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It was mid-October in Lebanon, and while they had been on the receiving end of fairly warm weather, the universe decided it would be funny as hell to severely drop the temperature over night. Dean was dressed in four layers (an undershirt, a flannel, a hoodie, and a friggin' winter coat), but his teeth still chattered and his bad shoulder ached like a bitch. He had cranked the heat all the way up in the Impala, but unfortunately, it didn't do jackshit for his numb fingers. Still, despite his discomfort (to put it mildly), he still flashed a warm, gummy smile when Castiel slid into the passenger seat beside him.
"Hello, Dean," the angel said with a small grin.
"Heya, Cas," Dean replied, "got the directions?"
Cas proudly presented a few folded up papers from an inner pocket in his coat and unfolded them to reveal directions printed from the Internet. Dean took them from Cas's hand and began to read them over. While he did this, Cas began to talk again.
"I don't see why I can't just fly us there. It's an hour and a half away; surely flying would be more efficient."
Dean nodded, but argued, "Yeah, but it's been forever since we took Baby for a drive; she's missed me. 'Sides, I wanna take her for a couple spins before we get snowed in or somethin'."
Castiel accepted this, and remained quiet until the engine roared and they pulled out onto the road.
"You are cold," he said not as a question, but as an observation.
"Yeah, but it's nothing I can't handle," Dean shrugged, even though his legs were twitching uncontrollably.
"When I was human, I was cold all the time because I could no longer regulate my vessel's temperature. It was distinctly uncomfortable."
With that said, Cas reached over and grabbed Dean's hand in his own, intertwining their fingers so that they fit together perfectly, like a jigsaw. Immediately, Dean felt little pulses of warmth shoot up his arm and spread across his body, and he immediately knew it was Cas's doing. In a rare display of affection, he raised Cas's hand to his lips and placed a small kiss in the center of the back of it.
Cas had a smile on his face the entire way there.
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"Seriously? You took me to an apple orchard?"
Cas pouted. "What were you expecting?"
"I don't know, man, but it sure as hell wasn't this."
Cas's face fell and he climbed out of the car without looking at Dean. He started to walk towards the trees where apples of varying colors hung, his head down. Dean cursed under his breath, ripped the keys out of the jack, and followed Cas.
"Hey! Hey, Cas! Where are you going?"
"To pick apples alone, since you clearly don't wish to do so with me."
Dean caught up with him and wrapped a hand around Cas's bicep, turning him to face Dean. He used his other hand under Cas's chin so he could lift his head up to meet Dean's eye. Cas had a small frown on his face that Dean did not think was adorable, no sirree.
"Shit, Cas, I didn't mean it that way," Dean said. "I'm sorry."
Cas sighed. "There's no need to apologize; I should've told you before I made you drive all the way out here. I just thought you would enjoy making apple pie since it is Autumn, and it is customary to go out and pick out apples for such occasions, so it would make sense to-"
Dean cut off his rambling with a short kiss, smiling all the way through it. When he pulled apart, they were both flushed, and the frown was gone from Castiel's mouth.
"I think it's a great idea," Dean murmured.
"Really?"
"Why would I lie?"
Cas smiled something wonderful that lit Dean up from the inside. However, before he could say anything, Cas blinked out of existence unexpectedly. Dean stumbled back, but Cas returned wth two large buckets before he could really be surprised.
"What are those for?" Dean asked, taking an offered bucket.
"To put the apples in," Cas stated as if it was incredibly obvious.
"And where did you get them from?"
"The trunk."
Huh. Dean had no idea when or how Cas snuck the buckets into the trunk without Dean noticing, but he decided not to ask. Instead, he held his hand out in a silent question, and Castiel answered by gripping Dean's hand with his own. Together, they walked towards the orchard, swinging the buckets at their sides.
******************************************
They spent an actual two hours there, and it was much more fun than Dean expected it to be.
Cas took the whole apple picking business as seriously as he did everything else, refusing to even speak to Dean while he searched for a perfect apple. Dean wanted to kiss the furrowed lines right off of his partner's face, but chose to do something much more different.
"Dean!" Cas shouted in bewilderment when a rotten apple hit him square in the cheek.
"What?" Dean feigned innocence, trying to hold back chuckles at the shocked look on Cas's features.
"You will pay for that," Cas promised darkly.
For a few scary moments, Dean thought Castiel was actually mad at him. But then, in the blink of an eye, Cas had an apple in his hand and a mishievious smile on his lips. Dean backed away slowly, raising his arms in front of him, but it did nothing to stop the apple that was pelted straight into his stomach.
Cas had officially declared war.
A full hour was spent weaving through the trees, both trying to avoid each other and nail the other with apples in varying states of decomposition. Dean had not laughed that hard in such a long time, and felt good to just have fun and act like the kid never got to be.
The War ended with Castiel flying Dean up to the highest branch of a very tall tree, scaring the ever loving bejeezus outta him. He promised the sun and the stars and five blowjobs before Cas brought him down to the ground once more, a throaty laugh bubbling from his lips. Dean couldn't just not kiss him while he was looking like that, flushed and smiling.
It was easy to ignore the cold when just looking at Cas made him all gooey in the inside (and no, Dean would never, ever admit that to anyone).
He was almost sad when the buckets were filled up and beyond the point of heavy. They were both out of breath when Dean went to pay the nice teenager for their pickings, grins brightening their faces.
When they got back in the car, Dean immediately launched into ideas on how he would use the apples, thinking of recipes he could use and ingredients he would need. Castiel listened intently, always glad to listen to something Dean was passionate about. He didn't stop talking until they were pulling into the driveway of the bunker, his mind buzzing with excitement as the thought of baking, for God's sake.
"Hey, Cas? Thanks for doing this," Dean said quietly as they went to take the apples out of the back seat.
"Anytime, Dean," Cas responded. "Anytime."