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Spring arrived slowly. The snow melted, the first hopeful birds started to sing tentatively in the mornings, and the early spring flowers broke through the still partly frozen ground. Then, seemingly overnight, nature exploded into a flurry of colors and the weather warmed rapidly.
Cas had been waiting impatiently for the first week above 60 degrees. He’d thoroughly enjoyed this winter, cuddled up inside with Dean by his side, mostly watching movies, cooking together or playing games. But being cooped up inside for months without being able to garden always left him a bit antsy. He missed his bees.
Now, finally, April had brought with it the sun and he’d been delighted to see the dandelions in full bloom. He couldn’t wait to spend the next weekend outside. As always, the first order of spring business would be to check on his bees and make sure they’d gotten through the cold season without any issues.
That Saturday Dean and Cas got up relatively early. Dean had grumbled about having to be awake before nine on his off day, but Cas couldn’t wait to get started, and when he’d offered to let Dean sleep in, his boyfriend had waived him off.
Nowadays, they spent pretty much every single night together, alternating between their two houses. It felt like they were already living together, but Cas sometimes couldn’t help but worry about the logistics of actually moving in together. He definitely wanted to do so in the future, and despite neither of them having brought up the topic before, he was reasonably sure that Dean did as well. The issue was that - while they lived close enough that neither would have to uproot their life - one of them would have to give up their house. Cas knew that Dean had done a lot of the construction work on his home himself and was very attached to it, and while he himself wasn’t as emotional about his own place, he’d hate to have to give up his garden and start a new one from scratch.
Said garden was where they were right now. It was just after eleven am. Dean had managed to get Cas to stay in bed a bit longer with some very convincing arguments, and they’d followed the activity with a long and hearty breakfast. When they finally emerged from the house dressed for the work outside, the sun had already warmed the air to a comfortable level.
Behind Cas, Dean stretched with a satisfied groan and turned his face towards the sun in a move that inexplicably reminded Cas of the flowers in the garden doing the same. Dean raised an eyebrow when he caught Cas staring and asked: “Got any planting or shit to do, or you wanna get right to the bees?”
“I would like to start with the inspection of the hives,” Cas answered, already moving along the path towards the shielded part of his property. “If there is anything they need after the winter, I want to make sure they get it right away.”
They emerged from the rows of still bare bushes – they’d need another few weeks to grow in their leaves – and Cas stopped at the edge of the small clearing. He carefully observed the three beehives from a distance, noting the busy stream of bees coming and going from the entrances.
“Uhm, Cas?” Dean’s voice caught his attention from beside him. “Whatcha doing? I thought we were going to check on the bees?”
“We are,” Cas answered. “The first important part of the spring inspection is to observe the activity of the hives. If the bees are flying properly and starting to collect pollen, it’s a good sign that the colony is healthy.”
“Oh! Well, I guess they seem well then. They’re flying a bunch.”
Cas nodded, satisfied with his bees’ flight patterns. He opened one of the little notebooks he’d brought and started taking notes as they observed for a few more minutes. When he’d finished, he tugged it into his back pocket and gestured for Dean to follow him.
They started with Hannah’s hive, the yellowed and green colored one. After checking the outside over for damage, Cas moved to collect the few dead bees from in front of the entrance. When Dean spotted the dead bees, he sent Cas an alarmed look, like he was afraid he’d get distressed by the sight, and while Cas was certainly saddened by the loss, he explained that a few dead bees after winter were unfortunately quite normal.
The outside of the hive appeared undamaged, so he moved on to the inside, explaining what he was doing to Dean as he went along.
“I like to make sure the colony is still big enough, but also has enough space to expand with the first eggs developing in spring.” He carefully pulled out one frame after the other. “Look, more than two thirds of the frames are full of bees; that means it will be time to split the hive soon. If there’d be too many bees, we’d have to add additional frames for them to build combs. Otherwise they’d be tempted to swarm out and look for a new hive with adequate space. It would be the perfect time to populate the one you gave me for Christmas.”
Dean’s eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically.
Cas started to take out the individual frames for a closer inspection. Every frame he extracted, he carefully brushed the bees off to get a look at the combs underneath. He was pleased to see large patches of brood cells. Only a few combs were skipped, creating a concentric circle getting younger the further out it went.
He noted the count of eggs and the developmental stages of larvae and pupae in his little book for future reference.
“What’re you doing now?” Dean asked curiously, peering over his shoulder.
Cas gestured at the current circle of brood he was counting. “See this? Fresh eggs show that the queen’s been around and active within the last three days. If the eggs are still standing upright, they’ve been laid recently. It’s usually easier to look for fresh eggs than finding the queen – especially since it’s still a bit cold out and the inspection of the hive isn’t supposed to take longer than fifteen minutes. Also, many eggs in the expected pattern show that the queen is healthy and doing well.”
Dean hummed in acknowledgement, inspecting the little white dots inside the combs closer. “So the ones that are lying on their side are older?”
Cas nodded in confirmation. “Yes. As long as they’re white, the larvae are healthy. In the pupae stage they get capped with wax. It should be convex and tan-colored. See?”
He passed the frame over to his boyfriend to inspect. After Dean had gotten the hang of identifying the different stages of brood, he continued pulling out frames and looking them over while Cas took notes on their condition. He instructed Dean to check the hive’s food supply and check for potential pests that might have infected it during the winter.
With their combined efforts they finished the inspection of Hannah’s hive in record time. Cas smiled when they closed the lid and he pulled Dean into a kiss as soon as they’d stepped back. “Thank you for the help,” he mumbled against his lips. Dean answered with another kiss. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. Always ready to lend a hand.”
It took them a few minutes after that until they were ready to move on to the other hives. Cas gestured between the red and violet one. “Two more to go. Do you want to try inspecting one by yourself or would you prefer to continue as we just did?”
“Nah, I can handle it,” Dean replied confidently. “You got another one of those notebooks?”
“Yes. I have a separate one for each hive. I can inspect Meg’s hive, but would you mind if I checked on Anna’s myself as well? Her hive wasn’t quite as thriving in autumn.
“Oh, what the hell, I’ll take Meg!” Dean waved him off. “The little demon doesn’t scare me anymore, and I’m ready for a challenge.”
Cas couldn’t help but smile. Dean truly had come so far since the first few times he’d helped him with the hives. He passed the blue notebook - color coordinated to the stipes of Meg’s hive - to Dean and went to check on the last one. The red paint on the outside of the hive was beginning to flake in some parts, he noted. It would need to be painted soon. As expected, the colony was smaller than Hannah’s and their food supply was running a bit low for his comfort. He’d have to check up on them again in the next few days and maybe feed them some sugar syrup. But overall, he was quite happy with the state of the hive.
“Aww, look at that!” Dean called out, catching his attention. “There are two eggs sharing a cell. Guess they wanted a roommate. Hey, Cas, speaking of sharing a place-“
Whatever Dean had been about to say might have been important, but Cas had stopped listening. His heart had dropped at Dean’s words and within seconds he was next to him peering at the frame he was holding up and carefully inspecting the place Dean had indicated.
“Two eggs in one comb are not a good sign, Dean,” he said gravely, his stomach twisting in worry when he noted a few more double-bread cells around the first one. “Have you found Meg yet?”
“Uhm, no…? But there are fresh eggs. I thought that meant the queen’s around?” Dean asked. He’d clearly noticed Cas’ distress, one hand hovering between them like he was unsure if he should try and sooth him through touch.
Cas had to admit that he might be overreacting a bit, but damn it, Meg was his favorite of his queens! He’d never admitted to it out loud, but it was true. Hers had been his first colony. The thought that she might not have survived the winter scared him. Queens lived several years as opposed to the normal average of six weeks the worker bees did, and Meg wasn’t all that old yet.
“Two eggs in one comb means that a female worker bee has been laying eggs. It is a sign that the queen has gone missing.”
Dean let out a confused noise. “Worker bees can lay eggs? I thought only queens do. Is it like reverse clown fish? One of the females turns into the next queen?”
Cas had to suppress a chuckle at the creative comparison, his mood marginally lifting. “No, Dean. Bees cannot change their sex or designation. They’ll only be able to lay male eggs and they do it to pass on the hive’s genetics even as it slowly dies out with the queen gone and no new workers being born. It would usually happen when the queen’s been gone for a few weeks.”
Dean made a sound of acknowledgement, his expression looking mildly fascinated. He waited impatiently until Cas had carefully documented all of the two-egged combs, then he asked. “So what now? Does this mean Meg’s dead?”
Cas winced at the suggestion and Dean’s face immediately turned apologetic, but Cas waved him off before he could say anything. “Not necessarily, there are still fresh eggs and it would be unusual for the worker bees to lay eggs this early. But we need to check the hive to see if we can find her anywhere. Should she really be missing…” he took a deep breath before stealing himself and finishing. “The hive would require a new queen and the workers will start raising one of the existing female eggs into one.”
“Oh…” Dean threw him a concerned look.
They started looking through the entire hive, carefully removing each frame and checking the combs as well as the bottom and sides of the hive. It took a while and in the end it was Dean who found her. “I think I got her!”
Cas immediately lowered his own frame and stepped next to Dean to take a look. To his relief Dean was right; there was Meg, right at the bottom corner of the second to last frame in the box. He let out a heavy sigh of relief. Screw not having favorites. Losing Meg would have hit him hard. He was aware that even queen bees didn’t live forever, but so far all of his queens were still strong and healthy and he had high hopes for a good few more years with them.
“Thanks,” he said quietly and lightly stroked one finger down Meg’s back before gesturing for Dean to put the frame back in.
“So, what does it mean, now that we’ve found her?” Dean asked.
“Nothing bad. There is probably just an overactive worker bee who hasn’t crossed paths with Meg in a while. The mistake will be corrected as soon as she notices. But we’ll have to check again in a few days, just to make sure. If the cells aren’t destroyed and keep getting fed royal jelly, a new queen might still develop. In that case she’ll have to be removed.”
Dean listened along, nodding. “Hey, if one does, can I name her?”
Cas smiled fondly at the excitement in his boyfriend’s voice. “Of course, Dean. As long as it isn’t something completely ridiculous.”
“Oh trust me, I’ll come up with the best name!” Dean promised and Cas rolled his eyes, already mentally dreading the horrible suggestions that were sure to follow over the next few days.
“If a new queen develops,” Cas got back on topic, “it will be the perfect opportunity to split Hannah’s hive and populate the new one you built for me.” He gestured back at the shed where the new hive Dean had gifted him for Christmas had been kept since then. Then he hesitated, a thought entering his head. If he was already rehoming some of the bees and working through the entire adjustment period, it would be the perfect opportunity to move the entire hive.
He turned back towards Dean, who’d noticed his pause and was watching him carefully. “I think we need to talk,” Cas said seriously. He could see Dean’s face fall almost instantly. The other’s smile vanished and a frown took its place. His mouth drew tight and his eyebrows furrowed in worry. Cas was quick to reassure Dean, “Oh no, not like that. It’s about the conversation you tried to start before. About the space-sharing…? I think it’s time we talked about that.”
Cas felt his cheeks heating the longer he talked. He really, really hoped he hadn’t misunderstood Dean’s earlier words. But Dean’s face brightened again and he nodded enthusiastically. “Sure, man. Are we done here?”
“Yeah, let’s go get something to drink and talk on the terrace,” Cas answered.
They closed up the last hive, checked to make sure everything was secured the way it was supposed to, before Cas led them back to the house. There was still some leftover coffee from breakfast. He moved to the fridge and pulled out some ice chips and milk to make them two iced coffees, before he rejoined Dean outside where he had pulled out two chairs and the small garden table.
They settled down and just sat there for a few moments, simply enjoying the peace, until Cas broke the silence. “So, you want to move in together?”
Dean drew a hand through his hair and grinned crookedly at him. “Yeah. I mean, we’ve basically been living together for months already. Just thought it might be time to maybe make it official?” His sentence drew into a question at the end and Cas took the hand not holding the coffee into his and drew it up to place a small kiss on the back of Dean’s knuckles to reassure him.
“I feel the same way, Dean. I’d love to fully move in together.”
“Really?!” Cas loved the way Dean’s voice heightened slightly with his excitement and how his whole face just lit up.
“Yes. In fact I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I just hadn’t brought it up so far because I was unsure about the logistics of it.”
“What do you mean, logistics?” Dean asked, the confusion in his voice making it obvious he hadn’t considered any of the things that Cas had. “We live, like, one street apart; wouldn’t even need a moving van to carry shit over.”
Cas shook his head fondly. “Dean, where would we move? One of us would have to give up their house.”
“Oh…”
Cas gave Dean a moment to think it over. Several emotions passed over his face, but then Dean smiled and said, “I guess I could sell my place or rent it out for some extra cash. I could move in with you.”
Cas studied Dean carefully. Throughout almost one year of dating, he’d quickly figured out that Dean had a tendency to put his own needs and desires last to make others happy. But he’d also learned to read his boyfriend and right now Dean’s smile was strained at the edges. Fake.
Cas squeezed the hand he was still holding. “I know you wouldn’t be happy with that. Your house means a lot to you, you could never watch some stranger move into your space.”
Dean floundered for a moment, clearly caught off guard by being read so easily. “Uhm, yeah…well, maybe Sammy wants to move in?”
Cas sighed. “Dean, your brother hasn’t even finished college yet. And when he’s done, he’ll want to live in a big city with good opportunities for a young lawyer, not our little hole in the wall town.”
Dean chewed at his bottom lip even as he nodded slowly. “Then what? You love your garden, I could never ask you to give that up.”
“And you love your house. I know you’ve worked very hard on it to make it a home.”
“Then how will we ever be able to move in together?!” Dean exclaimed, frustration seeping into his voice. Cas thought about his earlier idea for a moment and carefully considered all they’d have to do, before he answered, “There might be a way to compromise. You are attached to your house, I am to my garden. The building itself doesn’t mean more to me than a roof over my head, a place to cook and shower. You don’t really use your garden much, correct?”
“Uhm, no…?” Dean was clearly confused by where this was going, so Cas continued, “I could move my garden over to your place. The bees will have to adjust to a rehoming anyway, with the new hive. It’s the perfect time.”
Dean looked stunned for a moment, before curiosity took over. “That’s possible?”
Cas nodded. “Yes. It will take a lot of work and it will probably be easier to replant the wildflowers, but most of the bigger plants can be moved.”
“And the bees won’t mind either?”
“No. In fact it is quite common for beekeepers to regularly move big hives so their food sources won’t run dry.”
“That’s great! How soon were you thinking about moving?” Dean asked.
Cas thought for a moment as he looked around the garden. There was some grading he had to do, but it wasn’t urgent yet and the weather this weekend was just about perfect. “We could start moving the first plants today,” he decided, “and maybe some of my clothes tomorrow, if you don’t think it’s too soon.”
“Awesome! I can’t wait!” Dean’s grin was so big it must have been hurting his cheeks. “Fuck, I love you so much!” Cas could barely react and put his cup down in time for Dean to pull him closer and into a kiss.
Their kiss lasted for almost a minute and halfway through, Dean climbed onto Cas lap, pushing him down into the chair that gave a warning creak at the added weight. When Dean pulled back they were both panting and flushed.
“If you keep going like that, I won’t be moving anywhere this weekend,” Cas warned. Dean let out a laugh in response and got up. He held out a hand for Cas. “Well, we can’t have that!”
Cas couldn’t help his own laugh as he took the offered hand and as they started to rummage through the shed for the right tools, he could vividly imagine doing this with Dean by his side for the rest of his life.