Standing Together

Chapter 80

"Dean?" Castiel says hesitantly, standing in the doorway of their bedroom a couple days later. "Are you crying?"

"No," Dean says, wiping the tears from his face with his sleeve. His eyes never leave his phone.

"What's wrong?" Castiel asks. He sits down at the foot of the bed, watching his boyfriend with a concerned look.

"Nothing," Dean says quickly.

Castiel crawls across the bed to catch a look at Dean's phone, but the boy quickly puts it facedown on his shirt to hide the screen.

"Dean, what's wrong?" Castiel asks. "What are you looking at?" When he doesn't get an answer, he guesses, "Are people being mean on Twitter?"

"What? No!" Dean says immediately, as if that's the stupidest thing he's ever heard.

"Then what is it?" Castiel asks.

Dean sighs and hands him the phone silently.

It was sunny.

Late afternoon.

Beautiful California weather.

Castiel doubles over with laughter. "You have to be kidding. You're crying over my book?"

"I just have a lot of feelings," Dean says defensively, taking the phone back. "I hope you know that I hate you. I genuinely hate you. It started out so cute and lowkey really hot and then it went downhill real freaking fast and now I want to die."

Castiel chuckles and gives him a hug, patting his back in an overly reassuring way. "It's okay, Dean. Let it out."

"Okay, seriously, fuck you," Dean says, pushing him away. "I saw someone mention this on Twitter and I figured I might as well read it since you wrote it but I got really attached to Jensen and Misha and I really didn't think it was gonna end like this." He's crying again, which also seems to piss him off, but, of course, he can't stop.

"Want me to get you a tissue?" Castiel asks.

"I want you to bring Jake back!" Dean cries. "He didn't deserve it! He was 18, for god's sake! He was an only child! His poor mom is gonna be heartbroken!"

Castiel has to try really hard not to laugh. "I know, I know. Killing Jake took it a little too far."

"I just want it to go back to how it was when Jensen and Misha first met," Dean sobs. "They were so cute together! I already miss Jensen's arrogance and Mischa's innocent sass and  —" He cuts himself off, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his flannel again. "Fuck you, Cas. People like you are the reason I don't read books."

Castiel pats his head. "It's okay, Dean. They're just fictional characters."

"But I got to watch them grow up together and then they fucking —" Dean shakes his head. "I hate this! I hate this so much!"

"You know what the good part about books is?" Castiel says.

"Nothing," Dean says immediately. "They set you up for something beautiful and then tear out your heart when you least expect it."

"No, the good thing about books is that you can reread them," Castiel says.

"Why would I reread this?" Dean asks. "I'm not even done reading it the first time and I already want to die!"

Castiel covers his mouth with his fist, as if he can shoving the laughter back in. "But you can reread the beginning and relive their happy moments —"

"But then I know how it ends and I still want to die," Dean interrupts. "Face it, Cas. You just ruined my life. There's no going back now."

"You know what? You're absolutely right," Castiel agrees, acting so solemn that it's almost comical. "I took it too far. I'm so sorry that I wrote this book. I'll go unpublish it right now."

"Don't you fucking dare," Dean says immediately. "You can't stop me from suffering through the last chapter."

Castiel chuckles. "I thought you'd say that. You can hate me all you want, but we both know that deep down, you actually like this book."

"No, I don't!" Dean says stubbornly. "I hate it and I hate you for writing it and I hate everything. Now go away and let me read in peace."

"You mean let you cry in peace," Castiel corrects him with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up," Dean says, only because he knows Castiel is right.

Castiel chuckles. "Well, I'll leave you and your tears alone now." He presses a kiss to the top of Dean's head and walks away.