Cas woke up the next morning alone. He rolled over towards where Aaron usually lay to see the spot was empty. He stood up and walked out into the living room, hoping Aaron had just gotten up early, but doubting it. Sure enough, Aaron was nowhere to be found. The plate of food Cas had left out was still there. Cas pulled out his phone and called Aaron.

"Cas?" Aaron answered after a few rings.

"Aaron? Where are you? I just woke up and you were gone," Cas said, worried.

"I'm fine, Cas, calm down. I got drunk and crashed at my friend's place," Aaron said.

"Oh. I can come get you," Cas offered.

"Stop being so clingy Cas, I'll be home when I'm home," Aaron said, sounding annoyed.

"Okay. I'm sorry," Cas said. "I love you."

"Bye Cas," Aaron said, hanging up. Cas put his phone down and quickly wiped away his tears. Only babies cry. Pull yourself together, Castiel. Cas took a deep breath, pushing his sobs back down. Aaron could do what he wanted. They weren't married, Cas didn't have to know what he was doing all the time. Cas picked up his book and turned on some music and settled down for a nice quiet day.

***

Cas decided to take a walk around the city at three in the afternoon. Aaron still wasn't back. When Cas set off down the street, he wasn't sure where he was going. He just walked, and as he walked, he thought. Cas hated thinking. Aaron always said he thought too much anyway. Cas paused in front of the book store. For just a second he thought about leaving - he had too many books anyway - but he decided to go in.

Cas always felt more relaxed when he was surrounded by books. Books had been his escape for as long as he could remember. As he walked down the shelves, running his fingers over the spines, he imagined for a second that he wasn't Aaron's boyfriend. Then he came to his senses and felt ashamed. Aaron loved Cas, and Cas loved Aaron. It wasn't Aaron's fault that he lost his temper sometimes. And no one else could do any better. Even Dean probably - wait. Why was he thinking about Dean? Dean didn't have anything to do with this. Cas shook his head and headed for the door. He was staring at the ground, which was probably why he didn't notice that he was about to run into someone until he actually did.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry, I-"

"Cas?" Cas actually looked up to see that the person he had bumped into was none other than Dean. 

"D-Dean?" He stammered.

"Hey Cas," Dean said, smiling.

"What are you doing here?" Cas asked. It occurred to him how rude he sounded, but Dean didn't seem to mind.

"My brother Sam's birthday is in a few days. He's a giant nerd, so I figured I'd get him a book," Dean said.

"That's very nice of you," Cas said. Dean didn't seem to hear, he was staring at Cas' face.

"Cas, what happened to your face? It looks like someone punched you," Dean said.

"W-What? W-Why would you s-s-say that?" Cas asked.

"I've seen a lot of punches thrown and received in my time. What happened?" Dean asked, looking concerned.

"I should go. Aaron could be home by now," Cas muttered, brushing past Dean.

"Hey, wait!" Dean said, grabbing Cas' arm. Cas flinched, not sure what to expect, but Dean just brought out a pen and wrote his number on Cas' arm. "In case you ever want to talk," Dean said, letting Cas go. Cas looked at the ground for a moment before walking out of the store and back towards home. He didn't try to think about anything that had just happened, his mind was just a jumbled mess.