared about cars or what his new roommate did with his vehicle, but he did enjoy the image that'd come with it.

"Hello, Dean." Castiel said as he leaned against his car's door, his hands holding to the glass of iced tea tightly. The sight of Dean continued to make him nervous.

It's not like Dean made it any easier for him either. What made him think it was okay to wear a black shirt that really showed off the muscles of his arms and those knee-torn jeans that really hugged the figure of his incredible bow-legs. His dark blonde hair was messy, slightly tainted with the car oil that was on his fingertips. Dean was really irresistible. How did someone like him end up living with Castiel?

"Hey, Cas, when you're done staring, could you pass me by beer, please." Dean said without taking his eyes away from whatever he was doing to his car's motor, Castiel almost dropped his glass when he heard him say that. It was the first time he had been so obvious when it came to checking out someone.

"Sorry." He apologized and gave him the cold beer that was in the middle of three other empty bottles. "I didn't mean to." He was just so handsome.

Dean straightened up and took the bottle from Castiel, "Hey, it's no problem. Let's me know I'm still hot." He smiled. How could someone be so cocky and still look unbelievably handsome? "So, like, are you gay or…?" Dean asked so bluntly it made Castiel choke on his drink.

Castiel coughed, "Wow, could you warn me before asking that so suddenly?" It wasn't that he was uncomfortable talking about his sexuality, it was just that nobody asked the way Dean did. Nobody asked really, they just got it right away and never bothered to ask again.

"Well, are you? I mean I don't care if you are, it doesn't matter, I'm just a little curious that's all." Dean thought he could fix the pieces he had just broken with a charming smile.

"I am." He told him.

"Cool." Dean drank from his bear again, finishing it this time. "I was just wondering, you know? Get to know you a little better."

"And that's the first thing you had to ask?"

Dean chuckled then scratched his stubble-covered cheeks, "That's the first thing I could think of." It had been something he had wanted to know since he first moved in but he never found the right opportunity to ask.

"What about you?" Castiel asked. He couldn't keep his eyes away from that short beard Dean had that fascinated him. It looked so good on him. "You're straight, right?" It was a stupid question for him to ask because he knew the answer.

"Yeah." It was the question that constantly punched Dean's brain. He was straight? He couldn't fully admit that without remembering all those guys he had checked out in the past, or his little fling with one of the soldiers he was friends with, but that was just experimenting, it was normal for him to seek another's person's touch, especially when the only two women in his division were married. Dean could never picture himself with another man as anything else but a friend. He liked women for sure; romantic involvement with guys was a big no-no in his book. "You won't mind if I bring any lady friends over, would you?"

"Not at all, as long as you're not being loud and keep me from my sleep."

"That's gonna be a tough rule to maintain then." Dean laughed at his joke which Cas didn't find funny.

"I'm sure." Castiel looked to the road. His eyes had caught something that did not belong in the area of his secluded home. It was near the woods, the trees hid nothing from him, except that one thing he managed to find. "Look." He pointed at the small figure coming out of a bush. "Do you see that?" He had lived in that place for quite a while now, enough time for him to know the area surrounding his house like that back of his hand.

"I see it." Dean placed his bottle back on the table and ran towards the thing Castiel pointed at. He wanted to stop him, what if it was an injured wild animal that could hurt them or carried some type of disease? Cas saw Dean pick it up, it was small enough for him to carry on his arms without a problem and give him a wide, pleasing grin. It was a puppy.

"Look at her." Dean held it in his arms like a baby. "She's a husky. Cas, she has your eyes." He wasn't wrong about that; the puppy had bright, blue eyes that almost matched Castiel's shade. "We should keep her, don't you think?" He kissed the puppy's head, "You're so cute." Dean told her.

Castiel last had a pet when he was thirteen. It was an old, fat cat that had originally belonged to his brother Gabriel. It died when he was fifteen of natural causes. The animal hated him either way so his passing didn't affect him like he wanted to. He never had any luck with the pets his parents got him before, they all died a month or so a little after he got them. "I don't think we should."

Dean frowned. "Oh, c'mon, Cas, don't be like that!" He held up the puppy closer to Castiel, "look at how cute she is. She requires love. I'm sure another addition to the house wouldn't hurt anybody." His smile returned, "I'll let you name her."

"Are you willing to care for her?" He couldn't believe he was doing this, "I'll help out and all don't think I'll leave her to you the whole time." Cas finally reached for the puppy and caressed her head. She was dirty, but soft. "I wonder what her story is."

It was the first time Dean noticed Cas as a man. He was masculine and extremely kind looking, as if he had nothing in the world that could upset him. He also had really amazing eyes, a shade of blue that couldn't even compare to the blue of the afternoon sky. It was as if every shade blue combined to make that mixture. Maybe he shouldn't have stared too long but how could he help himself? No…he couldn't be doing this…he didn't find Castiel attractive under any circumstances. He wasn't that way. He didn't play for the same team. "W-what are you gonna name her?"

"Calabacita (Kah-lah-bah-see-tah)." He didn't even have to think it through. It was a name from the top of his head. "That'll be her name."

"Cala-what?"

"It's a cuter term in Spanish for the squash vegetable."

"You know Spanish?"

"Studied it back in college. Most of it stuck around." It wasn't the only language he knew. His parents encouraged him and his brothers to study several other languages so they did. While his brothers knew only three or four, Cas knew seven. "If you don't like it, I could change it?" Castiel's eyes moved up from the puppy to meet Dean's. "We could go with Lady Snow."

"Lady Snow sounds better. Fits her." He kissed the puppy's head again; his lips almost touched Castiel's fingertips. "So are we definitively keeping her? I don't want to go to sleep tonight and find out you've kicked her out the next morning."

"We'll keep her under the guarantee that we'll both be responsible for everything she's in need of."

"I've had dogs before, Cas." He smiled again. He managed to get his way as always, "We'll be her parents." Dean knew it sounded weird to say it that way but what other way could he put it?

"So, who's the mom?" Castiel teased and barely looked up from petting the pretty dog. He couldn't help from smiling at Dean's reaction, he knew he was teasing and he wanted to play along but he back away in time.

"Definitively not me." Dean carried the puppy away. "She needs to be bathed." He brought her up to her face and kissed her nose, "You're the cutest thing, Snow. Sammy would've freaked out by your adorableness and I'm sure Jessica would have claimed you as hers." Jessica and Sam had a thing for dogs and the dog they had adopted, Bones, was probably all grown by now.

Man, he wished he could see Sam. He remembered receiving one of his letters where he told him he proposed to Jessica and their wedding would be on next year's summer. It still dragged him down though that he had traded his life with Sam for his ex-girlfriend, Lisa Braeden. To this day, he still regretted doing that, as much as he claimed to love Lisa.

It was a good thing Castiel was a whole different thing in comparison to Lisa and Sam. He didn't feel like a like he was just there for the sake of being there. He could tell Cas needed him to forget he was lonely and he liked knowing that he was there. He also didn't feel like hell like he did with Lisa. Yet again he only knew Cas so little, he couldn't settle his assumptions.

But one thing was certain…Cas was not going to be the same. He was going to be different in ways Dean couldn't figure out so far.