"Cas, just face it, we're lost." Dean sighed, his feet aching. Cas' fingers, laced in his own, pulled the hunter along the sidewalk.
"We've seen that twice!" the green eyed man protested, using his free hand to point at a theatre, titled 'Palace'. Cas frowned.
"I think we got the wrong bus, Dean." the ex angel said quizzically, tilting his head at the building. Dean sighed.
"Baby, let's just ask for directions." the green eyed man suggested, resting his head on Cas' shoulder.
"Yeah, okay." the ex angel finally agreed, heading over to a slightly friendly looking bus driver, smiling defiantly in the pouring rain.
"Excuse me, sir, could you tell us how to get to the, uh, art gallery?" Dean asked awkwardly, swinging his and Cas' joint hands like a nervous child. The man's nostrils flared.
"Do I look like a tour guide? But a map, dickhead." he snapped, storming away from the two men. Cas sniffed.
"That was rude." the ex angel noted, blinking at the retreating form of the bus driver. His boyfriend groaned.
"We're never gonna find anything here. It's a frigging maze, Cas." Dean huffed, turning left on a whim. A bus skidded past.
"That looks familiar... 38, we caught that earlier!" Castiel said excitedly, jogging to where the bus was resting.
"Ma'am?" Dean asked the driver. "Uh, miss, do you go to the art gallery?" she smiled a little.
"Depends on which gallery." she said kindly, and Cas fished the tickets out his pocket.
"The... RA."
"Sure. Three stops, then walk 'till you see the huge banners and stuff. Hop on."
"Thank you." Dean said gratefully, pulling Cas on and showing the driver their orange card things.
"Finally." the hunter huffed, sitting down, watching his boyfriend place himself next to him and resting his head on Cas' shoulder. The ex angel brought their joined hands up to his lips and kissed each of Dean's knuckles in turn. Dean smiled, and felt a small tap on his shoulder.
"Sorry," the lady, possibly in her sixties or seventies, said happily. "I just wanted to tell you that you're beautiful. The two of you. It's beautiful."
" Oh, uh..." Dean said awkwardly, and Cas saved him.
"Thank you." the blue eyed man smiled, glancing out the window. "Dean, this is our stop, baby." Cas muttered to the green eyed of the two, standing. "Thank you again." he nodded to the woman, watching the doors open and stepping off. Banners were hung every five or so metres on the side of the building in front of the two men, the rain weighing the paper looking material down. Castiel led Dean through a gate, then some doors, then flashed the tickets at the attendant, up some more stairs, left, right, left, left - then covered his boyfriend's eyes with his hands."
"Cas, what're you -" Dean started, but the ex angel shushed him gently.
"I know you hate art and architecture and stuff, but could you,just for a half hour, pretend to be a little bit interested? For me?" Cas sounded amused, and Dean nodded under his hands.
"If I can keep my eyes off you for a second." the hunter whispered, and Cas kissed the nape of his neck gently.
"Okay." Castiel breathed happily, sliding his hands away from Dean's face. The green eyed man bit back a gasp, sliding his fingers through Cas'.
The... thing was colossal, wooden, and triangular. It was a honey colour and practically touched the ceiling.
"Wanna go up?" Cas mumbled, motioning to the people taking photos from the block. Dean practically raced up the stairs, using his height to peep over the edge.
"Dean," he hears Cas call quietly, and he wandered to where his boyfriend was crouched, pointing through a small rectangular hole. The hunter peered through to be greeted by one of the angels decorating the border of the room. It was close enough to touch and very, very beautiful.
"'s got nothin' on you." the green eyed man said to his blue eyed lover, and Cas kissed him gently, sliding his fingers into the short hair at Dean's neck.
"I love you." Cas said quietly, peppering kisses on Dean's cheeks, forehead, eyelids, lips.
"I love you, too." Dean grinned, pulling Cas and himself to his feet. "Let's check out the next one."
The next one was a giant white honeycomb arch with the holes filled him with thousands of coloured straws. Dean gasped. It was an explosion of colour and looked as if lifetime's worth of love and happiness had gone into it.
"Cas, I..." Dean began, began, but frowned as he realised Cas was nowhere to be seen in the throng of people. "Cassy!"
"Dean, look." he heard Cas behind him, and Dean turned to see his boyfriend clutching two handfuls of bright, three foot long straws.
"We get to..?" Dean marvelled, noticing the other people plaiting the straws or seeing how high they could poke them. Cas set about, rotating the order of the colours. He looked like child, alive and free, a dark flush of hair against the colours of happiness. Dean started with a blue that reminded him of Cas' eyes and felt Cas behind him, who pushed a candy apple green straw in next to it.
"This is beautiful." Dean whispered.
"You're beautiful." his boyfriend whispered back, his fingers folding his last three straws into a plait. Cas hung it from the ceiling above them, kissed Dean, and wandered into the next room. The hunter followed him, frowning at the single arch in the room.
"I don't get it." he deadpanned, and Cas nodded.
"Me either." he ran his fingers across it nonetheless, feeling the gray coolness and sighing.
"Nope. I like the, uh, colors more." the ex angel admitted, meandering through a curtain to the next room. Dean sighed.
"Never stay in one spot more than ten seconds, that one. You're worse than Sam." he grumbled, still smiling. He followed Cas, and felt his eyes widen. The floor was lit white - the only source of light - which illuminated the walls of the maze, hundreds of circular pieces of tree bark creating the walls. He found Cas, lost him again, then stumbled across an alcove type area with the floor covered with pebbles. There was a mirror at one end, and Cas was watching him in it, a small smile playing at his lips. Dean was next to him in three strides, grabbing the sides of his boyfriend's face and kissing him happily.
"Last room." Cas breathed when they broke apart, and Dean laughed.
"Okay, baby. Let's go take a look." the hunter said, and Cas navigated them out the darkness. The next room was very light and very quiet, white blocks suspended from the glass rood periodically. Rain thudded soothingly on the clear sheet. People were laying on their backs on the floor, silent. Cas sat down and pulled Dean with him, laying down and tangling their legs together. Cas was practically glowing.
"I love you, Dean." the ex angel said quietly, threading their fingers through each other. Dean's apple green eyes swivelled to meet Cas' ocean blue ones.
"I know." the hunter smiled, closing the space between them gently. "I love you too."
One of them chuckled, and it didn't matter who, because they were one and the same - two men laying in the glow of each other and the thudding patter of the rain.
