The first times that Dean saw Cas' wings, or any angel wings, they were nothing but shadows. Cas had hinted that they were more impressive and just not visible to Dean's human eyes, but sometimes he just really wanted to see what the wings really looked like. His wish came true one day when Cas was fighting, which seemed like an odd time. At first it just seemed like the flashing blue light showing that Cas might be pushing too hard, but something about it seemed different.
The glow wasn't flashing like lightning strikes, it was more of a steady luminescence. And as soon as he began looking, he couldn't stop. The longer he watched the light, the more he saw a single form in the light. At first it moved, almost rustling with Castiel's movements and the air of the place, but then the movements seemed smaller, like lots of little things, rather than just one large. The shape was large and sweeping and graceful and the little movements seemed like feathers.
Within all that light, there were darker shadows, the feathers. Wings made of blue white light outlines and shadowy filled-in feathers. They were huge and flew around behind Cas, filling out his powerful strikes. Suddenly, Dean could truly see how great a fighter Cas is, if Cas were truly in his own form. The limits on Castiel must have been maddening, inside a human vessel.
For his wings to be nothing but light and shadow that none could see and his training to be stifled by human limitation, it made Dean's chest tighten in awe and a bit of sadness. With those thoughts, Dean realized that somehow he was seeing those wings, all that power that he had never been able to witness before, and he stared even more.
The battle raged on and Cas swung around as Dean watched the dark tips of those wings brush past his face and felt the warm tingling of that light move over his skin. Cas made a confused face, wide eyes, before sinking his blade into a demon that had been coming up behind Dean. Dean shook himself and turned to see the demon falling to the ground. Somehow he had missed everything as he was swept up in Castiel's wings and light and his angel-ness.
The look on Castiel's face turned from confusion to a bit of wonder as he followed Dean's eyes to the sweep of wings and grace that he could always see. When he realized what Dean was finally seeing, he just spoke simply, "You finally see me, don't you?" ~end~