Dean's favorite pastime besides drinking and watching porn was playing music. He loved to sing; he was good at it. He taught himself to play the guitar when he was just 12-years-old. His dad had bought him a beginner's acoustic to help pass the time in the lonely motel rooms with only Sammy to keep him company. He taught himself Smoke on the Water and would play it for Sammy before bedtime every night that dad was away. After a few years, Sammy had grown up and forgotten about Dean's guitar, but Dean hadn't. He bought a new guitar every time he grew out of his old ones. He was now 36-years-old, 24 years later, with a beautiful Manual Rodriguez glossy black acoustic guitar that he loved it with all his heart. He loved the feel of the strings against his calloused hands, he loved to smooth finish of the wood brushing against his arm, and he loved the sound it made when he strummed his fingers along the nylon. He would never admit this to Sam, but, contrary to popular belief, he didn't just listen to the same five albums over and over. His music taste was actually extremely diverse. He loved Elliot Smith, Jens Lekman, Matt Smith; anything acoustic, any music that didn't require a whole lot of instruments. Just a guitar and a soulful voice. Ed Sheeran was his guilty pleasure.
He sat on the motel bed, just strumming his guitar and humming along. Sammy was out doing research so Dean had a couple of hours to kill. His strumming began to form itself into the rhythm of his favorite Elliot Smith song, "Angeles". Just as he was taking in a deep breath to start the first verse, he heard the flutter of wings behind him. He immediately put down his guitar and turned to look at the beautiful angel standing at the edge of his bed.
"Hello Dean." Castiel looked down at the guitar lying beside the hunter. "What have you been doing?" Dean pulled the guitar away and leaned it against the nightstand. "Nothin', Cas. Just watching some TV." Castiel's head tilted to the left just a bit.
Dean loved Cas' little head tilt. He looked like a confused puppy and Dean was his master, teaching him the basics of life as a human.
Castiel's eyes wandered to the television, which was most definitely turned off. "Uh... Dean... I know that I am not the most knowledgeable about human activities, but in order to properly watch television, shouldn't the television be turned on first?" Dean grinned and shook his head a few times. As a result, Castiel's head tilted farther to the side. Dean started to really laugh and Castiel began to pout.
"Why are you laughing at me, Dean? What did I do that would be construed as humorous?" This only made Dean laugh harder. Castiel folded his arms over his chest. "Well I guess I'll leave you to your...business." Castiel was about to zap away when Dean lunged forward, grabbed the angel by the waist, and pulled him down onto the bed. "Wait! Don't go. I was just laughing because you're cute." Castiel was still extremely confused, but relieved as well. He noticed that Dean still had his arms around his waist and he smiled. He nuzzled into Dean and Dean nuzzled right back with the content sigh.
Dean had been acting this way towards Castiel a lot lately. It puzzled Cas; he didn't know what had suddenly caused Dean to be this affectionate towards him, but he wasn't going to complain. He did remember where it had all started, though. He was sitting at a diner with Dean next to him and Sam across from him. Dean ordered Cas' favorite for him, a double cheeseburger, no tomato, with fries, and ordered himself the same, but with bacon. Sam ordered himself a salad. They were all talking about the case and how they were going to find and kill the witch who was murdering same-sex couples.
"Well why don't you two go undercover?" Sam was mumbling out of fear of Dean's reaction to his suggestion.
Right then, all of a sudden, it was like and light came on inside of Dean. He smiled, big and genuine. "That is a great idea, Sammy! Cas and I will go stay in town and be gay or whatever." Dean laid a hand on Cas' knee and Cas jumped. Dean turned to him and looked at him expectantly. Cas stuttered, "Ye-Yeah sure. That sounds...wonderful." Dean turned back to Sam. Sam's facial expression caused Dean's smile to falter for half a second. Sam was looking at Dean as if he had just told Sam that he was pregnant. "What?" Dean shrugged him off. "Nothing. I just didn't expect you to agree to that so quickly. Awesome." Dean still had his hand on Cas' knee, but now he was playing with a loose piece of thread. By the time their food had arrived, Dean's hand had progressively slid up to the rest on Cas' lower thigh. Before removing his hand to attack his food, Dean gently squeezed Cas' upper thigh, very close to his groin. Cas almost whimpered at the loss. He looked down at his food and saw tomato and this time, he actually did whimper. Dean looked up with a worried expression. "Cas what's wrong?" Cas lifted up the bun and frowned. "Tomato." Dean laughed and pushed his plate away to slide Cas' towards himself. "It's alright, Cas. I got it. Don't worry." Dean peeled the tomato off and took a napkin to dab off the left over juice. He then reached over Cas to grab the bottle of ketchup near the window. In the process, he scooted closer to the angel so that their thighs were pressed together. They sat that way, packed tightly together as if in the middle of a snowstorm, the entire time they were in the deserted diner.
After that day, Dean was always standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Cas, and sometimes he would play with Cas' hair, clothes, or even fingers. They had finished that case; it had been a witch who was taking out her anger on gay couples because her husband had left her for a man. She had come for Cas and Dean, who had been pretending to be a new couple in town. They had walked down the street holding hands and had been blatantly affectionate towards each other every chance they got. Castiel didn't say anything, but the whole time, he was in complete bliss. He loved being able to call Dean his boyfriend, even if it was only pretend.
Cas had always known that he was in love with Dean. He had known the moment that the hunter was brought into creation. When he had first touched Dean's broken soul in Hell, Cas had known that he wanted to be the one to put Dean back together again and make him whole again. And so he did. He tried every moment of everyday to keep Dean safe and keep him whole. Sometimes he failed, but other times, he could tell that Dean couldn't be happier. And in this moment, Dean looked as if nothing could upset him. He had his angel and he was okay. Everything was okay. Castiel never expected Dean to reciprocate his feelings. But by the look of things, he most certainly did.
"Dean, were you playing that instrument when I interrupted you?" Dean looked over at the guitar. "What? Oh, yeah. No biggie. I can play it another time."
"Well… could you play me a song?" Dean's head whipped around to look at Cas so quick that Cas suspected Dean might have gotten a kink in his neck. "Uh… Um… I-I don't know, Cas. I mean I-I'm really not that good and I-I don't usually play in-in front of people…" Dean was panicking and Cas had to use all of his willpower to stop himself from leaning over and kissing him to get him to shut up.
"Oh, come on Dean. I bet you play wonderfully. Do you sing as well?" Castiel got up and went to pick up the guitar. He handed it to Dean who took it with shaking hands. "Uh…yeah. Yeah I do." Dean swallowed down the nervous lump in his throat. He was Dean fucking Winchester. He should not be this nervous in front of anyone, especially Cas.
"Play me a song, Dean. Please?" Cas sat back down next to Dean and put a hand on the back of his neck. He looked into Dean's wide, forest green eyes with his best puppy dog expression. He had learned that from Sam. He found that it was extremely effective. Dean instantly melted and sighed. "Yeah, okay, Cas. Only because you have a great puppy dog face. Maybe even better than Sam's." Cas beamed and scooted back to lean against the headboard. He pulled his legs up against his chest and laid his chin on his knees with an expectant expression on his face.
Dean breathed in deeply. He wanted to play something special for Cas. Something that told the angel how Dean really felt about him. The song came to him instantly. He started to strum and got lost in the music.
When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
Well, there's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?
Well, I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find
'Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No, I won't give up
I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make
Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use
The tools and gifts we got, yeah, we got a lot at stake
And in the end, you're still my friend at least we did intend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I've got, and what I'm not, and who I am
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up, still looking up.
Well, I won't give up on us
God knows I'm tough enough
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
He played the last chord and let out a deep sigh. He was scared to look up at Cas, who had been silent and still the entire time-besides when he slid his legs down onto the bed when Dean had first started singing.
Dean risked a peek at Cas. The angel was staring down at him with a shocked expression on his perfect face. Dean looked back down at the floor and put his guitar back in its case. He slowly turned around to sit facing Cas who was still silent and unmoving. "Listen, Ca-" Dean didn't have time to say anything more because before he knew it, a pair of soft, dry lips came crashing down on his. He fell back onto the floor, dragging his angel with him. Cas fell on top of him and straddled his waist. He pulled away and sat up. Dean propped himself up on his elbows and stared at the magnificent creature above him. "So I'm guessing you enjoyed it?" He smirked at Cas and winked. Castiel just moaned and leaned down to kiss Dean again, this time soft and loving. "I love you, Dean Winchester." Cas whispered against his hunter's lips. "I love you too, angelface." Cas giggled and Dean rolled them over so that he was on top.
"Will you stay with me forever?" Dean whispered to Castiel. Cas looked into the beautiful, one-of-a-kind green eyes of the man that he would do absolutely anything for. "Always." Dean kissed Castiel's forehead. He knew he could believe Cas when he said that. Cas had already done so much for him. He had rebelled, killed his own brothers and sisters, and even died for him. He knew that Cas wasn't going anywhere. He didn't have to worry. Cas was always going to be there to catch him when he fell and soothe and wounds he might've received during. And Dean knew he would always do the same for Cas. "I promise you, Cas, I will never let you fall." Castiel smiled and Dean knew that he would do anything to keep that smile on that beautiful face. He was ready to do whatever it took to make Cas happy. To have the life he's always wanted with Cas. And he knew that Cas wanted the same thing.
He sat up and pulled Cas with him. They got up off the floor and laid on the bed. Castiel shrugged off his trench coat and suit jacket and pulled off his tie. He laid next to Dean with his head on Dean's chest and Dean's arms around him and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally. He was right where he was meant to be.