Tolly thought for a few moments. "She can get kind of mean about her pranks, but my favorite is still the time she made me help her hang Levi up on the flag pole." He smiled a bit at the memory, fond. Levi had gotten revenge by taping him to the ceiling, so then he'd hidden all Levi's underwear in increasingly baffling spots, and it had been an intense war for like a month. "Oh! Recipe cards sound nice, it'll be cool to see what kinda stuff your family cooks."
Cas’ eyes widened “a flag pole?! Like at the top of one? How’d you even get him up there?” He let out a laugh and shook his head, glad that he wasn’t on the receiving end of the pranks. He nodded in agreement and checked the time “I’m gonna have to leave a few minutes early to go home and change.” He said, pressing a kiss to Tolly’s cheek as he watched him stir the cheese
"Yeah, up the flag pole. He fell asleep in jeans so we hooked the little flag hook things through the loops and just… pulled him up." He leaned into the kiss with a soft laugh, stirring the cheese for a few more moments before he tapped his spoon off on the side of the pot. "In that case, we should probably get this cheese on the pasta, right? We've gotta eat in like fifteen minutes."
“I can’t imagine his reaction when he found out he was up a flagpole and not in bed.” He chuckled lightly and nodded. “Yep!” He found a few plates from the cabinets and found some mugs to set at the table as Tolly finished up the pasta. He set the large tray of potatoes on the table as well as a serving spoon
Tolly laughed quietly. "Yeah, it was really something. Hence the revenge pranks in retaliation." He took his plate of pasta with a grateful smile, spooning on a generous amount of cheese sauce. "Wasn't this supposed to be a simple meal, too? Last I checked simpel meals didn't have fancy sides."
“Hey, if you can eat and omelet and hash browns, you can eat pasta with roasted potatoes.” He defended with a smile, heaping on some of The potatoes as well as the cheesy pasta. “It’s allowed to be a little fancy.”
Tolly pretended to give the potatoes a dubious look before he piled them onto his plate alongside the mountain of pasta. "It's a simple dinner! It's supposed to be simple, the potatoes get a pass because they're gonna be delicious."
“Alright, next time we’ll make a box of Velveeta Mac and cheese. I don’t think it can get simpler than that.” He teased, digging into the meal. He nodded after a while, a satisfied little smile on his features
"It doesn't have to, Velveeta mac and cheese is the food of gods." He took a big bite of pasta, letting out a happy sound. It was really good pasta, especially since the sauce had been cooked just right. "Sides would just be insulting."
Cas just rolled his eyes with a laugh “as long a shot you enjoy it, I’m happy.” He tried a few of the potatoes and smiled softly “I don’t know, the potatoes are pretty good.”
"Well of course they are, you're a wonderful cook." He took a few more bites of pasta, humming happily. "I'm just saying, sometimes you eat mac and cheese and you don't need anything else."
“That is very true.” Cas agreed, happily swaying in his seat as he ate. He took a sip of the coffee he had made earlier, wishing they could be this relaxed all the time. “So it’s gonna be eggs for dinner tonight.” He said, already thinking of a few omelet recipes that they could do
"Eggs and hash browns. Oh! And maybe pancakes, if I can dig out the mix." He bounced in his seat happily, imagining the possibilities. Breakfast food was cheap, which meant he had a lot more of it and they had a lot more room for creativity. "We can do a full spread, I may not have much dinner stuff but I'm drowning in breakfast stuff."
“And here I thought you didn’t want to get fancy.” Cas said, very much amused by Tolly’s enthusiasm. “But we can defiantly do a whole spread. That’d be great! If we can find pancake mix that’d be great too, maybe with some nuts and berries too? Oooh a chocolate chips…” Tolly was right, there were so many options of breakfast items, all that tasted great and were relatively easy to make.
"I said I didn't want a fancy breakfast, I never said anything about dinner." He gave Cas an excited little smile, perking up as he finished the rest of his pasta. "Besides, breakfast food's great, who wouldn't want a ton of it? Especially when we can have fancy pancakes!"
“That is true, breakfast food is great. Not superior to dessert, but breakfast is pretty good.” He stood from the table and pressing a kiss to Tolly’s cheek as he passed to put the empty dishes in the sink. “I’ve gotta go change for work but I can come back if you want me to walk with you to class.” He said, picking up his bag from the doorway he had left it the day before
"At least equal to dessert though." He leaned up to kiss Cas on the cheek with a soft smile, clearing his own place a few moments later. "I've still gotta get dressed, you can go on ahead. I'll text you when I'm getting out of class, so you know when I'm gonna drop by the shop. Will you be there?" He wandered into the bedroom, voice raising so Cas could still hear him. "Or should I come by after my shift at the cafe is over?"
“Whichever one is easiest for you. I’d say around the end of class since it’s a bit less busy by then but anytime you want is fine.” He called, smiling softly and shouldering his bag. He stopped before leaving, taking a breath before putting his things down and cleaning up a bit, washing the dishes and putting away the leftovers so that Tolly didn’t have so much to worry about before heading out for the day. He left a note on the table then left.
have fun today lovely, I’ll see you later ~Cas
Tolly wandered out after a few moments, dressed and ready for the day, but by then Cas was gone. He contented himself with reading the note as he tromped out the door and down to his first class of the day. There was a second one after that—less dull, thank god—and then a tizzy of work and then, finally, blessedly, he was making his way down to Cas' shop.
"This place is horrible." He tossed the door open with dramatic flair, wandering behind the desk to join Cas. "I'm so sick of college."
Cas glanced up from helping a customer as the door was swung open and Tolly strode in. He rolled his eyes with a smile and waved to the young woman as she left the store, satisfied with her purchase and a bit confused.
Cas turned to Tolly and smiled “I certainly hope you’re not talking about this place. And hey, college can’t be all that bad. It’s just a busy time of the semester.” He pressed a sweet kiss to his cheek and went back out on the floor to adjust the shelves and tidy up a bit
Tolly huffed quietly as he leaned into the kiss, wandering after Cas so he could help. He straightened up the bits and bobs on the higher shelves while Cas got things sorted down below. "No, I'm talking about this school. I was in Calc and I swear, my brains were about to ooze out of my ears." He curled up against Cas' side when he was done getting thighs straightened up, eager for some closeness. "And I've got a shit ton of work and I feel like I'm drowning in papers and proofs and junk."
Cas laughed softly and combed Tolly’s hair away from his face as he curled up beside him. “My poor love.” He cooed, gently nudging him up once he had finished adjusting the shelves. He guided him over back behind the counter and settled at the little workspace he had, patting cushioned seat beside him for Tolly to sit at. “Well, we can always start the work now since I’m on my break now.” He said with an encouraging smile.
Tolly went where he was directed, flopping over onto Cas' lap the second they were settled in their chairs. He made a very nice pillow, honestly. Very comfortable, very warm. "No, no, I don't actually wanna work on it yet." He gave Cas a small smile, shifting into a more comfortable position. "I've gotta hype myself up first, or I won't have enough resentment to carry me through the whole thing."
Cas chuckled lightly and dropped a kiss to Tolly’s head. “Resentment or motivation?” He asked, arching an eyebrow. “Well, imma catch up on a few notes and assignments we have.” He said, pulling out a text book and beginning notes, idly falling into a rhythm of petting Tolly and writing down practically everything
"Resentment," he said very firmly, even though he sort of melted against Cas' thighs when he started getting petted. His voice got all soft after, sort of pleased and dozy as he cuddled closer. "If I'm not mad the whole time I do it I lose steam, and when I lose steam I don't have the energy to finish."