Work Text:
Dean picked up the container of black paint and dipped his brush in it. The kids had wanted to do some Halloween crafts, so who was Dean to say no? He got the construction paper, glue, paint, clay, glitter and old shoe boxes, cardboard and tissue paper out and spread it out on the kitchen table. Then he gave them each one of his old shirts and let them go to town. John was cutting out a black spider and gluing on its legs, throwing glitter all over it. Mary was finger painting a pumpkin.
The front door shut and Cas smiled at Dean when he came in.
“Daddy!” Mary jumped up but Dean grabbed the back of her shirt as she ran past to stop her from actually reaching Cas.
“Sweetie no. You’ll get paint all over daddy’s work clothes.”
Cas walked over grinning. “It’s okay Dean.”
“No it’s not. Who do you think has to get the stains out when you let them do that crap?” Dean asked and Cas just kept smiling and bent down and kissed Mary’s head. Then he stood up and brushed a kiss on John’s head who grunted in response and kept working on his spider.
“Looks good.”
“Hey dad can I get a real spider?” John asked thoughtfully and Dean shook his head as Cas opened his mouth. Cas closed it and paused before actually answering.
“Johnny we talked about this. No spiders, no snakes, no rats.”
John looked up at Mary. “It’s because she’s such a baby!” He said and she turned around and stuck her tongue out at him.
“I am not! I’m not scared!”
“It’s not because anybody is a baby. We just said no. And that’s the final answer.” Dean said in his, ‘that’s the end of this argument voice’. He let go of Mary and she climbed back into her seat and resumed her painting. John added more glitter and looked up hopefully.
“What about a turtle?”
Cas looked over to Dean and they shared a look. Dean finally nodded slightly. Cas patted John on the shoulder and sat down next to him.
“Dad and I will talk about it later.”
John’s face lit up and he smiled. “Alright!”
“I would like a turtle too!” Mary said and Dean held up his hands.
“Now we said we’d talk about it. That doesn’t mean yes.”
John and Mary nodded but smiled at each other. “We’re gonna get a turtle.” Mary whispered to her brother as if they couldn’t hear her. John held up his spider and probably half a bottle of glitter slid off the paper and onto the table and the floor.
“Look!”
“That’s nice.” Cas said and took it from John’s hands. He turned it around and looked at every side of it before nodding. “Yup, definitely should go on the fridge.”
Dean smiled and went back to work on his pumpkin. John started a new project as Cas took the spider and put it on the fridge just like he promised. They all sat together talking and working on their own Halloween projects when Cas knocked a container of paint on himself.
“Dammit Cas!” Dean stood up and grabbed his arm. “Come on. Take your shirt off before the stain sets.” He pushed Cas out of the kitchen and looked back at the kids. “Behave while we’re gone.”
The walked into the bathroom and Cas stripped off his shirt quickly. Dean snatched it from his hands and ran it under the cold water to try and rinse it. Cas leaned his hip against the sink next to him.
“So what do you really think about getting a turtle?”
Dean lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. “I wouldn’t mind it. They’re easy to take care of. Get a tank and get the little bottles of food, pretty easy. Much better than a dog or something.”
“Definitely better than a snake right?” Cas teased and Dean paused in his washing to push Cas’ face.
“We’ll talk about it more seriously tonight and then if we agree, we can take them to get a turtle tomorrow. They have been asking for a while now.” Dean said and continued washing. Nobody stained like his family. Thankfully he’d caught it right away so most of the paint went right down the drain and wasn’t actually sticking to the shirt. Dean felt two hands slide around his stomach and a soft kiss on his neck.
“I love you.” Cas breathed against him. Dean smirked but kept rubbing the shirt.
“We don’t have time for that right now. The kids are right outside.”
Cas kissed him again, right under his ear. “But they’re playing nice and quiet.”
“To quiet.” Dean lifted the shirt and wrung it out. Perfect. Now it just needed to dry. “Go check on them for me? I wanna set this to dry real quick.”
Cas gave him one final kiss and walked out of the bathroom. Less than a second later he was back. “Everything is fine. But you know what? I forgot to stop at the store and get milk. Could you go get it?”
Dean shook out the shirt and hung it over the shower curtain to drip into the tub. “Right this second?”
“Yes. We’ll need it for dinner. Don’t want the stores to close.”
Dean turned around suspiciously. “It’s only 5 o clock.”
“Yeah, well, I’m getting hungry now.”
“So go get it. I have to clean up the Halloween stuff.”
Cas blocked him as he tried to leave the bathroom. “You don’t have to. I’ll clean up!”
“Cas.” He tried to leave again and Cas blocked him again. “Move.” He said and grabbed Cas’ arm and shoved him to the side. He marched out into the kitchen and stopped dead at the sight that greeted him. There was paint on the table (underneath the newspapers he’d purposely put down) there was paint, glitter and clay on the floor, Mary had paint on her face and in her hair and she was smiling widely at him.
“Johnny painted my face! I did him! He’s a kitty.”
Dean looked at Cas and saw paint on his son’s face as well, just not quite as much of it. He cleared his throat but nothing came out. He tried again, but he was speechless. Cas appeared at his side and put his hand on his shoulder. “It’s not that bad. It’s all washable.”
Cas had no idea. Dean had just cleaned the kitchen yesterday. And that paint was going to take forever to come out of Mary’s hair. Dean just dropped his face into his hand and prayed for patience.