1 - Have you seen this dork?

Dean lifted his head from his second plate full of grilled cheese and bacon sandwich when he heard his phone buzz with a message notification. He swiped on it - and let out an incredulous chuckle. Well! Apparently he had managed to write to someone who had a sense of humor! Nice. "Well, crime fighting is rather stressful, I'll give you that. And no way, you seriously saved a cat from a tree? Now I'm kind of curious. Was it your cat? Because it doesn't really count as an act of heroism if it was your cat." He thought about it a little. "Well. A Robin's a Robin. I could use a sidekick, even if it's a cutesy little bird!"

Castiel couldn't hold back a grin this time. 'Cutesy bird', uh. While he couldn't leave his guard down, that stranger seemed like a decent so far. But he'd better keep some distance between them.
"While it wasn't my cat, that sure was a peculiar experience, I'd say. It didn't leave me without scratches." He paused, and frowned at 'Batman' 's last words. "I hope this suggestion to become your sidekick isn't ill-intentioned."

Peculiar, I'd say! Dean snorted, fighting a smile from emerging on his lips. Probably someone in the literature department - or someone in the theatre group. He blinked, though, at the veiled accusation in that last text. "Ill-intentioned? Like what, you afraid I'll be asking your credit card numbers when you submit the application form for Batman's sidekick?", he answered, still keeping it on the joking side. "I'll try to take a guess: you're from the theatre group", he added then. Well, Literature seemed too on-the-nose.

Castiel had to hold back a snort. Alright, Batman was good at making him warm up to him. Not a financial scam, then. He could be honest for a bit, without giving out too much about himself.
"Not even close. I'm terrible when it comes to acting. But I guess you're not from that group either, then. You'll get the right to ask me another question in a few hours- for now I need to go back to my studies."

Dean let out a disappointed noise when he got revealed that his educated guess was very far from the truth. "Damn it, I thought I was on the right path there. Alright, fine - I'll think some more. Let me know when you'll be done with studying and I'll try to guess again!" he couldn't help but smile, though. This guy seemed to be fun. A little weird in how he formed his sentences, but kind of endearing.

Castiel smiled to himself when he read that answer, and resumed to studying until he had to accompany Horknath to his date.

It's hard to think of who might have been the most excited about 5pm getting closer. Students nearing the end of their day? Carleen, who was about to meet with that cute stranger she had met on the app? Horknath, perhaps, if he wasn't too nervous about this meeting?
I'll put my bets on Theseus, who barely listened to his classes in the morning and went to train in the afternoon just a bit before his appointment with Asterius. He was even there half an hour early, much to the wrestling coach's dismay, who had had to ask him to stay on the side before Asterius joined them.

If Theseus was a strong contender for Most Excited about 5pm, Horknath was surely a close second. In the end his nervousness had won, and he had decided to walk to the café half an hour earlier, probably sitting down with Castiel to try and relax a little as he waited for the inevitable meeting to draw closer and closer.

Asterius arrived exactly at the scheduled time - of course - and, after getting changed, greeted the coach and some of the other students training by their own before freezing when he noticed that Theseus was there already. Sitting on one of the benches, probably, or maybe doing some warm-ups.

Castiel was trying hard to get Horknath distracted a bit, so he wouldn't be too stressed by the time Carleen showed up.
If she shows up at all, he thought bitterly, but made sure not to show his concerns to his friend.
Thankfully, Carleen had been genuinely interested in getting to know Horknath better. She had even made sure to look particularly cute on that day, and looked very elegant. Selena had probably teased her about that earlier that day, let's be honest. She pushed the door of the café, followed closely by Dean, and looked around... Before she brought her hands to her lips. "Oh gosh, it's him! There, the half-orc with the football shirt! He's totally my type," she whispered hurriedly to Dean.

Theseus was actually doing some push-ups. Some might call him a show-off, but doing some sports always helped him clear his mind. He grinned and jumped on his feet the moment he spotted Asterius, however, and quickly jogged to him. "Good day, Asterius! Are you ready for our confrontation? I can't wait to see what kind of fighter you are!" He had raised his fists, almost as if he was ready to fight him here and now... but the ring was just a few feet away, so he was holding himself in.

Selena had most definitely teased Carleen about how much thought he had put into dressing up for this meeting - "But that's fine", she had concluded before having to rush to her lesson. "Even if it ends up bad, at least you'll be telling him off while looking like the prettiest girl on the block."
"Rugby shirt", Dean half-mindedly corrected her (some people got really worked up about the differences between those sports) as he squinted to said half-orc. Huh. Well, he sure hoped this meeting didn't end bad - he could handle an over-sized rugby player just alright, but an half-orc? He doubted it. He snorted then, throwing a grin at his friend. "Look, he brought a bodyguard too", he joked, discreetly nodding towards Castiel. "Maybe he was just as afraid of this encounter as you were."

"Oh god, it's her!", Horknath whispered, suddenly freezing when he saw Carleen entering the café. "She looks so pretty... and it seems so effortless - I hope she's not too disappointed with finding me", he added on a second thought, looking down and frowning at his very casual mise.

Asterius snorted. "Most certainly not a boxeur", he answered gruffly, eyeing Theseus' raised fists. His enthusiasm was still so outlandish to him, though - usually the wrestling team kind of dreaded having to confront him, even though their coach asked them to because "that way you can see all the things you do wrong". Theseus instead seemed to be positively shaking with how much he wanted to try and fight him hands on.
Outlandish, as said. But kind of refreshing, he guessed. "Alright, then. Lead the way to the ring - I suggest we have a match with the regular rules", he added. "First one to get grounded, back on the ground, for more than ten seconds, loses. What do you say?"

"Ah that's right, he does rugby," Carleen remembered before she waved at Horknath, trying to get his attention. She scoffed at Dean, though. "Please, Dean, you wouldn't stand a chance against him and I'm like, half his size. What could he possibly be scared about?"
Castiel smiled to himself. "You look great, Horknath. Let's not keep her waiting." He turned around, and when he spotted Carleen, he stood up. He frowned slightly when he saw the man at her side- he looked familiar, but why?

Theseus rubbed his hands together and moved towards the ring with Asterius. "Sounds good to me! I have a question for you, though, for it'll be the first time I spar with a non-human." He pointed at Asterius' horns. "Are these off-limits, or can I try to use them as leverage as I would any of your limbs?" It was almost funny of him to ask - he would barely be able to touch them from where he stood.

Dean shrugged. "I don't know. You being too pretty to handle?", he offered with a grin, before him too squinted at the man who had just stood up together with Carleen's date. When they had gotten close enough, he scratched the back of his neck. "Uhm, sorry if it sounds lame, man, but- have we met somewhere? I have the feeling I've seen you around before, but I can't really put my finger on it", he asked, a little embarrassed about the clichéd starter of that conversation.

Horknath had gotten up from his seat just a second after Castiel, and even though he tried his best to stay straight and make a good impression, he definitely looked awkward. "Uhm-- hi", he greeted Carleen with a wave of his hand. "I'm Horknath. The guy everyone bumps into in the corridors because he's impossible to avoid. Spike's owner. Nice to meet you", he offered, trying to joke a little.
And managing, but still sounding very shy anyway.

Asterius glanced up at his horns. Again, people usually avoided pointing out to his... non-human traits, maybe out of fear that it would offend him. It really didn't, and he was glad Theseus was asking. "You can use them as leverage, if you manage to grab them", he answered, shaking his head a little. "But it won't bring you any advantage, if I can grab you." He stretched a little, his head going from side to side, neck cracking a little. "Avoid pulling on my tail, though. That is off-limits - and it would make me very nervous", he added, tail moving and whipping the air behind him.

Castiel squinted a bit at Dean. "No, I think we know each other." Was he one of his high school bullies? No, he didn't feel particularly wary towards Dean. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Carleen chuckled. "Ah, yes. I think I've ran into you yesterday." She too looked a little shy around him, but decided to joke a bit too. "Looks like our friends are having a moment. Should we sit down and order something?"

Theseus nodded. "It didn't seem fair to tackle a disadvantage that lies below your hips anyway," he said quite matter-of-factly, completely oblivious regarding the awkward innuendo he might have just made. He too stretched a bit, grinning, and raised his fists again. "Alright! Give me your best, Asterius!"

Dean was clearly trying to scavenge in his deepest memories to try and find out where he had seen Castiel's face exactly. Then, finally, he lit up. "Charlie!", he exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "I mean, I've seen you at Charlie's birthday party! Yeah, you were in my Mario Kart team, and your name was- wait, don't tell me, I'll get it", he added quickly, before he noticed that Horknath and Carleen seemed to have started tentatively talking to each other. "Wanna get some coffee at the counter? I think we should leave the two lovebirds alone", he commented, nodding towards said lovebirds.

"Oh - sure, of course", Horknath answered quickly. He hesitated before sitting back down at his place because - he kind of wanted to pull Carleen's chair for her, but the position Castiel and Dean were standing in made it difficult for him to reach for it - and maybe it was better if he avoided looking like a try-hard. So he sat down, offered her the most genuine smile he could muster, and then flagged down a waiter to come over and take their orders.

Asterius stared at him for a couple of seconds, looking a little dumbfounded. Was the- was the other man aware of the embarrassing double-meaning words he had just dropped? Was he just very dense and well-meaning, or was he trying to intimidate him with some sort of psychological warfare? In the end he simply snorted and took a solid stance, feet wide apart and arms open at his sides. "You first. Come at me, Theseus", he answered, with a come-hither gesture of his hand.

Castiel hesitated but- Dean sounded nice. And he was one of Charlie's friends too, so in the end he nodded, and waved quickly at Horknath while walked away. "Mariokart... Oh, I think I see, yes. Your name is..." He looked at Dean carefully. "...Dean, right?"

Carleen sat in front of Horknath, and ordered herself a drink and some pastry, before she grinned at Horknath. "I'll be honest, I'm really happy that this is... well, you. I've been wanting to talk to you yesterday after we literally bumped into each other, but I wasn't fast enough." She bit back a smile. "I'm... realizing just now that you've ran away from me twice, and... I hope you don't feel like I'm being suffocating."

And we'll put this fight on hold, that would surely be long! But Theseus didn't hesitate to throw himself at Asterius, that's for sure UvU

Dean whistled. "Damn, you're good", he commented - after waving at Carleen as well and leading Castiel to the counter, where he sat on one of the stools. Damn it - he needed to step up his guessing game. First the stranger in the chat, now the name of this guy- He hummed, seemingly thinking really hard to try and recollect some memories of that night. Well, to his credit, he had gotten pretty tipsy, so he remembered only a few details. He had leaned in to look at the other man a little more closely when he finally beamed. "Cas!", he exclaimed, looking very proud of himself. Of course! How had he managed to forget? That was such a strange name!

Horknath couldn't help an embarrassed smile. "Really? You're... happy that it's me?", he asked, feeling a little giddy. "I-I mean, I'm very glad that it's you, too", he quickly said, feeling himself flush already. "No, no, you're not suffocating at all, I'm- yeah, I'm sorry I've fled. Twice", he added, deflating a little bit. "When I realized it was you who had written to me on the app, I kind of panicked - and when I ended up bumping into you, I. Panicked even harder." He insistedly stared at his drink, tapping the glass with his fingers. Then he seemed to suddenly panic again and quickly lifted his gaze up. "B-but it's not your fault! It's just, that you're so, so, so pretty, and I really don't know how to handle it, and-" Oh no, please stop talking- He grabbed his glass and downed the rest of his words in his drink before he could make more of a fool of himself.
Great. This had started well.

And he will hesitate even less in a later part of the story gets shot

Cas let out a soft chuckle. "That's how I go by, yes. Especially at Charlie's parties, when I do attend." He realized that sitting on those counter stools, they were quite close to each other, which flustered him a little bit. Mostly because he rarely got physically close to anyone ever. Nothing too deep. He tried to focus his eyes on his hands in front of him to forget those thoughts. "I've heard a bit about you, then. Through Charlie, I mean. She said you're like a brother to her."

Carleen let Horknath talk. Her face read various stages of glee and laughter throughout his explanations, until she let out a kind chuckle. "Well. I'll try to step down a level next time, if you're so nervous around me!" She smiled at him. "But there's more to me than just a small, pretty girl, as I'm sure there's more to you than a big, shy, handsome guy. Now, take a deep breath-" she rested her chin in the palm of her hand, "and tell me about you!"

Dean grinned. "Yeah, like the brother she never wanted", he added jokingly. He definitely wasn't shy about the closeness they were being forced into, and it showed by just how much he spread over his own stool without a single care. "And, so you're the one Charlie always laments the absence of! She is always going off about how many times she invites you to her parties and how many times you end up not going." He tried to take on a serious expression. "I'd be careful, if I were you. She keeps tabs."

Horknath tried, and I mean really tried his best not to flush like an absolute idiot at being called 'handsome' by the likes of Carleen. He failed at that, but at least succeeded at drawing a deep breath after putting his now half-empty glass back down on the table, to calm hismelf down a bit.
She was right - there was no need to be this nervous. They were just talking, like normal people would do, and trying to know each other better. And indeed - he was sure there was more to her than just being extremely beautiful all the time. "Alright", he answered in the end, throwing her a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Let's start this over." He cleared his throat and stapled his hands together. "Hi, uhm. I'm Horknath Laurkinson. I study at the Literature department, I am two metres and ten tall which does, in fact, qualify me as 'big' as you put it - and I'm number two of the Elysium Fields' rugby team", he added on an afterthought, pointing at the number on his official hoodie. "And- what about you? What do you study, and... what do you like to do in your free time?", he asked.
Yes. Good. This was how a conversation worked, right?

Castiel swallowed hard when Dean's knee casually bumped against his, but- seeing as the other man was unphased by it, it probably was normal.
He couldn't hold back a smile however, distracted by Dean's words. "Ah- yes, I'm not too comfortable in big crowds. But I guess I should make an effort, for Charlie." He paused, and glanced at Dean. "Especially if I know there's at least a second person I could talk to there, when she's busy."

Carleen chuckled again when Horknath mentioned his size. That was an odd thing to mention, but he was quite tall indeed! "Well- hi there," she replied with a kind laugh. "I am Carleen Mishra, and I've never felt so small in my entire life. I actually take some literature classes, but I major in fashion design." She shrugged. "You- might have heard who my father is. Or my brother, who's a loud guy-" she paused. "Oh, wait! You have a brother too, right? He helped me up yesterday after you were gone!"

Dean couldn't lie to himself - Castiel was handsome, and that was definitely part of the reason for which he didn't mind the closeness between the two of them. But, well - he was more than used to disguise that side of him, more for a fear of making people uncomfortable rather than out of shame. He had stopped feeling ashamed long before.
He blinked though, and grinned. "Hey, that's nice of you", he commented. "I'm sure there are other people in Charlie's group that you could like - but if you want for me to be your right hand man, I can do that!" He faked a thoughtful expression. "But we'll need to work on your Mariokart skills."

Horknath scratched his cheek. Fashion design, eh? Well, that surely explained why she was always looking like she was straight out of a magazine. "Oh - that sounds interesting", he commented, even though he was completely at loss when it came to the topic. "Are you more interested in designing or in the, uhm, crafting?" He tilted his head, looking a little embarrassed. "I don't think I've heard of your father", he answered politely, even though he probably was passing out as ignorant. "But your brother - Theseus, right? I've met him on the field a couple of times!" He smiled when she mentioned his brother. "Asterius, yes. We're the same age, he's in the rugby team too."

Castiel held back a smile. "I know, I'm terrible at these kinds of games. I'm more used to tactical games that require you to take your time to think ahead." He had been discovering Mariokart on that one night, and needless to say he had probably been dragging Dean's score down, since they worked as a team. He'd have felt terrible about it and left, if the other man hadn't been laughing merrily through it all.
Yes, he remembered Dean now, in spite of the alcohol-induced fog clouding his memories of that night. And it was a fond memory indeed.

Carleen had replied positively about the fact that she did both- design and crafting, and was pondering whether or not to add her father to the list of things that would probably have Horknath shy away from her- but then her face lit up. "Wait. Hold on a second." She took her phone out, browsed through it. "Asterius! I knew it rang a bell! He's the guy my brother was so excited to wrestle with tonight!" She was laughing, and shook her head. "He's been pestering me about it so much it felt like he was the one going on a date-"

Dean chuckled. "Eh, I'm not so great at strategy honestly", he answered with a little shrug. "Charlie always protests about me bringing down her team's scores at Dungeons and Dragons because I always rush in with my sword yelling - and I regularly end up almost killed, right away." He beamed. "Hey, maybe you could teach me! And I'll uncover for you the secrets of Mariokart and drifting", he joked.

Horknath instantly flushed - not only because Carleen was very cute when she laughed, this time, but mostly because shit she was aware that in this exact moment their brothers were fighting against each other. "Ah- ahah, yeah I was... there, when your brother asked mine for a match", he answered, chuckling a little. "He was quite insistent, I'll give you that. But usually nobody wants to fight with Asterius, so I think that he was also very curious to see what Theseus was capable of."

Castiel let out a kind smile. "Why not. I don't have a TV in my university room, though- where could we play together?" He still had his laptop, but as said before, it was growing a little too old. He definitely needed to find a part-time job soon.

Carleen let out another chuckle. "Oh, I don't think he'll be disappointed. My brother is- one of a kind. It brought him and I a terrible reputation though, but I swear he's a decent guy. And I like to think I'm quite decent myself," she added on a playful tone.

"Well, I have one in my apartment, if you want", Dean observed casually. "It sucks that you're stuck in the University's rooms, though. Have been there myself before I finally managed to find a good enough apartment that was also close, and they're kind of bad." He grimaced a little. "I guess I'll be back there soon though if no one signs up to be my roommate."

Horknath smiled sheepishly at her. "Well - maybe I'm not the best judge, since I've only been talking to you for a little while, but I think you're. Uhm. Very, very decent", he concluded awkwardly. "And, you like dogs. Which is a plus", he added on a second thought.

Castiel perked up, but tried not to sound too interested in that offer. "Oh- you're looking for a roommate? Well- I was thinking of taking a part-time job to pay for an apartment, actually. We were supposed to look for one with my siblings, but there's three of us, and usually apartments are meant for two students." He blinked, suddenly realizing something. "Oh. That might have been intrusive of me, wasn't it?"

Carleen smiled at Horknath. "Thanks. I've actually always wanted a dog, but unfortunately my dad is allergic to them. I didn't want him to have to go through the struggle it would bring him just for me."

Dean blinked. Oh. "Oh- no, not at all intrusive", he quickly said, turning to face Castiel a little better. "You seem like a pretty decent guy, and you're the friend of a friend too, so - I mean, if you feel like it could be an acceptable solution, you can come over, see the place, and decide for yourself!" He smiled. "It would be better than sharing the apartment with someone I don't know!"

"Aw - that's too bad. But I understand, if it's a matter of health it's better not joke around it", Horknath observed, leaning on the table to rest his head on his palm. "Spike is the family dog, to be honest. We got him from a pound when he was a pup. But he's really attached to me, and my mother told me he kept on sleeping close to the door since the day I left for Uni." He smiled. "So we collectively decided that he would've been better off with me and my brother."