"Kitty!" Alex cheers, pointing at the TV excitedly.

Claire laughs. "Yeah, Jack does have a kitty."

"Kitty!"

"You know," Lucifer says, "Jack's about to do something really, really big."

Alex just looks at him blankly.

"See, what we're looking at right now, millions of other people are watching, too," Lucifer explains. "And he's about to start singing, and there's gonna be a whole bunch of other people who are gonna be in the back, dancing. And then, when he's done, thousands of people are going to talk about this for a long, long time."

Alex looks just as confused as she did before.

"See, Jack is famous," Lucifer says. "Which means that there are a lot of people who know him, even though they've never met him. And they're all watching him, the same way we are right now, so they get to see him sing, too. And then all those people are gonna talk to each other about how much fun it was to watch it."

Alex stares at him.

"You'll understand someday," Lucifer says. "Just you wait."

They all turn their attention to the TV, where Jack is talking to the host, Ryan Seacrest.

"And any New Year's kiss out there waiting for you?" Ryan asks, half teasingly.

"Same as every year," Jack says with a shrug. "A kiss on the cheek from my mom." He waves at someone off camera. "You can't see her, but she's right there."

Ryan chuckles. "Now, you've never been to New York, right?"

"I've been a couple times," Jack says, "but never on New Year's Eve, so this is a new one for me. It's kinda weird, 'cause I usually spend my New Year's Eves sitting on the couch watching this with my mom, but being here is so surreal, and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"And you've performed a lot, you know, promoting your new single. How does this compare to your other performances so far?"

"Well, it's a lot colder, I'll give it that," Jack says with a small laugh. "But really, like, I've never performed in Times Square before, and being here is just so surreal. I don't know if it's just because we're outside and everything is so pretty and festive, or if it's how everyone seems genuinely excited, but the vibe here is just incredible. I can't believe this is actually happening. I'm just so lucky to be here."

"Well, congrats on an incredible year," Ryan says, then turns to the camera. "Jack Kline, coming up in just a few minutes, live in Times Square! We'll be right back."

As the camera starts to fade out, Jack waves at the camera, smiling, and Castiel flops onto Dean's laugh with the biggest grin on his face.

"What's that about?" Dean asks, amused.

"He's so happy," Castiel gushes. "I love when Jack's happy."

"Don't we all?" Dean agrees.

~~~

After the commercial break, Jack gives a fantastic performance of one of his newest songs for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve Party in Times Square. When his performance is done, the audience goes wild, and he just stands there, beaming with excitement in his eyes that can't be faked.

After a few moments, as the audience is quieting down, Jack says, "What's up, New York City?"

And the cheers continue.

"You know," Jack says, slowly walking across the stage but with his attention to the audience, "I've watched the New Year's ball drop every year since I was a kid."

And more cheers.

"And I've always thought," Jack continues, "that one day, I would make it here, and that I would get to see the ball drop in person with all of you wonderful people."

They get more excited at that, having been referred to specifically.

"But," Jack says, "only in my wildest dreams did it ever occur to me that I could one day be on this stage in front of you like I am right now, and for that, I want to thank you so much!"

And, once again, the crowd goes wild.

"Now, I get it," Jack says. "It's the middle of the night. It's 20-something degrees out. You've been camped out here for hours. It's been a long day, right?"

They cheer in agreement.

"And yet," Jack continues, "you've been jumping around and dancing and screaming all the words back at me and every other artist that's been on this stage tonight, haven't you?"

The audience screams, possibly louder than they have this whole show, and Jack beams with joy.

"Now, we're getting close to the new year," Jack says, "and I know you're eager to see everyone else who's lucky enough to perform for you tonight—"

It doesn't even look like Jack was going to pause there, but when the audience starts cheering, he has to stop, anyway — not that he seems to mind. He stops walking, planting himself front and center on the stage and looking out at the audience that always seems to go on for miles. He gives them a few moments before he continues.

"But I have to ask," Jack continues. "How would you feel if I sang one more song for you tonight?"

The audience goes wild, and as the music begins, Jack starts laughing silently, in awe at the crowd in front of him. He performs that last song — his newest single, of course; gotta get that promo — and the audience screams louder, if that's even possible. This time, without another song to get to, he's not in any hurry to rush this along, so he waits a little longer than usual to soak it in before moving on.

"New York, you have been incredible!" Jack says. "Thank you all so much, and Happy New Year!"

With that, Jack leaves the stage, and another commercial break begins.

~~

But, believe it or not, this chapter isn't just about my favorite cinnamon roll. There's also some ship action, too.

Not that kind of action, though. There's still no smut. Sorry, whytf_u_lyin.

"You know," Dean says quietly, "we were sitting on this same couch exactly nine years ago."

"Mm, we were, weren't we?"

"Which means," Dean continues, "there's only about ten minutes until the nine year anniversary of our first kiss."

"Mm, yeah," Castiel hums.

"Can you believe it's been almost a decade since we started dating?"

"Which means it's already been a decade since we met," Castiel adds, thinking back to his freshman year.

"Well, I wouldn't call me actively avoiding you so I wasn't pressured into bullying you 'meeting,' but to each their own," Dean says.

"Oh, you did do that, didn't you?" Castiel says. "Yeah, I never really noticed that. I just kinda associated you with them that whole time, so you were just as bad as they were in my mind."

"Honestly, I was fine with that," Dean says. "You were allowed to hate me. I just didn't want to feel guilty about it."

"Ah, that's valid," Castiel says. "I mean, I would've felt guilty letting my friends beat a kid up anyway, but that's just 'cause I have a soul."

"Oh, shut up," Dean says jokingly. "But a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do to get a scholarship, and that meant staying on the team's good side."

"Well, at least that worked out," Castiel says. "And I guess it worked out okay for me in the end, too, what with starting to write songs. I call it a win."

"I do, too," Dean agrees. "Granted, it would've been more of a win if I actually talked to you junior year and maybe we could be on our ten year anniversary, but all's well that ends well."

"You know, had you listened to Taylor Swift, that would have been the perfect place to plug in the line "all's well that ends well to end up with you," Castiel says. "Just saying."

"Unfortunately for you, she started making music after 1979, so it's a no go on that one."

"That's less valid."

"Oh, shut up."

Castiel gasps. "Wow, twice in five minutes? Dean, I am offended!"

"As you should be," Dean replies.

"I still can't believe it's been nine years, though," Castiel says. "I mean, it feels like a lifetime ago, but it still doesn't feel like nine years."

"I know, right?" Dean says. "It's been nine years since we successfully scammed all our brothers out of, like, 60 bucks."

Castiel chuckles. "Oh, man, I forgot about that bet. I thought long and hard about how to keep... who was getting on us not getting together?"

"You mean everyone?" Dean says. "One of your brothers thought we'd get together. Everyone else has variations of us not dating."

"Right, right," Castiel says. "And I worked so hard to figure out how to keep all of them from winning without us getting together — hell, I would've lied and said we were if it meant no one made money off it. And after all that, you did it by accident."

"What can I say?" Dean says with a grin. "I'm an accidental genius."

"What an icon."

"I was totally half-eavesdropping on your conversation," Lucifer says, "and, first of all, I wasn't involved in the bet. I just wanted Gabriel to win — he's the one that shipped you."

"How do you remember that?" Castiel asks, gaping at him.

"Nine years doesn't feel like very long when you're an old man," Lucifer says.

"You're literally 28," Dean reminds him. "That's not very old."

"Says the one who's not 28 yet," Lucifer says teasingly. "But seriously, I was 19 when all this went down. Cassie was barely 15. You were kinda awkwardly in the middle — and actually, you're pretty close to my age so I really don't know how you don't remember."

"And that's exactly why I'm wondering how you do remember," Dean says.

"You know," Castiel says, "there's one very obvious answer to this that really, one of us should have thought of sooner."

"What's that?" they both ask in unison.

"Lucifer remembers because he's so much more invested in our relationship than we are."

"Oh, yeah, that would make sense, wouldn't it," Dean agrees.

"Can't argue with facts," Lucifer adds.

"Not to interrupt your weird reminiscing," Claire says, "but the ball's gonna drop soon. They're gonna start the countdown any second "

"Ooh, finally," Lucifer says, putting an arm around her, his gaze on the TV.

And they wait, and wait, and wait, until there are only ten seconds left — at which point they begin chanting as the timer goes down, counting each second until finally, the ball drops.

Dean rests a hand on Castiel's cheek as he gently pulls him closer, their lips meeting for a kiss. It's not like the first time. It was weird then — he hadn't been expecting it, and he definitely wasn't used to kissing anyone. This time, Dean and Castiel have kissed so many times that it's practically second nature to them, which somehow makes it even more enjoyable.

They don't pull apart until a few moments after everyone else starts cheering, when they know it would be weird to continue making out on the couch. Dean puts an arm around his fiancé, holding him close.

"Happy anniversary, Cas," he murmurs.

"Happy anniversary, Dean."

A/N idk who's heard and who hasn't but my computer is broken so I have to write on my phone and update on my iPod and this is very annoying 0/10 would not recommend but yeah that's why I never update