Freak of Nature (Destiel)

Chapter 23: Shameful Exposure

The sound of a knock on the door woke Dean up, making him very aware he was not supposed to be sleeping peacefully next to an unconscious Castiel Novak. As he quickly unraveled Castiel's arms from around him and started dressing back in his own clothes with haste, the knock came again, followed by Adam's voice.

"Hey, Castiel, it's me... Adam. I was wondering if we could do something. I know you can't leave your room and all, but I was thinking we could do something else."

Dean pulled on his shirt and buttoned his pants on the way to the door, kicking the pajamas he wore under the bed. Looking down at himself and running his fingers through his hair, he unlocked and opened the door. "Oh, hey. What's shakin'?"

"Why are you in Castiel's room?"

"I came to clean."

"You did a crap job of it." he muttered, looking past him into the room.

"I just got here a bit ago. I locked the door so no one would wake Cas, you're lucky you didn't wake him," Dean warned.

"Why's that? Gonna 'rip me a new one', like dad used to say?"

"I'm not in the mood for this, Adam. Not now, not ever." Memories of his father's drunken spells came back in a haze, causing gooseflesh on his skin.

"He's my dad too."

"Don't wake Cas. Come back later."

"Gabriel sent for you."

"Why?"

"He wants you to help him make breakfast. He's worried about his ward and he cooks when he's nervous."

"Wouldn't have pegged him for the type."

"Who would? Now, you should get going, I'll watch over Cas. I promise I won't wake him."

Dean spared Castiel a look of worry before giving his half-brother a hard look. "If I find out later that you've woken him up, I will find every possible method to make your life a living hell, little brother."

Adam was going to tell him 'too late' out of spite but the words caught in his throat at the word 'brother'. "You've never called me your brother before..."

Dean crinkled his nose, "Yeah, I have."

"Not to me."

"I didn't think you wanted me to call you that."

"Well, you thought wrong. Don't assume things."

"Whatever, Adam. I gotta go see about making breakfast. You still prefer the same breakfast?"

"You remembered..."

"Of course I remember, you had me make it every morning until you moved out." Dean said dismissively, cutting Adam off before he could thank him for remembering something so trivial. "See ya, little brother. Tell Cas where I am when he wakes up and if he says he has a headache, tell him to sleep it off. " Dean turned on his heel, eager to finish cooking breakfast so he could rejoin Castiel and play another game of chess.

"Dean!" Adam called, causing Dean to stop and turn to him. Adam gave his half-brother a wobbly smile, "You've always been my big brother. Even though we have different moms, I still l-love you like blood."

Dean felt a laugh escape his lips as he ruffled Adam's hair. "Same here, short stack."

"I'm not short! I'm just-" he paused, stepping inside the room as he pouted. "I'm not done growing yet!"

"Yeah, okay." Dean joked, patting him on the shoulder. "Remember, don't wake Cas."

Adam rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. "Say it again, I didn't hear it the first thousand times you said it."

"I'm serious."

"Don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on Sleeping Beauty."

"In the original story, Sleeping Beauty was raped as she slept and I don't believe I can fit that description properly." Castiel supplied, sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes. "Go to the kitchen with my brother, Dean. I'll be fine with Adam watching over me."

"I'll be your guardian angel," Adam joked.

Dean stiffened in anger, jealousy boiling in his gut as he strode through the doorway and towards the kitchen.

...

"Did Dean seem a little angry to you?" Adam asked, sitting in Dean's chair.

"I'm not... sure." He ended thoughtfully, head lolling to the side. "Is the room spinning or is it just me?"

"Just you," Adam laughed, watching Castiel hiss as he moved out of bed too quickly. "Take it easy there, buddy. You may fall out of-" Castiel fell forward, Adam falling to his knees in front of Castiel, barely able to grab around his torso before falling face-first into the hardwood floor. "Whoa, Castiel, are you sick or something?"

Castiel shook his head, lips pursed as he suddenly went blank, all thoughts leaving his mind and his wings appearing and unfurling across Adam's lap and covering the floor 7 feet away on both sides of him. Adam's eyes went wide as all of the air left his lungs, the wings were consisted of long, coarse, black feathers that were short and rounded at the end. Adam felt a twinge of fear as Castiel regained his mind and looked up at Adam, a look changing quickly to shame as he willed his wings to hide again.

"Your wings are black... the feathers are different..."

Castiel's eyes shot open in pain as he snapped them back into his skin. The bones folding quickly and rubbing painfully against each other as they pull on top of his shoulder blades, invisible again through the slits in his shirt. Adam stared in shock, "I know all clothes are made with the slits in the back... but your shoulder blades are much bigger... even than mine." Adam rubbed thoughtfully at his soft, stubby wings.

Castiel's eyes settled into a hazy blue as he touched Adam's shoulder, "You cannot tell anyone about my wings... that I'm an angel. Especially not Dean."

"You mean he doesn't know!"

"Of course he doesn't!" Castiel muttered, "You aren't even supposed to know!"

"How doesn't anyone know, I mean they move on their own and they're huge and-"

Castiel stopped him, the young boy's voice much too loud for someone with a hangover. "Let me explain to you how wings work, since you aren't exactly going to be taught by Michael... but you didn't hear this from me."

"Right," Adam nodded. "I won't tell my... brothers" Adam smiled a little at the term, "or Michael about this."

"Good," Castiel rolled his shoulders, still sore from snapping his wings in too quickly. "It all begins when humans decided they wanted another way to be technologically ahead of each other through weaponry and in the process, the biggest weapon to ever be created happened... the angels."