harplesscastiel:

Your friendly Sastiel Love Week Anonymoose here!  I hope you’ve enjoyed everything!  I can’t believe the week is over already! 😀

Although the bunker had been filled with people, it wasn’t COMPLETE until they had vanquished Michael and recovered Dean, although it was a group effort to get Dean back on his feet after the possession.  

Sam and Cas are pretty nervous to open the topic with Dean.  Although Dean seemed to handle the changes that have occurred around the bunker while he was out of commission, it is obvious that he feels out of place.  There is now a sense of team bonding among the refugees and Team Free Will 2.0 that just wasn’t there when he said “yes,” and it clearly makes him uncomfortable.  Which is why Sam and Cas are so reluctant to breech this topic with Dean. On the other hand, keeping it from him…is just going to lead to more difficulties later on.  If they’ve learned something over the years, its that keeping secrets leads to bad things. They might as well get it over with now.

Which is how they ended up here, at a random diner, sitting across from Dean, who obviously can tell something is up.

“Spill it, Sammy,” Dean says, finally.  “Otherwise we’re going to be sitting here for the rest of the night, and I want to go to bed sometime this century,” he grumbles.

With a fortifying sigh, Sam takes Cas’ hand and squeezes it.  “Well, we wanted to tell you that…”

“You’re banging each other?  I knew that already. You had to bring me out to dinner to tell me that?”

Cas sighs exasperatedly.  “Dean, it’s not ‘just banging’ as you so crudely put it.  We’re together. Partners, boyfriends, whatever you want to call it.”

“I still don’t get why this requires bringing me out to dinner.”  Sam and Cas can see Dean’s walls going up.

“You’re my brother, Dean…my family…” Sam starts.

“And my friend,” Cas continues.

“And we can’t do this without you…being on board,” Sam finishes.

“Oh my god, could you PLEASE just spit it out?”

“We want to get married, and we’d like you to be our best man,” Sam finally blurts out.

For a moment, there is no movement, no sound.

“Married?  Really? Best Man?” Dean sputters.

“Yes, Dean,” Cas answers.  

Dean looks back and forth between the two.  “Alright,” he says, finally. “We’d better order some pie, cause this is worth celebrating!”

Sam looks at him with a shocked look.  “Really? You’ll do it? You…don’t have a problem with it?”

Dean looks back and forth between his brother and his best friend.

“I….really don’t.  We…we deserve this win.  All of us. And you two nerds are perfect for each other.  But I’m warning you, both, I’m super protective of my brother AND my best friend, so if you hurt each other you’re both in for a lot of pain!” he threatens.

“Yea okay Dean, sure. We got it,” Sam says, grinning.  He leans over and gives Cas a peck on the cheek.

“Nu uh, no, way, you keep all that mushy stuff to yourselves, now!” Dean exclaims.

Both Sam and Cas crack grins at Dean’s comment.

Just then, the waitress comes by and asks if they need anything else.

“Yes,” says Dean.  “We need a whole apple pie!”

“I’m sorry,” the waitress stutters, “did you say a WHOLE apple pie?”

“Yes ma’am,” Dean replies.  “These two here are getting hitched, and we need to celebrate!”

The waitress looks skeptical but who is she to complain?  “Ok, you got it, one whole apple pie, coming up!”

Once the pie arrives, Dean determines there’s no need to cut slices.  “Just dig in!” he says, between mouthfuls of pie. “It’s not every day I get to celebrate my little Sammy getting married!

“It’s Sam, jerk!”

“Whatever, bitch!”

Cas just looks between them and smiles fondly.  He curls up against Sam, and Sam feeds him a forkful of apple pie.

“How’s it taste,” Sam asks.

“Like molecules,” Cas sighs.

Sam and Dean laugh.

“We’re going to have to work on that, angel,” Sam says.

“Work on what?” Cas asks.

“Tasting.”

“Why?”

“Cause you’re gonna have wedding pie to eat, that’s why,” Dean says.

“We’re not having wedding PIE, Dean, we’re having wedding CAKE!”

As the brothers bicker back and forth, Cas just snuggles and gets comfortable.  It’s been a rough ride to get here, but they are finally here. And he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

harplesscastiel:

Occurs during 13.18 Bring ‘Em Back Alive

(Anonymoose says:  It always bothered me that Cas didn’t seem particularly distraught about Gabriel’s condition, besides a basic, “you didn’t tell me it was that bad” so this is my attempt at fixing it)

Cas arrives while Sam is in the bunker kitchen, staring at the grace container on the table in front of him.  Sam startles when he hears the tell tale flapping sound of the angel arriving.

“Sam, I got here as soon as I could…what is this?”  He gestures to the container.

“Gabriel’s grace.”

“Gabriel’s….grace?”  Cas says, unbelievably.  Sam fills him in as he places it in a silver tray and as they walk to Gabriel’s room.

**********

Once they leave the room, after the disastrous attempt to feed Gabriel his own grace, Cas leans back against the wall outside Gabriel’s room.  Sam starts walking towards the library, not realizing that Cas isn’t behind him. When he does, he turns around and walks back to Cas, concerned.

“Cas?” he asks, softly.

“Asmodeus…..what he has done….” he looks up at Sam.  “Gabriel is an archangel, Sam. To break one of the strongest of us….” he looks back at Gabriel’s room, conflicting emotions fluttering across his face.  “He’s one of my brothers, Sam. It is terrifying to see him broken down like this.”

Sam places his arm around Cas.  “I know. I am terrified when Dean is hurt, I can’t imagine what it must feel like for you to see another angel in that condition.”

“Especially when there isn’t anything you can do to fix it.”

“Especially then.”  Sam pauses. “Come on, let’s give Gabriel some space.  Hopefully with some time he will realize we aren’t trying to hurt or use him like Asmodeus.  Meanwhile, why don’t we do something to get our minds off of our brothers.”

“Like what?”

“Well there’s that bookcase in the back of the library that hasn’t been cataloged yet.  I mean, it’s not the most glamorous of activities, but it will keep us busy and productive.  We can check in on Gabriel again in a couple of hours and see how he’s doing.”

“Yea, okay, Sam.  Let’s do that.” He allows Sam to walk him to the library.  Hopefully Sam is right, and all Gabriel needs is time. He takes one last mournful look at Gabriel’s room, and then turns forward, leaning a little into Sam’s embrace.  Sam has a lot more experience in this situation, he’ll trust his advice. As they reach the library, he asks, “Okay, so where do we start?” and Sam grabs his hand and leads him to the back of the library.  “Over here,” he says, leading Cas to a messy bookcase at the far end of the library.

“So, the Men of Letters used a variation of the Dewey Decimal System….you know what that is, Cas?”  Sam asks. When Cas shakes his head no, Sam goes into lecture mode and starts explaining the different book classification methods, and as Cas watches Sam happily share his knowledge, he feels so honored that he has this…whatever this is with Sam.  He feels confident that with Sam, they can get Gabriel back on his feet. For the first time today, he feels some sense of hope for the future.

“Cas, you got all that, you ready to start?” Sam startles Cas out of his reverie.  

“Yes, Sam, I am ready.”

And he was. He honestly, truly was.

harplesscastiel:

It didn’t take long for Cas to realize that although Sam constantly bugged Dean to talk out his feelings, Sam rarely talked about his own.  So Cas took it upon himself to start asking Sam pointed questions to get him to talk.

At first, it was hard.  Sam was a master at the one word answer and the art of misdirection.  But Cas soon learned how to redirect Sam’s misdirection. He learned that Sam didn’t really think much of his own abilities, and tended to downplay his importance in the success of the team.  Cas took great pains to point out when Sam was responsible for a breakthrough that helped solve a case. Dean sometimes looked at Cas a little oddly, but whatever.

Sam was loathe to treat himself.  He’d bend over backwards for Cas, Dean, or Jack, but when something pertained to Sam himself, it was placed on the back burner. Like his renewed interested in completing his unfinished degree.  So Cas researched some schools that provided online classes, and determined what Sam would have to take in order to finally graduate. Sam was overjoyed when Cas presented him with the information.  Whether or not he would actually take the courses, was yet to be seen, but the look in Sam’s eyes when he realized what Cas had done…there was nothing better than that!

Sam meanwhile, made it his business to help Cas understand the human world.  The ins and outs of free will. They had long discussions on ethics and morals, and the entrapments of the modern church.  But not everything was that serious. He also brought him to amusement parks (“Are they really parks of amusing things?” Cas had asked), and made him try cotton candy, and play games of chance (“You do realize that the likelihood of us winning this game is very low, right, Sam?”).  

They volunteered at the animal shelter in Lebanon, and Cas took great joy in petting the animals and helping to care for them.  He was horrified when he learned that some shelters were “kill” shelters, and insisted that he and Sam help rescue animals from kill shelters that were in danger of being put to sleep.  And this is how the bunker became a halfway house for a variety of animals, despite Dean’s regular protests. (Although, when no one was looking he may have been known to throw balls for the puppies and use the laser pointer to play with the kittens. “It ensures they stay away from me” he insisted).

Cas made sure to celebrate both Sam and Dean’s birthdays, and made sure to plan something distracting on November 2nd each year.  Sam, meanwhile, declared August 23rd Cas’ birthday, and made sure Cas got his very first birthday party, with balloons and cake, and they invited Jody, Donna, and the girls to celebrate.  Cas was over the moon. Although, if you asked him, he’d tell you that was a ridiculous phrase, as space has “up” or “down” and therefore it is impossible to be “over” a celestial object).  And Sam would just smile fondly at his very literal angel. Life was good.

harplesscastiel:

Cas really isn’t surprised that when he gets home from class, Sam is still at his computer, typing away, fingers angrily smashing against the keys as he types furiously.  He leans against the doorjamb of Sam’s room, watching for a moment before interrupting him.

“Sam, why are you still working?  You have an early class tomorrow.”  

Sam doesn’t even bother to look up from the laptop screen.  “I’ve got to get this done, Cas, it’s due tomorrow afternoon.  It’s a big grade, I’ve got to do well if I want a good grade in this course.”

Cas taps his fingers against the doorframe in irritation.  His overachieving 4.0 GPA boyfriend was going to make himself ill by way of overworking himself.  “Sam, you’ve been working on this essay forever! I’ve read it, Charlie’s read it, you’ve probably had 10 other people read it….you are going to get a good grade.  You could probably hand in an essay on ghost sightings and you’d STILL get an A!”

Sam shoots Cas a bitch face.  “Seriously? It’s an essay on cognitive bias for my legal ethics course.  I don’t think….ghost sightings is going to cut it!”

Cas rolls his eyes.  “Whatever, Sam. You really think your professors read your papers anymore?  They just look at your name and give you an A.”

Sam looks like he might strangle Cas.  “If you aren’t going to be helpful, get out.  I need to get this finished.”

“Fine, but could you try and get some sleep tonight?” Cas asks.

“Maybe,” Sam mutters, already refocused on his essay.

************

Cas isn’t new, and he knows his boyfriend didn’t actually sleep last night, and is running on coffee and fumes.  Luckily, Thursdays he has only one class in the morning and then the rest of the day off. So, while Sam attends classes, Cas preps a relaxing evening in.  He knows better than to cook, he doesn’t particularly want Sam to come home to fire trucks–that is the complete opposite of the relaxing evening he has planned.  So instead, he orders from Sam’s favorite Thai place, and preps the living room for a relaxing evening.

When Sam does arrive home, he looks wrecked.  He throws his book bag down in the plop spot near the door, and collapses on the couch.  Cas peeks his head out of the kitchen to check on him. There are dark circles under his eyes, and his usually pristine hair is sticking all over the place.  He looks up at Cas with his sad puppy dog eyes.

“It’s turned in.  Thank f*ck this day is done.”

Cas smiles knowingly.  As much as he is tempted to say “I told you so,” he holds his tongue.  Now is not the time. Tomorrow maybe. For tonight, he just wants to take care of his moose.  He enters the living room, and kneels down next to Sam and slips his chucks off his feet. He places a hand on Sam’s thigh and softly suggests that Sam go change into something comfy while Cas gets some food together.  Sam lets out a deep breath, and bends down and leans his head on the top of Cas’.

“You are an angel Cas.  Thank you,” he says.

He staggers into his room, and Cas takes the opportunity to set out the Thai he ordered and pull all the fuzzy blankets and comfy pillows out of the closet and throw them on their couch.  When Sam wanders back in, looking somewhat more human in a pair of sweatpants and a worn Stanford t-shirt, he frowns at Cas.

“You shouldn’t have done all of this, Cas, it’s my own fault I feel like crap,” he says, gesturing at the spread of Thai on the coffee table.

Cas takes a moment to respond.  He agrees with Sam, but doesn’t want to encourage Sam’s habit of self blame, even if it is true this time around.  “You worked really hard on that assignment, I know it was important to you. And now it’s complete, and that is worth celebrating!”  He leads Sam over to the couch and sets him down in his preferred spot, on the chaise, where he can stretch out his legs without taking up the rest of the sitting area.  He stuffs some of the comfy pillows behind his back where it always bugs him, and takes Sam’s favorite oversized fuzzy blanket (Sam will protest that he doesn’t like the fuzzy blanket, but the truth is he specially ordered it in a larger size so it would fit his entire frame without his feet sticking out), and tucks it around him, making sure his feet are comfortably encased in the blanket.

“Comfy?” He asks.

Sam looks at him fondly.  “You don’t have to do all of this….”

“You said that already.  Your complaint has been recorded, filed away, and promptly misplaced for all time.” Sam tries really hard not to laugh, but he just can’t help to chuckle at Cas’ statement.  “Now, I want to make sure you are comfy, because once I settle down and cuddle I don’t want to get back up again.” He stands next to Sam and waits for a response.

Now Sam can’t help it.  A full complete-with-dimples smile spreads across his face.  “How did I get so lucky?” he asks.

“I don’t know, but your food is getting cold, so if you want a hot dinner you’ll move on.  I know your brain cells are fried, but I’m not asking you to solve world hunger yet. You can do that tomorrow,” Cas replies.

Sam shakes his hands in defeat.  “Okay, okay. I get it. Yes, I’m comfy.  Since I’m not allowed to move, could you please hand me my dinner?”

“Of course!”  Cas hands Sam a take out container and his reusable water bottle, and then gets his own food and drink and settles himself next to Sam.  He turns on the TV and looks at Sam. “Star Wars or Lord of the Rings?” he asks.

Sam considers.  “Lord of the Rings.”

“And are we enjoying Arwen or Haldir tonight?” Cas teases.

Sam throws him a bitch face.  “You know I like both of them, ugh, you’re as bad as my brother sometimes!”

Cas throws his head back and laughs.  Good, he’s gotten Sam to relax a little.  He grabs his food and the remote and curls up next to Sam.  “You know I don’t really care,give me Faramir any day of the week.”

“I really don’t see what you see in him, Cas,” Sam complains.

“Really?” Cas responds, as he starts the movie.  “Intelligent, strong willed, fair, loyal, true to his word….reminds me of a certain moose I know?” Cas teases.

Sam stops eating and stares at Cas in shock.  “You….you think all those things of me?” he says, hesitantly.

Cas tilts his head at Sam.  “Of course I do. They’re true.  And I wouldn’t have you any other way.  I love you just the way you are. Even if you do push yourself too hard sometimes,” Cas can’t help but to nag, just a little.

Sam smiles, sheepishly.  “I….don’t know what to say, Cas.”

“‘I will try to stop pushing myself to breaking,’ would be a good place to start,” Cas quips.

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Sam laughs.  “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you Cas, but I am so lucky to have you.  I love you so much. I’d probably have overworked myself into an early grave if it wasn’t for you.”

“Don’t mention it.  Now shush. The movie is starting!”  Sam shakes his head at Cas, and turns his attention to the opening scene.

Sam doesn’t make it a half an hour into the movie, before he is totally passed out.  Cas carefully removes his food container from Sam’s lap and places it on the coffee table.  He rearranges the pillows that have shifted and re-tucks his blanket, before curling up beside him.  Sam isn’t the only lucky one. Cas is incredibly lucky to have found this awesome moose that puts up with his odd quirks, as well.