A/N: Sorry this took slightly longer to update than I anticipated but finally, I give you chapter 2. There will be one more chapter and most likely an epilogue left, as the chapters keeps getting longer the more I revise them.


The Bet Chapter 2

Cas groaned silently as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket yet again. He had no doubt about who was texting him, and how on earth was he expected to teach a class of rowdy hormonal kids while constantly being distracted by Dean? It must be about the tenth text he received from the man, apologizing for last night and Cas could feel his resolve to stay the hell away from him collapse like a house of cards.

So far he had resisted the temptation to reply to any of Dean's texts. He just didn't know how to deal with any of it, so not doing anything had seemed like a viable option. One thing he did know was that, despite the dubious delivery, he had enjoyed the kiss, having replayed it over and over again in his head during a rather long and restless night. Part of him wanted to do it again, and the other part wanted to punch Dean for springing this on him. He was pretty damn certain that if he allowed Dean back into his life, he was in real danger of developing romantic feelings for the man (then again who was he kidding, he felt that pull ever since that first talk in the restaurant). It was like the guy and his stupid green eyes and freckled nose had put a spell on him. He had never felt like that about anyone and that was a whole other problem Cas didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole.

Yet by lunch time, and the twelfth text, he caved. There was only so many times a person could apologies to him before Cas couldn't help himself but to forgive. After all, that was what most of his belief system was build upon, and why should Dean be the exception to that rule.

- You can stop texting me now. You're forgiven –

- thank god –

Dean replied and Cas thought that would be the end of it, but he clearly didn't know Dean Winchester.

- let me make it up to you –

Came another text not five minutes later. Castiel could feel his pulse speed up. The prospect of seeing Dean again was exciting. He was quickly losing his internal battle of finding reasons to stay away from the man. He might just have to establish some ground rules, at least for the time being while he was trying to work out his feelings for Dean. And not springing kisses on unsuspecting people was extremely very high on that list. Something like that was definitely reserved for the dating stage as far as Cas was concerned. And wow, did he seriously just put 'Dean' and 'dating' in the same sentence?

Cas knew that realistically he might have to reassess his views on marriage and companionship, because for all that it was worth, he could see himself grow old with someone like Dean, something he so far had never experienced with another person, least with someone of the opposite sex. And he started to doubt his conviction of rather wanting to stay alone and take up fishing than to be with someone, even if that someone was of the same sex. Because love was hard enough to find as it was, and surely 'man' was not meant to be alone. Cas put his head in his hands and groaned in frustration. When had his life started to go from straight line to this zigzaggedy ball of 'who the hell knows where this is going'?" And when the hell did he start to stop caring? After a few minutes of deliberation he decided it would be worth the risk.

- what did you have in mind? –

And that was that. What followed was a quick string of texts and pings, and Cas' face turning more and more into a smile, which, if Cas had taken the time to actually look up from his phone, led to his colleagues studying him with increasing amount of bewilderment. Castiel, while always polite and courteous, was not exactly known for his jolly nature or bright smiles.

- let me cook for you –

- You can cook? –

- I'm full of surprises –

-you don't say –

-CAS? is that a yes? –

- honestly, I don't know –

- please –

- ok –

- my place at 8? –

-Yes –

- great, you won't regret this –

Cas snorted, which earned him even more confused looks from his colleagues. He was actually pretty sure that he already regretted giving in, or at least he should.

Halfway across town, Dean hollered and punched the air.

"What has you all perky and blushing like a virgin?," his boss Bobby grumbled from where he was perched over the engine of a Toyota.

"Nothing," Dean shrugged his shoulders, quickly steeling his features. There was no way he was blushing; Bobby must be pulling his leg.

"Boy, that was not nothing. Don't think I hadn't noticed how you spent all morning on that phone of yours. I should probably cut your pay. So what's up?"

"Just got myself a date." As hard as he tried Dean couldn't keep the grin off his face.

Bobby's head shot up, looking straight at Dean In all the ten years that he had known the boy, he had never heard him talk about having an actual date.

"A date? Must be one special lady to get you to commit to that, I thought you didn't do dates."

"Yeah, well, apparently there's a first time for everything." Dean grinned and left it at that, heading over to the car, he had been working on all morning, well more or less, when he hadn't been busy groveling to Cas.

#

The doorbell rang at five to eight and Dean cursed under his breath. He was nowhere near ready for Cas' arrival. He was clad in this stupid xmas themed apron, his brother had given him last year, his hands and face were covered in flour. Why had he thought it a good idea to make apple pie from scratch? Oh right, to impress Cas with his skills. Plus his mom's apple pie recipe was the best by a mile, and as the saying goes, the way into a man's pants was through his stomach, or something like that.

He quickly wiped his hands on the dish towel before pressing the buzzer. A moment later he opened the front door to an awkwardly smiling Cas, shoving a bottle of red wine in his hands.

"Here, I wasn't sure whether to – what to get. I think it is customary to bring something when you are invited to dinner - so I hope this is ok." Cas rambled in quick succession, and was he nervous? Dean smiled at the sight in front of him. Cas looked positively delectable. He allowed his eyes to roam over the very nice body. Cas was wearing jeans just the right side of tight and a blue button down which brought out the color in his eyes. Dean wondered whether he actually made an effort to dress up for tonight.

He realized he must have been staring, and cleared his throat, tearing his eyes away from Cas and looking at the bottle of wine in his hands.

"Yeah, sure – of course. the wine should go nice with the – lasagna." He smiled and stepped aside allowing Cas entry into his apartment.

"Nice apron."

Dean chuckled. "Yeah, well, my brother has a very unique sense of humor." And what was wrong with him? He could feel his stomach flutter when his eyes met with Cas'. It must just be the excitement of the hopefully positive outcome of this night. Dean was optimistic tonight could be it. And damn that thought made him nervous as hell, because while this dinner really was primarily meant to be an apology for last night, with a setup like this there was always the chance of more. Not that he had much experience in romancing someone in this fashion. He could count the actual people he had cooked for in his life on one hand, and two of those were Sammy and Bobby, definitely not romantic interests!

"Make yourself comfortable," he motioned to the couch. "I'm afraid I'm running a bit behind with the food. Just there was this car that took longer than anticipated, but it was a same day job so me and Bobby ended up working late and-" Dean stopped, realized that now it was him that was rambling. And Dean didn't ramble. If anything he was a man of few and straight to the point words.

"Anything I can help with?"

"No. You're the guest and anyway-"

"Dean," Cas interrupted. "I really don't mind; just tell me what to do."

"Ok, but really there is not much left to do. The lasagna is in the oven and I am currently preparing the pastry for the apple pie. Mom's old recipe, but you could open the bottle of wine, if you wanted to."

"You bake, from scratch?" Cas couldn't help but sound impressed.

"Told you I was full of surprises." Dean smirked.

"I am beginning to see that." Cas laughed, taking in this new, domestic side of Dean. It suited the man, and Cas' mind temporarily wandered to mornings spent together, cooking breakfast in the kitchen after nights of- no, he had to stop this train of thought.

"So, wine- care to point me in the direction of your corkscrew and the glasses."

"First drawer on the left for the corkscrew and top left cupboard for the glasses."

Dean went back to focus on the pastry. Dividing it into two half, and rolling it out with the rolling pin, adding sprinkles of flour on the top along the way. He was painfully aware of Cas milling about his kitchen. Dean had never pegged himself for the domestic type but he had to admit it felt nice, sharing this place with the other man. At one point Cas tried handing him his glass of wine but Dean just waved his flour covered hands at him, which resulted in Cas bringing the glass up to Dean's lips to take a sip, and their eyes met over the rim of the glass.

Dean swallowed and hummed in approval. "Dude, I'm not normally the wine kind of guy but this shit ain't half bad."

"Glad you approve." Cas chuckled before his eyes started to fix on a spot just to the left of Dean's nose."

"What?" Dean asked, sounding somewhat self-conscious. Cas' eyes always managed to unnerve him, the way he stared at him, and he was so close that there was entirely too much blue in his line of vision.

"Erm, you have something – just there." Cas pointed to a spot next to his own nose, and Dean brought up his hand and swiped at his face.

Cas chortled. "Now you just made it worse." And Dean snorted, looking at his sticky hands and shrugging his shoulders.

"Here, let me," Cas offered bringing his hand up and using his thumb to wipe away the trail of pastry and flour. Dean's breath hitched at the contact, and when had it gotten so hot in here? And what the hell had gotten into Cas? He still looked at him, like that, and had this turned from an "I'm sorry I was an ass" dinner to an actual date? Cas might actually make this very easy for Dean if he kept this up. And shouldn't Dean be thrilled about this development and take full advantage of it rather than feeling flustered all of a sudden. He didn't do flustered, not unless it was part of an act to help him to score. But god help him, he was actually lost for words as he tracked the movement of Cas' fingers with his eyes.

Cas felt a nervous flutter in his stomach at the contact. He had come with the full intention of taking things very, extremely slow and to establish some rules. He had accepted the fact that he was attracted to Dean, which was all the more reason to keep level headed but now, leaning in and kissing Dean again seemed like a very viable and tempting option. He liked Dean's brazen side but this new, slightly flushed version was also very appealing. He needed to find a way to make what he felt for Dean work with his beliefs. So he resisted the urge to lean in and instead took a step back, taking a big gulp of the wine to give himself, more precisely his mouth, something to do. This was all so new to him.

As Dean put the finishing touches to the pie, he couldn't help but notice the way Cas was chugging back the wine. At this rate the guy would be trashed before they would eat.

"Cas you might wanna slow down on the drink a bit," Dean advised against his better judgment, because surely a drunk Cas would be a pliant Cas. But while that would help his agenda, Dean liked his respective lays to be at least somewhat coherent and consenting.

"Oh, right," Cas looked at the now empty glass, like he hadn't even noticed it was empty. His cheeks were already flushed hot from the unusual amount of alcohol flooding his system. He grinned sheepishly at Dean.

"I might have a glass of water for now."

"That might be a good idea."

Dean finished off the pie and put it next to the oven, ready to go in once the lasagna was done. He washed his hands and finally took off the stupid apron.

His eyes wandered over to Cas again. He couldn't t help but notice the way he leant casually against the cabinet, and how he liked the look of Cas in his kitchen. He was also acutely aware of the man's gaze on him and he really had no idea what had gotten into Cas but he wasn't going to look a gift horse into the mouth. He smiled at Cas, letting his eyes rake not so subtly over the man's face and torso and very much liking the way Cas responded, blushing and his fingers playing with the rim of the glass nervously.

They made light conversation until the timer went off and Dean ushered Cas over to the table. Cas brought along the bottle of wine, pouring himself a general portion and filling up Dean's glass again, realizing to his dismay that that was the rest of the wine. Dean brought out the lasagna and a salad placing them on the table. He didn't care much for greens but had a distinct feeling that Cas might so he bit the bullet and got some pre-prepared fancy sounding Italian salad from the shop.

He served Cas before piling his own plate full with the delicious pasta dish, adding a small amount of salad for show, and sat down, next to the man, purposefully ignoring any personal space etiquette. If Cas minded, he didn't let it show, so Dean got comfortable and dug in.

"This is really good," Cas moaned around a forkful of food and Dean grinned at him.

"Honestly, I didn't want to believe you when you said you could cook, but wow."

"Should I be offended at that?" Dean turned to face the man next to him.

"Are you that easily offended?" Cas teased.

"Nah," Dean smirked. "It takes more than that to offend me."

They had moved on to some hard liquor for lack of another bottle of wine by the time Dean brought out the pie, and Cas again, was more than impressed with his baking skills.

He giggled as the hot sweet mess of apple and pastry melted in his mouth, the vanilla ice-cream adding another exciting texture to the mix.

"I told you it's good," Dean moaned around his own spoonful. Teasingly liking the spoon clean, being fully aware he was in Cas' peripheral vision.

Cas giggled again.

"What?"

"You know you make this look rather filthy what you're doing to that pie."

Dean wiggled his eyebrows and did the exact same action again, slowly moaning around the spoon before licking it meticulously clean, not taking his eyes off of Cas.

Cas swallowed, feeling an unfamiliar but exciting kind of heat pooling in his stomach at Dean's display. He could definitely feel the effects of the alcohol now. He didn't often drink but tonight he just needed something extra, that little kick to loosen him up or he would have just stood shell shocked in a corner all night, unable to talk. And loosened up he was! He took his own spoon and mirrored Dean's motion of slowly taking the spoon into his mouth, wrapping his tongue around it lavishly, before slowly pulling the spoon out again, using his tongue to clean up anything he had missed before in long lazy swipes.

What the hell was he doing? He had never acted like this before. He was tipsy, yes, but not so drunk that he didn't know what he was doing. He probably should stop drinking. He didn't even like whiskey but regardless he took another big swallow, feeling the slow warm burn down his throat. And then he repeated the whole pie-spoon-tongue action. He had to admit he enjoyed the way Dean seemed to have stopped breathing and just stared at him. It made him feel powerful in a way he had not prior experienced.

He knew he was playing with fire here, but he couldn't get himself to care or to stop. It felt like things would inevitably lead to this from the moment he had met Dean. Them here, and Cas wanting him, wanting things he had only ever dreamed about. And he knew it was too fast, not following the right order of events but he had never felt anything like this before. Maybe that had been why being abstinent had never seemed like a chore to him. He just hadn't met the right person. He suddenly felt a new appreciation for any of his friends who found someone they fell in love with while still managing to hold on to their convictions. Because right here and now, Cas was faltering, and fast.

Dean gulped audibly. Shit that was hot. He could feel his blood rushing south as he stared at Cas, watching his tongue dart out, imagining that tongue hot and wet on the tip of his dick. This was a really unexpected side of Cas and Dean knew a tease when he saw one.

"God, you're drunk." He laughed, as Cas quite obscenely made love to the spoon again. Not that Dean was complaining. His own pie was long forgotten.

"I might be ever so slightly inebriated." Cas conceded.

"Did you drive here?"

"Yeah, but I can just take a taxi back." Cas giggled.

Dean could feel his heart hammer in his chest. His next question might determine the outcome of the rest of the night. "Or- you could crash here, the couch is not too bad, plus if you keep drinking like that I bet you could sleep anywhere, or you could-"

Dean didn't get to finish his sentence as Cas suddenly leaned in, messily smashing their lips together, taking him completely by surprise.

"Fuck," Dean moaned, as their teeth clashed and Cas' tongue lapped at the seam of his lips. Cas was clearly not very experienced at this, but to Dean this felt like the best, messiest, hottest kiss ever.

Dean grabbed hold of Cas by the neck and pulled him in more, taking over the kiss, dominating with his tongue as he pushed into Cas' mouth. He could feel Cas yield, and relax into the kiss, following Dean's probing and lead.

"Oh god, Cas," Dean panted when they finally had to break apart for some air. Cas was looking at him, face blotchy, eyes wide and blown dark with lust. But Dean could also see uncertainty in them.

Cas' head was swimming, partly from the alcohol, partly from the rush he experienced during the kiss. His lips still tingled from having been thoroughly worked by Dean. He desperately tried to get his brain to work again. Why had he done that? But before he could second guess himself, Dean's lips were back on his, moaning his name over and over again, as his tongue explored his mouth, and all Cas could do was hold on to Dean for fear of drowning in the sensation.

"Cas you have no idea what you're doing to me," Dean whispered into the dark haired man's ear, as he nibbled his earlobe, relishing in the shiver he felt go through the other man.

"Dean, I-" Cas moaned, tightening his grip on Dean's shoulders. Not at all sure what he wanted to say. All he knew was that he was aroused like he had never been before, his erection pressing urgently against the zipper of his jeans. He was so hard it kind of hurt, and he needed, wanted but he had no idea how to ask for what he wanted, how to formulate words anymore.

"Sh, Cas," Dean, shushed him, licking down his neck to his collarbone, biting and nipping at the skin there. "I'll take care of you, if you let me."

Cas trembled and moaned, which Dean took as consent. He pressed his lips against Cas' again while he pulled him up and never breaking the kiss maneuvered Cas back and out of the kitchen, along the corridor and into his bedroom. Cas responded eagerly, hands clutching to Dean's shirt, tongue now battling with Dean's.

Finally they made it to his bed and Dean pushed Cas down onto it, taking in the man before him, spread out, gazing up at him, looking positively sinful. Oh god, Dean wanted this guy like he'd never wanted anyone before. He wanted to take him apart and then put him back together again. Over and over. Not being able to hold back any longer, he eagerly climbed on top of Cas, straddling him by the hips.

Dean could feel Cas quiver under him, and leaned down, placing a rather gentle and chaste kiss on his lips, trailing his hands up his arms, coming to rest on his stubbled cheeks. He cupped his face tenderly as he deepened the kiss. It almost felt too intimate. He could feel Cas respond, pouring all of his emotions in the kiss, working his lips against Dean's, getting more adventurous the longer they kissed. Cas' hands tentatively started roaming down his back and coming to rest on Dean's waist, stopping like he was unsure how to proceed. It was so fucking adorable, and Dean needed more of Cas right now.

"You can touch," Dean instructed and he felt the puff of warm air, as Cas let out a deep sigh against his skin, having him come out in goosebumps. Cas' trembling hands found their way under Dean's shirt, nails gently scraping against skin.

"God, Cas, I- what are you doing to me?" Dean moaned, these barely there touches were driving him insane fast, and he needed to move this along or he would embarrass himself like a teenager.

He pulled himself back up to sitting, Cas hands were back at his hips, and he slowly started to undress the man, unbuttoning his shirt one button at a time, intermixed with little kisses at each new piece of naked skin revealed. His gaze wandered up to Cas' face briefly, green eye locking with blue. The way Cas looked at him, eyes glazed over, knocked the wind out of Dean. He needed more, more skin on skin, more kisses, just more. He quickly pulled his own shirt off over his head before delving back down, capturing Cas' lips with his own, pressing his chest tightly against Cas', feeling the rapid beat of his heart in his chest.

Cas' hands roamed frantically over Dean's broad back and shoulders, nails digging in, leaving red marks in its wake. He again felt the need to hold on for fear of getting overwhelmed. Cas had always hoped it would feel like this, being intimate with someone. They had only known each other for a few days but he felt connected to the man in a way that he had not thought possible in such a short amount of time. He had never felt like this before, aware of every touch, every ghost of breath against his hot skin, his pulse hammering in his ears. Dean was slowly, methodically taking him apart. He was faintly aware that he was about to ruin both their attempts at abstinence but shoved that thought back into the recesses of his alcohol and lust addled brain. And while a small part of him wanted to protest, was trying to tell him to slow down, that this was not how he had intended his first time to be, the rest of his body just screamed more, effectively drowning the doubts out.

Dean's hands slowly stroked down Cas' chest and abdomen, excited by every moan and shiver he pulled from the man. His hands came to rest on Cas' belt, and Dean looked up, meeting Cas' eyes, before he started to undo the belt buckle, popping open the button, then torturously slow pulling the zipper down. He had to work hard to hold back, to do this slow, but he wanted to do this right, wanted this to be good for Cas.

He then shimmied down Cas' legs, pulling the man's jeans and boxers along with him, pulling them off and removing the socks as well in the process.

Finally, Cas was completely naked, looking absolutely breathtaking, his cock, hard and flushed an angry red against his stomach. Dean made quick work of ridding himself of his pants and boxers and climbed back on top of Cas, straddling him at the waist, experimentally rubbing their cocks together. Cas whimpered at the contact and brought up his own hips, desperate to feel that friction again. Dean perched over Cas, kissing him slow and deep, taking control with his tongue, as he trailed his fingers up Cas' thigh, scraping the skin slightly with his nails, eliciting a moan and a shudder from him. His fingers circled Cas' hip bones and ghosted across his stomach, smiling into Cas' mouth when he giggled

"Ticklish?" he asked breathlessly and Cas hummed a breathless "yes". And Dean did it again, eliciting another giggle from the man.

He took his time exploring Cas' body, sliding hands up to play with his nipples before bringing them slowly back down. He still hadn't touched Cas' straining erection, just teasing Cas with almost touches. He was so turned on by now, more than he had ever been. To finally have this was just amazing. Cas was so much more than just a warm body to get his jollies off. It hit him at that moment that he really, really liked the guy. They talked, they laughed, they even fought and yet here Cas was, trusting him to take care of him. It was too much; Dean suddenly felt very exposed and had to swallow back a sigh. He mindlessly said Cas name over and over as he ground his hips down again, Cas corresponding moans of "Dean" made his cock twitch.

Cas was begging now, for what he didn't really know. He needed Dean to do something before he would explode. Dean could feel the man's hardness press urgently into his thigh and finally couldn't resist any longer. He brought his hand down between them, two fingers stroking lightly up Cas' cock, trailing the vein on the underside.

Cas gasped and jerked at the contact. Dean gazed at him and was met with blue eyes, irises blown wide, staring back at him, nervous but trusting, trusting Dean to do the right thing, to take care of his just like Dean had promised.

And shit, Dean could not do this!

He collapsed heavy on top of Cas, head buried in the crook of his neck, breathing hard and fast, trying to get himself under control. He couldn't do this. Couldn't take this from Cas. He was saving himself for someone special, and Dean doubted that this was him. He was no one special, especially not for an awesome guy like Cas. Fuck his life, but it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. He cared for this guy. Somewhere along the line of trying to get into his pants, he had allowed feelings to get involved. He had no right; he knew how important this whole sex issue was for the man who was currently lying so pliant and wanton underneath him.

"Cas," he panted desperately. "I – we need to stop!"

"What?" Cas' confused voice rang through the room. "Why- am I doing this wrong?" His voice broke, faltering and timid. And Dean could feel his heart constrict. Fuck!

"No, god no! Cas. Quite the contrary. You're driving me insane, just, I know how much this means to you and, you're drunk and I just can't take this from you. Not like this."

Cas eyes locked on Dean's face, his vision was slightly hazy from the alcohol and his arousal.

"Oh," was the only thing he was able to say as Dean's words slowly started to make sense. This was probably the worst thing Dean could have said. Because now he was certain that he was falling in love with the man, who was currently resting heavy on top of him. And that, if anything, scared him even more than the possibility of losing his virginity. This meant re-evaluating everything he had come to believe in. Change his whole outlook on life for sure. But he couldn't shake the feeling that someone like Dean would be worth it. Now he was more convinced of that than ever.

"Dean," he whimpered, pulling the man in for a tender kiss, suddenly becoming very aware of their naked form and flushing bright red as Dean's hard cock brushed against his own.

"Urm, we should maybe-" he stuttered.

"Yeah, put some clothes on," Dean finished the sentence for him, suddenly feeling rather exposed himself. He reluctantly got off of Cas and fished for his shirt and boxers before finding Cas' and handing them to him.

When they were decent again, (apart from the clearly still visible erections tenting both their boxers), Dean crawled back up on the bad and lied down next to Cas, pulling the man in. Shit, if he considered cuddling, he was truly screwed.

"Hey," Dean smiled at him.

"Hey," Cas grinned back sheepishly, admiring the sight in front of him.

"So, what now? You're still-" Cas waved his hands in the general direction of Dean's crotch, and chuckled coyly.

"Would you hold it against me if I had a long shower in a bit?" Dean joked, slowly feeling like he was gaining back control. He was startled at the shocking revelation that he had just turned down quite possibly the best awesomest sex ever, and, as his brain unhelpfully provided, lost the bet, because, fuck it, he had feelings for the guy. He wanted more than just a quick fuck with Cas and that thought was enough to make his chest constrict painfully. This was uncharted territory for him.

Cas chortled nervously, the thought of Dean next door in the shower, taking care of his needs was making his dick twitch in renewed interest and he had to turn away as he could feel himself grow hot again.

"Hey, don't go all shy on me now. You can have one after," Dean teased, placing a kiss in Cas' messed up hair.

"Nah, I think I'll manage," Cas replied, the idea of jerking off was still alien to him, and to do so with the knowledge of someone being next door was just too intimidating.

Dean smiled at the adorable awkward way Cas was looking at him, and pulled him in for a long, languish kiss.

"So, you know. I would- if you wanted to- god, this is hard. I mean- I have no idea how to do this properly." And fuck, he really was clueless, but if Cas was willing, he wanted to give this a go. See if he and Cas could become a thing.

Cas looked at him like he suddenly spoke another language. Blue eyes wide and expecting.

"I mean, I- we- I would like to- unless you're still of the opinion that you can't date another dude, and-"

"Dean," Cas groaned, pulling the man in for a kiss, effectively giving him his answer.

"Ok, yeah- great." Dean stammered, feeling fucking butterflies roaming in his stomach. "So- like do you expect me to court you? How does this work in your world?"

Cas laughed, pulling Dean against him. "Of course, and written poems and flowers, lots of flowers, and more pie, definitely more pie," he teased.

Dean already was busy sucking a big hickey on the side of Cas' neck so all he could do was hum his amusement. He hoped Cas was pulling his leg, because baking pie was one thing but writing poems- In retaliation he started to suck harder. He wanted to mark him, so nobody would get any funny ideas of approaching Cas. Cas was taken now.

###

The next morning Dean woke up, entangled with another body, and he smiled at the sleeping form next to him. He could get used to this. He placed a greedy kiss on Cas' lips, grinning when the man slapped him away, groaning. Not a morning person then, Dean filed away for future reference.

"I'm going to make some coffee," he said. "You take your time, but you do know that it is a work day."

Cas huffed, and willed his eyes to open, smiling tiredly at Dean.

"Coffee sounds great."

"Back in a bit," Dean leaned in, placing a peck on Cas' cheek before heading to the kitchen. He still couldn't believe it. He was attempting a relationship. His brother would have a field day with this. He had been on his back for way too long about this relationship stuff or more precise, the lack thereof where Dean was concerned.

Cas laid back, burying his head in the pillow, taking in the scent of Dean and smiling to himself. His head hurt a bit from the alcohol but he didn't care. He and Dean were dating, and his stomach flipped excitedly at the prospect. Everything else would work itself out. It would have to because if this worked between them, this could be it for Cas.

He reluctantly pulled himself up to a sitting position, grabbing Dean's phone to check the time. Ugh, he would have to be in work in two hours and he still needed to swing past his apartment to pick up his stuff, oh and have a shower, he was sure he smelled like a brewery.

He was trying to get himself to move, still holding Dean's phone in his hand, when he could feel it vibrate. Instinctively Cas glanced down at the screen, and damn fate or whatever, but Dean had one of those smart phones that displayed the message at the top and before he could look away he caught the words 'blu eyes'. He had little doubt that this could refer to anyone other than him; Dean had referred to his eyes plenty of time. Curiosity got the better of him and he swiped at the screen.

He could feel his blood drain from his face and his hands start to tremble as he read the message.

U got lucky with blu eyes yet? I can already taste the money. 2 days and counting

Cas' blood ran cold. He could feel his eyes water as hot rage started to bubble up. How could he have been so stupid? He had been played. Like a violin to the tune of Dean Winchester. He couldn't believe this. Had this all been just a lie, a ploy to get him into bed? Why had Dean not closed the deal then? Cas had been fully prepared to give the man whatever he desired last night. This all didn't make sense. Yet the message left little room for interpretation. Cas couldn't think, 'stupid, stupid, stupid! You're such an idiot' playing over and over in his head. He felt so utterly embarrassed. He knew he should face Dean and ask him what the hell was going on but he was afraid hearing the truth might break him. He didn't need the humiliation of breaking down in front of the man on top of everything else.

He quickly got out of bed, pulled on his clothes, searched and found his shoes, and raced past the kitchen and out of the flat.

Dean heard the front door bang.

"Cas?" he yelled out, popping his head round the door. When there was no answer, he went in search of the man, only to find his bedroom empty and any trace of Cas gone.

"What the fuck?" he groaned, carding his fingers through his short hair. Was Cas having a religious freak-out? Was the idea of dating a guy suddenly too much for him? But why did he just leave. They could have talked about that. He noticed his phone on the floor. Definitely not where he had left it and picked it up, dread slowly creeping up his spine.

He swiped the screen, the message from Ash still on the display.

"FUCK! Fuck, fuck, fuck," he yelled. The fucking stupid bet. The bet that, as far as he was concerned, was nil and void. He had wanted to call Ash later this morning to tell him that the bet was off and he could have his 200 bucks if he insisted. Fuck. He should have just sent him a text last night. No, really he should have called it quits as soon as he realized there was more to Cas than just a pretty face. Hell, he should have never agreed to such a stupid, juvenile bet in the first place. What was he, 12?

He called Cas, leaving a message when he didn't answer, begging him for a chance to explain, telling him that this was not what it looked like. Well, of course Dean knew it kind of was but it wasn't at the same time. God, he didn't even make sense to himself. He had never expected to actually fall for this awkward, dry humored, blue eyed man who had walked into the restaurant not even a week ago. He paced the room frantically, clutching to the phone, hoping against hope that Cas would text him back. Or arrive at his door. Just give him the chance to explain. He called and texted again numerous times before he chucked the phone against the wall in frustration and sank to the floor. He felt his stomach lurch. Shit, he was going to be sick. He was so angry at his stupidity; if he could he would punch himself. Of course he had to fuck up the one good thing that had happened to him in years, just because he inherently was a dick.

How the hell was he going to fix this?


Well, Dean kind of had this one coming despite his late epiphany regarding Cas. Lies have a nasty tendency to come to light.