Summary: What exactly did Dean get himself into when he answered "Hells yeah, I'm a prince"?
Note: Thanks again to Sarah for beta reading this :) I really love having you as my beta.
Chapter Two
Once upon a time… Dean Winchester was late to pick up his niece and it was all Sam's fault.
His little brother had roped Dean into a scheme to surprise Jessica, Sam's lovely wife, with a hot tub in the garden behind their two story house for Christmas. Since Jess was heavily pregnant and about to have their second child any time now, she was already on maternity leave and at home all the time. The plan had been for Sam to take Jess Christmas shopping to get her out of the house, while Dean would let the construction guys in and supervise everything. Later on, he would meet up with them, pick up his favorite girl and take the munchkin Christmas shopping for her parents. Mary had handcrafted some pictures for them, artfully made and in Dean's eyes way better than any other four and a half year old ever could. So he had convinced her that they needed framing and promised to help her pick out the "bestest" frames. After that he'd planned on taking her ice skating since Mary loved it and almost moved better on the ice than on the ground. Plus, it would wear her out so she wouldn't be too grumpy later on when her uncle had to put her to bed – which of course was always a bit later than her parents told her to go to bed. It was simply what cool uncles were there for, right?
Well, all in all an easy plan, only not that easy to execute. For all his methodical planning, Sam had forgotten one little detail: checking the confirmation of his order one last time. Instead of the hot tub Sammy thought he had ordered, a size bigger was suddenly standing in the garden, ready to be set up on the too small spot that Sam and Dean had prepared the night before under the cover of darkness. After checking in with Sam, they had decided to keep it – sending this one back only to get the right one would not only cost time and nerves, Sammy wouldn't even get all his money refunded, making the whole thing even more expensive. Dean was just lucky the construction guys were alright with helping him to enlarge the space. Second lucky stroke? At least the spa pad had been included in the deal, so it was the right size.
Thankfully, after everything was sorted out, the rest of the installation went off without a hitch. Still, once Dean was finally seeing the guys out the door, tipping them more than Sam had first asked him to, he was already almost an hour late and no way could he pick up his little princess dressed as he was. Luckily, he had been clever enough to change into something of Sam's before starting to plow the backyard, so now all he had to do was jump in his brother's shower and get back into his clean clothes. He managed it all in just less than fifteen minutes and finally got into his car, his beloved '67 Chevy Impala, his pride and joy. Shooting a text to Sam he was told that they were about to head to the Disney Store to keep Mary entertained until her favorite uncle could get there (and yes, he was her favorite uncle, Jess' brothers could all shut up).
When he finally got to the mall he pulled into the parking lot closest to the Disney Store and hurried inside. At once he was assaulted by everything "Christmas", starting with the music ("Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer"), over the smell (roast apple, gingerbread, and mulled wine), to the noise of all the Christmas shoppers. He navigated through the masses of happy couples, stressed families, and elderly citizens packed with goods for the grandkids.
At last he reached the store and the minute he was inside, thankfully shielded from Rudolph and all the noisy shoppers, he heard one of his favorite sounds in the world: "Uncle Dean!"
He saw his little sunshine let go of the hand of a stranger who Dean guessed was an employee and ran directly to him. "Hey, little munchkin," Dean answered, spreading his arms wide and catching the whirlwind the moment she threw herself in his arms. He scooped her up and hugged her, her happy giggles ringing in his ears and making him smile even more. He would never get enough of this sweet sound, having vowed to himself a long time ago to do everything in his power to always keep the happiness in Mary's heart. Which was why there was only one possible answer for him when she asked, "Uncle Dean, you're a prince, right?"
It had been just two weeks ago when Dean had taken Mary downtown to his favorite comic book store to pick up the Christmas present he had ordered for his friend Ash, when Mary had been hell-bent on believing Dean was a superhero. In the end, he had relented and "revealed" that, yes, he was in fact Batman, but she wasn't allowed to tell anyone (she did tell everyone for the next few days, so now his secret identity was totally blown, damnit). It looked like his brief career as a superhero would be followed by a career as a prince. And a Disney prince, no less. Knowing denial would be useless anyways, he simply gave his niece an even bigger smile and answered right away with an enthusiastic, "Hells yeah, I'm a prince." Ignoring the fact that he probably shouldn't be swearing in a kids' store, he instead added, "Why?"
The smile Mary gave him was wide and gummy. Before Dean could react, she wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. Dean lived for these almost bone crushing hugs. They were one of the many things that reminded him of a young Sammy. As did the look in her eyes he noticed once Mary released him a bit. "I knew it," she squealed, and for some reason, Dean suddenly had a bad feeling in his gut although he had no idea why. Her next words, however, threw him off completely. "So you can break the curse."
Curse? What curse? What was Mary coming up with this time? Bewildered, Dean looked over at his brother and sister-in-law. What he saw on their faces was quite unexpected. Jeez, rein in the bitch face, would'ya Sammy? Behind the bitch face Dean could read humor and maybe slight embarrassment. What the freaking hell was going on?
Almost absentmindedly, while still trying to silently get any info out of Sam and Jess, Dean asked his little munchkin what curse she meant. Before she answered him, he could feel her little hands on his scruffy face and let her turn his head back. "The Sea Witch, Uncle Dean," she started, and her tone was so serious and sad that Dean instantly vowed to make it all better, no matter what she would ask of him. "She cursed Cas and she took his voice as well, like she did with Ariel. I tried to help him but we haven't found his prince yet. You need to save him."
"I… okay…?" Dean was at a total loss for words. Cas? Who was Cas? And how did a fictional character take his voice? And Mary had done what now? Wait, save him? Who? Cas? And how? … What?
He was pretty sure the fact that he had no clue what to do or what was expected of him was clearly written on his face, yet Mary seemed to need a bit more prodding. "So, what exactly is it you want me to do?"
The following eye-roll was so much like her father's, but Dean had no time to appreciate it, since Mary finally exclaimed: "A kiss, Uncle Dean! You need to kiss him and be his prince."
What the actually hell? Dean was so stunned, he could do little more than follow Mary's outstretched hand, which led him directly to the guy he had vaguely noticed holding his niece's hand when Dean had entered the store. But now, he paid some more attention. The first thing he noticed was the bright red face the man sported and deep blue eyes opened wide in shock, probably just like his own. Messy dark hair (Dean really loved the "I just rolled out of bed after having a sex-marathon"-hair style and that guy totally rocked it), a nice blue shirt that accentuated his eyes even more, as well as a dark blue, silky scarf. Taking all that in didn't even take him five seconds.
"I…"
What he hadn't figured out in these five seconds, however, was how to get out of this situation.
"Come on, Uncle Dean, what are you waiting for?" Mary asked in her cheery and admittedly loud voice and when Dean's eyes moved past the blushing guy, he also realized that they had the attention of the whole store. Fuck.
"Mary… sweety… I'm sorry." He kept his voice low, yet most people were probably still able to listen in. "I can't just go and kiss someone."
Lucky for him, Mary didn't look upset by his declaration, simply irritated. It became obvious pretty quickly why that was the case. "But you kissed Hans all the time."
Oookay, ouch! Flinching at the reminder, Dean tried again.
"Okay, let me rephrase that: I can't just go and kiss a stranger."
"But he's not a stranger, he's Cas!"
"Well, Cas is still a stranger to me."
"But he won't be once you kiss him!"
That… yeah, thanks, how does one argue against the logic of a kid?
Thank God his brain decided to help him out. "Did Prince Eric kiss Ariel right away when they first met?" He looked at his niece and hoped she wasn't going to figure out one huge flaw in his argument: That Eric hadn't known about the curse while Dean now did.
It seemed she didn't, because for the first time, her smile fell and she looked defeated, sad, and almost shy, while whispering a disappointed "no". Dean hated it.
He also hated himself for putting this look on her face and he couldn't leave it at that, he just couldn't. "No, he didn't. But what did he do instead, hmm?"
The gravity of her disappointment was really obvious now, for she only shrugged her little shoulders while keeping her whole focus on playing with his necklace, the one her own father had given Dean so many years ago. Trying to get her attention, Dean shuffled her in his arms a bit, tilting his head until he was able to look into her eyes, before clarifying his question a bit. "What did Prince Eric do when he took Ariel to see his town?"
Excitement returned into Mary's eyes and onto her face, clearly remembering. "A date! He took her on a date! You can take Cas on a date and then he won't be a stranger anymore and then you can kiss him and break the curse and then you can marry and live happily ever after forever and ever and then –"
"Okay, munchkin, would you please take a breath." Dean just had to laugh about Mary's excitement, although he was painfully aware of all the stares directed at them and the whole situation being completely awkward. But not just for him, because the guy – Cas? What did that stand for? Casper? Carson? Well, never mind – probably hadn't had such a peachy time with this either. He looked over again and he was sure he had never before seen such a flaming face framing eyes wide from shock and embarrassment. Yep, totally time to actually play Prince Charming and save the day… and maybe even score a date out of this. The more he looked at Cas the less he had a problem with that, to be honest. Now he only had to hope the guy would play along. "Will you be happy if I ask your new friend here on a date and then maybe kiss him later?"
Mary nodded excitedly and Dean, happy to have averted a minor drama, was just about to turn to the sexy guy to ask him officially, when suddenly…
"No! You can't wait for the kiss!"
The voice was that of a young boy and an instant reprimanding "Kevin!" told everybody where to look. An Asian woman and her son, maybe a little bit older than Mary but hard to tell since he was so small, were standing not far away. The boy's face showed fear paired with determination.
"You can't wait," he repeated, ignoring his mother. "It's been three days already!"
"That's true," another young voice threw in, the shocked call of "Alfie!" going completely unnoticed in the background. "We were here two days ago and the Sea Witch already had his voice."
"Oh, no," a third voice joined in, a girl this time. "But Ursula only gives three days, so today is his last. You have to kiss him now!"
Before Dean could even blink, he was surrounded by almost a dozen children, all begging and pleading and reasoning with him to please, please kiss Cas and save him. A quick and slightly panicked look around showed him that there was no help to be expected by any of the parents. They were either as overwhelmed and stunned by the sheer force of will these little ones had, or they seemed to have a hard time reining in their amusement and mirth about the situation. Great, just great.
It was the reaction of the guy he was supposed to save that finally did him in. Seemingly overpowered by all the embarrassment and maybe even guilt, he mouthed, "I'm so, so sorry," in his direction, pain showing plainly on his flushed face, before trying to hide it in his hands. Dean wasn't sure, but it almost looked like he was shaking slightly. Whatever the reason was that had made him tell these kids Ursula had stolen his voice, he clearly hadn't wanted it all to go this far out of hand. And Dean's heart broke just a little bit for him.
"Alright," he started, still looking in the guy's direction, before bringing his attention back to the kids surrounding and pulling at him. "Alright, alright, shush you little monsters." His voice was full of affection for these "little monsters" and once the last had stopped nagging and begging, he finally smiled at them. "Fine, you win, I'll kiss him now."
The cheers erupting at this were almost deafening and accompanied by some applause from the grown-ups.
Dean put his niece back on the floor at last, amongst the sea of monsters, kissing her on the crown of her head. "Happy now?"
She nodded wildly with a face-splitting grin, before grasping his hand and pulling him the few steps to the damsel in distress, who no longer hid behind his hands. Dean was once again met by those stunning blue eyes and he gulped involuntarily. What if the guy had a problem with Dean kissing him? What if he really had no voice right now and this all would go to shit? What if this would ruin the innocent minds of all these kids still believing in True Love and True Love's Kiss and Happily Ever After and all that bull? They were way too young for reality to ruin them and Dean would never be able to forgive himself if he were the one to break their little bubble of belief.
He only realized he had been staring at Cas for a bit too long when a song playing over the speakers of the store got louder all of a sudden, someone turning the volume up high.
Sha la la la la la
Don't stop now
Don't try to hide it how
You wanna kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
The sudden increase of volume alone made Dean jump. But when the words and the melody finally registered, he could feel his own face grow red while Cas' head whipped around to the counter, a strangled sound leaving his mouth. Luckily, none of the kids seemed to hear it amongst all the laughter breaking out now. Dean followed his gaze to the counter, seeing a feisty looking lady with dark, curly hair standing at the stereo system, giving the both of them a shit eating grin. "Just setting the mood," she explained with a wink and Dean couldn't help himself, he let out a nervous laugh, shaking his head over how ridiculous the whole situation was.
The kids still swarmed around him, including Cas in the circle now and all Dean could see were their hopeful faces shining up at him. He just had to make sure they wouldn't be disappointed after this. "Okay, I'm going to try and break this curse now, alright?" A resounding YES was his answer. "Good, but remember: this might not work, so please don't be disappointed if that happens."
He hoped to all that was holy that the guy got with the program, taking the out Dean was giving him here if needed. Of course, Mary, his beautiful, innocent, lovely Mary, had to make this out an impossible solution with just one question: "Why wouldn't it work? You are the bestest uncle in the world, you can fix everything!"
Well, shit.
Dean stared at her for a moment longer, feeling his eyes well up from the sheer love and trust this little human being put into him. He could hear all the aww's in the background while carefully schooling his face. Finally he turned back to Cas and took the last step.
"You better speak after this, or I'll kill you," he whispered through clenched teeth, only half joking. A slight nod told him that Cas had gotten the message.
Taking a deep breath, he reached out for the slightly smaller man. Here goes nothing.
Keeping his eyes open, he leaned in for a quick peck on the mouth. That plan, however, went out the window the moment his lips connected with soft, yet slightly chapped lips. The touch seemed to elicit a small gasp from the guy, parting his lips while his eyes closed as if on reflex. Dean could feel his body react in kind. He didn't take up the invitation the slightly parted lips gave him – this was a kids' store after all and they had to keep it PG rated – but he let his own eyes close and pressed a little harder against Cas' lips. The taste of milk and honey hit his senses and it was the sweetest thing Dean had ever had the fortune to taste. There was a hand on his left shoulder and it felt like it was burning through the layers of his shirts and jacket, leaving a mark on his skin. The feeling almost made him lose all sense of time and space.
Someone cleared their throat right next to him, helping Dean to get his head back in the game. He slowly ended the kiss as if he had been planning to do so all along, only now realizing that the guy's other hand had found its way to the lapel of his jacket, fisting the material as if to keep Dean in place. Dean himself wasn't better with one hand at Cas' hip, no longer just barely touching, instead clutching the material as well, while his other hand had moved into the soft locks of dark sex-hair – when had that happened?
Once their lips had parted, Dean opened his eyes again, only to see blue eyes flutter open a moment later. He swallowed, waiting for Cas to do or rather to say something. As was everybody else, judging by the dead silence in the store.
Cas swallowed hard before clearing his voice once, twice. And then, at long last, he opened his mouth.
"Thank you, my prince."
And, holy hell, if that voice wasn't just the sexiest thing Dean had ever heard. It was rough, yet with a smooth note, leaving a warm feeling inside Dean, just like a fine, old whiskey. He guessed, or rather hoped, that Cas really had such a sexy whiskey-soaked voice, only amplified by disuse and a clear sign that yes, he really did have problems with it the past few days. Those four words alone seemed to strain the guy.
Lucky for Cas, he didn't need to say more, because after an excited shout of "It worked!" from somewhere amongst all the munchkins around them, cheers and applause erupted in the whole store. If it hadn't been for his hands still on the guy – and woah, he should probably take those away, like right now – Dean would have felt compelled to bow in front of their audience. Instead, he slowly and actually quite reluctantly let go of Cas and gave him an easy smile, as if kissing random strangers was something he did every day. Then again, this guy wasn't a random stranger, right? To put it with Mary's words: this was Cas.
"My pleasure," he whispered back and hell did he wish for some privacy right now. Instead, Mary was on him again in seconds.
"You did it, Uncle Dean! I knew you could do it, I knew it! Now you can take him on a date and then you two can marry and then –"
"Alright, Mary Joanna Winchester, time to calm down a bit."
Oh, so now Sammy decided to step in? Now? Where had that bitch been five minutes ago?
Although, if Dean was completely honest, he hadn't really minded. Not when blue eyes stared at him like that, the warm hand still pressed to his shoulder and the feeling of soft, chapped lips still tingled on his own.
He could hear Mary argue with her father until a redhead interrupted them. Her attire clearly marking her as one of Cas' colleagues. "Why don't we let the two princes get some privacy to talk about the plans for their future, hmm? I'm sure they have lots to talk about. Sound good, little princess?"
Mary gave an excited squeal and the next thing Dean knew was the feel of a warm, big hand in his, pulling him along, further into the store. It took him a second to realize that they were heading toward a back door labeled "Staff only". Just a moment later, the door closed behind them and cut off the excited voices still ringing throughout the store.
Catching his breath, he turned around, seeing Cas leaning against the door, doing the same. Their eyes met and all of a sudden, neither of them was able to stop the laughter that bubbled out of them. They laughed until they had tears in their eyes, only slowly coming down from their high.
"I'm Dean Winchester, by the way," Dean finally croaked out.
Cas smiled at that, standing up a bit straighter against the door. "Castiel Novak."
Castiel, of course. The name of an angel, Dean should have known. Casper absolutely did not fit this guy.
An awkward silence threatened to spread between them, but before it really could, Cas spoke again, clearly still struggling with the words to come out without hurting him. "Thank you, I really mean it. When I started this… charade, I hadn't anticipated the kids would take it so seriously." Halfway through his speech, his hand had wandered to his silky scarf, pressing it against his throat as if it could ward off the pain.
"Dude, don't strain yourself with too much talking," Dean told him, finding that he really did care for his wellbeing. "And don't worry. Trust me, I know how insistent the evil spawn of my baby brother can be."
To Dean's enjoyment, Cas laughed again and he already knew that he would love to hear more of it.
"Don't pretend like you aren't spoiling her rotten," Cas finally gasped out. "She has you wrapped around her little finger."
Faking shock, Dean's hand wandered to his heart. "What would make you think that?"
Cas just laughed harder and Dean couldn't help himself, this guy's laughter was infectious.
"Oh, I don't know," Cas pressed out, hand against his throat again, voice sometimes barely above a raspy whisper. "Maybe the fact that she was able to talk you into kissing me."
"Yeah, didn't need that much convincing…"
That seemed to sober up both of them just enough to rein in the laughter, but made them smile at each other even wider. Cas' blue eyes were positively sparkling by now and Dean couldn't look away.
"Thank you, by the way," Dean finally tried to get some control over the situation. "For being able to talk after my magical kiss. I seriously would have killed you if you had ruined Mary's trust in my abilities."
"Of course. I wouldn't have wanted to ruin the magic for any of the kids, much less for sweet Mary. She really was concerned for me."
"Did she try to get other guys to kiss you before I came in?" Dean asked, all of a sudden remembering Mary's statement that she had already tried to find Cas' prince without any luck.
Cas' nod and slight blush was answer enough. Lowering his head, he clarified: "She asked around if there was a prince to kiss me, yes."
"Well, I'm glad there wasn't."
Cas' head snapped back up, meeting Dean's eyes once more. At this moment, Dean decided to throw caution to the wind.
"So, you know… about that date. Mary would probably be really disappointed if we didn't go out at least once…"
And hell if the smirk Cas sent him wasn't sexy as fuck. "She'll probably also be disappointed if we don't end up married and live happily ever after."
The husky voice accompanying this statement absolutely did not send Dean's thoughts straight to the gutter. Nope, not at all. And nope, the heat in his ears and cheeks absolutely was not a blush, because Dean Winchester simply did not blush. "Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves here, Ariel."
There it was again, that laugh Dean could get used to hear every day for the rest of – woah, woah, woah, slow down there, Prince Charming. Taking a deep breath, Dean willed himself to stay calm. "So, what about this date?"
"Only to satisfy Mary?"
He couldn't be sure, but to Dean it sounded as if there was a hint of disappointment behind the simple question. He studied Cas' face before taking a leap of faith, shaking his head. "No, because I actually want to."
The smile on Cas' face told him all he needed to know. Returning it, he went on. "I have Mary tonight, but I know she won't stop complaining if this date isn't going to happen right now. So, I really hope you're free tonight."
"I am."
"Great. I wanted to take her ice skating, but if you don't –"
"Ice skating sounds perfect."
"Great."
With everything said, the awkward silence threatened to spread once more. It was time to wrap this up.
"So… store closes at nine, right? Any chance your shift ends earlier... like around six-ish?"
"Oh, no, sorry," Cas told him, voice actually sounding disappointed. "I'll have to stay until we close. Longer actually to clean up and –"
"No, you don't," came a voice from the other side of the door, which was suddenly pushed open, making Cas stumble in Dean's direction. The same feisty lady from earlier stuck her head inside the room. "You can totally leave at six, we can handle the last few hours and the rest."
"Meg, have you been listening this whole time?"
"Don't get your panties in a twist, Clarence. The important point is: We can handle a few hours without you plus the clean-up. You worked while you were sick anyways, no one will kill you for these three hours. Go on, go on your romantic dream date with Prince Charming here." Looking at Dean, she added, "Don't take no for an answer," before leaving them alone again.
Needing a second to compose himself after that appearance, Dean looked at Cas once more. "Well," he started. "You heard her: No is not an option."
Sighing in defeat, Cas nodded. "Yeah, I know. Meg can be just as stubborn as Mary if she's set her mind on something…"
This made Dean pause and all of a sudden, he started to worry. The last thing he wanted was for Cas to feel guilt tripped or pressured into a date with him. Before he could take his invitation back, however, Cas smiled at him again. "So, six o'clock?"
Pretty sure that his face muscles would be aching from all the smiling he did today, Dean could only nod. They stared at each other for a second longer, before Cas seemed to remember that he was still on duty. Nodding one last time, he turned around and opened the door. Contrary to Dean's suspicions, Meg was not falling into the room. In fact, she wasn't even around anymore, helping a customer instead.
Dean spotted his family right away – not that hard with his moose of a brother and all. They were at the checkout point, Mary seemingly able to get her head back on shopping after she had sent off her new friend and her uncle into their Happily Ever After. She saw him and soon enough, he had an armful of excited munchkin yet again.
"Did you talk? Are you going on a date? When is the wedding? Can I be flower girl? Oh please, Uncle Dean, I'll be flower girl, right?"
"Mary Joanna Winchester, what did we just talk about?" Dean couldn't remember the last time his brother had to use Mary's full name twice in just one day and who knew how many times it had been before Dean had gotten here. His niece seemed thoroughly crestfallen.
"Sorry, Daddy. Sorry, Uncle Dean," she mumbled, looking shy again. Gods, how he loved this little girl.
"It's okay, munchkin. And guess what."
Head peaking up, she was curious at once. "What?"
"Cas will be joining us for ice skating."
"As a date?"
"As a date!"
Oh yes, Christmas and Birthday had just come early for Mary Winchester. She threw her arms around his neck, punching all air out of him, squealing directly into his ear. Grumbling as if he was annoyed, he searched for Sammy's gaze over her shoulder, making sure his brother was okay with the new arrangement. The moose only winked and smiled, whispering something into Jess' ear that made her laugh out loud. Dean couldn't even be bothered. Not only had he just scored a date with the hottest guy to walk the planet, he had also made his niece positively thrilled, proving once again that he was the "bestest" uncle in the universe.
Cas appeared at his side and before Dean could even react, Mary had let go of his neck and flung her arms around Cas' neck, still half hanging in Dean's arms. Cas only laughed about her antics.
"Thank you, little princess, for your help."
"That's alright, Prince Cas."
It took them a little while before they finally had everything ready to leave so they could get the rest of their Christmas shopping done. Before exiting the store, Dean turned back around one last time, finding Cas' eyes on him. He couldn't help it: the huge grin seemed to be a permanent fixture on his face today.
"Someone is happy," Jess commented, nudging him in the side with her shoulder. "And he seems to be a nice guy. Definitely an improvement on 'Hans'."
Dean's groan only made his brother and sister-in-law snort with laughter. "Please, not you too. His name wasn't 'Hans' as you very well know. He was your friend first, after all. At least your daughter has better taste in friends she wants to set me up with."
"Hey!" Sam protested at once. "No one ever forced you to date him."
"Whatever, Sammy. One thing's for sure though," Dean said, looking at the angel still in his arms, her little arms wound around his neck again, head resting on his shoulder. "Your daughter is a way better wingman than you are."
At that, Sam let out a bark of laughter, accompanied by Jess' sweet chuckle. "Shut up, bitch", Dean mouthed at his brother and only got a mouthed "Jerk" in return. At this moment, his life was simply perfect.
