AN: I know, another story! But this is a oneshot so you'll have to let this slide, guys. I'm still trying to find the inspiration to continue both of my pending stories so just bear with me. This has been in my mind for awhile, and it's a breath of fresh air because every oneshot I have, I realized, gives of a heavy feeling. Also, I'm trying to experiment with the tense, because if you have noticed I've been using the past and past participle for of verbs, and it's been my style for all of my stories except this. I'm just trying to find out which comes out more comfortable for you guys.

Here it is! ;)

Disclaimer: SPN IS NOT MINE!

White Castle Life

"So, here we are." Sam exclaims, purposefully ignoring the wind blowing against his face. In fact, he actually enjoys it and although it was starting to get really cold out here in the open as his cheeks were starting to color, Sam brushes this fact aside because it is finally over and nothing else matters at the moment, only the thought that they are finally— really finally out of it.

"Here we are, indeed." Dean agrees, staring at the tower of light across the forest that was slowly ascending into heaven.

The angels were going home. It had been a bitch to hunt Metatron, and although Gabriel's reappearance made it a tad bit easier, it was still a bitch nonetheless—factions of angels were angry, at Castiel mostly, and Abaddon didn't just stand by and watch, that was for sure.

But they were here.

At the end.

"So," Sam clears his throat, his eyes moving away from the tower of light to his brother. "What's next?"

"Honestly?" Dean looks at Sam with pure relief on his face, relieved that it was fucking over—and maybe it wasn't yet, but at the moment he didn't care for any possibilities, because it was fucking over, if that made any sense. "I'd just like to snatch up a big bite from a juicy cheeseburger in some diner. I don't even care where."

"How about you, Cas?" Dean turns to the ex-angel. It was astonishing for Dean that Castiel, after experiencing the pros, and mostly, cons of humanity for at least three years, decided to stay mortal. To choose this new life over his former existence. He was offered a position back at the host but he politely declined his Father. He's had too much experience at freewill to be able to actually function as a soldier again.

"I'd appreciate a White Castle." Castiel smiles. This makes Sam grin, who is actually welcoming the thought of a greasy, all-meat meal.

Dean smiles back at the shorter man. "Well then! It's decided."

His shoulders slump as they start treading towards the direction of the road. "God, I'm tired."

"You should not blaspheme, Dean." Castiel admonishes, walking by his side.

"Why? He seemed like a pretty cool Guy, I don't think He minds." Dean argues as the trio nears the Impala, Sam tailing behind Dean and Castiel.

"He did give the ten commandments to Moses for a reason." And Dean lets out a hearty laugh, never failing to be surprised with how more of a human Castiel has already become, although there was still a big room for learning.

"Rules were made to be broken." He points out.

"Basically, Team Freewill in a nutshell." Cas concludes.

"No, Cas, not just our team. People should learn by our experience—yours mostly. People should learn to question the rules, man, and break 'em if they need breaking."

"They will never even know." Cas says and his tone gets a little bit wistful.

"Yeah? Well, shut your cakehole and just get inside."

Sam rolls his eyes as he opens the car door of the passenger seat. "Seriously, guys. You two sound like an old bickering married couple."

Dean halts to process this because holy hell, they did sound like one and it was kind of disturbing and yet amazing at the same time.

"Samuel?" Sam's hand stops midway and he bewilderedly stares at Castiel through the backseat window. "Y-yeah?"

"Get in the car."

Sam's smile is big and wide. "Yes, father."

It was there in the diner when Sam realizes that he still wanted to be a lawyer.

As he watched Cas and Dean eat their burgers like mindless carnivores, his mind tried to process the idea and surprisingly, still found it pleasant.

"I'd like to be a lawyer." Sam says out of the blue, as if he had just experienced an epiphany.

Dean chokes on his burger. Castiel pats him gently on the back and pushes a glass of water to the hunter's direction. Dean empties the glass quickly, grimacing as the lump of food made the swallowing painful.

He mutters a short thanks to the man beside him before turning to Sam. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Sam confirms. "It's has always been my dream—" He continues and then he stares thoughtfully outside and quietly adds, "I really do wanna live a normal life, you know."

"Yeah, well, good for you." Dean says sincerely and though his face doesn't show it since he is kind of overwhelmed by the fact that he and Sam finally had a choice on what to do with their lives, he is truly happy for his brother.

"So…" Sam drawls, expecting Dean to get his drift.

"So." Dean counters nonchalantly, mindful to delay his bite if ever Sam decides to drop a bomb.

Castiel awkwardly stares at his burger, aware of the tension that was developing throughout the conversation. He steals a glance at Dean's direction to assess if it was one of those Cas-needs-to-get-lost-for-awhile kind of conversations.

"I'm going back to Stanford."

It was.

Cas places both of his hands on the table to push himself up but Dean grips his wrist, silently telling him to stay.

So he stays.

"Need a ride?" And Sam's face turns into awe at his brother's question, his mind racing as he mentally lists down the implications of his brother's inquiry. He doesn't have to kill much of his brain cells because only one thing registers.

Dean is finally going to let him off the hook.

Cas smiles as he settles himself back to his seat. He stares at Dean and notices that Dean's hand was still encircling his wrist, thumb unconsciously rubbing the back of his hand. It feels comforting and Cas absently wonders if he should point this out to the hunter so that he could retrieve his hand and resume eating his burger. He was still kind of hungry.

"Yeah." Sam swallows, his voice cracking with emotion. "How about you? Going back to Lisa's?" And immediately after asking the question, his eyes catch sight of Cas' and Dean's hands.

"'Course not," Dean scoffs, oblivious to his brother's shift in attention. "They don't remember me, remember? And even if they did, I don't think it's going to work. Not anymore. Apple pie's not for me." Dean answers vaguely, finally noticing that his right hand was still around Castiel's left wrist. He takes it off without comment and grabs a bite at his burger.

"Right." Sam comments, his eyes moving from Dean to Castiel and noticing how their arms are almost touching. Sam wonders if there was something he missed about his brother and the ex-angel. "And you, Cas? What do you have in mind?"

"He's going to help me in my garage." Dean answers for Castiel.

Sam's eyebrow shots up. "And you guys talked about this? When?"

"We haven't."

He glares at Dean and then his eyes narrow on Castiel. "And you're okay with this?"

"Hey! What's that supposed to—"

"Shut up for a moment, Dean." He cuts off his older brother. "Cas you've got to think about this first, man." Sam starts in a panicky voice because he knows Castiel, knows him enough that if his older brother asked Cas to jump, Cas'll only ask how high he needs to and that's it. "Don't let Dean choose for you. Make the decision. It's going to be your life. Are you sure all you want to do is hand Dean a rusty old wrench as he grumbles for it when you could study and try to be a doctor? Or an actor? Whatever?"

Cas really tries to think hard about it, really think about what he wants but all he could see is him watching over Dean as the latter tries to fuss over an old car that refuses to start. He would try to engage in small talk with their squirrelly customer who is looking at Dean and the car every five minutes— and when the day's over and the job's done, he'll hand Dean a towel and a glass of orange juice and they'll just talk and slowly fall into that kind of routine.

And frankly, Cas doesn't want anything else.

"I'm sure." He finds himself saying to Dean, instead of Sam, and it looks a lot like an assurance because Dean's features soften at the words and he starts breathing again.

Sam doesn't notice this as he tries to convince Castiel that he could be a good doctor.

They finally drop Sam off to an old apartment near the university. Dean is quiet as he stares at Sam who waves at them like an idiot with a big grin on his face before deciding to bring his luggage into his new home. They stay there for awhile, Dean looking at his brother's apartment with a wistful smile.

"Sammy's all grown up." He finally comments and this earns a relieved chuckle from Castiel who was actually worried that Dean might take his brother's decision to part ways unwell.

"You should be proud."

"I am." Dean affirms. "And I will be if he fucking earns some medals. Always wanted one of those little shiny shits."

"I'm sure he will." Cas promises as he places a hand over Dean's. Dean stares at their hands and feels a fuzzy feeling of warmth spreading all over his chest. He intertwines their fingers together and squeezes.

He doesn't know if Cas has already realized it yet—that he had chosen him as well, just as Cas had chosen to stay human for him. He's not going to point it out because that will probably be cheesy as hell, and Dean Winchester doesn't do cheesy, so he'll just have to resort to showing it to the man.

"Cas?" Dean looks at him.

"Yes, Dean?" Cas tilts his head in a manner that Dean finds very familiar and it suddenly hits him that this man was still his angel, no matter what happens, even if he now needs to eat three times a day or sleep for at least 8 hours for every 24, Cas was still the angel who raised him from perdition and now the human who he is going to spend the rest of his life with.

"Let's go home."

Fin

AN: So, what do you think? :) Leave me reviews!