As soon as his brother, Gabriel, had learned of Castiel losing his job, he had immediately started working on probing Castiel to move into the ranch with him. Truthfully, though, it hadn’t taken much convincing. It hadn’t been hard to leave his life behind. After all, it wasn’t like he had that much to hold on to.
Immediately after arriving at Rustic Haven Ranch, Gabriel had deemed it the perfect moment to throw a party in Castiel’s honor. So now here he was, feeling like an elephant in a room full of fragile, expensive dinnerware sets or something of the sort, all ready to shatter if Castiel moved the wrong way.
Sighing, Castiel turned to the finger foods table to skim his eyes over the choices available, settling for a carbonara mini quiche.
“Heya, cowboy,” came the rural Midwestern drawl, startling Castiel from his pitiful reverie.
Spinning on his heels, Castiel found himself face to face with the most mesmerizing human specimen Castiel had ever laid his eyes upon.
The man was young, younger than him. He had a cocky, lopsided grin that gave him a boyish appearance. It was rough around the edges, but still incredibly charming. Beautiful was the right word, Castiel thought — the man wasn’t dressed like most of the guests at the party, setting aside the cowboy hats and western attire in favor of a beige plaid shirt open over a solid black t-shirt, faded bootcut jeans, and logger style boots. His light-brown hair was styled in a slightly spiked hairdo. He had a straight nose, high cheekbones, and adorable freckles dotting his skin. But what Castiel found the most stunning were his eyes, and how they sparkled every time he caught a glimpse of the artificial light.
“H—hello,” Castiel stuttered after he had spent much longer than socially acceptable staring at the man before him.
“I'm Dean,” he said, his smile growing wider, probably realizing the peculiar effect he was having over Castiel.
Clearing his throat and feeling his cheeks heating up at how embarrassingly obvious he was reacting to this stranger, Castiel forced himself to glance away as he said, “Hello, Dean. But I'm not really a cowboy.