Chapter Text
This is All Life Really Means
“The whole thing makes my horns hurt,” Dean whines.
His pointed tail swings back and forth agitatedly; bumping into Sam for the thousandth times who erupts with “Dude, if you hit me with that thing one more time I’m going to rip it off. Keep your tail to yourself.”
“No one told you stand so close,” Dean grumbles and Sam is suddenly leaning well into his personal space and waving his own tail in the air commenting “We’re in a fucking elevator you ass. There’s nowhere else for me to stand.”
So his little brother has a point but that doesn’t mean Dean has to like it. Frankly Dean’s not liking much about his life these days.
At thirty two he’s the youngest demon to ever receive the honor of leading the royal families protective detail. He’s proud of that fact but not so proud of having to forget he had a life to get it. Dean eats, lives, and breathes his job. It’s an exhausting position and never more so than right now. The king has worked out an arrangement with the angelic province; he marries his son to their daughter and both kingdoms revel in good fortune.
Dean thinks the whole idea stinks. Arranged marriage aside; what it means for Dean and his team is a life long reassignment to angel land and it fucking sucks.
No one even asked if they wanted to go. Dean will give his team credit; no one stepped down. His brother is an impressive second in command and Dean always been thrilled to have him there to fall back on. Ash makes up the tactical end of their tiny operation and for as weird as the guy is he knows damn near everything about everything there is to know. Pam speaks five languages fluently including enochian which at this point is required. She can also sniper shot a weapon out of someone’s hand from as far away as a gun will shoot straight. Andy, Max, and Jo fill out the rest of their little crew. They’re tight, hell they almost never see anyone but each other and Chuck, the prince.
They have spent the last three months in class after class on angelic history and pertinent events, language and speech training, cultural norms, foods, etiquette and anatomy. Dean slept through all but the last class; anatomy was interesting enough. It taught Dean everything he needed to know; which as how to kill one as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
Rolling off the elevator and heading to the plane they all fall in line and Dean refuses to even turn to look back at the home he has always known and will likely never see again. It’s too much. He crawls into the plane and slouches in his seat hoping to get a few hours of sleep on the trip over before all the chaos starts. Sam slides in next to him and immediately buries himself in a book. Deans glad for it. Sam’s pinned him in next to the window which means that anyone wanting his attention will have to interrupt Sam while he reads and based on previous incidences Dean’s fairly certain the plane would have to be crashing before anyone would risk that.
The flight turns out to be too damn short; they’re on the ground and getting off the plane leaving Dean more tired than he was four hours ago. He’s hot and grumpy and irritated as they haul in their belongings and hit the transport to the city and their new home somewhere in the giant angelic citadel.
“The architecture is nice,” Sam offers as they travel through the city. Dean glares at him and Sam bristles “Look, we’re here it’s too late to back out so you need to just make the best of it.”
Dean snorts and chooses to ignore Sam’s bitch face. It’s not like he’s determined to hate it; Dean’s just a creature of habit and now he has to find a whole new routine.
They pull up in front of the castle and stumble out into a small group. There’s a pack of angels standing on the steps in front of them; lean and aloof as all angels look. It surprises Dean that they aren’t in rigid formation and suits. Most of Dean’s interactions with angels have been highly formal and they’ve always been dressed to the nines and treated him like less than raw meat.
These guys look like they just came from a bar.
“I’m Castiel,” The dark haired guy in front says as they approach. “This is my brother Gabriel, Lucifer, Michael, and Uriel. We’re the protect unit assigned to Princess Anna. The royal family wished us to give you an escort to your rooms and answer any questions you might have at this time.”
There is silence and then the angel Castiel called Gabriel snorts “Well you’re a lively bunch.”
Sam throws out a hand to keep Max in line. There’s a shift amongst the angels at his movement and Dean immediately starts processing exits and damage control as they regroup.
“I don’t think we have any questions right now,” Pam offers from his left and it shocks Dean out of his thought process. He comes back to himself shaking his head and realizing he was staring at Castiel’s overly blue eyes. He shakes it off, “Just show us where to drop our stuff.”
Dean tries hard not to laugh outright while they are escorted to their rooms. The angel’s are doing an impressive show of trying to circle the wagons around his squad. Again and again Jo and Pam manage to sneak back to the outside of their group to avoid being pinned in. It feels less like a friendly walk and more like a prisoner escort with every step. The only real problem being that it’s the demons who are the prisoners.
“You’re Dean Winchester correct?” Castiel asks and Dean nods as he answers “That would be me.”
“I’ve heard a great deal about your skills,” the angel continues without looking directly at Dean. “I was hoping to have the opportunity to pick your brain.”
“Yeah well,” Dean snorts “I haven’t heard shit about you and nobody picks anything on me without my permission. I’m not interested.”
He catches a glimpse of irritation in the angels eyes and the quick flip of his wing. It makes Dean smile to know he’s made the other man uncomfortable.
“You may find the accommodations slightly less than comfortable at the moment. The furniture in your rooms is designed with angels comfort in mind and we have different, appendages than your kind.” Castiel grinds out.
“You mean your big ass wings and lack of a tail right; because I seriously doubt you’re talking about the horns.” Dean mutters.
It’s a surprise when the dark haired angel grins slightly before replying “Yes, your tails will take some adjustments. We’re not used to that here.”
“I bet you’re not,” Dean returns and hears Sam snicker behind him before the younger Winchester tries to trip him by sliding his tail around in front of Dean’s legs. It doesn’t work but for a few precious moments the tension is broken and the group of demons and even some of the angels laugh.
“Our orders are to blend your housing arraignments with our own in order to increase communication and build a bridge between our teams.” Castiel sounds decidedly unhappy about the idea and Dean doesn’t really blame him.
“They want to split us up?” Dean asks and the angel takes a deep breath before responding “They feel a blending of our two units will make a more unified front to our two peoples.”
“Wait a minute,” Ash says from the back. “If we’re all one big group then who’s in charge?”
“I am,” Both Dean and Castiel say at the same time then turn to glare at each other.
Gabriel snorts “Oh, this is going to be good.” Flapping his wings and smirking. Dean gives Sam the stink eye when he sees his brother grinning as well.
Pam, Andy, and Jo end up dropped off on the same wing as Lucifer and Michael. Dean doesn’t miss the way Pam eyes Michael as she gets led to her room. She sees something she likes and what Pam likes Pam usually gets.
Uriel takes Ash and Max down the corridor to near where his living quarters are. They make an odd group trudging down the hallway.
“You and Sam will be on the wing with Gabriel and myself,” Castiel adds and Dean watches as Gabriel gives Sam an appraising look out of the corner of his eye. Sam catches it as well and grins at Dean. His younger brother is a tease but Sam’s never been one to mix business and pleasure. Though for them there has always been a lot of business and not a lot of pleasure.
Dean enters his rooms and drops his bag on the chair in the small living area before turning to find Castiel hovering in the doorway. “What?” he questions.
The angel cocks his head to the side before answering “My apartment is next door if you should need anything. I’ll be by after my rounds to set up your laptop connections. Gabriel’s going to give you and Sam a tour.”
He turns and is gone before Dean can think of a response. The demon shakes his head and presses down on the base of both his horns trying to massage away the start of a killer headache.
“I hate that guy,” he mutters to himself.
****
The demon is…attractive. Castiel sucks in a deep breath of air as he walks the corridors on his rounds. The angel wasn’t prepared for that.
Demons are distinctly different than angels in their physicality. The fact that they are wingless being the first and most obvious difference, the horns being the second. All demons have small points of bone protruding from their foreheads in two places. Cas has interacted with demons before but not until Dean Winchester had he pondered what those horns might feel like. Castiel startles himself with thinking that he wants to touch this man, wants to explore the differences between their two bodies.
Castiel isn’t even going to think about the pointy tail. The possibilities, he’s sure, are endless and impossible. It’s likely the elder Winchester brother seriously dislikes him. From their introduction alone Castiel is certain that the demon is less than pleased with his change of living situation even more so with the fact that his team is being disrupted with the addition of Castiel’s.
The tension is high between them and Castiel doesn’t see it getting better any time soon. He’s just going to have to deal with his attraction and work toward developing at least some kind of professional relationship between them. A more personal one seems unlikely.
Castiel ignores the twinge of longing he experiences. He’s lived a solitary existence too long it seems and there’s something about the sour, guarded expression in Dean’s eyes that makes Castiel think he might not be the only one.
The corridors are empty this late in the day but Castiel takes his time wandering his normal route through the grounds. There’s a part of him that wants to return to the demon’s room too quickly. He fights the urge as being unhealthy and less than reasonable. Castiel is a very reasonable man; a very reasonable very lonely man.
His job is his life and no one can comment on the angels lack of skill in his area of expertise. He’s levelheaded, diplomatic, unassuming, and deadly when he has to be. It’s part of the reason Castiel wants to be able to communicate openly with Dean Winchester. The demon anatomy is significantly different that the angels; their fighting styles unique but powerful even able to take an angel out of the sky if required. Castiel has seen videos and attended lectures but not ever witnessed an exercise in person. He’s positive he could take the elder Winchester in a fight but proving it would be more than satisfying.
While professionally he can appreciate the need for a demonic presence now that the marriage is to be finalized on a more personal note his feathers are ruffled by there being no clear determination of rank between himself and the demon teams leader. This is Castiel’s home turf he should not have to prove his ability to lead. He gets the sense Dean isn’t going to give up his leadership easily or willingly.
Castiel stops by the records room on the way back to his rooms. He’s not sure why he copies his file onto the data stick. But something in the way Dean had responded to his request for information makes the angel think that maybe and olive branch might ease the transition between their two groups.
Dean simply yells “It’s open.” When Castiel knocks on his door.
The angel pushes the door wider but refuses to step into the demon living space without some kind of permission. Dean raises an eyebrow and motions at him to enter with a quick repetitive curl of his tail. At least that’s what Castiel thinks he means the whole tail thing is a little disturbing to the angel.
“If it’s a good time I’d like to set up your system now,” The angel offers.
Dean shrugs and waves his arms in a circle “Sure, not like I have anything else to do.”
Castiel cocks his head to the side observing the demon; he seems agitated but Castiel isn’t sure if that is situational or just cultural.
“What?” Dean asks suspiciously and the angel sighs and shakes his wings. “You seem frustrated,” Castiel offers.
Dean’s tail goes stiff and his hands clench Castiel watches in silent fascination as his jaw tightens before the demon takes a breath and exhales “Yeah, well I’m having a pretty frustrating day.”
Castiel simply doesn’t know what to say to that so he buries himself in the computer and spends the next several minutes in silence gaining the demon access to the security systems and informational networks that he will need to familiarize himself with over the next two weeks of training.
“This is the schematic of the citadel,” Castiel explains when he feels Dean close in behind him. “From here you can access all of the security features we have as well as monitor the comings and goings of anyone in the building. The system will scan anyone you request it to and you can view their personnel files from this window.”
“What does this do?” Dean asks as he leans forward with his hands gripping the back of the chair and points to an area of the screen with his tail. It passes close to the side of Castiels face and the angel recoils in shock before he can stop himself.
“Does my tail bother you?” Dean asks; his voice low and forceful.
“It’s disturbing,” Castiel comments then flinches when he hears himself say the words. This is not going to go well.
“Disturbing,” Dean repeats slowly glaring before his hand snaps out grabbing Castiel’s elbow and shoving him forcefully toward the door to his room. “GET OUT!” The demon orders and Castiel groans as the door is slammed shut behind him. There is a moment of silence and then the sound of something smashing against the wall followed by Dean muttering “I HATE THAT GUY.” If it weren’t for the angels enhanced hearing he would have missed the comment. As it is he ears it clearly and unfortunately so does his brother.
“Making a great first impression there little bro,” Gabriel teases and Castiel glares at him darkly.
“Not all of us have been blessed with your gifts Gabriel,” Castiel responds smartly but he takes the offered comfort of his brother’s wing strokes against his own and follows Gabriel to his apartment just down the hall when the other angel tugs him forward.
“Problems with your demon?” Gabriel asks as the door slips shut behind them. Castiel throws himself on his brothers couch and grinds out through clenched teeth “He is NOT my demon.”
“But you want him to be,” Gabriel responds and when Castiel opens his mouth to argue he continues with “You need to work on your pick up lines. Disturbing went out of style years ago.”
“Shut up,” Castiel mutters but flushes red with embarrassment. He’s not exactly sure how that could have gone worse.
“Well you might have struck out with grumpy over there but I have a dinner date with tall gigantic and handsome,” the other angel purrs.
“Sam Winchester is going to dinner with you?” Castiel can’t believe it.
“Sure, why not?” Gabriel snarks. “I’m going to show him around.”
“Gabriel,” Castiel begins in a warning tone and the other angel gives him a look that makes the words die in his throat.
“He is well educated, interesting, and curious. I’m not trying to get in his pants for a fling I know better than that. He’s attractive and I want to get to know him so I am. Not everything in life has to have an exit strategy Castiel; you never seemed to be able to learn that.” Gabriel rolls his eyes as Castiel heaves himself up off the couch to go to his own apartment.
As he reaches the door he finds Sam Winchester standing on the other side of it. He waves a wing in greeting; forgetting that the demon probably has no idea what he’s trying to impart to him and stumbles home across the hall hoping for some rest so that he can forget about how big of an ass he made himself out to be today.
As he’s opening his door he hears Sam ask Gabriel “What happened with our brothers? Dean is seriously pissed at Castiel.”
As the other angel leads Sam away down the hall Castiel groans as his brother says clearly loud enough for him to hear “Just ignore them; they’re in love.”
He hopes Gabriel chokes on his food.