David

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content: David witnesses a quite unexpected scene at the grocery store.

author's note: Part 3/6

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David heaves a deep sigh while studying the long shelves of different brands of cereal right in front of him.

His wife told him specifically which one to get – "The white one with the red stripes and the camel on it, David!" –, so their three-year-old son wouldn't throw another temper tantrum at 7 a.m. because his parents didn't provide him with the things he desired so much. And though David was strongly in favor of not letting kids get away with everything, he just couldn't deal with a sobbing child in the morning without developing a mean headache that would last throughout the whole day.

So yeah, the cereal was a definitive must have.

And David figured it would be easy enough to swing by at the grocery store after work and buy at least ten packages to avoid any more meltdowns at the breakfast table, but he didn't anticipate the thousands of cartoons animals staring back at him from their colorful boxes, mocking him in his incapability to tell them apart.

They seriously all look like deformed camels to him, dammit.

He was on the brink of calling Wendy and admitting defeat when he heard a deep voice groan, "C'mon, Cas, it can't be that hard!"

"It's a very important decision, Dean!" another voice, ridiculously gravelly, responds.

"It's freaking cream cheese, man!"

David throws a look over his shoulder and notices two men a little bit further down the aislestanding at the refrigerated shelf. The one with the dirty blond hair and the stance of a soldier ready to fight is holding an already quite loaded shopping cart in his grip and watches the other guy in the trench coat with clear annoyance on his face.

"Just pick one and have it over with!" he grumbles.

"Dean –" the other man, obviously the one called Cas, answers.

"We've been here for hours!" Dean cuts in. Most likely an exaggeration because nobody spends hours in a supermarket unless they're working there, but David can totally relate to the feeling. "Just pick the one with the smiling chick on the box and let's go!"

"That's the one we had last time," Cas says with a weird undertone. David knows that one way too well – his wife always uses it when she disapproves of something.

Dean, however, doesn't seem to pick up on it. "So? Didn't you like it?"

"I enjoyed it just fine –"

"See? Problem solved!" Dean huffs. "Then let's go to the register before I die of old age."

Cas ignores his friend/roommate/relative/whatever and keeps on scanning the different cream cheeses with a scrutiny that's almost terrifying.

"I'll leave you here, if you don't hurry up!" Dean threatens, but even David can hear that it's hollow. The guy looks like he wouldn't go anywhere with Cas, no matter the level of his annoyance.

"You won't," Cas realizes as well, not even bothering to raise his gaze for a second. "After all we've been through you wouldn't leave me in a grocery store."

Dean starts to squirm as if he's been caught with his hands in the cookie jar. "What's so wrong with that cream cheese then?"

"It didn't sit very well with Sam."

Dean blinks, obviously surprised by that answer. "What?"

"He got a nasty stomachache after eating that cheese," Cas continues. "You probably remember him being unwell about a week ago, right?"

Dean seems uncomfortable all of sudden, a guilty expression flickering over his features. "... Uh, yeah."

"Well, it didn't take long for me to realize that obviously something in that cream cheese I purchased didn't go well with Sam's system," Cas explains while at the same time reading a small printed ingredient's list like it's just child play. "So I'm very determined to make it right this time."

Dean seems to deflate. "It's really not your fault, Cas."

His voice is suddenly almost unbearably soft and David can't help wondering in what relation they're standing to each other. There is clearly something in Dean's eyes that proves them more than just friends who like to go shopping together.

"You couldn't have known," Dean continues gently. "Hell, one time I fed Sam some chicken that gave him food poisoning so bad we had to take him to the hospital. It happens, Cas. It's not like you did anything on purpose here."

He steps forward, placing his hand reassuringly on Cas' back and smiling warmly before pressing a quick kiss on Cas' temple.

Okay, not just friends, David can't keep himself from thinking.

At least he has never before been that affectionate with his buddies. With his wife, on the other hand …

"No one blames you," Dean assures once again. "Least of all Sam."

Cas sighs. "I'm aware of that," he confesses. "I just … I just care about Sam and his well-being."

Dean suddenly seems like a whole different person, all warm and pliant. "I know that you care about Sam," he says. "I know that you care about me and about almost everybody else. That's one of the reasons why I love you."

And then he freezes.

It's more than obvious that he didn't mean to say this out loud, appearing all horrified by himself and his rash mouth. And you seriously don't need to be a mind reader to realize that they never vocalized those three little words ever before. At least David recognizes the shock in Dean's face way too well.

After all, David confessed his undying love to his wife for the very first time while simultaneously fixing her clogged toilet.

Good times.

Cas, in the meantime, totally forgets about the cream cheese and stares at Dean with an intensity you could almost call supernatural. As if he were looking right into the guy's soul, studying even the tiniest facet. David could even have sworn the man's eyes glowed for a split second there.

Dean starts to fidget awkwardly. "Um …"

Cas doesn't deem this with any kind of answer. Instead he surges forward, basically throws himself into Dean's arms and goes in for a heated kiss.

And Dean responds enthusiastically after he overcomes the first few seconds of surprise, smiling widely when Cas breaths, "I love you too!" against his lips.

David finds himself blushing all of a sudden, feeling like a creeper watching a very intimate scene, and hastily turns around. He's got no right whatsoever to spy or even intrude on their special moment and he quickly grabs the closest cereal box and gets the hell out of there.

And he promises himself that, as soon as he'll get home, he will grab his wife and tell her how much he loves her.

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(And though Wendy appreciates his sweet gesture in the end, she still reacts super pissed that she married an utter fool who is incapable of buying the right cereal.)