Wedding

[godless_son]

Two weeks ago Castiel had been sure, at least for a little while, that this was not going to happen. The difference between knowing about your fiance's massacre and seeing it in full screen is very different, but Dean is forgiving and he is a good partner and as Castiel tries and fails yet again to make his hair lie flat, he decides not to include that particular tidbit in his vows.

Everything is reportedly set up, thanks to Mike and Neil, and he can hear the murmurs of the guests walking through the house to the backyard where the tables, chairs, and food await. The documents are signed, he and Dean having chosen to do that in private yesterday after Castiel's last class but the vows are different, he feels. Neither of them are terribly verbally demonstrative but he hopes very much that his are deemed appropriate. He carefully slips on his jacket, knowing that Robin will have words for him if it's not kept neat for at least the vows and fusses with the blue tie and pocket square that he'd been warned by Robin was not to be utilized for any rag-like purposes. Letting out a steady breath he stares at his reflection, at the very human looking man about to engage in a human ceremony with the Righteous Man he pulled from Hell. He frowns, head tilting as he looks for himself in all of that, for the thousands of years old warrior of the Lord with the wrath of Heaven behind him and decides he rather prefers the version that is still having trouble keeping his hair neat and whose biggest worry of the day is avoiding embarrassing himself during the vows. It is very strange and Heaven will never forgive him for it and he could not be happier.

He gives the stubborn curl spring up in front of his ear a furious swipe with his thumb and checks once more that Dean's ring is in his pocket before stepping out across the hallway to knock on their door. "Dean," he murmurs, "Are you ready?"

Dean feels half strangled by the tie. Long gone are the days disguises and aliases were needed - the last tie he bothered to throw around his neck is probably years past, but this is his wedding, and he means to look nice.

“Yeah,” he calls, adjusting the green silk at his throat a last, futile time. “Just.” He releases it with a sigh. He knows himself well enough to know he’s only nervous, and he passes a hand through his combed hair and takes a few deep breaths before he turns to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob.

“Am I supposed to see you? Is that a thing?”

Comments

[godless_son]

"Thank you for the well wishes," he says, fingers curling for a moment before he forces himself to relax. He has been told he's not terribly good at hiding what emotions he does have and he's not interested in Urahara picking up on his discomfort.

"I have never formally thanked you for what you did for Dean. I was very reticent for a long time but that sword saved both our lives."

[goodfella]

"I've just always told myself," Robin says, nonchalantly finishing off his glass of wine. "Friends go and they come. That's the way life is for all of us. You've got to carpe diem as much bullshit as possible in life. I don't know if there's a better way to do that then getting married; unless it's attending someone else's marriage and having a good time, whether you want to or not."

He waggles his empty cup in front of Castiel, hoping that it works to get it filled again without much effort.

"Nice rings, by the way."

[phosphor]

"Yukio," Rin says, loud and trundling as he makes his way over. He comes up on Yukio's back, not seeing his face until he's too close; when he catches the barest wetness at Yukio's eyes, he hesitates, but for only a few seconds.

It shouldn't be shocking to see that Yukio was crying, and it isn't. But it's uncomfortable. Because somewhere along the line, Rin had become the crybaby. And somewhere along the line, Yukio had dried up.

His smile gets stronger again quickly, and his voice does its best to sound as excited and certain as it had when he'd raced over from everyone else to find his brother.

"It was nice. There were rings and everything. I figured I might never see a wedding."

[vivememorleti]

Kisuke is certainly no mind reader -- but he knows unease when he sees it, and attributes it, frequently, to himself. He isn't a very pleasant person. He's come to understand that.

He slides over on the picnic table, leaving room beside him for Castiel to take a seat. He pats the empty space with his hand to remove any doubt. He wants to talk to Castiel, honestly and without pretense. They hold similar levels of power, from different sources and for different uses.

"You don't need to formally thank me for anything. I don't deserve anyone's thanks. All I did was unlock a door to something that was already inside of Dean for his own use. At risk to both of us, maybe, but things worth having are usually worth the risk."

[godless_son]

Castiel ducks his head for a moment, not wanting to make the moment awkward with an unfortunate emotional display.

"Thank you," he says, voice only a little rougher than usual when he reaches for the bottle Robin had brought, offering to pour him another.

"Dean has had mine for quite some time, actually. The first time he proposed, he had a minor 'freak out' and took it back. The man who engraved his was a little disturbed by the symbols on the inside."

[godless_son]

Castiel tilts his head, taking in this new information. He hadn't known it was so bad that Rin could not enter hallowed ground.

"How much has Dean told you about his past?" he asks, unsure it is his place to reveal everything. "I rescued him from a bad place. God ordered it. And I found him fascinating so I stuck around long after I was meant to go back home."

[godless_son]

Castiel sits, back stiff as he folds his hands in front of him. This is not the place for the talk he feels he might need to have, and he hopes he can keep himself calm.

"I agree, that things worth having often involve risk. The definition of worth having is perhaps more fluid from person to person. The risk was worth it, in Dean's case."

[goodfella]

"A minor freak out." Robin gives a snort at Castiel's choice of wording, giving the alcohol in his glass a slow swirl inside the cup and sitting up a little more straight in the seat he's been lounging in.

"Call me next time. I'll hook you up with some craftsmen and retailers that haven't got anything left in the world to be disturbed by they haven't seen yet. No guarantee they're going to be human, though. Or legal. Well, I guess you know my scene well enough by now to have that figured out. What'd you do to them, anyway? Got those things locked down tighter than Fort Knox?"

[phosphor]

Rin gives a shrug, mostly because he doesn't know how to quantify what Dean's told him against what Dean hasn't -- more than enough to regularly satiate Rin's curiosity. He isn't nearly as incisive, about anything, as his brother.

He likes the idea that Castiel stuck around just for Dean, though; his tail betrays him, giving a slow wag from side to side. "So you stayed with your friends instead of going back to Heaven?"

[godless_son]

"I will indeed call you next time," he promises, taking mental note to thoroughly vet anyone Robin recommends.

"I engraved Dean's as a surprise. There is an anti-possession charm as well as several Enochian protection symbols against angels, demons and a general warning to the supernatural that he is previously claimed."

[vivememorleti]

"Relax," Kisuke says. His instinct is to reach out to squeeze Castiel's shoulder, but he holds himself back. Castiel may not be the type to take well to it.

"I'm not your enemy, you know. I would never try to hurt Mr. Winchester -- or anyone else. I'm just a man who owns a cafe and likes cats. I'm just trying to make up for some things I've done. I want to be your neighbor. I want to work with you. Do you think my good intentions are enough?"

[godless_son]

"I think we both know you are much more than a man who owns a cafe and likes cats in the same way I am much more than a man who teaches Religion at the local University," he says, leaning back a little as he holds himself back from looking deeper. Urahara is a powerful being, he would likely notice any attempts to look into his mind.

"I, too, have much to make up for. However, I cannot speak to your intentions. I do not understand them or yourself nearly good enough. What type of work do you speak of?"

[godless_son]

"I did indeed and it was the best decision I have made apart from the one to marry Dean," he confirms with a small smile. "It was very difficult, it still is, and I made many mistakes getting here. But it has all been worth it. Family and love is more important than the power I am giving up."

[vivememorleti]

Kisuke gives a laugh, bell-like in comparison to a normally deep voice. "I'm really not anything more than that. I'm not part of any religion, or group of people. I don't work for anyone but myself. I really am just a person. Power or otherwise, I'm not an agent of anything but myself."

He turns his grey eyes on Castiel, smiling from beneath the rim of the hat he wears.

"So the work I'm speaking of is just protecting my neighbors, who I care about. That's all. I just want you to know that that's what I want. Although I doubt just saying so is going to earn any trust from someone as serious as yourself."

[godless_son]

"I have been told that I improve with increased exposure," he murmurs, reaching for a beer, offering up a second.

"I am committed to protecting my loved ones as well. I want to prevent anything like Grand Fisher or the bees, anything like that happening again. I want to make this place safe."

[vivememorleti]

Kisuke does, for a heartbeat, wonder if he shouldn't disclose some things -- about the Grand Fisher, about why he didn't act on that situation when he could have. But Dean and Castiel's wedding, a wedding in general, isn't the place for it. A wedding is a placee for joy. And his last slice of watermelon.

"You sound like you're happy to be here in this place; with Mr. Winchester. Does this make you Mr. Winchester as well?"

[and_survive]

She supposed that was as good a term as any; she wouldn't know what to call these things. There were friends, sure, and then there were the people who got it, and maybe they were friends, too, but there was the other stuff, first. The knowledge that when everything finally went south, however it was they went south, they'd be the ones not going down in the first wave.

"Of course he does, I'm awesome," she said, chomping down on the pie and then grinning at Castiel. "He thinks you're alright, too, clearly. So I figure you're probably pretty alright."

[and_survive]

She decided, with one look at his face, that she might feel weird at them, but weddings were a pretty good gig all the same.

"Open 'em up, I gotta make an informed decision," Ellie said, making a gimme gesture with one hand, as if she'd never tasted both flavors.

She had, obviously, at this point, tasted about every one she could find, buying them from stores, almost bewildered at the idea of selecting, not just taking whatever was found and still sealed.

"I can't go getting in the middle of a married argument without doing the research."

[always_enduphere]

It's not unusual to see Kisuke sprawled across an unlikely surface, somehow looking both disaffected and elegant at the same time, but Dean can't say he's ever seen the man with a can of beer.

"Good look on you," Dean observes, taking a seat rather than joining him atop the table, though that's only because he doesn't trust the cheap thing to bear both their weights. "You get enough burgers?"

[always_enduphere]

Walking up in time to catch the last of that, Dean realizes quite suddenly that he agrees. Bundled up as it is in his mind, reflecting a time and person Dean no longer is, it's easy to pretend the whole island happened to someone else, but it happened to Dean, too. And Cal had been a friend.

"He'd've eaten all the best meat," says Dean, tapping his can to Robin's plastic cup. "And drank all the beer." He smiles faintly. "He'd've been welcome to it."

[always_enduphere]

"Fair point," says Dean, stretching to grab a pair of plates. He dumps a small mountain of barbecue on one and sour cream on the other and slides both to sit between them.

"Since you have to be impartial, I won't tell you whose side I'm on," he says, though he selects a structurally unsound handful of sour cream chips to stuff into his mouth first. He chews, enjoying the salt, and swallows. "Potato chips - fried heaven in a bag."

[always_enduphere]

He gets a rumpling of his hair for that whipped comment, though Dean doesn't bother arguing it. It's pretty plainly true, but what's nice is that it seems to go both ways.

"Eh," he says, letting his hand fall, "Where would we go? We've already got a nice place out in the country, and I don't much feel like journeying back into town. We'll probably just hole up here for a week or so."

To do things he's definitely not going to bring up to Yukio. "Hardly the worst honeymoon."

[always_enduphere]

"In that case, can I interest you in some more calories?" asks Dean, sliding a particularly fat burger onto a toasted bun. He adds a pickle before Cas can really gear up to protest. "If we're in for a long night you're gonna need your strength."

[godless_son]

"I am an Angel of the Lord," he grumbles, reaching down to take a bite, looking wistfully at his low fat veggie burgers. "I have amazing stamina with or without this burger. I could literally go all night if it weren't for eventual chafing."

[forthedog]

Weddings keep happening. At one point - lives ago, now - they would have been unthinkable, mythological things that happened to other people, none of whom Mike knew personally. Now he's never surprised by them anymore. They feel natural.

People fall in love. They want to be together. It's not even that big a deal. Even if it completely is. He's here with his family, but by now he feels like his family extends beyond Neil, beyond the girls.

This isn't just any wedding. It feels like something that's been waiting a long time to happen.

As usual, he's on the periphery of things, but not because he feels the need to hide from anything. He's watching - Castiel and Dean, and everyone gathered here for them and for this - and he's glad for it.