Twenty First Century Hunters

24

"I love you."

Sam had heard those three words 20 times in the last 10 minutes. Along with "I'm sorry." And "Stop apologizing."

Dean was different around Cas. Not different in the way he obviously was. Or in the way he usually was around Cas. It was something softer, sweeter.

Sam had never seen this side of his brother. It was so domestic.

Sam thought it was almost cute, if not a little strange. Dean and Cas had always had an odd relationship, in this life.

Then they decided to go upstairs. It wasn't so cute after that.

Sam spent three hours blasting some random news channel and covering his ears with a pillow.

Dean carried Cas down the stairs, bridal style.

Sam decided not to comment on that.

Dean asked if they had noodles, butter, and salt. They then disappeared into the kitchen for the next 15 minutes. Sam could hear them both laughing loudly.

Sam could barely remember the last time he had heard Dean laugh like that. It had been well over ten years. And he had never heard Cas laugh before.

He wondered if he was supposed to tell Dean when this was all over. Would Cas even remember? He didn't know if he could keep it from Dean if he knew Cas could make him laugh like that.

He checked his watch, 19 hours left. Either way, this was going to suck when it was over.

Sam flipped through all the polaroids. Several of them were just of the ocean, or random plants. The rest were Dean or Cas. Sam didn't read the letters, it was too personal.

When Dean and Cas finally emerged from the kitchen, Dean gathered the letters he had written, taking them to the couch.

Dean asked Sam to set up the television. They found an old channel, playing something in black and white. Sam recognized it at The Twilight Zone.

Cas' head was pillowed in Dean's lap, his fingers running through Cas' hair.

Cas read the letters as they watched.

Sam felt a little weird watching this whole happy couple scene play out. It was incredibly nice to see Dean smiling though.

A real smile, not the bullshit, I don't give a crap smiles. Those were becoming far too frequent.

~~~

Two hours. Two fucking hours. Sam had never seen Cas cry before, and he never wanted to see it again.

It wasn't loud, just soft choking gasps. Dean was holding him to his chest, stroking his hair. He and Cas weren't even close, as far as he could remember, and it hurt like hell.

Dean was crying, that was another thing. You could barely tell, other than the streaks running down his face. And Dean didn't cry for anything.

Then he kissed him. Sam turned his head to look away. It was weird to watch your brother kiss someone, especially if that someone was your angel friend.

Friend, yeah, Cas was a friend.

"Sammy?"

Sam's head shot up, he turned to look at Dean. "Yeah?"

"You got a turntable somewhere? Does Bobby have one?"

Sam thought for a moment, Bobby wasn't home and Sam was sure he wouldn't appreciate him digging through his stuff. It's not like he'd be able to find anything, Bobby was becoming a pac rat.

"Uh, no I don't think so. You wanna play music?"

Dean nodded silently.

"Yeah, okay. I'll uh, be right back."

Sam went to go find his laptop. He could probably find something on YouTube.

Sam brought back his computer, bringing up google and explaining the whole "searching the Internet" thing to Dean.

He looked confused at first but he slowly typed into the search bar, "Elvis."

Cas smiled up at him. Sam guessed Elvis held some sort of importance in their relationship.

Dean did some clicking and a few minutes later a song, that Sam was 80% sure was from Blue Hawaii, started playing.

This went on for a while.

~~~~

Four minutes and fifty-two seconds.

Dean did some more clicking and Can't Help Falling In Love started playing. Sam recognized this one.

Dean pulled Cas off the couch, and did some fancy twirly thing.

Oh, they were going to dance. Dean didn't know how to dance.

It was the kind of dancing that required no talent. The kind you'd see a couple do early in the morning on a Sunday while their both sleepy in some romance movie.

Cas' arms were draped over Dean's shoulders and he was holding Cas at the waist.

They were swaying slowly in place, Cas was crying again.

Sam could hear parts of their conversation. "I love you. So be like the ocean and come back to me, even when they try to pull you away, come back to me."

"I'll come back to you, Dean. I promise."

"Cas..."

"Shhh. I love you, Dean." Cas lifted his head from Dean's shoulder, meeting his eyes. "See you then."

Then his eyes closed and he went limp against Dean.

Dean held him close, sinking to the floor, cradling Cas in his arms.

Sam could hear him sobbing into Cas' shoulder. A part of Sam was worried about Cas passing out, but it was probably just part of the process.

The music kept playing in the background. Sam didn't have the heart to turn it off.

"Wise men say... only fools rush in... but I can't help... falling in love with you."

Sorry guys. The angst is strong in this chapter. Imagine if I ended it right here lol. But I'm not that mean, expect another chapter in the next 5 years