Smoking In the Boys Room // Destiel

Chapter 30

"Wow, pesto? Ciabatta? So fancy."

Cas rolled his eyes. "Just try it!"

Dean took a bite, his face lighting up. "Wow, holy shit. This is good!"

"Why do you sound so surprised?!" Cas yelled playfully.

"Hey," Dean said, "You lowered my expectations. That'll teach you not to sell yourself short."

Castiel took a bite of his own sandwich.

"Oh, wow. Fuck. It is good."
~~~~~~~~~

After lunch, the pair laid on the blanket, eyes closed as they relaxed under the sun.

Cas sat up suddenly. "I've never seen where you live."

Dean opened one eye.

"Yeah, I've never seen where you live either."

"Ok but you know that's different." Castiel sighed. "Can we go? I want to see your apartment."

Dean was silent but couldn't help the smile creeping onto his lips.

"You can show me your bedroom..." Cas said in a sing-song voice, his hand finding its way to Dean's thigh.

"You drive a hard bargain, Novak."

~~~~~~~~

Dean opened the door to his dark and humble apartment slowly. He stepped in, moving out of the doorway and gesturing for Castiel to enter.

Castiel smiled up at him as he obliged, stepping in and leaning down to unzip his combat boots.

"You don't have to do that." Dean said, flipping on a light in the tiny kitchen, only separated from the living room and entryway by a small island.

Castiel shrugged. "Force of habit. Anna's really particular about it." He walked up to the counter and leaned on his forearms, resting them atop the beige-colored surface.

Castiel fought not to give into the temptation to poke around and explore. He didn't want to make Dean uncomfortable, so he forced himself to be casual, not even sparing anything but his initial glance around. He kept his focus 100% on Dean in the hope that he wouldn't look as nosy as he wanted to be.

Dean felt his stomach twisting nervously. He didn't know why Castiel being in his sad, drab little apartment felt so wrong, like he'd brought a diamond into a 7/11.

"So....what do you think?" Dean asked nervously, hands resting to either side of him on the counters edge.

Cas took this as his opportunity to get a look around. "It's cute. I like it, it's cozy." He turned back to Dean and smiled softly up at him.

Dean chuckled. "I don't know about cute, but it gets the job done."

Cas laughed, grabbing Deans hand from across the counter, tracing the lines on his large hand.

"I always imagined my first apartment looking something like this." Castiel said softly, looking down at the hand grasped between his own. "Like, I'd be in college and on my own and living the good life." He almost sounded wistful for something that hadn't even happened yet.

Dean reached up to cup his face, Cas looking up to meet his gaze.

"Are you alright, Angel?" Dean asked.

Cas smiled. "Yeah, sorry." He laughed quietly.

"Why are you sorry?" Dean asked, thumb rubbing the younger boy's cheek.  

"I just feel like...I don't know. You've already lived so much more life than me. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do." Cas said, voice trailing off.