Chapter Two

Dean sidled back into the cafeteria, and found Sam still standing by the bar. Dean grabbed the bottle Sam was just about to drink from his hands, and threw it into the trash.

'Hey!' Sam protested.

'No more of that, you're driving us home,' Dean said, ordering a glass of whiskey from the bartender.

'So, let me get this straight, you drag me to this thing, you ignore me when I tell you not to go talk to Cas, and now I can't even have a beer?'

'Yep.'

Sam groaned. 'I hate this.'

'Don't care.' Dean went to grab his fresh drink, but someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see who it was, but all he saw was a blur of red, and a hand that slapped him across the face.

A gasp ran around the room, and silence fell.

Dean put a hand to his face, eyes watering. 'Hi, Charlie,' he muttered.

'What the hell do you think you're doing here?' she demanded, her red hair fanning her shoulders. She tossed it back, furious.

'Excuse me, I was invited,' Dean grimaced.

'Why'd you come?'

Dean shrugged. 'I came to see the old crowd,' he said noncommittally.

'Don't bullshit me, Dean Winchester. You came to see Cas.'

Dean stared at her blazing expression. 'I didn't know he'd be here,' he mumbled.

'That's crap.'

'Well-'

'Are you out of your mind?' Charlie continued, glaring at him. 'What's wrong with you?'

'Oh, don't go there,' Sam sniggered.

'Nothing's wrong with me, Charlie, I just…'

'You just what? Do you know what you did to him?'

Irritation stirred within Dean. 'Yeah, I got a pretty solid idea,' he said sourly.

'Do you? Really? 'Cause, let me tell you, asshole, it wasn't you that was there to pick up the pieces-'

'Charlie,' Cas interrupted, appearing at her side, studiously avoiding Dean's eyes. 'Please, people are staring.'

'Let them stare,' Charlie snarled. 'They'll catch a pretty good show watching me kick Dean's ass.' She raised her hand again, and Dean braced himself, but Cas caught her arm and dragged her away.

Once she was gone, there was a ripple of murmuring, then the loud chatting resumed, along with the band playing generic, jazzy tunes.

Dean sighed, swiping a hand over his face.

'Wow, you're right, I didn't want to miss that,' Sam snorted.

Dean grabbed his drink and pounded it, sucking air through his teeth and shuddering. He ordered another, while Sam watched him with one eyebrow raised.

'You know, as far as bad ideas go-'

'Shut up, Sam.'

Dean held his cold glass to his stinging cheek for a moment. Then he sipped his drink a little slower, ignoring all the dirty looks being thrown at him. He was used to being the centre of attention, especially with these people, but this was less than friendly. He stared through the crowd until his gaze landed on Cas on the other side of the room, talking quietly with Charlie.

Dean watched his face move through emotions, while Charlie gestured wildly, no doubt reminding Cas why it was a terrible idea to come to this thing. Some people found Cas hard to read, but even after all this time, Dean knew what every twitch of Cas's eyebrows meant, every crease in his forehead, every shuffle of his feet. He could tell that Cas knew he was watching, by the way he looked everywhere but at Dean. Dean took another sip, and Cas finally, briefly, made eye contact. Dean expected to see the sadness and the irritation, even the eyes flickering around the room that meant uncertainty. What he didn't expect to see, was the small way Cas bit the inside of his lip when he caught Dean's eye.

'Hmm.' Dean narrowed his eyes slightly and saw Cas's tongue quickly dart out to wet his lips before he looked away.

'What?' Sam asked, then saw what he was looking at. 'Oh, come on, Dean, haven't you done enough tonight?'

Dean just took another sip of his whiskey. 'Maybe he wants somethin'...'

'What, you think got a chance with him, or something? Just leave the poor guy alone, won't you?'

Dean looked up at Sam's earnest expression.

'Look, I'm not holding anything against you, I know what Dad was like, but you messed up, man. There's no changing that. Let's just go, before we ruin everyone's night even more.'

Dean sipped at his drink, looking back at Cas again. Saying he'd messed up was an understatement, and he remembered the hollow expression on Cas's face. He'd worn it for months, since the afternoon he'd caught Dean with Anna. Dean's heart twisted, remembering the small bunch of wild flowers and the bag of takeout Cas dropped on the floor when he saw them. Gifts to celebrate Dean miraculously earning the grades to graduate. Dean closed his eyes on the memory and shook his head. 'Yeah, maybe you're right,' he said to Sam. 'Let's go.' He drained his whiskey, and turned on his heel, following Sam across the room.

It was short-lived as far as reunions went, but Dean couldn't say he'd missed the perpetual stale food smell that permeated the cafeteria, and the alcohol mixing with it from the temporary bar didn't do it any favours. 'I can practically feel the old gum under the tables anyway,' Dean added.

Sam reached the top of the short flight of steps in the corner, and Dean put his foot on the bottom step.

'Where are you going?'

Sam and Dean both started and turned, to find Cas had caught up to them.

Dean let out a long breath. 'I figure I've outstayed my welcome,' he said, putting his fingers to the spot Charlie had slapped him. 'We're going now, so you can tell Charlie she doesn't need to bust out the torches and pitchforks.'

Cas tilted his head, staring at Dean.

Dean held his breath, knowing that this particular head tilt meant that Cas was curious about something, so he waited for Cas to talk.

Cas stepped closer, eyes slowly roving over Dean. 'You can't leave yet,' he said.

Dean raised his eyebrows. 'Oh?'

'I believe you owe me a drink.'

Dean stared at him, and for the first time in a long time, he saw a spark in Cas's eyes. Dean smiled. 'Right you are.'

Cas's lips twitched, almost a smirk, and went over to the bar.

Dean grinned up at Sam.

'Well, I'll be damned,' Sam muttered, shaking his head.

Dean went after Cas, leaving Sam to hover nearby, and ordered fresh drinks. Another whiskey for him, a glass of red for Cas.

'Isn't that your third?' Cas asked softly.

Dean suppressed a chuckle. So Cas had been watching him too. 'I've always had a high tolerance.'

'I recall.'

Cas was avoiding looking at him again, shuffling awkwardly.

Dean moved so he was standing at Cas's side, not looking directly at him. 'So, Chicago?'

Cas nodded. 'Chicago.'

'You know, I'm not far outta Chicago,' Dean said slowly, glancing at Cas to gauge his reaction. He was rewarded with a surprised inhale.

'You're not still in Sioux Falls?'

'Nah. Moved to Lafayette a while back.'

'What for?'

'I run a little classic car dealership, no biggie.' Dean let pride colour his voice, and he knew Cas could hear it. 'What about you? You're a doctor?'

'Cardiologist.'

Dean whistled. 'Colour me impressed.'

Cas smiled over the rim of his glass.

Dean decided to test his luck. 'Tell me, I'm sure you've got a hell of a lot more important things to be doing than coming to this,' he said, gesturing around with his glass, using the movement to slide slightly closer to Cas. 'Why'd you come?'

Cas took a deep gulp of his drink. 'I didn't think you would show up, but…'

'But?'

'A part of me wanted to see if you did.'

Dean pushed himself away from the bar, slowly walking around to Cas's other side. 'Yeah… same here.'

Cas tracked his movement, lifting his chin slightly. 'You… wanted to see me?'

Dean considered his response. 'Yeah.'

'You think about me?' Cas said, moving to stand in front of Dean.

Dean sipped his whiskey. 'Of course I do,' he said softly.

'Oh.'

Dean loved it when he caught Cas off guard, the way his eyes widened ever so slightly, and the way his lips parted.

Cas stepped backwards, further into the crowd and Dean followed him.

Sam took their place, and was soon joined by Charlie.

'What am I looking at?' she said to Sam, wrinkling her nose at Cas and Dean.

'What, you've never seen their circle dance before?' Sam chuckled.

'Their what?'

Sam gestured at them. 'Just before they started going out, they did this, where they sorta circle around each other. It's like a mating dance, it's weird.'

'Ew,' Charlie frowned. She watched them for a while, walking around, slowly getting closer and closer to each other. 'Okay, so how do we stop their weird - whatever?' Charlie asked.

Sam sighed. 'We don't.'

Charlie blinked. 'No, but we have to.'

'Why?'

Charlie rolled her eyes. 'Come on, Sam, you really think this is going to end well?'

Sam shrugged. 'It could.'

Charlie scowled at him. 'Yeah, 'cause it went so well last time.'

Sam sighed again. 'I get it. Cas is your friend, but maybe they could make each other happy.'

Charlie grabbed her own drink, swallowing some angrily. 'I don't care. What he did was…'

'Oh yeah, it was awful, I'm not defending it. I am inclined to blame some of it on the concussion, though.'

Charlie frowned. 'Concussion?'

Sam blinked. 'Cas never told you?'

'Told me what?'

'Huh.' Sam looked over at Cas thoughtfully. 'Well, our dad found out about them, and let's just say he was... less than accepting.' Sam shifted from one foot to the other, wincing at the memory of Dean's bruised and bloody face. 'He beat Dean pretty bad.'

'I had no idea,' Charlie gasped. 'Why wouldn't Cas tell me that?'

Sam breathed deeply, watching Cas and Dean. They had their hands on each other now, pretending to actually dance to the music, though neither of them had much rhythm. 'I don't know Cas as well as you do,' Sam said slowly, 'but if I had to guess, I'd say he blames himself for outing Dean in the first place.'

'What?'

'It was an accident,' Sam said hurriedly. 'He came over when our dad was supposed to be out hunting. It sucked pretty much all around.'

Charlie fell silent while she absorbed the information. 'It still doesn't excuse him.'

'Never said it did,' Sam shrugged. 'But you don't need to be so hard on him, trust me, he's hard enough on himself.'

'Just so we're clear, I'm not sorry I slapped him.'

'Don't worry, he won't hold it against you,' Sam laughed. 'He probably still thinks he deserves it.'

They both fell silent again. Neither of them were in this graduating class, and nobody else in the room was familiar, so they were forced to watch Cas and Dean circling each other. He wanted Dean to be happy more than anything, but the mistakes he made hung over him like a heavy shadow, holding him back whenever he even came close.

'Do you think Cas could forgive him?' Sam asked quietly.

Charlie sighed sadly. 'That was never the problem,' she told him. 'He forgave Dean a long time ago. I didn't, but whatever.'

'He did?'

Charlie nodded. 'He understood Dean's reasons, I guess, even if it hurt him.'

'Makes sense,' said Sam. 'He always understood Dean better than anyone.'

Charlie hesitated. 'I don't know, Sam, I really don't think this is a good idea.'

'You want to go over there and stop them?' Sam chuckled. 'It's not really your choice to make, is it?'

'Well, no, but-'

'He never wanted to hurt Cas,' Sam said, cutting her off. 'I know, I know, intentions don't matter. He did what he did. We all know that.' Sam looked down at Charlie's concerned expression. 'They're adults, Charlie, they can make their own decisions. They've clearly been thinking about each other for a long time, and there's nothing either of us can do to change that.'

Sam watched some more. Most of the other people were giving them a wide swath of space. As far as he could tell, they were barely even talking, just taking the time to examine one another, feeling out what was still familiar, and what was new.

Cas slowly ran his hand up Dean's arm, but when they saw him visibly squeeze, Charlie shook her head and pushed herself away from the bar. 'I can't.'

She strode over to them and grabbed Cas's shoulder. 'Hey, can I talk to you?' she said, not waiting for an answer before pulling him away from Dean.

Dean felt oddly cold once Cas was gone, and wandered back to the bar, where Sam was still standing.

Sam looked at him expectantly, but Dean ignored him in favour of ordering another drink.

'Don't you think you've had enough?' Sam snorted.

'It's been a weird night,' Dean shrugged.

'So, how'd it go?' Sam prompted.

'I don't know,' Dean said. 'I hope it went well.'

'Oh yeah?'

Dean turned around, leaning against the bar. 'I want him back, Sam,' Dean finally admitted. 'God help me, I want him back.' Dean wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea himself, but he could no longer ignore the white hot churning in his stomach, or how his heart ached whenever he looked Cas in the eye. All he could do was hope he deserved a second chance.

Hey guys welcome back. Thanks to Eyum daRelmera for the review!

A bit more expositional than I would usually like but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. See you again soon!