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There were times Sam hated being heir to the throne. Eventually, he hoped, Dean would have legitimate children and he’d be off the hook to some extent, but even then, there would still be demands and hand-wringing and “but what if?” questions about the choices he made.
He’d let Dean convince him to leave school when their father mysteriously disappeared. He’d let the royal advisors talk him out of going back once they found John, and John had died a few days later from unexplained causes. He’d even let Dean tell him he couldn’t have a pet dog in the castle. The hunting dogs were fine, the guard dogs in the courtyard were fine, but no dogs in the house.
There was no way in hell Sam was letting Dean or the royal advisors tell him he couldn’t have this. Castiel was a refugee, thrown out of his kingdom for turning against them when they attempted to take over Dean and Sam’s. Nobody who knew the full story questioned Castiel’s loyalties to Dean, not after Castiel personally saved Dean’s life in battle, but those who didn’t know the full story openly questioned Dean’s decision to have Castiel live at court and be treated as a member of Dean’s retinue. After all, Castiel betrayed one king already; what was stopping him from betraying another?
Dean wasn’t perfect, but when he went to war, he made sure everyone who served under him knew that there were rules. Knights and soldiers were fair game, but noncombatants were not to be harmed if it was avoidable – and inconvenient didn’t meant the same thing as unavoidable. Michael had ordered an entire village to be burned down and everyone in it slaughtered, because one of the people in that town was a traitor.
Sam could just hear the horror and shock if he and Castiel were caught together. So much handwringing about how Castiel was taking advantage of Dean’s generosity to seduce his little brother, how the prince was too important to allow to have an intimate relationship with a traitor, and besides, didn’t Sam realize he was the royal heir and needed to produce children? Adoption would end the bloodline, and that was too important to just throw away – especially for someone as unsuitable as a traitor.
At first, he was content sneaking around with Castiel. Dean never told Sam about his adventures with lovers, why should Sam feel obligated to tell Dean about his? When he realized he’d truly fallen for Castiel, that this had become so much more than an adventure and a good time, he panicked a little. He very nearly called it off, but a visit from a couple of his school friends reminded him of all the sacrifices he’d already made for the kingdom. It was good to see Zach and Becky again, and hard to tell them that he wasn’t going back to school. They were not happy to hear Sam was giving up that dream.
Sam had sacrificed enough for the kingdom. The kingdom could give him this one thing. Sam ran his fingers through Castiel’s hair as they lay together, sated and happy. “Hey.”
“What?”
“I wanna tell Dean about this. About us.”
Castiel sat straight up, staring at Sam with wide eyes. “You know what will happen if you do. If you want to end things, there are far easier and less cruel ways.”
“No, I don’t want to end things. I’m not going to let them make me.” Sam sat up and put his hands on Castiel’s shoulders. “I don’t think Dean will even try. He likes you, he trusts you, and after the initial blowup over you betraying his trust and seducing his little brother, he’ll see that it wasn’t like that.”
“That initial blowup, though. What if he doesn’t stop at yelling and maybe throwing a punch or two? He could kick me out, force me to leave the castle and the kingdom, and I don’t think there’s anywhere that would take me in.”
Sam shook his head. “He won’t do that. If he tries, I’ll threaten to go with you. If he persists, I will go with you. He’ll come to his senses when he sees I mean it.”
Castiel bit his lip and nodded, leaning into Sam’s shoulder. “It would be nice not having to sneak around, or worry about getting caught, or be so vigilant about how I interact with you publicly that half the court thinks I hate you and the only reason I bother with you at all is because Dean makes me.”
“Yeah. That’s kinda what I’m thinking, too. Dean’s gonna be mad, but he’ll get over it, and I really think he’ll be on our side against anyone else who tries to pull anything.”
That didn’t mean Sam wasn’t shaking in his boots when he asked Dean if he and Cas could talk to him alone. Dean agreed, and made sure a trustworthy guard was posted outside the door to be sure they weren’t interrupted. “What’s up, Sammy?”
“It’s Sam. And… Cas and I have something we want to tell you.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that,” Dean said. He sat at a desk and put his feet up on it. “That was me inviting you to actually tell me.”
Sam swallowed hard, and Castiel reached out and took his hand. Sam steadied himself. “Castiel and I have been involved with each other for three months now, and I know it’s going to cause problems with the advisors, but I’m in love, Dean. Castiel made the first move, but it’s not like I wasn’t completely receptive to it right away.”
Dean swung his feet down, leaning forward to glare at Sam. “Three months? You and Cas have been involved for three months?”
“Yes,” Castiel said. “Dean, I…”
“FUCK.” Dean shoved a stack of books off the desk and glared at them. “Three months.”
“Dean.” Sam dropped Castiel’s hand, putting his arm around his waist instead. “What the fuck, dude.”
“What the… three months, Sammy! Now I owe Benny huge!”
Sam and Castiel exchanged bewildered looks. “What does Benny have to do with anything?”
“Three months ago, Benny said he thought the two of you might be getting involved, and that if I had a problem with it, I should intervene. I told him that the two of you had already been together for three months and if I’d been planning on doing anything about it I’d have done it already. We made a bet, and I just lost. Unless you’re lying to me about how long it’s been…?” Dean crouched and started stacking the books. “Damn. He even called when you’d tell me.”
“You… knew about this? And didn’t make me say anything?” Sam said.
Dean shrugged. “Figured you’d tell me when it became something I needed to know about. Kept an eye on you two, both of you seemed to be happier than you were before, so why rock the boat? Didn’t want Cas freaking out and bolting on you when the advisors start going nuts because he’s not gonna be able to carry your babies.”
Castiel cleared his throat. “Dean, I have no intention of bolting on Sam. Ever. I’m not stupid enough to lose the best thing I’ve ever had.”
“Yeah, but after two weeks, would you have felt that way? Didn’t wanna take that chance.” Dean set the books back on the desk and got to his feet. “Sammy, whenever you decide to take this public, you’ve got my full support against whoever decides to come after you. Give me a heads’-up and I’ll get a good distraction planned.”
“Huh?” Sam said.
“Lisa and I are unofficially engaged. Once you two come out, I’ll do the formal proposal, and they’ll be distracted with the royal wedding and getting shit processed about legitimizing Ben. Once that’s done, you’re not the heir anymore, you’re the backup plan, and people won’t care as much.”
Sam let go of Cas to hug his brother. “Thank you. Thank you so much. Sorry about losing you the bet, but if it makes you feel any better, it took us three months to get our shit together and go from mutual pining to being together. The pining’s probably what you were picking up on.”
“Little better, anyway. Thanks.” Dean pulled away from Sam and hugged Castiel. “You be good to my brother, Cas.”