The next morning, Dean is squeezed into a booth with Sam next to him and Castiel with Claire across from them. The motel doesn't have a continental breakfast–which, that's fucked up–so they headed to the nearest diner early the next morning.
The diner's called something like Barbara's Brunch, or Billy Bob's Breakfast, but all Dean can focus on is that Cas is alive. He's here, and he's not leaving yet.
He even orders food, and the waitress winks at them all before clicking her pen and swishing away.
"Since when do you eat?" Dean asks, and Cas looks up at him from across the booth. He's squashed next to Claire, who kinda man spreads across the bench like she's seven feet tall instead of her actual five feet eight inches. Cas's wearing a different flannel, which is a dull red and gray over a white t shirt. It stretches over his pecs and shoulders enough for Dean to notice that Cas is built like a brick house. With the trench coat, Dean's just never been able to notice, not that he would've allowed himself to look, because after all, angel's aren't supposed to love, so creeping on the guy felt wrong.
But now? Cas is hot. He's also in love with Dean, so there's that to worry about, but Dean supposes that he can at least look and admire , even if he can't partake.
Cas fidgets with the sleeve of his flannel, which is just a tad short, like maybe he bought a pack of flannels the wrong size and hasn't gotten a chance to get any new ones. "When I came back from the Empty, I came back... a little different." Cas says.
Dean's heart stops. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing is... wrong with me." Cas says, his eyes going to the table, and Dean's heart gets to keep beating for a little longer. Cas's eyes move to Dean's like he's sorry to admit whatever he's going to have to say. "But my time on Earth changed me. Fundamentally. My True Form is different now, too"
You changed me, Dean.
Dean swallows around nothing, and looks away from Cas, breaking his gaze. Cas continues anyway, because Sam asks him to.
"I... have a soul now, in the infant stage, I suppose."
Sam congratulates him, because what else do you say to an angel beating the odds and growing a soul against God's will? But all Dean can think about is what Cas having a soul implies.
If knowing Dean fundamentally changed Cas enough to grow a soul, to make one in his vessel, even attached to his True Form, what the hell does that even mean?
"Has this ever happened before?" Sam asks, at the edge of his seat, his nerd brain expanding with curiosity.
Cas glances at Dean again before returning his gaze to Sam, as if he's sorry about how the conversation has progressed. "No, it's never happened before, but I suppose no other angel has been influenced by lo–by humanity, like I have."
He's in love... with humanity.
With Dean.
Apparently, in all of Castiel's long, long, angelic existence, Dean fundamentally changed him enough for Cas to spawn a human soul. Apparently, Cas loves him enough to grow one.
"That's why I wasn't able to remain in the Empty." Cas says suddenly, and Dean whips his head around again from where he was glaring at the display of pies.
The waitress comes back and drops off coffees for everyone, the smile on her face dimming when she picks up on the obvious tension between the weird misfit family squished in the booth infront of her. She leaves quickly.
"What do you mean?" Sam asks, and Dean stares at Cas as the guy sips his piping hot coffee.
Cas now looks visibly uncomfortable, and he grabs a sugar packet and rips it open to empty it into his coffee. He does this three more times before he looks up again to answer. Dean feels itchy all over.
YOU ARE READING
The Soul Burns Brighter Than The Sun
FanfictionDean's sitting at the kitchen table with Sam when his phone rings. Jody's name flashes across the screen and he considers not picking up, but Sam's there, and he'd start asking questions if he left the call alone. It's not like Dean doesn't want to...
