Between You and Me
That’s where Dean’s happiest.
Dean is gonna have a night off whether he likes it or not. Perhaps the efforts of two of his favorite people will convince him. @wordstrings, it’s been an honor to be your Squealing Santa this year, and I beg you pardon the late gift 😅 It’ll have to be a Christmas/New Year’s gift to double the fun. I do hope it’s worth the wait and makes you smile! As always, thank you to @ticklygiggles for being this event’s awesome host and keeping it going each year ♥️ Happy Holidays to all, and to all a Merry Squealing Santa!
SFW. Potential warnings: none. Supernatural, Dean/Benny/Cas tickle fic.
Word count: 5,595
~*~
As was ever irritatingly more frequent the older he got, Dean was ready to park the car, get out, and fall asleep on any bed he landed on. Now, he was justified; he hadn’t quite reached the level of post-forty fatigue that incapacitated him after a figurative or, more concerningly or laughably, literal milk run. He and Sam had spent most of the night chasing a trio of ghouls between the cemeteries of four small Idaho towns, and then, when that was sorted, driven through the morning back to Kansas. And then, when they’d barely pulled the Impala into the bunker garage, Sam’s phone had picked up a blip of what looked like vampire activity in northern Illinois. Sam had tucked and rolled out of the car to nurse yet another bungled shoulder, and Dean was back on the highway to see if he could turn a head-start into a finished job before Sam’s first pain meds had worn off.
But in the morning. That’s when he’d make use of the head-start. For the night, he just wanted to sleep.
He silenced Baby’s purring engine and grabbed an overnight duffel from the back seat. The Impala’s keys, he slipped into one pocket, and he pulled his motel room key out of another. After unlocking the door, he edged slowly into the room, hackles habitually raised with no one watching his back. Thankfully, it was as clean and dark and typical as any other motel room, complete with a kitchenette to make coffee in when morning came, a bed to flop down onto and not move for hours, and a tv to provide cable static lullabies to fall asleep to.
Ready to be unconscious as soon as possible—but more likely after ordering some late dinner and showering to scrub away any sneaky ghoul viscera he’d missed that morning—Dean flicked on the light, set his duffel on the bed closest to him, and turned to close the door.
Nothing could have woken him up so much as the telltale sound of fluttering wings behind him in the kitchenette. Dean all but whirled around, hazel-green eyes alight as he beheld the trenchcoated angel who had appeared.
Castiel was already smiling at the expression of blatant surprise and delight Dean wore, the dark-haired man’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Hello, De—mmph!” His usual greeting was cut off by a much more exuberant ‘hello’ from Dean, which involved introducing their lips with such fervor that it sent the angel back against the fridge behind him. When Dean did pull away, able only to bear the distance between their touching foreheads, Cas chuckled gently. “Hello.”
“Hello, yourself,” Dean replied, winding one hand in Cas’ hair and pressing the other upon his lower back as he pulled him closer for more hello kisses.
Eventually, Cas had to pull back, leaning his head against the refrigerator with a smile spread across his rosy cheeks. Dean was not deterred, kissing down Cas’ jaw and neck until the angel chuckled fondly. “Are you waiting for an invitation?”
Dean looked up at him, confused but ready to offer a sarcastic but flirty reply, and saw that Castiel’s blue eyes were not on him, but on the door he suddenly realized he hadn’t shut. He followed the direction of Cas’ grin, his own smile widening once more.
From where he stood in the door, Benny grinned crookedly. “Am I not allowed to enjoy the view?” After a beat, he cleared his throat. “But, also, yes, being invited into the room to take part in this little reunion would be nice.”
The vampire’s joke got Cas’ nose to scrunch in a smirk and Dean to huff out a laugh. “Get your ass over here, then,” said Dean, an eager little trill zipping down his spine when Benny entered the room, shut the door, and beelined toward him.
“With pleasure,” Benny purred, grabbing Dean by the belt loops of his jeans and pulling him into another equally breathtaking hello kiss.
“I—” Dean started to say when they parted from the kiss, only to be struck dumb with a happiness that made his chest ache as he looked between Benny and Cas. “How? How are you guys here? Sammy and me were—?”
“Sam may have passed on the address of your motel,” Benny shrugged, trying to look innocently despite how the corners of his lips twitched.
“After telling you of some convincing evidence of a lead down here,” Cas added.
Dean blinked as that information slotted into his brain. “That little shit’s shoulder is fine, isn’t it?” he said, shaking his head.
“Afraid you’ve been duped, darlin’,” Benny laughed.
“So the case—?”
“Was only slightly fabricated,” Cas confirmed.
“I mean, there is vampire activity here, so it wasn’t a total lie,” Benny added with a snicker.
“Sam agreed to tell you whatever would convince you to make the drive here.”
“But, before that, he had said that you needed a break, which we were happy to help with.”
“Guys—” Dean said. His mind was still spinning from having been tricked, however benevolently. It was almost out of instinct that he tried to interrupt, to slow down the tide of fondness just to stubbornly insist that he didn’t need a break; he was fine, really. Deep down, he counted himself profoundly lucky that his significant others didn’t let him get a word in edgewise and let him convince himself of that—that he was fine, that he didn’t want a break—too.
“You have a free night, Dean,” Cas said, laying a hand on Dean’s shoulder with a gentle smile. “We promise, we wouldn’t ask you away from something important.”
“Even if it’s for something as important as this,” Benny nodded, drawing Dean’s gaze once more by reaching to cradle his jaw with one hand.
“Have this night with us—”
“Or two.” Benny’s hand trailed down Dean’s chest and to his hip, grin audible in his voice even as Dean’s eyelids fluttered shut with a sigh. “Or three, or four, or—”
“Rest,” said Cas, a smile in his words as well, his hand moving to hold Dean’s lower back in case the mix of driving fatigue and teasing hands would be enough to knock the poor hunter out at the knees. “And we’ll send you off in the morning to chase the next case. But, for now, rest and—”
“GUYS.” At last, Dean’s interruption was loud enough to silence them, but he didn’t fill the empty space right away. He’d always been good at thinking on his feet and adapting to his surroundings, but, shit, they’d really caught him off guard with this loving ambush. Going from irritable from the drive to elated at the reunion to dizzy from all the talking and touching—it was a lot to adapt to. In that moment of silence, Dean took a breath, and felt something else expanding with the air in his chest. Happy. He was happy, so happy. And, tonight, he could just let himself be happy. Dean’s smile grew so fast and wide that it nearly split his cheeks, and he pulled Benny and Cas in for a hug. They adapted much more quickly, their chins hooked over either of his shoulders and their chuckling breath ruffling the hair on the back of Dean’s head. “Thank you.” In the next beat of content silence as the hunter looked over his boyfriends’ shoulders, Dean’s brows furrowed, though his smile stayed big and bright. “How are all three of us gonna fit on that bed?”
Benny hummed, angling his head so as to press a nuzzly kiss to Dean’s neck. “Guess we’ll have to get cozy.”
With a snicker, Dean tried to dodge the scruffy kisses, only to be met with hands holding his back and Cas waiting on the other side to dote similarly.
“Oh, I think we can manage that,” Cas agreed, the tip of his nose brushing Dean’s ear and his stubble tickling Dean’s neck.
Dean did wriggle out of their arms then, knowing if he let himself indulge in their nearness too early, he’d never hear nor want the end of it. Even as he cleared his throat to bury the snickers that wanted to spill out when they kissed his neck, Dean knew he was still sporting a grin and a flushed pink behind his freckles. “Only after I shower. Feel like I still got ghoul stink on me, and I wouldn’t want you guys to deal with that.”
Cas pouted, his eyes still fixed on Dean’s neck and the flush creeping down it, and ironically had to have his attention diverted by the resident vampire.
“You hit the shower and get comfy, sugar,” said Benny, hooking a hand around Cas’ elbow but winking at Dean as they made their way back to the door. “Me and Cas’ll rustle up some dinner for you.”
At the mention of food, Dean’s stomach grumbled gratefully. “Thanks.”
As the door closed behind the pair, Dean went to root through his duffel from some cleaner clothes. With fresh sweatpants, boxers, and a t-shirt under one arm, he paused to text Sam with his free hand. First was the usual all-clear and confirmation of having arrived at a motel, and then something for the occasion, calling Sam a little shit and a bad liar, but thanking him nonetheless. Sam just sent back a smiley face.
With how quickly his life could turn from delightfully dull to monstrously busy, Dean could be quite precious about his free time. Especially showers. Before living in the bunker, he’d nearly always have to cut showers short to save hot water for Sam or another hunting buddy, or because they were on a severe time crunch. His hurry today wasn’t begrudging, though. Nice and refreshing as the shower water felt, he was eager for what would come after, the time he got to spend with his two favorite people. Dean may have been too excited, though, as Benny and Cas hadn’t returned by the time he hopped out of the shower, toweled off, and changed clothes. No fuss to be had about that; Dean was sure he could entertain himself. He set his duffel on the floor and took its place on the bed, lounging comfortably after leaning over to grab from his bag his laptop and, as an afterthought, his dad’s hunting journal. It was his free time, Dean reasoned; he could spend a little of it poking around the web for the next possible case.
Dean had barely had his laptop open for ten minutes before he heard the lock in the motel door click, and he swore under his breath as he scrambled to shut the device and his journal before stuffing both under his pillow. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes and trying to look nonchalant as the door opened.
“Well, look how good you listen,” Benny teased, and Dean opened his eyes just to roll them. And then widen them eagerly when Cas set a greasy-bottomed diner takeout bag on the kitchenette table. “Thought we’d have to pin you down for the whole weekend to get you to relax.”
With a chuckle, Dean pushed himself up from his bed, diverting the path to his dinner to pause and plant grateful kisses on Benny’s and then Cas’ cheeks. “Oh, the commander knows I can follow orders if I want to,” Dean said as he sat at the table, waggling his eyebrows at the angel.
Cas’ ears visibly reddened, and he avoided all eyes as he sat down on the edge of the bed Dean had vacated.
Benny sat across from him on the opposite bed, bumping their knees together with a grin. “Feel like that’s a story I definitely need to hear.”
“I would rather go back to talking about pinning Dean down for the weekend,” Cas said, casting a half-hearted glare toward Dean when the hunter snickered.
Said glare slid easily to Benny when the vampire shrugged and sat back on his hands. “If you command it, I won’t argue.”
Dean couldn’t help but laugh between bites of his burger at Benny’s prodding and its resulting in Cas sending his glare heavenward. “We’ve got all weekend, Benny. Plenty of time to tell you that story.”
“I’m lookin’ forward to it.”
After such long stretches of driving in quiet or to worn cassettes he tuned out after the third play, Dean always forgot how nice it was to just listen to familiar voices converse. So, when the silence awaiting Cas’ response stretched on, Dean looked up, only to nearly choke on a fry. The angel’s conscious attempts to avert his gaze from teasing eyes had ended up with him noticing the disturbed pillow on the bed beside him, and it had piqued his interest enough to reach beneath it and pull out the still-warm laptop. It was Dean who had to look away then, pretending to be very interested in his half-gone meal, when Cas sighed, not having to open the laptop to know what Dean had been using it for. “Oh, Dean.”
“What?” said Dean, who couldn’t save himself from replying by continuing to eat when his mouth was suddenly dry. “Nothing. It’s porn.”
Benny snorted at that, reaching over to grab the journal from under the pillow as well, turning it over in his hands and realizing what Dean had been trying to hide. The vampire shook his head and tsked. “I was joking, but maybe pinnin’ him down for the weekend is the best thing we can do to get him to relax.”
With a hum, Cas nodded. “I agree. Especially if we tickle him. He won’t want to do anything else, then.”
“Oh?”
It was hard for Dean to chew when his heart was pounding in his ears. While, yes, Cas was right—Dean being pinned under his two much stronger partners and tickled until he was too hoarse to make excuses about a hunter’s work never being done and too happy to want to do anything but cuddle was probably the only way they could get him to relax—he didn’t have to talk about it so casually. Not when just thinking the word made giddy butterflies take flight in Dean’s stomach, made him ache for touch (even more than usual). The hunter swallowed, cleared his throat. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.” Even he could hear how thin his voice sounded, knew how unconvincing the statement was when heat flushed up the back of his neck.
Dean had finished his fries before he realized the silence was stretching on again, and, when he looked up, he realized that Cas and Benny had taken his words as a request to not talk at all, and instead to just watch and wait for him to finish eating, their smirks patient and hungry.
“Okay, that’s worse.”
At least, some of the tension making Dean’s neck hairs rise dissipated when Benny snickered at that. Dean was able to duck his head before his cheeks went too pink, busying himself with the tv remote conveniently on the table beside him. His food was fully gone, and he was in a vulnerable state with nothing to focus on other than his companions.
“Dean,” said Cas.
Taking the last swig of his beer, Dean hummed in reply.
“Don’t make me make you come here.”
Suddenly, Dean was standing before them, hands in his pockets and lower lip between his teeth. Logically, he knew he must have cleaned up his dishes, turned away long enough for Cas to have miracled the beds together and for he and Benny to have moved to sit at the foot of the now single huge bed. He knew Cas hadn’t made him approach, but had let him. Hopefully the last thing he’d need the strength for that night, to let himself be vulnerable.
Cas stood up to cradle Dean’s jaw in his hands, blue eyes warm and gentle. A twitch of the angel’s lip was the only warning Dean had before the hunter was thrown and tackled to the bed, pinned beneath Cas’ wait laying atop him as well as two devilish grins. Between the long stiff hours of driving and now the excitement bubbling in his chest, Dean couldn’t help but struggle under Cas’ hold, even as his own smile grew wide and his heart hammered happily. Practiced and powerful, Cas was unfazed by Dean’s wriggling, holding fast by crab-clawing his hands down Dean’s sides and diving in to kiss his neck when the hunter’s head fell back in merry chortles.
“Thought angels were supposed to be more graceful,” Benny teased when Cas’ hands got too near Dean’s waist, making the hunter shriek and buck and nearly unseat the angel.
“By definition only,” Cas replied with a chuckle. His hands abandoned their downward trek in order to pin one of Dean’s wrists and scribble under his arm. Dean wailed and flailed and gripped the back of Cas’ coat with his free hand, writhing out of reflex but clinging so as not to get too far away. “But, please, you are welcome to demonstrate more grace while tickling him.”
“Oh, it would be my pleasure.”
Dean couldn’t even properly catch his breath when Cas withdrew his hands and rolled off him, too busy already giggling and stammering, “Wait, wait wait—!”
Benny’s fangs were sheathed, but Dean would have sworn he saw them gleaming as Benny swung a leg over Dean’s thighs to take Cas’ place holding him down. “No can do, darlin’.” The hands Dean had instinctively wound in the collar of Benny’s shirt, Benny gently pried loose, kissing the pulses in Dean’s wrists—thundering in panic and delight—before clasping their hands together and pinning Dean’s down on either side of his head. “I’ve got a lot of time to make up for, bein’ as Cas got longer to get familiar with all your lovely spots, don’t you think?”
When Benny’s eyes meandered down from Dean’s face to his chest to his stomach, the pinned hunter wriggled subconsciously. “As much time as I have with his!” Dean said, his wobbly smile going smug for the briefest second when he saw Cas blush in his periphery.
Relief like the scorching sun dipping behind a passing cloud fell over Dean when Benny’s teasing grin was aimed at Cas. “That so? Angel’s ticklish, too?”
“Another time,” said Cas rather than affirm or deny.
Benny tipped his head and turned his gaze back to Dean. “You’re right. For now, it’s all about Dean.”
And Dean was burning all over again. He was sure Benny would be able to almost taste the hunter’s blood for how it rushed to his cheeks when Benny leaned down to whisper lowly in Dean’s ear.
“Uh-oh, big bad hunter,” Benny crooned, grinning all the wider when Dean’s legs twitched under him in a half-hearted attempt at escape. “Looks like a monster’s finally gonna catch you. Why fight it?”
“Because—!” But Dean could squeak out no more of an excuse when Benny growled playfully and moved Dean’s hands higher, fully extending the pinned hunter’s arms above his head on the bed. The vampire hardly needed to hold them down for how jellylike Dean felt his arms becoming.
Benny’s growl transitioned seamlessly into a gravelly chuckle that made the hairs on Dean’s arms rise. “Why fight it, if that’s really all the fight you’re gonna give?”
Dean’s heart was pounding loud enough to fill the space his lack of response left vacant, loud enough for one soul-attuned angel and one keen-eared vampire to hear clearly as eager and elated rather than fearful and flighty.
“Good,” said Benny, brushing the tip of his nose against Dean’s, smile softening but still crooked with mischief. “No need to fight this monster.” His gaze slid toward Cas. “But just in case…”
Cas must have taken the hint, because one touch to his wrist and Dean felt his arms freeze in place under a blanket of grace. Dean wanted to groan, but his breath was stolen as Benny sat back, fingertips winding a teasing trail down his arms, hopscotching over his armpits, and coming to rest on his chest.
With a wink, Benny moved from atop Dean in favor of reclining alongside him. “Thanks, Cas. Feels like you’ll be able to critique my tickle monstering better like this, don’t you think?”
“Mm,” Cas agreed, smiling as he mirrored Benny’s position on Dean’s left side. His eyes sought Dean’s, listening with ear and soul for even the tiniest flicker of dissent from the hunter. Dean’s cheeks flushed impossibly warmer when he realized Cas would find none; Benny had been right about there being no fight in Dean for tonight.
After the adrenaline rush of anticipation Dean had been riding, it was a relief to laugh when his partners finally attacked. Uncoordinated at first, just because he’d been wrecked by Cas’ fingers so many times while Benny was new to this play, but by no means ineffective. Dean instinctively tried to hide his flustered face and stifled giggles as Cas’ fingers fluttered devastatingly and delicately around his belly and along his ribs—the angel’s favorite places to start when he was planning on giving Dean tickly affection for a good long while. The hunter tried to bite his lip against a squeal when Benny’s calloused but gentle hands tickled under his arms and down his side. Dean was used to Cas’ style, quick and featherlight with occasional bout of merciless tasering or squeezing; Benny’s was another matter entirely. Unhurried and relishing every titter, Benny set his hands dancing with the gait of a slow starburst, blunt fingernails sweeping over every jumping nerve as they moved in and extended out. When those lazy but evil spiders focused all their attention under Dean’s arms and along his chest, Dean snorted and ground his heels into the mattress before succumbing to broad-grin chortles that had him throwing his head back against the pillow.
When his eyes weren’t scrunched tight from the width of his smile, Dean occasionally caught the fond gazes of his partners, eyes glowing with warmth at seeing him so happy. Dean couldn’t have said if that was more flustering, or the fact that Cas was coaching and encouraging Benny’s technique every so often with a nod or a chuckle. When the angel tipped his head, Benny followed, and Dean’s gasping reprieve lasted about two seconds before their hands zeroed in on his lower stomach and set him wriggling with a fresh bout of quaking laughter. The ticklers’ hands danced around one another atop the soft pudge under Dean’s navel, Cas’ fingers fluttering quick and digging in sporadically like a sudden rain while Benny’s slow and steady and unyielding movements crossed Dean’s skin like thunder. Together, they had Dean cackling and twitching like his nervous system had been struck by lightning; if the rest of him was washed away in the deluge, he wouldn’t have noticed, too enamored with the touch of his lovers and the laughter ache in his chest.
Dean didn’t see the signal to do so, but he felt both pair of hands withdraw from his belly, albeit leaving teasing phantom tickles still tingling under his skin, as well as Cas’ index and middle finger touching the hunter’s sternum and blessing him with a rush of healing air into his heaving lungs. It was like a second wind, rejuvenating his body that had gone pleasantly and familiarly boneless and peaceful from laughing so hard but not diminishing the increased sensitivity in his nerve endings from the session either. It was good, since, when his sweatpants were shimmied down just enough to bare his hips, the hunter’s fight or flight instinct would have kicked in and sent him torquing against his bonds whether or not he had the energy for it.
It wasn’t the thunder-and-rain fingers that touched down on his most ticklish spots, though. No, it was lips, soft and warm and framed with scruff, that doted his hips with featherlight affection and made Dean howl. Stubbly kisses were everything good and everything awful all at once. One part soft kisses that, on his hip bones, usually had him giggling and melting, and one part scratching that had him thrashing and shrieking. Without pausing in planting kisses, Cas touched Dean’s thigh, divinely locking it in place to prevent Dean from interrupting the torturous attention he so loved. Jerk.
Dean hadn’t meant the thought to slip out—he wasn’t exactly thinking coherently enough to be aware of thoughts beyond ‘breathe’ and ‘please’—but Cas evidently took the insult as insolence worthy of further playful punishment, because the angel bit back. Literally. Delicately and deliciously, Cas nibbled along the outer ridge of Dean’s hip, nuzzling the bowl of the bone with his stubble as he went. Add to that Benny taking advantage of Dean’s frozen leg to tickle the underside of his thigh, and Dean was screaming. Only briefly though, as the onslaught was intense enough to drive him to silent, wheezing hysteria in seconds. No heavenly mercy could save him from this gay wrath. Not that he ever wanted it to.
He was only human, though, and, when his first bout of being tickled to ecstasy needed to wrap up to keep his lungs from popping with exhaustion, Cas nodded to Benny, and the tickling and binding grace faded away, leaving Dean to catch his breath through raw-throated gasps and a lasting dopey smile. Cas sent another rush of air into his lungs, and Benny kissed his way up Dean’s side, and they both lay alongside him for a cuddle as he came down from cloud nine.
“Now,” said Cas, brushing tears from Dean’s eyes and hair from his forehead, only to chuckle when Dean groped for the angel’s and the vampire’s hands to hold, “what have you learned from this?”
The hunter’s deep exhale was still wobbly with giggles as he replied, grinning, “There’s way more fun things to do on vacation than research.”
“In the ballpark,” Benny snickered.
Cas shook his head with a small smile. “We can try again tomorrow.” His smile only grew as Dean’s heart cantered excitedly at the thought. “First, you should sleep.”
Dean’s eyes usually got heavy after a thorough tickling, but, as he glanced over Benny at the bedside clock, he saw it was definitely late enough to turn in for the night. He almost felt bad for having had dinner so late, but the workout he’d just gone through took the guilt away. He was too happy to care, anyway.
“We tucker you out enough, darlin’?” Benny teased, pressing a kiss to Dean’s temple when the hunter hummed affirmatively. “Okay. Don’t fall asleep before I get back though, alright?”
Dean turned on his side to snuggle his back into Cas’ chest and properly enjoy the view as Benny got up to walk away. Only then did Dean’s eyebrows furrow. It was sleep time; sleep time meant snuggle time, even if Dean was the only member of the trio who needed sleep.
“Cas,” said Benny over his shoulder, “be a dear and hand me our suitcase?”
The angel lifted a hand to snap his fingers before slipping an arm around Dean’s waist. In a blink, a change of nightclothes appeared in Benny’s hand.
With a nod, Benny stepped into the bathroom and shut the door with a smile and a, “Thank you kindly.”
Dean leaned back into Cas’ arms, closing his eyes as the angel kissed the freckles up the back of his neck. The hunter felt warm inside and out. On one hand, he wanted to sleep so tomorrow would come faster, so his boyfriends weekend could continue. On the other hand, he wanted to stay wrapped up in the safety and serenity and afterglow of that moment forever.
Benny returned in clothes that would be more comfortable to lay down in and swapped places with Cas as Dean’s big spoon. Cas could have snapped his fingers and just given himself and Benny some pajamas, but, Dean knew, they were all quite sappy about the feeling of domesticity and comfort of returning to their partners awaiting them. Getting up from a snuggle sandwich for any reason was often laborious, but getting to walk back to it and see a space left open to be filled was as sweet as rejoining the cuddle itself.
His eyes have closed of their own accord as he mused amidst his leftover giggle-high, Dean jumped a little when Benny’s hand around his waist began to make slow, lazy laps under Dean’s shirt and around his belly button.
“Vampires are gluttons, you know, Dean,” Benny whispered, kissing Dean’s pink-tinged ear. “Seeing you laugh like that, I just might not be able to resist.”
Dean curled up, ducking his head away from Benny’s lips but not escaping the shivers his words left behind. “Benny,” he huffed, too tired to hold back a few giggles.
“Shh,” Benny teased, pulling Dean back against his chest and finding little resistance. “You don’t want to ruffle Cas’ feathers now, do ya? You’re supposed to be resting.”
The hunter was about to bite back that he had been resting before a certain vampire had roused him, but Dean bit his lip instead. “Ruffling his feathers is a good start.”
Benny’s hand slowed to a stop, and he leaned in interestedly. “What did ya say, sugar?”
“You asked before if Cas was ticklish,” Dean said, closing his eyes once more with a grin. “He showed you my worst spot, so I’m returning the favor.”
“Good to know,” Benny chuckled. “After we get you some breakfast tomorrow, maybe you can give me a tour of his sensitivities yourself, though I know I can take your word for it. S’more fun, don’t you think?”
Dean nodded, pinching his lips together when Benny’s fingers began skating around his stomach once more.
“Unless you feel awake enough to show me now. Otherwise, I’m happy to keep doing this.” Benny’s little finger brushed the edge of Dean’s hip, and the hunter jumped again. Euphoric as the evening’s play had left him, Dean knew he needed to sleep, which wouldn’t happen if he let Benny indulge his tickle-hungry tendencies anymore tonight. However, drifting off to the sound of Cas’ low giggles—that, Dean knew he could do.
When Cas returned, he lay down facing Dean, enveloping him into the cuddle and kissing his collarbone before drawing up the blankets. Perhaps he’d thought Dean had drifted off already, because he twitched in surprise when Dean encircled and arm under and around the angel’s back, pulling him tight against himself with a yawn.
“Cas, I’m sorry for this.”
Dean’s eyes were still closed, but he could practically hear Cas’ brow furrow. “For—?” And then rise sharply when Dean’s hand, splayed upon Cas’ upper back, began to scribble languidly between his shoulder blades. “Dean—!”
“Benny’s threatening me.”
“I wasn’t threatening,” Benny chuckled, shifting to look over Dean’s shoulder and watch the angel pinch his lips together on a smile. “I was teasing.”
“So I have to show him where to tickle you until I fall asleep.”
Cas groaned, and Dean couldn’t help but crack an eye open when the angel let slip a few stray giggles.
Dean kissed Cas’ cheek, wrapping his other hand around the back of Cas’ thigh to hitch it up and within reach of impish fingers. “Don’t pretend you don’t love it.”
The angel pressed his forehead against Dean’s, smiling big enough now that his eyes shut and his nose scrunched up. “I—! I didn’t say that; I just want you to get some rest—!”
“I am resting. My eyes are closed,” Dean replied, making it so. He didn’t need to see anyway, not to scritch his fingers up the side of Cas’ thigh and over to the edge of his shoulder where he knew the best spots hid. “I’m sleep-tickling.”
“And sleep-teaching,” Benny added, audibly grinning down at the pair of them. “Real well, too.”
Cas seemed to resign himself to his fate, squishing his face half into the pillows and half into Dean’s chest, thankfully able to keep anything louder than gentle, low laughter at bay since Dean was targeting his worst spots with only light touches. Dean sighed as Cas’ sweet chuckles rumbled against his chest, spurred from the blissful hum only when Benny snickered in his ear and gave an encouraging pinch to his hip. The vampire wasn’t mean about it either; Dean knew when his fingers were slowing and could tell Benny was just gauging if he was still awake. For as long as he could, Dean hung on to the heavenly moment of shared warmth and laughter and contentment, but Cas’ giggles were growing quieter, and Benny was playing with Dean’s hair, and their breathing was slowing to keep time with his, and eventually Dean couldn’t help but drift off into sleep.
He'd wake to find himself still wrapped in Benny and Cas’ embrace, complaining about a stiff spine and arms until they tickled the morning grumpiness out of him. They’d lain all night with him, after all, just to keep Dean company even as he slept, to sandwich him in safety and sweetness. What had he learned, when asked that morning? That he had the best partners ever.
