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As horrible as it made him sound every time he thought it, Castiel's favorite part about his job as an EMT was when he arrived on the scene and the people from the fire department were already there. Mind you, it had nothing to do with the fire department itself. Quite often if they were there too, something pretty bad had happened, in fact. No, it was entirely because of one specific firefighter: Dean Winchester.
Castiel was man enough to admit that he had a really big crush on the other man. He just wasn't man enough to ask him out. And it was entirely lack of courage on Castiel's part, too, because Dean was as far out of the bisexual closet as you can get, so he knew the handsome firefighter wouldn't turn him down just because of his gender. No, he just couldn't psych himself up enough to ask.
“You're staring again,” Balthazar stage whispered to Castiel, jolting the man out of his thoughts.
For the first time since Castiel had started this job almost two years ago, he and Dean were both at the same spot while on the clock without it being an emergency, and the EMT had been taking advantage of the prime staring and internal drooling opportunity. The town was having its annual health and safety fair, and Castiel had been commandeered to run the booth this time around, showing people the inside of the ambulance and explaining how everything was used while his friend and coworker Balthazar manned the booth itself, talking to people who had questions and giving out pamphlets. There’d been a lull at their booth for the past few minutes, and Castiel couldn’t resist watch Dean at the fire department’s booth, playing with the children while still teaching them about fire safety. Dean looked up and spotted him staring, but thankfully only smiled and waved. Castiel blushed and hoped that Dean couldn’t tell from so far away as he waved back.
“You should ask him out,” Balthazar said, nudging him somewhat roughly in the rib cage. If Castiel had a dollar for every time somebody had told him that about Dean, he could buy a whole fleet of ambulances by now.
“You know I can’t, Balthazar,” Castiel sighed out. He tried to ignore the little voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like his brother Gabriel, making clucking noises like a chicken.
“Wrong word, Cassie. It’s not ‘can’t’, it’s ‘won’t’. Now get the hell over there and ask your dream guy out already before I do it for you,” Balthazar said, sounding a little bitchy in his exasperation. “All that puppy love pining is making me feel like I’m going to be sick.” He pushed a protesting Castiel off towards the fire department booth. “Now go, before I have to waste my valuable time coming up with a fiendishly clever yet embarrassing plan to get you laid already.”
Castiel knew from far too much experience that Balthazar would do exactly that, so he slowly made his way down the lane to the spot where the fire truck was set up.
“Heya, Cas,” Dean said as soon as Castiel walked up. The latest batch of children had just run off, and it looked like Dean was about to be hit with the same lull that had taken over their booth earlier.
“Hello, Dean,” Castiel responded nervously.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Dean teased, leaning on the table that was set up with the same kind of pamphlets that was at Castiel’s booth. “What’s a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?” Castiel knew that Dean was probably only joking, because he considered them friends, but he still had to hold in his squeak when Dean followed the pick up line with a wink.
Jokes. He could do jokes, right? “Was that a flirtation, Dean?” He attempted, trying not to wince when he realized how stupid that probably ended up sounding. But Dean laughed, so maybe it wasn’t as lame as it had sounded as he was saying it.
“Depends, Cas,” Dean said, smiling that damn smile that usually made Castiel have to concentrate extra hard just to not screw up whatever he was working on when they were both at an emergency scene.
Castiel tilted his head in confusion. “On what?”
“On whether or not it worked.” The firefighter looked hopeful and a little nervous as he said it.
“I… I…” Castiel’s brain short circuited. Was Dean actually flirting? Was he actually interested? “Dean?” He finally gave up on words and just gave Dean a pleading look.
“Been waiting for you to make a move since we met, Cas,” Dean admitted. “I could never tell if you were interested, or just really friendly, so I never made one myself.” Castiel legitimately felt faint. It was just too much, getting everything he wanted in just one conversation.
“I was… shy…” Castiel tried explaining, but it came out sounding weak.
Dean chuckled. “You don’t say?” Castiel could feel himself blushing, and the thought of hiding under the table may have crossed his mind. Repeatedly. “So, now that we both checked the ‘yes’ box on the ‘do you like me’ note, you wanna hit up dinner soon?”
“He’s free tonight,” shouted Balthazar, making the hiding under the table option seem like the only viable plan now.
More laughter from Dean, which would be causing Castiel to swoon right about now if it weren’t for all the embarrassment. “So, your agent telling the truth?”
“Balthazar is an idiot and an assbutt, but he is correct,” Castiel said with a hesitant smile. If Dean hadn’t run away yet, maybe there was still hope.
“So, burgers at seven sound good?” Dean asked, and Castiel nodded. They exchanged phone numbers, and Castiel practically floated his way back to his booth.
“So glad that’s finally settled,” Balthazar teased. “And whatever you do, Cassie, don’t forget the lube. Trust me on this.” Castiel probably would have actually died of embarrassment if the lull hadn’t ended right then and the booth was busy for the rest of the day. The smirk on his friend’s face every time Dean waved in between people didn’t help matters any.