Revelations
Dean felt his breath hitch in his throat as he stared at the angel. He realized now that Castiel was, and always would be, the only man he'd ever want to be with.
"Cas..." he murmured, gazing deeply into the other man's piercingly blue eyes. Castiel looked back at him, appearing not to understand.
"Yes, Dean?" Dean sighed and then took a deep breath, running his hands through his short hair as he did so.
"Cas, I...there's something you need to know, in case...in case one of us doesn't make it. In case Idon't make it." The thought of Castiel not surviving this was too much for Dean to bear, and he immediately pushed it from his mind. Castiel blinked.
"Goddammit Cas, I love you," said Dean, blurting the words out in an almost incomprehensible rush. But Castiel understood. Although his facial expression did not change in the slightest, his blue eyes lit up like stars as he stepped closer toward the human who was more important to him than anyone else on this world or above it.
"I believe the correct thing to say now is, 'I love you too,'" he said, his voice even more gravelly than normal with pent-up emotion.
"Do you, I mean-" Dean paused, trying to gather his thoughts at what the implications of Castiel's statement were. "Do you really mean that?" he asked, without much hope.
"Dean," said Castiel, softer this time. "I did not drag you out of Hell just because I was following orders. I... I have feelings for you. Strongfeelings, which I don't even understand sometimes. All I know is, I could never let anything happen to you. Dean, I've already given up almost everything I have for you. I've diedfor you. And I would do it again. I don't just do this because my superiors need you. I do it because...I cannot fathom what my existence would be without you, Dean. It wouldn't be right." For a moment, Dean was lost for words, unsure how to react. Then, in one swift movement, he covered the remaining distance between him and the angel-hisangel, he thought triumphantly- and put his arms around him, drawing Castiel close.
"I don't know what I'd do without you either, Cas," Dean whispered in his ear. If Castiel made a response, it was lost as Dean pressed his lips against Cas's, and he responded with such passion that for a moment, one shining moment of eternity, he understood what it felt like to truly experience heaven. Not the heaven that he came from, not the cold, emotionless wasteland filled with cruelty and judgment, but the heaven that humans believed in, a paradise of shimmering beauty and love. So much love. Before today, Castiel had never fully understood the meaning of the word, nor humanity's fixation with it. But now, he understood with beautiful, blinding clarity. Love, he thought, meant only one thing. Dean and him, now and forever. Nothing could stop them.