"I'm home! Hope you weren't lonely while I was gone." Dean announced to his empty apartment as he walked through the door, closing and locking it behind him before plopping himself down onto the futon.
Welcome home, Dean... I was rather lonely actually...
Dean glanced around the room shaking his head and blinking, he could'a swore he'd just heard a faint whisper coming from somewhere nearby. He rubbed his temples in frustration, sighing as he leaned back into the futon.
"I hope I'm not hearing things, did you try to talk to me?" Dean asked aloud to the empty room, looking all around like he was hoping to see the entity out of the corner of his eye.
He remembered his mother telling him as a kid that some spirits were harder to see than others, that some weren't strong enough to pierce the veil of our reality.
Yes, yes... Can you hear me, Dean?
"Dean... You said my name! Hello?" Dean responded excitedly when he heard the quietest whisper of his name, jumping up from the futon. He closed his eyes tight, wishing his mother was here to help him, she could see and talk to spirits.
"I wish I could see you right now..." Dean whispered, eyes still shut as he talked to the empty room. A faint vision of a man flitted behind his eyelids, he was wearing a suit and tie that hung loose around his neck, with dark messy hair and the bluest eyes Dean had ever seen.
When he opened his eyes, that very man was standing in front of him, a surprised yelp escaping him as he jumped back only to land on his ass on the floor. Shit, shit, shit!
"You're real?!" Dean exclaimed staring up at the man, confusion, excitement and panic crossing his expression as his brain struggled to comprehend what exactly he was witnessing.
"Technically yes but no... I'm terribly sorry if that doesn't make a lot of sense," the man spoke softly, sounding almost as if he was underwater. Dean continued to stare at him, still in shock.
"I'm, as you so eloquently put it, the entity... Though I do have a name, thank you very much." the man huffed indignantly, crossing his arms over his broad chest. At that Dean rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepishly up at him.
"To be fair, this is the first time I've heard you or seen you for that matter... What else should I have called you, 'it'?" Dean responded moving to stand from the floor, dusting himself off, eyes still on the man.
"Heavens no, though you may call me Castiel." he replied giving Dean a faint smile, which caused his blue eyes to light up, and Dean felt like he couldn't breath all of a sudden at the sight.
"It's nice to properly meet you, Cas." Dean offered his hand out of instinct but quickly withdrew it, bringing it up to rub the back of his neck subconsciously. Castiel smiled, nodding at him. He appreciated the gesture regardless.
"As it is you, Dean."
Dean watched as Castiel moved to sit on his futon, patting the space beside him in invitation for Dean to join him, which he instantly accepted and came to sit on the opposite end of the futon.
"I imagine you have questions, and to be perfectly honest, I have a few of my own." Castiel started once Dean relaxed into the cushions, his body turned towards Castiel to show he was paying attention.
-_-_
"This is so weird... I mean, I used to be able to see spirits when I was much younger, I never thought I'd see one again." Dean said in awe of Castiel, an honest to God spirit sitting, floating?, on his futon.
The two of them had been going back and forth with a rather broad range of questions for the past couple hours, Dean having been completely enthralled by Castiel's answers to all of his questions and he answered all of Castiel's as best he could, even the more slightly personal ones.
Dean learned that Castiel's been a spirit for the better half of nearly a decade, that he didn't quite remember how exactly he had passed away or why he seemed to be stuck in the apartment, and he never had the desire to move on.
Dean told him about his mother passing from leukemia and her wishes to be cremated, about him and his brother becoming estranged afterwards, then losing his job that ended up being the final push to send him out east. Castiel mentioned he had pretty much grown up here, though his family was originally from Texas.
"If it's too weird, I can always do this..." Castiel said as he vanished right in front of Dean, leaving behind empty space where he'd just been. At that Dean frowned, instantly feeling a little creeped out.
"That's worse somehow, what if you decide to use your ghostly powers to spy on me..." Dean announced, shuddering at the thought. And now he was seriously wondering if Castiel had already been watching him without being aware of it. What if he'd seen things?
"Better?" Castiel inquired materializing again, a cheeky grin plastered across his adorable face. Did he seriously just think a ghost was adorable? Maybe a little. Castiel wasn't bad looking for a spirit, Dean probably would've hit on him if he was among the living.
