Here's chapter four, guys. This story is complete, and I'm uploading the chapters when I get the time - there's only another one after this, so I hope you're enjoying the story. This is part of a series, which I'm only posting on my fanfiction account when each story is complete. This story is a prequel to the one on my profile, Justice is Blind But so is Love. There will be at least one other part of the series that follows this one!

Read and review, please, I love to see what you guys think of my writing!

Dean's life didn't consist solely of sitting around and listening to bad TV dramas. Sure, if someone would come in at a random point on a random day, it was likely that one would be playing, but it wasn't likely that Dean would be paying any attention to it. Lately, Dean had been trying to find something to do with his time other than listen to crappy daytime TV. Meeting Castiel a few days ago had brought Dean's mind to one of his favorite things as a teenager - music.

"Jesus friggin' christ, when was the last time I even pulled these out?" Dean's words were murmured to himself as he dragged the box of dusty old records out from under his bed, sneezing at the unpleasant feeling of particles going up his sensitive nose. There were plenty of records there, and he was pretty sure he could even remember what order they were in, so it would be no problem to get one playing... right?

Dean was very wrong, he discovered twenty minutes later when he managed to put a record on properly and, instead of Led Zeppelin playing like he had expected, one of Mary's old Beatles records started playing. He let his head fall back to thump against the wall he was leaning on at the sound of "Two of Us", the first song on the Let it Be album.

"Well, fuck," he muttered, running his hands over his face with an irritated huff. As much as he loved his mom, he didn't want to listen to the Beatles right now, he didn't want to bring up those memories.

Krissy woofed softly at him, as though to chastise him for the expletive. "Alright, Krissy, you're gonna help me out here," Dean said with a laugh as he sat down in front of the box. "Bark once if it's Zeppelin, yeah?"

Krissy whined, and Dean imagined she had tilted her head at him. "This one?" Krissy stayed silent as he lifted the first record. A moment later, there was a paw on his thigh, dog nails digging rather painfully into his skin. "Alright, alright. I get it," he said, laughing as he put the record back and stood up to let her out. He could deal with the Beatles for now.

A few hours (and managing to actually find the Zeppelin record he was looking for) later, Dean was surprised by a knock on the door. He hadn't been expecting anyone - as far as he knew, Charlie was at work, and Benny was out of town. He frowned, making a face as he made his way to the door. "Who is it?"

Dean was even more happily surprised to hear Castiel's voice in response. "It's Castiel. I-" Dean had wrenched the door open happily at the sound of the man's voice. "I was hoping that it's not a bad time," the man said a little awkwardly, unsure of how to respond to Dean's enthusiasm.

"No, it's fine," he assured with a laugh. "I don't get to see many- Well. Not many people come to see me during the week," Dean corrected. "I, uh, I'll admit, I wasn't expecting you to come by again so soon. It... it's a nice surprise."

Castiel chuckled lowly. "Well, as long as it's alright... I brought coffee and lemon poppy seed muffins from Gabriel's shop. He said that you would appreciate them," he explained, offering the man a to-go cup.

"Thanks, man, this is wicked," Dean said brightly. "You want to come in? We've got plenty of room." His hand, while reaching for the cup of coffee, brushed over Castiel's hand, sending tingling shock up his arm where their skin touched. A shiver ran over his skin as he stepped aside to let the man in.

"I appreciate that, Dean." There was a pause. "Is that... Led Zeppelin? I'm not quite.. Well, I don't listen to as much music as I used to now."

"Yeah, this is Zep. It took me forever to find the right vinyl," Dean admitted with a laugh, sipping at the coffee Castiel had given him and smiling as he realized that it was his usual order. Either Castiel had been paying attention when they were in the shop, or Gabriel was up to something. "Here, do you want me to pay you back for the coffee? I know Gabe tries not to charge me, probably because of this," and Dean gestured at his face with his free hand at the words, "but I still feel off when I don't pay. I'm blind, not broke, y'know?"

Castiel chuckled, and the low, throaty sound filled Dean with a heat he didn't know how to respond to. "Gabriel didn't charge me anything for the coffee, and the muffins are my treat, Dean. You don't have to pay me for anything." Dean knew that he was blushing, and he knew that Castiel could see it - Sam had always told him he was a full-body blusher, so if his face was hot, then the back of his neck would be pink with his bashfulness, as well, without a doubt. The thought of Castiel being able to read his emotions so easily because of that full-body blush was making him do so even more, as he thought about it.

"Gabe's a good guy," Dean murmured as he led Castiel to the living room once more, the sound of classic rock drifting from his bedroom and lending a comfortable ambience to the room in the silence that surprisingly enough, wasn't awkward. "So, um... What do you look like? If that's not an awkward question to ask."

Castiel's laugh was a thing to behold, somehow even lower and richer than the soft chuckles from before, despite the odd fullness to it. It made Dean's heart skip a beat, and he wasn't exactly sure why. "It's not an odd question to ask at all, Dean. Would you like to feel? I don't mind," the man assured. "I have a friend who served with me overseas who had an accident similar to yours. Well... The circumstances weren't similar, not really, but your injuries both resulted from a head injury. He gets to know how new people look by feeling out their features with his fingers."

Dean blinked in surprise at that. Sure, he was new to this whole 'being blind' thing (it had only been a few years) but the thought of searching out someone's features like that had never occurred to him. He never really watched movies with blind people in them before, and as much as he wished he could do it now, he hadn't been much of a reader. "You don't mind?" Dean had no idea how that would work, how the feelings of Castiel's skin under his fingers would translate to the image of the man in his mind, but he hoped it would work.

"Of course not," Castiel assured. "Perhaps we should sit down, first, so you have somewhere to put your coffee."

"Oh... yeah, that's probably a good idea," Dean agreed with a quiet, self-deprecating huff of a laugh. "What color are your eyes?" Dean sat down on the long couch, and he couldn't help the flip his stomach did when Castiel sat next to him, making the couch dip under his weight.

"Blue. When he's drunk, Gabriel likes to tell me that they're 'The bluest blue to ever blue', but I highly doubt that." Castiel tilted his head, a small smile forming on his face at the new flush forming on Dean's cheeks. "When I don't have it slicked back for work, my hair is quite a mess as well."

Dean's mind came to a halt as Castiel said that his eyes were blue. "Blue's my favorite color," he said before he could stop himself, before he could filter his words. "Or, well, it was. I don't remember a whole lot of colors anymore." Dean sighed, reached for his coffee and took a steadying sip, before he lifted his hands to start tracing out Cas' features. He ended up hesitating, his hand hanging halfway between them in the air.

It took Castiel's hand covering his own, causing a tingling fire to travel over his skin, up his arm, for Dean to manage to touch his face. There was light stubble on his cheeks, grown in from that morning since he had last shaved. Where his fingertips touched the skin of Castiel's jaw, it felt like the static after a limb has been still too long, but... pleasant, somehow. Castiel had a firm jawline, nicely carved cheekbones, and his lips... while they seemed flat at first, they were rather full. He had thick eyebrows, and Dean imagined that with sight, with color, Castiel made for a rather stunning image.

"You're very handsome," Dean assessed in a hushed tone as he let his fingers draw down to Castiel's jaw again, falling away from his face. "Your hair is soft. It's odd, that I wouldn't notice stuff like that before, but I do now."

"Ah. Thank you, Dean," Castiel said softly, smiling though he knew the man wouldn't see it. His face was tingling warmly, especially his lips, from where the green-eyed man's fingers had brushed across the skin, but he wasn't going to draw attention to the fact. Nor would he draw attention to the way Dean's pupils seemed to be blown, which made for a rather attractive sight. While he hadn't been planning on finding out what Dean looked like when aroused, he was rather glad to discover that he only grew more attractive. "You are very handsome, as well. It is... uplifting to see that your eyes didn't lose any of their brightness even though you lost your sight."

Dean flushed at the compliment. "Thanks, Cas." Now, to find some topic of conversation that they hadn't gone over the last time they spoke over coffee. "What do you do? I know you mentioned the military, about your friend's.. Injury, but you never said if you're still in or not."

"I am still in the military," Castiel agreed with a nod. "For now I'm on leave, I only came back from a deployment a few days ago. I have a few weeks before I'll be on active duty again. I was hoping, actually, that we could spend some more time together. I could go around town with you, if you like."

Dean perked up a bit at the offer. "Really? I... I would like that," he admitted bashfully. "Sammy doesn't have a whole lot of time, going to school for his degree so he can become a lawyer. And, I mean, I do have other friends, but they all have their own lives doing other stuff, I wouldn't want to inconvenience anyone. So... if you're sure that you're okay with it, then.." Dean leaned over, picking up his coffee and taking a sip, reveling in the sweetness of the drink. At the sound of a paper bag crinkling, Dean smiled again. He had almost forgotten about the muffins.

"I would be honored. I enjoy spending time with you, Dean. I know that you can't "see the sights" anymore, but if it would make you happy to walk around town, I'm sure that I can manage it." Somehow, Dean could hear the air quotes in Castiel's words, and he had to laugh at how expressive the man's voice was. "Would you like that muffin now?"

"I'd love that," Dean said with a grin, nodding as he reached a hand out to accept the treat. "So, uh, you were saying that you don't listen to a whole lot of music anymore?"

"I... well, yes, I suppose that is true," Castiel said, again, with a nod that Dean could hear in his voice. "I don't listen to as much music as I did when I was a teenager, and even then my tastes were rather... eclectic." At Dean's raised eyebrow and tilted head, he elaborated. "I would listen to almost any kind of music that I heard, and enjoy it. Though I do still have a special fondness for the band 'Cake'."

"I think I have one of their albums, actually," Dean said with a snicker at the thought. "How old are you?" Shit, more awkward questions. Nice job, motormouth.

"I'll be turning twenty-seven in September," Castiel replied easily. "You?"

"I, ah, I just turned twenty-three in January. Sammy turns twenty in May." Dean smiled awkwardly, taking a bite out of the muffin and humming. "Gabriel's cooking is godly," he moaned, turning his head towards where he assumed Castiel's was.

"I've said that from time to time myself," Castiel agreed with a huffed laugh, shaking his head. "Would you like to go and look through your records, to see if you do have that 'Cake' album?"

"I'd love that... if you promise to dance with me while it's playing," Dean agreed, a mischievous smile on his face.

"It's a deal then, Mr. Winchester," Castiel hummed, standing up and drawing Dean with him.