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“But Dean, I don’t feel comfortable without my shirt on. There’s so many people out here…” Cas clung to his beach towel, keeping his upper body clothed.
“Oh c’mon Cas, you don’t have anything to hide. You have a great body, no one is going to look at you weird.”
With a heavy sigh, Cas dropped the towel and stared at Dean.
“Are you happy now?”
Dean smiled and wiggled an arm around Cas’ waist. “Very, now let’s go find somewhere to set these chairs up.”
They walked together, arms around each others waists, down the sand filled beach. Cas would comment on the color of the water and all Dean could think about was how it reminded him of the color of Cas’ eyes.
After a few minutes of walking they found a spot on the beach where there weren’t too many people. Dean knew how Cas felt and didn’t want to make him any more anxious than he needed to be.
“Alright, let’s park it right here. That okay with you?”
Cas glanced around the area, noticing all of the people in the distance and hoping none of them were looking at him.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Dean set the chairs up and threw their towels across the tops. “So, you ready to get in the water?”
A blank expression sat on Cas’ face, “I-I can’t swim Dean…You know that.”
” S’alright Cas, that’s what I’m here for. Besides, you know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. We’ll start out easy, in the shallow part. And if you get too scared or don’t like it, then we’ll just come back and sit and watch the waves.”
Dean genuinely hoped Cas would get out in the water and experience some new things.
After some careful thought and study of Dean’s face to make sure he was being truthful, Cas nodded and they began their walk to the water.
Dean grabbed Cas’ hand and lead him in slowly, making sure that he watched Cas’ expression for any sign of fear. That was the last thing he wanted to do, scare him enough to not want to come back to the beach again.
“Oh, this is okay. It’s not as deep as I thought it was.” A flash of smile crossed Cas’ lips and he glanced over to Dean who seemed to have his eyes fixated on the other.
“Well, it does get deeper, but we’ll just stay here if this is what you like.”
Cas looked down at the water lapping up around his thighs and nodded. This seemed like a good distance out to him.
They both stood there, hand in hand, and watched the other people further out. They watched the birds swoop down and grab fish, people out water-skiing and little kids experiencing the ocean for the first time too. There was silence between them while they admired the world around them.
Time passed while they stood there together, and in that time Cas was probably the happiest he had been since he became human. He was here with Dean and everything was okay.
Cas flinched a bit and turned to face Dean. “Dean, I think something is wrong…” He let go of Dean’s hand and held it to his shoulder. “My skin, it’s on fire.” His eyes grew wider in panic while he waited on Dean to tell him what was wrong.
“Oh Cas,” Dean laughed and pushed him from the water and back toward their chairs. “I’m so sorry, I forgot to put sunscreen on you. You’re getting a sunburn.” He looked down at his own shoulders, which were slightly more red than they were before. “Maybe we should head back in for right now. Give your skin a little rest. I’ll put some aloe on it for you, that soothes it.”
When they got back into the hotel room, Cas stood in front of the mirror and looked at his red skin. “It really hurts Dean.”
Dean rifled through his bag and pulled out a small bottle of aloe. Good thing he remembered to pack that. Bad thing he forgot the sunscreen. He walked up behind Cas and rubbed a small amount into his shoulders. Cas flinched at first from the cold, but Dean reassured him it would help.
“Should I put it on you too? Just in case?” Cas looked genuinely concerned for Dean, so Dean obliged and let him return the favor.
Cas smiled to himself and rubbed the aloe into Dean’s shoulders, across his neck and onto his back.
“12, 13, 14…”
“Cas, are you counting?” Dean asked and turned around to face him.
“Oh, you have new freckles now Dean” he said with a bright smile on his face.
Dean just shook his head. “You count my freckles?”
Cas nodded, “Yes, whenever I get the chance. I count to see how many new freckles you have. I love your freckles Dean.”
“And I love you for loving my freckles, Cas.”