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“Hey, Dean? You coming to the solstice thing this weekend?”
“Yeah, might as well. We don’t have a hunt going on and everyone is actually pretty bored. So yeah, count me in, Your Majesty.”
“Super, that means I don’t have to look for a replacement hand maiden within a week. Call me when you’re close, ok?”
“Yeah will do, Charlie.”
“Oh and by the way, MoonDoor is being attacked by Vikings, we need to rethink our alignment with the Shadow Orcs, because I think they’re responsible.”
“Vikings, seriously?”
“Yep, long hair, helmets, drinking horns, full on Thors, bro.”
“Awesome.”
“I know.”
“Right, I’ll polish my sword, see you in a week.”
“Bye, Dean.”
Dean hung up the phone and just wanted to exit the library to go to the disused room where he hit all his LARPing stuff in a closet, when Cas came in from the side of the card room.
“Why have you been talking with royalty, Dean? And are you planning to time travel to meet Vikings?”
“What? Dude, why’re sneaking up on me like that? Can’t a guy have a few secrets?”
I’m so busted, Dean thought. If Sammy found out too, he’d never hear the end of it.
Dean turned to go, but Cas stood in his way, looking at him with that inquisitive side tilted gaze which always meant that he wasn’t gonna let this go without Dean telling him everything.
“It’s a thing that I do, ok? It’s a real life game. It’s got to do with strategy and everyone is given a role to play and a costume and everything. I like it.” He shrugged.
“It sounds like fun.”
“Dude, it is.” Dean said passionately.
“I wanna go.”
“What?”
“I wanna go too.”
“But, why?”
“It brings you joy, and I wanna try anything that brings you joy.”
Dean gulped. “Yeah, ok. But we gotta find you some gear first.”
The next Saturday brought Dean and Cas out to the MoonDoor assembly field, Dean was greeted by some people he new, among them also the couple he had met at the supernatural convention, who were by now not role-playing the Supernatural books anymore but had gone over to Live action role-play of their own characters.
Dean walked over and overheard their conversation with the others, while recognition dawned on their faces and they waved enthusiastically at him.
“Dean, do you know those people?”
“It’s a long story. Tell you later?”
“Please do.” Cas gave him a small smile and Dean lost focus on the conversation for a while when he stared at Cas and licked his lips nervously. He chuckled and broke their mutual gaze to be able to concentrate again.
The Vikings they would be facing, came from the newly founded Danish version of MoonDoor now that it had gone international, and they looked very far from terrifying when not in their costumes and not all of them spoke a really good English. Nevertheless, they still integrated nicely into the group.
After they had finished discussing the preliminary set up for the weekend, Charlie offered to show Cas around and the small, chubby guy who had role-played Dean back in the day came over to talk to the real Dean.
“Hey, uh do you still go by ‘Dean’?”
“Yeah, that’s still my name. And your name was… Damian, right? And your partner’s was Barnes, wasn’t it? So you and your partner over there are still into the whole role-playing thing? And you two are still together, y’know ‘together’ together?”
“Duh,” he said. “We actually got hitched as soon as our state allowed it, and now we’re talking about the best way to become parents.”
“Wow, that’s ah… that’s nice. Really.” He assured him when he didn’t look fully convinced about Dean’s meaning. “Makes a nice change y’know, to meet someone again and they’re still all… happy.” He had meant to say ‘alive’ but he would have freaked him out if he did.
“Oh so you’re not all that happy? Is this because you and your boyfriend have trouble?”
“What- what boyfriend?” Dean laughed. “The guy I was with back then? No, uh… that was my brother.”
“Duh,” his friend said again. “No I mean the handsome blue eyed one who’s talking to the Queen.”
“What Cas? No, me and him we’re not- … I mean I’m not…” Dean didn’t know how to finish his sentence.
“Ah, I see. You’re not together yet? Well, better man up before someone else comes along and takes him away.”
“Dude, your gay-dar is way off, I’m uh…”, Dean couldn’t finish this sentence either.
“Hey bro, no offence but you have the hots for the guy, I clearly saw that just now. Don’t matter what orientation you have. You love a person, not a gender. Shouldn‘t be that complicated, should it? He‘s into you, you‘re into him. Just tell him.”
Dean gave him a dismissive smile. “Yeah thanks, man. Well, I gotta go and… talk to the Queen too.”
“Laters, bro.”
“So, I was thinking battle positions here and here.” Dean and Charlie went over the strategy for the battle tomorrow, when Cas lent over Dean’s shoulder, bracing his weight on Dean’s back.
“Dude, again with the personal space?”
“My apologies, Dean. I merely wanted to suggest that you take stance on the hill over there and not divide the forces against the onslaught of the Vikings.”
Dean didn’t know what was more weird, an Angel of the Lord advising LARPing battle strategies in leather pants and a tunic, or the fact that he was almost squashed under the Angel’s weight who continued to advise Charlie for what battle plan he thought would work best, still completely ignoring Dean’s personal space.
“Dude, we’re so gonna win this with your heavenly battle adviser,” Charlie grinned at Dean.
“Uh huh,” Dean pressed out while Cas on the other hand was still pressed against him as he readjusted the little figures on the map according to their revised strategy.
When Cas had finished and uprighted himself again, Dean didn’t want to admit to himself that he felt regret at the sudden lack of warmth on his backside.
Charlie observed him closely.
“Handmaiden Castiel.”
“Yes, my Queen?” Cas said, completely in earnest.
“I promote you to the Hand of the Queen and as such, I require you to end our alignment with the Shadow Orcs and take up peace treaties with the other inhabitants of MoonDoor.”
“Hey, that’s not fair. I’ve been here longer than Cas has, I should be made the Hand.”
“Dean, this isn’t Game of Thrones.” Charlie said.
“But doesn’t a Queen need two hands?” Cas asked diplomatically.
“Excellent idea, Ser Castiel. Handmaiden Dean.”
“Yes, your Excellency?”
“I hereby promote you to the second Hand of the Queen.”
“Great,” Dean grinned as Cas left the tent of the Queen to fulfil his first duties.
“Ser Dean?”
“My Queen?”
“You are right. This isn’t Game of Thrones. Renly Baratheon deserved better than to die and no one here judges him for who he loved.”
Dean wanted to pretend like he didn’t know who Charlie meant, but he had watched Game of Thrones by now and had sneaked into Sam’s room to steal the books, even overtaking him in finishing the fifth one.
“But some real things out there are exactly like in Game of Thrones, sometimes Hands of the Kings get killed, even though it’s unfair and they deserved better.” Dean was downcast.
“Do you think Ned Stark would have behaved any differently, if he knew he was gonna die when he left Winterfell? No, he would have acted just the same way. Don’t let your life pass you by because you’re scared to lose people. And your life, Dean, is out there right now telling the Shadow Orcs to stuff their traitorous scimitars up theirs because they brought the Vikings down on us.”
Dean laughed pointedly, hoping that Charlie was the last person to tell him that he and Cas should be together and he could try to ignore it, but Charlie saw right through him.
“I mean it, Dean. Don’t make me order you to do what you need to do to be happy.”
Dean nodded and told himself that the right moment to talk to Cas about what was, and had been going on between them since forever would most likely never come. Not in this fucked up life.
Turns out he was wrong, because even though they were by now both the Hands of the Queen, there hadn’t been enough time to organise a tent that was bigger than the usual tent for the handmaiden of the Queen. Moreover, it was only meant for one, not two.
“Dude, stop wriggling or you’ll fall off the bunk.” They lay back to back on Dean’s usual field bed, which however wasn’t big enough for the both of them if they wanted to avoid embarrassing moments.
“I’m sorry, Dean.” Cas kept such a safety distance from Dean that they weren’t touching anywhere, but if they both wanted to sleep comfortably they had to share the bunk. “It was easier when I didn’t need to sleep, but I can take the floor if you want.”
“Dude, there is hardly enough floor for you to roll yourself on to,” Dean sighed deeply and turned around. “Good, ok. It seems like there’s nothing for it. Scoot over.”
Cas turned his neck to look at Dean who was blushing crimson all over. Cas gave him a heated look and moved fully onto the bed until his back pressed into Dean’s stomach and Dean pulled Cas flush with his arm to keep him from rolling off. Afterwards he quickly laid his hand on his own side again.
“This isn’t nearly as awkward as I thought,” he deadpanned as he tried to adjust without pressing too much into Cas.
“It is not awkward at all, Dean. It feels really nice,” Cas sighed happily and closed his eyes to finally go to sleep, tomorrow being the day of the big battle and he wanted to have all his strength for it.
Dean had to admit that Cas was absolutely right, it did feel nice and it felt like a lot of Dean’s old wounds healed by the simple bodily contact alone, but he wasn’t sure he would be able to sleep with the hot weight of Cas who he so much desired, right there next to him.
Five minutes later however, they were both sound asleep, Dean sleeping better than he had for longer than he could remember.
When Dean woke up, he wondered why he felt so warm and at home and his heart started racing as soon as he remembered how he had slept, or rather who lay next to him while he did.
During the night, Dean must have thrown his arm over Cas for good, and the Angel had taken Dean’s hand in his and held it tight so that if Dean tried to pull it away now, he would surely wake Cas.
He slowly propped his head up and watched the sleeping form of the being he had tried to convince himself of not being in love with for years. The sun crept in through a gap in the tent opening and Cas’ skin glowed while a sleeping blush adorned his cheeks.
“I am so screwed,” Dean whispered and Cas reacted to his voice in his sleep, lolling against him, smacking his lips a little and turning around. He came to rest facing Dean, while the bunk gave an almighty creak and reached out to throw his arm around Dean, who just lay there, his heart racing within him.
“Good morning Dean,” Cas rasped deeply, still with his eyes closed while Dean felt the angel’s fingers softly stroking over his back.
“Morning, Cas.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Better than I have since forever.”
Cas opened his eyes and smiled. “I’m glad my lack of adhering to your personal space was good for something.”
“Yeah,” Dean said, not knowing how or if to go on, all the things left unsaid for years keeping him from acting.
“Cas…” the angel only looked at him, knowing full well what Dean couldn’t say and kept up his strokes over his back.
Something about the situation made Dean mentally kick himself. For fuck’s sake, they were and had been, practically cuddling all night and Cas fingers kept making him break out in goosebumps right the fuck now. Taking the final step shouldn’t be so goddamn hard. An inner voice that sounded very much like Charlie told him: “Man up, Winchester.”
“Cas…” he said again, shifting up so he looked down on Cas, slowly and unsurely nearing Cas’ mouth, but he couldn’t quite reach it in his position, so he scooted up higher.
The bunk bed broke with another creak and made them land hardly on the ground, effectively ruining the moment.
“Terrific,” Dean groaned and rubbed his hurting butt. “Fucking great.”
He heard a subdued chuckle from his side.
“Oh you think this is funny, do you? My ass is gonna bruise.”
“Yes, Dean. It is funny,” and he continued to chuckle while Dean broke out in laughter as well.
“What is this infernal noise in the early morning? Am I safe to enter?” They heard Charlie outside of the tent.
“It’s alright, the stupid bunk just broke,” Dean said while he continued to laugh.
“Ew, Dean. I did not need to know that you two broke the bed,” Charlie said, still outside the tent but it was evident in her voice that she was smiling widely.
“It’s not like that,” Dean blushed and felt like a broken record.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, bro. Zip it up and get ready. Battle day is upon us.”
As Hands of the Queen, Dean and Cas led two different battalions, keeping the Queen safe from the onslaught of Vikings onto their hill, even though Charlie was very little helpful, as she kept fangirling even against the rules of MoonDoor: “Oh my god, look there. That guy really does look like Thor, completely with Mjölnir and everything.” Dean hit him with his sword and the Thor-wannabe rolled down the hill while his hammer remained up on the hilltop.
“Lift it up, Dean. Show us you’re worthy,” and Dean lifted the hammer up, to jam it onto the helmet of the next Viking.
“Cool stuff, you’re the next King of Asgard, Dean. Hey, did you know that Cap can actually lift the hammer too? Well he can in the comics anyway. Same as Magneto.”
“Charlie, my Queen. No offence, but I’m mid-battle here.”
“No you’re on mid-gard.” He heard her laugh behind him. “You get it? You’re in the middle of playing guard on midgard.”
“Do you have to keep drawing the Vikings here with your loud voice, my Queen? My sword arm is getting tired.”
“There Dean, another one. At two o’clock.”
Dean turned around, but Charlie had taken matters into her own hands and pretend-stabbed another person who looked too much like Thor.
“Hey, do you reckon if we keep on making goulash out of Thors, the rest of the Avengers will come here?” She pretended to wipe her sword from the blood of her fallen enemy. “I really need to hit on Black Widow.”
From the back, they heard the others call: “My Queen, I am deeply sorry but if you keep talking about modern day stories told with pictures, you destroy the integrity of the event.” Dean recognised Barnes, the other person he knew from the supernatural convention.
“Quiet, Page. I’m the fucking Queen, so I’ll do whatever I want.” Charlie drew her sword again. “Follow me to the plains, my men. The main force of Shadow Orcs is down there. Onwards, for Samwise Gamgee, because he’s the actual hero! Arggggh!”
And Charlie ran off, followed by her valiant knights and battle-scarred fighters. When they hit the main action, she shouted out “Valar Morghulis” and pretended to hack her enemies to bits while all her men did the same.
After a quick bloody battle, all the Shadow Orcs and Vikings lay on the ground, pretending to be dead and Charlie roared: “Victory! We have victory! Ding dong, the wicked bitches are dead!”
And everyone let themselves be drawn into her flush of victory, running around, shaking their fists and hugging their battle partners. Dean wasn’t immune to the feeling either and ran around looking for Cas.
He found him among his battalion with his back to him while they all hopped around in a circle.
“Cas!” he shouted and ran over to him. Cas turned around and opened his arms, wanting to catch Dean in an embrace but to his curious amazement and glee, Cas felt Dean press his lips to his and Dean’s sword fell onto the ground with a sound that indicated the final end of the fight as he kissed Cas deeply in the middle of the battle ground.
“Well, I am happy to tell you that your rear is completely free of bruises, Dean,” Cas said while he helped Dean out of his pants once they were back in the bunker.
“Awesome,” Dean panted and opened Cas’ pants as well, guiding him over to the bed as the last covers fell.
Dean towered above Cas and pulled him close again, rubbing on him and continually kissing him.
“This is a new one for me Cas,” he admitted and his hands explored the angel’s body.
“I am confident that we will manage,” Cas said as he parted his legs and pulled Dean between them. “We’ll just take it slow.”
Dean chuckled as he reached down between Cas’ legs. “We’ve done nothing but taking it slow for years, Cas. Let’s heat this up a little faster than we usually do, ok?”
“Yes,” Cas moaned as Dean’s hands found what they were looking for.
In the end, Cas was right. They did manage, and finally came together in a heated mess of pushes and caresses as Dean moved on top of Cas, until they found the ultimate joy in each others arms, coming together without reserve or fear of the future as they exchanged heated breaths and kisses of passion. This moment was what was important, and they knew that should their luck hold, there would be many happy returns of this occasion.