In all fairness, it started out small. In their line of work and life experience, they usually didn't deal with small. The brothers' norm ran more toward the Apocalypse sized…literally.
In fact, Dean only first noticed it while zoning out on a long stretch of road between Omaha, Nebraska and their next hunt in Podunk, Nowhere. Dean did most of the driving so he got to look at the backs of his hands a lot. Usually that wasn't too interesting in and of itself. Dean wasn't sure if it was the light just hitting his skin wrong or something, but it looked like his hands were clean. Not just the normal scrubbed and washed clean, but more like the totally born again kind of clean.
Most people would not be thrown off by this or even notice, but a hunter's skin was a living tapestry of all their fights, their battles etched into their very flesh in the form of cuts, burns, and bruising. All the white nicks and scratches that criss crossed over his knuckles like demented pattern work were gone, the skin smooth and unblemished. A quick perusal of his palms told Dean that the pads of his fingers were now lacking the callused burns as well that he had acquired from holding onto an overheated Zippo for too long. Hell, even his nails were looking evenly trimmed.
Dean being Dean shrugged it off. So he got touched by an angel. Big deal. For whatever reason, Castiel must have cast some angel mojo on him at some point and given him a holy manicure. Whatever. These sort of things happened to him. It just seemed to be his strange lot in life.
"Gee thanks, Cas. Next time can I get the matching pedicure to go with it.", Dean grumbled with a roll of eyes to follow.
"What?", Sam yawned as he shifted into a more comfortable position. He looked over at his brother confused.
"Nothing.", Dean grunted, punching Sam in the shoulder for good measure. "What have I told you about touching the volume, damn it?!"
Dean noticed more as days went by, whether he wanted to or not. The next major observation came while he was in the shower. The brothers had stopped overnight in the bum fuck middle of Heartland nowhere at another rundown motel surrounded by seemingly endless cornfields. It looked like it was built in the sixties and hadn't been redecorated since then if the stained wallpaper was any proof. At least, the toilet worked and there was water pressure in the shower, small favors and all that.
Dean got out of the shower, glancing up in the mirror as he did so to stare at his reflection and was taken aback by it. That wasn't to say that he didn't ever look at himself. With looks this sweet, how could he not? Dean was definitely seeing himself for the first time in at long time though.
His skin was smooth, like baby ass smooth, similar to how he had been after Castiel had busted him out of hell. All his newly acquired scars since then from innumerable ammo, blade, claw, tooth, and nail were gone. Even more disturbing, his anti-possession tattoo looked like it was fading out of existence, being absorbed back into his skin. The only marking that looked like it was remaining intact was the angel's handprint on his shoulder, but even that looked changed. It had healed strange to begin with, staying a dark reddish color instead of paling out silvery white like most burns. It looked more golden now though, the raised skin of mark almost shimmered from it.
"What the hell?", Dean muttered, tracing the dulled outline of it. The touch of his fingertips lingered almost fondly over it despite its origin. The hunter jumped when a sudden bang on the door rattled it almost off of its rusted hinges.
"Damn it, Dean! Are you done yet?! Sometime tonight, man!", Sam yelled through the door.
"Unknot your panties, princess. I'll be out when I'm done!", Dean snapped, shaking his head. It had to be Cas's doing. That was all. Nothing to worry about. Next time Dean saw him though, he was going to give that damn angel an earful. This so violated personal space on so many different levels.
Until then, Dean took in his new skin, winking at his reflection. "Whatever. I'm still pretty."
TBC
-