Day 21 - buying flowers for the other

Roses Are Red and Boys Are Dumb

"Here's your room key, Mr. Novak," the woman said, sliding a card across the counter. "And yours, Mr. Milton," she said to Inias.

"Thank you," Cas replied, picking it up. He started to move away when the woman spoke again.

"You're lucky, you know," she said. "It's hard to find a guy that caring."

Inias gagged.

Cas paused. "What?"

She straightened, as if realizing her mistake. "Oh, nothing. You have a nice night now."

"Do you know what she was talking about?" Cas asked Inias in the elevator.

"I have no idea," Inias replied. "I try not to know too much about you and Dean."

Cas rolled his eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Inias said when the elevator arrived at the fourth floor. "Don't sleep in. We have to be on time."

"Love you too, cuz."

Inias snorted and walked out of the elevator.

Cas kept pondering what the woman could've meant as he arrived at the sixth floor. He walked down the hall and into his room, dropping his bags in the doorway. He stretched and yawned and decided he'd just text Dean good night and hit the hay since he was really tired from the flight.

He pulled out his phone and walked toward the bed, then stopped

On the bed were a ton of roses in a bundle with a white card resting on top of them. In amazement he went over and picked up the card, which read "I love you -Dean". It wasn't his handwriting, since one of the hotel employees must have done this, but it was still Dean's sentiment.

The woman was right: he was so lucky.

He deleted the text he was sending and sent a different one instead.

Dean W
{{{ I love you *so* much
}}} i know :)
}}} love you too

There were roses waiting at all the other hotels along that ridiculously long and grueling business trip, each with a different message.

I'm head over heels for you.

There's nothing more important than you.

You are everything.

I would do anything for you.

You are my life and my love.

The messages were cheesy and so out of character for Dean, but they were so meaningful and sincere. His love for Dean swelled with every bouquet, as did Inias' disgust. But even his cousin's sour mood couldn't dampen this.

Yet Cas felt a little outdid, and he felt he needed to do something for Dean in return. So he started planning.

SPNSPNSPN

Dean woke up and grabbed his phone. There was an alert on the screen:

cas comes home today!

He smiled, suddenly filled with energy for the day, and got ready. He was pouring his coffee when there was a knock at his door. His heart raced, thinking maybe Cas got in early, but it was his neighbor Susie, an elderly lady who lived across the hall.

"This is for you, dear," she said, holding out a red rose.

"Susie, you're the best," Dean replied with a smile, "but you know I'm taken."

"Oh don't flatter yourself, sweetheart. It's not from me," Susie replied sassily.

Dean laughed and took the rose. "Well, thank you anyway."

"Of course. My daughter and her husband are visiting this week, you and Cas should come over for dinner," she said.

"Definitely," Dean said, then kissed her cheek and went back inside his apartment.

He smiled bemusedly down at the rose, then shook his head and put it in a vase.

But that wasn't the only rose.

He got one from the guy who ran the parking garage, then from one of the secretaries at his office, and the coffee boy, and the security guard, and –

Well, you get the picture.

Even Charlie swung by the office and handed him one, but she wouldn't tell him what was up. She just smiled at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes and refused to talk about anything but the most recent Game of Thrones episode.

By the time he got home, he'd received eleven roses and he'd put them all in the vase he pulled out this morning. He smiled, figuring Cas had to have been behind it, and then left to go pick Cas up at the airport.

He was standing in the arrival terminal holding a sign that said "The Wizard" when he saw Cas through the crowd holding a red rose in his hand – number twelve.

Dean smiled and Cas ran forward. He dropped the sign and opened his arms just as Cas ran into them. They spun a little from the force of Cas' run and kissed each other fiercely.

"I hate it when you're gone so long," Dean mumbled against Cas' lips.

Cas kissed him again. "I know," he said. "I know."

They hugged each other tightly for a while and then Cas asked, "So, why the bouquets? Not that I'm complaining."

"I just…" Dean sighed and pulled away enough so that he could look Cas in the eyes. "I wanted to make sure you knew that…that I've never had this before."

He swallowed and looked at the twelfth rose that Cas was still holding in his hand. "You know I hate chick flick moments, but I have to say this."

Cas nodded for him to continue.

"Never in my life have I ever loved somebody so much," Dean said, staring into Cas' wide eyes. "Not another guy, not a girl, not anyone." He took a breath. "This is…this is so important to me. You are so important to me. And I've also never had something that's lasted this long. So I guess…I guess I'm just scared that I'll mess it up."

"Oh, baby, no," Cas said, kissing him quickly. "Nothing you could ever do is going to mess this up. I love you, Dean. You are my most important person."

Dean smiled, tears in his eyes, and kissed him again slowly.

"You do realize you're in public, right?"

They broke apart and then smiled at Inias, who was grumpily dumping Cas' bags in front of them.

"Inias, always a pleasure," Dean greeted.

"Just don't get arrested for public indecency. That's a scandal the network won't appreciate," Inias said with a glare. "I'll see you on Thursday, Cas."

"You sure you don't want a ride home?" Dean asked.

Inias flipped him off as he walked away. Dean crowed with laughter.

"He's never going to like you if you keep antagonizing him," Cas said.

"He's never going to like me period," Dean countered.

Cas laughed. "That's probably true. But it's okay." He kissed Dean's cheek. "I like you enough for the both of us."