Work Text:
“Order up Bambi!”
Castiel scowls slightly as he drags himself over to the pick-up window to retrieve his table’s food order.
“Look at you,” Balthazar, standing on the kitchen side of the window, coos at Castiel. “You’re getting better already on those skates!” Castiel lets out a quiet sigh as he stares down at the stupidly bright white roller skates tied to his feet. One of the “perks” that came with working at this 50’s themed diner, unfortunately. Really, this type of establishment wouldn’t have been Castiel’s first choice for a job.
Jo’s Diner itself was fine and honestly one of the better restaurants Castiel had seen in a while. The interior stayed true to its theme with its black and white tiled floors, coral vinyl seats, walls covered with vinyl records and celebrities from the time, and a jukebox machine right next to the sit-in counters. Thanks to Balthazar, the American style food served in the diner was incredibly rich in flavor. It was clear that Ellen and her daughter Jo put in a lot of care and hard work to make customers really feel like they were getting the full 50’s Americana experience.
So while it shouldn’t have surprised Castiel that part of the requirements for working here was that he would have to wear a bright pink shirt, a white apron, and skate around like the servers did back in that time period, it still caught him off guard when Ellen handed him the uniform and skates and ordered him to go change on his first day.
“Yeah Castiel,” Gabriel says as he effortlessly glides over next to Castiel with a wide smile. “You haven’t fallen over even once today!”
“Thank God,” Castiel grumbles as he places the plates of food onto his tray. “Because somebody has still yet to return my elbow and knee pads.” Castiel narrows his eyes at his brother.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Gabriel lies but still has the audacity to try and blink innocently at him.
“Uh-huh,” Castiel scoffs. He carefully positions himself towards his table and picks up his tray of food. “Give me a push.” Gabriel does so and sends Castiel off. Castiel tries to keep an eye out for the weird spot on the floor where it dips in just a way that it can trip any unsuspecting roller skater.
That spot wasn't a problem for a seasoned skater like Gabriel who could easily avoid it, but a newbie like Castiel, it was the sole reason he'd fallen flat on his face or ass multiple times. Castiel had practiced his turns, so right before reaching the problem area, he turned his feet towards the left. He barely managed to avoid it, but it also caused him to slightly crash into the table two spots away from his intended target. Castiel would consider this a draw between him and his enemy spot on the floor… The customers give him a kind smile as they were informed from the beginning that Castiel was still learning the ropes as a waiter and as a roller skater.
Why did Castiel decide to accept this job when he didn’t know how to skate? That was a great question, and the answer was mostly Gabriel. Well, that and his actual first job choice as a librarian at his university had already been filled for the semester. Better luck next semester… in the meantime, he still needed the money and Gabriel had mentioned how they were looking to hire at the diner. His brother did fail to mention that roller skating was part of the job though. That was a nice surprise for him when one of the first questions Ellen asked during the interview was, “Do you know how to skate?” Fortunately Ellen was kind enough to give Castiel a chance and he had been working with Jo to get some of the basics, like how to mostly keep balance, down. Still not as elegant as Gabriel, who had the unfair advantage of taking ice skating classes for years, but it was a start.
As much as it annoyed Castiel to be called “Bambi” due to the way he wobbles around the diner, or to watch the other servers skate around like it was really not a big deal, Castiel did have to admit that he was getting a little better. He can skate short distances and he has found ways to lessen the chance of spilling food over. And like Gabriel had commented, he actually hasn’t fallen over today.
Yet.
oXoXoXoXo
The bell dangling above the front door jingles, signifying that new customers have just entered the restaurant. Castiel doesn’t quite turn to look just yet as he’s grabbing a couple of waters for his new table.
“Welcome to Jo’s Diner,” Castiel calls out. He finally turns and gets ready to wobble back to his table. “We’ll be with–” The words get caught in his throat as he stares into a pair of beautiful green eyes. The eyes belong to the handsome face of a man who seems just as taken aback at the sight of Castiel. Freckles lightly dusted across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose scrunch up slightly as the gorgeous stranger gives Castiel a wide smile.
“Hi there,” he greets in a bright friendly tone.
“Uhh…” comes Castiel's reply, followed by a loud shattering sound. He jumps slightly and suddenly becomes aware of the missing glassware from his hands that have now shattered to the floor. “Crap.”
“Oh sorry,” the man says and quickly bends down to help with cleaning up.
“Y-You don’t have to do that,” Castiel mutters as he carefully lowers himself to a squat. He can already feel himself lose balance, so he makes the quick and painful decision to throw himself onto his knees before he falls on his ass in front of the man. His knees protest, but it's a small price to pay to not make himself look like an even bigger fool.
“It’s ok,” the man shrugs. “I mean, I sort of got in your way. Besides, you guys already have it rough enough being waiters and all.” Castiel offers his apron as an improved bag to gather the glass up. The man blinks at the apron, but smiles and begins dumping the large pieces in there. “You’re new here aren’t you?”
“Beg pardon?” Castiel asks, immediately feeling his face heat up.
“Well, it’s just that I haven’t seen you around before–” Green eyes flicker over to the name tag pinned onto Castiel’s chest. “ –Cas.”
“It’s actually Castiel,” he corrects, but then realizing he may have made the handsome stranger feel stupid adds, “But we all go by nicknames here at the diner so that’s fine. And it sounds really nice when you say it so–” The man blinks and Castiel realizes what he had just said. “ –I mean! Compared to other nicknames I’ve had in the past, Cas sounds great. Not that you in particular have a certain way of saying it that makes it more appealing than any other person I’ve heard call me by that name. And that’s not to say your vocal tone is horrendous by any means either. I just mean–”
“ Yikes, ” Gabriel’s voice cuts into Castiel’s disastrous rambling. “That’s quite the mess you got going there Cassie.”
“Yes, I am aware, Gabriel,” Castiel bites back a loud sigh. “Thank you.”
“Dean-o, you don’t have to clean up,” Gabriel addresses the other man. “You just find yourself a seat and we’ll be with you in a second.”
“Yeah ok,” the man says, dumping the last large pieces of the broken glass into Castiel’s apron. He offers Castiel an apologetic smile. “Sorry again. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Y-Yes,” Castiel nods, suddenly aware of the fact that he has no idea how he's going to get himself up again. As soon as the man stands and turns away, Castiel closes up his apron and frantically crawls into the kitchen. He’s greeted with a low whistle from Balthazar, who clearly watched the entire scene play out from the service window.
“Well,” Balthazar hums. “That could have gone a lot better.”
“Don’t remind me,” Castiel groans and drags a hand over his face. Balthazar, not being completely heartless for once, helps Castiel get back to a standing position when Gabriel joins them in the kitchen. Castiel dumps the broken glass into the garbage and then points and holds a glare towards Gabriel. “ Don’t. ”
“I didn’t say anything,” Gabriel scoffs in fake offense.
“Yes, but I know you,” Castiel counters. “And I know you've already got some stupid pun planned for teasing purposes.”
Gabriel shrugs. “I was just going to say that I’m not surprised your little accident happened.” Then, with that famous smug grin, Gabriel adds, “Afterall, Dean really is drop- dead gorgeous.” Castiel groans and hobbles over to the cleaning supplies to fetch a broom.
“On the brightside,” Balthazar says after washing his hands and getting back to cooking. “At least it was just the glassware that fell and not yourself Bambi.”
“I think I would immediately die of embarrassment if I fell in front of him,” Castiel grumbles miserably. “Not that I already don’t feel like finding the nearest hole and throwing myself in.”
“Well you know what they say,” Gabriel says with a dismissive hand wave. “Something something, get back on the horse or whatever.” Gabriel glides over to the serving window and holds a hand over his eyes to make it obvious that he’s searching for something. “And wouldn’t you know it, Dean has sat himself right in your section Cas!”
“What?” Castiel uses the broom to push himself over to the window. Sure enough, Dean had seated himself right in the middle of Castiel’s assigned section.
“Go get him Tiger!” Gabriel says and reaches for the broom. Castiel pulls it away from his brother’s reach.
“N-No! I already made a complete fool of myself in front of him.”
“Oh come on Cas. Dean doesn’t bite… hard. ” Gabriel waggles his eyebrows at Castiel who instantly frowns at the feeling of his face flushing with heat again. Gabriel barks out a laugh. “Relax already! You’re fine, just go back out there and have a do-over with him.”
“I’d rather not,” Castiel huffs, still clutching the broom close to his chest. “At this point, I am more than guaranteed to fall flat on my ass in front of him.”
“That’s when you tell him how he’s a total knockout when it comes to looks,” Gabriel grins.
“Or that you just couldn’t help but be swept off your feet ,” Balthazar chimes in. Gabriel points at Balthazar and nods eagerly.
“No,” Castiel shakes his head. “Gabriel, switch me sections.”
“Cas,” Gabriel sighs, his teasing demeanor beginning to be tucked away in exchange for “big brother advice” mode.
“I’ll give you half the earnings of my tips from today,” Castiel cuts in. Gabriel pauses and places a finger to his chin in thought.
“Ok,” Gabriel grins, seemingly back into playful trickster brother mode. That is, until he adds, “But also on the condition that you talk to him again. He’s a regular here, so it shouldn’t be too hard.” Castiel frowns and Gabriel continues. “He really is a nice guy Cas, and I think even just being friends with him would be good for you in the long run. I mean, from the way you were babbling around him a minute ago, I know you want to be more than friends, but you can’t skate off into the sunset hand in hand without at least being friends first.”
“You also haven’t quite mastered the art of skating in general,” Balthazar chimes in, reminding the brothers that yes he is indeed still here in the conversation taking place in his kitchen. “So definitely no skating off quite yet.”
“That too,” Gabriel nods. “Anyways, I expect to get my half of your tips in hard cold cash.” Gabriel salutes into a peace sign before he slips out from the kitchen. Castiel watches as his brother effortlessly glides over to where Dean is seated. As though to rub some salt into Castiel’s wounded pride, Gabriel throws himself into a graceful twirl that stops him right in front of Dean’s table. The trick earns him a small round of applause from nearby tables. Including the table that was still waiting for their water that Castiel had dropped moments ago.
Right, he should focus on getting his mess cleaned up.
oXoXoXoXoXo
It turns out the biggest mess that Castiel wasn’t able to clean up was the mess that was inside of him. While his foolish heart wanted to take Gabriel’s advice and go have his “do-over “ with Dean right away, his more logical brain reminded him how stupid that was and that it would be better to delay talking to Dean at least until they didn't have to rely on external forces to get him around the diner floor. Still, the heart wants what it wants. So as much as it slightly frustrated Castiel when he realized he was staring at Dean’s direction, he was always pleasantly surprised to find him staring right back with a kind smile. Those glances were enough to keep his heart fighting against his logical side.
After taking some extra time setting the plates of desert on to his tray for one of his last tables for his shift, Castiel made the decision to go talk to Dean now. He was still completely terrified of making a fool of himself, but damn it all if he wasn’t feeling stupid confident right now. Castiel takes a deep breath as he picks up his tray to deliver the sweets to the table. He strides over with much larger strokes and a new determination. He even manages to step over the problem spot on the floor, which he takes as an ultimate win and sign that he's made the right decision. His table seems to take notice of the new confidence their waiter has and their smiles are like they are silently cheering him on. With a cheerful, “let me know if there’s anything else you need,” Castiel turns back, ready to go talk with Dean and–
…and he’s gone.
Castiel looks around the diner hoping that he had just moved to the jukebox or moved himself to the sit-in area to have a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, Dean had completely left the building. Immediately, Castiel’s brain shouted a loud “I told you so!” Which of course was not helpful for the current situation, but damn it if he wasn’t going to mentally wallow in his own self pity for a bit.
He should have gone to talk with him sooner, now he's missed his chance. Nevermind that Gabriel had mentioned that Dean was a regular customer or that maybe Dean had just gone to use the bathrooms that were behind Castiel, he just knew without a doubt that he had lost his chances for friendship or romance with Dean forever. Which, his lamenting heart muses, might be a good thing because Dean probably already thought Castiel was an idiot since he just dropped two glasses of water right in front of him.
If Castiel were better, maybe he could have impressed Dean from the start. If he had had just an ounce of Gabriel’s skating talent, maybe he would have had more confidence from the beginning and not dropped the water, or rambled nonsense. His brain reminds him how over dramatic he sounded right now, but he would have been lying if the idea of "skating off into the sunset with Dean" hadn't stuck with him and had given him false hopes.
Castiel’s pity party meant that his defenses were down, so it was no wonder that he did not notice when the floor took its revenge. The back wheel of his skate bumped hard against the unleveled section and Castiel immediately lost his balance. He flung his arms out to the side and flailed about as he tried to find his footing once again. But the floor was cunning and made sure it struck at the back wheel where Castiel would least expect it. Soon Castiel felt himself tipping backwards, and he mentally prepared himself for the impact against the cold hard floor.
The impact never came. In fact, Castiel soon realized he had stopped moving completely. Yes, he was still at an incline and he could see that his skate clad feet were sticking out in front of him… but he wasn’t falling. Something was holding him up. Something had caught him. Castiel slowly looked upwards and froze when he realized it wasn’t a “some thing” but a “some one” that had caught him. And that some one was none other than Dean.
Dean stared down at Castiel, and after a moment he smiled and let out a soft chuckle.
And if Castiel hadn’t already, he definitely had at that very moment.