Work Text:
From the first day Castiel Novak stepped into the photocopy room on the third floor of the Social Sciences building on his first day of work, he knew he was lost.
“Hey there,” the other occupant said with a smile. “Haven't seen you around before; you must be the new guy in religious studies.”
Castiel nodded, momentarily unable to speak. With a dark grey cardigan over a white shirt and black tie, made more casual with a nice pair of jeans, he was easily the most attractive man Castiel had seen outside of the movies. “Um. Yes. Castiel Novak,” he said as soon as he regained his voice, extending his hand to shake the other man's.
“Dean Winchester,” the other man said, accepting the handshake. “I teach physical anthropology. Evolution mostly, although I do the first-year survey course as well.” He winked, grinning at Castiel. “Hope that's not going to cause any problems.”
Castiel smiled shyly. “Somehow I don't think so. I teach courses on angel lore, primarily, although I do teach some Western religion survey courses as well.” He noticed Dean's eyes flicker down to where their hands were still clasped, much longer than was natural for a handshake, and he released Dean's hand quickly and dropped his hand to his side.
“It was nice to meet you, Castiel. I'd better run these syllabuses to my office. I've got a class starting in ten minutes and these are for later on. Maybe I'll see you around.” He lifted a hand to say goodbye and left the room quickly.
“Yeah, I hope so,” Castiel said quietly to the empty room as he hurried to the photocopy machine to make his own syllabus.
*****
The first week passed by in a rush of new students, people dropping and adding courses, and the ever-familiar refrain of, Sorry sir, I lost my syllabus, can I have a new one?, with the result that Castiel didn't see Dean again until the end of the second week of classes, when they bumped into each other in the cafeteria.
Literally.
Castiel was staring at the e-reader in his hand, engrossed in the novel he was reading when he suddenly ran headlong into someone. His head shot up instantly.
“Oh, no, I'm terribly -” he cut himself off suddenly when he realised who he'd run into. “Dean. I'm so sorry. I should have been watching where I was going.”
Dean smiled at him. “No problem. Must be some book. You okay?”
Castiel swallowed hard and nodded. “Fine. Are you?” he asked. Suddenly, he noticed a dark splotch on the sleeve of Dean's light blue dress shirt. “Oh no, I've made you spill your coffee! I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”
Dean held up the hand not holding his coffee cup and smiled. “Cas,” he said. “Uh, I mean, Castiel. It's okay. The shirt's machine washable anyway, and I'm done with classes for the day. Relax.”
Castiel flushed. “Cas?” he asked shyly.
Dean blushed slightly as well. “Your full name's a bit of a mouthful, I, uh... sorry.”
Castiel shook his head. “Don't be.” He watched as Dean shoved his free hand into his pocket and pulled out a small card. He looked down at it before handing it to Cas.
“Uh, this has my office number and stuff on it. You know, if you wanted to come by or something sometime. I've gotta run. Sorry, Cas.” He flashed Castiel a grin before walking quickly past him and heading for the door. Castiel looked at the small white card in his hand and discovered that Dean's office was just around the corner from his own. He smiled and slipped the card into his pocket, breathing deeply to try and slow down his heart rate. He didn't really like the way he felt like a teenager with a crush, especially since none of his teenaged crushes had ended particularly well for him.
Although, at least this time he had pretty good reason to believe that the object of his affections was not exactly straight.
*****
Castiel spent the weekend with Dean's business card burning a hole in his wallet, where he'd stowed it carefully to keep it from getting lost or ruined in his pocket. He took it out periodically to stare at it, memorizing the numbers and letters printed on it and feeling a twist of anxiety in his stomach every time he thought about possibly going to Dean's office on Monday. The man had all but asked him to come, but Castiel's deeply entrenched self-consciousness was getting the best of him, as it always did.
“And this, Castiel, is why you haven't had a date in three years,” he mumbled to himself. He looked at the card one more time and decided to hedge his bets. He sat down at his laptop and opened his email, quickly typing in Dean's long-memorized email address into the TO: column and then switching over to the body section.
Hello Dean,
You asked me to come to your office, but it dawns on me that I do not know when your office hours are. I would hate to come by when you are not there. Please let me know when you would like me to stop by and I will be happy to oblige as long as I am not teaching at the time. Thanks.
Castiel.
He read over the email several times, agonizing over his word choices before finally hitting the send button. He read over a few long neglected emails in his inbox (evidently his brother's new bakery was going well and he'd met someone, Sam, the name was, and his sister had been accepted into grad school) and by the time he'd finished those, there was a reply from Dean in his inbox. A smile crossed Castiel's face as he clicked to open the email.
Hey Cas,
Got a better idea. Why don't we get coffee tomorrow? I'm free after 2 pm. Let me know.
Dean.
Castiel's heart began to beat in double time as he read over the email. It sounded distinctly like – but no. Dean couldn't be actually asking him on a date. It was a simple matter of two colleagues getting coffee. Doubtlessly, they would discuss their fields and how they related and differed. Castiel could handle that; academic discourse was hardly a new area for him. He clicked on the reply button and quickly typed in a response.
Hello Dean,
That would be fine. I teach until 2:30. Should we say 3:00? Would you like to stay on campus or go off? I am fine either way. Let me know what's best for you.
Cas.
He felt a little strange signing off with the nickname, but Dean seemed fond of it and Castiel couldn't help but feel a little rush of pleasure go through him at the thought that Dean had actually given him a nickname. It was only moments later when another email came through.
Hey Cas,
Let's go off campus. I know this great little place a couple of blocks from the school. Meet me by the door between our offices at 3? Yeah, I found yours. Sorry if that's creepy. But I mean, we're nearby, right? So it's not -that- creepy. Anyway. I'm rambling. Let me know.
Dean.
Castiel bit his lip. Dean had made an effort to find his office. Just to know where it was. He quickly typed in an affirmative response and sent it, his breath coming a little bit quicker at the thought of getting together socially with Dean the next day.
*****
Monday morning, Castiel took a little bit of extra time getting ready for the day. He dressed himself carefully in jeans and a light pink shirt with a black tie, pulling a black jacket over the top and running careful fingers through his hair. He decided to forgo his contact lenses and slipped on his black-framed glasses instead. He ran his hands nervously over his jeans before picking up his black laptop bag and leaving for the school.
Castiel had never been more grateful that he only had one class and three hours of office time on Mondays. His office hours crept by, with no students coming by for help and Castiel primarily staring at his lecture notes blankly. When 12:45 finally arrived, he picked up his materials for his class and walked the short distance to his classroom, grateful that he didn't have to walk past Dean's office.
His class was a certified disaster, with his brain being completely unfocused on anything but the events of the coming afternoon. He fumbled the lecture topic, misspelled the names of multiple angels on the board, and dropped his notes everywhere. Finally, he let the class out half an hour early, telling them he wasn't feeling well and that it was probably best to just leave it there for the time being and to pick it up again on Wednesday. After the class had emptied, he picked up his notes and water bottle and started walking towards his office. His eyes trained on the ground, he didn't realise there was somebody in front of him until he'd crashed headlong into them, his papers scattering all over the ground – again.
“Oh, god, I'm so - “ he started, stopping suddenly and flushing brightly when he realised that, once again, he'd crashed into Dean.
“Woah. Uh. Hey, Cas,” Dean said, his eyes obviously sliding along Castiel's frame. “Let me help you grab those,” he said, crouching beside Cas as he gathered up his papers. “You okay?”
Castiel bit his lip. “Other than thoroughly embarrassed, yes, I'm fine. I'm terribly sorry for crashing into you again. You'd think I'd learn my lesson the first time,” he said, chuckling weakly.
Dean smiled. “Hey, don't worry about it. You get out early or something?”
Castiel nodded. “I was just going back to my office to drop these things off, maybe do some reading before I was supposed to meet with you.”
“Well, why don't I help you bring these to your office, maybe be an extra set of eyes for you,” Dean winked, “and then if you didn't have your heart set on the reading, we could head to the coffee place a little early? It'll buy us a little extra time.”
Extra time. After two head-on collisions, Dean wanted to be able to spend extra time with him? Castiel was having a hard time believing it. “Sure,” was all he said. “Sounds great,” he added. They walked towards Cas' office, which he unlocked quickly to let them inside. It was small, as all the offices in the school were, but it was comfortable enough. Castiel liked a fairly small space, so long as he was the only one in it – it made him feel secure. They placed the papers on his desk and then stepped out of the office, Cas locking it carefully behind them, and then headed to the door to the outside of the building.
They walked in companionable silence for three blocks, until Dean gestured across the street.
“It's just over there,” he said, pointing at a small shop with a blue awning over the door. They crossed the street quickly and went inside. Castiel was grateful to see that the shop wasn't busy. They stepped up to the counter and were greeted by a young blonde girl.
“Hey Dean! How's it going? And who's this?” she asked, winking.
“Hey Jo. I'm great, how're you? And this,” he said, gesturing towards Cas, “is Cas. He...works at the same university as me.”
Jo grinned at Cas brightly. “Be nice to Dean, okay? He's kind of a moron, but he is like my brother, so I'm morally obligated to kick your ass if you hurt him.”
Castiel blushed. “I, um, I mean, I don't...” he stammered. Dean and Jo started to laugh.
“Cas, she's messing with you. It's okay,” Dean said, placing a hand gently on Cas' shoulder.
“Maybe a little,” Jo said. “But I will kick your ass.”
Castiel felt anxiety twisting in his stomach again, and suddenly the air in the room felt remarkably thin. “Dean,” he said quietly. “I'm sorry...I don't think...I have to go,” he said, turning and leaving the coffee shop quickly. He walked until he was out of sight of the large windows of the shop and leaned against the building, sliding down until he was crouched and tried to take deep breaths to calm himself, his face buried in his palms.
Can't believe you did that can't believe you fucked it up can't believe you had a god damn panic attack what is wrong with you god it was just a bit of teasing and now you've completely gone and fucked it up with the most attractive guy you've ever or will ever meet and you haven't even had a proper date yet jesus CHRIST what is wrong with you -
His internal lecture was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder that caused him to jump. When he lifted his face from his hands, he saw Dean sitting on the pavement beside him, two paper coffee cups sitting beside his legs.
“Hey,” Dean said quietly.
“Dean...” Castiel said. He certainly hadn't expected to see Dean again, at least not in any circumstance other than awkward run-ins at the photocopy machine or department meetings.
“You okay?” Dean asked.
Castiel swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Breathing was coming easier now and his heartbeat felt more regular. The nausea was starting to ease, although he felt like he was going to cry out of embarrassment. “Yes. I'm sorry for what happened in there. I...don't deal well with teasing from strangers, and I had a panic attack. I apologise. I understand if you don't want to see me anymore. I was terribly rude to your friend.”
Dean chuckled and handed Cas one of the coffee cups. “Cas, it's okay. Jo actually feels horrible. She didn't mean to cross a line. It's just the way she is. She's a good kid, really. I've known her family for years.” Castiel nodded miserably and took the cup. “I'm guessing you don't want to go back to the shop?” Dean asked. Castiel shook his head. “How does the park sound?” Dean asked, inclining his head in the opposite direction towards a park they'd passed on the walk to the shop.
“You...still want to see me?” Castiel asked, awe clear in his voice.
“Why wouldn't I?” Dean asked.
“Well, you've doubtlessly noticed I'm not much fun to be around.”
Dean shrugged. “So you're a little nervous. Nothing wrong with that. C'mon. Let's go to the park and drink our coffee. We can talk for a bit. Hopefully we can find a bench – I'd hate for you to get that gorgeous outfit of yours dirty. Did I mention you look fantastic, by the way? Because...wow. Even Jo commented on it. I told her to back off, because I was already interested,” he winked.
Castiel took a long sip of his coffee, trying to gather his thoughts. “Sure,” he said after he'd swallowed hard. “Let's go to the park.”
They stayed at the park longer than either of them expected, talking until the sun had almost fully gone down and it was nearly dark. As the hours had gone by both of them had grown increasingly comfortable, scooting closer together on the bench until their thighs were nearly touching and their arms brushed against each other any time either of them moved. When they realised how late it must have gotten, they stood to walk towards the university, walking a half-step closer than was probably necessary with their fingers brushing against each other. Neither of them needed to go to their offices, so they headed straight for the parking lot beneath the social sciences building where they'd both parked.
“My car's just over here,” Castiel said quietly as he gestured to the dark green Chevrolet Aveo sitting nearby. They walked towards it and Castiel hit the button to unlock it, opening the hatchback and slinging his bag inside before closing it again and turning to face Dean, who was closer than he expected. “Um, thank you for the coffee,” Cas said. “And the, um, conversation. And for not running when I did, which I still don't really get.” His voice was becoming quieter the more he talked and he could hear his internal voice screaming at him to shut the hell up already.
Dean grinned at him. “Thanks for giving me a second chance and not totally ditching just because Jo can be a moron sometimes.” Castiel bit his lip and blushed, looking down at his shoes. He looked up when Dean spoke again. “Hey Cas?”
“Yes Dean?”
“You want to get dinner this weekend? Maybe a movie? I want to see you again.”
Cas' heart jumped into his throat. “I...you...what?” he stammered. Dean's smile widened.
“I want to see you again, Cas. This weekend. Go out with me.”
Castiel took a deep breath and bit his lip again before answering. “I'd like that,” he said, his voice shaking slightly. Dean reached out a hand and ran it down Cas' upper arm as he took a step forward, crowding even further into Cas' personal space. Cas pressed himself back against his car. Feeling Cas' hesitation, Dean dropped his hand from Castiel's arm.
“Will it totally freak you out if I kiss you?” Dean asked quietly. “Because I won't if it's going to freak you.”
Castiel took a deep breath and shook his head slowly, and the next thing he knew there were two fingers tipping his chin very slightly up and soft, full lips brushing against his own. It was over practically before it began.
“Email me your number when you get home. I'll call you.” Dean whispered softly in Cas' ear, his lips brushing against the shell of it lightly as he spoke. He ran his hand along Cas' arm again before stepping back. “See ya around, Cas,” he said casually, lifting a hand to wave goodbye again before turning and walking towards his own car.
Castiel walked on shaking legs to the driver's side door and opened it, sliding in slowly and closing the door behind him. He turned the key in the ignition and took a deep breath.
He had gone on a date, which by all standards should have been one of the most epic failures of his life but had actually, somehow, earned him a second date. In the same week. Castiel was sure that it wouldn't last, but he vowed to enjoy it for as long as it did. He thought of Dean's eyes, so seriously boring into his own when he was worried after Cas had left the cafe, and of his gentle touch on Castiel's arm. He smiled and pulled out of the parking space, hoping that if he got the email sent to Dean soon enough he might even get to talk to him again tonight.
*****
When Cas arrived home twenty minutes later, he immediately opened up his laptop and typed out a quick email to Dean with his phone number. He started to smile uncontrollably when his cell phone began to ring moments after he pressed send.
“Hello Dean,” he said, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.