Prompt #2: To See You Smile

ANL This is a prompt fill. Got an Ask over on Tumblr for I'd love to see Dean casually flirting with Cas, thinking the angel won't realise that he actually has a huge gay love for him, but Cas is smarter and more observant than he'd anticipated and he calls Dean out on it quickly :) Basically Dean shitting his pants cause his crush might become aware of his feelings before he can really make sense of them~".

It was a small thing, this new impulse. Not a big deal, it was just a new quirk Dean had developed since Cas became human and moved permanently into the Batcave with them.

He liked to touch Cas. To have that physical reminder that, yes, Cas was really alive and there, and when the shit hit the fan, for once, they had all survived. That despite Cas' original plans to leave and return to Heaven to make up for his past mistakes, he had ended up being able to remain by Dean's side.

It was almost compulsive, really. He'd barely touch the angel's back as he moved past him in the library, a light enough touch it could be excused as just letting the other man know, 'hey, don't back up and don't startle, I'm right here' as he moved by.

He would nudge him when it was their turn to wash dishes, elbow gently prodding to gain angel's attention. When Cas looked up, Dean would grin and flick suds at him, then laugh at the other man's startled expression. Laugh at blue eyes nearly crossing to look at the white bubbles on his nose.

When they began training Cas in gun control, Dean found himself often grinning and giving the angel's back a clap, fingers squeezing his shoulder before unwillingly letting his hand fall away.

Sometimes Castiel just looked at him in confusion, blue eyes considering Dean like he was a puzzle the former angel was trying to flesh out. Other times, they'd share a secret smile, the faintest of smirks pulling at the side of Cas' mouth.

He'd never admit it except in the privacy of his own head, but every time Cas smiled, Dean's chest tightened in absolute affection. Maybe it was because his friend didn't do it often, but nothing made Dean's day better than being able to make the other man smile.

Sometimes just an innocent touch was impossibly hard to keep innocent, it was a struggle for Dean to keep his distance, to remain platonic, when everything about the angel seemed to draw him in, made him want to push a little bit further and see how the angel would react, how he would be received with touches that lingered too long, if he intentionally invaded the angel's personal space, if he made what he was thinking known without saying it.

He didn't, of course, for countless reasons. There were always reasons why he couldn't act on the… whatever that was between them, that had to be between them. Or maybe it was something that had once been between them and wasn't any longer, because Cas had never attempted to act on it, either, perhaps didn't feel whatever it was Dean felt and was completely unwilling to put a name to.

It was there for Dean though, and it wasn't going away, any time soon or ever.

Maybe he was making excuses, and that was why he was not coming out right and addressing what was between them with Cas, couldn't just say, 'Hey, I want more than what we have now, and it's new and it's scary, but I could love you forever'. Not that he was saying he loved Castiel in anything other than a familial way, he wasn't, because they were friends and Cas had been through too much recently for Dean to do something as selfish as thrusting his own wants and desires on a man who's whole world had been tipped on it's ear recently.

Dean contented himself with the not entirely necessary touching and fond teasing, which occasionally earned him a pointed look from Sam. It was a look that said 'I know exactly what you are up to and you aren't fooling anyone, so knock it off already', except Sam clearly lived in a fantasy land, because there was nothing going on for Sam to see through. Nothing at all.

Okay, so maybe his words or actions could possibly seen as flirtatious, not that he was saying they were, because he wasn't, but they might could be seen that way. It didn't mean anything. And it was his teasing that more often than not coaxed a shadow of a smile from Cas and chased the haunted look from his eyes, and neither Dean or Sam were putting a stop to anything that could do that.

The problem became that it was far too easy to be comfortable around Cas, to lean into him and whisper a joke, to bump shoulders as they worked side-by-side, to reach across the space between them and make contact, to tease him in a way that might be misconstrued as flirting, which he most definitely was not doing.

"We will need to get past the receptionist and into the room where they store their records and other files," Cas stated, looking at a blueprint of the building they were planning to infiltrate the next day. He frowned and pulled a file closer to him on the table while Dean continued replacing books they had pulled out for research. "It would be easier if we could just break in at night."

"Except their security and night watchman makes that impossible," pointed out Dean, shelving another book before grinning at Cas. "It's your job to keep the receptionist distracted while Sam and I sneak past."

The brunette looked at him, twisting around in his chair. "I do not understand why I am the distraction. Your people skills are much better than mine."

Dean winked- in a strictly platonic manner. "Ah, but that's why you're on this team, Cas, you balance us out: you're pretty face and ridiculous blue eyes to my brawn and Sam's brain. Just flash her that smile of yours and she'll be completely incapable of noticing anything else in the world," he said grinning and putting another book away.

The other man's eyes narrowed on him, before a slow smile made it's way onto his features, smug and teasing in one. "Dean Winchester," he drawled, sounding fond and amused, making the blond hunter look at him in question. "Are you flirting with me?"

A deep blush blossomed on the other man's face and he scoffed, "What? No!" He looked quickly away, absorbed with making sure the books were correctly alphabetized. What comes after 'e'? Oh, right. 'F' for 'fucked'. "That would be-"

"Perfectly acceptable," Cas stated from right by his elbow, making Dean jump in surprise and whirl around, back hitting the bookcase hard. The angel had his head angled to the side, eyes studying Dean's features while the hunter's heart slammed painfully against his ribcage. "I do not understand why this between us is the one thing you decide to dance around rather than being straight forward about, as if there is any outcome possible other than the obvious."

Dean could barely hear him over the mantra of panic in his own head. "This between us?" he echoed, light-headed with panic and the need to escape because there was no way this could end well, and he would still have to live with Cas when his carelessness blew up in his face. "What obvious outcome?"

Cas didn't answer verbally, but reached one hand up, curling it around the back of Dean's neck as he stepped closer, almost right up against Dean, and pulled the hunter in for a kiss, just a simple press of their mouths together. Distantly, Dean heard the book he'd still been holding hit the ground. Cas pulled away just a fraction, gaze flicking over Dean's face as the hunter stared at him with wide, shocked eyes.

Then with an almost pained groan, Dean surged forward, crushing their mouths together again, kissing Cas with everything he had, and getting just as much enthusiasm in return, Castiel gripping the front of Dean's shirt while the hunter snaked his arms around the shorter man's waist and pulled him flush up against him, earning a sound from Cas that did so many things to Dean, things he doesn't act on, happy to just make out with Cas in the stacks like teenagers and revel in the impossibility of it, to have everything he never thought he could have, right there in his arms.

Sam came in at one point, completely unnoticed, did a double-take when he saw them, and had quickly pivoted and fled the room, grabbing Kevin by the elbow before the prophet could go into the library.

"Let's go read in the kitchen. Change of scenery," he insisted.

"But we just came from the kitchen," protested the younger man.

Sam just dragged him along behind him while the pair in the library remained blissfully unaware, hidden amongst the books and kissing, completely and utterly lost in their own world.

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