The sun was setting as Dean drove them down the road. Again, Cas pointed out how beautiful it was.
Dean turned down Boston as it transitioned from "Foreplay" to "Long Time" and grinned. He decided he needed to stretch his legs anyway, and pulled off onto the desert sand.
"Dean?" Cas got out and followed Dean, who leaned on Baby's hood.
Dean took the time to soak it all in and smell those desert roses. "Yeah, Cas?" He did not even realize he threw his arm around the angel's shoulder.
"Nothing...just making sure you're ok..." He looked at Dean's smile.
Dean turned to look at him. "I've never been better, actually..."
Cas felt something again, and held onto Dean's arm around him as he twisted it into a hug. He tried to imagine what Dean's cologne really smelt like, what his hair really felt like, and-
He stepped back and took a good look at Dean Winchester. The messy hair from the long drive was longer than Dean normally kept it, as he had not stopped to find a barber in a while. The stubble on his face made that shadow even darker as the sun highlighted his tan skin. And his eyes...Cas never imagined Dean's eyes were like that when he first had his soul in his own hands when he saved him. The wrinkles and bags around his eyes were becoming a little more prominent again, but Cas would put a stop to that soon. And despite his eating habits, Dean was still young and active enough to keep his broad, muscular shoulders hugging the sleeves of his flannel of the day. That little smile, the one Cas notices whenever he quirks the side of his mouth up, he found so intriguing.
He looks so beautiful.
"What?" Dean tensed up again, not sure he heard Cas right.
Cas realized in horror that he had said that last part out loud. But then, he did not care. It was getting harder to hide it now. After all of this time, he, an angel, found himself...
"In every way..." Cas finished his thought
"Uh, buddy, you-you-you must have me confused with some other, but-I" Dean's heart was beating out of his chest. "I'm just...me..."
"And I love it." Cas smiled again, letting out a laugh. "Dean, I've been trying to tell you...I just wish you could see yourself the way I see you...I thought I was just mesmerized by your soul, but spending time with you, learning everything about you...I...I don't know what's happened to me, but...Dean...I think I love you..."
Dean placed his hand over his heart, trying to keep it steady. No, this was not possible. Even Cas himself has said over and over again [literally, last night] that angels could not feel these emotions, especially-
"Love?" The word sounded foreign in Dean's mouth, almost like it was a curse, it scared him so much. "Me?"
Come on, man up! You've been hiding these feelings deep down for a long time too! Just tell him! He obviously reciprocates!
"Yes..." Cas said. "And, you know what? I don't care if you don't feel the same, because what we have, I have never had before, and I know this seems a little sudden, but we've known each other for a while, and it's taken me this long to figure it out, and-"
"That won't be necessary, Cas..." Dean found himself struggling for the right words, but could not find it. He saw Cas' face so happy, happier than he had ever seen the angel, and it was because they were talking about this, this elephant in the room that has been suffocating them for a long time.
"What do you mean?" Cas' smile dropped.
"Because I think I love you, too..." Dean hugged him this time, but it was more gentle, comforting. He was not clinging for safety from a nightmare; he was not laughing at a crazy thing that they experienced; no...this was a hug that he wanted to take the time to feel Cas, right where he always wanted Cas to be...with him. Right here, where he could protect him, and keep him forever.
"Dean?" Cas embraced him, he could not find himself in a better moment of thought and feeling before. His grace screamed in...emotion.
"Yeah..." Dean laughed, wondering how this little angel ended up being so much like him, that when someone would say something to him, he would need confirmation immediately following. "I don't care that you're an angel. You could be, a, a dog, and I would still love you." Dean found it all being a lot less scary than he had pictured this moment in his head. All of those butterflies in his stomach every time they brushed past each other with microscopic touches, all of those little phrases that would slip that would send his mind into total shutdown...there was no need for the dramatics.
Castiel, an angel of the Lord, loved Dean Winchester...
And Dean Winchester, a hunter, loved Castiel, an angel of the Lord...