Disclaimer: Supernatural © Eric Kripke, The Holiday © Nancy Meyers
Author'sNote: Thank you all for being so patient! Tried to make this one longer. I had fun writing the bit with them in the pub. ;-)
Dean managed to wake up feeling less shitty than he'd though he would. His hangover wasn't quite as bad as anticipated, though it was still there. He groaned and sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings. It took his brain awhile to register the mass on the bed next to him, but when he finally did he felt all the blood drain from his face.
"Fuck." He muttered under his breath.
The man next to him was turned away, luckily, snoring lightly. He seemed to be in a somewhat deep sleep, Dean gathered, since when he'd jumped too quickly and tumbled onto the floor, Cas did nothing but grunt and roll over in his sleep. Dean let out the breath he'd been holding, he was in the clear. Not for long, though.
He'd quietly made his way into the bathroom, finished his morning routines, gotten dressed, and headed downstairs. Not once waking up the sleeping mess on the bed. He wanted another drink.
When he was in the kitchen he heard a loud crash, muffled cursing, the sound of shuffling feet, and then the sound of running water. Guess Sleeping Beauty was finally awake. Dean strained his ears, trying to listen to Castiel's every movement. He hoped that if he could keep tabs on what the man was up to, hopefully he'd be able to bypass a very, very awkward morning after speech.
The sound of footsteps making their way downstairs signaled him to look normal, so he busied himself by making coffee. It failed. He wasn't sure if he'd somehow accidentally broken it, but the 'on/off' button wasn't working. Dean glanced sideways at Castiel as he made his grand entrance, while muttering a small, "Morning."
"Good morning." Cas replied and squinted slightly. "Can't find my contacts." He informed Dean as he walked over to where he'd last left his jacket and started rummaging through his pockets. "So these will have to do." He smiled as he pulled out a pair of glasses.
'Huh, didn't take him to be the nerdy glasses type.'
Dean blushed when Cas put them on, getting a clear view of him making an ass out of himself with the coffee machine. That, and the fact that he had to mentally kick himself for finding the guy cute when he wore them. 'Get it together Dean! One drunken...gay..fling doesn't make you...well..gay! Yeah, bet you're starting to rethink that, now aren't you? Shut up. Gay or not, we still don't get all girly!'
"I, uh...can't get it working." He pointed out lamely, scratching the back of his head. He cursed his inner dialogue.
"Here let me help." Cas chuckled as he walked over to examine the issue. He took note of the big step back Dean took from him. "Ah, here's the reason." Cas chimed in as he reached behind and grabbed the power cord. "Wasn't plugged in."
"Oh, right. I knew that." Dean shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. No more than a 2 minutes into the conversation, and he was already making a fool of himself. He shuffled backwards a bit more until he was leaning against the counter on the opposite side of the room.
Cas plugged the cord into the outlet and turned around to face Dean. He crossed his arms over his chest nervously and shifted his weight back and forth on his feet. "So, ah, Dean. I—" Before he could continue Dean cut him off.
"Look, dude—Cas..it's fine. You don't have to worry about.." He trailed off and motioned between the two of them, indicating he was referring to the previous nights encounter. "We were both pretty wasted, so you don't need to worry about it being anything more than that. Ok?" He wasn't sure what else to say. He'd never had sex with a guy before.
"Right." Cas narrowed his eyes in confusion and continued to stare at Dean.
Dean sighed and let his head droop down. "Alright, here's the thing...I've never..done..that. Before."
Cas tilted his head, "You mean sex?" He inquired.
"What? No, no I've had sex before. Just..not with a guy." He admitted and tried to look anywhere but at the man in front of him. He finally made eye contact when he heard laughter.
"Me neither." Cas smiled. "Look, Dean, if it's really a problem for you, no one needs to know. I mean you're leaving today right?"
Dean felt a slight pang in his chest at that thought. "Yeah. You're right."
After a brief pause, "Though, I don't know about you, it was some pretty decent sex." Cas said and rubbed his chin as if in deep thought.
Dean's face flared up again with a deep blush, thankfully he was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing.
"Ah, that would be mine." Cas said as he looked down at the table. Dean was quick to grab it, checking the caller ID as he did so.
"Here, it's, um, Claire." He handed it over awkwardly. "Sorry, didn't mean to look."
Cas took it and hesitated. "I'll call back later." He turned the ringer off and tapped the phone against the palm of his hand. He walked around to the opposite side of the room.
Dean watched him as he anxiously looked down to his phone again, wondering who this Claire person was. Of course not in a jealous way. He wasn't sure what to do or say at that point so decided to look for some mugs to use for the coffee. It was then he realized that neither had turned the machine on, just plugged it in.
Cas watched Dean open random cupboards and realized what he was looking for. He grabbed one of the coffee mugs hanging on a rack behind him and handed it over to the frantic man in front of him. "Here."
Dean took it and looked at him puzzled, "You don't want any?" He asked.
Cas simply smiled and then began to gather his belongings. "I should probably get going, actually." He glanced down at his phone again.
Dean looked at the time and realized he should be heading out the door himself. "Actually I should probably head out too." He murmured, sounding slightly disappointed. He set the mug down on the counter and unplugged the machine, watching as Cas put on his jacket.
"Right, well I know you're leaving and everything, and you don't do this kind of stuff with other men, I don't think it would matter too much. My life is...complicated, so to speak, so even if we were to." Cas pointed between the two of them. "It probably wouldn't matter anyway." He bit his lip. "Besides, I don't do this kind of thing with men either." He added in last minute.
Dean raised an eyebrow. "Cas, I said it was fine. So it's fine."
Cas looked at him slightly taken aback. "Ok. No need to continue, I see. Well, in any case.." He started walking out to the other room then stopped and turned back around. "I just want to make sure you are fine with everything. I'm not the best when it comes to these kinds of things, and...well, I find that almost all people I meet get hurt when I'm simply being myself. So I just wanted to make sure." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked expectantly towards Dean.
He wasn't sure what to respond with. He'd never had a conversation like this before with any woman he'd slept with. Then he had to remind himself that he'd slept with another man, not some chick. Instead of telling Cas to drop it, that he'd never be interested in anything with any guy, ever. He found himself saying, "Hey, there's nothing to worry about. I'm not gonna fall in love with you or anything." He forced a laugh.
Cas's eyebrows furrowed, "Right, ok." He shook his head.
"I don't think I could ever fall in love, no matter the gender, I mean. Not like everyone else atleast...I don't do chick flick moments, is what I'm saying." Dean found himself blurting out.
Cas held out his hands, signaling Dean to stop. "Ok...well. Interesting conversation." He walked over to the door to grab his scarf, and anything else he'd left along the way. He looked back over to the green eyed wonder, "Well, you won't be hearing from me even if you wanted to—which you clearly don't—absolutely no follow through. I never remember to call back after first dates." He stated simply then thought about what he'd just said. "But...seeing as we're both not into men..and this wasn't exactly a date..then I guess I'm off the hook?"
Dean couldn't help but smile and laugh. "Guess so." He watched as Castiel finished adjusting his scarf and swallowed hard when their eyes met once more.
Cas walked back into the kitchen and stopped midway. "But, what if I wanted to call you? In a non gay way, of course." He asked.
Dean looked around nervously, what was he getting at, seriously? "Um.."
"Right, sorry. Wrong thing to say" Cas closed his eyes and shook his head. After a brief pause he continued,"Well, if you're flight's canceled, or you change your mind..I'm having dinner with some friends over at the pub tonight. You're welcome to join." He scanned Dean's face for any answer, receiving none. "And, if not, then..." He looked down briefly before meeting Dean's eyes again and smiling. "You're wonderful."
Dean would never admit to his heart skipping a beat or his cheeks turning red. "Yeah...uh...you too." He murmured and tried not to look into those bright blue eyes as he watched Castiel turn around and leave.
He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he heard the front door shut.
Later, at the airport, Dean found himself rethinking his idea of leaving. It most definitely was not because of a certain blue eyed beauty. 'Dude he's a dude! Stop thinking like that!' Though he had to admit that those eyes were very attractive. Eyes were just eyes after all, right? It didn't matter if they belonged to a man or a woman...right?
He waited in line for his baggage to be checked and started thinking back to their night. A voice in the back of his head kept telling him to go back to the little cottage. Kept telling him, even if it was a guy, he couldn't deny how amazing his night had been. He'd never experienced anything that mind blowing ever. Period.
As his thoughts started to stray to all the dirty details of said amazing night, it was then that he decided it'd definitely be best if he went back home.
Dean Winchester was not gay.
Castiel made his way into the pub later that night with his glasses swapped for contacts, a new outfit, and a bit of uncertainty. He was sure that Dean wouldn't show up, he'd sounded very adamant about leaving the country. But even still, he prayed he would be there.
As he made his way further into the pub he scanned the room in search of those mysterious green eyes. He stood on his tip toes to peer over the heads of other friends and couples. The place was packed, more so than what it usually was, so it made distinguishing faces a bit difficult. Especially in the dim lighting.
After a brief look around the room it was clear that Dean was nowhere to be found. He looked down at the ground, smiling as he shook his head. Seriously, what else had he been expecting? He turned back around and made his way over to his two friends waiting for him at one of the tables by the window. He greeted them quickly and started taking off his winter wear.
Cas laughed at one of their jokes as he pulled the scarf over his head. He glanced sideways and paused when he saw someone sitting at one of the smaller tables on the wall. He looked around a small group of people and felt his heart start racing when he was met with the green eyes from the night before.
Dean was sitting by himself drinking a beer as he waved over at Castiel who could do nothing but grin wide. Cas shook his head in disbelief.
"Excuse me for a moment." Cas said to his friends and walked over to meet Dean. "Flight get canceled?"
"Yeah, something like that." Dean answered. He honestly didn't know himself. One moment he was dead set on boarding the flight, then at the last second he turned around and bolted for the exit. "I see you found your contacts." He changed the subject.
"Ah, yes. Kind of. I had to open up a new box of them when I got home. I think I may have accidentally lost my other ones somewhere on my way to the cottage" Cas shrugged. "Anyway, I did invite you to join my friends and I. Come on then" He motioned for Dean to follow him as he turned back and walked to the table they were all sharing.
Dean had to duck out of the way of someone carrying a tray of drinks, but quickly caught up to Cas.
"Dean, this is Gabriel and Rachel." Cas pointed to the two sitting across from him. "Gabriel and Rachel, meet Dean. He's staying at Anna's for the Holiday." He informed them, thus receiving puzzled looks from the two. They all shook hands politely before continuing.
Gabriel was the first to speak, "Anna's? I didn't know she found someone new. Though, if that's the case, why isn't she here to introduce him to us?" The shorter man eyed Dean up and down curiously.
"That's because we swapped houses for 2 weeks, so she isn't home." Dean answered and slid into the open seat next to Cas. "So while I'm here, she's at my place back in L.A."
"What?" Gabriel guffawed, "No way! Anna would never do something like that!" He turned to Cas for clarity.
Cas merely nodded. "It's true. Dean had the unpleasant experience of dealing with a drunken me the previous night. Anna was nowhere to be found, she'd tried calling to inform me. I got ahold of her earlier today and sure enough." He threw up his hands and raised his eyebrows. "She won't be back until after Christmas."
"Aww man, what about the big Christmas plans?" Gabriel whined. "We were planning on pranking you even better this year."
Cas rolled his eyes, "Gabriel this is why I've vowed to never go over to your place for Christmas Eve orChristmas Day ever again. Frankly I'm pleased she won't be here to aid in your ridiculous schemes."
"Why are you always so formal, I keep telling you call me Gabe. While you're at it get that pole outta your ass and learn to have a little sense of humour!" His eyes shone with a glint of mischief as he smirked.
Dean took a sip of his beer and looked between the two with a smirk. He shared an amused look with Rachel who did the same and shook her head.
"I'll lighten up when you learn to be less of a child and more your age. Every year you try and prank me." Cas all but pouted as he looked away from Gabe.
Dean laughed lightly before butting in, "So how do you all know each other?"
Rachel answered him first with a smile, "Well Cas and I used to work together, it's been about 5 years since he left the business, but we've kept in contact all this time." She said proudly.
Dean nodded, noting her use of 'Cas' which did not give him a twinge of jealousy. Seriously, it didn't. He turned back to Gabriel as the man spoke up.
"What's this? Little Cassie didn't tell you about me? I'm ashamed!" He feigned hurt as he crumpled up his napkin and tossed it across to Cas, who merely caught it and sent him a warning glare.
"Cassie?" Dean tried not to choke on his drink and laughed at the blushing man next to him.
"Why yes, I'm little Cassie's big brother!" Gabriel beamed, then raising an eyebrow at his younger brother, "Isn't that right, bro?"
"Gabriel, we just met yesterday. It's not like I had time to tell him about my family." He shook his head, but couldn't help but smile at his brother's over dramatic tendencies.
"Oh lighten up will you! Like I said, pole up your ass!"
The whole table, minus an annoyed Castiel, laughed and ordered some more drinks. Dean found himself getting along quite well with Cas's friend and family. He enjoyed listening to their stories of a young Cas, as well as a few other's about their own lives he didn't understand the references to. Dean even shared a few of his own about random adventures he had with Sam when they were kids.
He met Cas's eyes more often than not, and smiled wider when they did. He ignored the school girl butterfly feelings he got in his stomach whenever he'd feel those blue eyes on him. Though a few more rounds of beer later and he was starting to be a bit more openly flirty than he'd intended to. Dean's thigh would 'accidentally' graze up against Cas's and he'd savour the quick flicker of blue eyes and light blush that coloured his skin.
It really didn't make his heart beat faster. Nope. Not one bit. 'You're such a liar.' Dean told himself, but he payed no attention to the little voice trying to warn him. He also payed no attention to the all knowing looks that Gabriel and Rachel sent him.
They all ordered food and continued to chat as the night went on. Dean found himself warming up more to the idea of staying if it meant the possibility of hanging out with Cas and his friends more. He'd never really hung out with his own friends, but found it strangely easy to open up to complete strangers and joke around.
Perhaps it was knowing he'd never see them again, they did live on the opposite side of the world, or maybe it was the alcohol getting to him, either way Dean was content with how easily he got along with everyone.
"So then Cas goes walking outside, keep in mind there was about 4 feet of snow, wearing nothing but his little red rain boots!" Gabriel manages out between laughs. "Almost completely naked had it not been for those boots!"
Dean slaps his hand against the table, throwing his head back laughing. "What! No way!"
At that point everyone had been drinking enough to find anything funny, even Castiel himself couldn't contain his own laughter. "It's true. I believed every word they told me. And from then on I've been cursed being Gabriel's guinea pig during his many pranks. And not just during the Holidays."
Dean wiped a few stray tears from his eyes due to laughing so hard. "Oh man, that's priceless."
"So you can see my disappointment for finding out Anna's decided to fly out during our busiest time of the year." Gabe smirked as he eyed his younger brother.
Rachel's laughter quieted down to a few giggles and she looked down at her watch, "I should probably get going. It's getting late and I've got work tomorrow." She said as she stood up and gathered her belongings.
"You're going to work yourself into the ground." Castiel replied standing up to give her a farewell hug. "You deserve some time off."
She chuckled, "I don't have the same luxury as you, Cas." She patted him on the shoulder. "Not everyone has the same excuse you have to hold against their bosses to get extra time off."
Cas rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. "Well, it's not much of an excuse, more of reason for why I need it. Take care of yourself, Rachel." He waved goodbye to her.
"It was nice meeting you, Dean." She said shaking the newcomer's hand as she walked around the table.
"Nice meeting you too. Have a good one." Dean smiled.
Rachel turned and eyed Gabriel, "You be good to your brother." She pointed to him.
Gabe merely held up his hands in mock innocence, "No idea what you're talking about. See you around Rach."
Before she left, Rachel flashed both Dean and Cas a look that said, 'I know what you two are up to, don't think you can hide it.' Both men coughed and looked away embarrassed. "Stay out of trouble." Rachel smiled, "All of you."
As soon as she left Gabriel piped up, "Alright, now that the lady is gone. Why not have a little more fun?" He waggled his eyebrows and ordered everyone more shots. They continued to drink until they were plastered, or rather, Dean and Gabriel continued. Castiel chose to stay less shit faced seeing as he'd probably need to drive everyone home.
After another couple of hours of listening to Gabe's vulgarity, and watching as Dean swayed dangerously in his seat just by breathing, he decided to call it a night for all of them.
"Aww come on Casss, don't be a party pooper." Dean slurred as he was led out to the car.
"Yeah, Cassie, live a little!" Gabe laughed as he was shoved into the back seat.
"Gabriel whatever you do, don't throw up. And Dean leave the seatbelt alone, it's meant to be like that." Cas shook his head. It was like dealing with a couple of toddlers...drunk over grown toddlers who were just learning to walk.
"But it's so con..constru...constrict—tight!" Cas blushed at the word choice as Dean tugged the seatbelt again, receiving a smack to the hands. "Ow! That hurts." He nursed it and pouted.
If he wasn't drunk and acting like a child, Cas may have found it cute.
After dropping off his brother at his place, Cas drove back to Anna's to drop Dean off. The car had grown immensely quieter with Gabriel out of the picture, though it began to worry Castiel a bit. If Dean was that quiet it most likely meant he was unconscious...which meant he'd have to somehow carry all of his weight into the house. Which would be fine and all, had it not been for the ice covered walkway to the front of the cottage.
"Oh joy, this is going to be fun." Cas rubbed his eyes as he put the car in park. He unbuckled both himself and Dean. He tried his best to wake the unconscious man up, but his efforts were futile. Groaning loudly, he walked around to the passenger side door and let Dean's body slump over onto his while he opened it.
He managed to pull the other man's arm over his shoulder and support both their weight combined. He wobbled over to the front of the house and cursed when he accidentally knocked Dean's head against the entry way. Dean groaned and his eyes just barely slit open as they walked inside. Well, more Cas walked, Dean's feet dragged.
"How'd I get here?" He mumbled out as his head fell forwards.
"I brought you here, remember?" Cas grunted, trying to kick the door closed behind him. Apparently it caused the other to think they were up to something entirely different.
"Oh, Cas, I didn't know we were gonna do that!" Dean's head flopped over onto Cas's shoulder as he tried to plant a sloppy kiss onto his cheek.
Cas shook his head and laughed, "Dean stop, you're drunk and you don't know what you're doing." He pulled his head away from the puckered up lips.
Dean huffed, clearly not happy, when an idea came to him. "Cas, wait I gotta do something first." He tried to stand up on his own and ended up stumbling over until he was leaning against the wall for support.
"Ok, I'm going to get you some aspirin and water, stay here. Don't move." Cas ordered as he quickly went into the kitchen. He heard two loud thuds and looked over his shoulder to see Dean had tossed his shoes off. Cas shook his head and continued what he was doing. He then heard a clang and the sound of heavy fabric hitting the floor.
When he turned back around he was met with the sight of a half naked Dean from the waist down. Cas averted his eyes and blushed profusely, "Dean what are you doing!" He decided to forget about said water and aspirin and quickly made his way back over to his friend.
"Well we're gonna do it, right?" Dean hiccuped and started to sway a bit more, falling forward into Castiel's arms.
Cas held him for a moment as he tried to gain control of the situation. Dean's hands were fondling him in awkward places, and he could smell the stench of alcohol on his breath. "Dean, stop it, you're much too drunk for this." He said as he tried to pull the other man with him up towards the stairs.
"But I wanna." The other man whined. Feet smacking against each step.
"I know, but you're gonna have to wait." Cas tried not to laugh. Earlier that morning he'd been told how non gay Dean was, and here he was...already pant-less and trying to grope Cas's crotch. Suddenly all of Dean's weight fell forward and they went crashing down in the middle of the stairs. It was at that point Cas realized Dean was out cold again. "Shit."
The rest of the way up to the bedroom seemed nearly impossible. Dean was much more heavy than Cas was, and the added on muscles didn't make things any easier. Though somehow, by a miracle, Cas had gotten Dean the rest of the way up the stairs, and into bed.
Loud snoring filled the room, and Cas decided he'd sleep on the couch. He was much too tired to drive home, and the state Dean was in, he knew he'd need the whole bed to recover. Not to mention the killer hangover the poor guy was about to have in the morning.
Cas chose to leave Dean's clothes lying out on the floor when he went back downstairs. One, he was too lazy to do anything about them, and two...he really wanted to see Dean freak out. Call it his way of joking around. That night he fell asleep with a smirk on his face. Maybe those pranks Gabriel had played on him hadn't been so bad after all.
After all, it was because of those experiences that he got to learn from the best.