Cas tap, tap, taps on the calculator. He clears the sum and tries again. And again. But no matter how many times he punches the numbers into the calculators, they always have the same result: too much.
Dean comes up behind him where he sits on the chair, and drapes his arms over Cas’s shoulders. He places a kiss on the top of Cas’s head and a beer on the desk before him.
“It’s not going to work,” Cas says, shoving the calculator away, along with the notebook where he’s scribbled calculation after calculation. “There’s no way we can afford this.”
“So things will be tight for a while,” Dean says, far too calm about this. Perhaps he doesn’t understand the severity - just how far they would have to cut back. If Cas quit his job, they could lose some of their cars. They’d have to move to a smaller place. No more designer brand jeans and $300 haircuts.
“Dean, you don’t know what you are saying.”
“Cas, you hate that job.”
God, he did. He hated the long hours and the weekly traveling, and how small his bosses made him feel when they said, “You are putting in the hours, Castiel, but where is the heart?”
His heart was at home, or driving the Impala, or working at the garage that day. Wherever Dean Winchester was.
But that’s exactly why he worked so hard at a job he hated. He finally had enough money to give Dean the things he truly deserved.
“Babe.” Dean moves his hands to the back of Cas’s office chair and swivels it to face him. “We can get by on my salary for a while,” he says, eyes so bright. “And you know if you want work, Bobby’s been looking for an accountant for years.”
“Bobby wouldn’t pay me what I make now.”
Some of that brightness dims. “Well, no, but -”
“I have to stay on. I don’t have a choice.”
Dean lowers himself, down onto his knees, so much like how he proposed three years ago. But much has changed since then. “I never see you.”
They’ve had this fight before, and Cas is tired. He doesn’t raise his voice above a sigh as he says, “My work has long hours.”
Dean takes Cas’s hands in his and squeezes. “You never smile anymore.”
“There’s too much to do.”
“Cas.”
Cas lowers his chin down to his chest. He doesn’t want to look at Dean and see disappointment there. When they married, Cas promised to always take care of Dean. Whether he stays at his job or quits, he fails.
“We can move back into my old place,” Dean says. It was a two-bedroom town-home, much smaller than their current house. Some of the bathroom tiles were cracked and a mystery stain on the counter never seemed to disappear no matter how many times Cas scrubbed it. The sink was too small for two grown men to stand side by side but that never mattered in the perfect-sized shower.
The house was small but alive and warm in a way this mansion, with its vaulted ceilings and uncomfortable throw pillows, had never been.
“I hate this house,” Cas admits. He’d bought it after Dean, laughing, had pointed to it in one of those realtor magazines.
“When we live here,” Dean said then, “you know we made it.”
Now, Dean says, “Oh, thank Christ. I hate it, too.”
Cas jerks up his head, surprised. “You do?”
“Why do we need two refrigerators, Cas? Six bathrooms? The fence along the yard is so tall, I don’t know if our neighbors are alive or dead.” He points up at a light nestled in the vaulted ceiling. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to figure out how to change that? I had to go to three different hardware stores to find a ladder tall enough.” He lowers his hand, taking Cas’s again. “And it’s always so cold, no matter how high I set the thermostat. When I come home from the garage, I change in the laundry room because everything is so white and clean, I dirty it just by existing. Sometimes I feel like we live in a museum!”
“But I thought...” Cas doesn’t understand. “You know... If we lived here, we made it?”
Dean blinks at him. “What are you talking about?”
“That’s what you said.”
“I did?”
“Yes!”
Dean shakes his head. “Well, I was talking out my ass, because this house sucks.” He rubs his thumb along Cas’s knuckle, a gentle touch that removes some sting from the words. “You know when I was happiest?”
Cas worries his bottom lip with his teeth. Dean’s eyes are getting bright again and Cas wants to burn in them.
Dean says, “When I woke up in the morning and reached for you, and you were there. When you made it home in time for dinner. When we watched tv on my ratty old couch.” He smirks, just a little. “When we made out in the back of my car.”
Cas smiles too, at the memories, at the idea that they could have that again.
“I don’t need a big house, Cas. I don’t need fancy cars or clothes, or any of it. I only need you.”
Cas leans forward, and so does Dean, but they kiss for only a moment before Cas pulls away.
“Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure? If I quit, I can’t go back, and who knows if -”
“I want my husband back,” Dean says, then sits on his heels. “But it has to be up to you, Cas. It’s always going to be you and me, but this is your life. Your dream. I miss you but I will support you no matter -”
Cas jumps from the chair and into Dean, tackling him. They end up a heap of tangled limbs on the floor. Cas kisses Dean silly, again and again. Screw the house, and the cars, and the two refrigerators and six bathrooms and the vaulted ceilings and those damn uncomfortable throw pillows.
The One Where Cas is in Love with Dean’s Dick series by MsCaptainWinchester (rons_pigwidgeon)
Word Count: 5,600 (2 parts)
Summary: Castiel's boss is convinced that he would be perfect for her son, and is determined to get him to come to the Christmas party so they can meet. Castiel is still hung-up on his first and only one-night-stand. Or more specifically his dick.
Comments: 9/10. Hot pwp. As the title says, Cas is in love with Dean’s dick, and it leads to glorious semi-public sex.
Summary: Castiel is flummoxed. This is a social situation he is not equipped to handle. What is the protocol when the stranger sitting next to you on a bus, whom you incidentally find very attractive, falls asleep with his head on your shoulder?
Comments: 8/10. It's fluffy and the smut is great. I love the hopeful tone of the last chapter. I also like how Dean got his head out of his ass by himself, without Sam or anyone else influencing him. Although that doesn't mean I don't like the Meddling Moose trope. I don’t know why but this took me a long time to finish.
Summary: Castiel is flummoxed. This is a social situation he is not equipped to handle. What is the protocol when the stranger sitting next to you on a bus, whom you incidentally find very attractive, falls asleep with his head on your shoulder?
Comments: 7/10. It’s cute and fluffy, so fluffy. Dean falls asleep on Cas’s shoulder and misses his stop, Cas invites him home to call him a cab. Dean ends up staying the night but bolts the next day. It’s not really angsty, but they do pine, a lot. Especially Cas.
Summary: When Alpha Castiel finds out that Omega Dean has been selling sex to care for his little brother there is really no other option than to invite the Winchester brothers into his home.
Or,
The one where fate takes a cruel turn and then does a 180.
Comments: 10/10 there’s some really angsty and sad parts in it, but there are also definitely happy and sappy parts, not to mention the great sappy ending. After Cas finds out about the selling sex thing, he moves Dean and Sam into his house with his Beta son Alfie, who is Sam’s best friend. However, Dean still has self-worth issues, but Cas is as always a great cure for that. Brief Benny/Dean but that happened only because Dean was trying to get over Cas. WARINING: Underage (Dean is 17 and Cas is 34), Sexual abuse (Dean and paying customer), Abusive John.
Summary: Dean runs a no-tell motel and Cas suddenly becomes a frequent visitor.
Comments: 9/10 this is really cute, tooth rotting fluff. Cas is divorcing Daphne, and ends up moving into Dean’s house in the motel. Cas ends up spending Christmas with Dean, Sam, Jess, and their adorable 5 year old girl Mary. This is 100% fluff, with a tiny bit of smut in the end. However there are no UST, just sickeningly sweet feelings.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 17/17
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Sarah Blake/Sam Winchester (minor), Jody Mills/Bobby Singer (minor), Ellen Harvelle/Bobby Singer (past mentions only), Castiel/Cole Trenton (past mentions only), Lisa Braeden/Dean Winchester (past mentions only)
Characters: Dean Winchester, Castiel, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, Ellen Harvelle, Benny Lafitte, Donna Hanscum, Charlie Bradbury, Sarah Blake (Supernatural), Naomi (Supernatural), Meg Masters, Gabriel (Supernatural), Michael (Supernatural), Garth Fitzgerald IV, Rufus Turner, Ash (Supernatural), Cole Trenton, Gordon Walker
Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Hurt/Comfort, POV Alternating, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Strangers to Lovers, homeless!Cas, caretaker!Dean, dumbasses in love, DCBB, DCBB2020, Dean/Cas Big Bang 2020 (Supernatural)
Summary:
With a storm surge on the horizon, Dean Winchester needs to get home, but he can’t ignore the feeling in his gut urging him to turn around. The awkward, hoodie-clad homeless man has already disappeared from his rearview mirror yet something draws Dean back. Maybe it’s the fact that the guy looks lost in more ways than one, or maybe it’s something behind those intense, ocean blue eyes, but either way, Dean can’t leave the guy stranded in the impending downpour.
Castiel Novak is running away from his problems. Far away. It’s a decision that made sense at the time, but with his resources running low, no place to stay, and the sky about to rain down on his head, he’s beginning to rethink his life choices. All seems lost until a green eyed local offers him a place to stay dry for the night.
This chance meeting between two strangers shifts the course of both their lives in a way that neither could’ve ever expected, and as they struggle to deal with the secrets of their past while navigating their relationship into the future, they come to find that maybe together they’re the perfect storm.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 11/11
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Characters: Castiel, Dean Winchester, Benny Lafitte, Sam Winchester, Jessica Moore, Balthazar (Supernatural), Bobby Singer, Meg Masters, Gabriel (Supernatural)
Additional Tags: AU, Romance, Fluff, Angst, Mechanic!Dean Winchester, Accountant!Castiel, Alternate Universe - Human, Smut, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Christmas, Alcohol, Pining
Summary:
Castiel is flummoxed. This is a social situation he is not equipped to handle. What is the protocol when the stranger sitting next to you on a bus, whom you incidentally find very attractive, falls asleep with his head on your shoulder?
2/14/16: Now with lovely art by the talented purgatoryjar!
