Trust Your Heart
[ao3]
Part 3 of the Never Trust a Skinny Baker ‘Verse [part 1] [part 2]
“We could go to Hawaii. I’ve never been to Hawaii.”
“None of the people in your life can afford that, Dean,” Kevin says without looking up from the blender.
“Well, technically he only needs a couple of witnesses,” Alex chimes in. “Sam and Eileen could definitely afford it.”
Dean idly crosses “Hawaii” off the napkin-based list in front of him. He always thought he’d be content enough to go down to the courthouse and sign some papers, but it turns out he actually does want to get married in front of friends and family. Even if the thought of it makes his insides turn to goo.
“Why don’t you just go to the courthouse? You know Cas doesn’t care,” Krissy shouts from the kitchen.
Dean looks over his shoulder warily and tries to think if there are any other instances of Krissy reading his mind. He’s suspicious of her for a lot of reasons, so he can go ahead and add that one to the list. “What are you talking about? Cas cares deeply about this.”
“Why don’t we take it to the tip jar gods?” Alex suggests. She squats down and opens the cabinets under the register. She comes back up with an armful of mason jars.
“No. Absolutely not,” Dean chastises as he pushes the top of her head to make her go back down to the cabinets. “I’m not letting anymore decisions about my personal life be controlled by the yahoos who come into this shop.”
A little old lady gives Dean a mean glare as she walks up to the counter.
“What can I do for you today, ma’am?” Dean asks with a smug grin.
“Did you just call me a ‘yahoo,’ young man?”
Alex ducks her head and snorts a laugh.
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you a free coffee if you promise not to mention it to my manager,” Dean replies with a wink.
“Well, I would like to speak to the manager,” Charlie says as she walks up to the counter and stands right beside the old woman. “If I don’t get a say in the owner’s wedding plans, then I’m suing.”
“What?” the old lady asks.
“Excuse me, ma’am, I’m already with a customer,” Dean says to Charlie.
“Yes, but! Would you please tell the baker and his deaf fiance that if they don’t have a big, fancy wedding that I’m going to sue them? You know the baker, right? Big Dean—he’s got green eyes, a face that makes even lesbians swoon, and a big, round, doughy bel—”
“Alright, alright. We’ll do tip jars. Fuck you, Charlie.”
The old lady is already halfway out the door.
“So I’m thinking a barn wedding. We can all wear flannel and ride horses,” Charlie says as she hands her credit card to Alex. “Oooh and cowboy hats! Dean, you’d look stellar in a cowboy hat.”
“Hard pass, but thanks for the suggestion.” He grabs a plate and opens the display case to get Charlie’s usual muffin.
“What? Big Dean passing on cowboy hats?” Henriksen interrupts as he also hands his card to Alex. “I thought you had a thing for cowboys.”
The girls burst out laughing, and even Kevin chuckles a bit. Dean glares at Henriksen.
“Can a guy like Old Westerns in peace?”
Sam comes through the kitchen door in the middle of tying an apron around his waist. “Sure, but a guy can’t have an Old Western fetish in peace.”
“It’s a healthy appreciation,” Dean mumbles petulantly.
"So barn wedding!” Charlie shouts. “We’re doing it, guys! We’re doing a barn wedding!” she announces to the whole shop.
Dean rolls his eyes as the customers clap and cheer.
“No, no, no, we gotta do this right,” Alex says as she once again squats down to get the tip jars.
Dean doesn’t stop her this time.
In the middle of the late afternoon rush, they write down each of the employee’s suggestions on their respective jars. Alex texts Claire for her suggestion (courthouse), and Kevin mulls things over for an hour before finally settling on “bakery.”
“Bakery? You want them to get married in a bakery,” Krissy says in a judgmental tone.
“This bakery. Dean basically lives here anyway,” Kevin justifies.
“Hm,” Dean says.
“Oh my god, you like that idea,” Alex accuses with a pointed finger at Dean.
Dean just shrugs. “Best one I’ve heard so far.”
“Um, hello? Barn!” Charlie shouts once again from her table in the corner.
“Butt out!” Dean yells back, but it’s too late. People are cheering again. “No peace in my own goddamn shop,” he mutters.
The door dings, and Dean glances up at it instinctively and spots Cas. Warmth fills his chest against his will as he watches Cas smile and sign to somebody next to him. It takes Dean a solid 10 seconds to notice who he’s talking to.
“Cassie?” Dean blurts out eloquently as Cas and Cassie make their way up to the counter.
Cassie squints at him, looks him up and down, opens her mouth, closes it. Finally her eyes widen and she exclaims, “Dean!”
“Didn’t recognize me under all this, huh?” He pats his belly self-consciously.
“No! I mean. I’m sorry.” She laughs and hangs her head. “I just wasn’t expecting to see you. I mean, Dean, it’s been…”
“A baker’s dozen years,” he finishes for her.
The rest of the shop has gone suspiciously quiet, but Dean ignores it. Alex is still taking orders, so it’s not like he’s holding the line up.
“Uh, what are you doing here?” he asks with a glance toward Cas.
Cassie turns to Cas as well and then back to Dean. “Oh. Um. This is Cas. Weird coincidence, I know.”
Before Dean can cut Cassie off to tell her he already knows Cas, Cas leans across the counter and kisses Dean squarely on the mouth. Dean winks at him when he pulls away.
“Um,” Cassie says.
“You work for the paper, Cassie?” Dean asks.
“I do,” she says with a nod. She pauses as if considering whether to give Dean information he probably already knows. “I was just talking to Cas about some freelance work he’s doing for us.”
“I didn’t know you know sign language.”
“Oh, um, I don’t. I mean, I took a couple classes in high school.” She huffs a tired laugh and tucks her hair behind her ear. “Actually, can you tell him that he’s signing too fast for me? I’m only getting about half of what he’s saying.”
Dean relays the message, and Cas turns to Cassie with an apologetic, embarrassed expression. After they clear things up a bit about what exactly Cassie missed of their conversation in the past hour, Cas finally asks Dean how he knows Cassie.
“We dated for a couple months when we were in our early 20s,” he signs quickly, hoping that Cassie won’t catch it.
Cas clenches his jaw. “How serious was it?”
“Not really the right time or place to discuss this. We can talk about it later.”
Cassie laughs nervously. “What am I missing?”
Dean flashes her a winning smile. “Nothing, sweetheart. Small world, you and Cas working together.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it is. Um, you’re obviously busy and Cas and I are—”
“Oh! You probably came here to actually order something. Sorry, what can I get you?”
Cassie stares at the display case as she answers, “Actually, um, Cas and I only need to go over a couple more things, so would it be possible if you could…?”
It takes Dean a second to figure out what she’s asking. “You want me to be the translator?”
Cassie smiles shyly at him. “Could you? I mean, you probably don’t have the time and—”
“I got it,” Sam says as he appears right next to Dean. “You go ahead, Dean. Crowd’s dying down anyway.”
Dean gives Sam a mean look, but Sam just grins and pats Dean’s shoulder until he walks away. Sam never met Cassie when she and Dean were dating, but Dean talked about her enough to drive Sam insane. Sue him, Sam was in college and Dean had to find something to talk about on the phone every week.
When the three of them sit down at Cas’ usual table together, Cas doesn’t seem too thrilled about Dean being there. It makes Dean feel nervous, or maybe just annoyed, that Cas apparently can’t deal with the idea of Dean dating people who aren’t him.
It only takes them about 30 minutes to get through Cas and Cassie’s meeting, but none of them make a move to leave when they’re done. Dean, for some reason, looks at Cassie expectantly and she takes the bait.
“I didn’t know you, um...how did you learn sign language, Dean?”
Dean doesn’t bother signing while he talks. Cas is suddenly engrossed in his tablet anyway. “My brother’s wife is deaf. Good thing, too, because I never would’ve landed this one otherwise.” He rubs Cas’ shoulder soothingly. Cas looks up at him, so Dean leans in for a quick kiss.
“So you’re, uh, you know…” Cassie says awkwardly.
“Um, no, I don’t know. What are you not asking me?”
“You know, like, you and Cas, uh…”
Dean bursts out laughing. “Oh shit, I was still in the closet when we dated, wasn’t I?”
“What? You were gay when we da—”
“I’m not gay. I’m bi. I exclusively dated chicks when you and I went out.”
“But you liked guys?”
He shrugs and nods.
She glances between him and Cas. “You’ve changed a lot.”
“I know, I’m a lot more handsome now. Thanks for noticing.” He bats his eyelashes for good measure.
Cas looks up from his tablet and asks Dean if he’s going back to work anytime soon.
“Alright, I see when I’m not welcome anymore.” Dean stands despite Cassie’s protests. “Cassie, feel free to leave Cas to his own devices. He probably won’t notice if you leave. I sometimes think he might be more blind than deaf.”
Cassie gives him a judgmental look, which Dean ignores. As he’s giving her a hug, Charlie’s voice carries across the store.
“Bakery wedding? Bakery wedding is in the lead? Guys, I thought we all decided on a barn wedding!”
Dean lets go of Cassie and glares at Charlie.
“Oh god, I’ll get out of your hair so you can...deal with that customer,” Cassie says.
“What? Oh. That’s just Charlie. She’s, uh, really invested in my personal life.”
Benny randomly comes up to Dean then and slaps him on the shoulder. “I’m rooting for barn wedding, brother. You and Cas set a date yet?”
“What?” Cassie interrupts.
“Um, Benny, will you excuse me?” Dean asks pointedly.
Benny gets the hint and backs away with his hands raised like he’s in trouble. Cas looks up from his tablet and stares between Dean and Cassie.
“Benny’s really invested in my personal life, too. Everyone in this stupid shop is invested in my personal life.”
“You and Cas are getting married?” Cassie asks with an edge to her tone.
Dean scratches the back of his neck. “Yeah. Trying to, at least.”
“Wow, you’ve really changed a lot.”
“Cassie, I was 22 when you and I—”
“No, I get it. You weren’t ready to settle down.” Her eyes deliberately move down to his gut. “Now you’re all content and living a comfortable life, so I get it. Timing.”
He plants his hands on his hips. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you broke up with me.”
“Yeah, because you were dragging your feet.” In a voice more sad than angry, she says, “You told me you never wanted to get married.”
Dean looks at Cas and then back to Cassie, concern lining his features. “That was a long time ago, Cassie. You’re not still upset with me, are you?”
Cas stands and puts a hand on Dean’s lower back.
Cassie deflates a little. “No, I’m not upset. That would be—ridiculous. It was just surprising to see you here, that’s all.” She gets up from the table and looks toward the door. “I’m gonna head out. Um, congratulations. Seriously, I’m happy for you guys. I’m just…” She rolls her eyes. “You know, 35 and single. At some point, you start to wonder if you’re the problem. I’ll see you later, Dean.”
She leaves before Dean can think of something else to say. He watches her go until he feels Cas’ eyes on him.
“What was that about?” Cas asks warily.
“I think she’s kind of upset about us getting married. She broke up with me because I wasn’t serious about our relationship and told her I never wanted to get married.”
“You should apologize to her,” Cas responds.
Dean blinks in shock. “It was a really long time ago. And besides, aren’t you supposed to be jealous?”
“I’ll always feel jealous that there are others out there that have been with you, but there’s nothing I can do about that, is there? But you can do something about Cassie feeling hurt. She obviously never got closure from you, and now you’ve been given the opportunity to provide it.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You told her you never wanted to get married, and now here you are, getting married,” Cas signs slowly as if trying to get it through Dean’s thick head.
“People change their minds! I’m not allowed to change my mind?”
“Just apologize to her, Dean.”
Dean starts to protest, but Cas takes a seat and turns his attention back to the tablet. Cas only pulls out the “if I don’t look at you then I can’t listen to you” card when Dean is being particularly unreasonable, so Dean takes the hint and heads back to work.
Maybe they should just get married at the fucking courthouse and not tell anybody at all.
A couple days later, Cas asks Dean to leave work early so they can spend some time together. The request is a little bit weird, especially since they now live together and see each other all the time and sleep in the same bed together every night. But Sam insists that the shop won’t burn down without him, so Dean heads out around 6.
Cas is chopping up vegetables and throwing them into a bowl when Dean arrives, so he doesn’t notice his presence until Dean presses up behind him and boxes him in against the counter.
Cas immediately pushes his butt back to get Dean away from him. He then turns around and signs, “Can you put the burgers on the grill?”
Dean rolls his eyes and gives him a quick kiss. “Yeah, I can make the burgers. I also brought pie home for dessert.”
Cas’ face lights up at that. He then turns back to the vegetables.
It’s become habit for Dean to bring home treats from the shop, even though it’s also become habit for Cas to stop into the shop most days to get something to eat. Cas’ ass has been filling out his jeans a little better lately, and his stomach has rounded out in front of him just a bit. Dean loves it. He loves knowing that his baking put that extra weight there, that the amount that Dean spoils Cas is evidenced in his waistline.
There are a few quiet minutes where everything is on the grill or in the oven cooking, so they stand in the kitchen together to talk.
“I realized that I don’t know a whole lot about your past,” Cas starts.
Dean clears his throat but doesn’t bother to talk as he signs. “I can’t believe you enticed me with burgers and leaving work early so that you could trap me here to talk about myself.”
Cas smiles shyly. “You hate talking about yourself. That’s why I had to trick you.”
“I’m not giving you any pie.”
“That’s fine. Eating less means taking less time to eat, which means more time for talking.”
Dean crosses his arms over his chest and squints at Cas. He’s going to eat as slowly as possible tonight, and he’s going to use both hands the entire time.
Except the food is so damn good that he doesn’t take his time at all. He inhales it as if he hasn’t had a proper meal in a week because he hasn’t. Working all day every day means a lot of takeout and a lot of missed meals.
After his second burger, Dean leans back in his seat and puts a hand on his full belly. He presses his fingers hard into the taut skin to try to make some room as Cas goes back into the kitchen to cut the pie. There’s a bite of Cas’ burger left on his plate, so Dean leans forward and grabs it. He chews slowly and keeps a hand on his stomach.
Cas comes back with two plates with not just giant slices of pie but vanilla ice cream as well. As he sets Dean’s down in front of him, Dean signs, “This is going to postpone our conversation even more.”
Cas shrugs and digs into his pie.
They don’t move from the table when they’re done. Cas looks across at Dean expectantly but doesn’t raise his hands to sign. He hiccups a couple of times.
“Eat too much?” Dean asks.
“Yes. How did you and Cassie meet?”
Dean blinks and rubs his stomach while he thinks. “I traveled for work back then. She lived a couple hours from here, and I did a job for her mom while she was living with her. I was a one-night-stand kind of guy, but Cassie sort of changed that for a little bit. I really liked her.”
“What were you doing for work? I had no idea you were anything other than a baker your entire life.”
Dean laughs. “Pest control. I did odd jobs for a while until I decided to go to school to become a pastry chef. After my dad died, I was kind of free to do whatever I wanted. He probably rolled over in his grave the day I decided to be a baker.”
“What did he want you to do?”
“Go into the family business. But the family business was a dying hardware store in Lawrence, and I didn’t have the passion to try to revive it.”
“This is the first time you’ve ever mentioned your dad,” Cas signs, a serious set to his brow.
“Yeah, well, I don’t like talking about him.” Dean shrugs and then continues signing. “I wouldn’t be a baker or out of the closet or even fat if he was still alive, so I think we’re all better off without him.”
Cas smiles softly at Dean but then his face falls. “Am I the first man you’ve dated?”
“No? Maybe. I don’t really date people in general. Or at least, I didn’t date people before you. Cassie and Lisa were the only serious relationships I ever had before this.”
“You’ve mentioned Lisa.”
Dean sighs and slaps a hand to his gut once more. Nervous habit, he supposes. “Can we go to the living room? My ass is in need of a couch.”
It takes Cas a second to get to his feet, his hand pressed to his stomach as well. Dean laughs and pinches his love handle as they walk into the living room together.
Once they’re seated, Dean signs, “You’ll end up as big as me if you’re not careful.”
“Maybe if my fiance would stop bringing home pie, I wouldn’t have to worry about it.”
Dean can’t help himself. He pinches Cas’ side again. “It suits you. People would be suspicious if you were dating a baker and didn’t put on weight.”
“We were talking about Lisa,” Cas redirects with a roll of his eyes.
“It was right after Cassie. We were together for six months. I asked her to move in with me, and she said no.”
“Why?”
“Lisa had a kid. He was a baby at the time, and she didn’t want to drag me into fatherhood. She knew it was too much for me, even if I couldn’t recognize it myself.” He laughs affectionately at the memory of that conversation. “She said I was trying to replace Sam. I hadn't seen him in a while, and I felt like he didn’t need me anymore. It took a couple years for me to admit to myself that she was right.”
“She sounds like a smart woman.”
“Yeah, I was lucky. She was way more mature than I was, and I’m glad she knew what I needed better than I knew. Even if it was hard on both of us.”
Dean drops his hands and looks at the coffee table. After a few seconds, Cas scoots closer to him, rubs his shoulders and kisses his temple slowly. Dean closes his eyes and grabs Cas’ arm to ground himself.
When they get back to talking, Cas asks, "Why were you so willing to commit to Lisa after not wanting to commit to Cassie?"
"Ben," Dean responds easily. "I'm much better at committing to familial relationships than..." He pauses his hands and then admits, "Romantic ones."
And Cas, easy as ever, smiles at Dean and runs a hand through his hair, right behind his ear.
It overwhelms Dean, sometimes, that Cas seems to understand and accept him just the way he is with no questions asked. When he expects to be judged and misunderstood, he receives a smile and affection instead. It makes him wonder how Cas is so good at this whole relationship thing.
So he asks him if he’s had any serious relationships.
Cas answers that before Dean, he hadn’t dated anybody in almost a decade.
Dean makes a noise of surprise, which Castiel doesn’t notice. Dean quickly signs that that’s insane and he doesn’t believe it’s possible that someone as handsome as Cas could’ve been on the market for so long.
With a shy smile, Cas replies, “Thank you, Dean, but I didn’t really go out of my way to date. I was focused on my career and my goal of becoming a foster parent. Plus, I’m deaf. I couldn’t just meet someone in a coffee shop.” He raises his eyebrows knowingly at Dean.
Dean grins widely back at him. “How stoked were you when you came into my shop and realized that this devastatingly handsome guy could speak your language?”
Cas ducks his head and blushes.
Dean chucks under his chin to get him to look up and then signs, “I’m right, aren’t I?”
Cas kisses the smile off his face.
The kiss deepens, so Dean grabs Cas by the hips and hauls him into his lap. Cas runs his hands up Dean’s belly, pinches a nipple, then wraps both arms around his neck to get closer.
After a moment, Dean pulls back and signs, “I think we should get married in the shop.”
**************************************
“You sure you want to get married in this shop?” Cassie asks skeptically before taking a sip of her coffee.
“Well, the tip jar gods have spoken."
Cassie just looks at him, unamused.
"I don’t really wanna make a big deal out of it.” Dean watches Claire and Alex walk through the front door and head toward the back. They give him a quick wave, and he smiles and nods his head. “A wedding, I mean,” he continues. “Cas and I...we have a, uh, good relationship. But it’s not—it ain’t big and romantic or anything like that. We got together in this shop, so it makes sense that we’d get married in this shop.”
The truth is that if he could use one word to describe his relationship with Cas, he’d call it quiet. Not because Castiel doesn’t talk, but because their love itself is quiet and undramatic. But god, he wouldn’t be caught dead saying that out loud.
“Dean?” Cassie asks.
“Hmm?”
“You didn’t hear anything I just said, did you?”
Dean scrubs a hand down his face and laughs. “No, sorry. What’d you say?”
“I was just asking you if Cas minds. If he minds that you’re not...super romantic?”
Cassie sounds so scared of offending Dean that he can’t help but bark out a loud laugh.
“I’m fucking sorry, Cassie."
“What?”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t, uh, be with you in the capacity that you wanted. That I couldn’t commit.”
She holds her mug between her hands and rubs her thumbs nervously along the ceramic. “I, um, thought about it a lot after that day I saw you two. And, you know, thank you—for apologizing, thank you. But you’re already forgiven.” She takes a drink. “I saw how you and Castiel are. His love for you is easy, like breathing. I don’t even think he’d notice or care if you didn’t love him the same. God, that sounds bad when I say it like that, but—”
“No, I know what you mean.” Dean ducks his head as he feels a blush creeping up his neck. “It is easy. I never have to, uh, do anything to prove that I love him. Not that I felt that way with you, but…”
“You’ve felt that way in every relationship.”
Dean nods, still embarrassed.
“What are you thinking about?” Cassie asks after too much silence has passed between them.
“I, um—no, it’s nothing.”
“Dean.”
“Well, I just...You’re so good with words and I always loved reading your articles, so I was just wondering if I could, you know, steal some of what you just said for my vows?"
Cassie leans back in her seat and laughs. “Yes, Dean, you big sap.”
“Well, I, uh, should get back to it,” Dean says, pointing toward the counter.
“Hey.”
“Yeah, Cassie?”
“I’m happy for you. You’re not easy to love, so I’m glad you found somebody who thinks you are.”
“You know what, I’m gonna ignore the insult in that and take it as a compliment. Thank you,” he replies as he stands and flips her the bird.
Cassie just laughs and thanks him for the free coffee.
As Dean is making his way back to the kitchen, Sam smiles at him from behind the counter.
“What?” Dean asks, annoyed.
“Nothing. You guys are just cute.”
“My ex and I are cute.”
Sam shrugs. “Yeah. But, like, the way you are with Charlie. You’ve just grown up a lot, is all.”
“Alright, well. Whatever.”
“Hey, don’t forget you have to—”
“Leave early to pick up my tux. I got it, Sammy.” Dean finishes with a thumbs up and then goes into the kitchen.
He’s not nervous about marrying Castiel. They’ve been planning for the last month or so, and Dean hasn’t freaked out even once. Cas actually had a minor meltdown over the fact that he doesn’t have any family members attending and isn’t close enough to any of his friends to ask them to be his best man.
Claire oversaw the conversation and stepped in with a goofy smile, proclaiming, “Best man here!” without signing it.
Dean had laughed while Castiel looked between the two of them, annoyed. When Claire signed for him that she’d happily give him away, Cas’ entire demeanor had relaxed before he wrapped her in a tight hug.
They had one fight. Dean had assumed they didn’t need to even hold a conversation about the cake—Cas was marrying a fucking baker, after all. But then Castiel brought it up one night while they were lazily making out in bed, and Dean had laughed and asked him if he was joking.
“Why would I be joking? It’s important we have a cake at our wedding, we should discuss who’s going to make it. It takes weeks to—”
Dean had gently pressed the tips of his fingers to Cas’ wrist to get him to stop talking. He then signed, “You don’t want me to make the cake?”
“Why would you make the cake when you’re the one getting married? I don’t want you to have to deal with that responsibility on the day of our wedding.”
“I wouldn’t make it on the day of our wedding, silly. Trust me, I’d feel a lot better making it myself than trusting some other company to do it.”
“I just don’t want to put that stress on you.”
“Are you telling me you don’t like my cakes, Cas?”
Cas had slept on the couch that night, even though they were in his house. Claire had gotten a good laugh about it in the morning.
And the next day, Cas had apologized and told Dean that of course he should make the cake.
Some things with Cas are easy, like deciding that there would be absolutely no flowers at their wedding, and some things are hard, like Cas getting mad at Dean for trying to lose weight to look better in his tux.
(He hasn't lost any weight, and he'll find out today how he looks in his tux.)
As Dean is rolling dough to make croissants, he hears the back door open and then Cas’ hand curls its way around his shoulder. Dean turns his head and smiles at him before pressing their lips together softly. He then turns his attention back to the dough.
Cas’ hand slides down to Dean’s hip, his thumb pressing hard circles against his apron as he stands next to Dean and watches him work.
It takes Dean about five more minutes to get everything into the oven, and by that time Castiel is standing behind him with his arms locked onto his hips and his lips pressing insistently to his neck.
A spatula and some pot holders fall to the floor as Dean lets go of his last bit of self-control and turns around in Cas’ arms, yanking him closer and sealing their mouths together in a slow kiss. Castiel immediately pushes his tongue between Dean’s lips, so Dean grabs his ass and pushes their groins together.
Cas is hard, which is rare, so Dean takes advantage of it and rubs the palm of his hand over the front of his jeans. Cas gasps and tilts his head back, and Dean nips at his neck.
They still don’t really have an active sex life, but every once in a while Cas magically gets in the mood and pushes into Dean all gentle and slow and then moans way louder than necessary right into his ear.
The first time it happened, Dean was so relieved that he actually shed honest to god tears afterward. Cas, of course, panicked and sloppily signed if Dean was alright and if he did anything wrong and if he was hurt—
“No, baby, calm down. I was just worried we’d never do that.”
Cas had frowned at him and taken a long time to think before answering. His hand movements were sharp and unsure as he signed. “We've talked about this, Dean. I told you I don't really like sex. Sometimes I might be in the mood and then it's possible for me to enjoy it, but for the most part I just don't think about it or prefer it. But I’m sorry I rarely ever want to have sex. We can have sex regularly if you’d like. We can schedule it. That way I’ll be prepared for it and I’ll get used to it.”
Dean had laughed and covered his face with his hand. He then signed, “It’s OK. I was just really starting to think something was wrong with me, but now I know for sure that you’re just a little weird.”
“Thank you," Cas answered sarcastically. "It's nice to know that the love of my life thinks I'm weird."
"Love of your life? Can we maybe tone it down some?"
Cas shook his head no.
Dean ran his knuckles over Cas' cheek before signing, "I don't think you're weird. Plenty of people don't like sex. I haven't met any of them, but I'm sure they're out there."
Cas rolled his eyes and slapped at Dean's hands as his way of saying "shut up."
With a laugh, Dean had curled up next to him and buried his face in the crook of his neck. He squeezed his growing love handle then moved his hand up to his chest and drew an X over his heart.
Cas had sighed and pulled him closer.
Now, back in the kitchen, Castiel lets out an obscenely loud groan and Dean has to press his hand over his mouth. Dean is shaking with laughter, so he loses his rhythm over Cas’ groin, but it’s too late anyway. The door opens, and Dean jumps away from Cas innocently.
“Dean. Tux,” Sam says from the doorway, one hand covering his eyes.
“Right. Yeah.” He clears his throat awkwardly and takes Cas’ hand. “We’re going.”
Cas is laughing by the time they get out back to Dean’s car. Dean frowns at him before shoving him against the driver’s side and kissing his neck. Cas is still laughing as he wraps his arms around Dean’s back and slides them down to his ass.
After a minute or two, Dean pulls away so he can say, “It went well with Cassie today.”
Castiel smiles his soft, barely there smile and replies, “Do you feel better?”
“I do, yeah. She helped me figure out some things about our relationship, which was surprising."
“Good, I’m glad you’re figuring things out three weeks before you marry me.”
Dean punches him lightly in the shoulder and kisses him again. “I knew I wanted to marry you a long time ago, asshole. That part wasn’t hard to figure out.”
**************************************
At 3:47 p.m. on the day of Dean and Cas’ wedding, Sam bursts into the kitchen of the bakery and says, “We’ve got a problem.”
“Yeah, I know. I can’t tie this stupid bow tie,” Dean says from where he’s standing in front of the sink mirror futzing with his tie.
“No, Dean. A real problem.”
Dean turns in exasperation and gestures for his brother to get on with it.
“Every customer we’ve ever had in this place is at the door.”
Cas bursts through the door then, too, and signs, “We’re going to break fire code if we let all of these people in.”
“They won’t all fit anyway,” Sam replies. “We need to figure something else out.”
Dean scrubs a hand down his face and signs, “Cas, we’re not supposed to see each other.”
Cas makes an annoyed face at him. “As if you care about wedding traditions.”
“Dean!” Sam shouts. He takes a deep breath and signs, “We can’t just turn all these people away, all of them are loyal customers.”
Dean plants his hands on his hips and looks down in thought. “Give me some time to think, Sammy. Take Cas with you.”
“Dean, the ceremony starts in 12—”
“Five minutes!” Dean yells.
After they leave, Dean relaxes and closes his eyes. He then finally ties his bow tie on straight.
Five minutes later, Charlie, Alex and Kevin herd everyone out into the street and direct helpers to move the chairs outside. Because Jody is too busy to do it, Donna calls up some friends at the police force and by 3:58 p.m. the entire street has been shut down with cops manning both ends. The boutique on the other side of the street is the only business open this late on a Saturday, but Dean is friends with the owner, Tessa, so she had already closed her shop for the wedding anyway. Dean’s never felt so grateful for small town life.
At 4:07 p.m., Dean and Cas walk hand-in-hand down the middle of the street while their friends and random customers stand on either side and watch. When they get up to the makeshift alter (a music stand with a Bible on it and a small rug for them to stand on), Jody tells everyone to have a seat and thanks them all for coming even though they obviously didn’t RSVP.
Claire is standing on Cas’ side wearing a long, flowy red dress while Sam is on Dean’s side in a plain black tux just like Dean and Cas'. Eileen is standing next to Jody signing everything she says.
Dean barely hears any of it, and he definitely doesn’t see any of it either. He’s looking at Cas and swinging their hands between them and is just barely stopping himself from bouncing on his feet.
They sign their vows. The crowd seems a little miffed at the lack of translation, especially when Castiel tells Dean that loving him is the easiest thing he’s ever done and the people who understand sign language “aww” like a bunch of saps. Dean knows that actually speaking his vows would've cheapened the moment. He would've been so caught up in feeling embarrassed and vulnerable in front of all these people that it wouldn't have felt like it was about Castiel at all.
After they exchange rings, and right before they kiss, Dean puts a hand on Cas’ chest and then uses his index finger to draw an X right over his heart.
Cas grabs his hand, laces their fingers together and pulls him in for a kiss.
**************************************
"Oh my god, hurry up."
"Claire," Dean chastises. He waits for her to look at him before he continues, "Give him some space."
Claire takes the smallest of steps back and flashes a fake smile at Dean.
"OK! All done," Sam declares as he straightens up and hands the pen to Dean. He doesn't seem to notice that he almost smacked right into Claire when he stood up.
Dean looks at the document and nods at Sam and Eileen's signatures. He then turns toward Cas and signs, "We're officially married. Licensed and everything."
Castiel gives the sign for "OK," then he looks very seriously over at the guest in the room.
"OK, and now the more important one," Billie says as she pulls out a large folder full of papers and sets it directly on top of the marriage license. "You know the drill, I only need one more signature from each of you. Semantics."
Dean hands a pen to Cas and points at the paper where he's supposed to sign. Once they've both signed it, Claire claps her hands together and exclaims, "Fuck yeah."
"Hey, watch your language, young lady," Dean says with a smile. "Don't talk like that in front of your fathers."
"I turn 18 in two days, you can't control me." Claire flips Dean the bird with both hands and moves them up and down in rhythm.
Cas taps Dean's shoulder and then signs, "Why is our daughter flipping you off?"
Dean winks at him. "She's just excited."
"I can't believe we pulled this off," Claire says. "Making sure you guys got married before adopting me. I mean, holy shit, I turn 18 in two days."
Dean puts his arm around Cas and kisses his temple. He then says, "Well, yeah, it's a shotgun wedding."