Chapter Text
The Roadhouse was a restaurant styled as a traditional pub with all of the greasy, filling food that came with it. It was technically a bar, although they tended to cater towards the local college crowd so under-21 were allowed in, receiving big, black Xs in marker on the backs of their hands. It was these marks that Castiel was studying now.
“Charlie.” Castiel did not whine. The most that he’d admit is that the sound that came out of his mouth was whine-adjacent. This wasn’t his sort of place, he tended to go more for coffee shops and even more often for studying in his dorm or using one of the many practice rooms scattered around the school building. He could definitely understand why people liked coming to the Roadhouse. Despite being in LoDo, one of the hottest places in Denver, which was known for being extremely gentrified and expensive, the food was affordable and filling. Plus, the owner Ellen was a motherly figure for a lot of lonely undergraduate freshmen who were living away from home for the first time.
He’d come tonight as a favor to his friend Charlie, who had insisted that he join her for the monthly live concert of a local indie rock band. Castiel’s musical tastes had always run more on the classical side of things, something that certainly made his mother happy but, Charlie had gushed about this band and insisted that he come along. Castiel had a feeling that she only liked them because their lead singer was cute. Objectively speaking.
Women weren’t exactly Castiel’s area. That was how he and Charlie had met back in the first month of the school year. He had been meandering back and forth past the LGBT+ center in the student union trying to get up the nerve to go in. Charlie had seen him and practically dragged him in. Now he volunteered there on weekends and the occasional weekday when he had the time, when he wasn’t practicing the piano.
“Calm down and eat your fries, Cas,” Charlie told him, pushing the plate closer. Charlie had lured him in with talk of the best fries ever and Castiel was an absolute sucker for fries.
Still, he really should have been practicing. He had a spot test coming up and the teacher could ask him to play any part of three different pieces, which he had to have memorized and perfected. Perfect, Castiel could do, it was musicality and emotion that he tended to get docked points for. Fries or not, he was just about to make up some excuse to leave when some kind of commotion stopped him. The band was calling up someone from one of the tables to join them on the makeshift stage. The man seemed to be putting up a token protest but was following the lead singer over to the microphone easily enough. The band was okay, not really anything to write home about, so Castiel wasn’t expecting much, but then he opened his mouth. His voice was sweet but had a bite of grit, eyes closing as he fell into the lyrics of the song.
Castiel thought that maybe Charlie was saying something, but he couldn’t tell what. He was too enthralled by the man’s singing.
——
Dean was still laughing away peoples’ cheers and congratulations as he made his way from the makeshift stage to the bar. It was always fun, taking the time every month to come to the band’s live gig at the Roadhouse. He always got roped into singing with them and honestly it was sometimes the highlight of his month. That was really the whole reason he had dropped out of college only a year away from finishing his degree in mechanical engineering. It really wasn’t his deal, he’d only felt pressured to get a degree because that was what you did. This was the first school year since he had left and he was the happiest he had ever been. Of course, nothing would stop him from coming to the Roadhouse, even if it was generally more of a college joint. Especially since Ellen was a family friend.
“Beer me,” Dean requested, leaning casually against the bar.
“No manners.” Ellen rolled her eyes, but it was an affectionate kind of thing, nevertheless placing an open bottle on the bar in front of him.
“Who needs manners when you have my charming personality,” saidDean, waggling his eyebrows. He caught her smile even if she tried to hide it.
This was just the routine after he sang. Dean would stay at the bar for a beer as he listened to the rest of the band’s set, then head back to his apartment. He never had more than a single beer, he had seen first hand how alcohol could ruin someone’s life. Even if his father had gotten his act together and was now sober, Dean really didn’t want to follow in his footsteps.
He had recently started working at an auto shop owned by another family friend, Bobby, and as the newest employee he got stuck a lot with the early morning shifts.
“Dean!”
Dean managed to put his beer down just in time to be attack-hugged by Charlie.
“Chuck.” He laughed, lifting her off her feet with the force of the hug.
Dean and Charlie had met the previous year when she had been the only freshman in an elective coding course. Of course, she had wiped the floor with all of the junior and senior boys, Dean included. It was only because of Charlie’s help that Dean hadn’t failed that class. He prefered working with his hands. Charlie had been his best friend ever since.
Dean deposited Charlie back on her feet and the redhead grinned up at him.
“I want you to meet my friend Castiel,” she said. Dean groaned. Charlie had a history of setting him up on blind dates and none of them had ever ended well.
“Come on, Charlie.” he protested, trying to extricate himself from the death grip she had on his wrist.
“I promise you’ll like him,” said Charlie, then whispered conspiratorially, “he hasn’t been able to take his eyes off of you since you started singing.”
Before he could say anything else, Charlie pushed him forward. Dean caught himself and then he froze. Standing in front him was an absolute vision: messy, dark hair and the bluest eyes Dean had ever seen.
“Dean, this is my friend Castiel,” Charlie said, “Cas, meet Dean.”
“Hello, Dean.” Oh god, his voice had a hint of growl, low and smooth. Dean was transfixed. He had reached his hand out to shake on reflex—his parents had raised him and Sammy with manners after all—and at their first touch, it was as if a jolt of electricity had passed between them.
“Hey,” Dean said, faintly, unable to look away from those blue, blue eyes.
“I’ll leave you to it, then.” Charlie’s voice sounded faint to him, as if coming from far away, the smirk in her tone evident. But Dean couldn’t have cared less, not with the angelic vision stood before him. Their hands were still clasped in an odd facsimile of a handshake, but neither of them seemed to be willing to let go.
“So.”
“So,” Castiel repeated.
“You, uh, wanna get—?”
“Yes.”
Dean watched, transfixed, as the flush spread across the bridge of Castiel’s nose at his too-quick response.
Charlie let out a squeal. “I knew it! I knew this would happen!”
“Knock it off, Charlie,” Dean said with a blush of his own. Castiel noticed that it made his freckles stand out even more.
“Alright, alright.” The redhead grinned, holding her hands up in a gesture of surrender, “I’ll leave you two to your lovestruck mooning. I’ve got my eye on that sweet drummer chick.” With a quick waggle of her eyebrows and a friendly smack on each of their shoulders, she melted into the crowd.
“D’you want to go somewhere a bit quieter?” Dean asked.
“The dorms aren’t far, my roommate should be out all night,” Castiel said.
“You know, I don’t usually put out on the first date,” Dean said, “but I might make an exception if you buy me a drink first.”
“How much did that beer of yours cost?”
Dean blinked in surprise and then laughed. “You know what you’re doing.”
“Knowing what I want is different from knowing what I’m doing,” Castiel countered with a small smile.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to figure it out together.”
Later, after spending hours simply wandering downtown, talking about everything and nothing, Dean dropped Castiel off at his dorm like the perfect gentleman. And while he didn’t end up coming inside, when Dean kissed him for the first time, Castiel saw fireworks.