AN: I'm back with another! Based off a tumblr post I saw where Dean and Cas are arguing and Sam is panicking in the background. Not gonna use the dialogue in the gifset but the commentary basically dictated what this is about: ex-husbands meeting for the first time in five years at their kids graduation and yeah. Thank you tumblr user thehistoricaljassy, whoever you are, for inspiring me to write this. All credit goes to you for the idea, I just wrote a thing. Unbeta'd, all mistakes are my own so please tell me if I've spelt anything wrong or whatever because I hate doing that and I proof read this like five times but I've still probably got a mistake in here somewhere sorry.

Disclaimer: Do not own Supernatural.

Also if someone could PM me and tell me how to make a page on my tumblr to do a masterpost of my fanfics on there that'd be great because I suck at that stuff.

Chapter One

This was it. This was the day. Sam was finally graduating from Berkeley, and he couldn't be happier.

Except…

His stomach twisted with anticipation as he thought about who was coming to see him graduate.

His parents.

Both of them.

In the same place.

For the first time in five years.

If this day went off without a hitch, Sam would eat his diploma.

Dean grunted as he struggled with the reluctant tie. It was bad enough that he had to be stuck in the same hotel as Cas, and now Sam was telling him he had to wear a freaking monkey suit too?!

He was proud of his son. No, really. Sam was the first Winchester to attend college, and Dean paused to let himself appreciate just how hard his son had worked for this.

He continued to fix his tie, refusing to dwell on memories of smooth, long fingered hands, and of doing this for someone else after a morning spent lazily kissing and tracing the other's body. Memories of deep blue eyes and messy hair, and a deep throaty voice that went straight to his groin. Memories of constantly sighing as he fixed that idiot's tie for him for the millionth time, suspecting that he put it on backwards deliberately.

Fucking trench-coated smarmy dick.

Tie and battered suit finally presentable, Dean made his way out the door, focusing solely on the fact that he was seeing his son graduate that day.

Castiel frowned as he looked in the mirror, carefully attempting to readjust his tie before giving up and letting it remain distorted. It wasn't that he couldn't do his own tie, he just couldn't do his own tie properly.

Dean had always done it for him, so he'd never needed to know how. And now he was wearing one for the first time in five years, and he had no idea what he was doing.

He missed Dean. But Dean was better off without him, Castiel knew. Dean, with his bottomless green eyes and blonde hair and leather jacket and – Castiel cut the thought off before he let it get away from him. He hadn't seen Dean for five years. He would see him today, be polite and distant, and once he had properly seen Sam off before his stepson went away to Europe with Jess, he would go back to his apartment in Colorado and continue with his job.

At the local Wal-Mart.

When had his life gotten so miserable?

When you left Dean, his mind whispered.

It was better that way, he argued with himself, Dean is happier now. And today is Sam's day. Do not spoil it for him.

He scowled once more at his reflection before leaving the room, hugging his well-worn trench-coat to himself.

Sam strained his eyes to see his father and ex-stepfather as he sat in the crowd. Looming over everyone even when sitting, it wasn't difficult for him to pick out Dad sitting uncomfortably in a suit that looked like it hadn't seen the light of day since…..wait, was he wearing his wedding suit? Did the guy own no other suits? Sam wasn't surprised, and when Dean caught sight of him looking over, his frown disappeared and his face lit up as he waved excitedly, almost knocking the hat off the woman next to him. Dean didn't notice her scowl though, and Sam grinned and waved back before casting his eyes around for Castiel.

He saw him a few rows behind Dean, who was fortunately not within his line of sight. Sam's smile grew as he saw that Castiel had his ridiculous trench-coat on over a dark navy suit with – predictably – the tie lopsided and done wrong. Sam's heart twisted as he noted that it was the tie that Dean had picked out for Castiel for their wedding – which had happened when Sam was five – and was probably still the only tie Castiel owned, given that he had generally worn Dean's old band shirts and loose pants or, to go to work, a formal shirt and pants.

He wishes he could've spoken to Castiel more after he had left Dean. Despite the fact that he wasn't Sam's biological parent, he had been more of a parent than Sam's real mother, who had abandoned Dean when Sam was born and never bothered to contact them again. Dean had raised Sam by himself right up to when Sam was 3, until meeting Castiel at the garage where he (still) worked and co-owned with his father, Sam's Grandpa Bobby. They'd gotten married two years later, and a few months after Sam had left to study architecture, Dean had called him up out of the blue. The man had told him that after a particularly loud and heart-breaking argument, Castiel had walked out, and a week later he was gone, living in Colorado.

Sam had called his stepfather and demanded answers. Castiel had only replied with "It's better this way, Sam. Your father will be happier without me."

"Bullshit!"

"Language, Sam. We've discussed this."

"Dean's a mess! How could you do this to him? To me? You, Dean and Bobby are the only family I've got!"

There had been a pause.

"You'll always be my family, Samuel Winchester"

"Winchester-Novak," Sam had corrected, heart twisting as he recalled the day he begged Dean and Cas to change his last name to incorporate both of theirs.

"Winchester-Novak," Cas agreed sadly. "We argued far too much, your father and I. He deserves a lot better than what I have to offer him, and he needs to accept that. But Sam, no matter what has happened between I and Dean, I will always think of you as a son, and I hope you will still think of me as a father figure and call me when you feel like you require with assistance."

"Of course, Cas. How could I not?"

"Thank you, Sam"

And he had hung up, leaving Sam to stare at the receiver before calling his father.

"He's never coming back, is he," a resigned voice answered the phone.

"….."

"It's okay, Sammy, I get it. I'm fine. Look, call me once a week and let me know how college is, okay?"

"Dad, I – "

"Gotta go, Sammy, got work to do"

"It's 10 at night there, Dad!" Sam had yelled at the phone before realising Dean had hung up.

If only he'd known what Grandpa Bobby told him later, that Dean had spent the next week holed up in the empty house, drinking himself into a stupor. Bobby had stopped by and found Dean unconscious in a puddle of vomit and driven them straight to the hospital, without telling Sam or Cas – out of fear of worrying Sam, and feeling that Cas didn't deserve to know what Dean was up to now.

"Idjits, the pair of them," he'd said once they'd shared their stories of what had happened a year later, when Sam was visiting on his study break and Dean was working. "They work better together. Dean's not the same without him"

And it was true. Sam could tell, looking at his parents, that they were both miserable, albeit too proud to admit it. Dean's sadness hung right behind his eyes and his overly cheerful smile, and Castiel was hunched in on himself subconsciously, looking up only to look directly at Sam and give a cautious wave and smile. Sam waved back, smiling to let Castiel know just how happy he was that he had attended.

AN: Thoughts so far? I'm writing the next (and final) chapter right now, so yeah. Thanks!