word count: 406
"How are you feeling?" Piers asks, offering Dean a soft smile.
Dean groans. "It's just a headache," he insists, though he knows it won't matter. Piers is the type to fret, no matter how minor. Maybe it's because he grew up without parents to care for him, and he overcompensates now. "Bit of a nightmare, but I'm sure I'll live."
Piers lifts Dean's favorite mug, a light orange cup with white stripes. Steam rises from it, and Dean can smell a faint hint of sweetness. "Tea with honey," he says.
Dean smiles. "My hero."
Piers snorts. "Yeah, that's me. A superhero, saving the world one cup of tea at a time."
"How very British of you."
Dean takes a sip, smiling as the heat spreads through his body. It's funny, really. He has all the magic in the world. He's decent at brewing potions. Even so, nothing could ever compete with the ordinary sort of "magic" that comes from a nice cup of tea from someone he loves.
"Oh God," Piers says with an affectionate sort of groan. "You've got that look. You're about to be obnoxiously sentimental, aren't you?"
Dean rolls his eyes, but he can't help but to grin. "Well, stop giving me reasons to be so sentimental, and I won't be."
"Sap," Piers mutters, pressing a kiss to Dean's cheek. "You're lucky you're so cute."
With a yawn, Dean stretches until he hears a faint crack in his spine. "Oh yeah? And what would you do if I wasn't so cute? Hmm?"
This is the sort of life Dean has always wanted. He's watched the way his stepdad treated his mum, and he swore he would never settle for anything less than that kind of love. His upbringing definitely had an influence on him, and he can't imagine where he would be without seeing the way his mum smiled, or hearing the way his stepdad talked to him with nothing but pride and love in his voice.
Maybe things would have been different. Maybe he wouldn't be here now, so hopelessly in love with Piers. Maybe there would be no warmth and laughter, no stolen glances and soft kisses just because.
But it doesn't matter. There's no point dwelling on the way things might have been. Right here, right now, he has Piers, and nothing can get in the way of that.
"I really am so lucky," Dean says with a content sigh.