the rough tides between you and me

bittersweet silence

"You have reached the voicemail box of -- I don't understand why, why do you want me to say my name?"

Dean sighed. The action of releasing a sound from the back of his throat had now became his new habit to do nowadays. Since Castiel has not been answering his calls lately and he was trying his best to avoid Lisa without avoiding Ben, he was beginning to be stressed out of his mind. He could not see straight anymore; it was like a fog of sadness and confusion blocked his vision and prevented him from completing any daily activities like sleeping or eating pie. Pie did not even make him happy. Fucking pie, the main source to all of his happiness.

He sat down in his chair, shoving his phone in his back pocket. Dean continued to stare intensely at the half eaten pie that laid calmly on the small table. He did not feel hungry anymore. It was like he was too concentrated on Lisa and Castiel, it all made his brain hurt like hell. He wished Castiel stayed... He was nice to talk to.

A loud buzzing noise was heard from the obvious doorbell that rang from outside. He knew who it was; Sammy Winchester, his only brother. He got up and slowly paced over to the door before nonchalantly opening the door. Not much to his surprise, there he was with his long flowing hair.

"Hey, Dean." Dean nodded his head upwards at him, leaving the door opened and walking back to where the pie sat. "Remember when I told you about my friend who needed a place to say?"

"When was this?"

"Uh, about seven months ago?"

Dean grabbed the pie and put it away, "Well, what about it?"

Sammy raised his eyebrows, calmly whistling away towards the other room of this cheap house. Dean knew what this meant. He knew that Sam was probably either planning something that he might not like, or... "Sam?" Dean called out, when he heard talking in the room that Sam had walked in.

Dean sighed, rolling his eyes as he heaved towards that room filled with hushed whispering. "Sam, what're you --" He paused his actions and sucked in a large breath. He became well aware of who stood beside his little brother. Those bright blue eyes stared back at him with confusion mixed in with a hint of anger sprinkled all over his magnificent orbs. The green eyed boy flicked his eyes upwards to Sam, then back to the shorter boy.

"So, Dean, this is my friend --"

"Cas."

"Dean," Cas found himself uttering out in an almost muted tone.

Sam looked at the two with perplexity, eyebrows all scrunched together as the noticeable, ambiguous tension was now caught on by the clueless little brother. "Wait, you two know each other or something?"

"Certainly." stated no one other than the short brunette with glowing blue eyes.

Dean studied him, watching how Castiel blinked; fluttering his eyes shut before reopening them in such a swift movement. How his fingers clenched onto the hem of his sleeves and then releasing to stuff them in his trench coat's pocket. And Dean didn't know why he could not look away.

Sam clapped his hands, not being able to hold back the grin that threatened to appear on his face. "Well, Castiel isn't the friend who'll be staying with us if that's your concern," Dean released a relieved sigh that he didn't know he was holding in. "His name is Gabriel, who's Cas' brother." Sam patted Castiel's back, "Cas here is very thoughtful and kind to help his brother move in while he's out taking a long course in college."

"Huh," Dean started, looking surprised since he only ever knew one person who is going to college. "Speaking of, shouldn't you be attending your classes?"

Dean's little brother glared at him knowingly, before walking out and motioning Castiel over.

"C'mon, let's go start unpacking before Gabe gets home."

-- Time Skip --

"Okay, on the count of three -- Ready?"

Cas and Dean nodded, waiting for the signal.

"One," Dean gripped tightly to the mattress they were planning on bringing in the house, "Two," Cas tried adjusting his position to feel more comfortable, "Three!"

Groans escaped all of their lips as they lifted up the mattress, slowly walking towards the entrance of the house. Awkwardly, Dean had to squish himself up next to Cas since the mattress ate up the entire space when they sauntered up the small steps that lead them to the house. His hands lost grip of the mattress, dropping it to the ground with much exhaustion. The two other boys followed, realizing something right then and there.

"It's not going to fit through that door." Exhaled Sam.

"Why can't this Gabe kid sleep with you?" Dean suggested.

Sam felt his cheeks flush. He frowned and tried to cover it up with the expression of unhappiness but that wasn't possible. "I don't know, maybe he wants his own room with his own bed that he could sleep comfortably in,"

"Oh, he'll be fine." Stated Cas.

Sam looked down at the mattress thoughtfully, "You sure?"

"I'm positive."

Both Dean and Castiel gave him an assuring smile before watching him hesitantly go inside, "I-I have to get ready then. You guys don't mind if you have to put back the mattress, right? Thanks!"

They both sighed, shaking their heads as Castiel looked over to Dean, who stared down at the blue mattress on the pavement. He quickly looked away as soon as Dean caught him, a small smile appearing on the green-eyed man's face.

"Alright," Castiel started, flushing red as he cleared his throat. "Where should we put this?"

Dean shrugged, wanting nothing more but silence. They both just stood there, looking straight at the window that showed Sam rushing back and forth, rummaging through his things. It was clear that he was cleaning his room for Castiel's brother.

"I should probably be heading back to work in an hour."

"Oh, right, of course." He wanted Castiel to stay, but he knew that he's be uncomfortable. "Why didn't you answer any of my phone calls?" Dean mentally face-palmed, cringing at how straightforward he was.

"You called?"

He scoffed, "Yeah, for the last three days."

Castiel scratched his neck, continuing to look at Sam who was still running around in his room.

"Um, sorry. My phone kind of broke."

"Oh."

"Yeah, and besides," He peeled his blue eyes away from Sam and turned to Dean. "Why would I call you?

"Why not?"

"Do you even remember what you said last time? As if we were dating and you were confessing that you loved someone else."

"No — I told you because I wanted to be truthful,"

"Truthful for what exactly? What do you think this is, Dean?"

"What do you mean? We're friends, right?"

Castiel stared at Dean without even blinking for a little second. "Are you that oblivious?"

"Oblivious to what?"

He frowned, giving Dean a look.

"I have to get to work--"

"Wait!"

"Bye, Dean."

And with that he left, going down the driveway to where his car was parked. Dean wanted to yell for him again, but he knew Cas would continue to drive away.

And all that was left was bitter sweet silence.

word count; 1,222