Operation Overlord -Destiel War!AU

5. Never Going To End

Cas woke up sore from sleeping on the thin mattress and his leg protested as he tried to clamber to his feet. His muscles were stiff and it took him a good four tries before he managed to stand upright and even then he'd had to catch himself with the bed before he crashed to the floor again.

Dean had been staring at him with a hopeless look on his face, still buried under the blankets that he'd offered to share with Castiel. "Good morning," he muttered.

Castiel huffed and wiped at his forehead. "That was much more difficult than I anticipated."

Dean chuckled, but didn't smile. It wasn't the sort of day that made someone want to grin.

As Castiel made his way out into the living room, he glanced out the window. It was a gloomy day. It was rain lightly and the sky was clouded over.

Dean spent another hour lying awake in the bed before he decided to join Cas.

After a small, uneventful breakfast and a very short discussion about how much nicer the food tasted than what they were used to, they both decided to just stay inside and flick through the few books that sat in the one bookshelf. They were thickly coated with dust and when they were pulled from the shelf, both Castiel and Dean started sneezing.

Dean had tried to get up out of the wheelchair and walk around a bit, but he'd endlessly complained that his muscles were aching and that he was short of breath, so Cas had made him sit down again.

Cas had spent a great deal of time searching for a piece of paper and something to write with, but the apartment didn't seem to be stocked with anything apart from food.

"What do you want paper for?" Dean asked, voice low and grumpy.

Cas rested heavily on his stick. "I was thinking I'd write a letter home… I think my parents deserve to hear from me." He winced and slowly lowered himself onto the couch. "Don't you want to write home?"

Dean licked at his bottom lip and shook his head. "I don't want my dad to know that I'm not fighting any more…"

"He probably already knows…"

"Yeah, but if I write to him then I'm admitting it." Dean shut his eyes and took a deep breath, grimacing and placing a hand against his chest as he let out a cough. He was obviously still in pain.

Cas nodded though he didn't really understand, and inspected a few of the cuts on his hands. They were small and irritating, like paper cuts. "Well, if you change your mind, I'm going to get some things tomorrow…" He stared sideways at Dean and wondered what he was thinking about. Castiel wished that he could get right inside Dean's head and understand his thoughts, but he'd just have to settle for asking and trying to understand Dean's explanations.

Cas was determined to bring Dean outside with him. He'd promised the nurses and doctors that he would look after the other man and Castiel didn't like breaking his promises. He wasn't going to let Dean stay home alone. It took him a while to actually leave the apartment, he spent a few minutes just staring at the closed door and taking deep breaths.

Dean rolled backwards and forwards, still getting used to the movement of his chair. He didn't want to go. He was content staying indoors and staring out at the world through small windows.

Cas eventually left and pushed Dean from behind to get him going.

Cas limped down the street with Dean rolling along next to him, face set into a frown. Both of them looked so miserable and pathetic that people parted to let them through, which was just as well, because Cas was feeling particularly jumpy. Loud bangs and clashes made him jump, shouts made his skin crawl and when people bumped into him, he flinched. His teeth were on edge.