Coffee & Cars [on hiatus]

Castiel | Chapter 11

"Please? Cassie, Dean will be there!" Gabriel begged his brother.

Castiel rolled his eyes at his brother's antics. He didn't want to go and that was it, "I already said no. No means no."

Gabriel gave a groan, "buzz kill."

Castiel internally winced, how little did his brother know. "I'm not going, that's finally."

•••

"Come on in, bitches!" Charlie greeted. She had short red hair and a smile that stretched across her face.

What a first impression. Castiel reluctantly followed his brother into what was supposedly Charlie's house. It appeared way to large for a single person to own, but what did Castiel know? He lived with his brother in a cramped two bedroom apartment, well, technically two brothers right now.

After removing his shoes, despite Charlie's protests, the three of them entered the living room. Castiel couldn't help but feel nervous when he spotted the two Winchesters sprawled out on the couch. Gabriel dive bombed Sam, where as Castiel hesitated in the doorway.

"Come on, Cas! Sit down." Dean patted the small space between himself and his brother, who was currently dealing with a needy Gabriel.

The awkward air that had been there last time they talked seemed to melt with those words. Castiel moved to join them but caught sight of Dean's neck which had tan bandages around it.

"Dean, what happened!?" Castiel asked, eyes fixed on the bandages.

"Huh?"

"The bandages," Castiel explained.

Dean reached up the touch the bandages as if he'd forgotten about them, "oh, this? I just go in a bit of a tight spot, nothing too big."

Gabriel snorted, "you got jumped, you ass, don't lie to my brother when he's worried about you."

Castiel looked at his brother, then Dean, searching for answers.

"I was drunk, it won't happen again, so don't worry your pretty little face about it," Dean said.

Castiel felt his face heat up and he promptly sat down as far from Dean as he could on the small couch with two other well-built men.

"Oooo? Am I sensing sexual tension?" Charlie asked.

"Drop it Charlie. I'm dating someone, you know the rules," Dean chastised.

Castiel had no idea what that meant and didn't think he wanted to. He felt the sting of Dean's words, he had to stop these feeling, and soon, other wise he'd have another high school situation on his hands.

•••

Less than a half an hour into the movie the five of them ran out of popcorn. Castiel, being the amazing friend and brother he is, offered to go make more as Sam and Gabriel looked like they were comfortable draped over each other and Charlie looked like she'd found her place in the world wrapped in her fluffy blanket snuggled into her armchair by herself.

He was leaning against the counter waiting for the popcorn to finish cooking while scrolling through his Instagram. Yes, Castiel, the weird high school teacher, had an Instagram. He found it strange himself. Mostly it was just bee facts and random pictures he'd taken of nature, but here and there were the real gems, pictures of his baking. He had recently become infatuated with an Instagram that was just pictures of different baked treats, pie being the main dish baked. The user's name was 'pielover67' and they made some of the most amazing looking pies Castiel had ever seen. They had recently posted a picture of a stack of syrup drizzled pancakes that Castiel would've died for. He was just double clicking when the clearing of a throat caused him to jerk his head up and drop his phone.

"Oh, sorry man! I didn't mean to startle you!" Dean said as he scrambled to bend over, showing off his flexibility, and pick up Castiel's phone. "It's just, that  Sammy and your brother were mere seconds away from making out and Charlie was too enthralled with the movie the notice so I came in here to escape."

Castiel couldn't help but blush, there was a man with his butt in the air right in front of him. A man he may or may not like a lot and have been rejected by. Castiel cringed at his own thoughts as Dean straitened up.

"Here you-" Dean glanced at the phone as he handed it over, "oh."

"What?!" Castiel snapped and immediately regretted it.

Dean looked slightly takin aback, "just this," he pointed at the screen, "is my Instagram for the coffee shop."

Castiel felt his jaw go slack, no way. Right before he could gather his wits to reply, the beeping of the microwave cut though the air, causing a smarting throughout Castiel's head. He grimaced before rushing over to the microwave to retrieve the popcorn. He bounced the bag's edges between his hands before dropping it on the counter next to the empty bowl. He grabbed another bag and stuck it into the microwave before turning back to Dean.

"I had no idea."

"Yeah, the name doesn't really give it away. Sam has tried to get me to rename it and turn it into the official Insta page for our store, but I like posting foods I make at home as well as the ones at the store."

"So...you bake all the food at the store?"

"No, no! I just do some of it. I perfected the recipes at home and bring them to Sammy who says yay or nay to them. If he agrees Charlie and our other workers will try them out and try making them themselves for the store. We sell them for a bit see how they do and keep around ones that get really popular. I definitely don't do all the cooking. I have two jobs after all, that would be an overwhelming amount of work," Dean explained.

Dean had two jobs?

Castiel nodded, "but you like to bake, right?"

"I love to bake. Lisa doesn't like it much, something about the man being the better in the kitchen is wrong  to her or something, but she'll have to get use to it."

So her name was Lisa. There was a twist in Castiel's gut just thinking about this faceless woman Dean was so in love with.

There was an awkward pause in their conversation and Castiel found himself looking into Dean's eyes. They were such a beautiful shade of green, like a forest, not a dull group of trees in Kansas but an actual thick forest like the ones from the Lord Of The Rings. He could feel himself being drawn in by the enchanting hue. He was leaning forward. And so was Dean. Suddenly the other man jerked away, clearing his throat.

"So..."

"So," Castiel repeated.

"So."

"So."

"So."

"So."

"So," Dean erupted into laughter.

Castiel joined in, and soon the two of them were on the floor in tears from laughter.

Dean caught his breath, "wow. I haven't laughed like that since... since I don't know when."

"I've never laughed like that," Castiel replied.

It was true, he rarely laughed, and when he did it was less that an snort. Occasionally Gabriel or Meg could get an actual full blown laugh out of him but even that had become less in the past few years of his life. It was such a silly thing to laugh at but something else had helped the mirth erupt from him. Something about Dean's prescience.

Dean shook his head, "we'll have to change that."

Castiel silently agreed. If laughter was the way to Dean's hart then Castiel would laugh his way to Hell and back.

After the two of them finished cooking the popcorn they went back to the living room and finished the movie. There weren't many more eventful moments that night. The two of them sat closer than new friends should sit, and Charlie sent them multiple side glances, but the night remained uneventful. When Castiel returned home with Gabriel he wasn't too surprised to see the new notification that pielover67 had followed him back.

~~~~~~~~~