Okay, so let me start this out by saying that I don't read/write coffeeshop AUs. I don't read/write AU fics most of the time. But I saw this picture on tumblr (brolininthetardis. tumblr. com post/51732496539/this-is-a-coffeeshop-au-screaming -to-be-brought) and I had to write it. This is probably totally cliched and I wouldn't be surprised if other people have written basically the same fic before because this is a fairly obvious idea as to what happened if you combine it with the Supernatural characters, but whatever. I hope you guys enjoy this. I doubt I'll ever post another coffeeshop AU again. Enjoy this while you can.

UPDATE: The title has been changed from "Today Your Barista Is" to "It Must Be A Sign," as I found out that there's another fic about the same picture that I based this fic on which is also called "Today Your Barista Is." Since that person titled theirs first, I'm changing my title to minimize confusion. Sorry if this confused you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural.

Castiel can't understand why everyone he serves keeps snickering. Okay, so maybe barista isn't the most prestigious job in the world, but it makes enough money for him to get along. He has no idea why everyone's laughing.

The first customer that does is a regular, Anna Milton. When Cas goes up to take her order, she giggles as she tells him, "My usual." Cas gets her the peppermint cappuccino that she always gets. He's not thinking about her laughing; it probably has nothing to do with him. When he brings back her drink, though, she laughs again as she pays, giving her usual tip. Cas accepts it with a slight frown. That only makes her laugh harder. "Sorry, I guess I'm not your type," she says, which is strange and really has nothing to do with anything. Cas shakes his head as she walks away. She's normally a little strange, but not this weird.

His second customer is Chuck Shurley, an aspiring author with crazy hair and an overall disheveled attire. He's normally pretty skittish, but he seems even jumpier than normal today. Cas serves him a normal coffee with milk and sugar. Chuck refuses to make eye contact as he pays, but he does mumble something along the lines of, "I hope this works out for you." Castiel can't figure out what he's talking about, but he replies with a nod. Chuck leaves and Balthazar Roché, one of Castiel's good friends, comes in.

"Cassie!" he calls across the shop. Castiel sighs.

"I don't like being called Cassie and you know it," he grumbles. Balthazar just shrugs.

"Ah, well. What would you recommend I get today?" This is strange. Balthazar always gets an espresso. Castiel frowns slightly.

"Um, I'm not sure. Why not your normal espresso?" Balthazar looks confused for a moment, then a smile breaks out across his face and he coughs in a pathetic attempt to hide laughter.

"That sounds good," he replies. Castiel goes to get the espresso, wondering what's wrong with his friend. When he gets back, Balthazar and another employee, Gabriel, are talking and laughing. Castiel frowns. Balthazar, he knows, enjoys messing with Cas, and Gabriel is a prankster. Considering the way they've looked back at Cas (twice, he might add), he guesses their laughter has something to do with him. Maybe it's got something to do with how Anna was laughing and how Chuck seemed so awkward. Quickly, Cas checks if he's got anything on his face in the reflection of one of the machines. He doesn't. His hair is a mess, but that's nothing new. He looks a little tired, but other than that, he looks fairly normal. There's no reason anyone would be laughing at him.

Castiel's perhaps a bit grumpier than normal when he gives Balthazar his espresso. "Thanks, Cassie!" his friend says, seemingly oblivious to Castiel's slightly frosty demeanor. "Have a nice day!" Gabriel hastily disguises a laugh as a cough. Castiel glares at him.

"Oh," Balthazar adds, grinning widely. "If you see anyone that isn't quite your type, you know who to send them to, right?" Gabriel bursts into laughter while Castiel frowns in confusion. This must be some sort of prank that Gabriel and Balthazar are playing on him. It's the only thing that makes sense. He wishes they wouldn't. Castiel hates being the butt of jokes.

The next customer to come in is a brunette girl named Meg Masters. She's rather pretty, Castiel supposes, but not his type. That hasn't stopped her from flirting with him practically nonstop. She calls him Clarence, which apparently is some pop culture reference that Cas doesn't understand. He thinks it has something to do with an angel, since he shares his name with the traditional Angel of Thursday. Meg's infatuation with him is unrequited, but no less strong because of it. On the contrary, Castiel's fairly certain his reluctance makes him all the more appealing in her eyes.

Today, however, seems different. Meg walks in looking almost upset. She mumbles her order to Castiel before he has a chance to speak. And as he walks off, he swears he hears something about unicorns. It doesn't make any sense, so he ignores it and gets Meg's drink, a double latte with extra whipped cream. She orders it to go, which is unusual. Normally, she hangs around and talks with Cas (well, perhaps "flirts" is the better word), but today, she barely says anything. All she does is mumble something that sounds like "you could have just told me." Castiel isn't sure what he was supposed to have told Meg, but he smiles in what he hopes looks like an apologetic way as she leaves. It seems as if she won't be flirting with him anymore. Castiel's a little relieved, though he feels a bit guilty about it. Meg isn't really his type. She is pretty, he'll admit that, but he's not that into women in general. Not that most people know. That's why Meg never stopped flirting with him because of it; he never told her.

There's a lull in customers for a while, so Cas has the chance to confront Gabriel. "What are you and Balthazar planning?" he demands. Gabriel gives him an innocent look.

"What do you mean?" he asks. "Bal and I aren't planning anything."

"Then why were you two laughing?" Castiel demands. Gabriel shrugs.

"He told me a joke. I'd tell you, but I'm not sure it's appropriate for your virgin ears."

Castiel's fairly certain a pink flush is making its way up his neck. "I don't believe you."

"Fine," Gabriel retorts. "So there's this American businessman who goes to Japan to close a deal, right? So he's going to play golf with his customer, but the night before, he picks up this hooker-"

"Alright!" Castiel squeaks. He has no desire to hear this joke. Gabriel looks smug.

"See? It had nothing to do with you. Just a joke Bal heard about a Japanese golfer." Castiel can only imagine how the joke ends, not that he wants to know. Unlike Gabriel and Balthazar, he doesn't find humor in these crude jokes. He'd much rather read Vonnegut (an author that he was rather surprised to like) in his apartment, or curl up on his couch with a cup of tea and one of Shakespeare's plays.

It's probably not all that surprising to hear that Castiel is very single.

He's had a grand total of one relationship before, with an older man named Crowley who tried to control his entire life, broke up with him, had sex with his older brother Raphael, and completely screwed Cas's life over. Needless to say, Castiel hasn't been all that enthusiastic to date after that. Gabriel and Balthazar always try to encourage him to go on dates, but he doesn't. It's not really helped by the fact that he's gay and mostly closeted, so most guys don't hit on him. Girls do, but he's not interested.

"There's another customer coming in," Gabriel tells Cas with a smirk. "Hot too." Castiel turns, expecting some pretty girl, and instead sees a devastatingly handsome man standing outside the shop. His throat goes dry.

"You want him?" Gabriel asks. Cas splutters. "I meant as a customer, Cas," Gabriel adds. "Get your head out of the gutter."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Cas replies. The man enters the coffee shop and looks from Cas to Gabriel for a second. His eyes linger far more often on Cas. It makes it a bit hard to function.

"You're the barista?" the man asks Cas, and his voice is deep and steady and Cas has fallen for this man completely. It hasn't even been a minute.

"Yes," he replies, his voice steadier than he thought it would be. "D-do you know what you want to order?"

"The recommendation," the man replies, pulling out a small piece of paper. He writes something down on it, then hands it to Cas. In a strong hand, it reads, "Dean Winchester," followed by a string of digits. It takes Cas a moment to realize it's a phone number.

"I...I don't understand," he says, looking back up at the man. Dean looks a little worried.

"You're the barista, right? The sign outside, it says..."

"Gabriel!" Castiel immediately snaps, whirling around. Gabriel is laughing behind the counter.

"This is priceless!" he crows. Castiel is embarrassed beyond belief, and by the look of it, so is Dean.

"Did you not put up the sign?" he asks. Castiel shakes his head.

"Gabriel did it today. What did he write?"

"Um..." Dean looks embarrassed. "It, uh, says the barista is gay and, um, single. And that the reader should give him his number." Gabriel laughs harder. Cas is bright red.

"I...I didn't..."

"It's still true," Gabriel protests. Cas thinks he might turn even more red, if that's possible. Dean looks incredibly embarrassed.

"I-I'm sorry," he stammers. "I...I thought...I assumed..."

"It's alright," Castiel tells him. He might as well make the best of a bad situation. "Do you, um, want to order something?"

"Uh, sure. A large decaf coffee, please." Cas goes to get the coffee. Struck by a sudden whim, he grabs the sharpie they use when there are a lot of customers and writes on the cup, "Castiel Novak," with his phone number after it. He hands the cup to Dean, making sure Gabriel can't see the number on it. Dean sees it and looks up at Cas with wide eyes, but Cas shakes his head and tips it towards Gabriel. Dean nods in understanding.

"Thanks," he says as he pays. His hand lingers on Castiel's for a moment longer than it has to, then Dean leaves the shop. Gabriel is still sniggering.

"I can't believe he did it," he chuckles.

"I'm fixing the sign," Castiel pronounces angrily. Gabriel chuckles as Cas grabs the chalk and eraser and goes to fix the sign. As he erases the words (which are littered with much more profanity than what Dean said), his phone buzzes with a new text.

your friend said you really are single. wanna change that?

Castiel smiles widely. my shift ends at five, he replies.

see you then, Dean replies. Cas slides his phone back in his pocket, a wide smile on his face. He'll have to thank Gabriel for this some day.

"I've got loads more ideas for the sign," Gabriel says as Castiel walks back in. "I was thinking I'd maybe mention the sex hair, or the trench coat. I bet I could come up with some good jokes about that. What do you think?"

Then again, perhaps Gabriel doesn't have to be thanked after all.