Standing Together

Chapter 150

"Believe it or not," Dean says, "I found it at the grocery store."

Castiel shakes his head, amused. "You know what? Only you would buy a giant stuffed bear from the grocery store."

"That is probably true," Dean agrees. "Now, here, take your new best friend." He gently places the bear in bed, and it sits right by Castiel's side. "What are you gonna name him?"

Castiel raises an eyebrow. "I'm naming him?"

"Of course you're naming him!" Dean says like he should have known that from the start. "It's your job as a responsible bear owner!"

"Fair enough," Castiel says. "I am going to name him..." He looks the stuffed bear up and down. He's a cute little guy — little being subjective, of course; he's almost as tall as Castiel is when they're both sitting down.

Castiel runs a hand through his light brown fur. He's cute and he's soft. The bear is definitely hitting all the checks on the list. Castiel gives the bear a hug, and he's pleasantly surprised to find that he can add "cuddly" to the last as well.

"I've completed my examination," Castiel says, "and I've decided that his name should be..." He pauses, thinking. What name does he want? There are so many names out there; how is he supposed to choose?

"Think long and hard about this," Dean says cautiously. "He's going to have to live with this name for the rest of his life."

"I mean, he could always change it," Castiel says.

Dean shakes his head. "Securing a name change from the teddy bear courthouse is notoriously difficult these days. You'd have to pick a really bad name for it to be worth the time and money for your bear to change it."

Castiel snorts. Only Dean could turn a conversation about Valentine's Day into a discussion about the legalities surrounding teddy bear name changes.

He decides to play along and asks, "What are some examples of names I should avoid? You know, ones that would make him want to change his name?"

"That's a good question," Dean says. "I think I'd definitely put something like... I don't know, something like Javier would make the top of the no-no list."

Castiel stares at him. "'Javier'?"

Dean nods. "Javier. Horrible name. Do not do it."

"You really just pulled the name Javier out of thin air?" Castiel asks, gaping at him. "Just, randomly, for no reason, you just went Javier?"

Dean shrugs. "Pretty much."

"Why?"

Dean clicks his tongue. "Well, I was going to say Kevin 'cause I had a friend named Kevin in college, but then I actually thought about it and a teddy bear named Kevin would kind of be hilarious so I didn't want to cross that off your list — but you can't use it now that I've mentioned it."

Castiel nods slowly. That's definitely weird, but it's just kind of Dean-status weird. It still doesn't answer his question, though.

Dean continues, "I'd kinda already started my sentence though because god knows I don't think through any series of words that leave my mouth, so in my lame attempt to think of a substitute name, I just picked Kevin's friend Javi."

"You are such a strange person," Castiel tells him.

Dean beams. "Thank you!"

"I do still need to pick a name, though," Castiel says, thinking.

"And it can't be Javier or Kevin," Dean adds.

Castiel waves that off. He wasn't going to name the bear Kevin or Javier anyway. What other names are there, though? (Obviously the answer is 'a lot,' but that doesn't really help.) How about...?