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"Ugh, those things get longer every fucking time!" Ruby grumbled, pulling her hair back into a tight ponytail as her other cast mates stretched and groaned in relief after an hour and half of question and answer, trailers for the upcoming session, gag reels from the last.
"But it's always nice to see them." Charlie murmured, smiling down at her phone as she scrolled through the Murder Link tag on her Twitter feed. She giggled as she brought up a pic of her and Bela kissing Dean's cheeks from either side as he grinned mischievously, then laughed loudly as she brought up another pic of Garth and Benny kissing his cheeks as Dean's face contorted into an expression of dislike.
"Aw, Dean! Look, you're trending on Twitter!" She squealed.
"And on Tumblr." Garth supplied, smirking down at his own phone. Dean rolled his eyes and groaned, but his smile was good-natured.
"What's next on the call sheet?" He asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket to bring up the schedule.
"Free time." Bela answered from her spot on the couch before she dragged Garth down next to her to take a quick selfie.
"Sweet! I wanna check out the booths. Cas had said something about meeting this YouTube guy..." Dean trailed off, glancing around the small room. "Where is Cas?" He knew that Cas had been in the audience for their panel because he'd been making faces at them the entire time.
"He said something about attending an author's panel." Ruby said. She threw Dean a knowing smirk and he responded with his death glare.
"Guys, guys!" Garth suddenly cried from his spot beside Bela who choked on her water at the sudden outburst. "The authors panel is about to start."
"Yes, which would explain why Cas isn't here."
"No! Cas isn't just attending the panel," Garth held up the pamphlet he'd been perusing. "He's one of the featured speakers!" Dean moved forward and took the pamphlet from Garth. A wide grin crossed his face; oh, payback was a bitch.
When Dean and the others arrived, Castiel was sitting up on the platform, conversing with the gentlemen on either side of him. He threw his head back, laughing as the one on the right said something. Dean felt his face slip into a stupid grin at the sight.
"God, you're so gross." Ruby muttered from beside him. "Just ask him out, already." Dean sighed and shook his head, murmuring, "Ruby..."
"Dean, shut up. You like him, like, you are so fucking gone on that boy. And you'd better believe that he is just as gone on you. It's a miracle we get anything done on set with all the sexual tension we have to endure from you two."
"Shut up." He ground out just as one of the authors leaned forward and said, "okay, quiet down, everyone."
The crowd settled and the seven authors began to introduce themselves. Despite not being much of a reader, even Dean recognized some of the names and he arched his eyebrow at Charlie, who looked just as surprised.
When it was Cas's turn, he smiled widely at the audience and said, "Hello, I'm Castiel Novak, and I honestly have no idea what the fuck I'm doing here." The crowd laughed and Castiel smirked. "No, really. When I agreed to this, I signed on for a 'small authors' panel,'" he held up air quotes as he said this, "to answer questions for up-and-coming writers."
Crowley spoke up from his spot next to Cas, "I heard that when they called to tell you I'd signed on, you thought they were replacing you."
Cas nodded and laughed, "Yeah, and I was more than happy to step aside for the reigning master of terror. I've read enough of your books to know that you are familiar with multiple ways to mutilate a body."
"That's not all I know how to do to a body." Crowley winked at him, and the crowd laughed. Dean smiled, but it was forced. His best friend looked like a dorky introvert, but he was actually the most adorable little fuck who could sneak right under your skin. That Crowley had caught on to that wasn't surprising; that he was actually doing something about it irked Dean.
Don't get your panties in a twist just cause you never act on your feelings, Dean scolded himself. He turned his attention back to Cas who was still speaking.
"Anyways, my primary job right now is head writer for the television series Murder Link." At this, the entire cast, who up until that point had been hugging the back wall, began yelling and hooting, finally drawing Cas's attention. He groaned and dropped his head into his hands, finally grounding out, "Fuck you all!"
Benny chuckled and nudged Dean in the side, "If only you were so lucky, huh, brother."
The audience began to ask questions, some ranging from, "Who's your favorite character to write?" to "Are any of your sex scenes based on real-life experiences." For that one, Castiel just laughed and winked.
Eventually, one girl stepped up to the microphone and began, "Dr. Novak,"
"Please, just call me Cas." Cas assured her, and Garth leaned over to whisper, "Cas has a doctorate?"
"Yeah, he earned it in some sort of American lit studies. He actually used to teach lit." Charlie responded in a low whisper. This was news to Dean.
The girl at the microphone smiled gratefully and continued with her question, "Cas, how did you get started in television writing?" Cas smiled kindly.
"I know, you're probably going to hate me for this, but it was honestly a matter of being in the right place at the right time. I was out having drinks with my old college buddy when he got the call from Rudy saying they needed a new writer."
Dean smirked, his mind going back to that day when everything had blown to shit on set and Bela had stormed off yelling, "Either you find a new writer, or I walk away while Marla Winslowe has some pride left to spare!"
Dean had walked onto the stage the next morning to find a gorgeous, dark haired man in deep discussion with Rudy, and the second their eyes had met, Dean had known it was a done deal. He and Cas grew very close, and by the end of that summer, they were best friends.
The best part was, even though Cas was gorgeous, he had the fashion sense of a blind old man. He wore oddly-patterned collared shirts with sweater vests that didn't match. He never combed his hair; it constantly looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. Dean spent a good amount of time resisting the urge to run his fingers through it.
His attention shifted back to Castiel up on stage as he continued speaking. "I was on summer break at the time, and I agreed to step in for a couple months until I had to return to Yale for the fall semester." His eyes moved to his friends along the back wall, the corners crinkling as he smiled, "And you see how that turned out. Six years later and I'm still here. I guess you could say I got my foot stuck in the door."
His eyes locked on Dean and he grinned; Dean frowned and glanced down at his shoes. Because he was looking down, he didn't see how the smile on Cas's face faltered. He was too caught up in his own turbulent thoughts. He hadn't known that Cas had worked at Yale; he hadn't known that Cas was supposed to leave them after that summer, either. The more he listened, the more he realized that there was a lot he didn't know about his best friend.
"Wait, Cas used to work at Yale?" Garth whispered, his eyes widening even further. Charlie glanced over at him and nodded. Garth let out a low whistle. "Dude, how smart is this guy?" Dean shrugged and shifted uncomfortably.
How smart, indeed. Too smart for someone like Dean, who'd been lucky enough to get a job in this business because of his pretty face. He'd never been good at the academic stuff, barely managing to earn his GED before hitting up Hollywood and working his ass off for years to catch a break. He knew that smart guys like Cas didn't tend to Go for guys like him. They went for smart guys, like Crowley, the educated jerkwad who kept flirting with his best friend in front of everybody.
More questions were asked, more jokes made, and Dean was growing more uncomfortable by the second with Crowley. Not only did the guy keep flirting with Cas, but he was also able to involve in intellectual debates about shit that Cas actually seemed excited to talk about.
And then someone asked, "Castiel, when is your next Malcolm Lucas novel coming out?" And a small murmur of excitement spread over the crowd.
"Wow, I was definitely not expecting that question!" Castiel admitted, smiling as he cast an anxious glance back toward his friends. "Not many people know about those. Well, I guess they know about them, they just don't know that I'm the one behind them." He let out a nervous chuckle, tugging at the sleeves of his blazer.
Everyone from the cast looked shocked at this bombshell, all of them glancing toward Dean to see if he knew about this. He avoided their eyes.
"Is he talking about those detective books that Andrea's always reading?" Benny asked, but Dean didn't respond. He just stared at Cas, suddenly wondering what else Cas hadn't told him. How much was there that he didn't know about his best friend, the man he was unerringly in love with?
"Um, I'm currently working on some final edits for the next book. It should be on shelves in about three months, hopefully." Castiel responded.
He shot another anxious look at Dean, obviously trying to get a read on him. Dean purposefully kept his expression blank. Not long after, the panel wrapped up, each author giving a brief farewell before walking off the stage.
Castiel met up with his friends, who immediately bombarded him with questions, but Dean said nothing. He didn't even make eye contact with anyone as they all, at Charlie's insistence, headed to the nearest bar.
They slid into a giant corner booth, most of them laughing and teasing Cas about his "secret author identity." Dean, however, maintained his silence, ignoring Castiel's soft eyes and hesitant touches. After about thirty minutes of this, Cas leaned over to whisper to Charlie, and she shook her head. He smiled sadly at her and slid out; he made excuses about a headache when the others protested. He didn't even look at Dean as he left. The group quieted down, looking anywhere but at Dean. Finally, Ruby leaned across the table and pointed straight at him, "Go fix this, you dumbass."
"Ruby, you heard him in there! The man's a fucking genius with a doctorate, a job at Yale, and an entire series of best-sellers. He's way too good for—"
Ruby cut him off. "Yeah, he probably is. But he doesn't care about any of that; he's in love with you."
"Wait, in love?" Dean choked out, and Charlie and Benny groaned.
"God, you're so dense!" Bela cried, finally looking up from her phone. "That boy, for whatever reason, is head-over-heels in love with you, Dean Winchester. And right now, you're hurting him! So go fix it."
Dean didn't need any further prodding. He jumped out of the booth and practically ran after his best friend. He started back toward the hotel, hoping that he went that way.
"Cas!" He called when he spotted his brown, unruly hair and hunched figure. Cas hesitated for only a moment before he continued on. Dean kept running, calling out Cas's name repeatedly. He finally caught up to him and grabbed his forearm. Castiel stared down at the pavement, his hands buried deep in his pockets, his shoulders hunched against the impending explosion.
"Look, Dean, I know I fucked up by not telling you about the books and the doctorate and everything."
Dean paused to catch his breath and shook his head. "Dammit, Cas! No, you don't owe me any apology. I mean, would it have been nice to know? Yeah. But I am so fucking proud of you, I don't care."
"Then why have you been giving me the cold shoulder all afternoon?"
"Because, I didn't know what to say! I mean, all through the panel, that Crowley guy kept flirting with you and talking about things that you were into, and all I could think was, Shit, I'll never be able to give him that."
"Give me what?" Cas asked, eyes suddenly wide.
"You know, the whole 'let's discuss the moral impact of Shakespeare in Elizabethan England' and 'oh, wasn't Hawthorne's use of the woods quite symbolic of humanity' and, well, you know" Dean trailed off, eyes pained. He looked down at his chucks.
"Dean, I don't give a shit about any of that." Castiel said flatly. Dean's head jerked up.
"Really?"
"Yes, really, you dumbass." Castiel muttered, stepping in closer to Dean. "If I wanted nothing but intellectual debates, I would've just gone back to Yale after that first summer. But I didn't, because I found the most amazing, fascinating man who had so much more than any intellectual colleague could offer. He made my head spin, and my heart pound, and my blood pressure spike every time he wore those black jeans with the rip in the knee. He made me laugh and smile and finally learn to be a happy person." Dean's eyes were wet, as were Cas's, but he didn't look away.
"Do you really mean it?" He finally croaked out, a soft smile pulling at his lips because he already knew the answer.
"Yes." Cas whispered, reaching up to wrap a hand around dean's neck and pull him down for a kiss.
The next morning, when Dean and Cas arrived at breakfast holding hands, Ruby said nothing. But she did smirk when she caught sight of the hickeys on Dean's neck.