Dean’s the first to finish shopping for Christmas presents, which means he has to wait for Sam and Cas. All the benches in the festively decorated mall are occupied by tired shoppers who need a break, bored men who are waiting for their wives or girlfriends to finish shopping, and parents with children who have sat down for a snack, which leaves Dean to wander around and look at the window displays.
He hasn’t stepped foot in a jewelry store since the time he bought Lisa a bracelet, and he doesn’t enter the one he ends up in front of now, but he does look at the displays. On the left side of the entrance there are pendants and earrings, and on the right side are rings in all shapes and sizes. It’s the wedding rings that catch his eye, for some reason; it’s not that he’s in a situation where he needs to be looking at them, but… maybe that’s exactly why he does. Because they remind him of the life he used to want. What he could have had, if Dad hadn’t brought him and Sam up to be hunters.
Two of the more untraditional sets have a men’s ring that Dean could easily picture on his own finger – one is a white gold with a darker inlay in the middle, and the other is made of tungsten carbide and has a rope pattern going around it. He can’t decide which one he likes best.
“Dean.”
A hand touches his shoulder, and Dean turns around to see Cas standing there. “Oh, hey. You done too?”
Cas holds up two shopping bags. “Almost. I only have one gift left to buy.” He glances past Dean’s shoulder, and then pushes into it – softly, but with no regard for personal space as Dean turns to the side to accommodate him, which still leaves precious little room between them. “Wedding rings?” Dean expects Cas to look confused, maybe, but his face doesn’t give anything away when he looks at Dean.
Dean shrugs in response. It’s obvious that those were the rings he was looking at; he was standing right in front of them, so he can’t deny it. “Yeah, I mean… I was just looking. ’S not like I’m ever gonna have one, but, y'know…” He closes his mouth belatedly, shoulders hunching forward as he looks away.
“You would look good with one,” Cas remarks, which catches Dean off-guard. He wasn’t expecting Cas to pick up on the fact that that’s something he wants, much less make a comment like that.
Cas points to the tungsten ring Dean was admiring earlier. “That one, maybe. Which one do you prefer?”
Knowing that Cas likes the tungsten one makes it more appealing. Maybe Dean’s more easily influenced than he thought. Or… well, if he’s perfectly honest with himself, he knows why Cas’s opinion on this matters to him. Not that that’s a thing that’s ever going to happen. “Uh, yeah. The same one.”
Cas nods thoughtfully. “Would you like me to buy it for you?”
Dean chokes on air. So much for that never happening. But… no, Cas doesn’t understand what he’s saying. What it means. He can’t. “Cas, that’s not—” he forces out, trying to keep his voice even. “This isn’t the kind of ring you just buy as a gift for someone. People give each other these rings when they get married. They, uh, they symbolise—”
“Love,” Cas continues easily, eyes meeting Dean’s. “Devotion. A wish to spend the rest of one’s life with the other.”
Dean feels like he can’t breathe until Cas looks away again.
“But if you don’t want—” Cas begins, pulling away, his calm expression wavering.
Panicked, Dean grabs the closest part of Cas, which happens to be his hand, pulling him close again. “I, uh. I didn’t say that.” His heart’s trying to imitate a jackhammer in his chest. “I just… I need to know what you’re really asking, here.”
Cas’s smile holds a hint of uncertainty as he looks down at Dean’s hand and squeezes. “I’m asking if you want me to give you a wedding ring, Dean. I’m not so unaware of human traditions that I don’t know what that means.”
“I am,” Dean blurts, before he realises how stupid that sounds. “I mean, my thoughts are all… jumbled right now.” He knows what it sounds like Cas is asking, but it seems impossible that Cas is asking him that. Yet his heart hasn’t received that memo, beating a wild rhythm against his ribcage. “I need to hear you say it before I can say yes.” He realises too late that he’s given away his answer already, but as humiliating as it is, at least it takes away the uncertainty that was written in Cas’s face, replacing it with crinkles around his eyes and a joyous smile.
“Do you need me to get down on one knee as well?”
Dean would have told Cas off for sassing him in a situation like this if it wasn’t for the fact that those words are exactly what he needs. He knows, now, what Cas is asking him. There’s only one answer he can give to that, and it bursts out of him unbidden as his hand buries itself in Cas’s coat, shopping bags dangling between them.
“Yes.”
Cas’s eyes widen for a moment, and then he’s bending down and Dean realises that he’s actually going down on one knee, and he pulls him back up.
“Come here, you idiot.” Dean knows he’s wearing a stupid, sappy grin, but he doesn’t care. If there’s any kind of situation that calls for it, it’s this one. “That wasn’t what I said yes to.”
“Oh?” Cas smiles. “What did you say yes to, then?” he goads, but neither of them have even said the word “marry” yet, and Dean isn’t going to be the first to break. Instead he pulls Cas even closer, public location be damned, and places a soft kiss on his fiancé’s lips, the sounds of the mall fading away in the background as Cas wraps his arms around Dean and they let themselves get lost in each other for a moment.
“Come on,” Dean says when they part, and pulls Cas into the jewelry store by his hand. “Let’s get us some rings.”
