When the ending credits were rolling, Castiel realized Dean was sleeping. Great. While he didn't necessarily need sleep, the angel sighed and figured it was a good way to pass the time.
He didn't, though. He couldn't. It had been easy the past few times he had tried, but this time he couldn't. He didn't know why.
Cas sighed. He could do anything he wanted, but he couldn't think of anything that he wanted to do that didn't involve the sandy-haired hunter sleeping in front of him. The angel took a deep breath, and with a thought, was in a bright forest on the other side of the world, leaves rustling and the light filtering through the branches. Birds chattered above, flying this way and that, collecting food and tending to their young.
He loved this place. He really did. This was his favorite place on Earth, always warm and peaceful. It was especially beautiful at night, where everything was still and silent, the moon being the only light source.
Another sigh. Human emotions were so… conflicting. He still had no idea how to act on them, either. He had spied on several weddings and dates, but he was still confused. He was so, very confused.
Castiel leaned against a tree, tilting his head back and surveying the thick canopy above him. He found himself gazing at a nest of startlingly red birds, who were being taught to fly by the largest, whom he presumed to be the mother.
She was tossing the chicks off of the branch, diving down to grab them before they hit the ground. What a strange method, just diving head-first into it. It was a good method, though, as they would eventually learn it was the best way and teach their own offspring to fly the same way.
Castiel shut his eyes, preparing to doze off before his phone started ringing. The birds nearest to him fluttered off as he tugged it out and took the call.
"Hello?"
"Cas. Where are you?"
"Somewhere in Russia, I think."
"That's nice. Get over here."
Cas sighed and hung up before shutting his eyes and appearing behind Dean, causing the taller hunter to jump. "Goddammit, Cas. I was worried. Could you please not vanish like that without leaving a note?" Castiel was confused. Dean had never had a problem with him vanishing before.
Whatever. He was probably just overreacting due to lack of sleep. Cas did, however, feel a tinge of happiness that the hunter cared enough to worry about him.
"Why did you want me to come over?" Dean shrugged. "I was, uh, worried, I guess. Wanna put in another movie or something?" Cas shrugged before nodding, propping up the pillows and plopping down on his bed.
The movie Dean had put on was actually surprisingly good. It involved a talking tree and spaceships, for one, and the quality was actually really good for a movie Dean had illegally downloaded.
Cas yet again found himself focusing more on Dean than the movie, glancing over every once in a while. His eyes dropped when the hunter looked his way, a blush making its way across his face. He saw Dean smirk before averting his eyes back to the movie.
And there was that feeling. That feeling deep in your chest, that makes it feel like your heart is vibrating. Butterflies, that's what people called it. Cas had the "butterflies". Great.
These butterflies had to be the best and worst thing that could possibly happen to Cas right now. With them came the sense of uneasiness, the nagging feeling that Dean either knew and didn't care or didn't know and still didn't care. Cas absolutely hated it.
He should probably look up why it felt that way. He would. Later, he decided. Later… Meanwhile, he should probably just focus on the movie.
Later. Castiel had promised himself he'd look up why butterflies felt the way he did. And now that Dean was asleep again, he did. It was simple, really. It was the same feeling as fear. Adrenaline. Fight or flight. Butterflies. When Cas thought about it, it didn't seem all that strange.
The name made sense. It was a fluttering sensation, and butterflies fluttered. The angel shook his head. He was thinking too much about it. Castiel shut the laptop, sighing. Stupid lousy goddamn emotions.
Two boring days of movies and fatty food later, Dean and Cas left Utah, heading back to the bunker until they encountered a new case. This case they were looking for, however, jumped up while Castiel was screwing around with a touch-screen phone Dean had bought the day before.
"Dean. Got something. Pull over." Dean complied, and the angel passed him the ridiculously large phone, a news article opened in the browser. The hunter grunted when he saw the headline; '7 LOCAL CHILDREN MISSING IN PAST WEEK'.
"Cas, this probably isn't our kind of thing." Cas groaned. "I have a hunch, Dean. Don't question an angel's hunches." Scoffing, Dean agreed to check it out and they were off to Chamberlain, South Dakota.
They ended up staying in a cheap Super 8 motel, which wasn't all bad, but certainly wasn't the best. It did have an indoor pool, though, that both Cas and Dean ignored for the most part.
Dean smirked. This case was going to be easy. Cas had already done some research, and he was pretty sure it was a rawhead. Grotesque little things, but easy enough to kill. He just hoped he didn't electrocute himself this time..
Shaking his head, the hunter pulled the taser he had in his bag for backup out and checked the batteries. When he successfully delivered a small shock to himself, he slid it back in the case and clipped it to his belt. If they were lucky, they'd find where it was today and hunt it down tomorrow.
Dean straightened Cas' tie and dusted off his own suit. This was the hardest part, asking people about their missing or dead offspring. It, to put it bluntly, sucked ass having to see the parents shed tears over kids who were probably dead or scarred for life.
He let out a sigh and crossed the street to the house of the first missing child, Cas tailing him with a blank expression. This would be an entertaining case.
Dean pounded his fist on the door before taking a step back and waiting for it to open. A short, grief-stricken-looking man opened it, tilting his head in confusion. "FBI." Dean said in a level voice, pulling out his badge and urging Cas to do the same.
"Uhm.. How may I help you, sir-err, agents?" Cas looked over at Dean. He still didn't have the hang of this.
"We'd like to ask you a few questions. May we come in?" The man, whose name was Markus Chetoya, nodded and held open the door for the two.
"I, uh, I already talked to the police. Didn't they give you the.. the, uh, thing? The statement?" Dean shook his head.
"They gave it to a couple other guys we're workin' with. We didn't get to see it. But would you mind? We need to know." Markus sighed and nodded.
"Please. Sit down." The two hunter and angel complied. "What would you like to know, agents?" Dean and Castiel glanced at each other.
"Did your son have any enemies? Or maybe any people he held a grudge against?" Markus's mouth opened slightly.
"He had more friends than enemies these days. I actually got a lot of calls from the school. As far as I know, he was pretty much the school bully." Dean raised his eyebrows.
"So he wasn't a good kid? Is that what you're saying?" Markus nodded, eyes flickering down to the floor.
"But he wasn't a bad kid either! He just didn't get along with a lot of people. I swear, I'm his only friend. When something bad happens, he always comes to me, crying." Dean hummed and nodded.
"Did he maybe have any hideouts? Like an abandoned store or house?"
He shook his head. "Not that I know of. Normally, kids don't tell their single father about hideouts for when they feel like shit."
Dean nodded and looked at Cas. "Thank you, sir. This will help us quite a lot. We'll get back to you, mkay?" A nod.
The two sat up and walked out of the small house.
"Dean. It's definitely a rawhead." The hunter nodded, still focusing on the road. "Shall I go look around for it?" Another nod. Cas hummed and zapped out. The two had gone to three other houses of missing children, asked the same questions, and basically gotten the same answers.
Two out of three of those had confirmed that their child was bipolar, and had no control. One of the houses had their twins missing, both with bipolar disorder, one with a slight learning disorder after a skateboarding accident.
Dean sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before pulling into the hotel parking lot and parking his car.
Cas was waiting in the hotel when Dean arrived. He tossed his bag and coat on the bed, only just glancing at him. "I found it." The hunter looked over, raising an eyebrow. "He's in the abandoned gun store in the outskirts of town.
"We should really go now." Dean sighed and opened his mouth to object, when Cas touched his forehead and they were there.
"Dammit Cas! I have no way to kill it now!" Cas let a small grunt escape his lips and suddenly he was gone.
"Friggin' angels…" Dean murmured, furrowing his brow and turning around to examine the shop. It still had the guns and ammunition in it, to his surprise.
Glancing around to make sure it was safe, Dean thrust his elbow into the glass case containing the ammunition and removed a box of shotgun pellets. He was jumping over it when he heard the sound. Heavy breathing coming from somewhere behind him.
Dean narrowed his eyes and ripped the biggest gun within reach off the rack and whipped around, only to see the leathery face of the rawhead six feet behind him.
The hunter stumbled back, holding the gun as a club. He really hated rawheads. The ugly beast let out a guttural chuckling noise, stepping forward. Dean growled, holding the shotgun he had in both hands at the ready like a baseball bat.
"Cas, goddammit, I need you..!" Dean hissed as the beast lunged at him. He slid to the right and hit the thing over the back of head as it flew past.
It grunted and hit the floor before scrambling back up, a growl rumbling deep in its throat. Leaning forward, the rawhead prepared to sprint forward again. Dean wasn't ready for what it did when it ran.
When Dean slid to the side, the rawhead skidded to a stop and jumped onto his back, claws tearing at his chest from behind. The hunter yelled and attempted to throw it off by throwing himself against the wall. When that didn't work, he began trying to pry it off himself.
It was a failure. Dean was done for.
And then there was a blinding flash of light and the weight slid off his back. Panting, Dean turned around and saw Cas, a worried expression on his face.
Leaning down, Castiel placed two fingers on Dean's temple and he was healed, not one scratch on him. Another second later, and they were back in the hotel room.
To put it simply, Cas felt awful. He paced around the room, always murmuring that he could've gotten Dean killed. The hunter always responded with a soft 'but you didn't.'
After his tenth time around the room, Dean stood and placed his hands on Cas's shoulders. "Cas, you listen to me. It wasn't your fault. It was me who could've gotten myself killed. But I didn't. That's the only thing that matters right now. I'm alive, you're alive, we're both just fine." The angel sighed.
"You're right. You're fine. That's all that matters." With his mouth opening slightly, Cas looked up to meet Dean's gaze.
And then the hunter's eyes dropped to Castiel's lips for the briefest of moments. Biting his lip, Cas fought to bury the churning feeling in his stomach unsuccessfully. The angel's mouth felt dry.
And then he found his mind drawn back to the birds. Diving head-on into life, with no hesitation. Just… throwing themselves out there.
Cas's gaze was locked with Dean's. His heart was pounding. He really, really hated this feeling, yet he loved it more that anything.
Castiel suddenly realized that the distance between them was much smaller than it had been a moment ago. He didn't know what to do. The silence was suffocating, in a good way, and Dean was leaning forward to close the distance completely.
Knock knock knock. "Room cleaning!" Yelled a woman's voice from behind the door. Dean jumped, and Cas was gone, the beating of wings signaling his departure.
Dean sighed and fell onto the bed. "It's open." He called. The door opened and a woman in a plain white tee-shirt and dark jeans walked in.
"Sir, I'm going to ask you to leave. We're required to do a thorough room cleaning once a month, and that happens to be today. Come back in an hour or so." Dean nodded.
"Just close up the room. I won't be back."