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When Dean got out of the car, everything was a little too bright at first. He was still sleepy from the long drive and had to shield his eyes from the bright reflections around him. He squinted, blinked a few times, and tried again. After a few seconds his eyes seemed to adapt and he was able to take a look around.
They had stopped in the middle of a forest. Everything was covered in snow and Dean wasn‘t sure how Sammy had even found the way to this place, because he could hardly see the road behind them.
To Dean‘s right was a church – or what was left of it. Most of the wooden bars seemed rotten, the roof was full of holes and the cross over the entry was so crooked that Dean wondered how it hadn't given way to gravity years ago.
The church was the reason the three of them were here.
"I'm gonna go take a look inside", Sam said and Dean only gave a small nod because he was currently too busy rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. Against his will he had fallen asleep soon after they hit the road, and Sam had been driving so carefully that Dean didn't wake up until five minutes before they arrived here.
"I'm coming with you, Sam." Cas, who had been standing around quietly until now, followed the quick steps of the hunter towards the church's entry.
"Alright guys, I'm gonna stay and... take a walk or something...“ Dean's voice trailed off at the end of the sentence because the others weren't even listening to him anymore.
He sighed. The leftovers of a cold had been tiring him lately, more than he was used to. Maybe he really should take a walk. Move his limbs after the long ride; enjoy the fresh air and all that stuff. He really didn‘t feel like stomping around in an old building and putting his nose into dusty books at the moment.
°
He took a path that led away from the back of the church into the forest.
The forest was rather quiet, except for the occasional sound of crows cawing or branches snapping under the feet of shy animals that were trying to flee from Dean‘s audible steps through the woods. Still, all of these sounds were vaguely muffled under the thick blanket of snow that covered everything. Time seemed to pass a little slower at this place.
Dean soon lost track of time. How long was he gone already? Minutes? Hours? He walked and walked and just when he thought he had reached the end of the path... the trees opened up and revealed a lake.
For a moment he was startled by the sudden change of scenery. But the longer he stared at it, the more he calmed down and finally he thought that maybe this was the perfect ending to his little walk.
He discovered a bench near the water and decided to sit down and rest for a moment.
Actually, it was a really nice day – the sky was clear and the air was so cold that Dean could feel his breath freezing on his face. He wrapped his jacket a little closer around his body, hid his hands in the pockets of his jeans and closed his eyes. The mild winter sun warmed his face while Dean let his mind wander.
He thought about a lot of things. Most of them were more or less random – what he had eaten for breakfast, that he needed a new pair of jeans because this one was full of holes... He also thought about their current case. They needed to perform a rare spell that was written down in a book they only owned half the pages of. So they tried to find the other half, which had led them to this church. Dean hoped they were successful – this was not the first church they visited. His patience was slightly stretched when his health was not at full capacity, and he couldn‘t stand the stale air in the crypts.
He wondered, if Cas was able to heal a simple cold. Would he consider this a waste of his grace or did his healing abilities only work for the big, bad wounds? He pushed this idea back and forth for a while and was so buried in his thoughts that he didn‘t notice the steps approaching from behind him.
„Dean?”
The hunter almost jumped at the sudden sound of his name.
„What‘re you doing here, Cas? Where‘s Sammy?“
„Your brother is still back at the church. We found the book we were looking for and Sam is currently trying to decipher the rest of the pages. My help was no longer needed, so I decided to check up on you.”
The angel walked around the bench and sat down beside Dean.
„Good, that‘s... good“, Dean replied. His thoughts were still too far away to say something meaningful, so they stayed silent for a few minutes, simply staring at the small waves of the lake that were swapping against the shore, enjoying the quiet.
Something came to Dean‘s mind. „Today is winter solstice.“
Castiel looked up at the sun and nodded.
„You‘re right. I remember the time when humanity started to celebrate events like this one. So many colorful costumes and masks. Dancing and singing everywhere, fires that were burning for days. No matter where on earth, cosmic constellations seemed always rather fascinating to your kind.“
A smile tugged at the corners of Dean‘s mouth.
„Yeah, when Sam was a kid he would tell me all those legends about stars and planetary constellations. And he wouldn‘t shut up about all those rituals that were supposed to repel ghosts and monsters coming through the veil on days like equinox or winter solstice. I guess he wanted to impress me so I would take him on hunts, like Dad did it with me. It never worked, but he‘s still a huge nerd about it.“
„You must be very proud of him.“
„You can‘t imagine.“
°
They talked like this for a while, just about what came to their minds. Dean felt more at ease like he had in month and he thoroughly enjoyed the time he got to spend with Cas.
The angel seemed pretty relaxed, too, and Dean tried very hard not to think about the other feeling that slowly spread through his chest right now – the one he was avoiding, hiding for years now. The one he tried to drown in hunting and drinking and women, but the one that always broke through his walls when his shields were down, like now.
When he looked into eyes that were deep and blue like the lake they were sitting at, framed by tanned skin and dark hair, listened to a voice that carried the knowledge of a whole universe, and talked to soul so unique he would recognize it among thousands of others – who could blame him for falling in love?
Dean was a man afraid of flying, but oh, falling had never seemed so easy. Not with Cas.
°
„Dean? Are you alright?“
The hunter blinked a few times, trying to get his focus back on reality. He noticed worry in those eyes he had thought about only moments ago.
„Huh? Yeah, why do you ask?“
„Your teeth are chattering. Are you cold, Dean?“
Dean opened his mouth to deny this weakness instantly but the angel‘s stare was so intense and concerned that his strict „No“ turned into a „Yeah, kinda“.
He hadn‘t even noticed how cold he was until now. His teeth were chattering no matter how much he tried to hold them still and his neck was stiff from ducking his head between his shoulders to keep as much body heat as he could. How long had he been out here already?
„Would you... Would you like my coat –?”, the angel started but Dean interrupted him.
„Geez, Cas, no. I‘m not that cold. Besides, your vessel is human, too, you need to protect it.“
„My grace is supplying my vessel with enough body heat. Are you sure you‘re fine?“
„Yes, Cas. I‘m fine.“
„Well, if you say so...“
It took one look for Dean into Cas‘ face to see that the angel was not pleased with this answer because his brows were furrowed and he intently stared into another direction as if he was upset.
Dean was just about to reconsider his words when he suddenly heard the familiar noise of fluttering wings. Cas was gone.
„Oh come on, you can‘t be fucking serious!“ He jumped to his feet and walked towards the water, staring into the sky, as if this was getting him any closer to Cas. „You know I didn‘t mean it!“
„I know.“
Dean turned around to find Cas in front of him. He was carrying something…
Before he was able to react, he was being hugged by a huge, warm blanket – and Cas. It took Dean some time to process what was happening, before he mirrored the other man‘s pose and put his arms around him. The longer they stood like this, tightly pressed against each other, hugging each other awkwardly around the blanket, the more he could feel the body heat of the angel seeping through the woven material, until he was no longer cold.
Unfortunately at one point Cas started to let go. He bent over one last time to fumble with something at the back of Dean‘s neck and then took a step back. Dean already missed the warmth. Though it wasn‘t as cold as he had anticipated...
He looked down at the blanket that was hanging from his shoulders, before it dawned on him – the blanket was a poncho! The other man had tied a knot at the back, so the blanket wouldn‘t slide down from his shoulders.
He looked at Cas, speechless. The angel was wearing a smug, content look on his face and simply smiled back at him.
°
When Sam finally found them hours later, he wasn‘t really surprised to see Cas‘ arm sneaked around Dean‘s waist while the two were watching the sunset over the lake.
Maybe there was some magic about winter solstice after all; you’d only have to find the right place to make it happen.