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Sam was nervous. Well of course he was as he had no idea if this was going to go down well. I mean, sure, his brother would probably find some of the stuff funny, and the other guests would probably find some of it hilarious, and he was hoping to get a few manly tears from the happy couple but that wasn't the main reason he was nervous. He was terrified that HE would be the one to tear up. That HE would be the one to choke and screw it up because it was such an incredible day and it had taken them so long to get here.
Sam shuffled in his seat. The service was simple and intimate. The small group of well-loved people that had become their extended family all sat around them over only 3 tables in a local bar. There was nothing fancy about it, but then, they were never the fancy sort were they?
Overall Sam thought it was perfect. He sat to the right of the happy couple. Smiling and laughing as they tucked into their meal. Sam looked down at the paper in his lap and tugged on his bow tie once again. A comforting hand gripped his arm and he looked over to see his beautiful partner flash him a big smile. They squeezed his hand again and winked as he flashed them a smile back.
He had only been in this relationship for a few months but already he knew that this person was the one. Beautiful big brown eyes and a smile that could light up a room. Such a strange trait to find in someone still living the hunter life like him and his family. Dean and Cas had taken to them so well that they had basically been accepted with open arms. The four of them together completely happy for once. They were all of them, at peace.
Sam looked over at his brother and now brother in law and they both grinned at him. This was the moment. He took a deep breath and stood up. Squeezing his partners hand one more time for comfort.
He tapped on his beer glass with a spoon to get the attention of the small gathering of people sat at the tables around them and cleared his throat. Looking around at the warm smiling faces soothed him. There was Charlie flashing him a huge smile and throwing the thumbs up, Jody and Donna sitting close whilst Donna’s new husband Doug bounced their baby on his lap. Claire beamed at him from her place next to Alex and even Crowley had attended. Much to Sam’s surprise, but the King of Hell seemed to be fully supportive of this arrangement and had promised not to cause any harm. He just wanted to support the happy couple seeing as he ‘had basically been vital in setting them up’ to which Sam had rolled his eyes. Crowley loved to joke that both Cas and Dean were technically his ex-boyfriends and he was being a supportive ex. Sam had never been able to figure out if there was any truth to those claims. Also he did NOT want to know if there was.
His eyes fell on Gabriel standing by the bar with a lollypop in his mouth. He still couldn’t believe that he was alive, after all these years. Castiel had been so happy to find out his brother had survived, also that he had been an important ally in the fight against the darkness, and finally, now that the darkness was back in its cage and the mark shared amongst the remaining host of heaven, the archangel had taken charge upstairs. Though he still liked to come down to annoy the three of them whenever it was most inconvenient. He wiggled his eyebrows at Sam and grinned.
Sam took another deep breath and smoothed out his paper.
“Er… Hey, everybody. Thank you all for coming today. Um… as best man to both the grooms I have prepared a speech for them and I er… I hope I do them both proud.”
He glanced at Dean who beamed at him, encouraging him on.
“I think I can speak for the majority of us here when I say that it is about time!”
He got a small cheer from around the room and Cas and Dean both glanced at each other and gave shy smiles.
“No really guys, I mean it, it took you 8 years to actually pull your heads outta your asses and admit your feelings for one another and it is a miracle that my big brother here finally took the plunge and got down on one knee!”
There were some quiet chuckles from the room and Dean shook his head. Sam glanced over at him and smiled before continuing.
“As little brother, I am obligated to at least attempt to embarrass you though, so I guess I should start by saying, Dean, I guess we finally solved the mystery of why everyone kept thinking we were gay. You must have been giving off some pretty strong vibes all those years, dude. Subtlety was never your strong suit!”
The crowd laughed again and a faint blush was creeping up Dean’s face and highlighting his freckles.
“But seriously though I am glad you finally found your way out of Narnia. You were lost in there for far too long. Or maybe, I should say that it was Cas that actually pulled you out in the end, it isn’t really surprising that after being rescued from hell, heaven and purgatory, the most difficult place for Cas to pull your stubborn ass out of was the closet!”
The crowd cheered and Dean buried his head in his hands. Cas was laughing and Sam grinned. He was worried his jokes wouldn’t go down too well with his older brother who was still occasionally struggling to come to terms with his bisexuality.
“After all these years of wondering I guess I should have paid better attention. We once fought a siren together and you tried so hard to explain away why the siren was in male form when it seduced you and I just had to go along with it. It’s pretty funny looking back at how crazy I was to even believe the excuse, though i suppose we were distracted at the time. Pondering my brother’s sexuality wasn’t exactly a top priority when we were trying to stop the apocalypse.”
Dean huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes. Sam continued.
“I often kick myself for not picking up on it sooner though. I mean the moment you and Cas met sparks literally flew. How is that for poetic? At first I thought it was just an angel thing, staring deeply into each others eyes for long periods of time, but Cas… you never did that with me! And neither did any of the other angels! So yeah I was pretty unobservant back then.”
Gabriel at this point piped up “Hey Sammy! Don’t worry, I always thought you were the sexy one!” He winked and Sam stared at him for a moment, losing his train of thought. The crowd laughed again and he pulled himself back from his moment of embarrassment. He cleared his throat.
“You guys have been through so much together, you met as sceptical allies, grew into close friends, blood brothers and now husbands and I have never seen anyone have such a huge impact on my brother as Cas has.
Its kinda sickeningly romantic when you look at it from start to finish. Our story was supposed to be dark and scary, full of monsters and demons and sure, there was so much of that in our lives but ultimately, yours is the ultimate love story cliché. I think you did a better job than Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan anyway.”
He looks around the crowd hoping everyone got the reference. It was a dumb fluffy movie with a tragic ending. But he liked to tease Dean about him being Meg Ryan in this particular parallel. His brother was shaking his head in faux disapproval. His smirk gave it away though.
“There was a time when I thought you would never come together, too much going on between us and everyone here knows how much we have all struggled these past few years, but if there is one thing I could always count on, it was that you two, my brother and my best friend, would be there, would fight for all of us and with the bond that the two of you share, there is nothing you can’t achieve.”
There were a few ‘awwws’ from the crowd just then, he thought they came from Claire and Donna mostly. He wanted to lighten the mood again so he cleared his throat and kept reading.
“When you guys finally did make that leap into romance you were so not subtle about it. I know you all know that I LIVE with these guys, and they did so much sneaking around it was ridiculous. Like the good little brother I am though I waited for them to tell me themselves. Which… never happened…”
Sam looked down and chuckled to himself at the memory.
“Honestly, I don’t know why it occurred to you that the library was a safe place to carnally worship each other but did it not occur to either of you that I was both HOME at the time and likely to go into the library since it is where I always spend MOST of my time?!”
Dean and Cas glanced at each other. Dean’s face now a shade of beetroot which delighted Sam. He just stared at his brother with wide eyes.
“Clearly not. All joking and a desperate need for brain bleach aside, I was overjoyed for you both. I was also pretty damn proud of myself that in that moment I managed to earn over £300 bucks from the crowd sitting before me now. Some of you guys still owe me actually so I’ll take collections at the door on the way out.”
There was further laughter from the crowd and a few nodding heads. Cas and Dean were both shaking their heads and Cas was covering his face with his hand as he tried to hold back his laughter at Dean’s mortification.
“Heh, Um… but really, we are all thrilled for you both. There have been many points in our lives where I didn’t think any of us would make it. The stakes were too high and the chance of survival too low. But somehow you pulled through.
Cas, you may no longer have your wings, but thanks to you, we are all metaphorically flying now. I don’t think I ever really thanked you for saving us both, as you have continued to save us over and over again. I could not ask for a better brother in law. And I am so proud to call you my family. You have been an honorary Winchester for years already, but today it is official, and I couldn't be happier.”
Cas beamed at him and Sam could swear there was a tear in his eye… though it may have been from his earlier laughter.
“Dean, my big brother, the one who I have looked up to my whole life. We have been through so much together and if you had asked me 10 years ago if I could have imagined this moment, I probably would have laughed and told you to keep your eyes on the road instead of in fantasy land. But here we are. I know you often worry what dad would think if he was here today, and yeah he was a tough guy who was pretty set in his ways. But I think he would have been happy for you. I think he would have grown to love Cas like a son, even though the angel thing would have weirded him out to no end. But I think he would have come around to all this too, He was a hard man, but he was proud of you, and he loved you.”
Dean looked down and clenched his jaw at the mention of their father. It was no secret that Dean was worried about what his father would have thought of him marrying a man. Ultimately, John was gone so they would never find out, but it was still on the back of Dean’s mind. Sam didn’t know how John would react to this occasion, but he wanted to console his brother, he hoped that Dean would believe him, even if Sam himself didn’t always believe his own words. Thankfully Cas was there with a comforting grip on his new husbands shoulder. Consoling him at the emotion behind the words. Sam caught Dean mouth thank you to him and nodded back at him.
“Now mum, I have no doubt that she would have been so proud of you both. You told me when we were young, that mum used to stand over your bed, and my crib, and tell us that angels were watching over us. I don’t think she ever could have imagined how right she was. That not only did an angel come to help us when we needed him most, that he saved us again and again, but that he fell for you Dean. That an actual angel chose love, chose you, over heaven. And now, as if the universe could be any more poetic, you get to watch over him, as your husband, and partner, and mum, well, I think she would have thought that was pretty awesome.”
Now he could feel himself choking up. The crowd in the room was hushed and there were a few sobs. Dean’s eyes had glazed over and he was struggling to remain composed. Sam clenched his jaw, took another breath and continued.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the two of you. You are my brothers, and my dearest friends, and I love you both so much, and I wish you all of the happiness that this world can offer. You saved each other, and you saved me. And I couldn’t imagine a better end to our story, and a new start for all of us.”
The room had fallen silent at the atmosphere was thick with emotion. Sam swallowed and huffed a laugh to break the tension.
“Now how about we all raise our glasses and toast the happy couple before I get chastised for what Dean would call the ultimate chick flick moment.
Please can you all join me in raising your glasses for my brothers, Dean and Cas.”
He raised his beer bottle in the air, it wasn’t a fancy occasion at all and there were no champagne flutes to be seen, but as Sam looked around the room and saw the crowd composing themselves and wiping tears out of their eyes he smiled and embraced the happy tears falling down his own cheeks. His brother and Cas stood up and beamed at him, both struggling to hold back their own tears as they raised their glasses and smiled shyly at the crowd.
“To Dean and Cas.” Everyone toasted in unison.
Sam briefly caught a glimpse of the King of Hell wiping a tear from his eye but his moment of utter disbelief was cut short by his brothers both grabbing him in a tight embrace. Cas pulled him in tight and thanks him for his speech. Letting go to wipe the tears that had now fallen from his eyes as well and letting Dean grip hold of his brother.
“Sammy, you sappy son of a bitch.” He laughed. Sam smiled and pulled him in closer.
“Yeah well, you asked for it. Countless years of teasing and projecting… I had to get you back somehow right?” He chuckled as Dean pulled back and glared at him. Finally breaking into a huge grin once again and shaking his head.
“Who’d have known you could be so sweet?” He laughed. Sam didn’t say anything, but he could see the streaks of dried tears on his brother’s cheeks. He had accomplished his task anyway. As they once again sat down to finish off their meals, the guests chatting happily to one another, and even Crowley joining in with the merry making, Sam glanced over to his brothers once again, seeing them hold hands and stare lovingly at each other before leaning in and sharing a chaste kiss. Sam felt himself fill with love for them. He had meant every word of his speech. The other crazy thing was that he believed it. He turned back to the rumpled paper in his hands and folded it neatly to put in his pocket. Smiling to himself as he thought that yes, this was a new beginning. A new chapter. One where they could all finally be happy.