Chapter Text
The fall was rough is a vast understatement.
Castiel had managed to first land on the roof of a stable, roll off of it, and land on one of his large, black wings. Then, in large amounts of pain, rushed inside so no one would see him.
That was his first mistake. Instead of walking into an empty stable despite the horses, he found himself quickly hiding from an attractive 6'1'' man with short brown hair and an outfit that could only be described as what a lumberjack would wear. The man was looking up at the ceiling of the stable, at the ready to attack or be attacked. After a while of looking around nervously, he gave up his search for the mysterious bang that occurred. He patted his horse on the snout and continued to do whatever he was doing before the fall. Castiel sighed in relief, glad the man didn't notice the angel with a broken wing in his stable.
That was his second mistake. Despite his attempt at being completely silent seemed to work, the man heard it anyway, somehow, and once again went to investigate the sound. When he found Castiel beside a horse's stable, he went through a series of emotions: confusion, realization, and then fear.
And then they were both screaming.
~
The man, Dean, paced around the stable, piecing Castiel's tragic tale together in his head. "So... let me get this straight. You're a fallen angel that just happened to land on my stable's roof, break your right wing, and be terrible at hiding?"
"Yes."
Dean threw his hands in the air. "That's it. I've seen everything. Excuse me while I go walk off a cliff."
"Killing yourself is a sin. I think, anyway. Besides, you haven't seen everything, that's impossible." Castiel blinked up at him, not expecting to be looked at with exasperation. "What?"
"Do you not understand sarcasm?" Dean asked, legitimately curious. "Why does an angelic being that should know everything about humans not understand fucking sarcasm?"
"First of all, language, second, angels are not trained in the language or culture of humans. Third, I am much more concerned about how to get back to heaven than your 'sarcasm' ". Castiel huffed at him and then turned his back on the man. It was true for the most part. However, Castiel wasn't actually able to go back to heaven. That was why he was 'fallen' in the first place. With lying, he hoped he could at least get hospitality out of the man. A broken wing would be difficult to move around with, so a nice human to bring him back to health would be fantastic. Although, Dean wasn't looking to be very nice or understanding about the fact that an Angel of the Lord had fallen on the roof of his stable.
Dean looked at him. "How are you supposed to go back to heaven with a broken wing?"
Castiel glanced over his shoulder. "I don't know. I'll figure it out. For now, I need to heal, which you might be able to help me with." He turned back around. "Do you know how to fix broken bones?"
“No, but I know someone who does,” Dean answered with a cheeky smile.
~
As the angel and the human pulled up to the large, one-story building in a black 67’ Chevy Impala, Castiel stared up at the building with confusion. Why did Dean bring him here?
“You brought me to a veterinary clinic? What am I, a domesticated animal?”
“Stop complaining, Cas. Besides, my brother works here.”
“How in the world does that make it any better? If I go in, someone that isn’t your brother will see me if we aren’t extremely careful.” As he was questioning Dean, he looked back and forth at the human and the foreboding building with a squint.
“I’ll just sneak you in then. Also, don’t you have powers to help you with hiding or something?” Dean squinted back at him. Although, it wasn’t nearly as effective.
“If I did, I wouldn’t be here with you,” Cas snapped. Dean just frowned at the angel and turned back to the wheel to find a place to park behind the clinic.
Sure, Cas did have heavenly powers, but he’s saving those for when he actually needs them. And, it was a little funny watching Dean get frustrated anyway.
~
As Dean brought the angel closer to the back entrance, Castiel was more and more nervous about humans other than Dean seeing him. Just looking at the innocent door was giving him anxiety that made his feathers ruffled. Dean having knowledge of the place was giving him little comfort.
Once they were inside, Cas unconsciously moved closer and closer to him, and by the time they somehow managed to get to Sam’s office without bumping into someone, Cas was shoulder-to-shoulder with the man. And, when Dean moved his hand towards the door handle, Cas immediately hid behind him.
Castiel was a fearless warrior of Heaven, but he was also a wuss when it came to humans.
“Hey, Dean! What’s got you to come to my office? Did one of the horses get injured again?” A man from the other side of the door said. The peak that he got of the man wasn’t very good, but he did see that the man was very tall and had long hair that really needed a trim.
“Okay. Don’t freak out, please. Although, what I'm about to show you will be really freaking crazy,” Dean said, his eyebrows knit together with a nervous smile.
“What do you mean?” The tall man asked, with a curious head tilt that reminded him of a puppy. Dean exhaled, closed his eyes, and stepped to the side to reveal Castiel.
“What in the- you have wings?! That’s so cool!” The tall man (who he assumed was Sam) exclaimed. Dean opened his eyes with surprise, although also not surprised to see that Sam was nerding out over Cas. Cas, meanwhile, was just taken aback at the sudden outburst about his wings. “Wait- one of them is broken. How did this happen?”
“I fell.”
“Could you be more specific?”
“I fell from the sky. And landed on his stable.” Cas had a tired look on his face. Sam was stunned for a second, before poorly containing himself.
“How did you not die from the impact?”
“I am an Angel of the Lord. I feel like that’s self-explanatory.” Sam looked as if he had seen a ghost. Then, about 5 seconds of realization later, Sam looked to be coming back to his senses.
“Dean, can you tell me how you managed to find a fucking angel?” Sam whisper-yelled as he was turned to Castiel. All Dean did was shrug and look at Cas. “Ask him. He was the one to fall on my property in the first place.”
Sam sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just- come over here to my work area. I’ll see what I can do.”
~
As Castiel sat on the uncomfortably cold table, Sam examined his wings while Dean leaned on the wall with his arms crossed. The right one was definitely broken, Sam determined. Sam said he could fix it, but it would take a long time to heal.
“All I need you to do is set the bone back in place. That way I won’t have to use much grace to heal my wing,” Castiel helpfully supplied. Sam had wide eyes and looked dumbfounded. “Okay then,” Sam muttered and went back to examining his wings.
“Okay, I think it’s time to set the bone. Do you need anesthesia?” Castiel shook his head.
“I believe I can handle it. I’ve been to war, after all,” Castiel said.
“I hope you’re right. Here, bite down on this.” Sam gave him a small stick. “Are you ready?” Castiel nodded. “On three. One.. two,” And suddenly a hot searing pain flooded his body. The lights around him shattered, and someone was making a sound that sounded a lot like muffled screaming.
As the searing pain slowly shifted to a dull throb, Castiel looked around the small room and noticed both men were knocked unconscious on the floor. Castiel quickly realized that he was the cause of them being injured. With wide eyes, he checked to see if they were still alive, which luckily, they were. The angel let out a sigh of relief. With his grace, he quickly healed his wing back to normal, and then healed the two boys’ small injuries.
Castiel went to the door to escape but faltered. Does he truly need to leave? He would almost miss those boys. He sighed and turned back around to wait for them to wake up.
~
As Sam and Dean woke up, they noticed that Castiel was in the room staring at them. “What happened?” Both brothers said almost at the same time. They looked at each other before looking back at the angel.
“It seems that I must have knocked both of you unconscious when my bone was set back into place. I apologize,” Cas showed off his newly healed wing with pride. “If it wasn’t for you, Sam, I wouldn’t be able to fly. Thank you for helping me heal my wing.” Cas smiled awkwardly as if he’d never smiled before.
“Uh, you’re welcome, Castiel.” Sam awkwardly said as he leaned on his hand on the floor.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Cas? You, like, just got your bone set.” Dean asked in bewilderment. Dan stood up and checked Castiel’s wing. “How is it already in perfect condition? That’s impossible.”
“I healed it when you both were unconscious. The only reason I needed my bone to be set was to make sure my wing healed properly,” Castiel explained. Dean made a ‘huh’ sound before softly touching his wing.
Of course, when you touch an angel’s wing, it’s extremely sensitive and so when Dean touched his wing Castiel almost moaned. Cas cleared his throat and looked away, blushing like a tomato. “Don’t - don’t do that. Please.” Dean got the memo and put his hand away. When Castiel looked back at him, it looked like he was blushing too.
“Uh- Sorry, Cas.” Dean put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Suddenly, his shoes were extremely interesting.
Dean’s long eyelashes are beautiful.
What?
~
After the visit with the Clinic, Dean decided to bring Castiel back with him to his farm. Castiel was weirdly okay with it, but he didn’t care enough to look too deep into it.
“Well, since you’re here, I might as well show you around,” Dean said to Castiel. Castiel was looking around the stable with curiosity. It felt oddly familiar to him.
Dean took Castiel’s hand and lead him to a gray and white mare.
“This is Iron. She’s 10 years old and is super strong, so I let her do a lot of things around the farm,” Dean looked at her with a fond look on his face. Dean patted her neck and moved on. Iron snuffed at him.
Then, Dean led him to a large black and dark brown stallion.
“This is Colt. He’s badass and if you get in his way, get out before he stomps all over you. I learned that the hard way when I was taming him.” Dean had a smile on his face, beaming with pride. It was adorable. Dean was still holding his hand.
When Dean noticed, he quickly removed his hand and blushed. He cleared his throat. He turned to a black and silver-tipped horse.
“Uh- this is Baby. She has a heart of gold and hooves of steel. She can power through anything, basically,” Dean said, petting Baby’s black mane. “Sam and I found her with a broken leg years ago. She powered through it and survived, thanks to Sam’s job.”
“I can tell you care for all of them deeply. You’re a very kind man, Dean,” Castiel said, resting his hand on Dean’s shoulder. Suddenly, he was transported back in time.
Castiel sighed at the sight below him. The oldest Winchester, Dean, was taking his sweaty shirt off and Castiel’s impure thoughts were overwhelming him. Castiel’s chin was resting on his hand. He’s watched Dean Winchester for years according to Earth time. Then, he sensed a presence behind him. Naomi.
“I see you’re still watching that dirty human. When will you finally stop?” Naomi sneered. Naomi hated that Castiel was weirdly attached to the Winchester. Castiel turned around to look her in the eye.
“I’ll stop when I want to!” Castiel snapped. Then, he shuddered in fear. Angels, according to Naomi, aren’t supposed to have wants. He didn’t want to be punished again.
“What did you just say?” Naomi yelled. “You don’t talk back to me, Castiel! It sounds like you need to be punished again.” Castiel’s eyes were wide with fear.
Castiel was back in the present. He was breathing heavily, and for some reason, he was kneeling on the floor. Dean looked panicked.
“Cas? You okay?” Dean worriedly asked. “I think you just had a panic attack.”
“I don’t- I don’t have panic attacks. That just doesn’t happen,” Castiel warily said. He was frazzled from having such an intense flashback. “What’s happening to me?” He whispered.
“That was a panic attack. It’s okay, Cas, it happens to a lot of people,” Dean assured. “Well, maybe not angels, but you’re different.” Dean smiled at him and stood up from kneeling with him and held out his hand. Castiel took his hand and stood.
“I’ve never heard of angels having panic attacks, not even anxiety,” Castiel said, his brow furrowed. Was the flashback a memory from before he fell? Looking back, he couldn’t remember anything that took place before the fall. It was frustrating.
“I need time to think.” Castiel finally stated and left the stable. With his dark wings spread, he left the farm, but to the human eye, he simply disappeared.
END OF CHAPTER 1