and i left in a cloud of smug

Lisa looked around first, and Dean fixed a smile onto his aching face and turned to find Cas walking out from his place next to a pillar near the gilded ticket booths. Another man was with him, bald and probably a decade Cas’ senior, with signs of age in the form of dark moles already present on his round face. He was leaning against the pillar, cigarette pinched between his fingers. He eyed Dean up and down before following Cas.

“Hey,” Dean said, half excited that Cas had actually showed up and half nervous for the same reason. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Uriel,” Cas said. “He’s my cutman.”

“Congratulations on your victory,” Uriel told him in a strikingly dulcet tone. A wide grin spread onto his face and he wagged his finger at Dean. “Castiel said you were good.”

Dean’s eyes flicked to Cas, whose jaw clenched like he didn’t want Dean to know he was impressed. It caused another rush of blood to hit Dean’s head.

Next to him, Lisa cleared her throat and swayed her shoulder into his, reminding Dean she was there. “Uh, Lise, you remember Cas.”

“Yeah,” Lisa said pleasantly. “You left so quickly at that party, we didn’t really get to say goodbye.”

Cas pressed his lips together guiltily, his eyes going anywhere but Dean. “Apologies. I… needed to leave,” he lied, not very well.

Dean suddenly felt like a spotlight was on him again. He was sweating. He wrapped his arm around Lisa’s waist and pulled her in, just so anyone looking on could easily identify that they were together.

Cas’ gaze dropped to Dean’s hand resting on her hip. He looked up again, meeting Dean’s eye, expression flat and unreadable. Dean couldn’t help but feel a little dejected in the face of Cas’ apathy.

“You two ready for your bout tomorrow night?” Dean asked, trying to play through it.

“Yes,” Cas answered woodenly. Dean didn’t know what his problem was. He snuggled closer to Lisa just to get a reaction. Cas kept staring at him with a distant expression.

“Castiel tells me you’ll be in attendance,” Uriel said, picking up the slack.

“We’ll both be there,” Lisa said brightly.

Cas’ gaze snapped to her. There was the tiniest, most minuscule tightening of his lips.

A thrill shot through Dean. Cas acted tough, but he was jealous.

“Excellent,” Cas said.

An awkward silence fell then. Dean was still buzzing. He’d almost wanted to get Lisa a cab home so he could invite Cas out for a night on the town.

“So, uh… we better get going,” Dean said. “You fellas sticking around for the main event?”

Cas nodded. He lifted his chin, unblinking and emotionless as he stared Dean down. “We just wanted to congratulate you before going back inside, which we’ve done.”

Dean hummed, knowing that wasn’t the only reason Cas wanted to see him.

Another beat of silence.

Lisa broke it with, “Well, good luck tomorrow.”

Cas didn’t say anything. Uriel told her, “Thank you, but Castiel doesn’t need it.”

Cas kept staring at Dean as if he hadn’t heard a single word either of them had said. And, in truth, Dean hadn’t either. On second thought, he didn’t want to invite Cas out to the club—because this was way more fun.

He put on a tight smile and turned into Lisa. “C’mon, sweetheart,” he said softly, and leaned in to peck a kiss to her lips. He was pretty sure he drew away with some of her lipstick on his mouth.

“Oh, uh—okay,” Lisa said, taken off guard, and it was kind of cute.