Hello there, everyone! I'm super excited for posting this chapter because I'm pretty sure that this fic will go over 200 kudos this time! I didn't get very many comments on the last chapter, though, and if someone would be kind enough to leave some this time, that would be fantastic.
The rest of that day was spent in peace.
Dean sat close to Cas, swapping stories and laughing at the top of their lungs as they goofed around. He helped Cas to make dinner, smearing some food onto his face and laughing even harder when Cas immediately turned around and did the same to him.
At the end of the night, Dean walked to the couch. He sat down and stretched, laying back on the fluffy moss and kicking up his feet.
"What are you doing?" Castiel asked, tilting his head. Dean felt a small bit of hope begin; he didn't want to be presumptuous and just jump into Cas's bed without his permission, but he'd really like to wake up next to him tomorrow morning.
"Just, getting comfortable. Unless, of course, you want me to sleep somewhere else. Like, I dunno, with you?" He said, phrasing the last as a question. Castiel rolled his eyes.
"Get your ass in here." He said, waving Dean over. You didn't have to tell him twice; he jumped up immediately, following Cas into his bedroom and starting to undress, not wanting to end up falling asleep in his clothes.
"You don't mind if I sleep in my boxers, right?" Dean questioned. Castiel smiled the smallest bit.
"As long as you don't mind if I touch."
The next morning, they were yet again greeted by pounding upon the door.
Dean let out a groan, snuggling further into Cas's magnificent feathers. Cas stirred, giving a deep sigh and rolling out of bed.
His feet padded across the floor slowly but surely, walking to his closet. He got out a pair of pants today, (all of his leaf-kilts were, unfortunately, dirty) and slipped them on. He fixed some of his feathers in an attempt to look decently presentable, but didn't bother with a shirt for then.
He walked out to the door, yanking it open with a small yawn.
"Sir." Castiel said flatly, standing up straight.
Uriel stood outside the door, his posture firm as he leaned in, looking around. His nose wrinkled in disgust as he looked Cas up and down, eyes lingering on his collar bone. Cas felt the urge to blush or cover up the hickeys that stood there, dark and proud.
"Castiel." Uriel addressed, pushing past him and walking into his home, uninvited. Castiel felt immediate panic rise up and eat at his insides.
He looked around, scanning everything and looking as if he approved of nothing. Castiel immediately felt exposed and uncomfortable, but stood silent and straight, refusing to move.
"Hey, Cas, who is-" Dean cut off as he strolled into the living room, mouth falling open. His voice immediately turned to a vague undertone of sarcasm as he said, "Aaah, to what do we owe the pleasure?"
"Well, human," Uriel said, the word rolling off of his tongue as if it were a curse or slur, "I'm here to make sure your education isn't biased. Naomi had a wonderful idea when she saw you admiring that flower that was changing colors. She thought that you may enjoy seeing the application of the technology." He said, smiling a crooked smile.
"I suppose you'll be coming along?" Dean asked, making a face. Uriel smiled, a genuine smile.
"Naturally, of course. As I'm certain the sights Castiel have shown you have been... Well, personal, I think you may benefit from some more socially important places." Uriel said, his tone degrading. Castiel fought off the urge to talk back. He hadn't had any feelings of rebellion this strong in... Well, he honestly couldn't remember.
Honestly, it was none of his damn business what he and Dean did in their time together.
"You know, I have the feeling what Castiel showed me has about ten times more class than your "social places"." Dean mimicked, clearly getting angry. Uriel rolled his eyes, looking away.
"My mind will not be changed. You're both to meet me outside in fifteen minutes." He commanded. Castiel saw Dean's jaw clench, but he didn't argue with the leader. Uriel turned, walking straight out the front door without a glance back. Before he took off to wait for them on the ground, he turned to Castiel. "Do put on a shirt. We can't have rumors about your... unconventional relations going through the colony. It could very well turn us into a laughing stock."
The door shut behind him with a resounding 'click', an air of finality to it. Dean waited a few moments before he let out a frustrated growl, fists clenching.
"God, that guy is such a fucking asshole!" Dean said, turning and immediately beginning a fast pace to work off his energy. Castiel was still trying to get over the sting of his words. "How dare he say something like that to you? I swear to Christ, we should just punch him in the face now and get it over with. We could hide the body in the woods."
"This entire place is woods. We live in the woods." Castiel reminded him.
"Perfect. Exactly. Nobody would ever think to look there." Dean said, clearly fantasizing in graphic detail about all the things they could do to end his life.
"Dean." Cas said, warningly. Although, as much as he wasn't used to bashing Uriel, he was actually having a pretty good time listening to Dean do it. He made some pretty good points, and listening to him talk was making Cas feel a little better. "We can't kill a man for insulting me."
"I beg to differ. It's not because he insulted you. It's because he's an asshole." Dean said, relaxing some. Castiel strolled over to him, looking him in the eyes.
"All we have to do is get through this day. Actually, maybe this is a good thing. We could use today to try and subtly mention the advantages of having more insight into the human world." Castiel said, trying in a vain attempt to keep a positive outlook. Dean raised an eyebrow.
"So, you've decided you're going? You want to come with me?" He asked. Castiel hesitated.
Yes, he'd have to leave his home behind, but... Well, his passion had always been human culture. He would get to be entirely immersed in what the humans thought, the way they acted, the way they felt. To get to live among them, the opportunity, was absolutely priceless. Not to mention the biggest part of why he was considering this, Dean.
However, he didn't want to get Dean's hopes up. If he ended up deciding that he didn't want to, well... he just didn't want to give him any false hope, that's all.
"Maybe. It's never a bad time to try." He said, walking through the living room and into his bedroom. He opened up a drawer and grabbed a shirt, pulling it out and throwing it on over his head. He frowned down at his now-covered hickeys. "I'm going to miss seeing those."
"We'll know that they're there." Dean promised, his voice closer than Castiel would have expected. He turned around to come face to face with Dean.
Dean's face looked... hesitant. His eyes appeared torn as they flickered back and forth between Castiel's own and his lips, and even when he dropped in for a small kiss, he didn't seem entirely there. Castiel knew that something was wrong, and he didn't want to let it go unaddressed.
"What is it?" He asked against Dean's lips. Dean pulled back to look him in the eyes.
"Cas, I don't want you to feel like you have to go with me. I like you more than I've ever liked anyone, but it's your life we're talking about here, man. I... I just want you to know that, even if you don't want to go, we can still try to make it work. I'm willing for anything, even if we can't... y'know." Dean said.
Cas knew he wasn't being entirely truthful. Dean would understand, but he would also think that Cas's decision had something to do with him. He honestly didn't know if they could make it, if he chose not to go. That was a scary thought.
"I know." Cas said. What he meant was, I know you'd try. He took a deep breath and leaned in for another kiss, deeper this time.
"Are we gonna go and meet Uriel, or are you gonna keep kissing me like that?" Dean asked suggestively, smiling against Cas's lips. Cas smiled back.
"I don't believe we have a choice; Uriel would break the door down. He would think you had taken me prisoner." Castiel teased. Okay, so he was teasing, but he was also maybe a little bit serious. Uriel had the tendency to let his hatred of humans get in the way of rational thinking.
"Oh? And what would he do if he got up here and I had you bent over the couch, moaning and writing and pushing back on my cock?"
"I do believe he'd leave." Castiel teased, trying to ignore that scenario. It sounded very appealing right now, but they needed to go, and soon.
"Then we'd have all the time that we needed..." Dean trailed off as Cas gave him a shove, pushing him away. He pretended to be hurt by it, arms up in the air.
"What the hell did I do?" He asked.
"I think you know exactly what you do to me." Castiel purred, smacking Dean's ass as he walked by him. "And exactly why we can't let it get to that point right now. I don't want to walk around half the day with a boner."
They walked for what felt like forever, Uriel taking his dear sweet time with long and slow steps. Dean tried to slip his hand into Castiel's specifically to bother him, but Castiel gave him a stern look that made it clear he didn't want to antagonize their leader.
Dean sunk back, sulking a little.
Finally, after what felt like forever, they approached a field. A large meadow stretched out before them, filled with flowers. Large flowers, small flowers, some that would even be "regular sized" compared to fairies. Those little blue ones that Dean had always considered weeds before; they were actually beautiful from this size.
"Well, I hope you're ready to experience everything our pollination team does to keep the forest healthy. I'm sure you'll agree that it's both a selfless job and something that you wouldn't want to end up destroyed by the more foolish of your kind." Uriel said, looking over the meadow.
Dean glanced over to Cas, hoping to gauge some kind of a reaction to his words. Unfortunately, he couldn't really judge anything past the fact that Cas was glaring a hole in the back of someone's head.
He followed Castiel's gaze curiously, wondering just who Cas would have as an enemy. He was fairly peaceful as far as Dean could tell, nice, kinda zen-ish. It's actually one of the things that drew Dean to him; Dean butted heads with a lot of people. Cas, despite having a strong will, didn't.
There, standing just in his range of vision, was a pair of large purple wings that he knew well. He felt his stomach do a flip, and hatred rose in his chest.
"Well, are you ready to take the tour?" Uriel questioned, smiling. Everything about him seemed fake, and the fact that being here was making Cas uncomfortable just made Dean hate him more.
"Why not?" He asked, strolling forward. Cas broke out of his trance and followed him, starting his way down the thin path to the actual flowers.
They walked on for a little while, before meeting the edge of the flowers. The grass rose above their heads, but they had clear paths through which to walk. Dean followed closely behind Uriel, taking in the rugged smells of dirt and plant, and the sweet scent of the flowers, stronger than he'd ever smelled it before. Then again, he'd never had a perspective quite like this.
He walked on, a couple of fairies stopping their work briefly to wave a hello to the three of them. Uriel frowned in disapproval, but didn't say anything. They walked on still, through more paths, until Uriel finally took a sharp left. Dean glanced back to make sure that Castiel was okay before following him through the thick grass.
They came to a small opening, three or four fae working together, bending flowers to their will and urging bees to climb onto them.
Dean immediately jumped back, the bees coming as a shock. They were about a third as big as him, with eyes faceted into thousands of small squares. Their stingers looked wicked sharp, and almost as long as his actual hand. He backed up until he was actually leaning against Cas's chest, and Cas pushed him off, looking at him like he was done with his shit.
"You're almost the same size, he doesn't see you as a threat." He said, flatly. "Come on, I'll show you."
Dean watched with a vague sense of amazement as he walked forward, extending a hand to let the bee smell it. When the bee gave a small head nod, Castiel's hand moved down, smoothly running along it's back. The bee let out a contented buzz, seeming to relax into the touch.
"Oh, that's right, Castiel," Uriel said, as if just remembering something, "Weren't you on duty with some honeybees when we had a shortage of workers a few years ago?"
Castiel nodded his head, a small smile coming to his lips, almost like a fond remembrance. "Yes, yes I did. They're actually exceptionally gentle creatures."
"They're still freaky little fuckers." Dean put in, looking at the bee with reserve. He was a little bit curious, (and fucking impressed that Cas could do that) but more than that, he was afraid. He didn't want to get stung or anything, and bees were fucking freaky.
Actually, come to think about it, he was pretty sure Sam was allergic to bees.
"Come on." Castiel urged. His eyes were gentle, and he held out a hand. Dean hesitated, but stepped forward, allowing Castiel's hand to slide into his. Cas took his hand and slowly lowered it down onto the bee.
Had it been anyone else doing this, Dean would have said no. He wasn't even sure why he let Cas do it, but all he knew was that he trusted Castiel. More than anyone else, he trusted him. If Cas were to tell him space aliens were invading and the only way to stop them was to shove a porcupine up his ass, well, he'd probably be really confused and wonder how they got in that situation in the first place, and, where was this analogy going again?
The bee was soft. The little fibers caressed Dean's hand in an almost friendly way, not unlike petting a dog. He smiled a little bit, feeling good for overcoming his fear, no matter how small it was.
Castiel was smiling softly, and Dean found himself staring as his hands ran through the fuzz on the bee. Cas looked up and his eyes met Dean's, turning soft briefly.
"Now, if we can move on to the part where Dean learns something, that would be grand." Uriel said, smiling. Cas and Dean both reluctantly stepped away from the bug, and the bee gave a small, happy buzz in thanks for the attention. Dean decided that he was going to think of them in a different light from that moment on.
"Come on, little guy," Coaxed a fae, who was bending the flower down to the ground. She was wearing what looked like a hand-woven crown of leaves and tiny white flowers. "It's alright. Just take this pollen, and then you can fly over to the lilies on the other side of the meadow. Another one of us is there to help you pollinate the flower, make sure everything gets done." She coaxed, waving a hand.
The bee walked forward, into the flower with ease. It stuck something down in the flower to suck out the nectar, rubbing it's legs together to get more pollen off of the flower.
The bee took off into the air, buzzing happily as it flew away. Dean watched with mild interest.
"So you guys like, run the pollen business?" Dean questioned.
"No. We just help to speed things up. We know where the bees should go to make it the most beneficial it can be." Uriel clarified, watching the bee with mild interest. He smiled a little bit, turning to meet Castiel's eyes.
"Bees work in colonies, you know. Working to put their own wants and feelings aside. None of them work for anything other than the betterment of the queen. They're devoted and loyal soldiers. That's the best, and only way to live in any kind of a colony." He said. He turned around, preparing to lead them to the next task. "Anything otherwise is selfish."
Castiel looked lost. That was the only way Dean could describe what he was seeing. He looked lost and alone, and he was probably scared. Uriel had just thrown something huge at him, entirely unprovoked.
Dean had to resist the urge to punch that sucker right in the face.
He barely resisted, when Cas put an arm on his shoulder. "It's not worth it. You'll blow our chances." He mumbled into his ear. Dean gave a breathy sigh, looking towards the sky.
He didn't know how he did it, but he managed not to strangle the son of a bitch. He continued their walk through the grass, more and more bees flying around above them as they went. Dean watched their patterns with vague interest, if only to get his mind off of how much he hated the person walking in front of him.
"You know, without us, the forest would most likely become overrun by weeds. We cut down the things that have no use in this place." Uriel said, gesturing around. "Without the weeds, the flowers can bloom and blossom. Joshua, our head gardener, makes sure everything has its place."
"What about these little blue things?" Dean asked, gesturing towards them. Uriel shrugged.
"I guarantee you if Joshua didn't want them there or didn't think it was a good idea, they would be eradicated." He assured, proudly. As if destroying things you found useless or inconvenient was anything less than what they shamed the humans for doing.
Your face is a weed, Dean thought, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly. Uriel, thankfully, couldn't read his mind to hear his childish retort. Uriel also, however, kept talking and blathering on about how advanced and special their society was, which was honestly boring as fuck.
Finally, they came to the next attraction- A large flower with petals, changing colors in the breeze as it swirled around, looking as if it's movements were an intricate dance. Dean couldn't help but admire this particular flower.
Suddenly, his mood was soured.
Meg stepped out of the grass, a basket of pollen in her hands. She walked forward and grabbed the stem of the flower, pulling it downwards by force. Once it was down, she walked to the tip of it and threw some of it onto the petals, scattering it evenly over them.
"Well, look who it is! If it isn't my angel boy, Clarence." Meg swooned, smiling her best smile. "And Uriel, too. How are things upstairs, big man?"
"Things are pleasant, Meg. Do you think you could finish giving these two the tour for me? I have to be back for an important meeting soon, and you're the only one I'd consider qualified. There's only this left to show them, but I'm already late." Uriel requested. Meg shook her head.
"I can do whatever you'd like me to." She offered, smiling her sweetest smile. It honestly made Dean want to be sick.
"Thank you. I'll remember this in the future." He said. Uriel immediately turned tail and ran, walking back down the path that he came from. Meg's demeanor turned back into her angry, sassy self, the facade of someone you'd actually want to associate with had been dropped in mere seconds.
"Well there, boys, how are we today? I heard you two decided to shack up, or at least that's the rumor around. Everyone in Anna's lab was talking about poor, innocent Castiel's hickeys all over his neck. What do you say, Cas? Wanna show-and-tell, for old time's sake?" She purred, pacing around the flower.
"Tell us what you have to tell us and then let us leave, Meg." Castiel commanded, his wings flaring out dominantly. Meg smirked, rolling her eyes and letting out a dramatic sigh.
"Boys, you guys always have to make sure everyone knows who's boss." She said, turning and looking at the flower. "This thing changes colors. It does that because Anna and her pets made something that helps it do that. We sprinkle various types of pollen on it to attract various types of bees. It's a quick way to encourage... god, what was the word? Genetic diversity? Anywho, it's all super boring and I'm sure everything is better in your exciting human world."
"Go fuck a flower." Dean said, the first thing that came to his mind. "That is sitting, right atop a cactus."
"Awww, well aren't you the charmer? You sure do know how to pick 'em, don't you Cassie?" She questioned, turning towards him. Castiel's jaw tightened, and he adjusted his stance. One of his wings came to sit protectively on Dean's shoulder, and Meg pretended to look sympathetic.
"I'm so sad to see that, Cas. Just as you finally found somebody to love, they've turned out to be a bad decision. After all, he'll be gone in four more days- oh, you didn't know about the ball getting moved back, did you? Oooh, I bet you'll be so excited!"
"What do you mean?" He asked, suddenly interested. Two more days with Dean?
"One of the other fae is having some troubles getting transportation—apparently someone pretty darn top-notch, since they pushed the whole thing back. Apparently since the human is required to be there, Uriel meant to ask, well, tell him, to stay a few more days." Meg announced.
This, this was good. They had more time to-
"By the way, before you go," Meg purred, smiling, "Don't even think about trying to make this little thing work after Dean's gone, okay? I have a few tricks up my sleeve- Cas, it's me or nobody. I'm sorry, but that's just how these things work. You won't get to keep him."
Castiel's wings flared up at that, and he looked ready to attack. Meg let out a long, happy laugh, leaning back against the flower stem and smiling like she owned the world. Her eyes glinted with the kind of malicious intent you'd expect from the devil himself, and Dean almost hated her for it in that moment.
"Don't worry, Dean." She turned to him, a smile on her face. "You'll be obsolete in no time. You'd better go now, before I go ahead and give you that reason to hit me you've been itching for."
Dean almost did it then, but Castiel grabbed his arm.
"She's not worth it, Dean." He said, flatly. Dean shook off the hold, but didn't go for her like he might have before. He took a deep breath and turned around, walking briskly along the path.
With how angry he was and Castiel following hot at his heels, they were out of there in ten minutes. Panting and still angry, Dean leaned against the nearest tree, his head hitting the bark hard.
"I'm not very happy with her." He said, despite the fact that there was no real reason to. It was obvious that he was. "I hope you know that's not true, either. I'll find a damn way to make this thing work. Nothing is gonna keep us apart if I have any say in it."
"I know." Castiel said. Dean took a moment to wonder why he wasn't winded as fuck, but then dismissed it. After all, Castiel was technically a soldier. And Dean had seen his muscles, he certainly had a degree of fitness that he himself would never accomplish. Well, at least, not if he wanted to keep eating apple pie.
He did. He wanted to keep eating apple pie.
"We should go to your house now." Dean suggested, placing a hand on his chest. Slowly, the burn started to fade from there. "I mean, I'm tired as hell, but I'm also hungry. I could help you cook again?"
Castiel loved it when Dean cooked with him.
With him alone in the kitchen, it was repetitive. Yes, he liked the structure, and yes, it was still enjoyable. However, it lacked a certain kind of finesse that Dean brought into it. A certain kind of rhythm, a feeling, a joy that he supplied by being there. Castiel's motions were no longer trained and robotic; he added a little flare to them, a little dice, he swept around the room in great movements, never afraid to show off.
With Dean cooking with him, it turned a task meant to numb his mind by following simple orders into a fun, enjoyable activity. He didn't feel like he was doing just to do. It became a hobby, rather than something to fill up empty time.
Dean cooking beside him felt right to Castiel, on a deep level. It felt like they were working together to make something great. It felt like they were practicing to make something even better; the domesticity of it all made his head spin with ideas of building up their relationship and making it through the tough times.
Sure, they got a little caught up in kissing, a little absorbed in the heat and softness of each other. Sure, that meant that the fucking goddamned dinner was burned, fucking goddamnit, but still. It tasted nice anyways.
Castiel felt like there wasn't much he could do right without following a script. A very specific script, like a recipe. It showed him what to do, told him exactly how to do it, and left little room to mess up. He always thought of himself as the kind to stick to that script.
Dean came along, and it felt like the two of them looked at the book for a few seconds before shrugging and throwing it in the nearest lake with rocks tied to the cover. Castiel didn't feel like he had to do what that book said anymore. He was a free man; he was just beginning to see what making his own choices could really be.
The decision now, was whether or not to follow that script anyways. Yes, the script was sleeping with the fishes. Yes, nobody would ever find it's dead, soggy body. But the words that that script had contained were still carved into his mind as if carved into his skin by an exact-o knife. He knew what he was supposed to do, and it was oh so tempting to fall into that pattern, to listen to the words.
Because, when it came right down to it, they were carved into his fucking soul. And doing what they said, despite knowing that the words were scars, felt right somehow. Like validating it. Like those were the answers to a test carved into his skin, and all he had to do was write them down and they'd all be right.
But that wasn't how it really was, and he damn knew it.
It felt like being torn in half; one side of him wanted desperately to obey, and the other side of him wanted to do something for himself for once in his life and leave with Dean.
"You look deep in thought over there." Dean teased, still stuffing his face with their dinner. Castiel nodded his head absentmindedly, not wanting to explain, but still unable to change his thought process enough to have a different conversation or pretend everything was fine.
Dean sobered up immediately, which Castiel found surprising, given his track record.
"Talk to me." He questioned, pushing his plate away. Castiel stared dumbly at the object. There was not much that he knew, but one of the things that he did know was that Dean Winchester didn't push away food unless it was damned important.
He looked down. He knew he was going to have to talk now, at least a little bit. He could give Dean a portion of the problem without ending up in a massive discussion on the inner workings of his mind, right?
"I... Just, Uriel got to me today. Some of the things he said sounded just like my father, and I thought again how disappointed he'd be to see me being so selfish. I- You've given me a degree of freedom, Dean, and I can never thank you enough for that." Castiel looked deep into Dean's eyes, emotion clear on his face. "But, unfortunately, it still feels like the collar is on."
"That's... understandable." Dean said, looking down. "I don't want to get too personal here, Cas, but... I think I know how you feel."
Castiel looked at Dean until he looked up, until their eyes met. He begged him with his eyes to continue talking; he could tell that they were getting somewhere.
"I felt like I still had to make my father happy for a long time. I didn't think he'd be okay with me being bi, I didn't think he'd be okay with Sammy going to law school, and doing my own thing tore me apart." He said. He paused, taking a deep breath.
"What helped you?" Castiel questioned.
"Well, it was Sam, actually. He told me that I had to be my own person, reminded me that trying to appease a man who was already dead was useless, and tiring. He told me that dad would never know what I had done after he was gone. He reminded me that life is worth living for yourself." He said. Dean paused, smiling. A small, broken smile.
"I still have problems with it sometimes, you know. I still feel guilty. But I just tell myself that, and I keep going. Because my life is my life, and I can't let a dead man rule it."
"I honestly... I don't know what to say." Castiel said, grasping for words. Dean's speech was beautiful, really. "Other than thank you."
"Well, any time, man." He teased, smacking Cas's shoulder. Castiel smiled as Dean reached for his plate, signifying the end of that talk. "After all, anyone can be a part of Team Free Will if they want to. Just gotta have the guts to do what makes you feel good."
He dug in, moaning at the taste of his food.
Team Free Will, huh? Cas had to admit, he sort of liked the sound of it.
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