A Study In Wings
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
By now, both Winchesters have sported wings at some point in their lives.
Sam was first, although his had been a bit frayed, what with the angel possessing him being injured while Sam himself had been close to death. Still, it had been an impressive sight: Gadreel, nearly as tall as Sam, with his athletic, regal posture, his wingspan as wide as the whole room. Sam’s gentleness had shone through the angel’s mask, giving the celestial entity an imposing yet gracious expression. A little brother trapped in one of God’s soldiers gone rogue.
Dean, now, had been an entirely different affair. Sleek, cruel Michael with his cold-blooded elegance and Peaky Blinders style had been a stark contrast to Dean’s valiant pragmatism. Shunning the older Winchester’s ingrained protectiveness, the archangel had been an eerily handsome yet merciless caricature of its vessel, reminiscent only of those parts of Dean that Hell and Crowley had brought to the forefront. He’d looked the archangel part, though, majestic and cold when unfolding those perfectly groomed wings.
However, there had only ever been one family member who’d worn those wings best.
Dean will never forget Castiel walking into that hangar, sparks flying around his commanding figure, walking through a hail of bullets without even blinking. He should’ve looked harmless in that rumpled trenchcoat, tie askew, hair unkempt. But he didn’t. Dean remembers his breath catching in his throat, remembers the rage he felt as well as the fear and the sheer awe.
“What are you?” he’d demanded, heart pounding in his chest.
“I am an Angel of the Lord,” Castiel had answered, proving it with a full spread of those beautiful, frightening black wings.
In the years to come, he’d lost them, now and again, those wings, along with his grace and - thankfully - his blind obedience to a father who really did not care. He’d lost them to side with the Winchesters, to become as breakable and vulnerable and fallible as they were. But, looking back and through it all, Castiel had been the one who’d earned them most.