Much More Than a Hunch Part 30 of 30 - Complete
Title: Much More Than a Hunch Part 30 of 30
Author: Gedry
Pairings: Dean/Cas
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1274
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. I am making no profit from this fanfiction.
Spoilers: none
Warnings: mentions of past childhood abuse.
Summary: For lillyg who wanted FLUFF and got a daycare verse instead.
No beta, my bad!
Much More Than a Hunch
The crowd is starting to fill into the concert hall and Castiel is grinding his teeth in nervousness as he peaks out from behind the curtain to where Dean, Sam, and Gabriel are getting all four of their kids settled into their seats.
He waves and smiles at the frantic waving, both from children and adults, that he gets in return. The girls look lovely in their dresses and the boys are doing their level best not to tug on their ties. Dean’s hand keeps creeping up toward it but Castiel can tell he’s very aware the boys are watching his every move. If Dean wants the boys to keep their ties on he needs to leave his alone too.
Once they are in their seats and Castiel is certain his support system is in place he turns with one final wave and heads back to check his instrument for what feels like the millionth time in the last two hours.
This has to be perfect. He has to be ready.
Castiel’s been planning for this evening his entire life. He knows Dean thinks he’s only been working on this piece for the past few months but he’s so wrong. Castiel has been working on it since the day they met, he nurtured it through the years they grew up together, and at his darkest moments Castiel has held it close to his chest for strength.
It’s just only now that he’s ready to share it with the world.
They set up and tune up. Castiel’s mind not focused on what’s happening around him. His mind turned toward internal matters as he struggles to find his center when the curtains pull back and they begin to play.
He has a habit of never looking into the crowd. It makes him nervous, throws him off his game. He had warned Dean about it before he left this morning. Castiel didn’t want him to think he didn’t appreciate him being there. It would just be too much, too personal. Sometimes when he looks at Dean he’s overwhelmed by the love he feels for him and Castiel is already overwhelmed enough right now.
When they break for intermission he sits quietly by himself and closes his eyes as the music swells and plays in his head over and over again. He’s ready, he knows it. This isn’t the most important night of his life, not by a long shot.
But it is the first time he’s going to declare for the world to see how very much in love he is with Dean.
He just hopes he doesn’t fuck it up.
*****
Dean’s been pacing in the lobby all of break. He’s man enough to admit he’s totally freaking out by this point. He’s fifteen seconds from bending over and putting his head between his knees or breathing into a paper bag when Sam finally sticks his head out into the lobby and jerks his thumb at Dean indicating he needs to get his ass back into the seat.
Once he’s sitting down, it’s so much worse. He’s determined to set a good example for his sons and his daughter so he’s been trying all night not to squirm or shift in his seat. Dressing up isn’t really Dean’s favorite thing to do. But with the added component of knowing Castiel is about to step to the front and play a piece he has written Dean’s feeling a little sick.
And damn if Cas isn’t looking totally calm right now. He steps up and sits down while the rest of the orchestra fades into blackness around him when they dim the lights. He watches Castiel swallow a few times as he settles in and take a deep breath in before exhaling slowly. It’s a move that Dean unconsciously mirrors and because he does it so do the boys and Anna. Later, when he has Cas curled up in his arms in bed tonight he’ll tell his partner about it and they will both laugh. But for now, he’s too busy waiting for Cas to play.
But then Cas leans toward the microphone and says in his too deep voice. “I’ve been lucky enough in my life to love only one person, this was written for him. This is our song.”
Dean’s got tears in his eyes at the first draw of the bow across the strings. Sam’s huge hand reaches across Anna to grip his forearm when he clenches his hands on the plush velvet of the chair.
The music starts out tentative, hesitant and while Cas plays, Dean closes his eyes and remembers their first easy years together when they were little, like their boys are now. He feels his face break into a smile at the memories that he cherishes from his childhood. Then the music swells and eases into something tender and achingly sweet. Dean thinks about the way he used to stare up at his ceiling and think about kissing his best friend and how wonderful it would be when they were together forever.
Then the tone dips into a darker, more violent tone and it makes Dean think of the scars peppering Cas’ body. His heart almost skips a beat when he realizes that Cas is replaying the night after their first kiss when his father had nearly beaten him to death.
He’s crying during the span of music that clearly represents their time apart. It’s lonesome, jagged, so horribly lost and sad sounding that he wants to get up out of his seat and make Cas stop playing all together. There’s a single solitary spark of joy that builds inside the overtones of loss and he just knows it has to be Anna.
Then it moves into something cautious sounding, just a trickle of higher chores that sounds like hope to Dean and he wipes at his cheeks while he thinks of their trip to the park after meeting again for the first time. The music swells up, raises steadily in the tones of joy and happiness and Dean feels his heart pounding in his chest.
The crescendo is full of joy and release and then the tune fades away dipping and swirling like rocks across a pond.
He’s a mess and Cas’ hesitant smile from his chair is like the most beautiful thing Dean has ever seen.
In the lobby, while he and Sam are waiting for Gabriel to get the car Dean overhears some guy say, “It was fantastic, the only critique that I have I that there was no clear ending to his piece. It felt like there was more to it.”
Dean’s turning before Sam can stop him to blurt, “Of course there’s no end! We haven’t lived it yet!”
When Cas comes home that night he explains to Dean the man Dean yelled at was one of the benefactors of the orchestra and some huge, important guy in the classical music circle.
He apparently thought Dean was charmingly funny and offered Cas a more permanent position with the orchestra.
Dean’s thrilled, but it won’t really process until in the morning.
They spend the rest of the night in bed, sprawled naked under the sheets, building new memories while they revisit older ones.