If you somehow missed it, this is the sequel to Fame Crazy, which is the sequel to Strings Attached, so if you haven't read those yet, what are you waiting for? Go read them!
"Will you marry me?"
Castiel slaps a hand over his mouth, his eyes wide. It takes him a moment to find words — any words at all.
"That — you — this —" He pauses and takes a deep breath to clear his head. "Yes! Very much yes!"
"Oh, thank god," Dean breathes. "Otherwise, this would have been really awkward."
He stands back up, and, amidst the applause of not just their friends but all the other people nearby, gives him a hug. As they pull apart, Dean takes the ring out of its box, then takes Castiel's hand and slides the ring on his finger. Castiel holds his hand up to look at the small silver band for a moment, a smile on his lips.
"You know," Dean says, "I've been planning this for over half a year, and never, in these last six months, did it occur to me that I have no idea what to do with this." He holds up the ring box.
"Just throw it out?" Castiel suggests. It's just a box.
"But what if I need the box to return it when I decide you're too annoying and I dump you to the curb?" Dean asks teasingly.
Castiel slaps his shoulder playfully.
"Aw, our first fight as an engaged couple," Dean says as though there's a lot of sentimental value there.
"I take it back," Castiel deadpans. "I'm not marrying you."
"Ah, no take-backsies," Dean says with a grin. "You're stuck with me now."
"Oh no. What a tragedy," Castiel says jokingly. He takes Dean's hand and presses a kiss to his cheek. "I love you."
"I love you, too, but something tells me you already know that," Dean replies, holding up Castiel's hand with the ring. "But we do actually have reservations to get to, so we should do that."
Castiel sighs dramatically. "Fine."
As they walk towards the Crystal Palace to eat, they don't drop each other's hand, staying much closer to each other than necessary.
"You've really been planning this for six months?" Castiel asks as they walk.
"I planned this whole trip around this," Dean tells him.
"That is so beyond extra," Castiel says with a laugh.
"To be fair, when your tour ends, football starts up again, and there was no free time for us between them," Dean reminds him. "If I had to carve out a few days in the middle of your tour for this, so be it."
"Well, I'm glad you did," Castiel tells him. "I can honestly say this might be the best day of my life, and I've had a lot of eventful days these last few years."
"Might be?" Dean says as if he's offended. "Cas, I worked hard on this! I deserve better than might be."
Castiel chuckles, shaking his head at him. "Okay, today is the absolute best day of my life," he amends.
"Much better," Dean says with a grin.
"Was everyone else in on this?" Castiel asks.
"Nope," Dean replies, a hint of pride in his voice. "They had no idea 'til you did." He pauses, then adds, "Well, Lucifer knew, but that's it."
"You told Lucifer, but not your own brother?" He's both surprised and a little amused by that.
"Well, when you say it like that, it just sounds weird," Dean says.
"If you say it any way, it sounds weird," Castiel replies.
"That's actual pretty true," Dean admits.
They wait by the fence as Lucifer goes to check them in, and that's when everyone else decides it's okay to come up to them. It seems fitting that the first person to say something is Sam, who gives his brother a friendly bro hug, complete with the back pats.
"Congrats, man," Sam says. "It's been a long time coming."
"Don't I know it," Dean replies with a grin.
Gabriel walks over and gives Castiel a hug, which he uses as a chance to whisper in his ear, "Your ring would be cooler if it was a ring pop."
Castiel can't help but laugh. "Take that up with Dean, not me."
"I will," Gabriel replies firmly.
"Take what up with me?" Dean asks.
"The ring," Gabriel replies. "It's not candy. You've failed as a boyfriend — fiancé? — and as a person in general."
Dean chuckles. "You're right. I'm so sorry. I really should have thought of that," he says sarcastically. "Maybe the wedding bands will be ring pops."
"They better be," Gabriel replies. "And I think now is the time that I tell you that if you hurt my little brother, I will kill you. That's how engagements work, right?"
"I would have been disappointed to get through the day without a threat," Dean replies, amused. "Don't worry, though. I have no plans to hurt him without his consent."
Gabriel raises an eyebrow. "I actually do not know how to respond to that, but I'll take comfort in knowing that you value consent. I think."
Next to come over is Bobby, who gives Dean a brief hug with a heartfelt, "Congratulations, kid. It's about damn time."
Charlie pops in next, wrapping her arms around both of them at once. "Congratulations! I can't believe it took you seven years for this! You guys are so cute together! Proof that gay love is the strongest love."
Everyone else says their brief congratulations, and soon, the only one who hasn't is Lucifer. Castiel looks around, puzzled, until he finds Lucifer watching from a few feet away, a small smile on his face and a baby in his arms. Castiel gestures for him to come over, so he does, but he's not running or skipping with excitement as they had expected.
"You're awfully quiet," Castiel observes.
"Well, I really don't have a whole lot to say," Lucifer replies with a shrug. "I've known Dean would pop the question today for months, and I knew you'd say yes, and I knew we'd get awesome pictures of you two being cute in front of the castle, and, voila, everything went according to plan."
"Even so, I expected at least a little excitement," Castiel says.
"Oh, I'm definitely excited for you," Lucifer says. "Don't get me wrong. Just because I'm not jumping up and down doesn't mean I'm not excited. It just means I don't want lil Alex here to end up with brain damage." He kisses the top of his daughter's head, and she giggles.
"Yeah, that's fair," Castiel agrees.
"I feel like I should give you a hug, but I don't have arms," Lucifer says. "Pretend I just gave you a hug."
Castiel chuckles. "It's the thought that counts, I guess."
"And here's my obligatory 'Dean, if you hurt my little brother, I will kill you' speech," he adds.
"Gabriel already did it for you," Dean tells him. "And, honestly, I'm a little more afraid of him and his pranks than being Bee Movied to death."
"Hey, I'll have you know that I can be very intimidating," Lucifer says, pouting. "Gabriel's not the only scary one."
"Yes, I'm very scared of you and your collection of country music," Dean says sarcastically. "What are you going to do, tie me to a chair and make me listen to Taylor Swift's entire discography?"
Lucifer scoffs. "What are you talking about? This is supposed to be a threat, not a favor."
They begin calling families into the building, starting with the Novaks. They're lead to their tables, where they've been separated for the sake of convenience but they're still near each other. Castiel tries to ignore the phone cameras trained on him after people doubtlessly recognized his last name.
Even though he has just complained about feeling sick a few hours ago, he takes a few pancakes from the buffet anyway. Pancakes are fairly healthy, so it's probably a good idea to have them now instead of something gross like more chicken nuggets later.
Dean comes back to the table with a huge pile of food, and, knowing him, he'll eat it all and probably still go back for seconds. The other three at the table — Claire, Lucifer, and Hannah — are somewhere in between; not pigging out, but not very reserved, either. Alex is sitting in a chair between her parents, curled up and seeming ready to go to sleep.
Castiel finishes eating fairly quickly, and spends a few minutes just sitting there, fiddling with his ring out of boredom. Winnie the Pooh comes to them first, and most of them get up to give him a hug, but Dean just sits there and watches.
"Hey, buzzkill, make yourself useful." Claire hands him her phone. "Take a picture."
Dean rolls his eyes. "'Kay, get in."
Claire picks Alex up and stands on one side of Pooh Bear, and Lucifer stands on the other side for a picture. Then Hannah gives him her phone and gets a picture of just her and Winnie the Pooh. Dean holds a hand out towards his boyfriend, doubtlessly expecting his phone, as well, but Castiel takes his hand instead and drags him towards Pooh Bear, almost knocking his chair over.
"You're really gonna make me do this, aren't you?" Dean deadpans.
"Yes, yes I am," Castiel replies, handing his phone over to Hannah. "Smile!"
Dean doesn't smile for the first picture, but Hannah annoys him into it for one picture. Winnie the Pooh seems to think this is an amazing opportunity to be annoying, because he wraps his arms around Dean in a hug that the boy doesn't return, and Hannah gets another picture. Winnie the Pooh pulls Castiel in, too, for yet another picture, until he leaves to visit the next table.
"That sucked," Dean deadpans, but Castiel can see a smile starting to form on his lips.
"It was your idea to come here," Castiel reminds him.
"I just wanted to get in the park early," Dean replies. "Plus, it's an all-you-can-eat buffet. How could I refuse?"
Castiel chuckles. "You're such a dork." As he takes his phone back from his cousin, he asks, "Can I post about our engagement, or is that something you want to keep quiet?"
"I literally proposed in the middle of Disney World," Dean reminds him. "I'm not really concerned about privacy."
"Touché."
"Oh, by the way," Claire says, "I got some pictures of you in front of the castle being all coupley and I don't want your gross romance in my photo album, so do you want the pictures, or can I just delete it?"
Castiel chuckles. "Send it over."
It only takes a few moments until a few pictures show up in Castiel's messages. The first one is with them walking hand in hand down Main Street and towards Cinderella's castle. The second one is a little closer, with Dean on one knee. The next is them hugging, then, finally, Dean putting the ring on.
"These are so cute!" Castiel says with a grin.
"I hope you think so, because I was literally crouched on the ground trying to get a good one," Claire replies.
"Talk about commitment," Castiel says with a laugh. "This is why you're the best."
"Lucifer recorded the whole thing, too," Claire tells him. "So now you can always look back on this."
"Wait, really?" Castiel smiles — a genuine smile, which doesn't happen a whole lot. "Oh my god, you guys are the best. You're seriously — I love you guys so much."
"I would've done a thing, but I didn't know this was happening," Hannah tells him. "None of us did. So, when you hear the excited squealing in the background until Lucifer shushes us, now you know why."
Castiel chuckles. "Well, I'm glad you could've been here, at least. That's better than anything else you could've given me."
"Hey, if you're done eating, want to hold le child?" Lucifer asks, gesturing to his daughter in a chair.
"Sure." Castiel walks around the table to pick Alex up, then sits back down with the baby in his lap. She whines softly, but settles down quickly.
Castiel posts the series of four photos on his official Instagram, the cover photo as the one of Dean on one knee, and writes out a long, heartfelt caption, not because he particularly wants a long, heartfelt caption — the fact that they just got engaged should be enough of a public "I love you" — but because he just needs something to do.
"Eight years ago, I remember walking by the high school football field when this really cute junior caught my eye. It took over a year until our first actual conversation, in the band room over an old Kansas song. Through our ups and downs and major life changes, we've always found our way back to each other. Now, I'm happy to say that we're engaged, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with @impala67 (photo creds @lucikeepschangingmyuser)"
He links that post to Twitter, and then switches to his fun Instagram for his fans, where he posts the picture of Winnie the Pooh hugging an unamused Dean, which he captions, "imma marry him."
Content, he puts his phone back down on the table, and Alex starts whining softly. Castiel chuckles and stands her up on his lap, holding her up by her stomach. She reaches for him, and Castiel hugs her to his chest. She reaches up as if trying to hang from his neck. Castiel ducks his head to help her a little bit, but instead of reaching for his neck, she taps his nose with the palm of her hand.
"Yes, hello," Castiel coos. "I'd boop your nose, too, but then I'd have to let go and you'd fall over."
Alex mumbles something unintelligible and puts the palm of her hand against his mouth. Castiel kisses her hand, and she giggles, pulling her hand back. She sits down, her legs casually thrown on each side of Castiel's. She reaches her hands out to him, and he presses his own palms against hers. She wraps her hand around his finger, dropping her other arm to her side. She must notice the ring then, because she lets go of his finger and taps it.
"That's my ring," Castiel tells her in the infamous Baby Voice™️.
She wraps her hand around it and slides it up his finger about an inch. She lets go for a few seconds, then slides it up a little more.
"Do you wanna see my ring?" Castiel asks.
Alex twists it around his finger, accidentally sliding it down slightly in the process.
"Here, hold on," Castiel says, sliding his ring off and handing it to her.
Alex takes the ring in both hands and holds it up, looking at it in the light. She brings it back down and turns it over in her hands a few times, then brings it to her mouth, sucking on the edge. Castiel gently pushes her hands away from her mouth.
"Ah, nope, no choking allowed," Castiel tells her.
Alex just looks at him for a moment, then puts the ring to her mouth again.
"I think you misunderstood me," Castiel says, pulling it away again. "I said don't choke on it."
Alex pauses, then starts to suck on the ring again.
"Okay, that's not gonna do." Castiel takes the ring from her and puts it back on his finger. It's covered in saliva now, but he can't really bring himself to care.
Alex whines softly and reaches out for his hand, her fingers sliding across the small metal band but not moving it. Castiel closes his fist, hiding the ring from her view. She stares at his hand for a moment, then hits it gently, and his hand springs open again. She giggles and reaches for the ring again, spinning it around his finger.
"Aw, y'all are adorbs," Lucifer says with a grin.
"I'm going to kidnap your child," Castiel tells him. "Hope you don't mind, but she's mine now."
"Hey, if you want her for the rest of the day, I won't complain," Lucifer tells him. "More vlogging for me!"
"But more pictures of Alex floating around the internet," Claire adds. "Which is really a win for everyone else because they get to see her face everywhere, but still."
"You might want to get used to that now," Castiel says. "It's going to happen every time she does anything with me in public."
Claire sighs. "I know, but it's not fair. She's just a baby. Is she really going to spend her whole life in the spotlight just 'cause she's related to you?"
"Probably not," Castiel replies. "Give it a few years, and I'm sure people will leave her alone unless she decides to use her platform for something."
"I don't know if that's comforting or not."
Alex reaches for Castiel, tapping his chin with her hand. Castiel slides her towards him and holds her close.
"Me neither," Castiel says. He presses a kiss to the top of her head. "But either way, she's going to be fine."