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Dean’s birthday starts much the same as any day. He wakes up in his room in the bunker, smothered in blankets to keep the mid-winter chill out, and wishing desperately for a cup of coffee.
It’s been a few months since the Angels fell and Dean, Cas, Kevin, and Sam (and Ezekiel) have been hiding out in the bunker for the most part while Kevin translates the Demon Tablet for further information and the rest of them look for ways to stop Metatron and return the Angels to Heaven.
When they aren’t working on a plan, they each have their own separate hobbies. Sam has his true crime addiction and exercise regime and Kevin seems to be catching up on everything he missed while studying religiously his entire life, which includes porn, as Dean found out when he walked into the kid’s room without knocking one time and got a pillow thrown at his head. Dean just watches movies (usually with Cas). Cas, on the other hand, has been experimenting in the kitchen, much to Dean’s chagrin, because he’s absolutely useless when it comes to following recipes and adds whatever he thinks goes (which would be fine if it actually did go). He’s horrible at the heating part in general too, and he’s somehow managed to burn toast every single time he’s tried to make it and swears that the toaster is cursed.
Still, undiscouraged by his failures, Cas has attempted several other meals in the kitchen, including and not limited to: tomato soup (to which he added wasabi for an extra “kick,” as he told a revolted Dean after he’d tasted it, peanut butter cookies that fell apart when given the slightest touch, pumpkin bread batter that he somehow managed to add ten cups of oil to (Dean never let him bake it so it stayed batter, thank God), and chocolate cupcakes that somehow came out so hard that Dean almost broke a tooth when he bit into one.
Although his every effort has resulted in something not entirely edible, Dean continues to let Cas do whatever he wants when it comes to food because it prevents Cas having enough time on his hands to dwell on his past mistakes and become depressed, something which Dean is adamant he won't allow to happen.
When Dean finally works up enough nerve to leave the warm comfort of his blankets, he slips on his fluffy slippers and his deadman’s robe, shivering until he’s got it snug around his shoulders, and sets out in search of that mug of coffee.
Quite a sight greets Dean when he arrives outside the kitchen. It looks like a tornado has hit. Every surface is covered in bowls or ingredients, traces of flour and sugar are evident on the floor, and there’s milk spilled on the main counter. In the center of all of it: Cas.
On seeing Dean, Cas’ already pitiful expression turns even more miserable. Concerned, Dean asks,
“Hey, Cas, what’s wrong?”
In response, he gets a sob as Cas begins to cry.
“No, no, no,” Dean mutters as he rushes to the ex-angel’s side. “Don’t cry, Cas, don’t cry.”
Cas continues to choke out sobs as Dean rubs his back and murmurs reassurances in his ear, telling him it’ll all be okay, and asking Cas to tell him what’s wrong.
When Cas finally calms down enough to get words out in between sniffles, he explains that he got up early to bake a cake to surprise Dean for his birthday, but it all went wrong and the batter never made it to the oven.
“All I made you for your birthday is this mess,” Cas says wretchedly, gesturing to the chaotic state of the room. “I can never do anything right,” he continues, “when I tried to stop the Apocalypse from happening again, I slaughtered thousands of Angels and released the Leviathan into the world, and again when I tried to fix Heaven, I made all the Angels fall, and now I can’t even bake a stupid cake!”
“No, no,” Dean soothes, petting Cas’ hair “you just made some mistakes, that’s all. So you learn from them and try again, right?”
Cas just nods dejectedly.
“How ‘bout this,” Dean proposes. “We’ll clean up and start a new cake. What do you think?”
“Okay,” Cas says.
They do the dishes (Dean washing, Cas drying) and Dean mops up the milk while Cas uses the broom to collect the spilled flour and sugar. Then they start the recipe again.
Dean does most of the work, but gets Cas to read the steps to him so he feels more involved, and once or twice asks Cas to measure out ingredients for him. Though Dean tells him not to, Cas tries to taste the vanilla because,
“Deeeean, it smells so good.”
And Dean tries very hard not to laugh at the repulsed expression he makes when he downs a spoonful. Instead, he gives him milk to wash away the taste.
They manage to get the cake into the oven without much fuss. Cas accidentally knocks over the flour and has to change his shirt while Dean sweeps it up, but other than that there isn't any trouble. To Dean’s dismay, Cas insisted on dying the cake pink (Dean had bought food colouring at his request, unbeknownst that it was to be used for his cake) and though Dean argued, he gave up without much of a fight, because if it made Cas happy, he didn’t mind.
Though he plays it down, Dean is secretly pleased because no one has ever made him a birthday cake before (apart from his mother). Sam used to buy him gas station pie, and though it was the thought that counted, it wasn’t quite the same as having a homemade cake.
They wash the dishes again while the cake is in the oven and when it’s done baking, it’s left to cool while they make the frosting. Cas wants to use colourful icing and after much deliberation, he decides on green and white. Dean asks for blue as well so they separate the frosting into three bowls to add the colouring. Dean ends up piping waves with the blue and green icing, going for an ocean. It looks kind of weird, but whatever, he doesn’t care.
They figure they should wait till after supper to cut the cake, but Cas is so excited about it that Dean calls Sam and Kevin and they gather round and sing Happy Birthday to Dean while he stands there awkwardly. But Cas is smiling so all the fuss is worth it. When Dean cuts the cake, the contrast between the frosting and the coral pink interior is frankly alarming, but it tastes delicious and he enjoys it thoroughly.
Afterwards, when Cas finds Dean and thanks him for helping him, Dean tells him he’d do anything for him. And Cas looks so happy at that that Dean can’t help it. He kisses him. And Cas kisses back.