Hello, cuties! I'm so, so, so terribly sorry for how late I am. But my muse went on vacation and left me alone with a bunch of ideas and zero skills to write them.

Disclaimer: Supernatural and his characters are all completely and absolutely mine… No, wait.

Dean checks his watch. He checks the building entrance. He checks his cell phone. He checks his shoes. Again. And again. Then, he decides that he's an idiot and he shouldn't be there. Seriously, the idea is so awful that the only bright side it has it's that it makes the dumbest idea look smart. Calm down, Winchester, don't chicken out. He looks at the building again, sees people getting out almost desperately and starts to panic. Fuck, he's gonna think I'm stalking him. "Well, you are" answers the voice on his head and Dean wants to run and hide and forget this terrible, terrible plan. But since in his previous life he obviously was Jack the Ripper or Hitler or someone like that, the universe punishes him making the guy he's trying to run from get out in that moment and look at him squinting his blue, blue eyes. He's not really sure how, but in a couple of seconds he's right in front of him.

"Dean? What are you doing here?" That's a good question. What the hell is Dean Winchester doing out of the Education building trying to (not) come across Castiel? Well, to answer that, we should establish one of his many tropes: Dean Winchester is as patient as a hungry puppy. We could go in depth and tell how his birth came two weeks and three days early; for no reason, because he wanted, because John and Mary wanted to spent their last romantic weekend alone and he said 'no, fuck you'. Or mention that half of his burns are a consequence of his incapacity to wait for things to be cold enough. Or describe that time when he was six and he kicked the poor ticket taker in his delicate parts because he was making him 'wait too much'. The lack of patience is what brought him to this point where, after waiting for a week for one single lame text, he becomes a freaking stalker. And the reason why he won't be able to live a peaceful life until Cas is out of his mind is because Dean is the kind who think that it doesn't matter if curiosity killed the cat, because at least the cat died knowing. And Cas, with his stupid blue eyes and his stupid messy hair that contrasts with his way of dressing like a tax accountant and his stupid car suitable for a single dad in his forties and his stupid mole in the nipple, makes him too curious for his own good. So he goes with a plan; go to his campus, talk to him, get rid of the curiosity, go back to his life and forget the last two weeks before he becomes an actually stalker and CSI dedicates him an episode. A really simple plan which his dear brother Sam -for whom he prays to God every day to give him a beautiful beach house and a bunch of kids- made easier by telling him where was the building and commenting randomly about how that Thursday everyone would go out at six because there were some obligatory conferences at every campus.

"Dean?" he repeats. "Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, sorry. I… I'm gonna meet Sam." A beach house, a bunch of kids and the superpower of never ever use Viagra. "What about you? You study here?"

"Yes. I just came out of this annual conference about safety and rules and… never mind. Well… I… Sam must be about to come out too, so I leave you. Pleasure to see you again, Dean." He's gone as fast as he came and Dean feels momentarily dazed.

"Cas, wait!" Dean, don't. Dean, what are you doing? Dean, why do you hate me? "Sam was just telling me he can't" subtle, Winchester, subtle "maybe you want to grab something and tell me about that boring conference… or whatever you want…" You're fucking suicidal.

Castiel smiles and nods at him and Dean feels, literally, some weight leave his shoulders.

So, after two weeks of being on each other's mind, finally they go together to a little café close to the campus (although given the situation Dean would rather have something stronger that coffee, like a beer… or some shots of tequila), exchanging a couple of 'is cold for October, isn't it?', 'is weird, last week was really hot' and 'how is your car working?'; because, as much as they try not to, they're strangers after all.

Once they are sat, they stay silent for an awkward moment, until Dean decides to speak because, seriously, if he can't get rid of the curiosity this whole madness was for absolutely nothing.

"Well, tell me, what are you studying?"

"History. I'm doing my Ph.D."

"History? Wow, that sounds…"

"Boring?" he completes.

"What? No, no… Maybe a little." Dean gives him an apologetic look.

"Don't worry, people tell me that frequently" he smiles reassuringly. "But it's not that boring; is like having a time machine, you go back to the past but at the same time you can reflex historical events and in a way predict the future. I think there's something truly beautiful in it." Dean thinks it's absurdly cute the way his eyes look bigger and bright with enthusiasm.

"I've never thought about it like that… Maybe I shouldn't have scratched my history teacher's car back in high school."

Cas laughs "Really? You were a 'bad boy'?"

"You can bet… God, I was awful. My now self would totally punch my past self. The bright side is that I have some epic stories, but most of them need more alcohol to be told…"

"Nuh-uh… No, now you said it, you have to tell me some…"

"Lemme think… Okay, I know. My best friend Benny was throwing a party where there was more alcohol than any of us, skinny kids, could take. And since Benny has some smart ideas when he's drunk and specially if there's some girl involved, he thought he'd take… I can't remember her name, whatever, the chick he wanted to impress, to go around on his dad's lawnmower. I told him that he was being a jackass, and he gave a challenging look and told me 'Dean, I bet you don't have the balls to drive the lawnmower to the road and back'. And, of course, that made me do it without a second thought." Cas at that point is about to burst into laughter. "Dude, don't laugh, at that age a 'you don't have the balls' is the engine that can make you do shit. Anyway, I rode in, but Benny, being the massive dick he is, forgot to mention that the freaking lawnmower did whatever it wanted and it was absolutely impossible to drive if you didn't know how to; so I ended up riding an infernal machine on the middle of the road incapable of getting back to Benny's. After the sonofabitch got some common sense on his head and had the decency to care about my wellbeing (and his dad's lawnmower), he made one of the sober kids drive behind me while he shouted from the car what did I have to do… Then we realized we were driving against the traffic. Luckily, no one got hurt and the cops in Louisiana are flexible with moronic teenagers." Dean finishes his story and laughs along the brunet man.

"So, you're from Louisiana?" asks once he stops laughing.

"Actually, no. I'm from Kansas, but we moved around a lot when we were kids. I've lived in almost every state. We went back to Kansas so Sam and I could finish high school, then I got into KU, then I dropped it and after…" he stays silent for a moment. It's too personal to tell him that yet. "Then we moved to Bobby's in South Dakota and after he and Ellen got married we all came to California."

And that's how they spend the afternoon; Dean tells him stories about all his trips across the country and he talks about Sam and how he couldn't be more proud of him. He tells him about Ellen, who cooks the best burgers in the whole world, he tells him about Jo and Ash who are as siblings to him as Sam and about Garth who, despite being a little weird, has grown on him. And he talks about his job and how much he loves to work to Bobby.

Cas, on the other side, tells him about his childhood in Illinois and how he realized he wanted to study History and about his brother Gabriel and his cake shop.

"Wait, how many siblings do you have?"

"S… Six. Four brothers and two sisters. I'm the second youngest."

"Crap… Your parents know how to have fun."

"You tell me… But actually, only two of them are from the same mother than me."

"At least you never got bored."

"Well, when you're a kid it's pretty awful, because you get all the hand down stuff from the older ones and nobody pays you attention, but when you grow up it gets better; there's always someone to talk with and you can form alliances to have each other's backs. The bad thing is that you never stop being the target of everyone's pranks, especially when your brother is Satan." Cas laughs like it was some internal joke he doesn't understand. "Oh. My brother's name is Lucifer, that's why I said…"

"You're kiddin', right?"

"No, seriously. I have a brother named Lucifer."

"You don't."

"I do."

"Castiel, are you seriously telling me that your parents named their kid Lucifer? Consciously?"

"I swear. My dad had an obsession with angel's names and named his four oldest sons like the archangels. Ironically, Lucifer was one of the nicest with me."

"Was?"

"Yeah… There was this huge family fight and…" he interrupts himself. Dean assumes he doesn't want to talk about it, but then notices that his eyes had seen something –or someone- who caught his attention.

Leaning against the wall there's a blond man wearing a cocky smile and a v-neck shirt, waving at Cas. To Dean's surprise, Cas waves back and the stranger takes that as an invitation to join them.

"Cassie! What are you doing here, out of your den?"

"Hello, Balthazar… I was having coffee with Dean."

"Dean? Dean!" the man looks at him like he just discovered the true meaning of the universe while he shakes his hand. "Pleasure. Cass-" the brunet elbows him "-tiel has told me about you."

"Really? Then I'm at a disadvantage, because I don't know who are you."

"Balthazar. I'm Castiel's-"

"Boyfriend" he finishes for him quickly. Of course. Obviously. I mean, in what universe wouldn't Cas have a boyfriend? If Dean weren't so busy thinking how can he hit his head against the table repeatedly, he'd have noticed the confused look in Balthazar's face.

"Yes. His boyfriend… Right, sweetheart?" Cas makes an affirmative noise as he hugs him by the waist. "And you" he gives him a soft tap in his nose "are lucky I'm not a jealous man." Dean clears his throat awkwardly and Balthazar looks at him with a charming smile that, he's not sure why, irritates him deeply. "And what were you talking about?"

"Oh… Cas was telling me about his family…"

"Really?" if looks could kill, the man playing with the belt of his trench coat would've dropped death in a second. Honestly, the last thing he wants is get Cas into trouble and he really needs to get the hell out of there before the situation gets even more awkward. So he makes up some lame excuse and says goodbye.

"Well, Cas, glad to see you again."

"Same, Dean." They shake hands and take separate ways.

When he finally gets into his Baby, some serenity comes back to him. Okay, that wasn't what he wanted but the truth is that he actually has no idea what he wants. He satisfied his curiosity and that was supposed to be enough. But there was something that didn't make complete sense.

"Why didn't you tell me he was with someone?" says once he picks up the phone.

"Dean? What are you talking about?"

"Cas, Sammy. He has a boyfriend. How is that you didn't think of telling me that before I came to make a fool of myself monumentally?"

"Came where?"

"His campus."

"Dean, tell me you're not stalking him."

"Of course not! It's just… Dammit, Sammy! I just can't understand this guy, first he goes along all flirty in the garage, then he doesn't send me one single little text, then he looks absurdly happy to see me and at the end turns out the guy's got a boyfriend. Seriously, you should've told me."

"Okay, first of all, how was I supposed to know you were stalking him?"

"Not stalking!" Dean can hear his brother's bitchface.

"Second" he ignores him "I haven't seen anyone who could be his boyfriend."

"You know this Balthazar guy?"

"Ummm… British? Uses v-neck shirts?"

"That's the one."

"I thought he was straight."

"Seriously? Dude, straight guys don't use v-necks."

"Idiot. But seriously, I never thought he was his boyfriend."

"Well, you know what? Never mind. I'm gonna get home and watch some Asian porn."

"Ugh, Dean, that's disgusting, tmi."

"Whatever. Talk you later, bitch."

"Bye, jerk."

Dean doesn't know it, but after his call Sam thinks about it for a while because he is absolutely sure Balthazar and Castiel are just friends, and his main reason is that he is 10000% sure he saw Balthazar making out with a brunette girl in front of their building. It's not like he wants to think about it, but it's kinda inevitable when a couple of hours later someone knocks his door and introduces himself saying 'hi, I'm Gabriel, you and I are gonna be family; this is Balth, my idiotic brother's not-boyfriend. We're here to offer you a let's-get-out-moronic-brothers-together plan. You in?'

That's all folks! I feel this is not enough compensation for my absence this week, but I have huge plans for next chapter. A little spoiler: Balthazar has a fit of anger, Gabriel gets exalted easily, Sam is clueless, Jo laughs maniacally and Dorothy offers some drugs.

Thank you so much for your reviews and alerts, you keep me alive when inspiration leaves me.

Don't forget to sleep well and pet some dog sometime. See you soon!