ONE-SHOT: It's raining like hell and Castiel shelters Dean from the storm with his wings.
A/N: Someone on Instagram gave me this prompt, I love it to death and I'm so glad I'm writing it…
Dean pulls up to the gas station as lightning cracks the dark sky. He climbs out of the Impala and hurries inside the small building as rain starts cascading down. He heads to the back to pick up a 6-pack of beer, then walks back up to the cashier to pay.
He takes out his wallet, shuffles through fake ID cards and phony credit cards until he finds a ten dollar bill, which he hands to the cashier with an empty smile.
"Just keep the change," Dean suggested as the clearly inexperienced worker fumbled for bills and coins to hand back to him. The kid looked slightly surprised, but did as Dean had said.
"Have a good night, sir," said the young employee as Dean headed out.
"You too, kid".
Dean got into his car and pulled it around to the back of the station where a lonely wooden bench humbly waited. As lonely as he was, after Sam had run off with Gabriel a few nights before. He hated feeling so worthless without Sam, and what with Castiel constantly fighting civil war in heaven it was getting out of hand.
Dean thought about getting out of the car and sitting on that bench in the thunderstorm, how peaceful it would be. Nobody around, and nobody needed to be. Except for the cashier kid, but he wouldn't go outside in this kind of weather. Nobody would, unless they didn't have anyone to go home to. Or a home, for that matter.
Finally deciding to let up the macho façade he used to hide his broken heart from even himself, Dean grabbed two of the beers and climbed out of the Impala. Why did he grab two? Maybe it was instinct, the ritual post-case drink with Sammy leaving his hands with the automatic assumption to grab a second. Maybe it was denial. Maybe, just maybe, it was hope.
Dean sat down on the table top, facing away from the gas station into the black woods behind it. There weren't many trees where he was sitting, nothing there to shelter him from the downpour, but he didn't mind. He liked the rain and the feeling of gloom it gave him. Even hard asses needed to feel sometimes. And now that Sam wasn't there, Dean didn't feel like he had to hide it.
He was close to finishing his beer when the rain started to let up. He didn't entirely understand, he could still hear rain hitting the leaves of the trees in front of him, still heard the rumble of thunder and saw the bright flashes of lightning. But soon the rain stopped around him. He downed the rest of the bottle and sat it down beside the other. After thinking for a moment, he shrugged and reached for the second, only to find that it was as empty as the first.
Bewildered, he looked up to the pitch sky above him. Lightning illuminated the clouds, and for a moment- just the slightest moment- Dean thought he could see the outline of wings over him.
Castiel's wings.
Smiling, Dean looked down at his lap. He chuckled as his body filled with warm excitement.
"You son of a bitch," he quietly uttered.
In the blink of an eye, Cas became visible. He was intensely looking at Dean, expressing concern.
"You drank my beer, Cas," Dean joked. "Do you know how expensive that shit is nowadays?"
"I would assume it is rather overpriced", Castiel replied.
"So what brings you to the middle of nowhere tonight?"
A pause.
"It just looked like you needed an umbrella," he said gingerly.
Dean stared at Cas for a few moments, sighed, and looked down again. Cas never looked away from Dean.
They sat there in silence for the longest time, sheltered beneath Castiel's invisible wings, neither of them wanting the moment to end.