Work Text:
Cas is back.
After defeating Chuck and fixing the world, Jack brought him and the other angels back, good as new, wings and all. It’s the first time in years that he’s had his batteries at full power. And he’s still getting used to being a fully-powered angel.
There’s a lot he’s getting used to.
Like being Dean’s.
It first happens when they get back to the bunker after finding Cas. Dean slings his backpack off his shoulder and onto the war room table before faltering, casting half of a glance at the angel lingering close by. Sam gives the pair a pointed glance over Eileen’s head as he wraps his arm around her and heads to the kitchen.
Dean clears his throat, starts to turn to look at Cas, but stops himself. Even though he’s spent weeks not wanting to look at anything else, hoping to catch a glimpse of him after watching the Empty swallow him up.
Steeling himself, Dean turns fully to face him, and he sucks in a breath. Castiel looks at him expectantly, eyes a little too wide, a little too hesitant.
Everything had happened so fast earlier, seeing those blue eyes again, the emotions bubbling up and threatening to burst out of Dean’s chest as he threw his arms around the angel and buried his face in his shoulder and cried.
But that had been it. Castiel had smiled, glassy eyed, and hugged Sam and Eileen too, and the four had piled into the Impala to go home.
And now they were here, safe and whole and together. And a new fear is trying to crawl up Dean’s throat and choke him as he stares, opening his mouth with no words.
But there’s nothing to be afraid of now. There aren’t any monsters lurking, for now at least. There isn’t any cruel writer trying to keep them apart or in line. And there isn’t any doubt holding them back now. Castiel had made his feelings pretty clear.
Cas shifts back a step, idly running his fingers over the war room table, eyes looking at anything but Dean, and a thought strikes through Dean like lightning.
He doesn’t know.
And Dean can’t stand for that, so he closes the space between them and takes Cas’s face in trembling hands, his heart pounding in his ears, and he kisses him.
Every lightbulb in the room bursts in a shower of sparks and glass.
Dean flinches and looks up as the room goes dark before the emergency lights kick on, casting them in a low, red light. He’s still holding Cas’s face in his hands, the angel staring at him with wide eyes, lips parted.
Cas blinks a few times before glancing up too, a faint blush on his cheeks barely visible under the low light.
Dean’s eyebrows shoot up. “Was that you?”
Cas alternates between staring at Dean and avoiding his gaze, absently licking his lips, which is totally unfair how distracting it is. “Yes, I—um, I’m not yet used to having my grace at full capacity, and I may have been a little…overwhelmed.”
“Overwhelmed,” Dean breathes, almost laughing in disbelief, a slow smile on his lips.
Because Cas is an angel, an ancient celestial being with knowledge and powers beyond human understanding who’s seen the world and humanity from its first days and led countless armies of angels into battle and stood face-to-face with the underbelly of the universe.
And he’s overwhelmed by some dumb, emotionally constipated disaster of a human making a weak attempt at sharing his heart because he doesn’t know how to do it right.
Castiel smiles, something impossibly fond as the shock and uncertainty melt away, and he raises a hand to wrap around the one Dean has cupping his neck, running a thumb over the back of his hand.
“You think too loud, Dean.”
Dean’s almost too embarrassed to miss the way his voice shakes. Huffing out a short laugh, he moves in closer to Cas, still cradling his head and neck, and rests their foreheads together.
The air hums with electricity, and it’s like it’s coursing through Dean’s veins as a thrill runs through him. He bumps their noses together before pressing another kiss to Cas’s lips, this one slower, deeper.
The monitors behind them hum to life, readings lighting up the screens with a loud whirring.
Dean grins against his lips and pulls back with a chuckle, even more thrilled when Cas sways forward to follow him.
“I’m sorry, I—”
Dean cuts him off with another kiss. “Don’t be. We’re just gonna have to get you acclimated.”
“I think you’re right,” Cas said, already honing in on Dean’s mouth.
When Sam walks into the war room, flashlight in hand, he only sighs and shakes his head as the two make out against the war room table.
As the days pass by, Castiel does eventually get a hold on his powers, accustomed to the way the grace thrums through him when Dean kisses him good morning and good night and hello and goodbye and everything in between. But there are the few occasions when Dean catches him off guard.
Like when they’re on a store run and Dean catches Cas watching a couple holding hands, his fingers twitching at his side. So he reaches over and laces their fingers together.
Cas startles, looking between Dean and their joined hands, a soft flush overtaking his face. The nearby display of TVs on the wall starts flickering, and Dean tugs Cas along before he causes any product damage.
One night they’re sitting in the Impala at a drive-in a couple hours away. The drive was long, but totally worth it in Dean’s opinion as he pops a handful of popcorn in his mouth, an angel in the passenger seat beside him, munching on their shared popcorn one piece at a time.
“That’s not medically accurate. He couldn’t have survived that,” Cas says during the final scene, holding a singular piece of popcorn just in front of his mouth. His frown turns contemplative. “Unless his partner has some sort of healing ability.”
“It’s not that kind of movie, babe,” Dean says through a mouthful of popcorn.
Cas nods and hums, something low and grim. “Then he should be dead.”
And in that moment, as a grin breaks across his face and a laugh bubbles up from his chest, it really hits Dean that he really loves this angel.
Because it’s just something so painfully Cas.
He sets the bowl of popcorn up on the dash and scoots over to close the space between them, taking Cas’s face in his hands and kissing him hard. Cas gives a surprised hum, but is quick to wrap his arms around him as Dean presses him into the door.
Dean draws back just enough to laugh out an I love you against his lips before diving back in. He feels Cas grin into the kiss as fingers tangle in his hair.
The light of the projector starts to flicker. Someone a few cars over complains.
Cas breaks away, his chest heaving against Dean’s as he turns his head to look outside. Dean takes the opening to press his lips to the angel’s neck.
Cas’s breath stutters and the lights with it. “Dean, the movie.”
Dean stops, lifting his head, only a little distracted by the way Castiel’s hand grips his shirt. “Do you wanna finish watching it?”
“No,” Cas says, a little rough, “No, I just—there are others trying to watch it, and I think…” He glances away as the lights flicker again. “I don’t want to ruin it for them.”
“Oh.” Dean peels himself off of the angel to squint over at the screen. “It’s pretty much over. It’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m very sure.”
Cas smiles and pulls him back in.
The drive-in has to buy a generator.