The sunshine was bright. Too bright.
Dean knew he shouldn't look. But, every day the rays beat down on tanned skin covered in water, sweat and dirt.
Cas. The man by the stream, dipping and panning for flecks of gold with rough fingers and a scowl.
Dean wished he didn't notice when Cas looked at him, too. Wished he didn't feel the flush of his skin when they worked side by side, arms brushing in the cold stream water.
He tried to clear his head of the way it had felt to run his lips along Cas's skin inside his wagon at night. Tried not to remember when Cas had wrapped a string around his ring finger whispering loving promises that neither of them could ever keep.
Cas's blue eyes said 'I love you," when Dean's stares connected, and the pain of it almost broke him.
Broke him, because he knew that all the gold in the world couldn't buy their love a ticket to a life out in in the sun.