Set in AU

Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester have been dating for three years. They've been sharing an apartment for nearly a year now, and things couldn't be better between the two.

There was just one small issue.

Neither of their families knew they were dating.

Cas's family was very religious, and most of his siblings and his mother are homophobic, so he preferred to keep his love life out of the conversation at all times, content to stay in the closet.

Dean's family knew he was gay and didn't care, but they were a bit overeager. Basically, that meant that every time Dean's mother heard about another gay man, she insisted on trying to get Dean and the man together, no matter who it was. It was a little gross, in Dean's opinion. 

Unfortunately, since both families assumed that the boys didn't have a significant other, they insisted that their sons come home for Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving. The family meal.

The holiday everyone dreads because they have to talk to their relatives.

Sighing, Dean and Cas agreed to go spend the day at their respective homes, and then have a Thanksgiving of their own after they came home.

But Thanksgiving is always a trying holiday, especially when your family hates the fact that you're single.

*****

"So, Castiel," Cas's mother began slyly. "Have you met any interesting women lately?" Cas fought back a sigh.

"Nope," He forced a smile. His mother pouted.

"Have you even spoken to a woman?" Cas rolled his eyes.

"Plenty of my friends are girls, Mother,"

"That's not what I mean. You're 24, Castiel, it's time you found a nice girl and thought about settling down."

"Well maybe that's not what I want to do." Cas mumbled. 

"Maybe Hannah could fix you up with one of her friends!" His mother suggested. Cas's sister crinkled her nose in disgust.

"I doubt any of my friends would be interested." Hannah admitted. Their mother swatted at her.

"There are plenty of ladies at my hairdresser's with daughters around your age, maybe I could set you up with one of them!"

"I don't want to be set up with anybody." Cas insisted. "Can't I just find somebody on my own?"

"Isn't that what you've been doing so far?" His mother questioned.

"Yes."

"Well clearly, it isn't working. Now it's my turn." Cas covered his face with his hands. It was going to be a long night.

*****

Dean's dinner wasn't going much better. His brother Sam had gotten engaged to his girlfriend, Jess, a few weeks earlier, and both of them had shown up to Thanksgiving, Jess's ring shining and only making the fact that Dean sat alone at the dinner table even more obvious.

"So, Dean," Mary smiled. "Are you seeing anyone?"

"Can we not talk about my love life?" He pleaded.

"Oh come on, Dean, surely there's at least one guy you're interested in." John pressed.

"Food's good. You should eat more of it." Dean suggested.

"It's just," Mary sighed. "Little Sam's engaged. It seems like such a shame that you haven't found anyone yet."

"Or maybe he has, and he just doesn't want to tell us." Sam offered. Dean shot his brother a quelling glare.

"He wouldn't do that!" Mary insisted. "You know- there's a nice young man who works at the grocery store, and I think he plays for your side of the field, if you know what I mean,"

"Oh my god." Dean buried his face in his hands. 

"You two would be so cute together!"

"Please stop." 

"They won't stop until you at least have a boyfriend." Sam advised. 

"My cousin is gay," Jess proclaimed. "Maybe I could set the two of you up together!"

"No-" Dean started.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Mary exclaimed. "We'll have to work out all the details after dinner."

"Kill me." Dean whispered.

"If it would spare you any misery, I would." John offered. 

*****

Cas stumbled home at ten, kicked off his shoes and promptly flopped down on his bed with a groan. He didn't get paid enough for this shit.

Dean showed up at midnight and flopped down next to boyfriend with a pained groan, neither of them bothering to change out of their fancy Thanksgiving clothes.

"So your Thanksgiving was shit too?" Cas asked.

"Yep." Dean deadpanned. "Apparently, I have a date with Jess's gay cousin now."

"Nice. I'm being set up with six women from my mother's hairdressers."

"Wanna swap?"

"How about we both cancel?"

"I can see it already. I'm gonna die of plague that week."

"I'll break my leg- that'll get me out of dates for months."

"Oooo, good plan." Cas wriggled over so he could rest his head on Dean's chest, his boyfriend's arm wrapping around him.

"Do you think we should change out of our suits?"

"That's tomorrow me's problem."

"Good thinking." Cas snuggled closer to him.

"I was thinking," Deans tarted, running his fingers through Cas's hair. "What if I told my parents about us? It'd be like a trial run for your family, and it would get them off my back about dating."

"They'd only start bugging you about when you're going to marry me."

"At least it'd be something different." Cas glanced up at him.

"Alright," He agreed. "If you want to tell your parents about us, then go ahead."

"You realize that means you're gonna have to show up to an extremely awkward meet the parents dinner, right?"

"I'm okay with that." 

"It's a plan then."

They fell asleep, still in their suits, and didn't move until noon the next day.

*******

Dean and Cas went out their morning routine the next day, and Dean glanced at their voicemail machine, which had two unheard messages on it. Dean clicked a button, and their voicemail rang out through the apartment.

"You've reached Dean Winchester," His recorded voice called out. 

"And Cas Novak," Cas jumped in.

"Leave your name, number, and nightmare at the tone." There was a beep, and a nasally voice Dean didn't recognize cut through.

"Castiel, it's me," The annoying voice declared. "I have the PERFECT girl for you." Cas emerged from the bathroom, looking ready to kill. "Her name is Shirley, and she works at a diner- but she's got some big degree in Philosophy! You're just going to love her, I swear! Call me back so we can set up the date details and I can give you her number; I'd say it now, but I don't want that ridiculous hominid of a roommate of yours to steal her from you. Love you!"

The message ended and Cas slammed the delete button. Dean smirked into his coffee.

"So, Shirley sounds nice," He commented.

"Shut up." Cas glared. There was a beep, and the second message started to play.

"Dean! It's your mother. I'm calling to see if you're free on Friday to go out on a date with Marcus, you know, Jess's cousin? He had some plastic surgery go wrong recently, but other then that, I think you'll love him. And who's Cas Novak? I didn't know you had a roommate. Is he your roommate? Is he gay too? You should date him if he's gay. Is he listening to this? Hello Cas! Oh, Dean, if things don't go well with Marcus, I got the number of the grocery store boy so you can give him a call-" Dean reached over and pressed the delete button.

"What, you don't want to go out with Plastic Surgery Marcus or the grocery store boy?" Cas asked.

"Shut up." Dean glared. Cas smirked.

"Aren't families wonderful?" He asked.