A/N: I've been updating this every other day, and I think that's working out rather well. However, I'd just like to warn you guys that I'll be in the process of moving and getting settled in a new place starting this coming week, so if any updates come late, that'll be the reason why. Now, back to our regularly scheduled chapter:

Dean and Castiel's first meeting.

IV. The Roommate

Castiel pulls the door open and freezes at the sight of a body blocking his way. He sees a key-bearing hand extended, clearly intending to unlock the door, and deduces that this will be his roommate for the coming year.

"Castiel," he says, lifting his eyes to the boy's face, and Jesus, he's pretty—long, dark lashes framing hazel-green eyes, wide with mild surprise; prominent brow, full lips, smooth cheekbones. He'd always thought that Brad Pitt was as beautiful as men could get, but he's prepared to reevaluate that decision.

Thank god he's already introduced himself, because he doesn't think he remembers his own name, in this very moment.

"Dean," tall, dark, and handsome—well maybe not so dark, but he's tall and he's fucking handsome, and that's way more than enough—says, grinning roguishly. "Dean Winchester."

"Hello," Castiel says, and considering his current state, he's proud of himself for not stuttering.

"Hey. I'd uh, shake your hand, but…" Dean cuts himself off, lifting his arms up a bit to point out to Castiel that he's currently hefting two large duffle bags.

"Oh! Oh—sorry," Castiel says, backing out of the doorway to let Dean into the room. He pokes his head out into the hallway after Dean's inside. There are a lot of people in the process of getting settled in, but they're in the corner room, and no one's headed this way.

"My family's not there," Dean says from behind him, and Castiel turns to see that he's plunked both duffle bags down beside the unclaimed bed. "If that's what you're waiting for, that is," he adds.

"I see," Castiel responds, backing fully into the room and letting the door swing shut. "Why didn't they come?"

"Oh, they did. Just dropped me off here."

"Just like that?"

Dean shrugs. "Yep. I'm from around here, so it's no big deal."

"I see," Castiel repeats. But no, he doesn't see. Because although Dean's body language—and spoken language, for that matter—both agree that this is "no big deal," it clearly is a big deal to Dean that he's been left here just like this.

Abandoned, Castiel tries not to think, because that just hits a little too close to home.

"So, how 'bout you?" Dean asks. "Where are you from?"

"California."

Dean whistles. "Wow, and what made you decide to come out here to the Midwest?"

Castiel intends on giving a vague or deflecting answer, something to the effect of "Oh, just wanted a change of scenery," or "I'm just a huge history buff, and Bleeding Kansas was fascinating to me." But what slips out is, "Family problems."

"Oh," Dean says, face darkening, and Castiel nearly bites his tongue.

"Sorry," he says quickly. "Don't know why that uh—"

"No, no, it's fine," Dean interrupts. "Every family's got its own problems. I get it. I really do. So… just had to… get away?"

"Something like that," Castiel says, and clamps his mouth shut. Because Dean is a beautiful dude, and he really doesn't need to hear Castiel's sobby life story right now.

"When'd you move in?"

"Yesterday."

They fall into a brief awkward silence, and Castiel shifts uncomfortably. He hasn't ever been particularly adept in social situations, and it doesn't help that Dean's ridiculously hot.

"I'm uh, gonna unpack now," Dean says, leaning down to unzip the closer of his two duffle bags.

"Right. Yeah. I was gonna go do… something," Castiel says, flushing at how stupid he must sound. He turns quickly and pulls the door open, hopefully before Dean can catch him blushing.

"Something," Dean repeats, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Yeah. Was nice meeting you," Castiel manages to say before yanking the door shut behind him.

God, he's such a fucking dork. How the hell is he going to survive a year living with Dean if he can't even handle a few minutes alone with him?

And here's another much more immediate problem—what the hell was he about to do before Dean interrupted him?

Oh, this is going to be a long year.

Dean grins at the closed door. He's got a nervous roommate. Which sure, could get awkward in the future, but when they get to know each other a bit better, he'll probably have tons of fun messing with the guy.

It also helps that he's not completely hideous. Dean's not into guys, not at all, but he can still appreciate having someone around who's easy on the eyes. And speaking of eyes, Dean doesn't think he's seen eyes bluer than Cas… oh, shit. He's forgotten his name already.

"Casper?" he mutters to himself. "Definitely not. Caspian?" He shakes his head and glances at the door for a moment before crossing to Cas-something's side of the room, but somehow none of the dude's belongings are labeled with his name. What the fuck, man.

Dean returns to his duffle bag and continues emptying clothes into a drawer. It shouldn't matter too much—he'll just apologize, ask again, and it'll be fine. He lets his roommate fade out of his thoughts.

But now that the distraction is gone, Dean slips back into the sullen mood that's been plaguing him all morning. Because Dad couldn't even be bothered to come up and see the room or anything. Not that there's anything special to see, but everyone else's parents seem to be making a big deal out of letting go of their kids and all. And yeah, Dean gets that he's still in town, that he hasn't even left Lawrence, but still. He's technically moved out. Shouldn't that mean something?

It hurts more that Sammy didn't come up, either. Dad and Sam were fighting over something or other—they're always squabbling over insignificant things—so Dean can't really blame Sam for not being in the mood to help him set up his stuff. Really, it's not as though Sam's never gonna visit.

And at this point, Dean realizes that he's just being a big girl about all this, which is why he didn't say a word when he got outta the car, but still. They're family. This, whatever this was today, did not feel like family.

Dean shakes his head as though that'll help him clear out these morose thoughts, but obviously it does nothing.

Then there's a series of three sharp knocks on the door, and Dean slides the drawer shut before moving over to open it. Two girls—a brunette and a redhead—are standing in the doorway.

"You're not Cas," the redhead says.

"Nope, I'm not," Dean answers, eyes sweeping over both of them.

The brunette is dressed fashionably, with not-too-high heels, a short skirt, and a leather jacket. Her hair hangs down in long, sweeping curls, and when he looks at her face he notes that she's obviously checking him out, too.

The redhead, meanwhile, is wearing a plain white shirt under a dark jacket and a pair of tight jeans that go over—are those hiking boots?

"Lisa Braeden," the brunette says with a winning smile, and Dean grins back.

"Dean Winchester."

"Winchester, like the gun?" the redhead asks.

Dean chuckles. "Yeah, just like the gun. You know something about firearms?"

The redhead smiles. "Oh, yeah."

"Anna, let's not get into your homicidal tendencies," Lisa says, rolling her eyes.

"Oh my god," the redhead—Anna—groans. "There are tons of people who hunt animals, okay? None of them are getting accused of homicide day in and day out."

"Oh, you hunt?" Dean says, interested despite the look that Lisa throws in his direction when he says this, like he's a monster who strangles puppies or something. "What kind of game?"

"Anything, really," Anna says, smiling. "Why, do you hunt?"

Dean's about to reply when a phone goes off loudly, and he looks between the two girls.

"Mine," Lisa says, pulling out a cell phone and picking it up. "Cas!" she says cheerily. "Where the hell are you?"

Dean can't hear Cas—seems like it's okay to just call him that—Cas's response, so he tunes Lisa out to look at Anna instead. She's listening to Lisa's half of the conversation and doesn't seem to be missing anything, so maybe these girls know Cas pretty well.

Anna's actually kinda pretty, now that he's really looking at her. She just looks a little plain next to Lisa, who's all dolled-up and curvy and woman-y. Anna stands with her back straight, stance sort of rigid and formal, as though she was taught to stand one way and doesn't know how to relax. He's pretty sure it's got nothing to do with hunting because Uncle Bobby took them on hunts all the time, and he never said anything about robot-stances—

"Hello? Um. Earth to Dean?"

Dean snaps back to attention and sees that Lisa's watching him expectantly. "Right, yeah. I'm still here," he says, grinning in a way that he knows the girls generally find adorable.

"We're going to grab lunch with Cas—he was supposed to meet us downstairs, but someone let us in the building, and I guess we missed each other," Lisa explains. "You wanna come with?"

"Sure," Dean answers. "Where are you guys headed?"

"Actually, we have no idea," Anna says. "Just rolled into town yesterday, and we spent most of the day moving in, so we haven't really had a chance to wander around yet."

"Yesterday, huh?" Dean says as Anna and Lisa start down the hall. He pats his pockets to make sure everything's there—keys, cell phone, wallet, and he's good—before following them out and shutting the door behind him.

"Yep. It was chaos. Definitely worse than today," Lisa comments.

"So are you two both new students here too, or…?"

"Actually—" Lisa begins.

"No, we're not," Anna says, cutting her off, and Lisa pouts.

"Oh, you always ruin all the fun," she complains.

"Clearly I don't, or you wouldn't hang out with me," Anna answers matter-of-factly before turning to Dean. "I'm about to start my second year at UT Austin, and Lisa's starting freshman year at UM."

"UM?"

"University of Miami," Lisa says. "I got into KU too, but I'm just not ready to give up beaches yet."

Dean nods to acknowledge her point—she's pretty tan, and Dean can picture her lying on a towel on some beach in California, working on that tan.

"So what are you two doing here, if you're both going to different places?" he asks.

Lisa opens the door to the stairwell, and Anna and Dean follow close behind. But a pair of girls holding a large crate between them appears at the bottom of the flight, and they have to back up to the landing to let them pass.

"We helped Cas move in," Lisa says, and Anna gives her a look. Strange.

"What about his family?" Dean asks.

"It's um, it's personal. We really shouldn't say," Anna says, and fuck if it doesn't make Dean even more curious. But he wouldn't want people pestering his friends about his family, so he just nods.

"Anyway, it was fun," Lisa says, trying to smooth over the awkwardness. "We took turns driving here from California. I've always wanted to go on a cross-country road trip, and when I get to Florida, I'll have done it."

"Yeah, good for you," Anna says, rolling her eyes.

"So I'm guessing your next stop is Texas?"

"Yep," Anna replies as they reach the bottom of the stairs.

Still up front, Lisa opens the door and promptly jumps out to throw her arms around Cas.

"Dean," Cas says, surprised, arms full of Lisa. Dean wonders if there's something going on between them, because if that's the case, he's definitely not gonna try anything with her.

"Yeah, hey," Dean says. "They asked me to come along—that all right with you?"

"It's fine," Cas answers.

"So… lunch?" Anna prompts.

"Yeah," Cas says. "Actually, Dean's a local—why don't you show us a good place to eat around here?"

Dean chuckles. "You guys have got a car, right?" When Anna nods, Dean says, "Great. I've got just the place in mind."

Lunch goes surprisingly well, and Castiel feels a lot more comfortable around his roommate when they get back.

He says goodbye to Anna and Lisa, thanks them over and over again for doing this for him because neither of them would have had to drive all this way if it weren't for him. Lisa's family is really rich—they'd wanted to fly her out to Miami first-class and just send movers to meet her there. And Anna's already settled in an apartment in Austin, so she also could've flown back. They offered before he'd even thought to ask, and he just can't thank them enough.

"So," Dean's saying, and Castiel looks up from his laptop screen to meet stunningly green eyes, "Anna and Lisa seem pretty nice."

"Yes. They're my closest friends."

Dean seems to consider this before asking, "You into either of them?"

It takes Castiel a moment to understand what he's asking. "Oh, no. No, not at all. I suppose I should tell you now that I'm gay."

Dean blinks a few times but doesn't react negatively, and Castiel takes that as a good sign. He's heard things about how people in the Midwest might not take the news of his homosexuality all that well, but then there've always been stereotypes about how liberal California is, and he hasn't been accepted in his own family, so he knows not to pay attention to these things.

"Oh," Dean says. "I didn't pick up that vibe from you at all."

Really? Well, at least it means Castiel's ogling can't have been completely blatant. "Is it going to be a problem?" Castiel asks. "I'd like to get any issues out before we become friends."

Dean laughs a little. "What, we're not friends yet?"

"I have standards."

"Ouch," Dean says, but he looks amused rather than offended. "Standards, huh? What kinda standards are we talking, here? Is it because I'm not pretty enough?"

Castiel barely stops himself from blurting out you're too pretty. Instead he repeats, "Is it going to be a problem?"

Dean's expression sobers. "No, Cas. It's not. I'm not gay, but I know some guys who are, and I'm cool with it. Don't worry."

"Thanks."

"Yeah no, it's fine. I figure it's none of my business whether other people like guys or girls," Dean says, and Castiel gives him a small smile. Then Dean asks, "So what have I gotta do to be friends with you, hmm?"

And Castiel's smile widens, because Dean just did it. But what he says is, "Oh, it's a secret. Maybe I'll tell you someday, but… we'll see."

"Aw come on, man. What's with the secrecy? That's no fun."

Castiel doesn't answer, and Dean eventually rolls his eyes and goes back to hanging up posters on the walls. Castiel watches him for a little while before tearing his eyes away and gluing them to the screen in front of him.

Nope. He needs to keep his eyes to himself and his heart safely locked away. Dean's beautiful and charming and beautiful, and he really can't let himself fall for that, because he saw the way Dean was looking at Anna and Lisa over lunch, and Dean's straight. Definitely straight. And if he were gay, he definitely would've said so when Castiel brought it up.

"Hey, Cas!" Dean barks suddenly, and Castiel's head jerks up. God, those eyes… "Does this look straight to you?"

Castiel forces himself to look at the huge Led Zeppelin poster that Dean's holding against the wall, standing on top of his bed to reach. "Yeah. It looks great," he answers.

"Thanks," Dean says, cracking a smile, and Castiel feels a lurch in his chest.

This isn't going to end well.