Gotta credit AlbusDumbldore777 for the prompt
I've had this written for a while but I wanted to wait until I finished my other stories to start a new one or else I know I'd never finish anything plus I don't really like the ending so I'll probs do a part2
Word count: 2576
Labels/warning: angst, mentions of death, bullying, homophobia
(Sorry I promise they get happier after this one)
Castiel sighed in defeat as he picked up the remains of another murdered plant in his yard. Something, or rather someone, as he suspected, was pulling up his flowers. At this point, Castiel had gotten used to the occasional squishing of his plants by unknowing trespassers who hiked the area around his home. He accepted that his garden looked more like part of the forest that surrounded his quaint cabin than a backyard, but he refused to fence off his yard. In fact, he kind of enjoyed the days with beautiful weather when he could sit in his kitchen and watch passerby's attempt to capture the beauty of his flowers for their Instagram pictures. It made him rather proud of his work.
But this was getting ridiculous. At first, he suspected a gopher or rabbit was the culprit. But he soon realized that there was a pattern to the crimes. Every Tuesday and Thursday for the past 4 weeks when Castiel arrived home from work at the library, a single flower would be gone. Now, one flower was no big deal to Cas. He didn't even mind when people unknowingly stole an entire bouquet of flowers from his garden. Being a romantic himself, he loved the idea of someone bringing home a hand picked bouquet for him. Not that that would ever happen to him, seeing as he how he was a hermit that lived on the edge of town and worked at a sorely under utilized library. He barley even had friends thanks to his lack of "people skills".
No, he didn't mind the missing flowers so much as how the thief chose to take the flowers. Rather than pick a single stem, they had taken to ripping out an entire plant, snapping off the flower, then dropping the gruesome leafy remains on the ground. Well that only happened twice, but whomever it was had been maiming his bushes. Castiel currently had a half a dozen half bloomed, beat up Daisies, Dahlias, and roses in a vase in his kitchen table that he had had to prune off the plants to keep them looking nice.
At this rate, Castiel's bees would have nothing to pollinate and make delicious honey from. He loved his bees perhaps even more than he did his flowers, and someone was destroying their nectar supply. And, honestly, Castiel was sick of it. He had made up his mind to confront the heathen who had been terrorizing his precious flower garden next Thursday.
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Dean Winchester never had it easy. But after 23 years of miserable life, he had accepted that maybe he just deserved his shit life. Maybe he was a serial killer in another life and this was his punishment. Or maybe god just had it out for him. Either way Dean had accepted his life sentence to misery.
And as dramatic as it sounded, it was true. You see, when Dean was a kid, he had the perfect apple pie life. He had a loving mother, a caring father, an adorable brother, and a baby sister on the way. Everything was perfect for the first 9 years of his life.
Then came the fire. An electrical shortage in the middle of the night took away Deans mother and unborn baby sister, Charlie.
As if loosing Mary and Charlie wasn't traumatic enough for a child, his father, John passed away 2 years later in a car accident. Coming home one night, he swerved to avoid a deer and hit a semi truck head on. He died at the scene.
After that he and his brother Sammy were adopted by John's life long friend, Bobby, and his wife, Ellen. You think the tragedy in his life would end there, but no. Then came the bullying.
Bobby's position in the Air Force meant moving every one to two years. Being the new kid in school is never fun. It made him an easy target. But eventually Bobby decided to retire and move back home to take over the family auto shop. That meant Dean would only have to be the new kid one more time. Then he could spend that last 3 years before college at one school. He might even make some friends. Unfortunately, he was suspended for 3 days only a week into school after getting caught making out with the star quarterback in the boys locker room during P.E.
After that, Dean couldn't wait till when he'd be able to drop out and leave that shit hole, which he did promptly after his 16th birthday.
But that was all in the past. Now, Dean worked at Booby's auto shop. His life consisted of listening to stupid customers complain and siting at home, alone, marathoning Dr Sexy MD.
The only time Dean left the house for anything besides work or stocking up on junk food was his when he would go visit his family's grave site.
After a particularly tiring day, Dean had gone to visit the cemetery, as he often did when he felt down. Visiting his families plot reminded him of the good times, which were few and far between of late. He had decided to cut through the small forest behind the auto shop rather than drive all the way around town and had stumbled upon a small yet beautiful meadow, brimming with gorgeous flowers. After discovering the lovely flower grove, Dean went out of his way to walk through there and bring a flower to his family's grave once a week.
Today, Dean picked a Ranunculus for his mom. He remembered how his mom used to teach him the names of all the flowers in their garden. They would play a game where Dean would guess what type of flower random plants were and Mary would tell him if his guesses were getting 'hotter' or 'colder' until he guessed correctly or conceded.
Dean tried growing his own flowers after his mom passed, but he didn't have the same green thumb that she did. Hell, he couldn't even pick a flower without accidentally tearing up the roots and all. Only after he pulled out the third plant in pursue of a flower, did it occur to him that perhaps he should use one of the many knives he carried on himself to cut off a single stem, but in all honesty, he was lazy and actually found it a bit satisfying to see the whole plant tear out so perfectly. He liked feeling the soft soil between the thin roots. He tried not to make that a habit though; he didn't want to ruin the meadow. Usually he would just rip off a rose and pull the leaves and unopened buds off before heading in his way.
He repeated the same scenario twice a week after work on Tuesday and Thursday for just over a month after an incident at the cemetery wher he was made aware that the flowers were thrown out once a week. It wasn't until today on the fifth repetition of the same Thursday afternoon that something incredible happened.
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"Hey assbutt!" Castiel yelled as he sprinted across his unnecessarily large garden.
Dean jerked his head around to find where the voice had been coming from. He scanned the area for any sign of life, and was temporarily stunned by what he saw. A man in a 3 piece suit covered by a tan trench coat fitting of a tax accountant was running towards Dean, flailing his hands around his head, trying desperately to get Deans attention.
Dean took a defensive stance and placed his hand over his back pocket where he kept his prized butterfly knife, dubbed the angle blade by Sammy after a particularly miraculous survival in a bar fight.
"Hey," the man panted as he reached Dean. "Sorry for that. I probably look like a psycho. I really should have thought this through." He rested his hands on his knees as he attempted to catch his breath.
"Uhhhh," Dean began.
"Oh! Sorry! I'm Castiel." He reached out to grab the strangers hand and shook it.
Dean stood slightly dumbfounded as the weird man shook his hand. "And you, good sir, are a thief," Castiel continued.
"What?" Dean raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"In your hand right there." Castiel pointed to the dark purple ranunculus the Dean had forgotten he had been holding.
"I... uh... sorry. I didn't know that this was someone's garden. Doesn't really stand out as a yard. I'll uh... just go. Here." He handed the flower to Castiel. "Sorry."
Castiel cursed under his breathe. "Hey, wait!" He called out much louder than necessary, considering Dean was no more than 10 feet away. "I didn't say you couldn't keep the flowers; just that, ya know, it's technically stealing."
Dean stared at the peculiar man in front of him. He noticed details that he had missed due to the fact that he was mildly terrified of the weird suited man chasing after him. He noticed the slight curl in his dark, mahogany hair, the light pink tint of his lips, and finally the delicate blue eyes that were staring at him waiting for a response.
"Oh um... it's okay. I'd better go." Dean tripped over his words. Dean raked his brain, trying to temper if he had ever seen eyes so beautiful before.
"No really. Take the flower... um," Castiel paused waiting for the flower thief to provide a name.
"Dean."
"Dean." Castiel handed him the ranunculus. "Really, there must be an reason for your plant killing escapades considering how diligent about your biweekly afternoon thieving."
"I uh..." Dean had no idea how to respond to this guy. How many times had he seen Dean out here to know that this was a weekly excursion for Dean?
"Yeah, um, they're for..." he paused. What would Castiel think if he told him that he stoped the cemetery every week to visit his dead family members that passed over two decades ago? Dean then made a split second decision that he would soon regret and continued, "They're for a girl. Yes. That is what they're for. I give them to a girl. Charlie."
Castiel stared into Deans eyes with an intense face that left Dean squirming. Dean wanted to read his expression, to understand the strange man standing before him, but Castiel had and amazing poker face, maybe even better than Dean himself.
After a moment Castiel reverted back to his dorky smile. "Well, lets go then."
Dean snorted. "Lets go? Where would I be going with you? The guy in the middle of the forest wearing a suit."
Castiel rolled his eyes. "First of all, we are not in the middle of nowhere, my house is just behind those weeping willow trees over there. And secondly, I want to go with you to see this Charlie. I really must meet the girl who is pretty enough to warrant flower theft."
"I uhhh um well I- I don't know if that's a good idea Charlie's not particularly fond of, uh, company. Yeah company! She's shy, you see, so-"
Before he could finish his story about poor, shy Charlie, Castiel interrupted. "Dean, I have just met you and I know very few things that I can say for certain about you, but I do know that you, my good sir, are lying you are a horrible lair."
Dean stood completely awestruck. Who was this man?
"Shall we be off then?" It was phrased as a question, but Castiel wasted no time waiting for a response. Instead, he began walking away from the garden.
"Hey," Dean called after Cas. "It's this way." He pointed in the opposite direction of Castiels current path.
"Oh." Castiel hid his embarrassment and turned swiftly to continue in the direction Dean had begun walking in.
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"So..." Cas began in a vain attempt to fill the silence they had been walking in for the last 5 minutes. "How long have you been seeing Charlie?"
"Huh?" Dean was torn from his thoughts by Castiels voice.
Cas chuckled quickly and repeated the question.
"Oh- well, actually I'm not seeing Charlie." God this was going downhill fast. There was no way Dean could explain this. He's walking to a cemetery! How do you tell someone that you are taking them to the cemetery, not a cute girls apartment?!
Cas hummed unbelievingly in response. "So who is this Charlie then?" He asked after another stretch of silence.
"She's uhhh, um. A friend?" Dean tried to sound certain, but it came out as more of a question than an answer.
Castiel nodded and continued walking alongside Dean. They had made it out of the trees and onto the sidewalk along the road.
"So do I get to know why we are bringing 'a friend' that you are 'not seeing' flowers?" Cas teased.
Dean would've laughed if he weren't feeling so awkward right now. "I'm really not seeing her."
"Suuure," Cas singsonged the extended 'u'. "A handsome guy like you bring a girls flowers twice a week. Ummhummm." Cas didn't know why he kept pushing this. Honestly, he didn't know why he was making Dean take him to see Charlie. His "social skills" were really "rusty". This was a dumb idea.
Dean snorted a laugh. "No, really I'm not. I'm gay." Dean blushed furiously when he realized what he said. He pointed his stare directly at his feet. Why did he say that?!
"Oh!" Castiels eyes widened. He quickly glances over and reevaluated Dean. He was cute. His dirty blonde hair. The splattering of dots covering his face. The blush covering those freckles only added to Deans appeal in Castiels opinion. He realized he was starring and forces his gaze away.
"I'm pan," Cas announced, "ya know, since we're stating our sexualities."
Dean kept his gaze low, but a small smile rugged at the corner of his cheeks.
They continued in silence after that. Deans internal monologue was a mix between curiosity about the strange man beside him and an anxious debate over how he would break it to Cas that Charlie was dead. Castiels was more of him attempting to guess who this Charlie could be. Why did dean bring her flowers so often? Was she sick? No the hospital was the opposite direction. Unless she was on bedrest, or had a live in nurse. Maybe shes dieing. That would explain Deans awkwardness about the whole situation. Dean turned a corner and Cas followed.
Wait.
Castiel recognizes this road. Ivy lane. This was the road he took almost every day for a year after Balthazar was murdered. They were two blocks away from the cemetery where his body laid.
That means...
Charlie.
"Oh." Cas stoped walking. "I'm sorry Dean." He spoke in a soft and earnest voice.
Dean didn't know how to respond.
So he didn't. They just kept walking, side by side, two strangers sharing in each others pain.
Part 2 on the way. Hopefully . Maybe. This was just getting too long and I know if I don't publish it not i never will. (I wrote it like more than 2 months ago) tbh this is my least fav of all these so far