Over the next few days they got a lot of cases to do. Mostly it was smaller cases, for which Castiel was grateful because he was still recovering from his injuries. Their teamwork was better now, which made it a lot easier to finish a case, and it also made it easier for both of them to get up in the morning to go to work.
Dean found himself not wanting to trade Cas for anyone. Even though the angel still had to gain more trust in him, but that would come, eventually.
After a hunt, Dean and Castiel returned to their office to make a report about it and put it into the logbook. They were standing in the middle of the room, sorting through the last papers together, when Sam showed up in the office.
"Dean, can I talk to you?" Sam said, standing in the doorway.
"Sammy?" Dean asked, surprised. His brother never came to him at work. "Sure, come on in." He went over and greeted his brother with a hug, which the taller man returned immediately. Castiel stared between them in wonder, unsure of what was going on.
"Sam, this is Cas – well, Castiel, actually," Dean said when they broke away from the hug, and gestured at the angel. "Cas, this is my little brother, Sammy."
"It's Sam," Sam corrected, annoyed, before turning to face the angel. "It's good to finally meet you. Dean has told me about you," he smiled and reached his hand out for Cas to shake.
Castiel stared at the hand for a moment before taking it, hesitantly. He shook it very lightly and quickly drew his hand back from the touch. He tensed and glanced at Dean. Exactly how much had Dean told Sam?
Dean could see the question in his eyes but wasn't able to answer it with Sam in the room, otherwise his brother would start asking questions. He turned back to Sam, who seemed a little puzzled by Cas' strange behavior.
"So, why are you here?" he asked.
"Oh!" Sam said, almost having forgotten it. "Well, the other night when I was out with a few of my friends from school, we went to this bar on 24th Street. And I could have sworn that for a moment the bartender was… well, staring at me with these black eyes."
"Black eyes? A demon?" Dean said, surprised.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was. I said to the others I was going to the restroom, but actually I went into the back, and it reeked of sulfur back there."
Dean and Castiel shared a glance.
"What do you think, Cas? Should we go to town tonight?"
"Shouldn't we rather go after the demon?" Castiel asked, confused.
"That's what I meant… Never mind," Dean sighed. "Anyway, let's go check it out tonight, unless you have something else you gotta do."
"I don't," Castiel replied.
"Good, it's settled then."
"Yeah, thanks guys. I'm gonna head for my next class, I can't miss that one," Sam said, heading for the door.
"You still got classes today? How come you're here then?" Dean asked, frowning.
"Mr. Henderson cancelled his class so I had a free period," Sam explained and shrugged. "Now, I really gotta go, so good luck you guys."
"Yeah, see ya later, Sammy," Dean said as his brother disappeared out the door. He sighed. He had been hoping to be able to come home by dinner time tonight, but it seemed to have been pushed until late night now.
He went back to the papers they were sorting earlier when he noticed that Castiel was still looking a little out of place. Dean turned to look at him.
"Cas, I didn't tell him anything about your past, if that's what you think," Dean assured him. "He has no reason to know about it. Besides, I thought you might not like it if I told him."
Castiel nodded, grateful for Dean's silence. "Thank you."
"No problem," Dean smiled.
They went back to work and prepared for tonight. It had been a while since Dean had been on a demon hunt, and he couldn't risk anything going wrong, even though he had an angel to back him up.
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The bar was almost full when they arrived around 8pm that night. The music was loud, people were talking and chatting, and drinks were being served at every table. The light in the bar was low, but candles on some of the tables lit up the atmosphere.
Dean entered the place with Castiel closely behind him. The angel folded his wings tight against his back, and seemed extremely nervous about going into the human-filled bar. But he had to go with Dean in there – if the demon bartender did not do anything suspicious, Dean wouldn't know who he was, so he needed the angel's help for this.
Castiel stared around the bar in an almost paranoid matter. He flinched from every human that got too close to him, and refused to step away from the side of the counter, where at least he could have his back and wings against something solid without risking that a human suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind him. Angels never turned their backs to a human – it would expose their wings too much. So he took comfort in the solid bar counter behind him and relaxed a little.
"You see him yet?" Dean asked as they stood by the bar.
Castiel glanced across the counter and looked at the bartenders. There was only one guy and one girl serving.
"No. It's not them," he said, disappointed and turned back to Dean.
"Damn, means we gotta wait 'til the guy shows up for work. If he even does," Dean muttered.
Castiel tensed. "I don't wish to stay here for long."
Dean looked at him and saw how uncomfortable he was. He knew the angel was afraid of humans, and the bar was filled with them – not only that, most of the people here were the kind that would take Castiel to a room and have their way with him if they could. Dean wouldn't let that happen, though.
"We'll stay here for only half an hour, okay? If he doesn't show, I'll get Sam to point him out to us so we know who he is and then come back. Sound good?"
Castiel nodded, gratefully.
Dean turned around and ordered something to drink. Castiel said he didn't want anything, so he simply ordered a beer for himself. He could allow himself to have one beer tonight while they waited for the demon to show.
It didn't take long before a girl's attention was directed at Dean.
She approached him, not being shy about it, and when Dean turned around she cornered him against back against the counter.
"Hey sweetie, you available?" She asked. Dean's eyes widened a little as she pushed her body against his; her boobs against his chest and her face right up in his. She licked her lips seductively, staring at Dean's lips before looking up into his green eyes with her grey ones.
She looked hot. She was probably around 24 years old, only four years younger than Dean. She had dark brown hair, nice boobs, good hips, and a pretty red dress which showed off her figure.
She was exactly Dean's type.
"Depends," Dean smirked. "What's your name?"
"Nathalie," she purred against him, making Dean shudder.
"Dean," he croaked; distracted by her closeness.
/
Castiel stared wide-eyed at the girl who had approached Dean. He knew humans were very straightforward when it came to their mating rituals, but he was still slightly shocked by how forward this female seemed. She walked right up to an alpha-male to express her interest, with no hesitation or foreplay. That was almost unheard of for angels.
And Dean was flirting back. Just like that.
Castiel tensed. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and there was something stinging in his chest as he watched the girl seduce Dean right in front of him.
He watched as the girl's arms went around Dean's neck, and Dean's hands found her slender waist. They were smiling and flirting, and it made that feeling inside Castiel want to burst out through his chest.
It was jealousy.
But why? Castiel didn't feel for Dean in any… sexual way – at least he shouldn't. He hated sex. His former 'owner' had forced him to sex every single day, and Castiel had hated and feared it more than anything else that was ever done to him. It was a violating thing and he couldn't understand how people seemed to like it so much that they performed it with almost anyone.
So why was he feeling jealous now, with this girl's arms around Dean, and Dean's around her, and both of them almost ready to copulate?
It made no sense.
/
Dean was so lost in this girl in front of him, he had almost forgotten that Cas was standing right next to him. He turned to look at the angel. Castiel looked very uncomfortable, and almost pained. He looked into his eyes filled with pain and confusion, and that was when Dean finally snapped out of it.
What the hell was he doing? In front of Cas, too!
It was wrong, and he felt guilt rise inside of him.
The girl – Nathalie – was giggling somewhere around his neck, and Dean pushed her away. She resisted but he finally managed to push her away from him so he could look at her.
"Look, I'm sorry, but I can't do this tonight," Dean said; his hands on her upper arms to make her keep her distance.
She stared at him and her mouth dropped. "You bastard!" She shouted at him and pulled away from Dean's grip and stalked through the crowd and out of sight.
Dean sighed in relief.
"You didn't have to do that," Castiel said, feeling a little guilty that Dean lost his 'prize'.
"No, Cas, I did," Dean said, turning to face him. "I came here to hunt a demon with you; not to pick up girls." He winced as he felt his half-hard erection poking against his jeans, but ignored it. It would go away soon.
Castiel decided to leave it be, and glanced across the bar again, before he spotted another bartender. He recognized him immediately as being a demon.
"Dean," Castiel said, urgently. "It's him." He looked at the demon and Dean followed his gaze.
"Good, he's here," Dean said; reaching into his back pocket where he had holy water.
But the demon chose that moment to look over at them, and when he saw Castiel's wings and how they were both staring back at him, he panicked and fled.
"Damnit," Dean cursed when the demon ran for the back door. "Follow me," he yelled after Cas, and they ran out of the bar quickly to catch up with the demon.
They caught the demon in an alley behind the bar; Dean cornered him up against a dead-end. There was no one around, only stray cats and stinking dumpsters were filling the dark alley. The smell of garbage and rotten meat filled Dean's nose and he wrinkled it in disgust.
But he had the demon cornered, and he was staring back at them with panic in his eyes.
"No way out for you now, huh, demon?" Dean smirked.
"Don't be too sure of that," the demon sneered. He whistled, loudly, and Dean wondered for a second what the hell the guy was doing, until he saw a shadow form in front of him. The shadow's form changed and manifested itself into a dog – no, a Hellhound.
Dean flinched back; staring at the growling, aggressive creature in fear, before the demon shouted something and the hellhound attacked.
"Dean!" Castiel yelled, shocked, but was pulled back by the demon who was suddenly on him. He panicked; feeling the demon claw at his feathers, and he cried out in pain as it managed to pull a few of them out. Castiel shook the demon off of him and punched it into the wall where he exorcised it with a touch.
Dean was struggling with the hellhound, which had knocked him to the ground. It had managed to sink its teeth into his right arm and it wouldn't let go. He screamed in pain and managed to take out his silver knife from his back pocket and plunge it into the hellhound's neck; blood splattering everywhere. He knew it wouldn't kill the hound, but it did make it let go of his arm.
The hellhound whined, and before it could launch itself at Dean again, Castiel grabbed it and used his powers to turn it to ashes.
When the hellhound's ashes crumbled to the ground, Dean exhaled and lay back on the ground; his head hitting the asphalt with a small thud.
Castiel kneeled and leaned over him, worried.
"Dean?"
"God damnit, Cas," Dean said, smiling. "I think the two of us could make a habit out of saving each other's lives all the time," he grinned, but winced when the pain in his arm stung him.
Castiel merely smiled at his comment and laid a hand over Dean's injured arm.
"Cas." Dean stopped him; grabbing his hand with his own uninjured one. "Don't. I know healing is a big deal for you guys, so don't. I'll be fine."
Castiel stared up into his eyes, hesitating a little.
"But I want to," he whispered. He gently shook Dean's hand off and laid his own hand back on Dean's injured arm. He let his Grace touch the injury; the wound healing up slowly under their gazes until it was completely gone.
Letting their Grace touch someone like this was not something angels did often, and only to the ones deserving of it, or the ones they trusted.
Castiel didn't fully trust Dean yet, but with this he did.
When he was done, Castiel didn't remove his hand from Dean's arm. Instead, they stared into the human's eyes. Something unknown was exchanged between them then. Neither blinked as they continued to stare into each other's eyes.
Castiel was leaning over Dean, and slowly, hesitantly, he leaned down a little more; his eyes suddenly staring at the hunter's lips which were now so close.
Dean stared back until his gaze fell to the angel's lips as well, and he found himself leaning upwards, towards the angel until their lips almost brushed, inches from the other. They were so close and Dean's heart was going faster than ever.
Suddenly, the moment was broken as Castiel drew back abruptly; eyes wide. Dean stared back at him with an equal expression.
"I- I can't," Castiel stammered.
Dean stared back at him in bewilderment as the angel rose from his position over Dean and stood up.
Dean stood up as well, and there was an awkward moment where they both avoided the other's eyes, before they eventually walked out of the alley together, in silence.
But they both knew that something had changed between them that night.
Whether it was for the better or for the worse was still unknown.
To be continued…
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As you might have guessed, things will be a little different between them from now on. But it'll be a few chapters before anything big happens.
Thanks for all your lovely reviews, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well :) More is coming soon.