Moving in Together
Triggers: Fluff, mentions of bad childhood, mentions of John Winchester.
Dean surveyed the empty foyer of his apartment; a few measly boxes stacked at his feet on the cracked linoleum by the door. There wasn't much to show that he'd lived in the rundown apartment for the last five years and in the back of his mind he found himself grateful that he held no attachment to the place. After his younger brother had left for college he'd packed up what little he owned and left home himself; leaving behind a drunk of a father and a lifetime of bad memories. He wandered around from place to place, often staying only long enough to gather enough money to move on to the next town. No place had ever caught his fancy until he ran across a small town in Montana, the population was no more than 100 and he found himself a small place that was easy on the pockets with a landlord that often would cut him slack on the rent if he preformed repairs on his apartment. It wasn't the best place to live but it had heat in the winter, air conditioner in the summer and Dean took pride in the fact that this was his place.
Towards the end of the first year he'd been living there he enrolled himself into the local GED program and passed with flying colors and went on to take some business classes in an online college and started a small company for himself doing home repairs. Soon he was contracted by the owner of the apartment building and after word got out around the town about the quality of his work he soon had to hire a couple more employees to help with the work load. It was while working on a repair at the library where he ran across Gabriel for the first time. The shorter man was lounging across a chair sucking on a lollipop all while taunting the straitlaced librarian behind the desk. Dean had struck up a friendship with the librarian and he glowered a bit as he stalked over to stand at the desk; his arms crossed over his chest.
"Hey Cas, you ok?" He asked as he looked between the two.
"Oh, Dean. Yes. I'm fine. This is...my brother....Gabriel. Seems as if he's in town for the time being and felt it necessary to pay me a visit."
"Huh?"
Dean glanced between the two again. Cas had blue eyes and dark hair and was nearly as tall as himself with a voice that sounded as if the man gargled rocks every morning while Gabriel appeared to be much shorter with light golden brown hair and amber eyes.
"Yeah...Deano...we're bros." Gabriel replied as he flicked his eyes and down Dean's frame. "You're new here, I don't remember seeing you around before...and trust me I'd remember a fine piece like you."
"Gabriel..." Cas interjected as he shook his head.
"What? I'm just telling the truth." Gabriel replied with a wink.
With an eye-roll Dean went back to work on the repairs and left just before closing with a wave to Cas and a head nod towards Gabriel. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't see the other man again. But he was wrong. For the next month it seemed that Gabriel happened to be everywhere that Dean was and after the first few run-ins Dean started to get suspicious. Due to the towns small size new traveled fast so it wasn't unusual for people to know someone else was at any given time and seeing as how the truck that Dean drove was distinctive with the name of the business on it it was an even bigger dead give away where he was at any time. It wasn't until the second month that Dean managed to corner Gabriel and demand why he was being followed which ended up with a dinner date followed by a breakfast date.
"Hey Deano, whatcha doing?"
Dean blinked as he looked away from the peeling floor to see Gabriel leaning against the door frame, a sucker stick dangling from his lips as he looked at him. A smile quirked Dean's lip as he reached down for a box and handed it to Gabriel as he picked up another one.
"Just thinking about this loud mouth that was bugging the nerdy little librarian and how he followed me around time until he worked up the nerve to ask me out."
"Huh, sounds like the life of the party if you ask me."
"I guess, he definitely made things interesting, that's for sure. I'm sure living with him will be quite the adventure."
Dean grinned as he moved past Gabriel; dropping a kiss to his cheek before heading down the stairs to put his box in the back of his truck. He turned to watch Gabriel come down the stairs, the smile on his face widening as he watched one chapter of his life come to a close as another started.