A/N

and once again it's 2am and I'm up writing Destiel fluff
just a little thing that's probably been done before but definitely needed to be typed out of my system

plot bunnies are persistent little bastards
this is set in no particular time frame

so yeah, I'd appreciate some feedback x

warnings: umm... swearing?

disclaimer: I don't own supernatural's out-of-this-world-awesome characters

Four times Dean and Cas didn't realize they were in love,

but one time they did.

.

The first time they should have noticed was after a routine hunt gone awry.

It had looked pretty good at first with Sam and Dean beheading vampires as if it was a walk in the park. A very gory walk in the park.

"Don't lose your head over it, bro," Dean joked as he swung a machete- damn he loved pulling cool stunts like that- and sent the bloodsucker's head flying across the misty clearing. His lame pun earned him a position on the receiving end of his little brother's bitchface before the mountain of a man easily impaled another vamp on a wooden stake to buy them some time.

That's when he realized that something was really very wrong.

No matter how many heads they chopped off, the number of opponents never seemed to decrease. It was comically similar to the Boss Fight in some cheap online multi-player game where you had to fend off a hoard of Level Two gremlins before the big guy even made an appearance, Dean thought as he sent another head sailing into the damp grass only to see two new vampires head straight towards him. "You gotta be kidding me," he mumbled under his breath, moving into a slightly crouched position, ready to attack at any moment. He did manage to kill off dumb and dumber with one massive blow but then made the mistake of checking on how Sam was holding up.

He could already see the blood gushing from his abdomen before he even felt the searing pain. Suddenly everything was moving in slow-motion, well at least to him it felt like that. And not the cool kind of movie slo-mo either, but a sickening kind that made the hunter's head spin. In the next second his brother was somehow next to him, catching him before he could hit the ground.

"Dean, come on, stay with me," he begged frantically, keeping an eye on the vampires surrounding them. It was hard to concentrate on the voice, mind-numbing pain becoming more and more prominent by the second.

"Sammy, listen to me," he got out weakly. His brother's arm tightened around him.

"Shut the fuck up, you're not gonna die," Sam cut him off, eyes closed in concentration, lips moving as if in prayer.

When the clearing was suddenly illuminated by a bright beam of light- that conveniently killed off the entire coven of vampires circling the pair- Dean realized that his brother had probably done just that.

And thankfully one particular angel had been listening.

Once the light faded he caught a glimpse of a familiar silhouette through hooded eyelids. "Hey Cas" he wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come out, instead he had to cough violently. Sam filled the angel in on what had happened, sounding guilty as hell for something he couldn't have seen coming.
He felt himself being shifted into another pair of arms.

"It'll be alright, Dean," Castiel said calmly, although you could hear the slightly panicked undertone as he inspected the flesh wound in Dean's stomach. Another bright flash of celestial power later the hunter was as good as new.

And the hand on his exposed abdomen- apparently clothing was immune to angelic healing powers- that lingered just a bit too long and felt just a bit too good should have been a sign to the both of them but they blamed their suddenly flushed cheeks on the adrenaline rush.

Their moment was interrupted by Sam punching his brother's shoulder. "Don't do that again."

.

The second time they just didn't remember.

It was Sam's birthday and although their latest case had brought them to a town with some decent bars and strip clubs, the younger Winchester insisted on driving the few hours back to the bunker to get drunk on some ancient Men of Letters scotch while watching a movie.

Since Cas wasn't exactly eager to repeat the experience at the Den of Iniquity either, Dean was outnumbered and begrudgingly agreed to drive back. It was his baby brother's birthday- who was he to say no?!

The angel didn't ride in the Impala with them, claiming to have some business to attend to, and Dean tried hard not to be bothered by that fact. Purely because Sam deserved to have the only friend they had left around for his special day, of course.
Once back in the bunker- back home- the pair retreated to separate rooms for an hour to take a shower and get mentally prepared for a night of drinking.

When Cas arrived- meaning he suddenly appeared in the middle of the living room- they were already well into their second bottle of scotch and had their gaze focused on the movie Sam had chosen for them to watch. (Batman Begins. There was still hope for his brother!)

"Cas!" Sam exclaimed happily, "Look, Dean! It's Cas! Hey Cas." His gleeful welcome was accompanied by some serious liquid-spilling.

"Hello, Sam," Castiel said. "Dean said it was customary to bring a present." The angel handed over a heavy-looking package. Sam made a face like he'd been given a puppy and ripped the brown wrapping paper away to reveal... a book. Dean snorted.

"What is this?" he asked jokingly, "An Enochian dictionary?"

Castiel looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Yes. How did you know?"

"Thanks, man," Sam said, visibly touched by the gesture, and got up to awkwardly envelope the angel in a drunk bear hug.

When Castiel joined the Winchesters on their spacious couch Dean handed him a glass filled with the brown liquid they'd been consuming for a while now. "Drink up, we already got a head start."
The angel nodded his thanks and drowned the glass in one go.

One Christian Bale Trilogy later the three men were all in a more or less equal state of wasted. Sam with his head leaning back so his mouth hung open, snoring loudly, Cas with his tie around his forehead- "Birthday customs, Cas, you gotta wear it like that"- and the top buttons of his dress shirt undone, and Dean with his head resting on the angel's shoulder.

It was a comfortable position and he was drunk past caring. So what if Cas was running his fingers through his sandy hair, so what if he liked it.

Several hours later Dean awoke in his own bed with a nauseating headache and no memory of his brother's birthday party.

.

The third time they were given a small hint by an even smaller person.

He had dropped Sam off at the vic's house to do some trespassing and computer-stalking while he decided to take an hour or so off. He wandered through the empty streets of the small town, buying an ice cream cone in a moment of insanity- it had been advertised as 'pie flavoured', come on- and stopping near a miniature park to sit down and eat the sweet treat in silence.

It felt nice that what they were dealing with wasn't so bad for once. Just some mischievous spirit pulling pranks on unsuspecting house owners that they just needed to find the origin of. He grinned, remembering some of the spirit's misdeeds. They were pretty hilarious.

The soft flutter of wings stopped his train of thoughts. "Hello, Dean."

He didn't look up and just kept staring straight ahead at nothing in particular. "Hi."
The angel stood next to him, close enough so his dirty trench coat was brushing against his shoulder. The hunter didn't bother asking why Cas was suddenly there in a no-name town during a case that definitely didn't require his holy assistance. He just appreciated the company.

""Excuse me, mister?" a small high-pitched voice came from very close by. Two pairs of eyes settled on the little girl softly yanking on the angel's coat.

"Hey, honey, what's up?" Dean asked casually, involuntarily smiling at the child who was sporting a bright pink dress, raven black hair held into place by a matching bandana. The girl blushed and tentatively took a step toward the hunter.

"I can't find my mama," she said timidly. "Can you help me?"

Dean's heart clenched in his chest at how lost the little thing sounded and he looked around for other people who might classify as the girl's mother. "Sure, we'll find your mom. What's your name, sweetheart?" He hoped no one would mistake him and Cas for a pair of creeps... the angel's coat could, after all, classify as molester attire.

"Clara," she said.

"Hi, Clara. I'm Dean and that's my friend Cas," the hunter said pointing to the dark-haired man who hadn't moved an inch since the girl had touched him.

"Cas is a weird name," she said, brow furrowed.

Dean grinned and whispered half-loudly, "That's because he's an angel."

The girl's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really?"

"Yeah."

She giggled and ran over to hug Castiel's leg who was unable to cope with the situation. Somehow Dean found it utterly adorable to see his angelic friend's silent plea for help.

It arrived soon enough in the form of Clara's mother.

"I'm so sorry, is she bothering you?" she gently pried the girl off Castiel. "Clara let go of the man, I've told you a million times not to run off on your own."

"It's fine," Cas lied.

"I'm really sorry, she does that all the time," the woman smiled apologetically and took her daughter's hand firmly into her own.

"No really, it's okay. She's a sweet girl," Dean assured, sending the woman his most charming smile. She smiled back and waved goodbye, towing the kid with her.

"He's an angel, mommy," Clara said loud enough for the pair to still hear it. Her mother didn't respond, probably waving the remark off as nonsense. "Dean is soooo lucky."

The hunter's heart missed half a beat at that, eyes darting to Cas, who was also looking kind of surprised but smiled warmly back at him.

And damn, if that little girl didn't have a point.

.

The fourth time it should have been obvious.

Team Free Will was out questioning townspeople in the local shithole of a bar after a number of recent disappearances. Sam and Dean were having no luck- trying to squeeze information out of the drunkards was about as efficient as milking a chicken- Cas on the other hand was freely conversing with a redhead that was easily a 9 if not a 10 on the hotness scale.

Dean didn't miss how she was twirling a single lock of fiery redness around her finger, or stuck out her pink tongue while smiling, but what struck him most was the fact that Castiel seemed to understand that she was obviously flirting with him because the angel mirrored her flirtatious smile and leaned casually against the counter closest to him, showing off his bicep since he was for once not wearing his holy tax accountant outfit but just a plain shirt. And the hunter wasn't the only one who noticed the muscles, judging by the lingering look the chick sent him.

Since when did the winged son of a bitch have social skills anyway?

He gave the pair another two minutes of shameless eye-fucking before he decided to step in, telling himself that he was merely protecting Cas from a situation that could get real awkward real quick.

"How's it going, pal?" he asked, his voice a bit too loud to sound casual as he patted the angel on the back once. Cas was startled and raised an eyebrow.

"Ooh, I didn't know your name was Paul!" the chick exclaimed and Dean exhaled in relief. Definitely not the sharpest tool in the woodshed, that explained why Cas hadn't scared her off within two sentences. He'd probably been as awkward as ever.

"Playtime's over, doll," Dean said sternly but without the hint of venom he had initially intended prior to his approach on the pair.

"'kay," the redhead shrugged, "See ya around, Paul." Within a minute she was gone, lowering the IQ at some other place.

"You're welcome," Dean said smugly.

"She was nice, you did not have to shoo her away, Dean." Cas pouted- and it was definitely not cute, no sir.

"She just wanted to get into your pants."

Castiel's eyes narrowed and he smiled crookedly. "Yeah, I was aware of that." Dean almost choked on his own saliva at that response. "I am also aware of the fact that you portrayed clear signs of jealousy, so maybe my pants are quite the popular place to be in today."

With that the angel walked off to join Sam in his questioning of the locals, leaving Dean too dumbfounded by the accusation to even deny it.

.

The fifth time it kind of worked out.

Stargazing was probably not the manliest of all past times but Dean was all out of fucks to give on that topic, lying contently on the hood of his Baby somewhere just off a highway. Sam- yes, Sam- had brought a girl back to the motel and Dean, being the awesome big brother he was, had only made two dirty remarks before leaving for a late night trip with the Impala.

Staring up at the endless sky, speckled with an uncountable number of white dots, he automatically imagined how Cas saw the world. After all Heaven was located up there, right? Maybe his angel- ignore that sneaky little possessive pronoun- was chilling somewhere above, looking down at the sea of artificial lighting from the cities below.

"Dean?" The voice was smooth and still the hunter jumped at the unexpected mention of his name.

"Where the heck did you come from?"

"It's sometimes difficult to differentiate between prayer and mindless thoughts. Apologies." He turned to leave again but Dean called him back.

"No, Cas, wait. Now that you've come all the way down here you might as well stay."

Castiel looked intently at him. "Returning to heaven requires no effort."

The hunter rolled his eyes. "Just stay."

The dark-haired man seemed to understand, nodding once before lying down in a similar fashion as the hunter on top of the sleek black car's hood. Neither said a word for a while, though Dean, of course, was the one to break the silence again.

"Hey, how'd you get down here so quick, I barely thought about you for a moment." He wasn't ashamed of that, seeing as he often thought about Cas, just like he thought about Sam or his parents or Bobby or Kevin. They were family and you damn well didn't need an excuse to think about family.

Castiel's complexion turned a slight shade darker in his vessel's version of a blush and he swallowed uncomfortably. "I might have been listening very closely." The confession was uttered so quietly, Dean doubted he had heard right for a moment before a smile spread on his face that he wouldn't even dream of hiding.

"That's creepy, Cas," he said, although it really wasn't. It was pretty damn sweet, not that he'd ever admit that out loud. Something in the atmosphere between them had changed drastically through their short mutual moment of weakness- or strength actually- and when they simultaneously turned to look at each other it was like a wall had been torn down. "Oh, what the hell," Dean murmured under his breath, before adding in a louder voice, "Take off your coat."

The angel smiled mischievously. "Who's the creepy one, now?"
Dean rolled his eyes in mock-annoyance as his companion shrugged out of the worn item of clothing, handing it over to the hunter, who formed it into a makeshift pillow for the both of them. No explanation was needed, Castiel wasn't as oblivious to subtlety as he often let people believe, and the angel lay back down, holding out his arm in an invitation. Dean hesitated only a moment before scooting (a lot) closer- yeah, that's what he did, he didn't cuddle into the angel's side or anything, jeez- resting his head on Cas' shoulder.

His angel- damn that damned possessive pronoun shit- smelt of gun powder and Jimmy Novak's aftershave and- dumb as it may sound- stars. Dean inhaled deeply, not even remotely ashamed of the way his heart reacted. You couldn't blame a man for giving in every once in a while and when Cas started to tentatively run his fingers through Dean's short sand-coloured hair, the hunter felt an odd sense of déjà-vu that he couldn't quite explain. It was the good kind of déjà-vu, though, and he found himself wishing that Cas would never stop the calming movement of his fingers.

"Something is different, Dean," the angel said thickly, eyes fixated on the night sky.

"Yeah." The hunter nodded. "But that's kinda okay."

And it most definitely was.

hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit
it was a lot of fun to write