Things were going good again, and Dean even noticed that whenever he met Gabriel in the corridors now, he would pat Dean's shoulder in a friendly gesture and grin at him before moving on. Dean guessed it was Gabriel's way of telling him that he was sorry for thinking that Dean had purposefully cheated on Castiel, and that he appreciated that he wasn't that kind of guy. He had actually asked Dean if he was okay after the thing with Lisa, which surprised him a lot that the angel had asked. But Dean was feeling rather okay. He was a bit pissed and annoyed with Lisa, and the situation had been rather uncomfortable. He mostly dealt with it by shoving it away from his mind, not wanting to think about it. Jo had tried to make him talk about it as well, and he appreciated her concern.

Castiel too had become a bit more open to him. He was more often smiling at Dean when saying good morning or good night, and their conversations had gotten a bit longer. Cas seemed to appreciate that Dean wasn't a complete asshole after all, and that he took his feelings into account instead of just sleeping with everyone. He had also looked at him with worry since he found out that Lisa had actually raped him. Dean couldn't help but like that the angel worried about him.

Dean was supposed to write a thesis soon, due for end October which was soon. But writing long papers on a particular subject was not one of Dean's greatest strengths. He was a hand-on guy who needed to see and feel stuff in order to learn, he didn't need to write a stupid paper to learn anything. Unfortunately, as a student, he had no saying in this.

After finishing one of his favorite classes – messing with cars in the garage – Dean decided he should go find Jo so she could give him good advice for how to work on his paper. He needed something to help him motivate.

Dirty and greasy as he was after a day in the garage, Dean sneaked by the art class where he hoped he would find Jo. And indeed he did.

She was standing next to Castiel in front of a painting. It looked like Castiel's work, Dean could tell from the use of colors and the talent for painting the tiniest details. He smiled fondly. He liked Castiel's talent a lot, it suited him well – nerd angel and on the way to be a professional artist.

He approached the two slowly, watching as Castiel seemed to give Jo some advice on the use of colors when painting, and Jo making mental notes and sometimes turning what Cas said into a joke that would make the angel either laugh or blush.

It was cute, Dean thought with a smile.

"Hey guys," Dean said as he appeared behind them.

"Hello, Dean," Castiel greeted him. He stared at Dean's oil-covered appearance after a day in the garage, and for a moment Dean thought he saw him blushing a bit.

"I'm not a guy, Dean," Jo said, acting offended.

"You sure about that?" Dean teased.

"Pretty sure. Unless you wanna check?" she said, moving her hands down to her skirt and grinning at Dean.

"Ew, god no! Gross," Dean grimaced, stepping away from her.

Jo laughed and Castiel's lips curled into a small, amused smile. He was getting used to their familiar way of talking and their teasing.

"So," Jo said after collecting herself again. "What's up? And why are you covered in shit?" she said with a funny grimace as she looked at Dean's oil-covered clothes and body.

"It's not shit!" Dean protested. "It's oil from the car garage."

"Looks like shit to me," Jo snorted.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Women."

"It almost looks like… 'shit' to me, too," Castiel said, stumbling over the word 'shit' that he wasn't used to using.

"Thanks for the support, Cas," Dean said with sarcasm, and Cas gave him a small, amused smile.

Dean looked back at Jo who was almost cracking up now. "Well, now that we've established that I am covered in 'shit'," he air quoted the word, "I can say that I just came here to ask for your help on my stupid thesis."

"I ain't writing your thesis! I don't know the first thing about cars or technology!" Jo protested.

"I don't mean for you to write it, I mean to ask you for advice on how to best work on it," Dean corrected her, rolling his eyes.

"Ah, now see that is a whole other matter," Jo said and grinned. "What's up, can't a big, tough alpha guy like you write his paper on his own?"

Dean groaned in annoyance. Jo was being a pain today.

"Obviously not, otherwise I wouldn't have come here to ask you."

"Good point," Jo said, pondering. "Isn't it easier if you ask Cas for help? He's good with the literature stuff as well, and you share a room together," she pointed out, shrugging, and glanced between them.

Dean froze and Castiel tensed. They glanced at each other briefly, not knowing what to say.

"Uh, Jo… Cas and I don't actually talk about such stuff," Dean reminded her, glancing at Cas.

"Right, with the whole 'not talking will make the bond fade faster' thing, right? Jeez, you guys are so complicated," Jo said.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Will you help me or not?"

Jo finally gave in. "Fine, I'll help you with your paper."

Dean grinned. "Thanks, Jo, you're the best."

"Of course I am," she snorted. "And in return for me helping you…" Dean watched as Jo moved towards him and suddenly took a hold of his tail. Again. "…I get to grab your tail for the rest of the day and call you my bitch."

Castiel's eyes widened.

"Jeez, Jo, you almost make it sound kinky," Dean said; smirking at her.

Jo squeezed his tail and pulled at it, making Dean wince. His tail wasn't really sensitive unless you pulled at it – then it was painful where the tail joined his with lower back.

Jo laughed when Dean made a pained grimace.

"Why… why do you do that?" Castiel asked, blinking at the scene in front of him.

"What? Grabbing his tail?" Jo asked. Castiel nodded, and she explained, "Well, I've always done it, since we were little. It pisses Dean off. It's kind of nice to be grabbing a big, bad demon by his tail and see him bow to your words just so you let it go again. Demons hate when their tail is being pulled, it hurts them a bit," she said and laughed.

"You do know I could shake you off I wanted, right?" Dean said.

"Sure, but I know you won't, because that would hurt me," Jo replied with a trusting smile.

Castiel looked between them. Even though they were always teasing each other and acting like they were bullying each other, he realized that their friendship was something deep and valuable. They both trusted each other greatly. He smiled absently, happy to see that there was after all mutual deep feelings of trust and loyalty between them. And he was happy for Dean that he had a friend like that in his life.

Jo noticed Castiel smiling at them, and she suddenly had an idea. "Hey, Cas, you wanna try to touch it?"

"What?" Dean said, eyes wide in shock that Jo would even suggest it. Jo ignored his protest.

Castiel shook out of his thoughts and stared at Jo, wide-eyed. "E-Excuse me?"

"Would you like to touch his tail? Try to hold it?" Jo repeated; shoving the tail towards Cas who almost jumped back in surprise.

Castiel stared at her like she was mad. Then he looked back at Dean's tail, which was twitching in Jo's grip. Castiel had never touched a demon tail before, nor had he ever seen one up this close before either. The tail in front of him looked like it was built almost purely from muscle. The end of the tail was spike-formed but not really sharp, and the shape had always creeped Castiel out a little.

"No, I really shouldn't," Castiel said, after having stared at the tail for a minute.

"Why not?" Jo frowned.

Castiel looked up and Dean and then back at Jo and explained, "Physical contact strengthens the bond. Therefore, I shouldn't."

"Oh," Dean said, blinking. Come to think of it, he and Cas hadn't had any physical contact since the night Dean touched his wings by accident. Actually, that was the only physical contact they had ever had.

"Oh, c'mon! One touch can't hurt," Jo said. "It will just take a few days longer before the bond breaks, big deal." She rolled her eyes and shoved Dean's tail further towards Castiel, who still stared at it, wide-eyed and scared.

"Try it," she dared him. "It's not dangerous or anything." She smiled, trying to encourage him.

Castiel glanced up at Dean who silently nodded, giving him permission.

As Jo said, one touch couldn't hurt that much.

Dean observed as Castiel stared at his tail before he reached out, slowly, to put his hand around it. First he pulled his hand back when his skin touched the roughness of the tail, and they both felt a sudden, weak warmness at the touch. After hesitating, Castiel tried again and managed to put his hand around the length of the tail. It felt rough and warm on his skin, but still somewhat soft. And it felt strong and muscled.

They both felt another weak wave of warmth at the touch; their bond trying to strengthen itself after many weeks of being ignored. It felt relieving.

"It feels… strong… very strong," Castiel said, awed, before slowly letting go again.

"Um, thanks," Dean muttered, blushing.

When Castiel looked at Dean with a puzzled look, Jo grinned and explained, "A strong tail means an attractive tail to demons. Dominant males have the strongest tails and attract their mates with its dominant display."

"Oh. Oh!" Castiel said, realization hitting him. "I didn't… I didn't know that," he added, blushing and looking away, feeling embarrassed that he had just complimented Dean's alpha status.

Dean felt himself blush as well. Cas had just complimented his tail. It made his tail curl and twitch in joy in Jo's hand, who was still holding it, and she glanced up at him with a knowing smirk that made Dean flush against his will.

"Awww, you two are so cute together!" she squealed, grinning at them both.

Castiel blushed more than ever and Dean did as well. They glanced at each other briefly before Dean talked. "We're not cute," he hissed. "Stupid girl," he muttered.

"But you are cute together!" Jo insisted, still grinning.

"Yeah, whatever. Can we just go work on my paper writing process?" Dean said, desperate to change the topic and get out of this awkward conversation. He was having way too many awkward conversations this year.

Jo rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever. Just go to shower first and change your clothes, please. You stink of cars."

"I kinda like the smell," Dean grinned. He saw Castiel smile at that as well.

Jo rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.

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Dean went to shower before meeting up with Jo later so she could help him on how to write the paper and find motivation.

He was alone in the demons' bathroom.

The warm water from the showerhead was like heaven. Dean closed his eyes and felt the water run down his body. His tail had been twitching ever since Cas touched it earlier. He groaned at the memory of Cas' smaller, soft hand on his tail, and the comforting warmness that went through his body when their bond reacted to Cas' touch. He felt his cock twitch between his legs and harden at the memory.

Dean reached down, grabbing a hold of his now fully hard cock and started stroking it. He groaned; hips bucking into his hand as he sped up his moves. His tail was curling and twitching restlessly until he moved the tail around to tease his balls as he stroked himself.

He thought of Cas' hand on his tail and how he had complimented its strength – something that really turned Dean on to no end. A male demon's dominance was expressed through the muscles in his tail and the sharpness of his feathers. Cas saying that his tail was strong like that… God, what that didn't do to Dean's mind.

Fuck, he was so turned on.

He thought of Cas and his innocent, white wings and bright blue eyes. He thought of his pink lips wrapping around Dean's cock. He thought of himself with his hands buried in Cas' oh so soft feathers with the angel moaning and welcoming his touch, screaming out Dean's name while Dean's tail was thrusting into him.

And fuck, that was it.

Dean came hard over his own hand; moaning out his orgasm and almost collapsing in the shower from the intense pleasure. His cock continued to slowly spurt out come for another minute, as it was normal with demons, before he finally took a deep breath and calmed down from his intense climax.

Shit, he had just jerked himself off to the thought of Cas. And he couldn't even blame the angel's heat pheromones for it.

Dean felt shame wash over him, but his focus was somewhere else.

He was really in love with Castiel, he realized that now.

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Author's note: This chapter didn't turn out quite as long as I intended, so I'm sorry about that. I hope to make the next one longer.

And now Dean has finally admitted his feelings to himself – feelings he's been having for a little while, I think ;)

Please review :)