Everyone Knows What Happens at the Library (Dean/Castiel, PG-13)
Title: Everyone Knows What Happens at the Library
Author: exmanhater
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Spoilers: none
Warnings: none
Word count: 4,550
Summary: In which Dean says derogatory things about teen vampire novels, Castiel keeps coming back for more, Claire gets her way all the time, and Dean’s co-workers (and Sam) are huge nuisances. (Librarian!Dean AU, or how Stephenie Meyer found Dean the love of his life)
A/N: The idea for this came from a conversation notragicmercury and I had over at the Dean/Castiel AU kinkmeme, so give her credit for the awesome idea of Claire being a Twilight fan.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used in this story, and will not profit from it
Podfic version found here
Dean almost grins when he sees the pair waiting for him at his desk as he returns from helping someone find the latest Vogue. The man has a familiar persecuted look on his face, and the girl, who must be in her early teens, looks equal parts exasperated and pleased. She must have bullied the guy into something, and Dean can take a few guesses as to what and why. He can’t keep track of the number of parents he’s seen in the same situation before.
He smiles and catches the man’s eye. "Hey, can I help you two find something?"
The man, who must be her father, Dean thinks with regret, as he takes in the attractive features and slim build, looks at the girl and prods her shoulder. "Well?" he says. "Ask your question."
She frowns and starts to twist her hair around one finger. "I need a book," she says, slowly, like he might not understand English.
Holding back his laughter, Dean nods. "A book, okay. Well, let me take a wild guess here - the newest Stephenie Meyer book, right?"
The man looks overwhelmed and slightly embarrassed, but the girl’s face lights up above her oversized Team Jacob t-shirt.
"Oh my god, yes, do you have it?!" she squeals. "Are you a fan? How did you know?"
Dean smiles at her enthusiasm. "Well, I’ve read all the books," he hedges, hoping to avoid bloodshed. "I noticed your shirt and figured you might be needing the newest sequel."
She starts to babble about werewolves, and Dean listens politely until the man cuts her off.
"Claire," he says, patience clearly wearing thin. He looks at Dean, and his blue-eyed stare almost makes Dean forget his job. "Can you find this book for us?"
"Sure," Dean says, "but unfortunately all of our copies are checked out by other people right now, since it’s brand new."
Claire's face becomes a mask of misery. Dean’s about to explain how the holds system works and why sometimes books just aren’t on the shelf, but then he sees the man’s slumped shoulders and Claire’s utter despair. Right.
"But," he says quickly, "I have an advance reader copy you could take, as long as you don’t mind some typos, and as long as you bring it back." The look of hope on Claire’s face makes him extremely grateful for Becky’s obsession with getting new teen books early and then keeping all the copies. He’ll have to grovel if she realizes one is missing, but it’ll be worth it.
"Oh my god, thank you!" Claire says. "What’s an advance reader copy?"
Dean grins. "Come on, I’ll show you, and we can pick up your copy." He lets Jess know he’ll be right back, and then leads Claire and her father downstairs to the staff workroom.
As they walk, the man speaks up again. "Thank you," he says, in that gruff voice Dean is resolutely not imagining in his bed. "I think I’m going to win the coveted uncle of the year award now."
"Uncle, huh?" Dean asks, fishing for more information now that his prospects are slightly better. The man nods and opens his mouth to speak, but Claire interrupts.
"Uncle Cas, come on," she whines from the bottom of the stairs.
Dean laughs and shrugs at Cas, grateful that he got the man's name, at least, without having to hint around for it. "Okay," he tells Claire as he joins her in the hallway. "Just through this door." He walks into the room and takes her to the right shelf, then pulls Breaking Dawn out and hands it to her.
Claire's eyes are wide. "I have to go read it right now," she whispers, not looking up from the cover.
"Just remember, it's a copy that the publisher sent out early to librarians and book reviewers, so it might have some typos or weird looking fonts, okay?" Dean tells her. "And this one is actually my co-worker's, so you have to bring it back or I'll be in trouble."
"I will, I promise," Claire says. "Thank you so much!"
Dean kind of wants to stage an intervention and get her reading something decent, but her happiness at being presented with just the book she wanted reminds him of why he does this job in the first place.
"Yes," Cas adds. "Thank you...?"
"Oh, sorry, I'm Dean," he smiles at Claire and Cas. "I'm here pretty much every day, but if I'm not when you come back, you can just leave the book with anyone who works here."
"Dean," Cas nods. "Nice to meet you, and thank you, again." He nudges Claire, who is zoned out reading the first chapter of her book. She startles.
"Uh, yeah, thanks again," she says cheerfully, then walks up the stairs with her nose still in her book.
"Good luck getting any conversation out of her for the next few days," Dean tells Cas.
"To be honest, I am looking forward to a little peace and quiet." Cas grins wryly as he follows Claire upstairs.
"I hope you enjoy it," Dean says as he watches them both leave. It's a shame. Guys that hot, hell, people that hot, never come into the library.
***
Dean never expected to be doing this, working in a library part time, helping people find romance novels, car maintenance manuals and badly written vampire erotica. He also never expected to like it, but he does, and even if Sam's favorite activity in the world is coming to the library at the end of the day to loudly and smugly "pick up his two favorite book lovers," he doesn't deny it.
It's practically a family business now, with Jess working the front desk and Jo shelving books (and yelling at anyone who doesn’t meet her exacting shelving standards). He wouldn’t call Becky family necessarily, but she’s a friend and pretty close to it. Dean's used to how things work, anyway, and so he never expects to see Cas or his niece again. People always mean to bring back the book, but life happens, and if you're not getting charged twenty-five cents a day to remember that the book belongs to the library, it's easier to just forget. He'll apologize profusely to Becky, and she'll forgive him, and that will be the end of it. At least it hadn’t been a copy signed by the author, or Dean would’ve been toast. He’s pretty sure Becky keeps those books locked in her desk drawer, or in a vault at her house.
That certainty is the only reason he almost chokes when he hears a familiar gravelly voice (one he's been shamelessly fantasizing about) a few weeks later.
"Thank you again," Cas says as Dean stares up at him. "I'm sorry I haven't returned before now, but I kept forgetting to bring the book with me to work in the mornings."
Cas sets Becky's precious advance reader copy down on the desk.
"Thanks for bringing it back," Dean manages. "What's the verdict?"
"The name “Edward” is now a curse word in our family," Cas says solemnly, and Dean really should be moving Cas along so that he can finish updating the reference schedule, but he just can't.
"Well, the name “Stephenie Meyer” is one in my family," he replies, "so I'm not one to judge."
"Does it get better?" Cas asks. "Did your children eventually develop better taste?"
"My... oh, I don't have any kids, no spouse or anyone, actually. I'm single," Dean winces involuntarily. I'm single is possibly the stupidest thing he's said all day. Or all week. "Uh, I just see a lot of kids here, obviously. I think it can get better, if you're careful not to forbid the bad stuff, and introduce the good stuff little by little."
"I see," Cas replies, politely overlooking Dean's word vomit. "Do you have any recommendations for a thirteen-year-old werewolf addict, then? Claire is staying with me on the weekends for the rest of the school year, and my taste in books, and I quote, blows."
Dean laughs. "Yeah, I can't let anyone suffer like that. Would be against my vows as a professional librarian." He stands and motions for Cas to follow him. "Let's see what we've got on the shelves, and if that doesn't work, I'll get some stuff in for you to pick up next time you're here."
They walk over to the teen fiction, and Dean thinks how convenient it is that his job basically requires him to keep flirting with Cas. He leans down and flips through the books on the lower shelves, hunting for his go-to werewolf recommendation, which is never where it's supposed to be. "That's nice of you," he says, strictly to keep up the conversation and not to get more information. "Letting your niece stay with you every weekend."
"Her parents are leading weekend camping expeditions, for one of the organizations where my sister-in-law volunteers," Cas replies. "Claire refused to go camping every weekend, and I have a house all to myself, so it seemed like a good fit." He pauses for a moment. "I enjoy her company, most of the time."
Dean finds the book he’s looking for and straightens up. "Okay, here it is - if she doesn’t like this, there’s no hope."
"I’ll be sure to tell her that I don’t think it looks very much like good literature," Cas says, taking the book from Dean.
"Now you’re getting the idea," Dean replies. He walks Cas over to the checkout station and then reluctantly watches Cas leave. It’s ridiculous to feel so strongly for someone he’s met all of twice, but he can’t help it. There’s something about Cas that leads him to believe they could be great together.
Later that night, alone in his small apartment, Dean relaxes with a carton of takeout Pad Thai and some horrible reality TV show for company. He’s just leaving the last of the day’s stress behind him when the phone rings. There’s only one person who calls him regularly, every night at ten on the dot.
"Sammy, don’t you have a wife to bug now?"
"Don’t give me that," Sam answers, voice tinny inside the phone’s speakers. "You won’t come stay with us even though your apartment smells like a meth lab and we have a room all ready for you, so I have no choice but to call you every night."
"Jess sees me every day at work," Dean grumbles. "We don’t need to spend all night together, too."
"You know she would love to have you."
"And you know I’m a grown man, and I need my space," Dean says.
Sam scoffs. "Yeah, so you can sit around in your underwear watching bad TV."
"There a point to this conversation? I suggest you make it before I hang up."
"Jess said there’s a guy," Sam begins, and Dean wants to bang his head against the wall. There’s nothing worse than when Jess spills everything that happens at work to Sam, and Dean knows she wouldn’t have missed how long he took to help Cas.
"I’m perfectly capable of finding my own sex partners," he says petulantly. "I don’t need you two hovering around trying to find me a damn boyfriend."
"Hey, no," Sam protests. "I just wanted to see if you needed someone to talk to, work out your plan of attack."
Dean sighs. "You remember how creeped out you were when Becky showed so much interest in your love life before you met Jess?"
"What does that have to do - "
"That’s how I feel when you and Jess do this," Dean continues. "I promise that if I suddenly have a brain injury that leaves me with the urge to paint my toenails and talk about boys with you, I will let you know right away."
"Fine, fine," Sam laughs. "But you do have to come for dinner tomorrow. It’s lasagna night and Jess insists."
"Sure," Dean says graciously, because he never turns down dinner when Jess is cooking. "Tell her I’ll see her in the morning."
"Bye, Dean."
He hangs up the phone and turns down the volume on the TV. The thought of pursuing Cas is one he’s been flirting with off and on, but hasn’t really considered too seriously. It’s kind of unprofessional to pick up people when he’s at work, for one thing, and Cas didn’t particularly ping his gaydar, for another. But on the other hand, Cas is really hot, has an awesome sense of humor, and likes kids.
Dean lets himself picture Cas, imagines his husky voice, and his mind is made up in just a few short minutes. It’s worth a try, and if Cas comes back to the library, he’ll do it, he’ll ask Cas out.
Dean can’t really sleep that night. Now that he’s made a decision, he can’t wait to get back to work.
***
Naturally, because Dean’s life is just like that, the next three weeks are completely Cas-free. He has endless debates with himself about the relative creepiness of looking up Cas’s contact info from his library record, but so far he’s been able to resist. He got as far as Cas’s full name (Castiel Novak) before his professional ethics kicked in, and he’s still not sure if he’s more proud of himself or disappointed.
His customer service skills, never great to begin with, definitely suffer, because every person who comes into the library is automatically annoying by virtue of not being Cas. Victor ends up noticing, and Dean spends a humiliating half hour in his boss’s office promising to “stop taking his celibacy out on the patrons.”
Dean usually likes having Victor as his manager, but sometimes, it’s a pain in the ass. He listens, though, and works hard to forget how badly he wanted to take a chance on Cas.
He’s almost back to normal the afternoon that Cas comes back. Of course.
Dean’s helping Jo with a backlog of shelving, doing his best to “shift as you shelve, goddamnit, Dean!” when he looks up to see Cas watching him. He drops an encyclopedia on his foot.
“Shi -shoot,” he says, saving himself at the last minute. “Give a guy some warning, huh?”
Cas looks contrite, but he’s hiding a smile underneath his concern. “I’m very sorry,” he says. “How can I make it up to you?”
Well, with an opening like that…
“Dinner,” Dean says confidently, because no one’s clueless enough to use that line without it meaning something. “I think an injury of this magnitude requires dinner.”
Cas grins. “If you say so,” he replies, and then drops his gaze as if embarrassed. “I will admit that I came back hoping for this,” he adds quietly.
“You wanted me to maim myself and then blackmail you into a date?” Dean asks teasingly. “That’s a pretty specific kink, there.”
“The injury was quite by accident,” Cas insists. “So it is a date?”
Dean smiles and lets some heat into his eyes. “Definitely. I, uh, I planned on asking you, the next time you came in.”
“That worked out nicely, then,” Cas says, returning Dean’s gaze with a heated look of his own.
He’s not sure how long they stand there staring at each other, but the spell is broken when Becky shows up.
“Oh my god,” she says, taking in the situation and quickly realizing that Cas must be the guy the whole library keeps teasing Dean about. Jess can keep a secret from anyone but Sam, but Sam himself can’t, the little bastard. “Is this him?”
Dean growls, he’ll admit it. “Becky, Cas. Cas, Becky.” He gives Becky a warning glare. “Don’t you have a reference desk to staff?”
Becky doesn’t budge an inch. Cas watches Dean and seems to get the picture, if the smug look on his face is any indication.
“I should be letting you both get back to work,” Cas says as Becky and Dean have an entire conversation with their eyebrows, Dean’s portion consisting entirely of go away. “Thank you for the last book you suggested, Dean. Claire loved it.”
Dean has a moment of purely librarian satisfaction. “That’s great,” he tells Cas.
“Perhaps you could recommend a few more, and we could discuss them over dinner, maybe tomorrow night?” Cas continues speaking, ignoring Becky’s avid interest in their conversation.
“Uh, sure,” Dean says, “I get off at six.”
“I will see you then.”
Becky watches Dean watch Cas walk away, and sighs. “He is adorable, Dean,” she says. “You have all the freaking luck.”
“No thanks to anyone in this place,” he grumbles. “You all probably had bets going on when he’d come back.”
Becky looks away guiltily, but Dean’s too happy to give her any trouble. He regrets his leniency not two hours later when Jo and Becky corner him in the break room.
“What are you gonna wear?” Jo asks, batting her eyes. “I suggest something dark to make your lovely, pale skin stand out.”
Victor’s not there to mind, so Dean swears. “Fuck off, Jo.”
She pokes his arm. “I’m just trying to help.”
“You remember what happened with your last date, right?” Becky adds, poking his other arm. “You clearly need some pointers.”
“It’s not my fault that she hated Led Zeppelin and hadn’t read anything other than The Secret in years,” Dean protests.
“Yeah, but it definitely was your fault that you told her you’d call, and then didn’t, leading to the most annoying public breakup ever, in the magazine section, in front of an influential member of the Library Board of Directors,” Jo replies without remorse.
Dean slumps down on the tiny break room couch. That had not been his finest moment, no, but his date with Cas will go differently. He’s sure about that.
“Just try to look nice, and don’t scare him away by judging his taste in music or books too harshly, okay?” Becky says, and Jo sighs and nods.
“That’s about as good as it’s going to get, I suppose,” she says.
Dean gets up and grabs a glass of water, and feels no regret for sprinkling a third of it out onto Jo and Becky before leaving to go back to the reference desk. Jess is there waiting for him, a calculating look on her face. Dean groans.
“Not you, too,” he says.
Jess smiles. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You were gonna,” Dean grunts. “You’re going to go home and tell Sam I have a date, and then I’ll never have any peace ever again.”
“Don’t act like you don’t like it,” Jess says with humor. “You would think we all hated you if we didn’t interfere, snoop, and otherwise make your life miserable.”
Dean grimaces. He hates it when she’s right, something he tells Sam as soon as he gets home that night to find his brother sitting on his doorstep.
“Don’t tell me that,” Sam says, getting up and following Dean inside. “At least you’re used to be being wrong after growing up with me. I had no experience with that before Jess.”
“Fucker,” Dean says fondly. “That girl is way too good for you, and you know it.” He locks the door behind Sam and flops down on the couch. “You here to give me shit about my date, too?”
Sam turns on the TV and pulls out Dean’s little-used Wii. “Nope,” he says, with a huge grin. “I’m here to beat your ass at MarioKart.”
Sometimes, Dean is happy to admit to himself, Sam knows just what he needs, and gives it to him without complaining or teasing. It’s a rare occurrence, so Dean enjoys it all the more when it does happen.
***
Dean starts the next day with a well-earned glow of victory after having trounced Sam at every video game they tried the night before. At the end of his shift, he also makes it out to the parking lot without letting Becky or Jo do anything to his hair, which he’s taking as a sign that the rest of the evening is going to go perfectly, with a possible bonus option of getting laid. Then he sees Cas standing next to a beat-up Subaru, and Claire.
His stomach sort of drops at the sight. Is bringing his niece along Cas’s way of backing out of their date? Dean smiles anyway and walks over, trying to think positively. Up close, he can see that Cas looks frustrated.
“Hey, guys,” Dean says. “It’s good to see you again, Claire.”
“Dean, I am very sorry, but Claire needed to stay with me tonight,” Cas begins speaking nervously. “Her parents had a last minute emergency, and Claire said she wouldn’t mind spending the evening with both of us, if you would still like to have dinner.”
“What he means is, please don’t let my whiny teenage niece scare you off,” Claire adds, smiling angelically as Cas glares at her. She leans toward Dean and whispers conspiratorially. “He totally made, like, three different kinds of food and spent an hour deciding what to wear.”
Dean grins. How can he not want to spend some time with such an awesome source of Cas’s embarrassing secrets?
“Trust me,” he says. “You can’t be more whiny than some of my co-workers, and you liked the book I found for you, which is the way to earn a librarian’s loyalty for life, so I think we’ll get along just fine.”
Cas smiles at him gratefully and Claire tugs him over to the car and pushes him into the front seat, and just like that, Dean knows the night’s going to be great, if different from what he’d been expecting.
Cas lives in a small house not too far from the library, with a lawn that looks like no one’s mowed it in years and is mostly covered in trees. Dean thinks the neighbors must hate it, but in his opinion, it makes the house look interesting.
Inside, Dean follows Cas to the kitchen while Claire heads to the living room to watch TV until the food is ready. He tries to help Cas, but gets shooed away after a few minutes, since “you are my guest, Dean.” He joins Claire on the large, ridiculously comfortable couch.
“Guests aren’t allowed to help,” he explains, when she raises an eyebrow at him.
“Duh,” she replies, flipping her hair between her fingers and keeping one eye on the TV. “Hey, can you get me the sequel to that book, the one you gave Uncle Cas?”
“Well, it’s not out yet, but I can keep a copy on hold for you once it gets published,” Dean promises, which isn’t entirely wise, given that the holds list is already one hundred people strong, but this entire date was the result of another not-very-promising decision, so Dean figures he might as well just go with it. “There’s another book, though, not the same author or anything, but I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.”
“Does it have werewolves?”
Dean grins. “It sure does. Want me to get it for you?”
“Yes!” Claire bounces a little. “I’m glad you’re gonna date my uncle,” she says.
“You like the library perks, is that it?”
“That, and ever since he met you, he hasn’t tried to get me to read any of his old, boring books, not once.”
“Happy to help,” Dean says, and when Cas comes to tell them that dinner is ready, he and Claire both laugh and refuse to tell Cas why.
Dean eats a lot, probably more than is prudent on a first date, but Cas can cook, and the wine is good, and the company is even better. Cas teases him about his appetite, and it occurs to Dean that he’s already comfortable with Cas. They’re having what amounts to a quiet family dinner, and Dean just wants more, and it isn’t scaring him at all.
They all do the dishes together, Cas protesting the whole time that Dean is still a guest, and then Dean sits in the living room while Cas negotiates with Claire for some alone time.
When Claire is finally settled down in her room, either sleeping or otherwise occupied, because Cas is too smart to think that a thirteen-year-old won’t stay up if she wants to, they move outside to the front porch and enjoy the mild evening air.
“Thank you,” Cas says softly, moving so that he and Dean are sitting close together on the steps of the porch. The heat of his thigh makes Dean want to pull him into a kiss, maybe see how warm the rest of his body is, but it seems like it’s maybe too soon for that.
“You’re welcome,” he answers instead. “Wait, you made and hosted dinner, what I am being thanked for here?”
Cas laughs, and grabs Dean’s hand and puts it on his knee, then covers it with his own. “For providing reading suggestions that make me look like the best uncle ever? For not minding when I brought my niece along on our first date? Take your pick.”
Dean presses his hand against Cas’s knee, squeezing lightly. “Totally worth it,” he says, turning to look at Cas, their faces almost too close for comfort. Cas’s gaze slides down to Dean’s mouth, giving Dean the incentive to push forward and press their lips together. It’s a soft kiss, just the right thing for now, Dean thinks, and then changes his mind when Cas opens his mouth and deepens the kiss. Dean chases the taste of wine into Cas’s mouth in return, and moves his hands, one on Cas’s shoulder and the other around Cas’s back, holding them even closer together.
He loses track of how long they sit there kissing, but it must be a while, because when he finally breaks their contact his lips are buzzing and swollen. Cas looks wrecked, too, and Dean almost swoops back in to start again.
“Claire,” Cas says distractedly, breaking Dean out of the moment.
“Is in bed,” Dean replies.
“Yes,” Cas says. “Which is where I would be inviting you to join me, but I think we should leave that for next time.”
“Yeah,” Dean says. “Wouldn’t want to go too fast.” He almost means it, too.
Cas smiles, a possessive smile Dean hasn’t seen on him before. “I only meant that I don’t think we could keep quiet enough for sex tonight,” he says. “I want to see how loud I can make you get.”
Dean’s breath stutters for a second and he lets out a half-moan, half-sigh. “Jesus,” he says. “Don’t say that unless you’re going to immediately follow up.”
“Next time,” Cas promises, and they sit together in a comfortable silence. Dean’s pretty sure this is the start of something amazing, and he wants to drag it out as long as he can. There’s just one thing about their dating origin story that needs to change, however.
“We’ve gotta pretend that Twilight wasn’t actually the reason we got together,” Dean says fervently. “I would never live that shit down.”
Cas’s laughter is the thing Dean remembers most clearly about that night, even years later, and if anyone who wasn’t there asks, they met at the library when Claire needed a copy of Catcher in the Rye for school.
The end.
Bonus material: the books Dean recommends for Claire are: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and I wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone who is a fan of teen werewolf novels.
Author: exmanhater
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Spoilers: none
Warnings: none
Word count: 4,550
Summary: In which Dean says derogatory things about teen vampire novels, Castiel keeps coming back for more, Claire gets her way all the time, and Dean’s co-workers (and Sam) are huge nuisances. (Librarian!Dean AU, or how Stephenie Meyer found Dean the love of his life)
A/N: The idea for this came from a conversation notragicmercury and I had over at the Dean/Castiel AU kinkmeme, so give her credit for the awesome idea of Claire being a Twilight fan.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used in this story, and will not profit from it
Podfic version found here
Dean almost grins when he sees the pair waiting for him at his desk as he returns from helping someone find the latest Vogue. The man has a familiar persecuted look on his face, and the girl, who must be in her early teens, looks equal parts exasperated and pleased. She must have bullied the guy into something, and Dean can take a few guesses as to what and why. He can’t keep track of the number of parents he’s seen in the same situation before.
He smiles and catches the man’s eye. "Hey, can I help you two find something?"
The man, who must be her father, Dean thinks with regret, as he takes in the attractive features and slim build, looks at the girl and prods her shoulder. "Well?" he says. "Ask your question."
She frowns and starts to twist her hair around one finger. "I need a book," she says, slowly, like he might not understand English.
Holding back his laughter, Dean nods. "A book, okay. Well, let me take a wild guess here - the newest Stephenie Meyer book, right?"
The man looks overwhelmed and slightly embarrassed, but the girl’s face lights up above her oversized Team Jacob t-shirt.
"Oh my god, yes, do you have it?!" she squeals. "Are you a fan? How did you know?"
Dean smiles at her enthusiasm. "Well, I’ve read all the books," he hedges, hoping to avoid bloodshed. "I noticed your shirt and figured you might be needing the newest sequel."
She starts to babble about werewolves, and Dean listens politely until the man cuts her off.
"Claire," he says, patience clearly wearing thin. He looks at Dean, and his blue-eyed stare almost makes Dean forget his job. "Can you find this book for us?"
"Sure," Dean says, "but unfortunately all of our copies are checked out by other people right now, since it’s brand new."
Claire's face becomes a mask of misery. Dean’s about to explain how the holds system works and why sometimes books just aren’t on the shelf, but then he sees the man’s slumped shoulders and Claire’s utter despair. Right.
"But," he says quickly, "I have an advance reader copy you could take, as long as you don’t mind some typos, and as long as you bring it back." The look of hope on Claire’s face makes him extremely grateful for Becky’s obsession with getting new teen books early and then keeping all the copies. He’ll have to grovel if she realizes one is missing, but it’ll be worth it.
"Oh my god, thank you!" Claire says. "What’s an advance reader copy?"
Dean grins. "Come on, I’ll show you, and we can pick up your copy." He lets Jess know he’ll be right back, and then leads Claire and her father downstairs to the staff workroom.
As they walk, the man speaks up again. "Thank you," he says, in that gruff voice Dean is resolutely not imagining in his bed. "I think I’m going to win the coveted uncle of the year award now."
"Uncle, huh?" Dean asks, fishing for more information now that his prospects are slightly better. The man nods and opens his mouth to speak, but Claire interrupts.
"Uncle Cas, come on," she whines from the bottom of the stairs.
Dean laughs and shrugs at Cas, grateful that he got the man's name, at least, without having to hint around for it. "Okay," he tells Claire as he joins her in the hallway. "Just through this door." He walks into the room and takes her to the right shelf, then pulls Breaking Dawn out and hands it to her.
Claire's eyes are wide. "I have to go read it right now," she whispers, not looking up from the cover.
"Just remember, it's a copy that the publisher sent out early to librarians and book reviewers, so it might have some typos or weird looking fonts, okay?" Dean tells her. "And this one is actually my co-worker's, so you have to bring it back or I'll be in trouble."
"I will, I promise," Claire says. "Thank you so much!"
Dean kind of wants to stage an intervention and get her reading something decent, but her happiness at being presented with just the book she wanted reminds him of why he does this job in the first place.
"Yes," Cas adds. "Thank you...?"
"Oh, sorry, I'm Dean," he smiles at Claire and Cas. "I'm here pretty much every day, but if I'm not when you come back, you can just leave the book with anyone who works here."
"Dean," Cas nods. "Nice to meet you, and thank you, again." He nudges Claire, who is zoned out reading the first chapter of her book. She startles.
"Uh, yeah, thanks again," she says cheerfully, then walks up the stairs with her nose still in her book.
"Good luck getting any conversation out of her for the next few days," Dean tells Cas.
"To be honest, I am looking forward to a little peace and quiet." Cas grins wryly as he follows Claire upstairs.
"I hope you enjoy it," Dean says as he watches them both leave. It's a shame. Guys that hot, hell, people that hot, never come into the library.
***
Dean never expected to be doing this, working in a library part time, helping people find romance novels, car maintenance manuals and badly written vampire erotica. He also never expected to like it, but he does, and even if Sam's favorite activity in the world is coming to the library at the end of the day to loudly and smugly "pick up his two favorite book lovers," he doesn't deny it.
It's practically a family business now, with Jess working the front desk and Jo shelving books (and yelling at anyone who doesn’t meet her exacting shelving standards). He wouldn’t call Becky family necessarily, but she’s a friend and pretty close to it. Dean's used to how things work, anyway, and so he never expects to see Cas or his niece again. People always mean to bring back the book, but life happens, and if you're not getting charged twenty-five cents a day to remember that the book belongs to the library, it's easier to just forget. He'll apologize profusely to Becky, and she'll forgive him, and that will be the end of it. At least it hadn’t been a copy signed by the author, or Dean would’ve been toast. He’s pretty sure Becky keeps those books locked in her desk drawer, or in a vault at her house.
That certainty is the only reason he almost chokes when he hears a familiar gravelly voice (one he's been shamelessly fantasizing about) a few weeks later.
"Thank you again," Cas says as Dean stares up at him. "I'm sorry I haven't returned before now, but I kept forgetting to bring the book with me to work in the mornings."
Cas sets Becky's precious advance reader copy down on the desk.
"Thanks for bringing it back," Dean manages. "What's the verdict?"
"The name “Edward” is now a curse word in our family," Cas says solemnly, and Dean really should be moving Cas along so that he can finish updating the reference schedule, but he just can't.
"Well, the name “Stephenie Meyer” is one in my family," he replies, "so I'm not one to judge."
"Does it get better?" Cas asks. "Did your children eventually develop better taste?"
"My... oh, I don't have any kids, no spouse or anyone, actually. I'm single," Dean winces involuntarily. I'm single is possibly the stupidest thing he's said all day. Or all week. "Uh, I just see a lot of kids here, obviously. I think it can get better, if you're careful not to forbid the bad stuff, and introduce the good stuff little by little."
"I see," Cas replies, politely overlooking Dean's word vomit. "Do you have any recommendations for a thirteen-year-old werewolf addict, then? Claire is staying with me on the weekends for the rest of the school year, and my taste in books, and I quote, blows."
Dean laughs. "Yeah, I can't let anyone suffer like that. Would be against my vows as a professional librarian." He stands and motions for Cas to follow him. "Let's see what we've got on the shelves, and if that doesn't work, I'll get some stuff in for you to pick up next time you're here."
They walk over to the teen fiction, and Dean thinks how convenient it is that his job basically requires him to keep flirting with Cas. He leans down and flips through the books on the lower shelves, hunting for his go-to werewolf recommendation, which is never where it's supposed to be. "That's nice of you," he says, strictly to keep up the conversation and not to get more information. "Letting your niece stay with you every weekend."
"Her parents are leading weekend camping expeditions, for one of the organizations where my sister-in-law volunteers," Cas replies. "Claire refused to go camping every weekend, and I have a house all to myself, so it seemed like a good fit." He pauses for a moment. "I enjoy her company, most of the time."
Dean finds the book he’s looking for and straightens up. "Okay, here it is - if she doesn’t like this, there’s no hope."
"I’ll be sure to tell her that I don’t think it looks very much like good literature," Cas says, taking the book from Dean.
"Now you’re getting the idea," Dean replies. He walks Cas over to the checkout station and then reluctantly watches Cas leave. It’s ridiculous to feel so strongly for someone he’s met all of twice, but he can’t help it. There’s something about Cas that leads him to believe they could be great together.
Later that night, alone in his small apartment, Dean relaxes with a carton of takeout Pad Thai and some horrible reality TV show for company. He’s just leaving the last of the day’s stress behind him when the phone rings. There’s only one person who calls him regularly, every night at ten on the dot.
"Sammy, don’t you have a wife to bug now?"
"Don’t give me that," Sam answers, voice tinny inside the phone’s speakers. "You won’t come stay with us even though your apartment smells like a meth lab and we have a room all ready for you, so I have no choice but to call you every night."
"Jess sees me every day at work," Dean grumbles. "We don’t need to spend all night together, too."
"You know she would love to have you."
"And you know I’m a grown man, and I need my space," Dean says.
Sam scoffs. "Yeah, so you can sit around in your underwear watching bad TV."
"There a point to this conversation? I suggest you make it before I hang up."
"Jess said there’s a guy," Sam begins, and Dean wants to bang his head against the wall. There’s nothing worse than when Jess spills everything that happens at work to Sam, and Dean knows she wouldn’t have missed how long he took to help Cas.
"I’m perfectly capable of finding my own sex partners," he says petulantly. "I don’t need you two hovering around trying to find me a damn boyfriend."
"Hey, no," Sam protests. "I just wanted to see if you needed someone to talk to, work out your plan of attack."
Dean sighs. "You remember how creeped out you were when Becky showed so much interest in your love life before you met Jess?"
"What does that have to do - "
"That’s how I feel when you and Jess do this," Dean continues. "I promise that if I suddenly have a brain injury that leaves me with the urge to paint my toenails and talk about boys with you, I will let you know right away."
"Fine, fine," Sam laughs. "But you do have to come for dinner tomorrow. It’s lasagna night and Jess insists."
"Sure," Dean says graciously, because he never turns down dinner when Jess is cooking. "Tell her I’ll see her in the morning."
"Bye, Dean."
He hangs up the phone and turns down the volume on the TV. The thought of pursuing Cas is one he’s been flirting with off and on, but hasn’t really considered too seriously. It’s kind of unprofessional to pick up people when he’s at work, for one thing, and Cas didn’t particularly ping his gaydar, for another. But on the other hand, Cas is really hot, has an awesome sense of humor, and likes kids.
Dean lets himself picture Cas, imagines his husky voice, and his mind is made up in just a few short minutes. It’s worth a try, and if Cas comes back to the library, he’ll do it, he’ll ask Cas out.
Dean can’t really sleep that night. Now that he’s made a decision, he can’t wait to get back to work.
***
Naturally, because Dean’s life is just like that, the next three weeks are completely Cas-free. He has endless debates with himself about the relative creepiness of looking up Cas’s contact info from his library record, but so far he’s been able to resist. He got as far as Cas’s full name (Castiel Novak) before his professional ethics kicked in, and he’s still not sure if he’s more proud of himself or disappointed.
His customer service skills, never great to begin with, definitely suffer, because every person who comes into the library is automatically annoying by virtue of not being Cas. Victor ends up noticing, and Dean spends a humiliating half hour in his boss’s office promising to “stop taking his celibacy out on the patrons.”
Dean usually likes having Victor as his manager, but sometimes, it’s a pain in the ass. He listens, though, and works hard to forget how badly he wanted to take a chance on Cas.
He’s almost back to normal the afternoon that Cas comes back. Of course.
Dean’s helping Jo with a backlog of shelving, doing his best to “shift as you shelve, goddamnit, Dean!” when he looks up to see Cas watching him. He drops an encyclopedia on his foot.
“Shi -shoot,” he says, saving himself at the last minute. “Give a guy some warning, huh?”
Cas looks contrite, but he’s hiding a smile underneath his concern. “I’m very sorry,” he says. “How can I make it up to you?”
Well, with an opening like that…
“Dinner,” Dean says confidently, because no one’s clueless enough to use that line without it meaning something. “I think an injury of this magnitude requires dinner.”
Cas grins. “If you say so,” he replies, and then drops his gaze as if embarrassed. “I will admit that I came back hoping for this,” he adds quietly.
“You wanted me to maim myself and then blackmail you into a date?” Dean asks teasingly. “That’s a pretty specific kink, there.”
“The injury was quite by accident,” Cas insists. “So it is a date?”
Dean smiles and lets some heat into his eyes. “Definitely. I, uh, I planned on asking you, the next time you came in.”
“That worked out nicely, then,” Cas says, returning Dean’s gaze with a heated look of his own.
He’s not sure how long they stand there staring at each other, but the spell is broken when Becky shows up.
“Oh my god,” she says, taking in the situation and quickly realizing that Cas must be the guy the whole library keeps teasing Dean about. Jess can keep a secret from anyone but Sam, but Sam himself can’t, the little bastard. “Is this him?”
Dean growls, he’ll admit it. “Becky, Cas. Cas, Becky.” He gives Becky a warning glare. “Don’t you have a reference desk to staff?”
Becky doesn’t budge an inch. Cas watches Dean and seems to get the picture, if the smug look on his face is any indication.
“I should be letting you both get back to work,” Cas says as Becky and Dean have an entire conversation with their eyebrows, Dean’s portion consisting entirely of go away. “Thank you for the last book you suggested, Dean. Claire loved it.”
Dean has a moment of purely librarian satisfaction. “That’s great,” he tells Cas.
“Perhaps you could recommend a few more, and we could discuss them over dinner, maybe tomorrow night?” Cas continues speaking, ignoring Becky’s avid interest in their conversation.
“Uh, sure,” Dean says, “I get off at six.”
“I will see you then.”
Becky watches Dean watch Cas walk away, and sighs. “He is adorable, Dean,” she says. “You have all the freaking luck.”
“No thanks to anyone in this place,” he grumbles. “You all probably had bets going on when he’d come back.”
Becky looks away guiltily, but Dean’s too happy to give her any trouble. He regrets his leniency not two hours later when Jo and Becky corner him in the break room.
“What are you gonna wear?” Jo asks, batting her eyes. “I suggest something dark to make your lovely, pale skin stand out.”
Victor’s not there to mind, so Dean swears. “Fuck off, Jo.”
She pokes his arm. “I’m just trying to help.”
“You remember what happened with your last date, right?” Becky adds, poking his other arm. “You clearly need some pointers.”
“It’s not my fault that she hated Led Zeppelin and hadn’t read anything other than The Secret in years,” Dean protests.
“Yeah, but it definitely was your fault that you told her you’d call, and then didn’t, leading to the most annoying public breakup ever, in the magazine section, in front of an influential member of the Library Board of Directors,” Jo replies without remorse.
Dean slumps down on the tiny break room couch. That had not been his finest moment, no, but his date with Cas will go differently. He’s sure about that.
“Just try to look nice, and don’t scare him away by judging his taste in music or books too harshly, okay?” Becky says, and Jo sighs and nods.
“That’s about as good as it’s going to get, I suppose,” she says.
Dean gets up and grabs a glass of water, and feels no regret for sprinkling a third of it out onto Jo and Becky before leaving to go back to the reference desk. Jess is there waiting for him, a calculating look on her face. Dean groans.
“Not you, too,” he says.
Jess smiles. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You were gonna,” Dean grunts. “You’re going to go home and tell Sam I have a date, and then I’ll never have any peace ever again.”
“Don’t act like you don’t like it,” Jess says with humor. “You would think we all hated you if we didn’t interfere, snoop, and otherwise make your life miserable.”
Dean grimaces. He hates it when she’s right, something he tells Sam as soon as he gets home that night to find his brother sitting on his doorstep.
“Don’t tell me that,” Sam says, getting up and following Dean inside. “At least you’re used to be being wrong after growing up with me. I had no experience with that before Jess.”
“Fucker,” Dean says fondly. “That girl is way too good for you, and you know it.” He locks the door behind Sam and flops down on the couch. “You here to give me shit about my date, too?”
Sam turns on the TV and pulls out Dean’s little-used Wii. “Nope,” he says, with a huge grin. “I’m here to beat your ass at MarioKart.”
Sometimes, Dean is happy to admit to himself, Sam knows just what he needs, and gives it to him without complaining or teasing. It’s a rare occurrence, so Dean enjoys it all the more when it does happen.
***
Dean starts the next day with a well-earned glow of victory after having trounced Sam at every video game they tried the night before. At the end of his shift, he also makes it out to the parking lot without letting Becky or Jo do anything to his hair, which he’s taking as a sign that the rest of the evening is going to go perfectly, with a possible bonus option of getting laid. Then he sees Cas standing next to a beat-up Subaru, and Claire.
His stomach sort of drops at the sight. Is bringing his niece along Cas’s way of backing out of their date? Dean smiles anyway and walks over, trying to think positively. Up close, he can see that Cas looks frustrated.
“Hey, guys,” Dean says. “It’s good to see you again, Claire.”
“Dean, I am very sorry, but Claire needed to stay with me tonight,” Cas begins speaking nervously. “Her parents had a last minute emergency, and Claire said she wouldn’t mind spending the evening with both of us, if you would still like to have dinner.”
“What he means is, please don’t let my whiny teenage niece scare you off,” Claire adds, smiling angelically as Cas glares at her. She leans toward Dean and whispers conspiratorially. “He totally made, like, three different kinds of food and spent an hour deciding what to wear.”
Dean grins. How can he not want to spend some time with such an awesome source of Cas’s embarrassing secrets?
“Trust me,” he says. “You can’t be more whiny than some of my co-workers, and you liked the book I found for you, which is the way to earn a librarian’s loyalty for life, so I think we’ll get along just fine.”
Cas smiles at him gratefully and Claire tugs him over to the car and pushes him into the front seat, and just like that, Dean knows the night’s going to be great, if different from what he’d been expecting.
Cas lives in a small house not too far from the library, with a lawn that looks like no one’s mowed it in years and is mostly covered in trees. Dean thinks the neighbors must hate it, but in his opinion, it makes the house look interesting.
Inside, Dean follows Cas to the kitchen while Claire heads to the living room to watch TV until the food is ready. He tries to help Cas, but gets shooed away after a few minutes, since “you are my guest, Dean.” He joins Claire on the large, ridiculously comfortable couch.
“Guests aren’t allowed to help,” he explains, when she raises an eyebrow at him.
“Duh,” she replies, flipping her hair between her fingers and keeping one eye on the TV. “Hey, can you get me the sequel to that book, the one you gave Uncle Cas?”
“Well, it’s not out yet, but I can keep a copy on hold for you once it gets published,” Dean promises, which isn’t entirely wise, given that the holds list is already one hundred people strong, but this entire date was the result of another not-very-promising decision, so Dean figures he might as well just go with it. “There’s another book, though, not the same author or anything, but I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.”
“Does it have werewolves?”
Dean grins. “It sure does. Want me to get it for you?”
“Yes!” Claire bounces a little. “I’m glad you’re gonna date my uncle,” she says.
“You like the library perks, is that it?”
“That, and ever since he met you, he hasn’t tried to get me to read any of his old, boring books, not once.”
“Happy to help,” Dean says, and when Cas comes to tell them that dinner is ready, he and Claire both laugh and refuse to tell Cas why.
Dean eats a lot, probably more than is prudent on a first date, but Cas can cook, and the wine is good, and the company is even better. Cas teases him about his appetite, and it occurs to Dean that he’s already comfortable with Cas. They’re having what amounts to a quiet family dinner, and Dean just wants more, and it isn’t scaring him at all.
They all do the dishes together, Cas protesting the whole time that Dean is still a guest, and then Dean sits in the living room while Cas negotiates with Claire for some alone time.
When Claire is finally settled down in her room, either sleeping or otherwise occupied, because Cas is too smart to think that a thirteen-year-old won’t stay up if she wants to, they move outside to the front porch and enjoy the mild evening air.
“Thank you,” Cas says softly, moving so that he and Dean are sitting close together on the steps of the porch. The heat of his thigh makes Dean want to pull him into a kiss, maybe see how warm the rest of his body is, but it seems like it’s maybe too soon for that.
“You’re welcome,” he answers instead. “Wait, you made and hosted dinner, what I am being thanked for here?”
Cas laughs, and grabs Dean’s hand and puts it on his knee, then covers it with his own. “For providing reading suggestions that make me look like the best uncle ever? For not minding when I brought my niece along on our first date? Take your pick.”
Dean presses his hand against Cas’s knee, squeezing lightly. “Totally worth it,” he says, turning to look at Cas, their faces almost too close for comfort. Cas’s gaze slides down to Dean’s mouth, giving Dean the incentive to push forward and press their lips together. It’s a soft kiss, just the right thing for now, Dean thinks, and then changes his mind when Cas opens his mouth and deepens the kiss. Dean chases the taste of wine into Cas’s mouth in return, and moves his hands, one on Cas’s shoulder and the other around Cas’s back, holding them even closer together.
He loses track of how long they sit there kissing, but it must be a while, because when he finally breaks their contact his lips are buzzing and swollen. Cas looks wrecked, too, and Dean almost swoops back in to start again.
“Claire,” Cas says distractedly, breaking Dean out of the moment.
“Is in bed,” Dean replies.
“Yes,” Cas says. “Which is where I would be inviting you to join me, but I think we should leave that for next time.”
“Yeah,” Dean says. “Wouldn’t want to go too fast.” He almost means it, too.
Cas smiles, a possessive smile Dean hasn’t seen on him before. “I only meant that I don’t think we could keep quiet enough for sex tonight,” he says. “I want to see how loud I can make you get.”
Dean’s breath stutters for a second and he lets out a half-moan, half-sigh. “Jesus,” he says. “Don’t say that unless you’re going to immediately follow up.”
“Next time,” Cas promises, and they sit together in a comfortable silence. Dean’s pretty sure this is the start of something amazing, and he wants to drag it out as long as he can. There’s just one thing about their dating origin story that needs to change, however.
“We’ve gotta pretend that Twilight wasn’t actually the reason we got together,” Dean says fervently. “I would never live that shit down.”
Cas’s laughter is the thing Dean remembers most clearly about that night, even years later, and if anyone who wasn’t there asks, they met at the library when Claire needed a copy of Catcher in the Rye for school.
The end.
Bonus material: the books Dean recommends for Claire are: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and I wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone who is a fan of teen werewolf novels.