"Love It or List It"

Pairings: Destiel (DeanxCastiel), SamxJess
Ratings: Teen (Rating will go up by the end)
Warnings: Fluff, domesticity, television show hosts, renovations, realtors, language, consumption of alcohol, sleep issues
Words: 4310

Beta: Bree (bowtiesanddeductions)
My Tumblr: talesfromperdition

Chapter 4

Sam knew something was up as soon as he walked up his house. Ed and Harry had the cameras in place, but they were back by the production truck with Kevin. The three of them had glasses and sandwiches in their hands, even though all of them had eaten at the Roadhouse not that long ago. He knew what the food meant, as did Jess. His wife seemed to come alive again, shedding off the exhaustion of the lengthy legal talk in favor of climbing up her porch steps to approach the co-hosts.

There was always something bizarre about Dean and Castiel sitting together like civilized humans.

Sam stayed on the sidewalk for a moment, looking up at his brother and friend. They were sitting at the porches' table – a nice, glass table that had candles on it (and Sam knew that neither he, nor Jess, put those there – next to each other. It looked like this was their house, the way Castiel was smiling behind his glass of lemonade and Dean was gesturing with his sandwich. They looked like long-time partners laughing together after a long day's work.

And, okay, Sam knew that Dean had a major hard-on for his co-host, but this wasn't the same as the flirting disguised as rivalry. This was something else entirely. There was something in the way both Dean and Castiel turned to Jess when she approached them – they way they stood like gentleman, wiping their mouths and hands on cloth napkins that Sam was pretty sure he didn't even own, before reaching out to her to greet her – something that screamed that they were inviting Jess into their home, rather than inviting her back to hers.

Sam had seen their little moments before – when Castiel or Dean got too drunk and they would let the other one lean on them as they walked back from the bar, the way Castiel had hugged Dean at John's funeral, the time that Castiel stormed out of his parent's house when they brought up Anna for the thousandth time and Dean went after him – but nothing showed their potential quite like this.

True, this episode was all about him and Jess. Sam knew he would be banned from working on his own house so Dean could keep the surprise, but that didn't mean that Sam was banned from being a little brother who was emotionally invested in the well-being of his friends.

"Sammy," Dean called from the porch, and the younger Winchester up to his house. He sat down next to Jess – Castiel poured both of them some lemonade to complete the shot – and grabbed a chunk of watermelon. "If you get poisoned, Cas helped."

"Rude," the realtor said, sitting back down.

"Oh, good," Kevin called, walking from the truck to the porch. "You're back. Now, listen. We only have this last shot to do today then we're all free to go. It shouldn't take long."

"We're set," Harry called from behind the camera.

"Good," Kevin said again. "I know you all know this by now, but Cas, you tell them the value of their house. Then you tell both of them the budget for the reno and the new house. Ready?"

"Action," Ed called, and Kevin sighed behind him.

"After walking through the property, I definitely saw how this space wasn't working for your family anymore," Castiel started, shifting seamlessly into the arrogant realtor. "I've had an evaluation done on your current house, and the value is $500,000."

"That's more than we paid for it," Jess said.

"Well this is an up-and-coming neighborhood. Unfortunately, what that means is that while the value of this property has gone up, so has the value of the houses in this area. So now I need to know what your budget is for finding your new dream home."

Sam and Jess looked at one another, then Jess said, "We can do $650,000, tops."

"Like, Cas, said," Dean cut in. "You might have only asked for four things, but they're four big-ticket items. So before I can start planning on making this place amazing again, I'm going to need to know my budget, too."

"I know how much renovations cost," Sam started, running his hand through his hair and looking down. "And I'm not in denial about how much the basement is going to cost. But with the baby on the way, we really can't come up with more than $60,000 right now."

Dean nodded, but Sam could see the look in his eye. Their basement regularly had water in it in the springtime. It was a wildcard, and that was before they had a look inside the walls. "If I don't run into any problems that will be enough to do everything."

"We have faith in you, Dean," Jess said, reaching her hand across the table to touch her brother-in-law's hand.

"If you have faith in him," Castiel said, equally well aware of how hard Dean's job would be with that budget. "Who has faith in me? Aren't you the one who wants to move, Jess?"

She laughed, reaching out her other hand to grab Castiel's. "I have faith in you too, Cas. Right now, we can't be sure whether we will want to stay or go by the end. But we know both of you will do your best to make us happy."

"We'll just have to choose what house is the best for our family when the time comes," Sam said. "It's anybody's game."

"So good luck, boys," Jess said, taking her hands away from Dean and Castiel's to sit back.

Ed called cut – Kevin, annoyed by a long day of shooting, told him to knock it off – and the production crew started packing away their equipment for the night. As the people moved around on the grass, the four of them remained sitting on the porch.

If Sam thought something was up when he first walked up to his house, that was nothing compared to sitting down with Dean and Castiel. They must have talked during their walk-through (Sam would look through the footage later to see if it was captured on camera), because they were acting differently than Sam had seen them for a long time.

It wasn't until the crew was gone, and the four of them had drank all the lemonade and eaten the rest of the sandwiches that Sam realized what it was.

They weren't acting like rivals; they were acting like a unified pair.

Castiel took care of everyone's glasses, Dean took care of everyone's plates, and they stood side-by-side at the sink, washing their mess. Sam was completely flabbergasted; he had no idea what was going on.

And he wasn't the only one who noticed.

Jess had her nose pressed against the window, looking through her living room and dining room doors to see them in the kitchen. After a while, she turned back to Sam and asked, "Be honest with me here… are those two finally together?"

"Uh…" Sam started to say, but at that moment, Dean sprayed water at his co-host, and Castiel didn't react like a new lover would. It was playful, flirting, and Castiel didn't look angry, necessarily, but he moved away from the sink, suddenly on-edge. Dean called after him, but Castiel made some excuse, walking away. Sam and Jess turned to each other, pretending they had been talking and not spying just in time for Castiel to walk out to the porch.

"I'm going to…" Castiel said, gesturing down the street toward his house. Sam and Jess nodded. "I'll… uh… I'll probably be back tonight. If the reno starts tomorrow, I should get my last good night's sleep until this is all over."

"Sure, Cas," Jess said, forcing a smile and reaching out to him. Castiel flinched away, tensing up and moving down the stairs. "You're always welcome here."

The realtor still looked tense and exhausted; he forced a smile and nodded, walking away. A couple of minutes later, Dean finished up the dishes and walked out. He looked nearly as bad as Castiel had, and he sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I guess I'll head out too. Big day, tomorrow."

Sam could read his brother really well. He could practically smell the rejection coming off of him. "Yeah, alright," Sam said. "Good night, Dean."

The married couple watched as the designer walked off down the street, in the opposite direction Castiel had walked in. They were quiet for a couple of minutes longer – long enough for Dean to make it down the block and out of their sight – before Jess spoke up: "Sam, we have to do something about them."

Sam could do nothing but agree.


Castiel sat on his kitchen floor, his back to the wine fridge with Balthazar in his lap. It was barely eight o'clock, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if he didn't go over to Sam and Jess' house. He just hated going over early enough when the couple might still be awake.

As he scratched behind the cat's ears, Castiel wondered if he should call home. He didn't really like any of his family members – a couple of them were okay, but mostly they just added to the stress he felt – or maybe he could call Anna.

Balthazar looked up at Castiel with lazy, bored eyes. He was sure the cat could smell his anxiety; Castiel imagined if Balthazar could talk, he would beg the realtor to leave. He was sure Balthazar loved having free reign when he was gone.

In the end, Castiel realized that he had to suck it up and go over earlier than his dignity would like. He let Balthazar escape his lap – the cat moved into the living room, playing with one of his many toys as if he were reassuring Castiel that he would be fine and not bored without him – and he grabbed his laptop.

He never went to Sam and Jess' without it – he always promised himself that he would get some work done before he went to sleep, but never did – and without packing anything else, he locked his apartment and left.

It took Castiel no time at all to walk to Sam's house, and even though it wasn't raining, he felt like a drenched, dejected puppy when he stood on the front porch and knocked on his friend's door. He hardly had to wait before Sam opened up, barely sparing his friend a glance before moving back to let him in.

Castiel didn't know if he was more embarrassed by Sam's silence or grateful for it, but with a small, thankful nod, the realtor turned right and started walking up the stairs. He took the first door on the left, walking into the guest bedroom, and he shut the door behind him.

There was definitely a reason why this room looked more lived in than a typical guest bedroom.

In addition to the closet Dean almost opened earlier that day, Castiel also had clothes in the dresser. The realtor took his laptop bag from his shoulder, sitting it on the floor next to the bed, before he moved to the small dresser and pulled out one of the pairs of pajamas he kept there. He had a number of suits in the closet; half of his wardrobe would end up here if he didn't insist on taking it with him.

Sam and Jess were kind enough to open their home to him a couple of nights a week; he couldn't bear the thought of them doing his laundry, too.

Even just removing his clothes seemed much more natural in this house. He dressed quickly, hell-bent on getting as much sleep as he could tonight. Who knew when he'd have a decent night again?

Castiel was just pulling the light blankets back on the bed when there was a knock on the door. A few seconds later, Jess walked in, holding two mugs in her hand. The dark-haired man got into bed, sitting against the headboard, tucking the blankets in around him as his friend sat down on the edge of the bed, extending one of the cups to him.

He took it, graciously.

"I know you really don't want to talk about it," Jess started, and Castiel took a sip of his tea. "But we're going to be out of the house for weeks, Cas. You can't go weeks without decent sleep."

"I can sleep in the office," he said, refusing to meet her eye.

"You need a different place. When was the last time you actually slept a full night at your apartment?"

"When did Dean have the thing with the single mom who did yoga?" Castiel asked. "Like, two months before that."

"Cas…"

"Look, I know, okay. I couldn't sleep at home with my family and I can't sleep when I'm in the apartment alone. I was fine for a while after I got Balthazar, but now…" He sighed, feeling the warmth from the mug seeping into his fingers. "I don't feel comfortable there. I don't feel comfortable anywhere but here, or in the office…"

"You always look so comfortable on set, too," Jess said. "In all those big houses… you never look uncomfortable on TV."

"I don't think I could sleep in any of those houses, either," Castiel admitted with a sigh, drinking some more of his tea.

For a long while, the friends sat silently on the bed. When they did start talking again, it was about other things: the baby, Jess' work, Sam's need for a haircut. Initially, Castiel knew that Sam was a blessing – he was the best roommate, the best friend, a man could ask for – but it turned into a miracle with Jess. She had never shied away from him; she never told him he was a burden.

Instead, she welcomed him with open arms.

Castiel wasn't sure when he'd even lied down, but next thing he knew, he was fighting to keep his eyes open and on his friend. His empty mug had long sense been abandoned on the bedside, and Jess stood to lean over him.

"Good night, Cas," Jess said, putting her hand on the side of his head. His eyes shut instantly, and he wasn't aware he was so starved for contact. He relaxed into her touch. She brushed the hair from his face, leaned down, and kissed the side of his head. "Sleep well."

She picked up his empty mug on her way out, turning off the lights, and shutting the door behind her.

Jess was long gone when Castiel managed to whisper, "Thank you." At least, he was pretty sure he said something. He fell asleep nearly as soon as he was alone.


At this stage in the show, the hosts started working on their own things. Dean had seen Castiel working the housing market before, back when they were friends but not co-hosts. Castiel's part of the job was a lot of boring behind-the-scene calls and internet searches to find listings. Sure, some of the houses were really cool and beautiful, but there was a reason why most of Castiel's screen time was during tours and not during the research phase.

People liked to see the fruits of Castiel's labors, but they liked to watch Dean's labor.

Before meeting with Jo, Dean had a rough outline of Sam's house made based on the blueprints. He made a couple of notes in red pen – "open concept," "remodel kitchen," "1st floor powder room," and "I fucking hate basements" – just to remember what it was that his brother asked him to do. Occasionally, Sam and Dean would be walking through the tour right now; Dean would note what the plan was to Sam while Jo would adjust the blueprints. With Sam promising to stay away, it was just Dean and Jo.

Normally, Jo was Dean's assistant. They always walked through the houses together, Dean babbling his ideas while Jo made the transformation on his iPad. They would pick out some of the things together, and she was the only person he trusted to get the materials he asked for. She was a vicious dealer, and she wasn't afraid to yell at the laborers.

She even made one of the big, burly men cry once.

As many times as Dean had walked into a house with Jo by his side, it still felt weird walking into a house without Sam – walking into Sam's house without Sam – and knowing he was supposed to completely redo the first floor.

Because there was nothing to film yet with Castiel, both Harry and Ed were on location. Kevin was too, but he was back in the van, looking at shots from the day before. Jess and Sam were both there, waiting out by Kevin, watching what the plan was going to be.

When the show was spliced together, it often seemed as though Dean chose a plan and went with it, but the homeowners were obviously involved. Until it came to aesthetics, every idea was run by the homeowners first. The last thing Dean wanted to do was to convert a space into something else and have the clients hate it.

Jo walked up to the house with Dean's iPad in her arms. He knew Jo would be as spot on as she always was; he'd known the girl since they were kids. She would step on his toes when he needed for them to be stepped on, and she would leave him and his design alone if it was a good plan. She technically wasn't taking over for Sam – they'd get another contractor to help Dean with the bulk of the labor – but even though she was a series regular, that this was her usual job, Dean couldn't help but feel like she was somehow taking Sam's place.

Walking into Sam's house, without Sam…

Dean opened the door. Harry and Ed were already inside. "Alright," Ed called. "Ready? Action!"

"Let's start with the main floor," Dean said. "First, let's blow out these walls separating the living room and the dining room to create a nice, open concept. Right now these rooms are sort of weirdly shaped, but with the walls gone, this will be a bigger space."

"Right," Jo said, deleting the walls on the app. Dean looked over at the screen, seeing the open space.

"I can tell you right now," Dean said, knocking his hand against the wall to the right. "This is a structural wall. See how they have a pillar right in the middle of the drywall here? We're probably going to have to run support beams under the second floor with this wall down. Or a pillar; we'll have to get both options priced. The layout of the living room is going to have to work around that pillar if the hidden support isn't possible."

"Yeah," Jo agreed, frowning at the space. "I would say that we could put the entertainment space on the left wall where the wall was, but because the door is closer to the right side, it would be like walking into a dining room, and that's kind of weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Dean agreed, turning around to judge the space. "We'll have to see what the space looks like without the wall before we have anything set in stone. As for the rest of the space, new paint, new floors, and let's turn that cubby into a closet."

"Alright," Jo said, marking it down. The pair of them moved on to the kitchen.

"The kitchen is kind of small," Dean admitted. "I mean, it isn't tiny, but the only way we could fit an island in here is if we blew out the wall and extended the kitchen into the dining room a few feet. Then we could put an island long ways."

"Hmm," Jo looked forward. "I'm not sure. That might just make the kitchen look even more cramped."

"I know," Dean said, rubbing his hand through his hair. "But Sammy loves the eat-in kitchens we do. I thought if we put an island in, we could get stools to go up to the island."

"The kitchen's way too small for that, Dean," Jo said, and Dean cursed under his breath, knowing she was right. "Does it have to be an island? Look, if we move the refrigerator against the left wall, we can continue the counter tops from the stove down to the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. With the wall gone, we can add counter-space where the wall was, then add the chairs there. It'll give the illusion that the kitchen is bigger."

Dean didn't even need to think about it. He just wrapped an arm around Jo's shoulders and said, "That's my girl."

Jo grinned – beamed, really – and demolished the kitchen walls and extended the counters. She even put little chairs at the bar. The pair of them moved into the laundry room.

"This room is actually decent for what it is. Let's just do some minor touch-ups and add storage solutions to the far wall opposite the washer and dryer," Dean said.

"Got it."

"And the only place for a powder room would be this room," Dean said, walking through the small laundry room to the space hidden behind it. "I mean, it's weird to walk through the laundry room to get to the bathroom, but it isn't like we have any other space."

"Yeah," agreed Jo. "It's not big enough for any other room. Right now it's mostly clothes from their laundry room."

"Actually," Dean said. "This might be big enough for at least a three-piece washroom."

"I agree," Jo said, adding the new details to the app. She turned to Dean and grinned. "All that's left now is the basement."

"I freaking hate basements," he sighed, but the pair of them walked back through the living room and down into the basement anyway.

Finished basements were awesome. They added great square footage for a family – adding an entire floor's worth of space – but something always went wrong for Dean in the basement. Sometimes, low air ducts couldn't be hidden easily and cheaply. Sometimes, water damage warped walls and ruined foundation. At least he didn't have to worry about Sam fucking up anything down here with any Do-It-Yourself projects. They might have done some work in the house, but neither of the Winchesters ever touched Sam's sometimes flooded basement.

"Okay, here's the thing. Sam and Jess didn't give us enough money to do everything on their list. We could give them the first floor or the basement, but not both, and Sam knows that. We'd have to dig up the whole yard and do a drainage system to keep moisture from seeping into the structure, and that's not including whatever surprises we could find down here. Let's try to save money wherever we can upstairs, and if we have any left, we might be able to water-proof the basement," Dean sighed. "That way, when he decides to love it, all the major work is behind him."

"Well, except the framing," Jo grinned. "And the drywall, and the floor, and the painting, and the…"

"Yeah, shut it. Alright, let's see what the homeowners think of the plan and schedule the crew to start working tomorrow."

"You got it, boss," Jo said.

Ed and Harry forgot to call cut, but the take was obviously over when they moved their cameras off their shoulders. The pair of them were chatting about Harry's fiancé as they left the basement, and Dean sighed, crossing his arms to look around at the space. "I wish I could give him this."

"Dude, it isn't exactly uncommon for basements to get water in them here," Jo said. "Plus, Sam's doesn't flood as much as my mom's does. Since he got the new pump-thing, it didn't get any water at all, does he?"

"No," Dean said. "But it'll still be an issue. It doesn't look like they have any damage, but the houses here are built sturdier with the water table so high in this part of the valley. Still, we might have enough left over to water proof it. I just wish I could give him a kick-ass mancave."

"Well, if we left Sam's home completely finished, he'd end up going crazy. No matter what Jess says about wanting a move-in ready house, Cas could bring them a Barbie dream home and Sam would be compelled to change something with it. Especially now that…" Jo cut herself off, and frowned at Dean. The elder Winchester knew something was up – that she was trying to hide something – but instead she said, "Especially now that they're going to have a baby."

"What's a baby got to do with Sam wanting to renovate shit?" Dean asked, frowning back and his friend.

"Uh…" Jo closed the iPad case and tucked it under her arm. She took a step backwards, toward the stairs. "You know. The baby's going to be crying and Sam's gotta try and escape that, so he'll run off and cut some lumber or fix something. Man stuff, you know."

"Uh huh," Dean said. "What's really going on? What else is going on with Sam?"

"Nothing. And I gotta start calling the guys about the… the demo. So, uh, bye, Dean," she said, pushing the iPad back at Dean – so he could go over the specs with Sam and Jess – before she practically ran out of the basement.

And Dean wasn't an idiot. He knew something was up, but as he walked out of his little brother's basement and then out of his house, he couldn't – for the life of him – think of what else Sam could be hiding from him.