SPN; Love's Sweet Kiss (1/1)
Oh my god this is finally finished. I swear the next chapter of What Falls will be coming, it's just taking a hell of a lot longer than I would like. In the meantime, have some fluff. I promise I will be working on it soon.
---
Title: Love's Sweet Kiss
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Dean/Castiel, Sam
Word Count: 4,786
Warning: No specific season stated though likely before 6, language, super minor squint with your head tilted and you might see it wincest (but it's really not).
Disclaimer: Not mine, not ever ;A;
Summary: As Dean would say, "Fucking witches!", because that is exactly what Sam is thinking right now, along with "Fucking Dean!" because dammit, why is Dean always throwing himself into harms way for him?
A/N: I don't even know why I write these things when my fic needs to be written. Waaah. Well, none the less I hope you all enjoy!
Love's Sweet Kiss
ONESHOT
As Dean would say, "Fucking witches!", because that is exactly what Sam is thinking right now, along with "Fucking Dean!" because dammit, why is Dean always throwing himself into harms way for him?
He knew the moment he got out of bed today was going to be shit.
He was not wrong.
~~
They'd been on a job, somewhere north of Tallahassee, hunting a witch who was taking out lovey-dovey happily ever after couples because her boyfriend dumped her. Literally taking them out, killing them just because they were happy and she wasn't. Obviously they couldn't let that fly, and when they realized she wasn't going to stop at all any time soon, they did what they needed to do. They needed to take her out. Neither really wanted to take a human life, even if it was a witch, but she was killing completely innocent people and that had to stop. Like now.
So they went to her house, tried to reason with her -- tried to tell her what she was doing was wrong. And it was going well, they almost had her calmed down until Sam tried to relate that he knew how she felt. It all went to shit after that. The witch went ballistic, shouting and screaming that he didn't know how she felt, no one did. But ohhh, she'd show him alright. She'd show him exactly how she felt, how dead she felt because her heart was broken. And that was about the exact moment that Dean shoved Sam out of the way, taking the brunt of the curse.
It hit Dean square in the chest, sent him flying back into a bookcase behind him, toppling it over and sending books everywhere. Sam's alarm rose when Dean didn't get up.
"Dean!" Sam had rushed to Dean's side, immediately checking for a pulse. He sighed in relief when he found it, and then shook his brother to rouse him. Sam frowned when Dean didn't so much as budge. He couldn't have hit the ground that hard, could he?
The younger Winchester looked over to the girl to ask her what she'd done but she was already gone, probably bolted the moment Sam left to Dean's side. "Dammit." He swore, and looking down at Dean worriedly, Sam got up and carefully hauled his brother up from the ground and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
~~
And that's how they got to this point. Once Sam pulls up to the motel they'd rented, he rushes over to open the door to their room, then darts back to the Impala to carefully pull Dean out of the back seat and heft him into the motel room. Dropping him gently onto the bed, Sam rushes back out to lock up the car, then comes back to check on Dean who is still quite still and asleep.
At least he thinks he's asleep. He's certainly not dead. Sam had made sure, every few stops he would reach back to check Dean's pulse, feel for his breath. He needed to make sure Dean was still with him. It's bothering him that Dean is so still, yet breathing. There is a soft rise and fall of his brother's chest but even that isn't very comforting. There's no twitching muscles, no REM, nothing. Just Dean's still body on the bed and his soft, barely audible breathing.
Maybe .. maybe he just needs to try harder to wake him? That should work, right?
Well, he's got nothing else to go on right now so he gives it a try. Walking over to the bed he reaches out and shakes Dean hard, his body moving, flopping around like dead weight on the mattress as he does. "Dean! Dean, wake up!" Sam shouts.
But nothing happens, not even a twitch of the eye or muscle spasm. So he tries again, and again and again.
~
"There's a Wendigo in the room and it's going to eat us!"
~
"If you don't wake up right now, I'm going to sell my soul to lift this curse!"
~
"I bought a cherry pie and if you don't wake up I'm going to eat it all."
~
Moving to the other side of the bed, Sam pulls the covers off the mattress with a hard tug which rolls Dean right off the bed and onto the floor. When nothing happens, Sam sighs and stalks over to the other side -- where his brother lays prone on his stomach, face smooshed into old musty carpet -- and picks him up, putting him back onto the bed.
~
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey. Time to get up Dean, I brought breakfast!" Sam says as he stands at the side of the bed and after a moment of no response he throws a glass of water -- holy water at that -- on Dean's face. Not even a splutter.
~
If a glass of water didn't work, then surely a bucket would.
It didn't, and now his brother is drenched and the bed is sopping as well.
He's glad, for the moment at least, that Dean didn't wake up. Water is easier to clean than blood.
~
After cleaning the bed up, best as he can, and his brother who is laying prone on the one he's been using, Sam sits at the table and runs his hands through his floppy hair and sighs. Maybe if he finds that witch he can convince her to lift the curse off of Dean. It's worked before .. maybe it would this time?
It's all he's got right now so he packs up a bag and heads out after drawing the curtains and locking the door. At least he knows Dean won't be getting himself into any trouble. Small blessings, he supposes.
~~
"Fucking witches!" Sam complains darkly as he unlocks the door and shoves it open, stalks inside and kicks it shut. He tugs off his bloody flannel shirt and tosses it onto the empty, and still soaked through, bed before glancing over to Dean.
Dean is still laying prone on the bed in the exact position he left him in, and Sam fidgets for a moment before walking over to check his pulse, hand hovering above the older man's mouth and he sighs in relief that Dean is still alive. Just sleeping a rather supernatural sleep.
The witch had been a dead end. Whatever spell or curse she cast on Dean wouldn't go away unless it was fulfilled. He had tried to reason with her, to get her to undo it but when she refused, threatened and attacked him, well Sam did what he had to do. It was self defense really.
Still, Sam feels like shit because fact of the matter is she was human. He really wishes Dean had been there with him. But the information he had gleaned from the witch before killing her is helpful. It's a sleeping curse or spell of some kind, so all he has to do is research it. Research is definitely something he can do.
Except hours of searching through various websites and wikipedias give him nothing to go on. All he has is that it's a sleeping curse that won't break until it's fulfilled. He tries to think back, to when it first happened and groans when he makes the connection. She was upset and heartbroken, so of course she would want him -- or Dean as the case may be -- to feel the same thing she was feeling.
But why sleep? That part he doesn't get. So back to more researching it is. He doesn't find much else than he did before, except some of the hits he was getting were from movies and reviews, books and the like, about 'Sleeping Beauty'. Well, why not he figures, and reads a few of the reviews. What's terrifying is that in some weird, strange way this is starting to make sense.
The witch had wanted him -- Dean, now -- to suffer, thus cursing him with a sleeping spell. In the stories, from what he's read, 'Sleeping Beauty' will only awake with 'true love's kiss'. The only exception is that the witch never specified the kind of love that was needed to wake Dean from this weird Disney princess sleep.
So what happens when there is no true love? And is it even 'true' love? She hadn't been very specific when she threw the curse at him -- them, Dean -- and even more vague when he had asked her before she attacked him. What if it's just someone who loves you a lot?
Sam weighs these facts as he sits there at the small table, in front of his laptop, his gaze wandering back and forth from Dean to his computer screen. There is no doubt that Sam loves Dean, more than anyone else in the whole world. They've grown up with each other, went through hell and back -- and for Dean literally -- for each other, done things no one else would do. So there is no question as to whether or not Sam loves his brother. There's nothing Sam wouldn't do for Dean, and vice versa.
Except maybe this.
".. I am not kissing you, dude."
~~
Sam paces the dingy motel room in long, quick strides. His hands ruffle through his floppy brown hair on occasion as his eyes move every so often back to Dean's prone, silent form on the bed. The easy, soft rise and fall of his chest the only indication he is still among the living.
"I'm still not kissing you." Sam says to no one as he makes his way back over to the laptop, the computer still open on a page about Sleeping Beauty.
Sam decides to call Bobby instead, giving him the run down of what's happened and listens as the old hunter calls them idjits for getting into trouble in the first damn place, but two hours of waiting and more research yields no results though Bobby says he'll keep looking, call in some favors to see if they've heard anything. Sam thanks him and snaps his phone shut.
"I really hate you right now, just so you know."
~~
In the long run kissing Dean is probably not the worst thing he's ever done, or thought of doing. Sure, the idea of kissing his own brother makes him gag a little, but he knows if he didn't at least try this crazy, stupid idea he would regret it. What if it did work? What if it would have worked but he never did it and then Dean wound up asleep forever? He knows he would never forgive himself for robbing Dean of his life, knowing there'd been something he could have done but didn't because he's too chickenshit to do it. Dean's gone to hell for him, literally. A kiss is nothing compared to that.
Sam sighs heavy and resigned as he stalks over to the side of the bed. His face scrunches up in a bitchface as he stares down at his older brother, rubbing his hands against his jeans.
"I swear to god, Dean, if you wake up I am punching you in the face." Sam complains as he leans down presses his mouth solidly against Dean's. He holds the kiss for ten-twenty seconds, applying a smidgen of pressure to ascertain it being considered a 'kiss' before pulling back and staring down at Dean, waiting.
Dean doesn't move in the least, not even a twitch. "OhthankGod." Sam exhales as he turns and rushes into the bathroom to scrub his mouth, brush his teeth and scrub his mouth again. He loves Dean, he does, with his whole heart. But that was just a tad creepy, even for him. But he's done and it didn't work, so at least he won't regret not trying.
Except now he's back to square one with no other solid leads.
Moving back into the room, Sam sits at the table and sighs, hands folded in his lap as he closes his eyes. And prays.
"Hey, uh, Cas? I know I'm not exactly your favourite person or anything but .. Dean's in trouble and I don't know what else to --"
"Sam." The younger Winchester starts at the familiar voice followed by the telltale ruffle of invisible wings and looks up to find the dark haired angel standing next to the bed Dean is currently laying on.
"Cas, hey .. I .. thanks for coming." Sam says awkwardly as he gets up from the table and walks over to stand on the opposite side.
Castiel reaches out to press two fingers to Dean's temple and frowns. "He is asleep yet I cannot enter his dreams as I should. Explain."
Sam flounders for a minute or two. "I .. We were on a case and there was this witch and .. shit, Cas, you know Dean .. he just can't .. anyway the witch threw a curse at me but he knocked me out of the way. And this happened." He said as he motioned to the whole of Dean with his hands. "I did research, tried to talk to her again." He explains, leaving out the part where he killed her. "All I can figure is that it's some sort of enchanted sleep and he won't wake up until his "true love" kisses him."
Castiel is silent for a moment, then tilts his head slightly to the side as he looks up to Sam, confused. "What does love have to do with it?"
Sam resists the urge to smile and laugh, wishing Dean were awake to hear Cas unwittingly recite song titles. He's sure Dean would've gotten a kick out of it.
"That's the whole point, Cas. The witch, she was pissed because the person she loved broke her heart, so she wanted other people to feel the same thing. To feel miserable, empty and dead inside. Only it didn't kill him but put him to sleep and he'll never wake up unless his "true love" kisses him."
Sam tries not to think of what will happen when they don't find that person, tries not to think about losing his brother forever to this unnatural sleep.
Castiel is silent for a moment as he moves his gaze between the two brothers thoughtfully. "You have tried every available option?" The angel asks.
"Yeah, Cas. I mean, short of dragging random people in here to kiss my brother in hopes one of them would wake him. I've been researching for hours, I've called Bobby -- he couldn't find anything we could use and he's got his feelers out -- hell Cas, I've even kissed him just on the off chance it might work." Sam says, exasperated enough that he doesn't have time to feel embarrassed over the fact.
".. I beg your pardon?" Castiel asks quietly as he looks over to Sam in surprise.
"Uh, I kissed him? Dean? I mean .. it's not like she was specific with the spell or anything and I had to try everything, even if I didn't really want to, you know? He woulda done the same for me." He's done worse, Sam thinks to himself.
"I see." Castiel is strangely quiet as he looks down at Dean, his hands curling at his side and fisting into the overcoat.
It takes a moment or two for Sam to realize it and god how could he have been so blind? He'd expect it from Dean, sure, the guy is emotionally retarded even at the best of times. But him? It should have been glaringly obvious from the start.
Cas is jealous. Because he kissed Dean. For someone who doesn't understand much about human emotion and has one hell of a poker face he's doing a shitty job of hiding the fact.
Sam tries to keep the small smile from his face as he stands there and stuffs his hands into his pockets. "Why don't you give it a try?" He suggests, and is amused with the way Castiel's blue eyes widen in surprise as if he hadn't thought of the idea himself -- and he probably hadn't.
"I don't .. I'm not .. I don't think that would be very wise." Castiel says, stumbling over the words as he takes a cautious step back.
"Why not? We've got no other leads, Cas. I mean, if it doesn't work it doesn't work." Sam says, trying to coax the angel.
Castiel stands there and stares at Dean like if he stares hard or long enough it'll wake Dean up instead. It doesn't, and Castiel sighs. It's not that Castiel doesn't want to try -- he does, really. He really wants to try -- it's that he doesn't want the feeling of failure when it doesn't work. And it won't, he knows that already, because as much as he cares -- loves -- Dean, the human hunter does not return those affections .. of this he is sure.
He highly doubts this "true love's kiss" thing is a one-way street. But none the less, like Sam, he has to try. So the angel nods.
"Alright, I will .. try it." Castiel says, and just stands there.
"Uh, Cas? Do you .. want me to leave?" Sam asks, thinking it might be uncomfortable for the angel for him to be there when he kisses his brother.
"No, your absence is not necessary."
".. You do know how to, uh you know, kiss .. right?"
"I am well aware of the mechanics, Sam." Castiel says, a huff of annoyance in his tone.
Sam merely raises his hands and backs away, moves over to the table where he takes his seat and goes back to looking at the screen, wanting to give Cas at least some measure of privacy in the small motel room, when he hears the bed dip.
~~
Castiel sits on the edge of the bed, next to Dean and is quiet, watching the slow rise and fall of the hunter's chest. In this unnatural sleep Dean takes on an other worldly peacefulness, the lines in his face all but gone and making him look years younger. His lips tilt slightly as he reaches out with one hand to brush lightly across the man's forehead, able to do so with Dean sleeping so deeply.
His vessel's heart speeds up as he shifts closer and bracing his hands on the mattress, bracketing Dean on the bed, Castiel leans over the prone hunter. His wide blue eyes take in every detail; the dark fanning of lashes against his warm skin, the hundreds of freckles that dot across the apple of his cheeks, the soft swell of his lips. Though Castiel had remade this body of flesh and blood and bone, from earth and grace, it is all together completely different what he is feeling now. He'd had a purpose then, an order to obey.
This. This is simply desire and want. A desire to touch and feel and need, a want for those feelings to be returned even though he knows they will never be. As long as he can stay beside Dean none of that matters.
Casting his gaze in one last sweep of the man's face, they settle on Dean's lips as Castiel leans in and presses them firmly but gently together, heart racing in his chest as he tilts his head and slants his lips more solidly against the hunter's, the plump skin slightly chapped but warm beneath his own.
For a moment nothing happens, and sucking in a cold breath Castiel pulls back, staring down at Dean in surprise. He inwardly berates himself for giving in to such false hopes, to thinking that he above all people would be able to wake Dean. It was stupid and foolish and suddenly those thoughts are pushed out of his head as strong hands tug him back down.
A small shocked sound escapes the angel as warm lips press insistently against his own and in mere moments Castiel caves, giving in and parting his lips against the tongue seeking entrance into his mouth. His hands clench in the mattress and after a moment or two Castiel pulls back to blink down in surprise, taking in the amused green eyes looking back at him.
"About damn time." Dean says, voice a little rough, and turning his head he grins as he looks over at his brother though the expression falters as he notes Sam's bemused expression. "What?" He asks, but Sam just shakes his head and replies, "Nothing. So it worked? Cas kissing you?" And the way he asks makes Dean think he definitely won't be letting this go any time soon.
"Yep, my very own knight in shining trenchcoat." Dean says with a little laugh as he pushes Castiel back enough that he can sit up, wincing as he does so. "Goddamn it feels great to move again. And to talk. You have no idea how annoying it was listening to you bitch and whine and not be able to tell you to shut the fuck up."
Sam stiffens, eyes going wide as he digests what his brother has just said. "Whoa, what? You .. you could hear me? Like, everything?"
Dean just grins and nods. "Uh-huh. Everything." Sam's face pales slightly as he clears his throat and looks back to the screen, nodding. "That's uh .. good, I guess." Definitely, definitely not good.
"Ganked the witch huh?"
"Uh, yeah. She attacked me when I asked her to remove the curse."
"Bobby never called back, right?"
"No .. he .. no, but I should probably call him and let him know you're okay."
"You rolled me off the goddamn bed."
"I was trying to wake you!"
"And practically waterlogged me."
"I was trying. To. Wake you!"
"Didn't know you swung that way, Sam."
"Bite me, Disney princess."
"Shut up, you fuckin' girl."
"Says sleeping beauty~"
"Bitch."
"Jerk."
Castiel continues to sit on the bed, next to Dean who was propped up and leaning against the headboard and smiles as he watches the exchange between the two brothers, gaze moving between the two like a ping pong ball. Though he does have a question now, as he looks over at Dean.
"Dean? What is a "Disney Princess"?
The hunter glares at Sam as he stifles a high pitched laugh, shoulders shaking. "Go on Dean, tell him."
".. I really fucking hate you right now."
~~
Needless to say the rest of the evening went off without a hitch, and Dean drags both Cas and his brother to the nearest bar to celebrate his awakening, which is really just a ruse to get blessedly drunk. Sam finds himself a nice long-legged redhead that is very interested in him, if her hands practically down his pants were anything to go by. Dean gives him a drunken thumbs up as he walks out with her, causing the younger Winchester to duck his head in embarrassment and claim they aren't related at all.
On the way back to the motel, with Cas trailing behind him like a puppy and not at all drunk despite the four pitchers the angel had drank, Dean is pleased to find the room empty and devoid of his brother and his fine lady friend -- which meant they likely went back to her place.
That is perfect, really. Not that he planned on anything happening, but at least he'd get a quiet night's sleep without his brother's snoring, and hey he might even get to sleep in!
"Dean .." Castiel starts, as he stands in front of the closed door while Dean sits on the edge of the bed, pulling off his boots and socks.
"Yeah, Cas?"
"Are we .. not going to talk about this?"
"Talk 'bout what?" Dean asks, his alcohol fuzzied brain not picking up right away on what Castiel is asking.
"I kissed you, Dean. And you woke up."
Oh, right. That thing he's been avoiding thinking about. "Yeah, and yeah I did. It worked, so what's there to talk about?"
Something flickers open and wide across Castiel's face and then suddenly everything closes up, solid like stone and Dean feels his heart drop to the acidic depths of his stomach. "Cas .."
"You're right, it's nothing. I will go."
"No, Cas, wait .." Dean says as he bolts up, swaying slightly as he takes a step and he expects Cas to just fly off like he's done a hundred, thousand times before but is pleasantly surprised to find Cas still standing there.
"I'm sorry Cas, you know I'm not good at shit like this .." Dean says, standing awkwardly in front of the angel, fighting the urge to shove his hands into his pockets.
Stepping up close, well into Dean's personal space, Castiel nods. His hands reach up, stop briefly in hesitation before following through and gently cup the man's face. "I will not do anything you do not want."
"I know, Cas .. it's .. that's not the point."
Castiel searches his too bright green eyes, his own blue ones widening slightly in realization. "Dean .."
"Don't .."
"You don't believe you can be loved .."
"Stop it, Cas." Dean says as he pulls away, but Castiel stops him. Strong hands grip his wrists to keep him from pulling back completely. Goddamn freaky angel mojo.
"But Dean, I do love you. Very much -- so much that my love for you broke an age old enchanted sleep." Castiel says seriously, willing Dean to see.
"You don't mean that .. you can't .. I ain't good enough, Cas .. not for you, or anyone .." Dean says quietly, voice wet with tamped down emotion.
"Why do you insist on believing that?"
"Cause everyone leaves, Cas!" Dean snaps, shoulders slumping as the fight goes out of him. "Everyone leaves or dies, that's just how it is and ... fuck, Cas .. if you left I don't .." He won't be able to handle it, he knows he won't. His attraction to Castiel had taken him by surprise, even more so the feelings the angel dredged up, things he thought were dead and buried. Feelings and emotions resurrected by the very angel that lifted him up.
"I won't. I won't leave, Dean." Castiel says quietly as he closes what little space there is between them. "I can't, now that I know I can have this .. and I can, can't I?"
Dean swallows thickly and lets out a shaky breath as he nods. "Yeah .. Yeah, Cas .. you can." He meets Cas half way, the angel letting go of his hands in favor of winding his arms around the man's waist and pulling him in. Dean grips the back of Cas' neck with one hand, deepening the kiss, as his other grips tight against Cas' shoulder, anchoring him.
He can do this, with Cas, he wants to more than anything -- wants to prove to himself, to Cas, that he can do this, that he's capable of loving, of being loved.
"Dean," Castiel murmurs as he pulls back from the kiss though he has no real need for air. "Stop thinking."
"Thought I told you 'bout that mind readin' shit." Dean mutters, feeling breathless and ripped open, raw.
"I do not need to read your mind to know you are thinking far too hard."
Dean smirks a little as he inches ever closer. "That so?"
"Yes, and I do think I should .. endeavor to distract you from your rather destructive thought process."
He can't help the small snort of laughter before he speaks, "Didn't think you were the dirty talkin' type there, Cas." Dean teases, and the quizzical look Castiel gives him in return has him laughing full out.
"I don't understand, Dean .."
"Yeah, we'll work on that .. c'mere." He mutters as he pulls Cas down into another kiss, deeper and longer than the last but just as intoxicating and sweet as the few before it.
---
Title: Love's Sweet Kiss
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Dean/Castiel, Sam
Word Count: 4,786
Warning: No specific season stated though likely before 6, language, super minor squint with your head tilted and you might see it wincest (but it's really not).
Disclaimer: Not mine, not ever ;A;
Summary: As Dean would say, "Fucking witches!", because that is exactly what Sam is thinking right now, along with "Fucking Dean!" because dammit, why is Dean always throwing himself into harms way for him?
A/N: I don't even know why I write these things when my fic needs to be written. Waaah. Well, none the less I hope you all enjoy!
Love's Sweet Kiss
ONESHOT
As Dean would say, "Fucking witches!", because that is exactly what Sam is thinking right now, along with "Fucking Dean!" because dammit, why is Dean always throwing himself into harms way for him?
He knew the moment he got out of bed today was going to be shit.
He was not wrong.
~~
They'd been on a job, somewhere north of Tallahassee, hunting a witch who was taking out lovey-dovey happily ever after couples because her boyfriend dumped her. Literally taking them out, killing them just because they were happy and she wasn't. Obviously they couldn't let that fly, and when they realized she wasn't going to stop at all any time soon, they did what they needed to do. They needed to take her out. Neither really wanted to take a human life, even if it was a witch, but she was killing completely innocent people and that had to stop. Like now.
So they went to her house, tried to reason with her -- tried to tell her what she was doing was wrong. And it was going well, they almost had her calmed down until Sam tried to relate that he knew how she felt. It all went to shit after that. The witch went ballistic, shouting and screaming that he didn't know how she felt, no one did. But ohhh, she'd show him alright. She'd show him exactly how she felt, how dead she felt because her heart was broken. And that was about the exact moment that Dean shoved Sam out of the way, taking the brunt of the curse.
It hit Dean square in the chest, sent him flying back into a bookcase behind him, toppling it over and sending books everywhere. Sam's alarm rose when Dean didn't get up.
"Dean!" Sam had rushed to Dean's side, immediately checking for a pulse. He sighed in relief when he found it, and then shook his brother to rouse him. Sam frowned when Dean didn't so much as budge. He couldn't have hit the ground that hard, could he?
The younger Winchester looked over to the girl to ask her what she'd done but she was already gone, probably bolted the moment Sam left to Dean's side. "Dammit." He swore, and looking down at Dean worriedly, Sam got up and carefully hauled his brother up from the ground and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
~~
And that's how they got to this point. Once Sam pulls up to the motel they'd rented, he rushes over to open the door to their room, then darts back to the Impala to carefully pull Dean out of the back seat and heft him into the motel room. Dropping him gently onto the bed, Sam rushes back out to lock up the car, then comes back to check on Dean who is still quite still and asleep.
At least he thinks he's asleep. He's certainly not dead. Sam had made sure, every few stops he would reach back to check Dean's pulse, feel for his breath. He needed to make sure Dean was still with him. It's bothering him that Dean is so still, yet breathing. There is a soft rise and fall of his brother's chest but even that isn't very comforting. There's no twitching muscles, no REM, nothing. Just Dean's still body on the bed and his soft, barely audible breathing.
Maybe .. maybe he just needs to try harder to wake him? That should work, right?
Well, he's got nothing else to go on right now so he gives it a try. Walking over to the bed he reaches out and shakes Dean hard, his body moving, flopping around like dead weight on the mattress as he does. "Dean! Dean, wake up!" Sam shouts.
But nothing happens, not even a twitch of the eye or muscle spasm. So he tries again, and again and again.
~
"There's a Wendigo in the room and it's going to eat us!"
~
"If you don't wake up right now, I'm going to sell my soul to lift this curse!"
~
"I bought a cherry pie and if you don't wake up I'm going to eat it all."
~
Moving to the other side of the bed, Sam pulls the covers off the mattress with a hard tug which rolls Dean right off the bed and onto the floor. When nothing happens, Sam sighs and stalks over to the other side -- where his brother lays prone on his stomach, face smooshed into old musty carpet -- and picks him up, putting him back onto the bed.
~
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey. Time to get up Dean, I brought breakfast!" Sam says as he stands at the side of the bed and after a moment of no response he throws a glass of water -- holy water at that -- on Dean's face. Not even a splutter.
~
If a glass of water didn't work, then surely a bucket would.
It didn't, and now his brother is drenched and the bed is sopping as well.
He's glad, for the moment at least, that Dean didn't wake up. Water is easier to clean than blood.
~
After cleaning the bed up, best as he can, and his brother who is laying prone on the one he's been using, Sam sits at the table and runs his hands through his floppy hair and sighs. Maybe if he finds that witch he can convince her to lift the curse off of Dean. It's worked before .. maybe it would this time?
It's all he's got right now so he packs up a bag and heads out after drawing the curtains and locking the door. At least he knows Dean won't be getting himself into any trouble. Small blessings, he supposes.
~~
"Fucking witches!" Sam complains darkly as he unlocks the door and shoves it open, stalks inside and kicks it shut. He tugs off his bloody flannel shirt and tosses it onto the empty, and still soaked through, bed before glancing over to Dean.
Dean is still laying prone on the bed in the exact position he left him in, and Sam fidgets for a moment before walking over to check his pulse, hand hovering above the older man's mouth and he sighs in relief that Dean is still alive. Just sleeping a rather supernatural sleep.
The witch had been a dead end. Whatever spell or curse she cast on Dean wouldn't go away unless it was fulfilled. He had tried to reason with her, to get her to undo it but when she refused, threatened and attacked him, well Sam did what he had to do. It was self defense really.
Still, Sam feels like shit because fact of the matter is she was human. He really wishes Dean had been there with him. But the information he had gleaned from the witch before killing her is helpful. It's a sleeping curse or spell of some kind, so all he has to do is research it. Research is definitely something he can do.
Except hours of searching through various websites and wikipedias give him nothing to go on. All he has is that it's a sleeping curse that won't break until it's fulfilled. He tries to think back, to when it first happened and groans when he makes the connection. She was upset and heartbroken, so of course she would want him -- or Dean as the case may be -- to feel the same thing she was feeling.
But why sleep? That part he doesn't get. So back to more researching it is. He doesn't find much else than he did before, except some of the hits he was getting were from movies and reviews, books and the like, about 'Sleeping Beauty'. Well, why not he figures, and reads a few of the reviews. What's terrifying is that in some weird, strange way this is starting to make sense.
The witch had wanted him -- Dean, now -- to suffer, thus cursing him with a sleeping spell. In the stories, from what he's read, 'Sleeping Beauty' will only awake with 'true love's kiss'. The only exception is that the witch never specified the kind of love that was needed to wake Dean from this weird Disney princess sleep.
So what happens when there is no true love? And is it even 'true' love? She hadn't been very specific when she threw the curse at him -- them, Dean -- and even more vague when he had asked her before she attacked him. What if it's just someone who loves you a lot?
Sam weighs these facts as he sits there at the small table, in front of his laptop, his gaze wandering back and forth from Dean to his computer screen. There is no doubt that Sam loves Dean, more than anyone else in the whole world. They've grown up with each other, went through hell and back -- and for Dean literally -- for each other, done things no one else would do. So there is no question as to whether or not Sam loves his brother. There's nothing Sam wouldn't do for Dean, and vice versa.
Except maybe this.
".. I am not kissing you, dude."
~~
Sam paces the dingy motel room in long, quick strides. His hands ruffle through his floppy brown hair on occasion as his eyes move every so often back to Dean's prone, silent form on the bed. The easy, soft rise and fall of his chest the only indication he is still among the living.
"I'm still not kissing you." Sam says to no one as he makes his way back over to the laptop, the computer still open on a page about Sleeping Beauty.
Sam decides to call Bobby instead, giving him the run down of what's happened and listens as the old hunter calls them idjits for getting into trouble in the first damn place, but two hours of waiting and more research yields no results though Bobby says he'll keep looking, call in some favors to see if they've heard anything. Sam thanks him and snaps his phone shut.
"I really hate you right now, just so you know."
~~
In the long run kissing Dean is probably not the worst thing he's ever done, or thought of doing. Sure, the idea of kissing his own brother makes him gag a little, but he knows if he didn't at least try this crazy, stupid idea he would regret it. What if it did work? What if it would have worked but he never did it and then Dean wound up asleep forever? He knows he would never forgive himself for robbing Dean of his life, knowing there'd been something he could have done but didn't because he's too chickenshit to do it. Dean's gone to hell for him, literally. A kiss is nothing compared to that.
Sam sighs heavy and resigned as he stalks over to the side of the bed. His face scrunches up in a bitchface as he stares down at his older brother, rubbing his hands against his jeans.
"I swear to god, Dean, if you wake up I am punching you in the face." Sam complains as he leans down presses his mouth solidly against Dean's. He holds the kiss for ten-twenty seconds, applying a smidgen of pressure to ascertain it being considered a 'kiss' before pulling back and staring down at Dean, waiting.
Dean doesn't move in the least, not even a twitch. "OhthankGod." Sam exhales as he turns and rushes into the bathroom to scrub his mouth, brush his teeth and scrub his mouth again. He loves Dean, he does, with his whole heart. But that was just a tad creepy, even for him. But he's done and it didn't work, so at least he won't regret not trying.
Except now he's back to square one with no other solid leads.
Moving back into the room, Sam sits at the table and sighs, hands folded in his lap as he closes his eyes. And prays.
"Hey, uh, Cas? I know I'm not exactly your favourite person or anything but .. Dean's in trouble and I don't know what else to --"
"Sam." The younger Winchester starts at the familiar voice followed by the telltale ruffle of invisible wings and looks up to find the dark haired angel standing next to the bed Dean is currently laying on.
"Cas, hey .. I .. thanks for coming." Sam says awkwardly as he gets up from the table and walks over to stand on the opposite side.
Castiel reaches out to press two fingers to Dean's temple and frowns. "He is asleep yet I cannot enter his dreams as I should. Explain."
Sam flounders for a minute or two. "I .. We were on a case and there was this witch and .. shit, Cas, you know Dean .. he just can't .. anyway the witch threw a curse at me but he knocked me out of the way. And this happened." He said as he motioned to the whole of Dean with his hands. "I did research, tried to talk to her again." He explains, leaving out the part where he killed her. "All I can figure is that it's some sort of enchanted sleep and he won't wake up until his "true love" kisses him."
Castiel is silent for a moment, then tilts his head slightly to the side as he looks up to Sam, confused. "What does love have to do with it?"
Sam resists the urge to smile and laugh, wishing Dean were awake to hear Cas unwittingly recite song titles. He's sure Dean would've gotten a kick out of it.
"That's the whole point, Cas. The witch, she was pissed because the person she loved broke her heart, so she wanted other people to feel the same thing. To feel miserable, empty and dead inside. Only it didn't kill him but put him to sleep and he'll never wake up unless his "true love" kisses him."
Sam tries not to think of what will happen when they don't find that person, tries not to think about losing his brother forever to this unnatural sleep.
Castiel is silent for a moment as he moves his gaze between the two brothers thoughtfully. "You have tried every available option?" The angel asks.
"Yeah, Cas. I mean, short of dragging random people in here to kiss my brother in hopes one of them would wake him. I've been researching for hours, I've called Bobby -- he couldn't find anything we could use and he's got his feelers out -- hell Cas, I've even kissed him just on the off chance it might work." Sam says, exasperated enough that he doesn't have time to feel embarrassed over the fact.
".. I beg your pardon?" Castiel asks quietly as he looks over to Sam in surprise.
"Uh, I kissed him? Dean? I mean .. it's not like she was specific with the spell or anything and I had to try everything, even if I didn't really want to, you know? He woulda done the same for me." He's done worse, Sam thinks to himself.
"I see." Castiel is strangely quiet as he looks down at Dean, his hands curling at his side and fisting into the overcoat.
It takes a moment or two for Sam to realize it and god how could he have been so blind? He'd expect it from Dean, sure, the guy is emotionally retarded even at the best of times. But him? It should have been glaringly obvious from the start.
Cas is jealous. Because he kissed Dean. For someone who doesn't understand much about human emotion and has one hell of a poker face he's doing a shitty job of hiding the fact.
Sam tries to keep the small smile from his face as he stands there and stuffs his hands into his pockets. "Why don't you give it a try?" He suggests, and is amused with the way Castiel's blue eyes widen in surprise as if he hadn't thought of the idea himself -- and he probably hadn't.
"I don't .. I'm not .. I don't think that would be very wise." Castiel says, stumbling over the words as he takes a cautious step back.
"Why not? We've got no other leads, Cas. I mean, if it doesn't work it doesn't work." Sam says, trying to coax the angel.
Castiel stands there and stares at Dean like if he stares hard or long enough it'll wake Dean up instead. It doesn't, and Castiel sighs. It's not that Castiel doesn't want to try -- he does, really. He really wants to try -- it's that he doesn't want the feeling of failure when it doesn't work. And it won't, he knows that already, because as much as he cares -- loves -- Dean, the human hunter does not return those affections .. of this he is sure.
He highly doubts this "true love's kiss" thing is a one-way street. But none the less, like Sam, he has to try. So the angel nods.
"Alright, I will .. try it." Castiel says, and just stands there.
"Uh, Cas? Do you .. want me to leave?" Sam asks, thinking it might be uncomfortable for the angel for him to be there when he kisses his brother.
"No, your absence is not necessary."
".. You do know how to, uh you know, kiss .. right?"
"I am well aware of the mechanics, Sam." Castiel says, a huff of annoyance in his tone.
Sam merely raises his hands and backs away, moves over to the table where he takes his seat and goes back to looking at the screen, wanting to give Cas at least some measure of privacy in the small motel room, when he hears the bed dip.
~~
Castiel sits on the edge of the bed, next to Dean and is quiet, watching the slow rise and fall of the hunter's chest. In this unnatural sleep Dean takes on an other worldly peacefulness, the lines in his face all but gone and making him look years younger. His lips tilt slightly as he reaches out with one hand to brush lightly across the man's forehead, able to do so with Dean sleeping so deeply.
His vessel's heart speeds up as he shifts closer and bracing his hands on the mattress, bracketing Dean on the bed, Castiel leans over the prone hunter. His wide blue eyes take in every detail; the dark fanning of lashes against his warm skin, the hundreds of freckles that dot across the apple of his cheeks, the soft swell of his lips. Though Castiel had remade this body of flesh and blood and bone, from earth and grace, it is all together completely different what he is feeling now. He'd had a purpose then, an order to obey.
This. This is simply desire and want. A desire to touch and feel and need, a want for those feelings to be returned even though he knows they will never be. As long as he can stay beside Dean none of that matters.
Casting his gaze in one last sweep of the man's face, they settle on Dean's lips as Castiel leans in and presses them firmly but gently together, heart racing in his chest as he tilts his head and slants his lips more solidly against the hunter's, the plump skin slightly chapped but warm beneath his own.
For a moment nothing happens, and sucking in a cold breath Castiel pulls back, staring down at Dean in surprise. He inwardly berates himself for giving in to such false hopes, to thinking that he above all people would be able to wake Dean. It was stupid and foolish and suddenly those thoughts are pushed out of his head as strong hands tug him back down.
A small shocked sound escapes the angel as warm lips press insistently against his own and in mere moments Castiel caves, giving in and parting his lips against the tongue seeking entrance into his mouth. His hands clench in the mattress and after a moment or two Castiel pulls back to blink down in surprise, taking in the amused green eyes looking back at him.
"About damn time." Dean says, voice a little rough, and turning his head he grins as he looks over at his brother though the expression falters as he notes Sam's bemused expression. "What?" He asks, but Sam just shakes his head and replies, "Nothing. So it worked? Cas kissing you?" And the way he asks makes Dean think he definitely won't be letting this go any time soon.
"Yep, my very own knight in shining trenchcoat." Dean says with a little laugh as he pushes Castiel back enough that he can sit up, wincing as he does so. "Goddamn it feels great to move again. And to talk. You have no idea how annoying it was listening to you bitch and whine and not be able to tell you to shut the fuck up."
Sam stiffens, eyes going wide as he digests what his brother has just said. "Whoa, what? You .. you could hear me? Like, everything?"
Dean just grins and nods. "Uh-huh. Everything." Sam's face pales slightly as he clears his throat and looks back to the screen, nodding. "That's uh .. good, I guess." Definitely, definitely not good.
"Ganked the witch huh?"
"Uh, yeah. She attacked me when I asked her to remove the curse."
"Bobby never called back, right?"
"No .. he .. no, but I should probably call him and let him know you're okay."
"You rolled me off the goddamn bed."
"I was trying to wake you!"
"And practically waterlogged me."
"I was trying. To. Wake you!"
"Didn't know you swung that way, Sam."
"Bite me, Disney princess."
"Shut up, you fuckin' girl."
"Says sleeping beauty~"
"Bitch."
"Jerk."
Castiel continues to sit on the bed, next to Dean who was propped up and leaning against the headboard and smiles as he watches the exchange between the two brothers, gaze moving between the two like a ping pong ball. Though he does have a question now, as he looks over at Dean.
"Dean? What is a "Disney Princess"?
The hunter glares at Sam as he stifles a high pitched laugh, shoulders shaking. "Go on Dean, tell him."
".. I really fucking hate you right now."
~~
Needless to say the rest of the evening went off without a hitch, and Dean drags both Cas and his brother to the nearest bar to celebrate his awakening, which is really just a ruse to get blessedly drunk. Sam finds himself a nice long-legged redhead that is very interested in him, if her hands practically down his pants were anything to go by. Dean gives him a drunken thumbs up as he walks out with her, causing the younger Winchester to duck his head in embarrassment and claim they aren't related at all.
On the way back to the motel, with Cas trailing behind him like a puppy and not at all drunk despite the four pitchers the angel had drank, Dean is pleased to find the room empty and devoid of his brother and his fine lady friend -- which meant they likely went back to her place.
That is perfect, really. Not that he planned on anything happening, but at least he'd get a quiet night's sleep without his brother's snoring, and hey he might even get to sleep in!
"Dean .." Castiel starts, as he stands in front of the closed door while Dean sits on the edge of the bed, pulling off his boots and socks.
"Yeah, Cas?"
"Are we .. not going to talk about this?"
"Talk 'bout what?" Dean asks, his alcohol fuzzied brain not picking up right away on what Castiel is asking.
"I kissed you, Dean. And you woke up."
Oh, right. That thing he's been avoiding thinking about. "Yeah, and yeah I did. It worked, so what's there to talk about?"
Something flickers open and wide across Castiel's face and then suddenly everything closes up, solid like stone and Dean feels his heart drop to the acidic depths of his stomach. "Cas .."
"You're right, it's nothing. I will go."
"No, Cas, wait .." Dean says as he bolts up, swaying slightly as he takes a step and he expects Cas to just fly off like he's done a hundred, thousand times before but is pleasantly surprised to find Cas still standing there.
"I'm sorry Cas, you know I'm not good at shit like this .." Dean says, standing awkwardly in front of the angel, fighting the urge to shove his hands into his pockets.
Stepping up close, well into Dean's personal space, Castiel nods. His hands reach up, stop briefly in hesitation before following through and gently cup the man's face. "I will not do anything you do not want."
"I know, Cas .. it's .. that's not the point."
Castiel searches his too bright green eyes, his own blue ones widening slightly in realization. "Dean .."
"Don't .."
"You don't believe you can be loved .."
"Stop it, Cas." Dean says as he pulls away, but Castiel stops him. Strong hands grip his wrists to keep him from pulling back completely. Goddamn freaky angel mojo.
"But Dean, I do love you. Very much -- so much that my love for you broke an age old enchanted sleep." Castiel says seriously, willing Dean to see.
"You don't mean that .. you can't .. I ain't good enough, Cas .. not for you, or anyone .." Dean says quietly, voice wet with tamped down emotion.
"Why do you insist on believing that?"
"Cause everyone leaves, Cas!" Dean snaps, shoulders slumping as the fight goes out of him. "Everyone leaves or dies, that's just how it is and ... fuck, Cas .. if you left I don't .." He won't be able to handle it, he knows he won't. His attraction to Castiel had taken him by surprise, even more so the feelings the angel dredged up, things he thought were dead and buried. Feelings and emotions resurrected by the very angel that lifted him up.
"I won't. I won't leave, Dean." Castiel says quietly as he closes what little space there is between them. "I can't, now that I know I can have this .. and I can, can't I?"
Dean swallows thickly and lets out a shaky breath as he nods. "Yeah .. Yeah, Cas .. you can." He meets Cas half way, the angel letting go of his hands in favor of winding his arms around the man's waist and pulling him in. Dean grips the back of Cas' neck with one hand, deepening the kiss, as his other grips tight against Cas' shoulder, anchoring him.
He can do this, with Cas, he wants to more than anything -- wants to prove to himself, to Cas, that he can do this, that he's capable of loving, of being loved.
"Dean," Castiel murmurs as he pulls back from the kiss though he has no real need for air. "Stop thinking."
"Thought I told you 'bout that mind readin' shit." Dean mutters, feeling breathless and ripped open, raw.
"I do not need to read your mind to know you are thinking far too hard."
Dean smirks a little as he inches ever closer. "That so?"
"Yes, and I do think I should .. endeavor to distract you from your rather destructive thought process."
He can't help the small snort of laughter before he speaks, "Didn't think you were the dirty talkin' type there, Cas." Dean teases, and the quizzical look Castiel gives him in return has him laughing full out.
"I don't understand, Dean .."
"Yeah, we'll work on that .. c'mere." He mutters as he pulls Cas down into another kiss, deeper and longer than the last but just as intoxicating and sweet as the few before it.