Heaven on Earth

chapter 4

Castiel sighed and pulled the bakery door open, rubbing his eye with his knuckle sleepily. "Dean, you're here really early-"

"It's past noon, man," Dean mumbled, running his hand through Castiel's hair. It had been a month since they got together, and Dean had kept Cas out late last night since it was now a Sunday, dropping him off around two in the morning. Of course, that was after helping a drunken, handsy Castiel upstairs, where he threw up and fell asleep before Dean left. It all flooded back to mind when Dean spoke, and Cas covered his face.

"Oh, god, Dean," he sighed, wrapping his arms around the man's waist. "I'm so sorry about last night."

Dean laughed, lips pressed to Castiel's throbbing temple. "It's fine, babe. You just worried me when you didn't answer your phone earlier, so I decided to come check on you."

Cas smiled against Dean's shoulder. "I bet you just wanted an excuse to see me."

"Yeah, well, that too."

"Aren't you heading down to Adam's today? I thought he had some big ball game."

"He does," Dean sighed. "I'm heading there right now. I just wanted to check on you."

Cas shook his head, leaning up to press a kiss to Dean's cheek. "I would have answered soon, Dean."

"Sure you would have," Dean mumbled, kissing Cas's nose. "Just go back upstairs and go back to sleep, you idiot."

Cas kissed Dean's bottom lip when Dean grinned, laughing slightly. "Fine, but don't call me an idiot. We both know I'm a genius."

"Shaddup," Dean laughed, and kissed Cas gently. "Go sleep, babe. I'll text you the stats every inning and you can cheer on Adam from your bed."

$$$$

Dean was on his knees, tears in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. Castiel raised the blade, faltering.

"Cas- Cas, no- don't do this-" Dean's voice broke and Castiel did as well, dropping the blade and falling to his knees. He felt the tears dripping down his cheeks to match Dean's.

Castiel came up behind Dean number five, his blade plunging into the stomach as his arm curled around him from behind. He saw the betrayal in the man's eyes when they met, and the name died along with the man.

Dean number eight was hard to kill. He fought back, lashing out and hitting Castiel back. He yelled and screamed for help, asking why he was doing this, screaming at him.

The last one was the worst. He listed off every reason why Castiel was useless, why he wasn't needed by anyone, why his mother beat him, why his brothers didn't talk to him, why his father left. "He was disgusted by you," the last Dean hissed with his last breaths. "He knew what you would become."

Castiel woke in tears and gasping, tangled in sheets on the floor beside his bed.

$$$$

Dean yelled encouragement at his little brother, grinning even in the heat of the day. Adam was tearing the diamond up, hitting every ball thrown and zooming around the bases like they weren't there. The boy was bound to get some award.

When his phone started ringing in his pocket, he dug it out while keeping his eye on his brother, who was on deck to bat. He glanced at the caller id, frowning when he saw Cas's name. He answered, talking above the noise of the crowd.

"Cas?"

"Dean," Cas breathed, and it almost sounded like relief, which made Dean frown more. He heard a slight rustling, like Cas was moving the phone against his shoulder, then a sniff that sounded too wet to be okay.