Castiel ended up staying at Dean's shop for over two hours. Dean was mildly upset when Castiel looked at his watch and said he should probably get going. Dean gave him a quick kiss goodbye and said he should probably finish up his work then head home. Dean made sure he punched his number into Castiel's phone before he left.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Castiel promised.

Dean gave him a small smile and kissed him softly. "I'll be expecting it."

Castiel walked home with a smile on his face. He probably looked like a creep, but he didn't care.

He walked into the house when fatigue started to kick in. He flopped down on the couch after he slipped off his shoes. Grace slipped up beside him and purred. Castiel lazily rubbed her head and scratched behind her ear.

"How was Dean?" A voice asked. Castiel sprung up, making Grace panic and run behind the couch.

"Dammit, Gabriel!" Castiel sighed and ran a hand down his face. "How did you know?"

Gabriel scoffed and turned on the light. Castiel blinked until he got used to the change of lighting. "Hmm, let me think: little Cassie would sneak out, but what for? Milkshake? No, he brought coffee with him. Some girl he met? Nope, he's as gay as a unicorn pooping rainbows." Gabriel smirked.

"It was really that obvious, huh?" Castiel sighed and sat back down on the couch. Grace hopped back up and kneaded her paws on his pants.

"Yup," Gabriel sat down next to him.

"I thought you were going to bed," Castiel turned to his older brother who shrugged.

"I did, but then I heard you leave and was determined to scare the crap out of you when you got back," Gabriel turned to him and yawned. "Okay, but now I'm going to bed. You should too." Gabriel stood up and walked back to his room.

Castiel laid back on the couch and Grace curled up on his stomach. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

"Cas! God dammit. Cas! Wake up!" Gabriel screamed next to him.

Castiel shot up and was instantly met with a throbbing pain in his head.

Gabriel sat back and sighed in relief. "Thank God," He sighed. "I thought you were dead."

"Why would you-" Castiel trailed off as he looked at the armrest on the couch. It was soaked with dry blood. "Holy shit."

"No fucking kidding," Gabriel said. He frowned. "You don't look so good."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, besides the blood on the couch, you're drenched in sweat."

Castiel laid back down on the couch, the dried blood making the back of his neck itchy. "What the hell happened to me?"

"Dean wasn't sick, was he?"

"I don't think so," Castiel said. "He didn't mention anything."

"I don't think so," Castiel said. "He didn't mention anything."

Gabriel frowned. "You must've caught something," He said.

"Really?" Castiel said sarcastically. "How did you figure that out?"

"Okay, Cas. I know you're feeling like shit, but you don't need to be such a little prick," Gabriel said. "Okay, stay there. I'll get you a glass of water. I can call in sick for work today."

"No, you don't have to do that," Castiel said. "I don't need a sitter."

Gabriel came back from the kitchen with a small glace of water. "Give me your phone."

"I just said I don't need a sitter."

"Well, you're not staying here alone and I'm not taking you to the coffee shop." Gabriel crossed his arms. "So give me your phone."

Castiel huffed and reached into his pocket. Gabriel grabbed it and began searching through Castiel's contacts. When he found the one he was looking for, he called. "Hey, Dean-o!" He chirped. "No, this is Gabriel, Cassie's brother."

Castiel's groaned and scowled at Gabriel. "I said I don't need a sitter. I'm fine!"

"He's just being stubborn. Yeah, come on over. I'm leaving for work soon, so if you're not busy-" Gabriel paused and listened to Dean's response. Suddenly, a grin spread across his face. "Sounds good! I'll wait here until you get here."

He hung up the phone and Castiel glared at him. "What?" Gabriel asked innocently.

"Why would you call Dean over?"

"Because, if he's gonna be dating my little brother, I need to make sure he doesn't run at the first sign of trouble." Gabriel stated. He crossed his arms. "If you two are going to continue what you have, he's going to see you look like shit at least on one occasion."

Dean got to their house about fifteen minutes later. "Hey Cas," He said when he walked in. "What's up?" He glanced at Castiel with a smile, but it faded when he saw all the blood on the armrest.

"I think his nose started bleeding in the middle of the night," Gabriel explained. "I thought someone came in and stabbed him or something when I saw him this morning."

"Don't you have to work today?" Castiel asked.

Dean shook his head. "I requested a sick day," He said. "If Benny and Ash can have one, so can I." Dean sat down on the couch next to Castiel. He combed his hand through Castiel's hair, not pulling away when he felt it was drenched with sweat.

Castiel hummed contently. Gabriel clapped his hands together. "Well, seeing as you two have stuff figured out, I'm heading off to work." He paused in the doorway. "No sex in the public areas of the house."

"I don't think I'm in any condition to do that," Castiel hissed. Dean was blushing.

Gabriel walked out of the house, not holding back on his loud laughter.

It was silent, an awkward silence, between Dean and Castiel for a moment. "Okay," Dean said. "What the hell happened to you? You were perfectly fine last night."

"No idea," Castiel said. "It sucks." He felt something slide down his upper lip.

"Cas, your nose is bleeding," Dean said. "I'll get you some tissues." He stood up and walked around the house, looking for tissues. Castiel could feel the blood dripping down onto his lips. He didn't want to stain the couch more than it already was, so he licked it away.

"All I could find was toilet paper." Dean held up a roll of toilet paper proudly. "Here, this'll at least stop the bleeding."

Castiel took a few squares and held it up to his face. "This sucks."

"I don't doubt that," Dean mumbled. He looked at the clock. Gabriel said he'd be off work around five and it was eight-thirty right now. He had all this time to spend with Castiel and they didn't even get to leave the house..

"What do you have for television?"

Castiel shrugged. "Nothing special." He took away the paper for a second before he instantly had to put it back on. He scowled. Castiel hated bloody noses.

Grace hopped up on the armrest next to Castiel. Castiel saw Dean smile softly out of the corner of his eye. "I didn't know you had a cat," He said.

"We didn't really talk much about animals last night," Castiel replied, scratching Grace lightly behind the ear. He turned to look at Dean. "Do you have any pets?"

Dean shook his head. "My landlord doesn't allow pets."

Castiel felt the bleeding in his nose begin to cease and he pulled away the toilet paper. His hands were sticky with blood, but he was just happy the bleeding had stopped.

Dean stood up and went into the kitchen, bringing out the trash bin. "You might want this," He said. He set it down next to Castiel.

Castiel threw his used tissue substitute in and sat up. "So, what should we do?"

Dean thought for a moment. "Let's play twenty questions," He said. "Do you want to go first, or me?"

"You can go first."

"What do you most look forward to when you're old?" Dean sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

Castiel quirked his head at the question. "I guess that would have to be that by that time, I should have everything worked out. I might not have to worry about debt as much because Gabriel and I'll hopefully have everything payed off. I'll hopefully be happily married. And have another cat, of course. Gabriel will hopefully not live far away. Michael might come home." Castiel caught himself rambling. "I guess just the little things like that," He concluded. "Okay, now it's my turn: What was the best thing about how your parents raised you?"

"Okay, I'm only giving my mom credit for this, by the way." Dean made sure he clarified this. John Winchester wasn't the kindest of souls. He wasn't a bad person, but he didn't deserve credit for what he was about to say. "My mom taught me to not judge a book by its cover. She always said that even the most ugly book covers could have an amazing story behind it. My turn: What's something you tried really hard to like but just couldn't?"

"High school," Castiel replied immediately. "My parents always talked about how much fun high school was for them. I saw it how it was: bullies, homework, bitchy teachers; I could go on forever. Almost everyone during those four years put up a wall around themselves to try to make sure they didn't get hurt, but then there were people who would try and break it down to get to the middle. High school wasn't fun for me. I had no friends, except for Gabriel of course, but he was part of the 'popular group' and rarely hung around with me. I was the person who would always try and get their homework done as early as possible, which was pointless since the teachers just give you more everyday anyway. And then there were the kids." He paused. "Nobody cares about the person behind the camera. They just care about the people in the picture."

Dean nodded. "I hated high school too, but I was one of the 'jocks' I guess you could call them. I played basketball, but was often kicked off the team because of how low my grades were. I never understood any of that shit they said we'd need."

"Especially geometry."

"Agreed. Geometry can go burn in hell."

Castiel laughed softly.

The two of them continued asking questions to each other until they heard Gabriel come in the door.

"Hey guys," He said, but with much less spunk than that morning.

"What happened?" Castiel asked. He stood up off the couch to comfort his brother, mostly because his legs were sick of sitting in a cramped position.

"Nothing. Just tired, that's all." Gabriel attempted to smile, but it looked forced.

Castiel pulled him into a hug and Gabriel returned it softly. "Feeling better I'm assuming." Gabriel said.

"Getting there," Castiel replied, shrugging slightly. "Still not up to speed, but I'll get there eventually."

Gabriel pulled away. "So, calling Dean helped, huh?" He smirked.

Castiel glanced over Gabriel's shoulder and met Dean's gaze. "It was one of your more well-thought-out plans."

"Actually, hate to break it to you, but I didn't even think about it," Gabriel smirked. "But, I'm glad I didn't. I might've changed my mind if I thought it through."

Dean chuckled in the background and stood up. "Well, I'd better be getting back." He leaned in to give Castiel a kiss, but pulled back at the last minute. "Almost forgot. You're sick," He smiled at Castiel's narrowed eyes. "I'll make it up. I promise." He gave Castiel a quick side hug and walked out the door.

"Damn, Cassie," Gabriel chirped. "You're really smitten."

"I am not," Castiel argued. "Absolutely not true."

"Yes you are. You so are," Gabriel grinned widely, completely opposing his earlier mood. "I'll have to be expecting some nieces or nephews pretty soon with the way things are going."

Castiel playfully punched Gabriel's shoulder, even though it was harder than he intended. "Ow!" Gabriel exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder. "Damn, you hit hard when you get insulted."

"That should teach you to stop being an ass," Castiel grumbled before sitting back down on the couch.

"I'm not so sure I can do that, Cassie," Gabriel sat down in the chair Dean had been sitting in earlier. "I was born that way."

"Unfortunately, I know," Castiel said. "But that's what makes this boring house interesting."