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Dean takes a bite of his double bacon cheeseburger and stares at the way too frigging bright screen of Sam’s laptop. He’s supposed to be doing research for a job, a haunting or a possession, maybe a werewolf. Something normal, something easy. None of this angel bull. But he can’t seem to find anything out of the ordinary. Anything at all. Sam’s a lot better at this, but he’s off doing something or other, he didn’t specify. Or he did, and Dean was too busy watching Dr. Sexy. Who knows?
All Dean knows right now is that the world needs more rogue demons because god , life without them is boring. The world needs less human murders and more-
“Hello, Dean.” Castiel’s voice rings through the motel room, and Dean can’t help but jump.
“Hey, Cas,” Dean answers, eyes glued to the screen regardless of how surprised he was moments ago. He takes some french fries from the box and stuffs them in his mouth. “Wait-” He starts, his mouth half-full with fries. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have that whole civil war thing up in heaven?” Cas had been too busy to come over when Dean asked for him to, and now he was just popping in randomly?
Castiel chuckles and scratches the back of his neck. “I had a spare moment and wanted to come see you,” he explains.
Dean tries his best not to smile, he really does, but he can only pretend to be indifferent for so long. For Chuck’s sake, there’s a civil war going on in Heaven and Cas is still making time to come see him. How sweet is that? “Thanks,” he mutters out.
“No problem,” Cas whispers, and the apartment is in complete silence for a few moments, other than the sound of the laptop’s touchpad clicking every so often. Slowly, carefully, almost as if he’s afraid he’ll scare Dean away, Cas starts walking towards where he’s sitting. “What are you doing?” Castiel asks, now standing over Dean’s shoulder.
Dean is about to answer, but he sees a headline that just screams vengeful ghost, and he clicks on it as quickly as possible. “Oh hell yeah,” he exclaims. Finally, it’s only been three hours.
“I can’t see anything,” Cas mutters, more to himself than Dean.
Dean rolls his eyes when he sees the website he stumbled upon. “Nothing to see, anyway,” he complains. “Just a ghostfacers post.”
“Still,” Cas half-shoves Dean off his chair, taking the space for himself and sitting right next to him. “I’d like to help if I can.”
Dean turns his head to the side, resulting in his face being an inch apart from Cas’s. Dean swallows and takes a deep breath, willing the completely inappropriate butterflies in his stomach to go away. “Cas. We talked about this.” He reminds Cas, who seems to need more than a vague reminder if the confused frown on his face is anything to go off of. “Personal space.”
Realisation smooths over Cas’s features, and Dean would almost say he looked disappointed. “My apologies.” He starts to stand up, but all of a sudden Dean’s side misses his warmth, and he grumbles out something that must pass as permission to stay put, since Cas slowly sits back down once he’s said it.
Making a point not to look for longer than he’s pretty sure is acceptable, Dean turns back to the computer. “Just help me out with this,” he mutters, and Cas nods as soon as the words leave his mouth.
Cas smiles and turns his attention away from Dean to the computer. “Of course, what are you working on?”
Dean sighs as he clicks on another useless link. “Trying to find something to hunt.” It’d been weeks since the last easy hunt, and Dean didn’t really feel like dealing with any more angels than the one sitting next to him.
Cas’s frown reappears on his face, as he turns his head to look at Dean. “Doesn’t Sam usually find cases for the both of you?”
Dean nods, as if it’s the saddest thing he’s heard in a while. “Yeah, he’s off… doing something. I don’t know, probably failing at picking up a girl.”
The frown deepens and Dean struggles not to laugh at how seriously Cas seems to be treating the thought. “Why wouldn’t he manage to flirt with the girl?” He asks, after a few moments of consideration.
Dean shrugs. “Just the laws of the universe. I’m good at picking up girls, and he’s good with computers.”
Cas nods in feigned understanding and fidgets with the button on his trenchcoat, something Dean’s never seen him do before. “And how does one pick up a girl?”
After a few moments of blinking like an idiot, Dean forces himself to smile. Cas has a crush. This is great news. Why doesn’t this feel like great news? “Well, there’s a lot of ways.” Dean rubs his hands together. Regardless of his lack of excitement at the moment, Dean knew this question would come one day, and he’d already prepared his answer. He forces another, bigger smile, hoping it looks natural. “Today, Cas, you’re gonna learn Dean Winchester’s Guide On How To Flirt With A Girl In Ten Easy Steps.” Cas smiles at the prospect, so Dean starts. “Step one-”
“Wait,” Cas interrupts. “Should I be taking notes?”
Dean’s caught off guard by the question. He’d been ready for some uncomfortable questions about sex, not whether or not Cas should be taking notes. He thinks about it for a moment. “Yeah, I guess so, why not.”
A pen and paper appear out of thin air into Cas’s hands. Cas’s hand moves to take Dean’s burger out of the way, when Dean grabs his wrist. “Hands. Off.” He hisses. Instead of moving his burger, Dean closes Sam’s laptop and throws it on Sam’s temporary bed.
“Step one,” he begins, as Cas scribbles down his words, almost elbowing Dean in the face. Dean chuckles. “Ask questions about things she’s passionate about. You’ll look interested, she’ll start to feel comfortable around you, it’s a win-win.”
Cas nods as he writes hastily, almost as fast as Dean is speaking. When he’s done, Dean is about to continue on with the lesson, but Cas speaks. “How is your car?” He asks, and Dean frowns at the sudden change of topic.
“Baby?” He asks, stupidly, but Cas humours him and nods. “She’s doing good, she’s in the parking lot, why?”
“Your car is something you’re passionate about, correct?”
Dean stops breathing for a moment, but his airways are liberated when he realises that Cas is just practising on him, to make sure he doesn’t mess anything up on the actual girls. Smart. And a little disappointing, though Dean isn’t sure why. “Yeah, see, that’s good. But you already know what I’m passionate about. With a girl you haven’t known for the last few years, you might ask what she does for fun, or something like that,” he explains.
Cas nods seriously, but he doesn’t write that down, oddly. “Understood. What next?” He asks, already writing the words Step Two as a bold header.
Dean smiles as he reads Cas’s notes. Pretty good handwriting for something written in such a rush. “Body language is really important.” Dean waits for Cas to note that before continuing. “Making eye contact for longer than you have to, or licking your lips, or something like that, could clue a girl in on what you’re trying to get across.”
Once the words are written, Cas raises his head and looks into Dean’s eyes. A little creepily, if he’s being honest. His eyes are wide and unblinking, peering into Dean’s soul without his permission. Dean isn’t sure whether to be impressed or horrified, so he settles for both, letting out a small laugh to try and ease some of the tension in Cas’s shoulders.
“No, no, buddy, you gotta blink.” Cas raises an eyebrow and before he can ask his question, Dean explains. “Look, what do you like better, this.” He opens his eyes as wide as he possibly can and stares at Cas’s eyes. The angel shakes his head as quickly as he can. “Or this.” The second option is a lot softer, the way you’re supposed to make eye contact. Jesus Christ, have Cas’s eyes always been this blue?
“The second,” Cas decides, without hesitation.
Dean smiles, look who’s learning. “So do most girls.”
After a few seconds of only the sound of Cas’s pen on the paper to explain how exactly to make eye contact, Cas raises his head, like he just remembered the most important thing in the world. “Dean, does this work for boys, as well?”
Dean takes a moment of consideration before answering. “Yeah, probably. Why-” he barely starts his question before the answer clicks in his head. Oh. Oh. “You’re- you- oh. Huh.” He pauses a moment, both to consider the news and to really think about the question. He doesn’t want to give Cas advice that ends up screwing him over. “I don’t see why not.” He finally decides.
The biggest smile Dean’s ever seen from Cas spreads across his face at that answer, and he writes it down, way bigger than necessary, at the top of his page. “Fantastic.”
Dean’s stomach turns in knots as he watches Cas take his notes. Why does the news that Cas’s crush is a guy make Dean feel even worse?
“Dean?” Cas asks, head tilted to the side in that way he does.
Dean snaps out of his thoughts and tries to give Cas his sweetest smile. “Yeah, sorry, got distracted,” Dean explains, mind still snagging on the thought that Cas likes a guy. An angel of the lord likes a guy. A fallen angel, mind you, but still an angel of the lord. “Step three, as the girl- or guy’s friends.”
“Ask them what?”
Dean shrugs, he’d figured it was obvious. “If they’ve mentioned you. They’d probably be aware if their friend had a crush.” Granted, this particular step was veered more towards girls, but Dean guesses there’s certain guys who probably wouldn’t mind telling their friends about the guy they liked.
Slowly, Cas nods, considering. “I’ll be right back,” he says, and he leaves the room as soon as the words leave his mouth.
Cas’s escape leaves Dean leaning on nothing, and he falls flat on the floor, glad Cas wasn’t there to see that. “Crap,” he swears to himself, getting up, dusting off, and sitting down on Sam’s bed. He opens the laptop.
Ten minutes, nine useless links and two leads that might pan out later, Cas reappears in the room holding a new piece of paper. Dean’s about to ask what he got, when Cas crumples up the sheet and throws it in the trash can. “That wasn’t very helpful,” is all the explanation Dean gets.
Dean shrugs as he closes the laptop. “Yeah, doesn’t always. Some people just shut up about their crushes.” That’s a technique Dean himself is quite familiar with. With a little brother like Sammy, he wasn’t able to have a single crush without getting teased growing up. Even if Sam didn’t know that any of the guys he was teasing Dean about were crushes. Hell, Dean didn’t know half the time.
Cas frowns at that before sitting next to Dean. “What’s step four?” He asks.
“Be concerned about their problems. Try to cheer them up!”
Cas raises his head to look at Dean before he’s even done writing. “Have you found a job yet?”
Dean gives a small shake of his head. “Found a few leads that might pan out, though.”
Cas smiles at the news. “Congratulations.”
Dean can’t help but smile back. He waits for Cas to finish writing before speaking. “Step five.” Cas adds it as a heading. “This one’s important,” he adds, and Cas makes a bright pink highlighter appear out of thin air. “Oh,” Dean’s caught off guard. “Yeah, that works. Try making physical contact, even if it isn’t necessary to the conversation.” Dean almost leaves it there, but then he remembers what he wanted to make sure to add to this step. “But if he says to stop, stop. Consent and all that.”
That earns him a glare from Cas, one that says you don’t really think I wouldn’t, do you? . Cas caps the pen and places it down on the white comforter. He reaches out one finger to Dean’s face, and-
“Boop.”
Dean can’t help the chuckle that escapes his mouth, and it leads to Cas frowning. “Was that not what I was meant to do?” He asks, seeming to genuinely mean the question.
“Not really.” Cas looks at the floor, disappointed, and Dean pats his back. Just for comfort, of course, no need to read into anything. Right? “Don’t worry, Cas, you’re new at this,” he reminds. “So when I say physical contact is just touch his hand, his arm, stuff like that. Stuff you wouldn’t do with me or Sam.”
Cas frowns, raises an eyebrow, then nods, seemingly understanding something Dean’s missing. He writes it down anyway.
“Step six. Try not to be too jealous, but defensive.” Cas stares at Dean like he’s the biggest idiot on the block, and Dean rolls his eyes. “You don’t want to come off as clingy. Just, let him make his choice. It’s probably gonna be you.” Cas raises an eyebrow at that, a smile playing at his lips. “What? I’m not wrong. You’re pretty cool.” And hot. And cute. And, shit, Dean really wants to kiss him right now. It would be so easy, just lean forward a bit, and- wow, where the hell did that come from?
“Four steps left.” Cas points out.
Dean smiles. “Almost all grown up,” he teases, whipping a fake tear from his eye. Cas chuckles, but Dean isn’t sure he actually gets the joke.
“Step seven?” Cas prompts, once he’s done writing down step six.
Dean nods. “Don’t force conversation if it doesn’t come naturally. Sometimes you can just enjoy the silence.” Cas nods and writes it down, taking a while to make sure his writing is legible. Still, neither of them speak, illustrating this point perfectly. The silence is nice, peaceful, as far from uncomfortable as you can get. Once Cas is done, Dean continues with step eight. “Compliments.”
When he’s finished writing it, he picks the highlighter back up and highlights it, without Dean even needing to tell him to. “See? You’re really getting the hang of this, good job.”
Cas smiles down at his paper, and if Dean didn’t know better, he’d say he seemed nervous. “Thank you.” Dean isn’t sure if the thanks is for the compliment or the ten steps, but either way, Dean doesn’t mind at all.
“Any time,” he offers. “Step nine is to make him feel comfortable. Flirting’s no fun when people are actually nervous.”
Castiel nods. “That makes sense,” he says quietly. “What’s step ten?”
“Oh,” Dean waves him off. “You won’t need this unless the guy’s weirdly oblivious, but if everything else somehow goes over his head, just make your intentions really clear.”
“How do I do that?”
Dean shrugs. “There’s lots of ways. You could flat out tell him, you could say-” he’s about to give examples, but Cas cuts him off with one of his own.
“Can I kiss you?”
Dean smiles, proud Cas is catching on so quickly. “Yeah, exactly, you can say that, or-” Cas cuts him off again, this time with a sigh.
“No, Dean. I’m asking if I can kiss you.”
“Oh. Oh .” Dean freezes. Anything he was going to say dies on his tongue. Cas wants to kiss him. Cas wants to kiss him. Cas wants to kiss him . Cas wants to kiss him. Cas wants to kiss him. “Y-yeah. Sure,” he decides, voice shaking.
Cas shoots him a bitch face to rival Sam’s best. “Can I kiss you?” He asks again, and the note of worry doesn’t escape Dean’s attention.
He nods, leaning in slowly. “Please.”
Satisfied with Dean’s answer, Cas leans in too, lips brushing against each other. The kiss is quick. Chaste. God damn, Cas’s lips are soft.
Not too long after their kiss, Cas had to leave. He told Dean he wished he could have stayed longer, but Heaven needed him. So, against his better judgement and solely because of the promise that Cas would be back in no time, Dean let him go.
The door to the motel room opens and Sam walks in with a few plastic bags, Dean assumes they’re carrying groceries. He doesn’t look up from Sam’s laptop when he waves at him. “Hey, Sammy.”
When Dean looks up, he sees the expression of confusion on Sam’s face. “Do you have any idea why Cas would show up in the grocery store, asking me questions about you and writing down my answers?” He asks, and it’s all Dean can do not to burst out laughing.
“No idea,” he says.
Dean shuts the laptop and walks over to Sam, intent on helping put away the groceries. Once they’re done, Sam sits down on his bed and turns on the motel tv. To a news channel. Talking about a group of missing kids and the smell of sulfur. Sam smiles over at Dean. “I think I just found our next case,” he says.
“How?!”