#sastimmy

[ladylilithprime]

Fluffy February 2024 Master List

Very slightly delayed master list for @fluffyfebruary of 2024, with links to the original tumblr posts and their AO3 files.

Day 1: Snowbounding (Snow)

The average snowfall per year for southern New Jersey is around ten to fifteen inches. Getting twenty inches overnight leading to an unexpected snow day is bound to raise a few eyebrows.

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Day 2: From The Door, Where We Began (Eavesdrop)

Sam had assured his guests that putting his son to bed wouldn't take long... but then Jimmy caught the sound of an old familiar favorite book being read, and Cas followed.

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Day 3: Customer Disservice (Entertain)

Working in a faerie-owned and operated cafe definitely had some benefits, moreso than any other job Cas had previously had.

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Day 4: Someone Who Will Always Know (Learn)

There once was a boy named John Constantine Novak. That boy no longer exists, as he became twins.

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Day 5: Family Traditions, Part Two (Planet)

May was usually pretty busy for a cafe, but Sam always closed shop for Jack's birthday. This year, with two new employees under his domain banner, would be no exception.

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Day 6: Won't You Please Respond (Fire)

Working the register at a cafe is somewhat outside of John Castiel Novak's comfort zone, but he and Jimmy have a debt to repay and it's his turn. The dragon volunteer firefighter who comes in is a welcome if oddly friendly surprise.

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Day 7: You Don't Need A Nightingale (Recovery)

In the aftermath of the alicorn invasion, Sam is determined to get back to work as soon as possible despite his injury. This does not make his boyfriends feel better about him getting hurt in the first place.

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Day 8: We Can Be Your Sword And Shield (Smile)

The aftermath of a traumatic event is often difficult for everyone involved. Routines can help... most of the time.

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Day 9: What Is More Infinite Than The Universe (Storm)

Some businesses shut down when the weather turns bad. Others tend to get an uptick in activity. Some good... some not.

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Day 10: Knit The Raveled Sleeve (Care)

Convalescence sometimes leads to picking up new hobbies. In fulfilling a recpriocal promise to his cousin, Sam picks up a hobby that leads to commissioning his cousin's help in making a very special gift for his boyfriends.

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Day 11: Where Many Paths And Errands Meet (Quest)

John Castiel and James Constantine Novak were twins. This was not always the case, and this point of contention caused some resentment and ill-feeling on the part of their less supportive family members. When their least supportive uncle drunkenly suggested finding a faerie to turn them back into one boy so they'd only be half the disappointment, Cas and Jimmy decided that, for their own safety and continued survival, they needed to find a faerie first. This was easier said than done.

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Day 12: Pull Me Like A Ripcord (Discipline)

Jack was usually such an energetic child that it was a bit disconcerting at first to see him be so still and controlled.

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Day 13: Not New, But New To Us (Splurge)

A faerie bargain to ensure no one remembered that John Castiel and James Constantine Novak hadn't actually been born twins in exchange for a week of service. At the end of the week, they were presented with an offer of permanent employment and the chance to move into their own home far away from the family that barely counted as such. Now Cas and Jimmy just needed to sort out certain details of living on their own, like buying actual groceries and even furniture.

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Day 14: You Labeled Me, I'll Label You (Free Space)

Just because Sam understands why Dean completely overreacted to his getting hurt in the alicorn attack, that doesn't mean his older brother will be forgiven until he actually apologizes to Cas and Jimmy. His mother and younger brother agree.

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Day 14: Bonus Art (Free Space)

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Day 15: A Bit Of A Fixer-Upper (Craft)

Charlie Bradbury was a fixer, the kind of person who stuck it out in bad situations with needy people and tried to make things better. It wasn't much surprise that she would end up working for a half-faerie cafe owner who was exactly the same.

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Day 16: Family Traditions, Part One (Spontaneous)

Every year, Lighthouse CommodiTeas would close for the whole day of May 18th so that Sam could spend the entire day with Jack on his son's birthday. This year, Jack wants to invite Cas and Jimmy to join them.

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Day 17: Untangling The Heart (Pleasure)

Routines took time to develop, whether by choice or by accident, but they always had one point where it began.

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Day 18: The Best Medicine (Pain)

The property where Sam meant to establish Lighthouse CommodiTeas had come with a fully stocked kitchen. It hadn't mattered at the time since Sam couldn't make food to serve without risking cursing his human customers. So once he hired a full time baker, it mattered a bit more... as did the accidental hazards left behind.

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Day 19: When In Need (Shadow)

Since the Magical Revelation, strange things tended to happen a lot more often and openly, and it was usually best to check with a magical before deciding if something was cause for alarm or just another Thursday. And then Jack came home from school with two shadows.

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Day 20: In Sickness (Partners)

Living in a magically integrated community had its perks. Unfortunately, immunity from illness was not one of them. Luckily, Cas's half-faerie boyfriend is willing to come stay with him and Jimmy to help take care of him, which leads to a few unexpected revelations about Sam... like the fact that he technically has his own magical twin.

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Day 21: One Size Fits, Some Exclusions Apply (Reward)

Thanks to the efforts of Nox and Sam, Matthew Pike has been rescued and relocated to Avalon and a new foster mom who has some concerns. Cas does his best to be reassuring.

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Day 22: For Better Or Worse (Sacrifice)

The quest for immortality was supposed to be long and arduous, full of peril and challenge before one sacrificed their mortality to live forever. At least... that was what they'd been told.

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Day 23: Until The Break Of Dawn (Dance)

Summer break in Avalon meant tourist season, and there was plenty to draw them in. Some things, however, were as much for the locals as the tourists, and Midsummer Night was one of them.

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Day 24: History Never Repeats (Apology)

Ceridmael had perfectly valid reasons for going off on his brother's little human pets after they nearly got him killed in an alicorn attack. He may have been lacking all of the facts when he did, though.

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Day 25: Under The Light Of A Thousand Stars (Kiss)

Deciding that they were definitely dating now was the easy part. Sorting out what that would look like with their respective boundaries, comfort levels, and cultural differences was an ongoing process.

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Day 26: Luck And Marriage Are What You Make Of Them (Rain)

A V-shaped polyamorous wedding was bound to have some quirks and peculiarities to it. This is even more true when two of the three are magically created twins and their soon-to-be husband is a prince of one Realm and a king of another. They've got this, though-- not even rain can slow them down.

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Day 27: When The Time Is Right (Protect)

Sam got hurt protecting Cas and Jimmy from alicorns. Alicorns are drawn to virgins. Dean blames Cas and Jimmy for Sam getting hurt. Therefore, Cas believes that to protect Sam from getting hurt because of them again, he and Jimmy need to no longer be virgins. Things do not go as planned.

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Day 28: In Health (Shy)

Meeting your boyfriend's magical twin who shares his body can be a tricky situation, especially when that twin is king of a hell dimension. It goes better than expected, and gives Sam the confidence to share another secret with his lovers.

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Day 29: Family Traditions, Part Three

Cas and Jimmy were surprised but honored to be invited along on Jack's birthday trip to the planetarium with his dad. As it turned out, there was a lot more planned for this trip than just daytime stargazing, an unexpected return of trust, and another sort of invitation.

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[ladylilithprime]

Customer Disservice

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: General to Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Half-Fae Dean Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Karenlike Customer Behaving Badly And Getting Punished For It

Summary: Working in a faerie-owned and operated cafe definitely had some benefits, moreso than any other job Cas had previously had.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 3: Entertain

Read on AO3

THE DAY WAS progressing with relative calm, although John Castiel Novak knew better than to give voice to that observation. Despite the illogical nature of it, something about commenting on a slow or quiet day always seemed to act like a dare to the Universe to immediately provide some sort of commotion. It was a phenomenon that Cas had taken note of in passing before, but that awareness was now much more clear and prescient since he and his twin had decided to come to work as baker and barista respectively at Lighthouse CommodiTeas. Cas's twin, James Constantine Novak, had assured him that it was a universal phenomenon, backed up with multiple anecdotal reports around the world, and not at all influenced by the cafe being owned and operated by a very powerful half-fae prince of the Seelie Courts.

Sam, as the half-fae went by, assured them both that, no matter how hectic things might get, so long as they always did their best, they would never be blamed for whatever "deluge of terrarium enrichment" might befall them. Indeed, working in a fae-run cafe where the cardinal rule for customers was "be polite or else" was a great deal less stressful than any other job Cas had ever had. Part of that was Sam having hired both him and Jimmy so Cas almost always had his primary touchstone of support nearby, but it also helped that Sam could and did stand up for his employees against rude or abusive customers. Sam was unfailingly polite up until someone under his protection was threatened, and he was masterful in dealing with the more rudely entitled or self-righteous customers who thought a non-human small town coffee shop barista was an acceptable target for their poor behavior.

Today had been mostly quiet, for which Cas was thankful as it allowed him to focus solely on the baking rather than needing to take a turn mixing drinks or talking to people. He would do it if the Universe conspired to swamp the cafe in customers because he didn't want to leave it all on Sam, Jimmy, and/or Charlie if one or more of them were absent and the need arose, but all three of them had assured him that he didn't need to. That allowed him to give his attention to the equally exacting but less emotionally demanding task of replenishing the dwindling stock of various cookies and scones from the refrigerated dough from this morning and taking inventory of the ingredients which were getting low enough to warrant reordering.

It also meant that, once he got the last tray out of the oven and onto the racks to cool, he was able to take a break of his own with a mug of blueberry tea and honey tucked up into his preferred chair in the corner near the kitchen and watch Sam and Jimmy in their element. Frequently he used the time to test his own study of nuance and human interaction and body language by predicting which customers would be easygoing and which would be trouble. He was getting better at it, though he seemed to have made a mistake guessing the woman with the designer jacket and expensive shoes who ordered a decaf cafe latte with soy milk and cinnamon would cause an issue. She was, in fact, waiting quietly if not exactly patiently for her drink to be made while tapping at her phone screen. Perhaps the shadow Cas perceived around her was from some personal trouble with whomever was on the other end of her message...?

His contemplation was interrupted as a loud growling motor outside the cafe abruptly cut off and a car door slammed. Cas braced himself, hand unconsciously drifting towards the bracelet Charlie had made for him as he glanced towards the counter. Jimmy was busy making a line of drinks and Sam was... looking amused?

The door burst open with a jangle of the chimes and a deep voice called out heartily, "Hey, Sammy, it's your favorite brother!"

"Adam?" Sam asked, his voice taking on notes of affected surprise. "What are you doing on this side of the Rift during the school year? Does Dean know you're using his human glamor as a practice form?"

"Bitch," the human man in flannel, jeans, and a leather jacket huffed with a scowl. His appearance shimmered and changed, close-cropped blonde hair growing considerably longer and forming into intricate braids that did nothing to hide the newly revealed pointed ears decorated with silver piercings. "Don't even try to pretend you didn't know it was really me and not Bite-size."

"Don't go assigning yourself favorite status over him, then, jerk," Sam laughed, stepping out from behind the counter. "And when are you gonna stop calling him that? He's almost your height now!"

"Big brother's prerogative," the fae man who Cas thought must be Dean said loftily, opening his arms. The two met in a back-slapping hug, Dean squawking playfully when Sam actually lifted him up off his feet, and separated with an exchange of kisses full of familiarity and affection despite the seeming insults exchanged.

It was also apparently too much for the woman waiting for her latte.

"Excuse me," she huffed, snapping her fingers repeatedly in Sam's direction. "How dare you? You are at work, your behavior is completely unacceptable, there are children present!"

"Excuse you, lady, I'm a grown adult, I'm just fun size!" another customer snapped. Cas recognized him as one of the regulars who always came in for a Trickster Special that seemed to be nothing but sugar with a splash of coffee.

"I didn't mean you!" the woman huffed, which was thoroughly confusing until Cas followed her pointing finger to see Jack sitting at one of the tables by the window with his notebook and math textbook open on front of him. "I'm sure that boy's parents don't want you exposing their son to such degenerate behavior!"

"Since that's my son, no, I really don't have a problem with it," Sam said in a mild tone that Cas recognized from many, many similar occasions. From the way the rest of the customers were watching, he guessed that they also recognized it and knew what was coming.

"Why would I have a problem with my dad hugging Uncle Dean?" Jack asked in a bored tone, not even bothering to look up from his homework as he took his cue from Sam like a perfect co-conspirator. Then he paused and looked up with a frown. "Is this a homophobic thing? Because people usually only use the word 'degenerate' when they're being mean like that."

"Nice one, kiddo," Dean smirked. "Speaking of, you gonna hug me at some point?"

"You gonna help me finish my math homework before closing?" Jack asked with a matching smirk.

"It's still unprofessional!" the woman spluttered. "Personal relationships should be left to personal time, not while you are on the clock! What would your manager say if he saw you acting like this?!"

"Considering he's the owner, I'm pretty sure management is well aware of the situation," Jimmy piped up as he approached the counter and held out the travel cup. "And they're both much older than even this country, nevermind the current human fad of toxic masculinity so you trying to shame them for a hug and a kiss on the cheek is probably not gonna go over the way you want. Here's your decaf soy cafe latte with cinnamon, ma'am, and I don't suggest staying to drink it here."

"How dare you speak to me that wa--!"

"Silence," Sam intoned sharply, straightening up to his full height. The woman's voice abruptly cut off, though she kept moving her mouth for a few seconds before realizing that nothing was coming out. The look of astonishment on her face was almost cartoonishly comical. "Since you seem to enjoy passing judgment on people for things that are none of your business, you will now also be judged. Every unkind, judgemental word to come to your tongue about others will similarly be silenced, by voice or writing or text, for the next three years or until you learn to mind your own business and keep your poisonous comments away from the business of others."

The woman tried to yell something that Cas suspected was "you can't do that" or something similar, but those words were likewise silenced.

"You are in my domain, and you have broken the rules of my realm," Sam told her, looking down his nose with the air of the haughty faerie prince he was. "I assure you that I can. Your voice will return to you once you leave, and for your own sake I suggest you take your drink and do so now, and don't bother coming back."

The woman finally seemed to grow a modicum of sense, as she snatched her latte from Jimmy and scurried out of the cafe. The moment the door closed, several of the regulars burst into applause. Jimmy took the opportunity to slip out from behind the counter and bring Cas a refill on his tea as a covert excuse to check in, and Cas found that he was less agitated than usual. Either the bracelet was helping or he was getting used to this.

"Is this really what you do for entertainment around here?" Dean asked, turning away from the closed door and the vanishing bastion of rudeness to look at Sam.

"Are you not entertained?" Sam asked, still in his princely posture while raising one eyebrow. Then he relaxed and smirked. "C'mon, go say hi to your nephew, and then I've got a surprise for you."

"Another pie-themed drink you want me to try?" Dean guessed.

"Better," Sam promised, casting a quick but fond look in Cas's direction.

And Cas, remembering that the last cookies he had taken out of the oven were the caramel pecan nests that almost could have been small pies, found himself blushing.

He hoped Sam's brother liked the surprise.

[ladylilithprime]

Snowbounding

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: General

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Magical Snow, Non-Canon Mystical Worldbuilding

Summary: The average snowfall per year for southern New Jersey is around ten to fifteen inches. Getting twenty inches overnight leading to an unexpected snow day is bound to raise a few eyebrows.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 1: Snow

Read on AO3

IF ANYONE BOTHERED to ask one of the many, many magical beings who had come out in the open at the turn of the millennium, particularly the more long-lived species who tended to measure their lifespans in the hundreds and thousands as a matter of course, the question of global warming would have been put definitively to rest. Several groups had, in fact, asked about it, along with asking if any of the more magically powerful beings could do anything to fix it. (The answer to that was complicated and boiled down to selfishness and the balance of debt versus what could be done without magic and incurred debt, which didn't really make anyone happy.)

It wasn't that snow never fell in or around southern New Jersey - they averaged about ten to fifteen inches a year compared to the more northern parts of the state - but the average was spread out and sporadic, and had been getting moreso in the last twenty years. So it was regarded as somewhat odd by the people of southern New Jersey when the town of Avalon got a solid twenty inches of snow in one night. The National Weather Service remarked on the last time the area received such a heavy snowfall and reminded people to bundle up and drive carefully. Schools and several businesses closed for inclement weather and most everyone just treated the heavy snowfall as slightly unexpected but still within normal bounds.

The kids were much less restrained, running up and down the streets with glee, making snow statues and forts for snowball fights. Many of them darted into Lighthouse CommodiTeas for hot cocoa from Sam and the snowflake shaped iced gingerbread cookies made by Jimmy and Cas. All of them gleefully shouted thanks to the half-faerie man and his boyfriends, and then darted back out into the frozen fray once they had warmed up enough to handle the snow again.

Most of the adults were perfectly willing to go along with that, even the ones who knew better, and the ones that weren't largely kept their grumbling to themselves. Places like Lighthouse CommodiTeas, The Kitchen Witch, and The Black Cats' Kettle stayed open to offer folks hot drinks or hearty soups to warm up with. A few customers even quietly found an excuse to tip extra, though whether it was for the hot sustenance or for the gift of the extra snow and a respite from work was kept to themselves.

And in the thick of it all was Jack, his seal form well insulated against the cold as he galumphed about with the kids. All morning and well into the afternoon, he could be found posing as a model for a snow selkie sculpture for one group of kids, balancing snowballs on his nose for them like a circus act or batting them from one team to another across the street, burrowing into drifts to retrieve lost toys or shoes, and generally having the best time ever under the rotating indulgently watchful eyes of his family.

"Do I even want to know how much effort it really took for you to do this for Jack?" Jimmy asked in an undertone during one of the lulls in the flow of customers.

"Actually boosting the storm so we'd get four times as much snow?" Sam chuckled. "Not as difficult as you might think, though the harder part was balancing the energies to keep it from producing a backlash somewhere else. Rowena helped in exchange for one free drink a day for two weeks, and Tasha traded a bag of hellfire roasted coffee beans for her help."

"She's using them in the brown bread she's baking to go with the soup at the Kettle," Cas spoke up, one of his hands finding Jimmy's to play with the spinning ring. "She usually buys them from Crowley for the autumn and winter seasons, so trading her magic for them to you instead of him lets her keep on top of that while still helping out."

"Besides," Sam murmured, casting a glance out the window at his frolicking son. "They're trades I have no reservations making to see Jack so happy, and I'm positive that both Tasha and Rowena know it."

"Good point," Jimmy conceded. He snickered. "Looks like we're about to get another wave of chilled children and a snow-covered selkie."

"And another round of hot cocoa requests," Sam predicted with his own chuckle, exchanging kisses with his boyfriends before stepping away to get started prepping the cups for the cocoa.

No one was surprised when he was proven right.

[ladylilithprime]

Pull Me Like A Ripcord

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: General

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Karate Belt Testing, Young Kaia Nieves Cameo

Summary: Jack was usually such an energetic child that is was a bit disconcerting at first to see him be so still and controlled.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 12: Discipline

Read on AO3

IT WAS JUST a belt test, which meant the wooden bleachers that reminded Jimmy just a little too much of high school gym class were sparsely populated by the parents and maybe a few bored siblings of students. Several of the parents knew Sam and said hello, and a few made small talk enough to warrant being introduced to Jimmy and Cas. Jimmy promptly manage to forget everyone's name, though he knew Cas would remember them, but thankfully nobody seemed to expect him to be paying much attention to anything except the kids out on the floor.

Jack stood beside his four rank mates, solemn and focused in his white gi with its yellow belt with one black taped stripe. He was the most serious out of all five children with yellow striped belts, looking remarkably quiet and still next to a curly-haired girl who bounced a little on her toes. It was a far cry from his usual bursting energy and boundless curiosity, and it had startled Jimmy quite a bit the first time he had seen the change.

"That energy of his is still there," Sam had assured him with a soft smile when Jimmy had gotten back with Jack after class and had questioned him. "He doesn't turn it off or anything. When he's in class or practicing, he channels the energy into the motions of the forms. His spacial awareness hasn't changed at all, naturally."

"Really?"

"Selkie," Sam had shrugged. "Situational awareness is a very literal survival instinct. When he starts learning to hunt in his seal form, all that focus he brings to his karate lessons will come to bear on the hunt."

Jimmy was definitely seeing hints of that future hunter now, watching Jack's focused, precise movements which, while not especially fast or strong, were still performed with a compact economy of movement. The curly-haired girl was similarly smooth and focused, the pair of them making the other three boys look almost sloppy in comparison to Jimmy's inexperienced eye. All five were apparently good enough to advance, receiving their brand new green belts from the instructor. Jack's focus never wavered as he bowed to the instructor with the rest of the students. Only when the instructor dismissed them back to their families did Jack's face split into a grin as he high-fived the curly-haired girl.

"Her name is Kaia," Sam murmured to Jimmy and Cas. "I haven't mentioned it to Jack, but she has some faerie blood a few generations back. Not enough to cause her the typical problems with iron or honesty, but puberty will probably get interesting for her and it will be good for her to have a magical support system to hand."

"Lotta kids out there who could use a support network of people with different perspectives than what they grew up with," Jimmy murmured, getting a hum of agreement from Cas.

The conversation was placed on hold as Jack bounced over to them, leading Kaia behind him and babbling excitedly about the promised ice cream treat for a successful belt test and asking in the same breath if Kaia and her foster parents could come with them.

[ladylilithprime]

Where Many Paths And Errands Meet

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Preslash Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Ableist Language (Lucas Novak), Misogynistic Language (also Lucas Novak), Dragon Kevin Tran, Faerie Princess Mary Winchester, Faerie Bargains

Summary: John Castiel and James Constantine Novak were twins. This was not always the case, and this point of contention caused some resentment and ill-feeling on the part of their less supportive family members. When their least supportive uncle drunkenly suggested finding a faerie to turn them back into one boy so they'd only be half the disappointment, Cas and Jimmy decided that, for their own aafety and continued survival, they needed to find a faerie first. This was easier said than done.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 11: Quest

Read on AO3

-Chapter One-

THE GLOW FROM the dashboard illuminated the sleeping face of John Castiel Novak, casting the exhausted shadows under his eyes in stark relief. Beside him in the driver's seat, James Constantine Novak tried to avoid shooting worried looks in his brother's direction too often given the need to keep his eyes on the road when he wasn't checking the printout for directions. Neither of them had been able to sleep much the last few days, what with the scratchy sheets and overwhelming levels of unfamiliar noises at every motel they could afford. Jimmy was slightly better off, finding it easier to drop off to sleep in the moving car than Cas could, but it seemed exhaustion had finally won out above overstimulation.

It had been three years since graduating college with their respective Bachelor's degrees, Jimmy's in Communications and Cas's in Technical Writing. Degrees in hand, they had had to face the reality of limited jobs for those fields, which stuck them mostly working retail and food service for as long as they could stand. None of those jobs lasted very long, as people tended to be people no matter what and customers ran the spectrum of "polite and appreciative" to "bitchy Karen finding fault with everything". For every kind and understanding manager they had who was willing to work with their necessary accommodations due to their autism, there was always at least one bigoted, ableist asshole who was just looking for an excuse to toss the "retarded deadweight" to the curb.

Three months ago, their uncle, Lucas Novak, got drunk enough to mouth off at Thanksgiving dinner about "finding one of those fairies running around and getting them to zap those two defective idiots back into one so they'll stop being twice the disappointment." Their mother, Charlene, had immediately snapped at him to watch his mouth, which caused Lucas to tell her to shut her mouth since "it's your damn fault there's two of 'em in the first place, you superstitious cunt!" That proved too much for Michael Novak, who might well have agreed with his brother up until the insult to his wife, and he had punched Uncle Lucas while Jimmy had grabbed a nonverbal Cas and pulled him out of the dining room and up to the attic loft where they couldn't hear the full force of the brawling and shouting that became of dinner. Safe in the attic, the twins had huddled under the soft blanket that was too threadbare and worn to be kept in the main part of the house and clung to each other. When things calmed down enough after their father kicked Uncle Lucas out, their mother had come up to check on them.

"Could a faerie do that to us?" Jimmy had asked in a small voice, saying the words both he and Cas were thinking. "Just... zap us back into one?"

"I don't know, baby," Charlene had whispered, forgetting for the moment that her boys were technically fully grown adults in her need to comfort them. "All the stories I was ever told say faeries have great power. I don't know if it would be stronger than the power of the angel who gave you both to me."

Later that night, in the dark of their room, Cas had whispered to Jimmy, "Maybe we should find a faerie first, before Uncle Lucas can."

Three weeks ago, after quitting their latest shitty jobs at the Gas'n'Sip, Jimmy and Cas had bought a cheap Lincoln Continental off the local lemon lot, packed a week's worth of clothes and toiletries that were the least offensive to their sensory issues within their limited budget, and hit the road. The twins had spend hours every day getting in touch with as many of their old college friends with magical heritage as they had working numbers and then waiting as those friends played telephone with other friends and family members around the country and finally Kevin Tran, one of their former dormmates who had been reasonably close to them, had come through with a solid lead.

"My girlfriend Channing had an Introduction to Magical History course at the College of William and Mary," he told them. "She was mostly just sitting in to see how wrong the human professor would get everything, but the guy brought in a guest lecturer he introduced as 'Dr Cerise Prince' who admitted to being a faerie. She's probably not still there, but the professor, Asa Fox, would probably know how to contact her."

Mr Fox had not known how to contact Dr Prince, which he ruefully admitted probably wasn't even close to her real name.

"Faeries that old would have a few dozen aliases and nicknames, and they don't ever give out their true names to anybody," he told them apologetically. "Not even the university board knows how to contact her directly, just a series of relay numbers for leaving messages which she'll check and get back to eventually. They're also bound under oath not to hand out any of those numbers, even more strictly than the usual privacy protections. I'm sorry."

They had still asked, going to as many board and faculty members as would give them appointments, and getting the same answer each time until the textile arts professor overheard them as they left the latest disappointment and gave them a card.

"Kate Summers is probably your best bet for finding Dr Prince," she told them. "If not Dr Prince herself, then at least a suitably knowledgeable member of her family. Whatever it is you're looking for in her, if you can convince Kate, she'll help you."

The drive was only about two hours, but Ms Summers was apparently out of town for a convention and her husband wasn't keen to tell them anything. It was pure chance that the phone rang while Jimmy and Cas were there and, five minutes later, Jimmy was handed the phone to talk to Ms Summers herself.

"Why are you looking for Dr Prince?" she asked sharply.

"It's personal," Jimmy admitted. "My brother and I have a problem, a question, that only a powerful faerie can help with."

She was silent for a long moment, and then she sighed. "I can't tell you how to find Mary. She's not even in the mortal realms this month. However, if you swear on your life that you are not a hunter... I know someone who can help you."

Jimmy swore readily, and Cas echoed him, and Ms Summers told them to give the phone back to her husband. An hour later and a repeat of their oaths with specific wording under the watchful eye of Ms Summers's husband, and they had the printed out directions to a cafe on Seven Mile Island in New Jersey. Despite their exhaustion and painfully dwindling funds, Jimmy and Cas piled back into the Lincoln and turned its nose northwards again. Traveling in February meant the sun went down well before the cafe hours hastily scribbled on the directions indicated closing time, leaving Jimmy to drive them through the gloom while Cas attempted to sleep.

Jimmy didn't really want to wake him if he didn't have to, at least not until they were closer to their destination. It wasn't just the shitty motel rooms that disturbed his brother's rest night after night. The same fear that haunted Jimmy dogged Cas as well: that their uncle's drunken vitriol would bear out action. Not from their mother, never her - Charlene was sharp and vicious in putting a stop to any and all talk of changelings and magical children - but the twins knew their father's displeasure at suddenly finding two young and picky mouths to feed where before there had been just one and neither of them was "normal". The fear that any one of their father's side of the family might just decide that one "freak son" was enough. That they could be changed again, against their will, because they were too disappointing, too much trouble, too weird for the people who were blood kin to them but barely counted as family.

The pervasive, niggling doubt in the back of each of their minds that the other one was the real child and they were the magically created mirror, created with a snap and just as easily unmade.

The sign for Lighthouse CommodiTeas was so small that Jimmy almost missed it. Just a plain, weathered, whitewashed wooden sign with black lettering, illuminated by two strategically placed fluorescent lights designed to look like old-fashioned lanterns. The cafe itself was tucked into a strip of shops, sandwiched between a smoke shop and a hair salon. There was one parking space available in front of the strip on the far side of the hair salon nearly in front of the tattoo parlor on its other side, and Jimmy tried not to feel self-conscious about turning directly into that empty parking spot.

Cas was grumpy when Jimmy gently shook him awake, but climbed out of the car without protest, stretching while Jimmy got out and locked the car and then claiming Jimmy's left hand. His thumb went immediately to the silver ring on Jimmy's thumb, a gift from Kevin to Cas for use as a stimming device with its two raised Asian dragons chasing each other around the free-spinning circle of metal. Cas couldn't bear to wear rings or have anything constricting on his hands below his wrists, so Jimmy wore it for him and it was a familiar ritual now for Cas to hold Jimmy's hand to have access to the ring as much as to hold his hand, and they had long since resigned themselves to drawing odd looks from strangers over the two of them holding hands and other such "girly" behavior if it meant they could anchor themselves and each other.

They did draw attention entering the cafe, the jingling chimes attached to the door drawing several eyes their way. Most of them promptly looked away again to attend to their own business, but the willowy redhead standing behind the counter in a dark blue apron called out a cheerful greeting. Her coworker, a tall man with chestnut brown hair that fell several inches past his shoulders, was busy mixing a complicated-looking drink and didn't bother even glancing up. Jimmy got the impression that they weren't being ignored at all, though, a weighted feeling of attention settling on them. His grip on Cas's hand tightened nervously.

"Large Hellfire Mocha with a drop of demon blood!" the man called out as he set the cup on the counter. One of the customers lounging in an armchair rolled to his feet and picked up the mug, saluting the man with a sardonic little smirk.

"Ta, Moose," he said, taking a sip and licking his lips obnoxiously. "Always glad t'know you're putting my produce to good use."

"Always glad to make a nuisance of yourself, you mean," the barista retorted with a roll of his eyes that was almost belied by a fond sort of smile. "See you for next month's delivery, Crowley."

Jimmy and Cas stepped sideways out of the path of the door and further into the cafe as the man-shaped being of suddenly questionable origin called Crowley sauntered out, leaving a scent of sulfur in his wake that made Jimmy's nose twitch with the desire to sneeze. With both baristas' attention on them now, the twins exchanged glances and then shuffled forward towards the register.

"Welcome to Lighthouse CommodiTeas," the redhead said cheerfully as they approached. "Our special today is our Dragon's Breath Chai, a Lapsang Souchong tea base with almond and dragon's milk and a blend of six aromatic spices."

Two taps from Castiel's thumb against his prompted Jimmy to say, "That sounds interesting, we'll try it."

"One or two, and what size?"

Another single tap, a pause, two taps. "Just one, please, medium."

The redhead gave him a narrow look that Jimmy wasn't sure how to interpret. It wasn't the same sort of "why are you so weird" look that he and Cas had gotten used to receiving, but he couldn't help feeling judged for some reason he couldn't parse. Still, she rang up the order, and then turned to look directly at Cas and said, "And for you, sir?"

Oh.

"That is for both of us, ma'am," Jimmy said with an awkward smile, fighting back a wince as the grip Cas had on his hand tightened sharply and he pressed closer to Jimmy's side. "We both have sensory issues that fortunately don't overlap much. We know we like chai, but goat milk is unfamiliar. If one of us can't manage it, the other usually can, reducing the chance that the drink might go to waste, and if we both like it then we'll know for the future."

"Do you always speak for your friend?" the barista asked with a sharper tone. Cas practically plastered himself to Jimmy's side. Jimmy's smile got even more stiff.

"When he's nonverbal and someone is being pushy about eye contact, it is absolutely my job to protect my brother," he said, forcibly holding himself back from matching her tone. It still came out sharper than he meant, and he saw her jerk back as if he had slapped her. He braced himself, gripping Cas's hand.

"Charlie," the other barista broke in, surprisingly gentle. "Ease up. Not everyone who speaks for others is doing it to be controlling."

"He didn't even check, boss!" the redhead, Charlie, protested.

"They're holding hands," her boss said patiently. "If it was me and Dean, we would have a system of communication set up between us that wouldn't be intelligible to anyone else. Do, actually. You've seen us in action."

"Yeah, well, you two are you two," Charlie grumbled, which must have made some sort of sense because the man laughed.

"We also aren't unique," he pointed out. Then he turned his gaze thoughtfully towards Jimmy, absently reaching up to tuck his hair behind his...

...pointed ear.

"We're used to people making assumptions about us," Jimmy found himself saying, more on autopilot than anything, mind racing. "Might be the first time someone's assumed I was his controlling boyfriend, though."

"Sorry," Charlie said, ducking her head. "I know I shouldn't assume, I just... had some bad experiences with people."

"We've worked retail," Jimmy said dryly. "We get it. How much for the Dragon's Breath Chai?"

"Six dollars," Charlie said, and seemed to visibly shake herself. "Anything else for you?"

"Kate Summers sent us," Cas whispered, fiddling with the ring with very slow, deliberate movements as he pulled the words up and forced them out into the sudden stillness. "She said you could help."

Charlie's mouth formed an O of surprise below her now very wide eyes. Jimmy gave Cas's hand a reassuring squeeze and tried to pretend that he wasn't keenly aware of the other six customers in the cafe, all of whom were pretending a little too hard not to listen in. The faerie didn't even blink, merely continued to study them both.

"Go have a seat at the corner table," he said at length. "I'll bring your drink out to you and we can talk."

Jimmy wordlessly dug his wallet out of his back pocket and fished a five and a one out of it one-handed. Charlie took the bills from him and tucked them into the register, then handed him back the receipt by what Jimmy suspected was rote muscle memory. The faerie, who apparently had a brother called "Dean" but whose name or even alias Jimmy still didn't know, stepped back to the line and began doing strange things with cups and pitchers and powders that would no doubt turn into a fantastic drink in the very literal sense without another word.

Cas gave a slight tug on Jimmy's hand and they moved over to the vacant table in the far corner that was more of a diner booth with plush padded seats. They slid into one side of the booth side by side, Cas moving in first and down to give Jimmy room to get settled before immediately plastering himself to Jimmy's side again. Jimmy shifted and shuffled until his brother was tucked under the curve of his arm, then tilted his head back and tried to just breathe.

They had found a faerie. What's more, he was willing to hear them out. Now all they could do was hope he would be willing to help them.

Read Chapter Two on AO3

[ladylilithprime]

You Don't Need A Nightingale

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: General to Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Alicorns Are Flesh-Eaters, Dean Is An Aggressive Worrywart, High-Masking Autistic Jimmy, High Functioning Autistic Castiel and Jimmy

Summary: In the aftermath of the alicorn invasion, Sam is determined to get back to work as soon as possible despite his injury. This does not make his boyfriends feel better about him getting hurt in the first place.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 7: Recovery

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ARE YOU SURE that you should be on your feet already?" Jimmy asked for the fifth time, practically vibrating in place as he tried to hover nearby without actually hovering. It was a balance that was hard to maintain, but even though the desire to take care of Sam in his injured state was almost overpowering, the last thing he wanted to do was be so annoying that Sam told him to go away like he had his own brother. Admittedly, Dean's reaction to Sam's injury had been terrifying, and had left Jimmy and Cas, who already felt horribly guilty over it, fearing retaliation from the older half-fae prince. Sam had not been happy with his brother's expression of temper.

"If I don't get up and walk around every now and then, I would go stir crazy," Sam said patiently, just as he had the last four times, smiling softly at Jimmy. "And a week is about as long as I can stand without checking in on my domain in person. I understand and appreciate the concern, but I do know my limits. I'll sit down when I need to and let you, Cas and Charlie handle any heavy lifting if you will let me take orders and mix drinks."

"You'll take extra breaks?"

"I will take as many breaks as I need when I need them, you have my word," Sam promised. Jimmy frowned, noticing the evasive wording in the answer, but nodded reluctantly. That really was the best he was going to get, and even he recognized that trying to coddle a fourteen-hundred-year-old former Seelie general over a battle injury was a bit much.

"The boss really does know his limits," Charlie chimed in as she hauled a bag of ice up to the cooler under the counter. "Three years ago this manticore got loose over in the marshlands across from Whale Harbor? His Steel Highness was out there with Balt and Donny and the naiads catching the damn thing and protecting the kelpie nests. Came back with a dislocated shoulder and a broken ankle where the manticore managed to get him with its stinger. He took two days off and was back the third day. Cursed all three entitled assholes who tried to scold him for sitting down at work and still managed to keep up with the afternoon rush."

"I know in my head that Sam can handle this," Jimmy said, scrubbing a hand back through his hair before absently finger combing it back into place. "It's just..."

"Your heart taking a bit longer to accept it because he's your boyfriend and him getting injured like that scared you?" Charlie guessed, a sympathetic look on her face.

"And the guilt because he got injured standing between me and Cas and the alicorns," Jimmy admitted, looking down at the floor. That was the part that was sending Cas nonverbal and hiding in the kitchen kneading bread with aggressive focus. Sam refused to blame either of them for having been trapped out when the alicorns descended on the town, and Jack spent almost as much time clinging to them as he did to Sam in the aftermath, but that didn't stop them from blaming themselves.

Especially not after Dean had yelled at them and Sam had kicked his brother out for it.

"Hey," Charlie said, one hand hovering questioningly over his shoulder until Jimmy gave a short nod of permission to touch. "He's alive, he killed the alicorn that got him like a badass, and if I know the boss he's much happier being injured if it means you and Cas aren't dead. His side will heal and he got to claim the remains of the six alicorns he killed while defending you." She frowned and twisted around to look at Sam. "Hey, what're you gonna do with those, anyway?"

"I considered mounting the hornless head of the one that impaled me as a trophy, but it wouldn't go with the cafe's aesthetic," Sam deadpanned, making Jimmy choke and Charlie laugh. More seriously, he added, "The parts that can be rendered down into safely consumable ingredients will be, and I have some plans for the hides, manes and tails that I would rather not discuss until I can talk to some people. Tasha and Rowena will be given first refusal on trade for the bones, otherwise there's a stitchwitch I know down near DC who would appreciate an alicorn bone needle set in exchange for her efforts on a commission. The rest will be sold for market value to help pay medical costs for everyone injured in the attack."

"What's the bet we'll have PETA fans griping at us about the Unicorn Berry Latte being made with 'actual unicorn'?" Charlie sighed.

"No bet," Sam and Jimmy chorused.

[ladylilithprime]

Family Traditions, Part Two

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: General

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Charlie Is A Human Badass, Reasonable Worker Expectations, Jack Kline's Birthday Part One

Summary: May was usually pretty busy for a cafe, but Sam always closed shop for Jack's birthday. This year, with two new employees under his domain banner, would be no exception.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 5: Planet

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MAY WAS A busy time for Lighthouse CommodiTeas, at least relatively speaking. Avalon, New Jersey, wasn't a very large borough and most of the tourists who made their way out to Seven Mile Island were looking for a place like Starbucks. Coffee shop dates were, however, a rather traditional option, and Lighthouse CommodiTeas was a very cozy spot with delicious, literally magical drink options and a welcoming atmosphere that managed to imply intimacy without expectation. In fact, one of the draws of the cafe was the implicit promise that the staff would be completely non judgemental about whatever sort of gender identity or partner numbers might come in so long as everyone was happy and consenting... and that same staff would also intervene swiftly, safely, and decisively if such was not the case.

It was therefore a mild frustration to some of the prospective or regular customers when the cafe would close completely, without fail, every May eighteenth, no exceptions. Some of the regulars were good enough friends with the owner, a half-fae who went by "Sam", to know that the reason for this was because of his young son's birthday, and generally assumed that the cafe was closed to allow father and son to celebrate the day together privately without putting undue strain on the cafe's sole other barista. Charlie was wonderfully competent mixing magical drinks despite being fully human, and just as unwilling to take any shit as her boss if she was caught working the front alone for a few minutes, but a whole nine hour shift alone would have been a ridiculous thing to ask and the more reasonable customers agreed.

When the cafe gained two new staff members to fill in for Charlie when she had days off, and those two stayed on and even upgraded the quality and quantity of the previously limited (and human made) baked goods offered at the cafe, a few optimistic souls hoped that this meant that Lighthouse CommodiTeas would now stay open on the eighteenth of May. The new staff members were still fully human, if a little quirky, but there were three of them now, so surely they could handle a day without their super magically powerful boss, right?

Apparently not.

The doors were closed and locked the evening of the seventeenth with the usual notice posted in the glass of the front door, and when the eighteenth dawned they remained shut. Down the street at The Black Cats' Kettle, an off-duty Charlie tucked herself into a booth with a book and headphones as per usual. When the waitress, Alicia, asked oh so casually if she'd be joined this year by her handsome new coworkers, Charlie just laughed and shook her head.

Meanwhile, several miles away in Philadelphia, a young boy sat on his father's lap, a pair of dark-haired young men holding hands seated next to them, all of them looking up in bright-eyed wonder as the newly eight-year-old got to enjoy his very first planetarium show about the human and magical history of Mars exploration.

[ladylilithprime]

Someone Who Will Always Know

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Pre-slash Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: General to Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Jimmy and Castiel Used To Be One Person, Autistic Castiel, High-Masking Autistic Jimmy, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Gabriel Uses His Powers For Good

Summary: There once was a boy named John Constantine Novak. That boy no longer exists, as he became twins.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 4: Learn

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MEMORY WAS A tenuous thing. Unless you were "blessed" with an eidetic memory, which honestly sounded more like a curse, you really couldn't remember everything. Even the memories you did have could be changed, sometimes through magic but more commonly through simple auto-suggestion. If you told someone something over and over, pretty soon they would start to believe it, such as old stories about changeling children becoming more commonly known after the Magical Revelation at the turn of the millennium that had practically eclipsed the whole Y2K thing with the computer programming bug.

Magic was the reason that almost no one remembered that a boy named John Constantine Novak used to exist. Almost no one, that is, except for the four people who were there the night it happened. Charlene Novak neé Shurley had been told those stories of changelings, the ones that described the children who acted odd, who stared too much or couldn't meet your eyes, who counted grains and hummed strange tunes no one else knew. Scientific studies had determined that such behaviors related to the perfectly human condition of autism, a type of neurodivergence that was slowly becoming more understood. When the Revelation happened, when it became obvious that not only were magical beings like faeries real but that they lived among humanity? Many of those old stories got brought up again, including in the mind of Charlene who was already starting to notice certain oddities about her only son.

Magic was an old story to Charlene as a child, being of Irish Catholic stock and having grown up hearing the old legends of the Fair Folk, but magical reality was new and terrifying. She feared confronting an actual faerie to demand her real son back, feared her own inability to navigate the treachery such a creature could weave around her if they could steal her son without her notice and leave this strange, inhuman child in her little boy's place. Prayer was easier, and surely if faeries and vampires and werewolves and other demonic creatures were real, then angels must also be real and capable of answering the prayer of a faithful Catholic woman who only wanted to save her child?

In the dead of night, in the nearly empty church after evening mass had long since concluded, her prayer was answered... but not in the way she had expected. The angel who came to her, golden and shining with wings spread wide to cast their shadows on the walls of the church, looked upon her tearful, pleading face as she begged for him to "destroy the evil changeling creature and give me back my real, normal son" with no warmth. When he spoke, his voice echoed with the rumble of thunder and the flare of a thousand horns.

"You ask this of me out of ignorance and fear," he intoned. "You will now be tested. Behold."

Light formed and swirled upon the altar before there appeared a child in the likeness of her son (or his changeling doppelganger) dressed in his pajamas as if taken from his bed. The air grew thick and heavy as the light spread to encompass the boy, then faded to reveal two children, two perfectly identical four-year-old boys wearing identical pajamas and looking at her with identical wide blue eyes.

"Mama?" the two boys spoke in unison. Charlene gasped, her hands going to her mouth. The angel gestured to the boys with one glowing hand.

"Choose," he said. "If you can tell which of these boys is your real son, I will destroy the other and you will take the one you chose home with you."

The words were harsh, and they clearly frightened both boys, who reached out to clutch at each other in fear, looking between the angel and Charlene with eyes filled with tears. And Charlene... she searched both children, desperately trying to tell them apart, to tell which one was really her son... and couldn't.

She dropped to her knees and wept for that realization, and wept even harder when she felt two sets of small arms going around her in a hug.

"Justice is done," the angel spoke again, his voice subdued though still echoing with power. "As Heaven is not without mercy, I give your son his mirror, that he shall live and grow always having someone who will love and understand him as he is, even when others who should do so cannot."

That night, the boy known as John Constantine Novak ceased to exist. Charlene suffered her husband's anger at what she had done, but refused to choose between the boys and insisted that they had twins. Unable to tell them apart even so much as one from the other when dressed alike, she simply renamed them as John Castiel and James Constantine Novak and told herself it was better this way. She said it to the rest of her family, and her husband's family, and the neighbors, and even the local judge. And she said it to herself, quietly and often, until she could pretend that she really had given birth to twins, and quickly shut down anyone who suggested that one of her sons might be a changeling.

As the twins grew, they diverged further apart into two separate people with different personalities, likes and dislikes, and different expressions of autistic symptoms. They could always understand each other, developed their own methods of communicating in touch and soft hums. With such common names as "John" and "James", the two quickly settled on the nicknames of "Cas" and "Jimmy" to be called when they entered school. Cas had more difficulty with social interaction and picking up on social cues, but Jimmy was always able to explain it to him. Jimmy was better at masking his own difficulties so long as Cas was nearby, but quickly became overwhelmed without his brother. They both had different preferences for stimming, Jimmy preferring to tap or stroke his fingers along a familiar texture while Cas preferred to fiddle with or twist something small. One of their friends gave Cas a fidget ring, a simple band of metal that could spin around in its cradle where it sat on a finger, and while Cas loved the spinning he couldn't stand the feeling of the ring constricting his flesh which led to Jimmy wearing it for Cas instead.

And always, always, the quickest way for either one of them to calm down and regain their equilibrium was in each other's arms. From that very first moment in the empty church that neither of them would ever forget through into their burgeoning adulthood, the Novak brothers were each other's primary touchstone. Two halves of a whole, it was frequently said in joking tones, unaware of how true those words really were and how much they made Jimmy and Cas cling to each other all the more. It made dating difficult, even more so than the challenges of trying to navigate attempts at romance when just identifying social cues tended to stress them out. Realizing that neither of them was particularly interested in dating girls only helped a little bit, in that they could claim being gay as why they "ignored" whenever a girl was flirting with one of them. Figuring out the rest, their mother wearily assured them, would just take time.

And then they heard about Lighthouse CommodiTeas, a cafe owned and operated by a faerie sorcerer with powerful magic and a talent for using magical ingredients to make the drinks. Their mother had been diligent about shutting down talk of changelings since that night, but it was still a niggling little concern that sent them to the cafe's door, and then into the apartment above the cafe after hours to talk. Not only did Cas and Jimmy gained the reassurance that they had never been a changeling in the first place, but also that the magic that had split them apart was long gone and could not be undone. A bargain had been struck for a spell to ensure that no one beyond the people who were in the church that night would even remember that they had ever been only one person, to be paid with covering shifts at the cafe for three days. That in turn had led to them both being hired on full time when it became clear to the faerie, who went by the name "Sam", that they really didn't mind moving permanently to the little coastal New Jersey town and staying on.

Three months later and frequent after work visits plus the occasional babysitting of Sam's adopted son Jack, and both Jimmy and Cas were completely and awkwardly smitten with their faerie boss and equally clueless about how to deal with it. It was a question that Jimmy found himself pondering during a rare moment when he was alone at the front of the cafe, Cas in the kitchen with his baking wizardry while Sam and Charlie, the other barista, were in the back office going over the cafe's finances in preparation for tax filing season.

The door chimes jingled, and Jimmy shook off his thoughts in order to attend to the newly arrived customer. "Welcome to Lighthouse CommodiTeas; what can I get started for you?"

"A large Trickster Special and two of whichever cookie's coming out of the oven next, please," the man said with a friendly smile. "Didn't think a faerie would risk serving food to humans."

"All the baked goods are made by my brother, actually," Jimmy explained with a wry smile. "While he uses magical ingredients sometimes in the recipes, we're both human so there's no risk, just reward."

"Your brother, huh?" the man hummed, looking up at Jimmy with thoughtful golden eyes. "Both of you work here, then?"

"Sure do," Jimmy nodded. "I guess some siblings might not enjoy spending so much time together even after becoming adults and leaving home, but it works for us."

"You're both happy then?" the man asked, pinning Jimmy with that golden gaze with an intensity that sent a familiar shiver up Jimmy's spine.

"Yes, sir," he murmured, left thumb curling in toward his palm to press against the band of Cas's fidget ring. "You don't have to worry about us. Ma learned her lesson, and our boss helped make it stick."

"Good," the angel murmured with a faint smile. "I'm glad. How much for the drink and cookies?"

"Uh--" Jimmy hurriedly punched in the individual prices to ring up the total. "Ten-fifty, sir. Er... can I get a name for the order?" It was a longshot, especially when the customer knew he was in a faerie cafe, but Jimmy had been up front about being human and he hadn't specifically asked the angel for his name--

"Gabriel," the angel - Archangel - said, smiling up at Jimmy with a touch of humor glinting in his eyes. "They call me Gabriel."

[ladylilithprime]

From The Door, Where We Began

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel) pre-slash

Rating: General to Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Sam Reading To Jack At Bedtime, Jimmy Grounding Castiel

Summary: Sam had assured his guests that putting his son to bed wouldn't take long... but then Jimmy caught the sound of an old familiar favorite book being read, and Cas followed.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 2: Eavesdrop

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IT WAS AN accident, for the most part, or at least that's what Jimmy planned to say if Sam questioned him later. He and Cas were waiting in the living room like good little houseguests, only Jimmy had needed to find the lavatory and had gotten a little turned around in the hall when he'd heard murmured voices. He hadn't meant to stop and listen, except that he had recognized what was being said - read, really - and his feet had drifted closer without really meaning to.

It was a small but comfortable bedroom, dimly lit by a single lamp on the bedside table that illuminated a glass of water, a clock, half of a twin-size bed, and the two occupants. The boy they had been introduced to as "Jack" was in the bed, covers tucked up around his chest under his arms and his head on the pillow. He was looking up with wide eyes at Sam, who sat perched on the edge of the bed with a large leatherbound book open in his hands from which he was reading and, Jimmy realized with a start, doing the voices!

"'Well, well, bless my beard!' said Gandalf," Sam read aloud, pitching his voice in a gruff and slightly rasping tone as if he was very old. "'Sam Gamgee is it? Now what may you be doing?'

"'Lor bless you, Mr. Gandalf, sir!' said Sam," and now the half-fae sounded uncannily like Cas and Jimmy's great uncle who lived out in Nebraska. "'Nothing! Leastways I was just trimming the grass-border under the window, if you follow me.' He picked up his shears and exhibited them as evidence."

Jimmy felt the warmth against his side as Cas joined him and lifted his arm to let his twin settle against his side so they both could listen. Cas managed to tuck himself into Jimmy so closely, willingly shadowing himself under his brother despite them being the same size, and Jimmy knew without looking that Cas's eyes were wide with wonder at hearing their host reading to his son from the same book their own mother used to read to them.

"'I don't,' said Gandalf grimly," Sam read, making Gandalf sound very grim indeed. "'It is some time since I last heard the sound of your shears. How long have you been eavesdropping?'

"'Eavesdropping sir?'" Sam affected a bewildered tone to the hobbit's voice. "'I don't follow you, begging your pardon. There ain't no eaves at Bag End, and that's a fact!'"

Jack giggled, clapping his hands over his mouth, and Jimmy very nearly did the same. Cas turned his head to press his face against Jimmy's chest-- hiding the sudden rush of heat from embarrassment, Jimmy knew. After all, Sam had reached the part of the story where Gandalf and Frodo were being eavesdropped upon and here he and Cas were eavesdropping right along with poor Samwise!

Well, there was no help for it now. It was pretty much impossible that Sam didn't know they were there, and since he hadn't drawn attention to them or shooed them away Jimmy was reasonably certain that they weren't completely unwelcome. With that in mind, he shifted to lean his back more fully against the door frame and gave Cas his left hand, unsurprised when his twin immediately reached for the black and silver fidget ring. His right arm stayed securely around Cas's shoulders with a gentle but firm pressure to mimic a weighted blanket, and after a few spins of the ring Jimmy could feel Cas slowly relaxing again, the tension seeping out of him as his head tilted towards the room's occupants, listening to Sam read.

Jimmy kept his focus on Cas for a few more heartbeats, taking a moment to ground himself in his brother just as Cas was using Jimmy to ground himself. Soothed by the knowledge that his brother was safe and okay, he let himself tune back in to Sam's reading as Frodo bid Samwise answer Gandalf's questions.

"'Well, sir,' said Sam dithering a little. 'I heard a deal that I didn't rightly understand, about an enemy, and rings, and Mr. Bilbo, sir, and dragons, and a fiery mountain, and - and Elves, sir,'" Sam read on, taking a tone of awe and earnest wonder just like Jimmy had always thought must have been the case from a country hobbit who had never been beyond the Shire.

"Elves?" Jack broke in curiously. "Like you an' Uncle De an' Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Not quite," Sam shook his head. "Your Grandpa used to be human before he earned his immortality to stay with your Grandma. Because of that, your Uncle Dean and I could probably be considered half-elven by Tolkien's standard, except your Grandma is a princess of the Seelie Court. Different powers and different rules."

"Oh," Jack hummed, then yawned widely. "Can you read some more, please, Daddy?"

"Just another page, and then you need to sleep," Sam said sternly, smiling when Jack nodded in agreement. "Alright, where was I... ah. 'I listened because I couldn't help myself, if you know what I mean. Lor bless me, sir, but I do love tales of that sort. And I believe them too, whatever Ted may say. Elves, sir! I would dearly love to see them. Couldn't you take me to see Elves, sir, when you go?'"

Jimmy tucked his own smile into Cas's hair and settled in to listen. And if he fancied that Sam's eyes flickered in his and his brother's direction when he had Gandalf boom "come in", well, they could talk about it later.

[ladylilithprime]

Family Traditions, Part Three

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Jack's Sire Is An Evil Bastard, Allusions to Kidnapping and Rape and Forced Pregancy, Attempted Murder, Offscreen Canonical Character Death (Kelly Kline), Kelly's Parents Are Not Good Grandparents

Summary: Cas and Jimmy were surprised but honored to be invited along on Jack's birthday trip to the planetarium with his dad. As it turned out, there was a lot more planned for this trip than just daytime stargazing, an unexpected return of trust, and another sort of invitation.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 29: Fresh

Read on AO3

THE INVITATION TO join Sam and Jack on their day trip to Philadelphia and the planetarium had been only a mild surprise at the time. Jack had been practically bouncing in his seat as he chattered excitedly about the Franklin Institute and their exhibits on space exploration and the planetarium show being advertised about the history of scientific and magical exploration and study of Mars that he was eager to see. Honestly, John Castiel Novak could readily agree that it sounded quite spectacular. Admitting as much to the excited boy and caused him to practically light up, almost as if Cas agreeing was an unexpected but wonderful gift. That had been when Jack had asked if he and his twin, James Constantine Novak, would want to go with him and Sam.

The answer to that was absolutely yes, for multiple reasons. Cas and Jimmy had gone through grade school after the Magical Reveal at the turn of the millennium, but the Magical Integration Act which updated the Civil Rights Act to include nonhuman sentients had taken years to ratify, sign into law, and implement across the United States. It was taking even longer to get the revised textbooks for magical inclusivity; Jack had already complained at length about the continued use of forty-year-old human-centric textbooks in Social Studies, which Cas wouldn't put past the school board to be a deliberate choice if they were in someplace like Texas, but was mostly just the same slow rate of advancement in public schools that had been there even before magic became widely known among humans. The prospect of getting to see a presentation on planetary exploration which included and cooperated with the magical community was inherently fascinating.

Even more inherently fascinating and enticing was the promise of getting to spend time with Sam outside of work without the barrier of their working dynamic, to perhaps have the chance to learn more about the amazingly powerful half-faerie sorcerer than just what they had learned of him as their benefactor and employer. Not to mention the opportunity to get to know Jack better beyond the occasional homework help he and Jimmy offered when the boy did his work in the cafe after school. He had such a curious and engaging nature, asking questions with an honest desire to learn and patiently letting Cas stumble through answering without trying to hurry him or interrupt like a lot of humans did.

He was also incredibly sneaky.

They met Sam and Jack at six in the morning outside Lighthouse CommodiTeas which had a handmade sign posted on the inside of the locked glass door:

CloSed for BirThday. -JACꓘ

There was a somewhat lopsided crayon drawing of a gray seal with black spots, one flipper raised and lines to either side to show motion like the seal was waving.

"I drew that when I turned five," Jack explained with a grin, rocking back on his heels. "Daddy had a regular professional-looking sign before that, 'closed for family obligation', and I thought it was boring so I made that for him to use instead."

"It's much better," Jimmy agreed as Cas nodded. "Cute self-portrait, too."

"We'll be taking my car, if that's alright," Sam spoke up as Jack bounced happily and beamed. "Dean complains that it's a soulless, plastic piece of crap compared to Baby, but it's a perfectly serviceable vehicle even though it's just a car and more fiberglass than iron."

The car was a black 2006 SRT8 Dodge Charger, newer than even Cas and Jimmy's battered old Lincoln "lemon" Continental, but still old enough that it had a built-in CD player. Jack took the car seat in the back on the right, and Cas took the seat next to him, putting Jimmy up front with Sam with the understanding that they would switch for each leg of the apparently three-stop trip. The first part of the drive would be an hour long, so before it began Sam handed a thick CD wallet back to Jack - "Birthday boy chooses the music." - and Cas and Jimmy were instructed to relay the discs back and forth between Jack and the disc player.

The reason for the early hour became apparent when they arrived at the Franklin Institute to find it still closed to the public for another two and a half hours. Sam pulled out his phone and sent a quick text, and less than five minutes later a woman in a dark red pullover came out to meet them. She exchanged hugs with Sam and introduced herself to Cas and Jimmy as Dr Eleanor Visyak, looking surprised and pleased when they automatically offered her the traditional European High Draconic greeting.

Dr Visyak, or Ellie as she invited them to call her, was one of the astrophysicists working directly on the Mars Landfall Project. She was also Meg's cousin and an old friend of Sam's from back in the sixteenth century, which was how and why she had agreed to be their guide for a private tour of the exhibit and planetarium presentation. It was hard to tell who asked more questions, Jack or Cas and Jimmy, with Sam smiling fondly at them the whole time. Their private visit wrapped up around nine forty-five, just after the public opening hours began, and all four of them said a polite farewell to Ellie before leaving to have brunch at a nearby IHOP where Jack thoroughly charmed their waitress into putting extra whipped cream on his strawberry cheesecake pancakes.

Full of pancakes and fruit and unfortunately substandard coffee, the hazards of working at a magical cafe, the group piled back into the car and it wasn't long before Sam had pulled out onto the highway heading north rather than back towards Avalon. Cas and Jimmy exchanged confused looks in the rearview mirror, but neither of them asked and, after about half an hour of listening to Jack's last music pick and three more minutes of semi-awkward silence, Sam spoke.

"There's one more portion to our yearly tradition that's not really as fun as the rest," he started, and the uncommonly solemn tone made both Novaks sit up straighter in their seats to pay attention. "Jack doesn't actually remember any of this for obvious reasons, though the year before last he was old enough to ask questions and mostly understand the answers so this isn't new information to him, and he wanted you both to know after you've been so patient and forthcoming when answering his questions over the last few months.

"I know you both know that while I am absolutely Jack's father in all the ways that matter, I'm not his biological sire," he went on. It wasn't a question, but Cas nodded anyway and Jimmy echoed him. "The name of that man is best left forgotten to the sands of Time, for reasons that will become apparent. A little over eight years ago, I met a selkie woman named Kelly Kline who was eight and a half months pregnant and running from the man who had stolen her pelt and played at her being his somewhat clumsy wife... insofar as he ever explained to anyone who questioned the bruises. She made a bargain with me, knowing that she was unlikely to survive giving birth. She would give me full custody of her son to raise in her stead if I would destroy her erstwhile 'husband'.

"He caught up to her a week before she was due to give birth, and he had a gun with iron bullets," Sam grimaced. "Someone had tipped him off that Kelly had run to a faerie, and he shot me through the shoulder thinking the bullet alone would be enough to kill me before he tried to turn the gun on her and her still not yet born child. I'll spare you both the details of what happened, but suffice it to say that justice was well and truly served and Jack was brought out into the world a week early and approximately fifteen minutes after Kelly's soul departed. Since I was living in Brooklyn at the time, I paid to have her buried in the cemetery closest to water, so that someone standing at her grave can smell the sea that was stolen from her."

"There's no selkie communities in Brooklyn," Jack piped up softly. "And Mom's parents didn't want me around, so Daddy moved us to Avalon. They're up in Nantucket, close enough to swim down to visit if they ever decide they want to."

"Have they?" Jimmy asked quietly, wincing when Sam gravely shook his head.

"When I chose our new home and let them know where we are, I set a condition that they were not to visit unless they could look past the identity of Jack's sire and the circumstances surrounding his conception and birth," he said in a low voice, an edge to his tone that reminded Cas of the sharp folded steel kitchen knives. "I am willing to make some allowances for their grief for their daughter, but not at the expense of Jack's mental health and wellbeing. They have Kelly's recovered pelt. I have her son."

"She chose well," Cas said, pushing the words past the growing tightness in his chest. "Best dad ever."

"Even if it was just desperation and good luck on her part, I can't imagine a better person for her to choose to be Jack's father," Jimmy added, sending a quick smile over the back of the seats to Jack. "Jack's certainly an amazing kid, no question, and if Kelly's parents can't look past their grief to see that, it's their loss."

"Can I have a hug?" Jack asked in a small voice, and Cas was quick to pull the boy into a gentle hug despite the restrictions of their seatbelts.

"I take it the plan now is to drive up to the cemetery where she's buried to visit?" he heard Jimmy ask Sam in an undertone.

"There's a cooler in the trunk with a small bottle of grape juice and fresh floral arrangements to place there," Sam murmured back. "Cypress, Black-eyed Susans, coltsfoot, and marigolds for me; olive, red and yellow poppies, and Zephyranthes for Jack. We usually spend about twenty to forty minutes there, taking sips of juice before pouring the rest on the Earth and then telling Kelly all about what's happened in the year since we last visited."

"I wanna introduce you two to her as part of my new family," Jack said, the words slightly muffled for being spoken half into Cas's chest. "Is that okay?"

"We would be honored to meet your mother, Jack," Cas managed, squeezing gently before releasing the boy to avoid accidentally smothering him. "And we would be just as honored to be considered part of your family."

He met Sam's eyes in the rearview mirror and saw the warmth and affection and hopeful acceptance there, and knew he had guessed correctly... and that his answer had been understood.

Flowers for Kelly's Grave:

Cypress (death, mourning, despair, sorrow)

Black-Eyed Susans (justice)

Coltsfoot (justice shall be done)

Marigold (pain and grief)

Olive (peace)

Poppy (eternal sleep, oblivion, sacrifice, peace)

Zephyranthes aka fairy lilies (I will never forget you)

[ladylilithprime]

In Health

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Boy King of Hell Sam Winchester, Magical Twins Of Two Types, Touch Starvation, Tattoos, Faerie Culture, Trust, Discussion of Magical Gender Reassignment Through Faerie Glamour, Trans Amelia Novak, Mentions of Contractual Pregnancy

Summary: Meeting your boyfriend's magical twin who shares his body can be a tricky situation, especially when that twin is king of a hell dimension. It goes better than expected, and gives Sam the confidence to share another secret with his lovers.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 28: Shy

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MEETING YOUR FAERIE boyfriend's magical twin under safe conditions was apparently a bit of a process when your boyfriend's twin was known to be much more aggressive and prone to violence. Per Cas's request, they waited until nobody was sick (Jimmy unfortunately caught the same flu, though Sam managed to escape it) and Jack was safely over at Donna and Amelia's place for a sleepover with Donna's foster son Matt before Sam sat the twins down on the couch and stepped back.

"Remember, I don't really know how he's going to react to you," Sam cautioned them. "The kinds of people he's most used to dealing with are demons and people trying to kill us, so just... be as completely honest as you can and keep your hands where he can see them?"

"We will," Jimmy and Cas agreed, nodding. Sam nodded back, then took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

For a moment, nothing visibly happened save for a kind of frozen stillness coming over Sam. Then his skin seemed to ripple and change, becoming slightly darker and then darker still in patches black as ink as a black nine-pointed star appeared in the center of his forehead and spread outwards in twisting, angular lines, intricate knotwork and runic patterns tracing their way across his face and neck and bare chest and arms and every other place Cas and Jimmy could see. The simple jeans Sam had been wearing seemed to blink out of sight to be replaced with black leather that matched the massive black and red bat-like wings that seemed to unfold from the shadows at his back, a matching black and red tail with a three-wedged spear-like tip sweeping around to hover just in front like a weapon at the ready. Chestnut brown hair darkened to sable and lengthened until it was to his waist, even as curving black horns with sharp golden points seemed to grow up from beneath his hair above his closed eyes. Then those eyes opened, showing a full sclera of glowing gold surrounding narrow slitted pupils.

"You are John Castiel Novak and James Constantine Novak," the much more resonant voice of their lover intoned. "My name is Gethserefael."

"You're just... telling us?" Jimmy couldn't help but ask, blinking. It had taken months and an alicorn attack before Jimmy and Cas had learned Sam's full true name from Dean yelling it, and a couple of painfully awkward conversations afterwards before any of them had cautiously broached the subject and Sam had told them what his name meant and given them permission to call him by it in private. "Just like that?"

"Serendderch holds both your names and trusts you with his own," Gethserefael said with a one-shouldered shrug that also moved his corresponding wing. "As well, you are both fully human and not magically inclined. What can you do to me from knowing my name?"

"Nothing that we'd also be willing to do," Cas admitted, earning a flicker of a smile from Gethserefael. Jimmy kind of suspected that his question had been rhetorical. "Do you have a preferred nickname or alias that you would like us to use?"

"Not especially," Gethserefael said after a momentary pause. Those golden, glowing eyes were harder to read than Sam's usually were, but Jimmy thought he might have been surprised by the question. "Lucifer calls me Samael, but then he also calls Serendderch that name, as if there is no difference between us. Most of the demons I must deal with call me 'my Lord' or 'Majesty' or some such title, which feels inappropriate to demand of my twin's lovers."

"Is it alright with you if we come up with a nickname or two for you ourselves?" Jimmy asked. "What's your name mean? I'm guessing something to do with stars..."

"'Dark star prince' is the most direct translation," Gethserefael said, one hand coming up to gesture at the star mark on his forehead and incidentally drawing attention to the blackened fingers and gold-tipped claws on his hands. "You may choose a shorter form of name for me if you prefer. I believe my twin's son refers to me as 'Uncle Geth', though we have yet to meet."

"We'll think on it for now," Cas said, exchanging a look with Jimmy. "May we ask questions about your chosen glamour?"

"You may," Gethserefael agreed, eyebrows going up. "I may decide not to answer them."

"We accept that," Jimmy agreed as Cas nodded. "Why the tattoos? Don't get me wrong, they look amazing, but they also look like they go everywhere ."

"They do," Gethserefael said, extending his arms and turning them for them to see, then folded his wings in and twisted a bit so they could see the lines across his sides and back. "These are the same wardmarks that Serendderch has beneath his own glamours, except that his are blue and I glamour them black to match the color and level of intimidation from my other glamoured features."

"Do you feel sensation from your glamoured extremities?" Cas asked, leaning forward very slightly and studying the curving tail that was actually twitching at the tip much like a cat's might.

"Of course," Gethserefael said, sounding a bit surprised. "It would not be very effectively intimidating to be knocking into walls or people or overturning furniture by accident because I could not track the positioning of my wings or tail. Likewise the need to avoid low doorways or light fixtures to avoid knocking into them with my horns."

"But they're illusions, right?" Jimmy blinked, tilting his head to get a different angle of line of sight on the wall behind the wings. Sure enough, there were shadows of them and the tail. "How do they have substance?"

"How is Amelia Jane Everett's womb able to allow her to conceive a child with her egg and your seed?" Gethserefael asked with a shrug. "The magic is the same. Just because a glamour is considered an illusion does not mean it isn't real."

That was producing some very interesting thoughts and Jimmy had to ruthlessly keep those thoughts from wandering down a more lustful path. The mention of Amelia's pregnancy worked as a decent distraction, because he had been wondering about how it had worked and how it differed from the spell Sam had done for him and Cas, but it hadn't felt polite to ask. It still didn't, but... "Is it going to affect the baby that Amelia's egg is part of the glamour?"

"Doubtful," Gethserefael said, a visibly thoughtful expression crossing his face. "The eggs were formed from extant sperm cells present in her testes when they became her ovaries, so the genetic material is the same and once the child is born it won't matter." He shrugged. "If you want a more comprehensive explanation of the mechanics behind glamour magic, it would be best to ask Serendderch as he is the one who studied extensively with Math after my genesis and Ceridmael's temper tantrum over my existence."

The name was vaguely familiar, but it took a moment for Jimmy to place where he had heard it and he very nearly swallowed his tongue. "Er, Dean definitely hasn't given us permission to use his true name."

"So don't," Gethserefael said with a negligent shrug. "My use of it has little to do with you. You already knew it, so I am not giving you new information, and he is not here to complain. I don't see him frequently enough to bother with his aliases, and I don't like him enough to grant him a nickname."

"Do you have a nickname for Sam?" Cas asked curiously.

"He has never indicated a desire for one."

"Well, if you feel inclined to call us Jimmy and Cas, we don't mind," Jimmy offered. "Or other nicknames if you'd rather make up your own."

"We like you enough to use nicknames with you, even if it's taking a bit to think of a good one," Cas added.

That got them the biggest change in expression yet, as Gethserefael's eyes went wide and his pupils expanded to nearly swallow up the golden glow in black, his wings quivering. He looked so surprised, so utterly bewildered at the pronouncement that Cas and Jimmy liked him, that Jimmy almost wanted to track Dean down and punch him. Hadn't Sam said Gethserefael was only about five or six hundred years old? Jimmy didn't know exactly what that translated to in faerie years, but he knew it was still almost a third of Sam's own age!

"You really mean that," he said, almost wonderingly.

"We know the futility of lying to a faerie, and we have no interest in lying to a friend," Jimmy told him with a shrug of his own. "We would very much like to be your friends."

"Curious," Gethserefael murmured, studying them both with that same thoughtful expression from before. "Iago," he said after a moment, pointing at Jimmy, then pointed to Cas. "Ioan. These are your given names as they would be spoken in Serendderch's homeland, but no one else here in this realm would think to call you by these names. They will be my names for you."

"Austra," Jimmy said, smiling a little sheepishly. "I've kinda been calling Sam my North Star in my head since he told us what his name means, and 'Austra' means 'south' in Latin while also sounding like 'astra' which means 'star'."

"Aurus," Cas suggested. "Latin for 'gold' like your eyes and the tips of your horns and claws. Also similar to Austra without being exactly the same so that it's distinctly my nickname for you and not Jimmy's. Can we hug you?"

"What?" Gethserefael actually blinked at them from surprise this time. "You... what?"

"Can we hug you? Well, may we hug you, really," Cas amended. "I know we probably can, but it's still polite to ask first, and asking if we can touch you might have come out wrong."

"If you would rather not be touched or hugged, you can say no," Jimmy added when Gethserefael continued to just stare at them. "We won't be offended."

"Why?" That bewildered expression from before that had tugged at Jimmy's chest so hard was back, and it was no less gut-wrenching for being more prepared.

"Platonic affection," Cas answered promptly. "For you as yourself and not just as a part of Sam, who is your brother but not the same person."

"Again, only if you're comfortable with it, Austra," Jimmy reiterated. "And that's because we want to respect your personal boundaries. We respect your intimidation factor, which is seriously awesome by the way, but we aren't afraid of you."

The assurance seemed to take Gethserefael even more aback than the initial request. Or maybe it was the active use of the nickname, Jimmy couldn't tell. He made himself wait, letting Gethserefael take his time to think about it, watching the way his hands flexed and his wings and tail kept twitching. Beside him, he could feel Cas making an effort to stay still and relaxed as he waited with Jimmy for their answer.

"Okay," Gethserefael said at length, extending his hands palms-up to Cas and Jimmy as he swept his tail to the side and out of the way.

He tensed visibly when they leaned forward to stand and Jimmy made sure to keep his body relaxed and his hands in plain sight as he slowly got up from the couch, Cas beside him. Together they approached Gethserefael and very gently took his hands, feeling the way they were trembling. Gethserefael was trembling.

"You can change your mind if this is too much," Jimmy said softly.

"No judgment," Cas added.

Gethserefael shook his head shortly, swallowing. This close Jimmy could see the varying shades of gold beneath the glow in his eyes around the catlike pupils. "I want to know how it feels."

Over five hundred years old and never hugged. Jimmy carefully didn't let himself think about that heartbreaking admission as he stepped closer, Cas at his side, and slid his hand carefully along Gethserefael's arm until he and Cas were fully embracing him, being mindful of the long hair and wings so as not to pull or pinch. After a few seconds, Jimmy murmured, "You can hug back if you want."

"Oh," Gethserefael mumbled, barely louder than a breath. Slowly, haltingly, his arms came up and very carefully wrapped around Jimmy and Cas, breath and tension rushing out of him in a whoosh as Jimmy smiled softly against his shoulder, catching a faint scent of sulfur and smoke clinging to his skin. "Oh!"

Jimmy noticed the moment Sam came back. He didn't precisely shrink in their arms, but the presence that had accompanied the horns, wings and tail vanished and the arms that held them became firmer and more confident. "It's okay," Sam murmured, the change in voice equally noticeable. "Everything's okay... he just got a bit too overwhelmed."

"Getting hugged more would be good for him," Jimmy murmured as he nuzzled into Sam's shoulder, breathing in the familiar scents of sage and clover and cinnamon and sandalwood.

"Exposure therapy," Cas hummed in agreement. Jimmy felt the shift and then heard the sounds of his brother and their lover kissing. "Mmmm... hi."

"Hi, Cas," Sam chuckled softly. "Jimmy? You gonna come up from there?"

"In a minute," Jimmy said into Sam's shoulder, offering the skin beneath his lips a kiss. "Wanna make sure you get your own hug, too."

"You're amazing," Sam murmured, arms flexing tighter in a squeeze. "You're both so amazing... how did I get so lucky that the Universe conspired to bring the two of you to me?"

"Mutual gift-giving," Cas suggested, making Jimmy giggle just a bit. "Hm. The blue brings out the silver-gray in your eyes."

...Blue?

Jimmy's eyes snapped open, going cross-eyed in an effort to get a look at the bare skin beneath his face without pulling away. It didn't work, and with a disgruntled sigh he lifted his head and drew back enough to look up into Sam's face. His eyes went wide. "Oh, wow!"

It was definitely Sam, with all the usual features Jimmy was used to seeing in most of the usual shades. His chestnut hair had the familiar highlights of blonde hidden in the rich brown. His eyes were the same bursting kaleidoscopic sunflowers of color that always made Jimmy's breath catch a little to meet directly, though the pupils remained slitted rather than round. However, the delicately pointed ears Jimmy enjoyed nibbling on when they were getting amorous were threaded with silver piercings he had never seen before, and his warm, pale brown skin was covered with the same tattoos Jimmy had seen on Gethserefael, only in a deep and vibrant blue rather than black.

And they did bring out the silver gray in Sam's eyes, just as Cas said.

"This is me without any of my glamours," Sam murmured, answering the question Jimmy hadn't even thought to ask. "All the tattoos are all me... and yes, they do go everywhere."

"Will you show us?" Cas asked, his voice dropping lower the way it did when he was thinking about dragging Sam to bed.

"And tell us what they mean?" Jimmy added, matching his twin's tone and relishing in the soft pink blush and shiver of desire Sam gave them in return.

"Yes."

[ladylilithprime]

When The Time Is Right

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Frank Discussions Of Sex (But No Actual Sex), Dean Winchester Being Bad At Feelings, Autistic Cas and Jimmy, Miscommunication, Threeway Relationships Require Threeway Consent, Discussions of Souls and Magic

Summary: Sam got hurt protecting Cas and Jimmy from alicorns. Alicorns are drawn to virgins. Dean blames Cas and Jimmy for Sam getting hurt. Therefore, Cas believes that to protect Sam from getting hurt because of them again, he and Jimmy need to no longer be virgins. Things do not go as planned.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 27: Protect

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VIRGINITY WAS A social construct, or at least that had been the opinion of several of Cas and Jimmy's human classmates in college. They were frequently very quickly informed otherwise by their more magically-natured classmates, because while there really wasn't any sort of moral attachment to virginity or lack thereof, there was very much a magical aspect to the act of sexual congress and several different species who were specifically hardwired to be able to tell who among a gathering had or had not engaged in it for one reason or another, or had not engaged in certain types of sex. Dragons, for example, though according to Kevin that was because of the instinct to protect hatchlings and those too young for mating flights. Faeries, too, not that Sam had ever given any indication that he was aware of it until the subject could no longer be avoided. Because unicorns could also tell whether or not someone was a virgin, and so could their more carnivorous cousins.

And alicorns particularly liked the taste of virgins, whether they were tender little children or divinely created adult identical twins touched by fae magic.

"We've had sex, though," Jimmy couldn't help pointing out, a little shocky still as he sat next to Sam's hospital bed. "You should know since you were there for it...."

"Did we do it wrong?" Cas fretted, the fingers of his right hand tightly gripping Jimmy's left while his left hand gripped Sam's right.

"Absolutely not," Sam told them firmly. "The only way a person even can do it wrong is without consent or proper care for your partner and plenty of preparation and checking in. The problem," he added with a sigh, "is that an alicorn's definition of virginity is penetrative. It's a bit of a focal point for them, case in point and pun intended."

He gestured towards his thoroughly packed and heavily bandaged left side below his rib cage where only hours before there had been a rather massive two foot long golden spiral horn thoroughly impaling him. With the good painkillers working their way through his system, Sam was even more blunt-spokenly honest than usual, and apparently inclined to joke now that it was obvious he would survive the incident. Jimmy and, to a greater extent thanks to having been the one almost impaled before Sam had physically intervened himself, Cas were less capable of seeing the humor in their lover being injured and hospitalized after very nearly dying in a fight to protect them.

"They could tell that we've never had penetrative sex," Cas stated even more flatly than his normal deadpan.

"Which is perfectly fine and entirely up to individual choice," Sam said firmly. "How do I put this.... you know how sometimes certain foods together makes the taste and texture too much of a sensory overload? Alicorns are kind of like that, only for them the taste and texture focus is the magical soul energy of their human victims. Penetrative sex mixes the metaphysical 'flavors' a lot more obviously than any other kind of sex, so for an alicorn's purposes that's what 'counts'."

"What about someone who got pregnant via artificial insemination methods?" Jimmy asked, his mind flashing in worry to Amelia. He hadn't given her a moment's thought until now, what with the risk of imminent death and Sam's potentially fatal injury, but now he felt the very real concern starting to rise up.

"Pregnancy is a kind of gray area already," Sam admitted with a grimace. "Usually the pregnant person got that way through sexual intercourse, and then there's the overlap of the bearer's soul energies with the very, very slowly coalescing soul energies of the baby. The soul doesn't even fully settle into the infant's body until around the time the umbilical cord stump drops off. So even if the bearer got pregnant through scientific methods instead of sexual, their taste to an alicorn would still seem, er, muddy." He paused, then added more gently. "Amelia, Donna, and Matt live on the mainland. The alicorns didn't even get onto the bridges."

"You're sure?" Jimmy bit his lower lip, hating the insecurity that could make him doubt Sam's word even though he knew his boyfriend couldn't lie, but needing the reassurance anyway.

"Meg gave me a full report of what Balt reported to her to keep my mind off her patching me back together," Sam obligingly reassured him. "And while Donna's a sheriff, she was not among the people listed as injured and there were mercifully no fatalities. I'm as sure as I can be while sitting in this bed without a phone to call them."

Calling them had to wait until the brothers could get Sam safely discharged from the hospital - against medical advice, technically, but then both Meg and Dr Argall had bargained with Sam for a full week of bed rest with absolutely no strenuous activity in exchange for being allowed to convalesce at home - and back to the magically expanded apartment above Lighthouse CommodiTeas. And then Dean had arrived. That so-called "conversation" had resulted in Cas going nonverbal for four hours and nearly had Sam violating his bargain with Meg and their doctor to get up and physically eject Dean from the apartment over the cafe while Jimmy did his best to distract Jack (and himself) in the kitchen from the yelling.

Cas was able to talk again by the time Jack had been put to bed, but he was still reduced to a scant handful of words at a time. Jimmy's practice with translating was put to the test as they worked out the plan for covering the cafe while Sam was both stuck in bed and in need of someone to stay home with him. One thing they all agreed was that it was important to have at least one able-bodied adult in the apartment with Sam both day and night to help him and be available to help Jack. This meant that their work schedules got rearranged a bit and Jimmy left briefly to drive over to his and Cas's apartment and collect their overnight bags. The question had been briefly raised about also digging out their sleeping bags, but Sam had assured them it wasn't necessary.

"I'm pretty much going to be living on this couch for the week," he told them. "If you don't mind sharing, you can both take my bed for the duration."

If Cas had any trouble falling asleep in Sam's bed with his scent surrounding them and their lover absent from the sheets, lying injured out on the couch, he didn't tell Jimmy about it. Likewise, Jimmy never mentioned how long he lay awake with his face buried in the pillow that smelled of sage and clover, and sandalwood and cinnamon just like Sam's favorite soap and shampoo, his ears straining for the slightest hint of distress from the living room. It left him feeling tired and cotton-headed the next morning as he made coffee on autopilot and then kicked himself and brought Sam tea with honey and milk. Cas left the apartment for the cafe's kitchen without bothering to stop for breakfast, which was a clear sign that he was still very bothered by something, but until he was ready to talk about it there wasn't much Jimmy could do to help his twin except be there for Sam while Cas was working and then take his own turn tomorrow.

Cas came upstairs after the lunch rush with two extra blueberry cream cheese danishes for Sam and Jimmy, and a determined expression. "We need to have penetrative sex."

"What?" Jimmy almost choked on the sandwich he was eating, and felt briefly grateful beyond words that Sam had already finished the broth-heavy chicken and rice soup Jimmy had made and so couldn't do the same. He was still gaping wide-eyed at Cas, whose expression looked no less determined for the rush of pink suffusing his face.

"We need to have penetrative sex," he repeated, glancing over at Jimmy briefly before looking back to Sam. "The fact that we haven't made us vulnerable and put us at greater risk to the alicorns than if we had simply been out in public, which in turn put you at risk. I know better than to suggest that you not come to our defense, any more than Jimmy or I would agree to leave you vulnerable and undefended, and while we will certainly be much quicker to evacuate a danger zone in the future, the risk posed by our technical virginity is still there. It's a risk we can mitigate by having penetrative sex."

"No," Sam said - croaked, really - and shook his head.

"Not now, obviously," Cas said, holding up his hands. "Meg was very clear about what she meant by 'strenuous activity'."

"Cas," Jimmy started, trailing off when he realized that he didn't even know where to begin with this one. Clearly his twin had been thinking hard about this ever since the accusations Dean had flung at them before Cas had shut down and Jimmy had fled to the kitchen to distract Jack, maybe even since that conversation in the hospital, but that didn't stop it from coming out of left field for him!

"And it has to be with you, Sam," Cas went on, a hint of desperation entering his voice. "Even if Jimmy and I were comfortable engaging in sexual activity exclusively with each other, our souls are identical. Whatever transference of energy happens during sex wouldn't make a difference if it's just us."

"Emotions also play a large part in it," Sam reminded him, sounding rather strained. "And please believe me when I say that if you or Jimmy ever truly want to explore penetrative sex in either direction, I would absolutely be honored to participate... but not if the only reason you're asking is because you think of your virginity, technical as it is in this specific area, as a thing to get rid of because it might put me at risk."

"But... you got hurt protecting us," Cas argued, sounding so painfully small that Jimmy nearly whimpered. "For me. The alicorn was aiming for me, and you put yourself in its path and got hurt because of that."

"And I would do it again if the circumstances arose," Sam said firmly. "Even if we had been acting like Dean at a Bacchanalia festival before that night, I saw the two of you in danger and pinned down in that alley and I did my best to keep you safe. That I got injured right at that specific moment was unfortunate, but it could have happened at any point that night if one of the alicorns caught me off guard while fighting."

Now Jimmy couldn't stop the whimper from bursting free, clapping his hands over his mouth to muffle it. That was the least reassuring thing he had ever heard. That Sam could have been injured before, run through and still fighting somewhere alone without him and Cas there to call for help when the alicorns were dead and his strength gave out--

Sam's expression softened. "I didn't collapse in that alley because I ran out of strength, Jimmy," he said, breaking through the babbling words that Jimmy hadn't even realized he had been saying. "I collapsed from the relief of knowing that you and Cas were unharmed, that I had succeeded in protecting you."

"So you won't have penetrative sex with us... because you think we don't really want it?" Cas asked uncertainly.

"And because I don't want any time we have sex of any kind to be out of fear or obligation," Sam said dryly. "And I'm a lot more sensitive to the emotional resonances involved than an alicorn is to the technicalities."

"Oh," Cas winced, looking down at the carpet. "Sorry..."

"Hey," Sam murmured, holding out a hand. "Come here, both of you?"

Slowly, Cas and Jimmy approached. Cas tried to hang back a bit, but Jimmy nudged him forward to sit closest to Sam's upper body while Jimmy sat behind Cas and pulled him into his arms tight against his chest. Cas wrapped his hands around Jimmy's wrists, and Sam put his own hands over theirs.

"Listen to me closely, okay?" Sam said. "I love you. I love you, Cas, and I love you, Jimmy. And any time we do anything sexual, or even just quietly intimate like this... it's pure bliss, because I can feel how much you both love me, too. If one day either of you decide you really want to explore penetration in sex, that's fine. And if you don't and it never happens, that is equally fine. No pressure, ever. Okay?"

"Okay," the twins chorused. Jimmy felt Cas let go of his wrists with one hand and twist to catch one of Sam's. He lifted it to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to Sam's knuckles. "I don't like seeing you hurt," Cas murmured, "but I'm glad you're protecting us."

"It's my honor," Sam murmured back, and Jimmy knew their lover didn't mean just against the alicorns any more than Cas had.

[ladylilithprime]

Luck And Marriage Are What You Make Of Them

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Word Count: 5204

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel), background Donna Hanscum/Amelia Novak, background Kevin Tran/Channing Ngo

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, References to Past Events, Autistic Cas and Jimmy, V-Shaped Polyamorous Wedding, Trans Woman Amelia, Selkie Donna Hanscum, Oh Gods The Tags On This Fic Are Insane

Summary: A V-shaped polyamorous wedding was bound to have some quirks and peculiarities to it. This is even more true when two of the three are magically created twins and their soon-to-be husband is a prince of one Realm and a king of another. They've got this, though-- not even rain can slow them down.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 26: Rain

Read on AO3

ISN'T IT A bad omen to have rain on your wedding day?" Charlene Novak asked nervously, glancing out at where the curtain of gray drizzle was coming down beyond the edges of the pavilion. The fact that there even was a pavilion felt like a stroke of luck considering the wedding was being held outside on a beach and the venue hadn't changed despite the weather forecast.

"Considering the season, the location, and the guest list, Mom, the rain was explicitly planned for," Jimmy told her with a wry little smile for her and Michael. He was apparently the twin designated to meet them, as he was wearing board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt that Charlene had never seen before and Cas was nowhere to be seen. As if somehow reading her mind, he added, "Cas is in the dressing room tent helping Sam with his hair. Charlie's supposed to come get me when they're done and it's time to get dressed."

"Oh, is Charlie your Best Man?" Charlene asked, trying not to think too closely about the bad luck associated with seeing your bride before the wedding. None of them were brides, after all, and that was honestly the part Charlene was having the easiest time wrapping her head around about it all.

"She's certainly our best something," Jimmy said after a moment's hesitation. Right, Charlie was the name of their female coworker. "I'll make sure to introduce you when she comes out. She'll be able to help you navigate the rest of the guests. Nobody should start anything, but we've got a lot of powerful people and volatile personalities under one waterproofed canvas roof."

"And a promise to behave and keep any extra-familial drama to themselves is only gonna last until an hour into the reception," a slender redhead in a pale blue wrap dress said as she seemed to materialize at Jimmy's elbow. Charlene jumped, but Jimmy didn't even seem fazed. "I heard my name. Hi, I'm Charlie Bradbury, human hacker and barista extraordinaire."

"Michael Novak, and my wife, Charlene," Michael spoke up on automatic as he usually did when they attended events together. Charlene noticed the way Charlie narrowed her eyes, but Michael was apparently distracted by-- "Would you be the one to ask about the... car?"

"That's Sam's niece, Baby," Charlie said, which didn't make a whole lot of sense. The car was the faerie's niece? Surely she meant the car belonged to his niece, not-- "Yes, she's a sentient car, it's a long story, and she's very nice to people who treat her like a person despite her shape. She's actually one of the reasons the wedding is being held outside since she's the flower girl and DJ." While Charlene was attempting to process that, Charlie turned to Jimmy. "Cas is just about done and wants your help with the ribbons, and then you both need to get gowned up."

"Going," Jimmy nodded, then looked back at Charlene. "Stay close to Charlie, keep Dad out of trouble, and Cas and I will both come say hi afterwards."

And then he was gone, leaving Charlene blinking and Michael humphing quietly. Charlie just smiled brightly and gestured around the pavilion interior at the slowly assembling guests. "Anyone in particular you'd like to be introduced to or would you rather find your seats and save introductions for the reception?"

"How about just giving us an overview of who's who for the time being?" Charlene suggested when Michael kept silent.

"As you like," Charlie chirped, rocking on her heels in the sand. She spun around slowly, eyes tracking over the crowd, then nodded to herself and began pointing out different people. "Well, Baby's Dad is Sam's older brother, he goes by Dean these days and is acting as Sam's Best Man." The man she pointed to was dressed in jeans and a blue button down shirt under a leather jacket. He might have looked completely normal if not for the pointed ears and long blonde hair that had been braided back into something resembling a mohawk. Next to him was another pointy-eared blonde man wearing a cloak in a darker blue, and a blonde woman with long blonde curls wearing a silver and blue diadem. "He's talking to their younger brother, who goes by Adam, and their mother, the Cerulean Princess... she'll probably say to call her Mary, but it's best to wait for her to tell you which of her nicknames to use."

"Princess?" Charlene repeated faintly, scrambling to remember if Jimmy or Cas had said anything about that in their phone calls or letters and coming up blank. "Does that make Sam and his brothers princes?"

"It does, and Sam will be wearing his official circlet for the wedding, but none of them really like to draw attention to their rank here in the mortal realm," Charlie told her with a shrug. She swiveled and pointed to a serious-looking dark-haired man who might have been normal except that he was dressed a lot like the faerie princess. "That's Sam's dad, the Cerulean Knight, also known as Saint John the Divine. Yeah, that John. He's human but left the mortal realms with Mary after his bestie was killed for political reasons and earned his immortality in the fae realms. And the guy he's talking to is the current reincarnation of that bestie. I think he said his name this time around is Chuck, and he really does prefer that to the whole 'Christ' thing."

"You're kidding," Charlene said weakly, staring at the nervous-looking man with curly hair wearing jeans and a tie-dye t-shirt under what looked like a borrowed royal blue and white choir stole. He looked more like somebody's stoner cousin than Christ the Lord returned to Earth.

"Nnnope," Charlie said, sounding far more gleeful than Charlene felt was warranted. "And lookee there, that's the Archangel Gabriel joining them... but I understand you've met him once before already."

"Never seen any of them before," Michael grunted from beside Charlene.

She managed something vaguely strangled in response, too preoccupied with seeing the angel from the church casually walking up to her sons' fiance's father and his friend and joining the conversation. Whatever he said had the... Christ... smacking his forehead with an exasperated expression as the serious expression on Sam's father's face split into a mischievous smirk that made him look a lot like his eldest son despite the human ears.

"Looks like Gabe just told Chuck that Lucy's arrived," Charlene heard Charlie say as if from a distance. "That's Lucifer, by the way, but his reputation is heavily exaggerated, and he's perfectly charming but he likes to make bets and he's almost worse about contracts than Sam's Unseelie cousins. Oh, if you see a faerie girl who looks like she's part plant, that's Bloddewyn, she brought all the flowers. If she talks to you, just be polite and don't use her name." There was a pause, and then Charlie added in a sympathetic tone, "Too much? Want me to show you to your seats?"

"That might be best," Charlene said faintly. It was too late to turn around and run away, she reminded herself. And she wasn't going to let the upending of her faith or the presence of the literal Devil keep her from seeing her little boys get married.

"This way, then," Charlie said. Charlene fumbled for Michael's arm, feeling a wave of relief when he caught her hand and wrapped it around his bicep before leading her to follow Charlie over to a couple of chairs on the right side of the flower-and-ribbon decorated platform at one end of the pavilion. "You're seated next to Kevin Tran and his wife Channing. They're dragons."

 

WAS IT REALLY wise to leave our parents with Charlie?" Cas asked Jimmy when he stepped into the tent, letting the flap fall closed behind him.

"Eh, probably not," Jimmy admitted with a shrug. "She won't traumatize them too much, though. We made her promise to back off if she noticed Mom dissociating."

"Hard to believe all those years of us being visibly autistic and we never noticed Mom's symptoms," Cas shook his head and beckoned Jimmy over. "Here, help me pin this evenly."

"If she hasn't figured it out by now, it probably won't make a difference for her to know," Sam murmured, holding still as Jimmy and Cas carefully fitted the pins through metal, hair and cloth on either side of his head. "Aside from possibly making her feel worse for what happened when you were four."

Jimmy had to admit that was the more likely outcome. Given the research he and Cas had been doing, they knew that a lot of women from previous generations never got officially diagnosed even after they realized it because the default standard for diagnosis was young boys. Jimmy didn't know exactly how his Irish Catholic mother was raised by their grandparents given that she wasn't on speaking terms with them, but it was entirely likely that it had never even occurred to her that she might be autistic at all, even when struggling to figure out how to help her sons manage their own sensory overloads.

"Charlie was going to put them over by Kevin and Channing, right?" Cas confirmed, glancing up at Jimmy. "If they can get over them being dragons, then those two will probably be the safest people on our side of the aisle. Especially if they're the only ones of the family who came."

"Cousin Anna's out there," Jimmy said with a half-shoulder shrug. "I saw her talking to Donna and Amelia."

That had certainly been an unexpected romance at the time, even if it made perfect sense now. Sheriff Donna Hanscum had stepped up to be foster mom to ten-year-old Matt Pike when he was rescued from his real estate developer father, but she wasn't keen on being a single parent. Amelia, meanwhile, wasn't exactly naturally maternal for all she was willing to give birth now that Sam's magic had given her the right parts, but with Donna there to pick up the maternal slack Amelia was able to relax and just enjoy being able to rub it in the faces of her old bullies that they couldn't say she wasn't a real woman.

A minor commotion from beyond the tent flaps made all three of them start, but only Cas and Jimmy turned when the flap lifted and a brunette woman with black eyes and small curling horns nestled in her hair poked her head in. "Lucy's here."

"Thanks, Ruby," Sam sighed, closing his eyes. "Keep an eye on things and let me know if it looks like I need to remind him that he promised not to start shit with Chuck or Gabe until the reception is well underway."

"Will do, boss," the she-demon saluted and ducked back out.

"We'd better get dressed now so there's less time for Lucifer to forget his promise," Jimmy sighed, letting his hands drop from where he had been absently stimming on one of Sam's small silver-wrapped braids and stepping back to admire his and Cas's soon-to-be husband.

Sam had let most of his glamours drop for the occasion, aside from adjusting the length of his hair to be down to his knees. Cas had done an amazing job styling the chestnut brown waves with braids and beads and silver wires and chains and blue ribbons while still letting most of it hang free beneath the sheer white veil pinned at two points to the ends of the delicate silver filigree circlet set with blue opals that Sam wore to denote his princely status. In contrast to the marvel of his hair, his wedding outfit was almost plain in comparison, having chosen to wear the white ruffled blouse he had bought on impulse months before with a set of black slit-sided silk harem pants with silver-embroidered cuffs and a blue and silver scarf tied around his waist like a belt. The lack of glamours meant that the expansive array of tattoos and runic wards were on display, visible as shadows beneath the white fabric and clearly defined by the open V of his shirt and peeking out from the slit sides in his pants that ran from ankle to waist. He looked understated but royal and thoroughly edible, making Jimmy think briefly of their plans for after the wedding reception.

"Getting dressed will happen faster without staring at our gorgeous husband-to-be," Cas pointed out, tossing a pile of white cotton jersey knit fabric at Jimmy, snapping him out of his daydream. He stuck his tongue out at his brother as Sam laughed softly, shaking the white cloth out to reveal part one of his own wedding attire.

The white V-necked maxi dress with the ankle length full skirt was not what most people would think of when they thought "wedding dress", but it was soft and light and sleeveless, which made it the perfect garment to go beneath the custom-tailored blue and silver alicorn hide jackets that Sam had gifted them the night they had gotten engaged. Jimmy shrugged out of the shirt he'd been wearing to greet their parents and pulled the dress over his head, then shimmied out of his shorts and tossed them towards the duffel bag in the corner. "Hair?"

"Grab some mousse and tousel it," Cas directed, half-muffled by his own dress. "We've got circlets of our own to put on during the ceremony, so we don't want to be too pristine."

"Got it." Jimmy accepted the spray bottle of mousse Sam passed him, passing it to Cas when he had a decent peak on his fingers, and working it through his hair before fluffing it up a bit. Sam passed him a wet wipe to clean the product off his hands, then helped him into his jacket before turning and helping Cas as well.

"You both look wonderful," he said, looking back and forth between them with a soft smile that didn't even try to disguise the banked heat in his eyes. "If I wasn't so eager to finally be able to call you my husbands, I'd be stealing you away to the Summer Palace already."

"Wedding and reception first--" Cas started, lips twitching upwards in a tiny smirk.

"Honeymoon after," Jimmy finished with a matching smirk. "Now let's go get married."

 

THE CHATTER AROUND the pavilion quieted when the pristinely polished glossy black 1967 Chevy Impala with a bouquet of blue roses and gardenias tied to her front grill with blue and silver ribbons revved her engine pointedly. The radio dial swiveled and then the volume rose, fading in to the soft chimes and flowing winds and strings of Holst's "Venus, the Bringer of Peace". Anyone not already in their seats or equivalent positions quickly found their way to them, and Chuck took his place at the front on the platform festooned in English ivy, white honeysuckle, and wisteria. Gone for the moment was the nervousness and uncertainty, a calm settling over him that made it far easier to believe he was Christ returned to Earth. He extended his hands, and the gathered wedding guests turned to look down the aisle.

With Baby already in position at the front on the left, the first one down the aisle was a spotted seal in a blue satin bowtie, the compromise for Jack not having to wear a suit like a human. He carried two black velvet drawstring bags in his mouth as he made his way through the sand and up the shallow ramp to the right of the platform until he could sit up, head high and eyes bright and attentive. A couple of cameras clicked, but he politely pretended not to notice as he kept his eyes fixed on the tent. Dean and Charlie came next, Charlie walking calmly and gracefully through the sand on Dean's arm. They stopped at the front of the platform and faced each other, performed a complicated ritual handshake, and separated to their respective sides with appropriately attentive expressions.

The next to make their way down the aisle, coming from the back of either side among the guests, were a tall man with carefully styled dark hair in a black suit with a dark blue silk button down shirt and the top two buttons left undone coming from the left, and from the right a well-muscled man in leather armor embellished with gold knotwork motifs with his blonde hair and beard braided and ornamented, a metal hammer hung from his belt. They stared at each other for a moment, and then the blonde man offered his arm and the brunette accepted with a playful smirk that seemed to bode trouble. Whatever mischief was thought up, nothing happened in the walk down the aisle under Chuck's slightly wary gaze, and they separated at the front with polite bows before taking their places, the brunette next to a studiously blank-faced Dean, the blonde next to a quietly snickering Charlie.

Eyes swiveled back to the rear as the tent flap opened and Sam emerged, drawing a few soft gasps from the people who had never seen him so unglamoured before. The intricate warding runes tattooed across his skin in blue had been accented with black to make them stand out all the more in the brief flashes of skin as he glided over the sand down the aisle. The sheer blue and silver fabric pinned drapingly over his long and elaborately braided hair was the wrong color for a traditionally Western human bridal veil, but the symbolism was there. He even carried a bouquet of blue irises, white chrysanthemums, myrtle, alyssum maritimum, and fern. He did not ascend the platform like the others, stopping at the base and turning to look back the way he had come.

Like magnets, the eyes of the assembled guests followed his lead and the tent flap lifted again to allow Cas and Jimmy to emerge together. With their identical clothes and matching solemn expressions it was nearly impossible to tell the twins apart, the hands closest to each other hidden by the bouquet of gloxinias, orange blossoms, forget-me-nots, blue violets, and ivy. Hardly any skin could be seen beneath the white dresses and blue and silver jackets, but it hardly needed to be as their skirts flowed and swished against their legs as they walked. Several people murmured in awe as they recognized the materials or motifs of the jackets, and when they reached the platform they halted as one beside Sam, who turned with them to face Chuck.

To the far left, Baby turned the volume of the music slowly down until her radio clicked off, leaving only the sounds of the rain, the crashing waves, and the calls of the sea birds and nearby kelpies in the wetlands. With all eyes on him now, Chuck cleared his throat and looked out at the assembled guests.

"Gathered friends and family," he said, his clear tenor voice carrying to all corners of the pavilion. "We come together to celebrate the joining of these three true hearts in marriage most eternal." A few people chuckled at the emphasis, and he paused to let them get it out before continuing, "Who stands as family of heart and home?"

"I, Cer of the Summer Court, stand for Seren, as his brother by blood," Dean announced. "By the grace of our shared father and mother, he is my family of heart and home."

"Do you give your brother to be married to his chosen partners?" Chuck asked.

"I do," Dean nodded shortly.

"I, Thor of Asgard, stand for John Castiel and James Constantine, as their brother by choice," the blonde man in armor intoned, drawing a few gasps from the right side of the assembly. "By the grace of the apples of Idunn's garden, they are my family of heart and home."

"Do you give your brothers to be married to their chosen partner?" Chuck asked him, receiving a beaming smile along with Thor's nod and "I do". "And who stands as family of blood and battle?"

"I, Lucifer Morningstar, stand for Samael, as his brother in rulership," the dark-haired man drawled, smirking slightly when Chuck shot him a look. "By the blood and battle through which he claimed his throne of one of the Nine Realms of Tartarus, so do I claim him as my family."

"Do you give him to be married to his chosen partners?" Chuck asked, just a little warily.

"Oh yes, I very much do," Lucifer purred. Guests nearest the platform caught Sam rolling his eyes, and Chuck looked very much like he wanted to do the same.

Luckily, Charlie took her cue to speak. "I, Charlie Bradbury, stand for Cas and Jimmy, as their sister in service. Through the blood and burns and the battles against awful customers, they are my brothers."

"Do you give your brothers to be married to their chosen partner?" Chuck asked her, flinching slightly when she grinned toothily.

"Absofuckinglutely I do!"

More laughter and some further eyerolls, but everyone seemed to have been prepared by Lucifer's deviation and settled down quickly.

"Seren, Samael, Sam Winchester," Chuck intoned, settling the crowd further to pay attention, "do you come of your own free will to be married?"

"I do," Sam said firmly and promptly.

"Whom do you come to marry?"

"These men beside me."

"John Castiel and James Constantine, Cas and Jimmy, do you come of your own free will to be married?"

"We do," the twins chorused in perfect unison.

"Whom do you come to marry?"

"This man beside us."

"Sam, Cas, Jimmy, please ascend and take your places before me," Chuck invited.

The three of them stepped up onto the platform, revealing that all three were barefoot. Sam crossed left and handed off his bouquet to Dean, who made a face at him but took it with a surprising amount of care and delicacy... until one noticed the way he glanced surreptitiously towards the watching guests, particularly one woman with long golden hair that seemed threaded with vines. Meanwhile, Cas and Jimmy handed their bouquet off to Charlie, revealing the silver spinning dragon ring on Jimmy's left thumb and a flash of black tooled and braided leather around Cas's right wrist. Those hands found each other and clasped tight as they turned to face Sam before Chuck.

"Sam, Cas, Jimmy," Chuck began, looking between them. "You come before this assembly, before your families and friends, to join yourselves to each other and unite your families into one. Have you prepared your vows?"

"We have," the three of them said.

"Begin."

To the audible surprise around the pavilion, Cas and Jimmy promptly turned to each other and, their hands still clasped, raised their free hands in fists and bounced them three times before Jimmy's hand went flat while Cas threw out a sideways V. They high-fived over their clasped hands as their guests laughed, then turned back to face a grinning Sam.

"Sam," Cas croaked, then cleared his throat and began again more strongly. "Sam. I looked into your eyes and the world opened before me. I took your hand and gave over my heart. You warmed a chill in my soul that I was unaware of, and every day with you renews that warmth more effectively even than your Dragon's Breath Chai." Several people laughed, Charlie the loudest from that reminder of their first meeting. "I cannot give you my heart, because you already have it and I know it is safe in your care. Instead, I give you the rest of my life, however long that may be, in hopes that I will bring you love and happiness. I promise to support you in your troubles, rejoice with you in your joys, comfort you in your sorrows. Your family will be my family, your children will be my children. From this day forward until we cease to exist, I am yours, and I accept you as mine."

"Way to be a hard act to follow, bro," Jimmy muttered deliberately loudly to the added laughter of the guests, surreptitiously squeezing his twin's hand.

"John Castiel Novak," Sam stated, smiling as his tone softened. "Cas. The first time I heard you speak, I knew what a gift your every word would be. You knew what I was and you were unafraid. You gave me your name and trusted that I would not misuse that knowledge. You took my hand and I felt the light of your soul. I knew then that I would willingly give you anything you asked of me that was within my power to give, and that has only become more true the longer I have known you. Your kindness and compassion, your strength and determination, your bravery and resilience... all of this and more makes loving you more than just easy. It was inevitable. And it doesn't hurt that you have a way with my hair that would take me magic to replicate," he added with a wink and an illustrative toss of his head, making Cas laugh almost too softly to be heard beneath the laughter from the guests. "I will be your sword and your shield. I will be your guide, your friend, your partner, and your lover. Every day I will strive to accept and embrace you exactly as you are. From this day forward until we cease to exist, I am yours, and I accept you as mine."

"My turn to take a swing at this now, no pressure," Jimmy joked, winking at Sam when he laughed along with the crowd. "Sam, Seren, my shining North Star... when I first met you, all I was looking for was a chance to keep my brother safe. I knew that chance wouldn't come without a price and I thought I was ready to pay it, even with my own life." He looked up, meeting Sam's eyes as he said, "Then we found you, and you showed me that my life wasn't a price to pay, but a gift to give, and it's a gift I will always choose to give to you. I will support you as your partner as I have served you as your employee. I will listen to you, offering advice when asked and accepting advice when given. I will tend your wounds, from iron to alicorns, and always kiss them better. I will provide for you and all of our children, current and future, to the best of my ability. I will remind you that your life, too, is a gift to be treasured, and I will accept that gift every day. From this day forward until we cease to exist, I am yours, and I accept you as mine."

"Dayum," someone, probably Gabriel, muttered, prompting a small smattering of laughter as Sam surreptitiously lifted a hand to swipe at his eyes.

"Pretty sure you knocked it out of the park," he said, voice thick with emotion. He swallowed, cleared his throat, and swallowed again. "Jimmy... James Constantine Novak... even before I first held your hand and felt the light of your soul touch mine, I knew your determination and drive to protect those most precious to you. You were afraid and you still bravely stood your ground, keeping up a smile the whole time... despite provocation."

"I said I was sorry!" Charlie huffed in mock-annoyance, prompting more laughter.

"And I forgave you," Jimmy teased back.

"More quickly than many would in your place," Sam chuckled. His laughter faded as he went on, "It made me wonder how such a brave, bright soul could so readily see himself as an imperfect shadow. Jimmy, it was so very easy to fall in love with you, your adaptability, wisdom, and wit... the same compassion and resilience in your twin applied in your own way. Convincing you that I love you was less easy, even knowing I can't lie. Fortunately for me, you were willing to be persuaded," he smirked as Jimmy ducked his head with a blush. "You deserve to be treasured for yourself, and I promise to not only treasure you for all our days and nights, but to remind you when times get hard that you are worth whatever effort is involved. I will stand at your side to protect you and your loved ones, care for your illnesses and injuries, and hold you through joys and sorrows, big and small. From this day forward until we cease to exist, I am yours, and I accept you as mine."

"Good thing I skipped the eyeliner," Jimmy chuckled, taking his own turn to wipe his eyes with the back of his free hand.

"Sam, Cas, Jimmy?" Chuck broke in gently. "Do you three accept the vows which have been given to you?"

"We do," they answered, not quite in perfect unison. No one seemed surprised or inclined to call them on it, and Chuck turned to beckon Jack forward.

"Sam, as a prince of the Summer Court and a King of one of the Nine Realms of Tartarus, your spouses will be your royal consorts," Chuck said as Jack scooted forward and stretched up to pass over the velvet bags in his mouth. "Cas, Jimmy, do you accept these roles?"

"We do," the twins nodded, kneeling at Chuck's direction, Cas going down to his right knee, Jimmy to his left.

"Cas, Jimmy... receive these crowns of mithril silver and Tartaran obsidian as symbols of your places at my side," Sam intoned, drawing both intricately twisted silver and black circlets from their bags. He fumbled his grip a little until he held one in each hand, carefully lowering them onto the twin heads of dark curls. "I crown you both as my consorts at the same time, so that it will be known that you are equal in my heart and you both stand as my partners in all things, from here unto the end of our days."

"Clasp hands with your husbands and accept the bond between your souls as you have accepted the bond between your hearts," Chuck directed him, and Sam eagerly reached out, his left hand to Jimmy and his right hand to Cas. Golden ribbons of light sprang up around their hands, drawing surprised noises from the various humans in the crowd, before settling into a ring of golden runes around their respective wrists that slowly faded into black. Sam helped Cas and Jimmy to their feet, beaming happily as Chuck pronounced, "Bonded together in marriage of sound minds, loving hearts, and immortal souls, from this day forward are your lives entwined together. By Lady Magic and the Light of the Universe... I pronounce you husbands." He pressed his hands together and bowed. "Namasté."

Baby honked her horn happily as Jack barked in joy. The radio crackled until the triumphant strains of Freddy Mercury singing the chorus to "We Are The Champions" rolled out over the cheering assembly as Sam, Cas, and Jimmy came together in a threeway embrace. If this was the rest of their lives, it was off to a fantastic start.

Notes:

Sam's bouquet:

Iris (faith, hope, wisdom, valor)

White chrysanthemum (truth)

Myrtle (love, Hebrew emblem of marriage)

Alyssum maritimum (immortal love)

Fern (magic, fascination, confidence and shelter)

Cas and Jimmy's bouquets:

Gloxinia (love at first sight)

Orange blossoms (innocence, eternal love, marriage, and fruitfulness)

Blue violets (faithfulness)

Forget-Me-Nots (true love, memories)

Ivy (wedded love, fidelity)

Baby's bouquet:

Blue roses (attaining the impossible, mystery)

Gardenia (good luck)

Lily-of-the-valley (sweetness, humility, returning happiness)

Ivy (fidelity, endurance)

Platform decoration:

Ivy (wedded love, fidelity)

Honeysuckle (devoted affection, bonds of love)

Wisteria (welcoming)

[ladylilithprime]

Under The Light Of A Thousand Stars

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Faerie Cultural Differences, Nonhuman Unconcern Over Nudity, Ungendering Clothing, First Kisses, Hair Braiding

Summary: Deciding that they were definitely dating now was the easy part. Sorting out what that would look like with their respective boundaries, comfort levels, and cultural differences was an ongoing process.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 25: Kiss

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HAVING COME TO the mutual decision that the three of them were, in fact, dating rather than just going on outings together while quietly pining, there were still a few things that needed to be worked out logistically speaking. For one thing, as close as Jimmy and Cas were to each other that sharing a boyfriend honestly felt more safe and natural than trying to date separately ever could, they were not actually attracted romantically or sexually to each other. They had tried it and found that engaging in that sort of activity with just the two of them felt weird and uncomfortable, more like touching themselves from the outside than touching another person. That said, they acknowledged the likelihood of contact between them when engaging simultaneously in those sorts of activities with Sam, and that was far less uncomfortable an idea.

Actually, the idea of contact with Sam in any number of ways was quite a pleasant thought for both of them, though in different ways. Jimmy and Cas both had their own preferences when it came to intimacy of any kind, and they weren't necessarily going to be ready for certain things at the same pace. Which, naturally, brought about the next question: sharing and time management. None of them liked the idea of scheduling out their romantic relationship given how much scheduling was already involved due to their respective work shifts, but neither did they want to be so focused on keeping their respective time with Sam even that they got bogged down in keeping score rather than enjoying their time together.

Another thing that came up was the various intimacies that they already engaged in, such as Cas combing Sam's hair after his post-work shower on the nights the twins came home with their boyfriend and his son for the evening, or Jimmy's making tea for Sam with just the right amount of cream and honey when he noticed that Sam was feeling stressed. This led to the assertion from Castiel that Jimmy should be the one to kiss Sam first, especially after Sam somewhat sheepishly admitted the cultural importance of hair to the fae and the intimate liberties he had been technically permitting Cas for weeks already.

"I didn't want to make things awkward when you didn't know what you were offering from a faerie's perspective," Sam told them both, his dazzling color-shifting eyes pleading with them. "That's not... this wasn't somewhere I wanted to go because of debt or obligation, but I'm... well, not only human, obviously, but I am weak to remarkable, beautiful people, and when you offered... it felt safer, I guess, to accept having your hands in my hair than anything else I could think of in the moment."

"I didn't really think your request that I hand you your pants was because you were especially body shy," Cas deadpanned. "If you feel that you enjoying my attention to your hair requires forgiveness, then I must counter with the need for forgiveness for enjoying the sight of you shirtless."

"Or you could just forego a shirt more often," Jimmy added with a playful waggle of eyebrows. "No need to put on extra layers just for our human sensibilities."

"How about I strip down exactly as much as you two are willing to go," Sam compromised, eyebrows raised. "Just remember that my dear eight year old selkie son also lacks a human's cultural modesty and it's still a near-daily argument to remind him that he has to wear pants to school."

"Really?" Jimmy and Cas chorused, surprised.

"Oh yes," Sam nodded seriously. "Don't be surprised if he starts asking if he can do away with pants again if he sees us foregoing clothes. The answer is no, he still has to wear them to school and in the cafe, and if he wants to wear a skirt then he has to wear underpants."

"Skirts are an option?"

That had derailed the intended discussion onto a frankly fascinating explanation regarding clothing and culture versus gender expression, most of which Jimmy and Cas had been sort of peripherally aware of but hadn't dared to really explore for themselves because of their parents. This had led to a shopping excursion, with Jack bouncing gleefully along, where Sam directed them into the racks to ignore gender labels and just find things that they liked. To prove his point, Sam himself boldly plucked up a white V-necked blouse with full sleeves and ruffles that was barely available in a size that fit his broad shoulders and proceeded to model it for them with his regular dark blue stone-washed jeans and motorcycle boots. He ended up buying the shirt when neither Jimmy nor Cas could quite pick their jaws up or tear their eyes away, but the point was solidly made and both Novaks ended up with several items of clothing from the softer, more flowy selection.

Of course, the idea of that first kiss being reserved for Jimmy wasn't just forgotten because of the distraction. In fact, it stayed close to the forefront of Jimmy's mind, building up like a wave of pressure that occasionally caused him to freeze up and made all three of them feel awkward. It was especially awkward since, despite his playful teasing, Jimmy was still catching up to the idea that all of it - kissing, touching, holding hands, the whole boyfriends package - was allowed now. Making their first kiss into some kind of big production just stressed Jimmy out with thoughts of the mythical "perfect moment" that all the romance books and movies yammered about, which stressed Cas out, which left Sam carefully navigating their moods more than once.

The whole question ended up becoming moot when, thanks to an early heatwave, Sam opted to forego a shirt after his shower and Cas couldn't resist getting a little handsy while unraveling the tangles. Greatly daring, Cas snuck a couple of tiny braids into Sam's hair, small ones just behind his delicately pointed ears that were easy to hide under the rest of his hair like a secret just for them. Sealed with a tiny, barely there kiss to the arch of Sam's cheekbone.

"Couldn't resist," he mumbled, and blushed when Sam returned the kiss on his cheek delicately before getting up.

"Gotta keep it even," Sam teased gently as he tugged Cas to his feet before making his way to the kitchen where Jimmy and Jack were making dinner, Cas trailing behind him to enjoy the view.

He had a truly excellent view, and that only increased when he watched Sam drop a kiss on Jack's head before stepping up behind Jimmy and wrapping his arms around him from behind. Cas watched as Sam leaned forward, no doubt intending to press a kiss to Jimmy's cheek the way he had for Cas, only for Jimmy to turn his head to look back at him just as he leaned down. Lips met lips, and both of them froze for a long moment until Jack broke the moment with a resounding "finally!"

Cas had no idea what was going through their heads in that moment, but all he could think was that he hoped he looked that happy whenever Sam kissed him.

[ladylilithprime]

History Never Repeats

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel), past Dean/Lydia, past Sam/Jess

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Half-Fae Dean Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Sentient Baby/Impala, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Child Death, Baby's Backstory Is Really Tragic Y'all, Protective Dean Winchester, Faerie Name Conventions, Allosexual Dean Winchester, Minor Acephobia/Virgin-Shaming

Summary: Ceridmael had perfectly valid reasons for going off on his brother's little human pets after they nearly got him killed in an alicorn attack. He may have been lacking all of the facts when he did, though.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 24: Apology

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THE WORST THING about apologies when you were a faerie was that you actually had to mean them.

Granted, being a faerie also meant that you got very good at playing by the exact letter of your agreements and not a bit more, something for which Ceridmael, the Iron Prince of the Summer Court, was well known. Unfortunately for him, his younger brother Serendderch also knew it and tended to account for it whenever making bargains with Cer growing up, and he had taught their youngest brother Arianwaladr. For all Cer had a silver tongue, Seren and Ari were absolute rules lawyers well before the term came into common parlance.

The thing was, Cer was a Seelie prince, albeit a half-human one. He was used to putting on a strong front and proving himself over and over and over again. As a prince, he didn't apologize, because he had to be very, very careful to never be in the wrong, and if he ever was? He had to make the other person believe he wasn't, or make a quick getaway until tempers coolled and the other person either forgot about how bad it was or just stopped being angry enough for him to distract them with a gift and a funny story that swept the whole thing under the rug. It worked on his mother and brothers nineteen times out of twenty, and the outlier was usually something spectacular that even Cer had to admit he had messed up.

He was also very used to being the one who had to take care of his little brothers, especially Seren, from the moment they were laid in his arms as pink and squalling newborns with delicate leaf-pointed ears just like his. His number one foundational touchstone, as charged by his father: "Take care of your brother." So when something happened that he couldn't protect one of them from, it always felt like a rip in the core of his being and, like a wounded wolf, he lashed out. He had lashed out at that creepy fucker styling himself as a demon king that had made an appearance during Seren's time away that he hated to think about, and Seren had mostly forgiven him for it, at least enough to let him pretend the horned asshole didn't exist. And he had lashed out at the little human pets whose literally virgin asses had made them tasty beacons for the alicorns and gotten Seren run through by one of those damned cloven-hooved, flesh-eating ponies from the abyss.

Only this time Seren wasn't inclined to forgive him without an apology. Cer had left when his injured and pale brother had yelled at him to get out before he got up off his sickbed and threw him out, not wanting to risk Seren reopening his wounds, and he had figured that he'd give it a few months for Seren to calm down and realize he was right, that the little human pets who'd got him hurt weren't worth the hassle and the estrangement, and they could go back to normal.

But he hadn't.

And then Seren had gotten their mother involved. Cer could have gotten around a territory ban from Seren because, skilled mage or not, he was still Cer's younger brother. But their mother was a full-blooded faerie princess with four more millennia under her belt than either of them, and for some reason she had decided to take Seren's side. Her ban from his little brother's territory was much stronger, and had resulted in Baby stalling out when they had hit the bridge to get onto Seven Mile Island. Seren had driven out with that other human he had hired, the redheaded lesbian their cousin Gilda had had a fling with, and Seren had laid down the conditions while the girl had gotten Baby back up and running, talking to her the whole time. Apparently she had told Baby what was going on, because his darling girl had spun her radio dial to Metallica's "Unforgiven" for seventy-six miles before switching to dubstep.

Cer had missed spending Midsummer with his brother because Seren expected him to genuinely apologize to those pathetic pieces of monster bait, and he wasn't welcome in Seren's territory until he did.

The other thing was, Cer had actually kind of liked the twins when he had first met them. Jimmy was personable enough and a decent cook to boot, and anybody who made cookies that looked and tasted like mini pies the way Cas could was usually guaranteed to be golden in Cer's book. He had actually thought Seren had been trying to hook him up with Cas after tasting those cookies, and it had been a bit of a shock to find out that no, it was his little brother making time with not just one twin but both. Except that "making time" seemed to be missing a few key steps if they were throwing up the all you can eat signal for a carnivorous quadruped that was drawn to virgins for the taste. Not that Cer got that, either, but still! What was the point of saving those two fine asses at the risk of his own if Seren wasn't even going to tap 'em?

The question, when he voiced it to Catrin while borrowing her liquor cabinet, earned him a smack upside the head.

"Pull your head out of your hormones and ask yourself that question again, genius," she told him tartly. "Absent sex and the fact that Sam probably would have done the same damn thing if it had been that kid of his at risk, what reason would he have to put their lives above his own?"

"Oh come on, Cadi," Cer rolled his eyes. "They're human! Sure, they're a bit more accepting of the magical population than most, but Seren's not that stupid!"

"Watch it," Cadi growled, waving her wooden spoon at him. "Don't forget my husband is a human, as is your own father!"

"Yeah, well, they're exceptions that prove the rule," Cer muttered. "Most humans are cowardly magiphobes who can't handle the idea of hooking up long term with another species. Hell, a lot of them get weird about hooking up with someone who's got more or less melanin than them! Seren's known these two bozos, what, since this February?"

"And he commissioned my help in making them a pair of matching jackets out of the hide of the alicorns he killed defending them with a lining of alpaca and silk that he knit himself," Cadi said, leaning back against the counter. "He gifted those jackets to them last month, and they proposed to him in return."

"So?" Cer scoffed. "He spends six or seven decades playing house with them if he's lucky and then I have to pick up the pieces after he buries them, so what?"

"Idunn gave them two of her apples last week," Cadi told him flatly, grabbing for the paper towels to clean up the spray of whiskey. "That's what. So you had better think real hard and real fast about that apology if you want to get to see Sammy get married."

"Shit," Cer muttered, and poured himself another drink.

The thing about apologies as a faerie was that you had to actually mean them to even get out the words because, half-human or not, an outright lie was still impossible to force across your tongue and past your lips. And damn it, Cer was having a really hard time mustering up honest regret for how he had reacted. Seren had been impaled and could have been killed, and it would have been their fault for being out in the middle of the street during an alicorn incursion! That wasn't "casting blame on innocent people" or whatever Seren had said; that was fact!

"And what the hell kind of example is this setting for that kid of his anyway?" Cer muttered under his breath. "You don't jump into a relationship with someone you just fucking met!"

The radio clicked off. Cer only had a moment to really be thankful for the reprieve from dubstep before it clicked back on again. "...There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how..."

"You know you can talk to me about anything, babygirl," Cer protested, frowning. Limitations of her physical form aside, Baby never had a problem with making herself understood. Case in point, her habit of taking over the radio for her own purposes, even overriding his attempts to use the tape deck.

There was a rustle of static, and then the music came back with, "...by now, you should've somehow realised what you're not to do...."

Cer sighed. "You know why, Baby." Hell, Baby was a pretty big part of why Cer thought Seren should know better than to get so attached to a couple of humans he barely knew that he'd marry them, especially if they'd gone and somehow gotten ahold of two of Idunn's big time guarded super special Apples of Immortality! It had been devastating enough when Lydia had turned out to be the kind of woman who would throw her own baby across the room against a wall when she saw pointed ears because the damn nurses hadn't let Cer into the delivery room in time to glamour her to look human like he did himself, and they'd been together for two years at that point!

"...Papa I know you're... upset..."

"C'mon, Baby, Madonna?" Cer rolled his eyes. He had thought he'd managed to teach his daughter an appreciation for proper music.

There was a burst of static like a sigh, then, "...'Cause I was always your little girl/But you should know by now/I'm not a baby..."

Cer grimaced. "Fine, Emma, you know why I have good reason to think Seren's being stupid about this."

"...You always taught me right from wrong... daddy please be strong/I may be young at heart/But I know what I'm saying..."

"You've got a few more decades before you know more than me about love, young lady," Cer huffed, tapping the steering wheel pointedly.

The radio dial swiveled dramatically, and then burst out, "...Mama, ooh... I don't wanna die/I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all..."

"No, no, Baby, Emma, please don't even think that!" Cer shouted, clutching at the steering wheel desperately. "Please, kiddo, you being conceived and born was a treasured gift, and your mom never should've tried to take it away from us. Her being scared and stupid is not your fault!"

The radio clicked off sharply. Silence reigned, just the sound of Baby's engine and the road beneath her wheels for a long moment. Then the radio clicked back on. "...My life's a spectacle, a sad story... I know you had your dreams of a better life/This time we ain't making it through..."

"That's not your burden to bear, sweetheart," Cer murmured, stroking the steering wheel with his thumb. "Stars and supernovas, kiddo, that shouldn't ever weigh you down, and I wish I could spare you that... I wish I'd been faster...."

"....If I'm laden at all/I'm laden with sadness/That everyone's heart/Isn't filled with the gladness/Of love for one another/It's a long, long road/From which there is no return/While we're on the way..."

Yeah... his baby girl never liked it when her family was fighting. Cer had done his best to keep her from being exposed to more violence than the occasionally unavoidable road rage, but he and Seren were both stubborn, opinionated immortals and arguments happened. For Baby's sake, they usually cleared it up quickly, and the fact that Seren was actually putting his foot down and getting their mom involved was honestly a very clear sign of how strongly he felt about it this time.

"...Maybe we can try it if you let me/Take you by the hand... who understands... it's time... I'll admit that I'm scared/'Cause I've never really cared as much as this/It's worth the risk..."

Cer snorted. "A little disjointed there, kiddo. You trying to say I should just go talk to Seren's humans and see if they're really gonna be a good fit for him in spite of evidence to the contrary?"

"...You got a fast car/Is it fast enough so we can fly away?/We gotta make a decision/Leave tonight or live and die this way..."

One little problem with that plan. "You know what's gonna happen the moment we set foot or wheel on the bridge," he warned her. His mother's mojo was no joke, after all.

"....Call me, beep me/If you wanna reach me..."

"Who the hell is playing Kim Possible on the radio?" Cer huffed, rolling his eyes. Still, point taken. He pulled out his cell phone and, after a moment's hesitation, dialed the number for Lighthouse CommodiTeas.

The phone rang twice before clicking with the connection as someone picked up. "Lighthouse CommodiTeas, how can I help you?"

Well, that was easy. It was one of the twins, though without seeing them he couldn't tell which one. "Is your brother nearby?"

"Ye-es? Did you wanna talk to him, or...?" came the hesitant answer, sounding rather bewildered. Jimmy, then. Cas tended to sound more like a deadpan robot for some reason.

"Can you get him so you're both on the line?" Cer asked, absently drumming his fingers against the steering wheel before a crackle of static from the radio made him stop. "I only wanna say this once, and since I can't set foot over there until I do it's gotta be like this."

There was a long moment of silence, and then Jimmy said in a carefully neutral tone, "Please hold."

There was an odd click like the phone receiver being set down on a flat surface, and Cer could hear the background bustle and murmur of customers and drinks being ordered and made for several long seconds that he tried not to count. He had reached seven four times before there was a clatter of the receiver being picked up again and Jimmy's voice was back.

"Alright, Dean," he said in that same controlled neutral tone. "We're both listening."

"I need to tell you both a little story first," he said, leaning back into the warm, supportive embrace of the driver's seat and closing his eyes, trusting his baby girl to keep them steady on the road. "About a faerie in hiding and the woman he wanted to marry."

"Sam told us about Jessica," came the more flat tones he knew belonged to Cas.

That was actually very interesting that Seren had been willing to open up about his almost wife from three hundred years ago, and good to know, but... "Her name was Lydia," he said, bypassing the topic of Jess for a moment. "And about a year into our relationship she got pregnant with my child."

There was a sharp inhale of breath, but whichever twin had done so, the one who spoke next was calm. "We're listening."

"Everything was fine up until the day our child was gonna be born," Cer went on, reaching up to scrub at his eyes. "This was back before things like ultrasound were really taking off, so up until then I had just been using an illusion on the image, same way I had a glamour hiding the fact I wasn't human. Didn't want the docs and nurses freaking out, right? And it wasn't gonna matter since I'd be right there in the delivery room when our kid was born... but then she went into labor while I was at work and the nurse wouldn't let me in 'cause we weren't married. So I wasn't there when the screaming started.

"Her family was Lutheran," he added, a little inanely. "That's not an excuse for what she did, but you two were raised Catholic so you can probably guess what must've happened when our kid came out with pointed ears where everyone could see. The nurses couldn't stop me busting in the door at that point, and... well, long story short, I only had a few seconds to rescue my baby girl's soul before her body died, and a 1967 Chevy Impala with enough personal connection to tie her to. And a lot of rage to work out." He swallowed. The radio was silent. "That was only forty six years ago, and I'd been with Lydia for nearly two years when she tried to kill our baby girl. If you know about Jess, you know how long Sammy mourned her after being with her for three years. You've only known him seven months."

There was silence from the other end of the line, and Cer wondered if he had finally cracked those stubborn human twins. Then Cas spoke up softly. "Jimmy and I have met Geth. He told us his full name without hesitation, and permitted us to hug him when we said goodnight after our meeting. That meeting was what convinced Sam to show us his true form beneath his own glamour for the first time."

"You know we only exist because our mother thought we were a changeling?" Jimmy said, almost conversationally. Cer blinked his eyes open and frowned. Had he heard that right? "She went to church every night for weeks praying for an angel to come take the changeling monster away and bring back her real, normal son. She didn't know about the enchanted blocks of wood, and autism didn't look very normal to her twenty-two years ago. And thanks to your brother, the only ones who actually remember we weren't born twins are the two of us, our mom, and the angel who split us apart. We get being judged for something we can't help. It happens every day, and we're human."

"Mostly," Cas added. "Did you know normal apple seeds have cyanide in them? That was the most daunting part to eat."

So they had already eaten the apples. Seren wouldn't be losing them to old age or disease, and only something really determined to kill them would even stand a chance... assuming Seren didn't kill it first, or train them to do it themselves. And they apparently had the guts to literally embrace Cer's brother's more dickish other half and not get vivisected for it. "Okay. For whatever it's worth to you, while I'm not sorry for trying to protect my brother, I am sorry for letting my issues keep me from getting to know you well enough before as more than just two more humans with the power to hurt him." At the burst of static from the radio, he huffed, "Look, that's the best I can do right now, okay? I can't get to know them if I can't get near them!"

"It'll do," Jimmy said, a hint of a laugh in his voice.

"For now," Cas added, more flatly. "We will expect to see the accompanying change in behavior when you arrive. Which will be?"

"...walk five hun-dred miles..."

"'Bout eight hours or so," Cer translated for Baby. "Assuming this was good enough for Mom's curse, anyway."

"Guess you'll find out when you get here," Jimmy said.

And really, Cer supposed that was fair enough.

Notes:

The songs Baby uses to communicate with Dean are, in order:

"Wonderwall" by Oasis

"Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen

"Hold Me Down" by Daniel Ceasar

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by The Hollies

"Understand" by Keshi

"Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman

The "Kim Possible" theme song

"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers

[ladylilithprime]

Until The Break Of Dawn

Series: Fluffy Faerie Tales

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Half-Fae Sam Winchester, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Selkie Jack Kline, Sam Winchester Is Jack Kline's Adopted Father, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Faerie Culture, Faerie Dances, Midsummer Rituals

Summary: Summer break in Avalon meant tourist season, and there was plenty to draw them in. Some things, however, were as much for the locals as the tourists, and Midsummer Night was one of them.

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 23: Dance

Read on AO3

SUMMER BREAK ON Seven Mile Island was marked by the descending of semi-local tourists flocking to the beaches and boardwalks. People living further inland who were either too cheap or too broke to go make a pilgrimage to one of the Disneytopias would come to partake in sand, limited surf, and the pop-up carnival and craft market booths. Avalon, in particular, saw an upswing in tourism from all sorts of people, from the beachcombers to the walking tours and even a growing number of people who were coming looking for the various magicals who made up nearly half the local population.

Many of the locals even leaned into the draw, using the fascination of humans still getting used to the idea that magicals existed to showcase their innate skills and talents in a fun and benevolent way that also made them a quick buck or six. The boardwalk was filled with artisans of all species, showcasing jewelry or crafts or even games that were part of their cultures and encouraging visitors to try them out or on, to take selfies and share photos, and generally having fun. Several booths along the boardwalk had maps marked with interesting shops or places to eat and drink that tourists could take with them to investigate when they tired of the beach or the weather turned, and those businesses frequently had some sort of special treat or trinket a visitor could get for free if they had one of the maps to show they found their way there from the boardwalk.

Lighthouse CommodiTeas was no different, posting signs to advertise various booths and stalls set up by regular customers or noting which ones donated their proceeds to charity and offering customers who came with maps a complimentary small iced Hellfire Mocha. This summer there were even round sugar cookies decorated with royal icing to show a lighthouse overlooking the boardwalk available for a dollar each with a note describing the wetlands conservation purchasing the cookies funded. The corkboard bulletin board featured notices of scheduled events and their locations, including the air show put on by the local dragon population and the aquabatics demonstration held jointly by the selkie and merfolk pods.

And then there was the Midsummer Night's Dance. It was an event that had barely held any draw for several years before Sam had come to Avalon with his son and taken note of the celebration. Now it was practically the main draw for the area. Specially cordoned off on the beach to avoid disturbing local wildlife, the massive bonfire kept the light levels high well past sunset. Musicians of many stripes took a turn to play a tune or six for the dancers who took to the sand spinning and twirling, leaping and laughing, rejoicing in the height of Summer's glory.

Cas and Jimmy stayed close by Sam's side the whole night, trading off dancing with their lover around the bonfire. Despite his still healing side, Sam seemed to have endless energy for the dance, never flagging even when his partners needed to trade off. Neither of them bothered to ask about breaks, instead bringing small sandwiches to him when they traded off to help keep his energy up whenever they swapped and using their own breaks to refuel and hydrate.

"It's the only time I'm willing to take the early shift to open the cafe," Charlie informed Jimmy when she took a break herself around ten at night. "This'll last until dawn and the boss won't leave before it does. Too important."

"I'm surprised there aren't more faeries here, honestly," Jimmy admitted, glancing around at the crowds of swirling bodies. Certainly both Balt and Meg were there, and Gabriel, and several dozen others of varying species, but as far as he could tell Sam was the only faerie present.

"Well, yeah, this is his territory," Charlie said with a shrug. "And he's of the Summer Court, so this is a bigger deal for him than it would be for someone of one of the other Seelie Courts. Anyone of the fae coming to what's essentially his revel would be expected to pay a tithe to Sam in order to partake. Most faeries would rather host their own and claim all the power drawn from the dance for themselves than..."

"Than pay a tithe to the Steel Prince?" Jimmy finished dryly. Sadly, it made sense in terms of the social order of the fae and how bigoted many of the full-blooded fae were about a half-human, even one raised in the Seelie Courts.

"Eeyup," Charlie agreed, popping the 'p'. "During previous years, Dean would show up and bring booze, but he's got the whole 'apologize and mean it or fuck off' curse hanging over him so it's debatable whether he tried starting up his own or went back to the fae realms with Mary and Adam for Midsummer."

"He can't," Jack piped up, wriggling out of his skin and draping it across his lap before accepting a cup of juice from Jimmy. "Dean won't leave Baby behind, and she can't go into the fae realms. Too much iron still in her chassis, and manufacturing replacement parts without iron but still being strong enough to hold up under driving is taking a while to get actual engineers on board with."

"You'd think he'd have approached the stock car racers about it already," Charlie said with a shake of her head. "Get an all faerie racing team together or something."

"Not enough interest yet, probably," Jimmy said. "At least on the part of the faeries. And you know there'd be noises made from a certain sector about copyright infringement."

"Boo," Charlie huffed. "It's a real life adaption, it shouldn't count!"

"Give it a few more years," Jimmy suggested. "And excuse me, I believe it's my turn to twirl."

He got up and grabbed a chicken salad sandwich, then headed back into the fray. He timed it just right, spinning in as Cas spun out and almost seamlessly taking his twin's place in the dance with only the amused glint in Sam's eyes to show he knew they had switched.

He laughed when Jimmy held up the bite-sized sandwich. "You two are going to spoil me, you know!"

"Are you saying you'd rather we not bring you snacks during next year's dance?" Jimmy asked in feigned dismay, pretending not to see the flash of heat that went through Sam's expression.

"It is something of an endurance event," Sam pointed out, an odd note to his voice that Jimmy thought might have been apology. "Usually more than any human can handle keeping up with."

"Good thing you have two of us," Jimmy teased, and laughed when Sam nipped at his fingertips as he ate the sandwich from his hand.