Dean awoke early the next morning, opening his eyes and looking around the room drearily, hissing at the pain in his neck from sleeping in a chair all night. The first thing he noticed was the angel, and as soon as he saw him, he was wide awake, staring at Cas. Cas was reading a book, and he looked up concernedly when he heard a sharp intake of breath from Dean. Cas watched with his brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed in concern as the man rubbed his neck, face twisted into a grimace of pain.
"Good morning, Dean," Cas said, to which Dean responded by looking over and nodding in his direction.
"Mornin'. What'cha reading?" Dean asked, and Cas's heart rate sped up upon hearing the "morning voice" that Dean possessed. He swallowed thickly, his voice catching in his throat for a moment. Before the kiss, he had been able to almost entirely conceal his feelings, from his years of blind obedience in the garrison. However, now that he had gotten a taste of the Winchester, even if it was only for a fleeting moment, he couldn't let those little, adorable things just pass by without noticing them. He shook himself out of his thought process when he became aware that Dean was watching him expectantly, awaiting an answer.
"Oh. It's, uh, a book called Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Fascinating, really. I've never read human literature before," Cas stated, turning the book over to look at the cover. Dean tried desperately to control his breathing, freaking out on the inside at how adorable Cas looked when he was intrigued by something that humans created. No, wait! What am I thinking?! Dean thought, I don't think anything he does is adorable! I'm straight! Boobs! Come on Dean, think about boobs!
"Shouldn't you read the first three books before you read that one? You do know it's a series, right?" Sam asked, walking into the room with three cups of coffee and a paper bag that Dean thought smelled suspiciously like burgers. Cas looked at him, confused, while Dean continued staring at the angel.
"Of course. I've already read the first three. I woke up after about two hours of sleep and didn't know what to do, so I asked a nurse for something to do and she gave me the first book. I haven't put them down since." Sam looked impressed at the amount Cas had read in one night, but shook it off, mentally placing the moment in the category in his head that was titled, "Weird Things Cas Does That I Should Ignore Because He's a Goddamn Angel of the Lord."
"Dean, I brought you a present," Sam announced, handing Dean the paper bag. Dean opened it, pulling out a neatly wrapped yet greasy burger, with another underneath it. He raised his eyebrows, looking at Sam.
"Dude, it's nine in the morning and you're giving me two burgers?" he asked, shocked. Sam scoffed.
"Of course not! One of them is for Cas. I already ate. Besides, they're... Breakfast burgers. They've got meat, cheese, tomato, and bacon, all topped with a fried egg," Sam explained, Dean's eyes growing wider with each topping that he listed.
"Sammy..."
"Yes?"
"I love you so much right now," Dean said, and tore right into it, but not before handing Cas's burger to him. When he handed the warm object over, his fingers brushed against Cas's, and they froze and immediately locked eyes, gorgeously blue orbs meeting the swirly, green galaxies that were contained within Dean. Sam cleared his throat awkwardly, shaking them out of their oddly sexual staring contest. Dean jerked his hand back and tried desperately to clear that moment from his mind, going back to his food and burying his emotions beneath the delicious burger.
Within approximately two and a half minutes, Dean's meal had entirely disappeared, leaving behind only a greasy paper wrapper, an empty coffee cup, and a bit of a stomach ache. Cas was still working on his, unfazed at the amount of grease and egg yolk that was dripping out of the burger and down his arms. Dean chuckled, and Cas looked up at him with his mouth open, as he had just been about to take another bite. The area around his mouth was a total mess, covered in gooey cheese and other things from the burger.
"What?" he asked, completely serious, staring at Dean. Dean burst out laughing, clutching his sides as he nearly fell to the floor. Cas looked to Sam, who was also trying very hard to contain his laughter. Sam pulled out his phone and gave it to Cas, who looked at his reflection on the blank screen and jumped a bit. This only made Dean laugh harder, crouching on his knees on the floor and hitting the tiles with his fist in the fit of laughter. Cas quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped away the mess, his face bright pink with embarrassment.
In a few minutes, when Dean was finally able to calm himself and wipe away the tears in his eyes, Cas finished his meal, incredibly focused on not making a mess. When that was all taken care of, the doctor walked in, and all three of them looked up hopefully.
"The antibiotics are still working, and the infection has all but disappeared. If you like, you can go home today, as long as you take one of these pills with each meal, and we do ask that you come in at least once more, in about a week, so that we can check on the healing of your wounds," the doctor announced, and Cas looked at Dean, his expression somewhere between joy, relief, and excitement. Dean's hard, focused expression that he had been wearing as he listened to the doctor melted, and he smiled softly at the happy angel.
An hour later, they were driving along the freeway, the windows down and Kansas blasting through the speakers. Cas was wearing his signature outfit once again—white shirt buttoned all the way up, plain black tie, black suit coat, suit pants, and miraculously unmarked leather shoes, all tied together with the freshly cleaned trademark trenchcoat.
Sam was driving, Cas in the passenger seat, with Dean lying down in the back seat, curled up in pain, clutching his stomach. Cas looked back at him, and watched with an expression that seemed like it pained him more than it did Dean. A moment later, when the worst of the cramping pain had faded a bit, Dean looked up and grabbed Cas's arm tightly, looking into his eyes with pleading look.
Upon seeing the gut-wrenchingly pained look on Dean's face, he maneuvered himself into the back seat, coaxing Dean's head onto his lap. Just as he was about to protest to the oddly affection position, Dean was hit with another wave of pain, and he curled up as tightly as he could, while Cas gently stroked his short hair. Sam saw this all go down in the rearview mirror, and narrowed his eyes, beginning to piece together some things in his mind: lingering looks, hugs, this specific, slightly creepy moment in the Impala... And he knew what he had to do. He had to get the two to admit their obvious feelings for each other and get it over with, because it only seemed right. And Sammy had the perfect plan.
They were tracking down a case, something that looked demonic, in Iowa. There were demonic omens all over a small town called Gowrie, which didn't make much sense, since it was a tiny, tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, it was their duty to protect innocent people, so that's why they were flying down the interstate, a moose, a cuddly fallen angel, and a Winchester with stomach cramps from eating too quickly.
When they reached the only motel in Gowrie, a dump of a place, Sam went to check in on his own. Being the devious fellow that he happened to be, he asked for a room with two queen beds, which forced Dean and Cas to sleep in the same bed. He opened the door to their room and walked in with his bag and jacket, placing them on the bed furthest from the door, claiming that bed. When Dean walked in, Sam was sitting on the bed that he had claimed, and Cas was standing there awkwardly. Dean looked back and forth between Sam and the remaining bed, realization dawning on him.
"Oh, no. No no no. Sam, I am not sharing a bed with him!" Dean protested angrily. Sam shrugged.
"You could always share a bed with me..." he suggested, knowing full well that Dean would never do that, due to the fact that Sam tended to toss, turn, and kick in his sleep, which caused quite a lot of pain on whoever happened to sleep in the same bed as him. Dean sighed and tossed his duffel bag onto the bed angrily, resigning to his obvious fate. Cas continued to stand there awkwardly, looking almost as scared as he did that one time when Dean took him to a strip club. Trying to act as normal as he could possibly be, Dean dug his shotgun out of his bag and placed it underneath his pillow, rubbing his eyes and yawning. It was almost two in the morning when they arrived at the motel, so they were all pretty spent. Except, of course, Cas.
Within five minutes, Sam was in bed with the lamp closest to his head turned off, and almost thirty seconds after that, Dean heard his breathing slow down and a soft snoring sound emanating from the younger Winchester. Knowing that it would take a miracle to wake him up at this point, he didn't bother whispering as he spoke to Cas.
"Are you just gonna stand there all night, or are you gonna go to bed?" he asked, taking his boots off, as well as his jeans, leaving nothing but a pair of boxers, the Samulet, and his shirt. Cas swallowed nervously and slowly removed his trenchcoat, tie, belt, and shoes, leaving everything else on. As he cautiously got into the bed, he watched Dean cleaning his gun, making sure everything was in working order. As he cleaned, he looked over at the angel, who was sitting straight up and staring at the blank wall ahead of him. His shirt was still buttoned all the way up, and Dean chuckled.
"You know, you could choke yourself on that in your sleep," Dean said, and Cas looked at him, confused. Dean placed the gun underneath his pillow and moved towards the blue-eyed man, reaching forward and beginning to undo the buttons on the shirt. He could feel Cas's warm breath on his face, and could clearly see the tense rise and fall of the chest in front of him. He knew Cas was only expecting him to undo the first few buttons, which is exactly why he kept going, opening the shirt all the way down. When he got to the bottom, he pulled the hem out of Cas's pants, loving the sharp intake of breath that he heard.
He pushed the shirt off of the angel's shoulders, pulling it down over his hands and tossing it onto the floor. He then looked up at Cas's face and saw that his eyes were closed, and his breathing had increased in speed and intensity almost doubly.
"Cas," he breathed in a deep voice. Cap opened his clear blue eyes and stared back at Dean, who was surprisingly close to his face. Dean glanced down at Cas's lips and slowly licked his own, leaning forward ever-so-slowly. Finally, Dean just thought 'fuck it' and leaned forward quickly until his lips met those of the angel in front of him. As soon as their lips met, Dean melted into it, noticing for the first time just how soft and comforting Cas's lips were. Cas also melted into the kiss, perhaps even more so, loving the rough, chapped lips of the hunter.
Dean's hand went to the back of Cas's head instinctually, twining his fingers within the hair, pulling roughly and making Cas whimper through the kiss. Dean didn't think he had ever heard a sound as mind-blowingly sexy as that whimper. After a while, they both had to breathe, as annoying as that was, and Dean pulled back, not moving his hand. He looked into Cas's eyes, breathing heavily, and then looked down to see that Cas was sporting a mild hard-on. Dean's eyes grew wide at the knowledge that he had the capability to do that to someone as powerful and magnificent as Castiel, Angel of the Lord.
He was also quite freaked out about it. He stuttered, not knowing what to say. Cas was equally embarrassed, both of their faces bright red. Dean quickly removed his hand from Cas's hair and backed up, his eyes wide.
"I... Sorry," he muttered before quickly turning and lying down on his side, facing Sam's sleeping form. The lamp on the nightstand beside his head was still on, and he reached up and turned it off, blanketing the room in a comforting darkness.
The two of them stayed up quite late that night, facing away from each other, hearts pounding and minds racing, not quite sure what to do about the situation they had gotten themselves into.
