“Dean, sit down.” Cas orders from where he’s standing at the kitchen stove, spatula in hand. He wields in the same way Dean does when he’s lecturing someone and cooking at the same time and Dean thinks both ruefully and in amusement about all the habits he unintentionally passed along to Cas. “I am perfectly capable—”
“Just let me check.” Dean insists, going to stand from the barstool he is perched on at the counter. “You’ve never made soup before.”
“Dean,” Cas says and this time there’s a clear warning in his voice. It’s deep and rumbly and probably the voice that Cas used to guide armies when he was an angel and instill fear into those who dared stand against him. To Dean, it’s completely harmless, and he stands up anyways and crosses to stand right behind Cas, peering over his shoulder.
Cas huffs a dramatic sigh to match his dramatic eye roll as Dean nestles his chin onto Cas’s shoulder and stares down into the pot. It’s quiet for a long moment before Dean nods a little, pressing a kiss to the side of Cas’s neck. “Looks good.”
“I have been alive for millennia,” Cas insists with frustration. “I think I can make some chicken noodle soup.”
“First,” Dean says, raising a finger to tick off his point. “When you were an angel for those millennia,” He drops his voice with a grin to mimic Cas’s and earns a half-hearted elbow to the ribs. “You didn’t eat. So none of those years count. Second,” he ticks off another finger, “Even if they did count, you’re not an angel anymore, so none of your angel experience counts. And you don’t have mojo to fix burned soup.”
“I would hardly have wasted my grace on burned soup.” Cas argues as he places the spatula back into the soup and begins stirring.
Dean allows himself to be dislodged, but he doesn’t return to his seat at the counter. “You consider feeding me unburned soup a waste?”
Cas doesn’t even bother to give him a verbal response, instead sending a withering glare over his shoulder to make his point. Dean grins at him, wide and full of genuine joy. It lasts all of about two seconds before he’s suddenly sneezing, reaching for the box of tissues that Cas had kept within a foot radius of him at all times for the last two days. He wipes at his nose miserably, reminded how raw it is from how much he’s been blowing it, and then he sulks back to his seat.
Once he’s seated comfortably at the counter again, Dean crosses his arms and pillows his head on top of them, making sure he can still keep Cas in his line of sight. Cas glances over his shoulder occasionally, watching as Dean settles in.
After a minute of silence, Cas asks quietly, “Are you feeling any better at all?”
“A little,” Dean answers, but now he sounds stuffy and the dubious look Cas sends him indicates that he hears it as well. “I’m just fucking sick of this.”
Cas takes one last glance into the pot before carefully stowing the spatula on the spoon rest that Dean had insisted they get for the kitchen as soon as they had made the bunker their permanent home. Once he’s set the spatula down, he crosses the room easily, one hand coming to rest between Dean’s shoulder blades and moving in small, soothing circles. Cas has always been warm and it feels good to Dean’s aching back and sore muscles. Cas’s other hand threads gently into Dean’s hair, brushing it away from his face and scratching gently at his scalp. It’s all Dean can do not to groan aloud and melt into a complete puddle underneath the stool.
“I’m sorry you don’t feel well,” Cas says for what has to be the millionth time, though it has never lost even an ounce of its sincerity. “Just give yourself a couple more days to recover and then you’ll be back to normal.”
“You said a few days a few days ago.” Dean mumbles, but his eyes have slipped closed and there’s not any actual bite to his words.
Ever since he’d gotten sick, everything had been stupidly difficult. But in this moment, feeling Cas so close to him, smelling the soup that Cas was making just for him— well this is the best Dean has felt in a few days. He had fought it at first, insistent that he knew how to make chicken noodle soup and was perfectly capable of making it for himself. Cas had sat him down and told him with absolutely no room for argument that Dean took care of everyone else and now it was his turn to be taken care of. Any rebuttal Dean wanted to make to that died on his tongue somewhere between the stormy warning that was in Cas’s eyes and the coughing fit that had taken the words right out of his mouth.
And so he had relented, although it had taken a few days to get around to the soup because Dean hadn’t felt up to eating much at first. He’d spent most of his time curled up in bed, head pillowed on Cas’s lap, warning him repeatedly that he was going to get sick, too, if he stayed around Dean. Reminding him that he was human now, and human ailments were something he had to worry about. But Cas had insisted on staying and Dean really hadn’t tried that hard to push him away because he liked the comfort and the company.
And if he ended up making soup for Cas next week because Cas inevitably got sick— if he ended up rubbing circles into Cas’s back while gently brushing his messy hair off his fevered forehead, well, that was a trade Dean was willing to make. He could be taken care of if he needed to be, but only if it was by Cas.
“Dean…Dean get up.” Castiel whispered to his boyfriend that was lying on top of him. “Dean, you can’t stop me from going like this.” Dean groaned and moved his head into Castiel’s neck. “Why do you have to leave? We finally have no cases and now you want to go out.”
Castiel smiled softly kissing his forehead, “It’ll be quick, I just need to go check up on one of the hunters. I’ll be back before you know it.” Dean finally rolled off of him and looked up at Cas, “I already know it. You better make it up to me.”
Castiel nods and gives dean a quick kiss. When he pulled away Dean groaned again and rolled back over going to sleep mumbling a “Bye baby.” as Cas left.
……………………………………….
After solving a case earlier in the day, which resulted in some teenagers stealing the impala and realeasing some ghosts upon a party, Sam and Dean were now back at the bunker with a pearl that they’re hoping will fix their Micheal problems.
Sam was standing holding the Baozhu in his hands while Dean sat at the table, with a beer. “John Wayne Gacy’s ghost. Well, that’s one of the record books.” Dean said. “Dean, I think this is it.” Sam told him going over to him.
“The pearl?” Dean asked skeptically. Sam confirmed it so Dean trusted him, “Let’s do it.” Sam stopped Dean as reaching out, “Are you—are you sure you don’t want to call Mom or - or wait for Cas?”
Dean shook his head pearl, “No. No, ‘ceause, you know, if this mojo works like you say, great. If not…why get their hopes up? Besides Cas will be back in a few anyway.” He answered standing next to Sam.
“Yeah.” Sam agreed handing the pearl to his brother. Dean looked at it, “So, what do I…” Sam shrugeed, “I don’t know I-I guess you - you hold the pearl and - and concentrate on what your heart desires.”
“Micheal outta my head. Got it.” Dean picked up the pearl and held it in his hand. He looked at Sam before closing his fist around it, closing his eyes. The lights in the bunker start to flicker, the red emergency lights coming on. Dean opened his eyes as he and Sam look around the room.
A man appeared from behind them and swung at Sam, making Sam move, but the man hits him with his gun, pushing Sam to the floor. Dean swings at the man, but the man hits him several times, sending Dean to the ground, near Sam and they hear a gun cock.
“Don’t you move.” A deep voice said as the emergency light turned off and the regular lights come back on. Dean and Sam looked up at the man in shock, “Dad?”
John looked at the boys in shock, “Dean? Sam? What in the hell?” He asked looking around the room as he boys stood up from the floor. Sam and Dean keped their eyes on him shocked.
“Sammy. Aren’t you supposed to be in Palo Alto?” John asked confused, “Palo Alto?” Dean looked at his father breating heavily. “What happened to you?” John asked.
“What year is it?” Dean said, more like whispered out. “It’s 2003.” John said and Sam’s eyes widened. “It’s 2019.” Sam told him.
“No. How?” Sam looked to Dean but he stayed silent still proccessing, “We, uh…I - I think we summoned you.” He told his father.
“You buys better tell me what the hell is giong on right now.”
……………………………………….
After moving to the kitchen and pouring out a few drinks they explained what their father had missed. “So, you saved the world?” John asked making Dean respond with, “More than once.” as John followed along.
“Then it’s all true. God, the devil, you boys smack in the middle. Now you live in a secret bunker with an angel and Lucifer’s kid.” The boys nodded confirming his understandings. Sam looked at their dad, “Well actually Castiel’s not only an angel he’s D-”
Dean cut him off, “A hunter. He-uh, he’s been hunting for a while helping us out.” Sam gave him a confused look and Dean avoided his eyes. “And you’ve done this whole time-travel thing before?”
Dean nodded, “A few times. Actually, uh, our grandfather, your dad - he’s the one who helped us find this place. I think he’d be really happy to know you’re finally here.” John looked around, “Right. Man of Letters.”
“Yeah. W-We’re legacies…because of you.” Sam said. John smiled at Sam, then chuckled to himself, “So, you’ve um - you’ve been busy.” Sam said, “A little bit.”
John smiled sadly, “I-I don’t…I-I just…I just wish that I had been there to see it.” Dean looked at his dad, “Dad, none of this would have happened without you.” But John shook his head, “It’s good. It’s fine. I-I went out takin’ out Yellow Eyes. I mean, that was the point, right? I mean, get the thing that killed mom.”
Sam and Dean looked at eachtother, “Yeah, yeah, uh, DAd. About Mom…” Sam started until they hear Mary’s voice from the hallway. “Sam? Dean?”
John turned around shocked, “Mary?” Mary walked into the kitchen, and John turned around smiling at her. She walked over to him in shock, as he stood up from the table. Mary smiled at him as John leaned down to kiss her. They embraced eachother as Sam and Dean looked up. Sam gestured for Dean to leave the kitchen, and they boys stood up from the table to leave.
Dean smiled as they walked down the hallway, “It’s Dad. This is amazing, man. I’m - I’m - I’m freaking out.” He said then jumped as Sam hit his head, “Ow! What the h-”
“Why did you lie about Cas?!” Sam asked and Dean paused sighing, “Look, we haven’t seen dad in what, 14 years?! How do you think he’s going to respond to me dating, well, Cas.” Dean leaned against the wall and his eyes closed. “Look just, give me some time. He just got back give it a minute.”
Sam sighed and nodded, “Okay, but you gotta figure it out before Cas comes back. But, how did this even happen?” Dean and Sam continued walking and Dean answered, “I-I-I don’t know . You said that the - pearl gives you what your heart desires, right? So, my heart desired - I - I’ve wanted this, man. I’ve - I’va wanted this since I was 4 years old.”
“Okay, I know, and I-I love this, too, Dean. I do, honestly, but - but messing with time-” Dean cut Sam off, “No, no, no Sam.” Sam sighed, “You know how this ends. Things change.” Dean nodded, “Yeah, great - we got our family back together. I’ll take that change.”
“That’s not waht I mean.” Sam said. Dean groaned and turned towards him, “Stop. Just stop, okay? Look, can - can we just have one family dinner? Just one? Us - all of us together. That’s all I want. Can you just give me that?” Dean asked rhetorically and walked away.
……………………………………….
After finding out that John being there changed the timeline…a little too much, Sam being a talk show hippie, Dean basially a serial killer on the run…and much, much more-they decided to have a last family dinner before they sent John back.
Sam and Dean sat across from John and Mary, everyone quiet, as they ate in silence. John looked up at every one, “Alright. Near as I can tell, we have two choices. Alright, we can think about what’s coming, or we can be grateful for this time that we have together. Now, me…” He laced his hand with Marys and kissed it. “I choose grateful. So, to whatever brought us together, we owe you one. Amen.” The rest of them said Amen as well and started laughing and talking throughout the dinner.
The door to the bunker opened a little later and Castiel walked in Dean’s eyes widening, fogetting to talk to his dad. “Dean, Sam? I saw Mary’s car here is everything alri-” He paused seeing John and looked around. Mary smiled loving Castiel, especially since he makes Dean happy.
“John Winchester…” Castiel said confused. Mary looked at John, “John this is Castiel he’s Dean’s-” Dean cut her off, “He’s the angel. The one we told you about.” Mary looked at him half confused half disappointed. Castiel on the other hand…
“Is that right Dean?” Dean cursed to himself, “He’s right I am the angel I just came to let Sam and Dean know that Katy and Shawn’s hunt is going well. I should get going-” Mary stood up, “Castiel sit.”
Castiel sat in the chair next to Dean’s but moved it further still slightly upset with his boyfriend. Although he could understand why he didn’t say anything yet, it still hurt the angel. “Cmon Cas don’t do that.” Dean said quietly, “So how did you meet the boys Castiel?” John asked curious.
Sam laughed, “He’s the one who gripped Dean tight and raised him from perdition.” Dean glared at his brother, but nodded. “I uh, went to hell for something a while back, and Castiel pulled me out, said my time on Earth wasn’t done.” Dean said smiling at him.
“You were in hell?” John asked and Dean nodded, “Yeah. Met Cas in a shed with Bobby when I got back.” Castiel looked over at John, “He stabbed me.” Mary and Sam laughed, then looked at each other and John looked around, “I feel like I’m missing something.”
Mary looked at Dean, “Dean.” Dean slid up in his seat, “I - Cas is - when -” Castiel looked at Dean and shook his head. “You don’t have to.” He said softly so only they could hear and Dean looked at him and without breaking eye contact said, “Castiel’s my boyfriend.”
He didn’t want to look at John but forced himself to and when John proccessed he nodded and said, “Okay.” Everybody looked straight to him and Dean looked at him as though his head was on fire. “Okay? Okay?!” John laughed.
“Dean, he raised you from hell. He raised you from Damn Hell- and I’m sure he has made sure you haven’t died a hundred times since then-” Castiel said quickly “246 times.” Mary laughed and looked back at John.
“Dean, I see this life you have now and I see in this only 5 minutes that Castiel makes you happy.” Dean smiled and nodded, “Yeah, he does.” Everyone continued eating and talking as Dean grabbed the leg of Castiel’s stool and pulled him closer to his. “Dean I know how hard that was-”
Dean shook his head, “No, I-I’m glad I told him. He’s right, you do make me happy.” Castiel smiled and they went back to the conversation holding hands under the table. “So Castiel 245 times seems like a lot.” John said. “Yes he often disregaurds his safety. Like when he charged in to kill Ruby-” Sam choked on his drink and John looked over.
“Who’s Ruby?” Dean smiled smugly and looked at Sam who shook his head as to say ‘nobody’ but Dean answered, “Ruby is the demon that Sam was…dating?” Sam glared at him, “We were not-it wasn’t-” Mary’s eyes widened, “You dated a demon?!” Sam shook his head, and before he could answer Castiel stepped in, “No, they were simply sleeping together while she used him to resurect Lucifer from a cage in hell.”
Dean, Mary, and John laughed while Sam tried to defend himself to no luck. “Okay, well Dean technically had a daughter.” Dean’s eyes went wide, “No-okay, she was not my-you’re the one who killed her and-”
The rest of the night went on like this until they had to destroy the pearl and send John back, and in doing so put everything back.
Dean and Cas were back in Dean’s bed that night, both in a t-shirt and one of Dean’s sweatpants, this outfit chioce taking a while for Castiel to get used to over the past few years of them dating.
“I have to leave again tomorrow, Rowena said she might have a trail on-” Dean kissed him successfully quieting the angel. “No. You are staying here tomorrow and we are not going to leave this room…okay maybe for breakfast, and lunch…but that is it.”
Castiel smiled and nodded kissing Dean again before Dean lied his head on Cas’s chest falling asleep.
“Show me which ones you created again.” They both know it's a ploy to get Cas to lay even closer to Dean in order to point at the stars, but neither mention it.
Dean is only half listening, having heard that same explanation hundreds of times before.
“Do you have a favorite?” Another question Dean asks nearly every time, but Cas’ answer is always different. Sometimes pointing to one or another, sometimes saying he has no favorite.
Today, he turns to face Dean, their faces barely inches apart.
“Yes.” Castiel replies, gazing into Dean’s eyes but apparently not feeling the need to elaborate.
“Which one, Cas?”
“These two.” And before Dean can even open his mouth to reply, Cas lifts his head slightly, softly kissing Dean’s eyelids just as they drift close. Once Dean opens his eyes again, he finds Cas gazing at him lovingly.
Pspspspspsps! Got some sweet sweet Destiel content for you guyssssss!
Read it on Ao3
Just a cute little sick fic! Past and present (future? 🤔) and established Destiel! (Yall she doesn’t do this often go give her some love so she will do it again!) :)
Castiel sits quietly in the kitchen. His eyes wander between Sam and Jack. Both of them are embedded into a task that smells so good. Baking.
"Chocolate chips are the best option for a birthday cake," Jack says before turning around as he grins, "What do you think, Cas?"
"I think so too, they look great." Castiel tilts his head, sometimes people forgets he can't taste a thing. But seeing them working so hard to make a cake for him, warms Castiel's heart.
"Dean is late." Sam's hair jumps as his head turns to the clock on the wall.
"I'm not!" Dean rushes. His feet are faster than never to place himself behind his brother with a big smile on his face.
Cheeky, as always. Castiel chuckles.
Wheeling around, Dean points about Castiel and sits by his side.
"You didn't tell me what you want for your birthday." Dean frowns, but there's a noticeable smirk on his lips. Castiel can't look away.
"You were out for like two hours and you didn't buy a gift?" Sam's annoyed voice resonates in the kitchen. His spatula waves like crazy in the air.
"Hey! Slow down, I couldn't find the perfect gift for Cas." Dean put both his hands up.
"You don't need to buy me a perfect gift." Castiel grabs Dean's hand, he can feel Dean jolting in surprise. "The perfect gift is in front of me." They kiss softly as Dean clasps his hand on Castiel's.
With a gummy smile, Dean huffs. "I knew it, I'm your perfect gift." He giggles and his cheeks are blushing exquisitely.
"Oh, come on! Really?" Sam hisses, he is folding his arms on his chest as he rolls his eyes.
"What? I'm adorable!" Dean says, he blinks exaggeratedly.
"That was the cheapest gift ever!" Jack laughs, yet Dean is scowling.
"Did you just call me cheap?"
"In a good sense." Jack is smiling when Sam starts to laugh louder than before.
"Forget it. I won't defy God again." Dean approaches Castiel to wrap an arm around his shoulders and Castiel smiles as he thinks the best birthdays are when they're all together like this.
Sam took first watch, unable to sleep anyway while Dean was so vulnerable.
And adorable.
Cas sniffled on the other bed, laying on his side, scratching Dean’s forehead. Dean’s eyes were closed, his ears laid back, probably as content as a rabbit could get.
“Don’t worry, Cas,” Sam said gently. “We’ll fix him.”
“It’s not that,” said Cas with another sniffle. “Sam…” He looked up, anguished, and said: “My husband is adorable.”
Sam snorted and Cas began to laugh helplessly. Dean’s ears lifted and he sat up, his nose twitching, and when he thumped, it only made them laugh harder.
---
This year I’m doing 100-word stories. This is also posted on my AO3!
Parting Glass is the third and final story in the series that brought you Through the Looking Glass, Imperfect Perfection.
(For fic summary please see under the cut)
All good things come to an end, but for Dean and Cas they feel very much as though their story is just beginning. They've been through so much, taken some pretty heavy hits and faced unprecedented adversity, but they overcame it.
All of it.
Together.
They're stronger than they've ever been, an unstoppable force with no object immovable before them.
