A/N: Hello, everyone! I hope you enjoy this quick little fic. Credit for the idea goes entirely to tumblr user saintedcastiel. I saw their tumblr post and couldn't stop thinking about it. If you're not on tumblr and therefore unfamiliar with the meme, I'll explain it now. Otherwise, read on!
Basically, since the penultimate episode of the show, Tumblr has used a couple screencaps from Cas's love confession to report breaking news events. The first is an unedited picture of Castiel's tearful face as he says "I love you." The other is Dean's emotionless expression in response with a caption that explains a recent news event. It's hard to explain, but it can be pretty funny! :)
"Two minutes to air, guys!" a crewmember called. Dean nodded, winked, and gave a cocky salute. He shuffled the papers in front of him. Castiel ignored everything, wishing he could hide under the desk. He put his head into his hands.
"Dude, what is wrong with you?" Dean whispered as he leaned in close to Cas. He had his hand pressed into his shirt to cover his mic.
Castiel peered at Dean through his fingers. He was smiling, small crows feet crinkling at the corners of his green eyes, but his eyes betrayed underlying concern. Cas's heart jumped into his throat; for some reason, he was finding it hard to swallow. "Nothing," he ground out. At Dean's raised eyebrows, he muttered, "Headache."
Dean leaned back and winced, hand coming off his chest, and Cas's heartbeat slowed a bit. "Ouch, man. That sucks. Migraine?"
Cas shook his head automatically, then froze, thinking better of that. Awkwardly, he started nodding instead.
A look of realization passed over Dean's face, and he leaned back in. Cas could smell his cologne; any other day, he would've relished in the aroma, but today, it was making him feel sick. Dean's hand went back to cover the mic, and this time, it pulled at his shirt a little too, exposing a sliver of his tanned chest. Cas let his eyes linger for just a second before looking away. "Castiel," Dean said mischievously. "Are you hung over?"
"No!" he responded, a little too loudly. A blush crept up his neck.
Dean smiled in an expression that Cas could only describe as glee. He threw back his head and laughed. "Oh my god, you are! Oh my god, Cas, you- this is too good, man." He clapped his other hand down on Cas's shoulder, a move that made Cas blush an even deeper red. "I am never letting you turn me down for drinks again. All those times I showed up after a night of fun and you acted all high and mighty-"
"I was never high and mighty!" he responded indignantly.
"Right," Dean said. Cas squinted. He wasn't sure if that was sarcasm or not, but decided it was best not to ask.
He turned to face forward and straightened his tie. Then, he righted the papers on his desk and cleared his throat. He glanced at the countdown on the teleprompter as it closed in on 30 seconds. "We have a job to do, Dean."
"Sir, yes sir." Dean chuckled.
Cas wondered at the fact that his stomach still tightened when Dean said something like that, even after ten years of sharing this job. He certainly understood why, but still, it's not like Dean knew… and hopefully, he never would. So why couldn't Cas keep himself under control? At least this time, he managed to keep the blush at bay… mostly.
Dean glanced at him sidelong, and Cas resolutely ignored him. Then, Dean tutted and said, "Come here, man, let me fix you."
"What?" Cas responded, and before he could register what was happening, Dean was carding his fingers through his hair, swiping at it so it laid flat. He had his other hand on Castiel's shoulder. The feeling of Dean's nails on his scalp gave him chills. Cas met his gaze in surprise.
"You messed it up. It's sticking up in like, five different directions," Dean explained casually, as if that almost made Cas melt into a puddle under the desk.
Cas nodded jerkily under Dean's calloused hand, unable to look away. Don't look at his lips, don't look at his lips…
"There. All better." Dean sat back with a lopsided grin. Cas was unable to tear his gaze away from Dean. Those bright green eyes were looking into his soul. "You're welcome?" Dean prompted.
"Uh, yes. Thank you." Cas imagined running his fingers through Dean's hair. It was styled perfectly today, with a little less gel than usual. It looked so soft…
"Ten seconds, boys!" the camerawoman yelled, breaking into Cas's reverie.
Dean was the first to break eye contact, and Cas followed suit. He tightened his tie and copied Dean's posture by clasping his hands on the desk in front of him. It was amazing, how after so many years, he still felt awkward on TV. He watched the crew member's eyes as her fingers counted down silently… 2, 1, 0. They were rolling.
"Hello, Lawrence metro area, and welcome to Good Morning Kansas!" Dean read off the scrolling screen in front of them, tone professional and personable. "I'm Dean Winchester."
Cas jumped in, "And I'm Castiel…" His throat was dry; he couldn't even get his last name out. This was an off day if he'd ever seen one. One of the worst he'd ever had.
Effortlessly, as Cas had done many times for him, Dean jumped in to finish out his line. "And we're here to bring you the most up-to-date news, both from around the world and a little closer to home." He read in that cheery, professional way he used only when they were airing. It was more musical than his usual voice. Girls loved it. Cas missed the rougher edge he had when the cameras weren't on. Dean continued with his next line. "This is an extra special morning, because we get to start off by wishing you all a happy Valentine's Day!" And, there it was, the reason Cas drank what had to be an entire liquor store last night. Dean, comfortable as ever, kept reading. "Got any special plans with someone you love this evening, Castiel?"
Cas's heart twisted in his chest, and he let out a small sigh. He plastered a smile on his face and looked at the teleprompter, but the words were blurring in front of his eyes. Oh, no. Think Castiel, think. You have to say something. His brain stayed silent as the pause in conversation began to verge into awkward territory. Say something! Say anything, literally anything. "Unless you're free, Dean, no I don't." His answer was provided with a smile, but his tone was far more serious than he'd meant it.
It wasn't until he registered the gasps from the crew that he realized what he actually said. The smile dropped off his face. Oh god, oh no, oh no. To his horror, tears started to sting at his eyes. God, he couldn't look at the camera, he couldn't let the people see…
Automatically, because who else would he want to turn to, he looked at Dean. Tense, brooding Dean, who was no longer smiling.
Cas couldn't tell what he was thinking, actually.
"Uh, I…" he started, but he got distracted by tittering from the crew, and by the blank, guarded look in Dean's eyes. His sparkling, beautiful, bright green eyes, that Cas could fall right into if he looked too long.
Cas's eyes were still wet, but he refused to blink because he knew that if he did, the tears would fall. He couldn't breathe, he was so tense. It was like his ribs were trying to suffocate him.
He could try to play it off as a joke, but Dean knew him too well, and Cas, frankly, just wasn't very funny. Well, sometimes Dean laughed at his jokes, but he was generally the only one.
Fuck, there was nothing to do, no viable solution, except the scariest thing he could think of. He had to just tell the truth. He had to share the deepest, most secret part of him with Dean, and with the entire Lawrence metro area.
Frankly, he couldn't think of a worse way for this to have come out. Dean looked him up and down, still not saying anything. Cas found himself wishing that Dean would smooth over this social situation, like he did whenever else Cas messed something up.
But there was no one to save him this time but him. Accepting his fate, he slumped like a marionette with its strings cut. He looked to the sky briefly and said a prayer to whomever was listening. He looked back to Dean and found that even now, there was nowhere else, no one else who he'd rather be looking at.
"I love you," he said plainly, and he was proud that his voice only quavered a little.
Cas was briefly distracted by hushed whispers from the crew, some swearing, and some awkward laughter. And wait, was that money trading hands between the two sound guys?
Cas focused his attention back on Dean's flat, confused gaze. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his square jaw was clenched. His face was closed off, more so than Cas had ever seen it.
Neither looked away from the other, like they were the only two in the room. The crew's muttering turned to deafening silence, and all Cas could hear was his own heartbeat. He wouldn't have been surprised if the mic was picking that up, too.
Even like this, Cas relished in looking at Dean, and he wouldn't trade how it made him feel for anything. Despite himself, he felt his face break into a tearful smile. At last, someone knew, the most important someone, and regardless of the circumstances, he felt just a little lighter.
His eyes searched Dean's, silently imploring him to respond, to scream, to smile, to cry to say anything, but still he stayed stoic. The line between his furrowed brows was deep, and his green eyes were still flat and inscrutable.
The tension built and built for what felt like hours but couldn't have been more than seconds. Cas's eyes bounced around Dean's face, from eyes, to hair, to lips, back to green green eyes.
Just as Cas was starting to wonder if he'd broken him forever, Dean's lips parted.
Oh god, here it was, the response that Cas had never thought he'd get, that he'd never even dared to dream about… the first thing Dean would say after he learned that their relationship had changed forever.
Dean took a breath, and Castiel tensed even more. This was it, this was really it. No matter what happened, no matter what Dean said, things would never be the same. There would always be them before, and them after.
And this very moment was going to start the after.
Castiel held his breath. He refused to blink, refused to swallow, as Dean inhaled, preparing himself to speak…
Dean turned (to compose himself, maybe?) back to the camera and cleared his throat. Cas waited nervously yet eagerly, ready to hang on every word, no matter what it was.
And in that professional, cheery voice, Dean simply read, "In nationwide news, there was an F4 tornado last night near Star City, Arkansas, that claimed the lives of fifteen individuals. This tornado was unusually early in the year, claiming the record by almost a month. This is just the most recent in a string of unusual weather events sweeping the nation. Most are putting these phenomena down to climate change, but there are some with alternate theories. Later in the show, we will talk with Stanford-trained lawyer turned conspiracy theorist, Sam Wesson, on what he thinks is causing this disturbing pattern. But now, we will turn our attention to this week's weather…"
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this! :)
This was quite far out of my wheelhouse, but I saw that tumblr post, and the idea just wouldn't leave me alone. Typically, I write much angstier stories than this (and this is my first AU). Also, I'm not (nor have I ever been) a Destiel shipper, and I haven't seen any Supernatural past season 9. So I'll admit this was quite a challenge!
I do hope the characterization was believable and that this was a fun read. I tried to get across that Cas got some catharsis from this, and I purposefully didn't include anything from Dean's perspective, so whatever ending you want to imagine could still be on the table, from them getting together to their friendship falling apart and everything in between. I do hope Cas's thoughts were realistic as far as his love for Dean. Even if the ship isn't my cup of tea, I wanted to remain respectful to it for this story, and I hope that came across!
Feel free to leave a comment if you wish! Thank you again for reading!