Now Hiring

Inquire Within

Dean sat at one of the diner's booths, clipboard in hand, jotting down small notes on each waiter applicant. One by one they came through, answering his questions as best as they could.

"So uh, you ever worked as a waiter before?" Dean asked all of them.

"Yeah. Well, kinda. No, not really."

"Been unemployed my whole life."

"I danced on tables. Does that count?"

Shaking his head at most of the answers, Dean followed up with "can you work the dinner shift most nights?"

"Oh, I can only do mornings."

"Uhh...three nights a week. Maybe."

"I'm not sure, I'd have to ask my probation officer."

Disgruntled and tired, Dean turned the last applicant away with a sigh. Just then did Sam come from the kitchen with a plate of sandwiches for a couple in the back. Once he dropped them off he swung by Dean's booth and clicked his tongue. "What's wrong?"

"Twelve people up for the job but none of 'em were qualified enough," Dean sighed.

"What's your definition of 'qualified'?"

"Any kind of table waiting experience. I mean any."

Sam put a hand on his hip, sucking his teeth. "Maybe you're being too picky?"

"This is someone who's gonna be working for me, Sammy! I have to be picky!"

"For us, you mean."

"Right, right," Dean said, rolling his eyes. "Working for us. Working with you. I can't hire just any idiot."

"Well you have to find someone. I mean, you need to find two people soon."

Dean raised his eyebrows, taking his eyes off of the notepad and up to his brother. "Two?"

"Dean, you said I'd only have to take a semester off. It's been a year now. I need to get back to school!" Sam furrowed his brow .

"C'mon, Sammy," Dean coaxed. He got up from the booth. "You gotta stick around a little longer. Aren't you happy doing this?"

"Not really," said Sam.

"Sam!" Dean hissed. "You know I can't run this diner without you, and if I can't run the diner, then my promise to mom is gone!"

The people in the back looked up from their sandwiches and watched the bickering brothers curiously. A guy at the counter looked, too.

"Dean, calm down. And you never promised mom anything."

Eyes heated, Dean pushed by his brother and steamed off towards the kitchen. He slipped through the swing doors loud enough for Cas, standing at the grill, to detect a sibling quarrel.

"What's the issue now, Dean?"

Dean sulked up behind Cas and started to rub his shoulders. "Everything," he grunted.

"Hmm? Now you know that's not true."

"I know, I know," Dean sighed. He pressed his forehead between Cas' shoulder blades and exhaled deeply, over and over. Cas turned a burger.

"So? What's happening with Sam?"

"Ugh. He thinks I'm being too picky with the waiter applicants."

"Are you?"

"No! I mean I don't think so. I can't hire someone without experience…but it's not just that. Now he says he wants to go back to school."

Cas had to lightly slip away from Dean's touch so that he could finish off the burger. He plated it and then called out for Sam to pick it up. As the younger Winchester swooped by the window to grab it, Dean forcibly looked away. "He knows I can't run the diner without him."

Nobody else came looking for a job as the dinner rush came in. It was crazy again, and Sam could barely manage. The necessity for more help was overwhelming. The boys had to make at least some peace between each other, but as they handed off tabs and kept the kitchen rolling, they couldn't stop glaring back and forth.

The evening wrapped up just the same, and Sam went home early. Dean stayed around as he watched Cas clean up the kitchen, offering a hand off and on.

"There will be more applicants tomorrow," said Cas, watching his hands run a sponge over one of their stainless steel countertops. Dean leaned against the oven, arms folded. "You will find someone."

"Yeah I know I will. Eventually. But what about Sam?"

"What about him?"

"He's being a dick."

Cas stopped scrubbing. He peered over his shoulder and made wide, puppy dog eyes at his husband. "Perhaps you're also being a dick, Dean."

"Nope. That's just 'cause it's so big you can't stop thinking about it."

"What?"

"My dick."

Cas rolled his eyes. He wrung the sponge out in the sink and propped it up on the side. "He's been talking about going back to school, I assume."

Reluctantly, Dean exhaled and agreed. "Why? Why's he gotta go?"

"Because he's pursuing his dream. This diner isn't his dream."

"Rude," Dean groaned.

"And maybe living with us is putting him on edge as well? He must be looking forward to returning to campus."

"How bad is living with us!?" Dean snorted, kicking at the floor. Cas shook his head.

"Not terrible, but not what a 23 year old man wants to do."

As Cas finished up cleaning the kitchen, Dean just stood there silently. Then, the dark haired man smirked slightly and asked, "Dean?"

"What…"

"Are you horny?"

"No. Why?"

Cas turned around and sauntered up to his husband, blushing a little. His hands lightly went on Dean's arms and squeezed. "Kitchen's clean."

"Yeah, I noticed," Dean grumped. He pouted and looked away from Cas.

"Deee-an," Cas sang, leaning closer. "I know how much you love kitchen sex."

"Not tonight."

"But…"

"I'm sorry, baby." Dean kissed his lightly on the lips. "I'm just frustrated. Maybe tomorrow. Okay?"

"Very well," Cas said with a nod. He returned the kiss, blushing more. "Then let's make an early night."

Breakfast came and went the next day but no further applicants stopped by. Dean was really unhappy and distressed by it, maybe foolishly so, but Sam's attitude wasn't much helping. They didn't talk to each other aside from orders being called out. If it wasn't work related, they didn't speak. It was terribly juvenile and Cas was certainly not a fan.

"You're going to hold this against him?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course. He can't just bail on us, that's fucking rude."

"Mmm," Cas hummed. He took a scoop of coleslaw and bunged it into a cup on a plate. Dean watched idly and Cas asked, "Yes?"

"Just Sam, that's all."

Cas walked by Dean with the plate and slid it onto the counter, then Sam swooped by real quick on the other side and snatched it. Dean frowned.

"He's a dick."

"We've been through this," said Cas. After wiping off his hands, he walked up to Dean and lightly touched his arm. "And you know what they say; arguments end but family is forever."

"Right, right," Dean said, just rolling his eyes and nodding as if he cared. To be honest, it felt like Sam was betraying him. After all the time, money and effort they put into the diner; all the hard work and sacrifices made, he would just turn his back on it and let Dean handle it himself?

"Hey, Dean?" Sam's voice. Dean sneered at his brother, but Sam replied with a shaking of his head. "Another applicant."

"Oh. Okay."

The older guy perked up just slightly at the news, grabbing his clipboard first, then came around out of the kitchen and was flagged down by Sam. "Him, over there," he said. Dean nodded and carried on into the direction that Sam pointed.

Along the wall lined with photographs stood a young man in a rugged green jacket. He had his hands shoved into his pockets as he gazed at the frames. It was mostly a family album on the wall; starting with Mary and the babies, going all the way to Dean and Cas' wedding day and finally the opening of the diner.

"Hey," Dean said as he approached the guy. "You here for the job?"

"Yeah," the guy answered. He didn't turn around. "Cute pics."

"Pics? Sure. Thanks. You wanna come over here so we can talk?"

"Alright, cool." Now he turned around and looked right up at Dean. He was considerably shorter, with messy brown hair and large sideburns.

"How old are you?"

"21."

"You work at a restaurant before?"

"Yeah, actually. Couple places back home. See I'm here just for school."

"Oh. How long are you gonna work?" Dean asked, gesturing for him to follow him to a booth. He followed, glancing around the place.

"Long as I can I guess," the applicant said with a shrug. "I gotta pay my student loans, and food, and…" As they sat down in the back, the guy's eyesight fell on Sam, serving drinks to Bobby and a few other fellows at the counter. "…and anything else that I need."

"Okay," said Dean. He drummed a pen on his clipboard, staring at previous notes and not at all noticing the guy checking out his brother. "What's your name?"

"Gabriel."

"Uh, alright. So what kinda hours can you work?"

Gabriel leaned back in the booth, putting one arm up on the back in a dangerously casual manner. He kept watching Sam as he went back and forth from the kitchen window to the different customers. "I got class on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. But I'm done by 2. So those days after 2 but the other ones I'm good all day."

"Okay, good. So you could do dinner almost every week?"

"Sure."

"Mm. That's good. You be alright with Sam training you?"

"Sam?" Gabriel asked, eyebrows raising high on his forehead.

"Yeah, Sam. He's our waiter, my brother. The tall guy walking around back there."

"Uh huh. Uh huh, yeah, he can train me."

"Alright, well," Dean said, clearing his throat. He forced a smile. "Honestly I dunno why I wouldn't hire you. So, I'd say you're hired."