Cas awoke early the next morning, out of habit more than anything. Dean was sprawled out beside him, and he had a raging hangover. He slowly dragged himself out of bed, and into the living room to find some painkillers.
Charlie was already in the kitchen, frying some bacon, immune to the side effects of alcohol, as she always had been. 'Morning,' she said brightly, smiling at him.
Cas groaned by way of greeting and leaned on the counter, head resting on his palm.
Alfie snuffled softly on the couch, but did not wake.
Charlie's smile was wide, and she hummed as she cooked. 'I'm finally getting married, Cas,' she beamed. 'Now that it's legal.'
'Please, as if legality would have stopped you,' Cas smiled weakly.
Charlie rolled her eyes. 'Right, but now other people will have to call her my wife too.' She served up some bacon on a plate for Cas and stood in front of him, on the other side of the counter. 'You'll be my best man?'
Cas choked in his bacon. 'Me?' he said.
'Yeah, you, dummy. Who else?'
'But- but, you're a girl, you can't have a best man.'
Charlie rolled her eyes. 'You can be my maid of honour, if that makes you feel better.' Charlie laughed at his expression. 'Cas, we're gay, we can do what we want, so what do you say?'
Cas smiled. 'Of course I'll be your best man.'
Charlie clapped her hands together. 'Yes! Awesome! Okay, so the wedding is next month.' She pulled her phone out and opened the calendar on it, showing Cas the dates. 'We're having it on that Friday, and we're having our joint bachelorette party on the Tuesday before. Everyone's invited, including Sam and Dean, and it's a costume party-'
Cas groaned.
'Come on, Cas, it's my wedding.'
'Fine,' Cas smiled, 'we'll come up with something.'
Charlie came around the counter and threw her arms around him.
'Ow, Charlie,' Cas winced.
'Sorry,' she said sheepishly, letting him go.
'I hope you're not expecting me to make a funny speech, or anything.'
'You have to do a speech!'
'I'll do a speech.'
'All right, do a speech.'
Charlie went back into the kitchen to make more breakfast, and the smell of sausages roused both Dean and Alfie.
Dean emerged from their bedroom, hair ruffled, and eyes half closed. He trudged over to the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Cas's waist, leaning on him from behind.
'You want some breakfast, Dean?' Charlie asked.
Dean nodded. He tightened his grip on Cas, lightly kissing his head.
'How are you feeling?' Cas asked softly.
Dean just groaned in response, and Cas snorted.
'You should drink more water next time.'
'Eurgh, I'm nauseous enough already, can you two stop?' Alfie said, sliding off the couch and onto the floor.
Dean laughed at him, then slowly walked around the kitchen making ginger tea for everyone.
The day was spent quietly chatting after Cas decided he was too hungover to open the bakery. By the end of it, however, Charlie had packed and was preparing to leave.
'Do you have to go?' Alfie asked.
'Sorry, guys, I've got a lot of planning to do,' Charlie grinned. 'Catch you squares later.' She blew them all a kiss and departed.
{How are you feeling?} Dean asked Cas, moving close to him.
{Better} Cas smiled.
Dean kissed him gently, and slipped his hands under Cas's sweater.
'Alfie...' Cas murmured, pushing Dean away.
'I'm out,' Alfie said, hurrying to the door, tripping over Gracie on his way out.
Dean laughed and kissed Cas again. This time, Cas didn't stop him.
Cas began working on his best man speech the next day, but got distracted preparing for Christmas. Soon, the bakery was filled with gingerbread, Christmas tree shaped cookies, and little cakes cut and decorated to look like presents.
'Wow, you've really outdone yourself, Cas,' Sam said when he dropped in for lunch.
Cas smiled. 'We usually have Christmas in here, seeing as my apartment is so small. You and Jess are welcome to join us.'
'Why- why would Jess want to join us, I mean, she probably has plans, or something,' Sam stammered.
'Right,' Cas said, rolling his eyes. 'But if she does happen to be free, she's welcome to come.'
'Yeah, sure, I'll tell her.'
'Sam?' Cas said as Sam was leaving.
'Yeah?'
'If Dean and I were this obvious, I'm surprised you didn't say something sooner.'
Sam blushed, but left without another word, leaving Cas to chuckle to himself.
Dean continued to spend most of his free time in the bakery. He came in after work most afternoons, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth.
'I don't know why you don't just leave,' Cas would say. 'You see me every day, you don't have to stay at that place just because it's closer.'
Dean would merely shrug and refuse to answer, usually searching for some sort of distraction. He would rearrange the decorations, or go back into the kitchen and attempt to make something. This would usually cause Cas to temporarily forget their ongoing argument, in favour of preventing him from burning down the kitchen.
Christmas morning was frosty and it took Cas several tries to unlock the bakery door. Sam had brought Jess 'as friends', and they all gathered around the tree Cas had erected to open presents.
They had all chipped in together to buy Cas a new, less confusing coffee machine, which he immediately switched with the old one. He read the instructions carefully, then slowly made everyone a cup of coffee with it. They were slightly cold by the time he finished, but they were all correct, and Dean smiled at him proudly. He also found a card from Emily and Gabriel buried under the tree. He fiddled with it for a few minutes, turning it over in his hands before propping it up on the counter. He didn't know who had put it there, but the way Dean avoided looking at him when he opened it gave him his suspicions.
Alfie received several different art sets, ranging from paper to sponges and brushes to paints.
Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's gift to him, a tiny, novelty gavel. 'I'm not a judge, Dean.'
As for Dean, he received a bag of quality jerky from Alfie, a small model of the Impala from Sam, and recipe book for baking from Cas. 'I've got something else for you later,' Cas murmured in his ear, so no one else would hear.
Dean grinned and got up, going to the kitchen to start on the Christmas dinner.
Cas stood by a let him work, only interfering in the kitchen when Dean asked for his help, or when he was making a few pastries to go with it.
Mrs Holden made an appearance during the afternoon, and kissed Cas on the cheek when he gave her a bag of special Christmas muffins as a gift.
After dinner, Alfie helped Cas set up his laptop on the counter, so they could video call with Charlie and Dorothy.
'How's the wedding coming?' Cas asked them.
'Really good,' Charlie said. 'I think we're just about ready. What about your speech?'
'Almost done,' Cas smiled.
'Oh, by the way, who's coming to the party?'
'Dean and I,' Cas said.
'Yeah, sorry I can't make it,' Sam said. 'I've got an important meeting that day, but we will definitely be at your wedding.'
'We?' Charlie said.
'I - I mean - just that -'
Jess rolled her eyes at Sam's stammering. 'We'll be there,' she said firmly. 'Come on, Sam, it's not like they don't already know.'
'But-'
'Sam and I are together. Obviously. We have been for a while.'
Dean snorted. {Did you think you could hide it from me?} He leaned over and shook Jess's hand, and she wore a smug smile on her face for the rest of the day.
'Merry Christmas, guys,' Charlie said, before ending the call.
It was late, and the sky had darkened, so everyone helped Cas clean up the bakery before making their way home.
Dean hung back while he waited for Cas to lock up, chuckling slightly when Cas again struggled with the the lock, having still not replaced it.
They walked slowly home together, arm in arm, with Cas leaning his head on Dean's shoulder.
Once inside the apartment, he fed what was left of the chicken Dean had cooked to Gracie.
Dean quietly went into their bedroom and brought out the picture of his mother, placing it carefully on the coffee table in the living room. He placed a small sprig of holly in front of it and smiled at her.
Cas watched him, waiting until he moved away from the picture to approach him. 'Are you ready for your present?' he asked.
Dean nodded.
Cas slowly began to undress him, undoing the buttons of his shirt one by one. 'Merry Christmas, Dean,' he murmured.
'Merry Christmas, Cas,' he whispered back.