AN: I have no excuse for my tardiness. Apologies! I hope this makes up for it.
Disclaimer: Still not mine.
The room was thrown into darkness as every light bulb and glass object in the room shattered, sparks reigning down on them.
"Gabriel!" Dean cried, hold Cas's still figure close to him, dots still swimming in his eyes; the last thing he saw before the dark was the brilliance that was Castiel. His very essence on display and his heart was pounding and his ears were ringing.
He heard feet pounding down the hall as the door swung open letting in a stream of light that made his eyes water as it shown on them.
"Dean! What happened?" Sam exclaimed, immediately dropping to the floor next to his brother and the prone figure he still had cradled in his arms.
"Cas, he just...glowed for a second and blew up everything. Passed out," he summarized, stars still dancing in front of his eyes as he searched for any sign on trauma on the fallen angel.
"Dean, your eyes-"
"Step aside," Gabriel demanded drolly, sighing heavily as he dropped a knee besides his fallen brethren. "Cassie do this?"
Dean nodded, checking the man's pulse once again. It still beat fast and strong beneath his finger tips to his relief.
Gabriel touched a finger to Castiel's forehead, barely grazing the skin before he withdrew. "It was just a surge of grace, happens from time to time. Especially since its not his, sometimes the vessel will reject it.' he stood, dusting off his jeans. "He'll wake up anytime now."
Sam wasn't looking at Cas or at Gabriel, but at Dean and it was unnerving as hell.
"What Sam?" Dean snapped, finally drawing his attention away from Cas for a split second to shoot his brother a scathing look.
"Dude, your eyes," he stammered, gesturing to his face. "Did you see Cas? I mean his true form?"
That snapped Gabe's head up and he finally looked at Dean and gave a loud whistle.
"Well hot damn Dean-o. You're lucky you aren't one hot baked potato right now," he said, scanning Dean intently. And though his tone was flippant the skin between his eyes wrinkled and his gaze darkened as he looked at whatever was afflicting Dean unawares.
"What the fuck are you guys talking about?"
Sam rolled his eyes and grabbed his shoulder, turning him to look at the cracked, floor length mirror that stood near the door. Dean gently sat Cas down on the floor and walked towards it, his mouth open.
"Shit," He murmured, wincing as he grazed the red, blistered flesh that had settled around his eyes. The spots in his vision were fading but the marks looks raw and angry. "This was from Cas?"
"You know what happens to humans when they see an angel in true form, Dean," Gabriel reminded him solemnly, his hands shoved in his pockets. "You just got lucky it was just a flare."
Dean looked back to the mirror, blinking a bit when he heard rustling behind him. Cas was standing, albeit off balanced, grabbing at the younger Winchester's arm as he took a deep breath.
"What happened?" He asked, his voice gruff and deep, his eyes screwed shut as it looked like he was trying to make sense of all that had happened.
"You blacked out bro. Told you there could be some mishaps with the grace," Gabriel explained, popping a piece of hard candy into his mouth loudly and dropping the foil to the glass littered floor.
Cas's head shot towards Dean immediately, "Dean, are you alright?" He gasped, Dean could swear he could hear his heart pounding from where he stood, Sam still holding the ex angel steady.
"I'm fine, Cas. You ok?"
"Then look at me," Cas demanded, his voice growing deeper and almost on the edge of panic.
"Cas it wasn't your-"
"Dean look at me!" He cried, stalking towards Dean and tearing his arm out of Sam Winchester's grip.
Dean felt a hand tighten on his shoulder and spin him around. The lights rushed with him and he suddenly got dizzy as the light trails followed him.
"Dammit Cas!" He barked, his hands covering his eyes, trying to sort out his vertigo.
He felt a timid touch under his chin, gently raising his head. He tried not to feel embarrassed as he knew they had an audience, but he pushed Cas's hand away anyway, his face growing hot.
"Dean?" Cas wavered, moving just a bit closer to the man; he could see his feet scooting towards him from where his gaze fell on the floor.
Dean finally raised his eyes, squinting a bit as they continued to water as the adrenaline wore off and the panic had set in. He had almost been burnt alive by angel mojo, definitely not something that was on his to do list that day.
Castiel set his jaw and despite Dean's protests, took his chin again in his hands and turned his head to better inspect the other side of his face.
"Is your vision affected?" He asked solemnly.
"Cas-"
"Answer him Dean," Sam whispered nervously, apparently aware of the tension in the room and obviously upset with whatever had happened in the training room when he was not around.
"Dots. Light trails and shit," he muttered, trying to calm down his fearful angel. "Feathers I'm fine."
"I did this," Cas whispered, his finger tips grazing a rather painful spot of burns near his cheek bone. "I am so sorry Dean."
"Feathers I already told you, its not your fault," he insisted, "Just gotta put some shit on the burns, and I'll be fine."
"I can heal you-" Cas started to bring two fingers to Dean's forehead when Gabe grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Whoa there baby bro, lets reign in the mojo for a bit shall we?' He rolled his eyes, "You nearly deep fried your boyfriend here in a fit of passion, lets just keep your hands to yourself alrighty?"
Dean balked at the archangel and avoided Sam's raised eyebrows at the implication.
Gabe instead, reached for Dean, who instinctively raised both hands and back away from the touch of the unfamiliar celestial.
"Don't touch me you dick, you never said anything like this would happen!" He snapped, gesturing to his eyes and then the room currently filled with shattered glass and broken mirrors.
Gabriel's eyes darkened as he snapped his fingers and all the light bulbs were suddenly in place and lighting up the dim room, the splintered mirrors were back to their seamless state.
"I warned him, warned you both that there could be problems. Now maybe you guys will take me seriously,' He cracked his neck in agitation. "Now are you going to let me heal your peepers or not?"
Dean glanced at Cas, who nodded after taking a moment to take in the archangel before him.
"Ok, but no funny business," Dean warned, clenching his fists as the celestial being rolled his eyes and strolled up to him, fingers just inches from his face.
"Close your eyes lover boy," Gabe instructed, fingers still hovering.
Shooting one last fuck off look to the older angel he did as he was instructed and tried not to gasp when he felt the fingers against his skin, sending a cooling wave of relief to his burned flesh, the immediate relief almost causing him to sag against the wall.
He felt the archangel withdraw and dared to open his eyes, spinning around to face the mirror.
Breathing a sigh of relief, his hands skimmed the once again unmarred skin and delighted in the fact that he now felt balanced as the dots had receded.
"How did that happen?" Cas demanded, speaking once he was sure Dean was alright and had turned to face them again.
Gabe shrugged. "A lot of emotions, feelings and all that jazz. Just overworked yourself. You have to learn to control yourself again Cassie. This isn't like your old mojo, this stuff has a little bit of a kick to it."
Castiel just nodded, turning to Sam. "I apologize for the mess I made, I will endeavor to be more careful in the future."
Sam just nodded, apparently not knowing what to say, especially since everything had been set right and his brother was currently standing unscathed in front of him.
"Dean, we need to talk," Castiel said, taking Dean's hand much to his chagrin, and steered them down the hall and into their room, slamming the door behind them.
SPNSPNSPNSPNSPN
"What is it Cas?" Dean asked, clearly unnerved by the ex angel's sudden need for privacy. What scared him more was the fact that Cas wouldn't look at him, or the fact that he kept shuffling his feet and looking down at the smooth carpet.
"Dean I need to train, I need to-' Cas searched for the words as he finally met Dean's gaze. "get control. And I cannot do that. Not safely. Not around you."
That stopped Dean, he swore he felt his heart skip a beat and all the blood rush to his feet.
"What the hell are you sayin' Cas?" He growled, one second away from putting a fist through a wall.
"I need to learn to control this grace," He gestured to Dean's face, his expression clouded with guilt as he did so. "I could have blinded you. Or worse." He ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "I think, I know, I need to be away from you for awhile. Until I can control myself."
Dean bit the inside of his lip to try to staunch the emotions that were threatening to overtake him.
"You-" he ground out. "You promised me you son of a bitch."
"Dean-"
"No!" Dean screamed, allowing his anger to bubble to the surface. "You promised me, right here in this goddamn room, that you would stay!"
"Dean I hurt you!"
"You think this isn't hurting me you dumb fuck?" He yelled back, kicking his bed frame hard and collapsing on the edge of it, his chest heaving but he refused to let himself go.
Dean was trying to take even, measured breaths as he felt the bed dip beside him and a gentle hand rest on his shoulder.
"Don't fucking touch me, man." He snapped, his eyes clenched shut and his forehead resting on his closed fist as he fought to regain control over himself.
"I won't leave the bunker Dean," Cas resigned softly, not taking his hand off of his shoulder. "I will stay here, with Gabriel and continue to train and still be in your presence. But I cannot stay here, we cannot be-" he stopped, once again as if trying to search for the words to convey what he was trying so desperately attempting to convey. "So close. I cannot focus that way, and I will not risk harming you again."
It was silent for a moment, Dean still breathing deeply and Cas letting him just be, not for a moment taking his hand off of his shoulder. The shoulder where he had left his mark so many years ago.
"You'll stay in the Bunker, no high tailing to some remote continent or island or some shit?" He asked, his tone still edged with anger.
"I swear," Cas sighed. "I do not take my promises lightly, Dean. I would have hoped you would have realized that by now."
Dean finally looked up, "Promise me again, right here, right now."
Castiel inched closer to the Righteous Man, so close Dean could still see the perspiration on his forehead and feel the warm of his breath on his skin.
"I promise you, Dean Winchester."
Dean nodded, sniffed and barely touched the edge of Cas's cheek as he stood and walked over to the bedroom door, opening it slowly.
"I'll uh, have Kevin bring over your things," He said, glancing at the chest of drawers that he had painstakingly arranged to possess both of their belongings.
Nodding, Cas rose, took a look around the room that he had, for the past few weeks, felt completely safe and comfortable in. Dean could feel something ache in him as Cas's fingers barely brushed his as he walked out of the room and down the hall.
That night, for the first time in many weeks, Dean went to bed alone.
AN: I AM SO SORRY. I suck. Geez. Um...leave some comments? DON'T HATE ME!