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„What do you mean, you never played Truth Or Dare?!”, Charlie yells from the library, where she sits with Castiel and Jack. Surprised, Dean turns his head to look over and already sees the redhead waving him and Sam over. With a sigh, Dean places the dirty plate back into the sink. Whenever Charlie stays at the bunker, trouble is already around the corner.
On his way from the kitchen, Dean grabs himself a beer, but Charlie already put liquor bottles on the table. The hunter was never a big fan of drinking games; he never needed a reason to get drunk. But now that Chuck is gone and they finally are free…Hell yeah, Dean would play a stupid drinking game with his friends. He and Sam sit down with the others, while Charlie pours everyone a drink. Castiel sits across Dean, and their legs shortly brush each other under the table. After saving the angel – no, not angel, he is now human – after saving the other human from the Empty, the interactions between him and Dean had been a bit awkward. Castiel left him with a love confession, and Dean was still trying to figure out what to do about it. So they just lived side by side in the bunker, only talking about safe topics and keeping their distance.
“You don’t have to do this…I just…”, Castiel stammers, but Charlie already pushes the glass into his hands. Dean can’t stop and thinks about Castiel having to explore humanity. Of course the guy had never played Truth Or Dare before, why the hell would he? It’s only a stupid game to embarrass teenagers and ask them about their crushes.
“So…”, Charlie begins and looks at their little group. “Since it’s Castiel’s first time playing, I’m gonna let him start. Castiel, truth or dare?”
Cas takes a moment, looking like he is calculating all possible risks of his answer. Finally, a little smile tugs at the corners of his mouth.
“Dare”
Dean and Sam probably both raise their eyebrows at the same time, while Charlie just giggles and Jack grins at his father. Everyone expected Cas to choose the Truth, but he’s always good for a surprise.
“Okay, we’re going to be easy on you…Hm, how about you take off your flannel?”, Charlie asks with a kind smile. Dean knows exactly what she is doing, and takes a sip of his beer. In situations like that, she will at first be so sweet and innocent, only to later ask the kinkiest stuff of you. But Castiel can’t know that yet, so he takes off the green flannel. Underneath, he is wearing a black tank top and Dean takes a glance at his arm muscles. They look surprisingly well trained, Dean notes. But he his thought gets interrupted by Castiel.
“Is it my turn now?” Everyone nods in agreement.
“Jack”, Castiel finally says. “Truth or dare?”
The boy picks truth, and Castiel asks him about his favorite color. What a shock, it’s blue. Dean thinks about just emptying the liquor, to make this a little bit more interesting. At the next turn, Sam gets picked and in true Winchester fashion, Sam picks Dare.
“Okay, mhh…you could – well,- I got no idea”, Jack admits with a blush.
“I got one”, Dean says quickly, already smirking at his little brother. There is a terrified look in Sam’s eyes. They’ve played the game a few times when they were younger, and Dean always chose the worst tasks for him.
“I dare you to text Eileen a love poem”
Sammy obliges with a frown and they even let him read it aloud to the laughing group. They play for a few rounds, but they don’t really get drunk until they decide to just skip the rule. Now they just drink whenever they want to, and it only improves the mood.They find out Charlie had her first time at 18, Sam once had a crush on Susan Sarandon and Jack accidentally stole a puppy from a store one time. They also get Castiel to make a PB&J sandwich without using his hands and Dean has to sing a song of his choosing – He starts humming the tune of the “Tequila Song”, and everyone yells the lyric with him: “TEQUILA!”
When it’s Sam turn to ask his brother, Dean chooses Truth this time. Knowing Sam, he would probably dare him to kiss Castiel right there and that’s a risk Dean can’t take.
“What’s your type? Like, how would your ideal partner look like?”
Dean wants to throw a punch at his little brother, who smirks at him so knowingly. He specifically asked about a “partner”, not a woman. Sam must have noticed the change of behavior. It takes Dean a moment to answer, his eyes are pinned to a little scratch in the table.
“Dunno…I like dark hair….bright eyes…a nice smile…”, Dean mumbles, more to himself than to anyone else. Only now, he realizes he perfectly described Castiel. Quickly, he tries to save himself: “It’s just got to be a good match, you know. If the personality ain’t right, no looks can fix that”
Nobody cares to comment about it, but Dean can see Castiel shift in his seat. The topic makes him obviously uncomfortable, but he tries to keep it cool. And Dean – Dean just drowns his liquor and pours himself another glass. They play some more rounds, until Jack is up again. Of course, he picks Castiel and when the former angel chooses Truth, Jack looks at him with big eyes.
“Were you ever in love? Like really romantically in love?”
Everyone is looking at Castiel, and when he finally raises his gaze, he locks eyes with Dean. I love you, he remembers. The way Cas had looked at him, with tears in those blue eyes…Dean breaks the eye contact, too afraid he might start crying at the memory. A second later, Cas replies with a shaky voice.
“Do you mean like a relationship, or…just me loving…someone?”
And wow, that just fucking hurts. Dean never understood what “heartbreak” truly meant, until he lost Castiel. With every loss, his heart felt a little more broken. But seeing the sadness in Castiel’s face…it feels like his heart isn’t even capable of more damage; it’s just completely gone. Jack says something to Castiel, who answers quietly.
“Yeah, I was in love once…”
The table is quiet once more. Everyone is pretty drunk at this point and Castiel seemingly forgot it’s his turn to ask. Dean can’t look away from him, while Cas looks everywhere but him. Charlie clears her throat.
“Hey Dean, were you ever in love? I know you had relationships, but were you ever truly in love?”, she asks. Charlie is one of those people, who get sad and lonely when they are drunk. She doesn’t mean harm, Dean knows it. But she might as well stabbed him; at least that would have hurt less. He holds his silence for a moment, while carefully rolling his liquor glass in his hands. Was he ever in love? Love is supposed to be this great thing, where you would die for someone, or fight against all of Hell to keep them save. People say, Love is greater than life itself, and if you love someone, you could never let them go. Love is keeping your partner safe and…
Oh.
Dean actually draws in a breath at the realization. Of fucking course. He loves Cas. No, scratch that…He is in love with Cas. Why did it take him that long to realize that? Every angel and demon had been teasing them for years, and it had taken him one love confession and a stupid game of Truth Or Dare to finally figure it out. Dean looks over at Cas, who stares at him with those sad blue eyes. But still beautiful. Still his Castiel.
“Yes….”, he finally breathes, a small smile on his lips. “I think I’ve been in love for a long time…”
Cas finally breaks the eye contact; only to stare at his glass instead. Dean is still trying to figure out why he looks so sad, when the former angel rises from his seat.
“I’m…I’m very tired…goodnight…”, he mumbles, before sharply turning around and waltzing away. Dean blinks in surprise and wonders, why no one is stopping him from leaving. But Jack is already dozing off in his chair, while Charlie is busy braiding Sam’s hair. No one on the table pays any mind to Dean, so he quickly rises to his feet and strides towards Castiel’s room. On his way, Dean tries to think about what he wants to say, but he can’t think of anything before he already arrives at the door. His shaking hands still manage a sharp knock.
“Cas? I wanted to talk…”
The door opens abruptly, and Dean takes a surprised step back.
“talk with…you”
Cas looks at him, his blue eyes rimmed red. It’s obvious he has been crying, and only brushed the tears away after Dean’s knock. Still, he opens the door more, so the other hunter can enter his room.
“I want to apologize to you, Cas”, Dean starts, not really sure where to look, or where to put his hands, and why is his mouth so bloody dry, what the fuck?! “I kinda…avoided you in the last weeks, because I – I didn’t know what to say to you. And I am sorry for that…”
He finally looks back at Castiel, who quietly sits down on his bed. His head hangs low, and his eyes won’t meet Dean. He looks almost ashamed, Dean thinks. Ashamed of loving me.
“And before you left, you said…you said all those great things about me. And I didn’t even say anything. I am so sorry for not saying anything, for just letting you sacrifice yourself for me and not even thanking you for it…”
But Castiel stays quiet, his gaze still fixed on the floor under him.
“Please, say something. Anything. Yell at me, punch me, ANYTHING!”, Dean shouts, the first tears already in his green eyes. He just wants to be real with Castiel, he just wants to tell him…the truth.
“I choose Truth, Cas.”, Dean says aloud and at last, Cas lifts his head to look at him confused. “Ask me whatever, I will not lie to you”
“Who are you in love with?”, Cas asks immediately, and Dean doesn’t wait to give an answer.
“You”
Castiel’s eyes widen in shock, his mouths falls open a little. But there is still hesitation in his face, followed by anger. He is up from the bed now, crossing the distance between them.
“Is this one of your stupid dares? Because if you are joking with me…”
“It’s true. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”, Dean says in a quiet voice. Cas is so close, he could almost lean forward and kiss him. “I love you, Castiel”
A moment later he can see the realization in Castiel’s blue eyes, where new tears start forming. He is smiling at him, and Dean can finally feel his heart beating again.
“Cas?”, Dean asks smiling. “I dare you to kiss me”
He is still smiling as Castiel finally closes the gap between them.
Finally, the truth is out.