"Where are we going?"

"Wherever you want, sweetheart."

(Dean knows that the fact that he's a little bit in love with the little frown that Cas gets on his face when Dean's being annoying isn't a good thing. He can't help it, he's a naturally trying person to be around.)

They've been on the road for just a couple of hours, and they've learned a lot about each other.

Dean has learned that, while Cas isn't used to having a full meal in front of him, Cas can fucking eat. He ate all of the pancakes from the diner, as well as half of Dean's toast, and another order of toast that Dean forced on him to defend his own. It was simultaneously a little disturbing and weirdly hot.

Cas has learned that Dean's habit of shamelessly flirting with waitresses can be quelled with a blue-eyed glare and a well-placed foot running up and down his calf. Dean shut right the hell up after that.

Dean has learned that Cas is one of those people, who is willing to put his feet up on the dashboard, which will not abide.

Cas has learned that Dean is more meticulous about Baby than he originally presented himself to be.

(Not everything that Dean learns about Cas is good or innocent, however.

Dean has learned that Cas is a little bit touch-starved, but is too stubborn or prideful to ask for Dean. So Dean does it himself, presenting it like he's the one who wants it, and consistently holds Cas' hand, or keeps his own hand on Cas' thigh.

Dean has learned not to move too quickly, lest Cas flinch or jerk away. Dean has had to stifle more anger in the last few hours than he has his whole fucking life, because he doesn't want Cas to think he's mad at him, and he knows that the nature of abuse means that Cas will think just that.)

So he keeps his hold on Cas' hand, even as the other boy rolls his eyes and tugs it in a half-hearted attempt to break the contact. "You're insufferable."

Dean grins rakishly. "Yep."

(Dean hasn't learned everything about Cas. He doesn't know Cas' full name, he doesn't know what classes Cas liked in school, if any, and he doesn't know if Cas wants a dog or a cat or neither.

What he does know is that Cas is fierce, in every sense of the word. That Cas is prideful, but willing to overcome it. That Cas is scared, but is holding onto Dean's hand just as hard as Dean is holding onto his.

Maybe that's all he needs to know for now.)

Cas looks forward again, a hint of a smile pulling the corner of his mouth up. Dean stares at him as much as he can while still driving safely.

The late morning sunshine is shining on Cas' face, throwing those killer cheekbones into sharp relief. Dean can't believe how incredibly beautiful he thinks Cas is in the passenger seat right now, and how damn lucky he is to have him there.

"Watch the road, Dean."

Dean grins.

A few hours later, Cas makes a face, and since Dean is (still) irresponsibly watching his companion instead of the road, he catches it. "What was that?"

"Nothing," said just a bit too quickly to be true.

"Cas."

"Dean," Cas returns, mocking.

Dean sighs. "Tell me."

"... No."

"Please?" Dean can't pull puppy dog eyes off like Sammy can, but he does his level best when he looks at Cas.

Cas just glares for a moment, chewing on his lip. Dean's distracted enough by that to not say anything for a few moments, thinking about what else he can put those lips and that tongue to use for, which is apparently just enough time for Cas to decide to spill.

"I… You know I don't have anything, correct?"

Since Dean's mind was already in the gutter… "Like, STD's?"

Cas' eyes widen, then narrow in another glare. "No, not STD's, for fuck's sake."

"Then what?"

"I mean clothes, Dean. Or anything." Cas looks back through the windshield and runs his free hand through his hair. "I just... Maybe… This wasn't a good idea."

Dean's natural leaning toward self-loathing wants to tell him that this is about him, that Cas can already see that Dean isn't worth running away from home for or leaving behind his life for and-

No, that's not it. In a (rare) moment of insight into another person, Dean knows exactly what this is about.

They're driving on a fairly desolate stretch of highway, so pulling over onto the shoulder is no problem at all. Dean does so silently, then puts Baby in park. He turns to Cas to cup the other boy's face and tilts his head down until blue eyes meet his own.

"Hey," he says gently, smiling. "I'm not going to regret this. I'm not going to leave you behind, or take you back, not unless you want me to, okay?" He grins. "I knew what I was getting into, kidnapping a high schooler I found in a park."

The word "kidnapping" gets the desired effect of an eye-roll. "You're ridiculous."

Dean tilts forward until their mouths are almost, almost touching. "You like it."

"Yes, I do," Cas sighs, just before leaning forward and pressing their lips together.

After spending an inordinate amount of time making out ("Dean, we're not fucking in the middle of the day on the shoulder of a road." "But Ca-as!") Cas agrees to let Dean take him to Target to get him, "Just the essentials, Cas, I swear, scout's honor."

"I have a heavy suspicion that you were not a boy scout."

Dean just grins again.

When they get to Target, though, Dean starts getting a little nervous.

Not about Cas himself, never, but Baby isn't the most inconspicuous that ever was, and God knows Cas is noticeable. Dean would notice Cas from a mile away. The only reason he wasn't immediately all over everything about Cas was because of the situation. Impending abduction usually puts a damper on relationship prospects.

Not for Cas and me, though, he thinks fondly.

Cas moves with the confidence of someone who can take care of himself as they walk into the store and grab a shopping cart. It's unbearably hot, but it's also drawing attention, which is bad for so many reasons. The first is that Cas is probably officially a missing person by now, and attention of any kind is bad. The second reason is because while Dean has not been a jealous man in the past, all of these assessing (read: approving) eyes scanning his Cas from head to toe are driving him insane. The urge to put (good, loving, tender, huge) marks on Cas, to put a visible claim on him, is driving Dean to distraction.

He has to spend a few minutes convincing Cas again that money isn't a concern. (It's not that Dean's made of the stuff or anything, but his uncle Bobby taught him, before the Singer-Harvelle and Winchester clans had a falling out, to always keep getaway money in his car. Baby had a cool ten grand hidden beneath the false trunk when he left yesterday morning, and a couple of meals and a hotel room have barely put a dent in it.) Dean isn't about to tell Cas all of this in a public place (not that he doesn't trust Cas, he doesn't trust all of these other people, he'll tell Cas as soon as they get back into the car, he just keeps getting lost in those goddamn blue eyes), but he does eventually get the other boy to start shopping and stop arguing.

Dean is… Inordinately pleased by the way Cas shops. He's choosing what Dean would choose for him, and after the third time that Dean chastises him for looking at price tags, he has good, expensive taste. It's just a few pairs of jeans, a couple of t-shirts, and several henleys (Dean is going to fuck him in one of those, sweet Jesus), but they're all good quality. Dean also insists on a dark blue button-down they find, because it brings out Cas' eyes, and a ridiculous trench coat they find, because for some reason it just screams Cas to him. Cas doesn't argue about either.

Before they leave, Dean swings by the jewelry section for sunglasses. He buys a dark pair of aviators, and is idly wondering if he can convince Cas to let him fuck him in those, too, when Cas speaks hesitantly.

"Dean?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?" Dean leads them through the hats. It's gonna be a damn crime to cover up Cas' insane sex hair, but Dean kidnapped the guy, so one can never be too careful.

"What are you doing?"

Dean finally looks over at Cas, who's got his head tilted like a bird as he studies Dean, who will admit to his dying day that the sight does not make his heart stutter in his chest.

"We, uh… Oh. We gotta get some stuff to hide you, babe." Dean winks. "You're a fugitive now that you're with me."

Cas frowns. "I haven't committed any crimes."

"No, but you've probably been reported as a missing person, Cas."

An indescribably sad look passes over Cas' face. "Dean…"

Dean immediately abandons the cart and moves to Cas, pulling him into a fierce embrace. He threads his fingers through the hair at the back of Cas' neck and presses his lips lightly to his ear. "Whatever stupid thing I just said, I'm sorry," he whispers.

(This is not Dean's first rodeo with being an insensitive prick, accidental though it may be. He's working on it. He may not know what he said wrong, but he does know that he said something, and he's willing to learn the pitfalls of Cas' psyche to avoid shtit like this.)

Cas' arms come up around his waist (a beat too slow, still, but he'll get the hang of hugs if it fucking kills Dean), and presses his face into Dean's shoulder, just a bit. Just enough to let Dean know that he's hurting, but subtly enough that no one else would probably notice.

"We don't need to do this," Cas says softly.

"Buy you clothes?"

"Get a disguise."

Dean stays quiet, not sure how to respond.

Cas sighs and holds on just a bit tighter. "Dean… No one's looking for me."

Pain lances through Dean's heart, and he closes his eyes and crushes Cas to him tighter. "Oh, sweetheart."

Cas shrugs as much as he can in Dean's arms, but Dean's not stupid. He doesn't know how bad it would hurt if there was no one to look for him, because even if he and John are currently on the outs, Dean knows without a doubt that his father would tear this whole damn state apart to find him. John Winchester would tear the world apart for his sons.

So he holds Cas close and whispers again in his ear. "I'll always be looking for you, Cas. Always."

Cas shudders in his arms, and Dean holds him for a long time before they're ready to go.

Cas is quiet until they get back to the motel. Dean doesn't try to fill the silence, mostly because he has no idea what to say. He gets the feeling that Cas still thinks that this might be a temporary thing for Dean, and Dean doesn't know how to explain that it's not.

(If Dean had the ability to string words together like he wishes he did, he would tell Cas that Dean's search for whatever he's been searching for, with his irresponsible decisions and spontaneous bar fights and one night stands, it's over. He just wants Cas, in whatever way he can get him, for as long as he can have him. It doesn't make sense, and it's scary and intense and brand new, but he feels it from the bottom of his heart, with every breath he takes, sitting next to the dark-haired boy who has totally rocked his world in less than a day.)

He's still trying to find the words when Cas sits on the bed and looks up at him.

"I suppose… You want to hear about my family?"

The thing is, Dean does. Dean is hungry for any information he can get about Cas. He wants to know what Cas' favorite color is, what his childhood dreams were, what his relationship with each and every family member is, no matter how bad. All of the shit Dean has never cared about with his other partners (he was really just interested in hard limits and safewords), Dean wants to know about Cas. He needs to know it.

Cas just looks so lost, though. He looks young, young enough to be the teenager Dean knows he is for the first time since last night, when he was in Dean's clothes and confused at the thought of being taken care of.

Dean hates the look on his face.

Lucky for him, Dean knows how to get rid of it.

He steps forward, nudging Cas' knees apart until he can stand between them. He raises his hand and sinks his fingers into that dark, crazy hair. "Sometime soon, baby. Not right now, okay?"

Cas just nods, his big blue eyes wide, and swallows hard. Dean's captivated by the movement of his pale throat for a moment before he looks back into Cas' eyes.

He lets a slow, smoldering smirk spread across his face, and cocks an eyebrow (yeah, yeah, sue him, Dean knows what he looks like, and he's willing to use that and any other tool at his disposal to make Cas forget, just for a few moments, about the shitty things in his life).

"What do you say we make good use of this bed, baby?"

Cas' eyes darken, and he just nods silently again.

Dean smiles. "Good boy." He savors the way Cas' eyes slip half-closed and he gives a full-body shudder.

"Lay back."

Cas does so immediately, and Dean smiles at the obedience that has his dick twitching and swelling in his pants. "What's your safeword, sweetheart?"

"Purgatory," Cas supplies immediately, and Dean cocks an eyebrow again. Cas shrugs and smiles coyly. "I've done this before, Dean. You can't have thought you were my first dom."

Dean surges down in a controlled fall until he's nose to nose with Cas. Cas gasps, but Dean ignores it to stare into his eyes.

"First of all, I think that pretty mouth would be better suited to calling me 'sir,' don't you, sweetheart?"

Cas swallows hard again, and as much as Dean wants to watch that play of muscle and tendon beneath vulnerable skin, he's in goddamn character, so he keeps the eye contact.

"Yes, sir," Cas says, low and hot and so close that Dean can feel his hot breath on his mouth.

"Good boy." Another shudder from Cas, and Dean lets himself get a wolfish grin on his face. "Second of all," he moves until he's whispering in Cas' ear, because don't think he didn't notice how it affected him this morning, "I'm going to make you forget that anyone but me has ever touched you."

"Please," Cas whimpers. "Please, sir."

Dean moves his knees up to straddle Cas' hips, and is just sitting back up when the door of the motel room bursts in and a short, blonde man is pointing a gun at Dean's face.

"Gonna need you to get off my baby bro, jackass."

"Gabriel?"

Cas is in shock. He tries, nonsensically, to remember when the last time he saw Gabe was for a moment before he looks back up at Dean.

Dean, who is not doing anything to get the raging erection that Cas has going on right now to go away.

Because Dean has produced a gun (did he have that when they went into Target? Who has gun when they go into Target?) and is pointing it back at Gabriel. His handsome face is set in stone, his green eyes glittering in malice, and Cas realizes that Dean is livid, because he's protecting Castiel.

That, more than anything, proves to Cas that Dean means all of the things he says.

(Maybe it's a little bit fucked up, but Cas has grown up with violence. Violence in growing up with two brothers, because no matter the age gap, boys will beat the ever loving shit out of each other. Violence in growing up with an abusive mother, but since she beat the shit out of him no matter what, it was harder to understand. Violence in fighting with other kids his age, because none of them knew what they were doing, and if they couldn't fuck someone, they were going to fight them.

So yes, Castiel is fluent in the language of violence, in the way a body speaks when it goes into a fighting stance. Dean's body is telling him, emphatically and in great detail, that he is here to protect Cas. It's in the way that he's crouching over Cas, the way he hasn't moved to a more advantageous stance in favor of staying close to Castiel.

It's incredibly sweet. And unbearably hot.)

"Cas, do you know this guy?" Dean asks darkly.

"This is…"

Cas would finish the sentence, but before he can, another blonde man walks in behind Gabriel, also sporting a pistol.

He's… Gained quite a bit of muscle since Cas last saw him. He's less pale, too, and more present, somehow. Must have kicked that drug habit, Cas thinks, half-hysterically.

"Hello, Lucifer."

They end up standing on either side of the room, Cas and Dean on one side, Lucifer and Gabriel on the other. At Cas' insistence, the guns are put away, because it would be just his luck that either one of his long-lost brothers or his… Whatever Dean is (strangerkidnapperfriendloverdomboyfriendloveofmylife) would get shot the first time he has all of them.

Cas decides to get right to the point. "What are you doing here?"

Gabriel shrugs. "Mom called. Said you were gone."

"Naomi called you?!"

Lucifer frowns. "Since when do you call our mother by her first name?"

"Since she started beating the shit out of me on a daily basis," Cas says coldly.

Lucifer's eyebrows go up, and Gabe rolls his eyes. "She's not that bad, Cassie."

Cas immediately puts an arm out to stop Dean, because he knew before Dean did that he was going to step forward and growl a little. "You motherfucker," Dean snarls.

"Dean, please," Cas says softly before turning back to his brothers. "She got significantly worse when you two left." He gestures to his face. "This is from her," he lifts his t-shirt, too, "as are these."

Three sets of breath suck in harshly, but Dean's is the harshest. Cas knows what they're seeing. Yellowing bruises up and down his ribcage, with some rather spectacular ones just fading from purple to the greenish yellow of a slowly healing injury on his side, down near his hips.

"God dammit, Cas," Dean whispers, sounding furious and broken all at the same time. "I could have hurt you."

"But you didn't," Cas protests softly, watching every expression fying across Dean's face. "I would have told you before we did anything… Strenuous."

His attempt at levity falls flat, because Dean still looks heartbroken.

"Castiel," Lucifer's stern voice turns his attention back towards his brothers, who both look equally crestfallen. "What happened?"

"It doesn't matter," Cas says, automatic.

"It really, really does," Gabe says darkly, and Cas is surprised. Gabriel takes so few things seriously, seeing him actually angry… Cas could see how it would be intimidating, if one wasn't his younger brother.

Cas shrugs and lets his shirt drop. "Naomi has a lot of anger in her, and her favorite way to express it is… This."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Lucifer demands.

Cas blinks. "You were gone, Luke. You left."

Lucifer looks torn. "I would have come back for you, Castiel."

"How was I supposed to know that?" Cas snaps.

"Cassie, what Luci and I do, it was no life for a kid," Gabe says, a little desperately. "We were trying to save you."

Dean snorts a little. "Bang-up job."

"Stay out of this," Lucifer snarls.

"Do not speak to him," Cas says hotly. "You abandoned me, and Dean…" Cas actually doesn't know what to say here. He looks at Dean.

Who's already looking at him with soft eyes. "I'm with you, Cas. Hundred percent, baby."

Deep in Cas' chest, he warms, something that's been cold for a long, long time. He doesn't have time to tell (or show, possibly with his mouth) Dean how much that means to him, so he slides a hand down to slip it into Dean's, interlacing their fingers hard. Dean holds on back.

"So, what," Gabriel says derisively, "You hang out with a Winchester?"

"Dean has never laid a hand on me, and has done more for me in the last day than the two of you have since I was ten years old."

"Hey!" Gabe protests.

Lucifer stays silent, however, and he looks at Dean and Castiel for an almost unbearably long moment. Cas meets his gaze head on and squeezes Dean's hand when he senses that he would speak. This is what Lucifer does. He's actually extremely intelligent, thoughts going a mile a minute, but he's assessing everything, the micro expressions on their faces, the way their hands are clasped, the way they're standing next to one another.

Suddenly, Lucifer's face softens, and Cas is no longer looking at a hardened criminal, but at his big brother. He feels his eyes get misty despite himself.

"Hello, little brother," Lucifer says gently, finally returning Cas' greeting.

"Hello, Luke." Cas can't help the smile on his face.

Gabriel throws his hands in the air in exasperation. "Just like that? We're all okay, just like that?"

(Castiel and Lucifer have always had a connection stronger than that between he and Gabe. There's no good reason, they're not any more similar to one another than either is to the middle Novak brother. They've just always had a profound bond, and have always understood one another without words.)

Luke nods. "Just like that."

Once Cas' (Castiel fucking Novak Jesus fucking Christ) brothers go get their own room at the motel, deciding to stay close so they can reconnect with their youngest sibling, Dean flops back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "I cannot believe you didn't tell me that you're Lucifer and Gabriel Novak's little brother."

Cas is somewhat more sedate when he joins Dean on the bed. He rests his head on Dean's chest, and Dean finds himself automatically reaching up to thread his fingers through the dark hair he likes (loves) so much. "In my defense," the boy on his chest deadpans, "you never asked."

Dean snorts and presses a kiss to Cas' hair. "You did not just 'you never asked' me."

"I have few regrets."

Dean lets the silence be for a while, just savoring each place that he and Cas are pressed together. He can feel his soul being filled up with this moment, as domestic and tame as it is. Who knew that Dean Winchester would fall in love so hard with cuddling (with Cas) outside of the bedroom (anywhere at all)?

After a while, during which they both doze a bit, Cas starts to speak.

"My father left shortly after I was born, so I didn't know him. I don't know for certain that he's my biological father, anyway. There are a vast number of physical differences in mine and my brother's appearances."

(Dean did notice the differences himself, but he wasn't gonna say anything, God.)

"Regardless, it was just Naomi raising the three of us. Lucifer was apparently relatively well-behaved until our father left, but became… Rebellious, after. I don't know what he was looking for when he joined Azazel's gang, but he found it for a while."

Surprise splashes through Dean at Azazel's name, but he remains still and quiet. My family history later, he tells himself.

"He never told me all of the things he did for Azazel, but I know that they were… Unpleasant, and that Luke rose in the ranks quickly before Azazel fucked up." at Dean's questioning noise, "I believe he expressed a wish to recruit Gabriel and myself into the 'family.'"

Dean's arm tightens involuntarily around Cas. He knows Azazel's gang, and before they dissolved in the wake of Azazel himself's death, they were nasty. Bad enough to make the Winchesters look like kittens. They'll get Cas over my dead body,he thinks darkly before remembering that they're not actually a threat anymore.

Speaking of… "Did Lucifer…"

"Kill Azazel?" Cas says it rather casually. "Oh, I believe so. There are… Few things that Lucifer holds dear, and family is one of them. Azazel wouldn't have stopped until he had what he wanted, and Luke wasn't going to let that happen."

"How old were you?"

"Thirteen."

"Huh."

"After that, I have no idea what he did, but he wasn't at home. Very quickly after Gabe turned… Fifteen? Sixteen, possibly? He started running cons and being gone ore, and soon he was never there.

"I think that Naomi blames me. Maybe for the fact that my father was the reason for the dissolution of her marriage, that he left after I was born, or that my birth happened at the same time that Luke's rebellion began, but she does have a lot of anger, and I think that most of it is aimed at me."

Dean scowls. "Well, fuck her."

Cas chuckles. "Indeed."

Dean looks down and hooks a finger under Cas' chin to tilt his face up. "Hey, I'm serious. I know I already said it, but you're never going back there. I'm never going to let anyone hurt you again, okay?"

Cas smiles and rolls his eyes a little. "Yes, Dean, I heard you." Through the sarcasm, though, there's just a bit of gratitude and affection, so Dean will take it. He settles back down and resumes carding his fingers through Cas' hair.

After another long time, "Tell me about the Winchesters."

So he does.

He tells him about his beautiful mother, and how she would sing to him when he was sick. He tells him how soft her hair was, and her skin. How kind she was, always checking on them, always telling Dean that it was okay to be who he was. When Dean figured out that he's bi, Mary didn't bat an eye, and when he expressed his worry that John would be mad, she kissed him gently on the forehead and told him not to concern himself with it.

Dean tells Cas about John Winchester. About how hard John has always seemed to be, but how he always makes time for Dean or Sam. Even while they were fighting (and oh, Jesus did they fight), John has always been there for Dean and Sam.

He tells him about Sam the most. About how fucking smart Sam has always been ("You cannot imagine how annoying it is, Cas. Have you ever had to watch a four-year-old who will not stop asking questions?"). He talks about how disgusted Sam was when he found out what their family does, and how he's never wanted anything to do with it.

He talks about how badly Azazel wanted Sam. How hard he worked to corrupt the youngest Winchester, going as far as to send a spy ("And lemme tell you, Cas, this Ruby chick was a bitch."). How, as soon as Mary found out, it only took a well placed word or two to John before he was gone for a few days. Ruby was gone after that, and Azazel didn't come sniffing around again.

He tells him how conflicted he was when Sam told him that he got into Stanford, that he wanted to be a lawyer. ("I mean, I couldn't be prouder of him, I mean it, Cas, and I wouldn't trade it for anything for him. It's just... I dunno. It kind of feels like he's leaving me in the trenches. 'Specially after Mom died, it's just been me and Sammy. Kinda feels like I'm being abandoned.")

Dean can't really remember the last time he spoke so much. He falls silent after his last admission, but it's not uncomfortable. He keeps his fingers moving through Cas' hair, and smiles when Cas nuzzles closer. He feels… Peaceful. He's never said that thing about Sam outside of his own head, always worried that he'll come off as needy and childish. With Cas, though, somehow he knows he's safe, that Cas won't see him differently. Cas is just Cas, and he just sees Dean as… Dean.

He snorts. "Can't believe you're brothers with Lucifer and Gabriel Novak." He looks down at the boy on his chest. "What's with the names? Lucifer? Castiel?"

Cas shrugs. "They're the names of angels."

Dean grins. "That so, angel?"

Cas rolls his eyes. "Ugh."

Dean laughs and presses a kiss to dark hair. "Can't believe I shacked up with a Novak."

"That's a little presumptuous. You haven't shacked up with anyone yet."

Dean grins again. "That's true." He hauls Cas up until he's fully on top of him and they're eye to eye. "I think I'm slacking, angel."

Cas rolls his eyes again at the pet name, but deals with the manhandling without comment. "How so?"

Dean leans up to press his lips to Cas' ear. "I promised you a bed, didn't I?"

He feels his grin turn predatory when Cas whimpers a little.

-Feedback gets my motor running.
-Smut next chapter, I promise.