Thinking about Dean and Cas going on old men dates today. They make it a tradition: every Thursday night, they put on something nice, Dean one of the newer, not torn-up or washed out flannels, Cas puts on a shirt or the sweater that Dean says brings out his eyes and a nice jacket. Today, they celebrate their 6-month anniversary, so Dean went to the barber's earlier, and he puts on an actual shirt, and some aftershave.
Dean is always ready before Cas is, so he sits and waits in the map room, and when Cas comes out dressed and ready, he always gives him a whistle and a "looking good". Probably a kiss, too.
Dean holds the car door open for Cas, as he always does, and Cas always says it's ridiculous but he secretly loves it. Dean pops in Cas' mixtape, that has Otis Redding and Ben King and Bill Withers on it. Lean On Me starts playing and they're driving through the beautiful tree-lined alleys of Kansas, the sun about to set. They don't have to talk, they just enjoy the music and the last rays of sun and the drive and the company.
Once they approach town, they chat about trivial stuff, about daily life and the new movie that's coming out and how they should have left earlier because they fell right into the middle of evening traffic. Dean looks over at Cas while waiting for a light to turn green and Cas looks back. They just smile.
Despite the traffic they get to their usual diner earlier than planned cause they left way too early anyway. The young waitress that knows them by name now greets them and motions for them to sit down. "You two are looking sharp today," she comments when she brings over their drinks.
"Well, it's kind of a special occasion," Dean says, his eyes on Cas, putting his hands on Cas' that's lying on the table. They order something a little different than usual, just to make it special. The reason Dean likes this particular diner so much is because of the music and because when they get there early enough, they get a booth by the window, which has a perfect view of the busiest street of town at night. There just is something about the hustle and bustle of life around them, the normalcy of couples and families sitting and eating, of groups of people passing the window, young and old, couples walking hand in hand, groups of university students leaving campus in hordes, people waiting in front of the cinema at the corner with bags of popcorn in their hands, cars passing, to drive home or to drive to the city or to just pass through.
There's something about the normalcy of sitting down, just the two of them and enjoying a meal as nothing but Dean and Cas, nothing but two men in love, that reminds them what they did it all for. That reminds them why they fought for this and fought for each other, over and over again. Why they continue fighting for each other, day after day, even if the fight gets smaller and smaller as time goes on. There's something about being able to talk about nothing, to be on the drive home by 9pm, to be in bed by 10:30 in each other's arms, half-asleep and safe and warm, that reminds them why it was worth it. That reminds them that the fight is over. That they are with each other now; they are home.