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Eating dinner on a moving tram that circled the city was a unique experience. One Dean could certainly say he had never done before. He’d met Castiel at a speed dating event where some confusion with registration had Cas placed on the ‘female’ side. Dean had taken an instant liking to the guy and spent most of the time table hopping right along with him until they finally decided to ditch the whole shebang and head out for drinks together.
That was a year ago and now they were sitting on this renovated W Class tram going around and around the outer limits of the city, trying to enjoy angus beef burgers with stall free bacon, free range eggs, gourmet Swiss cheese, locally sourced tomatoes and greens, handmade tomato relish and truffles in the bumpiest setting ever. The diamond cut, thrice cooked fries with rosemary salt were pretty good though and not likely to fall down the front of Dean's pristine shirt and stain it.
Cas was looking wistfully out of the window enjoying the darkened view, his chin in the palm of his hand, elbow on the table - the epitome of bad table manners.
“Doesn’t the aquarium look pretty at night?” he asked, sitting up and pointing out the window. “Remember when we went there?”
Dean chuckled. Cas spoke like they had been dating for decades and not a mere twelve months. Granted being with Cas did feel like they had known each other forever. It was just that easy. Dean looked over at the front of the building where the lighting effect looked like water rippling across the facade.
“I remember. It was like our seventh or eighth date. Yeah, and you brought your neighbor's kid because you had clipped a coupon from the paper that gave families half off their ticket and Jack got a three inch plushie from the gift shop,” Dean said, joining in the reminiscing. Isn’t this what anniversaries are for?
“And Jack was so excited to touch the starfish at the touch pool he nearly toppled face first into the water and you swooped in and saved him!” Cas looked at Dean as if he had performed the save of the century and not stopped a four year old from falling into six inches of water and possibly scaring some fish.
“He’s a good kid,” Dean said with a smile.
“He is,” Cas replied.
They ate in silence for a while as the tram continued to rumble down its tracks.
“Oh look! There’s the Skydeck!” Cas pointed excitedly with one hand while saving a chunk of burger from falling out of his mouth with the other.
Dean looked over at the imposing 92 story tower with a shiver.
“Another of your newspaper coupons,” he said with another shudder.
“You should have told me you were afraid of heights before we went up!” Cas laughed, shaking his head.
“I’m not afraid of heights, I don’t like to fly, and I just wasn’t expecting the floor to disappear from beneath my feet like that. It surprised me,” Dean defended himself.
“Remember the operator assured you he had heard bigger screams from much bigger men,” Cas laughed.
“It wasn’t a scream it was a …yelp ,” Dean mumbled as he dipped some of his fries into the dish of accompanying aioli.
“Alright my darling, it was a yelp, and a very manly yelp it was too.”
“Damn right,” Dean said as he shoved his fries into his mouth.
They were almost finished with their main course as they reached the end of the street and began to turn the corner. Dean had caved and pulled the egg from his burger to make it a little easier to eat, Cas had just deconstructed his from the get go. The waiter took their plates and with nothing to occupy them they just sat and stared at each other like a couple of love sick saps.
“There’s the Congressional Gardens,” Cas said as they approached the large parkland beside the state building. “That’s where we had our first…picnic.”
Cas had almost said fight. It was a stupid fight over a stupid thing. Fortunately Castiel's years of therapy helped him realize it was just their combined self-doubt trying to ruin their attempt at happiness and managed to convince Dean their relationship, as new as it was back then, was worth fighting for.
“We did, right there under that tree. You convinced me to try beetroot dip.” Dean pointed out the window to the exact spot of their picnic.
Dean smiled and looked at Cas.
“And did you like the dip?” Cas asked with an arched brow.
“Surprisingly I did. That was a good day. It’s a good memory.”
A better memory than Castiel's tear streaked face as Dean begged the man to leave him before he dragged Cas down into the crap fest that was his life. Fortunately Cas was as stubborn as Dean was cowardly.
“You know what’s another great memory?” Dean asked as dessert was served - and as much as Dean would have preferred a nice slice of fresh pie, he would have to make do with the coffee flavored crème brûlée served in a mug with a crispy meringue on top, which reminded Dean of a cappuccino, and warm chocolate chip biscuit.
“No, what?” Cas asked, setting aside the meringue and looking up at Dean, who was momentarily distracted by the sight of his boyfriend licking his thumb.
“That midnight screening of the Rocky Horror sing-a-long.” Dean said.
“Ah, yes.I remember that,” Cas replied as he nodded.
“You looked so sexy all dressed up as Frank-N-Furter in your corset and heels.”
“And you were dressed as Rocky in your gold lamé shorts and flesh colored bodysuit,” Cas added.
“Hey! It was cold!” Dean sat back and gave Castiel an insulted look.
“You just didn’t want anyone to see your perky nipples,” Cas stated.
“You didn’t either,” Dean argued back as he leaned forward and took Cas’s right hand.
“No I didn’t,” Cas agreed as he looked down at their conjoined hands and covered Dean's hand with his left.
Dean sighed happily and gave Castiel's hand a squeeze before withdrawing his own. He picked up his spoon to resume eating dessert.
“We’ve had a great year. What do you think the future will bring for us?” He asked.
“I don’t know,” Cas answered honestly as he broke through the toffee layer of his brûlée with a satisfying crack. “But I do know I clipped a two for one tequila sunrise voucher for Bar 1806 from the paper this morning.”
“Oh Cas, and that’s why I love you,” Dean replied with a grin.