Author's Note:
So this is what happens when I decide that fighting the chapter isn't a good way to write it. Hope you all enjoy, give me some suggestions of anything you'd like to see them do in town if you got 'em :D
"The food was amazing," Cas chimed as they walked out of the little shop, his wings curling just enough to fit through the door and continue onward.
"Sure was," Dean smiled and ruffled Cas' hair, "But you gotta watch those wings,"
Cas blinked incredulously and looked back, "What? What'd I do?"
"You move them like a normal appendage, they're supposed to be fake so you gotta move 'em like they're fake."
"Oh," Cas' expression suddenly grew serious and he focused hard as he moved one wing as mechanically as he could, "Like that?"
"Better," Charlie added and walked up to Cas' side, "But maybe you should move them both the same way at the same time? They're hooked up the same so I don't think it's advanced enough to move them separately."
"Okay," Cas nodded determinedly and moved them both together, stiffly and as unnaturally as he could possibly think to do it. "Good?"
"Good enough," Sam smiled and waved a little, "C'mon, since we're parked let's take a walk."
"You sure?" Dean looked at him anxiously and watched as Sam rolled his eyes, a good hint he was being over protective again. "Okay, okay, let's go." He gave in before anything could be said about it.
The first thing Dean realized about deciding to just walk down the street was that Cas should've been wearing shoes. Their whole lie seemed all the more odd just because he wasn't wearing any. The second thing he realized was that the lie might not be all that strong if they were questioned by someone who actually knew anything on the subject. He made a note to stay away from Universities and the like, just in case.
People were staring as they stepped off the quiet side street and onto a main roadway. The sidewalks had people all over them; it was a Saturday so Dean wasn't quite sure why he was so surprised by this.
It was immediate, there were so many gazes on their group as soon as Castiel came into view and the reality of what was on his back became more obvious. Cas looked around and noticed this too, he looked to Dean who wanted to be reassuring above anything, so he smiled. It seemed to do well; Cas smiled back and kept that air of cautious optimism about him. Maybe it'd be okay, with enough confidence they could swing this thing. Dean tried to take a page from Cas' book and did his best to look more at ease with their situation.
And then of course there were the nosy people, "What's with the wings?" A guy asked, his eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses but his douchey grin said enough for the rest of his face.
"It's an experiment-"
"Looks fuckin' fake as hell," the guy cut Dean off as he'd started to explain, leaving his expression flat and unimpressed.
Cas furrowed his brow, "Really?" he asked with more sass than Dean had expected. "You think you could make better?" The only thing that stole power from Cas' tone was the fact that he wasn't up to speed just yet. He was still cautious with what he said and he was still pausing more than most people would. But to Dean it was pretty awesome all the same.
"Doesn't matter, they still look stupid." The guy continued on his way, his opinion was clearly so important that he had to stop and give it before getting to wherever he needed to be. Dean flipped him off just for good measure.
"Dean," Sam had that warning tone that Dean hated.
"What? The guy's an ass, it's not like I punched him or something."
Cas put his middle finger too, "What does it mean?"
"It means 'fuck you,'" Dean reached over and gently lowered Cas' hand, "So, you know, don't do that."
"Hm," Cas lifted his hand again to look at his finger as if it had done something completely new. "I didn't know that,"
"Yep," Dean repeated the motion of lowering Cas' hand again, "So where to, Sammy?"
"Anywhere, let's look around." Sam smiled reassuringly and started down the street.
Cas followed and looked around them as he walked, "It's so different," he whispered just before walking into a stroller. It was more like stubbing his toe on it but it still pissed off the mother.
"Watch where you're walking, freak!" She snapped before getting back to her phone call.
Instinctively Cas' wings curled inward again and he tried to be smaller, "Sorry," he hunched up his shoulders and shuffled forward while trying to pay more attention to the others around him.
"Don't worry about it, Cas." Dean rubbed his shoulder, "She wasn't paying attention either, it's her problem."
"I should've looked," Cas rubbed his face tiredly, a gesture he'd picked up by watching his favourite people thus far. "Everything here is so loud, I'm getting a headache."
Dean raised his eyebrows, "Oh shit," he'd completely forgotten that Cas' senses were enhanced. "Yeah that makes sense… maybe we can get you some headphones or something to drown it out?" He remembered Cas mentioning the city smelled funny, it must've been stronger when inside the city than being on the outskirts.
It became more obvious to him now that the street was full of vehicles, some were pretty quiet for cars but that wasn't always the case. Large semis drove by, roaring down the road like some kind of beast attacking Cas' hearing. People were talking; there was construction several blocks up, the sound of cross-walks and traffic lights. He couldn't keep track of all the things he was hearing that he took for granted or just ignored.
"So we're going shopping then?" Charlie smiled and Dean nodded.
"Yeah, shoes and big headphones to cover his ears."
"Excuse me," a few young women approached them with wide eyes, "We saw those wings from across the street, what's going on?"
"Oh," Dean looked at Cas who was agitatedly covering his ears. "Well we're working on an experiment and testing an invention."
"That's so cool," one of the girls slipped past Dean and Charlie to get close to Cas. "They look so real, can I touch them?"
"Probably not a good idea," Charlie said quickly, moving to stand next to the girl to keep an eye on her.
"Oh, are they fragile?"
"Sort of," Sam joined in, "we put them together on him and it took forever, so we'd really appreciate it if you didn't tug on them."
"They're so big, how do they stay on?" The girl looked at the harness, she was so close and Cas was watching her very carefully. Dean noticed after a few seconds that he was holding his breath and tried to let it out slowly and subtly. "This is sooo cool!" the girl was excited and astounded but not all of her friends agreed.
"Are no shoes part of the experiment?" A girl with dark eyes and highly stylized make-up asked, her expression was skeptical at best.
"No," Dean scratched the back of his head nervously, "he lost them before coming out here."
The girl didn't question it further but she still wasn't all that impressed. Her eyes drifted to Cas' shirt and the base of the wings where they were wrapped up. The initial idea was to hide the fact that they were actually physically attached, it did a decent job to anyone passing by but Dean didn't want them taking closer looks.
He had to wonder though, how long could they keep that up? People would talk about Castiel's wings and if he ever went to town again some might start to recognize him and then what? They couldn't be doing an experiment that long, it didn't make sense. They would actually have to find a way to out Castiel's existence and deal with the repercussions after, though maybe waiting until he was all there was a good idea?
"Can I get a picture?" The excited one asked and both Sam and Charlie looked to one another before turning to Dean.
"Uh, sure?" he was certain it'd come back to bite him later, but it might also make a good start to letting Cas' reality out into the world. "Cas, if you're okay with it?"
"It's fine," Castiel looked at the girl, "What should I do?"
"Just smile," she got close to him and posed, looking at her friends, "Could you guys take it?"
It happened fast, there were a few pictures taken and it seemed okay. People were still walking by and staring at them, Dean could hear them once in a while saying stuff like 'weird' or 'what?' or 'wow' and so on. He couldn't pay attention to all of them though; he was too focused on Cas and what those photos could possibly do to their current scenario. He couldn't remember if Cas understood what seeing his own picture did to him, not to mention he didn't even know if it would still do that since Cas was more mentally present.
All Dean knew was that he couldn't let Cas see those pictures and one of the first reactions to taking a photo is to show the people involved. He grabbed onto Cas as soon as the pictures were done and looked at the girls, "Well we gotta get going, this experiment's not gonna get off the ground if we just stand here. Have a good day, ladies."
"Thanks, you too!" The excitable one waved and went right to look at the pictures her friends took. Dean heard a less-than-subtle exclamation about how cute Cas was and held just a little bit tighter, Cas was taken, thank you very much.
"I wanted to see," Cas pouted and all three of his friends shook their heads.
"Not a good idea," Sam said quickly and Charlie was right along with him.
"Probably better if you don't, Cas." She smiled and punched his shoulder playfully, "You kinda mistake your picture for a clone and freak out."
Dean would've been a little less forward with that but Cas seemed to take it pretty well, "Oh… makes sense. Thanks, Dee." He leaned over and kissed Dean's cheek.
"You're welcome," he barely managed to say before someone made a noise of disgust.
"Goddamn queers! Keep that shit indoors!"
"What was that?" Charlie snapped first at the guy, a construction worker from down the block getting his coffee fix by the look of him.
"I said keep that gay shit in your own home." He didn't look like he planned on backing down and his gaze moved from Charlie to Dean and Cas, "What? Too fuckin' girly you gotta let her fight for you?"
"Bring it, bitch." Charlie stormed forward but Sam caught her arm and held her back.
"Wait-"
"Let me go, I'm gonna kick his ass!"
"And get charged with assault," Sam dragged her back with a lot more effort than Dean would've thought he needed. "Just let it go."
"Nuh-uh," she slipped out of her jacket and took a running start before taekwondo kicking the guy right in the gut. The dick had no idea what was coming and didn't expect it to do any damage so he didn't even try to move. He dropped his coffee and hit his knees with an exasperated groan.
Sam pushed his hand through his hair and pulled it back with an exhausted sigh, "It's like we did bring Jet with…"
Dean laughed, "Yeah, but you gotta remember that Charlie and Cas did the whole 'defending the lgbt' people in school. I guess old habits die hard." He looked over to see a few people high-fiving Charlie for standing up to a bigot.
"Why did he say that?" Cas frowned, his gaze lingering on the construction worker who was slinking off after seeing the number of people on Charlie's side. Dean noticed a slight glow in Cas' eyes and felt a small wave of panic though he had no idea what to do with it.
"You, uh, remember when we watched that show a while back? Where one guy had a dream about kissing another guy and said it was a horrible nightmare?"
"Oh," Cas' eyes calmed down though his face did brighten a bit, "Yeah, I remember. So this is what that can be like in person?"
"Yeah," Dean took his hand and gave it a firm squeeze, "But don't worry about it, you can't please everyone so just be you."
"I'm trying," Cas stepped close to Dean's side and nuzzled his cheek, unconsciously doing the thing he always did and curved a wing around Dean's side. There was a soft 'oooh' from the many people who were already looking at them.
"Are those real!?" An older fellow adjusted his glasses as he gawked.
"They move!" A kid squealed and urged his mom to go closer and touch them.
"Can't be real, must be animatronic or something."
"That's pretty wicked, how d'you think they work?"
"Look, they even drop feathers!"
"Yeah, I picked up a feather back there, I think it's real."
"No way, you serious?"
More and more people were talking at once and the ones who bothered to be invested in a strange phenomenon got closer and spoke louder. Dean felt his eye twitch and he looked at the others, "Should we walk somewhere else maybe?"
"Yeah let's get back to the car." Sam agreed and started leading the way back, moving people out of the way when necessary. "Excuse us please, I'm sorry, pardon me,"
Charlie and Dean stuck to either of Cas' sides and escorted him along. The small crowd called after them, even followed while trying to get answers but Dean didn't let Cas stop to try and reply. "Just go, Cas." He urged as he dragged his boyfriend along.
"Why? Is it so bad that they know?" He asked and Dean felt the weight of that question.
"No," he looked at Cas' curious eyes, knowing full well that the wrong answer could be damaging. "It's not bad that they know, I want them to know eventually but I don't think now is the right time."
Castiel looked at him intensely, that same gaze that felt like it was piercing at its weakest and made Dean feel weak. "Okay," he nodded and held Dean's hand tighter, "I trust you, Dee."
"Thanks, Cas." Dean let himself be relieved and show it a little but he couldn't let that moment linger. They ran back up the little bit of sidewalk they'd wandered down and hurried along the side street with several people in tow. The car was a safe place, people couldn't get at them in there but when Cas climbed back in it was pretty clear that his wings were functional. Dean backed up and as soon as he had space he tore out of there.
"You just know that's going to be online," Sam tried not to laugh but it bubbled in his voice all the same.
"You think it'll be like the Men in Black and we'll get flashed or something?" Dean asked playfully but he couldn't deny that he actually was pretty worried about that. Not the Men in Black but government type people, like Area-51 dudes or something. He wasn't really familiar with how that worked, maybe they'd be more interested in the fact that their mansion had a crazy basement. He had no idea; all he knew was that he wasn't going to let anyone lock Cas away ever again.
"I'd venture to say that was a success," Charlie nodded and Dean wasn't sure if she was serious or not.
"I don't want to go home yet," Cas leaned forward from the back, his eyes still on Dean. "I barely got to see anything, can we please stay?"
"Of course we're staying," Dean smiled back at him, "We'll just have to… figure out how to deal with this."
"Big jacket?" Sam shrugged and Dean stopped right before telling him to shut up.
"You know what? We might as well try it."
"Don't tell Jet, he'll be devastated." Sam said, his way of agreeing. With that Dean drove off to find the first thrift shop to get Cas a big creepy coat. Better to be seen as a hunchback than anything else at that point.