Archive of Our Own

Dean's known Cas for a pretty long time now—like, over a decade long, which is insane for a guy whose second longest friendship only lasted a couple of weeks before his dad got the monster and they moved on—so he should probably be used to Cas' weirdness. He's always asking all kinds of weird questions and wants to do weird stuff for weird reasons, so it should be almost normal by now.

And yet, he still manages to find himself surprised when Cas bursts into the kitchen, eyes wide, and demands to know everything there is to know about children's birthday parties. Dean pauses with his fork halfway to his mouth and sighs, immediately accepting his fate. "What?"

"Oh, is this a bad time?" Cas asks, looking like someone just kicked him, which really goes great with the frantic look in his eyes and the 'I just stuck my head out the window of a moving airplane' hairdo he's sporting. "I can come back later. Sorry for disturbing you."

"No, Cas—wait." The angel stops and just stands there before Dean gestures to the chair across from him. "Sit down, man. Why do you suddenly care about parties?"

"It's for Jack," he replies, and everything suddenly makes sense.

They don't really 'do' birthdays in the Bunker. He and Sam don't have the best track record with any holidays, and Cas has never even heard of half of them, so any and all holidays are pretty much pushed to the back of everybody's minds in favor of focusing on whatever apocalypse is on their doorstep that week. But since Jack became basically human, Cas has been going all-out on giving him the full human experience, even though Cas' experience with humanity…hasn't been great with all the homelessness and dying and everything.

Still, Dean's gotta give him an A for effort, even if he knows for a fact that most of the stuff he shows Jack comes from parenting blogs for actual one-year-olds, as amusing as watching one angel and one half-angel kid pop bubbles the other day was. Kelly dumped the role of dad on the guy, and Cas is really going along with it the best an angel who knows absolutely nothing about kids can be.

"So, you're planning the kid a birthday party?"

"Yes, but I've been led to believe that such an event should be," Cas lowers his voice into what he probably thinks is a whisper, "a surprise of sorts."

He lowers his voice indulgently. "A surprise party?" At Cas' nod, face more serious than a brain surgeon's during an operation, Dean asks, "Where'd you come up with that idea?"

"The internet. Sam allowed me to use his laptop."

"Did he now?" Cas nods solemnly, and Dean can't help but crack a grin. Figures he'd get all his mom blogs from Sam. "Why do you look like you're planning a murder? It's just a party."

"A surprise party," the angel emphasizes, waving his hand around frantically in a vague 'quiet down' gesture, which is as close as Cas really gets to telling him to shut his trap. "I want everything to be nice for Jack. He's never had a birthday party before, and he's been struggling with his new human nature, and…"

Dean winces at the reminder of Cas' own brief stint with humanity, wondering how much different it could've been if someone had thrown him a party or showed they cared, grace or no grace. And it's kind of sad that Cas is taking the brunt of all this when the guy was only human for a few weeks on top of his crappy experience.

"Hey, I get it. And it's cool that you're doing this for him." The big gummy smile he gets in response is worth the weird compliment, though it immediately drops when he asks, "Have you thought of a theme yet?"

"A…theme?"

Cas says it like it's some horrible, scary thing, and he can't help but roll his eyes. "Yeah, y'know, a theme for the party. Like space stuff or cowboys or something."

"How…how does one pick a 'theme'?"

"Uh…well, one should think about what he likes."

"Jack has a strong appreciation for nougat. And he enjoys pineapple on his pizza." Dean can't help but make a face at that particular crime against humanity. "Uh…Krunch Cookie Crunch cereal. The color yellow—it reminds him of the sun, which he enjoys. He…has a fondness for ladybugs…"

Dean tries not to feel like a dick for not knowing any of that stuff; Cas has always been closest to the kid, taking his role as Jack's dad very seriously (like he does pretty much everything). "I meant more like his interests and stuff. Can't exactly have a theme of yellow."

"He…he likes Star Wars."

"Great. Perfect. Star Wars party."

"Dean," Cas begins quietly, face morphing into a confused puppy, head tilting to the side without prompt, "what is Star Wars?"

-

"It's all very complex," the angel goes on hours later while Dean drives them to the nearest Walmart. "The deception about the death of Luke's father and the reveal of his father being Darth Vader himself… It's like humans seeking out God only to discover that He was there the entire time."

Dean nods distractedly, having mostly tuned Cas out for the entire drive. "Yep."

"Of course, we now know that God was not always there, but this is similar to the movie as well and how Luke believed his father to be deceased. It's ironic as the opposite is true in reality." Cas looks at him, face all excited since he finally 'discovered' the underlying plotline. "Isn't it ironic?"

"Uh-huh."

"Luke never expected Darth Vader to be his father the same way humans don't get to choose their Creator, but whether he accepted it or not, the fact would always remain true." Eyes practically sparkling, Cas declares, "I understand it now."

"Yep, you, uh…you got it, all right…"

As they're pulling into the parking lot, the angel says earnestly, "Thank you for showing me those movies, Dean."

"Uh…yeah. No prob," he replies awkwardly, parking the Impala. "Anyway. What kind of decorations do you wanna get?"

"Oh. Uh…"

Cas gets his thinking face on, squinting at the dashboard, and Dean quickly suggests, not wanting to sit here until Cas decides on something, "Why don't we just go and see what they got?"

"I'm amenable to this plan."

"Great." Whatever time he might've saved by suggesting they go in the store is lost in the first aisle as Cas ponders over a bunch of packs of party hats that all look the same. "Cas," he grits out, "just pick one."

"But there are so many to choose from. For example, this pack has numerous different colors, but this one features various spots of different sizes. This one has stripes on it, and this one has anatomically incorrect heart shapes…" Cas pauses, and for a brief moment, Dean thinks he might've finally chosen something when the angel says, "Perhaps a character-themed hat would be better…"

"Cas, c'mon, man. Just pick something so we can go."

"Dean, this is a very important decision. This is Jack's first ever birthday, and I intend to make it something close to perfect." Dean gives him a flat look, and Cas glances away. "I…I suppose the stripes will do. They seem…orderly."

"Great. Perfect." He watches as Cas delicately sets the pack of party hats in the shopping cart and feels an unexpected swell of tenderness bubble up from somewhere in his gut, though this really shouldn't affect him since Cas gives absolute seriousness to any task he comes up with. "What now?"

"I've been led to believe balloons are also an essential item when having a birthday party."

The mention of balloons makes him want to crawl under one of the display shelves, but he doesn't say anything and pushes the cart to the balloon section. Thankfully, these all come in multi-colored packs, so this step isn't too painful. Then comes the party poppers, with their unnecessarily large range of choices. By some miracle, Dean's description manages to scare Cas away from them, so that's one nightmare avoided, but Cas still wants streamers, so they're not getting out of here anytime soon.

All in all, it takes over three hours to get party hats, balloons, and streamers picked out (damn you, Walmart, for having options), and by the time they're finally getting ready to check out, Dean's more than ready to crawl in bed for a week and never speak of this shopping trip again.

That's when some lady says, "Having a party?"

Dean grunts in vague affirmation and tries to find the barcode on the balloons, not wanting to spend any more time than they have to here, but Cas, who's standing stiffly to the side with his head tipped sideways, watching him suffer, turns with a soft smile. "Yes. It's for Jack's birthday. He's turning one soon."

Dean stiffens, but the damage is done. "Oh, is Jack your son?"

"Yes."

How someone can pour so much love into one word is beyond him, but it still makes his face flush a bit, even though it's not even directed at him. When Cas' voice gets all fond like that, Dean's usually the subject. But Cas has a kid now; Dean can share. Besides, there's something kind of…endearing about the whole thing. A decade ago, Dean could never picture Cas with a kid, but now that he's been presented with one, Cas has really taken to the whole thing, even if he's still that same well-meaning, fumbling mess he's always been.

"How many people are you inviting?" the woman asks—and is she seriously still talking to them? Why does Cas keep responding?

"There will be four of us."

"Really? Just four? Kind of a small party."

"It…is?" Dean squeezes his eyes shut and finally manages to scan the balloons, tossing them in Cas' dorky bee-themed reusable shopping bag. "Dean, is four individuals a small amount for a birthday party?"

This whole thing is a trap. No matter what he says, Cas will know, and that means more invitations sent out, which means more stuff to put out and more food to make. Then again… "There's no limit or anything, but, uh…more people does mean more presents."

Cas' eyes widen. "Presents?"

Uh oh. "Yeah, y'know. Gifts and stuff," he explains, even though this is Cas' 'I can't believe I forgot something' face and not his 'human customs are so strange' face. Accepting his fate, he sighs. "Are we gonna go back in there?"

"No, of course not," the angel replies with a frown, like he's halfway offended. "I will… I've learned that handmade gifts tend to be valued more highly than anything that can be purchased at a store, so I will make Jack a gift myself."

"So…no Grumpy Cat stuffed animals from Hot Topic?"

The light jab goes right over Cas' head as his eyes light up. "We should invite Claire to Jack's birthday party. Do you believe she'll accept?"

He pointedly doesn't look at Cas and pays for their party junk. "Maybe if you give her a video call," he mumbles, cursing Sam for teaching Cas how to do puppy-dog eyes. Who can say no to that face? Certainly not him…

It's obvious he says the right thing, at least, since Cas relaxes and nods, and they're able to leave the store with only a single jab about how nice it is that they're both so involved in their son's life (which he doesn't even comment on, not wanting to sour Cas' good mood; besides, who cares what one random Walmart shopper thinks?).

The car ride back to the Bunker is spent with Cas video calling Claire and asking her to come to Jack's party, talking for longer than Dean's ever heard him talk about something that isn't bees. It's no surprise that Claire says yes (in her own way that Dean has to explain later), but that call does result in Jody, Donna, and the girls all deciding to show up, which Dean kind of wanted to avoid. Then again, it's not his birthday, and Jack likes the girls. It's only right that they show up, even if that means more work for Cas and, by extension, him.

There are still three days until Jack's birthday, and Dean has no doubt that they're gonna be eventful ones.

-

That dick Gadreel made Dean kick Cas out before, so the minute Sam kicked that angel to the curb, Dean was inviting his angel back into the Bunker and made sure he knew he had a place here. Around that time, Cas picked out a room sort of near his and claimed it, though he never really uses it.

That's why when Dean sees the door shut on his way past, curiosity gets the better of him and he knocks once on the door before opening it and slipping inside. There, he finds Cas scowling at the desk like it just threatened to kill a puppy.

"Uh, Cas? You good?"

"No." Alarm bells start going off, but Cas continues on ruefully, trying and failing to shake strips of something white and sticky like tape off his fingertips, "I'm attempting to design a banner for Jack, but I'm finding it difficult to properly space these letters so that they're symmetrical."

Dean looks at the disaster on the desk and winces in sympathy. It's a mess of marker and white-out strips laid sloppily over a piece of what looks like leftover wrapping paper acting as the banner itself. It's clear Cas has tried to write 'Happy Birthday, Jack' on it multiple times, and at this point, there are tiny tears in the wrapping paper that he doesn't think white-out will fix.

"Some people make them one letter at a time, all on different pieces of paper. You could try that." Cas squints at him like he's never heard of this concept, so he adds, "It'll make everything easier to space out."

"I seem to require assistance," the angel admits. "Very well. Show me these…individual letter papers."

This, at least, he can do pretty easily. He's never been great at arts and crafts, but he used to do this kind of stuff for Sammy when they were kids, so he kind of knows what he's doing. More than Cas does, at least, since they probably didn't teach baby angels how to do anything like this in Bible camp.

One way or another, he becomes way too involved in the party planning for his comfort. If Sam is in any way involved, he doesn't show it, though he does seem to have that sixth sense that keeps him from getting into any situation that might be awkward or annoying to deal with. Like when pre-Apocalypse (the first one) Cas started asking why Dean had 'relations' with so many different people or why 'humans have to wear clothes when the textures of most clothes are so unpleasant'.

As payback for this, when Cas starts asking if he should start finding entertainment for the party, Dean tells him to book a few clowns (and then takes it back because Cas would totally actually get them and it's best if nobody knows the Bunker exists. Oh well. It's the thought that counts). Board games become the entertainment instead, and Dean doesn't have the heart to tell the poor angel that all the teenagers at the party probably won't appreciate that.

Dean's honestly afraid of what gift ideas Cas might be cooking up, but he's been as secretive as a brutally honest angel of the Lord with an oversharing problem can be, so he doesn't really have any idea what Cas might be getting the kid. That'll just be one fire he can't put out, it seems.

He and Sam only celebrated a handful of birthdays between the two of them (usually Sam's, of course, since he's younger and Dean tried to give him as normal of a childhood as he could), so he's never really refined his own gift-giving skills. In the end, he just heads out to buy the kid a couple of Star Wars-themed shirts and a dual pack of toy light-up lightsabers and calls it a day.

On his way back to his room, gifts in hand, he notices Cas' door is closed again and, after shoving his stuff under his bed, goes to see what the angel is doing this time. Cas is at the desk again, just squinting at it with his head sideways, a mechanical pencil in his hand hovering above a scribble-filled, wall-sized sheet of paper full of words he doesn't recognize.

Despite Cas' obvious concentration, he still acknowledges him. "Hello, Dean."

"Hey, sunshine. Whatcha got there?"

"I'm making a map of constellations for Jack. He's expressed an interest in astronomy, and I thought it would be nice to give him the opportunity to know the locations of many stars beyond what humans call the Milky Way Galaxy."

"Oh. Uh. Cool." He leans closer to get a better look at the map, but still can't make sense of it. "You got…uh, Orion on there?"

He refuses to admit that's one of the, like, three constellations he actually knows, but to his surprise, Cas shakes his head, explaining, "This is for a different galaxy. I actually helped design it. Kind of. I mostly just watched, as I was too young to really contribute, but…"

With how…soft around the edges Cas is these days, it's getting easier and easier to forget that there's an ancient celestial being as old as dirt in that meatsuit. Even when he's smiting a demon's brains out or just generally being a badass, he's always just the same weird, dorky, frumpy little dude that he's always been. Still just Cas.

"Don't let Sam see this or he might commission a few more maps from you," he jokes, trying not to show how affected he is at the reminder that Cas is way too good to be hanging out with the likes of them.

"I don't mind. I could make you maps of constellations too, if you wish."

"I mean, that'd be pretty awesome. To see what else is out there."

"Humans tend to forget that there is a world beyond what they can see," Cas agrees with a hum, and Dean falls silent until the angel looks up, strangely anxious. "Do you believe Jack will like his gift? Aside from your mixtape, I've never given a gift before, so I'm not sure how it might be received…"

He smiles a little at the reminder of the mixtape that he pretends he doesn't know Cas carries around with him every day. "Hey, the kid's gonna love it, man," Dean says, as though Jack wouldn't be happy if they put a bow on a slice of pizza and gave it to him. "Trust me."

Cas looks immensely relieved by that, and Dean finds himself hanging out in Cas' room and watching him work for a little while, taking in the scrunched-up face of concentration and the occasional confused puppy faces while he presumably tries to remember one thing or another. Then Cas starts coloring it in with markers to make it 'more aesthetically pleasing' and Dean's really glad he stuck around, if only to save the angel from having to start over because he smeared over his squiggly little unnamed planets.

By the end, they manage to salvage the map, and it actually looks pretty cool. The bright colors definitely make it pop, even if it makes Cas complain about how none of said colors are exact and some don't even resemble the actual colors of the actual space structures. Dean's just glad it turned out okay, though the marker does warp the paper and make it bend into itself after a few hours, and that's how he finds himself running to the store to get an industrial-sized picture frame.

Turns out getting a picture in a premade picture frame is a bitch, but it's worth it for the way Cas beams at him when they lean it against the wall and get to see the thing in all its framed glory.

-

Dean sits at the kitchen table on his phone, a fresh cup of coffee at his elbow, bored out of his mind. Cas is meditating or whatever it is he does that involves sitting there and spacing out for a few hours ('it's not sleep, Dean, angels don't sleep'), and with nothing else to do, Dean's doing exactly nothing. That's probably why as soon as Sam comes in, all sweaty and gross and fresh from his morning run, he wastes no time in jumping his brother.

"So, did Cas get you, too?" Sam tries to ignore him by starting up the blender, but Dean waits until his liquid sludge is as blended as it's gonna get and continues, "With the whole…Jack thing?"

Finally, Sam turns and answers, "Yeah, he told me he wanted to throw a surprise party. I've mostly been staying out of it. He seems like he knows what he wants done and has everything under control."

Dean has the brief urge to tell Sam otherwise, but doesn't since Cas really isn't doing half bad, all things considered. "Did you get him a present?"

"Yeah, Dean, I got him a present," Sam replies dryly, clearly just in the mood to get his sweat everywhere and choke down his smoothie. "Did you?"

"Yep." He narrows his eyes at Sam, holding his hands up like he's trying to placate the majestic moose. "Let me guess—hair supplies." Sam shoots him a bitchface, and he realizes aloud with dawning horror, "Oh no. Tell me you didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"You got him books, didn't you?" Sam's face says it all, and Dean cracks a grin. "C'mon, dude. Kid would get picked on enough as it is."

"I think he'd really enjoy them, Dean."

"No one enjoys books, Sam, okay? Books are books. What makes you think Jack would?"

"I would what?" Jack asks, appearing out of nowhere to riffle through the cabinets. "Ooh, Krunch Cookie Crunch." The kid pulls the box out like it's something sacred and proceeds to eat pieces of cereal out of the box like a heathen. He's clearly been spending too much time around Sam. "Sam. Dean. Did you guys know it's almost my birthday? Only two more days! I heard that's a big thing for humans."

"Yeah, it is. Happy birthday, Jack," Sam says easily while Dean tries not to make it too obvious that he knows more about Jack's birthday than Jack does.

Jack looks at him expectantly, and with a particularly dirty look from Sam, he manages to say in what he hopes is a normal tone of voice, "Happy birthday, kid."

"Thank you!" he says with a beaming smile. "I can't believe it's been a year already. Well, more than that since I was in the Apocalypse World for a lot of it."

Dean grimaces at the reminder, really hoping Jack doesn't bring up his mom or anything, since she's still AWOL and won't answer any of their messages. He tries not to think about her, the pain too new and raw, like losing her all over again. He knows it isn't exactly fair to wish she was just the way he remembered her being when he was four, but…

"It's nice to be back here," Jack continues. "The other world is so dark and…sad. I don't like it."

"No one likes it," Dean mumbles, trying his best not to think about…any of that. "You, uh…you have anything you wanna do for your birthday?"

He figures it's only a matter of time before they have to shoo Jack out of the Bunker for a little while, since Cas wants this to be a surprise party, and planning ahead of time is never a bad thing. Dean doesn't have a clue what else Cas is planning on doing before that day, but something tells him they're gonna need all the time they can get.

"Hmm…" Jack tosses back another handful of cereal. "Can we watch a movie? I heard that's a good way to bond when conversation can be awkward. Oh, can we get popcorn with it?"

"Uh…sure, kid."

"Is there anything specific you wanna see?" Sam asks, all patient and shockingly only somewhat awkward despite having nearly been caught talking about what's supposed to be a surprise party.

"I'd rather see what they're offering," Jack replies as Cas comes in looking like he'd been struck with a lightning bolt, hair a mess like he'd been he'd been running his hands through it all night. Or, y'know, sleeping. "When monsters aren't involved, it can be fun to be spontaneous. Right, Cas?"

"Of course, Jack. Unpredictability can be very…exciting. Or end horribly and result in the death of many." Dean rolls his eyes and hands the angel an extra cup of coffee he'd made earlier, making Cas blink. "Oh. Thank you, Dean."

"Maybe after the movie," the currently human half-angel kid begins, bits of cereal flying out of his mouth, "we could—"

"You shouldn't talk with your mouth full," Cas says mildly, giving Dean a funny look like he's the one who taught the kid to do that.

"Oh. Sorry." Jack deliberately swallows before continuing, "After the movie, I think I'd like to try…shopping. That's what human teenagers do, right?"

The kid looks at Cas as he says this, like the guy that's neither human nor a teenager will have a clue what people do. Dean's not sure what Jack's been watching in his free time, but he really hopes Jack's not rotting his brain like Cas did when he had uninhibited access to Netflix back when he was recovering from that attack dog spell.

Either way, the conversation drifts to other topics, and Dean forgets all about the whole birthday situation until he finds Cas trying to draw on a deflated balloon, fresh from the pack. He stands in Cas' doorway for a minute and watches, baffled, eventually uttering a confused, "Uh…"

"Dean, this doesn't appear to be working," Cas grumbles, sounding equal parts frustrated and grouchy, like he's thinking about smiting the balloon out of principle. "The balloon does not want to be drawn on."

"Okay, well, what are you trying to do?" he asks, closing the door behind him and approaching slowly, half afraid of the answer.

"I'm attempting to convert these balloons into…the robots. From the movie."

Dean briefly pictures balloons with scribbled on R2-D2 and BB-8 faces and smiles a little. "What's the problem? Pen out of ink?"

"Pen?"

"Well, marker just kinda rubs off…" Cas squints at him, but he still adds, "Probably should blow up the balloons first. Though if you want 'em to float, we're gonna need some helium, but we gotta find someplace that sells a tank first…"

Cas keeps on squinting at him and Dean sighs, and the next thing he knows, he's off trying to buy a helium tank to blow up some balloons, because of course they need to be floating for Jack's party. Finding the thing is a bitch, but drawing faces on the balloons themselves with pen ink takes forever, especially since they keep floating up to the ceiling and become awful to try to grab and hold.

Dean does manage to get Cas to inhale some helium and give himself a funny, super high-pitched voice for a little while, so it's not all bad, even if this does mark the day Dean officially decides Hell should be filled with pens and balloons with the instruction to draw, just to keep everybody nice and miserable.

-

The day before Jack's party is definitely the calm before the storm.

Cas takes Jack out to 'experience the warmth and peacefulness of companionable silence that comes from enjoying the world around us' (AKA stand in the field outside the Bunker with their heads tilted up to the sun like particularly dorky sunflowers) for a few hours, Sam pretends not to be listening to boring podcasts that fuel his serial killer fetish, and Dean just watches crap TV in the Dean Cave, wishing the other chair wasn't empty even if the pictures resulting from the weird expedition Cas and the kid have are pretty nice.

When the sun isn't enough anymore, Jack and Cas come back inside and the three of them eat a taco salad while Cas watches fondly and nibbles on his own tiny portion fit for somebody who can't taste anything but likes eating dinner with them anyway, because Cas is a weird, sappy little dude like that and Dean's helpless to do anything but indulge him with bites off Dean's own plate and hot cups of coffee or tea in the morning.

Then comes May 17th.

Now, let it be known that for all Dean talks about needing just four hours of sleep, he does enjoy sleeping when he's not in the throes of one nightmare or another, so when something starts poking at him at what he internally calculates to be way-too-early-o' clock…well, let's just say it's a good thing he forgot to put his gun back under his pillow when he cleaned it yesterday.

Naturally, when he looks up, it's Cas, because Sam knows better than to try to wake him up when it's not an emergency. Then again, Cas knows he's an…'angry sleeper' or whatever, so there should be no reason that Cas is…

Oh.

"What the hell, Cas?" he mumbles, pulling his pillow back over his head. "What time is it, man? Have you forgotten humans need to sleep?"

"No. Why would I have forgotten such a thing?"

He can practically hear the head tilt and just gives up, giving into…whatever this is and sitting up. "All right, fine. Where's the fire, pal?"

"Dean, I assure you, there's no fire." Dean stares blankly, willing (or maybe praying, since it actually works) Cas to get it, and the angel blinks. "Oh. I see. There's no emergency. I would just like to discuss something with you and Sam, if you're amenable."

"Right, sure. Amenable." Figuring there's no hope now, he swings his legs over to the side of the bed and stands. "Is Sammy already up?"

"Not yet. I came to wake you up first."

He shouldn't feel weirdly touched by that. He's always been Cas' priority and that knowledge shouldn't still affect him. But it does, filling him with an indescribable warmth that starts in his chest and spreads out from his ears down to his toes, even as the angel leaves the room, ugly trench coat swishing away behind him as he goes.

Then he glances at the clock and that warmth disappears. 04:17. Son of a bitch.

(Sam's equal misery makes everything a little easier, at least. Even Mr. I-Get-Up-And-Run-Every-Morning-At-The-Asscrack-of-Dawn can't stand to be awake before the sun, it seems. Dean'll have to keep that in mind the next time he gets the scissors out to put that dead racoon on Sam's gigantic head to rest already.)

So now he and Sam are standing there in a pair of boxers and a T-shirt each in the horrifically early hours of the big day, with Cas standing in front of them while Jack blissfully gets to sleep in. "Sam, Dean, would you be amenable to distracting Jack for a few hours while I set everything up?"

"You woke us up before the asscrack of dawn to ask us that?" Dean bitches quietly to himself, but immediately feels bad about it when Cas' expression falls a little, so he prays a quick apology.

"Of course, Cas," Sam replies quickly. Too quickly for this time of day. Sam didn't have a surprise party two weeks ago for his own birthday, and Dean can't help but be eternally grateful for that, since there's only so many times a year somebody can wake him up before the sun's up. He should've suspected something was up when Cas kept asking all those birthday-related questions during Sam's little party… "How long do you need us to distract him?"

"I'm…uncertain. I need to put up the decorations and prepare something for him to eat, as he is human now…"

Dean's ears perk up as he's filled with a new sense of dread. "You're planning on cooking?"

"Yes. Preparing a cake, at least."

"Isn't that something you do days in advance?"

Cas' face scrunches up. "Wouldn't it expire?"

"Y'know what? I think Sammy can handle distracting Jack on his own," he says, patting Sam's shoulder, not liking the amused look on his freakishly long face. He is definitely getting a surprise haircut one of these days… "I'll help you out in here, make sure nothing explodes. How's that sound?"

The angel smiles at him. "Wonderful. Thank you, Dean."

He's still not sure why Cas decided they should get up early for this, but he doesn't say anything and instead offers to take Cas to the store so he can pick out the ingredients for…whatever it is he's planning on making. By the time they get back, Dean's really longing for a long nap on a certain memory foam mattress, but since Sam and Jack are gone, they get started on party prep instead.

As predicted, Cas is a disaster in the kitchen, though not for lack of trying. When preheating the oven, Cas falls for the idea that he can save time by turning up the heat, and it takes twenty minutes to get that idea out of his thick skull. He's got that Winchester stubbornness, all right…

The making of the cake itself is…messy, but could be worse. Cas is the one that does everything with it, following a recipe exactly and getting everything right on paper but fumbling when it comes to anything not so exact, like mixing the lumps out of the cake batter. While he does that, Dean gets some icing ready and pretends not to be watching the angel like a hawk.

The cake slides into the oven half an hour later with only a mess of flour on the counter and one dropped egg. Not bad, really. Then comes the rest of the food, which have less instructions attached and aren't as angel warrior-friendly. For some bizarre reason (overconfidence from the cake that didn't blow up, maybe?), Cas decides he wants to do this part alone and shoos Dean away to set up the decorations.

So Dean ties the handful of balloons to different rocks to keep them weighed down on the map table and tries not to think about the weird noises coming from the kitchen. Is that a blender…? He tries to ignore it, taping the string holding the mini-banner cards to opposite walls and hoping nothing falls down midway through the party, but when he smells smoke, he's just done.

"Okay, screw this." He hastily tapes the string up, not really caring how even it is with the other side, before climbing down the ladder and storming into the kitchen, finding Cas looking dejectedly towards a lump of charred cake. Dean grabs the pan and takes it outside since there aren't any windows in the Bunker, leaving the door open to circulate the smoke-filled air a little. "Cas, what the hell happened?"

"My cellular phone's battery died so the timer never went off…"

Dean looks around the room at the mess of red smeared across the wall, counter, and floor, with the blender acting as the epicenter for the destruction, a pile of chopped-up tomatoes near the cutting board. On the table is a huge mixing bowl filled with what must be every snack in the entire Bunker all dumped into one thing. Putting two and two together, he can't help but start laughing.

"Lemme guess. You tried to make homemade dip?"

Cas squirms, sad puppy eyes equipped. "The internet made it seem so simple…"

"The internet didn't involve new wallpaper, though, did it?" At this, the angel looks away, and Dean feels a little bad. "Not bad for a first attempt, though. Just, uh, use more tomato sauce and less actual tomatoes next time. Faster and less of a mess. And maybe consider adding a lid to the next thing you wanna blend."

Cas looks at the mess, admitting, "I didn't consider that."

"I can help if you want. You making salsa?"

"Yes…but I want to try to do it myself."

"Gotcha. I'll be right here if you need help."

Cas' face relaxes a little at that before it turns all determined, like he's planning the launch of the next NASA satellite and not just trying to make salsa without setting the Bunker on fire. Dean sits at the table on his phone and tries not to make it too obvious that he's watching the angel's every awkward move, wincing at the way Cas holds the knife to cut up more bits of tomato; if the dude wasn't an angel, he probably would've chopped off a finger or two by now.

Since can openers never last more than a few days in this place, Cas whips out his angel blade and—okay, this is where he'd be losing fingers since he just has the can on the counter and raises both hands over his head to thrust the angel blade into the can, full power. The blade gets stuck, and angel strength is the only thing that keeps this situation from becoming the next King Arthur spinoff.

Dean definitely doesn't record Cas using the hole in the container like it's a pitcher, though he is happy to report that Cas does use the lid on the blender this time. He does seem to think it's necessary to blend just the sauce though, which is kind of weird, but at this rate, he'll be making Sam's vomit-colored breakfast smoothies in no time. Maybe he should tell Cas spoiled anchovies are the secret ingredient for those…

Either way, the salsa comes out okay, but when Dean goes to grab a chip to taste it, he finds that bowl is made up of Cheetos, various flavors of Lay's potato chips, and pretzels in three exotic shapes. Not exactly the kind of thing that goes great with salsa, but he's not gonna tell Cas that, instead just grabbing a Cheeto and swiping it through the dip.

It's kinda salty, but not bad, a comment that earns him a proud, blinding smile.

At that point, Dean heads out to go check and see if anything made a nest in the burnt cake, but when he looks at it again, it's not really that burnt-looking without all that smoke coming off of it. He brings it back inside and asks Cas what he wants to do with it, unsurprised when Cas wants to just try again, though Dean doesn't toss this one out just yet.

It's midway through making this new cake that the Bunker door creaks open, making them both freeze from where they're elbow-deep in cake mix, glancing at each other with a growing sense of horror before they both abandon the cake and go to see who just came in, with Cas dropping his angel blade down from his sleeve and Dean grabbing a gun he keeps nearby.

"Uh, Jack—Jack, maybe you should wait in the car," Sam's saying frantically, trying to hold the door metal shut while Jack tries to squeeze in the crack.

"Sam, why are you acting so weird? Is something wrong?"

"Dean, do something," Sam hisses, but that just makes Jack perk up.

"Is Dean there? Dean, what's happening?"

"Uh…"

Dean looks around frantically for an excuse, but Cas just sighs, slumping down a little. "Let him in, Sam." After a moment, Sam stops holding the door and Jack bursts through, only to stop in his tracks, taking in the sparse decorations with wide eyes. "Hello, Jack. Happy birthday."

"Wow! A birthday party!" Jack goes towards the bunches of balloons floating above the table. "Is this R2-D2?"

"It's supposed to be," Cas replies quietly before looking away. "We prepared a cake as well, but it's somewhat burnt, and we haven't put any icing on it yet."

"Oh, can you put a face on the cake?" Jack asks excitedly, like he doesn't even notice anything but the love Cas put into making him these admittedly kind of lame decorations. "Can it be a porg?"

"Of course, Jack."

Cas retreats back to the kitchen, but Dean hangs around for a minute, nudging Sam with his foot and whispering, "Dude, what happened to keeping Jack distracted?"

"I left my wallet here and forgot to charge my phone, so there wasn't much I could do with him," Sam mumbles back, face red. "Cas got us up so early that my brain just…wasn't all there."

He can't help but smirk a little at that. "Thought you liked getting up early. Didn't get your run in today?"

Sam shoots him a face for that, clearly not in the mood to even be awake right now, which makes the fact that Dean was woken up too a little less horrible. He doesn't dwell on it and goes to see if Cas needs any help, pausing for a second when he sees the angel glaring at the icing like it's the source of all his problems. As soon as he steps past the threshold, Cas starts talking.

"I've ruined everything, haven't I?" Dean just blinks dumbly, but Cas keeps going. "It's my fault Sam forgot his things and now the 'surprise' element is as ruined as this cake. I only just realized I forgot to buy candles—an essential part of the birthday experience, as I understand—I didn't get to prepare very much food at all, and there aren't very many decorations…"

"Hey, birthdays are hard. And haven't you ever heard it's the thought that counts?"

Cas squints at him, accusation and distress and confusion all balled up into one. "You said that's what people say when they dislike something."

"Ah, well…yeah, but…" He shakes his head and meets Cas' eyes. "Look, Jack came in expecting nothing, so he'll be happy with anything. And, y'know, this really isn't that bad for a first attempt. Like I said, birthdays are hard."

"I wanted everything to be perfect," Cas explains while Dean looks for the old food coloring kit he bought a while back to dye a hamburger green to appease Sam. "Jack's never had a birthday, but I wanted him to really enjoy this one. I've planned out strategies for battles in Heaven for hundreds of years. This seemed simple in comparison, but…"

"Believe me, buddy. This is far from the worst birthday that's ever happened." Dean helps the angel get a brown icing going on and shows him how to spread icing on the cake. While he does that, Dean tells him, "One year when Sammy was eight, I got him a cupcake and went all out on the candles. Got one of those ones that doesn't unlight too, just to mess with him."

He pauses to look at Cas' sloppy icing job, but doesn't say anything, since he's no cake maker himself. That reminds him, they should probably finish that other cake… "What happened?" Cas asks as Dean goes back to stirring the other cake (one probably won't be enough for Jody, Donna, and the girls, anyway).

"Well, he blew out the candles, but the one stayed lit. He kept trying to blow it out, but it just kept lighting itself back up again and he got so pissed that he dropped the cupcake. I think it nearly made a crappy motel rug catch on fire. We still scraped the thing off the floor and ate it."

"That doesn't seem very sanitary," the angel remarks while Dean pours the batter into the cake pan Cas recently abandoned.

"No, it was freakin' disgusting. But now it's a memory, y'know? Get to look back and laugh at it." He goes to meet Cas' eyes again, finding them already focused on him, as per usual. "So good or bad, Jack will at least remember this party and he'll know how much you, y'know…care and stuff." Cas' face softens into something sappy, so Dean lightly punches his shoulder while he shoves the second cake in the oven. "Quit looking at me with those big ol' eyes."

"My eyes are no larger than yours, Dean. Unless you're referring to my true form's eyes, which are all significantly larger than yours."

Dean just rolls his eyes at that. "Dork. Cake's turning out pretty good, though. Jack'll like it."

"Really?"

The porg face design on the cake looks more like a really fat squirrel than a porg, but the care he put into it is obvious. "Yeah, really. Why don't you go show it to him?"

Cas carefully lifts the cake up like it's the rarest, most precious thing on the planet and carries it into the map room, where Sam and Jack are waiting, both wearing striped party hats that had been set out on the table. Jack beams at the cake and, once it's set down on the table, pulls Cas into a tight hug that the angel returns after a moment, clearly surprised.

Dean watches fondly from the doorway, glad that Cas has solid proof that Jack is happy with his party, even if it's a small one and not a big, fancy thing like the rich brats on TV might get. Jack's a Winchester now, and part of that means realizing life generally sucks and that moments like these are what make life worth living.

After a moment, the hug ends and Jack decides he wants to eat the cake when everyone else is there. From then, he starts pulling out board games for all of them to play, and Dean humors the kid for a few hours before they all start getting hungry and the bowl of junk food and salsa comes out.

Sam looks pretty amused when Dean tells him the tale of the salsa from Hell that's currently splattered all over the kitchen wall while Jack and Cas are preoccupied trying to figure out how the turn order is determined in Jenga. It's always pretty amusing watching Cas treat everything he does with the exact same level of seriousness no matter the task, but the whole thing is even more endearing now with Jack frowning over the instructions too, because they definitely need instructions to know how to plan Jenga.

As per Jack's request, they play board games for a while longer before swapping to movies. Dean dips around the time Sam starts suggesting romantic movies while looking right at him and heads out to pick up some pizzas from the local pizza place. He texts Jody and Claire separately on the drive over to ask where they are; Jody says she's on her way, but Claire doesn't respond.

He picks up two meat lover's for him and Sam and anyone else who wants it; one plain cheese for Alex, who's been trying out vegetarianism for a little while now; and one pineapple monstrosity for Jack and Jack alone, because he's pretty sure nobody else is gonna touch the thing or look at it to give it more than a scowl of disgust.

He heads back to the Bunker and goes inside with all four boxes in his arms. The second he crosses the threshold, Jack decides to scream from the other room (maybe he's got some of his angel powers left, after all), "Pizza!"

Sam comes out to help him get the door, party hat askew on his giant head. "Hey. What kinds?"

"Two meat lover's, one cheese, one pineapple." They move towards the map room to set the boxes up on the table. "The girls here yet?"

"No, but they should be here soon. Hopefully. Jack won't say anything, but I think he really wants to start into the cake and presents."

"It is his first birthday. You'd expect he'd be pretty pumped about it." Dean glances around with a frown. "Where's Cas?"

"Babysitting Jack. Jack, uh, kept wanting to play Candy Land…" Sam explains, scratching the back of his neck. If Dean's brain wasn't caught up thinking about that stupid babysitter and pizza man thing from forever ago, he probably would've jabbed at Sam for his dislike of a little kid's game. "This is the fourth time in a row. He keeps winning, which might be why, but…"

"Cas going easy on him?"

Sam smiles a little. "Nope. I don't think Cas really knows what's happening, though."

"Seems about right."

"They were in here last I checked, so they might finally be switching up games."

Dean hums noncommittally and opens up one of the meat lover's to start digging in before it gets cold, and after a moment of pretending he's too much of a hippie health-nut to eat pizza, Sam joins him. Jack comes running out with Mouse Trap tucked under his arm, making a beeline for the pizza while Cas follows him out with a tired but fond smile on his face. Dean bugs Claire about showing up again. She still doesn't respond, and at this point, he wonders if she's just trying to piss him off by leaving him on read.

Jack eats like he's never eaten before in his life, which Sam says makes Jack kind of like Dean himself, something that makes Jack grin, though he doesn't say anything. It's another twenty minutes before there's finally a knock at the door, and Dean gets up to let them in.

"Hey, sorry we're late. Caught signs of a couple of vampires that ended up being a pack," Jody explains as they all pile in and move towards the smell of food. "Took longer to deal with than we thought."

"Are those supposed to be the Star Wars robots?" Claire asks with a snort, gesturing towards the balloons.

"Yes," Dean replies flatly, halfway to a hiss, "and Cas worked hard on them, so zip it."

Claire just rolls her eyes. "Bite me." Either way, she doesn't bring them up in front of Cas, which is about as much as he can ask from her. Instead, she plops down across from Jack, snatches up a slice of meat lover's, and says with her mouth full, "Happy birthday, dude."

"Thank you! I'm officially one now."

"Uh…one what?" Alex asks awkwardly, a bemused smile on her face as she elbows Claire's head to grab a slice of the cheese pizza.

"One year old," Jack answers, like that isn't a really weird thing to say. Dean hides a smile behind his beer and nudges Cas, who's naturally sitting basically right against him, with his elbow. "It's very interesting so far. Are all parties like this?"

"Uh…maybe not exactly." Dean shoots Claire a look that has her amending, "No two parties are the same."

"Oh, you betcha," Donna begins. "One time, I had a party that was supposed to be themed around butterflies. The…the decorations did not look like butterflies… More like little chopped-up slugs with wings."

"Hey, trying to eat here," Alex mumbles, but then she goes for a slice of the pineapple pizza, so she can't be too concerned with keeping everything down.

The conversation naturally drifts to hunting as they scarf down the pizza. Dean makes a few beer runs and catches glimpses of Cas taking the second cake out and trying to work with the icing, but tries not to hover too much, instead just letting Cas do his thing. Once all the pizza and snacks are gone, Cas goes to get the first cake and carries it out like it's a sacred artifact that'll crumble to pieces if somebody sneezes.

Dean can feel Claire's comment before it even comes out, but surprisingly, all she says is, "Is that a porg?"

Jody frowns. "A what?"

"A porg! They're from Star Wars," Jack explains as the cake is set in front of him. He takes a few pictures of it before asking, "Are there candles?"

Cas' face falls. "No, I didn't think of them…"

Claire shrugs. "Nobody wants a gross waxy, spitty cake, anyway."

"Definitely true," Alex agrees with a grimace.

"There's another cake cooling down in the kitchen when you guys gobble this one down," Dean tells them, decidedly skirting around the fact that this cake is a little…toasty. "No candles for that one either, but hey, more cake."

Jack's whole face lights up, looking the happiest he's been since losing his grace. "I get two cakes? What's on the other one?"

"Um…the elderly green creature with the unusual speech pattern."

"Yoda? This can't be good…"

Dean shoots Claire a glare, but Jack just keeps on smiling. "That sounds interesting. I can't wait to see it. Or eat it!"

That makes Cas smile, at least, which makes all that effort whipping up a second cake (because there's no way one is going to be enough for eight people) worth it. The cake is cut into seven perfectly even slices, and Dean has to admit, it's not bad. Not as good as pie, of course, but not bad at all, considering it's a little burnt. Better yet, neither Jack nor Cas seem to be aware that there's a weird song people are supposed to trudge their way through, so they can all just dig right in since nobody feels the need to enlighten them.

Seeing how Cas scammed himself out of a slice, Dean cuts off a chunk of his and offers it to him, which he accepts after Dean mumbles, "Not really a cake guy."

"Perhaps for your next birthday, I can attempt to make you a pie," Cas says, and Dean tries and fails not to react. "I might require some practice first. I can tell that this cake is burnt just from the molecules."

"Hey, it's still good." He takes another huge bite, and he can feel the icing that smears on his cheek, but it at least cheers Cas up a little.

Donna tells a story about some disaster that happened in her county earlier, and Jody follows up with a few tales of her own. Then they all start into hunting stories and childhood stories and complain about persistent authority figures actually trying to do their jobs and go from there. Claire's pretending to consider going to college, which makes Jack consider it aloud, though they all kind of know he's not ready for that yet. He could have all the knowledge in the world, but at the end of the day, he's only one year old, and he just doesn't have enough life experience yet.

That causes Dean to really start thinking. Why isn't he spending more time with the kid? Maybe he won't knit or play board games with him like Cas does, but he could at least take Jack out for a ride every once in a while, right? Maybe teach him how to drive, or go fishing like he would do with his dad sometimes?

Once the first cake is gone, the second is brought on. This one's a little smaller, but there's already a difference in the quality of the picture on the cake. It's still pretty sloppy, but the effort Cas put in is clear; maybe all those squints and head tilts he'd been shooting the TV the entire movie night paid off, after all.

"Sometimes, I wonder what it would've been like if my mom was here," Jack says a few bites into his second cake, looking strangely thoughtful for a one-year-old in a stripey birthday hat with bits of icing around his mouth. They all freeze, because death is the one thing they were trying not to bring up, a tricky thing to do in a room full of hunters and/or supernatural beings. "But I never wondered what it'd be like to have a dad."

The kid stares at Cas for a moment as the ange's face softens. "Jack…"

"You're a good dad, Castiel. I made the right decision when I chose you." That gets a few looks around the table, since none of the girls have any clue about…any of that (though Jody might have some idea, since Dean had her put out an APB when Cas was in the wind), but Jack doesn't seem to notice as he looks back down at his plate. "It's a shame we had to eat the porg's face, though… Yoda, too, but I only have a piece of its ear."

"Does that mean we're like Chewbacca now?" Claire asks, clearly trying to get a rise out of him, if only to dissipate some of the new awkwardness in the air, but Jack just looks thoughtful.

"Well, I guess Sam's hair does kind of make him look like a Wookiee…"

"Hey!"

"Hear that, Sammy? They're finally catching onto your true form. Still not too late for me to give you a little…" Dean trails off, holding his fingers up like a pair of scissors and making a snipping motion. Sam squawks and hastily protests, and Dean laughs. He'll get Sam in his sleep one of these days…

Once the second cake is gone, they move on to presents (which they should've done before pizza or cake, really, but oh well). Jack decides to immediately replace what he's wearing with one of the shirts Dean got him and says he looks forward to reading Sam's boring books, but just pauses when he sees Cas' gift.

"It's a map of constellations," the angel explains, "including ones humans haven't discovered yet. You like space, so I thought it might be… I would love to take you to see them in person, but I can't fly anymore, so I thought maybe this would suffice."

"There are so many," Jack marvels quietly, looking up at Cas after a moment to beam at him. "Thanks, Dad. I'd love to see them someday. Who knows? Maybe it'll be possible in the future."

"Hey, for my next birthday, can you tell me about old, extinct cat species that people killed off?" Claire asks, making Cas frown, all confused.

"I could tell you about them later."

"Oh, even better."

Claire gets Jack a knife that Dean temporarily confiscates, and Alex gets him whatever the hell 'Minecraft' is. Jody goes for the socks route, because of course she does, and Donna gets him chocolates with all kinds of funky flavors that they have to convince Jack not to eat right now after two slices of cake.

All in all, Jack's birthday goes pretty well. Nothing explodes, everybody's happy, and Jack's enjoying dueling Claire with his toy lightsabers, staying up way past his bedtime and accidentally popping a BB-8 balloon at one point, making everyone jump. They don't let the kids have any alcohol, but everyone else enjoys a few beers before anyone even starts thinking about sleeping arrangements, which won't be a problem in a huge Bunker like this.

Dean was at first kind of skeptical about the whole thing, but now, he's glad Cas approached him for help, glad he's Cas' go-to guy just like Cas is his, and even if the party didn't turn out quite the way Cas planned, it still ended up being pretty nice. The thought makes him smile and, feeling sappy and a bit tipsy, he reaches over to take the angel's hand in his, since Cas is sitting right beside him like he always does. Cas looks at him questioningly, but when Dean doesn't say anything, he just smiles a little and scoots his chair closer to Dean.

The Bunker is filled with laughter and love like it should be even as some people start heading to bed. Through it all, Cas' hand never leaves his as they sit there and watch Jack play the way kids his age (or, well, a few years older than his age, really) should. Right now, nobody's thinking about Jack's human status, or Lucifer, or anything like that.

Now, all that matters is this, right here. People, families—this is what's real. The rest can wait. Today is Jack's birthday, and they're going to enjoy it.