As the judges were tasting the different dishes, Dean wondered if Castiel had stayed to watch, but then chastised himself. He had no reason to stay. He had already finished his round and should be off practicing for the next. That was why Dean was shocked when his eyes landed on the still slightly flour-covered, dark hair towards the back of the audience. Castiel had stayed after all. It must have been so he would know who he was up against in the next round.
Dean was not surprised, however, that he was selected as the winner of his round. The entire town enjoyed the scones, and they always flew off the shelves this time of year. This also included the judges, and he had been certain before the round was even over that he had it in the bag. The next round might be a little more difficult, since his mother was usually the one who made the pumpkin bread for the bakery, but he knew how and had made it plenty of times before.
Leaving the building where they held the first round of the bake off, Castiel almost ran into Dean. They both stopped to look at each other, and Castiel remembered they needed to be perpetuating this feud their mothers had begun. He needed the publicity it would bring into the bakery. One problem with that was he wasnāt very well versed in holding a feud. He was just going to follow the lead his mother had started. He needed to seem confident and like he could provide a challenge for Dean. It didnāt really matter if he could or not; he just had to seem like he could in order to get the attention of the people around them.
āDean Winchester.ā He said his name as if it was a challenge, and he was hopeful Dean would play along with the game he didnāt know Castiel was playing.
Luckily, Dean was never one to back down from a challenge. āCastiel Novak.ā It was only his name, but it held just as much challenge as his own use of Deanās name, and something else. It was a cockiness Castiel just couldnāt seem to master, no matter how confident he was, and right now his confidence was almost non-existent.
This wasnāt really the feud building that he had in mind, but Castiel was trying. āI see we are going to be going against each other in the next round. I hope you bring your A game.ā
āThe only game I have is an A game, Novak. Are you going to be able to keep up? Everyone in town knows you arenāt exactly a baker.ā Dean almost felt bad about saying that, but he had a reputation to uphold. He couldnāt let Novak challenge him like that and not step up. He was Dean Winchester, after all.
Castiel, however, had no such image to uphold. It was the truth anyway, and the entire town already knew he wasnāt a baker. There was, after all, a reason he only did the books at the bakery. āIāll keep up. See you soon, Winchester.ā It felt weird to say any part of Deanās name like a curse, but he had to do something. This wasnāt going exactly the way that he had planned, and he wanted to get out of the spotlight as quickly as possible.
If you want to read more then stay tuned to the SPN Media Big Bang Tumblr @spn-mediabigbang to see more art in April and the full fic posting in late April to early May.
This fic by ncdover1285 is a romantic comedy based on Pumpkin Pie Wars.
Art by @canadduh-fics (me)
