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Dean woke to the sound of screaming. His heart raced as he scrambled out of bed, not bothering to throw on a shirt or pair of pants. Sprinting down the hall, he realized it was coming from Castiel's bedroom. "Cas," he panted as he entered his room, expecting to see him mid-battle with some intruder.
Instead, he saw Cas alone, writhing in his sheets, sweat slicked across his forehead. His eyes were shut and his eyebrows furrowed. "No," he whispered hoarsely. "Get away from me."
It occurred to Dean he was having a nightmare. "Cas," he said, walking to the side of his bed. He sat down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. It was damp with sweat. "Cas, wake up."
Castiel continued to clench his teeth and let out a blood curling scream, making Dean flinch. "Don't touch me!" he cried out, rolling over and holding himself, crying uncontrollably.
"Cas," Dean desperately tried to wake him up with a gentle push.
"Please," he sobbed. "Don't touch me."
"It's Dean." Again, he placed his hand as gently as possible on his shoulder, and waited for a response.
Instead, Castiel's hands flew up, hitting Dean in the face and the chest. "Get away. Don't touch me, please!" His broken voice made Dean's heart sink. He grabbed Cas's wrists, stopping him from throwing punches. That just made Cas scream louder, kicking and thrashing. Not knowing what else to do, Dean crawled over him, straddling his hips."Castiel!" he yelled, louder than he ever had before.
After a bit, Cas stopped squirming under his grasp, and instead opened his blue eyes. "D-Dean?" his stressed expression turned into relief.
"Castiel, are you alright?"
"I... "
Dean thought it was over. He thought it would be over after he woke up. Yet as he watched as the man's face crumpled into a heavy sob, he knew it wasn't over at all. Something was wrong. Something had happened. "Cas," he soothed, crawling off and letting go of his wrists. He sat right next to him, as if to say he would never leave. Cas kept crying, his face buried in his hands. Dean adjusted himself so he was leaning against the headboard, and he grabbed Castiel and set him on his lap, putting his arms around his thin frame. "It's alright, everything is going to be alright," Dean promised, stroking his damp back.
Cas continued to sob, and Dean continued to hold him. After what seemed like hours, Cas's crying ceased, but he still remained in Dean's arms. He tried to speak, but his voice was so broken it seemed like he had never spoken before. "Cas... " Dean whispered against his neck, breathing in his smell. Glancing at the time, he read 3:07 AM. He'd been holding Cas for over three hours. "Come on, Cas," he murmured, scooping him off the bed and holding him bridal-style. "We need to get you cleaned up."
As they made their way to the nearest bathroom, Cas breathed unevenly, making Dean's heart pick up with worry. He flipped on the bathroom light, adjusting the dimmness to a comfortable level. Setting Castiel on the countertop, he grabbed a washcloth from the cupboard and rinsed it with cold water. Cas did nothing but stare straight ahead, as if in some kind of trance. Pressing the cloth against his forehead, Cas sucked in a sharp breath, and Dean rubbed it in gently. Cas's eyes soon were closed, and they sat in silence until he opened them again.
"So," Dean licked his lips, running the cloth under water again. "You wanna tell me what the nightmare was about?" He wrung it out, to where there was only a decent amount of needed water. He rubbed it along Castiel's sweaty arms, along his bare chest, his stomach, and his neck.
Castiel remained quiet, almost hesitating.
"Look, Cas," he began, working his way behind his ears. "I've had a lot of nightmares before. It's nothing I can't handle."
"I - " he stopped himself when he heard his voice crack, and he stared at the floor, which suddenly seemed so interesting. "S-something ha-happened," he hiccuped, and Dean raised an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah, I kinda figured." He scrubbed the back of Castiel's neck, trying to cool him down as much as possible. "You wanna tell me?"
They made eye contact. "Y-you won't l-like m-me anymore," he muttered, as if ashamed at himself.
"Are you kidding, Cas? I love you, man. I'll love you no matter what."
He swallowed. "It... H-happened about a y-year ago," he started, and Dean's heart sunk. If this was what he thought it was... "I w-went for a w-walk, a-and it was d-dark."
"Jesus, Cas, take a breath. A deep breath."
Cas obeyed, breathing in heavily through his nose and out with his mouth. "S-somebody came up be-behind me, and - " he paused, his face crumbling just like before. Soon, Dean's arms were wrapped around him as he sobbed into his bare chest, Cas's fingers digging into his back. "H-he t-touched m-me, Dean," he heaved, his nails digging into his shoulder blades.
Anger rose in Dean. Who the fuck touched him? "Shhh, baby, it's okay, it wasn't your fault," he soothed. "Why didn't you tell me before?" He needed to get his mind elsewhere, because right now, he felt like tracking down this bitch and shooting him right through his skull.
"I-I wa-was a-afraid," he cried, gripping my shoulders tightly. "I-I'm s-sorry."
"Castiel, don't you dare apologize. None of this was your fault." Dean held him for at least twenty minutes before Cas stopped crying, pulling away from him. Dean's chest was wet with tears, but he didn't care. "Castiel Novak, look at me," he commanded, and Cas hesitated, but finally made eye contact with him. "Who the fuck was this guy?" Cas flinched at his tone, and Dean immediately took it down a notch. "Did you report him?"
Cas shook his head slowly, looking away.
"Hey, hey, Castiel, look at me baby," he soothed, his voice also cracking. "I'm so sorry." He felt his eyes well with tears and his throat was sore from holding back a sob. He was never much of a crier - he had probably only cried five times tops in his whole life - but right now he just wanted to huddle in a corner and sob. Sob for his dead little Sammy. Cry for his dead mom, cry for his dead dad. Cry for himself. And now, cry for Castiel.
Cas seemed to notice, because his soft fingers met Dean's cheeks, and he stroked them, biting his lip. "I-it's okay, Dean," he promised, sniffing. "It's o-okay to c-cry."
And at that, Dean suddenly began sobbing, feeling like the dumbest most selfish man on the planet. Here he was, trying to comfort his boyfriend from his nightmares and hard past, but instead, ended up crying and had Castiel comforting him. "W-we're o-okay," he whispered in Dean's ear, "We'll b-be alright."
They held each other all through the night, finding an uncomfortable place on the floor to sleep, and until the morning. And it was then that Dean realized that this man, this Castiel, he was the right one. He would always be the right one. "Marry me," Dean whispered, and Cas nodded against his chest.
They both then fell in a comfortable sleep, one either hadn't been able to have or enjoy in a long time.