Dean was on a grocery run.
The small store was relatively empty, given that it was almost seven in the evening (thank God it's an all-nighter, Dean thought) but when Dean said his apartment was low on food, he really meant it was empty save for a last bottle of beer and half a pack of crackers in the back of one of the cupboards.
He would have stocked up sooner, but he'd been working extra shifts at Bobby's garage – just because Sam was on a full-ride at Stanford, didn't mean the elder brother could slack off; something bad could happen, and if Dean wasn't prepared, he'd never forgive himself.
Humming some rock song under his breath, Dean turned into the next aisle. Realising it was deodorant and hair dye and other stuff that wasn't food, he was about to turn away when he saw someone else in the aisle. The man was near the other end of, peering at some purple deodorant bottles closely. He seemed to be shorter than Dean with a lithe frame and brown hair, that bordered more on golden, scraped back from his face and ending just below his ears. There was nothing about him that screamed 'special' but it made the elder Winchester stop for a moment.
As if sensing that someone was watching, the other man stood up properly and practically sauntered to where Dean was still standing. Giving him a dirty smirk and a wink, the other walked past Dean and disappeared into another aisle.
Dean was left gaping, slightly. Had he met that guy before? No... No, he didn't think so and why the heck did he wink at him?!
Still confused, Dean went to look at the bottles had been looking at so closely. They looked like any other deodorant bottle in shape but where black and purple in colour. A bright red sign on the shelf they were on showed that they were half price. Shrugging, Dean picked one up and dumped it in his basket – he was almost out so it wouldn't hurt to get a bottle now.
~x~x~x~
It was a week later, the bottle of, what Dean now knew to be, 'Lynx: Excite' still lying in his bathroom still unused, that Dean walked into the reception of Bobby's garage and salvage yard to sign in when he saw the man from the store talking to Jo and Charlie.
Charlie was the receptionist and all-round computer geek for the yard and kept it functioning whilst Jo worked in the bar next door. The Roadhouse was run by Jo and her mother and, over the years, had put up with a lot of Dean's antics – drunken and not. Still, Dean saw Jo as the little sister he never had but still found her far too mischievous for her own good.
At the snap of the door closing, the man turned around to see Dean standing there and grinned. "Oh, hey, I know you, right?" he had a lilt to his voice that promised all kinds of trouble.
"You know Dean? I feel sorry for you." Jo sighed in faux sympathy, patting the man slightly on the shoulder.
"Ha ha, Jo, I'm dying from laughter." he griped as he punched his card through the machine on the wall, basically hearing Charlie's eye-roll. ("I don't know why he won't just let me computerise it!" the red-head would complain every time she saw it but Bobby insisted that some things has to remain old-fashioned.) "Yeah, we did. I saw you in the corner store the other week." Dean nodded slightly to him.
"Ooh yeah, I remember now." he dragged his eyes up Dean's figure. The older Winchester noted that they were brown but, like his hair, seemed to be more gold, as if they had dulled over time. "Name's Gabriel." he held out his hand and Dean shook it. "I was just dropping off free samples, gotta spread the word somehow, eh?" he grinned and then headed towards the door. "I'll see you all around sometime, then?" With a two fingered salute, Gabriel exited the office leaving three people staring after him.
"Soooo, you know him, huh?" Jo was the first to pipe up, leaning over the desk to look at Dean.
"No, not really. I just bumped into him whilst shopping." Dean shrugged.
Charlie pulled out a small cupcake and began unwrapping it before taking a bite. "Well, whoever he is, he sure makes damn good cakes."
Jo nodded and hummed in agreement while Dean grabbed another of the cakes from the box labelled 'Heaven and Hell's Bakery' before going into the main work area.
~x~x~x~
Over the next week or so, Gabriel came to talk most mornings at the reception before going to open his bakery that had popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, down the street; the white sign emblazoned with sparkling red and pink declaring the shop's name to the world.
Dean wouldn't admit it to the smug owner, but Gabriel's pie was to die for in Dean's opinion; and Dean knew his pie. Many road-tips across the country, and visiting various diners, had given Dean a very good gauge of pie quality.
Over their chats in the morning, Dean, Jo and Charlie had learnt that Gabriel came from a relatively large family – he was expecting one of his brothers to come and visit him soon but didn't know exactly when – and he was one of the oldest. He never mentioned his mother but said that he hadn't seen his father in a long time; Dean could relate – his mother had died in the fire that burnt their house down when he was young and, after that, his dad had slowly drifted away and towards alcohol until his death a few years ago.
In return, Dean told Gabe about Sammy and, by the knowing smile that Gabriel gave him, he could tell how proud he was of his little brother. Jo told him about working at the Roadhouse and having to put up with all the idiots who were like her adoptive family and Charlie managed to talk to Gabriel about anything. Any film he brought up, she'd seen, any book and she owned three copies. If Dean didn't know Charlie swung the other way, he'd bet they would make a good couple.
It was one morning a couple of weeks after the first encounter at Bobby's yard when Dean was coming back in from a break to find Gabriel still hanging around talking to Charlie about... Ah, who was he kidding, Dean had no freaking clue.
"Hey, don't you have a shop to open, Gabe?" he teased, leaning against the desk.
The other man smirked. "Not today, Dean-o. I have myself a lunch date."
Charlie's head bobbed up from behind the computer monitor almost comically. "Ooh, who is she?" her eyes were bright and eager.
"Her name's Kali and I'm meeting her down at Elysian Fields for lunch." the smirk turned into something more like a genuine smile.
Charlie's mouth dropped open. "Elysian Fields?" she all but squeaked. "Look at you going all fancy!" she punched him lightly on the arm.
"Yeah, well..." he trailed off and Dean suspected he was blushing slightly. "I'd better be going, I'll see you all around." pulling a lollipop from his pocket, he bowed and left the small office.
~x~x~x~
Dean was running late when he finally needed to find that bottle of deodorant.
"Son of a bitch!" he growled, looking in the cupboard underneath his sink to find the damn can. When his hand finally closed around it he went to jump up and shout 'Aha!' or something along those lines but, instead, he went to get up and banged his head on the lip of the sink. "Ah, crap!" he hissed, clutching his head with one hand whilst unscrewing the bottle with the other.
He lifted it to his nose and sniffed; it smelt sweet, like honey and tree sap, but also slightly musky. He sprayed it twice and as the smell faded, it left an odour similar to that of the air after a lightning storm.
Throwing on his jacket, Dean was opening his door when everything began to shake. The elder Winchester clutched the counter next to the door to stay upright whilst he heard shouts and screams from other apartments. His TV suddenly started to flick through the channels and car alarms began to wail outside.
As abruptly as it had begun, it all went still. No sound could be heard, except for the car alarms, for a minute or so after the shaking stopped. Gradually, voices started to filter back in through the ringing in Dean's ears. Remembering he had to be at the garage in about five minutes, Dean all but ran out of the door deciding to check for any earthquake (was it an earthquake?) damage later.
~x~x~x~
He had just pulled into the small car park behind the Roadhouse and was about too full-out run to the yard when he saw Gabriel talking to another figure with dark hair and clad in a trenchcoat towards the edge of the street.
Gabriel seemed to be annoyed about something as Dean sidled up.
"- know you can't just do that! If somebody had seen-" Gabriel was hissing.
"I'm sorry Gabriel, I wasn't thinking clearly." the other man had a surprisingly low voice and he did sound truly apologetic for whatever it was that he must have done.
"Hey Gabe." Dean gave a small wave as he walked up.
Gabriel's stormy expression was suddenly replaced with a bright grin that lit up his eyes. Dean knew he was awesome but was that really a response he deserved? "Dean-o!" he basically sang before grabbing Trenchcoat's arm and turning him to face Dean. "This is my brother, Cassie."
At first, the brunette's face was completely impassive bordering on moody but when he looked up at Dean his eyes went wide. "A- actually my name is Castiel." he managed to get out, still staring at Dean as if he had grown a second head.
Dean offered his hand. "I'm Dean, it's nice to meet you. Gabriel seems to have been expecting you for ages." he grinned as Castiel hesitantly shook his hand, his eyes darting to the linked appendages with a questioning look as if he'd never shook someone's hand before looking back up to Dean.
Gabriel was grinning broadly, looking between the two, all but bouncing up and down with happiness that Dean couldn't understand.
"Well, I'm late so I've got to go, like, now." he let go of Castiel's hand and began to jog towards the garage, almost missing Castiel's angry growl of 'Gabriel, what have you done?!' but Dean didn't even have time to wonder what was up with that.
~x~x~x~
After that, Castiel began visiting the garage with Gabriel practically every morning, opting to talk to Dean rather than any of the others.
Dean soon learned that Cas had basically no knowledge when it came to films, bands, sarcasm; hell, most of Dean's personality, in other words.
It was a couple of weeks after first meeting Gabe's brother that Dean's patience came to an end on how little Cas knew.
"Okay, that's it, this weekend you are coming over and, so help me, we will watch every single Star Wars film because if you give me a confused look when I mention the Death Star again, I'm gonna explode!" Dean finally broke and all but shouted.
"Oooooh, looks like Dean's got a date!" Charlie teased and winked over at him while Jo doubled up laughing.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow with a smirk and Dean felt himself blush. "What? No! No, I'm just... Educating him on stuff that he should know!" he flustered.
Charlie raised her eyebrows and waggled them a little.
"No! Not like that! I- You know what, screw you guys!" he opened the door to the main garage and heard Jo shout 'It's not us you'll be screwing!' over Gabriel and Charlie's laughing and Dean flipped them off without looking.
He leaning against the wall for a second and heard Cas say "I don't understand, what's so funny?" which was simply answered by more laughing.
Dean wasn't gay, dammnit! Yeah, there was that one- no... Three times in high school but that was high school. But, his mind chipped in, What about that guy the other year? Okay, so four times in his entire life.
And Sam thinking he was crushing on the star of Doctor Sexy MD was just Sammy being stupid.
And who even said that Cas was gay?
And why was Dean even thinking about stuff like this?! He wasn't gay!
Sighing, he pushed away from the wall and decided to just block it all out with a day working underneath the Toyota truck that had pulled in yesterday.
~x~x~x~
Dean, however, did end up watching Star Wars with Cas that Saturday.
They were half way through The Empire Strikes Back, Dean figured it was probably more like early Sunday now, when Cas yawned while Dean was stealing a look over at him.
The elder Winchester couldn't help but notice that, despite them being chapped, they looked soft and plump, pink and stretched wide. He couldn't help but to think that they would look good stretched around something else and Dean knew he had to get right the fuck out of there.
All but jumping from the sofa, he mumbled 'Just going to the toilet' before padding over to the small bathroom down the hall. Once inside, he locked the door and looked at himself in the mirror.
He looked shaken but otherwise perfectly normal so Cas, probably, wouldn't have guessed that he'd been having thoughts that raced past the 'friendship' line and left it in the dust. Dean just leaned against the sink for a minute, returning his breathing to normal and trying to stop his hands from shaking.
He could pretend everything was fine, couldn't he? It couldn't be that hard. Having Cas as a friend was pretty sweet, anyway, so Dean figured he could live with that.
Ah, unrequited love... He was reminded of the time that Lisa Braeden had pretended not to be interested for half a year and Dean had spent his time pining after her, not realising it was just making her play even harder to get but that had been high school; this was here and now and could end in whole piles of awkward...
Scrubbing a hand over his face, his decision made, the older Winchester brother realised that he was smelling kind of ripe. He pulled out the deodorant and sprayed himself. Deeming that he could now go back out there and act normal, he walked back into the living room and plopped himself down onto the sofa as Darth Vader said the infamous line 'Luke, I am your father.' and Cas, honest-to-God, gasped as if he had no idea – which, Dean figured, he probably didn't.
Dean huffed out a small laugh before Cas was suddenly turning to him. "Dean, I have to go." The other man's eyes were wide and he was refusing to make eye contact with Dean.
"Huh? What, why? It's, like, one a.m., how are you gonna get home?" he suddenly felt concerned, had he said or done something offensive without realising?
"I will be fine, Dean, I just really have to go." Castiel got up from the sofa and began moving towards the door.
Dean's body acted before his mind even engaged. "Why, Cas? Is something wrong?" he felt himself say and he grabbed Cas' wrist, also standing up from the sofa now.
"Dean, let go." Castiel's voice was deeper than normal and he was practically glaring at the floor next to Dean's right foot.
"Wha- I don't understand, what's suddenly wrong?"
"Dean, I ca-"
"Come on, Cas! What's the problem, I ca-"
"You are, Dean!" he suddenly shouted, shaking off Dean's hand and staring him down. All of a sudden, the green-eyed man felt very small under the intense gaze that was now directed his way. Had Cas' eyes always been that blue? his brain supplied unhelpfully as Cas took a step forward, crowding his personal space, not that that was anything abnormal; now it just felt more... Charged.
Dean shook his head. "W- what do you mean, 'I'm the problem'?"
Cas sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before looking back to Dean. "Gabriel told me to wait and to 'have patience', that you will learn in time but it is difficult for me to show such restraint when you anoint yourself with it every day and I can smell it for miles. I should never have come. This is all Gabriel's fault." the last sentence was almost whispered and Cas was looking at the floor again.
Now Dean was just confused. "Cas..." he started slowly. "I don't know what you're on about."
Another heavy sigh and all the fight seemed to leave Castiel's shoulders. "You should sit down, Dean, if I am to tell you everything." Cas sat back on the sofa himself and Dean followed.
"A couple of months ago," Cas began after Dean had paused the film. "Gabriel became concerned that it was taking so long for me to locate my mate. He believed I needed help so he-"
"Whoa whoa whoa, 'mate'? What?" Dean interrupted.
"A mate, Dean, as in a life-long partner." he said slowly, not really answering what Dean was asking, but then gave him a look that warned bad things if he interrupted again. For a little, nerdy guy, Dean reasoned, Cas could actually be pretty scary. "So, Gabriel decided to 'help'. Using his powers, he influenced a company called Lynx to make a new deodorant and Gabriel took some of my oil so that they could use it to create its fragrance. However, of all the people who bought it, for months none of the people who did were my designated mate. Myself and Gabriel knew it was a 'long shot' to begin with," Dean couldn't help but quirk a small smile at the fact that Cas even made the air-quotes around the words. "But then Gabriel saw you and came back to Heaven saying that he thought he'd seen the 'One'. Of course, I and a few of my brothers and sisters who were also in on the plan were sceptical and as time passed and I still had not felt the Calling, I also believed that he must have been mistaken.
"Then, you used the spray for the first time and I was all but dragged down here, to Earth. Gabriel said that he knew he had been right except I had crashed through his shop's roof so he was also slightly angry." Castiel looked up from his knotted hands then. "When I met you for the first time, I knew that you were the One but you seemed to have no idea who I was – I became angry with Gabriel, believing he had messed up somehow and that he should have let things run their natural course but..." Cas shrugged, finishing his small speech.
Dean's head was reeling. "Cas, you're still not making much sense here, buddy." he finally managed to get out.
"I'm an Angel, Dean. We each have a designated mate who is born to Earth and this millennia is the time of Gabriel's garrison, myself included." he wasn't looking at Dean as he said it.
Dean had to be dreaming. This was nuts. Trying not to scoff, he managed a strangled "Oh?"
A huffed sigh left Cas and he stood up. "I know you don't believe me so simply look." he pulled off his T-shirt and turned around so Dean could see his back. Before Dean could ask what he was meant to look at, the skin around Cas' shoulders began to darken. That's when the TV started freaking out, the radio in the kitchen began to skip through a million stations at warp speed and he heard a car alarm go off a few floors below.
Static like that just before lightning hits began to fill the air as dark shadows became solid and Cas was turning back to Dean, black wings fanning out behind him, a gold ring hovering above his head and his eyes lit from a light behind them.
"Holy crap." Dean breathed and he swore that he saw Cas blush. "I have got to be dreaming."
Castiel shook his head as he folded his wings and sat back down on the sofa.
Dean was having a hard time functioning at the moment and, damn, everything smelt lie that body spray that he, might have, maybe, secretly, come to like the smell of.
"I can see that you are uncomfortable, Dean. I will leave, don't worry; you won't have to see me again." Castiel looked so defeated that Dean felt his heart twist painfully, no matter how much he'd deny it later. "I'll leave tomorrow."
"What? Why would you leave?" he reached out and touched the Angel's (a freaking Angel's!) hand softly where it rested between them.
"But, I thought-" Cas' eyes were wide when they looked up at Dean.
"Ever thought that maybe I was pining after you too?" the elder Winchester's customary smirk slid into place, but if it was maybe more of a smile, then nobody would know.
Castiel blinked. "Oh." he breathed and then Dean was leaning forward and kissing him gently. Cas' hand came up to cup Dean's jaw as said man licked at the Angel's closed lips. A soft breeze alerted Dean to the fact that Cas' wings were still present and he hadn't touched them yet and all his brain could think was 'why the fuck not?!'.
"Sorry." Castiel murmured, trying to still his wings but Dean huffed a laugh.
"Nah, it's okay." he whispered, reaching out to stroke his hand down one of the wings, grinning as it shuddered and Cas moaned into his shoulder. "Mmm, like that?" he pulled his hand away to see what Cas would do.
To be honest, he had expected the Angel to whimper but not what did happen: Castiel suddenly had Dean's back to the sofa and was straddling him, causing Dean to let out a strangled groan.
"Yes. Do it again." Castiel all but demanded, leaning in, wings spread wide as he pulled off Dean's shirt.
Dean could only nod and curled both of his hands into the high arches of the black wings.
Dean's fingers felt like they had been put into water and then a current had been ran through it – he could practically feel the current and electricity flowing underneath the feathers that seemed to fit perfectly into his hands.
Castiel arched into him, keening slightly before reaching above his head and pulling away his halo with a sharp tug.
Dean stopped, eyes wide as Castiel threw the ring over his shoulder after giving it a distasteful look. Dean heard it smash somewhere on the other side of the room, the noise sounding oddly like bells. "Isn't that sort of important?" he asked.
Castiel smirked down at him, wings spreading again and Dean started to reconsider just how innocent he really thought Cas was. "Not right now it isn't, no." Dean more felt Cas say it more than he heard it, the vibrations echoing through his chest and shooting straight to his groin.
"Now... Do. It Again." Cas leaned down further, kissing Dean deeply as the green-eyed man's hands clung tight to the feathers underneath them.
~x~x~x~
That Monday, Gabriel was waiting with Cas outside the office. Gabriel was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and a smirk on his face and even Castiel broke into a small half-smile as Dean walked closer.
"Heyya there, Dean-o." Gabe sand as he came closer.
"Hey Gabe. Cas." he smiled at the younger brother, who smiled back, and Gabriel sighed.
"Yes, okay, okay; you two are adorable, now," he stood up straight and, even though he was smaller than both Castiel and Dean, he still made a very intimidating picture. "I'm pretty sure Cassie here has given you the whole Angel briefing thing so I don't think I need to do the 'if you hurt my brother' speech, but I swear, you do and-"
Dean held up his hands. "No, no, I got it – I've gotta keep my ass in check 24/7."
Gabe's glare turned considering before it slid back into his normal smirk. "Well okay then. I've found my mate, ickle Cassie here has got his. Oh Balthazar is gonna have a field day." the other Angel's sigh was obviously put-upon but still heavy.
Cas' head jerked up to stare at his brother. "No. No, you cannot be the one to tell Balthazar." he growled.
Gabriel, however, simply gave a half shrug and, with a smirk and a click of his fingers, he vanished leaving Dean staring and Castiel glowering.
When he came back to himself, Dean turned to Cas. "Why's it so bad if that other guy knows?" he asked.
"It's not bad, it's just..." Castiel seemed to consider his words. "When it comes to finding a mate, Balthazar is a little... Adventurous." he settled on.
Dean arched an eyebrow. "'Adventurous'?"
Cas nodded. "He returned to Heaven the other week asking what was French for twelve as he had, uh, just had a 'ménage et whatever-it-is', as he put it."
Dean couldn't help it; he laughed and Cas' small smile got slightly wider. "Well, I might not really do chick-flick scenes either, but I'm sure I can make an exception." and, with a grin, Dean pulled Cas into a kiss just outside the office.
And from inside, they both heard Charlie's cry of 'I KNEW IT!' causing them to split apart and grin at each other.
Yeah, Dean thought. I can make an exception.
A/N: crossposted from my AO3 where it can be found under the same name.
'Prompt' used was the Lynx: Excite advert [[I think it might be Axe: Excite in some countries?]] where the tag line was 'Even Angels Will Fall' so yeah...