All Night Long (2/3)
The plan was in motion.
Dean liked men and women, but didn’t like to label his sexuality. Apparently, that made it ‘real’. However, it was mostly women that Castiel saw in Dean’s shirts after the couple’s game of How Long Can We Keep Castiel Awake, so Castiel started going through the list of women he knew. There was Gilda across the hall, but her girlfriend disqualified her. Jo was single, but then Castiel crossed her off after remembering the whole unrequited thing she had for Dean. In fact, the more ladies he named, the more he realised had already crushed on or dallied with Dean, or were out of the question entirely because of their opposing sexualities.
Then, while Castiel chewed through stale cereal the next morning, it struck him so hard he dropped his spoon.
Anna.
As far as Castiel knew, Dean hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting Castiel’s other best friend (the first being Meg, but Castiel wouldn’t say they were ever pleased to meet each other), and it was perfect because she was back in town in a couple of days. They’d arranged to meet elsewhere, but if she agreed to meet at his and Dean’s apartment, and Castiel just happened to be out, then Anna and Dean could get a headstart on feeling things for each other.
Castiel’s palms itched, and suddenly he understood why the villain always rubbed their hands together after a scheme had formed.
It was easy enough to ‘forget’ something at the store, and to instruct Dean to welcome Anna should she arrive while Castiel was out.
Of course, because Castiel prided himself on his meticulous timing, she did.
Anna and Dean were sitting very closely on the couch when he arrived, and Castiel watched for a few seconds, pleased.
They shifted towards each other, seemingly enchanted, and the door slammed behind Castiel a little louder than he intended. His best friend and his roommate jumped apart, their connection severed by the noise, and as Anna looked at him sheepishly at the same time Dean grinned, the cereal box dented in Castiel's clenching fist.
Anna jumped up and ran to Castiel to hug him tightly. “Hey, Castiel,” she smiled into his chest. Then, whispering, she said, “Dean’s hot. I knew my riding lessons would come in handy one day.”
Grimacing, Castiel pointed out, “Anna, your parents own the stables.”
She laughed and hugged him again, ruffling his hair as they parted. People liked to ruffle Castiel’s hair, and he usually let them; it was too tempting not to play with, everyone said. Anna was no different, as Castiel had seen his fair share of bows and braids growing up with her.
“Oh, I’m only home for a week,” she said, her hazel doe eyes widening in sympathy when Castiel’s face fell.
“I know, it’s short, but...I have an interview for a job in New York next week!”
Castiel perked up. “An interview? For what?”
With a smile blooming, Anna revealed, “For a magazine! The people there found my blog somehow, and they emailed me about an opening in their travel department. I’m going to get paid to travel! If I get the job, that is,” she added, bringing herself back down to Earth.
“Of course you’ll get it, you’re an exceptional travel journalist.”
Castiel really thought so, too. Though his passion for travel and learning about new places was only a fraction compared to Anna’s, he read every post of hers, and often pored over the archives of her blog, and not just because he missed his best friend.
She beamed at him, and they set out for the day to catch up and shop for interview-wear (which Castiel didn’t know was a thing), crashing on the couch with pizza in the evening. Dean joined them for the last part, and Castiel watched as his two friends got on famously, a twinge in his gut when Anna received the look. Then again, he had just eaten a third of an extra large pizza, so he blamed it on that. After all, who tries to set their friends up and then feels sick when it works? Not Castiel, that’s who.
When it got late, Anna went home, leaving the last slice of pizza and a warm, empty seat next to Castiel. Dean scooched to the warm spot silently asking if it was okay if he ate the last slice, and silently, Castiel assented.
They were doing that a lot, recently. Silently talking. Reading each other’s minds with no more than a gesture or an expression. They had spent the most part of a year as roommates, but were only really beginning to become good friends. Dean hadn’t helped with his music taste, but Castiel supposed he hadn’t helped by radiating grumpiness, either.
“Anna’s nice,” Dean said through his food.
Castiel said nothing, suspecting that Dean would continue once he’d wolfed his mouthful down.
His suspicions were correct, as Dean swallowed and tentatively probed, “She got a boyfriend?”
“No.” Castiel almost wanted to snort with derision. Anna wouldn’t dream of tying herself down with a relationship while she travelled.
“Girlfriend?”
“She dated Ruby for a while, but no.”
Dean’s eyebrows practically disappeared into his head. “Ruby? As in Sam’s Ruby?”
“Yes. They separated when Anna started backpacking. But she’s mostly straight. She once told me that she was straight give or take Ruby, which I think is sweet.”
Grunting, Dean remarked, “Ruby’s a bitch.”
“She’s not my favourite person either.”
Ruby really wasn’t Castiel’s favourite person. He was obligated to be at least civil to her when she was dating his best friend, but as soon as the couple broke up, Castiel treated Ruby the way she deserved to be - with disdain and scorn. Ruby was a piece of work who currently had her claws in Dean’s little brother, Sam, who was besotted.
The only thing Castiel could say to ease Dean’s mind about the subject was that Ruby would get bored soon enough. Dean didn’t like thinking about how Sam would feel after being dumped, but at least Ruby would be out of their lives.
The couch schhfffff’d as Dean fell to the side to lay down. Dean crossed his ankles on Castiel’s lap, and looked up to the ceiling as the two lines between his brows indicated he was thinking hard.
“Do you think Anna’d wanna...hook up, or go on a date or something, before she leaves for New York?”
Castiel’s plan had practically succeeded, and he felt nothing.
“She’s certainly attracted to you,” he monotoned, not missing the way Dean’s face lit up.
The thing was, if Castiel knew Anna wasn’t staying for long, he wouldn’t have tried to set her and Dean up. The plan was to get Dean into a happy relationship, not to parade him around as someone to be fucked and left, and what was currently happening was the opposite of the plan.
“Yeah,” said Dean distantly. “I’m gonna ask her out.”
A few nights later, Castiel had to leave the apartment in fear of hearing the noises his best friend made when she was being thoroughly eaten out.
He knocked on Gilda’s door, and was greeted with a gentle smile. Her dress floated gracefully as she spun to lead him in, and the scent of vanilla and violets welcomed him, as well as the homely array of pillows. Gilda loved pillows. She had them in all sizes, shapes, and stuffs - that’s what Castiel thought the inside of them was called, anyway.
Gilda flicked the kettle on, and while she waited for the water to boil sat on her favourite pillow, a large rectangular one that depicted all of Barker’s Flower Fairies. The skirt of her dress fanned out around her, and she gestured for him to take a pillow too. Castiel parked himself on a plump, round one, a pillow he had grown fond of over the past year. The bottom was leather the colour of mahogany, and the top was tan, like his trenchcoat, with clashes of forest green and electric blue. Strictly speaking, it was a very ugly pillow, but Castiel liked it very much indeed.
“Would you like tea, Castiel? Or coffee?” Gilda asked, the soft light creating a halo around the caramel outline of her curly hair.
“Tea, please. I hope to fall asleep tonight.”
“I take it Dean is making love quite loudly?”
Castiel looked down and gave a strange smile at the use of her words. “Quite.”
“Perhaps it would do you some good to make love loudly, too,” Gilda remarked, eyes crinkling.
“I think competing would only bring out the worst in him.”
“I think you’re right.”
She smiled brightly before getting up to ready mugs for their tea. “Is chamomile all right?”
“That would be wonderful, thank you.” Castiel sounded slightly dazed, but only because being in Gilda’s apartment gave him the sense of being a little high. It was all pale yellow lighting obscured by drapes and scarves, smoky from incense, and quiet music featuring instruments he had never heard before.
Castiel really wouldn’t be surprised if Gilda was one of the Flower Fairies she loved so much.
A steaming mug was placed into his hands, and he sipped while enjoying the sounds of the sea scoring a wind instrument. It was better than AC/DC, at any rate.
He asked Gilda how she was, how Charlie was, and then how her job was going. Not that Castiel knew Gilda’s line of work. For some reason or another, she was incredibly secretive about it, and it showed when she only met his query with a knowing smile.
Maybe she really was a fairy.
The fairy of sheltering poor humans when their roommates were having loud sex with the human’s best friend.
In his lethargy, Castiel put this forward to the fairy, and she laughed and said, “You caught me, Castiel. I am of the fae realm, sent to protect the ears of innocents.”
He didn’t quite believe she was kidding, but mumbled something about ‘not being as innocent as people thought’. He had sex, sometimes. Just because he favoured a romantic relationship first, didn’t make him naive.
Gilda stroked his arm in comfort he didn’t really need, her sleeve trailing over his fingers when she drew her hand in. He shot a heavy-lidded glance at her sharp but gentle features, and waited for his tea to wake him up a little more so he could put some energy into keeping quiet when Anna and Dean were asleep.
Castiel was thoughtful like that.
He asked for another tea before he got even more tired and bitter.
Castiel snuck in when the beat no longer throbbed through the door, and tip-toed to bed, but not long after he settled down, a vertical line of light surprised his nearly-sleeping eyes.
“Cas?” a low voice whispered.
Castiel concluded that Dean wanted to brag about the amazing sex he probably just had, and pretended to be asleep.
“Cas?” Dean repeated, the floorboards creaking underfoot as he entered. “You asleep?”
“Yes,” came Castiel’s croaky quip.
“Anna left.”
Oh. Replaying Dean’s small voice in his head, Castiel recognised pain in it. “Adios?”
“Adios.”
Sighing and willing himself awake, Castiel shifted from the centre of his bed to the side, inviting Dean to sit.
Dean did not sit. Instead, he took the invitation of sitting on the edge of half a bed and laid on it atop the covers.
“She got a text about a mare having difficulties birthing a foal. It’s not bullshit, right?” he asked in the dark.
“Not at all,” Castiel said as reassuringly as he could. “While I am her best friend, she has cancelled plans on more than one occasion because of her horses. They always come first; they’re the family business.”
“Okay,” Dean said, nodding and somewhat satisfied. “Okay.”
Expecting Dean to leave, Castiel settled down to sleep, but the weight by his side did not lift. In anything, at one point it just shifted to get more comfortable - meaning the weight slid under the covers.
“This is not your bed,” he strained to say, fighting unconsciousness just so he could emulate a starfish with no one in the way.
“Dean.”
A singular snore prompted Castiel to think fuck it, and he fell asleep, ignoring the way Dean sought out his bare skin and huffed until he found a whole torso of it under Castiel’s shirt.