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Chapter Text

Castiel fumbled with the key to his door behind his back, trying to get it open while most of his focus was on the kisses he was exchanging with Dean. It was two weeks before Christmas and they were surrounded by the soft yellow lights of his neighbors decorations. Though it hadn’t snowed yet, the air surrounding them was cold, and both of their faces had turned pink on the short walk over to his house from where they’d parked the Impala at Dean’s place.

This week had been their six months anniversary and to celebrate the occasions they’d eaten dinner at the bee-café where they’d had their very first date. It had been just as lovely as the first time they’d been there. Dean had gifted him a little bee-keychain in memory of the pin he’d given him back then. Castiel’s gift for his boyfriend was still waiting in his house. It was a surprise. One that he was certain Dean would love.  

Dean was kissing down his neck, making Castiel shiver just as he finally got his door open. He quickly pulled his boyfriend inside, eager to get out of the cold. Once inside they pulled off their coats and boots. Castiel neatly put his away and when Dean attempted to pull him back in without doing the same, he meaningfully raised an eyebrow. Dean rolled his eyes at him but complied with the silent request without complaint. Castiel knew that he had a habit of being overly concerned about the cleanliness of his home and he loved the other man for understanding so easily. When Dean turned back around from hanging up his jacket, there was a fond smile on his face. “Can’t believe I fell for a neat-freak,” he mumbled and pulled Castiel in for another kiss.

“Like you’re much better,” Castiel shot back once they parted, panting slightly. He thought back to just the other day, when they’d been cooking together and Dean had complained the entire time about the mess Castiel was creating. Dean was very particular about his cooking space, Castiel had learned.

“Come one, there’s something waiting for you in the kitchen.” Castiel pulled Dean along, exchanging another heated kiss with him as they stumbled into the open room.

The first thing Castiel noticed when they separated from each other’s lips, was that the pie, that he’d baked and carefully arranged on the counter with flowers and their beeswax-candles next to it, was gone.

The second thing was that there was someone sitting on the sofa in his living-room. And that someone was eating said pie.

Surprised, the two men jumped apart like teenagers caught by their parents. Next to him, Castiel felt Dean stiffened at the sight of the stranger. “What the fuck!?”

Meanwhile Castiel just gaped at the uninvited guest with wide eyes. “Gabriel?! What are you doing here?”

The short man pulled the fork with which he was eating Dean’s gift pie directly out of the pan from his mouth and waved it through the air in greeting. “Heya, Cassie. Who’s your boytoy?”

While Castiel was still searching for words, Dean turned towards him with a surprised look. “Wait? Gabriel? As in your brother, Gabriel?”

All Castiel could do was nod dumbly. He had no idea what his brother was doing here. In his house. Eating Dean’s pie. For some reason he was stuck on that specific part.

“How did you get in here?” Castiel asked when his brain had rebooted itself. “You don’t have a key.”

“Copied yours at Thanksgiving. Figured it would be good, if someone could get in here in an emergency.” Gabriel said nonchalantly.

Castiel felt the urge to bang his head against the wall coming on, as so often when talking to his mischief of an older brother. He should probably be furious at Gabriel for the invasion, but he knew that this was one of the weird ways in which his brother showed that he cared. And Castiel had actually planned on giving Gabriel a key to his new house last time they saw each other, but then the family Thanksgiving had turned into such a mess that he’d forgotten.

After the initial shock, Castiel was now starting to feel the happiness of seeing his brother setting in. The feeling lasted exactly two seconds before it turned right back to annoyance, when Gabriel plunged the fork back into the pie messily and plopped another big piece into his mouth.

With a few big steps Castiel was next to the couch and pulled the mutilated dessert from his grasp. “This was supposed to be a gift for Dean!” He looked down at the mess in the pan with a scowl. Unfortunately, Gabriel wasn’t exactly a clean eater. There were pieces plucked out from the middle of the dish and the crust pulled off from the sides. The pan looked like a massacre had happened to the pie.

Castiel apologetically looked up at Dean, who’d followed him into the living-room and was now awkwardly standing next to him. “It was supposed to be a surprise. Honey-apple-cinnamon pie, your favorite. I’ll make you a new one tomorrow, I promise.”

Instead of showing disappointment Dean’s expression turned soft. “You made me a pie? That’s so sweet of you.” He kissed Castiel softly on the lips.

The kiss hadn’t lasted more than a few seconds, but Gabriel interrupted them by clearing his throat obnoxiously. “Hey, buckos! I’m still here!” When the two lovers separated, he looked Dean up and down with a raised eyebrow. “Now, who are you supposed to be? Am I interrupting some kind of one-night stand? Booty call? I’m surprised, but good for Cassie.”

Dean’s face turned into a scowl and he crossed his arms in a defensive gesture. “Not a fucking one-night stand, asshole. I’m Dean. I’m his boyfriend.”

“Hmm, can’t say I’ve heard of you, Dean-o. Sorry.” Gabriel kicked his feet up onto the coffee table and Castiel had to suppress the urge to strangle him. That’s what he got for being happy so see his brother. Wherever he went, chaos followed.

Next to him, he could see Dean’s face fall slightly, even as he tried to cover it up with an indifferent expression. Damn Gabriel for making Dean feel hurt! “I did tell him about you,” Castiel put a reassuring hand on Dean’s shoulder. “I’m not keeping you a secret.”

Dean nodded, but there was still a flicker of insecurity in his eyes. Castiel shot Gabriel a dark look, communicating with just his eyes that he wasn’t above throwing him out in the middle of the night. Gabriel raised his hands in mock-surrender and cackled. “Don’t worry, Dean-o. I’m just fucking with you. Cassie here has told me all about you; called me right after your first date in fact. You can’t imagine how proud I was that he’s finally getting some dick.”

“Gabriel!” The older Novak sibling just grinned widely.

Dean, however, chuckled at Gabriel’s words. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, I guess. Even if you did eat my pie.”

“Just doing my part to keep you in shape for my baby bro,” Gabriel replied.

And just like that, the ice was broken.

Where the first meeting with Sam had felt more like an official “meet the family”, Gabriel’s surprise-visit and cocky attitude gave the situation a much more casual feeling. While Castiel tried to save as much of the pie as he could and put the now deformed pieces onto three separate plates, Dean got them each a beer from the fridge and plopped down on the couch next to Gabriel.

Castiel was glad that Dean didn’t seem overly concerned about the fact that their date-night had been interrupted. He resolved to make it up to his boyfriend tomorrow. When he joined the other two men in the living-room and passed them each a plate, they were in the middle of what seemed like friendly bickering.

Once he’d settled down between them and absentmindedly put one hand on Dean’s thigh Castiel turned towards Gabriel. “So, why are you here? Unannounced, I might add.”

“Awww, can’t I just visit my little bro?” Gabriel pouted. “I wanted to see how you’re doing. How’re the bees? Still bee-ing good?” He grinned at his own pun.

“It’s winter. My bees are hibernating, you know that,” Castiel replied. “What are you really doing here?”

Gabriel let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fiiiine.” He straightened, his face turning about as serious as it ever got. “Mother wanted to know if you’re coming home for Christmas. Apparently you aren’t answering your phone, so she’s been nagging me about asking you.”

Castiel instinctively stiffened at the mention of his mother. “No,” he said coldly. “I’m not going.”

“Yeah, wasn’t really expecting you to,” Gabriel gave him one of his rare sincere looks. “Not after the shit-show that was Thanksgiving. I’ll tell her you already have plans.”

Castiel gave his brother a grateful look. He was lucky he had him. He wasn’t sure how he would have made it through a childhood in a deeply Christian household without him. Gabriel was the only reason Castiel had been able to accept his own sexuality when he discovered he was only interested in boys.

His attention was pulled back to Dean when the other man covered the hand on his thigh with his own and squeezed lightly. “What happened at Thanksgiving?”

“You didn’t tell him?” Gabriel asked, surprise coloring his voice. Castiel immediately felt guilty. But Dean had been in such a good mood after his own family celebrations that he hadn’t wanted to burden him. After all, it wasn’t like Dean could do anything about it.

“Well, cliff notes are,” Gabriel continued when Castiel kept silent, avoiding both their gazes, “Luci overheard Cassie telling aunt Amara – that’s the only person in our family that isn’t a complete nutjob – that he’s in a new relationship, and he totally blew up. It was the weirdest fight I’ve ever seen. Luci, Michael, Anael and Raph all shouting about religion and corruption with no one actually telling our dear old parents what it was about.”

They’d been throwing bible verses at him, to be precise. With Gabriel shouting back at them to shut up and mind their own fucking business. Throughout everything their parents had picked up the fact that it had something to do with their youngest son’s new relationship. After that there had been multiple wide guesses and general lectures about possible sins from them. But even though Castiel was pretty sure his siblings (with the exception of Gabriel of course) hated him, none of them had told their parents the full truth. Though he was unsure if it was out of some left over sense of loyalty or simply an attempt of protecting their father’s weakening heart.

“Needless to say, Cassie and I left the celebrations early,” Gabriel concluded his story.

“Fuck…” Dean breathed out. He squeezed Castiel’s hand hard and put his other arm around his shoulders in a comforting gesture. Castiel leaned into the hold. “I’m really sorry you had to go through that, sweetheart.”

Castiel shrugged. “It’s alright. They’ve always been that way. I’m used to their behavior.” Sometimes, it still hurt a little bit - the part of him that would always be a little boy, wishing for nothing more than his family’s love. But most days, all he felt for them was pity. Their house had always felt lonely growing up, everyone caught up in their own pretentiousness; he’d broken free of it, but the rest of them were still living the act. He wasn’t sure if any of them were truly happy.

Castiel turned towards Gabriel. “I’m surprised they still want to invite me.”

Gabriel shrugged and licked the last few crumbs of pie off his fork. He set down the plate, only to immediately pull a cherry-red lollipop from his pocket and suck on that. “I’m sure it’s all Mother. You know how she is about the holidays, Christmas especially. But don’t worry, I’ll tell her not to expect you.”

“Thanks,” Castiel smiled at his brother.

“You can spend Christmas with me and my family,” Dean cut in and Castiel felt warmth blossoming in his chest. He loved this man with all his heart.

“Thank you, Dean. That’s very kind of you.” He rewarded his boyfriend with a sweet kiss.

Next to them, Gabriel wolf-whistled.

Dean slowly pulled back with a raised eyebrow. He looked the smaller man up and down, his eyes catching on the lollipop that Gabriel had pushed into the hollow of his cheek. “You know that much sugar is gonna give you diabetes one day, right?” he teased.

Gabriel just winked at him. “There are two great things in life that I’m never gonna let anyone take from me. One of those is candy.”

“And the other?” Dean asked.

Gabriel grinned widely. “Sex, Dean-o. Sex.”

Dean let out a startled laugh while Castiel pulled a face. “You’re a funny one, you know that? I can’t believe you two are brothers. Are you sure you aren’t adopted?”

“I’ve been asking myself that for years,” Castiel mumbled and leaned forward slightly to pick up his beer.

“Oh, I wish I was,” Gabriel sighed wistfully. “Then I would have an excuse to avoid future family dinners.”

“You could just tell them you used to make pornos,” Castiel mumbled into his beer bottle. “I’m sure that would get you disowned immediately.”

“Huh, actually not a bad idea,” Gabriel said. He looked like he was really considering it. “I’ll keep that in mind, should I ever get desperate.”

“Seriously?” Dean cut in with disbelief coloring his voice. “You’ve done porn?”

“Done it. Directed it. Played the main star.” Gabriel waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Dean. “Why? You interested? Maybe you’re thinking you’re with the wrong Novak…”

“Nope, I’m good! I’m pretty sure I’ve got the deal of my life here with Cas.”

Castiel smiled shyly and raised their intertwined hands to gently kiss Dean’s knuckles. “I love you too,” he said. The look that Dean gave him was so soft that Castiel felt like his insides were turning into pudding. He couldn’t help his own smile widening in response.

He got lost in Dean’s green eyes and didn’t know how much time had passed when Gabriel let out a groan beside them. “God, you two are sickeningly sweet, you know that? Should I just leave so that you can bone?”

Castiel threw his brother a disapproving look. “And where would you go at this time? I think I am correct in assuming that you were expecting to simply sleep here?”

Gabriel momentarily looked sheepish at being called out, but he recovered quickly and covered it with a confident grin. “Well, there has to be something to do for fun around here. I’m thinking strip club, maybe?”

Castiel rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics. “I am not aware of any such establishment in our neighborhood.”

“Booooring!” Gabriel whined.

“Is a bar good enough for you?” Dean threw in. “The Roadhouse should still be open for another few hours. We could all go together.”

Castiel liked that idea. It had been a while since he’d last spent any real time with Gabriel, and despite how annoying he was at times, he had to admit that he’d missed his brother. He’d also love for the two most important people in his life to get to know each other better.

He was sure this would be fun.

“Alcohol and possible hook-ups? Sign me up!” Gabriel announced loudly. 

Or maybe not.

Chapter Text

It was well after eleven pm by the time they finally arrived at the Roadhouse. Even though the town’s rustic old bar was barely fifteen driving minutes from the house, it had taken them more than an hour to get here.

Dean blamed Gabriel. First he’d wanted to change into what he called his party outfit, Cas called his clown suit and Dean just thought was a fashion crime. Then he’d insisted that Dean and Cas also got changed, and since he’d deemed none of his brother’s outfits as party appropriate, they’d had to go to Dean’s place for different clothes. To top it all off, Gabriel had insisted they walk, since, and Dean was quoting here “I want us all to go full tit at that bar, so we’ll forget it’s not a strip-club”.

Jeez, the guy was a handful.

Dean wasn’t exactly sure if he liked Gabriel. He was annoying as fuck, knew no boundaries or common decency – it was his and Cas’ anniversary, for Christ sake, read the room, dude! Oh, and he’d eaten his pie!

The only thing that earned him a plus in Dean’s book was that Gabriel had whistled when he’d seen Baby in his driveway and called her a sweet-ride. And then there was the little detail of him being Cas brother - the only one of his brothers that Cas had a relationship with – so Dean really wanted to get along with the guy, for his boyfriend’s sake. So he’d swallowed his unhappiness and played nice. And once they’d gotten to talking, Dean had to admit that Gabriel was actually kinda funny - in his own way.

So, all in all, Dean was looking forward to getting drunk with Gabriel and Cas. He was also excited about finally introducing his boyfriend to his honorary Roadhouse family.

When they entered the bar through the creaky front door, the place was already packed. Not surprising, considering that it was a Friday night and that there weren’t that many fun places in the neighborhood open this late.

Gabriel whistled as they walked further into the room, weaving between tables and standing people to get closer to the bar. “Well, I can work with this,” he announced, his eyes already following a guy in tight black jeans and a white tank top that was showing off his muscles. “Don’t wait up, I’ll be having the time of my life. Or, well, this week. You know how it is.”

And with one last terrible wink, Gabriel was off. Dean suppressed an eye roll as he watched him go. God, the guy was dramatic.

Cas must have noticed his expression, cause he gently touched Dean’s arm to catch his attention. “Don’t mind him. That is the way he’s always been.”

“I can imagine that,” Dean murmured. Then he caught himself and quickly added, “Not that I don’t like him! It’s just that he…”

“He can be a bit much?” Cas finished for him and all Dean could do was nod with a sheepish grin. “Don’t worry, I feel the same. Sometimes Gabe drives me absolutely crazy. But other times he’ll stick up for me like no one else. So I guess we just have to accept him the way he is.”

Cas gave an apologetic little shrug and a half-smile and Dean couldn’t help but smile back. He pulled Cas in by the hip and gave him a kiss. “Well, I think I’ll be able to get used to him. Now come on, there’re a few people here I wanna introduce you to.” He took Cas’ hand and pulled him after him towards the bar.

Through sheer luck, they managed to snatch two stools right at the counter. Almost as soon as they were seated the fiery blond working the bar was in front of them and waked Dean over the head with her towel. “Winchester! We haven’t seen you here in forever! You suddenly got too good for this dump or something?”

Next to him, Cas looked mildly horrified at the greeting, but Dean just laughed and reassuringly squeezed his boyfriend’s thigh under the counter. “Jo! Always nice to see you! Glad to see you haven’t changed. I’m sorry I haven’t been by in a while, I’ve been pretty busy. Is your mother around? There’s someone I wanna introduce to you.”

Jo’s eyes instantly snapped to Cas, causing the man to shrink back slightly under her scrutinizing stare, but she didn’t address him. Instead she said, “Be right back, don’t go anywhere,” before dumping two bottles of beer in front of them and vanishing into the back.

Dean laughed at Cas’ wide eyed look as he watched her leave and twisted the caps of both their beers. “Yup, you’re not the only one that comes with weird family. That was Jo. We basically grew up together, our parents were friends. Sammy and I would spend like half our summer-breaks in the Roadhouse whenever we stayed at Bobby’s.”

“Well, she seems…energetic,” Cas answered hesitantly and Dean couldn’t help but laugh.

“If you’re already overwhelmed by Jo, just wait till you meet the rest of the gang.”

Before Cas could reply to that, Jo was back with an older woman in tow. Ellen stopped in front of them and without so much as a warning reached over the counter to pull Dean into a strong one-armed hug. “Boy, it’s good to see you again. You look like you’ve been well.”

Dean wasn’t sure how exactly she would be able to tell, but the woman’s attention was already on Cas anyway. “And you aren’t alone tonight. Who would you be, honey?”

Dean grinned, grabbed their intertwined hands and pulled them on top of the counter. “This is my boyfriend, Castiel. Cas, meet Ellen and Jo.”

“Hello. It is nice to meet you.” Cas raised his free hand in a slightly awkward wave, but Ellen reached over to counter to gently slap his hand down. “Oh, none of that formal nonsense. It’s great to have you here. Dean never brings anyone around.” And before Cas could react, she reached over the counter to pull him into a strong hug as well.

Dean couldn’t suppress a snort of laughter at Cas’ look of surprise, which earned him a squinty eyed glare. When Ellen finally let go of him, Cas plopped back onto his seat and cleared his throat. “Thank you for the warm welcome,” he said politely.

“Damn, Dean! You got yourself a guy with manners! I never would have imagined,” Jo exclaimed dramatically.

“Just ignore her;” Ellen said and gave her daughter a stern look that sent her back to taking the customers’ orders. “How did you two meet?” She asked.

“He lives in my street,” Dean answered. “One day I came by his house and he asked me if I wanted to see his bees.”

“Is that some kind of weird euphemism?” Jo cut in from the side. “If so, please skip the gross part of the story.”

“Joanna Beth Harvelle! Didn’t I tell you to take care of the orders,” Ellen scolded.

“Technically, you didn’t tell me anything. And I can hold a conversation and pour drinks at the same time.”

Dean laughed at their banter and looked towards Cas, who still seemed slightly terrified of the two blond women.  He understood the sentiment. Ellen had always intimidated him as a boy. Still did, sometimes. “Yes, they’re always like this,” he whispered.

“Oh.” He could see Cas exhaling slowly, before he put his polite smile back into place. “I can assure you it isn’t a metaphor. I keep three hives of bees. Dean showed an interest in that and actually helped me take care of them. That is how we started dating.”

Ellen looked surprised at that piece of information. “Really? I was always under the impression that Dean didn’t like bugs. No offence.”

“I bet he liked the hot guy showing him the ropes enough for all three hives,” Jo once again threw in from the side. She was at the other side of the bar again before her mother could scold her, but Dean could still hear her snickering to herself.

He felt his ears heat slightly as he thought back to the beginning of their relationship and how he’d been pretending to like the bees around Cas. Looking back, it really had been a stupid idea and he was glad that they’d gotten that little lie sorted out early on. This way they’d been able to work on Dean actually getting comfortable around the flying insects.

So now, Dean flipped a bit of the condensation water from his bottle at Jo when she passed by him the next time. “Fuck off, blondie!”

Ellen rolled her eyes at their behavior and mumbled something that sounded like “fucking toddlers, both of them” under her breath. Out loud she announced, “I’ll see if I can get Ash away from his computer long enough to say hello. Benny should be around here somewhere, if you wanna see him as well.”

With that she vanished into the back and Dean turned to Cas with a grin. “Well?”

“They are certainly different,” Cas said after a short pause.

Dean laughed. “Amen to that. I know they come on strong, but they’re an amazing bunch. Ellen and Bobby basically raised Sammy and me when our dad was too drunk off his ass. I’m sure you’ll love them once you get used to them.”

Cas watched as Jo pried a half-spilled drink out of a very drunk man’s hand and threatened him away from the bar in very colorful language. “I can see that you care a lot about them and that they care about you. That is all that I need to know to like them.”

Dean’s heart skipped a beat as his boyfriend’s words. Warmth filled his chest and he pulled him in for a deep kiss. They made out for a bit, before they were rudely interrupted by a tipsy Gabriel flopping down onto an unoccupied stool next to them. “Wow wow, save something for the orgy later!”

Dean pulled back, slightly annoyed at the interruption, and was about to open his mouth for a retort when Cas beat him to it. He frowned down at his brother disapprovingly. “We’ve barely been here for half an hour, how are you already this drunk?”

“Oh bother, you haven’t seen me drunk yet!” Gabriel exclaimed. Dean seriously doubted that statement.

Cas’ frown deepened. “I have. More times than I care to count. And I would like tonight to not be one of those occasions. I don’t want you to embarrass me here.”

Gabriel pouted and demonstratively turned away from his brother. That put him right in front of Jo. Almost immediately, Dean could see a grin forming on his face. “Heyyyyy!” There were way too many Y’s in that for Dean’s taste. “No one told me this bar was run by an angel!”

Jo looked down at the man with a raised eyebrow. “Seriously? You think I don’t hear that line about ten times a night?”

Despite her dismissive tone, Gabriel didn’t seem discouraged. His smile only widened as he draped himself further over the counter. “Well, unlike them I’m actually qualified to judge. The name’s Gabriel. Yes, like the archangel.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Jo snorted and flicked her long blond hair over her shoulder, before putting her elbows on the counter and leaning closer. “So far I’m not seeing anything holy.”

“Uh, a feisty lioness! I like that!” Gabriel exclaimed. “Give me a chance and I’m sure I can make you a believer.”

Dean wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen anyone successfully flirt this badly. Whatever Gabriel’s deal was, he couldn’t watch this any longer. Not with Jo. Time to put his foot down. “Dude, would you stop! Jo is like a little sister to me. No way I’ll let you get your dirty paws on her!”

“Hey! I’m letting you get with my younger brother,” Gabriel complained at the same time that Jo exclaimed, “I can decide myself who I wanna get with, Winchester!”

Dean raised an eyebrow at her. “And you’re seriously telling me you want that?” He gestured in Gabriel’s general direction and the clearly drunk way that he was leaning on the bar for support. He heard the smaller man mumble “rude” under his breath, but ignored him.

Jo stubbornly crossed her arm. “I might! You can’t know that!” They stared each other down for a few seconds, before she huffed and turned around to snap at a man who’d been snapping his fingers to get her attention.

Gabriel let out a disappointed sigh. “Thanks for being a cockblock.”

Just returning the favor, Dean thought. Out loud he said, “You’ll get over it.” He gave Gabriel a courtesy pat on the shoulder.

After just a few seconds of sulking, the other man brightened again. “You’re right! Plenty of hot fish in the sea. I’ve had my eye on that black-haired woman. Shee looks real bendy!”

Dean followed his gaze and laughed. “Pamela? Dude, she’ll chew you up and spit you out.”

“Well, I’m always up for a challenge,” Gabriel announced with a grin. “See you later. Or hopefully not!” He winked and hopped off the stool.

“Good luck with that,” Dean called after him.

He turned back to Cas just in time to see him rolling his eyes. “Sorry about him, he flirts with everything that has a plus.”

Dean waved him off. “No biggie. I trust Jo to know what’s good for her. I’m just floored that his obnoxious flirting actually seems to work.” He looked over at the table where Gabriel had managed to seat himself halfway in Pamela’s lap in barely a minute.

“I’ve been astonished by his success for years,” Cas replied.

Their conversation was interrupted by Ellen returning with Ash in tow. One side of his hair had gotten even longer and messier since the last time they’d seen each other and Dean wasn’t even surprised. Ellen always swore she’d soon make her adoptive son get a proper haircut, but she never followed through on it.

Ash threw up an upside-down peace sign in greeting and Dean introduced him to Cas. At first Cas seemed a little unsure about Ash’s special brand of eccentric, but by the time Dean had finished his second beer, they’d bonded over the shared similarity of a rare hobby. To Dean’s surprise Cas actually knew more about computers than he had expected, though he should have probably guessed with his education in a rather technical science. They ended up talking with Ash for close to an hour, before the man announced that the update he’d had running should be done and he vanished into the back.

Cas turned towards Dean, his cheeks slightly more rosy from the beer and the cocktail he’d had. “I like him. Your friends are very nice. Thank you for introducing me to them.”

Dean kissed him instead of replying. It was late and he was about ready to head back home, especially since they’d have to walk or call an Uber thanks to Gabriel. Speaking of, Dean let his gaze sweep over the bar in search of his boyfriend’s brother. When he found him, he snorted. Gabriel was sitting in the back of the bar, his face only inches from that of another man. “Looks like we’re not gonna have to wait for your brother.”

Cas followed his gaze and Dean explained, “That’s Benny. He’s another friend of mine I wanted to introduce to you, but I see that he’s pretty occupied at the moment.” They watched as Gabriel fed Benny a handful of peanuts and the taller man reached around to squeeze his ass. “I hate to admit it, but Gabriel should be just his type.”

Cas cocked his head to the side and there was a glint starting to form in his eyes. “So you’re saying we shouldn’t expect him back tonight?”

“Nope!” Dean returned the heated look that Cas was giving him all of the sudden.

“Then let’s get out of here. We might still get to celebrate our anniversary after all.”

Dean couldn’t agree more. He enthusiastically pulled Cas from his stool and kissed him quickly, before waving goodbye to Ellen and Jo behind the bar and pulling his boyfriend after him into the crisp night air outside.