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Dean woke up earlier than he wanted to; he wasn't having good dreams so he just gave up trying. He sighed as he sat on the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands, elbows on his thighs. He groaned in irritation as he rubbed his face then ran his hands over his head. Finally getting the energy to get out of the bed, he grabbed fresh clothes before he headed toward the bathroom down the hall.Feeling much better after a long, hot shower, Dean walked out into the kitchen, planning breakfast in his head as he did. He stopped short in the doorway to the kitchen, watching in wonder as Cas carefully stirred batter in a bowl and read a recipe, little glops of batter on his coat sleeves and the counter. Dean felt all of his tension melt away at the sight of Cas, he felt lighter than he had in days.“Hello, Dean.”“Hey, Cas,” Dean said quietly, feeling the lightness in his chest, “Uh, what're you doing, angel?” he winced inwardly at the endearment, hoping Cas wouldn't notice.Cas looked up, blue eyes sparkling in amusement, “I'm making breakfast, human.”Dean snorted, holy fuck, he missed Cas' off-kilter sense of humor when he was gone, “Where've you been? It's been a couple of days,” he leaned against the doorway, feigning nonchalance.“I was looking for something. It took longer to find than I thought it would,” Cas paused as he added crushed pecans to the batter, gave it another quick stir to distribute the nuts, then started spooning the batter onto the hot griddle, watching carefully for the appropriate amount of bubbles to indicate it was time to flip them, “I did text. And call,” he pointed out. He knew (now) how much Dean had wanted him to stay all those years, how much it had hurt when he couldn't/wouldn't stay because he thought he was unwanted unless useful. On the rare occasion Cas went out alone now, he made sure to stay in touch with Dean. He was a fully powered angel again, with no wars to fight, no demons to entangle himself with, no Leviathan or Empty to be devoured by, so he didn't actually need anyone to fret over him, but he had to admit that it felt. . . nice, good, no, amazing that Dean DID still fret.“I know. Thanks, Sunshine,” Dean grinned as he walked into the kitchen and went to the counter next to Cas, patted his angel on the back, then picked up the carton of eggs and package of bacon, “I'll get these started.”Cas frowned lightly. He'd been concentrating so hard on getting the pancakes perfect that he'd forgotten about the eggs and bacon, “But it's your birthday. I was going to make you breakfast.”Dean froze in the act of putting the bacon in a frying pan, blinking back unexpected tears – Cas was making him breakfast? And he thought Jody making him breakfast had been a tear-jerker, “Well, Cas,” he cleared his throat, “We'll just cook breakfast together. That's a good birthday in my book.”Cas looked over at Dean carefully, brow furrowed slightly, as if trying to discern if Dean was telling the truth, then his face cleared and he gave one of the small, affectionate smiles that are only for Dean, “Okay, Dean.”Dean smiled in return and got back to the bacon and eggs, finding reasons to brush up against Cas. They couldn't seem to stop touching each other since Dean had gotten Cas back from the Empty, like they both needed to be constantly reassured that the other really was there. He knew damn well he and Cas still had to have a serious talk, but he didn't want to ruin things between them by saying the wrong thing. He knew that he loved Cas. He knew he had been in love with Cas for, well, he wasn't sure, exactly. He knew he'd felt something for Cas right from the beginning – their 'profound bond' was real, whatever anyone else wanted to say about it. Fuck all of those angels, demons, and anyone else who tried to belittle their relationship, whatever their relationship was. Dean had once told Cas he was like a brother – he'd winced internally even as he said it. His love for Cas was not brotherly, even then he'd known that. He just didn't know any love outside of brother or friend. Cas was so much MORE, so different. Dean hadn't known how to define it. It had just always been there. It was there even when Cas betrayed him and broke Sam. Dean had tried to shake his feelings off then, he was mad dammit and he had every right to be mad. But he still couldn't stop loving Cas, even then.Every time he lost Cas, it was worse. When the Empty had taken him, Dean made it through getting rid of Chuck, but then he just gave up. Let himself be skewered on rusty rebar by a fucking vamp-mime. He had been mad at Sam for taking him to a nearby hospital, but in retrospect, what a shitty way to go out. He'd been forcefully benched from hunting while he healed and in that break, he'd read everything he could find about angels, afterlives, other realms, anything he could find that even remotely connected. Research wasn't his favorite thing in the world, but for Cas, it was worth it. And in the end, he DID find a way to save Cas. With Jack and Rowena's assistance, he had gone into the Empty, found Cas, and gotten him out in a way the Empty would never realize. As far as that black goop monster was concerned, Cas was still there.Cas had been out of the Empty for MONTHS before he'd taken a trip to Heaven to visit Jack. Dean knew where he was and knew he was safe, but it still made him antsy. He couldn't concentrate on anything, so he'd just deep cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms and had started on the bedrooms when Cas came back. It had been 3 days and Dean felt like it had been 3 years. Judging by how Cas had buried his face in Dean's shoulder while they hugged far longer than was strictly necessary, he'd felt the same. This trip was the first since then that had been longer than a few hours. Most of the time, if Dean or Cas wanted to do something, the other went with.Sam, standing in the doorway of the kitchen watching as Dean and Cas cooked breakfast together, had noticed all of this, of course. Sam is plenty of things, but stupid is not one of them. He knew his brother and Cas were obnoxiously, stupidly in love with each other and had been since. . . forever. Ever since Dean had come back from Hell with an angel on his shoulder, they'd been weird about each other. Dean had found someone new to form a codependency with and at first, Sam hadn't been sure how to react. He got over it, eventually happy that his brother, who was also his parent, had finally found someone outside of him. Sam smiled as he watched them. He still wasn't quite sure if they were dating or if they were just being their usual selves, but More. They stared at each other even longer, stood even closer, hugged more and longer, gave each other these Looks when the other wasn't watching. Sam was going to have to resort to drastic measures soon. Maybe lock them in a room together and not let them out until they talked. Or had sex. Whatever.“Sammy, stop spying on us and help. Set the table or something, man. Stop being a creeper.”“I'm not-” Sam huffed as Dean and Cas laughed, but he set cups, coffee, and juice on the table, grabbed plates (“Are you eating Cas?” “It all just tastes like molecules. But, yes.”) and silverware and helped load up the plates, happy that Dean had made him turkey bacon.After Dean and Cas washed the breakfast dishes, Cas turned to Sam, “Sam, your brother and I are going out for his birthday. We will be gone all day. If you have a birthday gift for him, now is a good time.”Dean stared at Cas, goofy little smile on his face, then shrugged at Sam, “Yeah, Sammy, cough it up. Cas is taking me out for my birthday.”Sam rolled his eyes, but held up a finger and went to his room to grab Dean's present. He handed it to him – a huge bag of Mambas candy, which Dean had recently discovered and become immediately addicted to. With their lack of God-given luck, however, he told Dean admonishingly, “Don't eat the whole bag in one sitting and brush your teeth after!”Dean sighed heavily, rolling his eyes as he accepted the bag, “Yeah, yeah,” he didn't say thanks, but Sam knew it was implied.Minutes later, Dean and Cas were gone and Sam was on a video call to Eileen, making plans on the off chance Dean and Cas didn't come back from their day-long birthday trip as an official couple.Sam made an emergency video call to Eileen at 11pm, after Dean and Cas came back, “We can drop the plan. They got married. I'm coming over. They're, uh, celebrating," Sam cringed when he heard what sounded like someone being slammed against a wall, then laughter, "I think they're gonna be loud and I-" Sam widened his eyes when he heard a loud groan followed by what sounded like Cas growling, then the unmistakable sound of a headboard hitting the wall rhythmically, "Jesus Christ," Sam grabbed his go bag and ran out of the bunker to the sound of his brother and friend going at it like rabbits.