"Patched up.."

Patched Up: Castiel

It was no small humiliation on his part. An angel, formerly of Heaven, now reduced to cradling the stinging hand of his vessel.

He was piled into the Impala with you, Sam, and Dean, but the moment they returned to the Men of Letters bunker, he tucked his hand to his chest and broke away to the kitchen. With a mix of concern and suspicion, you watched his trench coat flutter behind him as he moved swiftly out of the common area.

You shared a look with Sam, who shrugged. Unwilling to let go of your concern, you followed Cas into the kitchen and found him standing there, inspecting his right hand. That is, until he sensed you behind him and tucked his hand into his pocket.

It was an awkward move for the angel, who never held his hands in his pockets. You raised a brow at him.

"You okay there?"

"Fine," he said, in that flat, gravel way of his. "Why do you ask?"

You hummed and went over to him. When you touched his right wrist, he flinched the slightest bit, leaning away from you.

"Will you let me see?" you asked patiently. He looked down at you with his heavy, dark brows crunched over his eyes. But he soon relented, letting you tug his hand out of his pocket. It was red and severely bruised.

If you thought back, that fit from when an enemy angel had tried crushing his head with a pipe, but only managed to catch his hand against the ground instead. You knew why he was upset though. Cut off from Heaven as he was, and now using another angel's grace as his own, he was maybe at half-strength. Maybe even less.

"Okay. Come 'ere," you said, leading him to the sink. You put it on its coldest setting and ran his hand under the water. Cas closed his eyes with a flinch, but eventually he got used to it. You bade him to stay there while you riled through the kitchen for some ice, a plastic bag, and a paper towel.

It was amazing you found anything in this disorganized frat house, but you made your makeshift icepack and took his hand from the water, turning off the sink. You pressed the ice gently on his hand, and your gaze flicked up to the angel's face, trying to read how much pain he was actually in.

"This isn't necessary," he said. You smiled at the slight grumpiness you detected.

Cas held his stoic expression well. You could almost believe he was humoring you here. He had been hurt much worse in the past, both as an angel and as a human, however brief that had been.

But you'd gotten pretty good at reading the subtleties in his body language over the years, and his crunched brows were the biggest tell. He was in pain, even if he wouldn't admit it.

The ice was probably helping to numb it, but his hand was stiff, his skin red and now ice-cold.

So you raised his hand to your lips and laid a soft kiss to his knuckles. "There. All better."

Cas's eyes widened a fraction as he looked down at you, head tilting in confusion. You pat his arm with a smile and let go of his hand.

"Just keep the ice on for a few minutes at a time. It'll help with the swelling," you said.

You walked around him, intending to check and see what Sam and Dean wanted for dinner. But a gentle hand on your wrist stopped you from leaving. You looked back at Castiel questioningly.

He looked uncertain for a moment, but then he crossed the gap between you. His hand moved from your wrist to grasp your fingers around his. You looked up at his handsome, unshaven face with the beginnings of a blush warming your cheeks. His height over you always made you feel small, but also protected with his frame taking up space around you.

"Yes?" you asked, with a somewhat teasing smile. His dark blue eyes locked on yours.

With a subtle smile of his own, he leaned down and kissed the corner of your mouth.

"Thank you," he said. You didn't know if he intended to say it so close to your ear, or with that amount of depth in his voice, but it caused a current of electricity to run deliciously down your spine.

Your smile for him turned a bit more playful, and you leaned up and cupped the back of his neck with your free hand.

"I think you missed," you said, and brought his lips to yours instead.