At first it was strange for Sam to see the angels. Not because Dean had told him that they didn't exist while he was growing up, no, he had always believed in the truth of angels. It was strange because he could actually see them, he had been blinded on a hunt when he was 9 so it was a shock when they were visible. Not entirely though, he couldn't see their vessel as Dean could, rather he could see their essence and their wings, after all he couldn't be blinded again so he did not worry about witnessing this as others had to.
He first encounter with angels brought Sam to tears, convinced that he would never see anything in his life meant that he was overwhelmed by this image. Dean had been panicked when Sam walked into their motel room in the middle of a witch hunt and started to cry. As soon as he saw Castiel stood there with another unknown angel he thought that they had done something to his baby brother and was preparing to attack but stopped when he heard a relieved laugh through the sobs.
"Sammy? What's wrong? What did they do?"
"I can see them Dee."
"YOU CAN WHAT‽"
"Not their bodies or anything, but I can see that they are stood there, I can see their wings, I don't know that I've anything that looked so good."
"Oh Sammy, what about me? I thought I was the best looking thing you've ever seen."
"Close second Dee."
"What did you do to him? Why can he see you? I thought that no one could see your form, that's why all those people had their eyes burnt out of their skulls."
"I am currently unclear as to why he can witness our form. Perhaps it is because of the demon blood. Sam Winchester, the boy with the demon blood, I've heard a lot about you." Sam could see a tendril of grace reaching towards him in what he assumed was a handshake so he moved his hand forward and, sure enough, felt a solid hand in front of him. As soon as the angel gripped his hand the whole world exploded into colour and shapes as he looked around, holding the hand tighter, refusing to let go for fear of losing his sight again.
"Wow Dean, you look a bit different from the last time I saw you, but you were 13 so that is fair enough I guess."
"You- you can see me?"
"I can see everything." As the angel took his hand back the world faded back to black, the last sight he drank in was that of his older brother. "It- it's gone. You're gone again."
"What the hell did you do to him angel?"
"I shook his hand."
"Give him his sight back."
"I cannot."
"You son of a bitch."
"It is not possible Dean Winchester. All I did was shake his hand." As soon as the angels had left and they found the witch, as well as Samhain, the first thing that Sam did was embrace his brother. Clinging to him as if his life, or at least his sanity, depended on this piece of contact with his brother.
"What's wrong Sammy?"
"I stand corrected, you were the most beautiful sight of today."
"Oh Sammy, I never thought you would be able to see again."
"Me neither. But I'm glad that I got to see you again Dee." With these words Sam captured Dean's lips in a burning kiss, a kiss that he took no hesitation to return.
"I'm glad that you got to see baby boy, and what better a sight than my gorgeous face," Dean stated as they pulled back for air, voice several octaves lower. That night the two men celebrated the return of Sam's sight, however temporary, while Sam memorised the feel of his brother and putting it together in his mind with the picture that he now had of Dean in his head.
The next time that Sam was able to see was when they ran into Castiel again and the angel had the thought that while he was talking to the brothers he would keep his hand on the back of Sam's neck as he stood next to him, allowing the man to see once more, at least while he was in their presence. Each time that Cas visited he would place his hand on Sam's neck if he were sat or would grip his hand when standing and Sam found himself longing for this contact every day. Praying for it.
Of course, Cas heard each and every one of Sam's prayers so he would pop in to see the brothers whenever he had a free moment, even if it were not about the seals, just so that the boy did not lose faith in angels, didn't lose faith that there was someone listening to his prayers. He was one of the most faithful humans that Cas had personally met with and he knew that it would be a shame if he no longer believed. Well that is what he told himself to justify his going there but in reality he knew that he was growing close to the brothers. He loved to see the awe on the younger Winchester's face when the world burst into colour. He loved the way that they looked to one another with such devout love in their expression.
Sam loved having the angel near, not just because of thhe restoration to his vision, but he had grown used to the contact with him, grown to appreciate the gesture and the feeling of the angel's hand on him. He noticed that Dean seemed to look at the angel with the same look of love in his eyes as he as when he looked at Sam. Dean knew that he was falling in love with the angel but he didnn't want to just leave Sam as he still loved his brother as well but he enjoyed the enjoyment Sam had each time his sight was returned to him.
The younger hunter had seen the conflict in Dean's eyes when he looked between the two of them so one day, when Dean had left to get dinner, Sam called Cas down to their motel room to talk to him.
"Cas, why do you come here?"
"What do you mean? I hear your prayers, I answer them."
"But you could just leave me without my sight and yet when you come down here you always make sure that we are in contact, like now. Why do you help us so much?"
"The Winchester brothers are destined to do great things."
"Oh, is that all? I thought that there might have been some other reason."
"Well my vessel does seem to react in odd ways around the two of you but I find myself enjoying your company, yours and Deans."
"What 'odd ways' would that be Cas? Because Dean and I, our bodies both have 'odd' reactions to you, I wonder if it's the same way. If it is, perhaps we could find a way to help you with that problem."
"I think that I could find that agreeable."
"Good, because Dean will be back soon. Are you able to stay for a while?"
"I have no current obligation."
"I'll just take that as a yes, should I Cas?"
"Yes."
"Good." The two men sat on the bed to wait for Dean to return, Sam holding Cas' hand tight and letting his gaze wander over the angel's form next to him. Refusing to miss a single detail about the man while he had his sight as normally he was too focused on his brother. "You're rather gorgeous you know Cas."
"I suppose my vessel could be appealing to some, yes."
"No, I mean YOU. Although you are right about your vessel, but I meant the real you, the one I see when we are not touching."
"Oh, you mean my grace, it is essentially my soul."
"Well in that case, you have a gorgeous soul Castiel. Your wings are really something else as well."
"Thank you Sam. Your soul is almost blindingly bright between your faith and your love. I'm amazed that those who look upon you are not blinded by the blazing white of your soul."
"But I'm tainted, you said it yourself, 'the boy with the demon blood'."
"Yes, you do have demon blood in you but that was not through your choice, your soul is one of the purest that I have ever laid my eyes upon." Sam was about to reply when Dean walked into the room and spotted the angel sat next to his brother on his bed and his expression became one of equal love and lust towards the two men and the thought of what they could get up to on that very bed.
"Dean." The two spoke together making the elder hunter wonder if they were sat waiting for him, the predatory gaze that Sam was giving him made him thing that the answer was most definitely a yes.
"Sam, Cas," the man replied, eyeing the both of them, eyes settling on their joined hands before flicking back up to their faces.
"Cas and I have just been having a rather enlightening conversation."
"Oh yeah, and what was that?" Eyes flicking to their hands again with a flash of what looked like jealousy. Sam looked to where Dean was stood before removing his hand and walking over towards his brother. Dean guided his brother the last couple of steps by holding his arms and pulling him close.
"We both like you," Sam whispered into Dean's ear, nipping at the lobe, "we both like each other," a tentative lick along the shell of his ear, "you like both of us," a small mark sucked behind his ear, "we could have ourselves a bit of fun together." Each of Sam's statements sent a wave of blood pumping to Dean's cock, the actions were a bolt of pleasure. The final sentence pushed Dean's lust through the roof as he claimed Sam's lips as his own. Sam could handle losing his sight, he could face losing his hearing as well, but he knew he would never cope if he had to go without his brother's touches.
A normal human would not have heard Sam's words but being an angel they resounded clear as day and he found himself agreeing with every statement and with each he would move forward a little, stepping nearer to the brothers each time. When he finally reached them his lips found their way to the back of Sam's neck, where his hand would normally sit when allowing him to see.
When the brothers parted, breath heaving, Sam registered his sight and looked over how Dean looked when breathless and flushed with desire before turning his head and stealing the first kiss from the angel over his shoulder. When they pulled away Sam put his hand on Castiel's arm to keep the connection but the world began to fade back into darkness, or his world did at least. Sensing the man's panic Cas decided to calm the man.
"To work it needs to be skin contact," he grasped the hunter's hand, "it will not work otherwise I'm afraid." At these words Dean found an opening to get what he wanted so promptly took advantage of the opportunity.
"Well that case, I think it would only be fair if Sam could see us as well as we can see him. For that to happen, it would seem as though there are entirely too many clothes involved in this situation. Strip." This simple command was followed by all of them, even Dean who was the one to issue the order. Cas taking a slight advantage over the brothers by using his powers. While the two hunters had to undo each button individually and remove every piece of clothing separately, a click of the fingers and the angel was stood in front of them completely naked making the brothers' eyes widen at the sight, Cas having not let go of Sam yet. The humans seemed to forget their own clothing as their eyes wandered over the body of the angel, hands beginning to roam across his torso, back, neck, anywhere they could reach. The four hands didn't venture any lower than the angel's waist as if that were forbidden territory while they still had their own clothes on, although Castiel soon rectified that fact.
Another click found both of the brothers naked as well as the angel and Sam let out a lustful moan as he finally got to see all of his brother and the angel, it may have been his first time with the angel but it was not the first time that he was with his brother, just the first time he had actually seen his brother naked, since they were young children anyway, it was a heavenly sight even for someone who was able to see but for somebody who had been blind for the majority of their life it was something else entirely, not even heaven could compare to how Sam felt as he looked at the men in front of him.
"Sammy, you okay? Is something wrong?" Sam shook his head but tears had begun to form in his eyes making Dean disbelieving of Sam's words. "Sam-" Dean warned his brother, "talk to me baby boy."
"Really Dee, nothing is wrong."
"Dean I believe what your brother is experiencing is shock."
"No, I'm fine, let's please carry on, don't make me stop now." Dean looked worried but nevertheless he listened to his brother's pleas.
"We gotta figure a way of making sure that the two of you are ALWAYS in contact, can't let Sammy lose sight of us, eh Cas."
"That would be agreeable." Sam moved forward to attach his lips to Dean's neck while the other two began to kiss each other. Breaking the contact with Cas meant that the world was beginning to fade away but Cas reached over Dean's shoulder to tangle into Sam's shaggy hair, tugging it slightly, drawing a lustful moan from Sam's lips. As Cas moved even closer to Dean, Sam reached round the two of them and took both of their erections in hand, pumping them together, drawing pleased sounds from the two of them as he took what they were doing a step further.
After that night it was a couple of weeks until the saw Castiel again when he appeared at the door of their motel room. Dean let him into the room and immediately began telling the angel about the case they were working on as if it were any other day while Sam was in the bathroom. When he walked back into the bedroom he noticed that Castiel was in the room, clearly sat down judging by his grace, but there was something wrong this time around.
"Shit, Castiel what happened to you?"
"What do you mean Sammy?"
"His- his grace- his soul- has faded and his wings, oh God Dean, his wings are just- just gone. There's nothing left. Cas, what happened to you?"
"It would appear that some angels do not agree with an angel laying with man."
"This- this is because of us?" Sam seemed heartbroken that he had been the cause of such torture for the angel, especially since he was the one tat had initiated what occurred between the three of them.
"I do not regret what we did together Sam."
"But it is, isn't it?"
"It is a result of our time together, yes. But it is not your fault, nor is it Dean's. I will be just fine, my grace will heal."
"And your wings?" the elder hunter asked the angel.
"They- they were burnt away, you were right when you said that there is nothing left. My wings will not return unless my father heals them, they are returned by the angels who took them from me, or I have my brother Gabriel heal me as his power is that to rival God's own." Dean felt a small spike in hope at these words.
"There's your answer then Cas, let's call your brother down to Earth. Is he likely to help?" Dean was willing to do anything to get Castiel his wings back, he would deal with any angel, fight any monster, make a deal with any demon.
"I think that he probably would help me, but you don't understand, Gabriel has not been seen in over a millennium, he left Heaven, changed his face, hid among humans to protect himself from the fighting that was becoming near constant. He won't be easy to find. The last I heard he was being celebrated as Loki, the Norse God of Mischief, a title that suits him admittedly."
"We will find him, we will find Gabriel."
From that moment the brothers threw themselves into researching the God Loki, otherwise know as the archangel Gabriel, while Cas stayed with them, unable to get around like before without his wings. It was almost a month before they managed to get any leads what-so-ever but they followed through on that lead and thankfully so. The lead did not take them to the archangel himself but it did allow them to find a summoning ritual that was meant to work for archangel's.
The ingredients were rare so the Winchester's had to contact Bobby to ask for help and he managed to use his network of people to gather all of the ingredients that they asked him for within a week. As soon as they had gone to Bobby's and collected it all from they went back to their motel room and set up the entire ritual. The brothers performing the ritual while Cas sat of the side, praying silently that it would work and Gabriel would appear to them, after all, certain summoning rituals didn't force the being to appear simply expressed a person's will to have them there, of course it is only those with immense power that can choose not to answer a summons, a person such as Gabriel.
When Cas heard the gentle flutter of wings coming closer he allowed the hope to grow.
"I heard you call Cas, as well as these two yahoos, I thought I'd escaped from Heaven, what do the angels want with me now?" Previously Gabriel had not been facing the other angel so he didn't know why it was that the three were trying so hard to get a hold of him, but as he turned he understood exactly what the problem was. "Oh Cassie, who did this to you? I'll make them pay, I swear it."
"Can you do it? Can you heal him?" Sam asked the archangel with tentative hope evident in his voice.
"You must be Sam Winchester, yahoo number 2, and Dean Winchester, yahoo number 1. I can certainly try."
"Call me whatever you want, just please help him."
"What about you Samsquatch, don't you want anything for yourself?"
"I want you to heal Castiel, it is my fault that this happened to him, I just want his grace to be as vibrant as it was before and his wings to carry him wherever he wants to go."
"Oh fine Sammitch, and here I was thinking that you might want your sight back."
"You can do that?" interrupted Dean.
"Of course I can Deano. All powerful being stood here."
"Do it."
"I think it should be Sam here's choice."
"I don't care, just heal Cas."
"Sam-"
"No Dean, it is my fault that this happened to Cas. I have been blind for years and without Cas I wouldn't have seen anything I have done lately. I can go the rest of my life without my sight, but I can not go on with life if I can't help him to get his wings back."
"Well, I think that just made up my mind Sammoose. You care that much for my baby bro, it is the absolute least that I can do. I'll help you both if I can go back to my own corner of Earth and forget my link to Heaven once more."
"I will never reveal that I have seen you again Gabe, no other angel's will know."
"There is another part of this deal though Cassie. You have to tell me who it was who did this to you."
"Fine."
"Who was it then Cassie?"
"Raphael."
"That Flying Ass Monkey. Come on then Cas, you two should leave the room unless you want to lose your sight."
"Bit too late for that."
"I can restore your vision if there are eyes there to heal. Stay in the room and they will be burnt out of your skull."
"Right then, Sammy, let's go. Cas we'll be back just as soon as we can. Gabriel, thank you for this."
"I'm not doing it for you Deano." With these words the two hunters walked out of the motel room and went to the reception to pay for a second room which they retreated to for the duration of the time that it took Gabriel to heal the other angel. Expecting it to take the rest of the day, they were rather surprised when Cas walked into the room barely two hours after they left, Sam taking one look at him before charging the angel, wrapping his arms tightly around him, and gently brushing his fingers through the plume of feathers that he was able to see purely in grace.
"Sam? Cas?"
"It worked Deano, your angel is as good as new." The hunter starting as he didn't realise that the archangel had appeared in the room behind him.
"Thank you Gabe."
"My job here is not yet done in case you're forgetting Deano, but I will need to rest for a while before I am able to help your brother."
"That's fine, I don't care, we just paid for this second room so you can stay here with us for as long as you want."
The following morning there was a knock on the hunters' motel door and they opened it to find the two angels stood in the entrance.
"Time to hold up my end of the bargain, Sam, shall we?" Sam went back to sit on his bed and he closed his eyes as he awaited the archangel. Feeling a hand on his forehead, pushing him back, Sam shifted so that he was led out on the bed and he closed his eyes, relaxing into the familiar darkness and hoping that when he next opened his eyes it would be to a life in full colour.
It felt like hours to Sam and Dean, but in reality was just moments before the archangel removed his hands. Eventually Sam brought himself to open his eyes and he looked down to see who it was that was touching him. Upon seeing neither Castiel's nor Gabriel's hands on him Sam promptly fainted.
"Sam? Are you alright Sam‽ Answer me Sammy."
"He's fine Deano. He's just fainted because he got a bit of a shock."
"Shock‽" At the archangel's nod Dean continued on his little tirade. "Of course he's gone into shock. The kid's been blind for most of his life and now he can see whereas before he could only see with Cas' touch. He is strong you know, stronger than most but this would shock most anyone, probably including you."
"I didn't mean that he was weak Deano. Control your pet Cas or I might just have to serve him his just desserts." Dean was about to reply but he noticed Sam beginning to stir over the archangel's shoulder and his baby brother was more important than anything else.
"Dee?"
"I'm here Sammy."
"Where?"
"Just open your eyes and you'll find out."
"I'm scared though Dee."
"What of baby boy?"
"What if it didn't work? I don't want to have got my hopes up just to find out it didn't work."
"I'm sure it worked Sammy, I'm definite that it has, so open your eyes for me baby boy." Sam shook his head but began to tentatively open his eyes nonetheless. He looked around the room before tackling the man next to him with a hug, shocking said man as he found himself with arms of the man he had just healed.
"Thank you Gabriel."
"No worries Samsquatch, you cared more for my brother than giving yourself a better way of life, you deserved it. Now, can you let me go, I've got another archangel to track down and annihilate for what he did to my brother before I can return to my own patch of earth again?" Sam released the archangel and allowed him to stand, as soon as he had his seat and placed in Sam's arms was filled by the elder hunter, kissing Sam tenderly. Gabe shrugged, as it was often that soulmates were born together as siblings but very few find out, and bid his goodbyes to the three men in the room, accepting all of their thanks before vanishing before them.
In all of the time that the brothers had grown close to Cas, the angel was not one to initiate the contact, nor was he one who would show his emotions clearly on his face however he broke all of their preconceptions that day, and with one action. A huge grin spread across his face as he looked at the brothers before he ran towards the bed and dived onto it, arms going around the two men already on the bed.
"Won't you lose your wings again for being with us Cas?"
"Gabriel is going to smite the archangel who did this to me. Who is going to go up against me now when I have the most powerful archangel on my side. Essentially, my brother isn't doing this just because I was hurt and my wings were taken, he knows that no one will mess with me again for fear of him. No one has seen him in a millenium and yet he appeared to return my wings and kill the one who tried to hurt me. He is ensuring that I am left alone in the future."
"Cas?"
"Yes Sam?"
"Your brother is a badass."
"Why yes, I suppose that he is." Dean jokingly put on a small pout at hearing these words. "Your brother is fairly badass as well though Sammy."
"I know." Those two words were all it took for Dean to adopt a smug smirk which was quickly wiped over with embarrassment when Sam and Castiel each pressed a chaste kiss to his cheeks, cheeks that quickly began to burn crimson.
Dean celebrated that day at the two most important people in his life being healed. He took the other two out to the local diner where they all had a milkshake and a slice of pie, which he paid for using cash someone had given him for fixing up their car, just to appease Sam. The younger hunter was thrilled when Dean told him where it was that the cash had come from. He may not mind the hunting, and he definitely didn't mind the company, and although he knew that the fraud and hustling may be necessary for their lifestyle but that didn't mean he had to like that part of it.
The fact that Dean had gone and done some honest work and then saved the cash to treat Sam meant a lot to the younger and he was sure to show it in bed later that afternoon. It wasn't bribery as such, just a little extra incentive for Dean to do it again in the future you could say.