inonebasket | (no subject)

All of Cas' dialogue is stiff dialogue. "Yeah, right, I know. Lay low, avoid Leviathans. I mean after we're off their radar. You could do with some loosening up. You lost the tie, yeah, but you are still buttoned the hell up."

"I don't want to." There, maybe being that blunt will work.

"Cas." Dean gets a little more serious. "Look, I dunno how it is for angels, but us humans? We gotta take breaks sometimes. You stay that tense for too long and bad things start happening to you."

"I doubt I'll physically injure myself due to lack of sexual intercourse."

Oh for--

Dean rubs a hand over his face.

"It doesn't have to be sex, Cas. It can be...food or sleep or six uninterrupted hours with a textbook if you're a freak like Sammy. But I've been watching you. You don't unwind. Well, no, there's your whole remembering the stars bullcrap, but man you're almost as tense when you come back down as when you go up."

Castiel mulls that over for a while, considers avoiding the question but if experience with the Winchesters has taught him anything it's that Dean almost never lets things go. ...scratch the 'almost,' he never lets things go. Cas will eventually have to answer and he'll have to do it honestly, since he promised to himself never to lie to Dean again.

"This body is borrowed. When the Leviathan are either killed or returned to Purgatory, I plan to find Jimmy's soul and return this to him."

Edited 2011-11-22 07:25 (UTC)

Damned if that doesn't make Dean feel uncomfortable. He's so used to looking at that body and seeing Cas...he actually doesn't want it to belong to Jimmy again, not if he's being honest. Which makes him feel like a terrible human being. Which he is, so that's nothing new.

Dean ignores that. "What's that have to do with you learning how to relax? You think Jimmy's gonna be happy if you give him back a body on the verge of a heart attack because it's last inhabitant didn't know how to take a freaking nap sometimes?"

"I don't want to get too comfortable in it." He's already too comfortable with Dean; he's not entirely sure where he'll find the strength to let go, but Cas thinks it'll be easier if he can see Jimmy's soul in front of him.

"And what if Jimmy's gone? Or hey, maybe he's happy up in his heaven and doesn't wanna come back. You think about that?" Dean crosses his arms again, ignoring the twinges. "How you think it's gonna make me feel if your stoic ass keels over in the middle of a hunt, huh? That'd be pretty damn inconvenient."

Man, Dean must really want Cas to have sex. "...I'll try to find something that helps me to relax."

For you.

No, he--ARGH.

"Good."

Try to sound like less of a sulky child, Dean. Try.

Time to make Dean uncomfortable. "Ever since we've begun to share a bed, I've been managing to sleep through the night." That's relaxing, right? That counts?

"Dude!"

That is up there on the list of things Dean didn't need to know.

"Why?"

"I don't know." Castiel's eyes roll upward thoughtfully for just a moment before he remembers to watch the road. "Perhaps it's due to having you in close proximity."

"Cas...Cas, you do realize that is a little creepy and a lot gay, right?"

Cas doesn't quite understand this human obsession with not being gay, but that aside- "You don't feel safer with Sam nearby?"

"Yeah, but I don't sleep in the same bed with him!" Cas, why so weird? "Personal space, Cas, it exists in families, too."

"...then you should rent a room with two beds." Dean seriously you are sometimes too stupid to function. How do you even manage it.

"I rent a room with two beds and you'll just sleep on the floor again. No way. I'm not stupid." Cas, seriously, you are going to break your neck sleeping like that, you are too stupid to live sometimes.

"Is that why you did that?" Cas doesn't even get it, Dean, he just went with the flow. "I didn't realize it bothered you. Get two beds next time."

"I'm not getting two beds, Cas! Deal with it!" ...That sounded a little gay. "It's. Cheaper with one bed anyway."

"All right."

Castiel takes them two states over before finally agreeing to stop for the night. The pained look on Dean's face and the way he carefully cradles his arm against his chest may have something to do with it, and as Dean gets the room Castiel disappears only to return to the room with a bottle of Excedrin and another bottle of Jack. He sets both on the table, and trusts Dean not to do anything too stupid with them both.

Dean promptly takes a handful of Excedrin and downs them with a full third of the bottle of Jack. Believe it or not, he's doing better with the drinking than he was. He practically falls into the bed, curling onto his left side and not even bothering to take off his boots. It's just too much effort and requires energy he doesn't have to expend. Who would have thought that riding in a car with cracked ribs and a bone-bruise would end up wearing him out so much?

He spends his time waiting for alcohol and painkillers to work their magic quietly. This is definitely the worst he's felt in a while and yes, he's missing Cas' angelic healing powers something awful.

"Come on, Cas, sleep. No remembering the stars tonight."

Cas isn't in the room, unfortunately. But he does return shortly (again) with a bucket of ice since this motel miraculously has a working ice maker.

Retrieving a towel from the bathroom, Cas fills it with ice, wets the scratchy terrycloth just enough to make it damp and twists it closed. He sits on the edge of the bed and pulls Dean's arm into his lap, resting the ice on the center of the bruise.

Edited 2011-11-22 08:21 (UTC)

Wow. Mr. Daniels is working his magic but good tonight because Dean could have sworn Cas was right over--no, that's a coat rack. Whatever.

He hisses when Cas applies ice to the bruise, but he's had plenty of experience icing hurts and doesn't yank his arm away. Really, they should have done this yesterday, but better late than never, right?

"You hear me, Cas? Sleep."