Work Text:
It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Dean’s garage was doing enough business to need a receptionist, Dean had hired one, Sam developed a crush, and with Dean’s encouragement, Sam asked Castiel out on a date. Low pressure – take some food and a blanket down to the duck pond and have a picnic. When Dean heard the plan, he even offered to cook stuff for them to bring, and Dean’s cooking was amazing.
Unfortunately, Sam hadn’t thought ahead to the fact that he was actually going on a date today. After his morning run, he dried off, and then stared at his closet for ten minutes trying to figure out how one dressed for a first date that was also a picnic. Normally, first dates were things Sam dressed up for. Not a full suit like he wore to work, unless the specific plans called for it, but slacks and a collared shirt were almost always appropriate.
A picnic might be the exception. Sitting on the ground, tossing a frisbee or football around, seemed like a bad idea to do in clothes that he was trying to keep nice. On the other hand, jeans just seemed so… casual. Like he wasn’t putting any effort into looking nice.
He compromised. He found his best jeans, the ones that didn’t already have holes or grass stains or other questionable splotches on them, and a dark blue polo shirt that his all-but-adopted mom had given him for his birthday. Casual but nice. Should be okay, right?
Dean looked up and grinned. “Wow. You look like a normal person going on a picnic. Have to say, I was half-expecting you to go with the slacks anyway.”
“Shut up.” Sam pushed his hair out of his face. “Everything packed?”
“Yep. Don’t let the potato salad sit out too long, or if you do, just throw it away instead of bringing home any leftovers. Everything else should be okay.” Dean held out the cooler. “Watch out for ants!”
“Thanks. You are an awesome brother.”
“There’s also a bag of peas in there… you and Cas can eat them if you really want to, but it’s for the ducks. Don’t give them bread. It’s bad for them.”
“Thanks. Really? Bread is bad for ducks?”
“Yeah. Makes ‘em fat, then they have trouble flying. Stick with the peas. Not like there’s much bread in there anyway, just the sandwiches.”
Cas wasn’t hard to find – he had a bright red blanket spread out on the grass, anchored on one side by a cooler and the other side with Castiel himself. Sam hurried over and put his cooler on Cas’s side. “Hey! Been waiting long?”
“No. Long enough to watch the ducks and scare off a small child who had wandered away from his family.” Castiel pointed to a family loading their supplies in an SUV. “The mother was quite grateful to have her son back safely. She gave me what was supposed to have been his ice cream. It’s in the cooler with the drinks.”
“Heh. Nice.” Sam opened his cooler and started unloading the food.
Castiel helped. “Does Dean think there are going to be others joining us? This is way more than I was expecting.”
“Dean’s expecting me to bring home leftovers, I think.” Sam grinned at Cas staring at a bag of thawed frozen peas in confusion. “Those are for the ducks.”
“Oh.” Castiel set them aside. “You’re lucky to have a brother who supports you like this. My brother is somewhat… less than ideal.”
Thanks to Dean, Sam had heard quite a bit about Castiel. “Gabriel, right?”
“No, Gabriel’s the cousin I wish were my brother. Uriel is my brother.”
“Dean’s never mentioned him.”
“Unsurprising, as I try to avoid talking about him. I'm not sure I've ever mentioned him to Dean. He and I were close once, but then he started blaming me for all the trouble he caused, and since he’s never shown any regret, I’ve never offered forgiveness.”
“Sounds fair to me.” Sam moved over to the other cooler and got out the beer. “Any other siblings?”
“An older – much older – sister. Anna’s twelve years older than me and I haven’t seen her since she left for college. Dean’s said it’s just the two of you?”
“Yeah. He’s probably also told you we were raised just by our dad.”
“Something we have in common. Not long after I was born, my father got into a huge fight with my mother. Uriel said that Anna told him they tried to kill each other, but Dad was better at talking to the police, so Mom’s the one who went to jail. I know my mother’s in jail and my father isn’t, but I was an infant. I don’t remember anything.”
“Wow. That sucks!”
“Yeah, I know. Dean tells me you went to Stanford? Did you like it?”
“Yeah. It was great. Did you do college?”
“Yes. Notre Dame, majoring in philosophy, which explains why I have a degree from Notre Dame and I’m working as a receptionist at a garage.” Sam tried to hold back the laughter, but Castiel just shrugged. “It’s okay. You can laugh. The real reason I’m working at Dean’s garage is to force myself to get out of my apartment instead of isolating myself from everyone but delivery people who need me to sign for things. I have a second job, which I can work on at the garage between customers. I write.”
“Does Dean know about this?”
“Yes. I tried to hide it at first, but after he caught me and I explained, he told me to quit hiding the laptop and not to let him or Benny or Jo interfere with my writing unless they actually needed something. Customers, yes, but the mechanics, I can ignore if the words are flowing.”
“Cool! What are you working on right now, if you can tell me?”
Castiel bit his lip. “The last thing I worked on yesterday was not part of my job. I was writing a fanfic with Buffy and her Scooby Gang meeting the real Scooby Gang and going for a ride in the Mystery Machine. Don’t tell Dean.”
“He wouldn’t make fun of you. He’d want to read it.”
“That’s the problem.” Castiel picked up a sandwich and took a giant bite of it. “What was your major? Dean’s mentioned pre-law, which since you went to law school seems obvious, but…”
“History. Figured it would get me a lot of writing, which the law schools love, and it’s interesting.”
“I see.”
Later, as they were cleaning up, something occurred to Sam. “I have to ask, dude. If you’re not good with people, why the hell did you take a job as a receptionist?”
“I’m perfectly fine with people if I have a script I can follow. It gave me a chance to make friends, which I did. I wasn’t expecting to meet someone I could go on a date with, but here we are. I’m certainly enjoying this.”
“Me too. I’d like to go out again sometime.”
“Good. I’d like that too.”