He got the idea from some TV show about fairy tales. "True love's kiss is the most powerful magic. It can break any spell." Dean had chuckled at that. If those people had been dealing with real witchcraft, a kiss wasn't going to do crap. Still, that line stuck with him, and he was almost desperate enough to want to believe. But it was stupid, dreamed up by some Hollywood writer who knew nothing about how spells really worked.
Invariably, it was when Dean allowed himself to think about Cas that the memory of the phrase came to mind. Contrary to what his brother might believe, it hadn't been easy leaving Cas in that hospital. He had his reasons. What he had told Sam was true enough. They needed to deal with the Leviathans and couldn't get distracted by a crazy angel who needed constant care. Sam didn't need to know that seeing Cas like that was too painful. It was hard enough watching his brother go through it. But Cas…
Dean had thought Cas stoic and stuffy during their first meetings, but he had learned to read the smallest changes in the angel's shoulders, eyes, mouth. They had been through a lot. More than a lot.
What the hell. It was worth a shot.
"We're goin' to see Cas," Dean stated.
Sam was a little surprised and a bit concerned. They didn't talk about Castiel…ever. "Did Meg call? Did something change?"
Dean shot him a look that loosely translated to either "That bitch Meg hasn't said shit" or "We're going."
"Alright." Sam knew better than to question his older brother, at least not yet.
Dean played whatever cassette was handy extra loud to avoid having to talk. Thankfully Sammy took the hint and said nothing.
The hospital looked the same as before. Dean parked quickly. He shut off the car, got out, and walked to the entrance with a single-minded determination. Sam had to hurry to keep up.
Meg met them in the hallway. Only the younger brother acknowledged her. Dean didn't stop, didn't change his focus until he was in front of the door to Cas' room.
"I'm going in alone," Dean announced to no one in particular.
"Okay," Sam replied while exchanging a questioning look with Meg.
Dean steadied himself, hand on the door. He took a breath and walked in.
Castiel was seated on the bed, staring at the floor. Dean took a moment to settle the surge of conflicting emotions that had arisen as soon as he saw the messy black hair and blue eyes. "Hey, Cas. Sorry I haven't been by sooner. We've been a little busy."
Dean pulled a chair up in front of the angel and sat down. "Sammy's outside. He'd 'ave come in, but, well…" He turned around and saw two faces duck out of the door's window. Yeah, they'd be watching, and they'd give him shit for what he was about to do. But if there was a chance it could work, well, it was worth a shot to his pride. He just hoped Bobby wasn't watching. Damn, he should have left the flask with Sam. Too late now.
He turned back to his friend. It was now or never. A hesitant hand reached out to the angel's chin and tilted the head up. After 2 beats, Dean leaned in a placed a timid, tender kiss on Cas' lips. After a moment, the human adjusted his mouth so that the angel's bottom lip was between his own, and then he pulled completely away.
Dean searched his angel's shoulders, eyes, mouth for any sign of change. Nothing happened. With a lick of his lips and a shake of his head, Dean stood up and put back the chair. He walked out the door past two figures he didn't see, through the hallway, out the hospital door, across the parking lot, and finally stopped at the far end to stare out at nothingness.
"Dean? You okay?" his brother asked. The reply was a slight movement of the head and a bite of the lip. To anyone else it might have seemed unresponsive, but to Sam it was his brother yelling at how he should have known better, known it wouldn't have worked.
"You wanna talk about it?"
"Nope."
Sam walked to his brother's side and joined him in gazing into the horizon or future or whatever.
"Geez, Dean," came a snarky voice. "I knew you two were close, but a kiss? Kinky. I like it." She looked at the shorter man. "Wait. You actually thought that might do something. What…You thought you'd wake up your sleeping prince with a kiss?" Her laugh was both gleeful and cruel.
"Shut up, Meg," the brothers said in unison.
"Poor Dean. I guess one of you doesn't love the other quite like you thought. Oh but he does taste sweet, doesn't he? I'm surprised you didn't go in for another."
Dean clenched his jaw and fists.
Meg thought for a moment, shifting her focus between the two men. "Funny how Sam likes the bad girls and you like the good boys."
"Shut up, Meg." It was only Sam this time.
"No, Sam. Let her talk. It's been a while since I've killed a demon."
"And who's going to look after your sweet, little prince when I'm gone? Remember, Dean, the enemy of your enemy is your friend. That would be me. We don't want Crowley's thugs hurting your precious Cas, now, do we?"
Dean turned his head towards her then. He looked her up and down with cold, green eyes. "Let's go, Sam."
The two brothers walked back to the car in silence and drove away.
Sam held his tongue for a good 30 minutes. "So how long have you known?"
"Known what?" his brother asked in a dangerous growl.
"That you loved Cas." Silence. "I mean, I knew he had feelings for you."
"He what?" Dean demanded.
"It was pretty obvious, Dean."
"Well not to me it wasn't."
"Well to the rest of the world, yeah, it was pretty obvious." More silence. "Look, Dean, I get it. Really. And I think it's great that-"
"Stop talking, Sam." It was a simple statement said with very little emotion. "This never happened. We are never talking about it. Ever."
"Okay," Sam responded and turned to look out his window. His hand covered a small, disbelieving smile. Of course they'd talk about. Maybe not anytime soon but someday he wouldn't be able to help himself. His brother had kissed Cas…a man. You didn't just forget something like that.
Sitting unobserved in the back seat, Bobby rolled his eyes. He wanted to slap Dean upside the head but didn't think it was worth the energy. Instead he spat out a single word. "Idjit."