The Happy Ending We'll Never See

The third and final part :)

TW: mentions of blood and injuries but nothing too detailed :) a lil bit angsty because I'm just in that mental state rn, you know how it is 

"Damn it, Cas, you're not an angel anymore!"

Dean almost regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth... almost. They were true, after all. It was just the hurt look that flashed through Castiel's eyes that made his heart ache.

"Dean..." Castiel's voice was quiet, but it held warning undertones. Warning Dean to shut the hell up.

Dean shook his head, turning away to grab a needle and floss. You'd think that with being more settled down, they'd have gotten better medical supplies, but they preferred working with what they knew. "You can't just..."

"I'm fine, Dean."

"You were shot!"

Castiel involuntarily flinched as his lover raised his voice, only to grit his teeth as the movement sent waves of nauseating pain from the wound in his shoulder throughout the rest of him. He used his opposing hand to hold a now-red cloth over the wound, his knuckles going white from his death grip on it to keep it in place. Ultimately, he felt weak. If he wasn't so distracted by the pain and frustration towards Dean, he might've felt more respect towards humans for dealing with, or at least being susceptible to, such pains their entire life.

"Sam and I have been doing this a lot longer than you, we know what we're doing. There is absolutely no reason why you should be getting hurt in place of us. Of me." Dean sighed, his voice returning to a quieter tone. His brows were furrowed as he turned back to Castiel to stitch him up, as the bullet has already been removed; it had shattered his heart to watch Cas try to swallow down the pained sounds that threatened to escape through that entire process. It was painfully obvious where he learned he had to 'suck it up, buttercup', though. Dean still had a few things to work out himself but this wasn't the time for that.

"I'm several thousand years older than you, I think I know how to handle myself just fine." Castiel huffed, glaring at a wall so he wouldn't have to watch Dean work. He had dropped the cloth in favor of grabbing a new one for after he was done being sewn up.

"You've had angel mo-jo then. And last time- last time you were human, you... I watched you die. I've had to watch that happen a few too many times now and I refuse to let that happen again so please shut up and stop twitching so I don't hurt you more."

Castiel stilled, not even realizing he'd been twitching in the first place. He stayed silent for a moment but after years of learning how to give the silent treatment, he seemed unable to stay quiet now. It wasn't even that he needed to have the last word, he just didn't want to leave anything unresolved between him and Dean anymore. "Just because you can take it and can with it doesn't mean you should. Or that I'd be willing to watch you go through that yourself."

"So you think it'd be better for me to have to stitch you up instead, huh? After trying to dig that damn bullet out of you? You almost blacked out, twice. Most humans don't ever have to know what getting shot feels like, there's no reason you should ever have to."

"We hunt monsters, Dean, getting shot is probably the most normal thing that can happen to anyone on this job."

"And that's why I'm quitting being a hunter."

That certainly caught the former angel off guard. His head turned fast enough to give him whiplash as he looked to Dean again. He opened his mouth but no words came out.

"We'll talk about this later." Dean sighed, tying off the last stitch and snipping the floss down a bit with a pair of scissors. "I'm going to have to clean it again so bear with me, okay, darling?"