Gabriel has invited him to lunch. He sounded a bit worried over the phone, though he tried to mask it with his usual cheerful nature. Castiel feels weird, disrupting Dean's routine like this, but obviously something was going on. It was odd, Castiel didn't usually pick up on cues like these, Gabriel liked to affectionately describe him to friends as gloriously obtuse, like it was something to be proud of, wonderfully naive was his second favourite go to epithet.
A bit begrudgingly and with a certain amount of trepidation Castiel trudged down to the little cafe off Main that Gabriel was wont to frequent. The sidewalk was depressingly grey on this winter afternoon, the grey of the sky only making the monotony increase tenfold. Castiel huddled further into his tan trench to fight the bitter sting of the wind. He hoped he could get to the cafe ahead of Gabriel, maybe order him something sickeningly sweet to cheer him up. His chilled fingers ached at the thought of wrapping them around a hot cup of something.
Gabriel was ready and waiting in the usual booth by the back window, his upper lip still smeared with sugary foam. When Cas strode in and he caught sight of his brother, he seemed brighter than he had sounded on the phone earlier. "Heya Cassie," he chirped clasping Cas by the shoulders in an awkward hug (awkward because Castiel was never prepared for this and kind of stood there stiff and board-like). "You're freezing," he paused to laugh, "You really should get a proper winter jacket like mine." He gestured to the purple plaid puff monstrosity he currently sported in spite of the warm cafe fireplace.
Castiel just shook his head in response, causing Gabe to laugh some more. "Come on Cassie, it's not that bad. It may be an eye-catching and a little out of your league, but it's warmer than that atrocious trench coat."
Castiel clutched his atrocious trench coat defensively. "Whatever your coat's caught (and it's not the eyes) me and my coat are staying on this side of the table well away from it lest it prove contagious."
Gabriel was still chuckling, "You can't catch style, brother, but if you could it might do you some good. Spice up your life a bit."
Cas sighed. "What did you want to talk to me about anyway? I've got important work to do. I haven't got time for this." It wasn't entirely a lie, thought Castiel, not entirely, he did have work he could be doing, but it was hardly important given that there was little likelihood of anyone seeing it anytime soon.
Gabriel had called the waitress over and ordered for Cas already. The annoyance didn't seem to have registered. Castiel wondered what weird beverage the future portended. He really should have ordered on his way in. Last time Gabriel had ordered him a raspberry-mint-pumpkin spice americano and Castiel had to drink every disgusting drop to spare Gabe's feelings.
His older brother let him stew in silence while they waited for the drink to arrive. Surprisingly Gabe had got him a simple medium roast drip coffee, black with half a teaspoon of sugar, just like he would have ordered for himself. Clearly something was up.
"Listen bro, there's no easy way to bring this up, but I'm kind of worried about you." Castiel opened his mouth to protest that he was fine and Gabe needn't worry; but his brother just held up his hand for silence before continuing. "You've been spending too much time at the lab. You won't even tell me what you're working on. You used to give me way more biological work details than I ever cared to know. It's been two years since you tried it with Meg, Cassie. It's time for a fresh start. Get out there sniff some butts."
Castiel made a moue. Gabriel giggled a bit at Cas' disgusted expression, clearly delighted with his own terrible turn of phrase. Meg, now that had been a terrible turn. An utter fiasco from start to finish, Cas could barely remember what he saw in her. He'd always been so good, he admired her bravado in the beginning. The vulgar way she prepositioned him had struck that horrible urge for rebellion in him and he'd acquiesced. But in the end their relationship, if you could call it that had burned fast and bright. Left him badly burned too. She'd left him suddenly for her best friend, Ruby. It had been unexpected to say the least.
Truth be told, before he'd got Dean, Castiel had been neglecting his love life out of absentmindedness more than anything else. It just hadn't occurred to him to get out there and do the mating dance. And now that he had Dean, he hadn't the inclination. Cas couldn't tell his brother, he wasn't ready yet. Maybe once Dean learned to talk, he would clue him that the cat creature was now his current subject of study. He'd leave out the lust side of things. Perhaps if he agreed to go out to the loud clubs with Gabriel a couple times, he could get him to drop the matter.
"I suppose it has been a while. You may drag me off to the ridiculously named bar of your choosing," Cas said resignedly.
"That's excellent. We start tonight. Shine up those old dusty dancing shoes, brother, you'll need them. If you dare to show up in a suit, I will dress you in my shiniest, loudest, most earth-shatteringly eighties shirt – the one that you claim gives you seizures," Gabe threatened.
Before Castiel could come up with a retort, Gabe had shimmied on out the cafe door leaving Cas with the bill and a stricken expression. What had he gotten himself into?
