Standing Together

Chapter 33

Castiel turns the shower on that night only when he knows none of his scratches are bleeding anymore. He's still not wearing a shirt, so he doesn't have to worry about taking that off carefully, but he tries to keep his upper body movements to a minimum as he takes off his shorts and boxers, dropping them on the counter. With Dean locked in their room, he doesn't have another pair of clothes to change into, so he'll just keep those around.

Castiel tests the water temperature with his hand, and, when it feels fine, he starts to step inside. He stops himself when he realizes he didn't leave the door unlocked, and quickly fixed that, though he's a bit pessimistic as he does. Why does Dean get to lock himself in their bedroom, and Castiel can't bring himself to leave the bathroom door locked? That's just not fair.

He steps into the shower again, but as soon as the scratches on his chest touch the water, he yelps in pain, quickly shutting the water off.

"Oh my god," Castiel whispers. "Oh my fucking god." What the hell? Why did that hurt so much? Was the water just too hot? If he made it much colder, he'd freeze to death in there.

He sits down on the closed lid of the toilet, waiting for the pain to completely go away before he finds a plan B.

There's a loud knocking on the door, and Dean says, "Either you take incredibly quick showers, or something's wrong."

"I'm fine," Castiel says quickly. He doesn't need Dean teasing him for this.

"Can I come in?"

Castiel hesitates, then sighs. "Yeah, sure."

Dean opens the door slowly as if giving Castiel time to cover up if he wants to. He's not entirely sure why he takes advantage of it, especially knowing that Dean has seen him naked before, but he grabs a towel and tosses it over his lap. Dean comes in wearing just a pair of boxers, and usually, Castiel would take a moment to admire the view, but he's too embarrassed to right now

"Hey, what's wrong?" Dean asks, crouching down in front of him so they're closer to the same level.

"Nothing," Castiel mutters.

"If it was nothing, you'd be a lot more wet than you are now," Dean says, ruffling his completely dry hair. "What happened? I thought you were going to take a shower."

Castiel just shrugs.

Dean's gaze drifts to the gauze on his chest. "Oh, right. That probably hurt."

Castiel cocks his head in confusion. Is Dean really going to pity him now, not when he first got attacked by the cat?

"What's that face for?" Dean asks, a bit defensively.

"What? Nothing."

Dean rolls his eyes. "Are you still mad at me for brushing you off earlier? Because I just wanted to get you fixed up and then get away from the cattiness that is you. Allergies are a bitch, you know?"

Castiel raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything.

Dean groans. "God, you really know how to hold a grudge." He reaches down to take Castiel's hand, and, after a moment of hesitation, Castiel lets him. "Come on, let's go get you some clean clothes."

Castiel can't stop the corner of his lip from twitching up. "I'm sorry, can I just — you want me to get dressed?"

"Is that a problem?" Dean asks, confused.

"No, but you want me to put clothes on?" Castiel repeats. "That doesn't sound like you at all."

Dean chuckles. "Well, judging by the towel on your lap, you're not into that type of game right now, but if I'm wrong, then how 'bout you come with me anyway and just skip the clothes part."

"No, I'm definitely wearing the clothes," Castiel says.

Fingers intertwined, they walk back to their room, and Dean does surprisingly well not staring at his crotch. He sits Castiel down on the bed, then goes over to his bureau and tosses him a pair of boxers.

"Do you want other clothes, or are you joining the I'm-too-cool-for-pajamas club?" Dean asks.

Castiel can't hide the small smile on his lips at that. "Can I at least have some pants?"

Dean pulls out a pair of long flannel pants and tosses them at the boy, taking a few extra seconds before he turns around to give time for Castiel to get dressed.

"See? Much better," Dean says with a grin. "There's still at least an hour until going to bed wouldn't seem weird. What should we do for that hour?"

"Can we watch a movie?" Castiel asks.

"As long as it's not Aladdin," Dean replies.

Castiel frowns. "Okay, I guess we can watch, like, Moana or something."

Dean sighs. "You would rather watch Aladdin again, wouldn't you?"

Castiel just nods.

Dean's head lolls back in exasperation. "Okay, let's go watch Aladdin."

Dean puts the DVD in and grabs the remote, lying down in bed. Castiel lies down next to him, wrapping an arm around him. He rests his head on his fiancé's chest and closes his eyes, ready to play the movie's visuals in his mind.

"If you fall asleep before the movie's over, I'm stopping it and we're not finishing it," Dean tells him.

Castiel just hums and snuggles up to him.