when jack woke up, he wasn’t expecting the line of streamers that were wrapped around his room and leading out of his door. but when he saw them, he felt a surge of excitement shoot through his chest. and now it made sense why there had been a lot of whispered conversations between cas and dean and sam over the last few days. they’d been planning to surprise him for his birthday.
jumping out of bed, jack reached out and let his fingers linger over the silver and gold colors as he opened his door and followed them down the hall. there were tons of them, taped to the bunker walls and covering the floors, and it made jack laugh in delight as the colors glinted in the soft light; spreading a whole new color scheme to the bunker.
he hadn’t even made it to the kitchen yet but he could smell the scent of pancakes and maple syrup wafting through the air. by the time he walked in, it was everything he could’ve ever dreamt of. bowls of cereal, plates of pancakes and cinnamon rolls, and a pile of gifts filled the kitchen. jack had never felt so warm and content in his entire life.
“hello,” jack said, waving his hand at his family.
cas was immediately by his side, his hands cupping jack’s face as he smiled at jack. “happy birthday, jack,” cas said, and jack laughed with happiness as he dropped his head forward to rest on cas’ shoulder. “today is all about you. anything you want.”
“anything?”
“anything,” dean confirmed as he offered jack a warm plate of pancakes with a whole heaping mound of whipped cream.
jack grinned as he accepted the plate. “what about build-a-bear?”
“you got it,” sam said, guiding jack to the table where a cake shaped into the number ‘5’ was on the table.
“and laser tag?”
“hell yes!” dean said, putting his fist out for jack, which jack high-fived; making dean snort and cas laughed happily.
jack pondered for a few more seconds before he said, “can we watch the stars tonight?”
cas’ hand settled on his shoulder, squeezing softly. jack turned his head, catching cas’ gaze, and they smiled together. they’d always loved watching the stars together; cas teaching jack about the creation of the universe. it was jack’s favorite moments at night, with his dad, as everyone else slept, to see the beauty all around them. “of course we can,” cas said.
“late night picnic,” dean said, nodding in approval. “i like the sound of that.”
“can we sleep out there too?” jack asked.
it was sam who smiled at that idea. “I’ll put together the sleeping bags.”
jack glanced around, seeing his three dads right there with him, and he smiled brightly. “thank you,” jack said.
dean patted his arm, offering jack a small smile as he quietly said, “anything you want, kid. we’ve got a lot to thank you for.”
cas settled down next to jack as he said, “what dean’s trying to say is, we love you.”
jack felt his heart double in size, and if anyone asked him what heaven looked like, he’d say it was this.
“I know,” jack said.
dean laughed, sam teared up, and cas squeezed his hand.
and, yeah, jack truly meant it when he said that. he knew his dads loved him, and he loved them, too.
