You're Cute (but kind of an asshole) [Destiel AU]

Bit of an Asshole

-Tuesday-

Swivelling on a bar stool Castiel happily sipped his beer. Dean stood in the kitchen opposite him, grinning as he looked over a recipe book; an anniversary gift that had barely been touched let alone used. Soft tunes made up the sounds in the background, the afternoon sunlight streamed through the windows.

"It's about time we used this thing," Dean mentioned, referring to the cookbook in his hands. He placed it on the bench at an angle so Cas could also see. "Starting to get sick of the only three meals we can make between us."

Nodding, Castiel leant over and began to flip through the pages. "That's what it's for," he grinned. "Let's hope they're easy, we're not exactly experts...Oh, how about this? Beef Nachos-"

"Wait, go back a few," Dean interrupted, flicking the thick paper to get the page he'd seen. He stopped and pointed a finger at it, eyes practically glowing at the image. "There. Chicken Spinach Pie. Pie, Cas."

Doubts crept into Castiel's mind, but he held his smile. "Really? I mean, nachos seem fairly simple, and I don't even know if we have pastry, or- or a pie tin, how would we-"

Before he could finish expressing his concerns the unmistakable shrill of the doorbell rang throughout the flat. The two of them exchanged a quizzical look confirming that neither of the pair was expecting anyone to visit. Castiel put his beer down and followed Dean to the front door, hesitantly hanging behind by a few steps.

Dean had barely turned the handle when a man walked in, shoulders back and confident, a large grin on his face. He wore only a plain black shirt and tight fitting jeans, a little more than stubble growing upon his chin. His eyes widened as his own met Cas'.

"Cassie!" he exclaimed, arms widening as he made a beeline straight towards him, dodging around Dean. His accent was as strong as ever. Time certainly hadn't made it fade away.

"Balthazar! How nice of you to visit...this is unexpected." Castiel awkwardly accepted his hug while Dean closed the door behind him with his eyebrows raised, intensely staring at Cas. Castiel returned the stare, giving a pleading look that said 'I had nothing to do with this, but we can't just kick him out'.

Dean closed his eyes and sighed as Balthazar released his friend, the guest looking around the room with wide eyes as he took everything in. "Balthazar," Dean tried, walking through to the kitchen. "We were just deciding on dinner... would you, uh, like to stay?"

Balthazar spun on the spot to face Dean, smile wide in astonishment. "Why I would love to, thank you Dean!" He hurried over to the kitchen and plonked himself onto a bar stool, swivelling just as Cas had done. His eyes must have caught sight of the beer, because he suddenly stopped spinning, becoming serious. 

"I hope I'm not interrupting any celebrations, I'm only stopping by to say hi and... check something out, but if I'm intruding i'll leave of course." Dean looked like he was about to say something, but Cas got there first. 

"We wouldn't have invited you to stay if you weren't welcome. Here, I'll get another beer for you from the fridge in the other room...they don't fit in the kitchen one. Dean? Do you want one?"

Dean shook his head regrettably and Castiel hurried off leaving the two of them alone. Balthazar raised an eyebrow at Dean, probably questioning his decision. 

"I uh, I'm trying to go alcohol free for a month, just started tod-"

"I don't care." Balthazar interrupted, leaning an elbow on the bench and gesturing towards Dean.

"Excuse me? Wh-"

"Have you kept your promise?" Balthazar's voice was stern, like a father or teacher telling off a child. His expression was stone, no hint of joking behind it.

"My- My promise?" Dean stuttered, nervously playing with the edge of the cookbook in front of him. His fingers flicked at the corner like a flip book.

"Your promise to love Cas, remember when we first met? I don't have all day, Cas will be back shortly." He sounded irritated that Dean was taking so long to respond to him, not understanding what he meant straight away.

Dean screwed up his eyebrows at Balthazar, feeling his face heat up. 

"Is that why you're here? To ask if I still love Cas? What the hell man, even if I didn't that's none of your business, but of course I love Cas, I love him with everything I have and wish to God I had more to give him than that. He deserves so much and I love him which I hope gives him an idea of half of what he deserves. How dare you turn up unexpected and question my feelings towards Cas? What gives you the-"

"Dean, Dean I'm sorry, but shhh." He pointed to where the sound footsteps were coming from.

Castiel came back into the room holding two bottles in one hand. Dean was glowering over Balthazar, frustrated that he had to keep his mouth shut, while Balthazar was acting as if nothing had happened, spinning on his chair and greeting Cas with a smile.

"Thank you! This is a treat." He grinned, using Castiel's opened bottle to open his own beer once handed to him. Castiel sat down next to him, placing the extra beer on the bench. It was silent aside from the music still sounding in the background, Dean eyed up the beer bottle longingly while Cas pursed his lips, uncomfortable.

"So what'd you decide on for dinner?" Balthazar clapped his hands together excitedly. There was a pause and then-

"Pie."

"Nachos."

Dean and Cas stared at each other.

"Dean, I already said, I don't think we have pastry or a pie tin, I don't even think have spinach." Cas reasoned. Dean didn't seem to be listening.

"I can go to the shop and pick some up, and I'm sure we have a pie tin. Didn't Mrs Tran leave one over a month or so ago when her and Kevin came for dinner? C'mon Cas it's pie. Don't deny me of my pie."

Cas was starting to get irritated, fiddling with his beer bottle as he kept his composure. "I guess, but you don't need to go all the way to the shop when we have all the ingredients for nachos right here! We bought those chips yesterday remember? And I think there's some mince in the fridge.. it'll be so much easier.."

Dean walked rather heavily footed over to the freezer, opening to look for something. He closed it with an extra hard push before opening a cupboard above the sink, rummaging through the pots and pans in there.

"Dean..."

"We have pastry. There's some in the freezer. I'm looking for Mrs Tran's tin," he said without emotion. Balthazar sipped his drink silently, not getting involved. Castiel slowly got up, heart pumping as his ears turned red, moving to look the the recipe book. Why was Dean being so stubborn? Cas thought he was being perfectly reasonable.

"C'mon babe, look nachos take 30 minutes in all, a pie takes at least over an hour-"

"Aha!" Dean exclaimed, pulling a round metal tin from the shelf, ignoring Castiel. "Pie it is then!"

"Dean, you're not even listening to me." Castiel didn't yell, but he had certainly raised his voice, anger threatening to seep into his words. "Why can't we just have nachos?"

Dean matched his tone of voice. "Well why can't we just have pie?" There was a nasty snarl to his voice that made Castiel back down. Their arguments always got heated, but whenever Dean started to sound like this Castiel tried to drop it. He didn't want Dean to be mad at him, and for what reason too? Over what to cook for dinner?

"It's just- It just makes more sense-"

"Of course it does," Dean snarled again, not sensing that Cas was trying to calm the argument before it turned worse. "Of course it does, anything except what Dean wants, right? First the shows we watch now this. You can have your nachos, I'm still going out to buy spinach for another night and cool off. Maybe you'll actually agree on something with me and I can have a stupid pie for dinner."

Castiel was stunned into silence, Balthazar the same. Castiel didn't move when Dean made a reach for the keys to his car and pushed past Castiel, brushing shoulders. He didn't move when he heard the door slam in the other room. He didn't even turn when Balthazar spoke.

"He's still a bit of an asshole isn't he?"