Of all the places he thought he would bring Sammy after the park, bringing him on a date hadn't crossed his mind. Well, it isn't exactly a date. It's more of a friendly outing at a restaurant with a complete stranger.
Crap.
The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes it's more of a blind date.
As Dean sits beside Sammy in their booth, his palms start to sweat as he skims the menu. Everything on the menu seems to remind him of Cas, which makes absolutely no sense. He notices the chicken alfredo and thinks I wonder if Cas likes chicken alfredo. He sees that the chef recommends the shrimp and instantly thinks but what if he's allergic to shrimp? Heck, he even sees apple pie, his favorite food in the world and the first thought to grace his mind is I should ask Cas what his favorite kind of pie is.
It's starting to get ridiculous. Feeling defeated, he reaches for the kiddie menu to order for Sammy.
"So Sammy," Dean says, trying to sound casual and as if he's not freaking out, "Want some chicken fingers?"
Sam glares at Dean, actually glares and there's no way Dean can take him seriously. Stern faces on two-year-old bodies are just so freakin' cute that a laugh escapes Dean. The laugh, Cas notices, is so pure that it's like music to his ears. He makes note to do more things in the future to hear that laugh again.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh nothin'. Just Sammy being the little snob he is. What kind of normal toddler hates chicken fingers? I swear all this kid will eat is mac and cheese or a salad." At the mention of his favorite foods, Sammy's face lights up and he starts bouncing up and down in his seat, forcing another laugh out of Dean. A smile of adoration crosses Cas' face as he watches the two brothers interact. Dean looks at him and returns the smile, thus, enacting another one of their staring contests.
"So," Dean says, breaking the silence, "What are you gonna get for Gabe?" At the mention of his name, Gabe looks up from the picture he was dutifully coloring in and looks at Cas, as if awaiting some sort of treat.
"He'll probably just have the chicken fingers," Cas says while he looks down at his brother and ruffles his silky, light brown hair, "And I think I'll go with a bacon cheeseburger. What about you?"
Dean, who realizes that he has been watching Castiel for an unnecessary amount of time, looks away from him and back to his menu.
"A bacon cheeseburger sounds good. I think I'll go with that." Dean says, still scrolling his eyes up and down the menu. "I also think I'll get a slice of their apple pie for... scientific reasons."
This catches Castiel's attention and he looks at Dean. "Scientific reasons?" Cas says between chuckles, "I didn't know you were a "scientist"."
Dean's face becomes a light shade of pink as he says "By that I mean I want to compare and contrast this piece of pie with pies from other restaurants. It's like an experiment, in a way." By now Castiel's small chuckles have evolved into full blown laughter and Dean finds it incredibly contagious. He can't help but laugh along. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees people staring at them as if they're crazy, but neither of them care in the slightest. Dean swears that Castiel's rich laughter is nothing short of angelic music and looks forward to hearing it more.
Their laughter is interrupted when their waitress comes over to their table, pen and notepad in hand. Her long, sandy blonde hair runs past her shoulders and spills over her pristine, pure white blouse. "Hi," she says in a slight southern accent, "My name is Jo and I will be your server for this evening. What may I get you boys?" Dean lets Cas say his and Gabe's orders first, and then he says his and Sam's order. "Nice choice with the apple pie," she says to Dean, "It's absolutely delicious and extremely popular this week."
"I sure hope so," Dean says, then looks towards Cas who, of course, meets his gaze. "For science." His lame reference to his even lamer joke from earlier earns him a quizzical look from Jo and another one of those genuine smiles from Cas. As Jo disappears to go fulfill their order, the two of them continue to stare. Any onlooker would think that they are either communicating with each other telepathically, or hopelessly in love and constantly lost in each other's eyes. Hey, maybe even both.
Dean is forced to advert his gaze when he feels his leg vibrate. He reaches into his pocket to see who's calling and frowns when he realizes who it is.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothin'. Just my dad calling," Dean says as he flips open his phone. "Yeah dad?" Cas tries to not pay attention to his friend's phone call for privacy reasons, but he can't help but notice the series of different emotions that flash across Dean's face as his dad talks. He watches his expression go from smiling to confused to borderline panic and he can't help but feel helpless and concerned. Dean is not saying anything during the conversation, so he can only guess what it's about.
"Dad no! Please... stop I'll do anything! Please I'm sorry..." Cas can't be sure, but he swears he can see tears forming in Dean's eyes before he tries to hide his face. By now Sam is even showing some sympathy as he watches his brother, however, Gabriel remains undeterred.
"Fine! We're on our way," Dean says before he hangs up. He does a quick sniffle and shoves his phone into his pocket, but the water works Cas was sure he saw are no where to be found.
Before either of them can say anything, Jo comes back with a tray full of their food and starts to pass the plates out to their designated consumer. "Do you think we can get the doggy bags and check please as soon as possible? Thanks hon."
Cas tilts his head and gives Dean that perplexed look again and it physically pains his chest to see him look so hurt. His crappy day has definitely made a turn for the worst. "I'm sorry man," Dean starts, and then has to look out the window to avoid Cas' too blue eyes, "But that was my dad on the phone and he' freakin' ticked that I didn't tell him me and Sammy were leaving, and that we took the keys and now he's threatening to smash the windows on my baby if I don't get back immediately and-"
"Dean," Cas interrupts, "It's ok."
Dean takes the moment to wipe the tears that have started flowing freely off of his cheeks. He curses himself for crying in front of this dude he's just met, and after all the trouble he's went through to try to make a good first impression the guy probably thinks he's a big, blubbering baby and-
"Do you want to talk about it?" says Cas, successfully dragging Dean out of his over-thinking.
Dean tries to regulate his breathing for a few seconds, and then he proceeds to try and tell Cas his story. He tells Cas about how alcoholic his dad is and how excited he was at first when his dad told him that he was active today. Then he told him about how his dad wanted to get the keys so that he could try driving sober for once and how he was enraged to find that the keys were gone but it's not like it's Dean's fault that they needed the keys to get back into the house and their stupid household only has one set of keys!
Never in his life had Dean been so open to someone, let alone someone he just friggin' met. The words poured out of him, gaining looks of intrigument, sympathy, and, possibly protectiveness out of Cas. He felt as though the more he let Cas know about himself, the better he felt.
By the time he finished talking, most of their food was gone and the bill was paid, and that's when Dean remembered how he needed to be at his house like now.
"Crap!" he cries as he checks the time and jumps out of his seat, earning him a few 'what the heck' looks from other customers. Honestly, at this point he finds it astonishing that they aren't banned for life from all the public disturbances and Sam and Gabe's mini food fight. Quickly, he pours his and Sam's food into a doggy bag and picks up Sam. Cas simultaneously does the same thing, but with Gabe. They are both up and ready to go, but neither one of them has the slightest idea of how they should part ways.
Dean knows two things for sure at this point. The first being that he absolutely wants to meet up with Cas again, but asking for his number seems too awkward and girly for his taste. Second, he needs to get home freakin' now.
Without interrupting their staring contest, Dean says, very casually I might add, "So... wanna see my crib?"
The last time he checked, being invited to someone's house generally meant that you were friends with that person. This is the first person Cas has made friends with since he moved into the neighborhood and he has to do everything in his will power to not jump for joy. So instead, he let's a simple smile and head nod do the trick.