Standing Together

Chapter 67

Dean's immediate plan of action when they get home is to go take a shower. Castiel isn't so sure that's a good idea, but between the walls to hold onto and a waterproof cast cover, Dean assures him it will be fine.

While Dean's in the shower, Castiel is on the other side of the curtain, shaving for the first time in days. He can't remember the last time he went this long without doing it. He was always told he had to, because it makes him look younger. Youth often equates to innocence, which is the reputation he's been told to uphold since day one, so this is strange to him.

"Hey, Dean?" Castiel says when he's done shaving.

"Yeah?" Dean says loudly, probably overestimating the volume of the shower.

"Would it be incredibly annoying of me to wait in here for you to finish showering so I can shower, too?" Castiel asks.

"Nah, not really," Dean says. "I'll try to be quick."

"Don't rush on my account." He really doesn't want Dean to risk hurting himself even more, and falling in the shower definitely strikes Castiel as an unnecessary risk, especially because it's still Tuesday, and something about that makes it feel more likely.

"Does rushing so we can have an Iron Man marathon count as rushing on your account?" Dean asks. "Because it's just as much for me as it is for the lesson I'm trying to teach you."

"Oh, we're still doing that?" Castiel says, slightly disappointed. He was hoping Dean forgot about that.

"Yes, and you're gonna love it," Dean replies. "I know it sounds boring —"

"It sounds like an eight-year-old boy's favorite movie," Castiel deadpans.

"Okay, first of all, fuck you and your gender stereotyping," Dean says. "Second, it's really not for eight-year-old boys. They like the idea of superheroes. The actual movies are more teenager-slash-adult oriented. You'll understand when you watch them."

"If you say so," Castiel says skeptically.

"I do say so," Dean replies. "Trust me, it's a great series. You're gonna love — well, you're gonna not hate it. Probably."

Dean shuts off the shower and opens the shower curtain. He glances around, eyes settling on his crutches again the wall, just out of reach.

"I want to hop over to them, but I'm scared of falling on my face," Dean says.

Castiel chuckles. "Well, here's a better idea." He hands Dean a towel. "Dry yourself, and then I'll help you out of the shower."

"That works too," Dean agrees.

Dean dries his body a bit, and Castiel purposely looks anywhere and everywhere else, because it's hard to look at a naked Dean without focusing solely on how naked he is. He takes the towel flying onto the counter as his cue to look back at the boy.

Castiel supports Dean's torso as he helps him out of the shower, which takes a lot more muscle that one would expect. With just one working leg, stepping over the barrier of the tub is virtually impossible without a lot of assistance.

"Okay, next time, I'm giving you a crutch on the other side," Castiel tells him. "This is not easy."

"Sorry," Dean says sheepishly. "I'm sure I'll figure out how to do this on my own soon."

"I don't trust you to do this on your own," Castiel says. He sits Dean down on top of the toilet, the lid closed to make it as close to a chair as possible. "If you try using two crutches, one of them is gonna fall, and you're gonna go down with it."

Dean sighs. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"But don't worry," Castiel says, ruffling Dean's wet hair teasingly. "I'm always more than willing to help up your naked ass out of the shower."

Dean chuckles. "Well, when you say it like that, it makes a lot more sense."

Castiel winks playfully before handing him a towel. "Now dry yourself, because I still got wet helping you out of there."

"You're taking a shower anyway," Dean reminds him. "It's really not a big loss."

"Yeah, but I was also too busy helping you function that I forgot to get clothes for myself and that was all I had," Castiel says. "And now they're all wet."

"Oh, tragic," Dean jokes. "I guess you'll just have to go on without clothes. It's going to be hard for me to see that, but I'm sure I'll survive."

Castiel shakes his head in amusement. "You're such a dork."

~~

Dean doesn't hang around for all of Castiel's shower, so he leaves to find the bathroom empty, excluding himself. He doesn't mind, though. He just dries himself off and takes both of their dirty clothes lying on the floor, dumping them in the hamper because Dean doesn't have enough hands to help with that.

Castiel finds Dean sitting up in bed, his back against the wall and supported by a bunch of pillows. He lets out a low whistle when Castiel steps into the room.

"Wow, Cas, you should wear that more often," Dean says playfully.

Castiel doesn't dignify that with a response. "Are sweatpants a socially acceptable thing to wear all day?"

"Well, the only person who's gonna see you is me, and I say no," Dean says.

"Okay, not quite where I thought you were going with that sentence," Castiel says uncertainly.

"You should just wear that all day," Dean says, gesturing to Castiel's naked body.

"Dean, I'm going to wear clothes," Castiel says.

"Why bother?" Dean asks. "It's just you and me."

"And the 'you' aspect of that — which is moi — wants to wear clothes," Castiel says.

"It looks like this calls for some drastic measures," Dean says. In very obviously faked pain, he says, "Ow! My leg hurts! If only I had something to look at that could distract me from my pain!"

Castiel rolls his eyes, but he can't hide his amused smile. "Okay, fine. I suppose I can save you from your pain."

"Awesome," Dean whispers loudly. "And another way to save me from my pain would be to turn on the tv and get the Iron Man DVDs from the closet. Oh, and the first Avengers DVD. It's important for context for the lesson, otherwise you just kinda get the lesson I'm gonna teach you without understanding how I was able to teach you a lesson through Marvel movies."

Castiel raises an eyebrow. "I'm confused but okay."

He heads to the closet, where he searches through all the Marvel movies. They seem to be scattered randomly in their row of the shelf they're on, but he's sure there's a reason Iron Man is so far away from Iron Man 3.

He returns to their bedroom with all four DVDs in hand. "Which one am I putting in?"

"The first Iron Man," Dean replies.

Castiel ejects the DVD that they put in last — Aladdin, what a surprise — and puts the Iron Man in its place.

"You know," Dean says, "The worst part about not being able to walk is I can't go smack your ass whenever I want to. It's, like, right there, but I can't go touch it."

Castiel chuckles. "You're literally the horniest person I have ever met."

"Which is ironic," Dean says, "because you're the least horny person I've ever met."

"It's a curse we must bear," Castiel jokes.

Once the movie is up and running, Castiel lies down on the bed, resting his head on his fiancés chest. Dean wraps an arm around the boy's naked body, and he shivers at the touch.

"And now," Dean says with a grin, "time to watch the best movie series in cinematic history."