Always with you - Chapter 9
Title: Always with you
Fandom/Genre: Supernatural AU/Romance
Pairing(s): Dean/Castiel, Chuck/Becky, Sam/Sarah
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 46400
Warnings: some angst, mentions of violence, implied character death (disappearance)
Previous chapter: Chapter 8.
Chapter nine - This is what it feels like (when dreams are breaking through)
The next morning found them completely wrapped around each other, limbs tangled, lips and noses almost touching. The first thing Castiel saw right after waking up was Dean, eyes closed, long, dark lashes resting on freckled skin, and a dreamy smile on his face, which made Castiel’s heart soar. Tentatively he reached out to caress Dean’s cheek, just to make sure that he was really there, that it wasn’t just a dream.
When the alarm clock went off a few seconds later, Castiel surged forward to capture Dean’s lips in a passionate good-morning-kiss.
“This was the best wake-up call I ever had,” Dean smiled after they parted.
“That’s what I was hoping to hear!” Castiel answered with a wide grin. “I don’t even know when the last time I slept for this long in one piece was.”
“Glad to have been of service.” Dean stretched his back. “What would you like for breakfast?”
“Do you have eggs? I’d like some scrambled eggs.”
“Okay, eggs it is then. But… you know, you should get off of me so I can go and actually make them for you, hm?”
“Just another minute,” Castiel murmured, burying his head in Dean’s neck, clinging to him.
“Take your time.” Dean smiled, and ruffled Castiel’s hair playfully. He hadn’t been the cuddling type before, but apparently Castiel managed to put that into the past tense. Right then, lying there with Castiel curled up against him, cuddling felt pretty damn perfect. He closed his eyes, and let happiness wash over him, until Castiel finally moved, pulling away.
“I’d like those eggs now,” he announced, for a moment looking like an innocent child. Dean snorted, but got out of bed.
“You can take a shower if you want, towels are in the bathroom. Feel free to take clothes from my closet, but I’d appreciate it if you could leave my underwear alone, okay? Oh, and bathroom’s that way.” He pointed at the door leading to it, and when Castiel nodded, he went to make breakfast. Castiel’s shower was really quick: the bread was still in the toaster, the coffee brewing, and eggs still in the pan when he walked down the stairs, wearing a pair of black sweatpants and nothing else. Silently, he sneaked up on Dean, and pressed a kiss onto the back of his neck.
“Hello, Dean,” he whispered against his lover’s skin, wrapping his arms around his chest.
“Hello yourself.” Dean turned his head to capture Castiel’s lips for a second. “Could you please put plates and mugs on the table? They’re in that cupboard up there.”
“Any preference on mugs?” Castiel asked, looking at Dean’s mug collection.
“Not really, just grab two, thanks.”
“Do you use this one?” He chuckled, holding up a huge mug, with little painted penises on it.
“I don’t even have to look to know which one is in your hands. Sam thought it was a hilarious idea to give that shit to me after I told him I liked boys just as well as girls. He actually made me drink from it once. He hid all the other mugs in the house, and drinking coffee from the pot just seemed too drastic."
“Your brother sounds an awful lot like Balthazar. After I came out to him, he bought me 16 bottles of lube for my sixteenth birthday, and wanted to take me out to a den of iniquity, a brothel with male prostitutes. Luckily, my other brother, Michael talked him out of it. I don’t think I could have done it, Balthazar was dead set on it, and he’s never listened to me.”
“Looks like we’re both the best of our families.” Dean winked, and pushed some of the scrambled eggs onto the plates. Only then did he take a good look at Castiel, and he liked what he saw. His sweatpants were slightly too big for Castiel, thus riding really low on his hips, revealing hipbones that made Dean want to lick and bite them. Groaning inwardly he tried to refrain from walking up to Castiel, and having his wicked way with him right there on the kitchen table, which wasn’t working all that well, so he sat down and focused on his food. “You know what’s funny?” He asked, poking the scrambled eggs with his fork.
“No, but now that you brought it up, I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“I think Becky knew from the beginning that eventually we would get together. When we had that barbecue dinner, she told me to ask you out.”
“Damn, Becky… I’m going to smite her one day.” Castiel blushed slightly. “She told me the same thing. I wonder how she knew I was into you…”
“Well, you were kinda up in my personal space, staring at me with those baby blues almost all the time since the first dinner with the four of us.”
“No, I wasn’t!”
“You totally were. At first I thought you were just socially awkward or some shit like that, but then I noticed how you only did that to me…”
“Okay, maybe I was. But your goo-goo eyes weren’t that subtle either!” Castiel retorted.
“Goo-goo eyes? GOO-GOO eyes? I wasn’t making goo-goo eyes. You know, who does? Brats.”
“Okay, your need to reinstate your demolished masculinity has been noted, we’re awaiting answers from the jurors on the question.” Castiel said with mock seriousness, before chuckling lightly.
“That’s so not fair. How am I supposed to prove I’m right sitting in front of a damn lawyer?” Dean grumbled.
“You can try…” Castiel shrugged, and began eating. Dean glared daggers at him for a while, before following his example. After a few minutes of silence, Castiel looked up from his plate. “I’m sorry I fell asleep last night. I’m sure that wasn’t how you planned the night to go.”
“It’s okay. No problem, really. You needed that sleep.”
“I did, but I still feel a little bad about it. I was thinking, maybe we could go out for a few drinks tonight. My treat, so I can make up to you for the ruined night.”
“Cas, stop that right now. You didn’t ruin anything. I confess, that really wasn’t what I expected from last night…” He winked. “But you don’t have to make up for anything, or feel bad about anything, okay?”
“Okay.” Castiel nodded, and finished eating his eggs, casting a longing look at the coffee pot. Dean noticed it immediately, and only then did he realize that he forgot to pour coffee for Castiel.
“Jesus, Cas, why didn’t you tell me how bad of a host I am? Go ahead, knock yourself out. I have milk in the fridge, and you can find sugar in that little bowl on the counter, I know you like your coffee sweet.”
“Yeah, I do. When I was at the university, I drank a lot of coffee, black, especially before big exams. After a while I started finding the taste of it disgusting, and ever since I’ve been drinking it sweet,” Castiel explained while he prepared his coffee, and when he took the first sip, a dreamy smile spread across his face.
“Is it really this easy to make you happy?” Dean asked, motioning towards the TARDIS-patterned Doctor Who mug in Castiel’s hand. The other man nodded, and turned his attention back to his caffeine bomb.
“I’ve always expected too much from any given situation in my life, and when I didn’t get what I expected, I was disappointed. But since I’m here, I found that I’m still able to feel happy about little things, like a mug of sweet, milky coffee, a good night’s sleep, or a nice afternoon walk…” Castiel said softly a few minutes later, smiling brightly at his lover.
“This place does have a good effect on people, doesn’t it?” Dean mumbled, more to himself than to Castiel. He remembered his first day on the estate, after Chuck bought it. Both houses were neglected, uncared-for, waist-high weeds in the yards, the roof of the stable broken… and yet, it was one of the most beautiful places Dean had ever seen. It took almost a year, and a lot of Chuck’s money to fix the buildings, but when they were ready, the estate looked better than ever. He remembered the day Chuck came home with a young horse in tow, a beautiful, fiery filly by the name of Gigette… Dean had never tried to break in a horse before, but he read all the books about the subject that he could get his hands on, before he finally found the perfect method, and started working with Gigette.
“Dean?” Castiel’s deep voice snapped him out of his reverie.
“Sorry, I just took a little trip down memory lane. I was just thinking about how small Gigette was when Chuck bought her… I think I’d love to work with a foal again. I miss it. What were you saying, by the way?”
“I was just trying to let you know that it’s almost time to feed the horses, but you weren’t answering.”
“Sorry…” Dean repeated, and he looked at his watch. “Damn, you’re right. I have to go and change. Just leave everything, I’ll clean it later.”
“No, you cooked, I’ll do the washing up,” Castiel said, and it was evident from his voice that he wasn’t taking no for answer.
“If you want to… Key’s in the lock, could you please bring it to me when you’re done?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.” Dean smiled, and quickly kissed Castiel, before hurrying up the stairs into his bedroom.
“You’re welcome!” Castiel called out after Dean as he began clearing the table. When he was done with the dishes, he went up to Dean’s room to get his clothes. After some thinking, he took one of Dean’s shirts and put it on. With his clothes in his hand, he walked out of the house. In the stable, Dean was in the process of feeding Scricciolo, who apparently either wasn’t hungry, or just wasn’t into the forage Dean gave him.
“Oh, come on Scri. That is the very same fodder you got yesterday, and you ate it then. What’s wrong now?” He asked, playing with the pony’s mane.
“Go and feed Judas, he looks like he’s gonna die of starvation any second now. I’ll try to feed Scri, okay?” Castiel’s voice came from behind him, and Dean turned around to look at him.
“Alright, let’s see how much luck you have with him,” he agreed, and exchanged the bucket of fodder for the keys dangling from Castiel’s hands. “Thanks, angel,” he smiled, and stole a quick kiss before grabbing Judas’ food. Castiel put his clothes down onto a discarded wheelbarrow, crouched down to be on level with Scricciolo, and looked deep into his eyes.
“Little fellow, you’d better eat this, because a, you won’t get something else just because you refuse to eat this and b, like Dean said, you seemed to love this yesterday. Come on, eat it,” he urged the pony, and when he pushed the bucket under his nose, Scricciolo began eating.
“It’s so not fair. You’ve been here a couple of weeks, and some horses already like you better than me,” Dean complained, but Castiel knew he didn’t mean it.
“What can I say? It’s my natural charm that makes me irresistible. You couldn’t resist either,” he joked.
“Oh, shut up, you self-absorbed bastard.” Dean nudged Castiel’s shoulder with his elbow. “Don’t you have anything better to do than torturing me with your over-sized ego?”
“No, not really, but I can find something, if my presence is disturbing you,” Castiel pouted, and even though Dean knew he was just mocking him, he couldn’t help but use his mouth to kiss his lover’s frown away. He wrapped his arms around Castiel’s waist, and pushed at him until his back was flush against the stable wall. He kissed his way down his lover’s neck, lightly biting his Adam’s apple. Castiel gasped, and his hands roamed all over Dean’s body. A possessive growl left Dean’s throat, he grabbed Castiel’s hands, and pushed them up above their heads, pinning them to the wall, and keeping them in place.
“Want you,” Dean hissed, licking and biting at Castiel’s neck.
“I’m here,” he rasped, and tilted his head to provide better access for his lover. Searching for more contact, he pushed his hips forward, and when they met resistance, he started moving, rubbing his body against Dean’s. After a while it got to be both too much and not enough, so he wrapped his leg around Dean’s waist, trying to get more sweet friction. They were too wrapped up in each other to notice Chuck, who had just entered the stable.
“Holy crap!” He let out an entirely unmanly shriek when he caught a glimpse of the two men making out. They jumped apart, and Chuck felt like a jerk for disturbing them. “Sorry, I… I’ll just be back later. Much later,” he mumbled, and hurried towards the door.
“Hey, Chuck, please don’t tell a word to Becky about this, okay?” Dean called out, and that made Chuck stop, turning back to them with a questioning look on his face. “We didn’t want to tell you about this yet, and we’d like to wait with it until Becky feels a little better.”
“Oh, she’d be ecstatic if she knew, and it would make her feel better immediately, but of course, it’s your decision. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Chuck nodded, a half-smile slowly replacing the embarrassed expression on his face. “Is that all? I mean, can I go now?”
“You can do what you came to do, you know.” Dean masked his frustration with a grin.
“Eh, no. I wanted to talk to you, but… it can wait.” Chuck said, and before Dean could say anything else, he was out the door.
“That was unfortunate,” Castiel remarked.
“Unfortunate? Try fucking embarrassing, Cas. When someone walks in on you, it never ceases to be painfully awkward, no matter who it is, or how often it’s happened before.” Dean ran his hand through his hair. “But hey, I wasn’t planning on having sex in the stable again anyway. I tried it once, and let me tell you, it’s not nearly as hot as it seems to be when you’re watching porn. I had rash on my a…”
“Too much information, Dean.” Castiel silenced him by pressing two fingers onto his lips. “You should finish feeding the horses now, and I’m going to go and take a second look at that office I was talking about. I’m pretty sure it’s the one I want.”
“I probably won’t be here when you come back. I want to take Fiamma out for a ride sometime later, she hasn’t been out in ages.”
“Be careful.”
“Careful is my middle name.”
“See you later then, Dean Careful Winchester.” Castiel winked at his lover, and gave him a little peck on the lips. He picked up his clothes, and left. He was barely three steps away from the stable when he saw Becky walking towards him.
“Good morning!” She waved at him.
“Good morning. How are you?”
“Fine, I guess.” She answered with a shrug, then she took a good, long look at Castiel, and she started squealing, jumping around in one
place.
“Becky, are you okay?” Castiel asked, obviously a little worried about the girl’s mental health.
“Yeah, I’m more than okay. You’re wearing Dean’s clothes… You were out the whole night, and you’re wearing Dean’s clothes. Which means, you slept at Dean’s. Oh my gosh, you and Dean! Jesus Christ! Did you have…” She began, but she noticed the stern look Castiel was giving her, and she stopped.
“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, but no, we didn’t. We just slept in the same bed. But we may have kissed quite a few times now,” Castiel confessed with a coy grin, and Becky promptly threw herself into his arms.
“I’m so happy for you two! But tell me one thing. When did it all start?”
“The day Tyler disappeared. We didn’t want to tell you, because we weren’t sure how you’d react.”
“How did you think I would react?”
“With you one can never know what to expect,” Castiel said, starting to feel really awkward in Becky’s tight embrace.
“Eh, that’s true I guess,” she nodded, and finally she let go of Castiel, “I’m really happy for you.”
“Thanks, I think I can safely say that we’re happy for ourselves too,” he said with a smile, and when Becky didn’t say anything else, he started walking towards the house. Once in his room, he changed clothes and drove into the town. The office he was planning on renting was actually more like a three room apartment on the ground floor of an old house, but it was nice and sunny, situated in a well-kept, but not too posh neighborhood, and before he knew it, he had the keys of his new office dangling from his keychain. Happily whistling he set off towards the nearest IKEA, intent on buying the necessary furniture. The store was almost at the edge of the town, halfway in the countryside already, and on his way there he passed a bar named HallowInn, which looked like a saloon straight out of a western. Wooden panels were covering the walls, and it even had a horse post. He made a mental note to google it once he got back to the Shurley Estate, because he was sure Dean would like it, but only if the place was decent.
Castiel spent the better part of the afternoon in the store, wandering around between endless rows of furniture. There were moments when he regretted not letting Dean tag along with him as sometimes it was hard to decide which piece of furniture he wanted to buy, but in the end he bought two desks - a bigger, more expensive one for himself, and a smaller, feminine looking one for his eventual secretary -, four chairs, a filing cabinet and a comfortable leather couch. He scheduled the deliveries for the coming Friday, in the hope of opening his office on the Monday after that. For the first time since he woke up in the hospital after the police freed him, he felt like he was in control of his own life, and more importantly that it was good to be in control of his life. On the way back to the estate he called Dean to tell him about the progress he made, and an idea struck him as they talked.
“Dean, your brother is a lawyer, right?” he asked.
“Yes, but he hasn’t had a case on his own yet. He’s working for the same firm you used to.”
“Does he like it?”
“I think so, yeah. Why are you asking?”
“The office I rented has three rooms. For now I was planning on using only two, as the third one needs a little renovation, but if I had an associate…” he let his voice trail off.
“Are you implying what I think you’re implying?”
“Yes, I think I am. I know how frustrating it can be to wait for the first case they allow you to handle alone, and I can still remember how much I hated being someone’s assistant. Sam could start anew as the co-owner of an office, I would have someone I know I could rely on, and I’m
sure we would make a great team.”
“You haven’t even met Sam.”
“I know. But he’s your brother, which is a bonus point. I haven’t talked to him about this yet, because I wanted to let you know first.”
“Cas, it’s your choice, and his. I’ll text you his number, and then you can talk with him about it.”
“Thanks. Hey, Dean.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll be home in ten minutes. Can we go out in half an hour?”
“Yeah, I think so. I just finished my last lesson for today, and I can ask Becky to bring the horses in for the night.”
“Great, see you in thirty minutes then,” Castiel said, and then ended the call. A few seconds later his phone beeped, and he knew it was the text with Sam’s number, but he didn’t dial it yet.
Next chapter: Chapter 10
Fandom/Genre: Supernatural AU/Romance
Pairing(s): Dean/Castiel, Chuck/Becky, Sam/Sarah
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 46400
Warnings: some angst, mentions of violence, implied character death (disappearance)
Previous chapter: Chapter 8.
Chapter nine - This is what it feels like (when dreams are breaking through)
The next morning found them completely wrapped around each other, limbs tangled, lips and noses almost touching. The first thing Castiel saw right after waking up was Dean, eyes closed, long, dark lashes resting on freckled skin, and a dreamy smile on his face, which made Castiel’s heart soar. Tentatively he reached out to caress Dean’s cheek, just to make sure that he was really there, that it wasn’t just a dream.
When the alarm clock went off a few seconds later, Castiel surged forward to capture Dean’s lips in a passionate good-morning-kiss.
“This was the best wake-up call I ever had,” Dean smiled after they parted.
“That’s what I was hoping to hear!” Castiel answered with a wide grin. “I don’t even know when the last time I slept for this long in one piece was.”
“Glad to have been of service.” Dean stretched his back. “What would you like for breakfast?”
“Do you have eggs? I’d like some scrambled eggs.”
“Okay, eggs it is then. But… you know, you should get off of me so I can go and actually make them for you, hm?”
“Just another minute,” Castiel murmured, burying his head in Dean’s neck, clinging to him.
“Take your time.” Dean smiled, and ruffled Castiel’s hair playfully. He hadn’t been the cuddling type before, but apparently Castiel managed to put that into the past tense. Right then, lying there with Castiel curled up against him, cuddling felt pretty damn perfect. He closed his eyes, and let happiness wash over him, until Castiel finally moved, pulling away.
“I’d like those eggs now,” he announced, for a moment looking like an innocent child. Dean snorted, but got out of bed.
“You can take a shower if you want, towels are in the bathroom. Feel free to take clothes from my closet, but I’d appreciate it if you could leave my underwear alone, okay? Oh, and bathroom’s that way.” He pointed at the door leading to it, and when Castiel nodded, he went to make breakfast. Castiel’s shower was really quick: the bread was still in the toaster, the coffee brewing, and eggs still in the pan when he walked down the stairs, wearing a pair of black sweatpants and nothing else. Silently, he sneaked up on Dean, and pressed a kiss onto the back of his neck.
“Hello, Dean,” he whispered against his lover’s skin, wrapping his arms around his chest.
“Hello yourself.” Dean turned his head to capture Castiel’s lips for a second. “Could you please put plates and mugs on the table? They’re in that cupboard up there.”
“Any preference on mugs?” Castiel asked, looking at Dean’s mug collection.
“Not really, just grab two, thanks.”
“Do you use this one?” He chuckled, holding up a huge mug, with little painted penises on it.
“I don’t even have to look to know which one is in your hands. Sam thought it was a hilarious idea to give that shit to me after I told him I liked boys just as well as girls. He actually made me drink from it once. He hid all the other mugs in the house, and drinking coffee from the pot just seemed too drastic."
“Your brother sounds an awful lot like Balthazar. After I came out to him, he bought me 16 bottles of lube for my sixteenth birthday, and wanted to take me out to a den of iniquity, a brothel with male prostitutes. Luckily, my other brother, Michael talked him out of it. I don’t think I could have done it, Balthazar was dead set on it, and he’s never listened to me.”
“Looks like we’re both the best of our families.” Dean winked, and pushed some of the scrambled eggs onto the plates. Only then did he take a good look at Castiel, and he liked what he saw. His sweatpants were slightly too big for Castiel, thus riding really low on his hips, revealing hipbones that made Dean want to lick and bite them. Groaning inwardly he tried to refrain from walking up to Castiel, and having his wicked way with him right there on the kitchen table, which wasn’t working all that well, so he sat down and focused on his food. “You know what’s funny?” He asked, poking the scrambled eggs with his fork.
“No, but now that you brought it up, I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“I think Becky knew from the beginning that eventually we would get together. When we had that barbecue dinner, she told me to ask you out.”
“Damn, Becky… I’m going to smite her one day.” Castiel blushed slightly. “She told me the same thing. I wonder how she knew I was into you…”
“Well, you were kinda up in my personal space, staring at me with those baby blues almost all the time since the first dinner with the four of us.”
“No, I wasn’t!”
“You totally were. At first I thought you were just socially awkward or some shit like that, but then I noticed how you only did that to me…”
“Okay, maybe I was. But your goo-goo eyes weren’t that subtle either!” Castiel retorted.
“Goo-goo eyes? GOO-GOO eyes? I wasn’t making goo-goo eyes. You know, who does? Brats.”
“Okay, your need to reinstate your demolished masculinity has been noted, we’re awaiting answers from the jurors on the question.” Castiel said with mock seriousness, before chuckling lightly.
“That’s so not fair. How am I supposed to prove I’m right sitting in front of a damn lawyer?” Dean grumbled.
“You can try…” Castiel shrugged, and began eating. Dean glared daggers at him for a while, before following his example. After a few minutes of silence, Castiel looked up from his plate. “I’m sorry I fell asleep last night. I’m sure that wasn’t how you planned the night to go.”
“It’s okay. No problem, really. You needed that sleep.”
“I did, but I still feel a little bad about it. I was thinking, maybe we could go out for a few drinks tonight. My treat, so I can make up to you for the ruined night.”
“Cas, stop that right now. You didn’t ruin anything. I confess, that really wasn’t what I expected from last night…” He winked. “But you don’t have to make up for anything, or feel bad about anything, okay?”
“Okay.” Castiel nodded, and finished eating his eggs, casting a longing look at the coffee pot. Dean noticed it immediately, and only then did he realize that he forgot to pour coffee for Castiel.
“Jesus, Cas, why didn’t you tell me how bad of a host I am? Go ahead, knock yourself out. I have milk in the fridge, and you can find sugar in that little bowl on the counter, I know you like your coffee sweet.”
“Yeah, I do. When I was at the university, I drank a lot of coffee, black, especially before big exams. After a while I started finding the taste of it disgusting, and ever since I’ve been drinking it sweet,” Castiel explained while he prepared his coffee, and when he took the first sip, a dreamy smile spread across his face.
“Is it really this easy to make you happy?” Dean asked, motioning towards the TARDIS-patterned Doctor Who mug in Castiel’s hand. The other man nodded, and turned his attention back to his caffeine bomb.
“I’ve always expected too much from any given situation in my life, and when I didn’t get what I expected, I was disappointed. But since I’m here, I found that I’m still able to feel happy about little things, like a mug of sweet, milky coffee, a good night’s sleep, or a nice afternoon walk…” Castiel said softly a few minutes later, smiling brightly at his lover.
“This place does have a good effect on people, doesn’t it?” Dean mumbled, more to himself than to Castiel. He remembered his first day on the estate, after Chuck bought it. Both houses were neglected, uncared-for, waist-high weeds in the yards, the roof of the stable broken… and yet, it was one of the most beautiful places Dean had ever seen. It took almost a year, and a lot of Chuck’s money to fix the buildings, but when they were ready, the estate looked better than ever. He remembered the day Chuck came home with a young horse in tow, a beautiful, fiery filly by the name of Gigette… Dean had never tried to break in a horse before, but he read all the books about the subject that he could get his hands on, before he finally found the perfect method, and started working with Gigette.
“Dean?” Castiel’s deep voice snapped him out of his reverie.
“Sorry, I just took a little trip down memory lane. I was just thinking about how small Gigette was when Chuck bought her… I think I’d love to work with a foal again. I miss it. What were you saying, by the way?”
“I was just trying to let you know that it’s almost time to feed the horses, but you weren’t answering.”
“Sorry…” Dean repeated, and he looked at his watch. “Damn, you’re right. I have to go and change. Just leave everything, I’ll clean it later.”
“No, you cooked, I’ll do the washing up,” Castiel said, and it was evident from his voice that he wasn’t taking no for answer.
“If you want to… Key’s in the lock, could you please bring it to me when you’re done?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.” Dean smiled, and quickly kissed Castiel, before hurrying up the stairs into his bedroom.
“You’re welcome!” Castiel called out after Dean as he began clearing the table. When he was done with the dishes, he went up to Dean’s room to get his clothes. After some thinking, he took one of Dean’s shirts and put it on. With his clothes in his hand, he walked out of the house. In the stable, Dean was in the process of feeding Scricciolo, who apparently either wasn’t hungry, or just wasn’t into the forage Dean gave him.
“Oh, come on Scri. That is the very same fodder you got yesterday, and you ate it then. What’s wrong now?” He asked, playing with the pony’s mane.
“Go and feed Judas, he looks like he’s gonna die of starvation any second now. I’ll try to feed Scri, okay?” Castiel’s voice came from behind him, and Dean turned around to look at him.
“Alright, let’s see how much luck you have with him,” he agreed, and exchanged the bucket of fodder for the keys dangling from Castiel’s hands. “Thanks, angel,” he smiled, and stole a quick kiss before grabbing Judas’ food. Castiel put his clothes down onto a discarded wheelbarrow, crouched down to be on level with Scricciolo, and looked deep into his eyes.
“Little fellow, you’d better eat this, because a, you won’t get something else just because you refuse to eat this and b, like Dean said, you seemed to love this yesterday. Come on, eat it,” he urged the pony, and when he pushed the bucket under his nose, Scricciolo began eating.
“It’s so not fair. You’ve been here a couple of weeks, and some horses already like you better than me,” Dean complained, but Castiel knew he didn’t mean it.
“What can I say? It’s my natural charm that makes me irresistible. You couldn’t resist either,” he joked.
“Oh, shut up, you self-absorbed bastard.” Dean nudged Castiel’s shoulder with his elbow. “Don’t you have anything better to do than torturing me with your over-sized ego?”
“No, not really, but I can find something, if my presence is disturbing you,” Castiel pouted, and even though Dean knew he was just mocking him, he couldn’t help but use his mouth to kiss his lover’s frown away. He wrapped his arms around Castiel’s waist, and pushed at him until his back was flush against the stable wall. He kissed his way down his lover’s neck, lightly biting his Adam’s apple. Castiel gasped, and his hands roamed all over Dean’s body. A possessive growl left Dean’s throat, he grabbed Castiel’s hands, and pushed them up above their heads, pinning them to the wall, and keeping them in place.
“Want you,” Dean hissed, licking and biting at Castiel’s neck.
“I’m here,” he rasped, and tilted his head to provide better access for his lover. Searching for more contact, he pushed his hips forward, and when they met resistance, he started moving, rubbing his body against Dean’s. After a while it got to be both too much and not enough, so he wrapped his leg around Dean’s waist, trying to get more sweet friction. They were too wrapped up in each other to notice Chuck, who had just entered the stable.
“Holy crap!” He let out an entirely unmanly shriek when he caught a glimpse of the two men making out. They jumped apart, and Chuck felt like a jerk for disturbing them. “Sorry, I… I’ll just be back later. Much later,” he mumbled, and hurried towards the door.
“Hey, Chuck, please don’t tell a word to Becky about this, okay?” Dean called out, and that made Chuck stop, turning back to them with a questioning look on his face. “We didn’t want to tell you about this yet, and we’d like to wait with it until Becky feels a little better.”
“Oh, she’d be ecstatic if she knew, and it would make her feel better immediately, but of course, it’s your decision. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Chuck nodded, a half-smile slowly replacing the embarrassed expression on his face. “Is that all? I mean, can I go now?”
“You can do what you came to do, you know.” Dean masked his frustration with a grin.
“Eh, no. I wanted to talk to you, but… it can wait.” Chuck said, and before Dean could say anything else, he was out the door.
“That was unfortunate,” Castiel remarked.
“Unfortunate? Try fucking embarrassing, Cas. When someone walks in on you, it never ceases to be painfully awkward, no matter who it is, or how often it’s happened before.” Dean ran his hand through his hair. “But hey, I wasn’t planning on having sex in the stable again anyway. I tried it once, and let me tell you, it’s not nearly as hot as it seems to be when you’re watching porn. I had rash on my a…”
“Too much information, Dean.” Castiel silenced him by pressing two fingers onto his lips. “You should finish feeding the horses now, and I’m going to go and take a second look at that office I was talking about. I’m pretty sure it’s the one I want.”
“I probably won’t be here when you come back. I want to take Fiamma out for a ride sometime later, she hasn’t been out in ages.”
“Be careful.”
“Careful is my middle name.”
“See you later then, Dean Careful Winchester.” Castiel winked at his lover, and gave him a little peck on the lips. He picked up his clothes, and left. He was barely three steps away from the stable when he saw Becky walking towards him.
“Good morning!” She waved at him.
“Good morning. How are you?”
“Fine, I guess.” She answered with a shrug, then she took a good, long look at Castiel, and she started squealing, jumping around in one
place.
“Becky, are you okay?” Castiel asked, obviously a little worried about the girl’s mental health.
“Yeah, I’m more than okay. You’re wearing Dean’s clothes… You were out the whole night, and you’re wearing Dean’s clothes. Which means, you slept at Dean’s. Oh my gosh, you and Dean! Jesus Christ! Did you have…” She began, but she noticed the stern look Castiel was giving her, and she stopped.
“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, but no, we didn’t. We just slept in the same bed. But we may have kissed quite a few times now,” Castiel confessed with a coy grin, and Becky promptly threw herself into his arms.
“I’m so happy for you two! But tell me one thing. When did it all start?”
“The day Tyler disappeared. We didn’t want to tell you, because we weren’t sure how you’d react.”
“How did you think I would react?”
“With you one can never know what to expect,” Castiel said, starting to feel really awkward in Becky’s tight embrace.
“Eh, that’s true I guess,” she nodded, and finally she let go of Castiel, “I’m really happy for you.”
“Thanks, I think I can safely say that we’re happy for ourselves too,” he said with a smile, and when Becky didn’t say anything else, he started walking towards the house. Once in his room, he changed clothes and drove into the town. The office he was planning on renting was actually more like a three room apartment on the ground floor of an old house, but it was nice and sunny, situated in a well-kept, but not too posh neighborhood, and before he knew it, he had the keys of his new office dangling from his keychain. Happily whistling he set off towards the nearest IKEA, intent on buying the necessary furniture. The store was almost at the edge of the town, halfway in the countryside already, and on his way there he passed a bar named HallowInn, which looked like a saloon straight out of a western. Wooden panels were covering the walls, and it even had a horse post. He made a mental note to google it once he got back to the Shurley Estate, because he was sure Dean would like it, but only if the place was decent.
Castiel spent the better part of the afternoon in the store, wandering around between endless rows of furniture. There were moments when he regretted not letting Dean tag along with him as sometimes it was hard to decide which piece of furniture he wanted to buy, but in the end he bought two desks - a bigger, more expensive one for himself, and a smaller, feminine looking one for his eventual secretary -, four chairs, a filing cabinet and a comfortable leather couch. He scheduled the deliveries for the coming Friday, in the hope of opening his office on the Monday after that. For the first time since he woke up in the hospital after the police freed him, he felt like he was in control of his own life, and more importantly that it was good to be in control of his life. On the way back to the estate he called Dean to tell him about the progress he made, and an idea struck him as they talked.
“Dean, your brother is a lawyer, right?” he asked.
“Yes, but he hasn’t had a case on his own yet. He’s working for the same firm you used to.”
“Does he like it?”
“I think so, yeah. Why are you asking?”
“The office I rented has three rooms. For now I was planning on using only two, as the third one needs a little renovation, but if I had an associate…” he let his voice trail off.
“Are you implying what I think you’re implying?”
“Yes, I think I am. I know how frustrating it can be to wait for the first case they allow you to handle alone, and I can still remember how much I hated being someone’s assistant. Sam could start anew as the co-owner of an office, I would have someone I know I could rely on, and I’m
sure we would make a great team.”
“You haven’t even met Sam.”
“I know. But he’s your brother, which is a bonus point. I haven’t talked to him about this yet, because I wanted to let you know first.”
“Cas, it’s your choice, and his. I’ll text you his number, and then you can talk with him about it.”
“Thanks. Hey, Dean.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll be home in ten minutes. Can we go out in half an hour?”
“Yeah, I think so. I just finished my last lesson for today, and I can ask Becky to bring the horses in for the night.”
“Great, see you in thirty minutes then,” Castiel said, and then ended the call. A few seconds later his phone beeped, and he knew it was the text with Sam’s number, but he didn’t dial it yet.
Next chapter: Chapter 10