A/N: THANK YOU to the reviewer who pointed out my mistake in mentioning the bunker, you're absolutely right, they hadn't discovered it yet - doh! I've now amended this by removing that line XD
There was one thing that Dean neglected to tell Sam about Purgatory.
It had started off fairly innocently – each night, Dean, Cas and Benny took turns at night watches, allowing the other two to sleep. While it was slowing down their progress to the exit significantly, all three men had reluctantly agreed that it was their best chance of making it to the other side alive. Nothing was worse than coming head to head with a leviathan or unfriendly vampire when you could barely see or think straight, right?
It was taking it's toll on Cas most of all. Maybe it was the fact that they were surrounded by so many different creatures, maybe it was just the air in Purgatory or some shit, but for some reason, the angel found that he had to recharge his batteries just as often as Benny and Dean did, and the angel seemed to take that to heart.
"I don't understand why my father made humans so fragile," the angel had spouted out one evening, the three men huddled around the campfire for warmth, Dean drawing heat from the flame through the palms of his hands.
He levelled Cas with a glare. "You want to rephrase that, buddy?"
Benny just chuckled, his eyes full of mirth. "He's not wrong, chief."
Rolling his eyes, Dean turned his glare to the vampire. "Hey, who's side are you on, here? What, both of you bicker like a married couple every other minute of the day, but when it comes to mock-the-human time you're all of a sudden besties? Have you made the bracelets yet?"
"Calm down, Dean." Cas scolded, rubbing his palms together before continuing. "It's just... strange. On Earth and in Heaven and Hell angels are able to operate at full power, but it's different here. Usually the cold wouldn't even have an impact on my body, yet I feel the need to warm myself by this fire, and the need to sleep at night. It just wastes so much time – your average human sleeps for about eight hours a day, Dean. Think of how much more productive your species could be without that need holding them back."
Benny snorted, rising to his feet, stretching his arms with a yawn. "Speaking of sleep. Who's turn is it to watch?"
"Mine," Dean grumbled, still disgruntled from his two friends ganging up on him. Fragile species his ass. He'd fought and killed many different species – angels and vampires included. He rose from his feet, grunting his goodnights to the angel and the vampire before making his way to the watchpost – which was really just a tree that sat a little further up from their camp, giving them a bit of a better view of their surroundings. He couldn't see Benny or Cas from the spot, (who were most likely curled up on the ground trying to get a decent sleep) but he would certainly be alerted if anything were to approach the camp.
His watch was pretty boring – he sat for hours in the dark, leaning against the tree, eyes and ears trained on the surrounding environment. In moments like this, he allowed himself to think about how life would be when he finally got home. Fuck, if he finally got home.
He allowed himself to think about Sammy, who was probably fighting tooth-and-nail to find him, even though Dean had always told him not to. He allowed himself to wonder about the prophet – what had become of Kevin? He'd like to think that Sam would have made sure of his safety. What kind of shit was even going on on Earth while he and Cas had been stuck here? How long had they been gone? Time just seemed to bleed together in this realm. He had no sense of how long it had been since he and Cas were forcefully transported after ganking dick.
As for Cas – well, Dean had to wonder if he was going to stick around when they got back to Earth, or if the angel would return to heaven in a self-sacrificial attempt to fix what he had broken. He found himself hoping, a little selfishly, that his friend would stay with the hunters.
Dean was torn out of his reverie with the snap of a twig, causing the hunter to jump up to his feet, heart racing in blind panic. He held his blade in front of him, trying to calm his erratic breathing.
"Dean," the guttural whispered behind him.
Dean whirled round to meet the blue eyes of the very angel he had just been thinking about, chest loosening. "Jesus fucking Christ, Cas, we've got to put a bell on you or something." He didn't even bother lowering his voice – once he was out, Benny slept like the dead. Which, to be fair, was a pretty accurate description of his unlikely ally. Still a little shaken, Dean took his seat next to the tree again, watching the angel.
"My apologies." Cas replied with his usual perplexed frown, taking the space beside Dean, cross-legged.
"What's up, Cas?" Dean asked when it was clear that the angel wasn't going to offer any explanation as to why he wasn't sleeping.
Castiel shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. I thought that I could take over if you were tired."
Dean just shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. Wouldn't be able to sleep right now if I tried."
"Too much on your mind?"
"Somethin' like that," Dean agreed. "I just- man, do you ever wonder what's happening back home?"
Castiel sighed wistfully. "I no longer have a home, Dean. I'm no longer welcome in Heaven, if you recall. My family, what little that is left of them after my sins, will come after me long before I manage to reach Heaven. You have to understand, I will have a target on my back as soon as we reach the other side."
"We'll work it out, Cas." Dean assured the angel, clapping his back softly, hand resting on the other man's back a little longer than intended. "We always do."
Castiel just gave the hunter a small, sad smile, but didn't reply.
After a few minutes, Dean broke the silence again. "It's bullshit, you know. What you said."
"I assure you, Dean, my family is hardly going to welcome me back with open arms after what I did."
"No, not that. Those assholes can suck it, we'll deal with them when we get home. But we will go home, Cas. Both of us. You, Sam and I? We're family. You've got to know that."
"Dean," the angel was looking at him in awe now, and Dean found himself getting a little lost in the blue, so he could be forgiven for barely noticing the angel advance on him.
He was brought back to reality, though, when the angel crashed their lips together shakily, eyes scrunched tight as though he were taking the biggest risk of his life, and he was terrified of failure, and fuck – Dean wasn't having any of that. In one swift movement, Dean was pressing back, hard, his tongue meeting with Castiel's in a soft, deep caress, thumb grazing the angel's jaw gently.
When they broke apart, the angel was staring back at him wide-eyed. "Dean, I-"
"Shh, Cas. C'mere." And Dean was back on him again. Suddenly, he heard Cas let out a mewl, and before he knew it he had a lapful of angel.
As Cas straddled him, Dean ran his fingers softly over the angel's back, making the other man shudder with anticipation, feeling their erections against one another though the material of their clothes. When their lips parted this time, Dean sought Castiel's gaze again, moving his hands down to his waistband. "Can- can I-?" Dean asked, reluctantly.
"You may," Cas replied with a whimper, breath juttering rapidly.
He didn't wait for any more than that, as he tugged on Castiel's pants and underwear just far enough so that he could uncover the other man's erection, doing the same for himself. They let out a collective gasp as Dean grasped onto them both, hips jutting upwards, enjoying the feeling of the angel against him, the friction of the other man's dick and his hand firmly around them short circuting his brain completely.
He felt the angel's hand tighten around his own as Castiel fucked down into their hands, panting hard and face set in pure pleasure. He had never seen the angel look more relaxed than he did right now. Although, he was willing to bet that after a million or however-the-fuck many years Castiel had existed for of going without one single orgasm, this must feel like Heaven.
Or, well, shit. Not Heaven. Bad analogy. It must feel pretty damn good, though.
Not that Dean had to think that hard to imagine it himself – as far as he was concerned, he could stay like this forever, rutting against Castiel like a couple of horny teenagers like they weren't in the middle of a monster ridden wasteland, his lips running over Castiel's neck, pressing soft kisses and lapping at pulse point lightly.
"Dean- oh, fuck, Dean!" Castiel groaned urgently, fisting into the back of Dean's jacket, legs tightening around him for extra grip.
"It's okay, Cas." Dean panted, letting out an extra loud moan as the angel increased the pressure around them, rutting into him faster. "Let go. I've got you, just- just let go."
"Fuck," Castiel swore again, whining into the skin of Dean's neck as the hunter felt Cas's cock tighten in his hand before erupting, the angel crying out with heat. That was all it took for Dean, and he was following the angel. He could swear he could see stars as he spilled into their joined hands with a final groan.
The two men sat against one another, chests pressed together and hands still joined around their softening cocks, completely breathless and in awe. Here, of all places, is where they'd given into the sexual tension. In the middle of a land full of monsters that could rip their throats out the moment they let their guards down for even a second.
"Shit," Dean breathed, forehead pressed against Castiel's. "We need to be careful."
The angel grunted in agreement, eyes fanning shut with exhaustion.
"I mean, I don't- I definitely wanna do that again, because holy shit. But I- I think we should wait until we're home."
"Yes, Dean."
And yet, even after all that, Dean still wasn't able to pull Cas through the portal with him. He'd failed Castiel, and the guilt was tearing him apart, to the point where he was beginning to hallucinate the damn angel everywhere.