Thinking of a version of 13x04 The Big Empty where Mia the shapeshifter therapist offers to appear to Dean as someone he lost, and he looks like he's going to turn her down, but then he hesitates, and gives her this long evaluating look. And then the scene cuts, and you think Mia is going to appear as Mary, because that's who they were talking about before. You see Dean's reaction, and it's this blank kind of shock, because he was expecting to see what he sees, but he didn't realize how it would hit him. And you hear "Hello Dean". And it's Cas. And he doesn't look right, Mia doesn't have his mannerisms, and she doesn't have the outfit, just a plain white button-down and dark slacks, but she looks enough like him. Dean's about to say something, but he can't. He just swallows and grits his jaw and stares. And Mia/Cas says something like "I'm sorry I left you, I know it's hard. But I love you; and that love will stay with you." And you the viewer don't think too too much of the word "love", because Cas has used it before, love like family, love like friends. But anyways, Dean hears that and he frowns, like he's trying to internalize it, he's trying to get some closure out of this, but he can't. He shuts his eyes, with furrowed brows, and he's regretting that he agreed to this at all. And then Mia/Cas moves closer to Dean. She puts her hand on his cheek, and Dean sucks in a breath but he keeps his eyes closed. And then she leans in and kisses him so, so softly. Because she thinks they were like that. And at first Dean trembles at the kiss, but he keeps his eyes closed and lets it happen. Only after a few seconds does he jerk back, wide-eyed, looking terrified. And of course Mia/Cas is immediately worried and sorry that she made a mistake, and she says "Dean--" and is about to apologize. But Dean just turns around and storms out. Dean rushes away from the house, breathing hard like he'd just lost a fight. He gets in the car and slams the door. And his expression collapses, hes looks shattered, and he gasps, shaken and hurting, and tears run down his face.
And that's it. No further discussion or explanation of what happened. No comment from Dean. And then 13x05 Advanced Thanatology happens as normal.
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@collidingxworlds said: “ you’re not alone, okay? not anymore. i’m right here with you. ” [[ inbox call: from this meme || Gabriel! Not sure about the timeline? Could be somewhere before Gabriel's "death" in season 5, or something set later either season 13 (but my Gabriel is canon dive, so some stuff changes in my portrayal compared to canon) or a canon div where he shows up (to Cas) earlier than he does in the show? ]]
𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒 / ACCEPTING ↷
Cas inhales, as if to say something, but remains silent for a few, long minutes. How the act of drawing in breath can hurt... & for a being who does not even need to breathe. This vessel has become more real than his celestial form, for Castiel; complete with his emotions living in his flesh, his sorrow in the sharp intake of air.
❝ How can you say that to me? After everything? ❞ he replies, finally. He means to sound demanding, but the words come out just sad.
There’s a desperate part of him that feels so young (even though he’s never been young); he may be ageless, but Gabriel is still his big brother. Someone he used to... someone he’s always looked up to. He doesn’t think he’d be who he is, without Gabriel’s influence. It feels like several lifetimes ago, before he left Heaven. And look at them now... the both of them, outcasts. Cas yearns to have the companionship and acceptance of even just one of his siblings, but even though Gabriel leaving Heaven all those millenia ago, and more recently, faking his own death, wasn’t about him leaving Castiel, specifically... He’s always felt abandoned, and now he also feels betrayed. He has no right to, not logically, but...
❝ It does not matter. ❞ He stares hard into the horizon. How can he let himself hope? Better to assume Gabriel is going to leave when he’s had enough. Worse, maybe this seeming kindness is a falsehood to begin with, a trick.
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Just imagine for me, if you will:
Cas has made his deal with the empty— a moment of true happiness and the empty will strike. He knows this, he’s known this since the deal was made, obviously. More importantly, he knows what it is that will give him true happiness, and it’s the man standing across from him staring at him with terrified green eyes. He knows what he must do, how he must save Dean. It isn’t how he planned to confess, but—
But—
But wait, Dean is talking. Why is Dean talking?
“Cas,” Dean is choking out, his voice unstable. “Fuck, Cas, this isn’t—“
“Dean—“ Cas glances at the door. They don’t have time for this, but Cas knows that this very possibly is the last thing he’ll ever hear Dean say. And Dean looks urgent, practically begging Cas to listen with the intensity of his gaze.
So Cas relents, just for a moment. He meets Dean’s gaze and it’s enough encouragement for Dean to continue.
“This isn’t how I planned to tell you— if I planned to tell you at all. Fuck, Cas, I always swear that I’m going to tell you next time. But we’re running out of next times, man, and I just— I can’t keep it in— I need to—“ Dean’s eyes are wild as he glances between Cas and every corner of the room, completely aware of the intensity of the situation and the weight of the words he’s trying to say.
“Dean,” Cas says just as urgently, stepping forward to draw Dean’s gaze to him. “Tell me what?”
Dean meets his eyes and for one single moment, the world slows to a stop around them. Cas can see the answer to that question in Dean’s eyes a moment before he says it out loud. He forgets, for just that second, that they’re standing on the precipice of death, that they don’t have the luxury of indulging in this. For just that second, Cas lets himself let out the breath he’s been holding for ten years.
“I love you.” Dean breathes, and he looks like he could sag in relief from finally speaking the words. “I love you so goddamn much and I have for so goddamn long and I couldn’t let either one of us die again without making sure you knew that.”
And oh, oh, Cas has never felt something like this— this blooming, all-consuming warmth. He’s never felt something so tangible unfurl in his chest, spreading out and filling up every corner of his being.
Cas has loved Dean for nearly every second they have known each other and now he knows that Dean loves him, too. That Dean wants him to know— needs him to know that he’s loved, no matter what happens.
Cas opens his mouth to respond—
And he sees the black bubbling along the wall behind Dean.
He should have known.
But how could he know that Dean would love him back? How could he anticipate that Dean would say the words to him that he had rarely said to anyone, in any capacity, in his entire life? Of course he knew Dean had the potential to be his ultimate happiness— or rather that his ultimate happiness was wrapped up in Dean in one way or another. Of course he knew this because everything he did, everything he wanted, everything he cared for or longed for— everything, all of it revolved around Dean.
But still, he never thought that Dean would say it first.
“Dean, I—“ Cas needs to say it back, is desperate to say it back, but the empty is headed directly to him and Dean is in its path.
Cas can’t think, can’t bear the idea of risking Dean for anything. He acts, shoving Dean out of the way as he empty sputters and gurgles, wrapping around him.
“Cas!” His name wrenches out of Dean’s throat in a way that’s painful to hear. Cas hates that it’s the last thing he’ll ever hear in Dean’s voice, hates that it has to be his final memory of the man who gave him everything.
The man who taught him to love, who gave him a place to belong. The man who helped him clean up his messes, who treated him as equal instead of other. The man who became the center of everything in Cas’s universe— every single thing that Cas cared about or was interested in stemmed from the same root named Dean Winchester and now Cas was leaving him behind.
I love you, too! He tries to shout as the empty drags him away. His last conscious thought is a desperate, unbridled hope that against all odds, Dean was able to hear him.
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