Weeks went by with Dean only seeing Cas in class, and they never talked when they did see each other. He had started to figure that Cas had only been trying to make Dean feel better with his offer of friendship even though he was so awkward about it.
Dean and his friends sat at their usual table, relaxing after a long day of midterms. Sam pulled out a book and cracked it open loudly on the table with a sigh. Dean shook his head and snatched the book.
"Nope," he said, "We're done with school today. Don't be bringing it in here with you." Sam reached for the law book, but Dean held it out of reach. He stared at his older brother in exasperation.
"Fine," Sam sighed, "I'll study at home later."
Dean smiled at him in triumph and, handing the book back, said, "Atta boy." As Sam shoved his study material back in his backpack, three guys approached the table. Dean looked up to see bright blue eyes studying his face.
"Hey, Cas," he greeted.
Charlie eyed Castiel, "Hey, aren't you the kid who—"
"Yeah," Dean cut her off, "Cas did me a solid."
He turned to Cas' companions, "And they are…?" Cas introduced his friends as Balthazar, a blonde, scruffy dude whose low cut shirt was way too tight and whose smile seemed to be physically imbued with sarcasm and sass, and Gabriel, a shorter guy with a mischievous grin and a leather jacket. Dean already distrusted the both of them violently. As Cas introduced Gabriel, Sam's head snapped up from whatever he'd been doing with his backpack. He visibly blanched. Dean shook his head at his brother, the weirdo, and returned his attention to Cas.
"You guys wanna sit down?" Dean asked. Charlie and Dorothy scooted towards Sam, allowing the boys to sit. Despite the added room, Cas took a seat next to Dean, occupying the little space between Dean and the edge of the booth. Dean shoved Sam over to give himself a little more personal pace, but it wasn't much of an improvement. They all shyly sipped at their drinks.
As an awkward silence fell over the table, Dean was painfully aware of the spot where his knee touched Cas' and where their thighs lined up together. It was suddenly uncomfortably warm in the booth.
Gabriel broke the silence by saying, "So, how's it's going, Sam?" Sam choked on his root beer and coughed loudly.
"Wait," Dean said, "Sam, you know this guy?"
Sam nodded, staring at Gabriel, "Yeah, from class, right?"
"Yeah," Gabriel affirmed, "We have a class together." Balthazar looked at Gabriel with a questioning gaze, but his shorter friend waved him off. Something was definitely going on. Before he could say anything about it, Sam grabbed his backpack and stood, making Cas and Dean move to let him out.
"I'll see you at home," he called over his shoulder. What the hell was up with that kid? Dean and Cas sat back down, again with their knees touching despite having even more room. Dean awkwardly retracted his arm so it wouldn't be draped around Cas' shoulders. Suddenly, Gabriel left with an abrupt wave goodbye and followed Sam out of the Roadhouse.
"What the fuck?" Dean muttered, watching them leave. He turned back around to the rest of the table, who all seemed to be as confused as he was.
"Well, I don't know about you guys," Balthazar said, "But I'm starving. Bar food anyone?"
"Hey, Sam, wait up!" Gabriel called. Sam turned and stopped, watching the man bounce up to him. As soon as Gabe caught up, Sam continued walking home.
Gabe asked, "Are you okay? You left in a bit of a huff there."
"No," Sam said, "I'm not okay. I told you some seriously personal shit with the understanding that I wouldn't ever see you. Now, Dean knows something's up, and at this rate, he'll probably figure out what's been going on and I can't handle that, Gabe, I really can't."
He took a deep breath. Why was he such an idiot? If he wasn't in this mess, he wouldn't have to be hiding shit from his brother.
"Whoa," Gabriel said, "Dean doesn't know about that?"
"No, he doesn't. And I'd like to keep it that way," Sam snapped.
Gabriel nodded, "Okay. I won't tell anyone. Not my business anyway."
Sam sighed and said, "Thanks."
They walked in silence for a bit.
"But, you know," Gabe said, "Since we're probably going to be seeing more of each other, and I already know what's going on with you, maybe I can help you out."
"Seeing more of each other?" Sam asked. That certainly seemed presumptuous.
"I'm Castiel's best friend, you're Dean's brother, and I don't if you saw the way they were looking at each other, but I have a crazy feeling that we'll be hanging out quite a bit." Sam stepped onto the curb near the front of their apartment building.
He laughed, "Dean's straight, you know." Gabe smiled at Sam as they stopped at the front steps.
"Yeah, I heard about Lisa. Castiel told me," he said.
That made Sam's head spin. Dean told Cas about Lisa? He hadn't even talked to Sam about what happened. All he knew was Dean threatened to break his nose if he mentioned either Lisa or Ben again. Gabe seemed to read Sam's mind as a knowing grin spread across his face. If Dean had opened up to Cas, even while drunk, maybe Gabe was onto something.
"If Dean had feelings for a guy, I think he'd tell me," Sam argued.
The shorter man laughed, "Oh, I'm sure. I don't think he knows how he feels yet. Seriously next time they're together, watch them. You'll see it." Sam leaned against the front door, trying to understand how this was his life. Then, the rest of Gabe's earlier statement slapped him in the face. His was an unfixable predicament, but he was opened to ideas.
"How would you help me out?" Sam asked.
Gabriel answered, "I can be a rather good listener. And I hear talking about it can help." Part of Sam wanted to just walk inside and leave Gabriel out on the street. If he didn't talk about it, there were times he could pretend it wasn't real. But it was. And talking to Gabriel, even not about Luci, sounded nice.
"You wanna come inside?" Sam asked.
Gabe said, "Sure, but I don't put out on the first date." He gave an overly emphatic eyebrow wiggle that had Sam holding open the apartment door, trying to stifle his laughter.
There were several things happening that Dean hadn't expected. He hadn't expected Cas to walk back with him to his apartment. He hadn't expected to laugh as hard with Cas on the way home. He hadn't expected to invite Cas inside so they could keep talking. But he definitely hadn't expected coming home to find Sam and Gabriel asleep on the couch with the DVD menu for V for Vendetta playing on the TV.
Apparently, Cas hadn't expected it either.
He whispered, "I feel like there may be something we missed."
"No shit," Dean answered.
There were not many times in his life where he had no idea what to do, but this was one of them. He was torn exactly in half over whether to give Sam a wet willy to wake him up in the most uncomfortable way or to let Sam continue to spoon Cas' friend. He wondered where Charlie and Dorothy had gotten to that they didn't come home to this weirdness.
He told Cas quietly, "Wait here." Dean crept over to the TV and turned off the movie, the silence of the place now deafening. He continued to Charlie's room. Pushing open the door stealthily, Dean saw Charlie and Dorothy wrapped around each other, fast asleep. How late had he and Cas been out? He checked his watch. While they had stayed at the Roadhouse till last call, the 1:00am staring up at him still took him by surprise. But he had just started getting Cas to talk about his family. So, they'd go to his room to keep talking without waking up the longhaired sleeping beauties.
He poked his head around the corner to where Cas was still waiting, and he motioned for him to follow him. He held open his bedroom door for Cas and closed it quietly behind him.
"So, this is my room," Dean said, idly wondering what Cas thought of his multiple Pink Floyd posters, "Don't let it give you any ideas."
"What kind of ideas would your bedroom be giving me, Dean?" Cas asked. If Cas' face weren't the picture of innocence, Dean would've thought he was messing with him.
"Nevermind," Dean said quickly, "So, you were saying something about your parents?"
Over the course of the night, Dean learned that Cas' dad, Chuck, had a job that made him travel a lot, which made them not nearly as close as Cas would've liked. Once he'd started going to college, Cas had lost contact with Chuck completely. Cas' mom had died giving birth to him. They didn't talk about his mom much at his house. Growing up without a mom was, sadly, something Dean knew all too well. When he said as much to Cas, he started to wonder how late it was that he was tired enough to lose his filter.
At some point, Dean lay down on his memory foam mattress and told Cas about living on the road with his dad, about practically raising Sam, everything. Before the night was over, Cas told Dean all about his childhood, constantly moving from place to place, and Dean told Cas all about Lisa and Cassie and how he was worried that he'd never find the right person if, indeed, such a person existed.
In the morning, having been awakened by the smell of fresh bacon, something else happened that Dean hadn't expected. Never in his wildest dreams had Dean thought he'd wake up in another man's arms. Stranger still, Dean never ever expected to be reluctant to leave such an embrace. It was so comforting and secure to feel him there; he could hardly bring himself to consider getting up despite his rising panic of being in bed with a guy. Cas' arms felt like they were holding him together while ripping his sanity to shreds. As he debated between feigning sleep to stay curled up with Cas or getting up to investigate the scent of bacon and trying to maintain his sanity over the situation, he knew one thing for damn sure. He really needed to talk to Sam about this.
