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The case was supposed to be straight-forward, an easy way to get Cas used to hunting with them. Two kids had been found dead near a bridge where a teenage girl had committed suicide six years previous. There wasn’t much left of the bodies—the rapids under the bridge had chewed them up beyond recognition—but it seemed like the definition of a salt-n-burn. It was supposed to be a salt-n-burn.
Those were the thoughts running through Dean’s head as he staggered away from the vamp, who, as it turned out, had killed the kids and thrown them off the bridge to try and hide the evidence. She’d caught Dean by surprise while he was checking out the bridge, tackling him to the ground. He’d smacked his head on the concrete of the bridge, hard enough that his ears started ringing and he kept having to blink stars from his eyes. He didn’t have his machete, only a crowbar he’d grabbed in case the ghost had showed.
“Oh, boy, oh, boy, boss man is gonna be so happy when I bring back a Winchester’s corpse,” The vamp laughed, stalking forward slowly. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
“I don’t…” Dean blinked the spots from his vision, swallowing down the rising nausea as he shifted his grip on the crowbar. “I don’t think that’ll go over as well as you think it will.”
“Why’s that?” She asked, pausing in her footsteps.
“If you kill me, my brother will kill you and your entire pack,” Dean answered, and the vamp frowned, hesitating just long enough for Dean to swing the crowbar and smack her in the head. She let out a cry of pain, hitting the ground with a grunt.
“You son of a bitch!” She screamed, blood running into her eyes from a cut on her head as she stood up. “I’ll kill you for that!”
“You can try,” Dean answered, pulling the knife out of his boot. Cas, I could use some help here. It wasn’t a ghost, it’s a vamp. Get the machetes.
“I’m going to cut you to pieces, Dean Winchester, and when you’re in so much pain you wish you could die, then I’ll kill you,” The vamp snarled, fangs bared.
“Not if I kill you first,” Dean answered, raising the knife. The vamp lunged, and Dean dodged, pivoting out of reach. All he had to do was hold out until Cas got there. That couldn’t be too hard, right?
She lunged again, snarling, and Dean pivoted out of reach once more, slashing at her with the knife. They danced around each other, slashing and dodging and slashing and dodging, long enough that Dean felt exhaustion creeping into his limbs, the ringing in his ears getting louder. The vamp picked up on it, increasing the frequency of her attacks until Dean couldn’t stop them all, his ribs giving way with a crack as she slammed a fist into them, arm trickling blood as she slashed him with her ridiculously long nails.
“Dean!” Cas roared, just as the vamp hit his head again, sending him sprawling. The world spun, and Dean retched, his dinner splashing on the concrete. There was a bright light, and Dean whimpered as it assaulted his eyes, turning his head away from it. The vamp let out a piercing scream, and Dean pressed his hands to his ears, gasping in pain.
“Dean!” Cas was shouting his name, and Dean felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.
“Too loud,” He slurred, blinking his eyes open. “Cas, you’re being too loud.”
“Ok, okay,” Cas whispered, his hand cupping Dean’s face. It was sticky with the vamps’ blood, but Dean didn’t care, leaning into the warmth of Cas’s palm.
“Don’t leave me,” He whispered in response, choking on a sob that threatened to bubble out of his chest, a single tear trailing down his cheek. Cas’s thumb wiped it away, staining Dean’s cheek red.
“Dean, I’m not going anywhere, I promise. You have a concussion, just let me—”
“Your eyes are so beautiful,” Dean cut him off, looking up at Cas in awe, giggling and wincing as his broken ribs twinged. “You’re so beautiful, Cas.”
The angel made a strangely constipated expression, as if he was trying to suppress a flush with a look of concern. “Dean, you have a concussion, just let me—”
“I’d ask if it hurt when you fell from heaven, ‘cause it usually works on pretty guys, but I think that one would go right over your head.”
“Dean—”
“I wanna kiss you.”
Cas froze, his fingers stilling from where they’d been carding gently through Dean’s hair, trying to get the hunter to calm down enough for Cas to heal him.
“I…Cas, please,” Dean whispered, his eyes more focused than they’d been before. “Please.”
“Dean,” Cas couldn’t help the longing that stabbed through his chest as the man he loved begged to kiss him. “I can’t. Not like this.”
“Cas,” Dean whimpered, and it felt to Cas like a stab to the gut.
“Dean,” Cas whispered back, his eyes glowing with grace as he healed Dean’s wounds.
“Ask me again,” He said as Dean gasped, the glassy look fading from the hunter’s eyes as he looked up at Cas. “Dean, ask me again.”
“Wha—” Dean began, cutting himself off a moment later as his eyes widened in terrified recollection. “Cas, I didn’t…I didn’t mean to…I should never ha—”
“Ask me again,” Cas ordered, and Dean swallowed thickly, his mouth opening then snapping shut, the words catching in his throat.
Kiss me. The prayer whispered through the air, and Cas inhaled sharply before leaning down and pressing his lips to Dean’s. It was desperate, Cas’s hand still tangled in Dean’s hair as the other gripped his jacket and pulled him from the ground so that they were pressed as close as possible. It wasn’t perfect—their noses bumped together for a moment before they got the angle right, Cas’s lips were chapped, their was dried blood caked on their faces and hands—but it was theirs and that’s all that mattered. All too soon, Dean had to pull away, gasping in a breath as Cas leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together.
“I love you,” Cas whispered, and Dean stiffened, pulling away to look at him.
“You don’t mean that,” He snapped, shoving Cas away and standing on shaking legs. “You…you can’t mean that.”
Cas rose from where he’d been kneeling, and grabbed Dean’s arm, hand over handprint, holding him in place.
“Dean.”
“Cas.” Later, Dean would recall this moment and be embarrassed by the whimper that escaped his lips alongside his lover’s name, but he was too occupied by panic to be aware of it in the moment.
“You’re not going to lose me because you love me, Dean.”
He knows, Dean thought, tension releasing from his body in an instant.
“I rebuilt your body, mind, and soul, Dean. Of course I know.”
Dean hadn’t even realized he was praying, and Cas smiled shyly at him.
“I can sense longing, Dean. You really think I wouldn’t listen in from time to time?”
Dean couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled from his chest, grabbing Cas’s tie and pulling him in for another kiss. It wasn’t desperate like the first had been, but it was no less full of love and longing.
“I love you, too,” Dean breathed as he pulled away, staring lovingly at his angel.
“I know,” Cas answered, pressing another kiss to Dean’s lips. “I know a lot of things, Dean.”
“Really?” Dean teased in between kisses, unwilling to tear his lips from Cas’s but still wishing to speak.
Cas only hummed in response and kissed him deeper, his hands tangling in Dean’s hair and pulling slightly. Dean gasped in response, choking down a moan, and Cas’s tongue found its way into Dean’s mouth, his leg pressing in between the man’s legs as they stumbled backwards, Dean’s back hitting the edge of the bridge hard enough to snap him out of the sex-driven mindset.
“Cas,” Dean gasped, pulling away. “Cas, not here. Not now. Okay?”
Cas froze, blinking the hunger out of his eyes. “I…you don’t want to?”
“No, no, Cas,” Dean laughed, shaking his head at the confusion on his angel’s face. “I want to, trust me. Just not on a bridge next to a vamp corpse while we’re both covered in blood. I think our first time should be a bit more romantic, don’t you?”
“I…yes,” Cas’s eyes glazed over for a moment, as if he was imagining it. “Yes, I believe that would be better.”
“Right,” Dean swallowed, and Cas took a step back. “We should go find Sammy.”
“Yes, it would definitely be a good idea to find your brother. I did run out on him rather suddenly to come find you,” Cas agreed, but neither of them moved towards the Impala, which was parked at the end of the bridge.
Dean sighed after a moment, pulling Cas in for a chaste kiss before threading their fingers together. He almost laughed at the awed expression on Cas’s face as the angel stared at their joined hands, letting himself be dragged along behind Dean.
“There’s an upside to getting back to Sammy,” Dean said as they got into the car, a playful smirk drawing across his face as he placed his hand on Cas’s knee.
“And what’s that?” Cas asked, turning to face Dean.
“Sooner we find Sammy and tell him the vamp’s dead, the sooner we get back to the bunker. And the sooner we get back to the bunker…” Dean trailed off, his hand trailing slowly up Cas’s thigh, leaning in to whisper in the angel’s ear. “The sooner we can do something romantic.”