Dean's not normally an early riser. Scratch that, in all of his life, waking up before 10 a.m. seemed horrifying. But now, he gets up every morning at 6 a.m. to make a dark roast coffee with no cream, four sugars, and a splash of milk along with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's for the man with blue eyes who comes by every morning before his run, Castiel. Of course when Sam teased him about it, Dean just said it was because Cas (Nicknames, huh?" Sam smirks and Dean shoves him) was really nice and a good friend.
If Dean's heart always does flips and he hides a stupid grin whenever Cas laughs or does that adorable head tilt, than that's none of Sammy's business. He's not in love with the man, it's just that well, he's a sucker for blue eyes is all.
It's all the same, only the names will change
Every day, it seems we're wastin' away
Another place where the faces are so cold
I drive all night just to get back home
Dean hums along to his favorite Bon Jovi song as he measures the flour for the crust of the pecan pie he's making. He taps his foot along to the beat, stopping to wipe his floury hands on his apron and strum an air guitar.
"I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride; I'm wanted dead or alive, dead or aliiive!" Dean sings at the top of his lungs, his voice husky from having woken up not even an hour ago.
(He'd suddenly remembered that a family had ordered a pie and were going to pick it up only a little bit after he opened and woken up in a frenzy.)
Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days
The people I meet always go their separate ways
Sometimes you tell the day
By the bottle that you drink
And times when you're all alone all you do is think
The music is blasting throughout his pie shop and Dean smiles to himself as he combines the flour, salt, and sugar and then cuts the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. His hands deftly sprinkle water over the dry mixture and he stirs it until the dough comes together enough to form a ball.
Dean's suddenly struck by how idyllic this is, how…perfect it feels to be making a pie on a Saturday morning, the sky a canvas of soft pinks, light blues, and the gold rays of the rising sun.
He sprinkles flour onto the counter, tapping his foot along to the beat and takes the ball of dough out of the bowl, placing it on the counter. Dean goes in search of the rolling pin then, and when he finds it holds it to his mouth and lip syncs the next lyrics.
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted (wanted) dead or alive
Wanted (wanted) dead or alive
Oh, and I ride!
(Yeah!)
Oh, and I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Dean dramatically spins around, the rolling pin/microphone becoming a guitar that he strums passionately and for the finale turns to the front counter, sliding on his knees.
His face turns the color of cherries when he sees the man standing at the front counter. His blue eyes are wide and he looks like he's unsure if he wants to burst out laughing or retreat from the shop and move out of the country.
The normal thing to do is laugh, get up from the floor, turn off the music and ask the man what he needs. Dean however, is not, and will never be a normal human bean and instead rolls out of sight.
"Son of a bitch," he mumbles underneath his breath, inwardly cursing himself for his love of Bon Jovi and singing out loud.
"Son of a bitch," Dean repeats when he realizes that he had a five minute staring contest with what was possibly the cutest man alive and rolled out of sight because he was too embarrassed to act like a normal bean.
How the hell is he going to redeem himself from this one? Sammy's not going to let this one go for ages, the freaking moose.
Dean shakes all thoughts of his younger brother out of his head, gathers what's left of his dignity, and walks out from his hiding spot and to the front counter.
The guy is bending down and looking at the different baked goods behind the glass and Dean clears his shop. *Blue Eyes, as Dean decides to dub him, looks up with a sheepish look on his face and opens his mouth and then closes it with an audible click.
Dean's about to ask him what he wants to order when the opening lines to Blank Space start to play and if possible, turns an even darker shade of red.
"Excuse me for one second," he murmurs, going to the backroom and plugging the cord out from the radio.
He's never making himself a CD with all of his favorite songs on it, ever; Though he refuses to be ashamed of listening to Blank Space because Taylor Swift is a goddess.
Dean returns to the counter, scowling when Blue Eyes covers his mouth to mute the chuckles coming from his mouth.
"Oh god, fuck, I'm s-sorry, it's just that I didn't really expect you to be into Taylor Swift after seeing you jam out to Bon Jovi. Fuck, oh my god, I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you, please don't kick me out," Blue Eyes manages to gasp out in between his laughter.
Dean tries to be angry, he really does but Blue Eyes has the cutest laugh on earth, he has this light pink blush on his face and Dean really wants to run his hands through that black hair and holy shit is this the whole "love at first sight" Sam rambles on about?
He's suddenly thankful for the counter between them because if it wasn't there, he might've kissed Blue Eyes and asked him out on a date. Instead, Dean swallows the words 'Wanna go for coffee?' and rolls his eyes.
"You can't even blame me, Bon Jovi is amazing and Taylor Swift is too good for this world. She's probably some goddess sent to earth to make us human beans happy," Dean rambles, giving Blue Eyes a crooked grin.
(The blush on the guy's face grows and holy fuck, is he an angel?)
"I can agree with you on Taylor Swift being a goddess but I don't know about Bon Jovi. They're okay, I guess. Wait, did yo-, did you just say human beans?" Blue Eyes hums, saying the last sentence with incredulity.
Dean puts a hand to his chest like he's physically pained by what Blue Eyes is saying and stumbles backward for extra effect.
(He so should've been in Theater when he was in high school. He knows he would've killed.)
"It's cuter. Bon Jovi is revolutionary. How can you say that? What do you listen to when you need to rock out?" Dean asks, genuinely curious.
(In the back of his mind, he knows he should be making the pie for that family since he promised them a fresh one but well, Blue Eyes. He can just give 'em one from the stand and lower the price.)
Blue Eyes shrugs and looks down at the floor when he says, "I don't know. I can dig Elvis."
There are butterflies in his stomach when the guy glances up at him, a shy look on his face when he reveals this fact about himself. And okay, he's totally in love. Is it too early to propose?
"Elvis is pretty cool too," Dean amends, giving Blue Eyes a soft smile.
The beam that spreads across Blue Eyes face blinds Dean momentarily.
"I know right? His voice does things to me!" Blue Eyes declares, doing a small dance.
I wanna do things to you, Dean thinks and mentally slaps himself for having impure thoughts about the angel standing before him.
Blue Eyes suddenly flushes when he realizes what he's said and he clears his throat awkwardly.
"Uh, anyway, I just wanted to know if you sold PB&J sandwiches. And could I have a coffee?" Blue Eyes asks and Dean's melting inside because the guy's not even an angel, he's an adorable puppy.
"Not usually what people order, but that's okay. Whatever you want, I'll give it to you, and make it extra good," Dean blurts.
His words hang in the air and Blue Eyes is the darkest shade of red Dean has ever seen.
"Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound dirty. I'm not hitting on you, I swear to god. If I was going to hit you, I'd make it subtle, y'know? So I don't freak you out, fuck, I mean not that I would hit on you. I mean you're really cute but you're probably already in a relationship and I don't want to be a home-wrecker," Dean rambles, snapping his mouth shut, because he's just digging himself into a deeper grave.
"I'll um, go make your stuff," he mumbles, practically booking it to the kitchen.
Dean splashes his face with cold water and then washes his hands vigorously. Blue Eyes probably thinks he's some sort of creep now and will never come back to Lord of the Pies again. Shit, what if he goes to Bertinelli's Baked Goods? What if he falls for one of those bastards?!
These are the thoughts that plague Dean's mind as he makes the peanut butter and jelly sandwich carefully. If he makes it perfectly, Blue Eyes will come back again. I can lure him here with PB&J sandwiches and coffee. When his guard is down, I'll ask him on a date before he even knows that Bertinelli's exist! Dean thinks, a determined grin spreading over his face as he sets down the peanut butter jar with a little more force than necessary.
(Sammy would probably hit him for being an idiot and coming up with this stupid plan instead of asking Blue Eyes out, but he doesn't really have the right to say anything. Gabriel practically fell in his lap and decided that he liked the moose.)
Dean brews the coffee silently, wondering if it'd be too forward of him to slip his number in between the slices of bread but immediately dismisses the idea. Choking hazard.
(The dirtier part of Dean's mind smirks at that and he looks up at the ceiling with an exasperated expression on his face and wonders if it's time for him to start going to church.)
He sighs and pours the dark roast coffee into a cup, and freezes when he realizes he doesn't know how Blue Eyes likes his coffee. He's still too embarrassed to go back in there without the guy's order and decides to wing it. (He can always lure him back with cherry pie. Who says coffee is the way to a man's heart anyway?)
He adds four or five sugars, a splash of almond milk (Sam insists the stuff makes the coffee better), French Vanilla syrup (the expensive one), and forgoes adding any cream.
Dean puts Blue Eyes sandwich in the bags he usually reserves for cookies, grabs the coffee, and takes a deep breath before heading back to the front counter.
Blue Eyes is sitting at one of the table and writing something in a notebook, Dean briefly wonders if it's about him, and looks up when Dean comes back in a bright smile on his face.
"The coffee smells great! How much does it come up to?" Blue Eyes asks, putting the notebook back inside of his bag and walking up to register.
"Three dollars," Dean lies, it's actually around five or six but Blue Eyes is cute and Dean made a complete fool out of himself, so why not give the guy a discount? 'Sides he gets the feeling if he told Blue Eyes it was on the house, he'd insist on Dean taking his money.
Blue Eyes looks a little surprised at the low price but doesn't say anything and hands Dean the money. Their fingertips touch and they meet each other's eyes for a fraction of a second before blushing and moving away from each other.
Dean hands Blue Eyes what he ordered, and if he made sure that their hands touched again, well, nobody can really prove it.
"Right, then. So uh, have a nice day," Dean says, awkwardly clearing his throat and Blue Eyes nods, biting his lip.
(Is he doing it on purpose? Because Dean really wants to kiss him now.)
"Thanks, um, you too. My name's Castiel, by the way. Figured you might as well know it because of all the uh, things that have happened since I walked in," Blue Ey-, no Castiel, mumbles shyly.
"Dean. Yeah, sorry about that. Still wanna come back?" Dean laughs, running a hand through his hair sheepishly.
A smirk spreads over Castiel's face as he turns to leave and calls over his shoulder, "Oh, yeah I'll definitely be back. Your voice does things to me."
Castiel laughs, waves, and he's out of the door and into the morning crowd before Dean fully processes what just happened. A grin spreads over his face and Dean does a happy dance. Castiel likes him!
Dean sees Castiel often after that. Mostly because he becomes a regular after that, coming in every day at the same time, orders the same thing, and stays for an hour or so afterward, just chatting with Dean about nothing in particular. Dean once teased Cas about this mercilessly until Cas threatened to spend his mornings at Bertinelli's. The other reason he sees Cas regularly is because he's Gabriel's younger brother. Dean found that out when Sam dragged him to dinner at the Novak's house and Castiel was arguing with his brother about the difference between hamsters and guinea pigs. Gabriel, being the sweet darling he is, took it upon himself to make very loud remarks about how he could cut through the sexual tension that was between the two; It was only when Sam kissed him that he finally shut up, but Cas and Dean couldn't look each other in the eyes for weeks afterwards. Needless to say, it was interesting night.
It's been maybe three or four months since Castiel stumbled upon Lord of the Pies, and he and Dean have really gotten to know each other well. Okay, everything's not all peachy keen because lately Dean's spending his nights lying awake on his bed and thinking of a hundred thousand ways he should ask Castiel out.
"Lord of the Pies, huh?", Cas smiles as he sips of the coffee.
Dean mentally shakes his head, pushing the thoughts of how to ask Cas out in the far corners of the mind and focus on Cas instead. He looks up from where he's wiping down the counter to give Castiel a raised eyebrow and a proud grin. "Yeah, Sauron doesn't know shit about making pies."
This makes Cas choke on coffee because he's laughing so hard and Dean gives a goofy grin at the sound, his heart doing back-flips.
(He still gets butterflies in his stomach whenever he hears the angel's laughter.)
When Cas finally regains his composure he asks teasingly, "Don't you think that's a bit conceited? A lord? Should I call you My Lord, or High King Winchester?"
Dean pretends to think about it for a second before smirking, "I do like the sound of High King Winchester, but My Lord is much more casual." Cas rolls his eyes at Dean, but the bright smile on his face ruins the effect and Dean's heart stops at the sight.
He swallows the nervous lump in his throat, damns everything to hell, and leans over the counter to give Cas a kiss.
He tastes like PB&J sandwiches and rainy afternoons.
The kiss is everything Dean has dreamed about and more. He tangles his hands in Castiel's hair, bringing him closer and deepening the kiss. Cas sighs into it and Dean's heart dances because Cas is kissing him back and the blue-eyed angel can do some things with his tongue.
They part when they need air, and both of them are blushing when they realize that half of the pie shop is staring at them and some of the regulars are mumbling 'Finally'.
"So," Cas starts breathlessly, his cheeks a light pink and his hair is messy, making Cas even cuter and Dean really just wants to kiss Cas for the rest of the day.
"I've wanted to do that since you saw me dancing to Bon Jovi," Dean shrugs, cheeks hurting from the bright beam on his face.
"I knew you were sorta kinda hitting on me!" Cas laughs triumphantly and Dean rolls his eyes, kissing Cas again so he'll shut up.
When they break apart for the second time, there's a dazed look in Castiel's blue eyes and there's a goofy grin on his face.
"So, y'know, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go on a date with me?" Dean asks casually, biting his lip nervously.
"I mean it'll be nothing fancy! Just you and me at my house, home-made dinner and some music," Dean adds, not wanting to freak Cas out by planning something big and expensive.
Cas gives Dean a soft smile and hums, "Dean, I'd love to. But uh, what'll be playing because I'm not sure I can dance sexily to Bon Jovi."
"I don't know. I can dig Elvis," Dean smirks, laughing under his breath.
"You mocking me Winchester?" Cas asks, faux angry look on his face.
Dean rolls his eyes at Cas and retorts sarcastically, "I would never think of it! The mere thought of mocking or upsetting you terrifies me!"
"Good answer, peasant," Cas says, a pleased expression on his face.
Dean shakes his head as he goes back to wiping down the counter, feeling happier than he's ever felt in a long time. "You're an idjit, y'know that right?"
"Yeah, but I'm your idjit and you're my idjit," Cas grins, meeting Dean's killer green eyes.
They both laugh and lean into kiss each other again; After all the key to a healthy relationship is making your boyfriend breathless with kisses and Dean plans to do exactly that.