March 23, 2007
"Happy birthday to Cas! Happy birthday to you!" The trio finished as a bemused angel stared at the cake in front of him.
"Blow out the candles." Dean whispered, nudging Cas' shoulder.
Cas nodded and turned to face the cake before he exhaled, extinguishing the flames.
"Since we couldn't find an infinity sign candle at the grocery store, I hope you don't mind the question mark." Sam noted, pulling the decorative center candle out along with the smaller ones that had ringed the outer edge of the vanilla iced cake.
"That is more than understandable, given the comparatively limited lifespans of humans." The angel eyed Dean carefully as he cut a slice of cake and placed it in front of him.
"I'm a pie man myself, but I do make a damn good cake if I may say so." Dean cut a second, much smaller slice for Sam as he continued serving. "So eat up. Even if you don't have to, I think you'll want to after a few bites."
Sam snorted, "As much as I hate to admit it, Dean is one hell of a baker." He glanced at his brother, "And that compliment counts as your next birthday gift."
Dean rolled his eyes as he smirked, "Still better than three years ago."
As Sam was about to retort Jess stepped between the brothers, "Boys… come on, it's Cas' special day, I know you love to bicker but can we let him be the center of attention for once?" Jess cajoled.
"Alright." Sam smiled as he kissed Jess, then smeared a bit of icing on her nose.
"Oh, you're in for it now…" She responded with a spoonful of cake to his forehead.
Dean laughed at the two as Cas picked up the slice of cake and stuck it in Dean's face. He sputtered, "Hey, no fair! I was distracted." The angel looked away, feigning innocence. "You're lucky it's your birthday."
"I'm lucky every day." Cas raised his eyebrows, an attempt at the 'waggling' he had seen Dean do when being especially sarcastic.
"I swear you are too corny sometimes." Dean sighed as he wiped off the cake with a napkin, "It's a good thing you're sexy to make up for it…"He pecked him on the nose before smearing icing on his chin.
**SPN**
After cleaning up the cake, and admitting that Dean was an excellent baker, the man in question disappeared for a moment before returning with a large bright red gift-wrapped package.
"Time for presents!" Dean grinned nervously as he held out the box.
Cas blinked, "Why did you get me a present?"
"It's your birthday, dude. On each other's birthdays we give gifts."
"I know the custom, but why would you feel necessary to get me one? I have never gotten one for your birthday. I was unaware it was expected between us." Castiel suddenly felt a wave of shame ebbing at the edge of his pleasant afternoon.
"Stop." Dean placed his arm on Cas' shoulder as he looked him in the eye, "We aren't doing that. No guilt because of not understanding human stuff, remember? First, it isn't expected between us to give each other gifts-I chose to do this as an additional way of showing that I care for you. Second, you more than make up for one lousy birthday gift with everything else you do. So stop it." He paused and glanced closely at the angel's features, "I know that look-yeah, you have a look on your face even if you think you're unreadable to everyone else. You don't owe me anything."
The angel cracked a small grin, "Thanks."
"You're welcome, now open my gift before Sam tries to have you open the razor he bought you."
"Hey!" Sam huffed.
"You get all of us the same thing during the calendar year. Seriously, man, stop buying your gifts in multipacks at Costco so we don't guess it immediately."
Cas smiled further and accepted the metallic package Dean had been holding out in front of him. It wasn't terribly large, but it had a bit of weight to it… As he removed the paper-through tearing after a fair bit of encouragement from the others-he revealed a cardboard box. He lifted the lid and inside saw a small stack of papers…
"A birth certificate, driver's license, and social security paperwork?" Castiel asked, holding up the items.
Dean hesitantly rubbed his arm, "Yeah… um…" He took a deep breath, "If it were to… arise that I decided to want to further our relationship… Legally, like, um… There's stuff that has to happen and I was thinking that…"
Castiel was silent a moment as Dean became increasingly red, "Are you asking if I wanted to marry you?" Sam's eyebrows shot upward as Jess inhaled and excitedly grabbed onto his arm.
Dean swallowed, "Yes." He nodded, Holy fuck I'm actually doing it. "Yes. Cas, will you marry me?"
"Yes."
Dean exhaled and excitedly kissed the angel, fuck the PDA. Without turning he pointed at Sam, "I'm breaking the news, so put down the phone." Sam stuffed the phone back in his pocket, grumbling.
Castiel was silent a moment before he spoke, "How do we go about becoming married? I understand there is a ceremony-as per the depictions in your media-but what is there to do before that?"
"Well, we can't get married here-technically." Dean frowned as he sat on the sofa beside Cas.
"Is there insufficient means? I am sure we can find a willing administrator for the event."
"Not exactly…" Dean sighed.
Sam and Jess exchanged glances before he spoke, "Technically Dean can't marry you in this state, it's illegal in Kansas."
"It's illegal everywhere but Massachusetts." Dean nearly whispered.
Castiel frowned, "Why is it illegal? We are both grown men-well, you are, at least-and as such we should be able to marry whomever we see fit."
"Yeah, the whole 'both grown men' thing sums it up." Dean bitterly remarked.
"Homosexual marriage is frowned upon basically everywhere." Jess added, "Gay relationships are just becoming acceptable-and even then there are many who aren't okay with it-but marriage is a big issue. Even people who are okay with gay relationships aren't always on board with gay marriage…"
"Fuck that."
"Cas!" Dean spun to the angel beside him.
"You and I are already bonded, the highest symbol of love among the heavens. We are going to have the highest symbol here as well." The angel responded.
"So, what exactly are you going to do?" Sam asked.
"We will go to Massachusetts."
"Well, I did kinda want a destination wedding…" Dean muttered.
