title | the ineffable rapture of heaven & earth
series | no series
chapter | six. the stars are old that stood for me
author | moirataliesin 「fka mallowcakes/inkcapgoblin」
fandom | supernatural
pairing | m/m, dean winchester/castiel 「destiel」
rating | eventually r
genre | romance
warnings | eventual m/m smut
word count | 1.2k
summary | castiel & dean are transported to another dimension where they have apparently lived for 5 years. together. as a married couple. there's no magic, castiel's angel powers aren't working, and somehow they know everything about the lives they've been pushed into. so, what the hell is going on here? and how can the get out?
notes | thanks goes out to my beta, actualprincessdean.

for more of this, and things like it, check out my profile.
as always, likes and comments are appreciated and encouraged.

The car ride to the destination wasn't as long as it seemed but Castiel felt like a small child as the excitement grew. He had to admit that it was probably because Dean had done something romantic and he was okay with that whether it was for show or not.

Not long after he was sure couldn't take it any longer, a large, banner appeared in a parking lot ahead of them. He squinted at the words and realized that he was being taken to a carnival.

"A fair?" Dahlia said, breaking the silence. She grabbed her husband's arm and squeezed with a huge smile on her face, "We haven't been to one of these for years!"

"Cas hasn't ever been." Dean said, his voice oddly low and soft.

"Ever?" Dahlia said, turning in her seat to peer over the top of it.

Castiel shook his head and glanced down at the seat trying not to notice how close Dean's hand was to his. He fought to keep the heat rising to his face.

"No." Cas said, looking back towards her and clearing his throat, "I have not."

"Hope ya like it." Leon said, "Dean was pretty excited when he came to me with the idea."

"Was he?" Cas was shocked, but kept his voice calm.

"Yeah, well..." Dean said, his voice trailing off as he began to stare at his feet, "I knew you hadn't been so..."

They finally parked the car and headed towards the ticket booths.

After Dean paid for the two of them he lingered by the gate long enough to grab Castiel's hand. The angel's eyes widened in surprise before he composed himself.

'We're with friends. This was expected.' Castiel told himself, 'This is nothing. There's nothing here. Do not imagine things just because you wish them to be true.'

He curled his fingers through Dean's and smiled and they walked a good way in and stopped to form a plan.

"Let's go on a few rides and then get a bit of Carnie food." Dean said, glancing around.

"Sounds good. Then, we can split up for some one-on-one datey goodness." Dahlia commented, rubbing Leon's stomach with a huge grin.

"Exactly." Dean said with a squeeze of Castiel's hand.

Cas was scared to speak for fear that the crumble in his resolve would make it's way to his voice. It was getting harder to believe the lie they had created. It was getting harder to want to believe the lie. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second.

"You okay, Cas?" Dean asked, bringing him back to reality.

"Yes, Dean." He said, after seeing the worried glances from his companions, "I'm just a little overwhelmed."

After they were sure of where they were headed, they started the trek through the rides area of the fair. Castiel's eyes were wide as he tried to take in everything. A mixture of fear and excitement ran through him as he wondered what they would ride first. The chatter of the others became a soft mumble in the back of his mind.

When he tuned back into the conversation, he found that they had been discussing what the perfect first ride to take Castiel on would be.

"Do I get no say so in this?" He laughed.

"Sadly no." Dean said, an odd joviality in his voice, "Your fate has been sealed. I'm the husband. I get final say."

"The Monster it is then." Leon said, grabbing his wife and pulling her quickly down the midway.

"I hope you like this." Dean said, turning to walk backwards and grabbing Castiel's other hand. His voice was low again. A goofy smile crossed his face as he waited for Castiel's answer.

"It was a very happy surprise." Cas told him, a little distracted with the thought that he wasn't looking where they were going.

"I'm glad. I just... I thought we could both use the distraction."

Dean turned back without waiting for a reply and pulled Castiel to where Dahlia and Leon waited for them.

They were standing in line and Dean could watch the changes on Cas' face as he stared at the whirling mechanism in front of them. He hoped so much that he would enjoy as least one of the rides. He had thought, before bringing the idea up, that it probably wouldn't compare at all to flying but Dean decided to take the chance. He remembered how excited he was as a kid when Bobby, in another defiance of John Winchester, took him and Sammy to a carnival all night. He wanted to share that with Cas.

Castiel, on the other hand, was oscillating between excitement, fear, and confusion as he watched as 'The Monster' spin before him. He was scared because he had never been on a carnival ride before and wasn't sure what to expect. He was confused as to how humans could find something like that entertaining. But, he was mostly excited because he was getting ready to climb into a quickly propelled metal box with a man he was falling... had fallen... something... in love with. He felt his cheeks and nose go hot with the thought and hoped Dean wouldn't notice.
Dean did notice. He noticed and the goofy grin crossed his face again. It has taken him a long time to get to where he was. He knew the feelings had started sometime long before they'd got to this world, but he also knew that he would have never had let himself think about it if they hadn't gotten here. He could almost admit to himself that this was more real than anything he had in his life before. He wondered how Cas felt. Was he still pretending? Was Dean fooling himself by looking too closely at the little things?

After the ride, Dean was worried that Castiel didn't enjoy it because there was an uncomfortable look on his face but it turned out that he just needed to get used to the ground again. They then proceeded to ride a few roller coasters, a carousel, the UFO, and the Tornado before stopping to get some food.

Dean was insistent that they find a chocolate covered something and a fried something. Dahlia interjected, saying that a chocolate covered anything could NOT be as good as a funnel cake and, husband or not, she was getting final say on that. Leon said no matter what he was getting a polish sausage no matter what everyone else did. Dean laughed because he was sure there was a joke in there somewhere but he couldn't think of one.
In the end they settled on getting sausage, funnel cakes, fried pickles, and fried Snickers.

"So, Castiel, how do you like the carnival so far?" Dahlia asked as she finished off her food.

"This has been great." He told her, biting through another pickle and savoring it.

"Well, I think it's about time for me to take my woman off to some games and whatnot and leave you two to yourselves." Leon said, putting an arm around Dahlia as he stood up from the table and grabbed their trash. He winked at Dean quickly as he helped his wife to her feet.

"Oh, well, that sounds good." She said with a smile, "Well, I guess I'll see you two at the front gate in a few. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Dean cleared his throat at her comment and she laughed as they walked off.

"So," He said, turning towards Castiel with a smile, "Hurry up and finish your food, baby. The night's not over yet."

Castiel almost choked on his drink.

"What's left?" Cas asked.

"Well, I think I'd like to win you something before the final stop. You okay with that?"

Castiel just nodded as he quickly finished up the last of his food. Dean tossed their trash in the garbage can, grabbed Cas' hand and pulled him off towards the midway.