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Dean stared at his clean-shaven face in the mirror and gave himself a salacious wink. He looked good and he knew it. Not only had he gotten an amazing night's sleep, but he was able to cook himself some truly Instagram worthy pancakes. Not that he would ever Instagram a picture of some damn pancakes, that was more Sammy’s thing, but those pancakes had been something to be proud of. He had time to wash his car, take a nice hot shower complete with some manscaping- not that Dean expected anything to happen on their date. Dean never went into a third date expecting sex, rather he let his date take the lead. He definitely wasn’t going to pressure Cas in any way. But…if their dinner and movie night led to more…well, he’d be open to it, and more than prepared.
He glanced at the alarm clock that sat next to his lamp on the bedside table and saw that it was 3 pm. His date wasn’t until 6, so he had a bit of time to kill, but his day had been so damn productive that his only option was to relax and watch some tv.
It was in the middle of an episode of Sugar Rush, that his phone began buzzing. When he dug it out and saw that it was Cas calling, he immediately glanced at the clock, worried that he had lost track of time and was late. To his relief, it wasn’t even 5 yet.
He accepted the call with a happy, yet still slightly nervous smile. Was he calling to cancel? “Hey, Cas.”
The man's gravely voice was like a balm on his nerves. “Hello, Dean.”
“I hope you don’t have any bad news.” He joked with a chuckle.
Cas was silent on the other line.
“Cas?”
“I’m afraid that is exactly why I have called.”
Dean’s heart plummeted. Shit…had he scared the guy away already? “Ok?”
“Claire has Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease.” He said. “It came on quite suddenly, and I’m afraid we’ll have to reschedule our date.”
Dean's stomach clenched. A disease? Fuck…was she alright? Was Cas gonna catch it? And here Dean was feeling bad or himself over a canceled date. “Is she going to be ok?”
“Oh, yes,” Cas reassured him. “Hand, foot and mouth is a very common ailment for children, I assure you.”
Dean let out a sigh. Thank god. “Is it contagious?”
“Yes, highly…” he paused. “But only to children. It is rare for an adult to catch the virus.”
Dean nodded to himself, the gears already turning in his head. “Do you need any help? I can bring dinner for you guys.”
Cas was silent for a few moments. “That is very kind of you. I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“I’m offering.”
The silence stretched on for a bit longer this time. “You don’t have to feel obligated to bring anything.”
“I know…but I make a mean tomato and rice soup.” He was all confidence, but the truth was that he just wanted to see Cas tonight, even briefly. He’d been looking forward to the date since they planned it.
“I think Claire would like some soup.”
Dean smiled to himself. “What a coincidence, since I have all of the ingredients at home. It’s my mom's recipe, and it never failed to make me feel better when I was a kid.”
“I can't say thank you enough, Dean.” He sighed into the phone. “You may come over whenever it is convenient for you.”
Dean glanced up at the clock “I’ll be over in an hour.”
“Thank you, Dean. You don’t have to do this, but I am very grateful.”
“Sure thing.” Dean smiled into the phone. “I’ll see you soon, ok?”
“Goodbye, Dean.”
Dean hung up with a smile and wandered into his kitchen. He needed about ten minutes to drive to Cas’s place, so that left him just enough time to make the soup. Forty minutes later, Dean was rushing to put the steaming dutch oven into a baking dish without burning the shit out of his hands, so he could get it into his car with the least chance of spillage as possible. He knew that it wouldn’t matter if he was a little late, Cas had said to get there whenever he wanted, but Dean said he’d be there in an hour so he would try his hardest to get there in an hour. He didn’t want Cas to think he wasn’t punctual, after all.
He was pulling up to Cas’s house nine minutes later. A few seconds after he knocked, he heard Cas’s approaching footsteps. The man’s handsome face greeted him as the door was pulled open, and he gestured for Dean to enter. Despite the darkness under his eyes, and the disarray his hair was in, Cas looked good. Real fuckin good. He was wearing a soft-looking black t-shirt and a pair of dark grey lounge pants that were tight around his muscular thighs.
Dean smiled at Cas. “Heya, Cas.”
“Dean.” He sighed out the name, and Dean’s chest warmed in response. “Please come in.”
Dean walked through the doorway and removed his boots before stepping on the nice carpet. He had picked Cas up for both of the dates they’d been on, so this was the first time actually seeing the inside of Cas’s house. The first thing that popped into his head was the word: comfortable. The open concept bottom floor was large. A peninsula style bar separated the living room from the kitchen, which he assumed offered Cas a good view of Claire from as she played, and a dining table sat off to the side. There was a modern glass door near the kitchen that Dean could see led to a bookshelf lined office that housed a cluttered wooden desk. The living room was painted a soft blue, and an art print hung over a natural wood mantle. The fireplace was crackling with fire, casting a soft light on his furniture. A coffee table was placed in the middle of the room, with a short stack of books resting atop, and a vase filled with wildflowers was beside it. A chubby little foot rested on top of the coffee table, the little girl connected to that foot was lounging on the gray couch with decorative pillows stacked behind her for comfort.
She glanced up at Dean and froze, her eyes peering back and forth between him and her dad. When he heard that she had Hand, Foot, and Mouth, the first thing he’d done was a google search. He expected to see a miserable looking girl, covered in scabby bumps, but what he saw was a perfectly healthy-looking kid. Cas approached her and she looked at him with a little bit of worry. “This is Dean. Do you remember him? We met him at my sailor event. He’s daddy’s friend.”
She shook her head but glanced at Dean again with a little less apprehension. "Your pirate friends?" She asked.
"No, Claire-bear. He doesn't dress up like daddy."
Claire nodded and looked down at her book, and then back up at Dean.
He knew an opening when he saw one. “Is that your book?”
She gazed back down at her book and nodded shyly. “Doggies.” She pointed out, showing him the page she was on.
Dean put a smile on his face. “Oh yeah? You like doggies?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Um- um…doggies run.” She told him. “And dey bark when someone lets dem outside- and dey bark when dey walk around…”
Dean chuckled and looked at Cas. “Yeah, doggies bark a lot.”
“When- when dey…when people let dem outside.” She added, her face serious. “It barked yesterday and I said stop, but it barked again.”
“Her uncle has a dog.” He took a step closer and lowered his voice. “It’s a little shit. The thing barks constantly.”
Dean shook his head. “Yeah...not a big dog fan myself. I like other peoples dogs just fine, though.”
Cas nodded in understanding and reached out to take Dean's load. “I’ll take that and heat it up. I hope you’ll join us for dinner, Dean.”
Dean scoffed. “I could never say no to my moms soup.”
Cas walked into his kitchen and cleared his throat pointedly at his daughter. “Claire, will you entertain our guest?”
Her face lit up and she got up to approach Dean, book in hand. “Come sit with me.”
He let himself be pulled to the couch and as soon as he sat, Claire plastered herself against his side and put the book on his lap. “Want me to read it for you?”
“No.” she shook her head and flipped the page. “Just da pictures.”
“Oh…” he cleared his throat awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
“Dis one is a pool.” She pointed to the puppy on the page, his little paws splashing in the kiddy pool. “Doggies make a mess with mud in da house because dey’re messy.” She held his gaze with her own. “You can't let dem inside when dey’re messy.”
“Yeah." he agreed. "Your dad would be mad if you did.”
“Yeah. Daddy says that doggies go outside.” She flipped to the next page and looked at him expectantly.
He glanced back down to the new page. “Uh…this one is in a basket.” He watched her nod in encouragement. “And it has a bow on its collar. It's cute.”
“Yeah, I have-uh…I have a pink bow and dat’s my favorite color.” She ran her fingers through her hair and pushed the loose strands back. “I lost it at school.”
“Oh no.”
She smiled at his concern. “I want one again, but daddy says I have ta wair cuz I lost mine.”
“I’m sure it’ll look nice on you.”
“I have other ones, but pink is my favorite.” She pointed to the top of her head where Dean guessed the bow would go. “Dey’re in da bafroom with my toofbrush.”
“That’s a good place to keep them.”
“Yeah.” She agreed. “And I have a necklace but daddy doesn’t let me wear it to school.”
Dean nodded, glancing at Cas in the kitchen and seeing stirring the soup. “That’s probably a good idea.”
She wrinkled her nose and looked over her shoulder at her father, who glanced up and smiled at them. “I said I’d take good care of it, but daddy said no.”
“I think you should listen to your daddy.” He told her with a wink. “You don’t want to lose it, do you?”
“I said I buy anoder one, but daddy said next time.” She smiled toothily at him and leaned her head on his arm, going back to her book. “Dis bow is blue. Daddy likes blue, but I don’t got one of dose.”
Dean watched as she flipped the page. There was a small puppy, some kind of rat dog, with an equally small bunny. “I like this one.” He told her, pointing to the bunny. “It's cute.”
She nodded excitedly. “I like dis one too. I told daddy I want a bunny, but he said no.”
Dean couldn’t help but laugh. It looked like Cas didn’t have a problem telling his daughter no, and it was pretty damn refreshing, to be honest. “Animals are hard work.”
“I’m a good girl. I do my letters at school and put my clothes in da laundry basket.” She told him, her eyes pleading. “Daddy says when I’m older I can have a pet, but I said I’m a big girl today.”
Dean opened his mouth, unsure of what to say, but was thankfully rescued by Cas walking back into the living room. “You ready to eat, Claire-bear?” He put his hand on her forehead and hummed. “You’re still hot…”
“Fever?” Dean asked. She did look a little pink in the face…
Cas nodded. “102.5 degrees a few hours ago. I gave her some Tylenol, and it appears to have gone down although I’ll have to check to be sure.”
“I had a fever, but I feel ok. Daddy said I can’t go to school for a while.” She scooted up until she was at the edge of the couch, and waited for Cas.
He grabbed the thermometer and Claire dutifully opened her mouth. Her eyes crossed as she tried to stare down at the digital reading, and Dean couldn’t help but smile at her. “Isn’t 102 really high for a little kid?” he asked, looking at her small size.
Cas shrugged. “Yes, but unless it gets up to 103, I wouldn’t take her in to be seen. They’d just give her Tylenol and send her home. I can easily do that here.”
“Geeze…” Dean muttered. When he had a fever over 100, he was practically out for the count. Yet, here Claire was, reading books and acting like nothing was wrong.
The thermometer beeped, and Cas pulled it out. “100.9. That’s much better.” He placed the cap back on and reached out for Claire to take his hand. “Come on, little monkey. Dean made us some dinner.”
Dean got up to follow them. “She looks pretty good for someone whose sick.”
Cas turned to him and gestured for him to take the seat next to his. “She has a very mild case.…” he held his hand out and she automatically placed her hand in his. He tilted it into the light and allowed Dean to examine her hand. “As you see, she has a lot of small red spots, but nothing raised. Her feet are the same. If you were to look into her mouth, you’d see that she has the same red bumps around her tonsils.”
He watched Cas stroke his thumb lightly across the back of her hand before letting go. “Well, I’m glad it isn’t bad.”
Cas froze in place. “Oh, Dean. I hope you’re not thinking I was trying to get out of our date…”
Dean's eyes widened. “No! I wasn’t thinking that at all. Claire is sick, I get it.”
He seemed to relax. “Good. I didn’t want to cancel on you tonight, Dean. If Claire wasn’t sick, she would be at her uncle's, but he interacts with children and I didn’t want there to be any chance that this spreads to any other kids.”
Dean put his hand on Cas’s shoulder and squeezed. “I know, Cas.”
Cas nodded and took his seat before serving Claire a bowl of the tomato soup. She looked at it curiously before blowing sloppily on the spoon, most of the soup landing back in the bowl, and took a bite. She hummed in approval and took another bite. Dean's heart warmed at the sight, and he smiled widely, a slight flush to his cheeks. It felt good watching someone enjoy the food he made, especially since kids were usually pretty fussy about food. He’d tried to get his niece to eat the soup once when she came down with a cold, and she actually spit it out of her mouth after one bite. This kid, on the other hand, obviously had some taste.
He tore his eyes away from Claire and met Cas’s eyes. “This is very good, Dean.”
Dean’s smile widened. “I’m just glad she likes it.”
Cas let out a chuckle. “She has an interesting relationship with foods. Generally, soups are safe…as long as they’re not chunky. So no stews, or anything that has chunks of vegetables or meat. She loves vegetables, but only when they’re raw. One day she eats something, and the next day she hates it. It can be…tiring.”
“She likes raw vegetables?”
He sent his daughter a fond look as she dripped soup onto her shirt. “Yeah. She says she likes them cold and crunchy. Raw broccoli, cabbage...but not carrots for some reason.”
Dean scoffed. “She’d like my brother. He’s big on eating vegetables.”
He’d really have to hook Sam up with that playdate, but he knew it was better to wait a little bit before bringing that up. He didn’t want to scare the guy away by introducing him to his dorky little brother too soon, besides…they’d only gone on two dates- well, two and a half if you counted this one.
After they ate, Cas cleared his throat awkwardly and hoisted his daughter into his arms. “Dean, I know we canceled the date…” he cleared his throat and looked away. “But it is Claire’s bedtime, and if you want to stay a little bit longer, we can still watch that movie after I put her to bed.”
Dean smiled. “I’d love that, Cas.”
Cas disappeared into the bathroom with Claire, and he could hear the sink being turned on. A few minutes later, Clair ran out of the bathroom towards Dean and jumped onto the couch. “Smell my breath!” She yelled and blew into his face. He flinched back in surprise at the small face that was giggling only an inch from his.
Cas chased after her, and grabbed her waist, lifting her off of the couch and into the air. “I’m so sorry about that, Dean.” He tucked her into his side and gave her an annoyed look. “Claire, he’s our guest. We don’t breathe into peoples face.”
“But it's bubblegum!” she whined.
Dean was working really hard to hold back his laugh as he watched Cas whisper into her hair while walking towards her bedroom. It was another ten minutes later that he heard a door click shut and the soft footsteps of Cas’s bare feet.
“I’m sorry about that, Dean.” He started as soon as he entered the living room. “We’ve been working on manners, but she’s only 4.”
“Its alright, man.” He reassured him. “I have a niece her age, so I’m used to stuff like that.”
He sighed in relief. “Well, thank you for dinner, Dean. I’m very glad you can stay for a little bit longer. I need the company of an adult.”
“Do you have Netflix?” Dean asked. “It might be nice to watch something other than Disney movies…”
Cas sat the couch, placing a respectable few inches between them. “I do believe I’ve heard my students mentioning that before. Is that a phone App?”
“Wait…you don’t have Netflix?” Dean asked, dumbfounded. When he’d asked the question, he never thought the answer might be no. Didn’t everyone have Netflix?
He shook his head. “I’ve never felt the need.”
“But you have a smart tv…” Dean gestured to the flat screen mounted on the wall. “The app should already be on your tv. Can I have that remote? I’m going to log into mine if that’s cool with you.”
He squinted at the tv. “I don’t have to download it?”
“Nope!” He happily selected the Netflix app from the menu and started entering his account information. “Ya gotta get have Netflix, Cas.”
Cas smiled at him. “I do?”
“Yeah,” Dean confirmed. “My mom has Netflix and she’s in her 60’s.”
He chuckled and watched Dean as he began navigating through the shows. “I’ll have to consider it then.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll leave mine logged in for you. Consider it a free trial.” Dean flicked through some of the popular options. “Want to watch a movie? Sitcom? A cooking show?”
“I do like cooking…”
“Great British Bake Off it is, then…”
“If that’s what you like.”
“Oh…” he winked at Cas. “I like.”
That got him a smile back, and soon the soothing music and visuals of the English countryside were playing on Cas’s big screen tv. It didn’t take long for Cas to get engrossed in the show.
“This is so different from the cooking shows that are usually on tv. Everyone is so pleasant.” Cas remarked as he watched the contestants offer each other little bits of advice, and sympathy when needed. “It's refreshing to see people who are actually happy for each other when they succeed.”
Dean nodded in agreement. “This is my cool down show. After a stressful day at the shop, all I gotta do is watch ten minutes of this and I feel better.”
“I can see why.”
Watching them make their cakes, Dean cleared his throat and turned towards Cas, a serious look on his face. “Cas…”
Cas turned to Dean after only a moment. “Yes?”
“Cake or Pie?” he asked.
Cas’s head tilted. “Which do I prefer?”
Dean nodded silently.
Cas cleared his throat. “Pie, I suppose.”
Dean smiled at him with a nod. Cas was definitely a keeper. “Good.”
Cas hummed to himself and turned back to the tv, either unaware or ignoring the fact that Dean was watching him instead of the show.
Halfway into the showstopper round, Dean decided he’d waited long enough and closed the distance between him and Cas, reaching his arm around to rest it on top of Cas’s shoulder. Blue eyes met Deans, and with a small smile, Dean leaned in for a kiss. The angle wasn’t the best, if Dean was being honest, since he couldn’t properly slot his lips against Cas’s from his position. He shifted onto his hip, leaned in a bit more, and BAM. There it was. Dean let out a sigh through his nose and relaxed into the motions. This was far from their first kiss, Dean had taken care of that pretty quickly into their second date, but kissing Cas never failed to send his heart fluttering.
Cas made a small pleased sound and shifted himself so that he could cup the back of Deans head, slanting himself into the kiss even further. With a swipe of his tongue against Dean's lips, he was granted access to his mouth. Dean groaned at the taste of Cas, and tried to press even closer, but soon realized that there were better options at hand.
“Dean…” Cas whispered as Dean settled himself on his lap, Dean's knees resting on either side of Cas’s thighs.
Dean hummed in response, latching his lips to Cas’s and arching his back until his chest was flush with the other man's. He ran his hands through Cas’s soft hair, giving it a small tug at the nape. Cas groaned into his mouth, his tongue stroking Deans as they kissed. One hand snaked up under Dean's shirt, stroking lightly up his back and causing a shiver to go through his body. Cas’s other hand gripped Dean's thigh, squeezing firmly reminding Dean of his vulnerable position. He shifted his hips, grinding himself against the man under him, and Cas gasped. Dean moved to his neck, covering him in open mouth kissed and light nibbles. When he reached Cas’s shoulder he bit down, and Cas tightened his grip on Dean, digging his blunt nails into Deans back and sending tingles down his body.
“Dean…” Cas moaned.
“Yeah.” He whispered back, going back to kissing Cas’s plush lips.
“Dean.” Cas murmured into Dean's mouth. “Stop.”
Dean let out a pained groan and dropped his head, thudding it hollowly on Cas’s collarbone. “Yeah, ok.”
Cas was breathing hard. “Sorry, I just-”
“No.” Dean cut him off, willing his arousal down. “It's fine. Really.”
“I don’t want you to think…” Cas trailed off.
Feeling Cas’s arousal under him, Dean could make a fairly educated guess as to what Cas was referring to. “I don’t…”
“Ok.” He let out a breath, his hand finally falling out of Deans shirt to rest on Dean's knee. “It's just…”
“You don’t gotta-”
“I know.” He reassured and waited as Dean finally lifted himself off of Cas’s lap and sat back onto his seat. “I am hesitant to get intimate too quickly, Dean.”
“That’s fine, Cas.”
“I have a daughter to think of. I don’t want to rush into anything.”
“I get it, Cas.” Now that the blood was finally going back to his head, he really did get it. He had to think of his daughter, and if that meant taking their relationship slowly, Dean really understood. “I think that’s a good idea.”
Cas let go of his breath. “Thank you. A lot of men haven’t agreed with me, but I have to think of Claire.”
Dean leaned over and rested his head on Cas’s shoulder, turning his eyes to the TV so he could pay attention to the last few minutes of the show. “I understand that she comes first.”
Cas places a light kiss on Dean's forehead and settled back into the couch. “Thank you, Dean.”
They rewound and finished the episode in comfortable silence, and not too long afterward, Cas gently suggested that it was time for Dean to go home. With one last kiss goodbye, Dean got into his car and began the short ride home, thinking of Cas and his daughter the entire way. He really wasn’t mad that they didn’t get to have sex, and he hoped that Cas wasn’t feeling guilty. This thing between them was serious, at least to Dean, so if Cas wanted to wait to have sex, then they would wait to have sex.
He pulled up to his house and pulled out his phone, sending Cas a quick text letting him know that he had gotten home alright before he made his way to his bedroom. It was only 10:30, so he grabbed a snack from the kitchen and settled himself in front of the TV so he could wind down before bed. His back still tingled from where Cas had dug his nails into the skin, and it brought a smile to his face.
Cas was amazing, Dean thought to himself. He was funny, caring, and a damn good dad. Dean had to lock that down before it was too late and Cas realized he was too good for Dean. The next date he would ask Cas to make their relationship exclusive. Definitely.
With a slight blush, he started typing out another text, this one securing their next date.