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It was the day of Castiel's birthday, a year after they met and eleven months after they became a couple, that Dean handed Castiel the tickets. Cas had gasped and hugged a beaming Dean, clutching two all-access passes in their names to the concert he had been secretly dreaming of going to since he heard the dates of his favorite band's tour. It was going to be the first time he would ever go to a concert, let alone the one the band he'd loved since the first time he'd heard them.
Now, two weeks later, Cas fidgeted nervously, hopping from one foot to the other as if he needed to pee, getting steadily more excited as the starting time approached, leaving Dean to hold the drinks, not trusting Cas not to spill them with his nervous shaking. Even with the overload on his senses, a wide grin graced Dean's face.
Ever more people milled around them and the air was thick with voices and human noise, filling the arena with the scent of excitement. By the time the stage lights finally flicked on, revealing the instruments, Castiel was thrumming with tension and Dean himself was starting to feel a bit nervous. He reached out for Cas' hand, feeling his boyfriend squeeze his in return with a wide smile on his flushed face, eyes alight with bliss.
"It's happening baby, happy birthday." Dean grinned, giving Cas a kiss on the forehead. Cas' eyes softened and he looked at Dean with his normal gaze of loving adoration, a bit like a puppy.
"Thank you, it's going to be amazing. I love you." He closed the last few centimeters and kissed Dean's smile. Dean couldn't help but grin lopsidedly and kiss him back. Yes, this was either going to be fucking amazing or a complete disaster, but he was furiously hoping for the former.
"Love you too." Just as he spoke, the band walked on stage and Cas' eyes widened comically, they were so close they could clearly see the guys' faces.
A wave of cheers and screams started immediately, but Cas seemed too stunned to move. For a moment, he did nothing, but then he started wriggling excitedly, tugging on Dean's jacket sleeve.
"It's starting! It's actually happening!" He exclaimed with glee. Dean just grinned and watched as the guys waved, picked up their instruments and played a few trial chords.
After a short speech, the concert started and Cas sang along with all the songs, happily dancing and having a good time. Dean watched him, getting into the spirit even though his palms were getting sweaty and his heart was racing for completely different reasons. It was only after half the concert had passed and Dean was convincing himself that maybe they'd forgotten, that the chords of a very familiar song rang through the arena. Cas turned to Dean, eyes shining.
"Our song." He said simply, locking his arms around Dean's waist with a soft smile. With that Dean was transported back a year and two weeks, back to the coffee shop that he worked in part-time to pay for the apartment he lived in whilst he finished his last year at university.
* He had been working the graveyard shift, serving coffee to all the college students like him looking for a decent cup of Joe at 3AM. He kept the music on low, reading through the essay he was writing for his European literature class, only looking up occasionally, making sure that the other poor souls hadn't fallen asleep on their books. Finally he had slid his essay back in his bag carefully, stretching to get the kinks out of his lower back and started to put wipe the surfaces and quickly checked the stocks in the back. As he cleaned up, he turned the volume up slightly, happy that by that point there weren't any customers to get annoyed by it. It was getting close to half past five, the time he got off, and he was exhausted, but wiped down the espresso machine energetically, singing along to the music.
It's you and me, the way it's supposed to be.
Baby I'm here. Let me in, let me love you.
Hold my hand and just jump, we'll fall in tandem.
He jumped a mile when a sudden, slightly timid and gravelly voice joined his. Hey hey now, don't cry. We'll be scared together and give it a try.
Dean whipped round, green eyes meeting sleep-fuzzy blue ones. Taking in the tousled hair and crumpled comfortable clothing, along with smudges of what looked like acrylic red and purple paint on his hands, forehead and neck, Dean deduced that he was an art student at his college. Getting over his surprise, he finally managed to make his mouth and vocal chords function.
"Hey, you know the tunes?" Mr sex hair nodded with a sheepish smile.
"They're my favorite band." Dean nodded with an internal grin, then started.
"Oh, sorry, you probably wanted coffee. What can I get you tonight... this morning?" he corrected himself with a grimace.
"Just a hot chocolate with lots of cream and a green tea, please. I've just finished my big project, so I'm here to celebrate actually getting sleep in the next week. After that I've only got a couple of exams and then I'm home free." Dean grunted sympathetically, turning to make the drinks whilst blue eyes talked.
"So what you studying?" Dean asked, measuring out the mixture for the chocolate.
"Religion, restoration and your average art major." Dean had to stare at the guy, eyes wide.
"What?" Blue eyes queried, propping his head in his hands, elbows on the counter as he curiously watched Dean work.
"Dude, all that and you're still alive? I take my hat off to you, sir." Dean held the cup firmly in one hand as he mimed pulling a hat from his head and gave the genius a little bow. He cracked a grin at Dean's theatrics and yawned widely.
"Well, I would not call this state of perpetual exhaustion life, but yes. Do you also frequent the university?" Dean nodded, added a massive dollop of cream to the hot chocolate and popped the mug in front of the guy before busying himself with the tea.
"Yes, I'm an English major with a minor in medieval customs." Dean grinned at the others slight confusion at the odd mix of lessons.
"Here you go, your tea." Dean placed it next to the genius with a flourish.
"Thank you... Dean." The man squinted at his name tag and finished with a smile.
"No problem..." Dean trailed off, not actually knowing his name.
"Castiel. By the way, aren't I meant to pay for these drinks before I consume them?"
"Nice to meet you Castiel, the drinks are on the house, consider them my congratulations on finishing your important project." Dean winked and raised a hand to stop Castiel from arguing. Castiel turned slightly pink and smiled gratefully. They chatted until Meg, the girl in charge of the next shift, finally came to relieve him, almost half an hour late, and for once, Dean didn't mind her tardiness. Castiel walked with him out of the door into the warming air, winter having finished shortly ago.
For a moment they just stood there in front of the shop, neither really wanting to leave. Dean scratched the back of his neck and took a deep breath.
"I would really like to see you again, Cas." the nickname rolled smoothly off his tongue and his new friend smiled timidly, before holding out a small piece of paper with digits on it.
"Me too, Dean."
Reaching out to take the slip of paper, Dean acted instinctively, leaning in and slowly pressing a soft kiss to Cas' lips before flushing bright pink and stepping back, making sure to put the paper securely in his pocket. Cas' eyes were wide and for a moment Dean thought he may have overstepped his boundaries, but then a delighted grin shyly unfurled across Cas' face, lighting it up. Dean gave him a small wink before heading to his car with a spring in his step, humming happily under his breath. *
The young couple swayed to the music, singing along to each other, happy as could be.
The song was over all too quickly and Dean started to almost dread what came next. The main singer stepped back up to the microphone, smiling widely.
"Hey! You guys having fun?" Screams of 'yes!' filled the stadium, deafening.
"I've been informed that there's a special someone in the crowd this evening." murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"So, Castiel Milton, could you please come onto the stage?" Next to him, Cas was frozen in surprise. Dean took his hand and tugged it to get Cas to follow him to the steps at the side of the stage. Security stopped him and everyone was staring, their passes were checked and Dean caught the main singer, Adam's eye. He nodded and Dean pushed Cas up the steps onto the stage where he walked on shaking legs towards Adam's beckoning arms. Once there, Dean stood off to the side, grinning at Cas' look of pure surprise, terror and admiration. Adam lifted the microphone.
"So, this is Castiel, I hear you're a fan from my half-brother over there." Dean grinned sheepishly as Adam indicated him with his head and Cas turned with a question in his eyes. Once Cas was distracted by Adam once more, Dean fumbled in the pocket of his jacket, closing his fingers around the small velvet box. Adam was talking, both to the crowd and Cas, and you could feel the crowd starting to understand. Dean moved forwards slowly, as he and Adam had rehearsed.
"So, Castiel, last thing before I let you go back. I think your boyfriend has something to add." Cas turned to where Dean stood, right next to him, smiling nervously. Dean took the microphone gingerly, taking Cas' free hand, feeling a bit better when he realized Cas was still in the dark.
"Cas, for me music is freedom and life, the best thing there could possibly be. Or so I thought, until I met you. You are funny and sweet and slightly crazy and I love you more than anything. You are my music, the one thing that I would do anything to keep safe and I hope that you won't kill me for doing this, but," Dean let go of Cas' hand as he sank to one knee to the gasps and screaming of the crowd, "would you do me the honor of marrying me?" Cas froze and Dean thought that maybe he'd broken him, but then he gasped and covered his face, bright red and surprised. A few laughs went through the crowd at his delayed reaction, but most of them were aww-ing or holding their breath for his answer. When Cas finally lowered his hands he was crying tears of happiness and nodding furiously, smiling so wide you'd think he would split his face open. Dean fumbled the simple ring out of the box he'd opened whilst he was speaking and slid it onto a shaking finger.
Cas dropped to his knees and threw his arms around Dean's neck to the cheers of the public, squeezing him tight and repeatedly whispering 'I love you' in his ear.
Adam wiped a tear from his face as Dean managed to pull both of them to their feet and passed the mic back, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Thanks so much Adam, I owe you one. Great gig so far, don't muck it up now because of your tears." Dean joked and Adam shoved him gently, congratulating Cas.
"Let's hear it for Cas and Dean!" The crowd went wild and they waved their way back off the stage, to their original places, thanking all the people that congratulated them as they passed by.
After a moment the gig started up again and the now-engaged couple had a whale of a time, curled into each other as they danced.
In the car on the way home, it suddenly occurred to Cas.
"When were you going to tell me that the singer of my favorite group is your half brother?" he asked, sleepy and happy.
"Well, it never really came up, so I was planning on using it for something like this." Dean grinned sheepishly.
"Hm. By the way, I am going to get my own back for asking me in front of thousands of people and at a televised event. But first, hot chocolate."
"Baby, we've got the rest of our lives for you to get revenge, there's plenty of time." Dean smiled softly, reaching to entwine their fingers. As Cas nodded off, he was accompanied by gently humming.
It's you and me, the way it's supposed to be.