Standing Together

Chapter 3

"Dean, you're rambling," Castiel interrupts, amuses.

"Oh, whoops, sorry," Dean says with a quiet laugh. "But what do you think?"

Castiel sighs. "I don't know. I really like my house in New York. I've lived there for years. I don't want to just ditch it."

"That's what you said last year," Dean reminds him. "But did you actually do anything there? Why don't you just stay in Massachusetts until you have to go back to New York for your next tour or whatever else you do over there?"

Castiel hesitates. "I guess that works, but I'm gonna need a lot of help getting my stuff from New York to Massachusetts."

"What, your seventeen boxes of awards?" Dean asks teasingly.

"I don't have that many."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you do," Dean replies. "I propose we shove them in boxes next time we're at your house, just to see if I'm right."

Castiel chuckles. "That's gonna be a lot of work, you know. That's gonna be a lot of boxes, and some of them are too high to reach without a ladder or stool or something, and if we're gonna move them anywhere, even just out of the room, I'd wanna make sure they're bubble wrapped so they don't break or get scratched —"

"My god, you weren't lying when you said it was a lot of work," Dean says with a laugh. "But if you wanna do it, I'd definitely help you out with that," he adds quickly.

"You're very committed to this, aren't you?" Castiel says with an amused smile.

"Anything to convince you that you do, 100 percent, want to live with me," Dean replies. "If you want another room full of awards, so be it. Or, like, a little shelf going all around the entire house and there's just a row of trophies just everywhere."

Castiel chuckles. "I kinda like that idea, but no, I'm just going to leave them there," he says. "I'll take my Grammy and that's it. It'd be too much of a pain to get all the other ones."

"You're gonna have to be more specific than 'your Grammy,'" Dean says. "Don't you have, like, forty of them?"

"Less than half of that, actually," Castiel says, amused. "But no, I just want my first Grammy. I'd like to keep that one around."

"Then we'll be sure to grab that," Dean says.

"But we're gonna have to wait a while for that," Castiel reminds him. "I've got a few more months of my tour, and you've still got football, and we've still got horribly incompatible schedules."

Dean chuckles. "Well, we'll make it work. Even if you have to fly down there while I'm playing an away game — or next time we play at MetLife Stadium. That's probably about half an hour away from New York City, five or take. That would work out, right?"

"Probably," Castiel agrees. "As long as I can bring everyone in one suitcase home, because I don't want to be that spoiled brat walking out of the airport with fifteen different bags."

"Yeah, but I'm sure that's doable," Dean says. "And if it's not, I'll make it doable, because I'm a committed individual."

Castiel chuckles. "You're the best."

"I know."

~~

They meet up with Jack at the candy store, because it's right by the entrance and just easier for everyone. Jack is there already, and he and his mother are having a conversation with a different family that Castiel can only assume are fans.

Castiel and Dean stay back a bit, waiting for the family to leave so they don't interrupt. Jack must not get the memo, because when he sees them, he waves them over, wearing a big smile, and they can't not go greet him.