So the other weekend I watched the first season of Cougar Town again and I was like "Oh sweet jesus, when did Jules and Grayson become deancas?" I've been lobbying for an AU ever since and I finally caved and wrote it, or at least the first part of it. Reviews and stuff are awesome.

They've been paper buddies for a week now and Dean knows that Cas thinks he's hot but he can't get him to admit it and it's driving him insane.

In the morning when Dean goes to get his paper Cas is out there sorting through his mail by the trashcan, obviously trying to figure out what he should throw out, he sees an opportunity, "Hey paper buddy!" Cas looked up like a deer in headlights and smiled politely before going back to sorting his mail, "Hello Dean."

"Looking good man," Dean called out after a minute of watching him. "Been working out?" He almost missed the small smirk on Cas' face when he shook his head and turned to start walking back into his house, "Goodbye Dean."

He grinned, "I know you think I'm attractive Castiel!" The other man was halfway up his driveway when he laughed and shook his head, "Whatever you say, Dean."

"Tell you what Cas, if I look outside my window at ten o'clock tonight and I see that your porch light is on, I'll know that it's you admitting you think I'm attractive," Dean started walking back up towards his front door with a grin on his face, never taking his eyes off of the other man. Cas made a point to stop at the light on the front of his garage to unscrew the lightbulbs and it just made Dean laugh, "I know you do man!"

Cas responded by shutting his front door in the middle of Dean's sentence and turning out the lights that were already on in his house. Sometimes Cas can be kind of a dick (but he's a really hot dick who lets Dean drink for free at his bar so Dean let it slide).

Later that day Dean is at the grocery store with Sam getting stuff for Adam's graduation dinner when he sees Cas' pregnant and engaged ex-wife. Instead of saying something to her (like telling her off or saying hi because Meg used to live on their street too), Dean and Sam turned around to leave only to run right into Cas who was standing in the middle of the deli looking like he'd been hit by an eighteen wheeler.

Dean stepped forward to say something to him, maybe give him a hug or y'know… just something to make the poor guy feel better but before he could Cas ran out of the store, leaving his basket on the floor. Dean picked it up and set it back on one of the shelves before going back over to Sam who was watching Meg and her fiance with a morbid fascination, "Poor Castiel. I had no idea."

"Yeah," Dean agreed absently, "Poor Cas."

Baking is something that Dean does only on very very very special occasions. Apparently Cas seeing his ex-wife who cheated on him and got pregnant after she told him that she'd never have kids at the grocery store is a very very very special occasion.

Dean walked the pie over once it had cooled along with some whiskey and knocked on Cas' front door, hoping that maybe this would make the other man feel better.

When Cas opened the door he looked… well, actually, he looked pretty good. Not crushed at all actually (but he's gotta be hurting a little, Dean decides). "Hey man. I, uh…" Dean held up the pie in his hand, "For you." He held up the whiskey a moment later and Cas nodded before stepping back to let him in, "Thank you."

Dean slipped in past him and walked back towards the kitchen, "I like what you've done with the place. It's got a very… studious bachelor vibe going on." Cas almost laughed at that as he took the plate out of Dean's hand and grabbed a fork from the silverware drawer before walking into the living room, "That would be one way to describe my style I suppose."

He followed Cas into the living room with the bottle of whiskey and set it down on the coffee table in front of him, "So… you, uh… you good?" That time Cas actually did laugh as he picked up the empty glass on the table next to him and filled it up with some of the stuff Dean brought, "Yeah, I'm fan-fucking-tastic, thanks. My ex is pregnant and engaged and I'm single and sleeping my way through Kansas." He paused to down the whole glass of whiskey before speaking again, "And to top it all off, apparently my wife just didn't want to have kids with me. So, yeah, I'm great."

Dean was at a loss for words - what do you even say to that? Yeah, he definitely should have made Sam bring Cas the pie, he was way better at this stuff.

"Uh," he cleared his throat and Cas looked up at him with a half-amused, half-regretful look on his face. Dean waved his hand dismissively, "She was a bitch anyways and you deserve better than that, man. Obviously she was crazy if she left you for that douchenozzle. I mean did you see his hair? It was terrible. Absolutely awful."

The corners of Cas' mouth quirked up into a reluctant smirk and he nodded before eating another bite of pie. Dean smiled at that and squeezed the other man's shoulder for a second, "Let me know if you need anything else."

"Thank you Dean," Cas' smile looked a little warmer this time as he watched Dean walk towards the front door. "No problem dude," Dean couldn't help but grin back. He opened the door and stepped outside before turning around, "Now shut up and eat your damn pie. I worked hard on that."

That night Jo called Dean from next door, "Dude, have you looked outside?" Dean was brushing his teeth like he did every night when Jo called him and spit out his mouth before answering, "No? Why?" He could practically hear the grin in her voice, "Just go look." Dean sighed and walked over to the window to look out onto the culdesac before grinning and hanging up the phone.

He went outside and stood in his driveway with a completely ridiculous grin on his face, "AHA! I KNEW YOU LIKED ME CAS!" Dean laughed when Jo stuck her head out the window of her bedroom in the house next door, "JO, CAS THINKS I'M HOT!"

Castiel came out of his front door a second later before going over to the garage light and unscrewing the lightbulb again, "This means nothing."

Dean just grinned and echoed Cas' words from this morning, "Whatever you say, Cas." The other man huffed and hurried back towards his front door with a curt, "Goodnight Dean."

He waited until Cas was in his doorway before Dean yelled out, "See you in the morning paper buddy!" The only response was Cas slamming his front door in the middle of Dean's sentence.

"Oh yeah," Dean grinned as he watched Cas turn off all the lights in his house. "He totally likes me."