"Dean, I don't think that this is such a good idea."
"Come on, man! You'll be fine. Live a little!"
"If we go through with this, I doubt I'll be living for much longer." Castiel says, looking the Haunted House dead in the eye.
"Well, I did say 'a little'." Dean laughs to himself.
"I don't see any humor in me facing my imminent death."
"You're not actually going to die, Cas."
"You don't know that."
"There's only one way to find out!" Dean replies, grabbing his arm and flying into the building.
The first room was dark. Cas doesn't suppose he should be surprised. He's never gone to something like this before. In all his seventeen years, he's never even seen a horror movie. People were looking at his shaking form a bit funny as the strobe lights hit him, but he can't help thinking himself perfectly reasonable as his eyes start to water in fear.
"Why do I let you convince me to do such stupid things?" Cas asks Dean, already knowing the answer.
"It's probably because of my tits." Dean jokes, eliciting a small chuckle from Cas.
The first thing that comes out at them was a mummy, wrapped in what Cas realized was toilet paper.
"That poor convenience store." Cas mumbles over the cheap sound-effects the house provided.
"What?" Dean stage-whispers.
"How many rolls of toilet paper do you think was necessary for that person to be entirely covered? I mean, he isn't exactly underweight. His torso alone must have been quite a lot on its own. I feel like this is disrespectful to the whole of Egyptian culture."
"And to trees, apparently."
"Apparently." Cas mimics.
The mummy returns to its coffin and presumably closes its eyes.
"Is that mummy taking a nap?" Dean asks, laughing.
"A 'sarcophagus snooze'." Cas chuckles a bit to himself before his cheeks flash bright red. "I can't believe I actually just said that."
Cas expects any number of reactions from Dean, a swift kick in the balls likely being the first. What he doesn't expect, however, was for him to double over laughing.
"Jesus, Cas, the things you do to me." He fights to catch his breath. Dean puts his hand on Cas' shoulder, attempting to steady himself.
Without letting go of Cas' arm, Dean leads them into the next room. There aren't strobe lights in this one, which, Cas thinks, is for the best. He'd rather not have an epileptic fit while trying to impress Dean.
Here, they see a werewolf dressed in a half-assed halloween costume if it was kicked up a few notches. It looks as if it has two pieces to it, prompting Cas to ask the following question.
"Do you think someone is in the ass?" God damn his mouth.
Again, Dean nearly collapses to the ground. The only thing stopping him is his tightening grip near Cas' neck. On instinct, Cas reaches for Dean's arm in an attempt to pull him back up. Dean's grip slips a bit from his shoulder, leaving his arm to slide down Cas' t-shirt clad arm and catch on the other boy's hand.
Cas looks up to meet Dean's eyes. He seems uncharacteristically bashful, but he isn't moving his hand. Their mutual familiarity prevents butterflies in Cas' stomach. No, he feels something much stronger. Something much more important. He thinks that, that feeling is what makes him squeeze Dean's hand before he gets the better of himself.
Cas can't feel his body, he's too distracted by the blood pounding in his ears and the movement of Dean's hand. Before Cas has the chance to worry about him moving back, fingers are being laced with his. The werewolf is scaring away each of the respective people around them. It's a strange place to be having a moment, but neither of them seem to mind.
"Come on." Dean says, pulling Cas' hand with him into the adjoining room.
This room is creepier, with eerie florescent lighting. Dean squeezes Cas' palm with his own in a show of chivalrous support. It makes Cas feel a bit too much like a damsel in distress for his own liking, which is probably why he laughs so hard when Dean lets out a high pitched yelp at the surprising vampire poking and prodding his back.
"What the Hell kind of vampire does that?" Dean yells in his gruffest voice, clearly trying to regain some of his dwindling manliness. "What are you, Casper the Friendly Vampire?"
The vampire is instantly enraged, and in a show of apathetic illegality, slaps Dean across the face.
"I'm not that friendly, asshole." The vampire returns before storming off, his cape flowing gracefully behind him.
"Is this actually happening?" Dean asks.
"I should hope so." Cas responds, still laughing. This time he squeezes Dean's hand.
"I- uh- I think I'm done with this Haunted House."
"Oh?" Cas asks, mockingly. "Surely the courageous Dean Winchester isn't scared! If I knew that all it took was a high-strung vampire to make you an insufferable wuss, I feel like this friendship would have been much easier on my ego."
"Of course I was scared!" Dean defends "A middle aged man has nothing better to do tonight than dress in a Dracula get-up and sneak up on teenagers. That's what our Capitalist society has come to. That's pretty damn scary if you ask me!"
"So your manliness is still intact?"
"More so than ever."
Cas laughs, and they ignore the other exhibits as they walk closer and closer to the exit. They go out the back way, finding themselves in a fairly well-lit alleyway, alone, in the cool October night.
"Shit, my cheek really hurts." Dean says, moving his free hand to cup his face.
"Still think you're so manly?" Cas asks, smirking.
"Hey! It takes one Hell of a man to freely admit to his own pain."
Then, Cas takes a step in front of Dean, reluctantly letting go of his hand. He grabs the fingers covering Dean's 'injury' and gently pushes them away. Cas tilts himself up a bit, and kisses the slightly reddened cheek. After pulling away, he remains close to Dean's body.
"Better?" Cas prompts.
"It would be, I mean, if you'd gotten the right spot."
"Oh, really?" Cas responds. "And where would that be?"
"How about a little to your right." Dean offers.
Cas tries again, wrapping his arms around Dean's neck as he does so.
"How about that?" He asks.
"You're close. Just a little farther."
Cas kisses the skin just before Dean's cheek meets his lips.
"There?" Cas smiles.
Dean moves his hand to Cas' cheek, causing Cas' fingers to grip around his forearm. He adjusts his head to put a brief kiss to Cas' lips.
"There," Dean smiles right back. "much better."
"Dean?"
"Hmm?"
"Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea."