Castiel knew it was a bad idea to come here tonight. He didn't even like basketball. Not that he had anything against it, in theory, but this place was loud, everyone was sweaty, and he didn't even know which team he was supposed to be rooting for.

Blind dates were not a good idea.

Also, he was going to murder Gabriel when he got home. Or maybe he'd cry, that might have a better effect than anger. Gabe never could stand tears.

Or maybe he'd just ignore him. Silent treatments were pretty easy nowadays, just turn off your messages and don't answer calls. Gabriel never came to the shop, anyway. Better yet, he could turn on his "Read receipts" specifically so that Gabe would know he was reading the texts, just ignoring him.

Was Castiel that petty?

His "date" called someone on his cell, loudly, continuing the theme of the evening.

Yes. Yes, he was.

It had started off okay, to be fair. Zachariah had seemed nice enough, smiling politely at the awkward "blind date" small talk. He didn't make fun of Castiel's name, which was a plus. Then it had started to go downhill. Gabe, apparently, had not told Zach that Cas was a florist who ran his own independent little shop.

Zachariah had laughed at the idea. He, apparently, was very high up in his company, CEO or something, and very strongly implied that Castiel was too stupid to go into business. He also laughed at the idea of a man working with flowers, making inappropriate comments and mean jokes.

Cas had smiled awkwardly but tried to move on to another topic. He was proud of his little shop; he had worked hard to renovate the old bookstore into a functioning florists'. It had just started making a profit, and he had been excited to tell someone about it. Now he just wanted to get this over with.

Over the course of the meal, Zach had managed to snidely comment on his shop, his career path, his education (not his lack of, he had a degree, but apparently, it wasn't from "the right college"), his clothes, and his smile. He hadn't even smiled at Zachariah. He was smiling because a little girl across the restaurant was so happy that she got to order dessert her smile was wide enough to split her face. She had a few baby teeth missing, and she was adorable.

Every time he had the urge to smile for the rest of the evening, which was not often, he tamped it down, remembering the little side comments that Zach had made.

The only respite he had gotten was when he drove himself to the basketball arena. Or was it a stadium? Court?

Castiel sighed. Zachariah continued to talk on his cell phone, completely ignoring the game and his date.

Why had Gabe even picked a basketball game? Castiel certainly hadn't suggested it, and unless Zach's phone call was really that important, it didn't seem like his choice, either. Castiel tried to unobtrusively listen in. Maybe he should give Zach the benefit of the doubt, it could be incredibly important.

"No, I know the background is loud, I'm just at a basketball game. Do you have those reports for next Saturday ready yet?" A pause. "I know it's Friday, that's not what I asked you." Another pause. "I don't care if it's the smallest company you've ever seen; that paperwork needs to be done. I am your superior. You should respect me." Zachariah got progressively louder, yelling the last words.

Castiel sighed again and looked down at his hands. Maybe he should just leave.

The crowd got even louder, somehow, whooping and laughing at something. Castiel glanced up, but it took a second to see what the big deal was. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. They were on the giant screen in the middle of the court. Zachariah and Castiel were on the GIANT SCREEN in the MIDDLE of the COURT.

Castiel felt ice drip down his stomach as he realized why Gabe chose a basketball game. Kiss cam. Oh, yeah. Castiel was definitely that petty.

Okay, okay, he could do this. This wasn't so bad. Kiss Zach on the cheek to get them off the GIANT SCREEN and then he could leave. He could go home, drink a nice cup of tea, and watch crappy reality TV until his brain felt like it was going to melt out of his ears. He could do that.

"Um," he hesitantly put his hand on Zachariah's shoulder. "Zach-"

Zach turned even further away from Cas and shook off his hand, continuing to talk on his phone.

The crowd booed, but Cas honestly couldn't tell if he was embarrassed or relieved. Being rejected did hurt, after all, but it wasn't like he had wanted to kiss Zach anyway. He tried to smile awkwardly and shrug at the screen, but his face felt redder than normal.

He watched the camera focus on a few other couples, smiling a little to himself at their affection. One couple stood up, the man dipping his partner as if they were in a ballroom and then attacking her face with kisses. She was giggling and swatting him away, obviously happy. Castiel wished he could find someone he could be that happy with. He kept his small smile as the camera panned around again, hoping to see another cute couple.

He lost the smile as soon at the camera focused on them again. This had to be Gabriel. Maybe Cas should cry and then ignore him.

Well... the other couple had left him with a nice, warm feeling. Maybe he could try again. Just on the cheek though, Zach was still a jerk.

"Zachariah," Castiel began, leaning over and trying to get his date's attention.

Zach angrily put his free hand over the phone. "You listen to me, boy!" Castiel jerked back at the insult. "I am on this date because my idiot secretary told me that his brother was lonely and couldn't find a man willing to date him." He sneered at the other man. "I am going to finish my very important phone call and then we are going to leave. Separately. You understand me?"

Cas blinked back tears at the sudden onslaught and slowly nodded.

Zach snorted and went back to his phone call.

Well. He didn't need to pretend to cry for Gabriel, after all. Castiel looked down at his lap, still trying to blink away tears. He glanced up at the kiss cam to see it still focused on them, as if it were confused at the turn of events. He gave it a watery smile and shook his head.

He couldn't stay here. He stood up shakily and started excusing his way down the row, squeezing past knees and beers. No one even grumbled at him for bumping into them, which is, really, how Cas knew it was pretty bad. They all just avoided looking at him and let him through. He fought down a sob. He could cry in his car, just get to the car.

He was about halfway towards the aisle when he heard a voice.

"Hey, Blue Eyes!"

He glanced up from his feet to see a man beckoning to him from the end of the row. "C'mere!"

Castiel sighed shakily to himself. Why not? It's not like anything bad could happen, they were in the middle of a crowded... whatever this was.

The man took his hand when he was within reach, surprising Castiel into looking up. The man was gorgeous. Hopefully he wasn't about to laugh at Cas or something. Once he reached the aisle, they stood there, just looking at each other for a moment. Castiel could still feel the tears brimming in his eyes, but hoped the stranger didn't see them. Judging by the softening of his eyes, that hope went unacknowledged.

"Hey," the man said, voice quiet. "I'm Dean." Dean was still holding his hand, brushing his thumb softly against Cas' hand. "You okay?"

Castiel felt the tears about to spill over, but held them back with all his might. "Yeah," he said, voice hoarse. "Yeah, I'm just," he looked down at Dean's boots. They were pretty scuffed. Did he work in construction? He took a deep breath, trying to distract himself. He gave a watery laugh. "I didn't even like him, this was a blind date and he was awful, I don't know why I'm," he sniffled, raising a sleeve to wipe his eyes.

Dean pulled him into a hug, gently resting Cas' head against his shoulder. "It sucks to be rejected, even if you didn't like the dude. Plus, on the Jumbotron?" He made a huffing noise. "Guy's a dick."

Cas just nodded against Dean's shirt.

"Anyway," Dean continued softly, "I hope you didn't ride here with that asshole. I'll walk you out to your car if you want."

Castiel pulled back enough to look at Dean's face, trying to see if the man was being sincere or not. All he saw was an offer and a tinge of sadness. "I'd like that." He said quietly.

The crowd roared again, and Cas turned to the court with a sick feeling in his gut. The kiss cam was pointed at him again. The Jumbotron was filled with him and Dean. He was going to go home, drown himself in ice cream, and then find Gabriel and strangle him.

"Man, who did you piss off?" Dean said softly.

Cas just turned back and buried himself in Dean's shoulder again. He hadn't seemed to mind a fully grown man clinging onto him earlier, so Castiel took full advantage of that now.

He felt a soft pressure on the top of his head, and heard the crowd all around them burst into cheers and awws.

"Let's just get out of here, okay?" Dean gently tugged him up the aisle towards the doors.

Castiel followed, holding Dean's hand like a lifeline and refusing to look up from his shoes.

The walk to his car was silent, but Dean's hand was warm in his. When they finally came to a stop in front of his car, Dean rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.

"Listen," he started, cheeks pinking. "I just wanna say, I know this is weird, I don't do this all the time. I uh," He made a face, "I used to be in a... a pretty bad relationship, a while ago." He seemed uncomfortable. "Just, I saw that guy yelling at you, and... I needed to make sure you were okay."

Castiel nodded. "Thank you, for that." He gave Dean a small smile. "It helped, having you there." He looked down to their still-linked hands and squeezed softly. "I'm okay now. Actually, now that the shock is wearing off, I'm starting to get more furious than anything."

Dean laughed, squeezing back. "Don't kill anybody, alright, man?" His eyes twinkled when he laughed, Castiel noticed.

"No promises," Castiel muttered darkly. Wait, 'man'? Had he not told Dean his name? He squinted at the ground as he thought. He hadn't, had he? "Did I not tell you my name?"

Dean smiled and shook his head. "I was wondering whether you were in shock or just didn't want to give your name to creepy strangers who hug you out of the blue."

Castiel rolled his eyes but smiled. "My name is Castiel."

"Mm." Dean made a considering noise. "That's actually really nice."

Cas narrowed his eyes at Dean. "What does that mean? What were you expecting?"

"It's not so much that I was expecting something, but hoping against other things."

"What does that even mean?"

"I mean," Dean blushed again, looking down at his toes. "I didn't want you to be like, Frank, or something. Or Chad." He made a face.

Castiel snorted. "I'm glad I'm not a Chad, then."

"Yeah, I am, too." Dean smiled at him again.

"So," Castiel looked down at his feet. "I should probably get going."

"Oh, yeah," Dean let go of his hand quickly, shoving his hand in his pocket. He looked pretty uncomfortable. "'Course, man, I didn't mean to keep you here or anything- "

"Would it be weird to ask for your number?" Castiel blurted out.

"Oh, God, I hope not," Dean replied, obviously relieved. "I wanted to ask you for yours but that felt too creepy."

Castiel laughed again and he reached into his pocket. "Maybe a little." He handed the phone over to Dean. "Just send yourself a text, I'll add you later."

"Sounds good, man," Dean beamed at him as he handed the phone back.

Cas glanced down at the text.

Message to: (785) 257-9812

Hey, wanna go on a date sometime?

"Dean, did you just ask yourself on a date from my phone?"

"Whaaat?" Dean grinned at him, eyes glinting with mischief. "Didn't you just ask me on a date? That's the text I got." He waggled his phone in front of Cas, but dropped the act after a moment. "Seriously, if this is creeping you out, you can just say no, I know it's a little," he made a wiggly motion with his hands.

Castiel chuckled at the hand motions and looked at Dean with his first real smile since the little girl in the restaurant. "It's fine, Dean. I'd love to go on a date with you."

Dean blinked for a minute, before muttering, "Damn, Cas, you got a killer smile."

Cas coughed self-consciously, smiling into his sleeve. "Anyway," he couldn't stop the silly smile that the compliment. "I'll text you about it later? We can work out a time and everything."

Dean smiled. "Sounds good, blue eyes."

Castiel rolled his eyes and got into his car. "Goodbye, Dean."

"Seeya later, Cas!"

Message to: Cas

hows tomorrow for you? 7 the roadhouse?

Message from: Cas

Ooh, sorry, can't do tomorrow. I have a date with a handsome rescuer at that day. :)

Message to: Cas

thats a yes right

Message from: Cas

Yes, Dean. That is a yes.

Message to: Cas

sweet

Read 9:30 PM