Chapter Text
When Jack raised John Winchester from hell, he didn’t understand the consequences of what that would do. Much less what Castiel specifically would do to him.
It started when Mary dialed Dean’s cell as Castiel watched over his bed at night. Dean didn’t really care anymore now that he understood why he wanted to do that all in the first place, even if it scared him every time. “Cas, can you get it for me?” Dean asked, his face still pressed into the pillow.
Castiel answered.
“Dean, uh…”
“No, Mary, it’s Castiel.”
“Oh, Cas. Did you get Dean to bed?” she asked, trying to make sure Castiel was watching over Dean well enough even while she was away.
Castiel sat on the bed where Dean was lying with tired eyes, placing a hand on where his chest rose and fell. He let some grace seep through his black t-shirt, watching carefully as Dean whined and his eyes fluttered shut. “Of course I did. Took a little grace but…”
“Who the hell is Cas?! A girl?” some manly voice questioned.
“Mary, who is that?” Castiel asked. He had a strong feeling it wasn’t good. “Are you okay?”
Mary sighed. “No, you stupid ass. It’s a friend, Dean’ll explain later. Look, Cas, just let him know we’re on our way back and to be ready.”
“I can keep a secret if that’s what you need. How bad?” Castiel asked, retreating to the kitchen where nobody was at this late hour.
“Aw come on, who the hell is Cas?!” the same voice asked.
“John! Be quiet!”
“John?” Castiel questioned, “John Winchester is with you right now?”
Mary was silent for a few seconds. “I tested everything, yes. He’s not possessed, not a ghost, not anything.”
“I’ll prepare them as best I can tomorrow morning. Tell John that I’m going to have to talk to him,” Castiel told Mary before hanging up abruptly.
Mary sighed, putting her cell down.
“Really, who is Cas?”
“Castiel. He’s an ‘angel of the lord,’ as he likes to say. And he’s fucking pissed at you,” Mary explained, keeping her eyes on the road. It was late at night and foggy all along the whole stretch of mountain they drove across.
“Angel?” John questioned before breaking out into laughter. “Oh, Mary, you got me for a second there,” he smiled.
“I’m serious,” Mary told him, still deadpan.
“Angels ain’t real,” he stated as if it was fact, halting his laughter.
“That’s what you think. You old age hunters…”
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In the morning Dean was completely refreshed, his once aching joints had been sitting with Castiel’s grace all night and any sleep induced by grace was guaranteed to make him feel amazing. He walked out into the kitchen to see Castiel intensely reading a cookbook.
“Good morning, Dean,” Castiel said, turning to wrap his arms around him.
“Hey, angel. What’s all of this?” he asked, looking around the messy kitchen.
Castiel smiled and pecked him on the lips. “Nothing,” he smiled.
Dean took that answer and sat at the table only a foot from where Castiel finished off some glorious looking pancakes doused in sugar and maple syrup. “Shit, Cas. These look amazing.”
“Remember to eat slowly,” Castiel asked, sitting as close as possible to Dean after placing the plate gently in front of him. He watched intensely as Dean took slow bites, admiring him in his relaxed state, knowing it wouldn’t last for long.
Dean had known Castiel was learning to cook but he didn;t realize how amazing he had gotten at it until now. “And you made these from scratch?” he asked.
“Mhm, the best way to make them.”
“What would I do without you?” Dean asked.
Castiel was already full of running thoughts directed at John Winchester which he believed he was hiding pretty well as of then, but he wasn’t sure when John actually showed up he would have that same willpower. He knew how John was as a man and as a father, he was kind of the talk of heaven. For a time if you found John Winchester you would find at least one other curious, low level angel with some spare time observing him. Angels were such nosy things. That’s not to say Castiel wasn’t one of them, he had a lot of spare time before Dean was around.
Castiel also had basically been ‘assigned’ to Dean Winchester forever, so even as a kid Castiel knew Dean and he knew John by proxy. So many times Castiel had wanted to find Jimmy earlier and go find them just to give them food and help them, but it was unrealistic. He had to stick to cleaning too bad cuts and occasionally fighting off the creature at their door when they were surely incapable of handling it. Which all meant he knew John almost let Dean starve himself when he was seventeen, he knew John regularly hit them both as children, he knew everything John Winchester had ever done to Dean. And he was convinced John Winchester was not out of place in hell for that.
“Hey guys, mind if I take some?” Sam asked, hair in a wild mess on his head.
“Go ahead. If you don’t I think Dean might,” Castiel joked.
Sam joined them with a much more lightly loaded plate and got into a conversation with Dean about the large rain storm last night.
“Oh, Dean. When you woke up to your phone, that was Mary. She asked me to let you guys know she would be here today.”
“Oh, great,” Dean smiled as he finished the last of the sugary breakfast. “Anything else?”
“Everything went smoothly. And she’s very excited to be home,” Castiel lied as he took Dean’s plate and rinsed it in the sink.
By 11:00 the door of the bunker opened. Dean was sitting relaxed against Cas’ side on the couch they had set up as a small living room when first Mary came through the hallway shortly followed by John Winchester.
Castiel was the first to see him. His face was smudged with dirt and his eyes showed clear signs of exhaustion. He knew why, he saw it happening to Dean while he was being rebuilt. It was horrible, but somehow Castiel lacked care for his situation. Low in his throat a guttural snarl built up at the sight of him, causing Dean to look at him with concern.
“What, angel?” he asked Castiel to see he was looking at the hallway. Dean turned his attention to where Mary and John stood. He immediately jumped and straightened up, pulling out a silver knife. John was in the process of glaring at Castiel like he was disgusting. His thoughts were too quiet to be sure that is was about the noise Castiel had made, but it was either that or the fact his son was cuddled up with him on a couch. Maybe both.
“He’s tested. Put it away,” Mary told him.
“Dad?”
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Castiel knew John was suspicious already of him just because of what he walked in on in the living room. But it became more evident when John was more properly introduced to Castiel.
“And Dad, this is Castiel,” Dean smiled after roughly ten minutes of tears and hugging, all the fun stuff.
“Nice to meet you, Castiel. So what are you really, because hate to break it to you angels ain’t real,” John laughed.
Castiel hated this man. He drowned out everyone around them, making Castiel the only thing John could see or hear and spoke to him in Enochian; things along the lines of “Your fatherhood should be long revoked because of your actions. You are a horrible man.” Things of the sort John wouldn’t understand.
He snapped out of it and John looked at him with fear. “What the hell are you?!” he asked more aggressively.
“I am an angel of the lord. What else could possibly prove that to you?” Castiel asked.
“That wasn’t very angelic, I gotta say.”
“What do you want me to burn your eyes out, would that be just a little more convincing?”
“Cas, back off. Why don’t you go to our room and cool off?” Dean asked, putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “I’ll come and talk to you soon, angel,” he smiled.
Castiel made a show of becoming invisible to convince them he was gone, but really he was still listening.
“What the hell. I thought you were better than befriending monsters. That thing just used some freaky mind powers on me, why do you keep it around?” John asked, looking at Dean with an almost disgusted stare.
Dean visibly tensed up, trying to resist his urge to act all protective. His thoughts were loud, being offended for Castiel at the word ‘it.’ “It is my best friend. You shouldn’t have provoked him like that.”
“Well Dean no offense but that’s just a little queer, ain’t it?” John joked, hitting him lightly on the shoulder and causing Dean to flinch. “Seriously, boy, you’ve gotta let me know what’s really happening.”
“Go see Sam or something,” Dean scoffed and walked back to his room. “Cas?” he questioned.
Castiel appeared within a second and stood extremely close behind Dean. “I’m sorry, Dean. I couldn’t control myself. I’ve seen and felt every time he has wronged you and it all seemed to bubble up at once.”
“Hey, it’s okay. I understand. Someone’s gotta hold a grudge, don’t they?” Dean asked, trying to lighten the tone as he turned to look Castiel in the face.
“Yes, but it should be Sam or even you, not me. No matter how upset his use of the word queer makes me.”
Dean wrapped an arm around Castiel’s waist, holding him close. “You saw it all and if I weren’t his son I’d probably think the same. I can’t blame you. Y’know I’m really hating how he talks about you.”
“Because you’re possessive,” Castiel said, running a hand down Dean’s shoulder, feeling the red handprint on his shoulder.
“Say you, you literally have left a burn mark on me for approaching twenty years.”
“Well I’m an angel. We have quite strange mating habits, don’t we?”
“Yeah? Is one of those lying?” Dean asked. “I know it just gets you going.”
“Agree to disagree.” Castiel leaned in to kiss Dean lightly.
Dean smiled into it and pulled Castiel closer.
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By the time dinner came around the tension in the air was thick and the dining table was awkward for four of them being blood family.
“So, how’re you liking the bunker?” Sam asked.
“Just fine,” John nodded, not looking away from his plate to avoid the burning hot stare Castiel was giving him from across the table.
“Okay. Did I miss something?” Sam asked again, getting everybody’s attention.
Dean sighed and looked down at his plate as Castiel turned to look at Dean instead of John finally.
“Only a little,” John scoffed. “You put up with this?” he asked, gesturing to Dean and Castiel, sitting attached at the hip.
“Well, yeah? Why wouldn’t I?” Sam questioned. “It’s Cas.”
“Okay maybe I’m the one missing something. This is very casual considering this thing that is not human sitting at our table. I thought our job as hunters was to kill what shouldn’t be here. That shouldn’t be here,” John explained, gesturing to Castiel although maybe it was more aimed at Castiel and Dean as a unit. It was quite hard to tell.
“Oh that’s such bull,” Mary fought him.
“What? A mysterious creature turned my son into some domestic lovey dovey queer, sorry if I don’t accept that!” John raised his voice.
Castiel stared at him. “Big words from you, John. Does Mary even know how you were?” he asked, his wings fluttering and shivering with anger where nobody could see.
“You weren’t even there. What the hell are you saying?”
“I watched Dean grow up every moment when heaven didn’t need me, which at the time wasn’t often. I saw every moment of his life basically since the fire. It is foolish of you to say that as if you don’t know what I mean exactly. Do you forget the night Sam almost died and you blamed Dean for wanting to be a kid? Do you forget the night Sam ran away, collapsed in the yard and you proceeded to beat him near death when I had to be the one to heal him because you refused to take him to the hospital?”
“That is none of your damn business!" John yelled.
“Yes it is. I was instructed to watch over Dean and keep him safe. None of your actions have been helpful to that mission. Do you know how many times I’ve had to step in because of you? I snuck food into motel room fridges more times than I can count and you were content with letting him rot in jail. And after all he did for you after a hunt, after Mary died, after everything he never left you. He was one of the best sons a man like you could ask for and you didn’t even care. He was gone half the time you were supposed to be together as a family and most of the time whose fault was that?” Castiel was fired up and almost ready to crack John’s neck there and then. “You just can’t handle seeing a soldier content with life, happy, living for once. When Dean was literally dying in the hospital and you couldn’t take a detour on your little trip to answer your phone? Do you remember Adam?”
“That’s enough! You don’t bring up fucking Adam!” John yelled again, standing up to appear more intimidating. It was completely futile when everybody at the table knew Castiel could break his spine with a thought full of malice.
“Cas, don’t act on it,” Dean pleaded as Castiel matched John’s action of standing. He grabbed onto the corner of Castiel’s tan overcoat, tugging on it lightly knowing any physical force wouldn’t stop him.
“I don’t want to.” Castiel used his best will not to be drastic and stay still where Dean needed him to be.
“Dean, get your freak under control, I’m going for a damn drive!” He turned and grabbed only a gun, his coat, and keys and was out of the bunker entirely. Within a moment Castiel had flown away, leaving the brothers with their mom to process it all, but he could still feel the confusion radiating off of Mary as Dean held his in as best as he could, keeping it all mental.
Castiel sat on the roof and watched John start driving. In the moment after he took a deep breath he followed and planted himself in John’s passenger seat. “I don’t appreciate being called a freak that much.”
John immediately swerved and pulled the gun out. “Stop talking.”
“What are you going to do, human?” Castiel asked.
“I’ll beat your ass.”
“Try to,” Castiel offered genuinely. “For a ‘queer’ I’m willing to bet I’m hell of a lot stronger than you are, no matter how Winchester you are.”
“You want to fight?” John asked.
“No, but if it would give you a confidence boost.”
John stopped his car and pointed the gun straight at Castiel’s heart, pressing the trigger. Castiel kept his eyes fixated on the window screen as it punctured his shirt.
“They all do the same thing. Nothing. No knife out there you can get will kill me, only I can give you that.”
“Does Dean know all this?”
“Yes. Dean will tell you everything I will happily, except the sigils that would send me away because that’s silly.”
John sighed. “I’m leaving. You can tell Dean not to wait for me,” he threatened.
“Not like he’s not used to it,” Castiel commented before flying back to the bunker to find Dean.
He had retreated to his own bedroom and Castiel gently approached him as his chest rose and fell erratically.
“Dean,” Castiel said into the quiet of Dean’s room.
“Can you come here?” he begged, looking over to Castiel who within a moment was right next to Dean. Dean leaned his head into Castiel as he adjusted to a position he could more comfortably cradle Dean’s head in.
Castiel used his grace to clear up Dean’s nose and calm him slightly. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Dean sniffled.
“Okay, what about?” Castiel asked, running a hand through Dean’s short hair.
“I don’t know…” he sobbed.
“Okay, it’s okay. Just tell me how you’re feeling right now, can you do that?” Castiel asked.
“I’m scared.”
“Why is that?” Castiel asked, gently curing Dean’s headache from the heaving.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him be like that to almost anyone else, even rarely with Sam.”
“And why is that scary?”
“Because you might feel scared as I always was. Even though I know you’re not scared of him.”
“That’s right. Couldn’t scare me away if you flung me across heaven.”
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Cas. I didn’t even know that you were what saved me when Sammy left, but it makes a ton of sense. I shouldn’t have gotten through that.”
“You needed to. Or else this wouldn’t be real, would it?” Castiel asked.
“Right. When else did you help?” Dean asked, shifting so Castiel was bracing him against his chest tightly and holding Dean’s head on his shoulders.
“Let’s see. I mentioned the food. It was very little but it was the least I could do. Dean, you don’t know how many times I was an inch away from possessing Jimmy earlier. I was so worried for you when you were seventeen when Dad went on that really long one I was making your heart beat sometimes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. You had no control over that at all. I shielded you for as long as I could but there was an unfortunately timed meeting and I worried about you so bad but you had started stealing.”
Dean relaxed as Castiel slowly brushed his hand along the younger of the two’s back, lightly massaging his tense muscles. “Did you also watch over Sam?”
“I wasn’t allowed to. Only you mostly. But sometimes I could make the excuse that Sam was so close you may have committed suicide if he died so a couple of times, yes.”
“Thanks. Do you mind staying with me?” he asked, eyes slowly begging to close even though it wasn’t fully dark outside.
“Not at all. You need to go to bed?”
“Yeah,” Dean nodded lightly.
Castiel kissed his forehead and sent grace straight into his heart. Dean smiled and whined slightly before falling asleep on his chest.
He knew Dean wouldn’t see them, but he still instinctively closed his wings tightly around Dean, ensuring he would stay deep asleep.