"I like that one," Dean announces. "Ooh, and that one," he adds a few moments later. "And that one. And — I just like all of these."

Castiel smiles sheepishly. "Thanks."

"I can't believe you never released these," Dean tells him, handing him his song notebook back.

"Well, I can only release so many songs," he replies with a shrug. And there's also the fact that these are more personal than the ones he usually releases. Even just showing them to Dean, he feels so open, so vulnerable. After all, his songs are a gateway into his brain, and that can be a scary place. It's not one he wants people to explore — especially not those closest to him, the ones whom he truly cares about.

"Hey, your birthday's coming up, isn't it?" Dean observes.

Castiel nods. "Yeah, couple weeks."

"Big twenty-one," Dean adds. "How're you gonna celebrate?"

Castiel shrugs. "I don't know. Sit at home drinking apple juice out of a juice box and watching Sponge Bob reruns like the mature adult that I am?"

"No way," Dean protests. "We're gonna celebrate. Well, you'll finally be old enough to drink legally. We could go to a bar. Or a strip club."

"Dean!" Castiel exclaims, a mixture of surprise and amusement in his laugh.

"Kidding, kidding," he replies, then adds with a real-like Lenny face, "The only one I want to see strip is you, anyway."

Castiel starts choking on air at that suggestion. Dean, being the awesome boyfriend that he is, just laughs at him.

"No, but really," he continues when Castiel has stopped dying next to him, "We have to do something fun. I say we should have a party. And by 'should,' I mean will. You don't have a choice. I'll drag you along whether you want to or not."

Castiel chuckles. "Alrighty then. I guess we're having a party."

"Awesome," he replies. "It's gonna be the best birthday party you've ever had."

"The bar's not very high," Castiel tells him.

"Don't tell me you've never had a birthday party."

"I have, just not a very fun one," he replies. "It's usually sitting at home eating cake and listening to Aerosmith."

"What are you talking about? That sounds great!" Dean jokes. "Well, now you'll always be able to say you had the best twenty-first birthday ever."

"If I'm spending it with you, it doesn't get much better," Castiel replies with a loving smile.

"You're so cheesy."

"You love it."

"I do," he concedes. "I really do." Dean slides closer, putting an arm around his shoulders. "Just like I love you." He presses a kiss to Castiel's cheek.

Castiel snuggles closer to him, resting his head on the older boy's chest. He yawns, his lack of sleep finally catching up to him. He closes his eyes, only anticipating it to last a few moments. He doesn't expect it to be the perfectly restful five hours that it is.

~~

Castiel wakes up eventually to find that Dean hasn't moved in the last few hours, encumbered by the sleeping boy. The lights are off, though, which makes it a much more pleasant experience waking up. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and sits up slowly with a yawn that sounds sort of like a mouse. He can feel Dean shaking slightly from silent laughter.

"'Morning," he whispers. "Well, it's only, like, one, but whatever. It's still morning."

"Really?" Castiel glances at the the clock by his bed. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to kidnap you like that."

"It's fine," Dean assures him. "I don't have anywhere to be, anyway. My life is full of boring nothingness 24/7."

"I wish I had your problems," Castiel replies. Actually, he kind of does. He either has absolutely nothing to do for a long period of time or he's cramming everything into a single week and has no downtime.

"Yeah, could be worse. Oh, and you missed Lucifer's surprise visit last night," Dean tells him. "I swear, your brother is a freaking ninja."

"Or he's screaming 'til he's blue in the face," Castiel adds. "There is no in between. Why? What'd my lovable but annoying brother do this time?"

"Just snuck in and took a picture with that ridiculous expression he wears when he sees his ships being cute."

Castiel doesn't have to ask what the ship expression is. He's all too familiar with Lucifer's fangirl ways.

"He better not post that anywhere," he mutters.

"If he knows you don't want people to know about us, he wouldn't post it," Dean assures him.

"I hope so..."

"Why do you care, anyway?" Dean asks. "Why can't we just let people know we're together? I hate going out in public and not being able to show the world how awesome my boyfriend is. It's less impressive when you score high with your friends," he adds with a joking smile.

"Because I don't want people to think of you as just my boyfriend," Castiel lies. "You're your own person."

"But I don't care what people think," Dean tells him. "Everyone hates the Patriots, anyway. 'Xcept people from New England, obviously, but I digress. I don't care if I'm just 'Castiel's boyfriend.' It's better than sneaking around and pretending we're just friends."

"Well, that's what I want to do, so deal with it," Castiel snaps.

"But why?" Dean asks.

"Because I fucking said so. Drop it, Dean."

Dean frowns at the outburst but agrees hesitantly. "Alright, sorry. We don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to."

"Thank you," Castiel replies, not really grateful but annoyed Dean tried to argue at all. He doesn't want people to know. Dean should just deal. "I'm gonna go back to sleep."

"Seriously?" Dean says in disbelief. "You just slept for hours."

Castiel shrugs. "I'm tired." Granted, he's always tired, but if he gets the chance to change that, he's taking it. "You wanna stay over, cuz it's already pretty late?"

"Depends," Dean replies with a teasing smirk on his face. "How'll my view be? No clothes, maybe?"

Castiel, always the most graceful person in any social situation, starts choking on air at that suggestion. Again. Dean just laughs, rubbing his boyfriend's back soothingly until he stops.

"Well?" Dean says expectantly. 

"Yeah, I'm just not gonna do that..." Castiel says awkwardly. Great. He feels like he's in high school right now. Again with the 'awkward.'

"Dang," Dean replies in exaggerated disappointment. "Well, you can't blame me for trying."

Castiel just shakes his head in amusement. "Dean, Dean, Dean. What am I gonna do with you?"

"I was thinking more 'what are you gonna do to me.'"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't mean that as a sex joke," Castiel replies.

"Sure. You'd be wrong, but sure."

Castiel laughs softly and presses a kiss to Dean's cheek. "You're awesome."

"And you're adorable," Dean replies. "'Specially when you get all flustered like that. I should embarrass you like that more often."

"No," Castiel murmurs. "No embarrassing. Just snuggles."

Dean chuckles at that. "I like that idea," he agrees. "No, but really. If we're actually going to sleep, I think pajamas might be a good idea."

"Mm, yeah, probably," Castiel agrees. "I'd say not to look, but I know that's an impossible task for you," he teases.

"It's not my fault you're so damn hot."

The dark is a nice cover for a blushing face, Castiel observes as he strips off his t-shirt. He can hear Dean's breath hitch, just causing his face to turn redder. Dean reaches over and runs a finger over Castiel's abs, sending shivers down his spine.

"Well damn," Dean whispers.

"View good enough for you?" Castiel asks with a playful grin.

"Oh yeah," Dean breathes.

Castiel chuckles softly, giving Dean a quick kiss before rolling back into the bed. After kicking off his shoes, Dean does the same, lying next to his boyfriend. He wraps an arm around Castiel's waist, and the younger boy smiles as he snuggles closer. This is going to be a good night. He can already tell.

A/N Help me I'm bad at writing cute stuff *cries*