June 4th, 2015

// Castiel //

Dean must've been in the kitchen, because Castiel could hear the oven beep. He grabbed his glasses, making sure to clean the lenses with his shirt.

"Dean, hon, are you fixing breakfast?" He asked, although he knew the answer.

"Yeah, grab a couple plates for us? It's done."

Castiel walked over to the cabinets and found there was only one clean plate. "Damn, I need to do a load of dishes. Okay, here's a bowl," he grunted, reaching for the bowl. "this'll do for now."

"Get over here, angel. You're left with just french toast, the bacon's all mine." Dean smirked, sitting down at the small table.

Cas wasn't bothered by that, Dean always took the bacon for himself. "Hey, Dean? Do you have the double shift tonight?"

Dean swallowed his mouthful of bacon and then talked. "Yes, Adam's called in sick the past few days. I'll have to cover his shift until he's back. Hopefully tomorrow's the last one, it's really getting to me."

"I hope so too. You really don't need to be working two eight-hour shifts back to back." Castiel said, getting a glass of orange juice from the fridge.

The next five minutes were silent. Well, except for Dean's chewing. Castiel could never break him of the habit, but it didn't bother him anymore. Dean quickly finished his food, and without a word from Cas, started filling the dishwasher.

"Dean, I said I'd do that. You need to go, so I'll get the rest."

"If you say so. I just wanted to help you a bit." Dean's mouth twitched into a small frown.

"Well," Castiel said, kissing Dean. "Thank you, but get going. The first shift is in twenty minutes. I love you, honey."

Dean returned the kiss. "I love you too." He took his leather jacket off the coat rack, grabbed his keys, and headed out the door.

Good, now I can call everyone. He had been meaning to, but never got the time until now.

"Hey, Cas. Something up?" Sam said, answering the Skype call.

"Kind of. I need all of you on here. I'm assuming you're all there?" Castiel tilted his computer screen back an inch.

"I'm at Chuck's with Gabe, and Michael and Luci are here for a bit. I can see if my grandma and uncle can come over. This have to do with Dean?"

"Yes, but it's not a bad thing. I hope it isn't."

Five minutes later, Sam's computer was sitting on the table. Castiel could see everyone on the screen, and started to worry. "I- I wish I could be here for this in person, but Dean couldn't take the day off. That, and you're a few hundred miles away."

Crowley spoke up, saying "It's alright, Cas. We know how busy you two are most days."

"Yeah. I just had a question for all of you. It's a major one, hence having everyone here. I uhh, I-" he sucked in a deep breath, steadying himself. "I want to ask Dean to marry me."

Luci smiled. Michael stared, grinning. Gabe almost screamed. Sam looked at Cas, not sure what to say. Chuck was trying to speak, but couldn't. Crowley started to mumble something.

Rowena was the only one who seemed to be able to reply. "I think these six meant to say you should. He's happy when he's with you, Castiel. He has been for years. He'll say yes, and he always will."

The others soon regained their ability to talk, Sam being the first one. "Cas, I know my brother. He's had a little more life in him since that freshman year, so yes. I say you should too."

Soon Michael, Lucifer, and Crowley agreed, leaving just Chuck and Gabe.

"Dad? Gabe? What about you two?" Castiel said, getting worried again.

"We know Dean, and we know you. I'm not going to argue, because there's nothing to argue about. Marry him, he's obviously yours." Chuck finally said.

"I'm with everyone else. I'll add one thing, though. Mom would be right here with us, screaming in delight. You know she would, Cassie." Gabriel grinned.

"She would, Gabe. I know she would. Thank you, everyone. I'd stay a little while longer, but I've got a ring to buy." Castiel replied, feeling good about their opinions.

"Alright, Cas. Bye!" Sam said, causing the other six to say the same.

Castiel said goodbye, ended the call, and got up again. It was only 11, so Dean wasn't going to be home for more than twelve hours. I guess I'll head to the jewelers, Castiel thought to himself.

Ten minutes and one unpleasant Uber drive later, and he was there.

"Hello. What're you looking for today? Necklace for her? Wedding ring? Earrings?" A man asked, approaching Castiel.

"What? No. I need to see the engagement rings," Castiel paused. "for men."

"I see. Any certain stones or colors?"

He thought about it for a moment, then continued. "Shades of green and/or blue. A black band, too. The other one I'm not sure of yet."

"Alright, here's our options."

There was one that Castiel had pictured, and it was perfect. It had a dark, river blue strip; then the faintest hint of forest green running alongside it. The black band was made of tungsten carbide. He didn't dare look at the price, it didn't matter anymore. The ring itself was so mesmerizing that Castiel knew he couldn't pass it up, no matter the cost.

"This one." He simply said, pointing to the ring.

"Good choice. We've got one that has the blue and green hues switched. That makes it a pair. Want to look at that one too?" The man said.

"Yes, absolutely."

He was taken over to the other ring. It too was perfect.

"Both of them. I'll buy both of them." Castiel said, sure that they were the right ones.

By the time he had bought the rings, an hour had pasted. Castiel didn't want to stop anywhere for lunch, so he just headed back home.

"Oh, hell! Why do I burn everything I cook?" Castiel grumbled to himself. He had tried to fix a simple grilled cheese, but apparently he couldn't do that without burning it. "I think I can salvage half of it?" he asked himself, poking the almost-burnt-black piece of bread with a fork.

A door quietly opened and closed, but Dean wouldn't be home for hours...

"If someone's trying to break into my apartment they did a terrible job." Castiel said through the silence, pulling out the pistol he kept in his belt. Dean does the same, even though it's usually never needed.

"You wouldn't dare shoot your brothers and Dean's family, would you?" A voice echoed.

"Gabe? Oh no, don't tell me all of you are here now. How'd you even make it, I talked to you five hours ago, the drive's eight at least." Castiel said, putting the pistol back.

"Sam and Crowley drove." That was all Gabe said before everyone else ran up behind him.

"Right. I- uhh," Cas paused again, staring at his younger brother. "just bought the rings. I got back about thirty minutes ago. Why are the seven of you here?" Castiel dumped the burnt lunch into the trash, it wasn't worth saving.

"Luci and Moose had the idea. They figured, 'let's surprise them and stay for a few nights before you ask Dean.'." Crowley stated, using Sam's old childhood nickname.

"Thanks for thinking of us, but Dean won't be back for another, uhh, ten hours." Cas replied.

"Actually, I called him. He said he was going to be able to head home around four. They found another person to cover that Adam guy's shift." Sam interjected.

"Great. I have our families in the apartment, and he's going to come home and be freaked out. It'll look like we're giving him an intervention."

"Cas, it won't. We've booked a couple hotel rooms for the remainder of the week. We're only going to be here with you two for tonight and Saturday night." Chuck commented, sipping on coffee.

Castiel just nodded and went to grab his computer and sit down. With college almost over for the two, Castiel had found a part-time job online. It wasn't one he loved, but it would do until him and Dean were done with college.

"Cassie? Do you need us to go ahead and leave for a while?" Lucifer stood by an empty chair, not bothering to sit down in it.

"I have to work a couple hours, at least until Dean gets home. Maybe we can have you all over tonight? It's Friday, after all."

Everyone agreed to be back at six, and Castiel was able to work for a little more than two hours before he remembered something. The rings, I need to hide them somewhere, Castiel thought to himself.

"This place doesn't have any good spots for the boxes to hide. Wait-" Castiel turned to the closet, hurriedly opening the door. "There we go. He shouldn't find them there."

After he was done talking to himself, he placed the box back in the corner. Hopefully, the old shoebox filled with pictures was ordinary enough to hide the two velvet boxes.

"Cas? Angel, where are you?" Dean yelled, walking into the kitchen.

"I'm right here, I was just in the bathroom."

Dean practically jumped over to Castiel, hugging and kissing him.

"Dean, what're you-" Castiel whispered.

"Sam said that everyone was in town. I guess they wanted to see us. He wouldn't tell me why, but I hope it's good." Dean blurted.

"Well, they practically broke into the apartment to see if I was home. I had the pistol out and was going to shoot, but I heard Gabe. We then decided on dinner at six, here. Since there's nine of us, I thought we'd just have pizza delivered. Okay with you?"

"Of course." Dean smiled and went to their shared bedroom.

Everyone arrived at six, as said, and they ate. Once in a while, someone would talk, but then it would go silent again.

By ten, their families had left, leaving the apartment much quieter.

"Dean, I think we need to head to bed. You've already had a couple beers, so maybe you won't be up until two again." Castiel called from the bedroom. He glanced down at the box again, thinking about what he'd do.

"Fine, no promises," a slightly tipsy Dean wandered in. "c'mon Cas, I'm cold."

Castiel crawled under the covers and squirmed until his head was buried in Dean's neck.

They said their 'I love you's' and drifted off by 10:30.

A/N-

Long chapter again. These next few are probably going to be the same way, but I'm not sure.

What day of hiatus it was:
Six, I think.

What chapter completed?:
Six.

Also- I loved writing this chapter so much. (I kinda don't after editing it three or more times, but it's fine!)

I think that's it for today.

<3