"There's a little place near here

I like to go and see the sky is clear.

Well you can come with me and tell me that I am the only one you don't fear."

-Mr. Polite, The Jungle Giants

Over the years, they'd been on their fair share of dates. Anywhere they could go that didn't involve their stale, dirty motel room or anything of the exclusively evil persuasion. Dean wasn't exactly what you'd call smooth. He played it confident but most of the time with Cas he was nervous as hell. Which Cas thought was adorable.

One time they'd driven out to a lake about an hour from their current case and just sat on the hood of the car. It was dark and perfect, stars glinting off the water. Dean had run around the car to open Cas's door for him. This suave little move led to Dean tripping twice, falling on his ass once, and smacking his head painfully on the Impala's door. Cas had utterly failed at avoiding laughing.

There was the time, the first time Dean had ever cooked anything for Cas, at the bunker. He had been preparing fajitas, which Cas was aware of as a concept but had never personally tasted. Sam had been sent to study at the library for the night. Dean managed to set fire to two dishrags and, in putting the flames out, smashed multiple plates to pieces on the floor. The broken shards were surrounded by sour cream, lettuce, cheese, and red peppers, which Cas thought smelled amazing, at the very least.

Cas had laughed then, too, though not as hard as Sam did when the story was related to him.

Cas's favorite, though, would always be their first date, back in 2009 when the world was all falling apart but Dean still took time to take Cas out to dinner. As Cas was told, the date idea had been Sam's…

"Dean, just take the guy out for dinner," Sam shouted, throwing his arms out to the sides. Dean moved slowly, turning off the TV and standing to look at his brother.

"What?" he asked, his voice sounding strangled.

"Look, just take Cas out to dinner like a normal person and stop sneaking around like you fucking an angel is an international secret." Dean's eyes bulged. He couldn't quite move. Or form coherent thoughts.

"What?" he repeated, his voice higher than before. Sam rolled his eyes, pulled off a suitably bitchy expression, and walked up to Dean, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I know about you and Cas. Dean, the whole world knows about you and Cas. Take him to dinner and get over your weird freak out. Alright?" Dean swallowed and nodded. Sam smiled. Then things got interesting.

It took Dean a full 15 minutes of stumbled conversation for Cas to understand what he was asking. The angel squinted up his eyes.

"You want to go out to eat with me? As part of a romantic exercise?" he asked. Dean's body collapsed on itself.

"You don't want to," he said, like it was a fact he was confirming.

"On the contrary," Cas said and stood up from where he had been sitting on the edge of the bed. He got up in Dean's personal space, still stiff as a board because he really hadn't learned to chill out yet. "I would very much enjoy it."

So they went out to dinner. First Dean tried to get a nice reservation, which failed. Dean blamed the 'walking, wallet-shaped douchebags' for that failure. Cas never did get the full story.

Then there was the diner, covered in red vinyl and that faux-50s aesthetic so many of them shared. Cas had removed the trenchcoat at Dean's request. It was going well, as far as Cas could tell, although Dean was twitchy. Their waiter was a boy of about 15 in a white uniform with an apron and a pocket that had Dina's Diner stitched on in red thread.

Their food came, still no incident, although it was very quiet. Dean didn't seem to know what to talk about. He munched on his burger in huge bites as Cas considered him.

"Dean," he began. Dean looked up at him, mouth still full of burger. A bit of lettuce fell out and back onto his plate. "Why did you invite me to dinner when I don't consume food?" Cas meant it as more of a general I-still-don't-get-humans kind of question, but Dean didn't quite take it that way. He swallowed thickly, all at once, and looked down.

"If you didn't want to come, you should have just been straight with me," he said. Cas attempted to correct him.

"Dean-"

"You know what? Fine! Let's leave!" Dean stood abruptly, knocking into a waitress and sending her tumbling, along with her tray of food.

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry," Dean leaned over to help her up and tripped over his chair, which landed him on top of the overturned waitress, who cried out pitifully.

"Hey, get off of her!" Someone shouted. Then it got a bit hard to follow.

There was yelling, people splattered with food, and a few punches thrown. Ultimately, it ended with Dean and Cas out on the corner in front of the diner, both permanently banned from any future entry.

"You can leave now. If you want," Dean said, stiff. He kicked an invisible rock from the concrete.

"I don't," Cas said. Dean looked at him. "Want to leave, that is. I would like to stay with you."

"Really? Even after I totally fucked up dinner?"

"That man should not have hit you," Cas said, overly serious. "Also, their fries were terrible, which wasn't your fault at all." Dean chuckled a bit at that, which cheered Cas. They were both silent for a while until a waiter from the diner went to the window to glare at them fiercely.

"Let's split," Dean muttered. They both wandered away from the diner, but not towards the Impala. They just wandered.

"So, what do you want to do then, Chuckles?" Dean asked. Cas considered the darkened street before them. Little shops were still open here and there, their lighted windows splattering a yellow glow down the whole road.

"Perhaps… we could just walk together?" Cas asked, cautious. A half-there smile flickered across Dean's lips.

"Yeah, ok. Let's just walk." And they did. Down one street, onto the next, and on and on. They talked. Cas got Dean to laugh loudly once or twice, and Dean nudged more than one smile onto Cas's face. And through it all, Cas occasionally glanced down, just to catch sight of their hands linked together.

That would always be his favorite date of theirs. Although the carnival one was a great story too...

AN: Don't be afraid to leave a comment of hit the little "favorite" button up there so I know it's cool to keep going. Thanks for reading!