A/N: Plot twist - I don't actually hate this chapter. Huh. Which must mean it sucks (but let's be real, it's gotta be better than the last chapter. I'm really sorry about that one guys). Anywho, you lovely humans know the drill. Review and favorite and subscribe and stuff if it suits your fancy. All you even lovelier nonhumans know the drill: review or the Doctor will sonic you into doing it.

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. I should look into it though... I wonder how much money it would cost to buy the show... *Note to self.

Chapter 15: The Elephant in the Room (No, not that one)

They've been together for approximately three months, thirteen days and if one of them had to guess six hours. Dean's met Castiel's family and Cas, of course, has met Sam and is due to properly meet Ellen and Bobby next weekend (Bobby wanted time to get over the, uh... dumpster thing). Lately Dean's been staying at Castiel's apartment for a couple days while Anna crashes with Sam. Then they switch off for another couple days and they've actually talked about just making this whole swapping apartments thing permanent and less of a hassle by picking one and sticking to it but Cas suspects that Dean has some sort of plan for that. Which is how they find themselves in the kitchen early on a Sunday morning, Dean making breakfast and Cas just coming out of the bathroom in his church clothes.

"Hey hot stuff. No need to get dressed up to have breakfast with me. You know how I feel about naked you..." his eyes very purposefully leer over Cas in a slim cut charcoal gray suit with a navy blue shirt that is maybe a shade or two darker than Castiel's eyes, "Although that suit is definitely doing wonders for your... everything. Jesus baby, why are you with me again?" Castiel actually laughs at that, a real genuine laugh that Dean thinks is the best sound in the world, and kisses his boyfriend on the cheek before grabbing his keys from the counter. "I'm quite fond of you, that's why." He's searching for his coat, it's gotten quite cold outside and the trench he usually wears isn't going to cut it, "I'm afraid I do not have time for breakfast this morning if I'm going to make it to mass on time. But if you wait here for me..." Cas pulls on the long black wool coat that may actually be Dean's now that he's looking at it and goes back over to kiss his boyfriend properly, "Promise I'll make it worth your while..."

Dean ducks the kiss and turns off the oven in one fluid motion while doing an excellent Sam Bitchface impression that Cas just stops himself from commenting on. "I'm sorry, mass? You're going to church? Did you just say you're going to church and then imply that when you get home you'll make it up to me with sex?" Cas thinks that over and yeah that sums it up pretty well, "Yes. And I was going to get you pie from the Roadhouse since I drive past it." His boyfriend is still looking at him like he suddenly has four heads, six wings, and none of the heads belong to the same species. "So... are you like... religious?" The tone is nothing short of accusatory and if Cas happens to respond with a bit of attitude he will blame it on the lack of coffee, "If I am would that be a problem?"

It's not like Castiel has made it a secret that he was raised in a very religious family. For Christ's sake, dude's named after a fucking angel. And not one of the popular angels that everybody knows, some obscure angel with the decidedly not-awesome title of the Angel of Thursdays. Essentially, now that Cas really thinks about it, his parents were the equivalent of religious hipsters when it came to his name. The thought is both amusing and mildly disturbing.

He has no idea why Dean is so... surprised when he turns down Sunday morning brunch for church. From the look on his boyfriend's face, Cas feels like he asked Dean if they could cook Sam and eat him for breakfast. And while the slightly older man is aware that he doesn't know everything, he's pretty sure that the last time he checked cannibalism and being religious weren't equivalent levels of heathenism. "Dean... why are you getting so upset? It's just church."

The sputtering probably should have been his first clue that Dean was about to get up and leave but Cas has never been especially intuitive when it comes to other people. He walked over to the door after his boyfriend shut it and stuck his head out into the apartment hallway, "So I take it that's a no for lunch?"

The next time Castiel sees his boyfriend it's later that afternoon and Dean makes no mention of the 'church incident' (as Cas has taken to calling it mentally) when he walks into Castiel and Anna's apartment like he owns the place, sits down on the couch next to him and initiates sex. Some couples say hello, some couples talk about deeply personal and important fundamental principles... Dean and Cas tend to have sex. Cas decides at some point that this works too.

For some reason the sex is... well, it's not angry sex, per-se, because Castiel isn't really sure what Dean has to be angry about. But his boyfriend is atypically aggressive today and if it wasn't so ridiculously hot, Cas might stop and be worried for a second. Thankfully it's a good blur of tongue and teeth and he's pretty sure that he'll never be able to look his bedroom door in the eye again after. Sometimes Dean's random engineering classes come in handy in the bedroom and Cas is pretty sure he could write an entire dissertation about how ridiculously hot that is.

Normally after sex Dean is nothing short of beautiful. The lines on his face disappear and he looks almost childlike in his blissed out state, his green eyes shining and still clouded all at once, the smile that makes Castiel's heart do backflips. But now? Dean just looks upset. "Baby... is everything okay?" He's laying half on top of the other man and running his hands through the short hair that's more brown than blonde. Cas can feel the green eyes boring into him but he doesn't want to look yet. "Dean... you can tell me, whatever's bothering you..."

"It's not a problem."

"I... I don't follow."

Blue eyes meet green with a carefully measured look of concern, the head tilt that Cas still can't stop himself from doing and Dean laughs a little as his whole face softens and he pulls Cas down for a kiss. "You... being religious. It's not a problem." The frown deepens and he's about to say something when Dean shuts him up with a kiss, "Let me finish." Castiel nods and Dean doesn't talk again for a minute, he just kind of stares at Cas and he briefly wonders if this is what other people meant when they said his habit of staring was unsettling. It is unsettling. Huh. "Dean?"

"Yeah, sorry..." he shakes his head like he's snapping himself out of something and grins at Cas. It's the heart-melting grin he gave Cas this morning when he came in wearing the suit Anna bought him for church. "Your eyes are really distracting sometimes, you know that?" Castiel's face twists into a smug smirk, "I'm naked and laying on top of you and you're distracted by my eyes?"

The exaggerated eye roll he gets in return looks so much like Sam it's almost alarming to Cas. "Dude I'm trying to have a moment here and you're being all distracting with your nakedness and eyes. Damn baby, I know I'm a fine piece of ass but can you cool it for like five minutes while I try to have a legit conversation here?" Castiel is already having a hard time taking this conversation seriously since he's trying really, really hard not to laugh but he manages to nod solemnly and rest his chin on Dean's chest, "Apologies. Continue with your chi - "

"AS I WAS SAYING," Dean cuts off the end of that remark skillfully and clears his throat so it goes back to a normal human level. "As I was saying... I... you, being religious? It's not a problem. I'm not..." he sighs and rolls his head back so he's staring up at the ceiling, "I don't believe Cas. At this point I just can't believe in it. And it weirds me out that you do but if it's important to you then it's not a problem." Dean lets his eyes close for a minute and he looks much closer to postcoital Dean which makes Cas smile. Apparently he needed to get that off his chest. "Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not religious. Or, well, I don't think I'm religious. I haven't been since... god, probably since I was a kid. My parents raised us pretty strictly. Catholic school and all that. I don't agree with a lot of the things the church preaches and I'm not even sure if there is a God... but I go when I'm homesick. Major holidays... when Anna guilts me into it, stuff like that."

Dean's running his hand through Castiel's hair as he talks and listens, genuinely interested. "So... why'd you go today?" There's a laugh from the small little space where Cas tucked his head away on Dean's body and a little shrug, "Honestly? I missed it. I knew Anna was going and asked if I could come with her. She was just as surprised as you were. I don't know... sometimes when I don't go for too long it feels like I lose a part of myself. Like I've lost my grace or something. Does that sound ridiculous? Or make any sense at all?" And yeah, actually, that makes perfect sense. Dean's never been able to stay away from Sam or Bobby or Ellen or Jo or Baby for too long. It doesn't feel like he's lost his grace or whatever the hell that's supposed to mean when he goes too long between visits but he doesn't feel like himself. The summer Sammy went to summer camp was the worst summer of Dean's life so he thinks he can understand it, a little. "It's not ridiculous Cas."

They sit in a content silence for a few minutes while Dean absently runs his hands through the unruly dark head of hair resting on his collarbone. Of course it's Dean who breaks the silence first, "Hey baby?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just asked me two. You seem perfectly capable."

He chooses to ignore the adorable attempt at sarcasm and continues on with the question, "So that's a yes?" Cas sighs like Dean's being incredibly dense, "Yes." It takes a couple beats for his mouth to figure out how to express the question without sounding like a total crude jackass, "So... is that why you got your angel wings?"

Again there's silence and Dean's worried that he shouldn't have asked but he's been dying to know since the first time he saw them how the hell Cas ended up with a giant back tattoo of gorgeous angel wings. Thankfully this silence is broken by the deeply amused chuckle of his boyfriend, "No Dean. I did not sit through twelve hours of Lucifer marking my flesh to get a permanent representation of everything I hated about religion." Well that's entirely unhelpful and Cas doesn't seem pissed that Dean asked so he's going to ask again, "Okay smartass, let me rephrase that. Why did you get angel wings?" Castiel looks up at his boyfriend, his eyes narrowed and face momentarily blank as he does the head tilt again, "I'm an angel you ass."

Dean is positive he's never loved someone more in his life. Even if the stupid feathery bastard's being sketch about the wings.