Remain Hidden (DESTIEL AU)

Chapter Nine

 Castiel was amazed that the one person who had kept him up at night for nearly two weeks was the one person who could make him sleep. Despite his heart and brain nearly exploding with embarrassment and fear when Dean tackled him down under his arm on his bed, when he pulled Cas closer and started running a hand through his hair, every worry and ounce of anxiety slipped away. Sleep had taken him before he realized, his arms slung around the Prince's middle.

It was sunlight that woke him the next morning, and for a Captain who was always up before his garrison, Castiel now hated that it had woken him up. He was groggy from what was probably the best night's sleep he'd ever had, and his arms were moving slightly around a warm something that was rising up and down.

Cas looked around, remembering with a jolt that Dean had cuddled him to sleep like he had threatened. The Prince was laying beside him on his back, snorting softly with one hand tangled in Castiel's hair, and the other hand resting on the arm he had slung around his midsection. Their legs were tangled up in each other under the sheets, and Cas was frozen in a mixture of horror, fascination, and shock. He had slept in bed with Dean for a whole night, and it had been Dean who initiated it.

Cas regretfully began to peel himself off of the Prince, remembering he was supposed to be at his post by now, but Dean's hand on his arm suddenly grew vice-like, and the Prince turned in his sleep, wrapping his free arm around Castiel's waist and effectively pressing the angel's face against his chest.

If it were possible to die of a love-induced heart attack, he would have done it.

Castiel inhaled the same scent that had drove him wild since he was a serving boy—leather and burning wood, mingled with something fresh and light that he couldn't quite place. The smell was practically seeped into Dean's skin, but this time Cas could smell his own scent mixing with the Prince's. Leather and sea air, old books and fire. Pine trees and fresh air and everything good about nature, all bundled up in the space between their bodies. It was wonderful.

But it couldn't last.

"Dean." Cas whispered, trying to pull himself away again. The Prince let out what would definitely be an embarrassing whine and clung onto the angel tighter. But Castiel insisted, poking Dean in the chest and wiggling around enough to rouse him.

"Five more minutes, Cas." Dean mumbled, pressing his nose into Cas' hair this time. "No one'll miss us."

"I'm supposed to be guarding your door." Cas protested.

"There's already someone there."

"But I'm supposed to have relieved them by now."

"You have the day off."

"Says who?"
"Says me. Now shh, I wanna sleep." Dean vaguely patted Castiel's mouth with a hand before returning it around his waist. Cas glared at him, but he had technically gotten a direct order from a royal so...

He grumbled just to be petty but shifted a little closer. He didn't have to look to know where was a smug smirk on Dean's face.

"Stop smiling, you bastard." He grunted.

"Sure thing, Cas."

Friends weren't supposed to do things like this with each other, were they? Friends didn't cling to each other for comfort like this, ignore their duties just to linger a little longer. Dean was just as reluctant as he was to let this moment go. Did Castiel dare to hope? Dare to allow himself to think that maybe—just maybe—his locked away feelings were reciprocated?

Castiel didn't know how long they stayed there, but it was long enough that Dean fell asleep and his hold on him loosened. He let himself linger just for a little while longer, committing every detail of this moment to memory. It would be added to the mental fantasy life he fell asleep to.