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“Daddy! Daddy!” Sam yells from where he’s standing in the pumpkin patch. “Daddy!”
Gabriel jogs over to him, tugging the overflowing red wagon along behind him. When he reaches his boy, he sees he’s holding another pumpkin. He gives Gabriel a toothy grin that melts Gabriel’s heart. “I’nitt pwetty, daddy?”
“Very pretty, baby boy.”
“Wants it.”
“But we already have so many other pretty ones, buddy,” Gabriel says as he gestures to the wagon.
Sam doesn’t even look at the other pumpkins. He just pulls his eyebrows down and sticks out his bottom lip. After a pathetic little sniffle, he whispers, “Buts I wants dis one…”
And, as usual, Gabriel is powerless. “Okay, Sammy. Let me help you put it in the wagon.”
As Gabriel tries to arrange the pumpkins in the wagon in a way that will make them all fit without any falling out, Sam goes running off again.
“Slow down, Sammy!” Gabriel yells at him just before Sammy falls down. He sighs, preparing for tears, but Sammy just hops back up and continues going. He must be having too much fun to put up a fuss. The poor guy is constantly tumbling and tripping, his big legs too much for his little mind to control properly.
Gabriel hears the squeaky wheels of another wagon and looks over to see Castiel approaching him. Unsurprisingly, his wagon is empty. It makes Gabriel smirk. “Still hasn’t picked one?”
“Nope,” Castiel says with an eye roll and a fond smile. “You know him.”
Nodding, Gabriel looks off in the distance where Dean is crouched down low, his face right next to a big orange pumpkin. Even from far away you can see the intense concentration on his face. His nephew has always been very particular with things. He’s not picky if something is given to him - always a very good, polite little boy. Food, gifts, toys, playdates, etc. are all situations where he usually goes with the flow, as long as he’s having a good day. But when Dean gets to choose something? When he gets to choose his outfit, or his new toy at the store, or in this case a pumpkin, he’s extremely critical. The choices become life or death to the little big guy.
Leaving the wagon by his brother, Castiel walks over to his baby boy and squats down beside him. “What do you think, Dean? Do you like this one?”
Dean, big green eyes still locked onto the pumpkin, grumbles, “I think it’s leanin’ to da weft.”
“Hmmm.” Castiel tilts his head, internally sighing. Dean’s right. It does in fact lean ever so slightly to the left. Never one to lie, even if it would make things more convenient, Castiel admits, “Looks like you’re right, bud.”
Sighing dramatically, Dean gets back to his feet and informs his dad, “Dese fawmers need to grow bedder pumpkins, daddy.”
Castiel chuckles and reaches up to ruffle his boy’s hair. “Come on. We haven’t looked over here yet.”
“Okaaaay,” Dean grumbles. He takes his daddy’s hand in his and walks beside him, eyes scanning for possible candidates. Dean knows how silly it is that he’s taking so long just to pick one. Sammy has picked tons of them! But Dean doesn’t want a bunch. He just wants one special pumpkin. A pumpkin that’s all his. He’ll love it and take care of it and make sure it looks beautiful for Halloween.
The problem is, he just can’t find the pumpkin he loves! They’re all wrong. The pumpkin has to be perfect. This is Dean’s first Halloween with his daddy, and it has to be perfect!
A big, fat pumpkin off to his left catches Dean’s eye. He tugs on his daddy’s hand to get his attention and points. “We go look at dat one?”
“Of course. Let’s go check it out.”
Dean walks slowly, assessing as he approaches the possible winner. It’s bright, bright orange, with just a bit of yellow where the sun is shining on it. Unlike a lot of other boring stems that are dried out and brown, this one is still green. Dark green, but green nonetheless.
Trying not to get too hopeful, Dean goes to his knees in front of the pumpkin and begins his close inspection. No marks or cuts. No weird bumpy things. No rotting spots. No bulges. No tilts. He stands up, feeling like he’s a floaty balloon.
With a huge grin, he turns to his daddy and exclaims, “Dis it! Dis da one I want, daddy.”
“Really? Yaay! I love it, Dean. It’s absolutely perfect. So beautiful, just like my beautiful baby boy,” Castiel says with a soft tap to Dean’s nose.
Dean squirms and blushes hard enough to mask some of his lighter colored freckles. He ignores his daddy’s compliment and picks the pumpkin up with both hands. Too proud to be embarrassed anymore, he giggles and says, “Look at my big big muscles, daddy!”
“Oh my. You must be a superhero! You’re so strong!”
“Mhhhhhmmm. I'm Batman!” he informs his daddy as he begins to wobble toward their wagon.
By the time Dean’s placing the perfect pumpkin inside their empty red wagon, he’s huffing and puffing, his cheeks bright red from both the exertion as well as the cold. He starts to take his scarf off but his daddy stops him. “It’s too cold to take any of your stuff off, Dean.”
“But - but my pumpkin!” Dean whines.
“What about your pumpkin, buddy?”
“I has to wrap it up! So it’s safe ‘n warm!”
Heart melting, Castiel takes his own scarf off. “You keep yours on. Daddy will share his, okay?”
Dean beams at him, nodding. “You’re da bestest everest daddy.”
After the boys pick out some apples (thankfully just from a basket in the small shop, because Dean would have taken forever otherwise), the four of them head home. Sam is sleeping in his daddy's arms, head resting on his shoulder, by the time they get to the car.
Dean, on the other hand, is adamant that he is not tired one bit. He's a big boy who doesn't need naps anymore.
He makes it two miles before flopping back in his seat and parting his lips to let out an adorable little snore.
----
An ear-splitting shriek makes Castiel whip around from where he stands in the kitchen. He looks across the open floor plan to find Dean chasing his little brother with pumpkin guts in his hands, making monster sounds. Castiel opens his mouth to tell Dean to leave Sam alone when another shriek, followed by a very pleased giggle, fills the air. Seeing that Sam is enjoying himself, Castiel smiles and goes back to checking on the pies in the oven. He had tried to say only one pie was necessary, but between Gabriel and Dean, his opinion was moot.
"Gonna gets you!" Dean yells as he chases his brother down the hall. Sammy trips and falls - he's always doing that - but Dean slows down and lets him get up before continuing his attack.
Just as they round the corner, Uncle Gabe snatches Sammy up and laughs softly at them. "Time for trick-or-treating little monsters."
Dean flings his hands up in the air, too excited to remember they're full of pumpkin. Guts go everywhere but he doesn't even notice. "Yaaaay! CANDY!!"
"Candy!" Sammy chirps, clapping his hands and giggling.
"No candy until you go wash up, little one," Dean's daddy says from his spot in the kitchen.
Dean gives his daddy a pout that turns quickly into a smile when he sees his daddy pull the pie from the oven. Unfortunately, his daddy knows him too well. He already has a finger wagging. "Not now, Dean. After trick-or-treating. Then they'll be cooled off."
With a grumble, Dean shuffles to the bathroom to wash his hands. He does it fast, missing a few places, and only flicks his hands in the air to dry them. His daddy just smiles fondly at him when he returns.
"Let's get you in your costume," Castiel says after planting a kiss on his boy's forehead.
He carries him past Gabriel, who is struggling to wrangle Sam's legs into his full-sized Sully costume from Monsters Inc. Dean is bouncing in his arms with excitement, panting, "Candy, candy, candy!" under his breath.
Castiel can't help but laugh at his love bug. Especially when, once Dean is in his Batman costume, he goes zooming around the room singing the Batman theme song, shiny black cape flying behind him.
Sammy catches sight of his big brother and hurries over to him, falling twice on his way. It's not his fault! The feet on his costume are slippery!
When he finally reaches his brother, he grabs Dee's hand and tugs on him. "Dee, Dee, come! We go! Candy!"
"CANDY!" Dee screams before booking it to the front door, practically dragging Sammy along. Sammy doesn't mind, though. He really really loves his Dee, even if he's sometimes a little too loud or fast for Sammy.
Grandpa Bobby and aunties Jo and Ellen are waiting outside, an over-sized red wagon beside them. Sammy runs up to Auntie Jo's big belly, which is painted as a pumpkin, and presses his hand to the Jack-o-lantern's smile.
"Hi, baby," he whispers to his cousin. "Happy Has-oh-wee!"
"Happy Halloween!" Dee says beside him, tapping the belly affectionately before jumping into their wagon.
Sammy crawls in and sits on the seat in front of Dee, the two of them grinning at each other. Their daddies hand them their orange plastic pumpkin buckets and then Uncle Cas is pulling the wagon and they're starting!!
----
Two hours later, Dean is passed out in nothing but his batman undies, splayed out on the living room floor with a candy bar still in hand and chocolate coating half his face. Sammy is using Dean’s thigh as a pillow, curled up in a little ball and hugging a sticky sucker to his furry chest - he refused to let his daddy take off his costume.
Castiel and Gabriel sit side by side on the couch, their view unobstructed as they allow themselves to absorb a few minutes of the adorableness before cleaning the boys up a bit and tucking them in.
They’re also taking a moment to devour their boys’ Halloween candy, plastic pumpkin buckets in their laps.
Don’t judge them.
Too much sugar is bad for the boys, and Sammy is too young to eat some of the candy anyway.
They’re being good parents.