Cas' family life was always one on the calmer side. Ok, as much as it's possible when someone has Gabe for a brother, but they lived in a rather big house so there was always a place away from any squabble. And living with three published authors who were usually sitting somewhere in the corner writing never caused a lot of noise. There were also zones in the house, places preferred by a particular family member. For example, Cas had a barn basically for himself. It was an old building that came with the house where he spent a lot of time since early childhood. It was only natural that later he decided to move all of his art supplies there and turn it into his own workshop. It was nice and he could open the door in a way so one entire wall would be gone. It was good for work since he could adjust the amount of light he needed, but it also gave him an easy access to and a good view of the main porch of the house and kitchen windows so he could chat with both Anna and Gabriel.

Gabe's domain was obviously the kitchen and pantry that went with it. He would spend countless hours there, and during the last overhaul he financed all of the redecoration of those rooms so it would suit him more. Gabe loved to cook and he didn't mind feeding the family members, sometimes even preparing a different dish for everyone.

During the warmer seasons Anna was the one monopolizing the right corner of the porch. Their porch was quite spacious: on the left side there was a set of wicker chairs and a coffee table that Anna hated, and on the other side there was a swing, a comfy armchair and another table. It was a place that Cas' sister did most of here writing at, retreating to their spacious attic when colder weather struck.

Cas particularly liked this time with his siblings in view, chatting during work, asking for others' opinions and offering support to one another.

Gabe also had good intel on their parents, their mother usually occupying space between the kitchen and living room near the bay window and their father hogging the sofa and eating table in said room. That was the reason for another big table in the kitchen now. There was a time Chuck worked in their library that was the third room on the first floor, but with all members of the Novak family being avid readers he had to surrender his rights to the room or commit quadruple manslaughter on the disturbing forces that wandered to the room just "to get a book and be off." So the library was basically a no man's land now.

That's how Cas was used to functioning, his family members in close proximity to each other but everyone doing their thing. That seemed a little different than how the Winchesters functioned.

The moment they'd entered the house he could hear voices booming from more than one location. Dean moved towards the kitchen and they entered the spacious room where four women and three men were siting at the kitchen table and playing poker.

"Hey, guys," Dean greeted.

The blonde woman, who Cas assumed was Mary Winchester, got up and moved toward them. Cas' trained eyes could pick up on the resemblance between Dean and Mary since, though Dean's posture was muscular and strong, he had slightly feminine features. Now Cas could tell he got them from Mary.

"Hey, sweetheart. You came to pick Ben up?" she asked, her eyes focusing on the man behind her son.

"Yup, high time that little dude got some peace and quiet. I could hear you guys from the driveway." Dean grinned at the company

"Oh, don't give me that, boy. Blame it on your cousins in the next room," a man wearing a cap grumbled. "Now, why don't you show us how well you were brought up and introduce us to your friend?"

"Oh, my bad." Dean backed out a little to show Cas to the room. "That's Castiel Novak, the artist Sarah somehow managed to bribe to do the nursery."

Cas didn't miss the knowing looks everyone exchanged.

"Cas, this is my Mom, Mary, and the guy so enthralled with the cards is my dad, John Winchester. The one with all the poker chips, who's gonna leave everyone in nothing but socks, is my aunt Ellen–you've met her step-son, Ash—and next is my other aunt, Kate. The grumpy oldie there is our family friend Bobby Singer and his wife Jody, and you met Rufus earlier."

"Hello, nice to meet you. I apologize for my intrusion, but..." Cas started, feeling the need to explain himself.

"Don't be ridiculous, boy," John assured him. "We're glad to finally meet you. We've been hearing a lot about you, first from Sarah and now Dean can't seem to shut up," the older man said, smiling at how flustered his son was getting.

Cas saw the way Dean blushed a little, and he couldn't help feeling the same way.

"Thank you, Mr. Winchester. I really enjoy working with your son, he's very talented."

The statement caused Dean to blush even more and for John to smile proudly.

"Oh, yeah. Accept his compliment, you stubborn, old bastard. When I tell you the boy knows his stuff you just snort," Rufus complained to his companions.

"Like I'd trust the judgment of someone who favors Stones to ACDC."

The others at the table just rolled their eyes.

"That only proves my earlier point, you haven't matured since the seventies," the woman, Kate, teased John. "By the way, Mr. Novak, how do you deal with Zeppelin blasting from the car? Ready to pierce your eardrums with a fork?"

"Please, it's Castiel. And I'm a fan myself. Granted, I'm more of a Kashmir than a Ramble On person, but I can deal." He offered Dean a small smile.

"Well, you'll have to with Dean here monopolizing his ancient cassette player," Jody warned.

"Actually, if I remember correctly, I chose that tape the last time we were driving, so Dean was the one stuck with the music of my preference." He was surprised by the effect the words had on everyone sitting at the table, but when he mulled over what he said he came up empty. There was nothing wrong with the statement, so he was rather curious as to why the group started looking at him like he was the Holy Grail.

"Music of your own choosing, huh?" the question Bobby asked was directed at Cas, but he was looking straight at Dean. He also kicked the chair opposite of him and invited Cas to sit on it. "Do you wanna play with us, boy?" the older man asked the painter.

"Sorry, guys," Dean chimed in, panicking a little. If his family members spilled about their earlier conversations Cas might learn about his pathetic crush on him. "Not tonight. I still have to drive Ben and Cas home. Maybe another night?" "Possibly when I could get through it without the fear of being publicly ridiculed for my hopeless infatuation," he added to himself. He looked at Cas for support. "Besides," he added when the commotion in the next room got even louder than before. "I think there's a fight going on in there, and I wouldn't wanna miss it."

"Yes, thank you for the invitation, but I don't want to keep Dean longer than necessary. Maybe I could take you up on that some other time." Cas said his goodbyes to the gathering and followed Dean to the living room where he was greeted with an even more interesting sight.

There were three young people and one teenage boy. The boy and a young blonde woman were sitting on a couch in front of a coffee table with some cardboard lying on it. There was also a young man standing in the middle of the room and holding someone in a headlock. That someone seemed to be Ash, if the mullet was anything to go by, and Cas caught him saying:

"...and that's the reason Adam sleeps on futons and has a floor bed at his place," he yelled through the constant litany of 'shut up, dude' from the assaulting man while the young boy and the girl were laughing at them and scribbling something on the cardboard.

"What are you guys doing?" Dean interrupted the squabble as he entered the room, Cas following behind.

"Hey, Dean," the woman on the couch said. "Ben is gathering embarrassing family stories for your family tree."

"Oh, how is it going, buddy?" Dean asked the boy, but before he moved towards the sofa he pointed at Cas' direction. "Guys, meet Cas Novak. He's working with me on Sarah's project. Cas, meet my irritating baby cousins. You've met Ash, that's his step-sister, Jo—Ellen's daughter—and that's Kate's son, Adam–the baby of the family," Dean introduced them and threw Adam a shit-eating grin.

"Yeah, dude, the baby that can easily kick your lazy, aging ass," Adam grinned and turned towards Cas. "Nice to meet you, man."

"Please, kid," Dean scowled at the younger man. "Just 'cause you've managed it with Ash's scrawny ass doesn't mean you have anything on me. Why are you trying to strangle him anyways?"

"Ben is working on your side of the family tree and he asked us for some dirt on each other," Jo offered as an explanation.

"No, I didn't," said the boy sitting on the couch. "I only asked for some information I can add next to your photo, and you just went with embarrassing." Ben pouted a little bit. "My friend Jesse is almost finished with his tree and his cousins gave him information about their education, work and hobbies. And all I've got so far," he sighed looking through his notes, "is that you can't feed beans to Sam, Ash's second name is supposedly 'Dr. Badass', Jo has a collection of combat knives, and Adam is afraid to look under the bed."

"Oh, so that's why you were strangling him?" Dean asked as if the whole ordeal finally made sense.

"Don't forget Dean's addicted to 'Happy Ending,'" Jo provided helpfully from the couch, grinning at her cousin.

Cas cleared his throat at the news. "Is that another of Gabe's inventions?" he asked in order to ground himself a little bit at the amount of information.

"Dude, don't you eat any of his stuff? It's like a vanilla pudding, and when you're done with it there's a happy face made out of vanilla sticks and two cloves at the bottom." And then he added as he turned to Ben. "You ready, buddy? Your Mom is waiting for you."

Ben only nodded, gathered his stuff, and went to say his goodbyes to everyone.

"So, is he another of your cousins?" Cas asked, not sure what sort of family ties Dean had to the boy.

"Nah, man. It's a little complicated," he said as he smiled sheepishly at the man. "Me and his mother, Lisa, were together for three years when Ben was younger, and even though we broke up a long time ago I get to help a little, and recently I learned Ben likes me enough to wish to put me in a paternal bracket of his tree."

Cas' heart clenched a little bit, another reminder Dean had a full family already and didn't need him in his life. "Well, he must more than like you to give you that title. That's nice."

Dean just nodded and when Ben reappeared in the doorway both men moved towards the door. Already in the car, the boy fumbled a little with his belongings and a piece of cardboard that held the project.

"So, Ben," Dean started, putting the key into the ignition, "how's the project going along?"

"It's fine, but I'm having problems with the composition. I want it to look even, but your family is bigger than Mom's and I don't know how to adjust it."

"Maybe I could help you," Cas offered.

"Yeah, Cas is really talented and maybe the two of you could find a way to make it look presentable."

At that Ben offered Cas a small, shy smile and handed him the board.

Cas studied it for few minutes, assessing the connections and calculating possibilities. He felt the car coming to a halt and the others looking at him.

"We're at Ben's place," Dean explained.

"Ok, this will be quick. I can see what you're going for, Ben. It's a nice idea, and I think it could work, but I don't understand the way you've established the connections. I can see there's an empty place next to your mom's bracket, and I'm assuming you're keeping it empty for a future partner maybe?" The nod from the boy was enough for a response. "So why is there an empty place next to Dean's bracket and no direct link to Sarah?" he asked.

"Well," Ben answered shyly, "I thought I would keep it open for Dean's partner as well, and Sarah's connection to Dean is through Sam."

Cas looked at Dean with some unexplainable shocked expression.

Oh, right, he never met Sam. So Dean decided to explain.

"You haven't met Sam yet. He's my younger brother, Sarah's husband. You know, the Moose from the pictures at their house?" Dean decided that by remembering the face Cas would make the connection. That's why he was puzzled when the other man looked at him in even more shock, his liquid eyes flooding with all sets of emotion.

"Ok, Ben. I think we would have to draw Cas a diagram, but maybe some other time. Gonna get you tomorrow, ok, buddy?"

"Sure, Dean. Thanks for your help Mr. Novak," Ben said as he exited the car.

Dean observed him until the boy disappeared inside the house. When he looked at Cas again his mouth went dry at the passionate look that was directed his way.

"Cas, are you ok?" he asked with concern.

"Yes... No... I thought, you and Sarah..."

"Are married?! Dude, no! Never! She's like a sister to me, and now the image is ingrained in my brain. Thank you!" he offered, sure Cas had a right to be surprised, but why was he so phased by that information? And then it hit him. Cas thought Dean was flirting with him while being married to someone else. No wonder why he sometimes looked so angry and bothered. And now he felt the need to explain himself.

"No, man, you got it all wrong. I'm single, and Sarah is my sister-in-law. I gave them the crib as a baby present, and Sam was working so I took her to your place the first time we met. And I liked you instantly so that's why I flirted with you, but I promise I'm not the kind of person to cheat on or seduce someone else's partner. That's why I backed off when I realized you and Balthazar-" he was cut of by a low grown from the other man.

Cas was sifting through Dean's speech, going through all the signs he got the past few days. He was right about Dean flirting with him, but he wasn't already taken like Cas originally thought, and the man just admitted to liking Cas and flirting with him. But...

"What? Baltazar and I?" Cas asked with huge eyes.

Dean looked down, embarrassed. Great, he just had to admit to Cas about his crush, and now it would be weird between them and Cas won't probably wouldn't want to hang out with him after the nursery was done and it was all his fault.

"I thought you were single. That's why I flirted with you then, but the moment I realized you were with Balthazar I backed off, I swear. And then I got to know you better and you're awesome, so I just wanted for us to hang out sometimes maybe, I swear I..." he was frantically trying to explain himself, feeling like a total jackass.

Cas felt like he should say something as well. He knew words. He knew he knew words just a few moments ago. Words like "hot" and "irrefutably"—he even knew how to use them. Just...not...right now. Dean liked him. And he was single. And he wanted to ask him out. So right now he opted for grabbing the other man and flattening himself on both seats and dragging Dean on top of him.

Dean was cut short in his speech by strong hands wrapping around his neck and warm, delicious lips pressing against his own. He let Cas drag him on top of him, their bodies aligning perfectly.

Cas kissed him like his life depended on it, finally opening his mouth and deepening the kiss. Dean opened up too, his own tongue curling and licking inside Castiel's mouth. While the man below was getting lightheaded from the taste that was so purely Dean, he let the other man take control of the kiss, moving his mouth slowly and sensually against his. And then Cas remembered one important detail.

"Dean," he said against the other man's lips, "Balth is my cousin and-" that seemed to be enough as Dean's hold on Cas got tighter and the man moaned into his mouth and resumed their kissing with much more fervor.

"Cas," Dean finally mumbled between the kisses because he was here kissing Cas, and Cas was kissing back, and he felt like he was on the top of the world. 'Do...' kiss '...you maybe...' kiss '...wanna go out sometime. Like maybe tonight?'

"Gladly. But not tonight." Cas tightened his hold on the other man's neck as he felt him retreating. "Tonight I'm fucking someone," he finished and emphasized his point with a roll of his hips. "Someone I've wanted since the first time we met."


Happy now?

Just so you know, I'm holding smut hostage. Leave comments and if it satisfy me it will be released. If not, well, there are so many cock-blockers in Novak Winchester families I can make these two suffer from the biggest case of blue balls in creation.