title | the ineffable rapture of heaven & earth
series | no series
chapter | twelve. over and out of the loam
author | moirataliesin 「fka mallowcakes/inkcapgoblin」
fandom | supernatural
pairing | m/m, dean winchester/castiel 「destiel」
rating | r
genre | romance
warnings | m/m smut
word count | 1.0k
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, hetty bobcat.

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

Some time after the absolutely transformative exchange of fluids and the annoying sound of life outside the window the next morning, the two of them had made their way up to the bedroom and fallen asleep in each other's arms. Dean had rolled over and grumbled a few choice words before falling back asleep. Castiel stood up, felt the carpet between his toes, and stretched his arms . Memories of the night before danced in his head. He smiled to himself as he headed downstairs to make breakfast. Dean woke up a while later as the smell of eggs and bacon wafted through the house. He rolled over onto his back, letting his eyes adjust to the room and ran his hands through his hair. Slowly, he started to remember what happened the night before.

"Shit." He sighed, rubbing his hands down to cover his eyes, "Shit."

He was… what was he? Well, embarrassed for one. What else? Surprised? Maybe a little. Turned on? Oh, unbelievably but still he was more… yeah… embarrassed. That was definitely the word for it. What was he doing all red-nosed and doe-eyed trying to touch parts of Castiel that he was sure he'd only imagine in only his most lust-filled of dreams.

"Fuck," he said to himself. He didn't want to get up, but he also didn't want to leave Cas awkwardly stirring pancake batter in the kitchen; especially when he, himself, was lying upstairs filled with… something he was sure wasn't regret - probably just embarrassment again.

"Be a man, Dean," he told himself. "Just go down there like every other damned day and have breakfast with your… yeah… like everything's normal."

Like everything's normal.

He got out of bed and went to the dresser to throw on some clothes, clothes that he put on very slowly. Let's prolong this as much as we can. He wasn't even sure what he'd say or do when he got down there. If he didn't react in the right way, he didn't know if he could take the look of disappointment on Cas' face.

Finally dressed, he stopped to glance in the mirror. Everything looked the same. Everything was the same. Freckles were all in place. Hair was tousled just right. The only difference between today's Dean and last night's Dean was another man had seen him sweaty and vulnerable and shuddering. He swallowed hard and looked at the bedroom door before turning and walking out of it.

It seemed like it took forever to walk down the stairs and into the kitchen. He felt like he was walking through another dimension. Everything seemed so different. His eyes felt like someone else's. All sounds felt far away. Yet, when he reached his destination and saw the dark-haired angel whose eyes he found solace in just hours ago, the tunnel vision vanished and everything seemed normal.

'Just eat your fucking breakfast, you asshole,' he thought to himself and smiled at Castiel. "Hey, you!" Cas greeted warmly, turning to hand Dean a plate of food and a glass of orange juice. He walked forward, leaning into him to kiss him on the cheek.

"Hey," Dean said with a little awkwardness left in his voice.

Determined not to talk about the night before for fear of scaring off the change he had seen, Castiel grabbed his own plate and set at their table. Dean followed suit and started digging into the eggs.

"Are you going in to work today?" Castiel asked after a few seconds. Dean took a swig of his juice. "I think so. I've got a few cars I said I'd get done by tomorrow, so I should probably go in."

Castiel nodded. "Of course."

"What are you going to do today?"

"I don't know yet. I was going to go into the shop but I really need to go to the store and it's been a few days since Dahl and I really did anything. So I might go see if she'd like to join me."

"Yeah. That sounds like a plan," Dean said through the food in his mouth, punctuating the sentence by swallowing. "You know, look, if you're not busy later I was kind of hoping to take you out to dinner."

"Like a real date!?" Castiel almost said. He almost said it, but he stopped himself. That would have been the exact opposite reaction that Dean would have wanted right now.

"That sounds wonderful," Castiel said. Actually said. Out loud.

"Great. Then, make sure you dress nice. I'll be back around 7 and we'll go out and paint the town."

"Yes, sir!" Castiel said with a laugh.

Dean took his empty plate to wash it off in the sink before putting his shoes on and grabbing his lunch bag out of the fridge. He took a determined breath before walking over to where Castiel was still sitting and kissed him full on the mouth before walking out the door for work.

"Where is the angel, Castiel?" A male voice from behind Sam made him jump.

"Jesus!" Sam said, picking up the butter knife he had just tossed into the air. "I'm clearly not used to that since Cas has been gone."

"Gone?" The male angel spoke again. "Where has Castiel gone to exactly?"

"Number one: not your business. Number two: leave," Sam said. He wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to some random angel that popped into his motel room.

"There are classified things going on in Heaven and we need Castiel. We've been looking for him for quite some time and it is known that Castiel likes to fraternize with the Winchesters. It is of utmost importance that he is returned to us right away." The angel stood there awkwardly before shrugging and adding: "Please."

Sam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Will it get you out of my motel room?"

The angel shifted his eyes. "Sure?"

"Then I'll try to reverse the spell. Just leave now," Sam said, pointing to the door.

The angel popped out of the room, leaving Sam alone to think. Honestly, if they hadn't popped back yet, Sam was starting to think that they might never come back anyway. He had already planned to pull the plug soon. Now was just as good as later.