Castiel had been stunned when Dean asked him out. He was in no way flirty, although Dean, it seemed, was. Still, he hadn't expected to hit it off with him. Hell, Cas hadn't even been prepared to talk to him until last week! But Sam had come barreling in, Dean close behind, and set the ball rolling. Where he had pulled the confidence to write his number on Dean's hand from, he didn't know, but he was glad he had found it.

He spent much of the following day worrying. He suddenly thought that maybe this date wasn't such a good idea, after all; they had only just met each other, not to mention that Cas had no clue what to say. What if Dean asked about his family, or his work? His life was quite boring. Should he try to embellish it, or just tell it like it was? Or what if he didn't ask about Cas' life? What if he wanted to talk about something else, like sports? Cas didn't know anything about sports. Should he try to read up before dinner, just in case? What about cars? Dean said he was a mechanic. Would he want to talk about cars?

As it turned out, what Dean like to talk about was dogs. More specifically, his dog. Dean talked about Sam much in the same way a parent would talk about their child, voice dripping with pride and affection.

"When did you get him?" Cas had asked shortly after their food arrived.

Dean smiled and said, "About three years ago, when he was still a pup. I mentioned that my dad was really into all that supernatural stuff, right?" Cas nodded and Dean continued. "Yeah, well, he started getting really paranoid after my mom died. I was only four when that happened, but I still remember how much everything changed after that. We moved around so much that I couldn't even tell you all of the towns we lived in. Sometimes we wouldn't even have unpacked all of our stuff before we moved again. Half the time we didn't even buy a house, just lived out of a crappy motel room for a month or two. Dad would always say that our new house was haunted or that there was a demon in the area or about a million other excuses revolving around the fact that some random monster in the neighborhood was putting us in danger. He wouldn't let me join any sports teams or have any friends over after school. It got to the point that when we got to a new town, I wouldn't even try to make any friends; we were just going to move out in a month or two, anyway, so why bother getting attached?"

Dean paused, looking down at his plate. Cas felt like he should say something, but he wasn't sure what. Dean started talking again before he could get anything out.

"I found Sam on the side of the road just after we moved here. I was still living with Dad at that point. I thought that bringing Sam home might help him calm down a bit. I figured that we could train him, you know, raise him like a guard dog? Dad went crazy, though; started screaming his head off about hell hounds and skinwalkers and how dare I bring something like that into his home! He told me that if I didn't toss Sam back out into the street, then he'd shoot him, and that if I knew what was good for us, I'd let him." Dean shook his head. "I wasn't about to let either of those things happen, so I packed a bag and left."

Dean went quiet again, so Cas, completely enthralled, softly asked, "Where did you go?"

Dean looked up for a moment and shrugged, casting his eyes back down on his food. "Just some shabby motel that allowed pets. It was pretty tough, though. I didn't go to college, so that was the first time I was really away from home. My dad opened a small car shop and offered me a job. I guess he was trying to patch things over or something. I was still pissed at him for what happened with Sam, but I couldn't find anywhere else that was hiring that had decent pay, so I took the job. I saved up some money, started looking around for an apartment or something, and found a house at the edge of the woods. It's nothing much, but it's mine. Lived there ever since." The conversation died down for a moment before Dean asked, "What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I just told you the story of my life, so why don't you tell me yours?"

Cas shrugged one shoulder before replying. "There isn't much to tell. I grew up in a big family, very religious as you know. My parents weren't home often; they were involved in much mission work for our church, so I was raised by my older siblings. We were always told never to question our parents, but one of my brothers, Luci, was angered by our parents' constant absence. He believed that they loved the people they were helping more than they loved their children. Michael tried to convince him otherwise, but he would never listen. He ran away from home when I was six, and no one has seen him since. Gabriel has gone looking for him often, but has never found him. Anna thinks he may have been arrested."

"Sorry to hear it."

"I'm not. Luci was... troublesome. His attitude came close to tearing the family apart. Besides, I don't remember much of him. Zach says that it's for the better I don't remember him." The conversation dies down again and wasn't resumed until Cas mentioned something about Sam being a very bright dog, causing Dean's eyes to light up as he rambled on proudly, Cas loving every second of it.

But that was days ago. Now, Castiel wandered through the park, enjoying the warm sun, cool breeze, and happy laughter of children out for a Saturday morning walk with their parents. The grassy areas of the park were dotted with dog owners, but not the one he wanted to see. In fact, he saw no sign of Dean until a streak of brown fur came charging up the path at him, nearly knocking him over once more as the excited dog jumped up against him, trying to lick his face. Cas smiled, gently shoving Sam back down on all fours. "Hello, Sam," he said, crouching down to look Sam in the eye, cupping his head in both of his hands and rubbing the fur on his face with his thumbs. Sam stuck out his tongue, aiming affectionate swipes at Cas' face. Cas laughed.

Looking up, Castiel noticed Dean standing a little ways up the path, watching them with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. Cas smiled back, standing up while keeping a hold of Sam's collar with one hand, just to make sure he didn't run off. He was fairly sure Dean would hate him if he let his dog run away.

Dean took his time walking over, smiling like an idiot the whole way. "Hey," he said once he got withing earshot.

"Hi," Cas breathed back, weak in the knees all of a sudden. He barely noticed when Sam's collar slipped from his grip as the dog wriggled over to his owner. His eyes never strayed from Dean's, and Dean's never strayed from his.

Sam whines impatiently and Dean smirks. "Care to join us for a walk?"

If Cas' smile was any bigger his face might have had a good chance of splitting in two. "I'd love to."