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There is nothing that Dean wouldn’t do for Sam. Nothing.
Though, he had to admit, he didn’t like the idea of having to call up Castiel. They had only known each other briefly, when Anna and Dean had dated, and had spoken only a handful of times. Still, when Dean had offhandedly mentioned Castiel’s name to Sam, Sam’s eyes had widened almost comically.
“Castiel? Castiel Novak?” The two of them were wrapping presents together, the rolls of colourful paper spread out across the table.
Dean looked at his brother. “Um. Yeah? Pass the tape.”
“Are you sure?” Sam pushed the tape towards Dean.
“It’s not exactly a common name, is it?”
Sam had swatted Dean with the back of his hand. “Dean! I can’t believe you met Castiel Novak and didn’t tell me!”
Dean had lifted his hands in surrender. “He’s famous?”
“Well, in the world of theoretical writing about mythological figures from history.”
“So, not famous then.” Dean muttered, detaching a piece of tape and sticking it to the present.
Sam rolled his eyes. “His last book was revolutionary. It changed the entire genre.”
“Fascinating,” Dean deadpanned, too busy wrapping presents to be interested in Sam’s fangirling.
His disinterest didn’t seem to hinder Sam’s enthusiasm. “God. I can’t believe you met Castiel Novak and didn’t even know who he was. I’d give anything just to be in the same room as him.”
From what Dean remembered, Castiel hadn’t been incredibly riveting. As he recalled, he had been more of an awkward, nerdy sort of man. Still, he let Sam enthuse over Castiel’s work for the next ten minutes, until he was fully aware of every book that Castiel had ever put out on the market. As he listened, an idea began to grow in his mind.
Sam had never been the easiest to shop for. His interests were so obscure and intellectual that Dean usually gave up on even attempting to understand what, exactly, Sam wanted. Typically, he got by on just giving Sam a gift card to the nearest bookstore. Now, though, he finally had an idea of something that would make Sam happier than ever.
He was going to use his (limited) connection to Castiel to give Sam one Castiel Novak for Christmas.
Sitting in front of his phone, though, with Cas’s number on the screen in front of him, he had second thoughts. It had been embarrassing enough to text Anna again, after almost a year of not talking to her, just to ask for her brother’s number. Now, though, came the real challenge: attempting to convince Castiel Novak to meet him and his little brother.
Swallowing his pride, he picked up the phone and dialled the number, before he could talk himself out of it.
Someone picked up on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Hi,” Dean’s voice sounded hoarse, and he cleared his throat. “Uh. Castiel Novak?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Dean Winchester. We met a couple of years ago.”
There was a pause. “You dated Anna, right?”
“Yeah. I’m calling to ask a favour.”
“Alright,” said Castiel, hesitantly.
“I need you to be a Christmas present for my brother,” Dean said quickly, and then winced. “That sounds like you’d be a suprise stipper. I promise I don’t need you to be a stripper. It’s just that he really likes your books, and he’d do anything to meet you. So I was hoping… if it were possible… that you’d be able to meet him? I could pay you, of course, if you needed -”
Castiel cut him off, his voice suddenly warmer. “No need. I’d be happy to meet him.”
“You would?” Dean said, relieved. “Oh, man, that’d be wonderful. You have no idea how much this means.”
“Of course! I don’t often get to meet many fans, so I’d be interested in what he’d have to say.”
Dean, not bothering to pretend that he’d read Castiel’s work, pulled a calendar towards him. “How does the 27th of December sound?”
Sam had been positively elated when Dean had told him about the arranged meeting with Castiel. He had checked and double checked every detail of the schedule, down to the place where they had planned to meet (a coffee shop located a couple blocks away from Castiel’s apartment).
On December 27th, Sam had insisted that they show up a good twenty minutes before the time that they had set. They sat together in the empty coffeeshop, still littered with colourful Christmas decorations, and Sam jiggled his leg up and down, apparently unable to contain his excitement.
Fifteen minutes later, Castiel arrived, and Sam stopped moving entirely. Even Dean sat up straighter, instantly more attuned to his surroundings. Apparently, something that he had forgotten about Castiel was how incredibly hot he was.
He waved Castiel over, and the dark haired man smiled at him, pulling up a chair. Dean noticed that his blue eyes crinkled slightly at the sides when he grinned. Dean swallowed, looked away and gestured to Sammy.
“This is my brother, Sam.”
Sam, who had been only too happy to chatter on about Cas a week before, was suddenly tongue-tied. He stuttered out a greeting, offering a hand for Castiel to shake.
Dean resisted rolling his eyes.
Castiel said, “I hear you like my books?”
That got him started. Sam and Cas began to discuss all the complicated details of Castiel’s latest book, while Dean contented himself by sitting back and watching their discussion unfold. It also provided him with a chance to subtly stare at Cas, which worked until the couple of times that Castiel glanced towards him and their eyes caught.
Dean wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. He held the gaze for so long that even Sam seemed to catch on. Glancing between them with raised eyebrows, Sam finally attempted to diffuse the situation by coughing. It resulted in startling both men enough to break eye contact. Castiel picked up a napkin and began toying with it, while Dean took a sip of coffee.
This played on for the rest of the meeting. Dean and Cas began to gravitate closer to one another, their eyes always meeting, their hands and legs always seeming to accidentally brush each other’s. Sam was becoming increasingly aware of this.
Finally, a good hour later, Sam checked the time and got up to leave, thanking Castiel for meeting him and excusing himself so that he could make it to a doctor’s appointment. Dean made to follow him, but Sam waved him off.
“No, no, it’s only a walk away from here. You can stay with Castiel a little longer.”
After a weak attempt to convince Sam otherwise, Dean finally gave in. As Sam walked out of the coffee shop, he looked back to see that Dean and Cas had shifted towards one another, somehow already finding a topic to discuss.
Sam smiled to himself. Castiel might have been his Christmas present, but he had a feeling that he’d be an even bigger gift for Dean.