Shit. Cas was calling him. Apparently, he took too long to answer because Cas continued speaking. "I prefer not to text. I have to say out loud everything I type anyway, so it is just easier to call in the first place."

"Oh, alright." Weird. But… cool. "So, how'd that call go? And when did accountants start getting emergency calls?" That was odd, now that he thought about it. How could crunching numbers ever be an emergency?

Cas cleared his throat. "Um… It went well. It's not usual for them to come in." Maybe he didn't want to talk to Dean.

Dean was detecting a bit of hesitancy. "Should I let you go? It's cool. I can just call you some other time."

"No, I can talk right now."

Dean wondered why he wasn't then; conversation worked both ways. "Are you busy?" He wondered where the hell that had come from.

"No. Why?"

"Want to get coffee with me?" It rolled out of his mouth like it was planned, but inside, Dean was a little scared. It was awkward between them. Maybe meeting was a premature idea? That thought seemed odd to Dean. They'd had sex last night, but meeting for coffee today would be weird? How did that make any kind of sense?

"Yes. Where?" The rest of the conversation was spent figuring out where to meet up and when. When the call ended, Dean looked at the jeans he had managed to pull on while on the phone. He hadn't done them up, because talking to the other man had made him a little uncomfortable, but not really in a bad way. He finished dressing in a black t-shirt and looked at the time. He had to leave now to get to the coffee shop on time.

"Getting coffee with Cas." Dean didn't wait for a response from his brother, just walked out the door and to his car. When he slid into the leather seat he remembered Cas being in it the last time he drove. He looked over and smiled. Usually Sam rode there, if he had anyone in the car, but Cas had looked pretty good in it. Maybe he'd sit there again.

The drive to the coffee shop was completely uneventful. Finding a parking spot was a trial, though. A woman wasn't paying attention and almost backed into the Impala. Only a hasty press on the horn and a shouted "Fuck!" stopped it. He wasn't in the best mood when he pulled into a spot next to a silver Mini Cooper with a black stripe. It looked new. Dean didn't particularly like the car, but it wasn't awful. He realized he was distracting himself and stopped. Dean Winchester is not a teenager to get nervous over coffee with someone. He needed to start acting like it.

There were only a few people in the place when he got in line. He had been in line for just a minute when Cas turned away from the register. He was wearing another waistcoat and more slacks, though his shirt was blue today instead of the white of last night. "Hello, Dean."

Dean smiled. "Hey, Cas. Wanna find a place to sit and I'll join you after I order?" Cas nodded and then walked away while Dean stayed in line. He paid for a large decaf coffee and held the heat in his palm as he walked to the table Cas had picked. The table was one of those odd ones that were set up to end the debate between table or booth, with one half being a booth seat and the other side chairs. Cas had chosen a chair. Dean preferred booths anyway. He slid in and lounged against the window, one leg on the floor and the other across the bench.

Cas didn't have a coffee, so Dean assumed he had ordered one of those milk and espresso nightmares they actually had to make. He wondered what it was and found himself trying to figure it out. He looked like a whole milk kind of guy. Maybe extra shots? No flavors.

"What are you looking at?" Until Cas asked, Dean hadn't realized he'd been staring at his chest.

"Uh. I was just trying to figure out what you had ordered."

Cas gave him an odd look. "A large vanilla latte with whole milk and an extra shot of espresso."

"I was close, then." Another odd look and Dean had to chuckle. "I was a barista for about six months. I had it right, but I didn't think you'd be a flavor kind of guy."

"I would not have guessed." Cas looked at the table and then out the window. Dean fidgeted for a few seconds. A barista set a cup on the table and then walked away. Still, they didn't talk. Why the hell is this awkward? Seeing a man naked ten minutes after meeting him should be more awkward than meeting him for coffee the next day. Apparently, though, the universe didn't like to make sense because this was awkward as hell.

Finally, Dean gave in to the urge. "Who'd have thought this would be awkward, huh?"

Cas smiled a little, but it was off somehow. "Yes."

"Generally that means you make an effort for it to stop being awkward." It sounded rude, but Dean hadn't meant it that way.

"I lied to you." Dean just blinked. The first thing he thought of was the ex-boyfriend incident the night before and he cocked a brow. "I did not have an emergency call this morning. I saw your brother come in and thought he was your boyfriend and wanted a graceful way out of the situation. When you said he was your brother, I felt embarrassed, but did not want to admit to having lied. I'm sorry."

That surprised a laugh out of him. "It's okay. No big deal." That seemed to help, because conversation was way easier after that. Dean asked how he had become an accountant, something that he seemed to enjoy but that would have killed Dean. He finally asked something that he had been dying to know since last night. "Do all accountants wear a waistcoat on their days off?"

Cas looked down at himself as if he had never seen his body before. "No. I suppose it's just me." The way he spoke was interesting to Dean. It was different from last night. When Dean had asked about his tattoo, his sentences had been clipped and more casual sounding. Now, the guy talked like he was a proper English novel. It was kind of sexy, like he was a dirty librarian, a particular fantasy of Deans.

Thinking about that was just going to make it so he had to change position, so he forcibly turned his thoughts someplace else. Tattoos. "You never asked about my tattoo."

"I had noticed it, if you are wondering. I was just.. Distracted."

Dean had to smile at what he had been distracted with but pulled his mind away again. "It's a symbol that's supposed to protect against demon possession. Me and Sammy both have one, got them for his eighteenth."

"We both have tattoos that match our siblings' and that are based in something supernatural. That is interesting." Cas sipped his latte and then twirled the cup in his hands, his eyes never leaving Dean's face.

The fact that someone that was as strait-laced appearing as Cas – the man wore a waistcoat and tie to the bar, and only dropped the tie for coffee the next day – would have a tattoo at all was interesting to Dean. The fact that it was something as seemingly whimsical as an angel banishing charm was enthralling. Dean found himself wondering how Cas worked – what made him laugh, what made him cry, what made him through his hands up in frustration. He wanted to see how many of those things he could do and if he was interesting enough for Cas to let him.

That was not how he had expected today to go, and he decided to ignore it for now.

They talked about how Dean had become a mechanic – Bobby, of course – and why he was taking business classes. Dean carefully didn't ask questions about family, because he didn't like to talk about his. Cas didn't ask either, so maybe that was another thing in common.

Cas got another drink, hot chocolate this time. Dean got another decaf coffee. Finally, they had been talking for a few hours when a grumble and whine filled the silence as they both sipped their drinks. Dean looked down at his stomach. "I think I'm hungry."

A laugh came from across the table. "I would agree. I am, as well." He glanced at his phone. "I would invite you to dinner, but I am supposed to meet my brother in an hour."

Dean liked that. He was a little disappointed that it wouldn't happen, but that Cas wanted to was nice. He felt like he was starting something here, and he couldn't even remember when that had happened last. "It's fine. Saturday nights are bro time for me and Sammy. At least for a few hours." He didn't mention that those hours generally ended at midnight, when Sam would go to bed and he usually sat up, doing homework and watching TV and generally being unable to sleep.

"When are you free during the week?" Dean looked at Cas, wondering if he was asking to schedule dinner. Which, honestly, would be pretty cool.

"Mondays I get out of class by noon, but I work until nine afterwards. That's Wednesdays, too. Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm in class until seven. Fridays I work one to nine, generally."

Cas smiled and Dean knew his guess was right. "We should get dinner on Tuesday."

They set up a place and time to meet and when, then they both walked out the door. Cas opened the door to the Mini Cooper, which made Dean smile until he got home.

Dean and Sam decided to watch The Mummy again. They had both seen it countless times, but it didn't matter. These were what he had missed when Sam had talked him into coming to school first, instead of waiting for him. He had waited a year after graduating high school before coming to college. His intention had been to wait until Sam graduated and then they could go together. Sam had pestered him that entire year about it, demanding that Dean go. He said Dean shouldn't be waiting to start his life for his little brother. So, Dean had come to school, a freshman at nineteen.

The way things turned out, waiting for Sammy might have been smarter. He made it through his first year, but only because he kept his sleeping around and drinking confined to weekends. That summer was when John finally died, his liver destroyed by years of drinking. He came back to school in the fall and his worry over Sammy kept him awake more often. He made it through one semester, barely passing, before dropping out. He had started waking up in bathrooms he didn't recognize and at least half the time, he smelled like sex and vomit. About the only smart thing he did aside from dropping out was getting monthly STD screenings.

His grandparents, on his mother's side, were paying for his school. They said they could afford to because Sammy was going to get a scholarship, there was no question about it. Dean knew it was true, but instead of feeling jealous, he was just proud. They threatened to stop paying if he didn't go to AA. Dean refused to be a college drop-out when he saw how sad Sam had looked when he showed back up for good. So he went to the meetings. They stressed staying away from situations and placed that made him want to drink. He couldn't really do that. He drank because he couldn't sleep, that was not a situation he could avoid.

Sleeping pills were completely out of the question because he had already had a problem with them, at the beginning of the insomnia. Drinking had gotten completely out of hand. Sex with strangers was really not the best way to deal with any situation. So, Dean was left with no real way to deal with his sleeplessness.

Rick kissed Evie on screen and Dean was brought back to the world, instead of drowning in his introspection again. "Want to watch something else?" Sam yawned in the middle of the sentence and Dean had to smile.

"No. Catch some z's. I'll be fine." And he would be. He always was. He always found a way to be just fine. He didn't sleep that night, but he worked on his homework and cleaned the house up, even changing the light bulb on the porch.

The next day was spent at Bobby's, eating a dinner that Dean cooked and spending 'quality family time' together, as Jess called it. Honestly, Dean could totally see why Sam was so in love with the chick. She always came to the family dinners on Sunday, always made herself right at home. It was odd, at first. The Winchester boys had never really had a female influence before, there mother having died in a car accident when Dean was four, but Jess put herself into the roll in such a way that everyone was thankful instead of resentful.

Dean couldn't sleep Sunday night either.