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“Just a few more minutes Cas. Jimmy’s almost done with therapy. Why don’tcha go grab a seat” said the smiling receptionist, Donna, before stopping short, her smile growing even bigger after noticing the girl shuffling behind Castiel. “Darn tootin’ Claire, your daddy’s gonna be just jumping with joy to see you here.”
Cas smiles politely while Claire rolls her eyes and picks up a fashion magazine before sitting in the small 4 seat waiting room, Cas following behind.
Jimmy has been in physical therapy for a few months now, and Claire has been less than enthused to join in on the drop-offs and pickups of his many, many appointments. Cas doesn’t blame her.
There’s only so much you can do in a waiting room, which is why he’s taken to leaving and returning instead of nervously pacing the commercial grade beige carpeting, as he was wont to do the first few sessions. Call it twintuition, but his anxiety those appointments coincided pretty well with the amount of pain Jimmy was in and made Cas rethink this particular PT’s office, regardless of how highly recommended they are.
Thankfully they’re past that point and Jimmy is almost able to walk without the help of his four pronged, tennis-ball topped walker. Baby steps and all.
Sitting down opposite Claire, Castiel takes out his phone, playing one of those candy decimating games, whichever version it is. It passes the time more easily than the months-old magazine issues he’s already read through.
An older gentleman comes into the waiting room and sits next to Castiel. He shuffles around a little bit before grabbing the week-old newspaper and settling in.
The office is always quiet, not even a light rock radio station playing. You can hear Donna answering the few phone calls that come in, and a light motor running for the salt water fish tank; filled with the kind of fish that are supposed to be calming in these situations.
Jimmy had commented once that he thought they needed a Dory fish in there, because short term memory loss for the amount of pain you were in post-appointment would probably raise motivation to come back the next time. Donna had just smiled at that.
The older gentleman next to Cas keeps rustling his newspaper, adding unnecessary noise to the otherwise quiet atmosphere. Suddenly the man speaks, while raising a steady arm towards a sheet of computer paper taped to the wall, “Excuse me, could you tell me what that sign says there?”
Cas clears his throat and reads out “It says Please do not use cell phones. Thanks.” The gentleman looks down towards where Castiel has his phone in his hand, the candy decimating game waiting for his move, then back up with a accusatory look. Across from him, Claire snorts.
Cas is baffled by this man’s gall. He feels the need to clarify, “They mean no talking on your cell phones. My phone is silenced, it’s not making any noise.” The man shifts in the chair, his newspaper rustling again. “If they mean that, they should’ve wrote that.” Claire sniggers this time.
Castiel debates on whether to tell the man that he’ll ask Donna to amend the sign to include not excessively crinkling one’s newspaper, when Donna calls out that Jimmy is all set.
Claire drops the magazine back on the edge of the table and pulls out her cellphone, she stands for a second, looking at her phone before heading towards the reception desk. Castiel decides to leave the man without another word and quickly heads towards reception.
--
In the car, Claire starts giggling. Jimmy turns his head around to face the back seat as much as possible “Hey pumpkin, what’s so funny?”
Claire tries to control her laughter. “I sent Dean a photo of Uncle Cas and the old geezer that told him off in the waiting room just now. You ready for this? It’s Dean’s uncle. Bobby.” Another peal of laughter comes out of that.
Castiel feels his face burning up. No. He couldn’t possibly. No. His hands tighten around the steering wheel.
Jimmy gives a chuckle. “Way to meet the family Cassie. What’d you do to piss him off?”
Cas takes in a breath and relays the story, thankful he didn’t comment further and tell Bobby (and that was not how he pictured Dean’s illustrious ‘uncle’) about having Donna amend the paper, or anything else for that matter. Dear lord, he hopes he won’t have to meet him in any proximity again soon. Maybe the man won’t remember this unfortunate meeting. His fingers slowly loosen around the wheel. Yes, Bobby'll forget.
--
They pull into Castiel’s driveway, having sold Jimmy’s house in favor of less maintenance on Castiel’s part. That and the fact Jimmy no longer wanted to live in the house he and his wife had chosen to build their lives in, without her. Although out of the hospital and beginning PT, Jimmy was unable to help when it was time to sell and Castiel had recruited Dean and his brother Sam to help with their belongings, rather than deal with Gabriel and Balthazar’s nonsense for an extended weekend.
Amelia’s things were in a storage unit, for when Jimmy had the courage to go through the items.
Claire had wanted nothing of hers and spent the day in her old room throwing out things she loved. Castiel will never understand teenagers.
Gingerly they get Jimmy up the 3 steps into the house and let him hobble over to where he’s been camping out on the sofa. Claire runs up the stairs to her room to brood, or whatever it is she does. Castiel looks at the clock and curses, it’s after 7pm, Jimmy’s appointment went later than usual.
He quickly picks up the recycling bag and heads back out the door, telling his family he’ll be back, per his usual Thursday night routine.
--
The collections room is empty when he arrives, to his eternal disappointment. He and Dean have been dating for nearly 4 months now. They see each other when they can, but of course Dean understands Castiel’s situation with his twin. He’s over at his house quite often during the weekends, occasionally sleeping over.
Cas’ heart flutters wildly whenever they can get a moment alone without worrying about scarring Claire or ignoring Jimmy in a time of crisis. Unfortunately, they haven’t had alone time enough to go past quick hand and blowjobs but Castiel isn’t in any rush to go further. He’s not a prude, just not into rushing things. What he feels for Dean is real. It feels lasting. There’ll be time for topping and bottoming and analingus; when Jimmy and Claire are no longer Castiel’s sole responsibility.
He’s just about done with his plastic bottles when he feels like he’s being watched. He presses the print button on the machine and turns around, only to be greeted with a suave looking Dean, leaning against the gritty glass by the door.
“So what’d you do to piss off Bobby?” Dean asks with a chuckle. He’s wearing a dark red shirt today. It looks very good on him.
“I don’t know what Claire told you. I did nothing.” Castiel responds with a huff and walks over to Dean, kissing him chastely on the lips. Dean put his arms around Castiel’s neck and deepens the kiss. Castiel hums in response. It's been a long week without Dean's kisses.
Dean pulls away first, giving Cas one of his megawatt smiles. “All she told me was that you pissed off an old guy who, after seeing the picture, happens to be my uncle." At Castiel's frown Dean gives him a peck on the forehead, ruffling his already disastrous hair as he pulls back a few inches. "I missed your snark this weekend.”
Castiel rolls his eyes and sighs, stepping back out of Dean’s immediate space. “Did you at least have fun with your friends?”
Dean smirks “Changing the subject I see.” Castiel looks on questioningly. Dean decides to humor him.
“Yeah, we had a great time. The kingdom is still in our queen’s control. I wasn’t killed by a rogue member of the court; Pretty successful weekend of LARPing if I do say so myself... So what did you do to piss off Bobby?”
Castiel’s mouth opens into an ‘oh’ shape. That was the subject in question. “He didn’t approve of my cellular gaming in the waiting room at Jimmy’s PT. There was a sign about not using cell phones in the office. He had me read it to him.”
Dean’s face slowly reddens, his lips smashing together in a visible struggle not to burst out laughing. Castiel just looks on, unamused.
Dean, finally in control of his facial features asks “Remind you of anyone?”
Castiel scowls, pushing past Dean to exit the collections room. “You’re lucky you’re cute Dean Winchester. Now help me buy groceries.”