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“The kids are finally asleep.” Cas said coming into the bedroom and leaned against the closed door. “I can’t believe you waited until the last possible minute to do this.”
Dean rolled his eyes and cut the box in his hand open with his pocket knife. “It’s gonna take 10 minutes to put this stuff together. Tops.”
“Yeah, 10 minutes.”
Dean looked up and saw Cas mocking him, he stopped when he saw Dean looking. He locked the door to their bedroom and came to sit down in front of Dean.
“Let me help.” He said as Dean dumped the contents of the box on the floor. Little pink pieces rolled on the ground and several bags filled with plastic fell out. Cas reached for the paper that had landed on the top of the pile and started scanning it.
“Baby. Thanks but I think I can put together our daughters Barbie house.”
“Here, it says you have to put the sides together and then snap the top-”
Dean grabbed the instructions from Cas’ fingers and flung it over his shoulder. “I really do got this part. I don’t need the directions.”
“Fine. Be an ass.”
“I’m not being an ass. I just don’t need a piece of paper to tell me how to snap plastic together. It’s pretty simple.” Dean said but Cas still gave him a dirty look as he got off the floor and started shifting through bags. He wasn’t being an ass. He appreciated Cas’ help, he just didn’t need it. He pushed the box out of the way and spread the pieces in front of him so he could see what he was working with.
Almost an hour later:
He was starting to get seriously pissed off. Why the hell wouldn’t these damn walls stay up? Every time he tried to snap the stupid things together they wouldn’t fit right, or they were uneven. He’d glanced over at Cas a few times and got even more annoyed when he saw that in the time that Dean had been fighting with this damn dream house, Cas had put together John’s star wars thing, had dressed Mary’s new teddy, and had even put all the stickers on the kitchen play set and had all the play food and dishes ripped out of the packages and ready to be put into it when they got it downstairs. Dean growled at his damn doll house and threw a piece on the ground when it refused to fit.
“This is crap! I put Sammy’s toys together for Gods sake. Why the hell can’t I figure this out?”
Cas peeked over the kitchen set. “Would you like my help now?”
“No. I can figure this out myself. You just stay over there with your stickers.”
“Bite me Dean.” Cas said and Dean sighed as Cas ducked his head back to his work. He didn’t mean to lash out at Cas, he was just frustrated. This damn toy was making him feel like a fucking idiot. It wasn’t like he’d never done this before. Like he said, he put together all of Sam’s toys. They were just making them so you had to be an engineer to actually put this shit together now.
He picked up a couple of the pieces he guessed were the sides and tried to snap them together but they didn’t fit. He’d tried every piece with every damn piece. How did NONE of them fit? That was impossible. He threw the damn thing down again and scanned the floor. He didn’t see it, he turned around and saw what he was looking for under the bed. The question was could he get it without drawing Cas’ attention? He scooched back, Cas didn’t see him. He did it again and slid his hand under the bed until his fingers brushed the paper he’d thrown there earlier. He pulled it out and dropped it onto the floor on the opposite side of himself and tried to read it discreetly.
Cas cleared his throat and Dean looked up guiltily. Cas was leaning against the kitchen set staring at him. “I thought you didn’t need any help?”
“I don’t. I was just, cleaning up a little.”
“Uh huh. Well,” Cas stood up grinning and came to stand in front of him and held his hand out. “If you want me to clean while you put that together I’ll just throw those instructions away. You don’t need them right? You can do this yourself without any help?”
Dean looked up at Cas and glared at him. He shoved the paper into Cas’ hand. “Yeah. I don’t need help.” Now it was a matter of pride. He WOULD figure this out.
It took him another 45 minutes, but eventually he DID figure it out. Apparently you had to snap the sides into the top before each other otherwise they wouldn’t snap into the right holes and it wouldn’t work. So now he was looking at the back of the box proud of himself, he’d gotten all the rooms attached just like the back of the box. He grinned and sat back. See? He didn’t need instructions or Cas’ help. He stretched and his fingers brushed something. He looked back and saw another bag filled with curved pieces. He looked back to the box and could have cried. How did he not realize the stupid house had an elevator? He ripped the bag open and a square box fell out. He frowned and picked it up. What the-
“Fuck this. No. I quit!” Dean threw the damn thing on the floor and held his hands up.
Cas looked up from putting together one of John’s airplanes together and grinned. “What happened? I thought you were doing it?”
“This thing, this fucking piece of crap, required batteries. 10 AA batteries. WHY? Why does it need THAT MANY batteries?” Dean dropped his forehead to his arms. Why the hell did it have to be so difficult? Were they trying to piss him off. He felt a firm, but gentle touch on his shoulders as Cas dropped in behind him and massaged his shoulders before sliding his hands down to his lower back. That felt awesome, being hunched over all this time was taking its toll. He leaned into the touch and sighed.
“I’m sorry I didn’t just take your help from the start. I didn’t think it would be so damn complicated.”
Cas wrapped his arms around Dean and kissed his cheek. “You’ve suffered enough so I’ll forgive you. But it’s not just for the elevator if that makes you feel any better. The hot tub vibrates and actually makes bubbles, so you put 6 AA batteries in the bottom of that and then put the other 4 in the elevator.”
“That is still a fuck ton of batteries.”
Cas laughed and nodded against his shoulder. “It is. But all of the toys nowadays use a lot of batteries. That’s why I bought the deluxe packs with the dozen of each type of battery. I just fought for 10 minutes looking for extra AAA batteries because I thought the plane took AA and it didn’t. So I feel your pain.”
“God, don’t you wish you were a kid again so you could just enjoy the magic of Christmas without having to deal with all this crap?” Dean leaned against Cas’ chest and felt another kiss pressed to his cheek.
“Sometimes. But when they see their presents tomorrow it’ll all be worth it.”
Dean nodded. “You’re right. Listen. If you finish this for me so I can tighten up the bikes I’ll give you anything you want. I just can’t look at this damn pink monstrosity another second.”
Cas laughed but held him tighter. Dean’s mood eased considerably. Something about being in Cas’ arms had the effect to calm him down like nothing else ever had.
“You just want to go all mechanic on them to feel sane again and leave me with the toy from hell.”
“Yes but you have the directions.”
“You could have had the directions too.”
“Yes well, pride got in the way there. You’re better than me, that’s why you get shit done.”
“Alright. I’ll finish this if you clean up all the wrapping paper tomorrow and just let me lay on the couch.
Dean pretended to consider it, then turned his head and smiled, pressing his lips to Cas’. “Deal. But that means you’re in charge of the camera.”
“I think I can handle that.”