Rock Salt And Feathers ~ Uncharted Routes

Coincidence By Downfall35
Home ~ Uncharted Routes
Rating: PG-13 Disclaimer: I own nothing. I wish I did, but I don't. Summary: "Why don't we get out of here," suggested Dean Winchester, Castiel learnt the man's name a couple of drinks ago. Warning: Human AU Notes: Much love to hunters_retreat for the great beta. Companion: Meeting Again is the companion to this.
"Why don't we get out of here," suggested Dean Winchester, Castiel learnt the man's name a couple of drinks ago. Cas had been drinking with this guy for a little over an hour now and had to say he was definitely interested, especially when he felt Dean's hand ghost along his thigh. The last one night stand he'd had was back in college with that linebacker who had problems admitting he was gay. But now as he was comfortably drunk Castiel found himself happily being led out of the bar. At least that's how he remembered it. Castiel's head was killing the next morning when he woke up in an apartment he knew wasn't his. "Morning," greeted Dean with a smile and two cups of freshly brewed coffee. Castiel yawned out some type of response that conjoined the words 'morning' and 'thanks,' as he took the mug offered to him. Thankfully Dean found it amusing. The rest of the morning went by in a haze, Cas couldn't remember much about the previous night besides the sex which if his sore muscles were an indication must have been pretty wild. Dean seemed nice enough offering Castiel breakfast and use of his shower but Cas just declined. If anything he just wanted to go home and sleep till Monday morning. Humbly Dean called him a cab. Monday morning came all too quickly for Castiel, who'd spent Sunday hung over and in a post sex haze. Wearily he forced himself out of bed for a shower and a shave. A glass of orange juice got that dry bland taste out of his mouth. Eventually he headed out his apartment door. It was just going on nine when Cas strolled into his office, jumbo Starbucks mocha in hand. He barely had time to check his memo's and messages as a knock at the door drew his attention. Looking up Castiel saw a young man – giant was probably more appropriate considering this guy's height. "Yes?" Castiel was hesitant; he knew he had no client interviews for at least another hour. "Ah the girl at reception said I should come to you," explained the stranger. "I'm your new intern." Great Castiel sighed internally. Looks like Zachariah had decided to dump another intern on him again. He supposed it was his own fault. He knew, compared to everyone else in the firm, that he was a much better teacher. Closing the gap between them Cas stuck out his hand. "Castiel Novak," he greeted. "Sam," replied the new intern, proceeding to shake Cas' hand. "Sam Winchester." Butterflies erupted in Castiel's stomach as the name swept through his memory. Images of his weekend flashed through his mind, strong hands, bare chests pressing up against each other, tongues meeting... "Are you okay?" Sam's face furrowed with concern. "You look pale." Brought back to reality, Castiel released Sam's hand. "Long weekend," he offered as an excuse. "Okay," Sam clearly thought something was strange with this guy, but wouldn't say anything to his new boss. "Let's get you settled," Castiel pushed the images from his mind. With reception giving Sam a grand tour, Castiel returned to his office and slumped into his chair, sipping away at his now lukewarm coffee. Lilith would make sure Sam was all set up in the spare office situated next to Castiel's. Cas was left to mull of over what he'd learnt. Perhaps this was all just some weird coincidence? Surely Sam really couldn't be Dean's brother? What were the odds that the guy Cas slept with had a brother who was now somewhere learning about the building's evacuation policies? The rest of the day was easier. Castiel had many interns in the past so the drill was nothing new to him. Sam just observed a few client meetings, and helped with researching old case law and offered a few interpretations when Cas quizzed him. The thought of Dean however loomed over Cas but he made sure to keep Sam busy enough that the younger man wouldn't notice his boss's strange behaviour. When six finally came the office cleared out and Castiel found himself sharing an elevator with Sam who was on his phone. Sam acknowledged Cas with a smile before turning his back to talk. "First day was good," Sam said. "What?" Sam pressed his phone closer to his ear. "No Dean," he sighed before lowering his voice to a low harsh whisper. "I didn't sleep with anyone in the copy room." Dean? Castiel heard the name. It couldn't be. Caught off guard Cas soon found himself coughing and spluttering on the water he'd been drinking. "Hold on," Sam replied, pulling the phone away from his ear. "Castiel you okay?" Nodding Cas wiped the stray water from his chin. 'Real smooth Cas,' he told himself. Concerned, Sam eventually went back to his conversation. "Sorry, that was my boss...huh...Castiel...what do you mean you know that name?" The elevator couldn't move fast enough as Castiel stilled, focusing one hundred percent on Sam's conversation. "Whatever," Sam replied, noticing that they were almost at the ground floor. "I have to go, yeah, see you at home." He hung up at the doors dinged and opened. As gracefully as possible Castiel took off making a bee line for the exit. Day two started off better. Castiel made it through the entire morning without embarrassing himself. He'd finally got a grip so that every time he looked at Sam images of a naked Dean wouldn't flood his mind. At lunch Sam tagged along with Cas. Jess the girl from HR he'd eaten with yesterday had already had lunch at the board meeting she'd been in earlier that day. "You look tired," Cas noted. Sure he'd realized it hours ago but he was really just after any type of conversation starter at the moment. "Long night," answered Sam. "Family trouble." Castiel nodded. "Anything I can help with?" Sometimes he was too kind for his own good. "Do you have siblings?" Sam asked, running a hand through his hair. Shaking his head Castiel immediately thought or at least hoped he knew who Sam was referring to and just after he'd been so proud of himself for not thinking about Dean for the past three hours. "Just me." "Must be nice," snorted Sam. "My older brother's been driving me crazy." "I think it's an unwritten code for family to drive each other up the wall." Castiel needed to change the topic quick. "Well mine's been moping around all week," Sam began. "Met someone the other night, had a one night stand, forgot to get the guy's number and he now won't shut up about it." Castiel perked a brow at the story. "Sorry," Sam added. "Shouldn't be boring you with this stuff." "Not at all," Cas, tried to play it cool. "So your brother is really taking it hard?" "Oh yeah," Sam replied. "Which is strange because Dean's never the type to get tied down." A proud, short burst of laughter escaped Castiel. "What's so funny?" asked Sam, not knowing the importance of the information he'd just leaked. "Nothing," Castiel wiped the smile off of his face. "I should probably get going," he fumbled around in his mind for a good excuse. "Got to see HR about something." He didn't bother explaining as he left. Sam was his intern. It wasn't his place to question what Cas did with his day. In truth Castiel was off to meet Jess, the person he got along with the best in the entire building. She was always up for a gossip and she'd probably kill Cas if he didn't tell her about Dean and Sam. "Cas," smiled Jess as he walked through her door. "Where's your puppy dog?" she asked when Sam didn't enter in behind him. "Still eating lunch," Cas shrugged it off as unimportant. Jess pouted. "Shame he's cute. So how's it going anyways? He better than the last intern you had?" "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Castiel smirked which meant he had something good to share. "Try me," retorted Jess. Palms sweaty, Sam walked along the corridor. Castiel was else where so he'd utilize the free time he had. Although it was only his first week Sam was always a brave person. Cleaning his hands against his pants he ran through the speech he'd had prepared earlier. He was going to ask Jess to go out with him. Hand raised he was just about to knock on the door but paused when he heard voices. "No way!" Jess' voice boomed through the door. "You slept with his brother?" Frowning Sam decided this was probably a conversation he shouldn't be eavesdropping on until he heard Castiel's voice. "I didn't know obviously," Cas' tone was much more controlled then Jess'. A faint snicker filled the room and Sam pressed the side of his face up against the door, after checking to make sure that he was indeed alone in the hallway first. "And he said his brother was still pining?" Jess loved a good piece of gossip. "Pining wasn't the word he used but yeah apparently I'm just that good," stated Castiel before the pair laughed. "It's like something straight out of a tacky romance novel, boy meets boy, they sleep together, but only this time a few days later the boy's younger brother turns out to be the new intern," Jess continued laughing as she spoke. Sam froze on the spot. "Does he know?" asked Jess. "No," Cas replied. "That's one awkward conversation I'd rather not have, especially when he's going to be here for another five weeks." Hearing a door down the hallway open, Sam quickly straightened up and headed far away trying to look as casual as he possibly could. It was like a total mind warp to him. The guy his brother slept with was now his new boss. It felt like something out of the Twilight zone. Sam could hardly believe it. Maybe that's why Cas had acted so strangely the previous day. The rest of the afternoon was spent in relative quiet, Sam buried his head in law books looking up every now and then expecting to see Castiel at his doorway. But Cas was content on leaving Sam to his own devices, he had too many other thoughts on his mind at the moment anyways. When six o'clock came the pair rode the elevator down together except for this time it was Sam who couldn't wait to get out first. "Hope that family situation works out for you," commented Cas towards Sam's retreating figure. "Don't worry," Sam replied over his shoulder. "I got a plan," he added with a mumble that Cas wouldn't be able to hear. It was only Wednesday and Sam felt like he was part of the world's worst soap series. But he was going to make everything okay. It's not like he cared about Dean's preference in sexual partners, he'd known about that for years. Even learning that his boss was gay didn't faze him. It was living and interacting with the two of them now that he knew they slept together that worried him. Dean would no doubt go on about 'the one that got away' and Castiel would probably continue acting weird around him the entire length of his internship. Sam had to fix this as quickly as possible, not only for them but for his own sanity. The plan was simple, invite Dean to his office for lunch and hope that he and Cas ran into each other. The promise of a greasy burger was enough to get Dean to leave his auto shop for a couple of hours. Sam was also positive that part of Dean was just eager to see where his brother worked. As for Castiel, Sam double checked to make sure that his boss would be around and not in a meeting. Smiling to himself Sam looked the time on his watch, the best part of his plan was the fact that if he were wrong, then there'd be no harm no foul, Dean and Cas would just be two strangers meeting briefly. Waiting in the lobby, Sam took Dean up in the elevator to his floor. Dean as usual made jokes about the people in suits. "So they gave you your own office?" Dean was impressed and happy for his younger brother. "Well it's a spare apparently," explained Sam. "So yeah it's mine while I'm here." Walking around Dean checked the book case full of legal textbooks that would bore him to sleep. He then made his way over to Sam's desk sitting at his chair. "Swanky," commented Dean, even though he'd never been a fan of the office life. Sam wanted to continue the tour, in hopes of running into Castiel down the track, but a phone call soon turned out to be a speed bump in his genius plan. "I'll be right back," promised Sam as he left to go to security to get his permanent security pass. "Don't answer my phone whatever you do." Dean rolled his eyes as Sam left. Leaning back into the chair he put his feet up onto the desk. "Sam I need you to get me a copy of-" Castiel's voice trailed off as he stopped at the doorway. "You." Looking up, surprise caught Dean and he almost fell backwards, grabbing the edge of the desk to save himself. "Cas," Dean couldn't believe it. "What are you-" Words were too problematic at this point in time. Springing to his feet, Dean closed the gap between them, ushering Castiel inside as he closed the door before the explanations began. Thumb running over the photograph on his ID Sam grinned, placing it inside his front pocket. It'd taken twenty minutes but finally he and the security guard had managed to fix the glitch in the printer that kept smudging his image. Sam just hoped Dean wasn't too bored whilst waiting for him. Confused, Sam frowned when he reached his office. He was sure he'd left the door open. "Dean!" he called when it wouldn't open, someone had locked it. "Dean!" Moments later the knob turned and out walked a dishevelled Castiel. "Enjoy your lunch," was all Cas said as he walked across the hall and into his own office. Sam titled his head when he saw the post-it note with what he would guess to be Dean's number stuck on the ass of Cas' trousers. Turning his gaze to the inside of his office, Sam caught sight of Dean. He'd figured on an awkward shy reunion but Sam should have known better when Dean was involved. Dean set off towards the elevator almost dragging his brother along as he put an arm around Sam's shoulder. "Nice place, friendly people," remarked Dean. "But dude, FYI, I wouldn't sit on that chair again if I were you."
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