Unspoken Words

Chapter 7

Cas didn't react to Dean's appearance. He was sitting on the end of the bed, his feet barely touching the tile, with his hands folded neatly in his lap, and his cold vacant eyes staring wordlessly at the beige wall. Dean noticed the curtains to his window were pulled closed and the light was off. Cas was sitting sulkily in the dark, and Dean couldn't read his face to figure out why.

He set the box of pancakes on the desk and moved to sit beside Cas on the bed. There wasn't a whole lot of room as Cas decided not to scoot over to make some. "Cas," Dean whispered to him. His face remained stone without so much as a blink. Dean frowned sadly, wiping an eyelash from the boy's cheek with his thumb. "What's wrong?"

Cas' eyes were dull and stormy. They were unchanging and painfully blank. No emotion but empty shone through the surface. Dean reached for Cas' cold hand, pressing it flat against his chest like he had done so many times before. But as soon as he let go of it, Cas slowly returned his hand back to the neat fold and kept staring lifelessly. Dean wanted to cry. There was something seriously wrong with Cas.

"I brought you some pancakes," he said trying to smile, "my friend Garth makes them at work sometimes. They're the best around." Dean couldn't take the agonizing silence between them, so he just talked in hopes of eliciting a response from Cas. "I also confirmed yesterday that Sammy has a boyfriend he's been tryin' to hide from me, but I'm a sleuth. I knew the whole time. I wish he would've told me." His statement about his brother brought something to his mind. "Are you upset because of Sam and I's argument?"

Cas' eyes shifted minutely toward Dean but kept focus on the wall. He unfolded his hands and lightly placed one on Dean's thigh in comfort. Dean decided the argument had not been the cause of this. He placed his hand carefully over Cas' and rubbed soft circles with his thumb. He'd draw meaningless lines and trace the paths of his hand bones, listening to his calming breaths. They sat like that forever in silence, Cas blankly observing the wall and Dean watching their hands mingle.

Dean could hear Cas' stomach begin to rumble with hunger, but the boy paid it no mind. His eyes seemed softer but still showed an endless nothing. "Cas you need to eat something. You can't starve-" but Dean stopped when Cas' grip on his thigh tightened. His fingers dug into the skin as another voice at the door chirped,

"Hello Castiel." A man stood there with a food tray and a set of keys tied to his waist. "I brought you your lunch." He set the tray down on the desk, looking oddly at Cas before leaving. Cas' hand did not stop its death grip, and Dean found this alarming because his touches were always light and feathery. He noticed the boy was slightly trembling beside him and wondered what the hell that man could've done to scare him so much.

"Hey, it's okay," he whispered to him. Dean pulled Cas against his body and held him there in a tight hug. He rubbed the boy's back and pressed their cheeks together. They felt their hearts beat together and breaths swirl in each other's arms. "Cas, what happened?" Cas tensed against Dean's body, and he pressed a nimble finger to Dean's lips. Dean nodded. He knew this meant to not speak about it. He had faith that Cas would tell him eventually.

They stayed like that together until Cas' stomach let out another hungered rumble. Dean pulled away regrettably and said, "You need to eat." Cas was still staring at the wall, but his eyes seemed sadder and more emotional. Stormy waves in a thunderstorm.

Dean stood and opened the box of pancakes. He poured a generous amount of syrup on them before returning to Cas. He opened his coat and foraged inside the pockets until he found a bag of honey, which wasn't hard because he kept three in there. He took a spoon from the tray and dished some over the pancakes. If anything could make Cas want to eat it'd be the honey. He returned to Cas' side, putting an arm around his waist, and setting the box in his lap. "Eat them, please."