Work Text:
Medical school was great, Adam said, but he had sounded really excited when Dean called him up and asked if he’d like to join them for a road trip for summer vacation. He and Sam deserved the goddamn celebration, after Sam had decided that finding Castiel was more important than finding Lilith. They’d discovered he was addicted to Ruby’s blood when he went into withdrawal, and that had been enough that when Castiel came and was able to help Sam through the pain, Sam agreed that whatever Ruby had in mind for him, it couldn’t be good. Sam quitting the field threw a giant wrench into the demons’ plans, and according to Castiel, the angels’ too.
Castiel had explained the torture he’d been subjected to, while Zachariah and some bitch called Naomi tried to brainwash him into being their good little soldier again. “They were very close to succeeding, too. Close enough that they could tell me why it was necessary, why they were doing what they were doing.”
“How’d you get free?” Dean asked. “Can’t imagine it was as easy as saying ‘thanks, I’m good now, bye.’”
Castiel shook his head, looking away from both Winchesters. “It was not. I only managed it because… it was difficult. I couldn’t have done it without Sam.”
Both brothers blinked and looked at each other. “Me? What did I do?”
“You called to me, in your withdrawal. I wanted to go to you, and it threw Naomi into confusion. You should have been too far gone to call out to me.”
Sam nodded. “So I created some confusion that you could use to get out. What got through the brainwashing so you’d take the opportunity?”
“…You.” Castiel still wouldn’t turn and look at either Winchester. “I couldn’t disappoint you. I couldn’t let you down. Not if, after everything, you still believed in me enough to call to me.”
Sam was starting to look uncomfortable, so Dean let it drop. He had a pretty good idea what was going on anyway. “Well, whatever the hell happened, glad you’re back, man. What happens now?”
“Now you get on with your lives, and I figure out what to do with mine. Michael told me that he doesn’t want to see me in Heaven unless he or Raphael calls for me, that this time I’m too broken to repair.”
“Fuck Michael, he can go to hell, you’re not broken,” Dean grumbled. “What do you think, Sammy, give Adam a call and find out if he’s got summer plans? Four people in Baby might be crowded, but we can’t abandon Cas and we kinda promised Adam…”
Adam wasn’t too sure about the added passenger. “Are you sure it’s a good idea, me riding with an angel? And… well… I was kind of hoping we could… you know. It sounded like that’s what you wanted when you first called.”
Dean scoffed at that. “Cas knows me and Sam are together and doesn’t give a fuck. Can’t imagine he’d have a problem with you, you’re not even really our brother in any real way. We didn’t grow up together, we don’t share DNA… you’re just some kid our dad never introduced us to even though he took him to ball games occasionally.”
“He knows what you are,” Sam added, while Adam thought that over. “For real, not the half-brother cover story we tell people. He’s fine with you, and just treat him like a normal guy, you’ll be fine.” Sam looked over to Castiel, who had his hand outstretched. “He wants to talk to you, mind if I give him the phone?”
“Yeah, go for it.” Sam handed Castiel the phone, putting it on speaker so that he and Dean could hear what Adam was saying.
“Hello, Adam. I promise you, I have no objection to you coming along on this trip. If you object to my presence, I should be the one to drop out.” Sam shook his head vehemently. Castiel was their best friend. Adam may be sort of their brother, but could that really compete? Dean had his arms crossed, glaring at the phone like he was daring Adam to take Castiel up on that invitation.
It was longer than Sam would have liked before Adam came back with, “No, if you’re comfortable with me, then I guess I can get comfortable with you. I just… I don’t much like angels. Nothing personal, just had a crap religious upbringing.”
“I can imagine, being what you are. If it helps, I’m a poor excuse for an angel.”
“You are not,” Sam interrupted. He refused to sit here and let Castiel slander himself. “You’re the best damn angel out there.”
“By your standards, perhaps,” Castiel mumbled. “By the standards of most people and all angels, I… suck at being an angel.”
Dean snorted. “Well, angels suck to begin with, so if you suck at it then you must be doing something right.” Sam might have expressed it differently, but he wholeheartedly agreed with the sentiment. “C’mon, Adam. We’ll have a blast.”
“Yeah, okay. Worst case scenario, I figure out if I have teleportation powers and just meet you somewhere,” Adam agreed. “Looking forward to this.”
With four people, even with Castiel not sleeping, sleeping in the Impala wasn’t an option. Even sleeping in one motel room was going to be uncomfortable. Yes, everyone there knew that the brothers were fucking, but cramming two big guys into a single queen bed was still awkward – even before getting into the idea of them fucking in front of Castiel or whichever of the others got left out because of physics. Unfortunately, money was going to make doing anything else difficult.
Castiel had a good solution for that – the car was big enough for one person to sleep in, while the other two got the motel room, and they could rotate. Castiel himself, since he didn’t require sleep, could go off and do his own thing, or sit in the car with whoever was out there if they didn’t mind. On Adam’s first night exiled to the car, he surprised Castiel. “I usually fake a normal-ish sleep schedule for the comfort of people around me, but I need periods of quiet more than I need any actual sleep. It won’t solve our logistics since just the two of us being here puts us in the way of Sam and Dean being able to get comfortable enough to sleep.” He paused. “Should I tell them? I’m kind of kicking them out here just so I can…”
“It’s up to you, but while it may not be ideal, they both sleep just as well here in the Impala as they do in a motel bed,” Castiel reassured him. “What sort of quiet do you need? Can you converse, or do you need time where your brain can go on autopilot?”
“I can talk about some stuff. Don’t ask me to do complicated math or ponder complex philosophical conundrums, but telling you about my mom or complaining about Winchester anger management issues or talking about potential cases I can do. Speaking of.” Adam reached under the seat and pulled out his laptop. “I was reading about this thing in Georgia that I think we should check out. Three judges in ten days, all found shot, single 22 caliber bullet to the forehead. All men, all had recently presided over a capital murder case where the defendant was found guilty. No sentencing yet on any of them.”
“That is definitely a pattern, but what makes you think this is a case for Winchesters instead of the police?” Castiel asked as he read over the article. “Maybe it’s a human serial killer.”
“Even if it’s a human, if we can stop it, shouldn’t we? If a monster can be human enough not to need hunting,” Adam waved a hand at himself. “Why can’t a human be enough of a monster to need hunting?”
“Because there are already plenty of hunters who hunt human monsters. We call them police. They believe in these things so they hunt them down, and if it’s going after judges, they’ll take it seriously and do things right.” Castiel flipped to the next tab, another article about the murders. This one, the coroner sounded rather baffled. “Wait.”
“Yeah, the one there’s been an autopsy released, he died of a heart attack, not the shot,” Adam said. “That’s what has me thinking we should go check it out, since the gunshot wound is obviously perimortem. Why shoot someone who’s dying of a heart attack? All you have to do is wait it out and not call for help.”
“It’s worth at least looking into,” Castiel found himself forced to admit. “Can it wait until morning, do you think? Sam and Dean’s sleep is so disturbed as it is, I hate to wake them for this.”
“Yeah, of course, that’s why I had the tabs saved instead of waking them up.” Adam closed the computer and put it back under the seat. “So what’s your deal? Why latch onto those two like this? I get the whole disillusioned with your family thing, not asking why you aren’t upstairs or anything. Why Sam and Dean?”
“I was assigned to Dean as his, for lack of a better term, ‘guardian angel’ after raising him from perdition.” Castiel did the finger quotes, causing Adam to snort. “Falling in love with Dean happened almost right away. Even as I came to question my mission, to question my brothers and sisters, to question Heaven itself… I never felt the need to question Dean.”
“Wait, what?” Adam sat up a little straighter, staring at Castiel with his mouth hanging open. “You’re in love with Dean?”
“Sam, too.” Castiel tilted his head at Adam. “You didn’t realize that?”
“No, I didn’t! Best friend, sure, pretty much your only friends outside of Heaven I got, but in love with them?” Adam shook his head. “Do they know? Because… well, I’m curious now. Can’t decide if Dean would drag you into bed or kill you for looking at Sam.”
“They do not, for precisely those reasons,” Castiel admitted. He’d take the being killed part, except that Sam would likely blame himself rather than Dean for killing him or Castiel for doing something to be killed for. Being dragged into bed, though, he was terrified of. Even with Jimmy having been reaped during Naomi’s torture to spare an innocent man the suffering, he couldn’t imagine having sex in this human body. “Or at least, if they know, it’s not something we’ve spoken of. It’s possible they realize I have no interest in such a relationship.”
“Sam I’d believe that of, but Dean?” Adam shook his head, and Castiel had to admit he was probably right. “You should tell them, though. Just make it clear that you’re not interested in a physical relationship, or even changing anything other than them knowing how you feel. After what Dean’s been through with Hell and Sam’s been through with Ruby and the blood, knowing that someone other than their equally-damaged brother or a random pagan god can love them would be huge.”
Again, Adam was likely right. Castiel would have to think this through. Perhaps speak to Sam first – Sam was the more likely to understand. If that went badly, he’d know not to bring it up with Dean – and Sam knew Dean better than anyone and would be able to tell him if it were foolish even if things went well.
Dean agreed quickly to go investigate Adam’s case, while Sam was more hesitant. “What if we run into real FBI or whoever investigating? It’s as good as anything to go on, but the risk seems high.”
“Would’ve thought Lawboy here would be all about saving judges,” Dean teased, earning a glare from Sam. “Fine, whatever, we go check it out, bail if there’s too much fuzz around, head for Atlanta to take Adam to a ballgame?”
“Take me to a ballgame?” Adam said before Sam could say a word. “What do you think you are, Dad?”
“Well, Dad’s dead.” Dean settled back into his seat, firing up the Impala. “Filling in for John Winchester’s kinda been my life story, you know? I never got to take Sammy to a ballgame, either, so come on. Case first, when it’s over one way or the other, we go watch the Braves.”
“What if the Braves aren’t there?” Sam asked.
Dean just shrugged. “Then we check schedules and figure out whether it’ll be faster to wait ‘em out, head for Tampa, or head for Baltimore or DC. If they’re all on extended road trips, we can find a minor league team nearby, I bet. Heck, might be better to do that anyway, minor league is more fun and a heck of a lot cheaper.”
“How is minor league more fun?” Adam asked. “And how would you know, have you ever been to a major league game?”
“Nah, Dad wasn’t exactly the take-your-kid-to-the-ballgame type, but I’ve watched a bunch on TV. The minor leagues gotta do more stuff to get butts in seats, so they come up with all kinds of creative shit that the majors wouldn’t bother with or couldn’t get away with. While Sam was off at college, I ran with a group of hunters my age for a couple months because Dad got sick of my moping but didn’t want me off completely on my own.” Dean reached out and patted Sam’s leg. “Think he knew if I was off on my own and didn’t have anyone he could demand to speak to watching my back, I’d be ‘finding leads’ in San Jose or Modesto within two weeks. Anyway, we went to minor league games when we weren’t busy, and Sammy, you’d have loved the one we went to in some town or other in Ohio. Wet Nose Wednesday. Bring your dog to the ballpark and pay half-price for tickets.”
“Yeah, okay, I probably would have loved that one. Wouldn’t have seen any of the game, though. Too busy playing with any dogs near us.” Sam turned around to look at Adam and Castiel. “You two on board with this plan?”
“Hell yeah, especially if we can find one that’s having dog night!” Adam’s smile was nearly as bright as Sam’s own at the idea.
Castiel nodded his agreement, so Sam turned back around. “Fine. Let’s head for Georgia.”
The way Dean drove, it didn’t take long to get to Statesboro, Georgia, the home of one of the three dead judges. When they arrived at a diner, Sam quickly discovered that a second dead judge had been found that morning. “Come on, Adam,” Dean said. “We’re gonna go talk to the family before anyone else gets sniffing around. Sam, you and Cas got research duty?”
“Sure.” Sam looked up the address of the nearest library. “Looks like we can walk there, Cas. Good luck, Adam.”
“Aren’t you usually the better at talking to victims and families?” Castiel asked as they set off.
Sam shrugged. “Honestly, it depends. My approach is different, but sometimes, Dean’s is more effective. Thing is, if the choices are talking to people or getting into research… Dean’ll take the people every time.” He was more worried about Dean taking Adam. Sure, they needed to split up the rookies, but Adam was a college student. He knew his way around research. Being in the field, talking to people, that he was going to have to learn quickly. On the other hand, Castiel’s people skills were… less than stellar. Either way, Dean was going to have an interesting day.
The first thing Sam did was hack into databases to get autopsy findings on the other two dead judges who had been autopsied. Heart attack was listed as at least a contributing factor on all three, along with the gunshot to the head. Next was court records for the convictions. “So get this. All four trials, despite being capital murder, were over in less than a week. That’s not normal. Usually, they take their time with those – if you’re gonna be potentially sentencing someone to death, you want to get it right.” Sam didn’t think it was much of a coincidence that all four defendants were Black, although whether that was relevant to the case or just being in Georgia outside of Atlanta remained to be seen.
“Interesting.” Castiel looked up from the computer he was using to look up historical cases. “I’ve been looking for capital murder cases in the past, and I came across one that might be related. The trial lasted one day, sentencing was a week later, and the convicted person, Raymond Brody, was hanged as soon as it was possible to arrange. There was a note that the murderer’s sister Rebecca had tried to testify on her brother’s behalf, but that the judge denied it on the request of the murderer’s lawyer. The sister died a month ago of natural causes.”
Sam got up and leaned over Castiel to read the story on his computer, putting a hand on the angel’s back to brace himself. “So… sister’s not at rest because the injustice that happened to her brother is still happening? Any idea what her testimony would have been?”
Castiel pointed to a line on the screen. “One of the victims in that case was found dead from a single shot, 22 caliber to the forehead. The same MO as the judges, without the heart attack, which could be caused by seeing a ghost. That victim was her fiancé Andy Wolloe, and the other victim was Raymond’s wife Mary Beth. At the trial, Raymond said that the two were having an affair. I suspect Rebecca may have been the one to commit the murder, and her brother wouldn’t let her testify because he wanted to protect her. The other victim’s body was never found, it was just assumed she was dead.”
“It’s as good a theory as any,” Sam agreed. “Good work, Cas. Do you know where the sister was buried?”
“Here. Rigdon Cemetery, north of town. Beside her brother.” Castiel turned to look at Sam. “I can easily imagine Dean doing that for you, you know. Taking the fall, accepting death if it would mean you lived the rest of your life.”
It didn’t take Sam much thought to agree with that. “Of course, we’re a little different from most siblings. In a lot of hopefully relevant ways.”
“Like neither of you would need to murder the cheating wife or the cheating fiancé, because you could call me to do it for you in a way that wouldn’t require coverup,” Castiel said, earning an odd look from Sam. What the hell? “Of course, the likelihood of either of you having a wife or fiancé are very low, unless one of you decides to marry Adam.”
“He’s got too much of a chance at normal, even with everything,” Sam objected. He certainly had no intention of marrying anyone – either he’d have to lie to them about Dean and everything to do with hunting, or he’d be dragging them into the life or making it impossible for them to get out.
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. He may not want normal, after exploring this life enough.” Castiel turned away from the computer. “Which is not your fault, even if you are the safety net he’s using to explore safely, Sam. It’s a hard life, which will end bloody or sad, but it’s one that many find worth devoting themselves to. You aren’t so sure, I know, but Dean is, and I can’t imagine doing anything else. Adam was born into this world, if not this life, so he may feel more at home here than among humans now that he knows.”
Sam made a face, but he couldn’t argue with Castiel on that one. It sucked, but if that’s how Adam felt, Adam would keep hunting with or without Sam and Dean’s guidance. “If he’s not really John Winchester’s son, why did those ghouls go after him? How’d they know about him when John was doing everything he could to keep him out of our world, including keeping him hidden from me and Dean?”
“Pagan gods have a certain ability to warp reality. You might have noticed in your run-ins with others.” Sam snorted. That was one way of describing things. “As a child, Adam Milligan was told his father was a man named John Winchester, so as far as everything is concerned, John Winchester is his father. Magic used to track John Winchester’s children will find him. The effect is even stronger for Kate Milligan, since she was right there being his mother all along.”
“Fair enough.” Sam went back to thinking about the case. They had a suspect, a motive, and a burial location. “Think we’re done here. If we’re wrong about Rebecca Brody, we can come back and look into other possibilities tomorrow.”
“In that case… Adam advised me to speak to you about something, and he had a good point about why. I’d like to do that while I know Dean isn’t going to interrupt by walking in.” Sam had started to stand up, heading out to call Dean, but he let himself sit back down in his chair at that. Whatever Castiel wanted to talk about, he was willing to listen, especially if it was something he didn’t want Dean overhearing. “Adam was surprised to hear that I’m in love with the two of you.”
“Wait, what?” Sam blinked a couple times. That was the last thing he could have expected this to be about. Not wanting Dean to overhear suddenly made a lot more sense. “Okay, I knew you were in love with Dean, but me too? Have to say I’m surprised.”
“You knew about Dean?” Castiel shook his head. “Knew or were guessing like everyone else?”
“I wasn’t just assuming because of your loyalty to him, no. I guess I can’t really say I knew, but the devotion you show to him, the eagerness to be here with us instead of doing your own thing, and just… I just had a sense, you know?”
“You’re part of all that,” Castiel insisted, which brought Sam to confront that part of things. Apparently it was him, too. “I’m not sure it’s possible to love one of you without loving the other.”
“Trust me, it is, or at least it used to be,” Sam muttered, remembering several times in the past where girls pretended to be interested in Sam to get Dean’s attention. On the other hand… was that really love? Which raised the question, what did Castiel want? Only one way to find out. “You know that if you’re wanting to pursue anything, you’ll need to talk to Dean too, right? Whatever ends up being decided, it has to be all of us agreeing, not you and me deciding something and informing Dean of it.”
Castiel was silent for long enough that Sam was starting to seriously worry that he had thought he could get away with not talking to Dean. “I wanted to talk to you first to see how things would go. I know that if this conversation goes in certain ways, I’ll have to talk to him. I have no interest in a physical relationship, and Adam and I both thought you were the more likely to understand and accept that.”
“Oof, yeah. I’ve tried explaining that one to Dean when he had one of those crises of ‘Sammy what the hell are we doing’, but he just… couldn’t get his head around it.” Probably easier for Castiel, since the problem was Castiel’s lack of interest instead of feeling guilty about having the interest, but hardly a good sign. “I’ll be there and smack Dean any time he starts forgetting or acting like you’re just scared and need to try it or whatever other excuse he gets in his head, if you still want to talk to him and tell him about this. I should warn you… I know he’s got feelings for you, he’s just not saying anything because he knows I do too and neither of us thought you had feelings for me. Sharing’s one thing, but bringing in someone for only one of us? He’s not okay with that.”
“So if I wish to pursue something with you because I know you’ll accept my wishes, I have to have that discussion with Dean.” Castiel looked less than thrilled with that idea, which Sam could not blame him for, but that was how it was. Once again, the silence stretched out for a long time, Sam allowing Castiel to think things through. “It’s too important. Both of you deserve to know you are loved, even if we decide not to do anything about it. We can talk to him after we’ve taken care of the ghost?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” So that’s why Castiel had decided to confess despite his fear, and Sam felt the warmth deep in his soul. If Dean wasn’t going to be reasonable, Sam might just have to kick his ass.
Dean didn’t regret taking Adam on the interviews. They were able to determine it was probably a ghost, but no one seemed to have any idea of connections between the judges beyond what they already knew – they weren’t all members of the same country club or alumni of the same law school or in the same softball league or anything, and while they knew each other, not much to go on there. He hoped Sam had better luck, because he and Adam had come up with zip.
Adam had actually taken to the interviews surprisingly well, and while Dean suspected there was a bit of supernatural in play as Adam was able to convince skeptics to talk to them, he’d learned from Sam that it probably wasn’t hurting anyone and clearly was useful. Not much difference from Sam’s puppy eyes, really. Ship might have sailed for using Sam’s powers for good, after their association with Ruby and Dean’s, admittedly unhelpful, attitude, but why the hell shouldn’t Adam use his powers if he stayed on the side of good?
“I sure hope Sam and Cas had better luck,” Adam muttered. “Sorry, man.”
“Don’t be. This may be one of those where we learned everything they knew, they just didn’t know the info we needed them to,” Dean reassured him. “You did great. I sure wouldn’t have done better on my own, and if I’d brought Sam, we’d have to go to the library now.”
“I guess. Cas might’ve done better. Can angels read minds, find out if you’re hiding something and what it is?”
Dean shook his head. “They can hear it if you pray and wouldn’t surprise me if some dumbass decided to pray that we don’t discover the skeleton in their closet or something, but they can’t just pluck thoughts out of your brain without an invitation. Cas wouldn’t have done better, and he’s an awkward little dude, he probably wouldn’t have done as well.”
“I dunno. If you say so.” Adam slid into the passenger seat of the Impala. “Do you believe you can be in love without wanting sex?”
Dean paused in turning the keys in the ignition, turning to stare at Adam. “Where the hell is this coming from? Because, well, you’re not gonna convince me you don’t want sex, not the way you get all excited about the prospect. That’s not fake.”
“No, no, it’s just… there’s this guy, back home, and I know he likes me but he’s made a big deal out of being sex-repulsed and how anyone who wants to date him will have to accept that, and I wanted to know what you thought of it.” Dean kept staring at Adam. More plausible than Adam not being interested in sex, but he’d never heard anything about a guy back home from Adam before and this was the randomest time to bring him up.
Or was it? Was this a sort of reverse asking-for-a-friend situation? They’d been talking about Cas, and it was obvious as hell that Cas was in love with Sam and just not saying anything for some reason. “What’s his name?”
“Huh?”
“Your guy. The one not interested in sex. What’s his name?”
Bingo. Adam looked panicked for a moment before coming up with, “Kevin.”
“Right.” Adam relaxed a little, but Dean wasn’t letting him off that easy. “Well, duh, of course you can be in love without having any interest in sex, look at Cas. He’s the kind of guy who could manage not to get laid if you took him to a brothel, but that sure hasn’t stopped him from being in love with Sam. Me, I’d find it weird as hell, but for Cas and Sam? It wouldn’t even be all that hard to find a way to make it work, because he wouldn’t mind me and Sam doing our thing a bit. So you wanna try something with Kevin, talk to him and see what sort of compromises you can come to that respect his boundaries and still get everyone involved what they need.” Adam was staring at him like he’d grown an extra head, and Dean smirked. “What?”
“Just… surprised, that’s all. Although I’m not sure which I’m more surprised about, you being cool about a relationship without sex if someone’s against the idea or you being cool with the idea of Sam and Cas. I’ve seen how possessive you get about Sam.”
Dean turned the key. If anything, his jealousy in this case was over Cas, but he could live with it as long as Sam and Cas were happy, and he didn’t want to have to explain that to Adam. “I’m not possessive about Sam with you, am I?”
“Well, no, but I’m…” Adam trailed off, turning to stare out the window. “I’m temporary. After this summer road trip, you’re going to drop me off back in Wisconsin, I’ll live a normal life, so you can suck it up and deal with me. And it’s not like you’re not getting your turn with either of us, so…”
Dean reached over, putting a hand on Adam’s shoulder. This was the first he’d heard that Adam wasn’t looking forward to being dropped off. As much as he’d been enthusiastic about coming along, Dean had always thought Adam just wanted a summer adventure and this was something he was looking at as temporary and was happy with. He wasn’t about to let Adam think it had to be that way. “Adam, you want in? Gonna have to talk to Sam and Cas, obviously, but far as I’m concerned you’re in. You’re one of us. If you want to go back to your life, you can, but if you want us dropping by when we’re in the area and being part of that life as much as we can and taking you with us when you can go, this is only as temporary as you want it. The one thing I won’t let you do is abandon your mom. She deserves better and so do you.”
“Really? Wow.” Adam looked back over. “I have to say, I’m surprised. So what’s different? Why do I and apparently Cas get Sam privileges?”
“Because you two love him. The people in bars, the various wannabe boyfriends or girlfriends I’ve run off… they don’t. Sam believes the best of people, so if someone tells him they love him, he’s going to believe them. I get protective because I don’t want to see that faith in people damaged. You or Cas hurt him, it wasn’t out of malice, and I can forgive you for being human and making a mistake.”
“But… we’re not human.”
“You are in the human vs. monster scheme, which is the one I care about,” Dean said, waving a hand in dismissal. “You’re one of the good guys. What you actually are, I don’t care.”
Advantage to having an angel with you on a salt and burn: he was happy to take one of the shovels, and strong enough to dig quickly. Adam was less thrilled about it, but acknowledged that he had a strong back and less experience shooting than Sam or Dean, so it made sense for him to take the other shovel. He wasn’t expected to keep up with Castiel, just to dig.
The ghost showed up as soon as shovel hit coffin. Dean and Sam took turns blasting her with salt, waiting for word that the coffin was open and ready to burn. Dean only pouted a little when his notificiation was the massive whoosh of flame from behind him. “What the hell?”
“We did the digging, and Adam wanted to drop the lighter,” Castiel said with complete innocence. “I saw no reason to deprive him of the chance. You’ll have many more opportunities, but who knows how many ghost cases Adam will face.”
“As many as he wants to,” Dean snapped. He had not had the conversation with Adam earlier to let Cas make him feel unwelcome. Although, if he was being fair, he’d have to admit that no matter how many salt and burn cases Adam went on, Dean would likely never voluntarily hand over the fire-starting duty.
At least the ghost was gone, and he and Sam could put their guns up and watch Cas and Adam fill in the hole. Sam took pity on Adam, taking the shovel from him to help fill in the hole, so Adam came over to Dean and grabbed a beer out of the cooler. After a moment’s hesitation, he popped it open. “Sam says he and Cas want to talk to you. I’m not needed for the conversation but if I want to stay for it they don’t mind. I bet I can guess what it’s about.”
“Fun.” He’d made it clear to Sam that it had to go both ways, so either he was facing his best friend being in love with him and not being able to show his return feelings the best way he knew how, or fight with Sam over whether they could make an exception given that Cas was their best friend. Long as the beer held out, he’d make it through, but it wouldn’t be easy.
Adam had beers waiting for Cas and Sam when they finished the grave. “Dean, don’t be a dick,” Sam said as soon as he’d taken his beer from Adam.
“Fine. Cas, I love you too, but I don’t know how to do a relationship without sex.”
“Wait, what?” Three faces stared at him in shock.
“That’s what you wanted to talk about, right? Cas, I kinda worked out that you’re in love with Sam when you told us you broke free because of him. If Sam were asking me to reconsider the policy of things being open only if both of us can play, like with Adam, he’d be more puppy eyes and nice, not starting off like he’s picking a fight. So you must be in love with me too, and dude, that’s kind of awesome. I love you too. I just don’t know how to do this without sex, but you’re… you.” He waved a hand vaguely. He smirked as Sam changed from shock through anger and landed on puppy eyes. “Yeah. That’s the face you’d be making if you wanted permission to get with him without me having the same chance. You think you can handle it, go for it, long as you promise to help me figure this shit out, huh?”
“Of course. It’s really not that hard, Dean, I promise.” Sam reached out, taking Castiel’s hand. “I do have one question, Cas, what about Adam?”
“He’s definitely a Winchester, and I think we all know how I feel about those,” Castiel deadpanned. “Adam, I don’t feel that way about you at this time, but we haven’t known each other all that long and this road trip is lacking the intensity of a trip out of Hell or attempting to stop the rise of Satan together. I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself in love with you eventually, but I’m not there yet.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting you to be,” Adam said. “If it happens, that’ll be nice, if it doesn’t, as long as you don’t cause problems for me with Dean and Sam I won’t cause problems for you. We’re friends, right?”
“Good friends, I hope.” Castiel reached out and took Dean’s hand. “Am I understanding correctly that you’re interested, you’re just confused?”
“Wouldn’t say confused,” Dean said. “I know that relationships exist without sex and shit all the time, I just don’t know how they do it and what makes those relationships different from friends.”
“What’s the difference between a girlfriend and a friend with benefits?” Sam asked.
Dean opened his mouth to start explaining before he realized that Sam knew damn well what the difference was. He was making a point here. It was all about the emotions and intentions. Was it that easy? Cas was his boyfriend because of how they felt about each other and the way they intended to live the rest of their lives together? It was a good starting place, anyway. He could get his head around that. “Thanks.”
“That’s it? We’re good?” Sam looked between the others. “Not that I’m complaining, I’d just… well…”
“Underestimated my intelligence, even though you’re the one who keeps trying to tell me I’m a genius when I know damn well I’m a grunt and you’re the smart one?” Dean stuck his tongue out at Sam, whose face was caught between guilt at the assumptions and stubbornness because, well, brothers. “Really, fair enough, if it weren’t Cas I’d probably have more of a problem with it, honestly. I just… Cas being in love, sure, but in bed? Easier to imagine a relationship being happy without sex than that, and before you start, Cas, it’s nothing to do with you being an angel, Anna killed that theory pretty darn good.”
“She was human at the time,” Cas argued.
So she had been. The time Cas knew about, at least. “Not the time she came back to figure out what the hell happened and why it seemed like things had been called off. The time I wouldn’t normally admit to, because…”
Sam snorted. “Dude. Not to worry. You told me Anna visited while I was in rehab. Didn’t mention sex, but it’s not a problem. Might need to revisit the rule about one night stands when the other’s not available for whatever reason, now that Cas and Adam are involved too, but I was indisposed and the rule was in effect then.”
“I’m not available for sex at all, so I don’t see why my involvement should change that rule,” Castiel said. “I’m glad to hear Anna got out of Heaven’s trap, though. Did she mention it?”
“Yeah, but when I mentioned you were helping Sam through rehab, she realized that it was part of your own trap from Heaven. She wasn’t ready to see you then, but said if you needed her or wanted to apologize, you’d know how to reach her.” Cas nodded in thought, so Dean turned to Adam. “What about you? Obviously if you’re here and interested, we don’t go somewhere else other than each other, but if you’re in school, you want the option to get laid if we’re not around, or keep things closed? I’d prefer open, Sam doesn’t care either way, so your call.”
“I’m good with open. Does this mean I’m in permanently? For real?”
“Of course it does, Adam, you’re in as much as you want to be,” Sam said before Dean could smack him for not getting that after their discussion earlier. “The life sucks, so I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to go for just having us come around when we’re in the area, but it’s your choice.”
“Wow. We’ll see how the rest of the summer vacation goes, but for now, I’m enjoying this. Still wanna go back to school… couldn’t hurt to have a certified emergency doctor on the team, right? Or at least a trained nurse, if I don’t wanna do the extra time it’d take for medical school, switch to nursing. Save Cas’s miracles for when we really need them, keep him from getting in more trouble with the brass upstairs.”
“That’s a good point,” Castiel agreed. “I can fly you to them, or one or both of them to you, if the ones involved will allow it – but if you would prefer not to fly, I understand that. Dean does not enjoy flying at all.” Dean snorted – that was quite the understatement there – but on the other hand, sex was definitely worth the weird pooping schedule after a flight. Nice option to have on the table, at least.
“Anything else we need to settle tonight, or are we good to get ourselves back to the motel and get some sleep?” Sam asked. “It’s my night in the car, and I’m about ready for bed.”
“Sounds good… but if you don’t mind, on the way back, look up ballgames. I know Savannah’s got a minor league team if we wanna just go straight to that and skip trying the major leagues, or Jacksonville. Wanna take a beach day, too? They’re both coastal.”
“Sounds like fun.” Sam did a quick search while Dean, Cas, and Adam got everything cleaned up from the salt and burn. “Savannah’s on a road trip, but Jacksonville will be home day after tomorrow for four games. So sleep, drive today, beach tomorrow, baseball game the day after, and by then we should have a new goal. Sound like a plan?”
“Sounds good to me,” Dean said, and Adam and Castiel agreed as well. That done, it was time to go get some shuteye before the new adventures began.