A few years later…

When Cas walked into The Roadhouse, his eyes quickly slid to the bar, where he knew he would find Dean and Sam sitting side by side. He was right. Dean was laughing and listening avidly as Sam gestured wildly with one arm as he told a story. When Sam was home from grad school, which wasn't as often as Dean would have liked, they always spent his first night back, at The Roadhouse, catching up and enjoying the friends who would meet up there.

Cas had been out of town for a conference for a few days and was late for the party. He carried a large padded envelope and hastily loosened his tie as he crossed the crowded room to where Dean was sitting.

Dean saw him approaching and smiled widely. When Cas was standing next to him he leaned over and and kissed him soundly on the mouth.
"I missed you!" Dean exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around Cas. "Why didn't you change before you came here?" Dean asked, gesturing the the suit Cas was still wearing.

"I take it you didn't go home before you ended up here?" Cas asked. During Sam's senior year of high school, Dean and Cas had bought a three bedroom house on the edge of town. They'd spent their weekends haunting home improvement stores and bickering over tile samples and paint chips and generally grossing Sam out with their adorable level of domesticity.

Dean gave him an odd look, "Nope, I met Sammy here right after work." Dean had taken a job working for an advertising agency after graduating college, proofreading copy and generally being bored out of his mind.

Cas grinned at him and lifted the envelope, "Something was delivered to the house for you today. I found it on the doorstep when I got home and rushed over as soon as I saw it."

Dean looked at the envelope with awe, "Wow, I can't believe it finally came."

Sam looked between the two men, caught in the kind of private conversation couples who had been together forever seemed to be able to carry on without saying any actual words. Finally, Sam broke in, "Hey, what's going on? What's in the envelope?"

Dean looked down at the envelope in his hands and bit his lower lip shyly before gently tearing the side of the package open. A sheet of paper and a book fell out. Dean opened the letter and scanned the contents with a small smile on his face and looked at the cover of the book with a quiet look of pride in his eyes. He smiled up at Sam and placed the book in his hands.

Sam looked quickly at Cas, who looked like he was about to cry, before he looked back down at the book. It was dark blue, with a picture of a black car driving down a long, dark highway. The words The Broken Road were emblazoned across the top of the cover and the name Dean Winchester was written in neat typeface at the bottom.

"Your manuscript got published and you didn't tell me?" Sam yelled in shock.

Dean just smiled that quiet smile again and nodded to the book. "Open it up and turn the page, Sammy."

Sam flipped the first few pages until he came to the words:

For Sammy, who was always there.

and

For Cas, who I love with all that I am.

Sam fought back a very unmanly sniff and wrapped his brother in a giant bear hug.

An hour later…

Sometime ago, Sam had wandered off to shoot pool with Jo and Ash. Cas was leaning against the bar, beer bottle in hand. Dean looked over at him, and admired the way he looked in his white dress shirt, rolled up at the sleeves and unbuttoned at the collar. Cas's cheeks were flushed and he was smiling as he listened to the story Dean was telling him.

Cas caught Dean's look and grinned back. Their gazes held for a moment, and Cas's smile widened mischievously. Suddenly, Cas accidentally-on-purpose tilted his bottle and spilled beer down the front of his shirt.

"Ooops," he laughed.

Dean quirked his eyebrow with a grin, "What are you doing, Cas?"

Cas pushed away from the bar and grabbed Dean's hand, pulling him towards the back where the employee locker room was. He glanced back at Dean and winked, "Someone told me once that they kept spare shirts back here. Maybe we'll get lucky?"

Dean felt heat rush up his neck and spread to the tips of his ears. He stopped and tugged on the hand clasping his, pulling Cas flush against him. He angled his mouth over Cas's with a searing kiss. Then, he stepped back with a grin, "Maybe we will."

The End