Shoulders slumped, Cas hauled himself along the side of the road. He had a slight limp in his left leg, one he couldn't vanish away anymore. He ached, like people do when injured. It was foreign. Sure, the pain wasn't foreign but the ache was, usually he could heal the wound before the aching. He felt much like he did upon returning from Purgatory and he hoped Dean would drive by soon and find him.
Headlights passed and kept passing, showing no sign of a hunter who had spotted a fallen angel. Cas was getting tired now, another new thing to accompany the ache. Not only could he usually appear wherever he wanted, he could also walk without his legs giving out. Apparently not anymore. He wanted to keep walking, to find Sam and Dean, but he just couldn't so he sat there on the side of the highway, eyes open and looking for the black impala he used to pop right into.
It was about fifteen minutes later when he saw it, "Dean," he called but the car kept going. He was really regretting sitting on the ground now. Cas stood up and started running waving, feeling strange to have to do such a humane action. That was when the old car halted and the driver-side door clicked open.
"Cas?" Dean called back, still a few meters away.
Cas finished running up to the car, panting slightly and feeling embarrassed by his lack of breath, this was also new. "Yes, it's me."
"What happened?" Dean asked, "Sam and I, we thought we saw... In the sky..." he trailed off. That's when an eyebrow raised and he spoke again, more direct this time, "Hey why didn't you just show up in the bunker or car?"
Castiel took a deep breath, not particularly wanting to answer all the questions, "The last thing that Metatron needed, to close heaven, was my grace. I am, it would appear, human." Cas looked defeated, a little sigh puffing out when he finished talking.
"Oh," Dean said, not sure what to do. He moved towards Cas and gripped him tight in a hug. "Hey," he said, backing off, "get in the car and we'll figure things out."
Cas wasn't sure what there was to figure out, his grace was gone and he knew of no way to get it back. Despite this, he got into the car anyway, sitting in the passenger seat where he had once scarfed down burgers like Jimmy the human, who was now Cas the human.
Dean got in and they started driving. He wasn't sure where he was taking Cas but he didn't think going back to the bunker would solve anything at the moment.
"Dean?" Cas said, his voice just as deep as it had been when he was seraph.
"Yeah, Cas?" Dean said, his lips pressed together as he concentrated on the road.
"Since I now believe I can, I would like to drink at a bar. What is it us humans say? Drink away our sorrows? Yes I believe that is what I have heard."
"Cas, you don't need to be saying 'us humans'. We'll get your grace back." Dean said, they always made it through things and this would be no different.
Cas looked at him uncertainly when he knew Dean wasn't looking, some things couldn't be fixed and him being human was one of them. "Dean I would like to go to the bar," he said once more.
"Alright, fine, we'll go but you know you can't down twenty shots like you did that one time, right?" Dean reminded him, glancing over at him before returning his gaze to the road.
"Yes, I am aware of my new... Constrictions."
About ten minutes later they'd found a bar and took seats at a table near the counter. Dean grabbed a drink list from the bar and brought it to Cas for him to look over.
"Dean, why is this drink called 'Sex on the Beach'? Does it have a hex on it to possess someone into having sex on a beach? I think we are in a witch house, Dean, do you have your weapons?" Cas looked worried, realizing he wouldn't be able to easily defend himself or Dean anymore.
Dean let out a small chuckle, "No, Cas, that's just the name of the drink. It doesn't do anything to you other than put a small amount of alcohol in your system. But it's kinda a fruity drink, man. You understand?"
"Yes," Cas said, "I understand. It has fruit in it. I like fruit, Dean, I can have that."
Dean looked down at the table and shook his head a little, "That is," he muttered, "not what I meant," he looked up at Cas and smiled, "Okay, Cas, you can have that. I'll go get it."
Dean stood up from the table and went to order the drink for Cas and a beer for him.
Cas looked around the bar, people chatted so casually like hundreds of angels hadn't just fallen out of heaven. To their credit though, he thought, they didn't know it had happened.
Dean returned with Cas' drink and a Guinness beer. He passed Cas the pink drink and Cas carefully took a sip. He swallowed and nodded before going to drink the rest. Dean watched, amused, as Cas carefully drank and looked around at the other people.
A couple more glasses of Sex on the Beach and a lot more bottle of beer, Cas had switched to beer after a while as he noticed it was stronger, and Cas was definitely feeling tipsy and Dean had to admit it was getting to him to.
"Hey," Cas said, "hey, Dean, I am a human! Crazy!" His smile was all teeth and his eyes brimmed with excitement.
Dean chuckled, swallowing another mouthful of beer, "Yeah you are, dude, you can have a life now! A real one!"
Cas suddenly turned serious, his mouth setting into a straight line, "Dean in five years time I will be human still and older. I might look different."
"Yeah, Cas, that's how aging works. It's a pain in the ass but I guess that's humanity. Besides, I don't think I'll be dying of old age," Dean said, a note of bitterness creeping into his voice.
"You'll probably be alive in five years, Dean," Cas said, trying to be reassuring.
"Yeah... You have a life now, Cas. A real life. In five years time we might not ever see each other," Dean said, the bitterness clearly there now.
"Oh," Cas said, "Is that how aging works too?"
Dean looked at him, the innocent face that had had too many drinks and didn't know anything about what was ahead of him. Dean looked at him, and he changed his mind, "Then again, in five years time you could've proved me wrong."
Cas smiled, "Yes, Dean, I would like to keep knowing you." Cas' vision blurred for a moment, "Dean, I think I am under too much influence of alcohol."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure the whole bar can tell you're drunk, Cas," Dean said, smiling and raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, Dean, I am drunk. I saw a movie when I was staying with you and Sam. You guys were sleeping and you said I couldn't watch you so I watched a movie. Drunk people are crazy. They do anything," Cas said, eyes wide.
"Yeah I guess they do," Dean answered, amused by drunk Cas.
"Dean I think I am the crazy drunk!" Cas said, laughing with his eyes still opened wide. He certainly looked crazy.
"Alright, Cas, I see that. Maybe it's time to go back to the bunker," Dean was beginning to grow slightly wary of this Cas, worried about what he might do next.
"But Dean, crazy drunks can do whatever they want!" Cas said, his smile wide and his lit up. That's when he did his next thing. That's when he put both his hands on the sides of Dean's face and kissed him hard. When Cas pulled away, he was still smiling.
Maybe it was because Dean was a little drunk too and that's why he didn't care but he smiled too. He could worry about his sexuality later, or just never worry about it. Who needed labels, anyway?
"Yeah, Cas," Dean said, "I definitely think it's time we get back to the bunker."
The next morning Dean woke up with his arm draped across Castiel's side. At first he was extremely confused and retracted his arm immediately. That woke Cas up and upon seeing his face, Dean remembered everything. The booze, the kiss, and the bedroom when they'd got back. For a moment he thought he was supposed to regret it all. Then he realized that the thing wrong with that sentence was the use of the word 'supposed'. Dean didn't have to regret anything he didn't want to and he certainly didn't want to regret this.
"I remember," Cas said. Now this was where Dean started to worry. Cas had been awfully wasted. Then Cas smiled, "Dean I think in five years time I will still know you."
"You better still know me," Dean said.
Author's Note: I put Songza on the romance station and just started with the first song and wrote through the others.