inonebasket | (no subject)

"You don't need to join me, Dean. I'm perfectly capable of sleeping alone."

Confession time.

"I sleep better when he share. I don't dream."

...oh.

Cas watches Dean for a moment before standing up, heading over to the beds and pulling the small nightstand from between them out into the middle of the room. He then attempts to start pushing the two beds together; luckily these aren't bolted down, like they usually are in motel rooms. Then again they're kind of old and crappy, there can't be a lot of people who'd steal a bed like this anyway.

Well, that's stupid. The beds are big enough for them to share. Or not, since Dean is kind of a sprawler. Cas has a good idea here. Dean gets up and sets his shoulder against his bed, shoving it hard. It might break, but whatever. Worst case, they'll just drag the mattresses off the bed and do things that way.

Yeah, if it wasn't obvious to Sam what they were up to before, it is now. He'll probably think they spent all night going at it like rabbits. Cas doesn't care -even if he was the type to care, he still wouldn't care- and once they finally get the mattresses side-by-side he untucks the blankets and spreads them out over both beds. There.

The silence feels very weighted, but Castiel doesn't think there's anything to say. He touches Dean's arm, a hand against his forearm that slides down onto and off of his wrist as he steps away and back over to their food spread out on the table.

For some ridiculous, completely inexplicable reason, that makes Dean's mouth go dry. Without another word to Cas, he grabs the Impala's keys and stalks outside. That other bottle of Jack in the trunk is going to be his, because Dean suddenly needs very much to not think about touching Cas.

When Dean comes back inside he'll see Cas quietly starting on his second burger, because 'I'm fine' and 'I guess I could eat maybe' translates into 'I'm starving half to death' in Castielish. He glances up, eyes flicking to the bottle in hand before he decides to ignore it and starts on his own milkshake.

...wow that is good. Probably even better than sex.

It is not. Only sex is better than sex.

Dean sits on the bed. Flops backwards. Props himself up on some pillows so he can drink without choking and watch Cas eat at the same time. "I knew you were hungry. Just admit it next time."

"All right." THAT'S A LIE. Castiel hates being a burden and without a cent to his name, he's a financial burden. Once he gets back enough mojo to start healing the boys and really being of some use, it won't be a problem (probably because by that time he won't need to sleep or eat anyway) but until then, yeah. No.

"Cas." Dean's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he can still pick up on things. "I mean it. That's an order."

Guess who has two thumbs and doesn't take orders ever since he joined Team Free Will? THIS GUY.

He raises a brow, but gives Dean his best 'yeah I'll think about it' look and hopes that's enough. He's not stupid enough to starve himself to death, but he'd rather not take charity wherever he can manage. It's bad enough Dean's been putting him up for the night for almost a week.

Maybe there's something he can do to help get some more money into the pool. Cas poses the question to Dean. "I want to help contribute to our funds."

"Our funds are fine, Cas, you don't need to." Which is true. They're not rich, but they've got enough to eat and keep a roof over their heads, which is more than Dean's had at some points in his life.

Besides, Dean would never, ever let Castiel go without a roof over his head, even if it meant sacrificing his own comfort.

omg stop that, that is the thing that annoys cas

Castiel scowls. "I don't care if I don't need to, Dean." The guy has personal pride, you know. Probably a lot more than you'd think.

NO. Dean will be foolishly self-sacrificing if he wants and you can't stop him so there!

Besides, he has to be. It's not like Dean Winchester honestly believes he deserves as much good in his life as the people he helps out.

"Just keep saving my ass. That's good enough for me."

Okay, fine. Cas will talk to Sam about it later; at least that Winchester will give a little.

Cas finishes his food, sweeps his garbage into the trash can and heads over to the bed to stretch out on his side with a sigh. It's been a long and harrowing day, so he reaches for the bottle of Jack and sips from it.

That's because that Winchester is stupid and should start listening to this Winchester sometimes because this Winchester is never wrong. Not about these things anyway. Sometimes.

Dean rolls onto his stomach, face pressed into the pillows and slings an arm over Castiel's hip. Stupid. And ridiculous. And also incredibly damn gay, but what the hell, it's making him feel better. About...everything.

Cas has to very firmly remind himself of the 'no hair touching' rule Dean set down. He continues to nurse the bottle of Jack, wondering if he has it in him to go across the room and turn off the lamp before deciding he doesn't. He's warm. He's comfortable. He's absolutely stupid for the idiot half-draped over him and he's not moving even if a damn tornado blows through here.

Edited 2011-11-25 02:53 (UTC)

Dean is full of food and alcohol and after today is just generally exhausted, so he blinks his eyes closed and drops off quickly. He wasn't entirely truthful when he said he doesn't dream when he's sharing space with Cas. He still dreams, they're just fuzzier, more distant. And not nightmares, which is a pretty damn big improvemet. Sure, some of them get a little uncomfortable at points, but he's not waking up screaming or breathless or in tears. Good enough.

At some point in the night, he shifts onto his side, mindful of his arm even when asleep, and pulls Cas closer, tucking his face into his neck.

Oh yeah. It's good to be Dean.

Apparently the 'no hair' rule doesn't stick when one is asleep, because when Dean tucks his face into Cas's neck, Cas sifts a hand through his hair sleepily to cradle the back of his head. The bottle of Jack, thankfully, was capped and moved aside and Castiel ends up on his side, wrapped around Dean with their legs tangled.

Morning comes and Cas wakes before Dean does, blinking sleepily at the curtains lightening with the rays of sunlight behind them, then looks down at Dean.

And then looks down at himself.

Oh. Hello again.

Dean is limp on the bed, hands curled loosely, mouth slightly open.

Which is probably not helping Castiel's little predicament.

Of course, the fact that Dean is similarly experiencing that particular normal, healthy, human male reaction probably isn't helping either, but he can't help it. It happens. Not a big deal. Not to Dean anyway. When he wakes up he'll head into the bathroom, take a shower, take care of business, and be back to business as usual.

That's when he wakes up, though. First, he's just going to sleepily shift and tighten his arms, pulling Cas--well, closer isn't really an option, is it?--Squeezing Cas more tightly.

Wow uh-

That-

Cas sucks in a sharp breath; morning wood isn't anything new, it's a phenomenon that's occurred since he woke up a few months ago, but he'd never done anything about it and eventually it went away. Especially since whenever Castiel bathed, it was in cold water. Yeah.

But Dean's thigh is like right against it and is- is that-

"Dean," Cas growls and he sounds just a little bit desperate. He needs to get away from Dean immediately or he's going to do something so very stupid.

"Mmph." Dean is especially coherent this morning. He doesn't really wake up so much as he...sleepily grunts, mouthing at Cas' skin.

See, this is the bad thing about Cas. He used to be the cautious type, even meek (by angelic standards anyway) but ever since he'd decided to rebel against Heaven it's like he adopted some of Dean's worst traits. Occasionally being impulsive. Usually when making horrible life choices, like drinking a liquor store or frenching a demon. These are not good life choices but at the time they'd seemed really damn bright.

Like now. Cas shudders, exhales shakily and grips the back of Dean's hair, rubbing against his leg like some kind of dog in heat. He doesn't even care how undignified it is because it feels really, really, really good.

Okay, now he's waking up.

"Cas." That came out more like a grunt than a name. Oh well. He's not stopping Cas, though. He's mostly awake and completely aware of what's going on and oddly frozen, still hugging Cas tightly.

Thankfully (maybe thankfully) Dean actually saying something coherent brings Cas back to himself and he stills, panting and shaking and feeling very humiliated.

Cas swallows. "Sorry," he says, and tries to extract himself from Dean's arms. He's not sure what he's going to do about this problem but hey, there are some primal urges giving him a good idea and even without that horrible learning process called puberty, Cas thinks he can handle it.