Dean stood in front of the large building, the rain had started to fall a lot more now, soaking them a little. The sun was finally setting in the distance, a slight breeze making the two shiver. Castiel's hand was tight around his own, sweating some and shaking as if he was nervous. He had no reason to be.
Even though Dean wanted to do nothing but lay with his octopus mate, and just breathe in his heavenly scent, he was going to let Castiel take the lead here. He wanted his mate to be comfortable around him. He wanted him to feel safe.
They had gotten this far and Dean didn't want to fuck it up.
Why was this so hard?
Castiel tightened his grip on Dean's hand, dragging him into the building. They walked through a small foyer and stopped in front of the elevator. It was a pretty swanky building for only two people, but the three story apartment seemed to have a ground floor reception area, a middle floor and the top floor where Castiel lived.
Dean let out a breath, he wasn't used to such an ostentatious property. He lived in a small two bedroom house with his baby brother Sam, not even his parents home back in Kansas was anything like this. He didn't know what to do, what if he broke something? But Castiel breezed through the home, pressing the button to the top floor and stepping into the lifts, Dean followed, still joined to his mate by their hands. He'd just have to deal with the fact that his pretty little mate came from money.
The lifts moved to the top floor and dinged, opening up to a long corridor like space, with a mirror on one wall an a coat rack on the other wall, at the very opposite of the lifts was a front door. The door leading to his mates home...nest? Did octopuses call their homes nests? Dean called his home a den, did Castiel think the same way?
It didn't matter. He shrugged off his damp coat and Castiel took it, hanging it on one of the hooks, right next to his coat, and fished into his pockets for the keys. He opened the front door and Dean was bombarded by the sweet scent of his mate.
Oh...yes. He was going to like it here.
Taking in a deep breath, he followed Castiel into his home. It was a quaint, two bedroom apartment. They immediately stepped into a living room, soft looking sofa's in the centre of the room, facing a large television on the wall. There were two hallways on one side of the apartment, one directly next to the front door and one of the far side, probably leading to two separate room. There was also a large enclosed room, like a balcony that rested at the far end of the home. Dean could see a large swimming pool filled with shining, lit up water.
Castiel had a pool in his home?
Well, he and Gabriel were marine shifters, they needed some body of water around them. But it still made Dean a bit self conscious. Castiel was so rich. Could he provide anything and everything Castiel needed? He didn't even have a book or the internet to read up on octopus shifters, their habits or needs. There hadn't been many in history, and even then, they always kept to themselves.
It must be so hard for Castiel to be something he knew nothing about. How much help could his family be if they didn't know how he worked? It was easy to read up on mermaids, or wolves, they were a dime a dozen, but something as rare as an octopus shifter. There wasn't anything on them. He was so proud of his mate. Castiel had overcome so many odds to get to where he was, he had fought so many battles to live the life he was living now, regardless of his rich parents. And Dean wanted him to know that.
But he wanted to make sure Castiel was relaxed.
"Do you want a tour?" Castiel blurted out, not looking up to the wolf. He kicked off his shoes and placed them neatly on the side. Dean followed him, taking his own shoes off and placing them next to Castiel's. He took notice of how relaxed Castiel got now that his shoes were off. Maybe having to force his appendages into them was not the best for his octopus. Dean would have to make sure Castiel wasn't doing something to those pretty tentacles that could cause him harm.
"Sure," Dean said, he was excited to see more of Castiel's home.
Castiel took him from one place to another, showing him the large kitchen to the right, and the two hallways to the left, one which led to Gabriel's rooms, and one which led to Castiel's. He even showed Dean the pool. It looked deep, and it was sectioned off in the middle, there was a ledge submerged into the water, it would have been just shoulder high if they were in it. That was interesting.
They walked back into the living room, and Dean sat down on the sofa.
"Alright Cas." He said with a smile. "You got me at your house. What do you wanna do to me?"
Castiel looked nervous, his eyes darting this way and that and not really landing anywhere for too long. His played his his fingers, his head dropped down. His tentacles were squirming in his jeans. He looked so adorable, his skin flushed pink.
"I don't... I don't know." He whispered, his voice barely legible, but Dean heard him. "I...just wanted..."
Dean sent off waves of safety and protection, wanting desperately for Castiel to calm down, to relax. He was so tense, just standing there. "What did you want?"
"You."
Dean's eyes softened at his answer. All of his worries and concerns about their relationship melted away, and all with that one word. Castiel wanted him, he really did love him. He wasn't afraid, he was just nervous. "Well you have me."
"No. I mean..." Castiel's tentacles fidgeted, wanting to come out from their confines, but he still stood there, the dipping sunset behind them making his skin glow. Dean's wolf bounded inside him, wanting to hold his mate close. "I'm sorry."
"Cas." Dean said, reaching a hand out to the octopus.
Castiel moved away, turning from Dean and staring out into the murky pool waters. "I'm such an idiot. Why did I even think..." His fist thudded lightly against the glass door. "You're in love with Cassie."
"What?" Dean stood up, he couldn't have heard that right. Why was Castiel so adamant about him and Cassie? Why did he not understand? "Cas. We are mates. I know you've felt it too. And I don't know about you. But wolves mate for life."
Castiel paused, not turning around. But Dean could see him working through what he had said. This was a confession of interest, of intent. A courtship. Dean wanted to start a courtship with Castiel. Why did he not understand that?
Castiel's deep voice was low when he spoke. "But Cassie?"
"I'm not in love with that cat shifter. Can you imagine? A wolf and a cat?" Dean growled, feeling his fangs sharpen in his mouth, his wolf prowling on the surface.
There was no point to turn alpha right now, he needed Castiel calm, he needed the octopus to understand. The fact that he was still so adamant about him and Cassie just proved to Dean that his precious mate had gone through so much. He had no self-confidence. He bound and hid his tentacles, the very thing that made him who he was. Dean wanted him to know that he could be who he truly was around him.
"It's normal." Castiel said meekly. "More so than a wolf and an octopus."
Dean saw red, he reached for Castiel and turned him around, pushing him up against the glass partition. "Don't you dare belittle yourself." But when Castiel visibly stiffened, he backed away. "Cas. I...you are amazing, and beautiful. And you smell fucking perfect."
Castiel's eyes darted up to his, seeing honesty in his eyes.
Dean truly felt that way. And how could he not? Castiel, his pretty little octopus, standing there with his beautiful eyes so wide that Dean could drown in them, his lips opened slightly, that Dean wanted to kiss him, to bite down on that pout and take, take, take. He wanted desperately just to press Castiel back against the glass, lay kisses on his skin, bite down on his neck, worship his pretty tentacles and make it so he would never second guess himself, ever again.
"I don't want anyone else." His voice was quiet, but his eyes spoke volumes.
Castiel couldn't bare it, here was the very thing he wanted. And yet...yet...why was he not persuing this? Dean obviously felt something for him, what that was, Castiel did not know, or understand. But Dean was here now, he was so warm, his heart beating heavily in his chest. It was soothing, it was calming.
"But the letter?" He asked, wanting to tear away every doubt he had for Dean's love for him.
He knew they were mates, but he just had to make sure. This kind of thing never happened to him. He was the quiet one, the one in the background, the one no one took notice of. He didn't want Dean to suddenly turn around and walk away. Castiel wanted this wolf, he wanted him for life.
"You haven't opened it?" Dean asked, leaning closer, so close that their breathing mingled, and Castiel's glasses fogged up.
He nodded. "It was for..."
"You. You idiot." But Dean's smile brightened. "The letter is for you."
Castiel's pretty blue eyes widened, and Dean scented the tell tale sweet smell of his ink. Looking down, he saw their feet covered in a pool of black.
He chuckled. "I'm gonna take that as a good thing,"
"I'm sorry!" Castiel's cheeks tinged pink as he backed away from the wolf. His back hit the glass door and he let out a squeak. He was trapped, embarrassed out of his mind, and Dean was smiling so wonderfully.
Dean took his quivering fingers into his own hands, holding them to his chest. Castiel stopped fidgeting and looked up into his deep candy green eyes.
"Cas, its okay," He said, his voice in a low growl, and his eyes bright. "You don't have to apologise, it's fine."
And Castiel really did feel calm, comforted by Dean's words. After all, this was his mate. The only one that mattered. As long as his mate didn't freak out, then everything was fine. Who cared what the world thought. Right?
"I wanna take you on a date," Dean said, his smile like sunshine, bright and happy, and full of hope, that Castiel couldn't help but nod in agreement. At that moment, he would have done anything to keep that smile on his mates face. "But, I have a request,"
Castiel paused, not sure where this was going. Fear sparked through him, what if Dean wanted him to dress a certain way? What if he forced him to something he didn't want to do? What if...oh god. What if this was all a joke after all?
"Can you stop tying your tentacles?" He asked, and Castiel pushed him back. Dean stumbled a few steps back, looking as if he had just been slapped in the face.
Castiel wrapped his arms around himself, dropping down onto the ground, his bulbous tentacles wanting to come out from his jeans. He wanted to hide himself in them, hide himself away from the world. Why did he think Dean was any different? Stop tying his tentacles? So the world could see, so he could see and just laugh at them. Laugh at how they moved, how they slithered around, laugh at how large his suckers were.
He couldn't breathe. He tried to suck in gulp fulls of breaths, but nothing was happening, his heart hammered in his chest, his skin tightened and there was a high pitched sound reverberating in his head. Shit, he was going into a panic attack.
Dean was by his side suddenly, wrapping his arm around Castiel's shoulders, forcing him to look up into his eyes. "Breathe with me," he said, but his voice was muffled by the pounding in his head, and that annoying skree sound. But he followed what his mate was saying, imitating him as he breathed in slowly. Dean was worried, he was scared for him.
Once his breathing was back to normal, and his panic attack ebbed away, he gazed up into those fear-filled eyes, afraid for him, not of him. And he choked out. "Don't make fun of me, please."
Dean pulled him close, tightening his arms around Castiel's body, lifting him up from the ground and placing him on his lap. Castiel could hear his heavy heartbeat slow down.
"I wasn't making fun of you," Dean breathed into his hair. "I want you to be comfortable around me, that's all." Castiel lay his head against Dean's chest, listening to his soothing heartbeat, taking in his amazing scent, letting himself have this.
"I know it hurts you," Dean continued, his fingers running down the jeans, to where his tentacles were throbbing. "I don't want you in pain,"
"I don't know." Castiel murmured, his voice muffled by Dean's shirt. "You won't like it,"
Dean pulled him back, looking into his eyes. "Show me,"
And Castiel couldn't say no.
