fic: Practical Application
Title: Practical Application
Rating: PG-13 for swearing?
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Destiel
Genre: Angst, Fluff
Warning: n/a
Spoilers: falling angels
Disclaimer: Supernatural isn't mine, bla bla bla, you get the gist of this.
Summary: Four Times Dean Hated Someone Touching Cas, And The Time He Did Something About It
Word Count: ~4000
The day they met Kate Mason was the day Never To Be Talked About, according to Dean. Sometimes Sam insists they don’t talk about it because a girl saved their ass - he generally can’t feel his backside for three days after the wedgie Dean gives him.
The problem, Dean is sure, is that the woman acts like she knows everything. The day in question, they’d been a little... tied up, the demons they’d been hunting somehow getting the upper hand on them. As Dean was trying to come up with a way to get out of the ropes without one of them catching on, she’d burst through the door, guns a-blazing and a totally judging look on her face.
Granted, Dean had been tied to a pole, Sam was writhing on the ground with a broken leg, and Cas was nowhere to be found, but that wasn’t the point.
After a big, bad fist fight and some throat slashing, Sam was perched on the back of Baby while she-devil temporarily dressed his wound, and Dean was nursing his broken pride.
“You Winchesters aren’t as impressive as I was told.” She’d said, flicking her bright red hair over her shoulder and giving Dean a big, sarcastic grin. If she wasn’t a girl, he would have knocked her on her ass, but instead was about to give her an earful when Cas cut him off.
"Oh, today's been quite off; they've been up for days and these demons have evaded numerous hunters. The Winchesters are actually incredibly impressive."
"Is that so?" She'd asked, and that's where Dean's life was kind of over. Cas had told some of their better stories (when had he started being such a fan of them?) and she soaked it all up, smirking the whole time. hen he'd finally interjected that they needed to get Sammy to the hospital, Cas had insisted she come with them 'because of Sam's injury, Dean. He shouldn't move for a while, and you'll need help' and he'd been unable to disagree the moment Cas turned those bright blue eyes to puppy look. He'd get Sam back for that later. Kate stayed, and Dean steadily felt more and more like killing himself... or her.
(1)
It was a plain, old, ordinary day of take out and research, and it had been gloriously quiet until Kate had opened her ungodly mouth. "Good Lord, Castiel."
"I don't see what you're blaspheming about." He murmured, not even looking up from his book.
"Did no one teach you about proper facial hair management?"
"I am falling," he agreed, finally looking up from his reading. "My vessel isn't as... paused in time as before."
Kate stood up then, making sure to knock Dean upside the head with her paperback. "I stand by my opinion that Winchesters are useless. Come on, you, time to look like a normal human being." Dean and Sam exchanged confused glances as she pulled Cas up from hsi seat and tugged him towards the bathroom, then hurried towards the halfway shut door. When the pushed the door back open, Cas was perched on the toilet seat with a towel in his lap and Kate was pressing a mirror into his hands.
"What do you know about shaving facial hair, Red?" Dean asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against his side of the doorway. She glared at him, unimpressed as always with the nickname, as she grabbed Sam's shaving cream and a disposable razor from her bag.
"Enough. Someone's gotta teach him how to be a man, since neither of you seem to get it." Dean fixed a deep glare at the back of her head as she turned away, while Sam just snorted in mild amusement. After getting rid of the trench coat and suit jacket, she popped the top off the shaving cream and stood before him. "Okay angel boy, generally you'd do this over a sink, but I'm doing it for you this time so you can just watch in the mirror. Since you’re a big boy now, you wanna go against the grain." Getting some of the cream in one hand, she used the other to tilt his chin up to cover his chin and cheeks. Dean grinned at the way Cas' nose scrunched up at the cold, though the way Kate's fingers were trailing Cas' jaw irked him.
When she finally busted out the razor, Dean turned and went back to the computer, getting back to research. Sam joked about watching Cas become a man, but for some reason, Dean didn't want to see it.
(2)
High class witches wasn't a typical thing, but it wasn't unheard of. More often than not, bored trophy wives were getting interested in things they'd never tell their husbands, and sometimes that happened to include a spell or two. They'd managed to fake their way into a party invite and were putting on their get-ups when Dean got the urge to smack Kate again.
"You always look like you just got out of bed... or someone just ravished the living hell out of you." Surprisingly, a slight blush painted Cas' cheeks, but his tone of voice was no different than usual.
"I never grasped the concept of taming my hair, as it always looks worse after I attempt it. No one's complained before."
"Yeah, well, this is a high-class party, dear." Kate made her way into the bathroom, heels clicking obnoxiously all the way, and came out with a bottle of hair gel.
"Kate, that looks like the stuff Dean-"
"What are you doing?" Dean interjected, stopping that thought before it properly began. She just grinned and pulled out a chair.
"Park it, angel boy. I'm gonna show you how your hair should look."
"I don't... I'm not in a car?" Cas gave his 'I don't understand that reference' face, and Dean chuckled and shook his head.
"She means sit in the chair, Cas." He translated. Cas gave him a thankful nod and sat down, and she got to work.
As she worked the gel through Cas' hair, Dean couldn't help but watch her fingers comb through the dark strands, straightening out the sides and spiking up the top into an order of semblance they'd never seen before. An awkward feeling of 'she doesn't deserve to be doing that' flashed over him, and he had to look away until she was done. Cas was his angel, he reasoned, so he had every right to feel the way he did.
Once Sam's snort of laughter resounded behind him, he turned back to see - what the hell was he looking at?!
"What have you done." There was no question in his voice.
"He looks hot, calm down." Kate assured, making sure to leer at her handiwork as Cas searched out a mirror to look at his hair.
"You do not give an angel a fo-hawk. You just... that has to be in some kind of rule book."
"Chill the fuck out, Dean. He likes it, and he'll fit in."
While they collected all the things they'd need for the night and headed out to the Impala, he'd never had a greater urge to run her over with Baby for sullying his angel.
(3)
With Cas progressively getting more and more human, Dean could foresee a shopping trip for various things that he would be needing. Alongside the toiletries and small things Cas insisted he needed (he was going to be a book hoarder, Dean could tell already), clothes shopping was at the top of the list. Unfortunately, Cas didn’t have much of an opinion on clothes, and Sam and Kate were bitches, so he was stuck on a bench in the middle of department store while the angel played dress-up.
“I don’t... this shirt doesn’t fit properly.” Cas’ voice implored from the other side of the dressing room door. Kate laughed and made her way to the door, knocking on it softly.
“Just come out and let us see.” She insisted. The room was silent for a while, leading Dean to become concerned, until the lock clicked over and the door swung open.
“Wow.” Dean couldn’t even fault Sam for his awe, because Cas looked fantastic. The shirt definitely wasn’t the type you were supposed to button up all the way judging by the look on Cas’ face, but it was a deep blue that brought out his eyes and stretched perfectly over his shoulders and upper arms. Even the plain, khaki slacks Sam had thrown at him in his shopping excitement looked incredible. Outfits like this were probably the reason angels weren’t supposed to be on Earth, because it was downright sinful.
“It’s... the neck, it doesn’t feel right.” Cas said softly, as if he wasn’t supposed to have an opinion on the clothes he was getting, Kate’s irritating, bell-like laugh filled his ears as she smacked Cas’ hands away from his collar.
“You aren’t supposed to button it all the way, you goober. It’s supposed to be a little sexy.” She assured as she began to undo the top button. Cas’ question of ‘what’s a goober?’ was nearly drowned out by Sam’s protest of ‘it’s probably a sin to make an angel sexy, Kate’ but she completely ignored them both. After undoing the top two buttons on the shirt, she rolled up his sleeves and wow, talk about arm porn.
“Perfect!” She declared, stepping back to let the boys view her work. Dean had no idea how to respond, and by the look on Sam’s face, words were escaping him as well.
Cas, however, looked out of his element. Fingers fumbling over loose buttons, he protested. “I really don’t think that-”
“Nonsense, you look fantastic.”
“If he doesn’t like it, leave him be. He’s not a pupy.” Dean snapped. Despite the fact that Cas was looking more and more uncomfortable by the second, if her fingers so much as grazed his neck again, he was going to break them. Sam gave him a surprised glance, and even Kate’s eyes widened.
“You got it, captain.” She retorted, voice full of sarcasm and sass. “Try on the next outfit, angel boy.”
(4)
Throwing himself onto his motel bed, Dean gave a heavy, contented sigh. they’d just got back from yet another Wendigo hunt and after a shower, the bed was the most glorious thing in existence.
“Dean?” Even though it was Cas speaking to him, and his voice was sounding incredibly concerned, his level of exhaustion and comfort only allowed him to mumble into the pillow.
“Dean.” His voice was slowly becoming more urgent, and hands were shaking him, pulling him from his almost sleep.
“What?” He hadn’t meant to snap, but as he rolled over, Cas’ face was holding a stunned look. “M’sorry, Cas. What did you need?”
Castiel’s face softened upon the apology, but he still looked slightly confused. “This shower thing... I don’t...”
Dean sighed, totally unwilling to get up from where he was resting. “There’s a bottle of shampoo, you put some in your hair, wash, and rinse. Then you take the bar of soap, rub it against the poofy thing until it gets foamy, and then wash your body with it.” When Cas continued to give him a blank look, he groaned. “Good God, Cas.”
“You are a lazy ass, Dean Winchester.” Kate threw a pillow at his head and took Cas by the hand. The pillow thing was irritating, but her fingers lacing with Cas’ just pissed him off. “He needs practical application, dumbass. I’ll show you, angel boy.” As the door shut behind them, Dean’s glare still lingered, his irritation with Kate reaching a new level.
“If you burn a hole in that door, you’re paying for it.” Sam spoke up, a cocky grin spreading across his face. Dean just turned his glare on his stupid little sister instead.
“How about you shut your cakehole, Sammy?”
“How about you stop being a child?” He retorted, shaking the gun he was cleaning at his brother. “If you have such a problem with her being around Cas, you should say something.” Before Dean could even open his mouth to respond, Sam added, “I get that feelings aren’t your thing, but come on. Cas deserves the truth.”
“What do you mean the truth? All I want is for the bitch to stop feeling up my angel all the time.” Whoa, when had it gone to ‘my angel’?
“Just because you have a more profound bond does not mean he’s your angel, unless there’s something you’d like to share with the class.” Bitch face #12, prove me wrong, I dare you, crossed his face, mocking Dean.
“Y’know, I swear I asked mom for a little brother, not some emotional little girl.” Ignoring him was the best way to rile Sam up, and sure enough, the bitch face was exchanged for a full-out glare.
“If you don’t want to let yourself be happy, cool. No skin off my teeth. I’m just little Sammy, I totally don’t know what I’m talking about.” As Dean was trying to figure out how to sarcastically come back at that one, the door opened back up and Kate strode out, looking pleased with herself.
“Bummer, no more dirty angel.” She joked as she held the door open for Cas to come out. Her sarcasm was not appreciated, but the visual presented afterwards was incredibly pleasing. A dark pair of jeans was slung low on his hips, showing off his sharp hipbones, and he instantly started digging through his bag, obviously having forgotten a shirt when he want to shower. Dean wasn’t sure what he was more distracted by, the long dexterous fingers digging through the articles of clothing in the bag or the lean, solid muscles across the expanse of Cas’ chest and shoulders.
“Wow Cas, lookin’ good over there.” Sam teased, throwing Dean a pointed look. Dean groaned and fell back onto the bed, wishing they would all just vanish.
(+1)
“How do you live like this?” Cas groaned as they trudged into a motel after yet another hunt. Falling onto one of the beds face first, he grumbled some more, but didn’t move.
Sam snorted in laughter as he threw his bag down. “What’s wrong with you?”
“My back hurts terribly.” He complained, rolling over just enough to project his voice. They could tell by his face that the pain wasn’t anything major, and Dean assumed it was probably a muscle pain. Just as he was digging through his things for some IcyHot, Kate spoke up.
“Take off your shirt, angel boy. People generally counteract muscle craps with massages.” She explained, seating herself on the edge of the bed. While he did as she asked, Dean looked from the bottle in his hand to the two on the bed and shook his head.
“No.”
Kate’s head quickly turned to look at him, eyebrows knit with confusion. “No what?”
There were two ways Dean could have handled the situation. He could have gone guns a-blazin’ and demand she calm her hormones where his angel was concerned, but that would probably just give her the satisfaction of driving him over the deep end. Instead, he took a deep breath, then nodded towards Cas. “I got it.”
Sam was giving him a surprised, yet impressed look, and Kate obviously didn’t believe him. “Okay, go ahead.”
Steeling himself, he shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a chair from the dining area, facing it towards himself. “Sit backwards in the chair, Cas.”
“Finally.” Cas sighed, wincing as he stood up to take a seat in the chair. Trying to ignore how dirty and sort of awkward it felt, Dean un-capped the IcyHot and squeezed some into his palm, rubbing his hands together to activate it before gently spreading it across Cas’ back. The angel gasped lightly at the cold feeling, but allowed Dean to continue.
“How come you never did this for me?” Sam complained, leaning back into the couch and fixing a glare on his brother.
Dean glared right back. “Because you aren’t a girl or falling angel, bitch.” Sam’s comeback of ‘jerk’ fell flat as Dean tried to ignore Kate’s smirk. “You doing okay, Cas?”
“Yes.” His answer was short as Dean’s hand ran over a particularly large knot, the rest of his intended answer momentarily replaced with a hiss. “The lotion has a pleasant feeling, but the tight feeling in my muscles is still there.”
“I know, I’m getting you ready for the real massage. It’s gonna hurt, but I swear it’ll feel better afterward.”
“I understand. I know you would never hurt me.” His unwavering faith made Dean’s stomach twist, though it wasn’t the same uncomfortable feeling as usual. Starting small, he began to put pressure on Cas’ shoulders, soothing the tightened muscles lying beneath soft flash. Cas let his chin fall onto his arms where they lie crossed over the back of the chair, allowing some of his muscles to relax more and letting Dean ease a small knot at the base of his neck. His breath shortened for a moment, then he sat slack against the chair again. Dean let his fingers fan out across Cas’ back, running them down to assess how much he’d be fixing, then sighed.
“This is what you get for having creepy stalker posture. Maybe from now on you’ll be more relaxed like a normal person, because this is gonna hurt like a bitch.” Being as careful as possible, he gently massaged out each knot, alternating between pressing his thumb down the center of the cramped muscle and soothing the pain in soft presses of fingers against skin.
As Dean got to the more difficult knots, Cas began to make soft whimpering noises and arching his back under Dean’s careful touch. The sounds were making Dean feel guilty, but Kate was trying to conceal laughter and Sam was glaring from behind his computer.
“Only you guys would be able to make this sexual.” He complained.
“Shut your cakehole, Sammy, he in pain. No one said you had to stick around.” Dean snapped, sliding his hands over Cas’ back in a feather light touch, trying to ease the pain temporarily. “Why don’t you two get us something to eat?”
“Sounds good to me.” Sam shut his laptop and set it on the side table, pocketed his wallet, and beckoned Kate to follow. She did, but not without winking at him first.
Dean rolled his eyes as the door shut and looked back down at Cas, who was letting out a deep breath. “You need a break?”
“No.” Dean apprehensively paused, and Cas turned around in his seat. “Really, I’m fine. It’s just... not what I was expecting.”
“What the hell did you expect, sunshine and rainbows?”
“Funny.” Cas glared up at him, making him smile because he was finally getting sarcasm. “I guess humans just have a higher pain tolerance than I expected. It’s been surprisingly difficult keeping up with you three.”
“Hey, if something’s wrong or doesn’t feel okay, you need to tell me, okay? I don’t want this happening again.” Running his words through his head, his eyes widened. “Not that I don’t mind helping!” he nearly face palmed at his idiocy, which probably would have hurt if he’d gotten a face full of IcyHot. It was kind of weirding him out how Cas was making him a yabbering mess. “I just don’t want you to have a bad impression of living as a human. It’s not really that bad.”
“Thank you, Dean. I appreciate everything you- ow!”
“Sorry!” He answered guiltily, gently running his fingertips down Cas’ back. “I thought if you were distracted it’d hurt less, since you weren’t anticipating it.”
Sucking in a slow, deep breath, Cas shook his head. “No, it still hurts.”
“Well, yeah. It’s the last one, and it’s petty bad. Just hang in there, okay?” After taking in a deep breath himself, he pressed a thumb deep into the center of the knot, trying to ignore the high-pitched whine coming from Cas’ mouth and the way his back arched. He hated seeing people in pain, Cas especially since he wasn’t used to it, but he figured getting it done and over with was better than prolonging the pain. He tried to run his thumb in circles to loosen the knot, but Cas was arching his back so hard to get away that he had to stop. Instead, he ran his fingers over Cas’ sides, trying to bring his thoughts away from the tight knot below his right shoulder.
Without even thinking about it, his fingers tightened around Cas’ sides and pulled him, Cas’ back flush against his front, as he bent down and pressed his lips against the curve of Cas’ neck. His impromptu action seemed to cause the tension in Cas’ muscles to melt away, finally allowing Dean to ease the tightness of the muscle. It wasn’t perfect, but another carefully placed kiss soothed the tension enough to help him get rid of the knot altogether.
Considering the impractical way he’d eased Cas’ muscle pain, Dean wasn’t quite sure where they were going from there. He didn’t generally get the urge to lay his hands all over his angel, but the feeling had hit him so hard he hadn’t had time to even consider holding back.
Cas, however, seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Standing up from the chair, he turned and wrapped his arms around Dean’s waist, burying his face in Dean’s neck. “Thank you,” he murmured against Dean’s skin. Dean’s lips couldn’t help but form a slight smile as he hugged Cas back.
“You’re welcome.”
(~)
Later that week, Dean’s brain started whirring as Cas lay sprawled over his chest. Kate had been gone for days now, and though Sam was upset he didn’t have anyone on his side anymore, they’d all pretty much accepted she wasn’t coming back.
“Hey Cas?” He said softly, not wanting to wake him in case he was sleeping. Sleep was starting to become a necessity to him, but as much as he required it, it was hard for him to come by.
“Yes Dean?” Okay, not asleep. Dean ran his fingers gently over Cas’ back as he thought about how to phrase his question, grinning at the content noises Cas made.
“How often do angels interfere with destiny Like... like with mom and dad?”
“I can’t be too certain, as it was never much of my business.” Cas answered, hooking an ankle over Dean’s and grabbing his other hand, lacing their fingers together. “But I don’t believe it is uncommon. The angels can be impatient, and if things don’t go as they like in a timely manner, they tend to run an intervention.”
Dean laughed because yeah, angels were impatient. he dealt with Zachariah enough to know that. “If an angel came down in a vessel they hadn’t used before, would you still be able to recognize them?”
“You’re awfully inquisitive about angels tonight, Dean.” He teased, rubbing his thumb over the back of Dean’s hand. There was a small silence between them, as though Cas was thinking about it, before he replied:
“No, I don’t think I could.”