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“Dean, so help me, if I catch you on that foot again I’m locking you in your room and you’ll just have to starve,” Sam warned, glaring at his brother. Dean didn’t respond, just kept rummaging through the refrigerator, aiming for something easy to eat that he wouldn’t have to cook.
“I’ve offered to help him many times, Sam. He simply does not desire assistance,” Cas said over his book. Since the angels fell, he’d taken to reading with a strange hunger, devouring every book in the library, even the dull ones that Sam and Kevin wouldn’t touch. “It appears he’s determined to damage himself further.”
“Shut up. I don’t need coddling,” Dean grumbled. He shoved together a ham sandwich, sat at the table, and dug into voraciously.
“It’s not coddling, Dean, you broke your damn ankle. I’m not taking you on any hunts until you heal,” Sam said firmly.
“Who said you were in charge?”
“It’s your right ankle. Good luck driving when you can’t move that foot.” Sam smirked and went back to his laptop, leaving Dean to glare angrily at the back of his head.
“I am curious as to how you got out here. Last time you tried to stand on that foot you fell,” Cas said, nose back in the book. Dean muttered something unintelligible. “I can’t hear you when you talk like that, Dean.” He turned a page.
“I hopped, okay?” Dean snapped, taking a sharp bite out of his sandwich.
Sam smothered a snort but went back to pretending he was engrossed in his laptop. Dean finished his sandwich, and then sat, looking perplexed as he tried to figure out how he was going to get out of his seat. Cas stood calmly, slid an arm around Dean’s waist, and pulled up sharply. Dean had no choice but to go with him if he wanted to keep his spine intact.
Cas manhandled Dean back to Dean’s room, helping him recline on the mattress before actually plumping his pillow for him. Part of Dean wanted to say something, but most of him didn’t give a damn. His ankle hurt, the rest of him was decently sore, and he liked being pampered, damn it. It didn’t happen a lot, so yeah, he was going to enjoy it while it lasted.
But it kept happening. Cas came in in the mornings to help Dean to the bathroom
–thankfully he waited outside the door– and prop him up while Dean brushed his teeth. Then they hobbled out to the dining room to eat, while Sam tried to not inhale his cereal as he stifled his laughter.
Over breakfast about a week after Cas started playing nurse Sam announced that he and Kevin were going on a hunt, and they were leaving Dean and Cas behind.
“Aw, c’mon, Sammy!” Dean argued, “I know I can’t go, but keeping Cas cooped up too? Not fair.”
“Dude, Cas can barely hold a gun, much less shoot one. I’m not letting him get hurt because of a bit of cabin fever,” Sam said, closing his laptop with a stubborn snap. Kevin already had his bag packed and was leaning against the wall, watching the dramatics with a smirk on his face.
“I agree with Sam. Besides, you need someone to help you until you heal, Dean,” Cas said, sipping at his coffee sedately. Sam nodded his agreement.
“Screw you guys, I don’t need a damn babysitter!” Dean shouted, standing up and immediately stumbling to the side as he put too much weight on his ankle. Cas rose and steadied him, one arm firm around his waist while the other held his shoulder. Kevin chuckled and Sam tossed a smirk at them while they headed for the door.
“Call you when we’re done,” Sam said as the bunker door swung shut.
Dean stood there for a minute, leaning on Cas, before he started talking. “You don’t have to stick around, Cas. If you wanna go do something I get it,” he said. “The whole Florence Nightingale routine’s gotta be bugging you. You don’t owe me anything.” Cas stood there, staring at Dean for a second before answering.
“I’m not doing this because I ‘owe you’” –and shit, he was using actual air quotes with his free hand– “I’m doing it because I love you, and you are hurt.” Cas looked like he was explaining something extremely basic, but Dean was reeling.
“You ah- you love me?” Dean stuttered. Suddenly he was very aware of Cas’s arm still locked around his waist and just how close they were.
Cas’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I’d thought that much was obvious, Dean. I’ve seen your soul in its purest form, how could I not love you?”
That brought Dean up short. “Wait. You’ve… you mean you’ve felt like this since Hell, and you never told me?”
“It didn’t seem pertinent at the time.”
“Okay, Cas, for the record, very pertinent. Like, the most pertinent thing possible.” Dean gave a nervous laugh.
“Since it was clearly unrequited I thought it best to keep my feelings to myself,” Cas explained. Dean snapped to attention.
“Hang on, who the hell said it was unrequited?” he demanded.
“I made my feelings towards you quite clear, and as I know it was not my vessel’s gender that stood in the way, I had to assume you were simply uninterested,” Cas said, sounding way calmer than he should.
“I- How- Dammit, Cas! How was I supposed to know what goes on in your head? I thought you just didn’t understand, or that you were like that all the time or something. If I’d known, I’d have done something,” Dean explained, feeling like an idiot for not catching all the hints and clues Cas had left over the years. The personal space, the staring, the ‘profound bond’ they shared… damn he was an idiot.
“You know now, Dean, and you haven’t done anything,” Cas pointed out. And okay, technically he was right, but Dean still had time to fix that. He reached over and cupped Cas’s face, silently thrilled that this was actually happening, and leaned down to brush his lips gently across Cas’s.
It was chaste, closed-mouth and sweet, letting Cas decide if he wanted to pull away or not, but it didn’t stay that way for long. As soon as Cas realized what was going on, he took full control of the kiss, slipping into Dean’s mouth easily and stealing away his breath.
“Shit,” Dean said when he broke away to breathe. “We could’ve been doing that the entire time?”
“We could be doing that now,” Cas pointed out.
Dean shrugged, slipping his arm around Cas to pull them closer together. “Fair point.”