Dean hurriedly stumbled down the fire-escape, trying to avoid bashing his broad shoulders against the confining metal bars while behind him followed his brother and fallen angel. He grabbed at the last handrail of the rickety stairway and used it to redirect his propelled motion and swing himself to face the long alley way and took off running. He could hear the two other men behind him and picked up his speed once he knew that they had both descended safely.
Their encounter with a nest of vampires was pretty standard until the night guard of the warehouse opposite saw them killing off the last of them and hit his small plastic panic-button. It was a matter of minutes before the authorities were going to pitch and Dean's patience and past experience with law enforcement meant that getting caught was not an option. They didn't exactly have Cas' angelic superpowers to depend upon at the moment and so this is how they ended up sprinting down a labyrinth of alleyways to evade an very awkward encounter with the law.
Once Dean was sure that they were in the clear, he slowed down and turned to face the other men, bending over slightly, hands on his sturdy hips, to catch his breath.
Sam came up first, bouncing on his stretched-out legs while lanky arms tried to steady him. Cas followed shortly after, concern, as always, marking his squared features but the flush of his cheeks betrayed the fact that he hadn't quite adapted to inconveniences of being human.
'A bit slow there, hey Cas,' Dean mocked with a smirk as Castiel tried to catch his breath.
'My vessel has never had to flee for his life before. I'm still trying to acquaint myself with the logistics of the human form,' he stated, huffing, using the tone that he usually reserved for whenever Dean tried to push his buttons with references that he didn't understand or tease him for his lack of understanding of most things human.
Dean shrugged at his shot-down attempt to mess with the clueless angel. It was clearly going to be a while before Cas loosened up, if ever. After all, bad habits die hard, especially ones that have been cemented over millennia.
He instead turned to his over-sized little brother who was taking stock of the weapons that they had stashed into an old duffel. The discoloured bag sat atop a pile of crates, one of many in the damp alleyway while Sam checked the contents.
'I'd say that was pretty successful. Twelve vampires and the night is still young, Aramis! Now, how about we go and get ourselves a good hearty meal of red-meat and carbs, toss back some beers, find ourselves a pretty girl and call it a night,' he suggested while approaching his brother.
'You go ahead, Dean, but Bobby sent over some stuff that he wants me to look over. I think he has a job for us a few towns over and I figured that the sooner we figure it out, the sooner we can leave. There's bound to be a warrant out for us come morning and I think we should ditch as soon as we can,' says while repacking the duffel, 'But you should probably head back to the motel with us seeing as we're kinda suspects for murder and all…'
'Aw, Sammy! You're no fun!' he said while punching his younger brother on the shoulder. Sam just rubbed at the spot and gave his brother an irritated look before slugging the bag over his other shoulder. He had just adjusted the strap and gotten ready to make his way back to the Impala when his brother's voice caught him off guard.
'Cas! No!'
Castiel watched as the disheartened hunter turned around with a shrug and made his way to his brother. Cas mentally face-palmed for upsetting Dean and was on the brink of out-right screaming at his confusion of how he had even done that. Or how to avoid it in the future.
Talking to Dean was like trying to eat jelly with a fork, frustrating, complicated and undo-able, as he had learned the hard way. He remembered how Dean watched him, amused eyes shining as Cas poked at his dessert at some diner a few towns back and watched it break into further fussy pieces of defiance as Cas continued his attempts at apprehending the wobbly dessert.
He remembered especially how Dean had picked up his spoon after guffawing and scooped a blob of the colourful gelatine up and popped it into Cas's mouth before either of them could realise what had happened. Cas also remembered that slight blush that hovered above the hunter's collar as he lowered his gaze to the cheap plastic table and how the melting of the jelly in his mouth was nothing compared to the feeling in his chest or how the sweetness of the dessert could never compare to the buzz in his head.
He also remembered lying awake for hours as he replayed that moment and tried to understand which part of it was reason for his heart to flutter like a fallen moth or for his nerves to feel like they were trying to escape his body. He also tried to figure out why of all the desserts in the world, the artificial taste of jelly was his preferred one or why, of all the colours on heaven or earth, the colour of Deans amused eyes were his favourite.
He walked over to a pile of abandoned crates and sat down while he tried, once again, to get a hold of these thoughts that seemed to be a recurring theme in his head these days. Dean and his brother were talking so he had a little time to rein control of his newly-discover emotions. Before he could begin his feeble attempt, though, he heard a rustle behind him and turned to see a petit cat poking its head out from behind a trashcan. He sniffed the air twice before trotting up to Cas and rubbing his head on his trench coat-clad arm.
He watched in fascination as the cat nuzzled its nose under his elbow, easing it up, and made its way into his lap. He snuggled there, clearly cold from the night air. As if driven by an instinct that he had never felt before in his life, he gently picked him up and tucked him further into his coat, knowing that he would be warmer that way. Just as he was getting comfortable with the addition to his coat, he heard Dean shout and snapped his head to face the obviously disturbed hunter.
'Cas! No!'
Dean was angrily walking up to them and Cas rose to face the hunter.
'Is something the matter, Dean?' He asked calmly.
'Cas, I'm going to count to three and before I reach the end, I want you to have released the flee-residence that you have over there and calmly walk away from it,' Dean warned.
'I don't understand, what has your level of numeracy have to do with a cat?' Cas asked, tilting his head (always tilting).
Sam snorted and half-smiled (Cas didn't know why) and Dean spluttered before launching again into his mission of getting Cas to release the cat.
'You can't have it so don't start getting attached. We're not cut out to be the providers for helpless baby animals. Hell! We can barely look after ourselves! No. Say goodbye,' he bluntly stated before turning to walk away.
'I want it,' Cas simply stated. Dean turned around, clearly irritated and at a loss for words. He looked at Sammy and could tell that he was going to fight this battle alone.
'Cas, you can't just go around adopting anything with big, pretty blue eyes that's cute and makes you feel all warm and fluffy on the inside!' Dean yelled as he got frustrated with the defiant angel.
Sam scoffed. Yeah. You would never do that, right Dean?
'Dean, he's cold and hungry. We help people. It's our jobs. We can't leave him here,' Cas argued, eyes earnest and warm. Protective.
Dean lost it. If Cas was going to play such a low card, fine!
'You know what? Keep it! I don't care! But don't involve me in anything to do with the flee-ball! You wanna be responsible for the thing, that's all on you!'
Dean stormed off down the alley and headed for his black baby. He got into the car and slammed the door behind him and waited for the other two men.
'He wants to adopt a cat, can you believe it?' he said to the empty interior of the car. At least the car had some sense left in it. The other men arrived shortly after that, Cas cradling his new pet and Sam beaming like an idiot.
Dean sat at the small table in the motel, beer in hand and a scowl on his face as he watched Cas make a bed out of an old hoodie for his new cat. The thing was currently stumbling around on the bed and meowing hungrily. After about a minute of this, Sam left to get some food for it and Dean went for his second beer. Now he just sat and watched his angel play mommy to a skinny grey cat. He felt tempted to make another one of his classic jokes but gave up when he realised pointless it was seeing as his audience consisted of the most clueless beings alive. If he cared to admit, he enjoyed seeing Cas all domesticated and happy.
Dean couldn't help but think back to all the times that Sam had wanted a dog, a Labrador to be precise, in the hopes that it would make up for some of the missing 'apple-pie life' that he (they) longed for. Dean killed that thought train with a swig of his beer.
'I'm going to call him Oliver,' Cas said as he scooped up the cat and tucked it against his ribs (only a little awkwardly and no, Dean didn't notice the line of flesh that was exposed just above his right hip-bone) and joined Dean at the table. Dean watched Cas put the cat on his lap and look at it endearingly (impossibly blue and happy).
'I'm naming him Oliver, after that boy in the movie…' Cas explained.
'Oliver Twist?' Dean questioned. Cas nodded 'I guess that makes sense… I didn't think that you enjoyed that movie. I mean, you fell asleep halfway through,' Dean continued. He hoped that his voice didn't betray his recollection of the memory of Cas falling asleep on his shoulder (like…home).
Cas blushed as he, too, remembered that night and how he had woken up, wrapped in bulky arms and pretended to still be asleep. But Dean didn't know about any of this. He just watched his fallen angel drift off, away from the conversation as he gazed down at his little cat.
He observed the beginnings of a smile (achingly perfect) rest on his angels face and how that affected his usually stern jawline, making it slightly more relaxed. His eyes wondered to the stubble on his jaw that Cas never seemed able to completely rid himself of (and how good it would feel to rub the tips of his fingers along it before cupping his hand behind the man's neck and feeling his hair tickle his fingers). His hair was still wind-blown from their get-away earlier and the borrowed white T-shirt (Dean's T-shirt) that looked so good contrasted against his dark (oh-god-just-touch-me-already) skin. Dean halted his thoughts right there. There are few things that he's gotten right in this world and he wasn't about to mess this up. And maybe that's why he decided to get up and walk around to see the thing that was able to bring his angel so much joy.
He rounded the table and peered into Cas' lap to see the sleeping cat. The grey fur was the main bulk on the cat's slender bones yet it looked happy and peaceful in Cas' lap. He had that effect on people (on Dean). Cas lifted his head to see Dean's reaction and Dean was surprised at how close they were. He dropped his eyes to the cat once more but it become clear to him that the sleeping feline was no longer his object of interest. No with such a distraction so near to his lips…
Dean felt an undeserved urge to pull Cas into him that was cruelly made more tempting by seeing his blown-up pupils ringed by blue when he foolishly stole a glance at his eyes. He held off, stubbornly putting up a fight, lingering, staggered breathing against his angels face, leaning his forehead onto the angels before craving more contact and sliding his head into the crook of his warm, flushed neck.
'Dean,'
That was all that it took. He couldn't anymore. He took the plunge into the deep end of Cas' stupidly blue eyes, of his irritating defiance, of his vulnerable confusion and destructive loyalty. He felt Cas's lips as he kissed him with a force that he hoped would simultaneously undo all those months of denying himself this and make the most of the little time that he had before he inevitably pushed him away.
He was surprised when Cas reached up for his shoulder and turned to deepen the kiss. Dean's eagerness was betrayed by his sudden burst of courage to move his lips against the angels and the response was electrifying. Cas slid his hips out from under the cat and left it sleeping on the chair, all the while attached to the only person that every felt real in his life. Dean brought Cas in by his lower back and attacked the now free hips with a roll from his own and the moan that he got out of it was worth the risk. Dean stroked his way up to the back of Cas' neck while rubbing his thumb in the indent of his hip. Cas fitted into the frame created by Dean and clung onto the broad shoulders that always kept him safe. They let their lips, hands, sighs and moans do the talking that they couldn't do before. Each time Dean went to deepen the kiss he tried to make Cas understand the heat and turmoil inside his head and Cas responded in a way that said I know, every time.
Eventually Dean's thoughts were spent and he had but one last one and this time he actually knew how to say it. He looked in his angels eye's and lost the words, like ink on paper, in those profound, assimilating pools. So he compromised. A peck, less forceful but just as true. I love you.
When Sam returned a few hours later, after visiting every store in town to find one open so late, he found one cat resting in the nest of a red hoodie and the two people that he loved most in the world, asleep and at peace in each other's arms on the couch, legs intertwined, leaving no more room for the separation that they had to endure before. He smiled as he saw his big brother actually asleep and his best friend actually smiling, both feats so rare that he had to take a moment to soak it up. He walked over to the chair and picked up the cat, gently waking it from its cosy slumber and set it down by the bowl of food that he had set up.
'You did good, kid. You really did good,' he whispered, petting the cat, as he took another moment to glance at a moment that he was sure would one day be part of his road in heaven.