#originalobjecttheorist

Castiel has met his fair share of talented artists, but he’s never met one quite like Dean Winchester.

When he first walks into work on Monday morning, he knows he’s recording for a D. Winchester, and from the way the other techs whisper about him in the staff room, it’s kind of a big deal. Not that means much to Castiel—for someone who works for one of the biggest recording studios in the country, he doesn’t really keep up to date with the ‘popular music.’ He does his job, records whoever walks into his booth and makes them sound good, then goes home and puts his Spotify on shuffle. He’s got an eclectic and varied taste in music, that’s for sure.

He’s never heard of Winchester, though, apart from maybe passing mentions on television, so he doesn’t quite understand the jealous looks some of the other sound engineers are shooting him as he leaves his bag by his desk and quickly checks his emails before heading over to the studio where he’ll be working for the day. It doesn’t matter much to him, though—it’s just part of the job.

It doesn’t take him long to go through the administrative part of his day, and then he’s free to disappear off to his booth to set things up for the day ahead. Castiel always likes to make sure that the control and live rooms are both neat and properly organized for what he needs to record, and today is all vocals. He’s still tinkering with his console when there’s a knock on the door outside.

When he opens it, it’s to six feet of leather-jacket-wearing beauty, and he was not expecting D. Winchester to look like this. Freckles, softly gelled hair, a crooked half-smile that’s confident and self-deprecating all at once, and green eyes the likes of which Castiel has never seen in real life.

“Hello,” he says without thinking, his brain still processing the fact that Winchester is one of the most handsome men he’s ever seen.

“Hey,” is the response he gets, and those lips curl up into a proper smile now. “You’re Novak, right? Uh… Cas-tee-el? You’re the one I’m recording with today, I’ve been told.”

“Just call me Cas.” The correction is more a habit than anything—his full name had sounded wonderful in Winchester’s deep drawl. “That’s me, yes.”

Winchester holds out his hand to shake. “I’m Dean,” he says. “Looking forward to working with you today, buddy.”

Castiel takes his hand and shakes it, then invites him into the studio, trying his best not to make a fool of himself. He’s probably got no talent, he reminds himself. Just a pretty face with a good manager and a voice half-passable with some autotune. That helps him feel a little less starstruck by the gorgeous man who gets himself settled on the stool in the live booth and smiles at Cas through the glass while he gets his headphones situated.

“What are we starting with?” he asks through the comms as he gets himself fully set up, leaning forward over his desk to look at the list of songs that had been emailed to him.

Dean hums thoughtfully, then says, “I think we’ll start with Way Down We Go,” and if hearing Dean’s voice normally had made Castiel’s heart beat double-time, then hearing him through his headphones, as though he’s inside Cas’s head, is so much more intense.

Maybe he’s made the wrong assessment about Dean’s vocal capability.

Before he gets much more of a chance to second-guess himself, he pulls up the backing track for that song—all the instrumentals had been recorded a few days ago, and now it’s just Castiel and Dean putting together the last few pieces. “Let me know when you’re ready,” he says, and Dean rolls his neck, gets comfortable, then shoots Castiel a grin and two thumbs up from his position by the microphone.

The first notes play through Castiel’s headphones, and he’d known that the vocals started pretty early into the song, but when Dean opens his mouth and starts singing, Castiel completely forgets that he’s supposed to be doing his job right now.

Dean’s voice is deep and rich and beautiful, flowing like molasses along with the tempo of the song. The moments of distortion are exceptionally timed, his falsetto a perfect crest before he falls back into the melody, and by the time he’s belting out the chorus, head tipped back and eyes closed like he’s in the middle of a religious experience, Castiel is lost.

It’s all he can do just to listen, his attention absolutely captivated by this beautiful, impossibly talented man. In the moments when he’s no singing, he’s moving along to the riffs of the guitar or miming the notes themselves in the air, letting the music take over him and crooning against the microphone when he needs to.

Baby, oo-ooh… way down we go.

All of Castiel’s assumptions about this man had been so wrong.

By the time the song finishes, Castiel has been sitting with his mouth open for three and a half minutes with no work to show for it. The last notes of the song fade, and then Dean opens his eyes, made vulnerable and raw by the music. His smile is fragile, as though that rendition could have been anything less than perfect, as though Castiel could possibly find any room for improvement. Cas has recorded a lot of artists, but none of them had managed to floor him quite as thoroughly as what he’d just witnessed.

“Was that okay?” Dean asks, reaching up to adjust one of his headphones and watching Cas through the glass. Now that he knows what Dean is capable of, just how much talent he possesses, he finds him even more beautiful. Good god, his colleagues had been right to be jealous.

Who wants to negotiate? I agree! :D 

😘😘😘 Thank you Mey!!! So sweet!!!

So far I have chapters 1-9 written and I think it’ll be around 13/14 chapters in the end :) 

I’m excited to share it :3

melilovesmakeup-blog said: Happy Birthday!!! You make me happy with your posts... Hope your day is the best

originalobjecttheorist said: Happy birthday in advance!!!

i’m 4 days late replying to this (HOW HAS IT BEEN 4 DAYS WHAT THE HECK) but thank you all so much

i hope multiple wonderful things happen to all of you!!! (also including anyone who left messages on my fics, or in the chat box thing which i dread to open!!!)