"So I take it your attempts at seduction fell flat?"
Boy, did they.
Fell flat doesn't even begin to cover it. It fell flat- off a cliff and into a vat of acid.
Cas lets himself flop onto the redhead's bed, groaning pathetically, "It was a travesty, Char!"
"Oh, I'm sure it wasn't so bad."
Sitting up abruptly, Cas fixes her with a stern look, "I told him I was cold and he got up and got me a blanket." He deadpans.
"That's hardly a travesty, Cas. I mean, that's totally sweet.", Charlie bites her lip to keep from smiling, glancing at her tortured friend as she searches for something to wear.
"Not when it's immediately followed by him saying, 'Here, maybe this'll make you quit your bitchin' "
"Isn't that Dean speak for, 'I hope this makes you feel better.' ? You know the guy better than anyone, you should know that- Is this too casual?"
Drawing himself away from his own self inflicted hell, Cas peaks to see what Charlie has changed into.
He considers the red v-neck paired with her favorite black and white flannel- one he's sure he helped Dean pick out for her last Christmas- "It's cute but I would go with the blue blouse Dorthy got you for your birthday junior year. It'll come off more sentimental. Express that you care for the things she gives you, no matter how trivial.", the brunette advises before falling back onto lavish bedding.
Charlies voice is far away as she disappears deeper into her closet in a rush, shouting back to no one in particular, "Ugh, he's a fucking genius!"
"And of course I know he didn't mean anything rude by what he said but… I just wanted him to put his arm around me or something, Charlie. Why is that so awful?"
Castiel hates himself as soon as the familiar burn stings behind his eyes. He squeezes his eyes shut tightly, swallowing against the persistent lump raising havoc on his throat.
Charlie is beside him in a second.
Gently, she lies herself beside him. She mimics his position, back flat on the mattress, shoulders touching, allowing the brunette to gain control over his breaths.
She doesn't try to console him and Cas appreciates it so very much. Sure he'd finish breaking down if met with anything else.
After another moment, Cas opens his eyes, turns his head, a thank you or even an apology on the tip of his tongue when,
"Gah! Charlie, put on a shirt!" He cries, a surprised laugh tumbling past his lips. Dramatically covering his eyes with both hands.
The redhead chuckles in response, sitting up and shifting her weight from either shoulder to shimmy her bra covered breasts, "You gay guys really don't appreciate how awesome these things are. It's a shame."
"About as much of a shame as it is for you lesbians to be deterred by dick!", Cas counters, eyes still covered, smile still tugging at his lips.
He feels the bed react to Charlie standing again, walking in the direction of her closet once again.
"In addition to speaking Dean, I'm rather fluent in Castiel," She explains, "Non-verbal for you is as good as yelling. And you were yelling for some support, my friend. The equally non-verbal kind."
"Yeah yeah, you've got us all figured out."
"Damn straight!"
He knows she's right, which is probably also the reason he came with her all those weeks ago with some half cocked plan to make Dean aware of how painfully infatuated he is with him.
They all met as freshman's in college.
Castiel and Dean had lived across the hall from one another and while they didn't share any courses or at the time, share any friends, they met by chance and hadn't been the same since.
All Castiel knows is, one day a man with the devil in his eyes and danger in his voice came up to him in the library because he thought he worked there and had felt so awful about the misunderstanding he befriended him on the spot.
In a blink, all that danger wrapped in a bad boy exterior, somehow, right before his eyes became holy . Scripture .
Sacred and seared into the universe.
This man was a force Castiel couldn't have imagined existed. Castiel had fallen right into his orbit and he was powerless to stop his world from revolving around Hospital drama trivia and pale green eyes.
From that day forward Dean and Castiel had built a friendship. He was swiftly dubbed Cas and introduced to Dean's friends, all of which quickly took to Cas well enough considering it was 5 years later and they all remained in contact.
Charlie and Castiel, in particular, had become close. After college Dean had suggested they find a place together and because he hadn't possessed the power to say the words 'No' to Dean Winchester since he asked the simple question of, 'Do you work here?', he had agreed.
Of course, he knew it was an awful idea. The pitiful way he yearned for Dean would surely be even harder to covet living with the man. It didn't make him feel any better that his torturous heart couldn't stop fluttering at the thought of waking up and walking into a kitchen that smelled of Dean. Surrounded by his books and Zeppelin posters. Smooth velvet the first thing he heard in the morning and the last thing he heard at night.
Charlie had been the one he drank himself into a stupor with. And it was her that had shown up beside him the next morning, thankfully with a glass of water and some aspirin, having spoken with Dean, begging him to let her have Castiel as a roommate instead, claiming she couldn't afford her new apartment alone.
Dean, while disappointed, didn't really need a roommate, just found it convenient. Of course being perfect as he is, Dean had immediately given up the chance to live with the brunette without a second thought.
Cas tried not to let that thought hurt too badly.
Fast forward, and they were all grown up. With real jobs and bills to pay, lives they never could have imagined they would Lead.
Yet, even with all their accomplishments, nothing had changed.
Dean was still beautiful and dangerous in his own right, wrapped in flannel, smelling of whiskey and more home than Cas ever had an opportunity to familiarize himself with.
And Cas… Cas was Cas.
An honest to God grown man, clinging to the same old fantasy of Dean Winchester, as he had when he was 18 years old.
Reappearing in front of Castiel, Charlie now fully dressed, awkwardly poses, giving an odd twirl. She gnaws on her lip anxiously.
"You look great, don't be so nervous." Cas encourages, "This will be like any other time you've gone out with her."
"Yeah except, every time before, the prospect of me making an ass of myself wasn't quite as calamitous. This is an actual date, Cas! Not just watching Star Wars or Harry Potter for an entire weekend, stuffing our faces full of junk as you sleep 20 feet away in the next room. Dude, what if she wears a dress? I won't be able to speak! I'm definitely gonna swallow my tongue if she wears a dress. Oh my God, Cas am I gonna be a total spaz?"
"Oh, Charlie," He soothes softly, cutting off her rambling. He moves to stand before her, resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder,
"You are absolutely gonna be a spaz."
Charlie glares, but Cas can see his teasing served its purpose, her shoulders the slightest bit more relaxed,
"You're a dick!"
"I'd enjoy answering with something Gabe would say, like; 'You are what you eat' or something equally as ridiculous, but I'm honest to God scared of you and would never say your a pussy so I'll simply respond with a cheeky grin."
Just as he said, he flashes a risible smile. Charlie fights back her own
"Yeah, and I'm the spaz", she replies "Thank you for reminding me as long as you're around that title is steadily claimed."
The eye-roll is heavily implied.
"I believe we have established that, yes."
She shakes her head affectionately, smiling up at her big lug of a roommate, "Christ, you are a lost cause."
"Dean says that sometimes too." His smile is bittersweet.
Still, this is Charlie's night. Her first date with Dorthy, a woman she has mooned over for the better part of two years. He can put aside his own turmoil to make room for Charlie's happiness.
He tries to conceal the underlying pain in cloudy blue eyes as his mind predictably wonders towards Dean, but Charlie catches it before he can.
"Cas," Charlie squares her shoulders, prepared to ram this into Cas' skull if the need arises, "That boy has feelings for you. I'm sure of it."
The conviction in her tone should serve as a deterrent to Cas' doubts, but all it does is make him burn inside. He wants to believe her more than he wants to breathe.
Swallowing idly, Cas runs a hand through tousled brown strands, laughing more as to ease the tension than because anything is especially amusing,
"I'm not quite as sure as you seem to be, Charlie. There's nothing left for me to do. I've tried it all. Cooking him dinner, making subtle passes. Complimenting how he looks that day. Even outwardly telling him that he's my favorite person. But he is relentless in sneaking into any conversation just how glad he is to have me as his 'Best Friend'. Even if he hasn't gotten any of my hints I certainly have gotten his."
"But Cas-"
"No, Charlie," Cas protests, holding up both hands in surrender.
" I'm just gonna have to move on… somehow. And don't look at me like that! This is your big night. The story you'll tell your kids someday, of the first date their mothers went on and how it led to the greatest marriage in the galaxy. And all thanks to uncle Cas' great sense of fashion."
Charlie bites her lip, sympathy welling in her eyes. The man's overt effort of changing the subject was not lost on the redhead.
Cas feels his heart constrict, every ounce of strength he has working towards keeping the smile on his face.
"Knock em' dead.", he adds leaving Charlie in her room to finish getting ready, effectively cutting off any further conversation.
It's about 15 minutes later that Charlie is standing in their living room, telling Cas not to wait up and lock the door behind her.
He grins at her and while he still hurts deep in his chest, it's genuine.
Charlie deserves happiness. Deserves someone who makes her happy. And there isn't a person on earth that does it better than Dorthy. He couldn't be more thrilled for the start of the rest of her life, right there in front of them.
There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Dorthy is Charlies 'The one'; Charlie's Dean.
"You won't be a spaz." He smiles.
She beams up at him, giving him a quick hug before they both move towards the door,
"Thanks, Cas."
"Any time, Red."
Charlie has one leg over the threshold when she hesitates.
She sports a look all too familiar to her roommate. Turning around she meets Cas furrowed expression, "Hey, Cas?"
"Yes?"
"You've tried the subtle way and the not so subtle way. " She begins, words slow and pensive, "Why not the Dean way?"
Cas raises a brow in question, not understanding.
"I mean, why not ask him!" She continues, "If he's not getting the picture, he'll feed you exactly what it is he would do in the way of propositioning and recognize it as soon as you turn it around on him. Be that for positive or negative, though I'm leaning towards the positive, you'll have your answer."
"That's…"
Cas scrabbles to find a flaw. Something that could forever lock the door on the possibility of him and Dean but… He knows no matter how long he thinks and grules and doubts endlessly about it, this hypothetical door he has slammed closed so many times since they first met will always creaks back open. Usually as quickly as it had been shut.
The slightest chance of anything was enough for him.
So before he has enough time to stop himself he finishes his sentence, bare and vulnerable; completely out of options.
"That's brilliant!"
"Not just a hat rack, blue eyes.", Charlie smirks, tapping the top of her head.
She shoots him a lasting wink before disappearing behind their front door.
Cas finds himself back in front of the television looking through the screen as opposed to retaining any entertainment.
Charlie's suggestion flies around his mind like those annoying cartoon birds he never understood. Nagging and repeating themselves until he started feeling dizzy.
Where's the harm?
At this point it couldn't hurt, could it?