Work Text:
Sam doublechecked the address on the card and knocked. Dean had set up a blind date for him, even arranging a bouquet of flowers for Sam to take to Cas. “Trust me, man, Cas is gonna love them. I didn’t become a florist to not know how to help my brother and my best friend get off to a good start!”
Since reuniting with Dean after college, Sam had heard a great deal about Cas. Wonderful person, great friend, had been in the Air Force until being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and choosing to leave when his term was up instead of reenlisting. At least, Sam thought he remembered Dean saying his, but the person who opened the door didn’t appear to fit the pronoun. Maybe he’d misheard. Or maybe Cas was gender nonconforming. “Um, hi, I’m Sam? Dean’s brother?”
“Who?”
“Dean Winchester? Your best friend?”
“I don’t know anyone by that name. My best friend’s down the block.”
Sam gaped, and then noticed that the person who had answered the door was in a bathrobe and sweatpants. Not date attire. “Um, I’m so sorry, my brother must have given me the wrong address. I don’t suppose you happen to know Cas Collins?”
“Yeah, actually. My best friend. Down the block. Number 18.” She pointed. “So that guy in the black car who’s been hanging out with Cas lately, that’s Dean?”
“Uh, yeah, probably.” Sam would like to say he was surprised that Dean’s best friend was, apparently, a fairly new friend, but… Dean had never been one for staying in the same place long, or staying in touch with the people he left behind. “I’m really sorry to have bothered you.”
“It was an accident. 13, 18, if you’d only seen it written I can see where you’d make the mistake. I’m Hannah Johnson. Cas and I have known each other since we were kids, I’m the closest thing he’s got left to family, so if you’re looking for him for a date…” Hannah straightened up and tightened the belt on her bathrobe. “I’m ex-Air Force myself, and I don’t care how big you are, I can take you. Got it?”
“Yes ma’am,” Sam promised.
“Don’t call me ma’am, I work for a living. Go find Cas. Good luck.” Hannah shut the door firmly.
Sam took a little bit to calm down and psych himself up for knocking again. If this wasn’t Cas either… at least the person who opened the door fit what little description Sam had to go on, was dressed for a casual date, and seemed to be expecting him. “Hello. Are you Sam Winchester?”
“I am. Cas Collins?”
“Yes. It’s good to meet you, finally. Dean talks about you all the time.”
Sam smiled. “You too. I was starting to wonder if Dean was trying to work up the courage to tell me he had a boyfriend when he suggested setting the two of us up.”
Castiel groaned and covered his face. “Oh, not you too.”
“No, no, it was because he was talking you up to get me interested enough to agree to this, which kinda made it sound like… never mind.” Crap. The date hadn’t even, technically, started, and Sam was already tasting the very familiar shoe leather. “Anyway. Here.” Sam held the flowers out to Cas.
Cas took the flowers and snorted when he saw the card. “That explains Hannah’s text. Dean’s handwriting is easy to read, and he knows where I live, so I wonder what he was doing.”
“No idea. He wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble to set up a date for the two of us just to sabotage it like that.”
That first date went well enough that Sam immediately agreed when Castiel asked him to come over the next afternoon to watch college football. He wasn’t really a football fan, but unless Castiel was so into it that he refused to talk about other things during a game, they’d still have fun – and if he was that into it, then Sam would like to know that now so he could learn at least a little about it. Sunday was pro football, which Castiel usually spent with Dean from the first games kicking off until the evening game was over. Both Castiel and Dean insisted that Sam should join them. Dean did have one concern. “You two aren’t at that stage of not being able to keep your hands off each other for five minutes yet, are you?”
“Dude.”
“What? I do not need to see the two of you making out all the time!”
"Dude." Sam shot Dean a look. "Hey. Why'd you give me the wrong address yesterday?"
"I did? What was wrong?"
"You sent him to Hannah's place instead of mine," Castiel said.
Dean looked blank and then facepalmed. "I am so sorry. Brain fart. Copied the billing address instead of the delivery address from those flowers she sent you last week after your checkup."
It wasn’t intentional, but Sam ended up spending every evening hanging out with Cas. Monday Night Football meeting up with Dean and his girlfriend Lisa and her son Ben, Tuesday night helping Cas with his computer, every night it seemed like there was something for them to get together for. Their nominal second date was Saturday afternoon, when instead of watching college football all day, they were planning on going to a minor-league baseball game.
When he got to Cas’s place, Hannah was there, and it looked like she and Cas were fighting. Sam tried to be unobtrusive, but when you’re 6’4”, that’s not easy. Hannah spotted him easily and rolled her eyes. “Of course. Should’ve known. Good-bye, Cas.”
Sam watched as Hannah stormed back toward her place. “What was that all about?”
“She was already unhappy because spending so much time with Dean meant less time to spend with her, and now with you… she thinks I’m just going to drop her as a friend because I have a new boyfriend.”
Sam could sympathize. He'd had that happen to him a couple times in college. Fortunately, this one had an easy solution. “Does she like baseball?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Come on.” Sam grabbed Castiel’s hand and followed Hannah. He knocked on her door and waited.
Hannah opened it eagerly, but she closed off as soon as she saw Sam. “What do you want?”
“You not to lose your friend. We’re going to see the Angels play, wanna come with us?”
Hannah stared at him for a moment, making Sam squirm a little. He hadn’t really thought this through, but it felt right. Finally, Hannah nodded. “Fine. I’ll be right back.”
While Hannah was away, Castiel tugged Sam’s sleeve. “What are you doing?”
“Well, the only reason Dean’s not coming is because he works Saturday afternoons, so why not include Hannah in stuff? She’s your friend, right?”
“Yes. But this was supposed to be a date…”
Sam raised an eyebrow at him. “Were we going to make out under the bleachers like high school students?”
“Well, no, we were going to watch the game.”
Hannah came back then, stalling any further fighting as they piled into Castiel’s car. By the time the second inning was over, Sam had forgotten there even was a fight, as Cas and Hannah bickered over balls and strikes and Sam shouted advice to the Angels. After the fifth inning, where the Angels were down by one after what had looked very obviously to be a foul ball was called a home run for the other team, the three of them were united in their solidarity that the umpires sucked. During the seventh-inning stretch, singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame together, Sam had completely forgotten that Hannah wasn’t originally part of the plan for the day. When an Angel hit a walk-off two-run home run in the ninth to give the Angels the win, the three of them were all hugging each other.
“What now? Dinner?” Hannah asked.
“How about we order pizza and wings and go back to my place to watch football?” Castiel suggested. “I know the Wolverines have a prime time game, we should be able to catch most of it.”
“Sounds good to me! Hannah?”
“Sure, I’m in.”
Hannah got really into the game, which turned out to be a nailbiter. When the Wolverines’ kicker hit a field goal to give Michigan the lead with 10 seconds left, Hannah and Castiel both jumped to their feet to scream. Then Hannah kissed Castiel.
Everything in the room froze as Hannah backed away. “I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I didn’t… that… I’m sorry, Cas. Sam. I’ll… I’ll just…”
Castiel reached out and caught her arm before Hannah could leave. “How long?”
“Too long.” Hannah pulled away and left. Castiel didn’t try to stop her, this time, staring after her in shock.
Sam cleared his throat. “So, uh… you like her too?”
Castiel turned, going a little pale. “I don’t want to break up with you, Sam. You and Dean, you’re the best things that have ever happened to me.”
Sam wanted to reassure Castiel that breaking up with Sam at this point wouldn’t mean losing Dean as a friend, but he wasn’t so sure of that. He also didn’t want to just give up, even if it had only been a week, while Hannah had been there for years. “Good. I don’t want to break up either. But… I don’t want you to lose your old friend.”
“This does explain why she was so upset about you. Sam, I’m sorry, this is a horrible position for you to be in.”
“Could be worse. In college, I was part of a triad. Jess and Brady. Then Brady got on drugs and Jess died, so that wasn’t good." Sam paused for a moment. Even all this time later, the memory still hurt. "But if you and Hannah would be willing to consider it… even if it’s just me and Hannah sharing you, I’m good with that.”
“You would?”
“Yeah. Would you?”
Castiel thought it over and nodded slowly. “I think so. I don’t see that at least talking to Hannah about it could possibly make this situation any more awkward than it is, so let’s go.”
Hannah had obviously been crying when she opened the door. “What are you two doing here? Shouldn’t you be enjoying what’s left of the date you let me crash and then burn?”
Castiel hugged Hannah. “It’s a bit hard to enjoy myself when one of my best friends is hurting. I’m sorry I was oblivious for so long. Would you be willing to consider sharing?”
Hannah pulled back, staring at Castiel blankly. “Sharing what?”
“Cas,” Sam said. “I can share, so if you can too…”
“What, like… Cas gets to have a girl on the side?”
“I’d prefer it to be a bit more equal, but yeah, I guess that’s the general idea. If you’re not comfortable with that, if you don’t think you can handle the jealousy, that’s okay, we’ll figure something else out…”
Hannah shook her head. “Cas isn’t going to dump you to be with me, so no matter what, I’m going to be dealing with jealousy of you. It’s at least worth a try being jealous while still getting what I want.”
Dean was weirded out by the arrangement at first, checking to make sure Sam was really okay. Just like before, Sam barely even noticed that Hannah was joining them most of the time. By the end of the first month of being together, Sam couldn't imagine his life without his boyfriend Cas and his new best friend Hannah.