Day 24 – Prompt: Bloody clothes

Summary: Dean returns from a hunt, covered in blood. Cas has a hard time believing his trademark "I'm fine".

Dean carefully maneuvered himself out of the impala and looked back at the mess in the driver's seat in dismay. Crap. Getting blood and filth out of Baby's leather seats was a pain. He'd have to do it as soon as possible, before the mess had time to dry into the material.

For a moment he debated taking his duffle with the weapons with him, but then he decided to leave them in the garage for now. No need to drag even more filth into their living space.

He closed car's windows and locked Baby before making his way to the door that lead into the bunker's main area. He frowned at the muddy footprints he was leaving behind, but the old floors were generally too cold to walk barefooted so he left his shoes on anyway.

The first thing he did, even before going for the showers, was to make his way towards the kitchen for a quick drink. The hunt, even though easy enough, had been exhausting and he was craving a cool beer. When he entered the room, he saw that Cas was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, a sandwich and nervously fiddling with his new phone.

As soon as the former angel saw him, his eyes widened and he jumped up to meet him at the counter. "Dean! What happened? Where have you been?"

Dean raised an eyebrow at his friend's worried reaction, before remembering that he was covered in dirt and vampire blood. "Hunt," he grunted in explanation before opening the fridge and getting out two beers. One for himself and one for Cas if he was feeling like it.

"Are you okay?" Cas was still staring at him with wide worried eyes.

"Sure." Dean opened his own bottle, Cas was keeping his untouched, and took a few deep gulps before he continued. "It was just a few vampires. Milk run."

"You are covered in blood."

"Not mine," Dean brushed off his friend's worry.

Cas gaze hardened. "Dean, why did you go on a hunt without telling anyone? Even a simple case can easily take an unexpected turn and backup can be essential in saving your life."

"I told Sam that I was going," Dean said defensively and took another mouthful of beer. He didn't need Cas to baby him. He was perfectly capable of finishing a hunt by himself.

"You know that Sam is staying with Eileen for the week. I was worried, Dean!"

The green eyed man evaded his gaze. He had neglected to tell Cas about the hunt on purpose. It hadn't been all that long since the former angel had become permanently human and Dean just wasn't ready to push him head first back into danger without any powers to fall back on.

"I didn't need help on this," was what he ended up saying, "And you still need to rest up. There was no reason to stress you out by telling you."

Cas took a deliberate step forward and for one moment Dean almost felt like his former angelic power was emitting from him. "I might be human now, but I am not fragile! You do not need to protect me, Dean! Tell me the truth, where are you hurt?"

"I'm not!" Dean protested.

Cas skimmed his eyes over Dean's blood-stained clothes again and – okay, Dean had to admit how it looked. He'd returned from a barely prepared solo hunt covered in blood and went to the kitchen for alcohol before even getting a shower.

He fidgeted with a cut in his shirt that had been just shy of hitting skin. As it was it had only roughed the fabric up pretty bad. "It's all vampire blood. I'm fine."

Cas raised an eyebrow. "Pardon me for not believing you, but you tend to hide your injuries out of some misguided sense of protecting others."

Dean threw his arms out defensively. "What do you want me to do to prove it? Want me to strip down naked to check for injuries yourself?" He wasn't lying about being hurt for once and he was not going to acknowledge that Cas had a point.

As soon as the words left Dean's mouth, he regretted them when he saw Cas considerate gaze wander over his form. His cheeks grew hot. "Forget it," he muttered. "I promise I'm not hurt. You gonna trust me on this or what?"

Cas locked eyes with him and after a few moments of intense staring, he nodded. "You better not be lying to me. I can make you regret it even without the powers of heaven at my disposal."

Dean swallowed and tried to push back the image of some very creative ways Cas could punish him. "Uh, sure," he stammered. "I…I'm gonna hit the showers."

And with that he stumbled out of the kitchen to take care of another suddenly pressing issue that required a shower. Fuck, how had becoming human managded to make Cas even hotter?