After leaving Gabe's shop, Dean headed home to take a shower and mentally prepare himself for the night ahead of him. He would be having dinner with Sam and Gabe's little brother, Castiel. During Dean's shower, he started to wonder what Castiel was going to be like, if he acted anything like Gabriel. He smiled as he tried to imagine his little brother with a shorter, scrawnier version of Gabriel, covered in tattoos and wearing black eyeliner. The thought made him shudder and shake his head. Sam would never go for a man that wore makeup. Would he?

By the time Dean was done with his shower, it was about a quarter to seven. He was still planning to show up late around 7:45, so there was no point in leaving yet. Sam only lived a few blocks away. Dean just hated having to sit around and wait. His anxiety started to eat away at him. What kind of impression did he want to make on this guy? If he was too accepting, that might give off the vibe that Dean would be okay with seeing them making out on the couch, plus he'd probably sound really fake. But if he was a douche that hardly interacted with the new guy, Sam might get so pissed that he shut Dean out of his life.

After pondering on the subject for a while, Dean decided it'd be best to act like the best man at a wedding – kind of awkward, and making up jokes to fill in empty silences, while still being nice about everything, only making it slightly evident how uncomfortable he really was. That would have to work, because it was the only way Dean was sure he could act without making Sam angry or losing his dignity.

When it was 7:15, Dean decided to leave. It had come to him that Sam might've forgotten to get some pie, and Dean knew that this was going to be an I-need-my-damn-pie-before-I-erupt kind of night. He decided to walk, because it would take longer, and he might look stupid if he drove just a few blocks to Sam's house.

There was a small grocery store a few streets away in the opposite direction from Sam's house, and Dean headed that way first, pulling up the collar on his jacket. It was slightly chilly tonight, but it felt good. The store didn't carry many varieties of pie, but even so, Dean was torn in his decision. At his disposal were two blueberry pies, a cherry pie, a pecan pie, and some kind of lemon pie. Immediately, Dean decided against the lemon pie. He only liked lemon pies when they were lemon meringue, and that was for special occasions. Then, he started thinking about what kind of pie this gentleman friend of Sam's might like. He didn't want to get something he'd be eating alone – even if the thought was tempting.

Feeling much like a finicky girl, Dean pulled out his phone to text Sam. What kind of pie should I get? He returned the phone to his pocket, rocking on his heels. Mere seconds later, the reply came, and Dean nodded, pulling the cherry pie from the shelf. After paying for it, it was back out into the night air, which somehow seemed chillier than before.

When he reached Sam's house, it was 7:41. Not quite as late as he'd been wanting, but it would have to do. He knocked, feeling awkward just standing at the door with a pie in his hands. This felt too much like those moments in the movies where the woman from next door brought over a pie or casserole because you were new to the neighborhood. Dean was welcoming this Castiel guy, into his life anyway. It wasn't like he had much of a choice in the matter.

Sam appeared in the doorway, smiling brightly before he pulled his brother into a tight hug. Dean had to quickly move the pie out of the way to save its life. "You don't even understand how much this means to me," Sam told him, his head ducked down onto Dean's shoulder.

With that, Dean sighed. By the way Sam was talking, Gabriel had been right before. This wasn't just a fling. Sam was really into this new guy, and Gabriel's chances of ending up with Sam looked slim to none. "Just show him to me already," Dean said with a chuckle, and Sam released him, allowing him to now come inside. He grunted when Sam's German shepherd, Bruce, came trotting out of the kitchen to look up at Dean with a dumb, tongue-hanging-out grin. "Seriously, Sam? Why do you even let this guy in the house?" He knelt down to rub the dog's head, ruffling his ears. "Mangy mutt. Stay away from the pie." He stood again, smiling.

"Umm, Dean," Sam started, regaining Dean's attention and directing it to the man sitting on the couch, who now stood, "this is Castiel Novak." Dean paused, a bit of fear setting in. Castiel had dark brown, tousled hair, which he ran a hand through. He wore a dark blue sweater, the collar of a white shirt poking out from underneath, and dark grey slacks. Even though this guy looked so proper, he had 5 o'clock shadow, which made him look more like a regular guy. But it was his eyes that really took Dean by surprise. His eyes were a deep blue color, and it made Dean think of science books from high school that had satellite pictures of Earth, where you could see the color of the atmosphere change from light blue to black. Dean had always thought it was the edge of Heaven. Castiel's eyes were the color of that last, fleeting color of blue before the sky turned infinitely black.

Dean had hardly noticed that Castiel was holding out a hand for him to shake. Feeling slightly awkward, he moved the pie into his other hand to return the gesture. "Hey man. Nice to meet you. I'm Dean, Sam's older brother, but you probably already knew that."

Castiel chuckled in his throat, and Dean swallowed most of his nervousness. "From what I hear, you're good friends with my older brother, Gabriel. He mentioned you a few times, but he talked about a lot of people, so no names ever really stuck with me."

"Yeah, well, he never mentioned you," Dean replied with a scoff. "No one really did until today." He looked at Sam, noticing the glare he was being given, and shrugged.

"I know that all of this must be very awkward for you," Castiel stated, looking down at the carpet. "I hadn't known that Sam was keeping all of this a secret from you until two days ago. I had thought you were fully aware of your brother's sexuality."

Sam cleared his throat, intervening at this point. "So, Dean, let me take this pie from you." He slid it out of Dean's hand before he could get a response. "Dinner is gonna be ready soon, I'll just go check on it." Sam disappeared into the kitchen, and Dean sighed, moving to sit down on the couch.

Castiel sat next to him, reminding himself to leave a buffer zone of about two feet between them. He cleared his throat before saying, "You probably don't think very much of me right now, and I understand that." Dean laughed once, and Castiel turned his eyes back down to the carpet again. "For tonight, though, can we try to get along, for his sake? You can hate me all that you want tomorrow, as long as Sam doesn't know."

Dean was silent for a moment before sighing and turning to Castiel. "I don't hate you; I don't even know you. And I don't want you to think that I'm homophobic or anything like that. I've known that Gabriel's gay for a long time, and that never bothered me." Dean paused, just realizing that Castiel might not know Gabe's secret, but since he didn't say anything, Dean continued. "It's just, Sammy's my brother, and this is all kinda sudden for me. I mean, I just found out today that all of this was goin' on. It came as a shock." He laughed, rubbing his chin. "I mean, a year ago, he was in this serious relationship with a girl named Amelia, and she was in no way masculine." He laughed again, but then noticed Castiel looked embarrassed, so he decided to drop the subject.

They were quiet for a few minutes before Castiel smiled, turning on the couch so that he was facing Dean. He began to roll up his left sleeve, which confused Dean until he noticed the tattoo. There was a five inch long feather on the inside of Castiel's forearm, outlined and shaded with black. "This was my first tattoo. It hurt like hell."

Dean chuckled, taking Castiel's wrist so that he could examine the tattoo further. "Did Gabe do this?"

Castiel shook his head, trying to hold back laughs. "No, and he was so pissed when he found out I got it with someone else." Both he and Dean started to crack up, and Castiel pulled his sleeve back down. "He didn't talk to me for weeks, and then he demanded that I let him give me a tattoo of his own."

With a smile, Dean asked, "Oh yeah? What'd he give you?"

The other man reached back, putting a hand on his right shoulder. "He gave me a huge tattoo on my back. It took hours. I had to come back in the next day so he could finish the shading. It took everything I had not to cry on the drive home."

Dean winced, and shook his head. "That's why I'm stayin' away from tattoos. But what is is of? Is it like a huge tree or something?"

Castiel shook his head, smiling. "Nope, I don't tell anyone what that tattoo is of. It's kind of a secret." He had kind of a dorky smile, Dean noticed.

"Well, someone must see it from time to time," Dean more asked than stated, knitting his eyebrows together. When the other man shook his head, he added, "Do you just constantly wear sweaters to cover it up?"

"Yeah, and it's not because it's a bad looking tattoo. I just really like sweaters, even during the summer. They're comfy and they look nice." Dean was quiet for a moment, then he burst out into laughter, doubling over on the couch. Castiel laughed a little too, not because he understood, but because Dean's laughter was contagious. "What's so funny?"

"Nothin', nothin', just…" he paused to catch his breath, then said, "I was waitin' for you to say something gay like that."

Castiel's eyes widened, then he laughed too. He should've been offended, but he guessed that this was just the kind of guy Dean was. "Really hilarious," he retorted sarcastically.

Dean's laughing calmed down, and he waved a hand, as if he could chase away the laughter like it was a fly. "No, but seriously, I get what Sam sees in you. You are pretty beautiful."

With that, they both got quiet, and Castiel looked at Dean with a bewildered expression, his perfect lips puckered in a silent question, eyebrows raised. "Wait, what did you say?"

The older man shrugged. "Not in a mean way. I'm not sayin' you look like a girl or anything, just…for a man, you're really beautiful." He noticed Castiel's blush, and he chuckled, adding, "Your eyes are like nothin' I've ever seen before. They're otherworldly." Castiel only blinked, then turned away from him, looking down at the carpet again. Dean's smile faded, and he started to feel like he might've made a mistake. "Sorry if I offended you, or something.

"No, no," Castiel replied, shaking his head. "It's not…I just wasn't expecting that.

The rest of the night, no one talked very much. Sam tried his hardest, trying to stir up conversation on whatever subject he could. It always spurred a few replies, but not much else, and then everything would return to the awkward silence that just wouldn't die. Dean felt so guilty, like it was all his fault. He couldn't think of what might've possessed him to tell another man that he was beautiful, even if he was just trying to be nice. Dean wanted to justify what he'd said, like maybe on some level he was trying to see why Sam was gay for Castiel and come to terms with it, or maybe it was because he really just thought Castiel had beautiful eyes, and the rest of him didn't look too bad either.

On top of all of that, Sam's spaghetti was awful. His little brother had never been very good at cooking, but Dean force-fed himself the soggy, tasteless noodles in order to keep Sam happy. He'd eaten all his meatballs long ago, the only good part of the meal. At one point, as his mouth was full of the abysmal noodles, he glanced up to see that Castiel was holding back laughter, no doubt in reaction to the more than displeased face Dean must've been making, and it made him smile. He sat up, swallowed, and clapped his hands together. "Who wants pie?"

As he stood, Sam looked up at him, saying, "But, you didn't even finish your spaghetti."

Dean looked around, sliding his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, because I'm savin' room for pie." With that, he walked into the kitchen, where he found his pie on the counter, still in the box. He shook his head, walking over and turning on the oven.

"What're you doing?" Sam asked, walking into the kitchen and closing the door behind him. His arms were crossed, like he was mad, but Dean knew better. "I thought it was already cooked."

With a sigh, Dean answered, "Of course it was already cooked, but you 'ought to know by now that if you buy a pie in a store, you should always warm it up in the oven." After putting in the pie, he turned back to Sam, leaning against the counter. "Think it's such a good idea to leave your boyfriend alone? He'll think we're talkin' about him."

"I did want to talk about him." Sam cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. "You like him, right? I mean, you approve of him?"

Dean chewed the inside of his cheek and hummed as he thought. "I don't really have a reason to hate him." He smiled. "Honestly Sam, he seems nice enough, he's just…I guess he's not what I was expectin'."

Same scoffed. "Were you expecting a flamboyant man in a dress?" Dean laughed, turning away from him to look in the oven. "Or no, maybe you thought he'd have long, flowing, blond hair with glitter on his eyes."

"That's not what I meant, Sam. I'm not that stereotypical," Dean said over his shoulder. When Sam gave him a questioning look, like where did you learn the word stereotypical, he laughed. It was quiet between them for a second before Dean asked, "So…how serious are you guys at this point?"

"Dean."

Dean turned back to face Sam again. "I'm just askin' because Gabe didn't even know you guys were datin', or that we were havin' dinner tonight. So if you guys are serious he should get to know, too. It shouldn't be secret."

Sam gave Dean a curious look. "Why would Gabriel care how serious we are?"

Dean bit his tongue, realizing that he was defending Gabe's secret crush on Sam. "Because, he's Castiel's big brother, so he must feel the same way about Castiel that I feel about you, bein' protective durin' all of this." That didn't really sound right. It wasn't like Castiel was a wild animal that Dean needed to protect Sam from. He sighed. "Look, all of this is just really going to take some gettin' used to for me."

With a nod, Sam replied, "I understand, Dean, I really do. I'm just so glad that you've been nice to him tonight. I don't expect you to really like him yet, but the fact that your trying makes me feel better about everything." Dean nodded, kneeling down to peek in the oven, and Sam rocked on his heels. "As for how serious we are, we uh, haven't done much yet. It didn't feel right, being with someone that I had to hide from you." When Dean gave him a look, Sam raised his hands. "I know, you're a lot more understanding than I give you credit for. But honestly, we've just had dinner a few times, nothing else."

"Do you have sissy pet names yet?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sam laughed, putting his hands in his back pockets. "Yeah, uh, I have one for him. He hasn't made up any for me yet." As Dean rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his pie, Sam added, "I just didn't want to get too attached to him until I was sure you'd be okay with everything."

"Well, it's okay with me," Dean said without looking back at his brother, and without much enthusiasm in his voice. "Seriously, Sam, you need to make your own decisions without carin' so much about what other people think."

"Not other people," Sam corrected him, "just you. And Mom."

"Oh yeah," Dean said, standing with a loud pop of his knees, "have you told her yet?" The look on Sam's face said enough. "If you're hopin' I'll be there when you tell her, I don't think you need me. There's no way Mom is goin' to disapprove of her baby boy findin' happiness." He half smiled. "But she might be mad that you let me have dinner with him before her. Why didn't you just invite her tonight?"

"Ladies poker night with Ellen and a few other girls." Sam shrugged. "I was thinking maybe Castiel and I could have lunch with her Sunday after church. Do you think it'd be a bad idea for him and me to show up at church together?"

"Not unless you want the whole town to start gossipin' about the sheriff and his boyfriend." He looked at his pie again. "I don't know, do you think it's warm enough yet?"