"What are you doing?"

The question sounds loud in the silent room wherein Cas was working. He has been hiding in his workroom for a few weeks now and has been secretive about what he is creating. Not that Dean is particularly worried. Cas never likes it when Dean sees his creation before he has finished them.

Dean had met Castiel in the mental hospital where he had volunteered to take care of the patients. It had been for his brother, who had been hospitalized for being schizophrenic. Dean was prohibited to go see him, so he had found another way in.

Sam Winchester was all Dean had left of his family. He had taken care of his brother starting the minute his mother died in a house fire. Dean had been in his own room when it happened, but little Sammy had seen it happening. The older Winchester cannot imagine how bad it must have been for a four year old to see his mother die in an explosion. And if it wasn't for his father, Sam would have died too, but the man was able to pull Sam and Dean out of the house before anyone else could have gotten hurt.
After the funeral Sam had told Dean that he saw who killed their mother. What had killed her.

Sam had never been the same after that. He saw things that weren't there, often getting scared of monsters only he could see. His older brother, of course, trying to protect him.

But their father didn't care of that. He became an alcoholic, not being able to process his wife's death. Sam's problems only got him more angry than he already was. Dean tried to shield his brother from the drunk beatings John gave him for being 'a freak'. Dean would take them for Sam, hoping he wouldn't get more scared.
Sam's condition only got worse.

At the age of twenty, Dean got the news that his father had been killed in a car crash. He couldn't say he cared much. The last time he had seen that drunk bastard had been when he turned eigthteen, the night before he took Sam, most of the money they still had, the car and left. It was the best decision Dean had ever made.

They had been able to find a small flat in a town so small it wasn't even marked on the map. Dean had gotten a job as mechanic in a near, bigger village that got him good money to survive.
But things didn't turn out as he hoped it would. Sam didn't get better, only got worse. It was the right decision for the 27 year old Dean, to send Sam to see a specialist.

Not a year later, Sam tried killing the man. He had thought he was one of the demons haunting him and had snapped. Ever since than he had been stuck in a mental hospital nearby, labeled as one of the most dangerous patient they have inside. And Dean, he was left on his own in the small flat, eventually deciding to do something about it and volunteering.

Volunteering hadn't the easiest thing Dean has ever done though, but it is interesting learning how the patients see the world. He had been glad, he was finally helping people and doing something with his life, besides being a mechanic in the mornings. After a while he had been allowed to take care of Sam, even though the lifeless stare his brother has always makes him feel sad.

Either way, Dean enjoys the stories of the patients. His favorite one to spend time with is Emma, a girl of only fourteen years old, placed for being bipolar. Her mood swings had been uncontrollable. Her anger was so bad that she almost killed one of her bullies once, something she isn't proud of.

And it's her who first told him about Castiel.

"It was bad, but I'm glad I'm getting better. Or that I'm not as bad as Castiel." She had said with a slight shrug.

"Castiel?" Dean had asked her curiously. He had been working there for a week at that time and he hadn't heard that name before.

"One of the worst patients in here, if not the worst." She told him. "But he too is getting better. I heard they are going to release him soon."

In her smile Dean had been able to read she got hope out of Castiel's story.

"He is here for MPD. Sometimes he gets crazy. When he first got here, years ago, he killed a nurse, but I guess he is okay to leave now. The pills work and he has everything under control."

Only three days later Dean had been asked to go bring Castiel his pills.

Dean never believed in love at first sight, but for some reason, laying his eyes on Cas did something with him. The pleasant feeling of nerves in his stomach had made him stutter his way through the small talk with Castiel.
It had been the beginning of something beautiful.

Three months later, Dean found Castiel walking beside the road with nothing, but a small bag of belongings in his hand. The man had been released during Dean's shift.

"Hey, Cas." Dean smiled when he stopped his car next to the car and rolled his window down. "Enjoying your freedom?"

Cas had stilled his movements and looks at Dean. "I would be lying if I told you I am." He spoke. "But it is nice to see the nature from up close again. It has always calmed me down."

Dean frowns at him. "What's the matter than?"

Castiel looks down. "I have nowhere to go. I don't have any money." He sighs.

Dean had offered him to stay with him, an offer Castiel hadn't turned down.

And now, four years later, Dean and Castiel are still together, living in the flat that Dean had hired for him and Sam. It was big enough for the two of them. They shared everything anyway, because Castiel loves Dean and Dean loves Castiel.
Dean makes sure Castiel takes his pills every day before he leaves to work. He still volunteers, but not as often anymore.

The extra room they have, Dean had transformed to a nice little workroom for his boyfriend after finding out Castiel was secretly a genius. He can create things with technology never thought of before. One time he made Dean a mechanic bird to bring him a love letter at work.
The teleporter he had created to send small things through time and space had been sold to the government for a large amount of money. Not that Dean cared for that. All he needed was his Cas by his side.

"I'm working." Castiel answers Dean question of what he was doing as he stands up quickly to push Dean out of the room. "And how many times did I tell you not to look!" He snaps, making Dean widens his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Cas. It's just... You haven't been out of that room for weeks and I miss you." Dean says, staring into the smaller man's blue eyes.

"I don't fucking care, Dean! I told you to stay out!" His voice keeps getting louder. "Now, fuck off!" He yells and slams the door shut behind him after he went back into the room.

Dean sighs. This hadn't been the first time in the last few weeks Castiel yelled at him. He never did before all this weird acting happened: Disappearing in that stupid room for days, being angry at Dean, sneaking out of the house at midnight, ...

Dean worries about his lover. He just wishes Castiel would tell him what is wrong.

Going down to the kitchen, Dean figures he really needs a beer. Just one to calm down little. He opens the fridge to take one, but his eyes fall on the box of pills on the counter.

Dean closes the fridge again and picks up the box in his hand. Even without opening the box he knows something is off, his thoughts being confirmed when he opens the lit.

Castiel hasn't been taking his pills for a while.

Dean groans and places them back down. These are worries for tomorrow. Now he wants a beer and then some sleep.

When Dean finally goes to bed, he knows Castiel won't join him tonight. His boyfriend is mad and will work all night at whatever he is doing in there.

Dean sighs once he is settled into the blankets.

"It will all be alright." He whispers to himself, turning onto his side and falling asleep.

Dean only realizes how wrong he was the next morning, when he wakes up in a cage gasping.