A/N: Just another one of those how-Cas-might-return-to-the-Winchesters fics. I was aiming for cute, so how did I do?
They returned to the car.
Sam reached for the door handle, already lost in thought, brow furrowed as the considered the newest pieces of information they'd received. Dean came to a halt on the sidewalk, staring. It took Sam a moment to notice that Dean wasn't going for his side of the car.
"Dean, what—" He broke off as he followed Dean's stunned gaze to where a man stood beside the newspaper bins. Dean seemed frozen to the spot, unable to call out to the man, dark-haired and dressed in unfamiliar clothing, but cradling a balled-up trench coat.
"Dean," Sam said again, more urgently, as the man straightened up from looking at the newspapers and turned to walk away. "Dean, it's Cas."
Finally Dean seemed to snap out of his shock, and hurried down the sidewalk, calling out, "Cas!"
The man—Cas—stumbled to a stop as Dean caught up to him and grabbed towards his arm, catching his sleeve and holding on tightly. Cas tensed and turned to stare at Dean with a desperate intensity, not speaking, ignoring the curious glances of a passing group of pedestrians.
"Cas?" Dean said, and Sam could hear the uncertain, almost pleading note in his voice, which seemed to startle Cas into movement as he hopped back a step. Dean didn't release his grip on Cas's sleeve.
"I—" Cas said, his voice sounding as shaken as he looked. "I—Dean, I can explain—Metatron—" Cas's words tripped over each other, eyes flickering nervously from Dean's face down to his shoulders.
Dean was now beginning to look dismayed by how distressed Cas seemed, clearly not experiencing any kind of reunion he might have imagined. "Cas, it's okay, you don't have to—"
His words were cut off as Cas abruptly surged forward to catch Dean's face with his free hand and kiss him just as hesitantly as everything else about him seemed at the moment. He pulled back almost instantly as Dean froze, startled, and began to babble, "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed—"
Sam hastily turned back to the car as Dean leaned in towards Cas to murmur something Sam couldn't quite hear. Their conversation had really stopped being his business a few minutes ago, and it seemed, as he chanced a glance back to see them leaning in to each other, that they were figuring things out just fine on their own.