A/N: Heyyyyyyyyy! I've got a wonderful one-shot for youuuuuuuuu! You're welcome!
This is a birthday gift for my special snowflake ChickWithThePurpleGuitar go check her out she writes cool PJO stuff! And fyi she came up with the title so yeah, you can thank her!
BE WARNED: SO MUCH FLUFF AND DESTIEL (THERE IS NO SEX THOUGH)
36 Candles
Dean's birthday was always a quiet happening among the Winchesters. Even when John was still alive, Dean's birthday was celebrated with a few dollar store gifts, like a new lighter, or maybe, as he got older, a gun. If he was lucky, Dean might even get a cake. But the real reason Dean's birthday wasn't a prominent event was because he didn't want to draw attention to himself. He never wanted to disservice Dad, never wanted to put too much pressure on him, because God knows he already had enough.
But this year seemed different.
Sam was off on a hunt, or so he said, and Cas, well...Cas wasn't exactly the 'oh I'll mark it on my calendar' kind of guy. Not that Dean was.
For some reason, this year, Dean wanted to celebrate. Really, he just didn't want to be alone. But how could he mention it to Cas? He didn't want to sound bigoted, mentioning his birthday to get attention, so he tried slipping hints.
"Hey, Cas." Dean said into the phone. "It's Dean. Umm, I was just wondering if you umm, wanted to go have a drink? Not for any reason, just...oh I forgot you don't really drink. Or eat. At all." Dean paused. "Just call me back."
Dean hung up, feeling like an idiot. Cas doesn't even eat or drink you idiot, what the hell was I thinking? He sighed. And he answers his phone less than he answers prayers! He slumped down at one of the tables in the library, resting his head in his hands. Just call Sam, get him to come home. Dean thought about it, but shook his head after only a few moments. No. Leave him be. He pushed himself out of the chair and walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing a beer. He trudged into his room, and, getting down on his hands and knees, grabbed a box from under his bed. After a minute or so of digging around in the box, which contained more than a few photographs, old movies, and pocket knives, Dean found what he was looking for.
Sam felt bad about lying to Dean, but he really didn't want to ruin the surprise. He had, what he hoped, the perfect party planned for Dean, but he needed to be sneaky about it.
The case bit was easy to fake; there was always something out there. The decorations and presents had been equally easy; Dean was an easy guy to shop for, and he didn't really like party poppers or streamers. The part that he had to do now, was to get the guests to be quiet about it. Well, guest.
Cas was a horrible secret keeper. Well, not with things like this. He had lied to both the brothers on numerous occasions, but, for some reason, the idea of a surprise birthday party, especially for Dean, was impossible for Cas.
"I don't like this, Sam; I don't like lying to him." Cas protested, staring at his phone as it rang with Dean's caller ID.
"You won't have to for long, we'll be back in a little less than an hour. He'll love it, but only if you keep it a surprise." Sam replied with, at least what he hoped was, the truth.
Cas looked doubtfully at his phone, then reluctantly tucked it in his pocket.
As the King of Hell, Crowley was always busy with one problem or another. Today, it just happened to be something...different.
"Sire, if I may-" Gerald tried to speak, but Crowley snapped his fingers, and he closed his mouth.
"I'm busy, Gerald." Crowley sighed, annoyed. Why did everyone keep bothering him? Couldn't they see he was thinking?
Gerald continued to try and speak, and Crowley got tired of the muffled noise and snapped his fingers once more. Gerald cleared his throat. "Well, what have you got to say that's so important?" Crowley asked, looking at his fingernails.
Gerald started over. "My king, if I may...I know my meat suit very much likes it when he, um, has a night with his lady friend. Alone." Gerald coughed.
Crowley rolled his eyes. "No, he can get that himself; he doesn't need my help for that."
"I don't see why this is bothering you so much, sire." Gerald replied. "Just send him...ah, send him the heart of a werewolf and be done with it!"
"You really are rubbish at coming up with birthday ideas." Crowley, rubbed his forehead, getting up from his throne. "Dean...Dean doesn't want things like that, not for his birthday."
"Then some beer, perhaps." Gerald recommended. "He seemed to have quite a lot of that when you two were off 'howling at the moon.'"
Crowley's eye twitched, and he turned to Gerald. "I don't like your tone."
Gerald averted his eyes. "I only meant to say that he must enjoy that."
Crowley narrowed his eyes, then turned back to pacing. "Go get me some Schnapps from Germany. The good kind."
Gerald nodded, and disappeared. As Crowley went to sit back on his throne, something caught the corner of his eye. He looked at it for a second and chuckled. "Why not?"
Sam and Cas arrived at the bunker about forty-five minutes later. Sam was surprised Cas had held it together that long. The angel was actually twitching with anticipation as Sam unlocked the bunker.
The scene they walked in on was not at all what Sam expected. Well, the beer was, but...
Dean lay passed out on the couch, a beer in his hand and a blanked haphazardly covering his legs. On his lap was Sam's laptop, loudly playing Titanic.
Sam's face contorted into one of disgust, but also a smug smile spread across his lips. "Dean?" He started walking down the stairs, Cas right behind him.
Dean did not awake. "Is this...normal?" Cas asked, looking a little concerned.
Sam pursed his lips and tried to keep back a laugh. "Umm, no."
"Should we wake him?"
"No, I think he deserves it. Anyway, now we can decorate without him objecting." Sam placed the decorations down on the world table.
"Ah." Cas nodded. "Good idea." He shuffled over awkwardly and seemed confused by some of the things Sam had bought. "Dean likes these, umm..." Cas held up the offending multi-colored party hats. They even had a small pompom on top.
Sam gave Cas a quick grin. Cas looked confused for a minute, but then let out a loud. "Oh."
Dean fidgeted on the couch, smacking his lips together once, but he slept on. Sam gave Cas a look, placing a finger on his lips.
"Oh." Cas whispered, making an innocent shrug as his lips pressed together in a smile.
Dean woke up with a loud snort, his body shooting upward. "Jack don't let go!" After realizing that he had shouted this, he cleared his throat, praying that Sam was still away. Of course, he wasn't.
"Titanic? Really?" Sam asked incredulously, walking over to the couch.
Dean placed Sam's laptop on the side table, throwing the blanket off. "Hey, just because it's sappy doesn't mean I can't enjoy it."
"You've gone soft." Sam jokingly replied.
"No I haven't." Dean rebutted, his voice raising. He looked around again and cleared his throat, leaning a little closer to Sam. " You and I both know there was room for both of them on that board."
Sam laughed and smiled. "C'mon." He said, gesturing for Dean to follow him.
"What's up?" Dean asked.
At this point Dean realized that the entire command center was decorated with streamers, balloons, and a banner that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY! in huge red letters.
"What is this?" Dean asked, his mouth turning up.
"It's a party, Dean." Sam replied. "I thought this year we needed a break from the demons, vamps, whatever. You deserve it."
"We deserve it." Dean smiled. "Thanks, Sammy." He clapped Sam on the back.
At that moment, Cas decided to appear with a huge cake in his hands. It looked like he had just fought a war with cake batter and streamers, seeing as there was flour covering his trench coat and a few shimmery ribbons tangled in his hair. "Surprise!" He exclaimed.
"Cas?" Dean exclaimed, furrowing his brow. Did Sam call him? Or did he actually remember my birthday? Dean suddenly had a warm feeling inside his chest.
"I, uh, I made you a cake." Cas held out the round vanilla cake, and Dean laughed as he got a better look at it. It could be qualified as a cake, Dean thought, but it looked like a unicorn had pooped out vanilla frosting and sprinkles then tried to make it look like a cake.
"You don't bake, Cas." Dean smiled, holding the cake out as to inspect it.
"It was better than having him do the decorations." Sam interjected.
Cas turned around, revealing the streamers that had somehow been taped to his back. Dean raised his eyebrows, biting back a snort. Sam turned around and grabbed a few poorly wrapped packages off the table that Dean hadn't noticed. "Sammy, you didn't have to do this." Dean smiled as he set the cake down on the table, taking the gifts and sitting down.
"Open them." Sam said, his face lighting up as he pulled a chair over. Dean hadn't seen Sam like this in a long time. Cas made himself comfortable leaning against the door frame.
Dean ripped the brown packaging, pulled out a three pack of car fresheners. "Leather scented. For Baby?" Dean laughed.
"She smells like cheeseburgers and beer." Sam joked.
"I don't see a problem." Dean spread his hands wide, then set the gift on the table. There were two other gifts from Sam: a new razor and… "The Eagles!" Dean exclaimed, holding up the cassettes. "Ohh…" Dean smiled inspecting the tapes with pleasure. "Thanks, Sammy."
Sam smiled. Cas cleared his throat, and Dean looked over. The angel pulled a small box from his pocket and handed it to Dean. "I'm afraid I'm not very good at presents."
Dean stared at the box. It was a simple red box, and someone had carefully wrapped a gold ribbon around it. "Did you wrap this?" Dean asked, holding it up in shock.
Cas cleared his throat. "Yes."
Dean raised his eyebrows and slowly untied the ribbon, not wanting to ruin what Cas had obviously spent so much time on. When he opened the box, he immediately felt his heart swell. "Cas, I-" Dean, for once was at a loss for words. He held up the amulet Sam had given him when they were kids, the one he'd thrown away so long ago in anger, the one he'd thought was gone forever. As soon as Sam's eyes rested on it, he smiled.
"Does that mean I did a good job?" Cas asked, looking at Dean.
Dean stood up and grabbed Cas in a huge hug, his firm arms wrapping around Cas' back. Cas seemed startled at first, but then slowly hugged Dean back. "I'll take that as a yes, then."
Dean laughed. "Yeah, Cas. Thank you." Dean said as he finally pulled away, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiled and pulled the necklace over his head. Cas smiled back, relieved that his present had worked and he'd gotten a hug out of it too.
As Dean turned around, he spotted a bag, a rather large one, at that, at the end of the table. "Who's this one from?" He asked as he picked it up and brought it back to his chair.
Sam looked at Cas, who shook his head at Sam. "I don't know." Sam replied, extremely confused and alarmed.
"Well if it's not from you or Cas then who could it be?" Dean asked, looking for a tag. He found one, and furrowed his brow in surprise. "Son of a bitch."
"Who is it?" Sam asked, and Dean handed the bag to Sam.
To Squirrel
Don't Worry, Your Little Hideout is Still Safe
"Crowley." Sam said aloud, and Cas walked over.
"How does he know where the bunker is?"
"I don't know." Sam responded, looking at Dean.
"Well, might as well open it." Dean resigned, taking the bag from Sam. He dug around in the tissue paper, and found a round cylinder. He pulled it out, and scoffed. "The little bastard."
"Is that a bottle of Schnapps?" Sam scoffed in disbelief.
"Yeah!" Dean replied, a wry smile on his face. "Looks like the good stuff, too." He set the bottle on the table and pulled the rest of the tissue paper out of the bag. His face scrunching up in disgust and confusion, he pulled a small cage out of the the bottom of the bag. "What the hell?"
"Is that a hamster?!" Sam exclaimed.
It indeed, was a hamster. Dean had no idea why Crowley would give him a hamster. He stared at it, no words coming out of his mouth. Cas seemed transfixed with the thing, and after a minute of pressing his face closer and closer to the tiny bars, he drew back suddenly and laughed.
"What?" Sam asked.
"That is not a hamster."
"Of course it's a hamster." Dean exclaimed. "What else would it be?"
Cas shook his head. "I don't know."
"Well, that's extremely helpful." Dean replied sarcastically.
"I just thought you would want to know." Cas said, shuffling his feet.
Dean immediately felt guilty for snapping at Cas, but didn't want to show it. "Well, we've gotta name it something if we're gonna keep it."
"Who said anything about keeping it?!" Sam exclaimed.
After the trio had tried to eat the cake, tried being the keyword, Dean decided to go see how bad the kitchen needed cleaning. Sam tried to get Dean to relax, but Dean insisted. Cas followed him, saying, "I should help clean up my mess." Boy, was it a mess. Dean didn't even know they had that many bowls and spoons.
"It looks like a bomb went off in here, Cas." Dean said in astonishment.
"Cooking is not my strong suit." Cas replied.
"Yeah, how about you stay with the smiting and pretty angel boy routine." Wait, what did I just say?
Cas looked a bit confused, but started to blink in and out of sight, placing dirty dishes in the sink and empty containers in the garbage. Dean pretended to ignore that he had even said that. You did not just say that. You stupid shit, you could've just blown everything you've worked for.
Cleaning went much faster with Cas helping, although it was somewhat problematic, seeing as Cas would sometimes appear right next to Dean to wipe up some flour or whatever. They finished, and Dean plopped down at the small kitchen table. "Umm, Dean?" Cas asked.
Damn it, here we go. "What's up?
"Do you think I could, um…" He motioned to his trench coat, which was still covered in flour.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! "Oh, of course!" Dean stood up and walked out of the kitchen, leading Cas to the laundry room. Cas took his trench coat off, and Dean realized how seldom this happened. He also realized how dirty the angel's whole suit was, and clearing his throat, said, "You know what, I'll go get you some clean clothes."
"Thank you." Cas smiled as he began to unbutton his suit. Dean walked out of the room and jogged to his room, pulling out his bag from under the bed. He always kept his clothes in his travel bag, just in case. He found the nicest shirt he had (only one hole, yes!) and a pair of jeans and walked back to the laundry room. As soon as he walked in, he knew he was in way over his head.
Cas was naked for all intents and purposes, except for a pair of white boxers. It was the most exposed Dean had ever seen him. Cas was facing the washing machine, carefully shoving his shirt into it. Dean didn't say a word until Cas turned around. "Here." Dean said, clearing his throat so as to keep his voice from cracking as he regretfully handed Cas the clothes. Jesus Christ, was Cas hot. Dean had never seen a man with more powerful shoulders, and his whole body looked like it was sculpted carefully, just to look at. Dean was shouting curse words internally, and he reluctantly went to turn around, to give Cas privacy.
"Dean." Cas said, and Dean turned back around.
Cas had placed the clothes on top of the dryer, and in his hands he had another carefully wrapped box, this one bigger than the first. "I, uh, have another present for you."
Dean nearly choked as Cas handed him the box. Cas was now within five feet of him, and he seemed unconcerned with the fact that he was still in just his boxers. Dean opened the gift with shaky fingers and noticed that it was emitting a white glow. He opened the lid, and was momentarily blinded by the bright light that suddenly consumed the room. When he could finally see again, he peered into the box. It was a black feather, probably twice the size of Dean's hand. It was soft to the touch, but also had an ashen feel to it. Dean was afraid he would rip it if he held it any tighter. It still emitted a soft glow, and Dean's eyes shone. "Is this-?"
Cas nodded. Dean was speechless. He was holding a feather from Cas' wing; Cas had given him a piece of himself. "Cas, I-"
"Dean." Cas started, and Dean stopped talking as soon as he heard Cas' voice. "You know I'm, um, not normally one for sentiment. Not at all actually. But what you and Sam have shown me…" It was obvious that Cas had thought about what he was going to say for a long time, and now that he was finally saying it, he felt free. "No one has ever shown me that much kindness, so much love - and, that's something I don't think I can ever repay." Cas looked at Dean his eyes soft.
"You already have." Dean replied.
And that's when it happened.
Dean had only started dreaming about it a few years ago, but he had always wanted it to happen since the day he met Cas. Every time he saw Cas, or even talked to him, he had to play it cool, keep his feelings controlled.
But not now.
He saw Cas move closer to him, and he crossed the distance between them, dropping the feather and the box. Cas' cheek was in his hand in a second, and their lips met. For an angel, Cas really knew how to kiss. Cas' hand was running through Dean's hair, and Dean pressed his lips against Cas, cupping his face with both hands. He felt Cas' stubble run against his palm, but he didn't care, because it was finally happening. He was finally kissing Cas.
And it was just as perfect as he had planned.
After a minute or so, Cas pulled a few inches away, and Dean leaned his forehead against Cas'.
"Happy Birthday, Dean." Cas breathed.