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Castiel was scowling when Sam entered Portable Magic. The taller witch pulled off his jacket and flipped the store sign from ‘closed’ to ‘open’ before his eyes flicked to the black cat ear headband on his brother-in-law’s head. It was paired with a black bowtie patterned with little white cat faces. The younger Winchester raised his eyebrows, barely stifling a grin.
“Morning, Cass. Happy Hallowe-”
“I will curse you if you finish that sentence,” Castiel snapped, narrowing his eyes at his business partner.
“Got it,” Sam said, raising his hands in mock surrender. “So, if you’re the cat, then Dean’s…”
Castiel looked over at one of the numerous bookshelves in the store. Sam followed his gaze, noticing, as he did, that strings of paper cut-outs of pumpkins, bats and ghosts were decorating the shelves.
Dean was spread out over the tops of the books in his cat form, his hind legs hanging off the shelf. He regarded Sam with slitted green eyes, tilting his head in a clear imitation of his husband. His ears were hidden beneath a pointed black hat and he had a short black cloak draped over his back. Small silvery stars glittered on the material of both the cloak and the hat.
“Wow,” Sam said, trying not to laugh. “Nice costume, jerk.”
Dean hissed at him before rolling over to face the shelf, his back to both of the witches. Sam chuckled as he made his way behind the counter, noting that a plastic spider with red eyes was sitting next to the cash register. Castiel went back to organising the shelves, still looking annoyed.
A few hours after they opened, Daphne Allen entered the store. Dean was immediately alert. Sam stifled a laugh at the sight of the cat stiffening, his eyes narrowing as he regarded the woman.
“Hi, Sam, hi, Cass,” Daphne said, smiling at the two men.
“Hello, Daphne,” Castiel responded politely. “How are you?”
“Great!” she said. “I love your cat ears, they’re so cute.”
Dean’s hiss was loud enough to draw Daphne’s attention. Normally, the woman’s face fell whenever she saw the familiar, mainly because of his habit of biting her.
“Awww!” Dean looked almost as affronted as he did when the woman would flirt with Castiel as she approached him. “The little witch costume is adorable! Where’d you get it?” Daphne asked.
“I don’t know,” Castiel said. “My husband bought it.”
“Hello, kitty,” Daphne said, her voice higher than usual and her hand still held out for Dean to sniff. The cat familiar looked insulted. “Aren’t you adorable? Aren’t you adorable? Yes, you are!”
When Daphne reached out to stroke Dean’s thick fur, the familiar twisted away, jumping down from the bookshelf and running behind the counter to shelter behind Castiel’s legs. Sam barely stifled a laugh.
“Sorry,” he said in response to Daphne’s look of confusion and slight hurt. “He’s just skittish. I’m sure he’ll warm up to you if you keep talking to him and petting him.”
The low hiss told Sam that he was going to pay for that comment later, but it was defiantly worth it. He caught Castiel’s eye and the two witches shared an amused look.
-
Earlier that morning…
When Castiel finally dragged himself out of the empty bed after his alarm went off, he went out to the living room to find that Dean was already up. The familiar was laying on the couch, eating a bowl of cereal while he watched something on TV. He didn’t seem to notice Castiel as he shuffled into the kitchen and got himself a cup of coffee. Castiel yawned as he made his way to the couch with his mug. His husband looked over at the witch as he nudged Dean’s legs off the end of the couch to make some room for him.
“Oh, mornin’ sunshine,” Dean said, putting his cereal on the floor so that he could sit up and share a kiss with Castiel. “How’d you sleep?”
Castiel grunted before going back to his coffee. He ignored Dean’s amused chuckle as he sat back against the couch, his eyelids fluttering shut. He felt even more tired and irritated this morning for a reason that he couldn’t quite recall…
…Until something hit the side of his face. Castiel opened his eyes, regarding the headband in his hands with resigned exhaustion.
“I left the bowtie on your bedside table,” Dean said, grinning.
“Dean…”
“No,” Dean said, putting an arm around Castiel. “Come on, Cass, it’ll be fun. And besides,” he said, leaning in to whisper seductively into Castiel’s ear, “cats are sexy.”
Castiel turned to squint at Dean.
“Are you sure that’s not a you thing, Dean?” he asked snarkily.
“Hilarious. I married a comedian,” Dean said, kissing Castiel’s temple. “Now go get ready, and don’t forget the ears and the tie. And I’m gonna need you to get me into my costume.”
Castiel sighed but complied, gulping down the last of his coffee before pushing the mug into Dean’s hands and disappearing in the direction of the bathroom. Dean quickly finished the last of his cereal before going to the kitchen and putting the mug and his plate in the dishwasher. He shifted into his cat form before jumping back on the couch and sitting down, curling his tail around his legs.
Castiel had always disliked Halloween. His family had never celebrated it when he was growing up, and Castiel had told him that they always said that the holiday “made a mockery of witches and the supernatural.” While Castiel had shed most of his uptight traditionalist family’s beliefs, he stood firm by this one. He’d never begrudge anyone else celebrating, but made it clear that he wouldn’t. Dean had made it his personal mission to change that.
On the first and only Halloween where they were simply dating, Dean had still been unsure of their relationship, so he hadn’t pushed when Castiel had opted to skip the costume and movie night that Charlie was hosting. However, the following year, safe in the knowledge that his now-husband and witch was more or less stuck with him, Dean had spent the week leading up to Halloween begging, bullying and bribing Castiel until he finally caved. They had ended up going with several other members of Lawrence’s magic community for drinks at the Roadhouse, which Ellen had decorated especially for the occasion. While not everyone had dressed up, Dean had bought the two of them matching cowboy hats. Castiel had been a bit grumpy at the start of the night but, by the end, had grudgingly admitted that he was enjoying himself.
Now, it was a yearly tradition. Dean talked Castiel into doing something for Halloween, Castiel reluctantly agreed, and then they would end up having loads of fun together. Dean knew that, despite his claims, Castiel secretly looked forward to their Halloweens together.
Dean jumped up on the back of the couch, meowing in greeting, when Castiel came out of the bedroom, frowning as he fumbled with his bowtie. The ears were already on and Dean thought that he looked pretty good. He jumped down onto the floor, rubbing against Castiel’s leg. His witch ignored him, continuing to attempt to fix his tie. Despite his fondness for them, Castiel had never quite mastered ties or bowties. Dean watched, amused, as Castiel finally gave up with a sigh and left the patterned bowtie crooked. Dean meowed, reminding Castiel of his presence. His husband looked down at him and sighed again.
“Where did you put your costume?”
Once Dean’s hat and cloak were on, he waited by the door as Castiel pulled on his trenchcoat and grabbed his keys and wallet from the kitchen counter. Dean slipped out as soon as the front door was opened and waited for Castiel on the landing as he locked up.
They still walked to the bookstore every day together, partially because it was only about ten minutes away, partially because Castiel insisted on the exercise, and partially because, even after all of the time they had been together, it still killed Dean to let someone else drive his Impala.
When they got to Portable Magic, Dean waited excitedly as Castiel retrieved his keys and unlocked the door. He strode into the store ahead of his husband and turned back to watch his reaction. Castiel looked around, an unreadable expression on his face as he regarded the strings of decorations that Dean had gotten up early to put up.
“You decorated,” Castiel said, his voice flat.
Dean blinked slowly up at him. Castiel finally sighed and crouched down in front of him.
“I’m sorry, Dean,” he said. “You know I don’t like Halloween. But… I like the decorations. I love how enthusiastic you get about this kind of stuff. And I love you.”
Dean stood up and nuzzled against Castiel’s head, trying to convey his appreciation for his husband’s constant willingness to try anything that Dean wanted him to, even if he was sometimes reluctant and unsure. Dean was more than willing to occasionally have to deal with his husband’s grumpiness, hell, most of the time, he found grumpy Cass absolutely adorable. He lightly butted Castiel’s stubbled cheek with his head before turning away and jumping onto the counter, using the extra height to leap across to one of the bookshelves. He watched as his husband busied himself with setting up the store.
“I refuse to be cheerful with anyone else,” Castiel called across to Dean as he arranged some books on a shelf. “If anyone else wishes me a happy you-know-what…”
Castiel looked over at Dean, the warning gleam in his eyes contrasting with his soft smile. Dean mewed softly back.
-
Dean and Castiel opted out of the Halloween party that Charlie was hosting that year in favour of ordering a pizza and having their own movie night. Dean had loads of classics lined up for them to watch. At this point, even Castiel had seen most of the movies that the familiar had planned but he was mostly fine with rewatching, as long as he could do it snuggled up with his husband. Currently, Castiel was sitting with his back resting against Dean’s chest, the familiar’s arms wrapped around the witch.
By the time they had made it halfway through Hell Hazers II: The Reckoning, they were pretty much ignoring the film in favour of lazily making out. Dean was still laying back against the couch, but Castiel had turned around so that he was sitting in Dean’s lap, one of his hands beginning to explore under Dean’s shirt while his other hand rested against the familiar’s cheek, gently guiding his face as they kissed. Dean’s hands rested on Castiel’s waist just under the witch’s untucked dress shirt, feeling the curve of his hips and the warmth of his skin.
“Oh, wait,” Dean said, pulling away from Castiel and shifting to try and see around him. “Just a sec, babe, I love this bit.”
Castiel turned to look over his shoulder at the screen.
“I don’t understand why you like this movie. Even Sam thinks it’s terrible,” he said.
“Please, Sam? You can’t trust Sam’s opinions,” Dean scoffed. “You know his favourite singer is Celine Dion?”
“He told me his favourite singer was Elvis,” Castiel said with a confused frown.
“Yeah, because, on top of having shitty taste, my baby brother is also a liar. You can’t trust a word he says,” Dean said.
“Because you’re always so honest,” Castiel said sarcastically.
Dean shot Castiel an offended look before turning back to the screen.
“Are you calling me a liar, sweetheart?” he asked, still mostly focused on watching the movie.
“Yes,” Castiel replied, smiling as Dean huffed. “You once tried to tell me that ketchup’s a vegetable.”
“It is! ” Dean protested. He looked at Castiel, his lips curved into a smirk. “Fine, you win, you married a liar. Happy?”
“Always,” the witch said, kissing Dean tenderly.
Castiel buried his head in the crook of Dean’s neck as the familiar watched the film. Dean ran his fingers through his witch’s hair, still more focused on watching the ghost terrorising the people on screen. After a few minutes, he looked down at his husband, smiling when he saw that he was dozing against his chest, his eyes half closed.
“Happy Halloween, baby,” he whispered, kissing the top of his head. “Hope you had a good day.”
Castiel hummed and opened his eyes, looking up at Dean lovingly.
“I did. Thank you.” He snuggled back against Dean and closed his eyes again. “Happy Halloween, Dean.”