My Unicorn

The Roommate

Cas navigated the crowded halls as he followed his brothers. His room was on the first floor and was surprisingly easy to find. There it was, his room for the next 9 months. All his anxieties and worries came rushing back. He froze and could not get the courage to even open the door.

"Hey, Cas, buddy. You gonna open the door?" Gabe asked, but Castiel could barely hear him over the thoughts in his head. Balthazar took the key from his hand and went ahead and opened the door. As his brothers made their way inside Cas stood remembering the moment he first saw his room at the group home. It was small and there were two sets of bunk beds. He choose a bottom bunk cause he was scared of falling off the top. His brothers had the other set and Zachariah, his main bully at the home, slept on the top bunk of his bed. He was so excited then, so why was he so nervous now? Was it because his brothers weren't gonna be there? Was it that he wasn't going to be in the place he had lived for so long?

"Not too shabby!" Gabe said, as Cas finally walked through the door.

"Looks like your roommate hasn't showed up yet? So you get first pick of the beds!" Balthazar inferred. Cas took it all in. There were two beds, one on either wall. Next to both beds was a nightstand, with a window in between. Across from the bed was a closet. The closets were small and the space would be cramped once his roommate showed, but Cas was used to small and cramped. It was how he had lived since he was 8 years old.

"Let's wait for the other boy before we set anything up. I don't want to do anything to make a bad impression." Cas said, looking around the room.

"Always Mister Nice Guy," Gabe teased, "But I guess we can wait for a little bit. You don't have that much stuff anyway."

Just as Gabe finished talking, the door opened, and in walked a very tall guy. He was talking to someone behind him. Cas thought he recognized the voice but he couldn't pinpoint it. He turned around to say something to his brother when all the sudden-

"Castiel?? What a small world. My brother is your roommate." The voice was that of Dean, the frat guy who helped him when he first got here. Cas turned around to say hi.

"Hi! I'm Sam," The tall guy said.

"I'm Castiel, but everyone calls me Cas, and these are my brothers Balthazar and Gabriel. It's nice to meet you!"

"And same to you. I see you have already met Dean, my pain of an older brother."

"Hey again," Dean replied, smiling.

Cas took it all in. This is the man he was going to be living with. He seemed nice, and even though Cas had always been good at reading people, he was still worried he was reading Sam wrong. Hopefully they would get along. Cas had heard the horror stories of freshman roommates and with his track record of ruined friendships, he was nervous this would become another one. He got lost in thought yet again and the worries started. He tried to stop them by thinking, "This is your fresh start, you get to be whoever you want. They don't know your past. You can do this." The sound of Sam asking him questions brought him back into the room.

"So where you from?" Sam asked.

"I am from a small town. Truckee. Do you know it?" Cas responded.

"I'm sure he doesn't bro, no one knows..." Gabe snarked.

"Actually," Sam stopped Gabe, "I have been there! Remember, Dean?"

"Oh yeah, we went with Dad. He took that trucking job up there." Dean stated. His face was filled with remembrance. There was something else there, too, but Cas couldn't make out what. Cas had always been good at reading people. He thinks it was because he was such a loner all life, he got used to just watching.

"Where are you guys from?" Balthazar chimed in.

"Oh, kind of all over the place. Our dad was a truck driver and so we moved around a lot. From coast to coast." Sam said, a sad look in his eyes.

"Anyways," Dean said, "I have to get back to helping out the other freshies. It was nice to meet you all! Bye, Sammy! And I hope to see you around, kid." Dean left and Cas started wondering about Sam and Dean's backstory. Why did they move around so much? Sam said was... Is their dad still alive? Does he just have a different job? There was no mention of a mother, where is she at? Cas and his curiosity were going full speed. But he held his tongue. He didn't want to overstep his bounds. He was gonna have to live with the guy for 9 months and he didn't want to fuck it up by prying.

"Well, we best be getting on the road. We have a long drive ahead. We'll let you two get settled." Balthazar said.

Gabe came over to Cas and gave him a hug and said, "I am proud of you, buddy. Go and change the world. Also, don't be a little nerd, try and make friends, meet a girl, rebel a little."

"Bye, Castiel! Make sure you check in. You know Jodi is gonna be worried sick if you don't!" Balthazar gave his brother a hug and they made their way out the door.

Cas waved goodbye. All of a sudden, he got really sad. While this was a good thing and he was living his dream, he was gonna miss those two quite a bit. They had always been around and now they weren't going to be.

"Hey so they're having a little freshman mixer. Dean's frat is throwing it! You wanna come?" Sam asked, a smile on his face. Cas was never one for social gatherings. With his clumsiness, and shyness and awkwardness, it never ended well. But Gabe was right, this was his fresh start. He needed to put himself out there and classes hadn't started so he didn't have anything better to do.

"Sure! Can I go with you, though? 'Cause I don't know anyone else," Cas responded.

"Of course!" Sam smiled. He seemed like a nice guy. Cas guessed he got lucky with the roommate generator. The two continued to talk as they unpacked. Cas was finally here, he had a friend, and he was going to a party. This was truly the start of the next chapter of his life.