Notes: I have no idea what movie they see. I kept it vague A) so as not to date the story later and B) 'cause I'm too lazy to make something up. :P

Happy (slightly belated) Valentine's Day, everyone! I did want to get this in before midnight, but it didn't happen.

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Trite And Cliché or: Team Free Will At The Movies

After Sam, Dean, and Cas get to the movies and get settled into the same row in the middle of the theater, Sam changes his mind about the seating. It's been maybe ten minutes of pre-preview commercials and he's not about to put up with the noises of Cas chewing throughout the whole movie. It's nonstop and ridiculous. Seriously, Cas is going to give himself one hell of a stomachache. As well as piss Dean off by hogging all the popcorn.

He shakes his head and snags his own non-buttered popcorn and Coke, getting to his feet wordlessly and slipping out of the row. "Sam, where are y…?" Cas begins, but Sam ignores him and takes a seat two rows ahead. He hears Dean laugh quietly.

The movie still hasn't started, and the rows are filling up fast. Nobody sits in the row between Sam and Dean and Cas, though, yet.

"Would you st—" Dean says irritably. "Jesus. You planning on leaving me any?" The huge tub rattles behind Sam.

Even without looking, Sam can imagine the innocent expression on Cas's face right now. He grins and scoops up a handful of popcorn from his smaller bag before pulling out a box of Raisinettes from an inside jacket pocket.

Once the previews start, he forces himself to put Dean and Cas's antics out of his mind and at least try to focus. It cost them upwards of $50 on this trip out, after all (even with sneaking candy in) – he might as well enjoy it.

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The trailer for a movie version of some chick novel ends with a pop-radio love song playing over the italicized, slightly zooming-in title. Then, finally, there's a series of production company logos and their movie starts.

A hand sneaks over the armrest between Dean and Cas. Dean shifts the tub of popcorn all the way into the empty seat on his left and smacks at Cas's hand. "I said hold off," he mutters.

Cas sighs in frustration. "It's good, though," he says softly.

"Yeah, well, if you're hungry, you should've eaten before we left," Dean tells him.

"I didn't think I was," Cas admits. "I'm still somewhat new to being h—"

"Yeah, I know, Cas," Dean interrupts before anybody can overhear and wonder what "being new to human" means.

Someone coughs quietly but pointedly behind them, off to the right.

They fall into silence after that. Cas shifts closer to Dean and reaches over to clasp their hands together.

Dean hadn't realized the date until he heard the girl in the ticket office wishing people a Happy Valentine's Day. Somehow, it just hadn't occurred to either of them what day it was. And this whole thing – the two of them holding hands at the movies, on Valentine's Day no less – is incredibly trite and cliché. Even if they'd come as a trio before pissing off one of the founding members. (All Cas's fault, of course.)

But, really, Dean would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he's really enjoying the moment right now. His gaze flickers down to their intertwined fingers, barely illuminated.

Two rows ahead, Sam pulls out another thing of candy. For someone who likes to eat so healthy, he'd definitely made sure to candy it up and sneak in something like three boxes. Maybe more, Dean's not even sure. Raisinettes, M&Ms, even those weird Cowtail things. He smirks.

Cas lets go of Dean's hand and slips his arm around him. Dean blushes, still not used to the whole "public display of affection" thing. Cas hadn't seemed bothered by it, but he could tell that Dean was a little uncertain, so he generally took things slow when they were out. But here, it's dark enough it really doesn't matter much.

Dean manages to relax into Cas's arm, relishing the pressure of Cas's hand on his upper arm, a few inches below where the old scar had been years ago. He takes a long drink of his root beer.

They sit like that in complete silence, watching. Dean waits until there's a scene with lower visibility and turns to Cas, tilting his head forward into Cas's field of vision until he glances over. Dean kisses him lightly, heart hammering in his chest at how casual and normal this all is. Cas presses his hand harder against Dean's arm. His lips taste like popcorn butter.

Nobody says anything when Dean eases back into his seat. And after a long while that feels like a couple seconds to Dean, Cas drops his hand, but he keeps his arm around Dean's shoulders. A few minutes more and he pulls back to his seat completely.

Some indeterminate amount of time later, a movie usher comes in with the red flashlight, stands against one of the walls for a few seconds, and then walks out again.

Still staring at the movie, Dean absently reaches over to grab some more popcorn. It takes a second or two before he looks over, thinking the tub must have turned over or slid farther down in the folded seat where he stuck it.

Nope. It's gone.

Dean whips his head over to Cas, eyes narrowing. Sure enough, Cas has a hand to his mouth and his cheeks are bulged out as he frowns at the screen. He's been chewing quieter now, so Dean didn't hear – or maybe it was the loudness of the movie. "Dammit, Cas," Dean hisses.

Cas turns too-wide eyes on him, his eyebrows high. He swallows. "Srry," he tries to say around the huge half-mouthful of popcorn remaining.

Dean snatches the tub from Cas's hand and peeks in. Fuck. "Are you kidding me?!" Dean whispers in a mix of amazement and annoyance. "Jesus." Nearly all of the popcorn is gone. There had been about half the tub left when Dean confiscated it, and now Cas has managed to eat most of the rest when Dean wasn't paying attention.

And the movie's got to be only a third over! "Damn it, Cas," Dean says. Cas looks at him with those innocent eyes again and Dean almost – almost – stops being irritated.

"Shhhh," someone says from behind them, a different area this time as the cougher.

Dean rolls his eyes. "I'm getting the refill," he tells Cas quietly, and stands up.

There's some guy ahead of him getting nachos and a drink large enough to use as a bathtub. Dean shifts his weight, sighing as he waits. Of course there's something wrong with the machine for the cheese, so he's forced to wait even longer.

Finally, he's striding back into their theater, stopping at the end of the entrance for a second to take in the scene. The characters are in the middle of a heated argument, referencing something he's missed. Dean quickly finds his way back to his row and holds the popcorn bucket between them after he sits. "Here," he says, pulling a thick stack of napkins out of his jacket pocket. They'd gotten so much butter in the first tub that Cas's hands are probably ridiculously messy, unless he'd licked them clean—

Not the time or place for thoughts like that.

Cas grabs a handful of popcorn "You missed a very important part," Cas whispers, his voice guttural and involved, eyes never leaving the screen.

"Yeah, I wonder whose fault that was," Dean hisses back. "Someone could have gone easier on the popcorn and left me some."

Sam twists back around in his seat. "Yeah, well, I'm missing everything because you two won't stop squabbling," he whispers.

When a tiny girl in his row shushes him, Dean laughs, almost loud enough to get another hushing.