The next morning, Castiel awoke to find Dean's arms wrapped around him protectively, and he smiled.
He flipped around so that he was facing the blonde.
He began tracing his facial features lightly, and admiring the scattered star-like freckles,kissing him gently.
Dean's eyes fluttered open, and he stared at Cas with a lazy smile.
"Hey." he whispered, almost not wanting to interrupt him.
The raven haired man blushed and froze.
"S-sorry...was that creepy? It was sort of creepy. I am sorry. I was practically watching you sleep and-"
Dean kissed him, shutting him up within seconds.
"Shut it. I'd do the same thing to you. It was adorable."
Castiel huffed and wiggled his way away from his boyfriend, sitting up.
"I'm making you breakfast again, whether you like it or not. Your birthday is still happening Cas."
The raven-haired man didn't see any reason to argue with that.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was Saturday, therefore, Sam didn't have to go to school, and Dean didn't have to work.
Castiel and Sam were sitting at the kitchen table, chatting quietly as the elder Winchester made pancakes.
After they ate, the three of them went off into their separate bedrooms.
Dean and Cas got into the shower, and it took longer than it probably should have.
Sam tried really hard not to think about that.
The Winchesters were headed off to the grocery store, to get cake, and something for dinner.
They were having a little family gathering, and they were going to be prepared.
Gabriel and Anna would be coming over later that afternoon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Winchester-Novak family of five, sat comfortably in the living room, between one couch and two goodwill arm-chairs, Johnny Cash playing quietly on the C.D player.
Castiel was sitting between Dean and Sam, well, actually, he was mostly sitting on or in Dean, however you want to put that.
Gabriel was leaning back in the ugly golden arm-chair, one leg swung over the other, eyeing his brother with a satisfied smirk.
Anna was next to her older brother in the baby blue chair, legs crossed pointedly, foot moving to the beat of the music.
There was a stack of nicely wrapped presents on the coffee table, which was in the center of their family circle.
"Alright, Frenchie, we're all ready. Go to town. What do ya wanna open first?" said Dean, grinning like a madman and tracing circles on his lover's hand.
Castiel blushed and scooted forward on the couch.
"CASSIE! I DEMAND YOU OPEN MINE FIRST!" Gabriel said, and earned multiple glares for his inappropriate behavior and loud tone.
"Calm your tits." snapped Anna, reaching over and hitting him playfully on the arm.
"Fine, Gabriel. I will open your gift first." Cas rolled his eyes, and found his older brother's poorly wrapped gift in the bottom of the stack.
"I asked him if he wanted help!" his sister added.
Gabe looked offended.
Sam laughed.
"Let's save Dean's for last, so open everyone's in whatever order, Cas. Doesn't matter."
"IT DOES SO MATTER!" the annoying dirty blonde whined.
"It's settled, I'm opening your gift. Stop whining and bitching."
He began neatly opening the present, being careful not to rip anything, of course.
There were two things in the package.
The first item was a black Modern English I Melt With You, t-shirt, with a charming picture from the single printed across the front of it.
The second was a collection of poetry, by Patti Smith, entitled; Early Work: 1970-1979.
Castiel gazed at his brother in amazement and gratitude.
"Oh, cool!" said Sam, the nerd.
Dean admired his face expression and smiled.
"I underestimate you, Gabe, you did a good job." Anna said, with a smirk.
Cas shook out the t-shirt and looked at it fully, caressing it and smiling.
He paged through the book and held it close to his chest.
"Thank you, very much Gabriel!" he cheered. "I love it. So much. You choose wisely. I've never read anything of Patti Smith's, and I've wanted to. I of course needed a t-shirt to go along with my devotion for Modern English. It's all perfect. "
"YAY!" shouted the elder Novak, jumping up in his chair. "You are so welcome bro."
"Alright! My turn!" announced Anna, pulling her gift from the stack and handing it to her brother.
This one was wrapped nicely and neatly, tied with a ribbon and everything.
Cas admired it, and smiled at his sister, who had chosen lavender wrapping paper and had doodled little flowers and hearts on the top of the package.
"That one first, I have two." she said.
He nodded and untied the ribbon, carefully, and pulled the rest of the beautiful paper off.
Inside the package, was a beautiful navy blue scarf, handmade, knitted by his sister herself. It smelled like jasmine and sandalwood, he noticed, as he brought it to his face.
"It's beautiful! Thank you so much, Anna! I'll need it especially as it gets colder. You know how I love my scarves."
"I made it mostly so I could hear you say scarves like a stereotypical gay man." she winked. "But, Cassie, you are very welcome."
He blushed, and glanced at Dean, who was grinning annoyingly.
"Alright! My other one!" she said, picking the other beautifully wrapped package out of the pile.
He unwrapped it, and stared, his mouth wide open.
It was a sketchbook, brand new, crisp clean white blank pages, ready for him, but the best part was, Anna had covered the cover in all the album covers the Smiths had ever released, ever, and she had wrote in french on the inside cover; "I love you, Cassie, you little nerd. Enjoy the beautiful faces of these men and be creative."
He got up off the couch and hugged her, thanking her once again, and then finally settling down back next to Dean, a smile on his face.
Sam got him the complete Star Trek series, since it offended him that somehow he had never seen it, and had told him to keep making his brother happy and take care of himself.
Cas really wanted to see Dean's present, but they all agreed that food and cake had to happen first.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After they ate, they collected back in the living room.
Dean switched the music to Patti Smith, and lit some incense.
They all sat back down together, getting comfortable.
"Dean! I'm tired of waiting! Where is your gift?" Cas whined adorably.
The emerald eyed man grinned, and handed a crappily wrapped package to his boyfriend.
"Why didn't you have Sam help you?!" he asked, jokingly, and they all laughed.
He unwrapped it, as carefully as possible.
It was a book.
It was the book.
It was See You Around, the actual, published, real book. With a cover, and shit, it was beautiful. Castiel actually hadn't gotten to read the official version.
The image on the cover was beautiful. It was their beach. The one where they had finally figured out what they felt for one and other.
After all this time, it was finally in print.
He looked at Dean, with tears in his eyes.
"It's lovely, darling. I'm so proud of you. Our story, you...you got it published, and everything..." he marveled, and wrapped his lover in a tight embrace. "Thank you."
"This is the first copy. It's yours, Cas. I'm glad you like it." he smiled, a light blush creeping up on his face. "And, I also wanted to say, I'm so glad you're here, and ok. I couldn't live without you, Frenchie,...I...I just.."
Now he was tearing up too.
There were various "Aww's" from the other Winchester-Novaks.
Two crying grown men, cutest thing ever.
"Before...I-I break down completely," he tried to calm himself down. "I have one more thing for you."
Castiel tilted his head and looked at him, his face red and tearful.
Dean pulled a necklace from his pocket. It was a single silver chain, with a simple charm, that was a small, rainbow colored triangle.
That was adorable enough.
Then, Dean pulled out the matching one he had on the whole time, that had been hidden under his shirt.
Cas broke down into tears once again, and kissed the blonde tenderly.
"I DUB THEE CUTEST DAMN COUPLE EVER!" Gabe said, too loudly
"Thank you Dean..Th-thank you." Castiel choked, ignoring his obnoxious older brother.
The rest of the night, they all drank wine, and danced around the Winchester's apartment like children.