Unexpected Destinies Chapter 86
Title: Unexpected Destinies
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 3,180
Summary: Dean and his archangels.
PAST
Dean groaned and dropped onto his bed the moment Michael returned them to his motel room. Thank God that the time difference with Europe put the Vatican ahead of the US as he didn't think that he'd have been able to survive much more of that. Give him a bloodthirsty creature any day over the politics and social niceties of dealing with the Roman Catholic Church. Especially once people had relaxed enough to all start asking questions at once. Luckily Fathers Mancini and Giordano had sensed enough of his mood to run interference for him, but still!
"You will only want books in English or Italian, right?" Michael asked.
With an effort, Dean raised his head enough to see the archangel sorting through the stacks of books that they'd gotten this time and he groaned again, letting his head drop back onto the bed. "Can't you just take them all with you?" Although he couldn't see it, Dean knew exactly what kind of look he was getting now from the quality of the silence. "Okay, okay! Jesh, don't get your panties in a twist."
"I do not know what that means."
"It's an expression," Dean said as he waved an arm before dropping it bonelessly. "I swear it wasn't this difficult the first time around. You sure you don't have any other brothers lurking around somewhere with little gems of anti-Lucifer wisdom?"
"Not unless they have neglected to inform me of this fact."
"I'll take that as a no then."
"That would be wise."
Dean couldn't help but laugh. "Dude, no one talks like that anymore."
"Why not?"
"Just 'cause."
"That is not a reason."
As he said it, Michael must have approached the bed as Dean could suddenly see the archangel looking down at him. Instead of replying, he gave into the urge he'd had more than once with Michael and stuck out his tongue. That garnered him a Castiel-like head tilt and he congratulated himself on having confounded one of his angels yet again. It was no longer as easy as it used to be and he was suddenly no longer sure how he felt about that. Once he'd have been proud but after what Michael had pulled on him earlier today he wasn't so sure about that anymore. Manipulative bastard.
"Every time I believe that I am beginning to understand you and other humans, you do something to make me reconsider that assessment," Michael stated.
"Oh I think you understand us well enough, or me in any case. That stunt you pulled earlier at the Vatican with the credit card and Cas? So not cool."
"You were going to let your pride interfere with the best and most logical way of handling the situation."
"It was more than just pride, it was also the thought of the implications of accepting their offer. Now they'll always know where I am and, to some extent, what I'm doing. It'll let them keep tabs on us."
"They will be able to see where and when you use it?"
"Yeah, as well as how much I'm charging every time."
"Still, it remains a safer and more honest way to access money and they were right in saying that it would allow you to focus more on what is important."
"But I like hustling," Dean muttered.
He was half tempted to go and use the new card at a brothel or hardcore sex club just to see what kind of reaction he'd get. Dean briefly wondered if they'd assume that it was for a case or if they'd even ask him about it at all. The latter, the idea that they might not ask, almost made him angry. Not only would he love to see one of those stuffy douches squirm (and he just knew that talking about sex, much less something of that nature, would be guaranteed to do so), but the very thought that they might not question him about it because of who he was to them annoyed him greatly. Letting anyone get away with something so against their code just because of who and what they were was just plain stupid and begging for trouble. The thought that that kind of attitude might be part of the reason the Roman Catholic Church was currently in so much trouble globally angered him even more and he tried to shut off that line of thought before he became totally enraged.
"Besides I believe that pride is a sin that we have all more than indulged in enough recently. Do you not agree, Little One?"
Dean huffed at the reminder of their previous faults. "I'll have you know that Pride's been dealt with. Ruby ganked him over three years ago along with Gluttony and Greed."
Michael blinked. "You have personally encountered the seven deadly sins?"
"Yeah and now there are only four of them; Lust, Envy, Wrath and Sloth."
Somewhere along the line the stare Michael gave him now had because normal and Dean returned it evenly, no longer so much as tensing under it. He wasn't sure how long they kept it up but it ended when his necklace suddenly slid down the side of his chest and the archangel's eyes followed it. He closed his own eyes and tried to recapture the feeling of exhilaration and satisfaction he'd had that morning after hunting down and killing the chupacabra. As per the rest of the supernatural world as of late, it had deviated from its normal behavior and started preying on humans instead of just farm animals despite the length trek it had to make from its lair in order to do so. Unfortunately it seemed like that mood was well and truly gone.
"Shall I chose some books to leave behind?" Michael inquired.
"Yeah, sure, knock yourself out," Dean replied, then sat up as he remembered something. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you, can you do the sigil exception thingy again?" he asked, gesturing at his chest. "I think you should go ahead and add Raphael to the list."
"That I will gladly do."
The words and look Michael gave him made Dean want to fidget as he felt that same warmth in his chest that he used to get when he knew he'd pleased Dad and especially when it had been good enough for his father to actually say something about it instead of just nodding at him or patting him on the back as it were. He braced himself when the archangel stepped closer and placed a hand on his chest, but the pain was quick and brief, dying away almost instantly. Not even thirty seconds later there was the flutter of wings and Raphael stood in the room with them, looking at him in surprise.
"The sigils are still there," Raphael stated after a quick glance down at his chest.
"Yeah," Dean replied, going for nonchalant. He hadn't expected the archangel to appear out of the blue like this. "Did Michael call you?"
"No."
"I need to go relieve Castiel at the cage," Michael stated, stepping back. "I shall see you later, Little One."
"Thanks," Dean replied absently, seeing the archangel grab most of the books out of the corner of his eye before Michael left. "Okay, so if Mike didn't call you, then why are you here? Did you need something?"
"You had Michael remove me from the cover of the protection sigils."
"Yeah, well, I thought it was a good idea."
Raphael stepped closer to him and Dean had to resist the urge to rise to his feet and place himself in a more dominant position then he currently was. It wasn't that he was afraid as he now knew that the archangel before him was completely on their side, but rather that Raphael still set him on edge and he really didn't want to give the archangel the pleasure of seeing that. Though Raphael had not adjusted to either him or Earth as much as his brothers had, he was pretty sure that the archangel would be able to recognize the reaction for what it was if he were to rise now.
"You are a peculiar creature, Dean Winchester."
"Right back at ya, Raph."
The nickname had slipped out totally unplanned and Dean mentally cursed himself as the archangel froze in place, dark eyes locked onto him. Shit but he really did hate the way his mouth ran away from him sometimes. He hadn't even thought about nicknaming Raphael, it had just happened and now he wasn't at all sure about how the archangel would react to it. Raphael had more than made his opinion regarding his calling Michael either 'Mikey' or 'Mike' clear so he doubted that the archangel would particularly appreciate this and of course he had to go and do it when neither Castiel nor Michael were around. He really was his own worst enemy sometimes.
Once again, Dean forced himself not to react when Raphael stepped even closer and he silently told himself over and over that, pissed or not, the archangel would not hurt him as they were on the same side but somehow that didn't really comfort him all that much.
"First the sigils and now a nickname. Careful, Winchester, or I just might start to think that you like me," Raphael stated.
Dean blinked at the archangel in surprise, mouth agape. Raphael had a sense of humor? Had Hell frozen over and nobody told him? If they weren't already so busy dealing with the Apocalypse, he would have been sure that this was a concrete sign of it looming on the horizon or just about on top of them.
"Fuck you!" Dean snapped back, rising to his feet this time but both actions seemed to merely amuse the archangel even more. "And what the hell are you doing here anyway? No one invited you."
"You did."
"No, I didn't."
"Did you really believe that I would not notice the unveiling of a soul such as yours?"
"What?"
"When Michael altered the sigils to allow me to see and find you, did you truly believe that I would not notice?"
That threw Dean for a moment. "Why the hell would you?"
The long considering look that he was receiving made Dean even more uncomfortable simply because he wasn't used to receiving it, not from this archangel anyway. From Castiel or Michael, sure, but definitely not from Raphael. Perhaps it was because he could all too easily recall having been the center of the focus for an entirely different purpose that it still made his hackles rise in a way neither of the other two archangels did.
"For all that my brothers sometimes seem unable to see your multitude of flaws, they are right about one thing," Raphael finally stated and Dean felt his mouth go dry, not quite able to believe what he was hearing. "Your soul is exceptional and very unique. Like them, I have never seen another like it and most especially not in one so irreverent and vulgar such as yourself."
The only reason that Dean wasn't totally freaking and pulling out the Jewel of Abel right now was the fact that Michael had calmly stood in the same room as this thing in front of him now and hadn't acted as if anything was wrong. Surely Michael of all people would have realized if there was something wrong with his brother, right? Or if it was in fact merely something that looked like Raphael but wasn't really him. Right? Of course the archangel would have and yet he was sure that something had to be wrong. This was Raphael after all, the bastard that had been nothing but antagonistic and insulting towards him for the majority of their acquaintance. This was the one archangel he'd been counting on to get the unbiased truth from instead of the rose tinted version of it that his lover and Michael saw.
Thankfully, Dean was saved from needing to reply by the sudden arrival of Castiel. If there'd been any doubt left in his mind about whether or not he trusted Raphael to be on their side and not to harm him, he'd have been forced to abandon it at how readily he turned away from the archangel to face his lover despite how close Raphael had come to stand before him.
"Cas!" Dean exclaimed, heading straight for his lover. "Everything go okay?"
"Yes, neither Simiel nor anyone else attempted anything," Castiel replied.
Not caring about the fact that Raphael was still in the room, Dean kissed his lover. Given that angels didn't need to sleep, rest or eat, they each had shifts of several days at the cage and it had been a while since he'd seen Castiel. At the back of his mind he knew that it really hadn't been all that long, but the rest of him didn't care for being separated from his angel like that at all even if it did make him sound like a chick.
"Is something wrong?" Castiel asked when they separated and Dean realized his lover must have sensed the tension in the room.
"No, your mate was merely being obtuse," Raphael replied.
"Hey!" Dean protested before turning to his angel. "Your brother was being annoying, make him go away."
Unexpectedly the words drew a noise that sounded suspiciously like an aborted laugh or snort from Raphael and Dean turned a wary eye back to him, not at all sure what to make of it or even what to expect. This was not the archangel he was used to sparing with and it was more than a little unnerving if he was being honest with himself (something he found that he was doing more and more to his chagrin).
"I shall leave him to you, Castiel, and go investigate the new tomes your mate and Michael obtained," Raphael stated before he vanished in a flutter of wings.
"New tomes?" Castiel repeated.
"From the Vatican," Dean responded absently, his attention drawn by the paper bag his lover held.
He hadn't noticed it right away, but the smells wafting from it now were making his stomach growl and Dean was suddenly aware of how long it had been since he'd last eaten properly. The fancy ass things the Vatican had served up most definitely did not count as food as far as he was concerned. Weren't those guys supposed to be all about abstinence and denial of worldly stuff? Somehow he doubted that what they'd had would be at all available to the poor or needy.
"Careful, it's still very hot," Castiel cautioned as he handed over the bag.
"Chinese?" Dean guessed, breathing in the wonderful aroma as he opened the bag while seating himself at the room's table.
"From a small vendor in Shanghai. People seem to believe that they make the best dumplings in the city."
It was a claim that Dean could easily believe as he opened one of the styrofoam boxes within to find several huge dumplings within. The only thing that confused him was the straw he'd found in the bag as there was no drink in it.
"Uh, Cas?"
"It is so you can drink the broth before eating the dumpling."
"Broth?"
Castiel gave him an odd look. "Within the dumpling."
Broth in the dumpling? Dean had never heard of something like that but from the way his lover had said it, it seemed like Castiel was pretty sure he knew what he was talking about. Experimentally, he pushed the straw into the first dumpling and sipped it only to find that there did indeed seem to be a surprising amount of broth between the meat and the dough. A surprising amount of really good broth. As good as it was, though, it was nothing compared to the dumpling itself and he devoured them in no time at all.
"Now I just want to sleep," Dean said, leaning back in his chair and watching his lover look through one of the books Michael had left behind.
A book that was neither in English or Italian, Dean suddenly realized.
The words caused Castiel to glance over towards the bed with a longing expression but then Dean saw his angel shake himself and look back at the new books. His own heart sank a bit though he knew that they really should focus on research for a while because once they got up to anything, he knew that they wouldn't be doing anything remotely productive again today. But still, he'd really missed his lover and-
"Oh, I got you something!" Dean exclaimed, getting to his feet.
"You got me something?" Castiel repeated as if unsure what the words meant.
"Yep," Dean confirmed gleefully, grabbing it from his duffel and keeping it securely hidden behind his back as he returned to his angel and sat in his lap. "Right around Valentine's Day."
Castiel's face fell a little. "I'm sorry I wasn-"
"Oh relax, you know perfectly well what I think of that particular holiday, but it does have its perks."
After the fiasco of last year with Famine and the demon blood, Dean had been perfectly happy to just ignore the whole thing this year and that was pretty much what he'd done. The only reason it hadn't passed him by entirely was because of what he'd seen in the checkout aisle of the store he'd gone in to get rock salt and gallons of water to sanctify. Like the little angel ornament with Christmas, he'd just been unable to resist buying it, not once he'd thought of the look on his lover's face.
"But look," Dean continued. "I got you a mini me," he pulled his arm out to show his angel the small, black stuffed bear with bright blue eyes, silvery wings and a little golden halo. "It's a Cas!bear!"
Castiel's face was priceless as his lover looked at the toy and tried to make sense of it and it was all that Dean could do not to laugh outright though he knew that he had a ridiculous grin on his face. He wasn't sure how much exposure his angel'd had to stuffed animals before this but it was clear that Castiel couldn't quite work out what he was being presented with here.
"A Cas!bear," Castiel finally repeated, voice completely neutral.
"Yep, and look, he's got Hershey's kisses!"
It was would be the thing to seal the deal, Dean knew. For whatever reason, his angel loved the candies despite having told him unequivocally that Hershey's was not chocolate and- after having chocolate brought to him specially from Switzerland- he really had to concede the point no matter how much he wanted to stand by a childhood favorite. The angel bear, though, was holding a small cardboard tube filled with mini-kisses and that alone would be enough to make Castiel accept it even if his lover might be somewhat offended at the idea of a warrior of God being turned into a child's toy.
A.N.: I sketched out one of the penultimate scenes of this fic the other day. It's still a ways off, but things are starting to come together for me and I'm quite excited. I really do like the scene in question even if I do say so myself :)
Chapter 87
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up to and including Exile on Main St., AU from the end of season 5
Warnings: AU, slash
Word Count: 3,180
Summary: Dean and his archangels.
PAST
Dean groaned and dropped onto his bed the moment Michael returned them to his motel room. Thank God that the time difference with Europe put the Vatican ahead of the US as he didn't think that he'd have been able to survive much more of that. Give him a bloodthirsty creature any day over the politics and social niceties of dealing with the Roman Catholic Church. Especially once people had relaxed enough to all start asking questions at once. Luckily Fathers Mancini and Giordano had sensed enough of his mood to run interference for him, but still!
"You will only want books in English or Italian, right?" Michael asked.
With an effort, Dean raised his head enough to see the archangel sorting through the stacks of books that they'd gotten this time and he groaned again, letting his head drop back onto the bed. "Can't you just take them all with you?" Although he couldn't see it, Dean knew exactly what kind of look he was getting now from the quality of the silence. "Okay, okay! Jesh, don't get your panties in a twist."
"I do not know what that means."
"It's an expression," Dean said as he waved an arm before dropping it bonelessly. "I swear it wasn't this difficult the first time around. You sure you don't have any other brothers lurking around somewhere with little gems of anti-Lucifer wisdom?"
"Not unless they have neglected to inform me of this fact."
"I'll take that as a no then."
"That would be wise."
Dean couldn't help but laugh. "Dude, no one talks like that anymore."
"Why not?"
"Just 'cause."
"That is not a reason."
As he said it, Michael must have approached the bed as Dean could suddenly see the archangel looking down at him. Instead of replying, he gave into the urge he'd had more than once with Michael and stuck out his tongue. That garnered him a Castiel-like head tilt and he congratulated himself on having confounded one of his angels yet again. It was no longer as easy as it used to be and he was suddenly no longer sure how he felt about that. Once he'd have been proud but after what Michael had pulled on him earlier today he wasn't so sure about that anymore. Manipulative bastard.
"Every time I believe that I am beginning to understand you and other humans, you do something to make me reconsider that assessment," Michael stated.
"Oh I think you understand us well enough, or me in any case. That stunt you pulled earlier at the Vatican with the credit card and Cas? So not cool."
"You were going to let your pride interfere with the best and most logical way of handling the situation."
"It was more than just pride, it was also the thought of the implications of accepting their offer. Now they'll always know where I am and, to some extent, what I'm doing. It'll let them keep tabs on us."
"They will be able to see where and when you use it?"
"Yeah, as well as how much I'm charging every time."
"Still, it remains a safer and more honest way to access money and they were right in saying that it would allow you to focus more on what is important."
"But I like hustling," Dean muttered.
He was half tempted to go and use the new card at a brothel or hardcore sex club just to see what kind of reaction he'd get. Dean briefly wondered if they'd assume that it was for a case or if they'd even ask him about it at all. The latter, the idea that they might not ask, almost made him angry. Not only would he love to see one of those stuffy douches squirm (and he just knew that talking about sex, much less something of that nature, would be guaranteed to do so), but the very thought that they might not question him about it because of who he was to them annoyed him greatly. Letting anyone get away with something so against their code just because of who and what they were was just plain stupid and begging for trouble. The thought that that kind of attitude might be part of the reason the Roman Catholic Church was currently in so much trouble globally angered him even more and he tried to shut off that line of thought before he became totally enraged.
"Besides I believe that pride is a sin that we have all more than indulged in enough recently. Do you not agree, Little One?"
Dean huffed at the reminder of their previous faults. "I'll have you know that Pride's been dealt with. Ruby ganked him over three years ago along with Gluttony and Greed."
Michael blinked. "You have personally encountered the seven deadly sins?"
"Yeah and now there are only four of them; Lust, Envy, Wrath and Sloth."
Somewhere along the line the stare Michael gave him now had because normal and Dean returned it evenly, no longer so much as tensing under it. He wasn't sure how long they kept it up but it ended when his necklace suddenly slid down the side of his chest and the archangel's eyes followed it. He closed his own eyes and tried to recapture the feeling of exhilaration and satisfaction he'd had that morning after hunting down and killing the chupacabra. As per the rest of the supernatural world as of late, it had deviated from its normal behavior and started preying on humans instead of just farm animals despite the length trek it had to make from its lair in order to do so. Unfortunately it seemed like that mood was well and truly gone.
"Shall I chose some books to leave behind?" Michael inquired.
"Yeah, sure, knock yourself out," Dean replied, then sat up as he remembered something. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you, can you do the sigil exception thingy again?" he asked, gesturing at his chest. "I think you should go ahead and add Raphael to the list."
"That I will gladly do."
The words and look Michael gave him made Dean want to fidget as he felt that same warmth in his chest that he used to get when he knew he'd pleased Dad and especially when it had been good enough for his father to actually say something about it instead of just nodding at him or patting him on the back as it were. He braced himself when the archangel stepped closer and placed a hand on his chest, but the pain was quick and brief, dying away almost instantly. Not even thirty seconds later there was the flutter of wings and Raphael stood in the room with them, looking at him in surprise.
"The sigils are still there," Raphael stated after a quick glance down at his chest.
"Yeah," Dean replied, going for nonchalant. He hadn't expected the archangel to appear out of the blue like this. "Did Michael call you?"
"No."
"I need to go relieve Castiel at the cage," Michael stated, stepping back. "I shall see you later, Little One."
"Thanks," Dean replied absently, seeing the archangel grab most of the books out of the corner of his eye before Michael left. "Okay, so if Mike didn't call you, then why are you here? Did you need something?"
"You had Michael remove me from the cover of the protection sigils."
"Yeah, well, I thought it was a good idea."
Raphael stepped closer to him and Dean had to resist the urge to rise to his feet and place himself in a more dominant position then he currently was. It wasn't that he was afraid as he now knew that the archangel before him was completely on their side, but rather that Raphael still set him on edge and he really didn't want to give the archangel the pleasure of seeing that. Though Raphael had not adjusted to either him or Earth as much as his brothers had, he was pretty sure that the archangel would be able to recognize the reaction for what it was if he were to rise now.
"You are a peculiar creature, Dean Winchester."
"Right back at ya, Raph."
The nickname had slipped out totally unplanned and Dean mentally cursed himself as the archangel froze in place, dark eyes locked onto him. Shit but he really did hate the way his mouth ran away from him sometimes. He hadn't even thought about nicknaming Raphael, it had just happened and now he wasn't at all sure about how the archangel would react to it. Raphael had more than made his opinion regarding his calling Michael either 'Mikey' or 'Mike' clear so he doubted that the archangel would particularly appreciate this and of course he had to go and do it when neither Castiel nor Michael were around. He really was his own worst enemy sometimes.
Once again, Dean forced himself not to react when Raphael stepped even closer and he silently told himself over and over that, pissed or not, the archangel would not hurt him as they were on the same side but somehow that didn't really comfort him all that much.
"First the sigils and now a nickname. Careful, Winchester, or I just might start to think that you like me," Raphael stated.
Dean blinked at the archangel in surprise, mouth agape. Raphael had a sense of humor? Had Hell frozen over and nobody told him? If they weren't already so busy dealing with the Apocalypse, he would have been sure that this was a concrete sign of it looming on the horizon or just about on top of them.
"Fuck you!" Dean snapped back, rising to his feet this time but both actions seemed to merely amuse the archangel even more. "And what the hell are you doing here anyway? No one invited you."
"You did."
"No, I didn't."
"Did you really believe that I would not notice the unveiling of a soul such as yours?"
"What?"
"When Michael altered the sigils to allow me to see and find you, did you truly believe that I would not notice?"
That threw Dean for a moment. "Why the hell would you?"
The long considering look that he was receiving made Dean even more uncomfortable simply because he wasn't used to receiving it, not from this archangel anyway. From Castiel or Michael, sure, but definitely not from Raphael. Perhaps it was because he could all too easily recall having been the center of the focus for an entirely different purpose that it still made his hackles rise in a way neither of the other two archangels did.
"For all that my brothers sometimes seem unable to see your multitude of flaws, they are right about one thing," Raphael finally stated and Dean felt his mouth go dry, not quite able to believe what he was hearing. "Your soul is exceptional and very unique. Like them, I have never seen another like it and most especially not in one so irreverent and vulgar such as yourself."
The only reason that Dean wasn't totally freaking and pulling out the Jewel of Abel right now was the fact that Michael had calmly stood in the same room as this thing in front of him now and hadn't acted as if anything was wrong. Surely Michael of all people would have realized if there was something wrong with his brother, right? Or if it was in fact merely something that looked like Raphael but wasn't really him. Right? Of course the archangel would have and yet he was sure that something had to be wrong. This was Raphael after all, the bastard that had been nothing but antagonistic and insulting towards him for the majority of their acquaintance. This was the one archangel he'd been counting on to get the unbiased truth from instead of the rose tinted version of it that his lover and Michael saw.
Thankfully, Dean was saved from needing to reply by the sudden arrival of Castiel. If there'd been any doubt left in his mind about whether or not he trusted Raphael to be on their side and not to harm him, he'd have been forced to abandon it at how readily he turned away from the archangel to face his lover despite how close Raphael had come to stand before him.
"Cas!" Dean exclaimed, heading straight for his lover. "Everything go okay?"
"Yes, neither Simiel nor anyone else attempted anything," Castiel replied.
Not caring about the fact that Raphael was still in the room, Dean kissed his lover. Given that angels didn't need to sleep, rest or eat, they each had shifts of several days at the cage and it had been a while since he'd seen Castiel. At the back of his mind he knew that it really hadn't been all that long, but the rest of him didn't care for being separated from his angel like that at all even if it did make him sound like a chick.
"Is something wrong?" Castiel asked when they separated and Dean realized his lover must have sensed the tension in the room.
"No, your mate was merely being obtuse," Raphael replied.
"Hey!" Dean protested before turning to his angel. "Your brother was being annoying, make him go away."
Unexpectedly the words drew a noise that sounded suspiciously like an aborted laugh or snort from Raphael and Dean turned a wary eye back to him, not at all sure what to make of it or even what to expect. This was not the archangel he was used to sparing with and it was more than a little unnerving if he was being honest with himself (something he found that he was doing more and more to his chagrin).
"I shall leave him to you, Castiel, and go investigate the new tomes your mate and Michael obtained," Raphael stated before he vanished in a flutter of wings.
"New tomes?" Castiel repeated.
"From the Vatican," Dean responded absently, his attention drawn by the paper bag his lover held.
He hadn't noticed it right away, but the smells wafting from it now were making his stomach growl and Dean was suddenly aware of how long it had been since he'd last eaten properly. The fancy ass things the Vatican had served up most definitely did not count as food as far as he was concerned. Weren't those guys supposed to be all about abstinence and denial of worldly stuff? Somehow he doubted that what they'd had would be at all available to the poor or needy.
"Careful, it's still very hot," Castiel cautioned as he handed over the bag.
"Chinese?" Dean guessed, breathing in the wonderful aroma as he opened the bag while seating himself at the room's table.
"From a small vendor in Shanghai. People seem to believe that they make the best dumplings in the city."
It was a claim that Dean could easily believe as he opened one of the styrofoam boxes within to find several huge dumplings within. The only thing that confused him was the straw he'd found in the bag as there was no drink in it.
"Uh, Cas?"
"It is so you can drink the broth before eating the dumpling."
"Broth?"
Castiel gave him an odd look. "Within the dumpling."
Broth in the dumpling? Dean had never heard of something like that but from the way his lover had said it, it seemed like Castiel was pretty sure he knew what he was talking about. Experimentally, he pushed the straw into the first dumpling and sipped it only to find that there did indeed seem to be a surprising amount of broth between the meat and the dough. A surprising amount of really good broth. As good as it was, though, it was nothing compared to the dumpling itself and he devoured them in no time at all.
"Now I just want to sleep," Dean said, leaning back in his chair and watching his lover look through one of the books Michael had left behind.
A book that was neither in English or Italian, Dean suddenly realized.
The words caused Castiel to glance over towards the bed with a longing expression but then Dean saw his angel shake himself and look back at the new books. His own heart sank a bit though he knew that they really should focus on research for a while because once they got up to anything, he knew that they wouldn't be doing anything remotely productive again today. But still, he'd really missed his lover and-
"Oh, I got you something!" Dean exclaimed, getting to his feet.
"You got me something?" Castiel repeated as if unsure what the words meant.
"Yep," Dean confirmed gleefully, grabbing it from his duffel and keeping it securely hidden behind his back as he returned to his angel and sat in his lap. "Right around Valentine's Day."
Castiel's face fell a little. "I'm sorry I wasn-"
"Oh relax, you know perfectly well what I think of that particular holiday, but it does have its perks."
After the fiasco of last year with Famine and the demon blood, Dean had been perfectly happy to just ignore the whole thing this year and that was pretty much what he'd done. The only reason it hadn't passed him by entirely was because of what he'd seen in the checkout aisle of the store he'd gone in to get rock salt and gallons of water to sanctify. Like the little angel ornament with Christmas, he'd just been unable to resist buying it, not once he'd thought of the look on his lover's face.
"But look," Dean continued. "I got you a mini me," he pulled his arm out to show his angel the small, black stuffed bear with bright blue eyes, silvery wings and a little golden halo. "It's a Cas!bear!"
Castiel's face was priceless as his lover looked at the toy and tried to make sense of it and it was all that Dean could do not to laugh outright though he knew that he had a ridiculous grin on his face. He wasn't sure how much exposure his angel'd had to stuffed animals before this but it was clear that Castiel couldn't quite work out what he was being presented with here.
"A Cas!bear," Castiel finally repeated, voice completely neutral.
"Yep, and look, he's got Hershey's kisses!"
It was would be the thing to seal the deal, Dean knew. For whatever reason, his angel loved the candies despite having told him unequivocally that Hershey's was not chocolate and- after having chocolate brought to him specially from Switzerland- he really had to concede the point no matter how much he wanted to stand by a childhood favorite. The angel bear, though, was holding a small cardboard tube filled with mini-kisses and that alone would be enough to make Castiel accept it even if his lover might be somewhat offended at the idea of a warrior of God being turned into a child's toy.
A.N.: I sketched out one of the penultimate scenes of this fic the other day. It's still a ways off, but things are starting to come together for me and I'm quite excited. I really do like the scene in question even if I do say so myself :)
Chapter 87