flower || destiel

epilogue.

loving you is an odyssey.

castiel twisted the ring around his finger. dean laid fast asleep next to him, arm around his torso. cas smiled, and leaned over to kiss dean. he stirred slightly, then hummed softly in approval and went back to sleep.

"i love you," castiel whispered. he knew dean wouldn't answer, but he took his finger and traced the outline of his ear.

cas looked over to the night stand on dean's side of the room, and looked at the photo that sat there. the moonlight reflected against the glass frame, illuminating cas and dean laughing with a glass of champagne. dean's snow white suit looked like one for a king, nicely pressed and free of stains, with a single yellow flower in his pocket. cas remembered the photo of them during the wedding reception, where sam made a joke about how cas was stuck with them now.

he glanced at the clock, and instead of the time, found his cat, houdini, blocking his view. he rolled his eyes and lazily pet the cat. houdini purred softly, then decided to get up. cas followed. he was restless, and was eager to stretch his joints.

he crawled under dean's arms awkwardly, careful not to wake him, and got out of bed, then followed houdini down the hallway. he was careful not to step in any kitty litter or his food bowl. as he blindly walked through the house, bigger than his old apartment, he let his fingers graze the walls next to him. he smiled. they walked together to the back porch, houdini leaving to chase a lizard that ran off. "typical." cas rolled his eyes again at the cat and smiled. he wouldn't want it any other way.

he sat on the couch dean had just ordered last week, "because i don't want my baby to have an existential crisis on the cold concrete floor". it was warm and comfortable and the pillows smelled like dean, so he didn't complain much. the clock on the wall, barely lit by the moon's rays, said it was a quarter past 4, and cas debated whether or not he should wake up dean to make a 4:20 joke, but instead he stayed on the porch, and scratch houdini's ears.

it's been two years since anna died, and six months since castiel got married. it's been three months since they got houdini. he found him one day in an alley when he walking to the library. he was completely black with blue eyes, and though it took cas hours of convincing, dean let him keep it. "but as soon as he starts scratching at my shit, he's hitting the road." dean had warned. so cas trained houdini carefully, and bought him three different scratching posts and lord knows how many toys. he never did scratch at the furniture, and anytime he crawled under dean's soft hands, he spared a head rub.

the sun had begun to peak over the trees, and cas had realized he had been thinking for over two hours, and it was now almost 6:30. houdini was now sitting on his shoulder, something the cat did often when he was cold, and sniffed cas' ear. he twitched his shoulder, and the cat jumped a full three feet straight into the air, then leaped onto an empty chair. behind him, he heard laughter, and heavy footsteps.

"thought i'd find you out here."

dean stepped over the cat. he slowly walked over to cas with a thick blanket, and he shivered, suddenly remembering he wore nothing but briefs. dean sat next to him on the couch and threw the blanket over them. they watched the sun rise with their naked shoulders against each other.

"you alright?"

it was two words, plain and simple, but it brought a wide smile to castiel's face. "yes." he answered. he looked over at dean, who returned his look with a glare. "okay, who are you, and what have you done with my baby?"

castiel laughed loudly, and though dean was mostly confused, he chuckled as well. "seriously. are you okay? you're really smiley this morning, considering it's not even seven yet."