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The agreed meeting place was a small alley behind a restaurant Dean and Cas favored. It was central to both their homes and in an area where Angels and Demons congregating didn’t raise eyebrows or draw undue attention. Jo and Sam had been wary of the choice, but they’d given in eventually. Jo waited with Dean while Sam scouted the area around them, making enough noise that Dean could track his progress easily. Jo flipped her knife through the air, tossing and catching it in feigned boredom. Cas was a distant presence at the back of his mind, but it was getting steadily stronger, indicating that he was coming toward them. Dean fought back the anticipation, but he couldn’t stop his tail from lashing through the air. Dean leaned back against the wall, forcing himself to watch Jo instead of obsessing over Cas’s progress.
“I still don’t understand how exactly you managed to meet an Angel, let alone one who supposedly supports peace,” Jo said yet again.
Dean sighed. “You know exactly how I met him, Jo. I know you’ve visited the same club.”
Jo's face turned red. She snatched her knife out of the air and glared at him. “I went once out of curiosity! I certainly never hung around long enough to make friends with one of them!”
Dean rolled his eyes just as Sammy dropped down next to them. “We’re good,” he said, “and I’m pretty sure I saw a couple of Angels headed this way.”
Cas was still far enough away that he was only an awareness in Dean’s mind instead of the usual jumble of emotion. They had discovered that with enough focus they could communicate through a manipulation of their emotions, but the bond was not yet strong enough to facilitate long distance communication. Dean did not know for sure that Cas intended to bring someone with him, but that was the expectation Cas had left him with.
Cas had said he’d need a few weeks to do his thing and see about finding others to bring on board, and Dean had not heard or seen him in that time. Even though Cas was always there, in the back of his mind, Dean still missed him, still couldn’t wait to touch him, to kiss him, to just goddamn see him.
Sam coughed, drawing Dean out of his head. Jo was giving him an odd look while Sam’s face was pitying. He took stock of himself and realized that his whole body was tense, leathery wings raised high but held tight to his body, tail practically vibrating in place. He focused on relaxing until Cas’s presence sharpened in Dean’s mind, his eager anticipation flooding Dean. Dean’s head snapped up toward the end of the alleyway in time to see two figures step into the entrance, feathered wings flared out slightly.
Dean focused on Cas’s silhouette, feeling the pulse of delight from Cas that indicated he had spotted Dean. The other Angel followed him into the alleyway, but it wasn’t until they were close that Dean spared a moment to glance at him.
He was shorter than Cas with blond hair that curled under his ears and Dean snorted mentally over Sam’s hairstyle on a midget instead of a giant. Cas stopped a few feet in front of them. Dean met his gaze.
“Hello, Dean,” he greeted, the rough edge of his voice sending a shiver down Dean’s spine.
Dean grinned at him. “Hey, Cas.”
Cas slid his gaze over to Sam and tipped his head in greeting. “Sam. And you just be Jo.”
“Uh, yeah.” Jo returned his greeting with hesitation.
“This is my brother Gabriel. He is on the Council and has been attending the treaty meetings.”
“Cas, did you bring us an Archangel?” Dean raised an eyebrow at Cas. Cas ducked his chin slightly. Amusement filtered into his gaze and the corner of his mouth curled up in a slight smile. It was that understated sense of humor that had first captured Dean’s attention in the bar. He’d watched Cas talking with an inebriated Angel (his cousin, Dean later learned) with patience and amusement, but it had all been in his eyes. He’d caught Dean’s curious gaze and raised a questioning eyebrow at him even as his eyes had flashed delight at Dean’s apparent (and obvious) infatuation.
“Damn, Cassie!” Gabriel whistled. “You told me, but I didn’t think you had this in you.”
Dean and Cas looked at Gabriel at the same moment, Cas narrowing his eyes.
“Had what?” Sam asked.
“Their bond; you don’t feel it?” Gabriel frowned at the Demons for a moment, before returning to his study of Dean and Cas.
“Excuse me- their what?” Jo shrieked. She spun toward Dean and Cas but Sam caught her by the arm and tugged her away.
“Jo, calm down.” They had a brief whispered conversation before Sam turned an interested eye to Gabriel, ignoring Jo as she pouted. “What do you mean you can feel it?”
Dean let his attention drift away from their conversation, taking in the sight of Cas where he stood, still too far away from Dean. Cas stepped closer, and Dean knew he must have felt Dean’s longing, just as Dean could feel Cas’s- that heavy pull in the pit of his stomach tightening his chest. They stepped toward each other again. Cas’s coat brushed against the leg of his pants and Dean reached out to touch Cas’s fingers with his own. Cas’s smile deepened. He leaned forward just as Dean did, and Dean felt the pressure of Cas’s chest against his own. His eyes closed just as Cas’s lips met his. Cas slid his fingers between Dean’s, holding tightly to his hand. Dean tilted his head and parted his lips, but before he could deepen the kiss a clapping sound caused them to jerk apart, wings flared in alarm.
Sam frowned at them while Jo gaped. Gabriel smirked in blatant amusement. Dean flushed and stepped away from Cas. He pressed down the urge to stretch his wing out to slide it over Cas’s. From the corner of his eye, Dean saw Cas’s own feathered wing twitch and felt the corresponding desire echo from Cas. Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try to center himself.
Sam heaved a sigh and turned back to Gabriel. “They’ll be like that until the bond is complete,” Sam explained. “If we want to use their bond as a means of showing the Council how this can work, then we need to find a way for them to have a week alone.”
“What do you mean- the bond isn’t complete? I thought Demonic mating rituals were the same as Angelic.”
“Ah-” Sam flushed.
Dean found his attention drifting toward Cas again. Cas turned to stare at him in return, stepping closer and stretching his wing out to slide against Dean’s. Dean’s eyes dropped closed. He focused on the slide of Cas’s feathers against the skin of his wings as he arched his wings away from his body to allow Cas access to the undersides.
“The most common type of bonding is, yes,” Sam explained. “The kind Dean and Cas chose is very rare. It’s… not breakable like the normal bonding is.”
“You’re telling me my brother permanently bonded himself to a Demon?”
Sam snorted. “I was thinking my brother permanently bonded to an Angel, but yeah, that’s about the gist of it.”
Cas slid his wing under Dean’s to pass feathers along the joint and the sensitive skin there. Dean tipped his head back, forcing himself to breathe deeply so he wouldn’t moan out loud. The amusement in Cas filtered through Dean; he could feel exactly what he was doing to Dean.
“What all does this damn bond entail?” Gabriel asked, sounding irritated.
Cas stepped closer to Dean, fingers sliding against the back of Dean’s hand.
“Well, since this bond can’t be broken it’s rarely done. There’s only one pair currently that is bonded like this, and there’s not often more than one or two pairs in a generation. A lot of what comes from the bond often depends on how strong the connection is between the partners. The awareness that exists with the normal bond is often stronger. There’ve been stories in the past of couples that could speak through the bond. At least one instance where the death of one caused the death of the other.”
Cas’s wing had stopped moving, and Dean opened his eyes to find Cas watching Sam talk, listening as he described the bond. Gabriel was scowling, eyes narrowed, arms crossed over his chest.
“You’re telling me that my brother agreed to tie himself- life and death tie himself- instead of just-“
“Oh, trust me, I’m just as surprised as you are,” Sam interrupted. “Dean had never shown any kind of interest in any kind of bond; then one day he’s home half bonded in a way our parents aren’t even bonded.”
Gabriel frowned at Sam for a moment before turning to Cas. “Did you know about this?” he demanded.
Cas nodded, his fingers tight around Dean’s. He looked at Dean then, his face soft, eyes dark. Dean struggled under the surge of emotion that rose in Cas as their gazes met.
“Yes, Dean explained to me what the bond entailed. He did not, however, tell me what a gift it is.”
Before Dean could think, he had Cas pressed up against the wall, his wings tight around Cas’s body, hands buried in his hair, kissing and biting. Cas arched against him, dug his fingers into Dean’s back-
Dean blinked back to awareness to find Sam’s arm across his chest, hauling him away from Cas. Gabriel rubbed his forehead and sighed loudly.
“This is going to keep happening?”
“They need about a week to complete the bond. They need to be alone together. It’ll be easy enough for Dean; he takes road trips all the time.”
“We’ll come up with something for Cassie,” Gabriel said with a roll of his eyes. He studied Cas as Cas stared intently at Dean. Dean glanced over to see Gabriel flick his eyes toward him. “Well, as much as I think Cassie is overdoing it, this kind of bond will obviously do a great deal to sway the Council into accepting that there is a future together for our kinds.” He paused, his gaze going back and forth between Dean and Cas before he heaved a contrived, put-up sigh. “Let’s do this. We’ve got a world to change.”