Work Text:
Cas didn’t have a birthday, they’d realised the first summer After. It’d never seemed important before, the steady march of time being ultimately irrelevant to his angelic nature even as he watched and celebrated as Dean and Sam grew older each year. But he was human now, as fragile and vulnerable as the rest of them, and age was no longer an unimportant factor in his life.
Besides, Dean said he wanted the chance to spoil him.
***
“It’ll be fun, angel! Think of it as a way to celebrate your humanity each year.”
“I don’t want to inconvenience you and Sam though, and I’ve always been perfectly fine without a birthday before.”
Cas’ voice was dry and relatively unaffected, but his eyes were soft as he looked at Dean. They were sitting in bed together, as close as they really could be while holding a relatively normal conversation.
“But I want to be inconvenienced by you sometimes, Cas! I wanna be able to do as much shit for you as you’ve done for me over the years. All the shit I wanted to be doing for you pretty much the entire time. And we have to pick a consistent age and birthday for you anyway, so we might as well celebrate it.”
Cas ceded the point, still semi-reluctant, and Dean smiled a brilliant smile as they got to work discussing potential dates.
***
The day Cas had eventually decided on was the day he’d been pulled out of the Empty by Dean, which happened to be in early spring. They’d considered a few other options, including the day Jimmy had been born and the day Cas had first pulled Dean out of Hell, but none of them felt as right as the day he’d officially entered into this new life with Dean. It’d been a rebirth of sorts, after all, especially considering that it had been the day he officially lost his grace once and for all.
The date also happened to be far enough away from their conversation that Dean suspected Cas had half-hoped he would forget about the whole ‘celebrate Cas’ birthday’ plan. If true, Cas had severely underestimated Dean’s determination to throw him a proper birthday.
***
The day of Cas’ birthday dawned almost unusually sunnily for how early in the season it was. Dean wouldn’t be surprised to find that Jack had had a hand in that fact, though he’d probably never know for sure. He extracted himself from Cas’ arms as carefully as possible, by now acutely aware of how late Cas liked to sleep when given the chance, and dropped a gentle kiss on his brow when it furrowed slightly at the loss.
“I’m just going to empty my bladder, angel, don’t worry,” he said, the lie coming easily as he knew Cas would slip back into a deeper sleep before it could register as one.
Ex-angel dealt with, he made his way gently through the halls of their new house towards the kitchen, Miracle on his heels. He hadn’t planned anything too extravagant for the day, well aware that Cas didn’t want that, but no good birthday started without breakfast in bed.
***
“That smells good,” Cas said sleepily, shuffling into the kitchen and beelining for the coffee machine.
“Cas!” Dean exclaimed, caught in a half turn away from the stove. “You were supposed to stay in bed!”
Cas cocked his head, mug half raised to his mouth.
“I woke up and you weren’t there,” he explained. “What did you think I would do?”
Dean felt himself melting at Cas’ admittance, and found himself swaying towards his partner slightly as if for an embrace before he remembered he had food in the pan and refocused his attention on that before it could burn.
They’d been technically together for just under a year now, and he’d known Cas loved him for longer than that, but voicing sentiments like that still felt new enough that they bowled him over almost every time. He sent Cas a warm smile when he had verified all the food was still doing ok, and found Cas was looking at him with a fond smile playing at his lips over the coffee mug.
“Honestly, I figured you’d use me being gone as an excuse to make yourself into a blanket burrito,” Dean replied, picking up the thread of conversation that he’d dropped in favour of indulging in the rush of feelings that had washed over him. “God knows you steal the blankets enough most nights that you’d manage it if you weren’t clinging to me as much as possible as well, and I’m sure he’s just as offended by it as I am.”
Cas grinned at the tease, putting his mug down in favour of manoeuvring himself behind Dean and wrapping his arms around his waist in mimicry of their usual sleeping positions.
“I love Jack, but he doesn’t have to share a bed with me, so I’m not sure he cares,” Cas said, the rumblings of a laugh building in his words, and Dean played up a mock-offended gasp.
“You don’t think he cares about the nightly well-being of his beloved pseudo-parental figure?” Dean asked. “How heartless! Kids these days, they become all-powerful and all-knowing ethereal beings and then lose all respect for their elders. I can’t believe it.”
“I’d say he does his best to ignore your nightly condition in general,” Cas pointed out, dropping a gentle kiss behind Dean’s ear. “And I think we’re all better off because of it.”
Dean froze for a moment, a wave of repulsion washing through him as he fully considered the implications of both his and Cas’ words, before making a conscious effort to shake it off as he reached to take the pan off the heat.
“Fuck, I sure hope he does,” he said, wry grin on his face, then he turned to pull Cas in for a proper kiss. “Happy birthday, love.”
***
Although he’d made a big deal out of celebrating Cas’ birthday, Dean didn’t actually have many grand plans for the day. Sam and Eileen had initially been planning to pop over for dinner, with all their other friends and family members unavailable till the coming weekend, but an emergency with a younger hunter had led to them sending their apologies the day before.
It was almost better this way, honestly. They’d decided to take advantage of the weather to walk hand in hand through their town, nodding warmly at other couples and families they passed on the way, and no visitors later meant no one they had to be home to greet.
Miracle was bounding along enthusiastically in front of them, pushing his leash to its limits before running back to sniff at them and their shoes then shooting off again. Pleasant energy filled the air, and Dean felt himself grinning at the fact that Cas could have such a happy, uncomplicated birthday. Even just a year ago the safe domesticity of it all had seemed like an impossible dream, with him dragging Cas out of the Empty by the skin of his teeth, the newly ex-angel unconscious and unresponsive.
They went window shopping, neither feeling any great urge to actually buy anything. It was more about the experience of it all, both of them laughing at the more ridiculous displays they passed by and thoughtfully stopping when they saw something they might come back to get at some point. Perhaps if it was a different day, they might go in, but it didn’t feel right to burst the bubble that was surrounding them when neither of them really needed anything. Cas hadn’t opened the presents Dean had left wrapped on their kitchen table yet anyway, and Dean suspected he didn’t want to inadvertently try and buy something Dean had already gotten him.
He hadn’t actually bought Cas that many gifts, especially in comparison to the amount of things he’d eyed up online. Some new items of clothing, a honeycomb themed baking set, and a few other novelty items (both bee themed and not) ranging from the simple and cute to the ridiculously overpriced and tacky.
And first, of course, Dean thought, fingering the small velvet box in his pocket, there was the most important gift of all.