AN: So I've finally worked out where I'm going with this story, but it looks like this might be more complicated than I originally thought! I want to give you guys a good fic, so I may have to cut back to updates a few times a week, rather than daily.
So let me know how it's going so far! Leave a review. (:
(P.S I MAKE NO APOLOGIES FOR THE FLUFFINESS OF THIS CHAPTER.)
Chapter 8
Meg had just had one hell of a day. She had sold practically every pie they had had before four o' clock, meaning she had to justify the lack of pie to several annoyed customers who were on their way home from work.
Eventually she had just flipped the sign shut, and started on the mountain of dishes that had accumulated. She didn't understand what had been happening to Feathers recently, he used to be so reliable. He had no social life, apart from his dick of a brother, and he never had time off work... these last few days she'd hardly seen him. Oh yeah, she would be having words with Thursday.
She assumed it was because of the new man in Castiel's life, but she didn't want to think about it too hard. She had accepted that Castiel preferred men when she had first met him, but an interesting conversation with Gabriel at the Christmas party last year had revealed that Cas had dated girls a few times... so perhaps he didn't always swing lefty.
For the record, the Christmas party had consisted of Meg, Gabriel, Castiel and one of their regulars. If this wasn't a good measure of Castiel's social life, she didn't know what was.
So yes, in summary, Meg thought Castiel was a total dweeb... but she couldn't help having a soft spot for the guy.
It was about half six when Dean and Cas came through the door of the pie shop. They were laughing, but they looked exhausted.
'What the hell happened to you guys?' She snapped.
If Dean and Cas heard the edge in her voice, they either didn't notice... or didn't care.
'Gabriel left us, and we were stranded, had to walk home.' Cas smiled. 'Everything ok here?'
'Oh yeah sure... except for me being run off my feet, having to deal with a hundred customers on my own, and you selling completely out of everything!'
Castiel winced. 'Sorry Meg, I'll pay you overtime if you want? To make up for me leaving.'
She blew air out through her nose, and nodded. Money wasn't the point, but she didn't want to sound like it bothered her. She wasn't like that.
Dean patted Castiel on the back, before heading past her and up to the apartment, leaving her and Cas alone. She noticed that Cas looked slightly nervous at the physical contact between him and Dean. It gave her hope, she really did care about Castiel more than she should... and screw wanting Castiel to be happy... she just wanted him.
'I guess I need to do a hell of a lot of baking tonight then.' Cas sighed. He really did look exhausted.
'No offense dude, but you look like death, and if you die on me tomorrow I'll be out of a job. So... don't stay up all night baking, just stay closed tomorrow to catch up, and we'll open on Saturday.'
Cas looked horrified for a second, and Meg laughed.
'Seriously man, you're open seven days a week! Take a break.'
'I guess you're right, so... I'll see you Saturday?'
'Sure.' She smiled. 'Have a good Thursday Clarence.'
When Meg was gone, Castiel locked the door, turned off the lights, and practically ran upstairs. Dean was sat of the sofa watching TV when Castiel walked in. He was watching a cheesy hospital drama, but pretended to be channel surfing when Castiel came in. This made Cas smile, Dean really was a petty and childish man.
'Soooo... Disney film?' Cas asked.
Dean turned round and looked at him questioningly. 'I thought Meg said you'd sold out... no baking?'
'No baking, we're taking the day off tomorrow!'
Dean grinned. 'Aweeesomme. Film day!'
'Nuh uh.' Cas tutted, 'film evening – tomorrow, we bake. And yes Dean...That means you as well.'
Dean paled. 'Cas, I've never baked a pie in my life.'
'You'll learn.' He smiled and walked over to his film shelf. He selected a disk and put it in the player.
Twenty minutes later they were both engrossed in 'Hercules'. Castiel hadn't wanted to admit how much he loved it, but he somehow knew all the lyrics to every song. He would have been embarrassed, but he could hear Dean singing under his breath when he thought Cas couldn't hear.
Castiel woke up with a strange pressure on his chest. Opening his eyes, he saw it was Dean's head. His first thought was panic... he had fallen asleep and accidentally killed his best friend! He quickly realised that Dean was breathing though, and relaxed a bit. He had no idea how they had even got into this position, they had been on separate sides of the sofa to start off with! Carefully Castiel extracted his arms from his side, and from around Dean, and raised them above his head so as to avoid skin to skin contact with Dean. Jesus, Dean's head was about an inch from his bare neck. Castiel couldn't even bear to think about what could have happened.
'Dean.' He spoke loudly, but tried not to sound too desperate, or sudden. The last thing he needed was Dean jolting awake and touching him.
Dean stirred, and opened his eyes. Castiel felt him freeze when he realised where he was.
'Dude.' He whispered.
'Yeah ok Dean, it's fine... just get up slowly, and it'll be fine.'
Slowly Dean raised his head, and shuffled away from Cas. He watched as terror flashed across Dean's face. It was only for a second, before he could conceal it, but Castiel saw. He was a danger to Dean, it was time he accepted it.
Groaning, he placed his face into his hands.
'Hey, it's alright man. We just fell asleep... nothing happened. I'm fine!' Dean sounded confident, and Castiel knew he was trying to reassure him. But he felt terrible.
'Dean, it's too dangerous for you to live here! What if that happens again? What if I come out of the bathroom too fast and bump into you?'
'Cas calm down! We'll be fine!'
'But what if we're not Dean?' Cas whispered. 'What if I kill you, what then.'
Dean looked at him, and was surprised to see that Castiel was fighting back tears.
'I couldn't live with that Dean.' He said. His voice breaking ever so slightly as he said Dean's name. It broke Dean's heart, it really did.
'Cas, I want to stay here. I like living here. These few days with you, I've had more fun with you than I've had in years. And I died. So that's saying something.'
Dean looked around, and his eyes fell on the glass coffee table in front of him. Leaning forward, he placed his hand on the underside of the tale, palm up.
'We'll get through this man. We'll fix this, or we'll learn to love with it. Because I'm not giving up on this.'
Castiel looked back at Dean, and put his hand on the table over Deans. They were separated by glass, but it looked real for a second. Castiel closed his eyes, and tried to imagine he felt Dean's hand squeezing his, warm and reassuring. But all he felt was cold glass.
But then he opened his eyes, and Dean was watching him, smiling at him. He was there, and they were together. It would be fine.
He nodded. 'Ok Dean.'
The next morning, Castiel woke early, as usual. He normally opened by 8 on a Friday, and so wasn't used to a lie in. He let Dean stay asleep though, while he intended to have Dean up to semi-decent baking standards by the end of the day, he didn't think it would help if he dragged Dean out of bed early. So he left a note, and went down to the kitchen to start baking.
Dean woke up a couple of hours later. Heading into the kitchen, he found a note written in Castiel's handwriting.
Dean – Deal of the day: The only free pie you get, is one you make yourself. Take it or leave it.
- Cas
P.S Wear old clothes.
Dean smiled. He wasn't the baking type, but he really did like eating... and a day in the kitchen with Castiel didn't sound like the worst thing in the world.
Entering the kitchen, he saw Castiel was already hard at work rolling out bits of pastry. There was already flour everywhere. For such a tidy guy, Cas sure did make a mess when he cooked. There was white all over his shirt already. Castiel looked so at home there though, he really was in his element... and Dean had to admit, he looked good. He had swapped his usual button up shirt and tie, for a blue T-shirt. Blue was so his colour. Dean frowned at himself... When did he turn into a teenage girl?
Castiel looked up, saw Dean, and grinned. 'Ready for this?'
'As I'll ever be.'
Dean picked it up quicker than Castiel had expected. He seemed to find a sort of childish pleasure in getting his hands dirty with the pastry. Castiel cooked the fruit while Dean made the pastry cases, and soon they had a pretty good system going on. They stopped for lunch while the second batch of pies were in the oven, and talked about their time together as children. They laughed as they remembered running away from Sam, and playing with Dean's toy cars. After half an hour or so they were back to baking.
Dean got a ball of pastry out of the fridge where it had been cooling, and threw it down on to the table. What Dean hadn't seen was the pile of flour on the table, and when the pastry hit, this flew up off the bench, and into Castiel's face.
Cas gasped, and brought his hands up to brush it off. He didn't get it all though, and it settled in his hair, making it look grey. Dean started laughing. His laugh started out as a giggle, but it grew to a chuckle when he saw Castiel's indignant expression, and soon Dean was in hysterics.
Cas smirked. 'Something funny Winchester?' he grabbed a pinch of flour, and flicked it at Dean, laughing when it hit it's mark.
'Oh it is so on.' Said Dean.
They flitted round the kitchen throwing flour and sugar, and the cloud of white around them grew, and grew until they could barely see each other. They stopped for breath, both laughing hysterically as the flour settled.
Dean looked over at Cas, and couldn't contain his grin. He was covered in flour, and was still giggling. Dean hadn't seen him this happy since they were children. It suited him. It made his whole face light up, and little crinkles formed around the edges of his eyes.
Without thinking, Dean grabbed a sheet of cling film from the work top, and held it up to Castiel's face. Cas had only a second to be confused before Dean was pressing his lips against Castiel's through the thin plastic sheet.
It was a dangerous move, in more than one way... and Dean's heart was pounding as he pulled away. He tried to read Castiel's expression, but it was difficult for once.
'That was...' Cas started.
'Stupid, dangerous I know. I'm sorry.' Dean spoke quickly, and looked down at the floor. What the hell had he been thinking? Actually no. He hadn't been thinking. That was the problem.
'No, Dean. That was... amazing.'
Dean stared at him. Had he even heard that right? He couldn't have. Castiel was blushing though...
There was a silence that stretched on for a few seconds, before there was a knocking on the door. Cas frowned, it couldn't be a customer, he had flipped the sign to closed.
He popped his head around the corner, and saw Gabriel peering through the door. Sighing, he walked over and let him in.
'Bro, you're never closed what's going on?'
He looked at Castiel and took in his appearance for the first time.
'Am I interrupting something?' he asked.
'No! Just baking.' Castiel replied. His eye twitched, and Gabriel smirked.
'Whatever. Dean in the kitchen then? I need to talk to you guys.'
Cas nodded, and followed Gabriel back to the other room. What would Gabe need to talk to Dean about?
Gabriel smirked once more when he noticed Dean was just as covered in flour as Cas was. Castiel wished his brother wouldn't do that so much. It made him want to punch him.
'Dean.' Gabriel acknowledged. 'I have stuff to say.'
For once, Gabriel actually looked serious, and Dean pulled up a stool and sat down at the table.
'Basically, I've had a breakthrough, with your case.'
Castiel raised an eyebrow. Gabriel doing work? That was a first.
Dean nodded for Gabe to continue.
Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. 'I've got a few bits of pieces of information together... and well, I'm not sure. But you know how I said the killer most likely knew you?'
They nodded. 'Well... it looks like this might go further back than any of us imagined.'
He paused.
'And it might involve more of us than just you.'
