"Hello, Dean."
Castiel smiles, leaning across to kiss his omega as the passenger door slams shut. He cups the back of Dean's head, pulling him in for a slow, passionate kiss. Once he gets his fill, he presses feather-light kisses to his neck, listening in satisfaction as his omega sighs beneath him. Dean suddenly goes rigid and pulls away.
"Cas! Stop! My dad…"
"Nobody is looking," Castiel has one eye on the motel window. "And I've missed you so much I can hardly control myself."
"But…" Dean's green eyes dance around warily, looking for spectators. "What would people think if they saw…?"
"That I'm an incredibly lucky man."
Castiel seals their mouths together again, licking leisurely into Dean's mouth and inhaling the sweet scent of his omega pheromones deeply. Breaking free of him sorrowfully, he strokes his knuckles down Dean's cheek then puts the car into reverse.
"I hope you like what I have planned for you."
The words sound as though they might hold a double edge and Dean casts Castiel a sharp look to try to figure it out. The small upturn of one corner of his mouth is proof enough that there's certainly more than one meaning to the statement, and Dean grips the handle of the door with one hand and his own thigh with the other as they move out towards the freeway.
"As long as I'm with you, I'm sure I'm gonna," Dean answers finally. "Where are we staying, anyway?"
"I rented us an apartment," Castiel says, eyes dark and focused as he drives. Above them, the clouds are thick and heavy and if the weather doesn't improve they'll probably end up spending the entire weekend inside. Which, on reflection, Dean thinks could be a pretty damn good way to spend the time. "About an hour away from here. It's nice, I think you'll like it. There are some restaurants, cafes…" Castiel trails off, mouth twitching. "And a king sized bed."
"Of course."
"Of course. Only the best for my omega," Castiel's hand finds his, squeezes, and Dean flushes with excitement.
Being out in public as a couple with his alpha is everything Dean dreamed it would be. They walk hand-in-hand through the town, stop to kiss in doorways and take shelter from the rain, laugh loudly together without the worry of drawing attention, and Dean feels elated with happiness. Free. He imagines his future with Cas, can picture this every day without the lingering worry of his father finding out or the school discovering them. Freedom. A bite on his neck. Happiness.
"Dean?" Castiel kisses his temple. "Shall we go back to the apartment?"
They've just finished dinner at what Castiel would probably call a dive bar but Dean adored and would frequent daily if he could. Burgers and fries, milkshakes and Coke, easy laughter and music from the ancient jukebox in the background punctuated by the murmur of voices all around them. Nobody had paid them any attention, and the waitress had given them a warm smile when she took their order, glancing at their entwined hands and no doubt scenting their bond but passing no comment. It was wonderful.
They fall into bed later, exhausted, and all Dean wants to do is wrap himself around Castiel and sleep. He buries himself into the other man's side, sighing, hating himself a little bit for being so needy but unable to stop the impulses. Castiel welcomes him with an arm around his shoulders and lips to his temple.
"Sleep, Dean. My omega. Today has been perfect. I could wish for nothing more."
"Me neither, Cas. 'S been awesome." He yawns hugely. "Thanks. For, y'know, this."
"Anything for you."
"Really?" Cringing, Dean sees his moment and takes it. "Well, I got a favor to ask, in that case."
"Go on." Castiel caresses his bare shoulder in slow circles. "It's about your father, yes?"
"How did you know?" A sigh escapes his lips. "He wants to meet you. Sunday. Dinner. He won't take no for an answer, it's the only reason I was allowed to come away at all. I tried to tell him no, but-"
"Dean. Stop panicking." Castiel's arm tightens securely around him. "I'll go to dinner. It isn't a problem. I think it's time your father and I talked, don't you?"
"I guess…" Dean shivers at the thought of what could happen. "I just don't want everything to turn to shit."
"It won't." Castiel turns out the light on the bedside table and takes Dean fully in his arms. "Trust me, Dean. It won't. Sleep now. You're safe with me."
I love you , is Dean's last conscious thought.
•••
Dean wakes in the night to a dark silhouette standing at the window, staring out. He pushes himself up onto an elbow, blinking, and tugs the sheets around his waist. The smell of their languid sex from this afternoon still lingers on the bedding and on his skin, yet he can't find it in him to regret not taking a shower. It smells good. It smells like home.
"Cas?"
"Dean." Castiel turns, face illuminated in the moonlight. "I woke you. I'm so sorry."
"You didn't. Maybe you did. Dunno." Dean yawns hugely. "Time is it?"
"Late." Castiel comes back to the bed and sits down on Dean's hand, running his fingers through his hair and Dean leans into the touch. "Go back to sleep."
"Hmm. That feels nice, don't stop." He lies back down, closing his eyes and sensing Castiel's smile as he settles next to him to stroke his hair. Soft fingertips trail over his temples, his cheekbones, his jaw, down the length of his nose, and he sighs in enjoyment. "I could get used to this."
"What? Me showering you with affection?"
"No." Dean fights his initial instinct to jut his chin belligerently. "Maybe. But I mean this." He gestures between the pair of them without opening his eyes. "You and me. Nobody else around, nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to hide," Castiel says softly, twisting a strand of Dean's hair around his fingers. "No obstacles between us. Just you. And just me. Together." He sighs. "That's all I want, you know? It's all I think about when I'm alone without you. All I do is count down the minutes until you're in my arms again. What have you done to me, Dean?" His eyes are dark and moody. "You're like my drug. I'm addicted to you."
"Take me again, Cas." Dean sits up and attempts to straddle his alpha's thighs. "I want you inside me."
He goes in for a kiss, his body already responding at the low desire he thinks he can hear in Castiel's voice, and his heart stutters when Castiel turns his head away.
"Cas?"
"No, Dean." Firm hands clasp his hips and hold him at bay. "I can't. I'm sorry."
"What…?"
It hits him like a tidal wave: rejection. His alpha doesn't want him. It's as though someone has dunked him in a bucket of ice water and his throat closes up so tightly that breathing becomes difficult. Sweat breaks out on his brow and although every part of him wants to curl away from Castiel mournfully, he can't seem to let go of the alpha's shoulders. Castiel isn't looking at his face, he's watching his own hands where they hold Dean by the hips, but when a choked sound escapes Dean as he tries to inhale, the blue eyes flicker up then widen in shock at the same moment that he scents the fear and anxiety coming off the omega in waves.
"Dean!" He pulls him in close, hands on his back warm and comforting, and Dean fights his grip prefuntorally, just for the sake of struggling. He wants cozy, loving alpha and his breath comes in fits and starts as he inhales Castiel's immediate distress. "Dean, my omega. I'm not rejecting you, please. Never think that." He caresses Dean's spine, kisses his temple, nuzzles his neck, and Dean's fear abates a little. "It's not you. I want you, of course I do. You're beautiful, you always are, but I just…"
Castiel trails off then adjusts them until he's leaning against the headboard and Dean is lying draped on his chest. He strokes and caresses every inch of Dean's skin he can reach until the sour scent of instant rejection dissolves into nothing and Dean begins to purr softly against his neck. He still doesn't understand why Castiel doesn't want to have sex, but is sure that he's going to learn why if he stays quiet long enough. Although every atom in his body is itching to rear up and question the alpha until he spills it all and explains what the hell is going through his head.
It doesn't take all that long.
"I don't want to hurt you, Dean." Castiel murmurs into Dean's hair, and the omega in his arms tenses in shock. Of all the things he expected to hear, this wasn't it. "I don't want you to feel pressured to please me, or as though I expect anything from you. I adore your company, I enjoy every second of our time together and when we're tied…" Castiel breaks off and sighs almost euphorically. "I could stay like that forever, bonded to you in that way. Lost in the scent of you, your beautiful body, the warmth of your skin…" Castiel sounds high now, his fingers stroking Dean's skin softly. "Lying there with you is like being in a dream. A dream I never want to wake up from. But I fear that I'm putting too much pressure on you, that I've dragged you in deeper than you ever intended. That I've abused my-"
Castiel is cut off by Dean's mouth finding and claiming his. He can't let Castiel think he's abused him in any way, he won't. Everything they've done together has been out of choice - no, he amends mentally, kissing his alpha deeply and with intent. Not just out of choice, out of desire. Out of his own attraction to Castiel, an attraction initially sparked by his pheromones but ever since then he's fallen more and more for the calm, stoic, handsome man beneath the alpha. Castiel is kind, witty, charming in his own way, and everything Dean could ever want in a mate. And he can't have Castiel thinking for even a second that he doesn't deserve everything that Dean wants to give him.
Castiel's hands slide up to cup his jaw and he tries to nudge Dean back to continue speaking, but Dean is having none of it. He takes advantage of Castiel's distraction to slip his tongue in and lick into his alpha's mouth, tasting concern and worry and the sweet, beautiful flavor of Castiel's arousal. It's like nectar to him and he presses closer with a low moan, straddling the alpha's lap and rocking his hips to make his own desire impossible to ignore.
"Take me, Cas," he repeats, breathing heavily into Castiel's mouth, gripping his shoulders and nipping at his bottom lip. "You deserve this. You deserve us. We both do. And I need you right now."
He leans down and pushes down Castiel's loose PJ pants to free his cock, half-hard and growing thicker as Dean palms it. He laps at his alpha's tongue again, making obscene crooning sounds which he knows get Castiel going, and strokes the thick length in his hand until it's fully erect.
"Dean, you're perfect." Strong hands return to his hips as the scent of his slick fills the air, then he's being lowered down onto Castiel's cock, stretched and impaled slowly, and he tosses his head back with a moan. "You're gorgeous. What did I ever do to deserve this? To deserve you?"
"Same thing I did to get you, Cas."
Dean holds tight to Castiel's shoulders and rocks his hips, drawing a moan from the alpha beneath him. The head of Castiel's cock grazes his prostate as he lifts up, then again as he lowers himself and they both cling to each other a little tighter.
They move together in the dim room, the light from the moon playing across skin and hair, muscles moving rhythmically and beads of sweat glistening on brows and chests and spines. Dean gasps, Castiel moans, kisses are exchanged and pressed to necks and temples and mouths. The air grows thick with the scent of arousal, of slick and pre-release, and Castiel scents the air in an almost predatory way. His fingers ghost across Dean's shoulder.
Then he pulls him close and bites, hard. Dean cries out as his orgasm overwhelms him with such intensity that his vision goes white and then dark, and finds himself lying in Castiel's arms a while later drenched in sweat. Semen is sticking them both together, and he realizes he's still tied to his alpha, feeling closer to the older man than ever before. He swallows a few times, trying to breathe, listening to Castiel's heartbeat, then raises two fingers to his neck.
"Did you…"
His fingers meet inflamed skin, raw and sore, but not broken. And a lump forms in his throat and constricts his speech so much that when Castiel strokes his hair and whispers sweet words to him all he can do is nod or shake his head in response. He falls asleep in his alpha's arms, clinging and emotional, feeling as though he's lying in the arms of his mate with the final barrier between them thinning as each day passes. He wants to cry over not getting the bite he craves so badly, yet he also wants to shout for joy because he knows now. Castiel wants to mate him, and no matter what happens between them when they meet his father, he knows he belongs at Castiel's side. They'll make it work.
When he's with Castiel, nothing else matters.
•••
"Let's go home."
It's the next morning and they've already had breakfast at the apartment, washed the dishes side-by-side, and shared heated kisses and intimate embraces all morning. Dean woke in the position he fell asleep, on Castiel's chest with Castiel's cock filling him, soft now, and it only slipped free when he sat up. They showered together, Castiel cleaning him with a reverence that rendered him silent and pliant, washing his hair and kissing his neck and wiping slick and come from between his thighs. The gentle caresses to his slackened, sore hole held no sexual intent and somehow it was more intimate. He basked in Castiel's fingers brushing over the most intimate part of him as he was kissed slowly, the scent of Castiel's possessive desire all around him, as thick as the steam surrounding him.
"My perfect Dean," he had whispered. "You give so much of yourself to me. How do I repay that?"
By mating me, he had wanted to say. But he had stayed silent, kissed back, and continued to be sweet and quiet all morning, earning him concerned gazes from the alpha. Dean is never sweet and quiet. He's belligerent at times, irritable at others, speaks his mind and changes himself for anybody. So it's no surprise when Castiel draws him close just as they've finished packing and stares deeply into his eyes.
Castiel kisses him with a low, burning intimacy, fingers stroking over the bite mark and Dean wishes for the hundredth time that his skin had broken beneath Castiel's teeth. He finds himself wanting it so badly that tears spring to his closed eyes as he's kissed and caressed and he chokes back a sound that could be a whine or could be a sob, but either way it's enough to give Castiel pause.
"Dean?" A finger caresses his cheek, comes away wet, and Dean realises his emotions have leaked through without his consent. "What's the matter?"
"Nothing." He scrubs at his own cheek in irritation, feeling two days worth of stubble scrape at his knuckles, knocking Castiel's hand away in the process. Embarrassment colors his cheeks and he drops his gaze, but Castiel is having none of it.
"Dean, please." Concern laces his voice and he crooks a finger beneath Dean's jaw, tilting his head up until green eyes clash with blue. "Tell me what's wrong. Have I done something to upset you?"
"No. God, no. The opposite." He leans closer, fists both hands in Castiel's sweater, breathes him in deeply and feels Castiel lower his face until his lips meet Dean's neck, pressing gently in a chaste kiss. He turns his head until he feels Castiel's lips find the mark he bit there. "I wanted this. I want this. All of it."
"You wanted me to bite you. Properly."
"You know I did."
"Yes, I did. I do. And believe me, Dean, I want to do it more than anything. You have no idea how hard I've had to fight for control not to claim you every single time I knot you. It isn't that I don't want to, omega, believe me, it's only because biting you now isn't the appropriate way to do it." Castiel's voice has gotten lower, now a husky whisper, and Dean shivers at the ghosting of breath on his neck. "Do you want it that badly, Dean? You want my bite so badly it's making you cry?"
"Shut up," he gasps, mouth finding Castiel's until their kiss is hot and deep, and Dean finds himself pressing the alpha up against the door, their bags forgotten on the floor. "I hate that I'm so needy for you. I hate that I love you so damn much."
The words slip out without his consent and he freezes in shock, as does Castiel beneath his hands. Slowly, he finds himself pushed backwards a step and held tightly in the alpha's grip.
"You love me?" Castiel's voice is carefully even.
"Uh." Dean blinks, appalled at himself. "That isn't how that was supposed to come out."
"You love me." Castiel repeats, this time sounding more sure of himself. "You love me."
"You doubted that?" Dean struggles against his hold a little then falls limp. "Dammit, Cas. What the hell have you done to me? I'm not this sappy, lovey-dovey guy."
"Yes, you are." A slow smile spreads across Castiel's face until he's laughing, and Dean glares at him in response. "You are a sappy, lovey-dovey guy. You're my sappy -" He kisses Dean's jaw. "- Lovey-dovey -" Kisses his cheek. "- Mate-to-be." Dean's eyes widen then fall closed as his mouth is captured. "And I love you too."
"Y-yeah?" He blinks rapidly, unable to stop himself from grinning. "You do?"
"Of course I do. Like you didn't know."
"I didn't. Until this weekend." They trade smiles and Dean's wrists are released and he wraps his hands around Castiel's waist. "Shit, my dad is gonna be so pissed. Mate-to-be? That's some possessive shit there, Cas."
"It is. And I mean every word." Castiel kisses his forehead. "I'm not afraid of the conversation with your father tonight. Which we should leave for, now, if we want to make it on time."
"Do we have to?" It comes out as a whine and Castiel laughs, picking up both their bags then grabbing Dean's arm.
"Yes. Come on. Let's get this over with." He wraps Dean under one arm, kisses his temple. "Then it's just us. No obstacles. No hiding."
"Except from the school…"
"You just let me worry about them. Now, go put these in the car while I check us out."
Dean watches Castiel walk away to return the keys to the owner, and allows a smile to touch his lips. He's become less worried about the conversation with his father over the last few days. Castiel is so sure of himself, of them, that it seems like nothing can possibly get in their way.
He dozes on and off during the journey home, squinting through the rain lashing the windshield. It's unpleasantly warm in the car and he cracks the window, enjoying the sprinkle of droplets as they shower his face and neck. He turns his head sleepily and surveys Castiel, who is wearing a little frown as he drives.
"Are you nervous about meeting my dad?"
"No." Castiel inclines his head but his eyes don't leave the road. "Parents tend to like me."
"This ain't parents' night at school, Cas!" Dean scoffs, rolling his eyes and smothering a laugh. "This is, 'Pleased to meet you, Mr. Winchester, I'm the alpha screwing your teenage son.' How do parents normally feel about that?"
"Not favorably." A smirk twitches at Castiel's lips as Dean stiffens and sits up in horror at the implication of his response. "I would imagine. I can't say it's a regular occurrence. For me, at least."
"I fucking hope not," Dean growls, his omega fury glaring at the insinuation that anyone else could please his alpha other than him. "You know, Cas, I gotta say, your sense of humor…"
But whatever Dean wanted to say about Castiel's sense of humor, he never got to form the words. Or if he did, they became swallowed up in a cry of horror.
A truck rounds the corner much too fast, skidding on the wet ground, and Castiel slams on the brakes and yanks hard at the steering wheel. Dean white-knuckles the edge of his seat, closing his eyes. Tires screech on concrete, there's the jarring sound of metal colliding with metal, the explosive shattering of sheets of glass, and Dean's head collides with the passenger side window hard .
Then, nothing.