Dean didn't know what to do with himself.
The sky was burning red and Dean was staring straight into the setting sun. Castiel was sitting at his right with the trenchcoat folded neatly in his lap. Dean didn't understand why Cas insisted on wearing the it on even the hottest days. Today though, working a job in Arizona, where Dean had harbored a daylong dream of jumping into the Bering Strait, Cas had had no other choice but to take off the coat and the black suit jacket. Castiel didn't sweat easily, but in this scorching desert heat, not even a former angel of the Lord was spared. Not that Dean complained. He had been gripped by an unsuspected feeling of joy when Cas rolled up his shirtsleeves and splashed water on his face when they came back to the motel room.
It was still hot, but cooling, and Dean was thinking of ways he could possibly get Cas to take his shirt off completely the next day. The job would be finished before noon, surely – just your average ghost haunting in a few houses. Noon had the most unbearable heat. Maybe they could go swimming.
Wait… Why was he thinking about this? Jesus Christ, it didn't matter to him if Cas wore a fur coat or underwear. There was no difference as long as Cas could work the job alright. No difference. No fucking difference.
Except there was.
Dean glanced at the dark-haired man beside him. Cas had his eyes closed and his hands folded on top of his coat.
"Cas? You alright?" Dean croaked. He hadn't expected his voice to be so hoarse.
Castiel opened his eyes.
"Yes. Just… tired."
"From ganking a few ghosts?" Dean raised his eyebrows, teasing automatically.
"It has been a long day", said Castiel, eyes slowly falling shut again. He leaned his head backwards and exhaled deeply. Dean couldn't help but watch the up-and-down movement of his chest and the bobbing on his throat as he swallowed, and the way his hands unfolded and-
What the fuck. None of that held any significance to Dean. At all. He was tired too, of course. His eyes caught on a spot and lazily lingered because he was tired. Just tired.
Except he wasn't.
"Since when does that bother you?" asked Dean.
"I believe it's a human thing", said Castiel, no particularly sensitive tone in his voice, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to refer to himself as not-an-angel.
"Yeah, about that…" Dean looked at the sun, then at Cas, then at the sun and then back at Cas again, strongly preferring the latter against his will. "How you holding up?"
Castiel opened his eyes again and looked at Dean. It was that Cas-look, that strong gaze that sometimes made Dean forget that Cas wasn't technically an angel anymore.
"Better", said Cas. "But I find the state of Arizona unnecessarily hot."
"Agreed", said Dean, even though he could see the positive, trenchcoat-shredding sides of the weather. Oh right, speaking of heat… "How about we go swimming tomorrow when the job is done? That'll cool you down."
"Swimming?"
"Yes."
"Where?" said Cas. "This is a desert."
Dean was getting annoyed, which was stupid since Cas was only pointing out the obvious.
"There has to be a lake or something somewhere", said Dean with fake certainty. "Or we can drive to one. I'll figure it out."
"Okay."
Dean's heart almost skipped a beat.
"So we're going?"
Castiel furrowed his eyebrows at him.
"Yes. I already agreed."
"Oh. Great. I mean awesome. I mean, cool."
Dean cleared his throat. What the hell was going on with him? The heat must be getting to his head.
