The first thing Dean noticed as he started to wake was the strange sensation of parts of his face and lips being pressed against something warm and smooth. He blinked a few times and let the form he was resting on come into focus. The blur shifted into skin, a bare torso marred by stitched wounds, above it a face covered in stubble on a head topped with messy dark hair. Cas.

Dean was now very awake as he pulled away quickly, his mind launching into panic as he tried to surreptitiously wipe the drool he's left near Cas' collarbone away. A foggy memory of the night before surfaced. Cas turning up, a drowsy invitation…He had spoken up, and Cas had joined him.

He was almost bitter that after all this time, spending the night (however innocently) with Cas for the first time was something he barely remembered. Now that he'd been so close, so intimate with him, he felt robbed now that Cas was no longer in his arms.

Dean could almost hear his inner monologue skip as his mind rewound to words that had passed without him even immediately noticing. First time. Was he expecting this to become a regular occurence? Where did they go from here? Did Cas, still not up to speed on all social cues, just not know what to do when Dean invited him to lay down, and joined him out of some remnant sense of obligation? Should Dean just get up now and go to breakfast and pray that Cas never brought this up?

The decision was made for him as he saw Cas' eyes open and turn his way. His breath caught as he watched Cas momentarily work through some of the same sleepy confusion he himself had just faced. Cas' eyes then crinkled into a smile, causing a balloon to inflate somewhere around Dean's navel.

Cas turned onto his side to face him. "Hello, Dean."

"Hey," he exhaled. "Uh, so this was...a surprise. I don't remember exactly what happened last night."

"Well," Cas began, "when you got home from hunting, you went to take a shower."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I got that part. I meant-" Cas' gentle smile turned into a barely-contained smirk, and it was contagious as Dean realized he'd been the butt of a joke. "Did you really just-?"

"I had a nightmare," Castiel sighed. "About...about the wendigo. I couldn't find you, and I just...I needed to make sure you were safe. But then you woke up, and told me to stay, so I did."

Dean rubbed his eyes, hoping it would cover the blush in his cheeks. "I'm sorry, man."

Castiel's face fell, his eyes leaving Dean for the first time since they'd opened. "Oh," he said softly. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm not."

Dean's eyes widened at Cas as relief flooded him. "You're not?"

"No. But I am sorry for messing up the hunt and getting wounded in the first place. You would have had a lot easier time ambushing the Wendigo if it hadn't gotten lured me to it."

"Lured you?" He'd never told Dean why he was away from his lookout spot when the Wendigo had gotten to him. Dean had been too focused on getting Cas fixed up to ask.

"It used your voice. Called out to me."

"Oh." Dean swallowed. "Jeez, Cas, why am I just finding this out?"

"I guess I was worried you'd think less of me. I'm already so...human, and frail, and useless now."

"Hey." Dean reached up and gripped Cas' arm. "I'm human. Am I frail and useless?"

Cas blushed. "No, of course not."

"And you aren't either. You got me?"

Cas reached up and put his own hand over Dean's. "I got you."

"Listen, Cas. You know I'd fight a thousand angry monsters alone if it meant keeping you safe, right? I love you." The words had come tumbling out without warning, and even Dean's mouth fell open slightly as he realized what he'd said. "Uh...I mean, if that's okay."

Cas' face broke into a wide grin, bigger than Dean had ever seen on him. It filled Dean with such bright happiness that it was hard to believe Cas didn't have his grace anymore. Cas scooted closer to him, their noses now only inches apart.

"It's definitely okay." Cas leaned in and kissed him, hesitant and soft. "Is that okay?"

Dean could only kiss him back in response, deeply, tenderly, trying to pour the last five years of escalating feelings into it. When they finally broke apart, Cas leaned in and rested their foreheads together. Dean didn't know what came next between them, didn't know if they could overcome his fear of fucking this up. This was just a first step, and he hoped that all the talking, categorizing, overanalyzing of whatever their relationship had just become could be delayed as long as possible. God knew words were hard enough for the two of them, but this, holding Cas and kissing him and never wanting to let go... this Dean knew he could do.