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cloudy_ficTitle: Much Ado
Author: CloudyJenn
Fandom: SPN
Pairings: Dean/Castiel, Sam/Jess
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3500+
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. I am making no profit from this fanfiction.
Warnings: None
Summary: A one-night stand, a blind date and a meddling friend.
Author's Notes: Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
logicallunacy for saving this off Twitter.
Dean never stays all night. Never. So needless to say, he's a little disoriented when he wakes up curled up around last night's hook-up.
"Hello."
A shiver crawls up Dean's spine. God, that voice. "Hey," Dean rasps. "Sorry about that."
He looks up into clear blue eyes. "It's not a problem. Are you hungry?" They share a quick breakfast and all during it, Dean tries to think of a way to ask if they can do this again. He's not a relationship kinda guy, but the sex was too good to pass up again.
"I'm sorry, but I have to get ready for work now."
Disappointment flickers. "Right," Dean says. "You know, um. I'll see ya," is the best he can do before he's shown to the door. Damnit.
***********************
Pushing Dean out the door that morning draws the heat of guilt into Castiel's belly. Besides wishing he'd had more time to spend in bed with him, it feels wrong to act like Dean was any other one-night stand.
But Castiel's never been good with people. As he watches Dean trudge to his beautiful classic car, Castiel knows he's making a mistake. He just doesn't know how to fix it.
"Damn it," he mutters. Castiel throws himself into his work that day, so much so that he doesn't notice Anna in his office door for almost five minutes.
"Anna!"
"Wondered if you'd notice me. You ready for tonight?"
"Tonight?" Realization makes him wince. "Anna, I don't-"
"No. No, you are not getting out of this date. You've bailed on the last two. You're going," she commands.
Castiel sighs. A blind date on the evening after a one-night stand must break some sort of moral code. Excuses build on his tongue, but die away when he sees the expectant hopeful look on Anna's face. She's tried so hard to help him have a smooth transition into a new town. It would be ungrateful of him to refuse her again.
Especially since he won't be seeing Dean again tonight anyway.
"Yes, alright. I'm meeting him at 7?"
"At the Bolero. Don't be late," she says cheerfully.
Castiel is never late. He shows up at the restaurant precisely on time and stands for a moment in the foyer, trying to remember how he was supposed to recognize his date.
"Are you Castiel?"
He turns and smiles at the voice's owner.
"Yes. You must be Sam."
***********************
Everything about Sam is what Castiel would write down as a list of desirable qualities in a partner. He's smart, funny, well-educated and kind. Not to mention tall and handsome. It's as if Anna reached into Castiel's brain and extracted an example of his perfect man.
And Castiel couldn't be less interested if he tried. Oh, he enjoys talking to Sam a great deal. They share a love of ancient history and languages and the conversation on those subjects alone lasts through the main course.
But all Castiel can think to himself as they decide to split a piece of chocolate cake is that he'd rather be with Dean.
"Are you okay?" Sam asks when he notices Castiel zone out for a moment.
"Yes, forgive me. I've had a long day," he says, using the truth as a convenient excuse.
"Me too, actually," Sam says. "My students all seem to have crazy emergencies and then my brother was a pain when I got home."
Castiel smiles. He has several brothers who are frequently a pain themselves.
"I hope you survived them all well enough."
"The students yes. My brother, who knows?" Sam says with a grin. "He's moping over some guy."
I believe I know the feeling.
"I hear that can be quite the problem," Castiel says and Sam laughs softly.
"Yeah." He smashes his fork against a cake crumb for a moment, his gaze distracted for a long moment.
"Sam?"
"I'm trying to think of a way to ask you if you wanted to see a movie this weekend while at the same time making it apparent that I think we should just stay friends." He bites his bottom lip and looks up. "There isn't a good way to do that."
Relief blossoms in Castiel's chest. Too many people nowadays won't say what they really think.
"I think we should too," he says. "What movie?"
"It's an Algerian film actually," Sam says. "It's got subtitles, the whole mess. No one will see it with me."
He sounds so dejected that Castiel can't help laughing.
"I'll go see it with you," he promises. "If you swear not to try and set me up with anyone."
"What, you don't like Anna's meddling ways? Didn't you have a good time with me?" Sam demands with mock outrage.
"I love Anna very dearly, but she's not very good at seeing past the surface," he says diplomatically. Because Castiel may not know much about relationships, but he knows that what a person says they want and what they actually need are so often very different things.
"Tell me about it. But she wasn't completely wrong," Sam says. "You are really hot."
Castiel's blush doesn't fade until after dessert.
***********************
It's eight o'clock on a Saturday night and Dean is alone in his apartment. Not that he has a date every weekend, but he generally leaves the house at least. To get food, hang out with Sam, something. But today, he's not even bothered to change into real clothes.
The word 'pathetic' comes to mind. He really should have gotten Castiel's number. Even the threat of rejection isn't worth the regret clinging to his mind. They'd had a good time. A great time. Sitting on his ass in ratty pajamas because he'd rather have sex with the same guy he'd fucked two nights ago than go looking for a new hook-up is stupid. It's not like he has to start dating Castiel. But there's also no reason they can't keep having great times.
"Screw this," Dean announces to the empty room as he hauls himself to his feet.
He's going to get cleaned up and go back to the bar where he met Castiel. A little stalking never hurt anyone. Especially not if it leads to getting laid.
An hour later, he's parking his car in a space down the street from the bar. It's a short walk, but the wind is frigid and Dean nearly breaks into a trot as he speeds up the street. He's walking so fast he almost misses it, but just as he's about to pass the small diner, Dean spots his brother's big dopey grin. Jerking to a stop, Dean backs up a step and shakes his head at the goofy expression on Sam's face. Earlier that evening, he'd mentioned something about going out with some guy. If he was taking his date to this hole-in-the-wall diner, the guy must either be really cool or not likely to put out tonight. Dean watches Sam reach across the table to brush his fingers across the man's face.
And that's when Dean realizes who's sitting across from his brother, leaning slightly into his touch.
His stomach takes a violent drop. Seriously? Just...seriously? Is his life really so fucking screwed up that Sam manages to get hooked up with the first guy in years that Dean's wanted to see twice? He pushes back into a shadow, his eyes regrettably glued to the scene unfolding before him. Castiel smiling and laughing, offering Sam a bite of his food, all those disgusting first date cliches. It sucks so bad because there's nothing Dean can do about it. Nothing he would do about it. If Sam likes him, that's it. Dean's out of the running entirely. And if Castiel's as smart as Dean suspects, he wouldn't have a chance anyway.
Dean's all the way back home before it occurs to him that he could have tried for another guy.
He sleeps alone that night.
***********************
"You've got mustard on your cheek."
"I'm sorry?"
"Mustard." Sam points to his own face. "You're supposed to put it in your mouth. Not decorate yourself with it."
"Oh hush," Castiel says, wiping at his cheek.
"No, dude. Oh just come here," he says, reaching across the table and thumbing it away. "Don't tell me you're the helpless type."
"I can't look at my own cheek," Castiel says, scowling, but the squabble is worth it when Sam breaks into giggles. He may not be attracted to Sam, but Castiel likes the warmth of his smile. Anna's not allowed to set Castiel up on dates anymore, but he'd let her choose his friends from now on.
"That movie sucked," Sam says once his laughter dies down. "After all the campaigning I've been doing for the worth of foreign films, I feel betrayed."
"Foreign movie makers are allowed to suck," Castiel says and he must agree. The movie had been rather terrible. But he enjoyed giving it a chance. Now they have the joy of breaking it down to all its terrible composite parts. He's trying to decide which part of the film offended him the most when he takes a bite of the peach cobbler that looked delicious in the menu and makes a face. It's not nearly sweet enough.
"Is it gross?"
Castiel scoops up a portion and holds out the fork for him to taste.
"You know this isn't really a date, right?" Sam asks with a snort, but he does lean over to eat off the fork. "Ew."
They both laugh.
"Maybe you should send it back," Sam suggests.
"And rob ourselves of another chance to complain? A terrible dessert to go with a terrible film."
"Oh my god, it was so bad. When the father character actually went to that stupid --hang on, I know that sound," Sam interrupts himself and spins in his chair to peer out the window. Castiel's mind turns from the conversation to process a rumbling noise outside the diner. A large dark car rolls past the window and Castiel's heart leaps. And then promptly falls. Dean had come back to the same bar. Well, of course he did, Castiel scolds himself. Dean doesn't belong to you.
"I knew it!" Sam crowed. "Castiel, I just earned a hundred billion brother points."
"Excuse me?"
"That's my brother's car. He's always saying I never pay attention to his-"
"Dean is your brother?" Castiel can't help blurting.
Sam trails off and there's a flicker of confusion, but only a flicker. Realization dawns and he rolls his eyes.
"Oh my god, Dean really has dated every gay man in this town."
"No, I..." But it's the truth and denying it would be silly. "Does that make you very uncomfortable?"
"No, no," Sam says with a shrug. "I mean, it would if you and I were dating, but we're not, so it's fine. Just typical." A bad thought obviously occurs to Sam because he winces. "He didn't break your heart, did he?"
"We only met the one time," Castiel says, even though it's not really a proper answer to Sam's question.
"I can deal with it if you can. Seriously, if I refused to be friends with anyone Dean dated, I wouldn't have any friends," he says with another of those warm smiles.
But this time Castiel doesn't feel any pleasure from it.
***********************
"I'm glad you didn't come last night," Sam says when Dean trudges into the kitchen the next morning. "The movie was terrible. I don't want you to get the idea that all foreign films are bad."
"Like it matters, I'm never going to see one of those fucking things," Dean grumbles. Even though he'd been thinking of finally letting Sam drag him to one. But his night had been an anxiety-ridden sleepless mess and having Sam mention his date with Castiel first thing in the morning throws him over the edge into outright hostility.
"Wow, what is your problem?" Sam asks, more concerned than angry. Of course. Because Sam is the caring wonderful type who worries about unusual outbursts instead of getting pissed when someone snaps at him. The kinda guy respectable men like to date. Dean glares darkly at him.
"Nothing," he mutters. "Slept funny."
It's a flimsy excuse, but if Dean forces himself out of his funk, Sam probably won't ask any questions.
"Right because that usually enrages you," Sam says with far more sarcasm than Dean can handle this early in the morning. He starts making coffee and ignores the way Sam's sad worried eyes follow him around the kitchen.
"So your night was a bust?" Dean asks to shove the focus off himself. He really hopes Sam will say the whole date sucked, but judging by what Dean saw, it's not likely.
"Not the whole night. We enjoyed making fun of it afterwards." The only sign that Sam hasn't forgotten Dean's outburst is the slight narrowing of his eyes. Dean's gotten away for now, but he's officially on Sam-probation. Whatever. Dean lives on Sam-probation. "Castiel is pretty weird, but he makes me laugh."
Castiel is weird. It's one of the things Dean likes about him. His odd mixture of casual bluntness and old-fashioned manners attracts Dean to a shocking degree. The guys he usually dates aren't half as smart as Castiel and most are twice as arrogant. And Dean's the idiot who kept searching out the same type of guy even though he'd lose interest halfway through the first date.
"Great," Dean says to the cabinet.
He wants Sam to be happy. He does. But that doesn't mean he has to see it.
"We're going to another one next weekend. He's really cool. I'm glad Anna introduced us."
Dean scowls. He knows he never should have introduced that meddling harpy to Sam.
"Awesome."
"But I'm thinking of calling him before that because I want to fuck him."
"Okay, you know what, I can't handle this," Dean snaps, slamming his coffee cup around and spinning on Sam. "I was just going to keep quiet and let you have him, but screw it. You've had like a dozen boyfriends; you don't need this one too. I saw him first, okay? And he's a top, so you'd hate it anyway. Just back off."
Sam waits a beat.
"Are you done?"
"What the fuck, man?"
"I take it Castiel is the guy from three nights ago?"
If Sam became any more smug, Dean might actually be obligated to punch him in his stupid smug face. There's nothing Dean hates more than looking foolish and no one in his life better at making that happen than Sam.
"You knew he was, you jerk," Dean growls.
"Actually I didn't until you started acting like a pissy bitch just now," Sam says, standing from his chair to pour a cup of coffee. "And for the record, I don't want to have sex with Castiel and even if I did, I could handle you saying you wanted him too. You don't have to be a martyr for me, Dean. Not anymore."
It's Dean's relief that draws the next words from his lips.
"I saw you," Dean confesses.
"Yeah, I figured. I was going to tell you I recognized the Impala before I saw her, but you went on your rage craze before I could get the chance."
"Shut up. God, I'm sorry. I just...I saw you and you guys looked...happy."
Sam shrugs.
"I was happy. I like him. Clearly not as much as you do," he teases. "He mentioned you."
Hope captures the breath in Dean's lungs. He tries not to sound too eager, but he's pretty sure he fails.
"Yeah? What'd he say?"
"Well, the car went by and I mentioned it was my brother's and he knew it was yours without me saying your name."
Dean grins. It's nice to know his girl made such an impression.
"That all?"
"Well, then we...oh. Um, well..."
A distressing kind of panicked worry flashes on Sam's face and then abruptly disappears.
"Yeah, that was all."
"What did you say?" Dean demands.
"Nothing!" Sam exclaims, but Dean doesn't believe him for a second. Not when he's wearing that 'Please don't hurt me' kicked puppy expression.
"Sam," he says warningly.
"I just...when he mentioned having dated you, I may have...made it sound like that happened a lot."
"That I date a lot?"
That much was true and Castiel probably knew it.
"Yeah, but...I was worried he'd think you were pining for him. So I guess...I made it sound like he probably wasn't important."
"What? Sam!"
"I'm sorry! I'd asked him if you broke his heart and he said no."
That stings more than it should.
"Great."
Sam frowns. "No wait. Actually, he didn't say that. He just said you only saw each other that one night."
That's...somewhat better.
"You have to fix it."
"What?"
Dean grabs Sam's shirt and pulls him close. "Go and make him understand I'm not a slut."
"Dean," Sam says weakly. "I don't want to do that."
Dean narrows his eyes.
"I don't care."
***********************
"Hello," Castiel says as he drops into the chair opposite Sam. "I was surprised you called."
Surprised and pleased. It's nice to share lunch with someone instead of eating at his desk while watching YouTube videos of the Depression era Cooking Lady. No matter how much he likes her.
"Well, truth be told, I have something to tell you," Sam confesses.
Castiel opens his menu. "Oh?"
"Yeah, I'm supposed to find a subtle way of slipping into a conversation that Dean's crazy about you and he's not a slut, but there's just no way of doing that," Sam says in one long breath. "Do you want to call him?"
His thoughts jam in his mind, congested by a blast of shocked pleasure. Before his last conversation with Sam, Castiel really had believed there'd been something deeper between Dean and himself than a simple one night stand. But Dean crazy about him? He'd not have guessed that.
"You don't have to say yes." Sam leans across the table. "But he's a good guy and I really don't want him to mope for weeks-"
"Yes, of course I'll call him," Castiel interrupts. He smiles at Sam's obvious relief.
"Awesome. Now please let's talk about anything besides my stupid brother's live life."
"If you wish. Are you seeing anyone?"
Sam groans.
***********************
"Yeah?"
"Hello, Dean? This is Castiel."
"Oh! Oh, um, hey. What's up?"
"Sam gave me this number. I hope that's okay."
"Yeah, sure. No, it's cool."
"He told me you were crazy about me."
"What?"
"Don't be angry with him. I'm glad he told me. Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not...I'm mean, it's no big deal-"
"If you're worried the feeling isn't mutual, don't be. Since that night, I've thought of little else, but finding a way to fuck you again."
"Goddamn, Cas."
"Would you like to come over tonight?"
"You went out with Sam."
"A blind date set up by a nosy friend."
"Anna?"
"I'd forgotten about it when we met. Given the choice, I'd have stayed at home in bed with you all day."
"Aren't you a charmer."
"I'm not good at romance, I'm afraid, but I'd like to have you again."
"Fuck, that's romantic enough for me. I'll be there at 7."
"I look forward to it."
***********************
One Year Later
"I don't wanna get up."
"I don't care," Castiel says as he walks from the bathroom door to the closet. "Sam is expecting us at eight o'clock. You have just enough time to take a shower."
"I was clean when I got home," Dean grumbles. "It's all your fault."
"Your whining is very attractive," Castiel comments, most of his attention on the selection of button-down shirts in his closet.
"Your face," Dean offers sleepily.
That won't do. Castiel loves Dean so much, he still doesn't know where to store all that emotion, but he also knows his faults very well. Sex makes Dean nearly catatonic. If Castiel doesn't function as his alarm clock, Dean would sleep through Sam's important dinner. He could just shake Dean awake, but, well...his naked ass is right there.
Smack!
"Ow! Fuck, Cas!"
"Shower. Now."
He kicks out at Castiel's legs, but misses by a wide margin.
"You're such a twisted ass freak," Dean says.
"And you're a cockslut. Go get cleaned up."
The grin Dean gives him as he flips over almost makes Castiel want to relent. As much as Castiel knows better than anyone how to handle Dean, he's handicapped by his reaction to that wicked smile and those brilliant green eyes.
"Alright fine, but I'm tying you to the bed when we get home," Dean says on his way past.
Castiel lets Dean get all the way into the bathroom before he quietly replies.
"I'd like to see you try."
"I heard that!"
******************
Judging by the way Sam's leg is pistoning up and down under the table, he's really fucking nervous. Dean doesn't know why. It's just him and Cas. Everyone likes Dean and Castiel likes everyone. If this Jess guy can't deal with that, then Sam should be with someone else anyway.
"Be nice," Castiel says as they weave around other tables.
"I'm always nice."
"Fine, but if you upset Sam, you get to deal with his sad eyes."
Dean has no intention of dealing with the sad eyes. Not only because he is nice, but also because Sam's been a big sappy mess of happiness for days now. As long as this meeting isn't a disaster, Dean's pretty sure Sam's going to keep on being happy. Which makes Dean happy too. After all, he stole Castiel away from him. Sam ought to get a fucking epic consolation prize for that.
"Hey guys!" Sam leaps from his chair and gestures across the table at his date. "This is Jesse."
The man turns to offer a smile and his hand. He's a tall slender blond with a cute sharp nose, sparkling blue eyes and a dazzling smile. Dean blinks at him.
"Wow, you are way out of my brother's league."
Castiel elbows him, but Jesse just chuckles and shakes his head.
"That's how I felt when we met."
"How did you meet?" Castiel asks politely, giving Jess' hand a nice firm shake.
"Oh well, we have this mutual friend, Anna-"
Dean bursts into laughter.
Oh yeah. This is going to be perfect.
Author: CloudyJenn
Fandom: SPN
Pairings: Dean/Castiel, Sam/Jess
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3500+
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. I am making no profit from this fanfiction.
Warnings: None
Summary: A one-night stand, a blind date and a meddling friend.
Author's Notes: Thanks to
logicallunacy for saving this off Twitter. Dean never stays all night. Never. So needless to say, he's a little disoriented when he wakes up curled up around last night's hook-up.
"Hello."
A shiver crawls up Dean's spine. God, that voice. "Hey," Dean rasps. "Sorry about that."
He looks up into clear blue eyes. "It's not a problem. Are you hungry?" They share a quick breakfast and all during it, Dean tries to think of a way to ask if they can do this again. He's not a relationship kinda guy, but the sex was too good to pass up again.
"I'm sorry, but I have to get ready for work now."
Disappointment flickers. "Right," Dean says. "You know, um. I'll see ya," is the best he can do before he's shown to the door. Damnit.
***********************
Pushing Dean out the door that morning draws the heat of guilt into Castiel's belly. Besides wishing he'd had more time to spend in bed with him, it feels wrong to act like Dean was any other one-night stand.
But Castiel's never been good with people. As he watches Dean trudge to his beautiful classic car, Castiel knows he's making a mistake. He just doesn't know how to fix it.
"Damn it," he mutters. Castiel throws himself into his work that day, so much so that he doesn't notice Anna in his office door for almost five minutes.
"Anna!"
"Wondered if you'd notice me. You ready for tonight?"
"Tonight?" Realization makes him wince. "Anna, I don't-"
"No. No, you are not getting out of this date. You've bailed on the last two. You're going," she commands.
Castiel sighs. A blind date on the evening after a one-night stand must break some sort of moral code. Excuses build on his tongue, but die away when he sees the expectant hopeful look on Anna's face. She's tried so hard to help him have a smooth transition into a new town. It would be ungrateful of him to refuse her again.
Especially since he won't be seeing Dean again tonight anyway.
"Yes, alright. I'm meeting him at 7?"
"At the Bolero. Don't be late," she says cheerfully.
Castiel is never late. He shows up at the restaurant precisely on time and stands for a moment in the foyer, trying to remember how he was supposed to recognize his date.
"Are you Castiel?"
He turns and smiles at the voice's owner.
"Yes. You must be Sam."
***********************
Everything about Sam is what Castiel would write down as a list of desirable qualities in a partner. He's smart, funny, well-educated and kind. Not to mention tall and handsome. It's as if Anna reached into Castiel's brain and extracted an example of his perfect man.
And Castiel couldn't be less interested if he tried. Oh, he enjoys talking to Sam a great deal. They share a love of ancient history and languages and the conversation on those subjects alone lasts through the main course.
But all Castiel can think to himself as they decide to split a piece of chocolate cake is that he'd rather be with Dean.
"Are you okay?" Sam asks when he notices Castiel zone out for a moment.
"Yes, forgive me. I've had a long day," he says, using the truth as a convenient excuse.
"Me too, actually," Sam says. "My students all seem to have crazy emergencies and then my brother was a pain when I got home."
Castiel smiles. He has several brothers who are frequently a pain themselves.
"I hope you survived them all well enough."
"The students yes. My brother, who knows?" Sam says with a grin. "He's moping over some guy."
I believe I know the feeling.
"I hear that can be quite the problem," Castiel says and Sam laughs softly.
"Yeah." He smashes his fork against a cake crumb for a moment, his gaze distracted for a long moment.
"Sam?"
"I'm trying to think of a way to ask you if you wanted to see a movie this weekend while at the same time making it apparent that I think we should just stay friends." He bites his bottom lip and looks up. "There isn't a good way to do that."
Relief blossoms in Castiel's chest. Too many people nowadays won't say what they really think.
"I think we should too," he says. "What movie?"
"It's an Algerian film actually," Sam says. "It's got subtitles, the whole mess. No one will see it with me."
He sounds so dejected that Castiel can't help laughing.
"I'll go see it with you," he promises. "If you swear not to try and set me up with anyone."
"What, you don't like Anna's meddling ways? Didn't you have a good time with me?" Sam demands with mock outrage.
"I love Anna very dearly, but she's not very good at seeing past the surface," he says diplomatically. Because Castiel may not know much about relationships, but he knows that what a person says they want and what they actually need are so often very different things.
"Tell me about it. But she wasn't completely wrong," Sam says. "You are really hot."
Castiel's blush doesn't fade until after dessert.
***********************
It's eight o'clock on a Saturday night and Dean is alone in his apartment. Not that he has a date every weekend, but he generally leaves the house at least. To get food, hang out with Sam, something. But today, he's not even bothered to change into real clothes.
The word 'pathetic' comes to mind. He really should have gotten Castiel's number. Even the threat of rejection isn't worth the regret clinging to his mind. They'd had a good time. A great time. Sitting on his ass in ratty pajamas because he'd rather have sex with the same guy he'd fucked two nights ago than go looking for a new hook-up is stupid. It's not like he has to start dating Castiel. But there's also no reason they can't keep having great times.
"Screw this," Dean announces to the empty room as he hauls himself to his feet.
He's going to get cleaned up and go back to the bar where he met Castiel. A little stalking never hurt anyone. Especially not if it leads to getting laid.
An hour later, he's parking his car in a space down the street from the bar. It's a short walk, but the wind is frigid and Dean nearly breaks into a trot as he speeds up the street. He's walking so fast he almost misses it, but just as he's about to pass the small diner, Dean spots his brother's big dopey grin. Jerking to a stop, Dean backs up a step and shakes his head at the goofy expression on Sam's face. Earlier that evening, he'd mentioned something about going out with some guy. If he was taking his date to this hole-in-the-wall diner, the guy must either be really cool or not likely to put out tonight. Dean watches Sam reach across the table to brush his fingers across the man's face.
And that's when Dean realizes who's sitting across from his brother, leaning slightly into his touch.
His stomach takes a violent drop. Seriously? Just...seriously? Is his life really so fucking screwed up that Sam manages to get hooked up with the first guy in years that Dean's wanted to see twice? He pushes back into a shadow, his eyes regrettably glued to the scene unfolding before him. Castiel smiling and laughing, offering Sam a bite of his food, all those disgusting first date cliches. It sucks so bad because there's nothing Dean can do about it. Nothing he would do about it. If Sam likes him, that's it. Dean's out of the running entirely. And if Castiel's as smart as Dean suspects, he wouldn't have a chance anyway.
Dean's all the way back home before it occurs to him that he could have tried for another guy.
He sleeps alone that night.
***********************
"You've got mustard on your cheek."
"I'm sorry?"
"Mustard." Sam points to his own face. "You're supposed to put it in your mouth. Not decorate yourself with it."
"Oh hush," Castiel says, wiping at his cheek.
"No, dude. Oh just come here," he says, reaching across the table and thumbing it away. "Don't tell me you're the helpless type."
"I can't look at my own cheek," Castiel says, scowling, but the squabble is worth it when Sam breaks into giggles. He may not be attracted to Sam, but Castiel likes the warmth of his smile. Anna's not allowed to set Castiel up on dates anymore, but he'd let her choose his friends from now on.
"That movie sucked," Sam says once his laughter dies down. "After all the campaigning I've been doing for the worth of foreign films, I feel betrayed."
"Foreign movie makers are allowed to suck," Castiel says and he must agree. The movie had been rather terrible. But he enjoyed giving it a chance. Now they have the joy of breaking it down to all its terrible composite parts. He's trying to decide which part of the film offended him the most when he takes a bite of the peach cobbler that looked delicious in the menu and makes a face. It's not nearly sweet enough.
"Is it gross?"
Castiel scoops up a portion and holds out the fork for him to taste.
"You know this isn't really a date, right?" Sam asks with a snort, but he does lean over to eat off the fork. "Ew."
They both laugh.
"Maybe you should send it back," Sam suggests.
"And rob ourselves of another chance to complain? A terrible dessert to go with a terrible film."
"Oh my god, it was so bad. When the father character actually went to that stupid --hang on, I know that sound," Sam interrupts himself and spins in his chair to peer out the window. Castiel's mind turns from the conversation to process a rumbling noise outside the diner. A large dark car rolls past the window and Castiel's heart leaps. And then promptly falls. Dean had come back to the same bar. Well, of course he did, Castiel scolds himself. Dean doesn't belong to you.
"I knew it!" Sam crowed. "Castiel, I just earned a hundred billion brother points."
"Excuse me?"
"That's my brother's car. He's always saying I never pay attention to his-"
"Dean is your brother?" Castiel can't help blurting.
Sam trails off and there's a flicker of confusion, but only a flicker. Realization dawns and he rolls his eyes.
"Oh my god, Dean really has dated every gay man in this town."
"No, I..." But it's the truth and denying it would be silly. "Does that make you very uncomfortable?"
"No, no," Sam says with a shrug. "I mean, it would if you and I were dating, but we're not, so it's fine. Just typical." A bad thought obviously occurs to Sam because he winces. "He didn't break your heart, did he?"
"We only met the one time," Castiel says, even though it's not really a proper answer to Sam's question.
"I can deal with it if you can. Seriously, if I refused to be friends with anyone Dean dated, I wouldn't have any friends," he says with another of those warm smiles.
But this time Castiel doesn't feel any pleasure from it.
***********************
"I'm glad you didn't come last night," Sam says when Dean trudges into the kitchen the next morning. "The movie was terrible. I don't want you to get the idea that all foreign films are bad."
"Like it matters, I'm never going to see one of those fucking things," Dean grumbles. Even though he'd been thinking of finally letting Sam drag him to one. But his night had been an anxiety-ridden sleepless mess and having Sam mention his date with Castiel first thing in the morning throws him over the edge into outright hostility.
"Wow, what is your problem?" Sam asks, more concerned than angry. Of course. Because Sam is the caring wonderful type who worries about unusual outbursts instead of getting pissed when someone snaps at him. The kinda guy respectable men like to date. Dean glares darkly at him.
"Nothing," he mutters. "Slept funny."
It's a flimsy excuse, but if Dean forces himself out of his funk, Sam probably won't ask any questions.
"Right because that usually enrages you," Sam says with far more sarcasm than Dean can handle this early in the morning. He starts making coffee and ignores the way Sam's sad worried eyes follow him around the kitchen.
"So your night was a bust?" Dean asks to shove the focus off himself. He really hopes Sam will say the whole date sucked, but judging by what Dean saw, it's not likely.
"Not the whole night. We enjoyed making fun of it afterwards." The only sign that Sam hasn't forgotten Dean's outburst is the slight narrowing of his eyes. Dean's gotten away for now, but he's officially on Sam-probation. Whatever. Dean lives on Sam-probation. "Castiel is pretty weird, but he makes me laugh."
Castiel is weird. It's one of the things Dean likes about him. His odd mixture of casual bluntness and old-fashioned manners attracts Dean to a shocking degree. The guys he usually dates aren't half as smart as Castiel and most are twice as arrogant. And Dean's the idiot who kept searching out the same type of guy even though he'd lose interest halfway through the first date.
"Great," Dean says to the cabinet.
He wants Sam to be happy. He does. But that doesn't mean he has to see it.
"We're going to another one next weekend. He's really cool. I'm glad Anna introduced us."
Dean scowls. He knows he never should have introduced that meddling harpy to Sam.
"Awesome."
"But I'm thinking of calling him before that because I want to fuck him."
"Okay, you know what, I can't handle this," Dean snaps, slamming his coffee cup around and spinning on Sam. "I was just going to keep quiet and let you have him, but screw it. You've had like a dozen boyfriends; you don't need this one too. I saw him first, okay? And he's a top, so you'd hate it anyway. Just back off."
Sam waits a beat.
"Are you done?"
"What the fuck, man?"
"I take it Castiel is the guy from three nights ago?"
If Sam became any more smug, Dean might actually be obligated to punch him in his stupid smug face. There's nothing Dean hates more than looking foolish and no one in his life better at making that happen than Sam.
"You knew he was, you jerk," Dean growls.
"Actually I didn't until you started acting like a pissy bitch just now," Sam says, standing from his chair to pour a cup of coffee. "And for the record, I don't want to have sex with Castiel and even if I did, I could handle you saying you wanted him too. You don't have to be a martyr for me, Dean. Not anymore."
It's Dean's relief that draws the next words from his lips.
"I saw you," Dean confesses.
"Yeah, I figured. I was going to tell you I recognized the Impala before I saw her, but you went on your rage craze before I could get the chance."
"Shut up. God, I'm sorry. I just...I saw you and you guys looked...happy."
Sam shrugs.
"I was happy. I like him. Clearly not as much as you do," he teases. "He mentioned you."
Hope captures the breath in Dean's lungs. He tries not to sound too eager, but he's pretty sure he fails.
"Yeah? What'd he say?"
"Well, the car went by and I mentioned it was my brother's and he knew it was yours without me saying your name."
Dean grins. It's nice to know his girl made such an impression.
"That all?"
"Well, then we...oh. Um, well..."
A distressing kind of panicked worry flashes on Sam's face and then abruptly disappears.
"Yeah, that was all."
"What did you say?" Dean demands.
"Nothing!" Sam exclaims, but Dean doesn't believe him for a second. Not when he's wearing that 'Please don't hurt me' kicked puppy expression.
"Sam," he says warningly.
"I just...when he mentioned having dated you, I may have...made it sound like that happened a lot."
"That I date a lot?"
That much was true and Castiel probably knew it.
"Yeah, but...I was worried he'd think you were pining for him. So I guess...I made it sound like he probably wasn't important."
"What? Sam!"
"I'm sorry! I'd asked him if you broke his heart and he said no."
That stings more than it should.
"Great."
Sam frowns. "No wait. Actually, he didn't say that. He just said you only saw each other that one night."
That's...somewhat better.
"You have to fix it."
"What?"
Dean grabs Sam's shirt and pulls him close. "Go and make him understand I'm not a slut."
"Dean," Sam says weakly. "I don't want to do that."
Dean narrows his eyes.
"I don't care."
***********************
"Hello," Castiel says as he drops into the chair opposite Sam. "I was surprised you called."
Surprised and pleased. It's nice to share lunch with someone instead of eating at his desk while watching YouTube videos of the Depression era Cooking Lady. No matter how much he likes her.
"Well, truth be told, I have something to tell you," Sam confesses.
Castiel opens his menu. "Oh?"
"Yeah, I'm supposed to find a subtle way of slipping into a conversation that Dean's crazy about you and he's not a slut, but there's just no way of doing that," Sam says in one long breath. "Do you want to call him?"
His thoughts jam in his mind, congested by a blast of shocked pleasure. Before his last conversation with Sam, Castiel really had believed there'd been something deeper between Dean and himself than a simple one night stand. But Dean crazy about him? He'd not have guessed that.
"You don't have to say yes." Sam leans across the table. "But he's a good guy and I really don't want him to mope for weeks-"
"Yes, of course I'll call him," Castiel interrupts. He smiles at Sam's obvious relief.
"Awesome. Now please let's talk about anything besides my stupid brother's live life."
"If you wish. Are you seeing anyone?"
Sam groans.
***********************
"Yeah?"
"Hello, Dean? This is Castiel."
"Oh! Oh, um, hey. What's up?"
"Sam gave me this number. I hope that's okay."
"Yeah, sure. No, it's cool."
"He told me you were crazy about me."
"What?"
"Don't be angry with him. I'm glad he told me. Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not...I'm mean, it's no big deal-"
"If you're worried the feeling isn't mutual, don't be. Since that night, I've thought of little else, but finding a way to fuck you again."
"Goddamn, Cas."
"Would you like to come over tonight?"
"You went out with Sam."
"A blind date set up by a nosy friend."
"Anna?"
"I'd forgotten about it when we met. Given the choice, I'd have stayed at home in bed with you all day."
"Aren't you a charmer."
"I'm not good at romance, I'm afraid, but I'd like to have you again."
"Fuck, that's romantic enough for me. I'll be there at 7."
"I look forward to it."
***********************
One Year Later
"I don't wanna get up."
"I don't care," Castiel says as he walks from the bathroom door to the closet. "Sam is expecting us at eight o'clock. You have just enough time to take a shower."
"I was clean when I got home," Dean grumbles. "It's all your fault."
"Your whining is very attractive," Castiel comments, most of his attention on the selection of button-down shirts in his closet.
"Your face," Dean offers sleepily.
That won't do. Castiel loves Dean so much, he still doesn't know where to store all that emotion, but he also knows his faults very well. Sex makes Dean nearly catatonic. If Castiel doesn't function as his alarm clock, Dean would sleep through Sam's important dinner. He could just shake Dean awake, but, well...his naked ass is right there.
Smack!
"Ow! Fuck, Cas!"
"Shower. Now."
He kicks out at Castiel's legs, but misses by a wide margin.
"You're such a twisted ass freak," Dean says.
"And you're a cockslut. Go get cleaned up."
The grin Dean gives him as he flips over almost makes Castiel want to relent. As much as Castiel knows better than anyone how to handle Dean, he's handicapped by his reaction to that wicked smile and those brilliant green eyes.
"Alright fine, but I'm tying you to the bed when we get home," Dean says on his way past.
Castiel lets Dean get all the way into the bathroom before he quietly replies.
"I'd like to see you try."
"I heard that!"
******************
Judging by the way Sam's leg is pistoning up and down under the table, he's really fucking nervous. Dean doesn't know why. It's just him and Cas. Everyone likes Dean and Castiel likes everyone. If this Jess guy can't deal with that, then Sam should be with someone else anyway.
"Be nice," Castiel says as they weave around other tables.
"I'm always nice."
"Fine, but if you upset Sam, you get to deal with his sad eyes."
Dean has no intention of dealing with the sad eyes. Not only because he is nice, but also because Sam's been a big sappy mess of happiness for days now. As long as this meeting isn't a disaster, Dean's pretty sure Sam's going to keep on being happy. Which makes Dean happy too. After all, he stole Castiel away from him. Sam ought to get a fucking epic consolation prize for that.
"Hey guys!" Sam leaps from his chair and gestures across the table at his date. "This is Jesse."
The man turns to offer a smile and his hand. He's a tall slender blond with a cute sharp nose, sparkling blue eyes and a dazzling smile. Dean blinks at him.
"Wow, you are way out of my brother's league."
Castiel elbows him, but Jesse just chuckles and shakes his head.
"That's how I felt when we met."
"How did you meet?" Castiel asks politely, giving Jess' hand a nice firm shake.
"Oh well, we have this mutual friend, Anna-"
Dean bursts into laughter.
Oh yeah. This is going to be perfect.
