Chapter Text
Dean used to live in a house with a lovely family when he was younger, but a house fire took it all away. Dean was only able to carry out his little brother, who was nothing more than a kitten at the time, but his parents and owners were not so lucky.
So the brothers grew up in the streets, watching out for each other and, as far as Dean was concerned, needing nothing else. If Sammy would still occasionally throw longing looks in the direction of a warm home, Dean would try not to notice. They had survived fine on their own for years, traveling from street to street, town to town, without staying at one place for too long. So why would they want to change anything?
Then one day Sammy gets sick, not something life-threatening or dangerous, but he's got a bad enough cold for Dean to decide they need to stick to one place for a bit, while his little brother regains his strength.
Dean's out looking for food for the both of them when he first sees him through a window, a slim, black cat with—are those spots? They look like spots. Dean's never seen a cat like him. His fur looks newly brushed and he's half-turned away from Dean, so it comes as more of a surprise when the other cat finally takes notice of him, turning around to sit in front of his closed window. Now that he's facing him, Dean can see that he was wrong—while his back is black, his front is an intriguing smokey silver. But most distracting of all are his eyes, which are of a richer shade of blue than Dean's cat eyes are accustomed to seeing.
Dean pauses, effectively caught staring as he sits on the fence in front of this stranger's window—he tries to play it cool, quickly averting his eyes and starting to groom himself (suddenly feeling self-conscious about his own boring brown coloring and disheveled fur). He sneaks a glance up and the stranger is still staring at him, but the gaze doesn't feel threatening—especially with how he's kind of tilting his head to the side and looking more curious than annoyed with Dean about the intrusion into his territory.
Unnerved by his own nervousness, Dean breaks away from their staring contest and jumps off to continue his search for food, determined to avoid the strange cat's window in the future.
... Yet every day for the next three days, he finds himself sitting on that fence, waiting for a peek of blue eyes and exotic spots.
On the fourth day, Sam tells him to stop being a wimp about whatever's got his tail in a fuss, and pointedly tells him to go fix it with a very eloquent paw to the face.
So Dean decides enough is enough and actually climbs all the way to his window this time, sitting on the flowerbed right outside. The black cat is curled up on the floor when he gets there, but at the sound of Dean's arrival, his ears perk up and his head quickly follows, and he makes his way to the window gracefully, pressing his nose against the glass in an attempt to greet Dean.
Dean knows it's stupid because the cool, invisible wall is in the way, but he humors the strange cat, pressing his own nose against the spot where their noses would meet. There's a contented rumbling sound and Dean realizes he can hear the cat purring all the way outside.
Castiel, he learns that day. Castiel is his name. Cas because Dean thinks it's too much of a mouthful (Cas' purring only seems to grow louder at the nickname, so he assumes he likes it well enough).
That day, Dean stays until Cas' owner shows up to shoo him away.
For an entire week, Dean's daytime hours are spent on that flowerbed, chatting quietly with Cas, sunbathing together in spite of the window that keeps them apart, paws pressing together from time to time against the cool invisible barrier. Dean suspects Sam has already recovered by now, but he's insisted he still needs to take it slow and Dean isn't in a hurry to leave, so he lets the lie slide (even though he's pretty sure his lying has to do with him following Dean that one time when he thought Dean wouldn't notice).
Then one day, everything changes. Word is out in the street that the hunting humans with their giant car—is that what they call it? Dean thinks he remembers his old owner having loved the things, but he tries not to think of those days—have been circling the spot that Sam and Dean have temporarily claimed as their own, and Dean knows it means they have to move on (he won't let his little brother get hurt—he's heard from other cats what happens if you get caught).
So, with his tail and ears low, he asks Sam to wait around the corner and goes to say goodbye to Cas.
It's just as painful as he thought it would be. Cas isn't saying anything and Dean can't even look at him, his heart clenching in his chest at the thought of never seeing his... friend again. Because that's what they are, right? They're friends. When Dean finally looks up Cas is nowhere to be seen, and he really should have expected that, but it still hurts.
With one last forlorn look over his shoulder, he hops off the flowerbed and he's just about reached the fence that he has to jump to make it outside when he hears it. It's the distinctive sound of scratching and what is clearly distressed meowing and when he turns around, he finally sees that Cas is fighting the latching device on another window, a window Dean had never noticed before, struggling to get outside, to get to Dean. Dean's heart climbs all the way to his throat and he hurries to Cas' side, pressing his head worriedly against the glass, unsure of how to help.
"Cas, stop, you'll get hurt." Cas has stopped meowing now that Dean's there and he actually looks more determined than ever, pushing against whatever's keeping the contraption locked. Now that Dean's paying attention, he can tell it's one of those special doors, not a window at all, like the ones they used to have at his old house, the ones his owners would block at night so they wouldn't go out into the cold and get lost.
That gives him an idea. He closes his eyes and tries to picture it in his head, to bring back memories of what feels like lifetimes ago, "Cas, stop, stop. Go for the thin cold thing. On top of the door." He hears Cas stop and even with his eyes closed, Dean knows he will be listening attentively, "Not with your paws, use your teeth. Like the humans do with their paws. Twist it and push."
There's a moment of silence and then he hears it, along with Cas' annoyed but determined huffs, the sound of the cool thing sliding and giving and suddenly the door is bursting open—right against his face, "Damn it, Cas!" Dean gives an indignant yowl, but suddenly there's a furry weight toppling him over and a warm but rough tongue licking all over his face excitedly, and well, Dean doesn't really have it in him to stay angry.
He huffs and pushes Cas' face away with his paws, claws carefully tucked away, "What are you, a dog?" He's being difficult but he doesn't care, because Cas is out here with him and his heartbeat is so loud he can hear it in his ears and he doesn't know what it means, "If you wanted to lick me goodbye, you could have just asked."
Cas, in true Cas fashion, doesn't bother moving off him, content to stare confusedly down at Dean, head tilted in question, "I am coming with you."
Dean's heart aches in the best way, but he fights to bury the feeling. "You don't mean that." He shakes his head in disbelief, unable to look up at Cas, "Cas, you got a good thing going on here. You've got a house and a human and a warm place to sleep and—"
He's stopped by a lick just under his nose. Dean's pretty sure he's blushing underneath all his fur (and he has the sudden, embarrassing urge to start self-consciously grooming himself on the spot). Cas doesn't seem to mind as he stares determinedly down at him, "I'm coming with you. That is not up for discussion." He leans down to press their noses together, "Okay?"
Cas' eyes are even bluer up close. Dean can't look away and his voice comes out strangled. "Okay."
When Cas finally lets him up, he's doing his thing again, purring as loud as a car, sounding pleased with himself.
Dean would normally complain, but he's too happy to do it right now.
Cas is coming with them.
Before they jump over the fence to go get Sam, Dean tentatively bumps their heads together and is rewarded with a brush of Cas' tail against his.
They're gonna be okay.
***
A couple of months later, in another town, a redheaded woman notices them in her neighborhood and starts bringing them treats every day after work.
Dean's hesitant to trust her at first, but Sam talks some sense into him and Cas nudges their heads together encouragingly, and... okay, fine, maybe Dean can give her a chance.
They move in with Charlie and her partner Gilda, and it's not exactly the same as when Dean was a kitten, but it's theirs.
And with Sam safe (and currently flirting awkwardly with the cat next door, Jess) and Cas curled up by his side, well... Dean can't really complain.
It's home.