Adult Content Warning
This work could have adult content. If you continue, you have agreed that you are willing to see such content.
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Summary
On a string of rural case stops, Dean keeps noticing the same thing: people look at Castiel too long. Sheriffs, waitresses, witnesses, strangers at gas stations, all of them caught for a second on Cas's face, his voice, the unnerving stillness of him. Dean tells himself it means nothing. Cas is Cas. People stare. That is not his problem.
Except it keeps happening, and Dean keeps noticing.
As a boundary-haunting case drags them from one county line to the next, irritation turns into obsession, and obsession starts getting a lot too close to the truth. Dean is angry, possessive, confused, and increasingly incapable of pretending he does not care who wants Cas's attention or what exactly he wants for himself.
Meanwhile, Cas notices far more than Dean thinks he does.
The Way They Look at You is a canon-style road case fic full of jealousy, unresolved tension, motel room pressure, sharp banter, and the slow, awful realization that Dean Winchester may not be handling any of this with dignity at all.