"A freakin' goddess. Are you kidding me?!" Dean snarled, throwing his blood-stained coat over the back of a chair in their motel room.

"I highly doubt that was a joke, Dean," Cas said, panting slightly as he sat down on the edge of one of the beds.

Almost as soon as they'd arrived at the small town, they'd almost been killed. They had visited the cops in their usual FBI outfits.

Eventually, after what had sounded like an extremely easy case to solve, they'd ended up in an old, abandoned factory, where all the children seemed to have gone to before disappearing. Apparently, they were dealing with something way more powerful than a witch or a demon. It had been a goddess. She'd been eating the children, and quite frankly, the Winchesters had no idea how to deal with this one. Luckily, Castiel did. He disappeared, leaving Dean and Sam to deal with the evil bitch on their own. Soon after, he'd returned with a silver stake, and after a lot of fighting, he finally managed to stick it through her chest.

Dean and Cas hadn't even been able to talk, yet.

"Jesus Christ," Sam panted, letting himself fall on the bed.

"You okay, Sammy?"

"I've been better. What about you?"

Dean just grunted, rubbing a hand across his face. "Cas, your healing mojo would really help right about now."

Cas jolted. "Of course."

He leaned over Dean, touching him briefly on the forehead, before doing the same to Sam. They brothers sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Cas," Sam said. "Dean, I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

"Pizza," Dean barked, not letting Sam finish.

The younger brother rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Cas, you want anything?" he asked, out of politeness.

"No, thank you," the angel muttered.

He seemed to be growing increasingly tense.

"Um.. all right. I'll see you guys later," Sam shrugged, catching the car keys Dean threw at him.

It was silent for a few minutes after Sam had left. Dean left to the bathroom, cleaning up the remaining blood-stains on his face and hands. He frowned at his clothes, shrugging them off and walking back into the room in only his boxers. Castiel was standing with his back to him. He didn't say a word, just pulled on a pair of jeans.

"You should get some rest," Cas suddenly said quietly, still not turning around to face him.

"Not tired." Which was a complete lie, Dean was absolutely exhausted. But that didn't matter. He walked nonchalantly to a chair, pulling it out and sitting down on it.

"So.." he began. "Now that we don't have a case, or anything else to do at the moment, and Sam's gone, we need to have a chat. Talk to me, Cas."

Castiel took a deep breath, and turned around slowly. He walked up to Dean, sitting in the chair opposite him. The eldest Winchester looked at him expectantly.

"Dean, you've seen my wings," Castiel then murmured, not meeting Dean's eye.

Dean blinked at him, memories of the gorgeous wings filling his mind again. "Yeah?"

"You.. you can't," Cas then said helpfully.

"What?"

The angel made a frustrated sound, standing up and walking away. "No one sees an angel's wings, Dean. Not even other angels. No one, except.." he trailed off.

"Except..?" Dean asked, standing up.

"Except their.. except the angels they are bonded with," Cas finished with a sigh.

"What does that mean?" the hunter asked, frowning.

"It means that now we have to bond," the angel said, sounding tired.

"Wha.. bond like, how?" Dean stuttered, not sure he was liking this.

Cas turned to him, glaring a little. "A proper bond. To be linked together forever."

Dean swallowed at Cas' sudden powerful voice. "Yeah, that's not happening."

"I wish it were that easy," Cas muttered, frowning slightly.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that we don't really have a choice. I've been trying to ignore it, but.. it's too strong." He stepped closer to Dean, causing the latter to step back automatically. "The pull. It's almost unbearable. I thought that maybe, if I acted cold towards you, it would lessen but.. it's only getting stronger."

"Pull? What the fuck are you talking about, Cas?" Dean barked, not liking the way this was heading.

"You're not feeling it yet. Interesting," Cas murmured. "We can't ignore the pull. You've seen.. part of my soul by seeing my wings, and I have left my mark on yours. We are already somewhat bonded. But now, we will have to bond properly. We've got no choice."

"Hell, we've got a fucking choice. It's not my fucking fault I saw your stupid wings, Cas! You should learn to keep your private parts hidden!" Dean snapped. "I haven't felt any kind of.. pull, or whatever, so screw that shit! I'm not bonding with any freakin' angel of the lord any time soon, so you can stick that idea up your ass."

Cas looked at him, his expression a mixture of exasperation and something Dean couldn't identify. "Dean.."

"Fuck off, Cas."

"Believe me, I don't want this to happen either. We can ignore it for now, but sooner or later, it will become unbearable. I'm sorry, Dean."

"This bond.. it's like.. love? Or what?" the hunter asked tensely.

"I believe so. You could perhaps compare it to marriage for humans, except a whole lot more powerful and impossible to take back. It is the most powerful, strong bond that can be made between angels.. or in this case.."

"Is there no way out of this?" Dean then tried, desperate.

"Not that I know of," Cas said quietly.

"Forever," the hunter mused, running a hand through his hair. Suddenly, he seemed to get an idea. "Hey, we can just ignore the pull or whatever, can't we? I mean, I'm not feeling shit right now and apparently it's not too bad for you. We can just pretend like there's nothing going on and move on with our lives?"

The angel looked pained. "As much as I would like that to work, it won't. I'm.. in a lot of pain right now. It's only worse because my grace is damaged. But you.. once you start feeling it, it will become excruciating for you. I'm afraid you'll come running to me," he said softly. He didn't sound happy with it, more regretful.

"Yeah, fuck that. Cas, I don't know if you know me, but I'm the master in repressing shit. This will just be one more thing," Dean growled.

"Dean, it won't work.."

"Fucking watch me. I'm not gonna bond with freakin' anything, god damn it."

"Listen to me -"

"Bite me, Cas."

With that, he walked out of the motel room, slamming the door shut behind him

Thank you for reading, please leave reviews!