02 - Not the devil you know

Castiel found himself smiling. "No. I want this." He stepped closer to Dean, and looked carefully at him. Had he lead him to overthink this? He wanted this bad, casual or not. Which definitely read on his face while his eyes drifted to the singer's lips again. "Speaking of kissing, would it be alright if I did it again?"

Dean blinked, and lifted his gaze from the ground to turn and face Castiel again. He couldn't really keep his smirk for himself when he saw how the other man was looking at his lips. He flicked his tongue over them, wetting them a bit, just for show. "Why don't you go for it and find out if I'm okay with that?", he asked lowly, taking a small step towards him.

Castiel tried hard to suppress the smile that grew on his lips. He didn't need more of an invitation to close the distance between he and Dean before he kissed him again, more softly this time. They had to go get some dinner, after all.
Yet again, if Dean kissed him back with more passion and he followed, could he be blamed for giving in?

Of course he couldn't. Nobody would have ever dreamed to blame him for giving in. Dean was very passionate with his kisses - but he actually managed to reign himself in, simply sliding his arms around Castiel's waist to bring him closer. He gently kissed him back, pressing his lips against his, rubbing his fingers against his back.

Castiel sighed softly into the kiss, and kept on kissing Dean for a little while, until he parted from him for air. He was still smiling, though. "This is very pleasant," he let out, being somewhat too formal about this. But that was part of his natural charm, let's be real.

"... you're always so formal. But yeah", Dean chuckled, a bit out of breath. Indeed, Castiel was one of a kind. He bit his lower lip and took a step back. "Well, uhm. You coming then? I know a good Thai restaurant. ... that is, if you're into that. If you'd rather stick for a classic, we can go for a burger or something", he added quickly. He felt a bit nervous, to be honest - and he didn't really get why. His dating game was pretty solid, as far as he was concerned. He threw him one of his charming smiles, ruffling up his own hair a bit.

Castiel couldn't help but smile. Dean was charming, and very much to his tastes. "Thai sounds fine. I'm eating too many burgers recently anyway," he replied with a shrug, and a little sigh. "I still need to learn to cook," he explained a bit awkwardly to Dean. He was quite sheepish himself, yet... He felt oddly at ease, around Dean. He had been way more tense in his past, brief relationships.

Dean grinned. "No way. Really?", he asked, honestly sounding surprised as he started to walk away, to find his car. "I am okay at cooking, to be honest. I used to cook for my brother when we were younger", he mused. "But now he's all on this health-freak streak, and I don't do well with rabbit food. I thought you could be a bit more on that side of the barricade - but happy to know I was wrong!" He instinctively sighed when he saw his beloved Impala. "Aah, there's my baby", he murmured, inspecting the window a bit to clean it.

Castiel was about to protest, but he looked at the car with pure awe. "Wait. You come to work with this car? I thought you only took it for Sunday drives out." Well, He had seen a few interviews of Dean, or taken some pictures for magazines while he was being interviewed, so he got to hear about his love for vintage cars. He would have never expected to be able to sit by his side in his most favourite one, though.

"Are you kidding? I might have a couple other cars, but this right here? She is my Baby", Dean answered with a proud smile, patting the roof. Indeed, it almost looked like he was talking about his own child. "It was my father's. And I began putting my hands all over it since I was a little boy. Never had to bring her to a mechanic!" He gestured for Castiel to jump inside, and walked to the driving seat. "I'd never use any other car to go around."

Castiel entered the car, a bit giddy at the thought, and looked around with this bright smile, like a child to whom you say he's just jumped on Santa's sleigh. He wouldn't dare to admit it, but after seeing so many pictures of it, and let's be honest, hearing or reading about Dean's passion for that car, it felt like it.
Yes, not only did he have a crush on the man, he had been genuinely interested in him as a person before Balthazar talked of him for the position available in Selena's department.
"You're lucky," he commented. "I had to bring my car to the garage every two months."

"I could try to take a look, if you want", Dean offered distractly, starting up the engine after closing up the door. The restaurant wasn't really far actually, and he even found a parking spot pretty close to it. It wasn't a place one would call fancy - not at all. It was quite simple-looking, but it seemed quiet and reserved. Exactly the place where a famous singer would go if he was looking for a bit of peace. "I come to this place all the time with Charlie", he explained.

"If you would like to come over one day, maybe," Castiel replied a bit shyly. He smiled again when he saw the restaurant, though. "She brought me there once, yes. I quite enjoyed it. It's unfortunately quite far from my place, so I haven't been able to come back since."

"Then you already know what to expect! That's good", Dean commented with a smile, climbing down from his car. "Let's go. It's the offer of a lifetime - I'm going to pay. I'm not accepting a no", he added before Castiel could protest. "I want to thank you for sticking up for me back there. Doesn't matter if it's out of genuine convinction or just because I have a handsome face - I insist."

"..." Castiel seemed happily bewildered. "I do genuinely think you did not hit that man, Dean." He became more serious. "I don't know why anyone would think that. Granted, you do seem like the type to take decisions on impulses, but not the violent type." He frowned slightly.

"Yeah, I've never hit anyone. It's too much of a hassle, and my old man has never been too kind with me if I got involved in fights." Dean shrugged, and closed up the car. "The last time I hit someone for real was back in middle school. Someone who was picking on my brother", he explained a bit hesitantly, starting to walk towards the restaurant. Even through his apparently nonchalant expression one could easily tell just how pleased and genuinely happy he was about the fact that Castiel honestly believed to him.

Castiel nodded. He could picture how Dean had felt. He couldn't fully understand it per say because he was the youngest in his family, but the thought itself wasn't strange to him. "I bet your brother felt thankful to have you standing up for him." He sure was, when Balthazar threw off bullies with his wits.

"He was thankful, yeah. Well, as the eldest, it is my duty to look after him, so I would have done it even if he didn't like it", Dean answered, a smile pulling at his lips. "Well, I'm not saying I'm a saint. I was more than ready to break some noses that one night, with how those fuckers were trating Charlie. But with my reputation I can't really go out and punch anyone like that. I would put a lot of people in an embarrassing position." That was... surprisingly thoughtful. Even if put in a slightly egotistical way. He got into the restaurant, and asked a waiter for a table.

A kind smile bloomed on Castiel's lips. "I feel sorry for misjudging you when we first met. I guess I had too high expectations, but- you are a nice person, especially with the people you love. I understand why Charlie likes you so much."

Dean let out a small laugh as he sat down at the table. "Don't feel too sorry. Usually first impressions tell a lot about a person - even Charlie and my own brother say that I can be a perfect douchebag. I know I can be kind of an asshole, sometimes, especially on the job. But I'd argue that's part of my charm. Don't you agree?" He winked at Castiel and grabbed one of the paper menus that were laid out on the table.

Castiel shook his head, smiling fondly. "To be honest, I found it infuriating at first. I felt like I had sort of been betrayed by this image I had of you, but then- I'd lie if I said I didn't like it now." He looked carefully at Dean. "There seems to be so much more to you than what people are lead to believe."

Dean glanced at him. "Well - you probably know by now I have a certain... image, to keep up", he stated, a bit carefully. "I kind of need to be like this. Between me and you, though, there are a lot of things the public doesn't know about me. Things only someone close like Charlie, or my old man Bobby, or my brother Sam would know about me. What I enjoy to do in my free time, what's my favourite stuff to eat..." He let go of the menu and crossed his arms, eyeing Castiel carefully. "I'm curious. What was the image you had of me?"

Castiel shrugged. "Probably the same image every fan of you has. I had a too good opinion of you, I think." He massaged his neck. "I actually envied Balthazar a lot for getting to work with you. And then I realized that you were a person, that you were not a hundred percent perfect, and could get tired or bored too." Which had been kind of disappointing at first, but then he had found out that he quite liked this person Dean Winchester was.

Dean laughed. "Well, I'm a human being", he observed with a smile. "Fans usually can't imagine me living a life beyond my job. But even though I like what I do, I don't want to live exclusively for that - I like to have a life apart from it. And, well. Now that you are in the ambience, you can tell it is pretty stressful", he added on a second thought. "Enough about me, though - what about you? You know Balthazar very well? How did you get into photography?" Well, he was curious too - and he didn't know that much about Castiel!

Castiel seemed genuinely surprised by Dean's question. "Oh, Balthazar is my brother. He didn't tell you?" He tilted his head. "I thought he would have mentioned it. When I arrived, he introduced me to almost everyone in the studio." He smiled, and shrugged. "As to why I got into photography... I got inspired by going stargazing with my other brother, Raphael. He's the head of finances, I don't know if you've met him."