Here’s the next chapter of my winter series with Kenart. I know it started as Christmas but it’s cold and we all need a little something to keep us warm! Why not some Destiel, right? Here’s their first date. Enjoy (:
Castiel gets the idea from a show on Netflix. According to the two girls talking over alcoholic beverages, it’s not a relationship until you go on a date; until then, it’s just fuck buddies. Castiel isn’t entirely sure what a fuck buddy is but he knows he’s sick of just being Dean’s buddy so he knows he doesn’t want it.
Dean is half-asleep, leaning against the counter with his green eyes fixed on the steady drip of the coffee machine. He jumps a foot when Castiel slides up beside him, talking in an all too wide awake and cheery tone. “There’s a winter festival in the next town over!”
“Jesus.” Dean runs a hand down his face, trying to paste a smile on for his angel. It feels sticky and fake. “You can’t sneak up on me like that.”
“I wasn’t aware I was. Now that I’m a human I feel like I’m very loud, if we’re being quite honest.” Castiel pauses to catch his breath, then barrels on before Dean can respond. “There’s a winter festival and I think we should go. It will be our first date. And then we won’t be fuck buddies anymore. We will be boyfriends. That’s how it works. So we are going, tonight. I looked it up on the internet and everyone in the pictures from last year are smiling so I think we will smile too.”
Dean shakes his head, trying to get all of the information to fit in at once. “Wait, are you asking me out on a date?”
Castiel’s blue eyes adjust from wide and excited to a squint. “No, Dean. I am not asking you anything. We are going to the winter festival in the next town over because I don’t want to be fuck buddies I want to be in a relationship.” He huffs like it’s the most ridiculous thing that he has to repeat himself. “We should leave after lunch, so we have plenty of daylight to enjoy the activities and food that the website claims are legendary. I will see you then. I need to nap.”
Dean sags against the counter, exhausted from an interaction that demanded so little, yet so much, from him. The coffee pot hisses to indicate it’s full. He grabs the largest mug he can find in the cabinet and fills it to the brim. Everything starts processing, almost as if the fumes of the coffee are enough to help wake his brain. A smile spreads across his face, this time with absolutely no effort.
Boyfriends. Yeah. He likes the sound of that.
>>>
The drive is short. Dean is incredibly thankful for that. Castiel spends the entire seventeen minutes talking, barely stopping for air. It takes all the love inside of him not to drown him out with music.
When they finally pull into the parking lot of the festival, Castiel practically barrel rolls out of the impala. Dean barely has time to put the car in park before he’s being yanked out of his seat by a very impatient man-child.
“Come on, Dean. Come on!” He drags Dean across the snow-covered lot, leading them to the entrance covered with balloons and streamers. If this was anyone else Dean would scoff and demand they leave; he doesn’t do cheesy shit like this. But one look at Castiel’s bright blue eyes and he knew he would be staying without a fight. Even if the admission fee is a ridiculous twenty-five dollars per person.
The first thing they see is a horse-drawn sleigh. The driver waves at them, smiling wide. “Oh jeez.” Dean mutters, right as Castiel makes a weird squeaking sound.
“Dean, can we? Oh, please!”
“Fine. Fine. Yeah.” Dean helps Castiel climb into the back of the sleigh. There’s a giant plaid blanket waiting for them on the bench seat. Dean wraps it around them both, pulling Castiel in tight. The carriage begins to move, taking them around to see the rest of the festival.
Castiel makes a sound at almost every new activity. In a matter of minutes, Dean makes at least ten different promises to do something he couldn’t care less about. He doesn’t mind. Not when he has Castiel in his arms, bright pink nose scrunched in excitement.
“You fellas want one more ride around?” The driver asks as they reach the front again. Dean prepares himself for more torture, but is surprised when Castiel hops up.
“No thank you. We have a lot to do!”
>>
And a lot to do they did. They built snowmen, Castiel’s taking a surprising third in the contest. They drank two cups of hot chocolate each, Dean kissing away Castiel’s whipped cream mustache. They went inside the pavilion to get warm, spending way too much money at the Christmas craft show inside. When the outside world started to dim, Castiel began to pout.
“I guess we’ll have to go.”
“Not so fast.” Dean smiled, tapping the cold tip of Castiel’s nose. “There’s still one more thing.”
He took Castiel’s hand, covered in one of the new mittens he just bought, and led him to the back of the pavilion. Castiel paused when they arrived, his breath catching in the back of his throat. “Oh, Dean.”
“I tried keeping it from you. I noticed it on the sleigh ride, when you were looking the other way. It wasn’t fully set up yet, since it was light out.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you.”
Castiel looked up at the man he’s loved for years. “Dean Winchester, I’ve never seen something as beautiful as your soul.” He looks back at the sight in front of them. “But this is close.”
They walk hand in hand through the tunnel of lights. It leads to the woods, a path of a million specks of color. It’s like the whole world had suddenly changed, right before their eyes.
