Stay (the sequel to "Forget Me Not")

Chapter 5: Like real hunters do

The idea that a bath and a cup of tea could fix anything had never agreed much with Cas; baths made him restless and tea made him tired. His bed, on the other hand, always calmed him down and made him feel safe. He was laying down, wrapped up in the towel like a wet burrito, looking out through the window at a vertical horizon. A memory of something similar popped up in his head; although, at that time he had been eight years old and scared of something different.

With an intruding, loud creak, the door alerted him that Dean was peaking in. He pulled the towel tighter around himself.

"You hibernating, Cas?"

"Estivating" Cas corrected him.

"What?"

"It's summer. 'Hibernating' is for winter times."

No answer. Dean moved closer behind him and lied down on the bed. He put his arm over Cas and pulled him in close. Cas suddenly remembered that Dean probably wasn't wearing anything either.

"Are you coming to me in your birthday suit, mister Winchester?" he said, trying to sound playful.

"I wouldn't pass up on an opportunity" Dean answered with a small laugh in his voice. Cas pictured his half smile.

The open window let in a wind that rustled in the foliage of the trees outside before it made the curtains quiver and Cas shiver from the cold in his now damp towel.

Dean nudged at him. "Did I do something wrong?" Cas knew he was referring to his swift exit from the steaming bathroom moments earlier.

"In the paper the other day..." he began. He felt a small shakiness in his throat and he swallowed his words to try again. "A man living a few miles over, close to Angel Bay, he... he was beaten by three other men. Pistol whipped." He forced himself to say the words he so clearly remembered having involuntarily read in the morning paper a few days earlier. "They tied him behind their truck, by his ankles, and- and dragged him across a field, and then they tied him to a fence and-..." The arm around him tightened.

"Don't think about it, Cas" Dean said. His voice sounded harsh.

"They raped him. With a glass bottle. And then they set him on fire."

"Cas-"

"He was gay, Dean. He was gay and they killed him for it." His voice cracked and he shut his mouth.

They were silent for a while. Cas tried not to let his whole body shake, but it was hard commanding himself to be still. He could hear the ticking from the clock downstairs in the kitchen.

"I won't let anyone get to you. Or Grace. You hear me?" He hardened his grip around Cas even more, if that was even possible.

Cas snorted and set one of his hands free from the towel to wipe at his face.

"It's cold in here."

"I know exactly what I'd do to sons o' bitches like that."

"Dean-"

"Let's get some dinner, ey." Dean's grip around Cas loosened, but he caught Dean's arm and placed it back around his body.

"Soon."

Carefully, he tried to turn himself on his back in Dean's embrace. He had been right; Dean was naked, and it made his heart start to race. Dean's teeth were gritted and his eyes were black; he couldn't put his finger on whether it was terrifying or turning him on. He laid his free hand on Dean's warm cheek and slowly let it slide up his unshaved face, up into his hair. The towel fell apart by his sides and their skin touched everywhere.