A/N: Summary: It is towards the beginning of September when Cas announces that it's time for the last harvest of the year. After around two months of helping his boyfriend with his bees, Dean has grown much more comfortable around the little creatures, and is more than ready to spend the next three days making honey with him. And perhaps, they'll find themselves creating something new along the way…

It was towards the beginning of September when Cas announced that it was time for the last harvest of the year. "I want to make sure that the bees have enough time to restock their honey-supply before the winter," he'd explained when he invited Dean to help.

This last harvest was the biggest of the year and would take multiple days to complete. Cas had explained that they'd need to examine every frame of every hive and determine which ones were best suited for extracting honey. After around two months of helping his boyfriend with his bees, Dean had not only grown much more comfortable around the little creatures, but also learned quite well to distinguish between the different kinds of cells. Brood-cells had more flat caps, and their tops, in contrast to the honey-cells, were non-transparent.

Cas had taken Thursday and Friday of the harvesting week off to get a head start. Dean had only gotten Friday off from work, so when he joined Cas in his garden just after 5 pm on Thursday, the other man had already gotten quite a lot of work done. At the moment he was very carefully returning a frame into the hive, so Dean waited until he was done before stepping close and wrapping his boyfriend in a tight hug. "Heya, Cas."

"Hello, Dean," Cas answered and the mechanic could hear the smile in his voice. "How was work?"

"Pretty good. We had this awesome classic Mustang come in today, and Bobby promised me that he'd wait for me to take a look at it on Monday, before sending it off again."

Cas turned in his arms and gave him a quick kiss in greeting, before pulling back with a tiny frown on his face. "Won't the customer be annoyed if the repair takes too long?"

"Nah, he's an old friend of Bobby's. Said we could take all the time we need."

"That's really nice of him," Cas said with a small smile. He brushed his thumb over a small streak of grease on Dean's cheek. "Did you come here straight from work?"

"Oh, yeah," Dean let out a sheepish little laugh and rubbed his neck as he stepped back from Cas. "I should probably take a shower and change clothes before helping you with the honey."

"I would appreciate that." From anyone else the words might have sounded condescending, but Dean knew Cas well enough to know that he was just being his blunt and honest self. The beekeeper turned back to the still open hive. "I'm gonna remove the last three frames while you shower, so we can go right to extracting the honey. I started with Meg's hive alone today, I know you're still not as comfortable with her as the other two."

Dean crossed his arms and gasped in mock-offence. "What? No! The little demon and me get along just fine, we're practically best friends at this point."

His theatrical display got the desired effect, Cas' face brightened with an amused smile as he waved Dean off. "Just go take your shower. And don't use my towel, again!"

"That was one time," Dean shot back in good spirit as he started his way back through the small path to the house. When he threw one last glance back, Cas had already removed another frame and was carefully scooping bees off it with his hand while talking to them in a low voice. Dean shook his head fondly.

When Dean returned outside, his hair still damp from the shower, he saw Cas standing outside the little shed that held most of his beekeeping equipment, waiting for him. Dean had already been inside a few times when helping Cas with making honey, but today the weather was great and the other man had put up his bench outside.

Dean joint him at the makeshift work station and took one of the frames from Cas. By now he had enough experience that he was confident in doing this without step-by-step instructions from his boyfriend. He picked up the spare scraper and put the blunt knife into the hot water bucket that the other man had prepared and that Cas' knife was already resting in.

While they waited for the metal to heat up enough to easily remove the wax, they chatted. Dean told Cas more about his day at the shop. Even though he knew that Cas didn't understand most of what he was talking about, he could still see that the older man was listening attentively. God, he loved this man.

When Cas announced that the knives were hot enough, they removed them, carefully dried them with towels and then went to work on decapping the honeycombs. Starting at the top, Dean carefully scraped his knife down along the frame that he held in a ninety degree angle over a large bucket that already had numerous wax scrapes in it. When he'd done this for the first time, he'd been worried the honey would spill out right away, but Cas had explained, that the combs were built with a slight upwards tilt, so there was very low risk of that. The movement of the scraper cut though the very top of the cells, just enough to remove the capping and reveal the golden honey underneath.

Dean had to reposition his knife multiple times to continue the cutting process. When he glanced over at Cas, he saw that the other man had already finished. His wax-caps had come off in one single beautifully rolled sheet, whereas Dean's had fallen into the bucket in chunks and pieces . He pulled a face. Cas had caught his expression and gave him a reassuring smile. "You'll get better with practice, Dean. Besides, it doesn't affect the quality of the honey."

Dean returned the smile and they brought the two readied frames inside the shed, where the centrifugal honey extractor stood. Cas positioned the two frames in the circular opening so that there was enough room left for the third, while Dean examined the two buckets full of glistening honey that the other man had already harvested that day. "Wow, this is a lot," he commented.

Cas nodded, a proud look on his face. "Yes, Meg's hive was very productive this season. This harvest alone is already about 20 pounds."

Dean let out an impressed whistle. The little creatures really were impressive. They were so tiny, but as a community they produced a huge amount of honey. And this hadn't even been the first harvest of the season.

As Cas gestured for Dean to follow him outside again, a thought came to the mechanic's mind. "Isn't it kinda mean to take so much of their hard earned food from them so close to the colder months?"

Cas' eyes sparkled when he turned back to Dean. "I love that you care so much about my bees. I've never had a partner who did before." Dean could feel a blush starting to color his cheeks and quickly bend forward to pick up the unopened frame and pass it over to Cas. The older man just smiled knowingly at him and accepted the frame. "But you don't have to worry," he continued. "Harvesting the honey before winter is actually very important. The queens lay their eggs in winter. And emptying the cells early enough assures that they have enough space for it."

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess."

Dean watched silently as Cas decapped the third frame. While his boyfriend went back into the shed to start the extractor, Dean began cleaning up their materials outside. He cleaned the blunt knives and placed them into their protective sheaths; then used a sponge and some fresh water to wipe down the work bench.

Once he was finished with cleaning up, he took the bucket of scrapes and joined Cas inside the shed. The extractor was already spinning. The process was actually pretty fascinating. The chamber that the frames were secured in, upright and with their opened side facing outwards, was spinning fast and the centrifugal force let the honey shoot out of the cells quickly. Dean knew that, as soon as the machine was turned off, the honey would flow down the sides and be collected at the bottom from where it could easily be drained through a filter into buckets.

Cas was watching the extractor work and Dean took his time in placing the scrap bucket to the side next to the honey filled ones. When he straightened again, he rubbed his hands down his pants and nervously licked his lips before turning around.

"Cas, there was something that I wanted to ask you."

His boyfriend turned and the sudden undivided attention only served in making Dean more nervous. Don't be ridiculous, he chastised himself. It's just a simple question. If he says no, then that's fine.

"So, uhm… my brother, Sam, he'll be visiting me during his fall break in October. You know, I told you he was in college, right? He's almost done as well. Just one more semester and then he'll be a freaking lawyer. Kid's so smart…"

"Dean," Cas interrupted him. "I know who Sam is; you've told me a lot about him."

"Right," Dean shook his head and got back on track. "So, I guess what I wanted to ask you, would you like to meet my brother? You know…as my boyfriend?"

Dean held his breath and studied Cas' face anxiously. He knew that this wasn't as big a deal as he was making it out to be, but the last time that he'd introduced Sam to anyone he was seriously dating had been Cassie after high school; and while his brother knew that Dean was bi, he'd never actually seen him with a guy.

For a few seconds Cas didn't react at all and Dean was almost ready to take his words back, when slowly a gummy smile broke out across Cas' face. "Dean… are you asking me to meet your family?!"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean it's really only me and Sam anymore, so that's pretty much all there is to meet-" Before he'd even fully finished his sentence, Cas had already flung his arms around Dean and kissed him hard.

"Dean, of course I'd love to meet your brother! You speak so highly of him; I know how much he means to you. I feel honored that you want to introduce me to him."

Relief flooded Dean and he could feel an answering smile forming on his face. "Good. Great!" He pulled Cas into kiss. He'd been worried that it was too early in their relationship to "meet the family", after all they'd only been dating for a few months, but Cas' reaction had made it clear that he was up for it.

They made out slowly until the extractor finished with a beep and it was time to remove the frames from the machine. It would take a while for the honey to fully collect at the bottom. In the meantime they'd return the frames to the hive.

The first time he'd helped Cas, Dean had wondered why they did that instead of just putting fresh empty frames in and Cas had explained that it was important to keep the wax combs intact while harvesting and to give them back to the hive. That way the bees could clean them out, use the left-over honey for food and then fill the cells back up after only minimal repairs. This was apparently important to reserve the hives' energy. ("Bees need to eat around seven pounds of honey to make just one pound of wax, Dean. It's only nice to save them the work after they're so friendly as to share their hard produced honey with us.")

Dean placed the first frame back in the hive. "Hey, Meg," he greeted, even though he couldn't make out the queen in the mass of moving tiny bodies. "Make sure you put many little baby bees in here, little demon."

When he stepped back to let Cas place the other two frames back, he saw his boyfriend hesitating. "Everything alright, Cas?"

"Yeah, I have just been thinking about leaving the last two frames out. I'll need to replace the outer two with insolation in winter, and I don't want the bees to waste their energy on refilling cells that will be removed anyway." Cas nodded to himself, apparently having come to a decision while explaining. "I'll leave them out right away. Can you hold them while I reposition the others, so the empty spaces are on the outside?"

Dean agreed and took them from his boyfriend. Not two minutes later, the hive was reorganized and closed again. Cas gave the two frames in Dean's arms an unhappy look. "I hate having to throw empty honeycombs away. It feels like I'm wasting the bees' hard work."

The displeased expression on Cas' face was simultaneously adorable and a little sad to watch. Dean bit his lip and thought for a moment. An idea was forming in his head. He thought back to their first date and all the cool stuff that the bee-café had displayed. "Have you ever considered making something out of the leftover wax? Like beeswax-candles or something?"

Cas' eyes instantly lit up. "Dean! That's an amazing idea!"

A grin made its way on Dean's face. "You know me, smartest cookie in the batch," he joked.

Cas looked at him with a serious expression. "You are way more intelligent than you give yourself credit for. You always have good ideas, and the candles are a great one. I could sell them along with my honey."

If Dean had had a free hand he'd have rubbed his neck in embarrassment at the compliment. "Well, I don't actually know how candles are made," he admitted.

"Me neither," Cas said, "But, that's no problem. We can look it up together. After all, that's what the internet is for."

Later that evening found the couple cuddled up on the couch in Cas' living room. By the time they'd filled the honey harvest of the day into jars, it had gotten pretty late and they'd retired for the evening. They'd decided not to cook anymore and just order pizza. They'd used the time until it arrived to clean themselves up. Now, they're sitting together in their pajamas, comfortably stuffed on greasy food and were googling how to make beeswax into candles. Dean had put on an old western, one of his favorites, to play in the background.

"The process doesn't seem super crazy," Dean said and tilted his phone so Cad could read along. "We should have everything we need except for the candle wicks. Maybe some fancy glasses. I can go get some tomorrow."

Cas nodded and let his head drop onto the slightly taller man's shoulder while skimming the article on the screen. Dean loved how casually his boyfriend carried out such intimate gestures. "I'll come with you," Cas said through a small yawn and scooted even closer. "I wanted to take a look at the local farmers' market."

Dean groaned at that. "Do we have to? I hate those places. All that hippie stuff and organic rabbit food."

He could feel Cas' face pulling into a frown from where his head was leaned against his neck. "It's healthy and environment friendly, locally produced, Dean. And I was actually thinking about opening a temporary stand there. All this honey is too much to just sell at the gate."

Dean rolled his eyes, but bit back his instinctive answer, not wanting to insult his boyfriend. Instead he leaned back just far enough to catch the other's eye. "You serious about this, Cas?" He could see the answer in the steady blue eyes even before the nod. "You know you do have an actual real job, don't you? You don't have time to spend your Fridays chatting with old ladies over honey and vegetables."

Cas shook his head exasperatedly, but despite his heavy sigh, Dean could see the fondness in his expression. "The farmers' market is open on Saturdays as well, so we'd have plenty of time to go. Besides, I actually enjoy connecting with other small local producers and talking with interested customers."

At first Dean only hummed in acknowledgement, yeah that totally sounded like his sweetheart of a boyfriend, but then his words fully registered and his head shot up. "Wait a second! We?!"

"Yes, I thought we could go together. It would be nice to have you there with me," Cas smiled sweetly at him. There was a glint in his eyes and Dean honestly couldn't tell if Cas was being oblivious or purposefully teasing him.

"Sunshine, you know that's not really my kinda crowd…" Dean started to protest, but then Cas started to slowly run his fingers through the short hairs at the nape of his neck and he practically melted into the cushions. "Not fair," he mumbled even as a pleased hum escaped him.

Cas' smile only widened. Now, Dean was sure that it was teasing. "There's always a stand that sells fresh pie. But if that is too 'organic' for you…"

"No!" Dean's mood instantly brightened. "I'm in!"

He could feel Cas hiding his grin in his neck and knew that he was being played, but he didn't care. Pie was the way to his heart and spending the day with Cas would be a perfect bonus.

"It's a date."

After that they turned their attention to the movie. Granted, they'd missed about half of it already and Cas, who'd never seen it before, was totally lost to the plot, but they still laughed and joked their way through it. Dean stayed the night at Cas' house so that they'd get an early start tomorrow. (And though he'd never admit it, Dean also loved staying over to sleep cuddled up in the other man's arms.)

They spent Friday and Saturday harvesting the rest of the honey from the other two hives. Except for the break they took for their short expedition to the farmers' market, where Cas talked to some very friendly vendors and secured them a spot for the following weekend, they spent the whole two days on the task. The harvest left them with five more wax-filled leftover frames.

On Sunday they slept in a bit longer. Cas had some grading for one of his classes that he needed to finish up, so Dean spent the morning making burgers from scratch. It was his favorite food (apart from pie, obviously) and he'd been incredibly happy upon learning that it was one of Cas' favorites as well.

After a delicious lunch, they finally started on their candle project. The process was actually pretty easy. They scraped the wax out of the frames in big chunks and put them into a pot of water to boil. The water quickly turned brown as the wax melted and mixed into it. Dirt and fragments of leaves and wood were collecting at the surface.

Dean let out an impressed whistle at the amount of dirt. "Who knew bees were such dirty little fuckers," he commented. "Good thing we'll filter it, I guess."

Cas send him an disapproving look for the language he used that Dean answered with a sheepish grin and a half-shrug. "It's normal for natural beehives to not be entirely clean," Cas explained. "They track in small amounts of dirt with their feet and sometimes actively use bigger pieces of plants for insolation, especially close to winter. It's not that much stretched out over the entire hive, it just looks that way in a pot this small. And most of the wood chips are simply a result of scraping the wax out of the frame."

"Huh, okay. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend your bees or anything."

The small frown on Cas' face cleared at his apology. "I know; it's fine. Would you help me with the straining?"

Dean nodded. He carefully maneuvered the pot off the stove and followed his boyfriend outside, where he'd prepared a bucket with a cotton cloth draped over it. Cas held the cloth in place while Dean carefully let the mixture from the pot drain into the bucket. The cloth effectively filtered out most of the dirt and the resulting liquid already looked a lot clearer.

Cas removed the cloth and draped a new, clean one over the bucket so no new dirt would blow into it. "Do you want to check on the hives with me while this cools?" He asked. "I want to make sure that the harvest didn't disturb them too much and see if they need more sugar water to make up for the honey we took."

"Yeah, sure," Dean agreed. He had to admit to himself that he was almost looking forward to holding a bee on his palm again. Fuck, he was actually starting to like the little insects. Things really could change quickly with the right incentive, he thought to himself with a glance in Cas' direction.

After they'd given their concoction enough time to cool and the bees were perfectly sated with some additional sugar water, they removed the wax from the water. While settling, the wax had hardened into a single solid chunk that they could simply grab out of the bucket. It still had a slightly brownish tint to it, but already smelled pretty good.

They repeated the entire process of boiling and filtering the wax two more times and when they removed the wax the final time, it had a beautifully clean orange-yellowish color. The entire kitchen smelled of beeswax and Cas was humming quietly the entire time that they re-melted the wax to pour it into the glasses of various shapes and sizes that they had picked up earlier. "This was such an amazing idea, Dean! I can't believe I never thought of doing this before. Thank you so much!"

Cas' smile was large and gummy, the one that crinkled the corners of his eyes adorably and that Dean loved seeing. He couldn't stop himself from interrupting their work by pulling his boyfriend into a deep kiss.

"Anything for you, sweetheart. I also had a lot of fun today." Dean brushed his hand down the side of Cas' face and the other man leaned into it. The slightly shorter man pulled him into a hug and Dean hummed in contentment as a hand was starting to lightly stroke the back of his neck. They stayed like that until the wax had fully melted.

They started to fill the glasses with the wax, adding a candle match to each one. While Cas was distracted with rearranging the finished candles to make space for more, Dean quickly filled one more special container. He hid a ceramic bee-charm at the bottom that would only be revealed once the candle had burned low. He'd picked both of these up in secret. The bowl was heart-shaped and made out of blue and green ceramic. It had probably been meant for something like jewelry. When he'd seen it, he hadn't been able to resist buying it. It was sappy, but Dean was planning on giving Cas this candle as a gift for their four months anniversary in just a little over two weeks.

Damn, he was turning into such a chick-flick softy. But as Dean caught Cas' eye when returning from stashing his secret gift in his bag and he was caught up in the shining blue reflected at him from an impossibly soft expression, he found that he didn't care nearly as much as he thought he would.