AUTHOR'S NOTE: I couldn't remember what, exactly, Cas's room looked like and in my digging to get visuals to work with (btw, S12's episode "The Future" has a nice pan across pretty much the whole room at one point; super useful!), I discovered that Sam & Dean's rooms aren't even close to one another! Dean's apparently is room 11 and Sam's is 21. Cas's is 15 though that's been used as a room for other people, Mary included. I always picture them in the same hall of the dormitory section of the bunker so that's how I wrote it.
Also, I am totally aware all three of the boys (Castiel for sure) are probably OOC. I can't seem to keep them completely IC with fluffy stuff like this so… On the subject of being OOC, I'm not certain if Dean has any creative talent (we know singing is not one of them, lol) but I liked the idea that he could paint and has hidden it 'cause who needs to paint outside of sigils and warding when hunting?
Dean stood in the doorway to Castiel's old room, eyeing the mostly empty space. The bedding had been stored away in a closet where they kept other extra linens and the bed had been dismantled and put in a storage room. They'd also removed the chairs, tables, nightstands, the old telephone, and the desk lamp. That left the floor lamp which wouldn't be enough to properly light the windowless room on its own.
The pregnant Winchester was currently trying to imagine fitting three cribs, at least one dresser, and a changing table into the small room.
A warm body pressed into his back and he leaned into it as arms wrapped around him, hands cupping the small swell of his belly. He hummed appreciatively as they gently massaged his skin through his t-shirt.
"What are you thinking?" Castiel murmured, mindful of his proximity to Dean's ear.
Dean sighed in contentment as he settled into the embrace. "Trying to decide how the hell we're going to fit three cribs, a changing table, and storage for the ton of clothes we'll need to store, not to mention enough diapers for three babies and they're part angel anyway so will they have to even go 'cause you don't as far as I know but I don't make it habit of checking on your bathroom needs and-"
"Dean," Castiel said sharply, breaking his boyfriend from his panicked rant. "Breathe."
Dean forced himself to take a deep breath then slowly let it out. "I'm freaking out, Cas," he admitted quietly. "At the end of this, we'll have three babies that are our responsibility. Sam's right; this isn't like a dog or babysitting where we get to hand the kids back to the parents. We are the parents, and… I don't know if we can handle this."
Castiel nuzzled Dean's cheek in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture. The tension bleeding away led him to believe he'd succeeded. "I know this is overwhelming, Dean. Truthfully, I am nervous as well. But I meant what I said when I told you that you are one of the strongest humans I know. You face any challenge thrown at you head-on and always come out the other side. And you have Sam and myself in this as well."
Dean ducked his head, trying to hide the flush he felt heating his cheeks and the dopey grin he couldn't keep from his lips. "Thanks, Cas," he mumbled. Then he schooled his features and cleared his throat as he lifted his gaze back to the room. "So any ideas how we fit three cribs in here? And storage space?"
Castiel hummed thoughtfully as he eyed the room then stepped around Dean to move around the space. "What if we move the lamp out of this corner and put the cribs in a U shape on this side of the room where the bed used to be?" he suggested. "One along the wall opposite the brick and the other two perpendicular to that. We can put a dresser beside the crib here," he said, gesturing to the wall across the door, "then put another here," he gestured to the next wall, "then a changing table beside that and the lamp can be put beside the door, across from the crib and dresser," he concluded, turning to Dean to gauge his opinion.
Dean remained silent for several minutes as he scanned the room, imagining it the way Cas described it. He slowly moved into the room and wandered in a circle as he imagined it then scrunched his nose. "It feels like it'll be cramped," he admitted. "But I guess trying to fit three babies and their stuff takes up room."
"It won't be forever, Dean," Castiel added. "When they are old enough to want their own rooms, we can always do the same to two other rooms."
"When they're old enough to need their own rooms, they'll be old enough to understand that this place isn't a normal home and by then, I want a normal house," Dean said, not realizing how badly he truly wanted a home until he said the words. "I… I want a big house for all three of us and the triplets to have their own rooms and a backyard and I get a freakin' five bedroom house is gonna be expensive but I don't want the kids growing up around this shit, Cas," he said, a pleading tone entering his voice.
Castiel was quick to respond to his boyfriend's growing distress, crossing the small space to the hunter and wrapping him up in a warm embrace. "Then they won't," he assured him in a gentle tone, one arm wrapped securely around Dean's waist while the other hand rubbed up and down his spine. "We'll do this room for now and when they're born and we're ready, we'll find a home big enough for the six of us."
Dean let out a shuddering breath as he leaned into the angel, wrapping his arms tightly around him. "I don't know if I could ever completely stop hunting but I do know that this place isn't a place for kids," he said quietly. "We can have a house and still use the bunker when we need, right?"
"Of course," Castiel assured him. "Having one does not mean we cannot have the other."
Dean nodded against his shoulder then took a deep, cleansing breath. "Okay," he said, gently extricating himself from his angel's hold to examine the room once more. "I guess your way works the best. We'll have to decorate though," he added, grimacing as he eyed the gray scheme of the room. "It's too boring and bland for a nursery."
Castiel nodded in understanding. "Then that's what we'll do. Though I understand painting is not a job for a pregnant person so if we paint the walls, Sam will help me."
Dean rolled his eyes, wanting to argue that the eggs weren't really connected to him but he knew that, like Sam's argument about the alcohol, Castiel wouldn't relent just in case.
"Yeah, okay," he said, flicking the light out and exiting the room.
"I don't think one room will be big enough," Dean grumbled from his place at one of the library tables, laptop open in front of him.
Sam's brow furrowed as he looked up from the book he'd been reading, clearly confused about the random statement. A glance at Castiel proved unhelpful as the angel seemed just as confused. "Care to explain what you're talking about, Dean?" he said. "Because I have no idea what you mean."
"For the nursery," Dean snapped as if Sam should have understood what room he'd been talking about. "One room just won't fit everything we need and besides that, trying to decide where to fit just the basics seems like it'd be too crowded. Triplets take up a lot of space."
It had only been two days since Castiel and Dean had mentally mapped out the layout of the nursery but in his search for quality furniture (because Dean Winchester would be damned – again – if his kids didn't have the best, safest furniture), Dean had discovered that there were other items in nurseries that he hadn't thought about. And he kind of wanted some of them. Like a rocking chair. It would be useful when one or more of the triplets woke up and needed to be put back to sleep. And what if both of them had to tend to all three of the triplets at the same time? One rocker wouldn't be enough!
He was starting to doubt that one changing table would be enough, too. What if all three needed changing? It didn't seem fair to make two of them wait in messy diapers while the first was changed. And one wouldn't hold all the wipes and diapers and powder they'd probably need for three babies. They'd need at least one more changing table to make diaper changes quicker and add storage space.
He explained all this to Sam and Cas, spinning his laptop around to show them the furniture he'd been looking at as he explained.
"I say we use the room between Sam's room and our room for them to sleep in. We keep the cribs and the rocking chair and maybe an end table or two in that room then redo a second room for their dressers and changing tables," he explained. "That way, they sleep safely between us and then there's enough room for everything else. I still want to get a normal house someday so there's no point in doing something huge. Just clear out a bit more space."
Castiel peered at the images of cribs, changing tables, and rocking chairs Dean had accumulated, slowly understanding Dean's concerns. He had naively thought they could condense everything three infants would need into one room but now he understood that babies – especially multiples – took up a lot of space.
"Okay, I guess that makes sense," Sam said. "What room did you want to clear out for the rest of their stuff?" he asked.
"I was thinking the one across from Cas's old room would work," Dean said with a shrug. It didn't matter much where they kept the changing tables and dressers as long as the triplets slept safely between their rooms.
"Alright," Sam said on a sight as set his book aside and stood, stretching his arms up before dropping them with a relaxed breath. "Cas, you up for a little more moving?"
Castiel nodded as he stood. "Of course."
"Thanks, you guys," Dean said with a sheepish smile as the two exited the library.
He really wanted to help with the nursery (and now the add-on) but Cas hadn't allowed him to help clear out anything so far. And he wouldn't be allowed to paint if they chose to paint the rooms, and once all the furniture was ordered, he wouldn't be able to help much with that except maybe handing Sam and Cas parts while they put it together. But he'd have to rely on Cas and Sam to arrange everything and sure, his angel could easily move a large wardrobe as if it weighed nothing but that didn't make the guilt Dean felt for being useless go away.
Then Dean realized that just because he couldn't help with the basics, that didn't mean he couldn't help decorate. He could help fit the cribs with bedding or put things up on the walls. Sam had never had the chance to have his nursery decorated specifically for him; hell, his little brother had never had a nursery, period. Now they had a permanent home and Dean had the opportunity to give his kids the best damn nursery he could.
Instead of looking at pieces of furniture for purchase, Dean changed his search to images and searched for nurseries to look for decorating ideas first Then he'd find pieces of furniture when he knew what kind of theme he was going for. He decided to avoid the images of rooms that were clearly all boy or all girl triplets and stay gender neutral in decorating since there was no way to see inside the eggs to see the triplets' genders. One of the images, a nursery for a single baby, caught his attention.
It showcased the crib as the main feature, not much else of the room visible in frame. But it was the details around the crib that caught Dean's eye. It was a dark wood crib with a tulle canopy that was parted to each side of the crib. In the space created between the tulle, the crib, and the canopy top, the baby's name had been painted in an elegant calligraphy in black.
"I can do that," Dean muttered, saving the photo to his computer for reference later. It might help them tell the triplets apart, too.
But it wasn't something he could do now. They didn't know what the genders were and couldn't officially name the triplets until they hatched. So he went back to his previous nursery search, looking for other ideas for the room. After a few more pictures, he found a nursery where a quote was painted onto the wall. Intrigued, he changed his search to look at nursery wall quotes. He came across one in a frame and realized a framed one would be perfect for the brick wall opposite the cribs since he already had ideas for above the cribs so he changed his search again.
He blamed hormones (whether being pregnant with eggs messed with those or not, he didn't know) when he came across one that had him tearing up and he just knew he had to use that quote somehow. So he saved that image, too, so he could come back to the quote. Already, he could imagine the type of frame he wanted: movie poster sized with the extra white space around where the image would go except his image would be this quote.
Deciding that would be enough decoration for now, he went back to his shopping search for furniture, making sure to choose the option for nearby stores only. With the black and white he had going on with the words, canopy, and frame he imagined, he refined his search to dark wood cribs to fit the theme. He kept it simple since the more detailed, the more expensive and he needed three, and because he already had plans for detailing around the cribs anyway. Once he found the perfect one, he found it on the store's site – thankfully, it was in a store in the next town over – and added a quantity of three to his online cart. He was pleased to find that this store sold crib canopies as well and chose a style, adding three of those, too.
Since they'd need three cribs, two or three dressers and changing tables and would have to put it all together, he didn't want to buy too much furniture at once. At least he had cribs chosen. So he finalized the order, putting in one of their fake credit cards as payment, and chose to pick up in store.
Pleased with himself, he shut down the laptop and pushed himself to his feet, deciding to check on his boyfriend and brother and see about dinner.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The steps Dean takes in his random search for nursery ideas is basically the steps I went through to piece together what I wanted the nursery to look like, lol!