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It was difficult for Castiel to understand his husband’s crazy demeanor about their child’s first birthday party. Little Jack was still a baby, a toddler even, and by the amount of poop and drool he could produce, of course he wouldn’t remember the affair. But Dean Winchester, known at times for exaggerating a great deal for small things, was frantic because his son – Cas’ heart melts every time he hears him say the word – was turning one in a few days and it needed to be greatest, most amazing birthday bash a one-year-old could ever have.
This meant, though, that a large amount of money needed to be expend and that is something Castiel Novak was not happy about.
“Dean”.
“Cas”.
“No”.
“C’mon!”
“No”.
This discussion kept going for days. Dean wanted ponies and inflatable castles and clowns and acrobats and weird stuff that they couldn’t afford and it was Cas’ job to remind him of that. But of course, Castiel is a softie and sometimes he cannot deny his very hot husband some tiny request. Even if this tiny request would cost them a lot.
Sam Winchester loves birthday parties, especially kids’ birthday parties because they all share the same thing: gift bags and cake. He actually enjoys that all his friends are getting married and having children because more children means more birthday parties and more birthday parties means more cake for him. It’s win-win, really, he always says.
When his brother got together, finally, with his best friend and decided to adopt, Sam was the first to celebrate because he would now get a permanent birthday party invitation every year and tons of cake. He should’ve known that his big brother would have other plans.
Arriving at their house, everything seemed as it should. Helium balloons with cute forms were all over the living room, pictures of Jack decorating the walls starting from his birth. Sam smiled, the little bugger had grown so much since then. Sometimes he couldn’t believe that Dean was a father; it’s not like he didn’t look the part, Dean loved children and he had basically raised Sam when they were young. But his brother had always fled at the first sight to commitment and a baby was the biggest commitment to exist. And yet, here he was, with his own child and his partner, happy.
Sam was happy too.
He would be happier if he found some cake in this goddamned house, though.
Out in the backyard, there were some tables and chairs occupied by their neighbors and friends. Jody Mills and Donna Hanscom, both police detectives and partners, were sitting with Ellen Harvelle, owner of a local bar/diner. The three women were chatting and laughing while keeping an eye on Jody’s daughter Alex and Claire Novak, Cas’ niece.
Claire’s parents, Jimmy and Amelia were making conversation on their own near the snacks table with Bobby Singer and Eileen Leahy, a neighbor. Sam smiled at her. She saw him back and waved. Sam signed are you having fun? She nodded and signed back with a we’ll talk later , along with another smile.
That put Sam in a chipper mood. That mood quickly dampened when a small blond guy showed up next to him out of nowhere.
“Sammy!” the man patted him in the back. “How’s my favorite giant doing?”
He coughed. “Gabe.”
It’s not like Sam hated his brother-in-law’s older brother…but he did, kind of, yes.
“Oh come on, Sam. Don’t give me the cold shoulder again, I thought we were okay after what happened in California”.
Sam scoffed. “The restraining order is still valid; in case you were wondering.”
“Okay, okay. You should be nice to be me now. I have something you want.” Appearing from Gabriel’s back, he was holding two bags of candy. Oh, one of his main reasons to love kids’ parties was finally within reach. Sam took them and hummed gratefully.
Gabe smiled. “Am I forgiven now?”
“Absolutely not.” Sam popped a sour candy into his mouth and grinned.
In the end, Dean didn’t have the exact first party he had envisioned for his son but he had to agreed, it looked pretty neat. True, there weren’t ponies nor castles nor anything extraordinary, but they got a good clown/magician/puppeteer. Garth had been a recommendation from Bobby, no less. But the guy was actually pretty good and he made the little guests laugh. Besides Claire and Alex, the other kids that had been invited were Ben, from Dean’s high school girlfriend Lisa; Missouri’s, his boss, granddaughter, Patience; and Krissy Chambers, an old friend’s daughter from Sam. They were all around the same age and went to the same school.
The guest of honor, however, still didn’t want to come out. Jack had taken too long of a nap and still refused to wake up. Dean knew it was overkill for wanting this party. The kid wouldn’t even remember it. But he would, he would always know if he ruined Jack’s first birthday party and he couldn’t afford that. He had to make it great, even if he couldn’t make it grand.
And for it to be great, the actual birthday boy had to come out!
“You need to calm down, Winchester. Don’t let your bad temper fuck up this either.” He reminded himself.
He heard a scoff behind him, he turned around and saw his husband holding Jack. “Language, Dean. Your son may not have spoken his first word yet but soon he will and it better not be a bad one.” Cas then smiled at him and that melted Dean’s nervousness.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He placed his hands in Castiel’s waist and snuggled him from the back. Jack was looking at them, curious looking. Dean smiled.
He loved his family. He pecked Cas on the cheek, breathed on his neck and sighed. This was good and the party was enough.
The party was soon to be over; the only thing missing was cutting the cake. And for that, Gabriel was really excited and looking forward to. And by the look of Sam, he was too. Gabe wasn’t exactly friends with the youngest Winchester but he liked riling him up whenever he had the chance. Why? It was damn funny! Especially since he noticed the longing looks he gave to one Eileen Leahy. Funnily enough, Gabe was friends with Eileen; Sam didn’t know this of course, which made it even more fun.
Sam was now speaking with Eileen, speaking and signing at the same time, quite sloppily for his taste but you couldn’t fault the guy for trying. He had gotten better at that, Gabe thought.
Eileen kept smiling at him, her eyes saying everything she probably hadn’t figured out.
Gabriel had, of course. He laughed out loud.
He turned and went back inside the house, looking for his brother. What he found was a very in need of help Dean who asked him to hold Jack for a minute while he helped Cas with something in the kitchen.
“You want me to keep Jack out of trouble? Me? Who’s never been allowed to even carry him?” he asked, pointing at himself. “This fellow?”
Dean rolled his eyes. “Yes, you, Gabe. You’re the closest right now and I really need to fix this. Now, can you be a good uncle for five minutes or I’ll have to call Sam?”
That last comment made Gabriel’s ears perk up and saying yes. Anything to be better than the sasquatch. He extended his arms to take the little bugger and Jack gladly went with him. Gabriel felt…strange. After a whole year, he had barely touched the boy. He liked watching him sleep, he sometimes even smelled his head because, well, baby scent! He couldn’t understand how they could smell so good but they did. He brought his nose close to Jack’s head and sniffed. Oh man, that was good.
He was so enthralled by his nephew that he didn’t notice certain someone sneaking behind him.
“What are you doing, Gabriel?”
“For God’s sake!” he jumped, pulling Jack closer to him. “Dammit Sammy, warn a guy next time, don’t you see I have important cargo at my care?”
Sam smirked, feeling smug. “Oh, that’s exactly what I see. For a minute there I thought it was a joke because you’ve never cared enough to take care of Jack.”
“Excuse you!” Anger fueling Gabe’s body. “I adore this kid, thank you very much. It’s the mistrusting ape of your brother that never lets me!”
“Within good reason! You’re a clown!”
“Ah, ah, I prefer the term trickster, FYI.” Sam jeered at him, but said nothing else.
Jack, who had kept quiet to the entire discussion, suddenly started to stir and make noises. He looked uncomfortable by something, alerting both of his uncles. Gabriel sat at one of the couches and placed Jack on one of his legs. Sam soon follow.
“What is it, buddy?” Sam asked. “You want something?”
Jack nodded. The kid perhaps wasn’t ready to speak yet but he knew how to communicate when necessary. He opened his mouth and pointed at it with his thumb, right before biting it.
Gabe and Sam looked at each other and exclaimed at the same time. “He’s hungry!”
Neither of the adults knew what they could give the birthday boy, until Sam’s attention was caught by one candy bag left on a nearby table. The man took it and started looking for something edible for the kid.
“Anything that works in there?” Gabriel asked.
“There’s a lot of chocolate here. Maybe 3 Musketeers ?”
“I guess that’s not bad, right?”
Sam stuttered. “I, I don’t know.”
They stared at each other again and shrugged. Sam took a bit of the fluffy thing on the inside of the candy and sighed. “Do you think he’d liked nougat?”
“Why? You don’t?” Gabe asked.
Sam’s nose scrunched. “No, nougat is so not good.”
“How can you say that?” Gabriel gaped and stared at this man with unrefined taste. “Nougat is a whipped, soft and delicious form of art and you, sir, don’t deserve it. Now, hurry up and give some to Jack, he’s starving.”
Jack, at his cue, made a whimper. The youngest uncle just rolled his eyes, took some more of nougat –while cursing the fluffy thing under his breath– and brought his finger closer to the kid’s mouth.
At that, a shriek was heard. “WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING TO MY BABY?”
Both men jumped and turned to look at Castiel, fuming at them.
“What do you think you’re feeding to my baby?” Cas’ eyes went straight to the bag, then to the opened chocolate bar and finally to Sam’s hand. “You’re giving nougat to my baby? NOUGAT?”
“Nougat!” Jack shouted.
Cas was furious. The imbeciles of his brother and brother in law were trying to give a way-too-chewy piece of garbage to his boy, right after Dean and him were managing a crisis with the cake (Jack’s name was misspelled somehow). And he would still be furious if it wasn’t for what he just heard.
He took Jack into his arms, away from his brother’s and stared at his eyes. “Jack, son, what did you just say?”
“Nougat!”
“Holy shit.” Dean said, astounded. He carried a small cake with the words Happy Birthday, Jack . The ‘a’ looked weird compared to the other letters but you could still read it, but nobody really cared about that. “He said something.”
“Nougat!”
“There it is again!” Dean laughed. He passed the cake to his brother and hold Jack, along with his husband. Cas smiled at that. “Buddy, you spoke. You have any idea how amazing that is?”
Jack tilted his head, did the smallest shrug in history and then said in a normal tone, yet again. “Nougat.”
Cas wanted to cry and he was pretty sure the sniff he heard came from Dean. The couple stared at their son, then at each other and went outside to tell the rest of their family and friends the good news, cake long forgotten.
Not for Sam, though. He was having a blast.