The demanding life of a teenager [Destiel AU]

Good morning, Vietnam

Heyy guys, sorry for that utterly meaningless break. I really don't know why it happened. Oh well. Anyways, I just realized that around now (ish) I've been writing this fic for a year. I never thought I'd do it for that long. So yeah, that's awesome :) Well, here's the next chapter:

When Dean woke up the next morning, Cas was still sound asleep - at least judging from his slow and steady breath. Last night he had fallen asleep quickly, still on top of Dean, and now Dean couldn't feel his right arm. Presumably it was caught somewhere underneath Cas' body.

Careful not to wake up his sleeping boyfriend, Dean moved his not-asleep hand down to Cas' forehead and pushed his dark hair back, so that he could see his face. He looked different while he slept, Dean thought. Younger. More peaceful. Not concerned with all the things he had to deal with while he was awake. Dean hated it.

Everyone who has experienced it knows that it's a terrible thing to have to watch someone you love struggle and not being able to help them. Cause Dean had no idea how to help Cas with his problems. He didn't even know where to begin. It was his own family that Cas struggled with, and - to Dean's great frustration - he had made it crystal clear that he wanted to deal with them himself, without his boyfriend's advice or interference. And Dean tried his best to respect that, even though he hated all of it.

Finally tearing his gaze away from Cas in favour of the drapes covering the window he'd climbed in through earlier, Dean let out an exhausted sigh, feeling his body deflate against the soft matrass underneath him.

Everything in his life had seemed so much easier before - just a couple of months ago. He hadn't known about any of Cas' problems, cause he'd kept them all to himself. It was incredible how oblivious it was possible to be to the hurting of someone who stood that close to you. If anyone had told him back then about everything Cas had to deal with, Dean wouldn't have believed them. It would just have all seemed too unimaginable to him. He would simply not believe that anyone could be capable of treating their own brother like Michael did.

Dean could feel his face heat up with anger when he thought of Michael. The sinister and confident boy he'd met briefly just one time. That once, however, had been enough to make him dislike him. Now, he felt a burning hatred against him. How could he treat his own brother like that? His little brother. How could anyone treat a younger sibling that way? It was beyond what Dean could grasp. He tried imagining himself hurting Sam in any way, and shivered just by the thought. He could never ever be able to do it, no matter what Sammy had done. Dean just didn't get what went on inside Michael's head.

"G'morning", Cas mumbled groggily from where his head was rested on Dean's chest, snapping Dean out of his train of thoughts. For a moment, Dean wondered how long he had been awake, but considering the way he was still blinking the sleep out of his eyes, it was probably not very long.

"Good morning", Dean replied softly, finding and squeezing Cas' hand. "Did you sleep well?" He arched an eyebrow expectantly to help Cas understand what he really meant by the question. No more nightmares?

Cas met his eyes and he seemed to catch on - at least judging by the way his expression changed - and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I did", he replied, the last word muffled by a yawn. He shifted so he could look at Dean properly, managing to release Dean's sleeping hand in the process. Dean was quick to pull it away - before it got trapped again - and started moving his fingers to help the blood-circulation get started again.

"I forgot to thank you last night - for coming over", Cas said. "It was really nice of you to do that. I don't know anyone else who would've come over here just cause I told them I'd had a nightmare. Thank you."

"No problem", Dean said and shrugged nonchalantly, honestly a bit surprised by Cas' gratefulness.

He hadn't thought of it as a big deal - not at all actually. He'd simply understood from Cas' texts that he'd been scared. Therefore he couldn't just go back to sleep without checking whether he was okay. That wasn't an option he'd even considered. Besides, it had totally been worth it, already from the second Cas saw him standing outside his window: The look on his face had been nothing but priceless! Dean had just wanted to snap a picture of it. Now he regretted he hadn't. It would've been fun to show Cas (and everyone else) later.