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

[and_survive]

She'd never been to a wedding. Couldn't think, offhand, of anyone she'd known who was actually married. She knew people who were separated, by divorce or by death or both, but none she could think of that were actively married. Maybe some of the soldiers had been, but she hadn't known them well enough to know. Probably people still got married after cordyceps, some few daring it.

But this was still the first one she'd been to, and it was strange. Not bad strange, and not the ceremony, just the fact of it. She'd worn a dress for the first time in she didn't know how long, because it seemed appropriate. She had, however, stuck with a solid pair of boots, in case she needed to run anywhere. You never knew.

She didn't really know what you did at weddings. Ate, she guessed, and she wasn't going to turn down food, ever. Talked, possibly? She'd thought of inviting Riley, but it had seemed too loaded, not with everything messed up the way it was, the way she'd messed it up. So instead she swayed about, eying the happy occasion. It was nice, though.

[godless_son]

"Hello," Castiel says, announcing himself as he walks up with a piece of pie. Castiel knows who the girl is, of course, but he's never had cause to meet her. He appreciated the effort as attending the gay wedding of an adult man and an angel must be odd.

"You are Ellie, Dean's friend. Would you like a piece of pie?"

[and_survive]

"And you're Castiel, Dean's husband," she said, echoing his phrasing, the slight formality of it, although she dropped an automatic contraction in there. Slightly congratulatory, slightly teasing, slightly baffled, although less by the fact that they were both guys and more by the nature of the institution. "Congrats, man. Hell yes I'd like a piece of pie."

Then she blanched slightly, considering that maybe the h-word was inappropriate, considering. Maybe rude. But only a little, because Ellie was kind of rude as a baseline.

[godless_son]

He likes her, he decides as he hands over a piece. She reminds him of Dean, oddly enough.

"Thank you for being here, I know it means a great deal to Dean to have his..." he trails off, unsure how to characterize the group of children and teens that Dean is slowly collecting. "Young friends here. He speaks fondly of you."

[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."

[godless_son]

"I am relieved to hear it," he says, smiling softly as the girl reminds him of Dean more and more.

"Did Dean tell you what I am?" he asks, suddenly wondering what exactly Dean does tell people like this about them. "Other than being a college professor?"

[and_survive]

"You're- you're going to have to bear with me, I don't entirely get it," she said, pushing her mouth to one side and squinting an eye. "I caught some of it during the vows, but force of celestial intent..."

She swept her hand over her head and made a wooshing sound.

[godless_son]

"I'm an angel, if that is easier to understand," he says, gesturing to a nearby set of chairs. "My physical form, as it was, doesn't exist on this plane, it's why you can't see my wings. I can see them, of course, but my body looks like light to you. It's inside what you are seeing now."

In hindsight, that may not have been an more clear.

[and_survive]

It wasn't exactly that much clearer, and in some ways the whole thing was deeply confusing. If angels were real, did that mean they were real everywhere? If there were angels, did that mean their boss was real, too, and back in her world as well?

Because if so, fuck that guy.

She suppressed any urge to say that, though. It was Castiel's wedding. She wasn't a complete asshole, and he was probably in favor of the guy. Maybe. She didn't know. That was another confusing part of it all.

"...like a hologram?" she said, choosing instead to focus on a part she could get her head wrapped around better. "Or, no, because then stuff would pass right through you and that wouldn't work for Dean at all. So you're like... inside?"

[godless_son]

"My true form is perceived on this plane of existence as primarily a blinding light. I cannot communicate and I cannot interact without it being dangerous. This body," he says, patting his chest, "it once belonged to a man named Jimmy Novak. He allowed me to take control so that I could come to earth and help Dean. He is gone, now, and it is only mine. I am contained in this body."

[and_survive]

"Wow," she said. "I mean, wow. Holy shit. Sorry. That's kind of- you're full on comic book, man, powerful being riding in a human body to do good. No wonder Dean's all about you. Or- okay, it might be other stuff, I dunno, but that'd be a good reason, too."

[always_enduphere]

"Hey, kid," says Dean, plopping down next to her at one of the small, hastily assembled tables. He smells like burgers and smoke, grease in the creases of his face when he smiles, and it's possible that he's never felt happier.

"Help settle our first argument as a married couple." Dean holds up two bags of potato chips. "Barbecue or sour cream?"

[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]

"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."

[and_survive]

"I know jack about weddings, but isn't the food usually tiny, fancy shit?" Ellie said, reaching over and scooping up a handful of the barbecue, stuffing a fair amount into her face. "Not complaining," she hastened to add, "this is way better."

[always_enduphere]

"Sure looked that way in the magazines Cas brought home," says Dean. "All the food half as big and three times as expensive. Hell no, give me a good burger and a beer any day."

He slides the other plate to her. "Now try sour cream. After that we can graduate to dips."

[and_survive]

"He brought magazines?" Ellie said, lighting up at the mental image of this. "Wedding magazines? Do they have that, for two guys, when it's weddings? I know they have porn for that, but weddings? Or was it wall-to-wall white dresses?"

Either option was hilarious, really. Just the concept of there being magazine browsing involved. She was still chuckling slightly when she took a swig of her drink to clear her palate and started thoughtfully trying the sour cream chips.