I'm glad that everyone liked the last chapter! This one was... interesting to write, it took me a while to work out how I wanted certain things to be, so I'm sorry if it took longer than you were hoping for me to update. Dean and Cas's relationship is progressing though, and I have some ideas about where I want to take it next! Please review this with your thoughts and opinions, and I hope I haven't made Kali too OOC – I haven't seen her episode in a while and I took a few liberties with what I thought she would be like.
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of the characters. If I did, Destiel would be canon, Gabriel would be alive, Metatron would never have gotten away with banishing all of the angels from Heaven, and there would be more set pictures of Cas in that awesome black trenchcoat.
Once again, an enormous thank-you to my beta rdmnss – you're amazing!
Castiel was slightly confused about Dean's actions – he seemed to be less focused than he normally was, and he was swinging between being overly confident and strangely jittery. He wasn't particularly good with emotions, but if Castiel didn't know any better, he would say that Dean was nervous about this meal. He had no idea why though. Deciding it was probably easier to ignore it, Castiel waited for Dean to get out of the car before following him towards the Roadhouse. He had to smile when Dean reached back and took Castiel's hand in his own – they didn't normally hold hands in public, but the comforting warmth of Dean's hand was a sensation Castiel thought he would quite like to get used to.
As soon as they entered the Roadhouse, they were both greeted by a smiling Ellen who nudged Dean's shoulder for a reason that Castiel didn't understand.
"Alright, you two? Sam and Jess are in the back, being harassed by some short guy who I think has a sugar addiction – and some sort of supermodel for a girlfriend."
"Harassed?" Dean asked, confused.
Castiel frowned. "My brother doesn't harass people, he is just – somewhat enthusiastic in his greetings. I agree, however, that he has a sugar addiction – that's the reason he decided to work in a sweet shop."
Ellen blinked at Castiel. "I was joking, sweetheart. Anyway, I have to get back to work, you can see yourselves through to the back. Call if you need anything."
Dean thanked Ellen before squeezing Castiel's hand and starting to walk towards the back. Castiel followed, still a little confused about how the comment about Gabriel harassing people could be a joke.
"Your brother doesn't sound much like you." Dean commented.
"He isn't." Castiel replied. "But you and Sam are not much alike either, from what I have seen."
Dean laughed. "True that."
They didn't get much further before a small figure leapt into Castiel, causing him to stagger backwards a pace and let go of Dean's hand. He instantly missed the warmth and comfort.
"Cassy-boy! Good to see you again!" Gabriel grinned up from his position plastered to Castiel's chest.
"It is nice to see you as well, Gabriel. Would you mind detaching yourself so that I can sit down?"
Gabriel laughed and released Castiel, before turning to Dean and giving him a once-over.
"Damn, Cassy-boy, you said he was hot, but this... how on Earth did you persuade him to date you?"
Castiel went red, while Dean raised his eyebrows and looked down at Gabriel with a wary expression.
"You must be Castiel's brother Gabriel." Dean eventually said, holding his hand out to shake.
Gabriel grinned, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. "And you must be Cassy-boy's boyfriend. Nice to meet you, Deano. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other." His eyes twinkled as he said that.
Dean didn't look very reassured as he dropped Gabriel's hand and stepped closer to Castiel.
"Right! While we're all doing introductions, may I introduce my girlfriend? Cassy-boy, Deano, this is Kali." Gabriel had an enormous smile on his face as he gestured to a woman sat at the table regarding the proceedings.
"Woah." Dean said, seemingly stunned into silence.
Castiel could instantly see that this woman was exactly Gabriel's type. She had a shock of brown, curly hair that was styled behind her back, a perfectly made up face with bright red lips and a tall, statuesque figure. She would make a very good model for Castiel to photograph some time, if she was willing – he could already envisage some very interesting shots. Possibly even with Dean – posing those two together would create a very interesting dynamic. Perhaps he should make the suggestion later on.
"It's lovely to meet you all." Kali's voice sounded almost bored, her tone suggesting that she wasn't entirely happy to be here. Her eyes flickered between Dean and Castiel and an expression that Castiel didn't quite understand came over her face.
Dean still hadn't moved, and Castiel noticed that he was still just staring at Kali in shock. A wave of jealousy came over him – Dean had never been that speechless around Castiel – and, somewhat roughly, he took Dean's hand again and pulled him to sit down at the table. Dean seemed to snap out of a trance and looked at Castiel almost apologetically as he sat down.
Sam and Jess were both sat at the table as well, and Jess greeted Castiel warmly as he sat down – Castiel felt slightly strange having a meal with his teacher. Sam, on the other hand, was staring at Dean almost accusingly, and something unspoken seemed to pass between them as Dean flushed and looked down at the table, saying nothing.
"Well, this is nice, isn't it!" Gabriel exclaimed as he sat down in the last chair and pecked Kali on the cheek. Kali smiled slightly – the expression seeming a little strange on her sculpted face – before returning to the look of blank indifference that was probably there nearly permanently.
Castiel didn't agree with Gabriel there – the atmosphere seemed quite stilted, like no-one really knew what to say.
"So, Cassy-boy, the art still going well?" Gabriel continued like he was immune to the awkwardness around him.
"Yes, I'm about halfway through my current project and I hope to be finished well before the deadline in four weeks time. I'm even considering trying some additional techniques as an experiment, should I have the time to do so. I will also be starting the research for the next project once Miss Moore releases more details about what it is."
"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Jess?" Jess interjected, smiling at Castiel. "From what you've allowed me to see, your project is coming along brilliantly – and I can assure you, there's no need to start your research early. Concentrate on finishing this one and then I'll announce the next project to everyone once enough people are done."
"Are you his teacher then?" Kali sounded confused.
Jess smiled. "Yes, I started teaching recently and I teach Castiel art up at the Academy. He's a very talented student."
Kali purses her lips. "I was under the impression that you were dating Sam."
Castiel had an idea of where this conversation was going, and he didn't like it.
Sam looked up from where he had been on his phone under the table. "Yes, Jess and I have been dating for a while now."
"But she is a teacher and you are a student?" Kali questioned.
Sam shrugged. "She's not my teacher, so that's not a problem. Besides, it's only a three-year age gap, because she's a genius and did all her exams early."
"I'm not a genius." Jess responded, but she grinned at Sam anyway.
"Yes you are." Sam grinned back and leaned in to give her a chaste kiss, before moving back but putting one arm around her shoulders.
Castiel was feeling seriously uncomfortable. He didn't really know how to feel about Kali – before, Gabriel had talked about her with such reverence and he had been glad that his brother was settling down, but she seemed to be quite shallow and judgemental and Castiel was worried for his brother. If this didn't work out it might put his brother off longer term relationships, but if it did work out it would put a lot of strain on Castiel and Gabriel's relationship – Castiel didn't particularly want to spend more time than was strictly necessary around this seemingly unpleasant woman, and he doubted Dean did either, given how she was acting towards his 'baby brother'.
"Well." Kali's voice was just a tad too sweet to be sincere. "Some people would question the appropriateness of that relationship, but there appear to be plenty of unorthodox relationships around here, so I suppose that's just the norm."
Castiel felt Dean tense beside him and turned, worried that Dean was about to do something stupid.
"Are you trying to mock me and Cas for bein' gay?" Dean asked, a hint of anger in his voice.
Kali simply raised her eyebrows, and Castiel could sense Dean's anger brewing.
"Dean, calm down." Castiel placed a soothing hand on Dean's shoulder.
"The hell am I calmin' down! First she started havin' a go at Sammy and Jess, now she's attacking us too..."
"Dean!" Castiel stared hard into Dean's eyes and watched as he seemed to sag, clearly still upset but no longer raging. Castiel sighed. This really wasn't going very well – he really wished that Kali hadn't had to be there.
Looking across, Castiel noticed that Gabriel and Kali were having a whispered discussion, both with frowns on their faces and not looking very happy. After a few moments, Gabriel forced a slight smile onto his face and pecked Kali on the cheek, before standing up politely as Kali got out of her chair and made to leave.
Once she was out of earshot, Gabriel sat down again and sighed. "I'm sorry about that, she's not normally like that – she's had a tough few days at work, and there's a lot of prejudice in her family that she grew up with that she has to work really hard to overcome. She'll come around. But hopefully we can move on and have a nice dinner now, yeah? This is supposed to be happy! We don't even have any chocolate or pie yet!"
Dean seemed to perk up t the mention of pie, and Castiel started to internally smile at how good his brother was at reading people.
"I like the way you think." Dean commented, making a sign to call a waiter over.
An hour later, Castiel found himself back at his apartment with Dean. Fortunately, the rest of the meal had gone much better than the first bit had – if you could call Gabriel and Dean bonding over a mutual love of tricks and pie then proceeding to prank everyone else 'better' – and they had all decided that this should be a more regular thing. Gabriel had also given Dean the 'seal of approval' to date Castiel – he wasn't entirely sure what had been said, but Dean had left that particular talk with Gabriel bright red and refusing to talk about anything. Given that his brother was involved, Castiel wasn't sure that he wanted to know.
"You were right, Cas. Your brother is pretty cool." Dean grinned as he flopped down on Castiel's sofa, perfectly relaxed after consuming at least three large slices of Roadhouse pie.
Castiel felt a momentary surge of insecurity and jealousy, but shoved it aside. Of course Dean liked his brother – but that was a good thing for their relationship, not something to make him jealous.
"Yes." Castiel moved over and sat down on the opposite end of the sofa to Dean. However, Dean clearly wasn't having that, and he shifted so that he was lying back with his head in Castiel's lap. Castiel tensed for a moment, confused, but then relaxed, reaching out to run a hand through Dean's short hair. Dean smiled at the touch and moved into it, and Castiel let out a short chuckle at how catlike Dean was with that movement.
"What?" Dean asked, turning to look up at Castiel, green eyes shining with warmth.
"It is cute how you enjoy having your hair stroked." Castiel replied with his usual seriousness.
Dean frowned. "I am not 'cute' Cas, I'm not a little girl."
"Are you sure about that?" Castiel teased, mimicking a phrase he'd heard Gabriel use.
A smirk made its way over Dean's face, and he suddenly sat up, pinning Castiel against the edge of the sofa. Castiel's breathing sped up, and he felt himself react to being pressed up against Dean, the warmth of Dean's body enveloping him in a way that was nearly suffocating.
"I can assure you there is nothing little or girly about me." Dean's voice was low and seductive, and his lips were only millimetres away from Castiel's own. "Would you like me to prove it?"
Castiel's mind was short-circuiting, and he couldn't do anything but sit there helplessly. He could have thrown Dean off if he'd wanted, he'd had enough martial arts training, but in a way he liked this – he was both terrified and thrilled at the same time, and he had no idea whether he wanted to move closer or pull away.
Fortunately, the dilemma was solved for him when Dean smiled and moved back, still facing Castiel but allowing him room to breathe.
"Sorry. I forget sometimes that you're not used to this." Dean looked awkward, like he was worried he'd done something wrong, and Castiel smiled at how caring he was, moving forwards to place a kiss on Dean's cheek.
"It's fine, Dean. You do not need to worry. The situation was not... unpleasant."
A massive grin spread across Dean's face. "Really? You were ok with that?"
Castiel nodded slowly.
Dean continued to smile and moved forward again, more slowly this time, allowing Castiel to adjust as he braced himself above him, close enough to smell the exquisite scent that was uniquely Dean, but not so close that they were touching. Castiel moved his arms up to Dean's sides, closing the gap between them, and in response Dean moved his head down towards Castiel's, grazing his lips along Castiel's jawline and pausing at his ear. Castiel felt his breath hitch, and gripped onto Dean's sides slightly tighter, needing something to ground him as he felt his mind start to float again.
"Good," Dean whispered softly, before gently nipping at Castiel's earlobe, causing him to close his eyes and tilt his head back. The sensations were almost too much – this was different to everything that had happened between them before, more suggestive and intimate, and even if it was a lot to cope with, Castiel had already decided that he liked it.
Dean moved his mouth away from Castiel's ear and Castiel frowned, opening his eyes again, before Dean surged forwards with more passion than he ever had before and claimed Castiel's lips.
I'm ending it there. Sorry! I might put the end of this in the next chapter... but I'm afraid there's not going to be any smut, this is a T rated story. Plus, I'm not sure Castiel is quite ready for that sort of thing yet. Please leave a review of what you thought, and I promise I really will try and update more quickly – life is getting seriously hectic at the moment, and I'm spending a lot of time dealing with everything that's going on, but I love this story so I can assure you it will mever be abandoned or forgotten!