About time (Destiel AU)

Chapter 9

"Here we go again," Cas sighed.

He sat up from his couch and rushed around the tiny apartment throwing clothes into his closet and shoving random objects into draws. After seeing Dean's gorgeous apartment he couldn't help feeling slightly embarrassed by the 'shoebox' he called home.

Once he'd finished clearing up he surveyed the scene. It was still cramped and disorganised, but at least it didn't look like a bomb had gone off.

He suddenly had a worrying thought and ran to his fridge. Just as he'd suspected, it was pretty much empty, apart from a carton of milk, a half eaten bar of chocolate and a one thousand year old apple. He checked his cupboards...nothing.

He glanced at his watch, he had ten minutes. He grabbed his keys, wallet and phone and ran down the block to the nearest store. He bought a few bags of chips and a pack of beers hoping to seem more prepared than he was.

He ran back down the street, the sun beating down on him. He saw the impala approaching form far away and picked up his pace to meet Dean as he was getting out of the car.

"Hey," he said spotting Cas coming close.

"Hey," Cas responded brushing his hair off of his forehead, suddenly aware of the sweat on his face and neck. He blushed slightly at the thought of looking like such a mess. "Do you want to come in?" Cas asked, he wasn't really sure what to say, it was more than uncomfortable.

"Um yeah, that was the plan," Dean smiled casually, he didn't look the slightest bit awkward. Dean had always had a strange ability to hide how he was really feeling, but Cas knew this well enough by now.

Cas smiled and unlocked the door holding it open for his friend. Dean followed him up the flights of stairs, "it's nothing special, nowhere near as nice as your place," he said unlocking the door of his apartment. He immediately regretted the statement as it reminded both of them of the last time Cas was at Dean's apartment.

"It's nice." Dean smiled brushing off the comment as if it was nothing.

"Make yourself at home. Beer?" Cas said and Dean nodded. He opened two lukewarm beers and put the rest into the fridge.

"So... how come you wanted to stop by?" Cas sat on the couch next to Dean, he decided to cut the bullshit, there was no need for small talk.

Dean chuckled at Cas' bluntness and sighed. "Well, things have been kinda crazy at work and at home recently and I guess I wanted to come and see you because, I don't know, you remind me of home, when we were kids and things were simpler."

Cas frowned, he wanted honesty but wasn't quite expecting that much honesty. "Oh, ok." The room was silent for a few moments, "Do you really think things were simpler when we were kids?"

"Yeah, now we have jobs and shit you know I never thought I'd say it but I sort of miss the exams."

Cas let out an exaggerated gasp "You're joking! Maybe high school was easy for you, you were the mysterious, brooding, hot guy who everyone left alone." Dean appeared un-phased by the 'hot' that Cas had accidently slipped into the sentence. "For me high school was hell, people are so much less judgemental now, and I can be responsible for my own stuff instead of having to rely on anyone else."

"Yeah I guess, have you been back recently?" Dean asked.

"No not really, I go to visit my dad when I can, but there isn't much there for me anymore." Cas did feel a little guilty about not seeing his dad more, but he as he'd said, there weren't many good memories at home... other than his time with Dean of course.

"Yeah," Dean nodded thoughtfully "My dad comes to visit me quite a lot, but I go back at things like thanksgiving or birthdays. He's very close with Lisa's family so..." He stopped rambling the moment he realised he'd mentioned Lisa.