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Dean flicked his Aura on and off, a nervous habit that his mother always told him would make him motion-sick. But that was just an old wives' tale. Besides, no one could see his Aura, so it wasn't like he was bothering anyone. He was waiting for the small girl who had way too much energy for ten in the morning to return with their next game. And he was bored to death. When his summer camp administrator told him the counselors would be spending a week at the camp to go through training, he wasn't expecting daily morning team bonding activities.
Dean's hands were covered in blue Markings from Lisa, and he was entertaining himself by making the color appear and disappear. By the time the girl, Hannah, got back with a tennis ball and a bundle of string, he'd noticed a freckle of orange left from his ex-boyfriend Aiden peaking from the blue between his pinky and ring finger.
"Alright, guys," Hannah called. Dean turned off his Aura and walked over to the circle of strings she was laying out. "You're going to lift this tennis ball from its stand and put it back."
She pretty much left it at that, then told everyone to grab a string that was connected to the loop at the base of the stand. Dean sighed. This was going to take forever.
Three minutes and forty-six seconds later, they got the ball back on the stand without dropping it. "Finally," he muttered.
The boy beside him stifled a laugh, and Dean pretended he didn't hear. That's what he'd been doing for the past two days because he couldn't risk being around Castiel who just joined the team this year and had no business being as cute as he was. So Dean was doing his best to admire from afar. He had a girlfriend after all. He felt guilty even looking at Castiel.
But maybe that was other feelings seeping through.
They moved through variations of the original challenge, each getting a bit harder but moving much quicker. And then Hannah came out with some blindfolds.
Please don't blindfold me. Please don't blindfold me. Please don't-
She put the third on Castiel.
Then she moved the base to a platform across the lawn onto a platform. Everyone groaned, and the three blindfolded began to worry.
"We're going to have to help them," Jo said, taking Adam's hand. "We'll never make it if we don't."
Benny glanced at Dean to tell him he was taking Castiel's hand. That look said I'm sure as hell not doing it. So Dean did.
And then his body was covered in colors. Deep red from Olivia and purple from Kate and light green from Max and orange from Aiden and baby blue from Lisa. And now lilac from Castiel. His heart was pounding so loud he could barely hear what anyone was saying, and his hands were so sweaty.
"Sorry," he mumbled to Castiel. He forced his own Aura to disappear, but Castiel didn't even know something had happened. Dean caught a glimpse of forest green kisses trailing down his neck.
Then he forced himself to look away and focus on that damn tennis ball.
It was a long, awkward day after Castiel removed his blindfold and saw his Markings covering him of their own accord. Which only happened when you find your next Person. Only after physical contact with someone who is mutually attracted to you. It didn't take long for him to put two and two together, but by then, Dean was avoiding him. And that's what he continued to do after their morning games and lunch and workshop and dinner. He skipped their bonfire so he could make an important call, one he'd been dreading for weeks now. One he couldn't put off anymore.
Dean smiled into his laptop's camera, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Hey, Lisa."
"Hey, babe. How's training going? Are you getting more informed this year?"
Dean shifted in his seat, suddenly very aware that the desk chairs in the counselor cabins were incredibly uncomfortable. "Um, good. Yeah, things are, um, good."
Lisa frowned, and the camera lurched forward as she pulled her laptop on her lap. "What's wrong, Dean?"
All he could see was Castiel rubbing his hand over the lilac painting his palm. The way he looked so sad every time Dean didn't meet his eye. Turning his Aura on and off when he thought Dean wasn't looking.
Dean closed his eyes. "So much is wrong, Lisa." He put his head in his hands and pushed back the tears that had been building up all day. But eventually, he couldn't stop the words that had been building up for months.
"Lisa, I think we're done. I think we have been done for a while now."
"Dean, what are you talking about?"
He looked at her, so much pain behind his eyes. He didn't have to say much. That pain said enough for Lisa. "You know it hasn't been the same for us. Not for a long time."
"Yes, I know. We've been ignoring it, hoping things would change."
Dean leaned his head back, eyes tracing over the wooden ceiling. "But nothing changes if you don't say anything. We can't fix a problem that we don't acknowledge."
"And now it's too late."
"Much too late." Dean stared into the laptop's screen for a long time before he started talking again. He didn't really know why he was telling her this, but he felt like he should. "That night at Benny's last month was when I realized too much had changed for us. You- you kissed my temple, which I just thought was odd since you've never done that before." He tried for a smile. "Maybe cause you've never been able to reach my temple before." Lisa laughed, but it was soft and without any happiness. It was too wistful for her. It broke Dean's heart. "But that night, I remembered not seeing a Marking. Our attraction was gone. I don't know for how long, but it was definitely gone."
"So why didn't you just break up with me?" She wasn't angry or sad, just confused.
"Why didn't you break up with me?" Lisa looked away. "I think we bother were going through the motions. It felt better to pretend than to end things after so long. I don't know what I'm going to do without you," he said quietly.
"I don't have to go anywhere. We can just be friends."
"You know that never works," Dean scoffed.
"So this is it?"
"Yeah. And-" Should I tell her? Would it just hurt her for no reason? "I don't want to lie to you." He let her see all his Markings. Even though their attraction was gone, she could still see them. A cruel joke really when it came to the whole process. Look at me moving on after you. Covering up every trace you left on my body with someone else. Look how they're loving me more than you ever did. He held up his hand. Lilac covering that baby blue that she'd grown to love all over her own body. It was their love story spanning between their bodies. And now it was over with a stroke of new paint. "It just happened. And I care about you too much to keep it from you. I never wanted to hurt you, Lis."
"Who says you're hurting me?" Lies. "You said it yourself. We've been over for a while, so you're welcome to be attracted to whoever you want." She didn't mean that. "I'm happy for you." And she was.
But she was very sad too. She spent so long with Dean, and she loved him so much. She didn't feel the same way though. Lisa wasn't exactly sad for herself. She was sad for her past self that was so in love.
Though that girl would become her someday. And she'll know it was time to let go.
"I'll let you go. I'm sure you've got so much to do." A knock on Dean's door. "See? Bye Dean."
"Bye Lisa."
He let himself feel everything for just a moment. All the guilt and sadness and pain and confusion and anger. And then he pushed it aside and answered his door.
"Dean."
"Hi, Castiel." He stepped out of the way. "You want to come in and talk?"
Castiel nodded and let out a sigh. He was so nervous that he forgot he should've been breathing. "I'm sorry for interrupting. I just can't stop thinking about this. Us." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did I do something wrong? Is that why you've been avoiding me?"
"No, it's just very complicated."
"Will you please explain to me then? I can't take this not knowing because I'll never be able to forget about it. Not with this-" He held out his hand, showing Dean all his colors. Or just green and now lilac. Castiel was only covered in that deep green he saw earlier. Had Castiel only been with one Person? Was it a long term relationship that ended recently?
Dean couldn't help himself. He took Castiel's hand and kissed it, leaving lilac print in the shape of his lips. "I promise you didn't do anything wrong." So he told him everything about Lisa. That they were together for three years. That it was over. That it should've ended long before. That he didn't want to talk to Castiel until he sorted things out with her.
"Can I see?" Castiel smiled. He reached his hand out to his face. "Can I-" Dean nodded. Castiel's delicate hands touched Dean's cheek and jaw, leaving lilac behind every motion. "I haven't known you for very long, but I want to. I want to get to know you so badly. I've wanted to talk to you since I met you, but you never seemed interested."
"The problem was that I was too interested. But we can start getting to know each other now." Dean placed his hand over Castiel's.
"Blue's not your color."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "It's not?"
"Purple suits you much better. A very specific shade of purple, in fact."
He leaned closer to Castiel. "What are you going to do about that?"
Castiel took the hint. He finally stopped talking and kissed Dean.
It was all passion and spontaneity and right. It was nothing either had ever felt before. Roaming hands staining their skin lilac. Their pasts slowly being let go in favor of peace and a blossoming connection. Aiden's freckle of orange and Kate's last bit of royal purple that had managed to remain over the years just above Dean's hairline were both gone.
By the time they were both breathless, the sun had dipped further beneath the horizon. The purple dusk was seeping through the window, giving them a glimpse of their future. Neither could quite imagine how great that future would be.
Every time they tried to imagine it that night, they would learn something new about the other that made the future seem so much better. It was just their first night together, but they wanted so many more. They couldn't get enough of each other, and they were falling so hard.
Falling so hard and so fast.
Because who ever falls slowly?