A birthday gift for a very dear friend.
Air conditioning clicked and whirred, buzzing enough to startle him slightly from sleep. Sunlight streamed through the windows as Dean stretched, yawned, and burrowed back against Cas's chest, effectively little spooning himself. Cas nuzzled closer, kissing that magic spot below Dean's ear.
"Mmm, good morning."
"Uh uh. Go back to sleep."
Cas slid a hand up Dean's hip, trailing his fingers around to the front of him. "No. We've got plans, remember?"
"But it's early."
"Not that early."
Dean fumbled for his cell phone. "7:13? Yeah. Early." He rolled to face Cas, trying his best for a stern look, but the twinkle in Cas's eyes was too much to resist. "Morning," he grinned, schooching in closer.
"Happy Anniversary," Cas smiled, pressing his lips to Dean's neck.
"Six months. Wow."
"Six months of wonderful." Cas kissed his way up Dean's neck to his lips. "My beautiful, precious husband."
Cas kissed him softly, cradling his head in that sweet way of his that left Dean feeling treasured and protected. Of course, as was so often the way with them, sweet turned passionate pretty quickly, Cas pushing Dean onto his back and taking control of the situation.
Later, as they both lay sated and breathless, Dean stretched in the sheets and grinned over at Cas. "Dude. I love morning sex."
"You say that about every type of sex we have."
"Yeah, but morning sex. Bright light coming in through the windows, I can see everything and I've got energy from sleeping all night. Or those mornings when we're just lazy and cuddlefuck ourselves into oblivion."
"Cuddlefuck?"
"Cuddlefuck."
Cas giggled and dragged Dean back across the bed to lay on his shoulder. "We should get up."
"Don't wanna."
"But we have plans, remember?
"But we could change those plans. Stay in bed all day." Dean grinned up at Cas and waggled his eyebrows. "Make like rabbits."
"No. Plans. Awesome plans." Cas yawned. "Plans we'll kick off right after this nap."
"That's more like it," Dean agreed, pulling the sheet back over them. He snuggled in closer to Cas, joining their hands and smiling at their wedding rings.
Six months since they'd gotten married in Paris, and it had easily been the best six months of his life. They'd celebrated every month's anniversary with gusto, Cas insisting that the twelve months of celebrating would go a long way to soothing the twelve years of aching loneliness.
February had been close to Valentine's Day, and Ellen had insisted on throwing them a small wedding reception. Afterwards, they'd rented an expensive hotel room, ordered champagne and strawberries, and completely missed their dinner reservation. March had been a weekend trip to New York, and a visit to the Met that had left Dean awed and speechless. April was opening day at Oriole Park, cheering for the O's in their finest orange and black attire. May was Memorial Day weekend at Ocean City, late because Dean had obligations to the graduating class of Seniors at Parkville High. June was a long weekend that turned into a week and a half in Cape Hatteras.
Today, their plans were simpler, closer to home, with dinner at Ellen's later that evening. Sam and Gabe would be joining them and Dean was excited about that, since it'd been almost a month since he'd seen Sam.
The air cycled off, letting other sounds drift into the room; mainly, the sound of early Saturday morning traffic on the street below. Dean really didn't feel like sleeping anymore, despite the fact that Cas was warm, naked, and snuggly next to him, snoring softly into the pillow.
Slipping out of bed, Dean grabbed a pair of old gym shorts off the floor and pulled them on. Twenty minutes later, he was downstairs, armed with coffee and Led Zeppelin, staring at his latest art project.
He'd begun a new series; his first in quite some time. The piece he was working on was on the warped and water damaged lid of a baby grand piano he'd found in an architectural junk yard. It had a bit of a smoky odor to it, having been in a large home that caught fire.
Dean pulled out white and black paint. The scene on the wood was of a storm tossed ocean as it battered a sandy beach. Off to the right side of the painting was a stark, pure white lifeguard chair.
He'd had their long-ago summer at Ocean City in mind when he'd painted it.
Something was missing though, and that was enough to make Dean want to climb the walls. The ocean was done. He could almost feel the salt spray on his face as he stared at it.
Dean was having the same problem with another one of his paintings. He'd taken an old, broken sheet of drywall and braced the back with wood so it wouldn't collapse. The piece was eight feet tall, and he'd painted a stark, black and white Eiffel Tower. Technically, the painting was flawless, and he was pleased with the realism he'd managed, but something about it felt unfinished.
Sighing, he set his brushes and palette down and dropped onto a crate.
"What am I not seeing?" he murmured, staring at the paintings.
"I thought we were going back to sleep?" Cas wrapped his arms around Dean and kissed his temple.
"I dunno. I was awake, and kinda restless, so I thought I'd paint," Dean sighed. "Something is missing in these. Technically, they look great, but they feel so unfinished. I'm just getting really frustrated."
"Hmm. Well, let's go shower, go to the Roadhouse and have pancakes, then we'll do our plans and maybe something will shake loose while we're out. Sound good?"
"Yeah," Dean smiled as he stood and stretched. "You always have the best ideas."
"That's my job." Cas pulled Dean close, wrapping him in the circle of his arms. "I love you."
"Love you, too."
Cas stuffed himself on pancakes. He couldn't seem to stop smiling, and Dean was just as bad. Ellen refused to let them pay for their breakfast, and before the end of the meal, Benny, Jo, Ash, and Andy had joined them, with Ellen and Bobby interjecting as much as possible, busy as the restaurant was.
They said goodbye to their friends and called a cab to Oriole Park, where they started the day watching, as Dean put it, the O's put the smackdown on the Skankees. Dean ate two hot dogs and a ton of popcorn. Cas cracked a few jokes about having to wheel him out of the stadium.
After the game, they joined the mass exodus and walked the few blocks to Harbor Place.
"I want to go to that crazy sock place!" Dean declared. "Last time I was there, I found moose socks and Sammy needs moose socks."
"Sounds good to me. I think we'll go to that fudge place and get Gabe a treat, too."
"And the McCormick place. I think we're low on Old Bay."
"Can't have that."
"We're Baltimorons. Gotta have Old Bay."
"Hate to point out that you're actually a Kansan. "
"Hey!" Dean objected, looking put out, "I got here as soon as I could!"
Cas chuckled. He pulled Dean close and kissed his freckled nose. "And I'm so glad you did."
He reached out and held the door open for Dean, enjoying the rush of high powered air conditioning after the heat of the stadium. Dean made a beeline for the sock store, finding the moose socks right away. He bought himself a bright pink pair with black mustaches on them, and a blue pair patterned with artist's palettes and brushes. Cas pointed out another pair, done in a Van Gogh's Starry Night motif, and Dean snagged those as well.
In the candy store, they both snickered over some of the "adult" candy products, although Cas did snag a thing of chocolate body paint when Dean wasn't looking. He found an Emergency Candy Kit for Gabe, and purchased both items.
They left Harbor Place with several bags, wandering across the pier until they were standing in front of Barnes and Noble.
"This is the first time I've been here since, y'know," Dean said softly, blushing.
"Same."
Without discussing it, they walked up the steps and into the bookstore.
"I was so nervous that day," Dean said quietly. "Felt like I was going to throw up. I almost left twice."
"That was the surprise of my life, looking up and seeing you."
For a moment, they just stood there, in front of one of the old copper plated chimneys. Dean squeezed his hand.
"I'm so glad I came. I'm so glad I stayed."
Cas squeezed back. "Me, too."
Evening was falling by the time they left the Harbor, and Dean had that slight ache behind his eyes from spending the day mostly outside in the oppressive Baltimore heat. They hailed another cab to take them back to Remington and the firehouse.
After a shared shower, they dressed and went back to Ellen's for dinner.
"Dean!" Sam grabbed him in a tight hug as he stepped into the restaurant.
"Dude, lemme breathe!"
"Sorry," Sam laughed. "I'm just happy to see you! It's been way too long!"
"Stop running off to LA then, fool!"
Sam grinned, a faint pink flushing his cheeks as he smiled over at Gabe. "Yeah. Well. You know."
"Yeah, I do." Dean pulled Sam in for another tight hug. "Happy for you," he whispered in his ear.
"Thanks," Sam whispered back.
"Ok, c'mon, dinner's getting cold!" Ellen barked.
They spent the evening laughing and eating, soaking up the time spent with their family. Charlie and Dorothy joined them, and after a time, they moved the party to Benny's. Drinks were passed and most members of the party got silly and loud.
Gabe opened his candy and passed pieces of it around, and Sam insisted on wearing his moose socks as gloves.
By one a.m., Cas was very drunk and slumped into Dean's side. "I love you, baby," he slurred up at Dean, goofy grin on his face.
"Love you, too. I think we should get you home, angel."
"Yeah. Sounds good." Cas moved to get out of the booth, almost stumbling over his own feet as he did, but Dean grabbed his arm to steady him. "Let's go home and have the sex," he declared, loud enough for Sam to hear, which resulted in some unattractive fake gagging noises.
"Shut up, Sammy," Dean hissed, wrapping a protective arm around Cas.
Sam dissolved into giggles. "Have fun having the sex!" he bellowed, as Dean led Cas from the bar. Much hooting and hollering erupted behind them, and Dean felt his face flush as he pushed Cas out into the sticky, Baltimore summer night.
"They're so funny," Cas slurred, giggling as he leaned into Dean's shoulder. He hiccuped, which made him laugh even harder, and by the time they walked back to the firehouse, Dean was pretty much carrying him. He managed to get Cas through a shower and tucked into bed. Cas pulled him close, kissing along Dean's neck.
"We can have the sex now?"
"Yeah," Dean chuckled, "we can have the sex now." He rolled over to get the lube out of the drawer, but when he turned back over, Cas was out. Gone. Snoring with a thin line of drool dripping into the pillow. "Heh. That figures."
Burrowing down beside him, Dean didn't take long to fall asleep either.
When he woke, Cas was pretty sure he was still drunk. And he didn't know what had woken him, but when he reached for Dean, the other side of the bed was empty.
Stumbling to his feet, he grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor and slid them on.
There was music wafting up the stairwell, light shining through the fire pole opening. He picked his way down the stairs carefully, holding onto the rail and doing his best not to tumble down the steps.
Dean was sitting cross legged in front of the Eiffel Tower painting, painstaking working the details of a tan trenchcoat onto the canvas.
"Dean?"
He startled slightly, turning back to look at Cas with a big grin on his face. "Hey! It's like five in the morning. You should be sleeping off that booze."
"You should be sleeping, too." Cas crossed the floor and joined Dean, leaning into his shoulder as he sat. He studied the figure on the canvas. "Is that me?"
"Yeah," Dean beamed. "The landscapes were so stark and empty, and I knew something was missing, but I couldn't figure out what. I thought about the things in my life that bring the color in, and the main one was you, so -" Pink filled his cheeks. "It just made sense. The color in my bleak landscape is you. The bright spot in all of this darkness. It's you."
Cas's heart swelled. He grabbed Dean's shirt and pulled him in close. "You're my bright spot, too," he whispered, before claiming Dean's mouth. Breathless when they pulled apart, Cas rested his forehead against Dean's. "Happy Anniversary."
Dean sighed happily. "Happy Anniversary."