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It was still dark when Dean Winchester Prince of Lawrence, Kansas awoke for the day, well more like was forcibly woken from the constant knocking on his large wooden door. He heard the thick Cajun accent start speaking through said door.
“I hope you’re up already Prince, remember it’s going to be a busy day what with buying your horse and meeting your betrothed and all.”
Dean sat up at the first part, he loved going out to the markets to mingle with the commoners but this time he would be going with an actual purpose. However, he groaned in displeasure at the second part of the sentence, he did not care for being betrothed since birth to some Prince he had never met and what more his parents just for fun wouldn’t tell him his name either. He quickly got out of the plush and very comfortable bed and called out.
“I’m up Benny, you can leave now.” Walking over to his extravagantly large wardrobe he picked out a simple outfit to go horse shopping that morning; a simple flowing white shirt and brown belt with forest green trousers and of course his black boots.
Happy with his choice in clothing for the morning he made his way to his bathroom on his own, he hated if any servants tried to help him do things that he was perfectly capable with doing himself such as choosing his clothes, bathing and dressing. **** Once bathed and dressed Dean made his way downstairs to have breakfast with his younger brother Sam, something he had been doing for as long as he remembered, he made sure he was always there for his younger brother no matter what. “Morning Sammy.” Dean greeted his brother, taking a seat opposite him at the overly large dining table. Sam looked up.
“Morning Dean, ready to get married?” Sam teased Dean, he knew his older brother wasn’t getting married just yet but he couldn’t resist. Dean just looked down at the empty plate in front of him, his face red.
“Geeze Sam I don’t even know his name! Mum and Dad wouldn’t tell me. At least they are letting me meet him before I do have to marry him.” He was exasperated but settled once the serving staff came out with their breakfast of breads, fruits, preserves and cold meats. Dean heartily dug into the spread in front of them. **** Meanwhile Benny had been summoned to speak with the King John Winchester and Queen Mary Winchester. “Make sure that Dean stays out of trouble going out today. We don’t need him starting or getting into any fights today of all days. The Novak’s will be here in a few hours make sure that Dean arrives back here with enough time to get ready for their arrival.” John spoke firm but he did know that Benny was the best person to look out for Dean.
“Of course I will keep him outta trouble, and he usually knows better wit’ me around.” He bowed as he was dismissed and headed off to find Dean, who was still in the dining room munching on an apple as he found out.
Dean had finished the apple to the core just as Benny arrived. “We going now?” Dean couldn’t hide the excitement from his voice, he was finally allowed to buy his own horse.
He didn’t wait for Benny to reply but he quickly said his goodbye to Sam and jumped up from the table and eagerly made his way to the large doors, letting himself outside. He was already out the gate and on his way to the town within moments, Benny as usual hung back enough to give Dean some semblance of freedom. **** Dean made his way through the market, not really bothered by anyone since he was out in the market at least a couple times a week so this was nothing to be excited about, although he did wave and smile to awestruck kids as he made his way to the first stables, although as he was approaching he could hear something a bit further along. He set off running and arrived at what looked like, no what was a horse auction. He pushed his way through the bidders to see a stunning pure black Spanish Lipizzaner mare. Dean could tell that she wasn’t happy being there since the beautiful beast was rearing and biting aggressively at her bit. She was feisty and so far no one had bid on her. Not leaving it for another moment he quickly called his bid. “Sixty thousand crowns.” He stepped forward and repeated himself to the shocked auctioneer who just nodded and accepted the small bags of gold that the Prince handed over. Dean then made his way over to the handler and took the reins. The horse eyed him but Dean stared her down with a calm dominance, she tried to rear up again but Dean kept up his calm dominating stance with her not allowing her to do anything he didn’t want her to and within a short time she was calm enough to leave with him. Dean had ignored the crowd, right now they were not important.Dean met Benny just outside the auction. “She’s a mighty fine beast you found.”
Dean grinned at Benny’s assessment. “That she is Benny and she may be a bit of a handful for Garth so I will be doing everything for her until she settles in.” He walked with Benny now on their way back, he had already bought his own saddle and other riding equipment he would require so they were able to return straight away to the palace. **** Upon their return Benny left Dean to go attend to his other servant duties as well as report to The King and Queen while Dean went and got the mare settled into her stall, dismissing Garth the stable hand on his way. She still looked at him warily, not trusting him yet and Dean was keeping an eye out in case she decided to kick at him or something. Dean grabbed a brush, she was in desperate need of a brush down, she was covered in dust from the walk back to the palace and from the auction. “You know Baby if you behave there may be sugar cubes and carrots in it for you soon.” He watched her ears flicker in interest and noted to himself to follow through as soon as he was down with the brush down and also decided on her name, he would call her Baby. **** He was about half way through brushing down the tall wary mare when he heard the distinct sound of boots approaching, Dean didn’t turn around thinking it was Sam. “Hey Sammy come to check out my new horse.” He spoke grinning till he heard the words that were spoken.
“Hello Dean.” That voice was unknown it was too deep and like the person had swallowed gravel, that was not Sam. He stopped brushing and turned around on the spot.
“You’re not Sam. Who the Hell are you?” He was confused and didn’t associate this man with being his betrothed since as far as he knew they weren’t due for another few hours.
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The very slightly older man looked amused at Dean’s confusion and the fact that he was now brandishing the horses brush like a weapon. “You know that’s not going to do much good, and I’m not a threat.” Dean kept his defensive stance regardless of the man’s words. “Why do you know my name? Unless somehow you are my betrothed which you can’t be since him and his family aren’t supposed to be here yet and since I don’t know their name well they shouldn’t know mine.” He spoke pointedly at the stranger. “Name’s Castiel Novak Prince of Massachusetts. My parents overestimated the travel time to get here and we ended up here early. You should come inside and our parents want us meeting formally.”Dean pointedly made a scene of ignoring Castiel, he didn’t like this man and apparently he was his betrothed. He shook his head and went back to brushing down Baby before speaking when he realised Castiel was still watching him. “You go back, as far as I was aware this was my own time not yours so I will come inside when I’m ready so hurry up and get out of my horse’s stall, blue eyes.” He heard the damn man chuckle at the nickname. “Whatever you say, green eyes.” He was amused as he left. He liked Dean but if Dean didn’t like him, well he would have to use this time that he was staying in Kansas to get him to like him. He wasn’t certain that Dean didn’t like him but he had his suspicions. Castiel made his way back inside heading straight back to the room holding his parents and the Winchesters. “He didn’t know who I was.” He was glaring at the Winchesters since Castiel had known about Dean all his life but now he found out that Dean didn’t even know his name. “Explain.”Mary quickly stepped in before her husband could say anything. “We didn’t think Dean would take it well. He was angry enough when we even told him about the betrothal we thought it better to leave your identity out, but we all agreed that you should know his identity since your parents there said you reacted quite well to the news or at least had accepted it.” Castiel nodded accepting the explanation for now. “Well he isn’t coming inside until he’s done with his horse; I will wait in my room till then.” Benny who had been standing by the door came over. “We’ve taken your stuff up to the Prince’s room, you will be residing there for your stay.” He began to lead the way for Castiel to follow. ****Dean kept brushing Baby long after she was perfectly dust free, she was starting to warm up to Dean because of the long brush down. After a while he carefully tapped each leg so she would lift it so he could check her shoes, thankfully they seemed new and in good condition so at least he didn’t have to worry about that. He put the brush away and grabbed the pick to clean out her hooves. Once he was satisfied he replaced the pick and removed the bridle from her head, setting it over where they kept the rest of the bridles and saddles and other riding equipment.It was a few moments later that Dean decided that he had better go back up and get cleaned up before his parents sent Benny out looking for him. He trudged his way inside the palace and wandered to the end of the passageway before slipping behind a statue and using the secret passage for a direct route to his room, he wanted to avoid his parents and the Novak’s. ****Castiel had thanked Benny and dismissed him once they reached Dean’s room. He walked inside and began inspecting everything and even rearranged some of the furniture to irritate Dean, knowing that doing this without permission would probably set Dean off when he returned. He didn’t care, he just wanted to see the younger’s reaction.Since Dean looked like he was taking his time the slightly older prince went over to the newly moved bookshelf and selected one at random then made himself comfortable on Dean’s well-made and very comfortable bed.****Dean followed the dark passage till he came out a few paces from his room, making sure no one was around he quickly walked to his room and let himself in only to pull up short at his room being different and the source of his earlier irritation being on his bed, boots and all, reading of all things well he supposed it could be worse but still. He stiffly walked up to his bed, studied the man for a second before going off at the other Prince. “What the hell are you doing in my room?” He growled out, crossing his arms and glaring at the other.“Our parents arranged for us to share your room is what the hell I’m doing here.” He closed the book and stood up. “So if you have an issue with it take it up with our parents.”Of course Dean couldn’t respond but looked closer around his room to see exactly what had changed and been moved. “You moved my bookshelf and my sofa? Seriously what made you think that you had permission?” He held up his hand to prevent Castiel’s response. “You know what? I don’t care, just get out of my room.” Dean then went about correcting his minimal furniture that had been moved from their rightful positioning.“Technically right now this is our room not yours.” Castiel didn’t move from his spot, no the prince decided to strip and change into his proper clothing in the middle of Dean’s room. Dean chose the wrong moment to turn back around, he was immediately flustered by a mostly naked Castiel standing in the middle of his room looking for his formal white prince getup in the large closet. He was unimpressed with this cocky, smug prince and growled under his breath as he marched into the bathroom to wash and change himself. “Oi prince douchbag you better be gone from my room once I’m done in here.” He called out.****Castiel sniggered once Dean was in the bathroom and quickly got re dressed, making sure his hair was perfect, as well as making sure his suit was crease free and presentable. He finished the outfit with a small gold wing broach on the top of his cravat and made his way down to their parents, not because Dean told him to leave the room but their parents really had waited long enough for them to meet officially despite their unofficial meetings already.Dean left his bathroom not long after he entered it, picking out his clothes for the official meeting he picked his black formal outfit with gold embroidery and accents. He dressed and quickly made his way down to the drawing room where everyone was currently waiting. He calmly walked into the room upon arriving. “Good Afternoon King and Queen Novak.” He smiled charmingly. “I apologise I was not ready upon your arrival; I was unaware that you would be arriving so early.” He then turned to face Castiel, acting like he was happy to officially meet him though with veiled sarcasm. “It’s nice to meet you Prince Castiel Novak of Massachusetts, I hope we can get along quickly.” He smiled and made an act of kissing Castiel’s hand before dropping it and stepping back. Castiel smiled charmingly at Dean. “I know we will get along quickly Dean, Prince of Kansas.” He kept the sarcasm to a minimal amount so that their parents would not pick up on it, not that they were paying attention anymore. The two kings and queens were busy discussing kingdom matters so Dean took the opportunity to slip away back to his room. **** On his way back to his room he made sure he wasn’t being followed by Cas and slipped into one of the secret passages and quickly made his way to his room, he needed time to just get his head around the fact that he was going to have to deal with the older prince for an undisclosed amount of time right now.
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He slipped through his door and was immediately hit with the scent of fresh baked apple-peach pie and slightly sweetened tea. He smiled Benny must have asked Andrea and Gabriel down in the kitchens to make this for him. He took a seat but then frowned upon noticing another place had been set up on his tea table with another slice of pie and another cup of tea. Dean dug into the fresh pie just as he heard the handle of his door twist and the brief creak of the opening door, he looked up noticing the older prince, acknowledged him but didn’t invite him to sit opposite him as Castiel had sat down anyway. He paused in his pie eating for just a second. “You do know that I came back here because I didn’t want to have to keep looking at your stupid face.” He was glaring daggers at the other. “My stupid face? I think I have a quite a nice face.” The charm was irritatingly thick in Castiel’s voice Dean thought.Dean groaned and started eating his pie again, Castiel seemed to always have some kind of come back to him which annoyed him and they had only known each other for a few hours. He didn’t know if he could cope with the older prince forever.****Castiel was watching Dean closely, silently. He was trying to figure out how to get Dean to talk to him without them getting sarcastic or irritated at each other, but first before doing anything he picked up his dessert fork, leaned across the table and stole some of Dean’s pie, sitting back with a satisfied look as he ate the sweet stolen bit of pie.Dean growled in annoyance and picked up his plate so that no more pie could be stolen causing Castiel to laugh and start eating his own pie. He chewed thoughtfully for a moment and had a sip of tea. “So Dean… We should get to know each other, you know properly.” He suggested to the younger, he genuinely wanted Dean to like him.Dean was chewing on his fork while Castiel spoke, knowing that that the older was right and they really did need to at least seem like they were getting on, at least to appease their parents. “Alright Cas. What do you want to know?” He had finished the pie and was sitting back with his arms crossed. Castiel grinned. “What instruments were you made to learn growing up?” He wanted to know if Dean had gone through the same musical torture he had gone through growing up. “I wasn’t made to learn anything. I chose to learn the piano and guitar. What about you huh? I’m guessing you didn’t enjoy your musical learning…”“I enjoy music, I’m not perfect at producing it, I was made to learn piano and violin, I’m better on the violin though, like my dad.” The conversation stalled and it was only the first question, neither of them knowing what else to ask.****Dean sipped his tea awkwardly quiet. All he had learned was that Castiel played two instruments like he did. He racked his brain going through things he had learnt from his tutor growing up. “Uh Cas, wasn’t the Novak line like affected by one of those old witches from a couple centuries back?” He knew it was kind of potentially a personal question but he was curious.Castiel slightly stiffened in his chair but knew he had better tell the truth; he wouldn’t want Dean to find out suddenly or from someone else. “Wings, she cursed the Novak descendants with wings, to make us seem inhuman since our family a couple of centuries ago were not fair rulers. Probably not the worst curse but it can be annoying.”Dean raised an eyebrow not quite believing what he was hearing. “So witches were real then? Wait if you have wings why can’t I see them now?” Dean felt boring now to Castiel, his irritation for now replaced with fascination if what Castiel said was true, he needed proof.Castiel sighed and stood up, he moved over to the bed, his back to Dean, it was seconds later that large black wings erupted from his back, ruffling then settled, the magic that had created the wings making them able to pass through clothing without tearing.Castiel turned around again to face Dean, leaving the wings out, it felt good stretching them since he had to constantly hide them beneath his skin.Dean didn’t know what to say, he was completely fascinated and stood up, moving closer to inspect the feathers. “They’re really real… Can I touch them?” “Go ahead.” Castiel quickly spoke and turned around again so that he was once more facing away from Dean.Dean’s fingers immediately ran through the feathers at the base of the wings, then the feathers further along. “This is okay isn’t it? And by the way Cas I still find you irritating.”“This is fine Dean. Well we have only known each other for a few hours, I’m sure you will find me less irritating as the time goes on. I mean according to my parents I will be living here from now on. This is permanent.”Dean’s hold in the feathers tightened, scrunching and irritating the feathers, causing Castiel to jerk away. “Shit, sorry about the feathers.” Dean hesitatingly reached for them and carefully straightened them back out. “I damn this I wish my parents would tell me things. Maybe then I wouldn’t be so irritated by you.” He ran his hands over his face in irritation at the whole situation.Castiel was facing Dean again, watching the younger carefully. “Your wings okay? I am sorry, I shouldn’t have scrunched them.” He looked guilty and concerned so Castiel pulled him in for a quick hug. “They’re fine, even better because you did the right thing and fixed them.”Dean hadn’t protested the hug because just because he found blue eyes to be irritating at times, maybe he wouldn’t be horrible to live with and maybe he is a good person. They pulled out of the hug and Dean sat on his bed, tired from the range of emotions he had dealt with over the day.
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The rest of the day passed for Dean and Castiel in mutual acceptance of each other, although Dean couldn’t resist on their way to dinner with just Sam, (since their parents were still in meetings) to trip Cas and catch him before he fell flat on his face, the annoyed look on the other’s face was worth it and he had to hold back a laugh. Dinner was a quieter affair with them all stuffing their faces with the delicious food that the kitchens had put out that night for the boys, Sam looked like he was evaluating if Castiel was good enough for his brother. It was awhile before anyone said anything and by anyone it was Sam who broke the comfortable silence.“Castiel is an interesting name, got a meaning behind it?”“Castiel is another name for the angel Cassiel, the Angel of Saturday, angel of tears and solitude. It also means Shield of God or my cover is God... My younger twin brothers got Michael and Raphael for their names, not that we are overly religious I think my parents just liked the names.” Dean was intrigued by the information he had just received, his own name just meant valley and he kept silent on that fact, but he knew that Cas probably already knew the meaning of his name. He shook his head and silently kept eating, mulling over the entire day. He was sorry that Castiel had put his wings away earlier but he didn’t want Sam to see them anyway. He finished his food and quickly excused himself.****Dean as every night was hurrying to his room, he loved playing the piano or his guitar before retiring for the night but he was in more of a hurry because he really didn’t want to be caught playing tonight by Cas. Well they were sharing a room though and there was a secret room next to his room that housed the instruments, chances were very high that he would be discovered anytime soon.He hadn’t taken any secret passages this time but instead just made a direct beeline to his wing of the palace, reaching it quickly he walked calmly into his room straight over to the wall beside his bed, slipped his fingers down to the tiny catch and swung the secret door open, lighting the room quickly with the rudimentary electric lights within the room. He closed the door and made his way over to the piano, very lightly running his fingers over the smooth shiny black surface of the baby grand piano before opening her up to show off the ivory keys, something he hoped one day would stop, he didn’t like that his piano had been made at the expense of innocent animals. He made up for it by learning the piano hard and playing well.He began with a simple melody, something soft and sweet but nothing in particular. He just let his fingers play what they felt like.Castiel headed back to their room a while after Dean had, he wanted to give him some space at least. He wandered slowly to the wing. As he got closer to the door to their room he could hear faint piano music, it sounded like it was coming from the bedroom but there was no piano in there and there were no doors around that housed the piano. He took a breath and stepped into the bedroom, the music was louder but still quiet. He figured that there was a secret room around somewhere so he ran his fingers over every single part of exposed wall until he caught the catch by the bed, allowing the door to open.Dean hadn’t noticed the door opening and continued to play, slowly moving into Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata Movement One just as Castiel moved into the room and the secret door silently closed. It was a long endurance piano piece but marvellous when played correctly. Castiel leaned against the secret door and kept quiet, he didn’t want Dean to stop playing because it would ruin the magic of the moment of such an emotionally rich piano piece.Dean’s eyes were closed, his body moving with the notes he played, occasionally biting his lower lip to make sure he always hit the right key in the right order, each key of the movement slow and deliberately hit.Castiel was fascinated seeing Dean completely unaware and one with his music, Cas could never achieve this kind of connection with the piano. He did however have a strong connection with his violin and hoped that one day he could play a duet with Dean. The movement finished there was barely a pause before Dean began the lighter second movement. Castiel was still enraptured with the music he even allowed his wings out since he was so relaxed watching Dean. He did know that Dean was probably going to be pissed when he realised that he had been watched all this time though. He wanted to enjoy this while he could. It was the third movement that caught Cas having to hold back sucking in a breath at the speed that Dean’s fingers moved along the keys, they were graceful never hitting the wrong note in such a fast movement, each trill was perfect everything about Dean and his piano were perfect to Castiel. He just couldn’t take his eyes off the young talented prince, he crossed his arms and kept listening and watching. As much as he wanted to interrupt Dean to let him know how amazing he was he needed to be patient and wait since it was nearing the end of the piece he knew he could wait it out since he had already waited thirteen minutes already, two minutes more were no big deal.Castiel couldn’t stop himself from clapping when Dean finished the piece and stopped for a breather after such an intense piece of music. The clapping causing Dean to jump and groan. “Damn it Cas! How did you even find this room? I didn’t think my playing was that loud.” He was so embarrassed his face was crimson; against his will of course Dean Winchester never willingly flushed in front of anyone.“You play louder than you think, but you are amazing so stop being embarrassed, you look like a ripe tomato.” He chuckled softly. “But I couldn’t interrupt you playing so I waited here for you to finish the entire Sonata.”Dean sighed and stood up, stretching. He had changed earlier out of his fancy prince get up so he was in his looser simple clothes similar to earlier. “Well to make this fair, tomorrow you are to play me something long and difficult on your violin, in this room of course. Now if you don’t mind I’m going into Chopin Nocturne opus nine number two. So if you are staying then the nest of pillows I suggest would be more comfortable.” He indicated the nest that wasn’t too far away from the piano.Dean and Castiel spent a good few hours in the room, Castiel relaxed and watching Dean and Dean going through a small amount of his repertoire. ****It was only when Dean was too tired to continue playing that he stopped for the evening, closed up the piano and they both went back into the bedroom. Dean grabbed his night clothes and went into his bathroom to do his nightly routine before going back into his room and getting into bed while Castiel then did his own routine in the bathroom.When Castiel climbed into the bed, Dean made sure that he was as close to the edge of the bed as he could be without falling out, of course causing Castiel to softly laugh at him. “Dean, come back further in, I won’t do anything weird in the night, I promise, but you being that close to the edge, you’ll be on the floor by morning.” Dean grumbled but did move a little away from the edge. They both snuggled into the plush bed, sleep finding them easily that night, after such a long and busy day full of emotions well primarily irritation and annoyance they were both exhausted.
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Castiel was the first to wake the next morning, he was amused to find Dean wrapped around him during the night. He didn’t move but waited for Dean to wake up, which of course happened just a few moments later. It had taken Dean but a moment after waking to realise that he was wrapped around Cas and so pulled back in shocked annoyance and managed to roll himself off the edge of the bed, causing Cas to start laughing. Dean stood up and glared daggers at the older prince. “You know, you’re really annoying you feather brained idiot, that wasn’t funny.”Castiel was still laughing at Dean. “Yes but the bed is massive and you still managed to fall off, so it was funny, or did you want me to come over there and grip you tight and raise you from the perdition of your carpet?”Dean rolled his eyes and began ignoring Cas. He walked over to his wardrobe, picking out his light clothes. He was going riding that morning, he needed to start training Baby. He took the clothes into the bathroom and set about getting ready for his morning.Castiel was up moments later and preparing for the morning, waiting for Dean to finish with the bathroom. Dean was out a moment later, freshly cleaned and dressed, still ignoring Cas he put on his riding boots and made to leave his room. He was up so early that Benny hadn’t even had a chance to make it to his wing yet. Dean immediately went down to the dining room and waited the few more moments that it would take Sam to come down.****Dean wasn’t lucky enough to avoid Cas during breakfast since he came down seconds after Sam had. Dean kept quiet during breakfast which confused Sam however the youngest didn’t pry into the situation.Once Dean had eaten he excused himself and walked briskly outside and down to the stables. Immediately he went to Baby’s stall. “Hey girl, hope you have been behaving for Garth.” He petted her face and then began getting her ready for riding, getting the bridle on her, the saddle blanket, saddle and stirrups. He made sure everything was secure and led her by the reigns into a fenced paddock. He swung himself up and so far she hadn’t tried to buck or rear him off. He set her into a steady walk around the perimeter then tried to set her to a trot, she ignored him at first but Dean was persistent and eventually she yielded but decided to go from a trot to a canter quite quickly and without the right lead from Dean, so to pull her back in line he kept his heels down, pressed his calves into the saddle, he sat up straighter and tugged the reigns, thankfully she yielded from the canter back into a stable trot.He kept up the basic gait training for a couple of hours, his control and their trust growing so that most of the time he commanded her, she would yield to his commands. They stopped training now so that Dean could brush her down and clean out her hooves.****It was another half hour before he was done and knew he would end up running into Cas again, he was still annoyed by him for laughing at him earlier that morning. He made his way to his room and walked inside, not paying attention since it was his room and collided straight into someone, losing his balance and ended up dragging the other down with him. Once the shock had worn off a few seconds later he opened his eyes and let out an irritated groan. “Damn it blue eyes! Why were you standing in front of my door?”Castiel was smirking, enjoying this situation way too much and casually stayed on top of Dean. “I was about to go look for you since we have to learn to dance together in about a half hour. Benny came and told me.” He sniffed Dean, just to annoy him. “You should wash, you smell like dirt and horse.”dean’s eyes hardened and he pushed Cas off and stood up. “I am going to wash idiot, not because you told me to but because that’s why I came back to my room.” He flicked Castiel’s ear on his way to the closet to grab new clothes and went into the bathroom again, slamming the door. It was safe to say that Dean was dreading the dance practice.Castiel, now not needing to go find Dean decided that now would be a good time to change into appropriate clothes for the dance practice, choosing another white outfit, this time with blue accents, and as usual he had his winged pendant.Dean took time in the bathroom to calm himself, it wouldn’t look good for him if he went out to the dance practice all tense and irked at Cas. Once cleaned up he dressed in his black and dark green accented outfit and made his way back into his room to find that Cas had also changed.Dean ignored well after subtly checking him out Cas and began the walk to the ballroom, Cas not far behind him. ****To say that the dance practice had been a disaster that day would be an understatement. Since Dean was still irate at Cas and more so since he had to be in close contact with him to dance many incidents were had, they both kept attempting to lead when one of them was supposed to follow, causing many trip ups much to the annoyance and amusement of their instructor. She had taught people with less grace, these guys did have grace they were just both stubborn since they both wanted to be the lead. Finally, Dean had had enough. “Damnit Ruby, I can’t dance with him!”Ruby sighed. “I will work on a new program for you both to get you use to dancing together, I will be back here again next week. I hope by then you have worked out your differences. Practice is over.” It had been a very long two hours and Dean escaped immediately to his music room, not to play but just to relax and calm himself. His heart was still racing after being in such close proximity to Cas for longer than they had been, not including the night before. Castiel made Dean feel strange and he was ending up clumsier than usual, although most of it was always Castiel’s fault.****Castiel really was itching to fly and stretch his wings. He wandered outside and seeing that no gardeners or anyone else was around he let his wings out and fully extend to their full twelve feet across. He ran a short distance before shooting straight up above the palace, flying over the stables and paddocks, looping over the start of the forest, doing this a few times, his wings powerfully beating to keep him airborne. He glided and did a few dives. Finally, after some time he landed and hid his wings again.He considered staying outside but seeing that the sky was overcast with what looked like developing storm clouds he decided against it, the safest place would be indoors. Texan storms he had heard could be brutal.He wandered a bit around the palace before wandering back to the bedroom, it seemed they both just naturally always went back there when not needed for anything, of course the bedroom was empty though so Cas decided to check out the secret music room in case Dean was in there.
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Dean had settled himself in his nest of pillows in the music room, thankful that Castiel so far hadn’t followed him back. It didn’t take long for him to relax himself after the annoying dance lesson and it didn’t take long for Dean to fall asleep in his nest, despite having slept well the night before, Castiel wore him out all morning. He did note however before falling asleep Castiel’s faint scent lingering still on the pillows and a few stray black feathers, it didn’t make him feel as irate as he thought it would.****Castiel slipped the catch as silently as possible, since he couldn’t hear music coming from the room he wasn’t sure if Dean was even inside, but just poking his head through the door he found Dean asleep in the nest of pillows. He crept inside and closed the door.While Dean had been with his horse earlier he had come in here and placed his violin with the instruments, he now made his way over to the hard case and unlatched it, removed the protective cloth and placed it on his left shoulder in the classical baroque style of violin playing, however his bow was more streamlined rather than having the traditional bowed and arched baroque bow which was also a fraction smaller than a streamlined bow. He tightened the bow to the correct tension, the horse hair nice and clean, he quickly applied some rosin to make the bow stick to the strings. He placed the violin on his shoulder and began to play soft quiet melodies, watching Dean.It was awhile after the music had started filtering into Dean’s subconscious that he slowly began waking up as a result. He blinked himself awake and looked around to find the source of the violin music. He found it quickly, his green eyes settling on sharp blue eyes which were looking directly at him while he played. Dean hadn’t been expecting music so early on in the day but he had to admit that Cas did have talent for the smooth polished wood on his shoulder. The melody changed to something that he recognised, something more powerful and traditionally not meant for solo violin but for pipe organ. “Toccata and Fugue in D minor?” He whispered to himself, he was transfixed by the skill of the arrangement that Cas had put together, the speed and skill of Castiel’s string-crossing and with chords during each section. His mind blanked and he just concentrated on the music that Castiel was making right now. Castiel had closed his eyes at some point to concentrate now on the delicate harmonics before some intense chords. He was beginning to not stand so still as he played, much like Dean on the piano he moved with the music, taking the odd step here and there, he no longer concentrated on Dean but solely on his music. Dean was awestruck as the piece continued, this wasn’t just some basic version but the full entire piece. It was by the end of the piece that Dean was practically drooling at Cas, skill at the violin to Dean far outdid that of the piano.Castiel opened his eyes, amused by Dean’s expression. He smirked a little and turned to put the violin away, he didn’t want to overplay and deal with the after pains.“What make of violin is that?” Dean asked after schooling his features back to normal and not looking like a musical love sick puppy. Not many violins have such rich acoustic ability so this one must have been made by one of the masters. “Il Cannone Guarnerius, created by the Italian Luthier Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri. The violin got its name from Niccolo Paganini my family bought it at an extreme price from Italy.” He finished putting the instrument away with absolute care and stood up again. “So musically we’re now even.” It was as Cas finished speaking that the first crash of thunder was heard.As Castiel turned back to Dean he found the younger prince back in his nest hiding and softly cursing underneath a pillow which Dean had plonked over his head trying to block out the storm.Cas wandered over and bent down, sure he could be annoying and irritating but he’s not a dick. “Dean?” There was another crash of thunder and the rain started. He saw Dean flinch and sighed sitting down next to him. “So not fond of storms then?” He saw Dean shake his head under the pillow. “Please leave me, I don’t need you here Cas. I can manage through this alone.” Well he didn’t want Castiel to leave, he was just extremely embarrassed. Each crack of thunder was closer and louder than the last, each more violent than the last. “I know you don’t completely like or trust me yet, but I’m not about to leave you like this.” He lay down next to Dean and had his wings come out, settling one over Dean. He didn’t expect Dean to tell him what had made him hate the storms so much.****All Dean could remember was being five years old and there being a vicious storm during the late afternoon, he had been looking out the window at the streaks of lightning he had been fascinated by storms back then. He had a clear view of the Gardeners Servant House but it took just two bolts of quick succession lightning strikes to set it on fire with Kevin, Balthazar and Gadreel still inside… The only two who were not inside were Anna and Hannah Milton the twin flower specialists.Whenever a severe storm hit Dean couldn’t help but end up caught up in the memory, the three young gardeners had been friendly to him and he missed them.****Castiel removed the pillow from Dean’s head much to the younger’s annoyance. “I don’t know what caused your fear Dean but I know hiding won’t help you right now. Also this palace is very strong so I doubt that the storm could do any major damage.”He heard Dean let out a knowing sigh and moved the wing off him, the storm was no longer overhead at least so Dean sat up, his face flaming red in embarrassment, choosing Castiel’s wing as a good place to hide his blush, rubbing his face all into the wing. “Shit happened long time ago, lost good people. That’s all.” He muttered into the wing without going into detail. He was weirdly comfortable right now with Cas, still embarrassed as hell though.“You need a hug.” Cas proclaimed softly. He pulled Dean up to his feet and before Dean could protest he pulled the slightly taller male into a firm hug, wings and all. Dean huffed and realised that struggling would be pointless when the hug felt nice so he returned it and snuffled his face into Cas’s shoulder much to the elder’s amusement. They stood like that for a few moments, the storm still violent but it wasn’t over the palace anymore and so not a threat anymore.****They pulled apart moments later and Cas led Dean back into the bedroom, he had a feeling that there may be some pie left for them in the room, and going by Dean’s reaction the day before Dean liked his pie. Thankfully Cas hadn’t been wrong, there was fresh cherry pie and hot cocoa waiting for them, it couldn’t have been there long and Dean lit up and bolted over to the pie. “Pie, fixer of all things.” He grinned, sat down and dug in, remembering that Cas could try and steal some of his so he picked it up and kept it close, glaring at Cas across from him whenever it looked like he was going to try and bring his fork over to his plate. “Your chefs really know how to make pie, not even our chefs are this good.”Dean grinned. “Well they also all love pie and spend all their time perfecting them. But you are never allowed to steal my pie.” He was sucking on his fork, chewing at it lightly before putting it down with the empty plate and started sipping on the hot milky sweet drink.****They spent the rest of the day after the sun came out again in a more companionable way, Dean taking Cas down to the stables and introducing him to Baby, she huffed at Cas, snuffled his shirt then used him as a scratching post for her head or maybe it was affection but whatever it was it had Dean laughing hard since Cas was now covered in horse hair. Cas was going to introduce Dean to Lincoln but the risk of even more horse hair from his affectionate Andalusian had them both put it off. They wandered around the gardens for a time till they went back inside since Cas was grumbling about needing a bath and a change of clothes.**** While Castiel bathed Dean pretended to sleep. Although Cas caught him at it and decided a little bit of annoyance wouldn’t hurt him, so he picked off a lose feather, he noted that he was close to needing to be groomed, he ran the soft feather under Dean’s nose back and forth causing the young prince to sneeze. “Damn it Cas! I like your feathers but I don’t want them under my nose.” He was irritated but not as much as he would have been the day before. Progress may be a little slow but the pace was also slowly picking up especially since the storm. Then he opened his eyes and sat up quickly. “Why don’t you have a shirt on!?” He yelped out but was obviously staring cause damn Cas was fit.Castiel chuckled softly and went over to the wardrobe to choose a soft blue cashmere sweater, pulling it on quickly. “Honestly? Seeing you fake sleeping was too good of an opportunity to waste and the no shirt thing? Well I wanted to see your reaction.”Dean was busy grumbling in slight annoyance. Thankfully dinner came and went quickly with Sam, conversation was light, the storm never once mentioned.Finally it was time to sleep, Dean stripped off in front of Cas to get him back for earlier, the difference being Dean stripped till he was only in his undershorts and only pulled on a light sleep shirt, that he left open. Cas seeing Dean wearing so little, the elder prince had to excuse himself to the bathroom for a few moments. Dean shrugged it off and climbed into the bed, close to the centre. Cas came out of the bathroom looking much more relaxed and growled at Dean for purposefully taking up most of the bed, his left eyebrow raising as Dean looked at him smugly then turned his back on Cas so the elder climbed in behind Dean and pulled him to his chest. Dean’s breath hitched but since he slept so well being wrapped around Cas the night before he allowed Cas to keep holding onto him.
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Being a Saturday now, Dean and Castiel were able to sleep longer, however Dean being use to waking early was awake first. At some point in the night he had turned, still in Castiel’s arms but facing him, in fact their faces were very close. He pulled back just a little, not because he was uncomfortable because honestly he was becoming very comfortable being close to Cas, no he pulled back in order to see Castiel’s face better while he was sleeping. He couldn’t help but notice how young and cute he looked while asleep, his hair completely mussed up, standing in different directions.
After contemplating for a few moments he brought a hand up and very lightly traced the elder’s face, tracing down to his mouth and prodded at his lips lightly, his fingers getting licked in the process and cheeky blue eyes opened catching Dean who had pulled back and squirmed around till he was sitting up, with said licked fingers at his own mouth.“Going for some kind of indirect kiss are you Dean? You do know you could have a real one since I am right here.” Castiel moved himself to sit up close to Dean. “Do you want me to kiss you?”
“Yes damn it Cas, you’re so damn annoying but so damn appealing.” He wasn’t really surprised by Castiel’s mouth immediately being on his after that statement and Dean didn’t exactly know what to do with the kiss but he went with it and they broke apart after a moment since Dean needed to breath, he hadn’t thought about breathing through his nose from the mild shock of his first kiss.
Dean was breathing a little harder and he could feel his heart attempting to escape with how fast it was going; he knew his face was a little red as he looked down at the sheets.
“You okay Dean?” He used a couple of fingers to turn Dean to face him. Dean nodded. “All good yeah as far as first kisses go I think yeah it was good. But I think we should try again you know?”
Cas grinned and brought them to lay down, with Dean underneath him and kissed him again. Dean this time was breathing through his nose and wrapped his arms around Cas. Something for them both must have clicked overnight.****After the second kiss they just stayed holding on to each other for a few moments. “We should get up.” Dean mentioned after some time had passed. “Not that I don’t like this but we don’t want anyone looking for us. Maybe we can go riding or something today, we have a neat riding field down from the stables. I mean I’m not sure how Baby will be since she can be stubborn and not always listen but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind riding out with you on Lincoln, she might behave herself.”
Cas listened and agreed. “Could be fun.” He got off Dean and got out of the bed, grabbed his riding clothes and snagged the bathroom first to clean up and change.
Dean meanwhile took his time, choosing black pants and a loose green shirt with a brown belt with black riding boots. By the time he chose everything Cas was out of the bathroom and dressed in a similar outfit however his shirt was blue, of course they had to choose shirts that matched their eyes, they seemed to do that a lot Dean thought.Dean quickly went into the bathroom, cleaned himself up and dressed while Cas waited the few moments it took Dean to be ready. “Right, first we are snagging some food then we are riding.” Of course Dean’s stomach had to growl as he said that. “Right let’s go down.”****The dining table had bowl laden with fruit waiting for them so Dean went and snagged a banana – on purpose of course, while Cas grabbed an apple, he could feel Cas’s eyes on his as he chomped on his fruit and he enjoyed it. They snagged some other fruits before heading down to the stables.Once at the stables Dean grabbed Cas for a brief kiss and left him to go and sort out Baby while Cas had to go to the other end of the stables to prepare Lincoln for their ride.Several moments later they were both in the field. “Ready Dean, maybe your Baby there will learn some things since these two are both Spanish bred.”
“Well as long as Lincoln knows how to behave because I can see that he isn’t gelded. I’m not even going to ask how you trained him, but we better not end up with a bunch of foals suddenly.”They both set their horses to an easy walk but it wasn’t long before Dean noticed that Castiel’s horse had started walking differently. “Hey Cas, what is that walk?” Dean had never seen it before but liked the way it looked.
“Spanish Walk, I can help you teach it to Baby at some point, it would look nice with both of our horses able to do it.” With that Cas set off across the field in a smooth canter since the distance was short, Baby and Dean not wanting to be left behind set off at the same gait, Baby they discovered was faster.They kept up their game of tag so to speak and racing around the field although Baby was getting cheeky and was switching up her gait often enough without the correct signals that Dean was having trouble keeping up and getting back control and of course ended up being reared off, landing on his back just hard enough to wind him, and maybe a bruise or two would form nothing serious though.
Cas rode over and jumped off Lincoln rushing over to Dean who was now sitting up but Cas ignored that and began running hands all over Dean all concerned like.
“Cas hey Cas?” Dean realised he was being ignored so he flicked the elder’s nose causing Cas to hiss softly and pull back. “I’m fine Cas, winded but fine.” Although he was touched that Cas did rush over to check him.
“I think our horses have had enough.” Cas spoke his head turning to watch the two horses eating grass happily.
“Yeah, I would say so.” The younger groaned as he stood up. “Also before you say anything I am fine, really and if you don’t believe me I will allow you to check my back to prove it back in our room okay?” He had to get that out quickly since he could tell Cas had wanted to say something when he stood up. “Let’s just sort these two out hey?” He indicated their two great Spanish beasts.****As soon as they were done Cas dragged Dean back to the castle, he wouldn’t allow Dean to stall him from checking his back, well just a little stall to wash their hands of all the horse hair and dirt.
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Once clean Dean and Cas went back into the bedroom, Dean did not need to be told to remove his shirt, quickly pulling the loose fabric over his head with barely a wince. He stood shirtless in the middle of the room, his back to Cas proving that he wasn’t badly hurt.Cas walked over to Dean and tapped his lower back and left shoulder. “You do have some bruises showing up Dean, they don’t look pleasant.” Dean shrugged. “Well they aren’t really a bother.” He was lying but he had dealt with much worse than a bit of bruising on his back and shoulder. Cas moved in front of Dean, raising his left eyebrow at Dean in a ‘oh really’ fashion. “So if I do this…” He hugged Dean, putting a bit of pressure on both spots. “…You’re okay then? You were reared off a horse Dean, it’s supposed it hurt.”“Well normally I don’t put pressure on those areas Cas.” He gritted out. “I wait it out and it usually goes away in a week or whatever. I really am fine, this is nothing.”Cas could understand where Dean was coming from, he had to admit he had done the same thing as Dean was right now many times himself. “Alright then Dean if you’re sure you’re okay, I’ll leave it alone.”Dean sighed in relief and sat on the bed, pulling his shirt back on.“One thing though Dean, you chose that banana this morning on purpose didn’t you?” Dean looked up at Cas, having not expected such a random question as he was just asked. “What’s wrong with banana’s? They are delicious, unfortunately shaped yes… Okay I may have played it up a bit.” He nervously laughed, blushing lightly.Castiel was quite amused at the information and filed it away for later. Dean stood up and wandered over to the sofa with a novel in hand. “Well Cas, I’m going to read, you can do whatever.” He sat down, kicked his boots off and put his legs up. He knew better than doing anything that could cause him more pain with the bruises, he could really feel them now. Cas wandered over to Dean. “I don’t feel like reading but I will sit with you.” He tapped Dean so he would move forward and sat behind Dean so that the younger could lean back on him, which Dean did, moving around a bit to get comfortable.Dean opened the book, easily reading the Italian contained, getting drawn into the story and no longer paying attention to anything else, well until Cas got bored and started fiddling with his hair, carding through it. It didn’t bother Dean and he continued to read.****It had been a couple of hours that he had been reading, Castiel’s hand hadn’t ceased carding through his hair and it was beginning to really get distracting and relaxing. He marked his page and put the book to the floor, closed his eyes and leaned heavily against Cas’s chest in invitation for him to keep up what he was doing. “You enjoying this Dean?” He asked softly against his ear.Dean slightly tensed but responded calmly. “Why shouldn’t I enjoy it? Your hands are softer than expected but it would be nicer if I could pet your wings since you are pretty much petting my hair.”Castiel leaned forward a little to let his wings out and wrapped one towards Dean who immediately began stroking the soft downy feathers, rubbing his cheek against it but made sure to not get a mouthful of feathers. “This was your goal wasn’t it? A sort of sleepy intimacy or something, that’s why you distracted me from reading?” Dean had to admit that he was getting sleepy but then Cas stopped carding through his hair. “That’s just a happy coincidence my main goal was for you to just relax more.”“You barely know me, how do you know that I don’t relax? I mean you have already caught me sleeping in the pillow nest in the music room.” Cas laughed softly. “Not the same thing as now, you may have thought that you have been walking fine since the fall but you were walking stiffly, I wanted your muscles to relax, that’s all.”Dean did have to admit that he did feel a little better. “Yeah but a hot bath would be better you know. Not that I didn’t like this.” It had taken a couple of days to figure each other out at least enough to be comfortably hugging and kissing but other thoughts of what they could do together made Dean nervous still.He stood up and briefly kissed Cas. “Thanks though, if I had been alone I probably would have been sulking in my bed since I don’t have full control over my horse yet.” He wandered straight to the bathroom, forgetting clothes in his haste to have warm water on his back.****Dean stayed in the bath till the water went cold then stood up, drained the tub and stepped out onto the plush rug, grabbing his towel to dry himself. That was when he realised that he had no clothes in the bathroom with him. He cursed and sighed softly and while he was at it checked his back in the mirror seeing the large but not too severe looking bruises, he poked one and flinched gaging that it was sensitive but not like it was a couple hours ago so he knew that they would heal quickly.Dean wrapped the towel around his lower half and crept back into his room, he very quickly grabbed his clothes and rushed back to the bathroom before he dropped the towel and Cas got an eyeful.Cas was watching Dean from the couch, being careful to not say a word since he had an opportunity to openly stare at the majority of Dean’s body.Dean re-emerged from the bathroom moments later fully clothed in a simple light pair of black trousers and a light blue shirt which Dean realised too late was one of Castiel’s and by the look on Cas’s face he realised that the shirt was his.“Ah sorry about the shirt Cas, I can take it off and get it washed for you-mph“ He was cut off as Cas had pushed him against the wall, kissing him hard and quick. “You’re adorable Dean, it’s not a big deal that you’re wearing my shirt, I like it and it looks good on you.” Dean grinned. “I know I’m adorable.” His arms wrapped around Cas, just under the wings that were still out. “I checked my back just before, the bruises don’t look too bad and they aren’t too sore, save your worry for if I do something really stupid by accident instead. Okay?”Cas nodded. “Alright.”****Dean wasn’t sure how long they were standing there against the wall hugging; it was probably just moments. “Cas…” When he didn’t continue Cas raised his usual left eyebrow. “Yes Dean?” He questioned.“You can fly can’t you? I mean I don’t want you to go fly now but tomorrow maybe if you fly that is… I would like to see you fly…” He quickly stopped talking since he felt like he was going to keep rambling on saying the same thing over in different ways. Cas smiled and nodded. “Yeah I fly; I can take you up with me if you would like – it may be scary at first…” He quickly spoke seeing the nervousness flitter across Dean’s face. “But I won’t let you fall, let’s do it as a trust thing? You know part of getting to know and trust each other more.”“Okay, but I’m not overly fond of heights and flying for someone without wings feels like it should be unnatural but since it’s you I will do it.”They kissed again briefly well it was more of a brief brushing of lips. “Now Dean I don’t know about you but that nest you have in that music room is nice and private and comfortable, what you say we go lay in there and do nothing for the rest of this day, I mean we have already used up a good majority of the day already, why not spend the rest of it relaxing in your pillow nest.”Dean lit up and agreed. Right now he was just happy being with Cas, a drastic step forward for them since they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. “Just don’t let me relax so much that I fall asleep.”That statement amused Cas but he agreed to it. ****They spent the rest of the afternoon in the music room talking about virtually nothing, complimenting each other, teasing each other a little and cuddling a lot.When it came time for Dinner Dean went into his room, pulling a rope to call Benny, telling the Cajun that he and Cas would be taking it in their room since there would be an entire family dinner the next night.They enjoyed dinner together, Cas attempting to steal some of Dean’s food just to see how he would react this time.“Hey blue eyes seriously? You’re still going to attempt stealing bits of my food?” He shook his head not irritated but strangely amused. “Still when it comes to pie, that is off limits.”****Dean got ready for bed after they finished and left the tray of empty plates outside the door for one of the servants to take away. He stripped out of his clothes just to his under shorts, nothing else, he stretched a bit, just in case his muscles attempted to stiffen overnight especially in his shoulder. His back was to Cas at the moment. “Cas, don’t think I can’t feel your eyes checking me out, save it for later because we are not messing around just yet.”“And you saying things like that and being dressed like that or more like undressed like that will make me need to go relieve myself in the bathroom again like last night.” Cas grinned, he had better control that night.However Dean flushed against his will even though such things didn’t embarrass him usually. He quickly got into the bed and shut his eyes, not asleep yet.Cas stripped himself to the same under short layer as Dean and slipped in beside him, wings of course no longer out. He carded his hands through Dean’s hair since he discovered that he enjoyed it. Sleep was slower to find them but they slept well regardless.
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The next morning, Dean was awake early and was rushing around to get ready to see and experience Castiel’s flight. He was excited and nervous; which turned into nervous energy much to Castiel’s amusement. Dean was so hyped that he almost fell flat on his face getting into his trousers. “Don’t even say anything Cas.” He quickly gritted out as he fought with his clothes.Castiel just grinned at him and held back a laugh. He was calm as he got cleaned up and dressed in light clothes to make flight easier especially since he was going to be holding onto Dean for part of it.Moments later Dean zipped out of his room and down to breakfast, he wanted to have something more than fruit that morning but nothing heavy since he had no idea how he would react to flying, Cas and Sam joining him a few moments later.****When they got outside about an hour later the sun was already high in the sky, not at its peak height like it would be at midday but high and warm. Dean was practically buzzing with energy some of it excitement and some of it nervousness and now a touch of fear, but he trusted Cas at least to an extent – knowing that he wouldn’t drop him.Castiel started stretching his arms and his wings which were now out fully extended, flapping them slowly to loosen them, after a few moments he shot up and started zipping, diving and looping around Dean, they stayed close to the palace, not going further out yet. It was some time later that Cas dived and pulled Dean’s back to his chest, taking him up with him.Dean would later deny it but he did let out a yelp at the suddenness of being so high up in the air. Cas for his benefit was flying a bit slower, showing Dean how magnificent and small everything looked from the air. It took time but Dean became less fearful and really began to enjoy the experience of the flight – but only because it was Cas. They started to speed up and Dean felt his pulse racing as Cas began to perform his tricks while still holding him, the adrenaline rush flooding both their systems, making Dean laugh as they spiralled vertically back up. At times they had curious birds follow them and even join in with the dives but they never stayed long, they were often uncertain of the strange winged man and joined in out of sheer curiosity before flying away.Cas now directed them towards the forest, flying close to the treetops but high up enough so that neither of them got scratched from the branches or leaves. “Hey Cas, There’s a clearing up ahead, we can land there for a bit.” Dean pointed out since he could hear that Cas’s wings had suddenly slowed down, so he assumed that he must be getting a bit tired.“Okay Dean, thanks.” Cas was slightly breathless but barely, though he did know that he did need a break, Dean wasn’t that heavy for him but he wasn’t use to carrying someone when he flew especially for an extended period. They landed safely and Cas let go of Dean who promptly fell to his knees, feeling wobbly now that he was back on the ground. “You alright Dean?” Cas squatted down in front of him, checking his eyes to make sure Dean was still focussed.Dean promptly swatted the hand away. “Yeah I’m fine, a bit wobbly, maybe a touch dizzy but I’m all good, it’s all worth it cause that was amazing. Just give me a moment though okay?” The adrenaline rush was dissipating now and he had to regain control of his breathing, slowing it down. Castiel though remained close, studying him just in case Dean wasn’t fine.The concern that Cas held though thankfully didn’t need to amount to anything more since once Dean was back in control of himself after the rush he was able to stand up on his own and moved closer to Cas. “Now Cas, are you okay though? I know I’m not that light really…”Cas chewed his bottom lip for a second considering lying but reasoned with himself that it may not go down well with Dean so he told him the truth. “Mostly I’m fine, just really was a workout for my back muscles, I don’t normally carry anything or anyone for as long as I did you. But that’s all Dean.”“So you’re back is sore?” He didn’t allow Cas to answer that. “Remove your shirt, lay it on the grass and lie down on it, on your stomach.” Cas raised an eyebrow but complied non the less, but more out of curiosity than anything else but having his suspicions on what Dean was going to do.Dean stood back a bit to give Cas space and waited till he was lying flat on the grass then sat next to his back, hands immediately going to his shoulders and rubbed them firmly, working the muscles, trying to help them to relax, working down Cas’s back and concentrating on the small bumps on his back where the wings came out of. Cas hadn’t been too surprised when Dean began the massage, he had to admit that it felt good, it did hurt at times but that was to be expected. He was quiet and closed his eyes allowing Dean to do his thing.****Dean worked on Cas’s back for a good half hour, not removing his hands till his back was much looser than when he started. “Alright Cas, feel better?”Cas refused to move from his position on the grass. “Y-yeah, thanks Dean. Who knew that you could work magic with your fingers?” He turned his head to look at Dean, a slightly cocky look on his face.“Cas, you do know that you can get up now, and you can put your shirt back on.” Dean couldn’t help but be confused why the elder refused to move from his position on the grass.Cas meanwhile was trying to figure out how to move and not make Dean uncomfortable, he wasn’t sure how Dean would react to his current situation. “I know Dean, but uh…” He sighed and decided that he may as well just go with it, he hoped that he wouldn’t scare Dean off. “I seem to have a problem, a very unintentional problem.” He rolled and sat up, pulling his shirt back on, the front of his pants bulging with said problem. Dean didn’t understand until Cas was sitting and facing him and then it dawned on him. “I aroused you just from a back massage?” His face reddened briefly from the unexpectedness of the situation. “Do you want my help with it?” Since he caused it, he believed that it was only right that he helps Cas out. “Also before you say anything, I want to help you not because I have to help you.” He moved closer to Cas and initiated a quick kiss.Cas hadn’t expected Dean’s response but since they were starting to get into their relationship and since Dean wanted to help, he made his mind up quickly. “Okay. But if you need to stop whatever you choose to do then stop.”Dean carefully pushed Cas back down to the grass, yeah he was nervous but he wanted to do this, he had wanted to do this since they first kissed. He nudged Cas’s legs apart so that he could comfortably settle between them and tentatively positioned himself above him, leaning down to kiss Cas with more passion that the previous brief kiss. He trailed his right hand down Cas’s body until he reached the front of Cas’s pants and began to rub through them, causing the elder to groan quietly. Dean was going slowly and as he grew a little more confident he unbuttoned the pants, pushed them down a little and pulled the length out. For Dean it was a little intimidating however he enjoyed the fact that he did this to Cas. He took the length in his hand and began to jerk Cas off, staring at the elder’s face, gaging every reaction.Cas would have thought that it was adorable the way Dean was treating him however he was too busy being distracted by Dean’s very talented magical hand.It was moments later that Dean moved down Cas’s body, he kept eye contact with Cas despite this being Dean’s first time in this kind of situation and tentatively licked the length in front of him.“S-shit Dean, y-you don’t have to…” He moaned and ran his hands into Dean’s soft brown hair. “But I want too.” His mouth sank down over Cas’s arousal, his hand covering what his mouth couldn’t reach. He sucked around the length, his head bobbing up and down rhythmically, working him up as quickly as he could.Cas was in a state of bliss being inside Dean’s mouth, it took quite a bit of control to not just slam himself into Dean’s throat, but because he did not want to hurt Dean he managed to hold himself back from that, but his hips still shallowly moved and it was but moments later that he could feel his release, groaning loudly and breathily calling out. “D-Dean…” Dean just sucked harder, feeling the slight change in tension in Cas’s body but not registering what it meant before his mouth was full of release, he struggled to swallow all of it, almost gagging from shock but ignoring the taste he swallowed as much as he could, what he couldn’t dribbled down his mouth and chin. He lapped at the length a little more before removing his mouth, sitting back panting slightly and rubbed his shirt sleeve over his face to clean it. He crawled back over Cas who had just recovered from his high and made them both sit up, kissing Dean slowly then pulled back. “You okay Dean? I didn’t hurt your throat did I? By the way you were amazing just now.”Dean tucked his head into Cas’s shoulder for a moment before looking at him again. “I’m alright, I enjoyed making you feel amazing Cas. Everything was worth it. You didn’t hurt me.”“Do you need some help?” Cas softly asked, he wanted to make Dean feel just as good as he was feeling right now.Dean just shook his head. “Not now, later after dinner in our bed. For now, let’s make ourselves presentable and go see if we have pie.” Dean pecked Cas’s mouth before he stood up and tidied himself while Cas fixed himself back into his trousers.
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Once presentable Castiel’s wings came out again and he wrapped his arms around Dean from behind. “I’m just flying us out of the forest.” He spoke quickly into Dean’s ear before they shot up and Cas quickly flew them to the field behind the stables, they could walk back from there.The walk back was quiet with Dean walking close to Cas the entire way back. Once back indoors Dean pulled Cas behind the first statue they came across and they slipped into one of the secret passages which led to just outside of their room.Once they walked into the room they were hit with the scent of a fresh baked pie causing Dean to smile. He pulled off his shirt since it was dirty from their earlier activity and quickly grabbed a dark blue vest from the wardrobe not bothering to find a clean shirt or tunic.Cas had sat down and immediately went for the warm tea, watching Dean over the rim of the cup.Dean sat down a moment later, starting with his pie but sipping his tea between.Dean was quiet for a time while he ate. He didn’t speak until he had finished both his pie and tea. “Cas, I really have enjoyed my day with you today, I mean everything. Watching you fly was mesmerising and the feeling when you took me up with you, it was scary at first but since I trusted you it was no longer scary after a short time, and everything that came after…” He was smiling into his empty plate and so didn’t realise that Cas had come around to him and decided to pick him up in a princess hold and dumped him over on the sofa.Cas didn’t give time for Dean to be confused for more than a second. He climbed on top of him and began slowly deeply kissing him. It was lazy and sweet and they stayed like that for several moments. “I was going to ask how you became so good at the massage though.” Cas quietly mentioned after they broke apart.“Ah…” Dean looked away for a moment. “Well I’ve been captain of the knights since I was sixteen and we all quickly learnt that after an intense work out of hand to hand combat and sword training that pain was generally an issue. So as captain I decided that we should try and help each other out with massage. Though as we have all matured and gotten older the pain isn’t so much of an issue anymore since we are all quite use to it now. But my hands do remember everything I learnt.”Cas looked thoughtful for a second then gently turned Dean’s face towards his own again and briefly pecked his mouth. “A considerate captain is a good one. Also I’m happy that you learnt that since you can put your hands to good use again in more ways than one now.” He gave a quick smirk and Dean gave one right back before flicking Cas’s nose. “Don’t be smart about it, but I am looking forward to later.” Although he left out the part about being rather nervous.****They both remained on the sofa lazily kissing and hugging until they heard a knock on the door the telling them quickly that they had an hour until they had to be down for the family dinner. Dean quickly called out that the message was received and a few kisses later they both stood up and began looking for suitable clothing. Dean settled for a very dark green tunic with golden embroidery with black fitted trousers and black boots. While Cas went for a black tunic with silver embroidery and white fitted trousers with his usual formal black boots. Both princes realising as they looked at each other that they had similar sense of dress.They made their way to the large dining hall, meeting up with Sam just outside. The three of them walked inside and waited for their parents to arrive. It wasn’t a long wait and soon they were all seated at the large table, Mary and John at the head of the table with Chuck and Becky Novak seated at the opposite end. Dean and Cas were seated next to each other in the middle with Sam opposite them.Not much was said during the dinner but the parents were relieved to see their betrothed sons getting along very well now. Sam meanwhile was pretending to not notice how smitten Dean looked right now with Cas, but he was happy that Dean and Cas were getting along.****Finally after a good hour and a half the dinner was over and the boys were all excused for the night.Upon reaching their room Cas pinned Dean to the closed door and kissed him deeply, glad to be alone. He began to attack his neck with kisses causing Dean to suck in a breath. After a moment Cas decided to leave a few marks on Dean’s neck before kissing back to his mouth again. After a few moments of heated kissing they began to strip each other, neither exactly sure who started it but they went with it until they were unclothed. Cas gently tugged Dean to the bed, Dean going happily of course and lay down while Cas climbed over him and they began kissing again, Dean’s hands rubbing up Cas’s back.Moments later Cas began a slow decent with his mouth over Dean’s throat, chest and further until he was level with Dean’s arousal. He licked the skin right next to the base causing Dean to shift and bite his lower lip trying to get Cas’s mouth on him directly however Cas decided to keep teasing Dean for a little bit longer, concentrating on just licking around the base. He stopped suddenly and took the length fully into his mouth and into his throat, the benefit of no gag reflex. Dean almost lost it at the sheer pleasure that sparked though him but held it together – barely. His breathing was heavy and his moans were uncontrolled as Cas sucked at him, he watched Cas for a moment till his eyes fluttered shut.Cas was enjoying pleasuring Dean but since the younger was trying to thrust into his mouth he used his hands to hold Dean’s hips down firmly. He sucked at Dean hard, occasionally licking at him. Dean unfortunately didn’t last as long as Cas had and before he knew it he was releasing into Castiel’s mouth with a loud moan.Cas unlike Dean was more prepared and was able to swallow a bit cleaner than Dean had done, although his face was still a bit of a mess. He let go of Dean and removed his mouth, using his fingers to clean his face then suck the mess off of them.Once Dean had come down from his high he found Cas lying facing him “Cas I really enjoyed that.” A quick look down and he noticed that Cas needed assistance. “Do you mind Cas? It really looks like you could use some help.” Cas nodded his consent, their mouths capturing each other’s a second later while Dean slipped a hand down to quickly jerk Cas off, which didn’t take long. Dean caught as much of the release in his hand as he could and brought his messy hand up and licked it clean.It wasn’t long after since they were both relaxed after their activity that they ended up falling asleep close and fully unclothed, not that they cared. They just cared that they were both like this together.
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The kitchens had been busy that evening and Gabriel had been working hard at his tasks, he didn’t get to do much since he was just an apprentice but he got to do enough which made him happy. However, he hadn’t been feeling well, well he wasn’t sick that much he knew but there was something going on with his back, it had been bothering him since his sixteenth birthday a couple of weeks before and he just couldn’t figure out what he had done to hurt his back like this.Thing was that night it was much worse and Andrea had to keep a much tighter eye on Gabe. She knew something was up and she kept Gabe on the lightest duties without making him feel useless but also kept the duties time consuming enough so that Gabe would not become suspicious that she knew that he was in pain.It had been a very long evening but as soon as Gabe had eaten after all the cooking and cleaning had been done Andrea dismissed him, telling him to go check on Sam. She knew that the two boys were very close, she also knew that if something was wrong with Gabe that Sam would be able to get it out of him the easiest. ****Gabriel made his way outside of the kitchens and used a secret passage to get to Sam’s wing of the palace, the other end coming out near his room. He knocked in a simple three, two, three pattern so that Sam would know that it was him before he walked inside the room. Well more like stumbled inside.Sam had been filling out some music theory at his tea table since he had a piano lesson the next day in the afternoon and looked up when he recognised Gabe’s knock, he liked it when Gabe came to his room before they had to sleep however he placed his quill down and rushed over when Gabe stumbled inside since that was not characteristic of his servant and friend. Well they were closer than friends and they were by no means brothers. Gabe tried to avoid Sam’s help but the taller boy was adamant about helping him, going as far as to pick him up and carry him to the sofa, setting him down carefully. “Mind telling me what’s wrong Gabe?” Sam wasn’t an idiot he could pick up when there was something going on with Gabe, he had known for almost the full two weeks now but he had left Gabe alone about it since he seemed to be in control but now Sam was going to demand answers.Gabe adjusted himself to a sitting position on the sofa and refused to look at Sam, he was just a servant and even though he and Sam were very close he was unsure about telling him anything, but one brief look at Sam’s face and Gabe spilled. “My back. It feels like it’s on fire, like something is trying to force its way out of my back. It’s been like this since I turned sixteen or well, it was nothing but an itch back then… But now.”Sam sighed and ran a hand over his face, quickly figuring out what to do. “Alright, I can check it out for you, just to make sure you don’t need a medic or something, okay?” He watched Gabe give a small nod. Sam also noted that Gabe was much quieter than his usual prankster self, it was unsettling to see him like this. “Gabe I need you to take off your tunic and boots and lie face down on the bed so that I check your back okay?” Gabriel did as Sam asked, slow and halting but eventually managed and lay down. He was worried that it was going to be something serious and that he was going to be kicked out with nowhere to go since he didn’t know who his family was. He had been sent to the Winchester’s when he was just a few months old.Sam sat on the edge of the bed and examined Gabriel’s back, noticing how red and tender the skin next to his shoulder blades was and how it was swollen and rather puffy. He barely touched it and Gabriel tried to avoid the touch, hissing and groaning in embarrassment. “Sorry Sam.”“It’s fine Gabe, nothing to be sorry for, if my back looked like yours does right now I would do the same. Just stay still, I’m going to get some cold damp cloths to see if they help.”Sam got up and left to his personal bathroom, collecting two of the softest handtowels he had out and wet them with cold water, wrung them out and returned to Gabe, he took up his place again next to his friend and lay the cloths over each swollen area. Gabe just buried his face into the pillows, the towels barely relieving the ache. “Is it any better Gabe?” Sam asked, placing a hand lower down on Gabe’s back in comfort.“Hurts like hellfire.” He whined. “Feels like something is going to bust through my back, n-now. Right now!” Sam removed the towels just as the skin tore on both sides at the same time and Gabe was biting through the pillow in order to not scream. It took a good twenty minutes but Sam remained calm for Gabe’s sake. Thankfully it was over and it was clear now what was sticking out of his friend’s back. “Wings?” Sam very softly murmured He had seen this that day with Castiel since he had flown past his window multiple times, although his were black, but Gabe wasn’t related to Castiel was he?They were golden not affected by the blood which was starting to dry around the base of them on Gabriel’s back.Gabriel had promptly passed out from shock, pain and exhaustion. Sam needed to do something so he used the still damp cloths to clean up Gabe’s back from the dried blood, dumped the cloths and rang for Benny.****It was around nine that night that Dean and Cas were woken up with frantic knocking on their door. “We’re up, what’s wrong?”“Dean, It’s Sam he needs help from you an’ Castiel now.” Benny called through the door, allowing Dean and Cas their privacy.“Alright, we’ll be there as soon as.” Dean called back and listened as Benny walked away.“Any ideas Dean?” Cas asked curiously as they both got out of the bed and scrambled around for some clothes. They both settled for loose cotton pants and a plain tunic with their easy pull on boots. Dean didn't answer, he just shook his head.They set out at a run, Dean leading the way to Sam’s wing, if Sam was calling for his help at this hour it had to be something major, he just hoped his little brother was okay. They arrived a few moments later to the hallway meters from Sam’s room. They slowed to a walk to quickly regulate their breathing. Dean knocked a few seconds later and waited for Sam to let them in or to be given permission to come in. They only waited barely two seconds before they heard Sam call out. “Get in here, I need to speak to you both.” Dean and Cas both rushed in, Cas however froze at the sight on the bed, Dean did too when his brain caught up with what he was seeing. “I-is that Gabriel Sam?”Sam just nodded. “I think he’s a Novak Prince. I saw you guys today, I know that you have wings Castiel and I know about the whole witch thing, I read about it when I was younger I just didn’t know that it was real.”“Gabriel…” Cas murmured and moved to sit by him on the bed. “He’s my little brother, I was five and stubborn and well I hated him then, I was jealous of having him take the attention away from me. Then one day a few months later he was gone. My parents didn’t ever mention him or seem sad, at least I know he was safe now.” He paused then added. “We all get our wings though at sixteen, you guys were always going to find out about this.” “We were just as surprised Cas, I mean I barely remember it since I was two but we took him in the note that was with him said he was a higher class orphan. So when he became old enough he apprenticed to our head chef. He’s been well looked after.” Dean wanted to make sure that Cas knew that they had treated his brother well.“We need to tell him.” Sam suddenly cut in after being silent. “It can wait till the morning or when he wakes, he may question you Sam so it will be your choice, right now though I’m going to quickly groom him, it should wake him up and get rid of any residual pain.” Cas spoke with authority or the eldest prince in the room. Dean and Sam just nodded and stayed back.****It was a good half hour that had passed, Dean and Castiel had left them alone and now he was dealing with a confused and very much awake Gabriel. He didn’t let Gabe talk though, holding his hand up when the young prince tried to speak. “Yes you have wings now, no you are no longer going to be a servant and yes you are a Novak Prince.” He quickly answered everything that Gabe would have and would not have asked him. “You will meet your older brother and parents’ tomorrow, for now sleep, Castiel did mention that your wings won’t be able to be hidden for another few hours – and yes I mean sleep here with me. You’re no longer a servant.” He quickly mentioned when he felt Gabriel try to escape.Sam sighed again and pulled Gabriel into his arms, rubbing his back and wings slowly, he was a few months older than Gabe but didn’t use any force to keep Gabe with him but made sure he was completely comfortable, kissing his forehead and settling the younger prince back to sleep. They were both probably going to be exhausted come morning.Gabe was happy that he could now be with Sam, he had loved Sam for years now and since discovering that he was a Prince not moments before and knowing that Sam was not betrothed, he allowed himself to settle against Sam, truly happy for the first time in his life and thanking the two golden wings on his back for making this possible. He would deal with everything else later with Sam, Dean’s and Castiel’s help, for now he wanted to sleep next to his boyfriend.
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The next morning the four princes met down in the dining room to share breakfast together. Gabriel was rather excited and a touch nervous at fully meeting Castiel and their parents. Well he was nervous because his parents had gotten rid of him so he wasn’t sure what to say to them. Sam noticed Gabriel over thinking things and was relieved when Dean and Cas arrived. Cas stood in front of Gabriel and assessed his younger brother who Sam had made look like a prince giving him his smaller clothes and tidying his hair. He smiled and went and hugged his brother, apologising so much since he blamed himself for everything. Gabe was smiling, happy that Cas accepted him as his brother but irritated that Cas wouldn’t stop apologising so when they parted he flicked Cas’s nose to get him to stop speaking. “It’s alright Cas, it wasn’t all that bad, I met Sammy here so good came out of it.”What caught Gabriel off guard was suddenly being enveloped by his parents who were crying and apologising and now Gabriel was just plain frustrated, when he woke up he decided that he forgave everyone for whatever happened sixteen years ago, Sam that morning had retold him Castiel’s story including the thing about the wings. For Gabriel the past was the past and now was now and now meant that he had to learn to be a prince.It was a few hours later, Sam and Gabe had left since Sam decided that he would help to teach Gabe what he could about being a prince.****Dean and Cas now had weapons and hand to hand combat training with the knights. Dean was rather excited since he was going to finally see how well Cas could fight. They went back up to their room to get dressed in the appropriate outfits including chainmail and attached their real swords to their hips with their belts and scabbard. They made their way down to the grounds where the rest of the knights were waiting.Castiel stood by Dean while he gave out the instructions. “Alright we are starting with hand to hand combat, one on one for thirty minutes, switch who attacks and who defends after fifteen.” Once the knights began Dean then turned to Cas. “Alright let’s go.” Dean decided to be the attacker however before he knew it, he was flat on his ass and extremely embarrassed. He had no idea what had even happened. He stood up and rubbed his sore lower back, the bruises from the fall the other day still not fully healed and he was just reminded of that fact now. Castiel was smirking at Dean. “What’s wrong Dean? Embarrassed that I’m a better defender?” Dean took the challenge for what it was and attacked again this time dodging and ducking around and under till him was able to trip up Cas. “I’m embarrassed about nothing Castiel. No one defends better than I do. Or attacks as well as I do.” Dean kept up his attack practice on Cas who was defending quite well but couldn’t seem to land Dean on his ass again.Finally it was time to switch and Dean was straight on the defensive and of course straight on his ass, he wasn’t use to the way Castiel fought but he learned quick except it was the last knock that had Dean on the ground and cursing in pain, which alerted Cas who had bent down next to him. “Dean?” he couldn’t exactly see anything wrong with Dean well until the hand that was over his left upper arm moved and was covered in blood. “What the hell happened?”Dean glared but didn’t hold it. “It would seem I landed on a sharp rock Cas, I’m fine though, it’s just a cut. I’ll just go up and clean it out. You keep an eye on these guys, make sure they don’t slacken off. I’ll be back quick.” He gave Cas a quick kiss before running off back indoors to take care of his arm.He quickly walked up to his room and went straight through to the bathroom, stripped off his chain mail and tunic and cleaned out the wound, it was shallow and not too long. Once it was clean he grabbed a clean bandage and wrapped it around his arm, a touch clumsy but good enough and tied it securely. He went and grabbed a new tunic and put his chainmail back on and headed back outside.Cas was waiting for Dean, ready to check him over if need be. “I’m okay Cas really, it wasn’t very deep at all, stings a bit but I can continue training.” He then addressed the knights while Cas pulled up his sleeve to check for himself anyway, he was satisfied for now. “Alright we’re doing weapons now, swords and knives/daggers.” They used real swords and knives for this, they had to have excellent control in order to not injure each other, injuries did happen but they were never serious so Dean was never worried. Again he teamed with Cas. “Show me what you’ve got Cas.” Dean smirked and went through the basic exercises with Cas the point not being to land anything on the other but to practice blocking and striking.****It was a good two hours before their training was complete for the day – two and a half hours total training that day, Dean and Cas had been swapping around to help out other knights with their technique with either swordplay or hand to hand combat. The knights went back to the garrison after training while Cas and Dean headed back indoors. “I think I’m going to soak in the tub for an hour after that mess today. They really need to sharpen up.” Dean groaned leaning into Cas who wrapped an arm around his waist. “Want me to join you? I won’t do anything except keep you company.” He pulled Dean closer while they wandered all the way up to their room.“Yeah, why not, tub’s big enough to fit us both.” Dean moved out of the hold when they arrived at the room, he quickly started stripping in the bedroom and wandered to the bathroom, Castiel doing the same, following a moment later to find Dean leaning over the tub letting it fill.“Your bruises are looking better.” Cas mentioned, running fingers over the ones on Dean’s lower back. “They’re not so sore now either which is a plus, although that fall I had reminded me about them.” He stood up and climbed into the tub, scooting forward so that Cas could climb in behind him.The water was nice and warm and Dean made sure to keep his bandage out of the water and relaxed back against Cas. He closed his eyes and with the heat of the bath and Castiel’s hands rubbing at his chest soothingly he ended up asleep. The excitement from the night before having made him lose sleep which now caught up with him. Castiel noticed and quickly drained the tub and got out himself, quickly dried and then dried Dean carefully as to not wake him then carried him back into their room and placed him on the bed, he grabbed a clean pair of undershorts and placed them on himself and a clean pair on Dean. He made sure Dean was comfortable before leaving to go see how his little brother was getting on.Cas found Sam and Gabriel in the ballroom having a dance lesson, or well Sam was teaching Gabriel the basics so that when they all had a lesson on the Friday, Gabe would at least know the basics. Cas watched for a while, already it looked like some good progress had been made. Cas was also happy that his brother had Sam to help him adjust.Cas headed back to Dean quickly, joining him on the bed, sitting up with the novel that Dean had been reading the other day, curious as to what Dean had been reading since he never found out the name of the book. He kept some attention on the book with the rest of his attention on Dean.
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Dean didn’t sleep long, just an hour, he opened his eyes a few moments later and stared at Cas a second before sitting up himself. “I fell asleep?” He did feel better after the nap though, he just wished he hadn’t fallen asleep in the tub.“You fell asleep.” Cas closed the book and placed it down. “I wasn’t going to let you drown so I drained it and carried your heavy ass back here.” He was joking around of course, but Dean still punched him lightly on the arm. “Muscle Cas, it’s called muscle. Just because you don’t have much.” Which of course wasn’t true but he grinned enjoying the teasing although he wasn’t counting on suddenly being pinned down and sat on, it stunned him for just a second before he flipped them and was sitting on Cas. “Now we can either spend the rest of the day attempting to one up the other with strength or we can practice our dancing and figure out who is going to be the primary lead. Although it should be me since I’m taller.”“Yeah, but I’m the better dancer.” Cas countered from his position under Dean.“We’re about the same feather brain.” Dean flicked his nose, although much lighter than the other times he had. “Come on we can practice in here and we don’t even have to fully dress either.” Dean hopped off Cas and stood up, not bothering with shoes or boots or anything.Cas got up a moment later. “You know what we could do, walking, blindfold the one who is following, making them have to put full trust into their lead.”“By following and their you mean me don’t you right now? Also walking?” Dean had never heard of this method before.“Yeah walking, before you can dance you have to be able to walk together, since dancing is a type of fancy walking it makes sense doesn’t it?”Dean considered this and nodded it did make sense. “Alright I’ll grab some fabric and we can get started.” Dean rifled through the closet, finding an old worn through tunic. He tore off a strip of it and dumped the tunic in his pile of clothes for cleaning. Castiel came over and took the strip of cloth, tied it around Dean’s eyes and made sure he couldn’t see. He then took Dean’s hand, led him to the clearest part of the room and positioned them into the dancer’s position. Castiel led Dean slowly back and forth across the room till he could feel him relax, he then led Dean into a simple spin and led him back in. Dean was successful although he stumbled a little without his sight and crashed into Cas instead of being graceful. “Sorry Cas, that just made me dizzy.”“Alright no spinning with the blindfold.” He let Dean reorient himself before they continued. “You feel like we can try what Ruby was trying to teach us the other day?”“Yeah let’s give it a go, tomorrow though it’s my turn to lead and blindfold you.”****It was more than an hour later that the stopped, Dean couldn’t wait to take the blindfold off, blinking a bit as his eyes readjusted to the brightness of the room. “Okay well it seems that worked. Well apart from getting dizzy if any attempt to spin was made.” Cas nodded and pecked Dean’s lips. “You did well though, for someone who kept trying to lead while I was leading a few days ago.”It was several moments later that there was a barely a knock at the door before Sam and Gabriel burst in then stopped. “Guys clothes!”“Guys knock! We have undershorts on so deal.” Dean quipped back. “Now what was so urgent that you had to burst in here on me and Cas?”“Ball happening in three weeks.” Gabriel rapidly spoke still panting since they had run all the way.“A Ball?” Cas questioned, raising an eyebrow. “A Ball for what?”“Uh yours and Dean’s confirmed Betrothal and also to announce that Gabriel is a Novak Prince and now my betrothed.” Sam got out quickly and wrapped an arm around Gabe’s waist. “Why couldn’t our parents tell us all at the same time or at least tell us directly?” Dean couldn’t figure out why Sam and Gabe had to tell them. “Well they were going to tell you themselves but we decided we wanted to tell you and so they let us.”“Well boys don’t forget that you will have to learn to dance properly together before that night, since the four of us now will be showcasing the first dance. Also Gabriel, don’t give the tailor hell when they come to fit you for your wardrobe.” Dean spoke and gently shoved the younger princes out of his and Cas’s room, closed the door on them and gently hit his face against the oaken door causing Cas to come over and wrap his arms around him from behind. “A freaking Ball to make a simple announcement? Well I get for Gabriel but we really don’t need a Ball to announce our confirmed betrothal do we? Also Cas quit it with the wandering hand.”Cas just grinned and rested his wandering right hand on Dean’s hip while his left remained wrapped around him. “Well at least we’ll be together for it. I’m not letting anyone steal you away.” “Easier said than done, we will be hosting King Crowley and his two horrible sons Alistair and Azazel. If you haven’t met them…” Dean shivered. “They will give us both hell.” They were some memories that Dean was not fond of. Cas felt Dean shiver and pulled him closer. “What did they actually do to you?”“last major ball was three years ago when Sam turned thirteen, I have no idea if you were even at that ball. Well we had to host them so whenever I was doing training with the Knights they would join in and since I was newly made captain well I couldn’t say no to them it would look strange since they are several years older.” He paused for a moment. “The day after the Ball Alistair gashed my right leg, knee to ankle during weapons training and Azazel knocked me down and stepped on my arm to break it. Of course all the knights were too busy concentrating so they didn’t notice.” Dean was getting pissed at the memory at this point, he was breathing too fast and he could hear his pulse in his ears. “Fifty stitches Cas and I was lucky my arm was just a simple break. Still hurt like hell though to get it set.” Dean having finished relaying why he hated the two boys now concentrated on his breathing, leaning heavily into Cas. “Well this time my green eyed princely captain you are older, stronger and you have me to back you up if need be.”“Hmm that is true and you have me if they try to do anything to you.” Dean was finally calm and reassured by having Cas with him.
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It was a few moments after Dean had calmed down before he spoke again. “Do you want to play together; I mean music Cas.” Dean had to lightly swat at Cas’s wandering hands again.“I would love to Dean.” His hands had settled on Dean’s hips. “Got any ideas for what you want to play?”Dean pulled himself away from Cas reluctantly and headed towards the secret door. “Devil’s Trill, but only if you are skilled enough to play such a piece.” Dean grinned and slipped through the door, Cas quickly catching up to him. “You do know that piece is solo violin or orchestra and violin, also of course I know it, I don’t need music for it either, the page turns were a nightmare.”“There is piano music written for it you feather brained idiot.” Dean headed over to his out of the way shelf of sheet music and picked out what he needed. He spread the pages out on the piano’s music stand while Cas set up his violin.A couple of moments later Cas came over to stand by Dean. “I need to check I’m in tune with your piano.” Dean nodded and played the correlating G|D|A|E notes on the piano while watching Cas quickly fine tune his beautiful instrument. It was another moment later that they began the intense melody. It started soft and smooth and Dean kept almost losing his place since he kept being distracted by Castiel’s ease of playing the first movement, the way his hand was smoothly changing positions along the fingerboard. They repeated the first movement again as per the music told them and this time Dean had better concentration. By the time of the second movement Dean still watched Cas however he got to a point where he knew better than to outright watch Cas while he was playing, since he had almost hit the wrong note way too many times, which for him was embarrassing, he knew that Cas knew since he always hesitated when he almost messed up. The melody was picking up, more powerful now and Dean made sure to keep his timing with what Cas was comfortable with until the third movement hit them, calming and slowing again. Dean always loved this movement and a quick look at Cas it seemed like he did too since his eyes were shut.Of course though now came the nightmare movement, full of complex trills and chords, string-crossing and intense build-up of melody, with slow portions, soft portions but still rather complex on the left hand. Their instruments melded well together as they should and they were both impressed with each other’s ability to keep up during those faster portions of music since this was the first time that they had played together. Dean was no longer able to glance at Cas, his entire concentration on the nightmarish music in front of him, he really needed to pay attention since he didn’t want to mess up so close to the end of the end of the piece. Finally, they reached the final crescendo’s and chords, ending the intense and long fourteen-minute-long melody. “Damn it Cas, your full of musical perfection with that violin aren’t you?” Dean muttered while gathering up his music into a neat pile. “Are your fingers even sore after all that string crossing and stuff?”“A bit red but they always are after I play Devil’s Trill and it’s always worth it. But you Dean, was I distracting you with my playing?” He had put his violin away and had sauntered over to Dean, he was smirking and leaned down to speak into Dean’s ear. “Because don’t think I didn’t hear your minor hesitations when you almost got a note wrong.”Dean jumped and almost smacked his forehead against Cas’s. “What the hell Cas!?” He was blushing since he had been caught like he thought he had. “Yeah well I’ve never had the honour of playing this accompanying a violin before, I’ve always played it solo so yeah it was distracting especially when the violinist is amazing and talented as you are.” He stood up and got off the piano stool the opposite side to where Cas was and went to put his music away. It wouldn’t do to have it all over the place. He went back to the piano to close it and keep it free from dust. “Your playing is very smooth, I like watching the way your hand moves over the finger board Cas. That’s what was honestly distracting too.” He turned away from the piano and almost smacked right into Cas who was suddenly in front of him. “Seriously Cas! Stop that, that’s twice already.” **** It wasn’t long before the both of them were heatedly making out in the nest, neither in the mood to take things further than this, just running their hands over each other, seeing what made the other all hot and bothered until they lazily slowed down and eventually stopped when they both were a bit too hot and bothered, Cas laying heavily on top of Dean who was poking him in the hip, pretending that he couldn’t breathe. Cas grinned down at Dean. “Feeling better than earlier I presume?”“Yeah. I do hope our parents don’t invite them though. But this stuff has been a good distraction from my memories so thanks Cas.” He leaned up and kissed him.****As usual pie and tea was waiting for them in the bedroom when they wandered back in some time later. They ate, they drank, Dean decided to steal some of Cas’s pie to get him back for the time that Cas had stolen some of his.Afterwards Dean and Cas went to go find Sam and Gabe to see how the new young prince was getting on – after they put on some clothes that is. However, after hearing suspicious noises coming from Sam’s bedroom or well Sam and Gabriel’s bedroom they decided to leave them be. They really didn’t want to know what their younger brothers were up to right now.It was as Dean and Cas were leaving that they heard the door open and so they spun round only to be cream pie-d in the face. Dean was use to these pranks from Gabriel and now his baby brother was involved but none of it really bothered him, he had dealt with worse from Gabriel. Castiel however hadn’t ever had to deal with this and so was more shocked so Dean quickly pulled him away and back towards their wing so that they could go and wash the pie cream off their faces.Upon reaching the bedroom Dean casually licked Cas’s face, grinned then ducked into the bathroom, leaving the door open so that Cas could come and clean himself up too. “Probably should tell you that Gabe can be a sneaky trickster and prankster. They probably knew we were coming and since Gabe worked in the kitchens he knew how to secretly get in and steal the pies.”Dean cleaned up his face then moved over so that Cas could clean himself up at the sink. “You are okay though?”Cas came up and dried his face. “Yeah, it was a shock but since they also did it to you.” He grinned and Dean hit him lightly on the arm. “They got us both good. But it’s good to see that they really get along. Also that pie cream tasted good on you.” Dean teased.They spent what was left of the afternoon before dinner reading and messing with each other, in attempts to distract them on the sofa including deliberately making the other fall the short distance to the ground. All in all the day hadn’t been perfect but they were enjoying everything they could of it.
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It was later that night that Dean noticed that his left shoulder was a little stiff. He didn’t think much of it and continued getting ready for bed along with Cas. He had already thrown away the bandage from around his arm since that cut was already healed. ****It was the next morning that caused Dean to throw a silent fit of annoyance. He could feel it in his back and shoulders that he had obviously over done the day before, not that he wasn’t use to his training and such but he never had really fought with anyone on about the same level as himself.He made an attempt to get out of bed, despite being stiff and sore. He needed to seem fine but of course there was no fooling Cas who immediately without a word pulled Dean back down on his stomach. “Oi Cas what –?” He was cut off suddenly as he felt Cas purposely sit on the back of his thighs – so that he couldn’t escape and then felt his hands on his back pressing hard and rubbing. “I’m giving you a massage, since one, you gave me one and two, it looked like you could do with one so just enjoy it Dean.” He grumbled slightly about nothing getting past his boyfriend but gave in to Castiel’s hands on his back, eventually starting to relax and even enjoy it.When Cas was done about forty minutes later he got off Dean and sat next to him waiting for Dean to sit up. Dean felt almost boneless in his upper body, he was so relaxed and his shoulders, he could actually move them. “Do we really need to get up today?” Dean whined against Cas, they didn’t have anything specifically planned for the day and all Dean wanted to do was waste time with Cas, maybe make out, maybe do more.Cas wrapped an arm around Dean and pulled him close. “We’re free all day today as far as I’m aware so I say screw getting up, yesterday was way too long.”Getting the all clear from Cas, Dean proceeded to climb into Castiel’s lap and proceeded to make himself comfortable there, rubbing his nose into his neck.Cas wrapped an arm around Dean and used his free hand to run his fingers through Dean’s hair and down to the nape of his neck, causing the younger to shiver and huff into Cas’s neck much to the elder’s amusement. He did it again, causing Dean to have the same reaction.Dean moved his head away from Cas’s shoulder and looked at him in mock annoyance, purposefully shifting in his lap.“Dean.” Cas groaned softly in the younger’s ear, he could feel himself reacting to Dean’s shifting. “You’re doing this on purpose aren’t you?”“What if I am Cas?” Dean grinned inviting Cas to react to the spontaneous teasing further than just with using words.Cas just raised his left eyebrow at Dean, smirking at him at the rather blatant invitation and kissed him hard and open mouthed. Dean did fight for dominance and control of the kiss but Cas was stronger in that regard and ended up winning outright, although Dean did continue to challenge as he did not give up easily. Once Dean had submitted into the kiss, accepting and trusting Cas, only then did Cas soften and slow the kiss down, making it sensual. He dragged a hand up to hold the back of Dean’s head then flipped them suddenly so that Dean was underneath him. Cas settled between Dean’s legs which had moved to allow Cas to stay close.The flip barely phased Dean, distracted as he was by Castiel’s mouth moving against his own, all open mouthed and slow – intimate, Dean thought, it was intimate. Dean’s hands ran slowly up Castiel’s back, the pads of his fingers applying pressure at times, one arm going around his shoulders while a hand wandered back down to rub at his hip before starting a slow exploratory journey up his chest, Castiel had the same idea, slowly dragging a hand up Dean’s chest, while his mouth moved to his neck, kissing and starting to mark him up. Dean’s hands hesitated and his breath hitched, followed by a quiet moan as he felt soft thumb pads rub over the nubs on his chest.“You okay Dean?” Cas asked softly, watching Dean’s face to make sure that he was alright with what they were doing. “Is what we’re doing alright with you?”Dean nodded silently. “We can even keep going Cas, please keep going.” He was desperate for Castiel’s touch, he wanted this, he needed this.Cas balanced himself with his left hand and lowered himself closer to Dean, his right hand trailing slowly down to his hip, rubbing circles on one side for a moment before he trailed to rub slowly at the inside of Dean’s thigh, switching to the other a few moments later.Their breath was mingling and Dean was letting out breathy moans but didn’t push for Cas to go any faster, he was actually enjoying the slow pace right now. They had no need to rush this.Dean’s hands had started moving again, it had taken awhile for his brain to reconnect to his hands and he moved them down slowly and began to mimic Cas’s hand movements, causing Cas to falter for a second but continued, moving his hand up at the same time as Dean’s followed and they began rubbing each other through their undershorts, while kissing slow and deep again.They moved their hands slowly on each other, not holding back their noises of pleasure, eventually though they stripped the undershorts from each other so that they were completely skin on skin.Castiel now removed his hand from Dean and removed Dean’s hand off of him. “Why we stop?” Confusion showing on Dean’s face as he tried to buck up to Cas for contact however Cas moved out of reach.“Because we’re going to go further if you want to. I want to be inside you Dean.”Dean groaned quietly and nodded. “I want to Cas. But slowly.”“Of course Dean.” They kissed for a moment before Cas broke the kiss. “Do you have any olive oil?”Dean flushed momentarily. “In the bedside draw.”Cas reached over and opened it finding the partially empty jar and smirked. He placed the jar down for a moment on the top of the bedside.Dean made to turn around onto his stomach however Cas prevented him. “No, I’m not taking you for our first time together not facing each other.”Dean nodded and relaxed back onto his back, unashamedly exposing himself to Castiel’s gaze, who arranged Dean to be more comfortable. He unscrewed the jar now and dipped his fingers in to coat them in the slippery liquid, he leaned over Dean, balancing again with his left hand and slowly slid one finger inside Dean.Dean watched Cas, tensing slightly around the first finger since he was only use to his own fingers. He felt Cas add a second finger and aim them up slightly. “Shit Cas!” He moaned out, jerking his hips slightly upwards trying to get that feeling again.Cas added one more finger causing Dean once more to tense but a quick aim up had Dean moaning out again. “Damn it Cas, just hurry up and get in me already.” Dean was impatient now but Cas silenced him with a slow open mouthed kiss while he dipped his fingers back into the oil to slick himself up with enough oil to not hurt Dean.Cas pulled back from Dean and lined himself up, pushing in very slowly, watching Dean for signs of pain and or discomfort.Dean’s arms wrapped instantly around Cas, holding onto his back and shoulders as he felt Cas slide in, it stung somewhat but he was okay.Finally Cas was seated fully inside Dean and again leaned over to kiss him. “Alright Dean?” He asked quietly in his ear.“Cas…. Please move already.” Dean was embarrassed at how much that sounded like a whine but his eyes closed and he moaned loudly when Cas began moving inside him, slowly and slightly picked up the pace when they were both comfortably moving with each other. Messy kisses were exchanged, fingers were lightly scratching at Cas’s back causing him to groan out and thrust into Dean a little harder.The angle altered and the sensitive nerve endings were being hit now causing Dean to feel like his brain was short circuiting and he could feel his release building quicker, his moans and cries getting louder. “Come on Dean.” Cas panted in his ear, while his hand moved down to grip Dean’s length and pump it quickly. “Let go, come now.” Dean couldn’t ignore Cas and he felt himself drop over the edge, his vision whiting out. “C-Cas!” He cried out loudly.“Dean…” Cas groaned in his ear a moment later, filling Dean completely. They slowed down and eventually stopped, Castiel pulling out a few moments later, watching the fluid spill out of Dean’s entrance.Dean opened his eyes, and locked his eyes with Cas who pulled the younger close, they were messy but both of them didn’t care right now, right now they didn’t even need words to say that they wanted to cuddle and stay close together.
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“Cas?” Dean whispered, staring at his betrothed lightly flushed. “Yes Dean?” He whispered not letting Dean go, he was enjoying their comfortable atmosphere that they had created after their love making. “I believe I’m falling in love with you, and not because of what we did before but everything… Everything combined and I just had a hit of emotion that I realised was love Cas… Or the start of it at least.” He couldn’t look at Castiel, as much as he wanted to look at him worried that this was the wrong time to bring up such a thing. However, Castiel was smiling and tilted Dean’s face up to look him in the eyes. “Dean, I believe I feel the same as you do so relax, don’t be embarrassed or worried about it.” Dean was visibly relieved but the moment was ruined when there was a knock on the door. Dean groaned at being interrupted and Castiel pulled the bedsheet over their naked forms. “Come in.” Dean called not allowing the irritation to show in his voice. He sat up in the bed along with Cas.The door opened and Joanna-Beth waltzed into the room holding a tray of bread, fruits and preserves. “Hey boys.” She grinned at them both, gave a tiny curtsey and placed the tray on their table.“Jo, this is Cas, Cas this is Jo, part time servant here and part time worker at the Roadhouse.” Dean quickly introduced them since he could see Castiel’s absolute confused look. “Well I say servant but she’s more like a sister to me and Sam when she’s around, her dad is the medic. Well her real dad died when she was a baby, the medic is her step dad. Her mother Ellen use to be a Lady in Waiting to my mum however as she has gotten older she opened the Roadhouse Tavern and hotel.” During Dean’s quick explanation Jo had waltzed back out of the room after having had been introduced to the elder prince.“She seems rather pleasant, I would like to meet her properly, preferably with clothes on.” He kissed the top of Dean’s head. “Yeah cause no one but me is allowed to see you naked.” Dean casually murmured, eyes closing briefly as he felt Cas kiss his head. “Also, as much as I am enjoying being in bed with you and especially after what we did, I’m starting to feel a bit uncomfortable and sticky…”“We can bathe then together or alone whatever you are comfortable with Dean.”“I like the intimacy of bathing together, just don’t let me fall asleep this time.” Dean spoke rushed but sincere even if he did have to say it again slower so that Cas could actually understand what he had said.****It was still a little while longer before they decided that they had the energy to get out of the bed, Dean almost falling after discovering that his hips and legs were a little sore from the exercise that morning, Cas had caught him and helped him balance and get to the bathroom.Dean plonked himself on the toilet while Cas started the bath running – Dean casually staring at Cas’s perfect ass.“I know you’re staring green eyes.” Cas spoke up with affection, the tub filling steadily. He stood up straight and wandered over to Dean.“I was just appreciating you, blue eyes.” Dean retorted with just as much affection as Cas helped him stand and wander over to the bath.They both carefully climbed in, Dean immediately leaning back against Cas. The water was warm and a comfort on his sore lower half, almost causing him to groan at the simple pleasure of pain relief. Several moments later Dean jumped, feeling Cas’s fingers around his entrance.“Dean, relax we’re not doing anything now, I’m just helping clean you out.” Cas was quick to make his intensions clear right now because neither of them were ready to go again.Dean settled and felt Cas’s fingers help remove the sticky uncomfortable liquid from his ass, there was nothing sexual about this, warm and a comfort but not sexual.Dean actually felt much better afterwards and made this known by him slightly twisting his upper body and kissing Cas’s upper arm near his shoulder. “Thanks Cas.” Dean could have cleaned himself out but he liked that it was Cas who offered to do it.The rest of the bath was spent washing themselves comfortably and relaxing until the water began to go cold.They both climbed out and Dean pulled the plug to drain the tub, the warm water had helped greatly and he was able to stand on his own now.It was comfortably silent until Cas’s stomach decided that it was a good time to growl and gurgle demanding food, it embarrassed Cas and Dean grinned and snorted in amusement until his own stomach did the same thing. “Right, clothes and the food that’s in the bedroom.” Dean had dried himself quickly and bolted into the bedroom, threw on loose clothes, watching Cas do the same seconds later and they both sat down to enjoy the stone fruits, berries, preserves, brioche buns and honey.Castiel was excited at the honey and before Dean knew what was going on since he was busy spreading blueberry preserve on his brioche, he looked up to find two of Cas’s fingers in the honey jar then both fingers were in Cas’s mouth.“Seriously Cas? You’re a pervert for honey? Who knew…?” He laughed softly and shook his head in disbelief and mirth. He did enjoy the way Cas’s face reddened though, since he didn’t flush often.“Honey is good, it’s sweet and I like it.”“Even so Cas, try spreading it on your brioche instead of sucking it off your fingers.” He smirked, teasing Cas.Again Cas flushed but wiped his fingers on the napkin and this time spread the honey on the bun and added some fruit.Dean watched Cas the entire time, even as he ate his own bun and fruits, they were comfortably silent again as they ate their sticky, sweet breakfast. Afterwards going to the bathroom to use the sink to clean their hands and faces.****They spent the rest of the morning being lazy together like they had planned, snuggling up together and reading, Castiel’s wings coming out to wrap around them like a blanket almost hiding them away, at that point they had put their books down and Dean’s hands were instantly in the feathers, running his hands through them slowly however he frowned when so many feathers came away in his hands.
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Dean stared at the feathers in his hands before he lifted his gaze to Cas. “Mind explaining why your feathers are falling out suddenly?”Castiel unwrapped his wings from around Dean and sat up straighter. “Ah, start of moulting since it’s going to be winter soon, the feathers moult and regrow fresh, I thought I was feeling a bit itchy, it’s nothing to worry about Dean.” He began combing through his wings one at a time, trying to dislodge any loose feathers, showing Dean that it wasn’t an issue, he was use to this and he was fine.“Wouldn’t it be easier if you just relaxed and let me help you? Since it mustn’t be easy to reach every part of your wings on your own… Not that you’re incapable I mean you’ve had these for years…” He rambled on until he shut himself up and noticed that Cas was staring at him.“You want to help groom my wings?” He asked curiously but smiled and removed his tunic, turning his back to Dean. “Have at it.”Dean began combing his fingers very carefully through the wings, making a pile of feathers next to them on the bed.Castiel closed his eyes and concentrated solely on Dean’s hands in his wings, it felt nice getting help with his grooming since it was always very awkward trying to do it by himself since he always refused help from the time his wings developed.“Is this okay Cas?” Dean questioned since the elder was so quiet and still throughout the process, there was less feathers coming out right now, however he continued to groom, running his fingers through the soft feathers at the base of the wings.“It feels good Dean.” He murmured simply, he was glad that this would only happen once a week until the first week of winter especially with the itching, he would go mad it the itching stayed the whole time of the moulting and grooming process.Dean now removed his fingers out of the wings since no more feathers were coming out and he began scratching lightly at Cas’s back to help with any itching, causing Cas to let out a surprised groan, then moved away from Dean just to lie down on his stomach. “Don’t you dare stop scratching right now, the itching should stop soon too, I’ll let you know when.” Cas made himself comfortable and hid his wings to make it easier for Dean.****Gabriel that morning had woken with a horribly itchy back, to the point where he thought he was going to go insane. He was rubbing his back against the bed and accidently woke up Sam with his uncomfortable itching.“Gabe? What’s wrong?” Sam asked sleepily opening his eyes, taking a moment to focus. He turned on a lamp since it was still somewhat dark.“My back is really itchy in the area of where the wings come out and around that area.” He gritted out while attempting to itch.Sam was instantly awake and alert. “Lie on your stomach and let me see, do not let your wings out though.” Sam assessed Gabe’s now red back – from all the scratching. “Let your wings out now.” He was suspicious since he had been reading up on birds and such recently. Gabe concentrated and allowed his golden wings to come out and Sam’s hands were immediately in the feathers, confirming his suspicions. “You’re moulting Gabe, the itching is cause your wings are coming in with fresh feathers, despite your wings being new, it’s a seasonal thing since winter is coming up soon.” He continued to groom Gabe who began to relax now that the uncomfortable loose feathers were being removed so that fresh ones could come through. It took a while but eventually Sam removed all the current loose feathers. Once the feathers were collected he wandered off to the bathroom and came back with cool damp cloths like he had done when Gabe’s wings were first coming through, placing the first cloth on Gabe’s back. “Any better Gabe?”“Yeah Sam, doesn’t itch so bad now, if I’m going through this now my brother is probably dealing with it too, or going to deal with it soon.”Once Gabe was comfortable again they both went back to sleep for a couple more hours of sleep at least, Sam was cuddling Gabe tighter, keeping him off his back in case the itching came back, he didn’t want Gabe itching at it.****“Hey Cas, I was thinking…. If you’re going through your moult now, does that mean Gabe could be going through it too now?” Dean asked, his hand flat now on Cas’s back, the itching was gone and he was rubbing Aloe Vera into the inflamed skin to settle it down. “He could be… When you are done we can go give them one of my aloe jars till Gabe can go and get his own.” Dean nodded and continued rubbing at Cas’s back till the aloe was fully rubbed in then went to wash his hands while Cas sat up and put a tunic and pair of boots on and put his open aloe jar away and grabbed an unopened one for his little brother.Dean came into the room, tidied himself up, grabbed a pair of boots and they were on their way to their brothers’ room.Upon reaching the room Dean knocked on the door. “Hey Sam, Gabe? Can we come inside?”It took a moment but there was no response instead a tired Sam opened the door and let them in. “Do you need something?” Sam asked yawning.“Is or has Gabe been suddenly painfully itchy?” Cas asked bluntly to Sam, although the pile of golden feathers on the ground next to the bed were a dead giveaway.“He’s been itchy and moulting. I assume you know all about that Cas.”The elder prince nodded and thrust the jar out. “It’s aloe, it will help since the first moult is always the worst moult, but it will help with every moult… also so you know this will only happen once a week till winter.”Sam took in the information and took the jar of aloe with much thanks. “Now Sammy go help your boyfriend.” Dean ruffled Sam’s hair and he and Cas left them alone.
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Dean snuggled further into Cas when he started waking up a few days later, the last few days had been uneventful, it was now Friday and Friday meant dancing practice, thankfully though he and Cas had practice first and Sam and Gabe after them. He preferred that since he doubted that they would get much dancing done with the younger brothers around. Castiel had been fully awake for a good half hour before Dean had even started waking up, his arms wrapped around Dean, he even had brought out his wings, wrapping the closest around the younger like a soft blanket.Dean opened his eyes, blinking awake and focusing, noticing that Cas’s wings were out, it made him smile and raise a hand to lightly run his fingers through the feathers. “Morning Dean.” Dean jumped slightly having been unaware that Cas was even awake. He turned to face Cas properly. “Morning feathers.” His fingers remained in the feathers, running them through slowly. “Should we get up yet? Well since we have dance practice… Don’t want to be late for Ruby, wait how early is it now?” Dean moved away from Cas just enough to catch the time on his simple clock. “Six? It’s six in the morning? Why are we awake so early?” He was practically whining at lost sleep and purposely snuggled himself tighter against Cas. “Wake me in an hour.” He was promptly asleep again within a couple of moments.Castiel closed his eyes for a second and smiled in affection at the younger prince, kissing his forehead. “Whatever you ask Dean.” He whispered and continued to hold onto him as close as possible. ****It was about forty minutes after Dean had gone back to sleep and so twenty minutes before Cas was supposed to wake him up, however Cas was quickly discovering that he may need to wake Dean sooner if Dean continued what he was doing. It was obvious that he was dreaming – more specifically he was dreaming about Cas which was leaving the elder prince with a slight problem but by the feel of things Dean had the same issue right now.“Dean.” He softly called in his ear. “Wake up.” Cas didn’t want Dean to be doing such things with him while not being conscious of it, he wanted to help Dean with this and so he wanted Dean awake even if he had to wake him a little earlier.It took a couple of minutes but Dean was once more awake and quickly aware of both of their problems. “Ah, want some help with that Cas? I know I caused it, judging by the fact that I kinda am in the same situation…”“Only if I get to help you out too.”“Of course Cas, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He grinned and he slipped a hand to grip Cas’s arousal loosely as Cas did the same to him.They worked each other up lazy and slowly, exchanging sweet kisses every now and then, keeping eye contact as much as possible.Dean was the first to tumble over the edge, “Cas…” He murmured breathily, his hand on the elder briefly squeezing and stroking a bit harder so it wasn’t long before Cas was following Dean over, holding the eye contact with Dean the entire time. Despite the laziness, their releases had been rather intense and it took them a few moments to recover, spending the time cuddling till they really had to get up, clean themselves up – together of course, have some breakfast, which was in their room again, then put on respectable clothing for their dance practice.****Dean and Cas made their way down to the ballroom a few minutes earlier than when their practice was going to start. They patiently waited for Ruby to arrive which of course was not a long wait at all.Ruby walked into the ballroom at the allotted time she had to teach Dean and Cas, she was going to mention the week before but the way they were both so close together and even exchanging kisses, it made her relieved that it seemed that the two princes had overcome themselves.She got their attention a few seconds later. “Alright boys, keep it in your pants, we have a lot to learn before the ball. You guys and your brothers are showcasing a dance together, well two separate dances at separate times.”Dean and Cas nodded having had expected something like this to be said to them.She continued. “You guys will be dancing a tango, a dance of passion and skill. I think it will suit you both.”Dean and Cas immediately got into a basic stance and awaited further instruction, she was surprised that Cas was in the leading position but she didn’t question with what the boys were comfortable with.She instructed them through the basic steps of a tango, progressively getting more complex the more confident the boys became dancing together like this.It was a good two hours later that she decided that they were ready to start at least getting a feel for the routine that they would have to perform for everyone.Mistakes were made during the practice but it was to be expected, it was their first time dancing a tango and a tango together but they had time to practice to get it perfect. They only learnt the first few beats of the routine and by the time they had mastered it fluidly it was now hitting the third hour and the boys were exhausted and so practice for the day for them ended.“Alright boys, you’ve done a complete turnaround from how you both were last practice, and we made incredible progress today. I expect you boys to practice, we haven’t got a lot of time till you both will be expected to perform. But now go get out of here.”Dean practically was dragging Cas with him, although they paused at the door finding two full glasses of water, which they both took advantage of and drank before moving on to go freshen themselves up, they stank of sweat.They both headed straight to the bathroom, having stripped off their tunic’s in the bedroom and headed to the large sink, there was plenty of room for both of them. Dean and Cas both washed their faces and chests, dried and headed back into the bedroom.“I wasn’t expecting her to choose such a style for us to learn.” Dean had dramatically face planted himself on his bed.Cas sat next to him, a hand rubbing soothing circles on Dean’s back for no reason in particular. “Yeah but you do have to admit it does suit us, I mean the style is pretty much a teasing, fighting passion. It works for us.”“Yeah I know Cas, but it means that we will be exhausted after every practice from now on. But it will be worth it I know, to show everyone that we belong with each other betrothal or no betrothal.” Cas nodded agreeing, his hand no longer moving on Dean’s back. “They will also see who the lead is in our relationship.” Cas teased.Dean turned his head to face Cas, lifted an arm and lightly smacked Cas on the arm. “I can lead, I just choose not to.” What he didn’t say was, he didn’t lead not just because he didn’t choose to but because he didn’t want to, he enjoyed Cas taking the lead. He felt safe with Cas and trusted him enough to give him the lead.
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The dance practice for Gabriel wasn’t as nearly as bad as he thought it would be, it was a lot easier since Sam had helped show him through all the basics he needed to know earlier in the week.
Seeing this Ruby was relieved that she only had to teach the boys their Viennese Waltz for the upcoming Ball.
The dance was tricky for the boys since it’s far more complex than a regular waltz, with a lot of spinning, causing them a few incidents of losing their footing every now and then. They didn’t learn much of the dance however more just the steps required in a Viennese Waltz, so that after some practice before their next lesson they would be able to start their routine.****“That was tiring Sam, is dance practice usually so tiring?” He wasn’t complaining but he was curious with what he should expect from the future with being a prince and having to dance.
“Not usually, since we have the Announcement of Betrothal Ball coming up our practice is longer and more in depth so that we can perfect our dance that we will be dancing together. Usually you can expect dance practice to be half as long and half as intense. Don’t worry about it Gabe, you will become accustomed to the changes in no time. But if you are that tired we can go lie down for a time, have some alone time to recover from the three hours.”Immediately Gabe grabbed Sam’s hand and hastened them towards their wing, almost running up the long staircase – regardless of being tired.
Panting they both reached their room and burst inside, the door loudly clanging shut.Barely moments later they had tumbled on their bed heatedly making out, hands running over their upper bodies – neither of them ready or comfortable with their hands going lower yet. Their mouths met in a clash of teeth and tongues, it was messy but they settled down with their kissing while rolling around on the very large bed together. After a while both boys settled down and they settled into simply cuddling. They were enjoying the time together that afternoon. They had barely had much time together to be like this since they both had studies, music lessons, practicing their dancing and Gabe having to learn to ride a horse. It was a rare quite moment for the young princes and they were taking full advantage of it.
****It was late in the afternoon when Dean realised that both he and Cas had ended up having a nap together in a very awkward and uncomfortable position on their bed, draped across the bed with their legs hanging off the side, instead of being the right way and on the feather filled fluffy pillows.
He flicked Cas’s nose to wake him up however all it ended up doing was make Cas scrunch his nose up, huff in annoyance and continue napping. Dean sighed but smiled, Cas was cute when asleep. After considering his options Dean carefully squirmed out of Cas’s hold on him and stood up. Again he considered things before picking up the elder prince and righting him on the bed – except that is when Cas decided to open his eyes, betraying that he had in fact already been awake. He was very adept at pretending to sleep.
“Seriously Cas?” Dean asked exasperated, “You just pretended so that I would fix you on the bed? Really? You know next time I won’t make you more comfortable you sneaky annoying blue eyes.”Cas had the audacity to laugh at Dean. “Well for one I was curious as to what you would do.” He pulled Dean down on top of him, wrapping his arms firmly around him. “And for two, why wouldn’t I want to be in your arms even if for a few seconds?”
Dean’s eyebrow raised like he was saying ‘oh really’ to Cas then leaned forward and lightly decided to nip at Cas’s nose, yeah it might be a tad immature but to him Cas had been immature first by pretending to be asleep.
Again Cas laughed at Dean, who tensed up, and rolled them onto their side. “Alright, alright…” He calmed at Dean’s not amused face. “I’m sorry okay?”
Dean relaxed and snuggled into Cas. “You’re lucky I love you Cas.” Dean froze when he realised what came out of his mouth and he went into full panic, making an attempt to escape the situation, however Cas tightened his hold on Dean again, not letting him run away.
“Dean, stop struggling, you know; I do love you too. There is no shame in saying it out loud.” He nosed Dean’s nose with his own. It took quite some time for Dean’s body to calm down, the contact from Castiel was a great help. “Sorry Cas. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that is all, I wanted to say it at some special time not when we had been you know being somewhat stupid…”
Cas shook his head, smiling affectionately, kissing Dean lightly. “Doesn’t matter Dean because anytime with you is special regardless of what we are doing.”
Dean’s face heated up briefly but he leaned in and kissed Cas deep and passionate, asserting himself with the control this time. The kiss was short and after they just lay there silently staring at each other until there was a loud crack and the rain started causing both princes to groan – what made it worse was that moments later the storm began, the high winds whipping the outside of the palace, the banners loudly flapping. It was a moment later that the thunder started causing Dean to hide his face against Cas, his pulse quickened, his breathing sped up and he clung desperately to Cas concentrating on him in order to not blank out like he did last time. “S-stupid w-weather.” He was lightly shaking.
“It is Dean, but we are inside and safe, if you listen the thunder is distant and far between, it can’t harm us…” Apparently those words didn’t help, if Dean shaking harder was any indication. He wracked his brain for anything that could help Dean, he couldn’t remove traumatic memory he had but he could try to change the way Dean thought of storms.
“You know Dean…” He began very softly his mouth next to the younger’s ear. “I was once told by my mother that storms although scary and they can hurt people to the point…. Well she said they are also beautiful too, a part of nature that can’t be tamed or predicted and if you have someone with you….” The thunder cracked right above them but Dean had come out of hiding, he jumped and was still shaking but he understood what Cas was saying since he had thought the storms were beautiful before that day many years ago.
“It’s better to stand it together than alone?” Dean asked in a quieter voice.
“Yeah Dean, better to be with someone than be alone. Better if that person loves you.”Dean kept jumping every time the thunder cracked overhead but he wasn’t shaking as bad as he had been, his face was back into Cas’s neck though, his nose breathing in the elder’s scent – which Dean used as the excuse that it calmed him down and that he wasn’t hiding.
Since it didn’t seem like the storm was going to let up any time soon Dean decided to start distracting himself by snuggling as firmly against Cas as possible, hooking a leg around Cas causing their lower bodies to touch. It was a nice distraction for them both but it did not escalate. They did however start lightly kissing the more Dean calmed down and even began enjoying the storm like he used to.****It was late into the night when the storm finally stopped, both boys having ignored the call to dinner, being too comfortable to move, Dean was sleepy again and turned in Cas’s arms so that his back was to the elder’s chest. “Love you, blue eyes, goodnight.” He muttered sleepily.
“Love you too, green eyes. Goodnight.” Cas murmured softly in Dean’s ear, kissing his temple softly.
The storm may have stopped however the rain continued throughout the night but neither prince noticed.
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The following week consisted of Dean and Cas playing more music together, training in hand to hand combat and weapons training together as well as practicing the beginning of their dance which now had extra parts added to it. The music that they were going to use was a mash up of traditional and argentine tango which Ruby had explained to them that it would show off greater skill and impress the guests.They made love a few times, neither wanting to play too rough since this was all still so new for both of them however right now Dean needed time alone. Cas was helping Gabe with his horse riding lessons right now since Sam had a music lesson so Dean decided to take advantage of the time alone.He was in his room searching underneath his bed, grabbing for an ornate wooden box and taking it through to the music room. He briefly considered picking up his guitar to pick out a random melody but then he looked to the wooden box in his hands and decided that music could wait, he needed his alone time. Putting down the box next to the nest he unbuttoned the buttons at the front of his pants and stripped out of them, followed by his undershorts. He lay down in the soft nest and lifted his tunic up without pulling it off. He picked up the ornate box again and opened it, removed the black velvet cloth which hid the contents of the box and pulled the first item out. He placed the cloth back in the box and grabbed the small jar out before he forgot it then closed the box, placing it aside. He took the carved wooden cock and opened the jar of olive oil. He first slicked up his hand, bringing it to his entrance and began to prepare himself first with one finger, slowly adding more, unashamedly moaning since it had been so long since he had done this for himself. When he felt himself stretched and relaxed enough he slicked up the toy and carefully slid it inside himself. He winced slightly since it was a little thicker than Cas was but it didn’t take long for him to readjust to the size of the wooden carved cock inside him.A moment later he began thrusting the toy inside himself, imagining Cas, despite the slight difference in size and despite him needing alone time Cas was still his fantasy. He closed his eyes and constantly let out a soft litany of moans and cries. He occasionally shivered and eventually began to stroke his own cock with his free hand, he went slowly wanting to drag this out for as long as he possibly could, lose himself in the pleasure. ****Gabriel was learning to ride on a beautiful Bay Mare and one look at the young prince and Cas could see the nervous posture of his younger brother on the horse. “Gabe you need to relax otherwise the horse, Meg will never listen to you or accept you as her rider. Neither of us will allow you to fall if you just have some confidence in us.”Gabriel nodded and corrected his posture and his hands on the reins. He set Meg into a steady and confident walk, this was his first time without a lead rope which is what had made him so nervous but Meg obeyed him and only walked the path that Gabe set out. Cas was walking alongside with them. “Has Sam or Garth taught you to trot yet?” Cas asked after they had completed a good five circuits.“A little but we only started that a few days ago.” He brought Meg to a stop.“Well we will practice the trot then.” Cas attached the lead rope and led them to the middle of the paddock. “You know the pattern I assume, keep your posture as straight up as possible and use the balls of your feet in the stirrups for the best control for when you are not seated.” Cas moved a bit out so that the rope was lax. Gabriel did the signal for Meg to go into a walk briefly before setting her into a trot, Cas keeping a good eye on his brother, making sure his posture was right. “Remember little brother, the balls of your feet, you won’t have good control with the arch of your foot.” Gabe concentrated, feeling that he had the balls of his feet in the stirrup, heeding his brother’s warning. They trotted in a circle for a bit until Gabriel was too tired to continue, after all riding a horse when you are not used to it is rather tiring. ****“C-Cas…” Dean groaned out softly, he was holding out quite well, his stamina much improved since being with Cas. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his body now and he was purposely holding back his release not wanting to end just yet.His body was shaking and his moans louder, eventually he couldn’t hold off any longer and cried out loudly. “Cas!” The cum spurting out and all over his chest, narrowly avoiding his tunic. He shook his body exhausted, his eyes getting heavy.Dean was asleep within minutes, the wooden toy still buried deep inside him.It wasn’t long before Cas was back in their bedroom, curious as to where Dean was, according to the staff he had run into and Sam no one had seen him. He reasoned that Dean must be in their room but he wasn’t to be seen so that left the music room. Cas went into the bathroom first and cleaned himself up from being around the horses then wandered into the music room. The sight that Cas was met with was both unexpected and appealing seeing Dean completely blissed out after what looked like a thorough self-pleasuring session. Cas had taken note of the apparent toy inside of Dean but left it alone for now. He decided to sit next to Dean and gently wake him up by kissing him softly. Dean blinked awake and jumped, trying to escape, embarrassed at being caught like this but Cas put a strong and comforting hand on Dean’s chest. “It’s okay Dean, self-love is just as important as love together.”“Doesn’t change the fact that it’s embarrassing though being caught.” Dean muttered, moving slightly which caused him to yelp as the toy moved with him to nudge that sweet spot inside him. He fell back and groaned, having remembered that he had forgotten to remove the toy before he napped.Dean could already feel himself reacting to the light stimulation again and groaned, moving to remove the toy however Cas captured Dean’s hand. “If you don’t mind Dean, I’m going to take care of you this time.” Cas murmured gently.“O-okay.” He thickly swallowed, not sure why he was feeling a little nervous, he had done so much with Cas already.Cas carefully grabbed Dean’s other hand and set them both above Dean’s head on the soft pillows. “Keep your arms up here, you can relax them but don’t move them.” He then went about softly licking at Dean’s sweat and cum covered body, lapping at the saltiness. He moved down slowly till he was level with Dean’s hard length and sucked it down into his throat holding it there while a hand went to hold down his hips and the other went to slowly move the wooden toy in and out of Dean.Dean was completely blissed out; all coherent thought had disappeared the moment he had felt Castiel’s tongue on his body. He knew that this time he wouldn’t last as long but it didn’t matter as long as Cas kept licking the head of his cock and taking him into his throat. It was barely moments later, since the toy was constantly pressing into the sweet spot that Dean cried out loudly. “CAS!” His vision blacked out for a few moments, his chest heaving and it felt like his heart was attempting to escape from out of his chest. Cas drank down what Dean had to offer, letting it shoot down into his throat. He lapped at Dean to bring him down and removed the toy carefully. He was aware that Dean had passed out and so set about placing the toy inside the box along with the jar of oil he found next to it then went to make Dean more comfortable, helping Dean back into his undershorts at least.By the time Dean woke up he was cradled to Cas’s chest in his lap. “Hello…” Dean’s voice was a touch rougher than usual. He tilted his face up and kissed Cas’s chin. “Hello yourself Dean. You’re not sore are you?” Cas was immediately concerned for Dean since Dean seemed like he had had the toy inside him for a while and his arms had been above his head for a while.“Doesn’t matter if I am a little, that wooden cock is a bit thicker than you are. My arms are a bit sore though.” Cas placed Dean back down into the nest and took one arm in his hands and began a whole arm massage, repeating on the other arm.“Better Dean?”“Mmm I really like your hands, they make everything better… and your wings.”Both Dean and Cas were taking advantage of this Saturday since in a week’s time the Ball would be happening and on Wednesday the dreaded Hellhound Princes and King were going to be arriving. So many things were going to be happening during the week in order to be ready for the Ball that there was no way that Dean and Cas would not take advantage of resting this weekend, there was going to be Hellhounds to come.
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Cas and Dean collectively groaned when they realised that it was Wednesday. Cas had never met Crowley Hellhound or his sons but with the stories he had heard from Dean he was not too excited about having to help host them until and after the Ball. “You never know Dean; they may have matured since you last saw them… You did say that they are older than us…” Cas mentioned casually while getting ready in a more formal white and blue outfit, cape included as well as his crown.
“Somehow though I don’t think they have, they enjoy causing harm to others, like a sick pleasure or something…. Sadistic.” He sighed quietly and dressed in a black and silver formal outfit, crown included.Castiel approached Dean from behind and hugged him. “Well if it comes to it, we are both strong fighters so I doubt they will get very far this time. You’re not sixteen anymore Dean.”
Dean nodded and leaned back into Cas’s arms. “Yeah, this time we will kick their butts if necessary.” He grinned at the thought of getting them back at their own game.Dean turned in Cas’s arms after a minute. “You look gorgeous in that outfit, suits you – no wait you look good in anything.” He pecked Cas’s mouth then pulled back from him.
“We better head to the throne room, Sam and Gabriel are probably already down there…if they didn’t get distracted.”****Upon reaching the outside of the Throne Room Dean and Cas met up with both Sam and Gabriel, Sam was dressed similar to Dean however instead of black he wore navy with gold and Gabriel wore white with silver.
They were all silent and entered the large room together going to stand next to their parents, Dean and Castiel standing to the left of the Winchester’s and Sam and Gabriel standing to the right of the Novak’s.
Benny was off to the side for when he would be needed to show the Hellhound’s to their guest wing.It wasn’t a long trip from Arkansas to Kansas and the Hellhound’s were expected at any time now to pull up in their coach.
Dean gripped Cas’s hand nervously, it was moments later that the footman entered the Throne Room. “Presenting King Crowley and Princes Alistair and Azazel of Arkansas.”Everyone greeted everyone, Dean effectively hiding his unease of being around the two older sadistic princes. He couldn’t wait to get back to his and Cas’s room – just to be away from them. Dean and even Sam were both glad that there was not going to be a welcome feast that night since the Ball was so close anyway, the Winchester’s had not wanted to put undue stress on the kitchen staff.Finally Benny was called over and the Hellhound’s were taken up to their guest wing. Everyone visibly relaxed when the Hellhound’s were finally gone and the young princes were all dismissed.****“Right boys, you need to behave yourselves this time. We cannot have a repeat of three years ago. Harming Dean Winchester was stupid and you both know it. For Hellhound’s sake we need the alliance of Kansas and greater Texas.” Crowley warned his two sons, he knew he had little chance of them heeding his warnings, especially since they were twenty-six and twenty-eight, that is Alistair and Azazel in that order of age.The thing is that Alistair and Azazel noticed was that they were not warned against harming Castiel, Dean’s betrothed. You see the truth was they were jealous since they were both not betrothed since no prince or princess was interested in them, no matter about alliances. They were jealous that Dean had been betrothed to one of the most stunning princes from one of the most famous royal lines alive. It was not long after the two princes were dismissed that they began their plan to take place during the Ball. They planned on it being discreet enough so that no one would notice till after the fact had taken place.****Dean groaned when he reached their bedroom. Just seeing those stupid princes gave him a terrible headache and he needed to lie down much to the concern of Cas.
“Dean? You alright?”
Dean nodded, his eyes shut tight with an arm thrown over them. “Yeah, just seeing their ugly faces and hearing their dreadful voices gives me a headache. They are a pain on the eyes and the ears, especially that Alistair.” He shivered. “His voice is annoying and creepy.”
“Yeah and Azazel’s yellow eyes are unsettling.” Cas added, sitting on the edge of the bed next to Dean. “Do you need anything?”“No, I’ll be right soon, as long as you don’t move although….” He blindly grabbed for Cas’s hand and dumped it lightly in his hair.
Castiel smiled, getting the message and began running his fingers through Dean’s hair.
Meanwhile Dean concentrated on relaxing his face and head since him tensing up earlier was what brought about the headache and the quicker he relaxed the quicker the headache would go away.****“Sam, Sam stop! I know you are concerned for Dean but he has Cas so you know that he will be okay.” Gabe was holding Sam back in their room from running to Dean’s wing to see if he was okay.
“He was way too tense during the presentation Gabe, I need to make sure he is okay, I’m his brother.” Sam was fighting against the smaller prince but Gabe was rather strong despite his short stature.
“But do you really want to walk in on them if they are doing things? You know things to relieve the stress and stuff?” Gabe suggestively spoke in order to get Sam to stop struggling.Sam froze and realised that Gabe did have a point. “Yeah, don’t need to see any of that, I’m just use to it having always just been the two of us and now it’s not, since he has Cas and I have you, which is a very good thing by the way. I just need to adjust at not being able to run to him at any given moment.”
“Well Sammich...”
“Did you just call me a sandwich using my name?” Sam asked amused and confused.
“Maybe I did Sammich, sandwiches are delicious.” He grinned, laughing when he saw Sam face palm at the indirect flirtation.
“As I was saying Sam, we can practice our dance you know, since we have a lesson tomorrow putting the finishing touches on it and all. It will take our minds off more annoying things.”
Sam agreed and they got into the starting position for their Viennese Waltz.
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The following two days passed relatively quietly on the Hellhound front. It was now Saturday and everyone was everywhere trying to finish up the decorations for the ballroom, the orchestra was due to arrive soon in order to set up their instruments and run through their set before the evening.Dean had taken refuge in the stables with Baby, brushing her and sneaking her carrots and sugar cubes to keep in her favour. Eventually Dean saddled up and led Baby out into the paddock, thankfully Alistair and Azazel were nowhere to be seen so he climbed up onto the mare and began with a simple walk. Over the weeks the horse had calmed down a lot and she hadn’t had reason to throw him off again, especially she learned if she wanted treats.Dean’s posture straightened further and he squeezed her with his legs to signal a trot followed by a canter.Dean rode for a good couple of hours, alternating the gaits so that Baby wouldn’t tire too quickly. He finished off with the Spanish Walk that Cas had helped him teach Baby to do and finally jumped down, led her back to her part of the stables, removed her tack and gave her a final brush down and cleaned out her hooves.****Dean wandered back inside the palace soon after he was done, almost literally walking into Cas, stopping just in time.Cas looked up just in time to avoid running into Dean himself, he had been listening to the orchestra practice some of the music that would be featured that evening. “Have a good morning Dean?” Cas asked taking in the younger princes’ appearance of being covered in horse hair, sweat and dirt.“Yeah, Baby is behaving now, and she’s doing the Spanish Walk without complaint now. Although I think she has caught onto that if she behaves she will get treats. What about you Cas?”“Just been listening to the orchestra practice, the music is beautiful, I heard the music that is going to be featured for our brother’s dance and the music for ours in full not just piano. They both sounded amazing Dean.”They began walking back to their room, Dean really was in need of a wash and fresh clothes, it was midday now and they had to be back in action by three that afternoon to rehearse in their full tailored outfits the dance and presentation. Guests would be arriving from five that evening with the Ball starting in full at six.They arrived back at their wing quickly since Dean had pulled them into a secret passageway so that they wouldn’t run into the rushing servants who were making sure all the fancy flowers were in the correct places, all wooden surfaces were polished and gleaming. Basically it was a mad dash for the rest of the afternoon. Dean immediately began stripping once in the bedroom, Castiel was appreciating the view from what Dean could tell when he turned around just in his undershorts. He raised an eyebrow at his older prince and walked over kissing him softly. “It’s good that we have been able to relax most of the day, and we can relax together once I’m clean.” He pulled back and grabbed a fresh pair of undershorts and wandered into the bathroom, stripping off the undershorts he had on and started up the bath, waiting for it to fill before climbing in and quickly cleaning. Once clean he soaked for a few moments before draining the tub and climbing out, drying off and put the clean undershorts on.He came out of the bathroom moments later again aware of Cas’s eyes on his body. It didn’t bother him, in fact he enjoyed it and exaggerated his walk slightly as he walked over to the closet and grabbed one of Cas’s vests, putting it on and then joined the elder prince on the bed. They both sat up, Dean leaning against Cas, quiet and pensive. He was nervous about the long night that they had ahead of them, being presented officially betrothed to Cas excited him but being the centre of attention during their intense tango routine triggered his nerves.Castiel didn’t need Dean to speak to know that the younger was nervous, his body was radiating nervous energy so Cas wrapped one arm around his body and began rubbing Dean’s left arm slowly. It was comfortably silent for a long time before Dean broke it. “What happens if those two asses do something tonight? I mean they have been far too quiet and out of the way these last couple of days.” The worry was evident in his voice and in his eyes as he looked up at Cas.“If they are stupid enough to do something then we will deal with it. They won’t be able to get away with much with so many people around and so many of the Knights guarding everyone.” He reassuringly squeezed Dean’s left upper arm. “I know we will most likely be separate for most of the night but if anything happens I doubt if anyone wouldn’t notice.”Dean felt reassured by Cas’s words but he was still worried. They fell back into comfortable silence, Castiel’s hand periodically moving up and down Dean’s left arm to help keep him calm.It wasn’t long before both of the young princes had fallen into a very light sleep, they were reserving energy that they would need that night to deal with the hundreds of important people, although they were suddenly awake again after a quick succession of knocks on their door. “Dean, Cas. You have a ‘alf ‘our before you gotta be down at the ballroom.” The voice was unmistakably Benny’s.“Understood, we will be down as soon as.” Cas called out and both he and Dean got out of the bed, Cas wandered to the bathroom to splash water on his face, followed by Dean.They stretched for a moment, their joints popping slightly and they each stripped out of any clothing they had on and began dressing in their tailored outfits.Dean studied his black layered outfit, consisting of black pants with gold, silver and green embroidery, along with a simple shirt underneath followed by a black vest with just pure gold embroidery which he did up the ornamental buttons then pulled on the stiff high collared jacket which matched the pants and finally clipped on the cape with the same embroidery patterning as the jacket and pants. Castiel’s outfit was exactly the same however it was pure white with the embroidery on the pants being gold, silver and blue, the vest’s embroidery pure silver and the jacket and cape of course matching the pants and jacket. They turned to look at each other once dressed, taking in the exquisite detail of the outfits they were wearing.****They didn’t go to the bottom level where the main entrance to the ballroom was, they stayed on the level they were on and made their way to the top of the staircase entrance where they would be presented and walk down the stairs at either side, meeting in the middle at the bottom.The rehearsing of their presentation and dance went smoothly, Ruby was highly impressed with the level of smoothness of the routine and the fact that she didn’t have to correct them at all.Sam and Gabriel then did their rehearsal. The boys were dressed like Dean and Cas, the detailing and colouring all the same, Novak’s in white and Winchester’s in Black. During the practice for Sam and Gabriel’s routine Ruby just had to slightly remind Gabriel on his posture but otherwise like their older brothers they were flawless in their routine thanks to the hours of practice they had all put in.They now didn’t have long to wait. The first guests would be arriving in less than twenty minutes. Everyone got into their positions, Dean and Cas, Sam and Gabe all going back up the staircase to wait in the hall to be presented to the guests.
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The Hellhounds entered the Ballroom along with the Harvelle family. They were followed by the Bradbury’s and many other royal lines. Eventually what seemed like no time at all, the families were all introduced and filling the Ballroom completely. Moments later everyone’s attention was now turned towards the staircase. The Winchester’s and Novak’s were stood at the top of the staircase ready to introduce their sons.“We present our Son Dean Winchester.” John began and paused to allow the Novak’s to speak.“And we present our Son Castiel Novak.” Chuck seamlessly carried on.“Officially betrothed and due to get married when Dean turns twenty-one.” John finished.The parents stood aside as their sons walked through the doors as they had been called and walked down the opposite sides of the staircase, meeting flawlessly in the middle. The stepped out further and positioned themselves for their dance.Before the dance started however Ruby stepped forward to introduce their Tango/Tango Argentine mix then stepped back with everyone else as they began.**** After their dance was done it was Sam and Gabriel’s turn. The introductions flowed the same way as their older brother’s and their Viennese Waltz introduced again by Ruby.Dean was standing back with Cas, fascinated at how far the two younger princes had come with their dancing, especially Gabriel since he had only been dancing for the past three weeks. Dean and Cas both felt immense pride in their younger brothers and immediately hugged them when their dance was over.Now that was the easy part of the night over. Anyone and everyone was allowed to dance now or socialise. Canapés and hors d ’overs were presented by the waiters on silver platters along with different drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic to cater to the range of ages at the Ball that evening.Dean firmly held Castiel’s hand and they only socialised as much as they needed to especially since not all the families were very pleasant to socialise with. It was after a particularly unpleasant Duke and Duchess that Dean was practically tackled from behind. He had the let go of Cas in order to regain his balance but there was only one person who would greet him in this way.“You can let go now Charlie.” He was smiling and once they were facing each other they kissed each other’s cheek in greeting. “Castiel, this is Lady Celeste Middleton-Bradbury, daughter of Lady Gertrude Middleton and Earl Jonathon Bradbury. She prefers the name Charlie though.”As soon as she was introduced Charlie had latched herself onto Cas, hugging him tight and kissing his cheek in greeting as well. She let go soon after though.“It’s nice to meet you Charlie.” Cas kissed Charlie’s cheek, accepting her form of greeting.“Yeah, I’ve been waiting forever to learn who Dean here was betrothed too. I can’t wait to meet mine, I hear she is lovely but my parents won’t show me her picture, but I know her name is Dorothy. But you Cas, Dean had been scared out of his mind when he was told he was betrothed to a guy but I see that you two get along well if that dance was anything to go by and also by the fact that you too are holding hands again, and also by what Sam and Gabriel told me.” She gave them a knowing look.Dean hadn’t even tried to stop Charlie from speaking since it was the truth and Cas pretty much knew the fact anyway so there was nothing to hide there. It was now that Azazel had wandered up to Castiel. “Dance with me?” He asked in his creepy and off-putting way. Cas shared an uneasy look with Dean but they both knew that it would not look good for either of them to reject a dance from the prince based on the fact that they just didn’t like him, so Cas accepted but was completely on guard the entire dance.“Charlie, would you accept this dance?” Dean charmingly asked Charlie.“Of course Dean.” She grinned wide and they both took to the floor. They settled into the simple waltz, Dean trying as he might to catch any glimpse of Cas that he could, he needed reassurance that Cas was safe since he had no idea if Azazel and his brother would behave during the Ball. He didn’t trust the brothers at all and it was making him nervous but still he never missed a step of the waltz all the while.**** Azazel was a terrible dancer Castiel quickly learned. His feet had been stepped on by heavy boots more times than he could count. His hand was being squeezed painfully and the hand on his waist was inappropriately low, since Cas had been made to follow and not lead the dance. He was more than uncomfortable and wanted to get back to Dean.The waltz was now over and a foxtrot began, Castiel had wanted to dance a foxtrot with Dean however Azazel wouldn’t let him go, forcing Cas into the dance and since a foxtrot moved around the floor a lot Cas didn’t think it was suspicious that they were making for a side door.****Dean had finished the waltz and Charlie had been asked to dance by Jo. He watched the two girls for a moment then realised that he could no longer see Cas. It made him worry but he took some deep breaths knowing that Cas could handle himself if anything was to happen. He was pulled into more socialising by people whose names he didn’t particularly care for, but he still acted his part of being a first in line prince, acting like he was interested in what these people had to say.Eventually he was whisked off for another dance, by Jo after she had finished her dances with Charlie, she had seen that Dean was bored talking to these boring people so she decided to rescue him. “Thanks Jo.” He quickly smiled as they prepared to dance.“Anytime Dean, those old Dukes, they can be a bit much.”They danced a few dances and Dean was becoming more and more uneasy that Cas had not returned and that he could not see the elder prince. He was very unsettled by it all.****Castiel meanwhile was still stuck with Azazel. They had arrived at the door on the other side of the ballroom, where Alistair was waiting. His guard immediately doubled but he couldn’t do anything with so many people around, it would seem like anything he did would look unprovoked. Cas groaned inside knowing that whatever was coming he was going to have to go with it till he could get away or draw the Knights and or guests attention.
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Castiel was forcefully pulled out of the door while everyone was distracted by the Ball going on. He was dragged down the hall unable to get out of the tight grip. The first punch however caught him off guard, of course this was all unprovoked and done out of jealousy. Alistair had pulled Castiel’s hands behind his back so that he couldn’t hit back, however Castiel was an excellent fighter so even though he was taking the punches to various areas he was forming his own plan of defence.It wasn’t easy to keep a clear head while being punched up but somehow he managed and put his weight up onto Alistair, forcing him back into the wall and getting his hands free while simultaneously elbowing Alistair and kicking Azazel to wind him. He then made sure to knock them out so that they couldn’t run off.Castiel wanted to run back to the ball but his energy from the adrenalin rush was wearing off and he was feeling the pain in his face and various other body parts and so collapsed against the wall, the shocking situation hit him and he was worried about losing Dean over this even though the thought was probably the furthest from the truth.****It had been more than an hour and Dean was very stressed that Cas had not been seen by anyone but to it no one had seen Alistair or Azazel either, it was during his stressing and looking around the Ballroom that he noticed that one of the unguarded side doors was partially open, this caught his attention and he grabbed his parents and the Novaks, explaining the situation to them. They quickly made for the door, briefly socialising as they went in order to not be suspicious then they all slipped out the door. Looking left is when they saw what had happened and Dean was set off at a dead sprint, immediately at Castiel’s side. “Cas? Hey Cas?” Dean softly shook at his shoulder.“I’m awake Dean, those two bastards they wouldn’t let me leave, they dragged me here and tried to beat me up, but I won.” He sounded tired, worn out but proud of his win.Dean looked to their parents who were in deep discussion, since they had heard Cas’s quiet words.It was a moment later that John spoke to Dean. “Son, take Castiel into the Drawing Room opposite the Ballroom, Mary and I will go and get Physician Bobby and we will deal with the Hellhounds in the morning. The Novak’s will go and alert Crowley about what his sons have done.”The parents left and Dean was left with Cas and the two unconscious bodies. He turned to face Cas again and silently helped him stand and walk down to the aforementioned room. He helped Cas down onto the plush sofa then sat down, lifting Castiel’s head onto his lap.****Bobby had come and gone after checking Castiel over, he wasn’t badly injured which was a relief to Dean, the Winchesters and the Novak’s, however he would just need to rest just so the affected areas could heal and Cas could recharge so to speak.Dean and Castiel had been sent to their wing and the Ball had been ended early. Everyone had been dismissed after they had found out what had happened and almost everyone was appalled at the situation. Sam and Gabriel were furious but their parents told them that they could see their brothers in the morning, it didn’t stop both younger brothers being frustrated together for the rest of the night.Crowley and both of his sons had been put into lockdown in the guest wing, Knights guarding every single door and under every window.****Now to say that Crowley was furious would be an understatement. He couldn’t even look at his sons or even talk to them, he was so angry at them. He had warned them; he had been warning them for years now but of course those boys would never listen to him and now he knew that all trade would be completely off with Texas and Massachusetts and he knew that his line would never be welcome again in either state. He knew how this worked, he didn’t need to be told, but the formalities would still have to happen the next day which was an embarrassment to his line.****It was a bit of time later and Castiel was feeling somewhat better, his split lip had been taken care of, as well as the thankfully not too large bruises. He was currently resting against Dean’s shoulder, eyes shut but very much awake, his head clearer now. “Thought you would hate me for beating them up.” Cas suddenly spoke, his voice slightly muffled by Dean’s shoulder.Dean however tensed up slightly before breathing out in a bit of a rush. “Then you thought wrong, I love you and you are my betrothed. You defended yourself and exposed those other two princes for who they really are… Idiots who attack unprovoked. I am just happy that you are okay.” He kissed Cas’s head and hugged him close to his side. Dean couldn’t sleep, he needed to watch over Cas despite whether Cas needed watching over or not. It had shaken him the thought of losing Cas to those idiots.****It was early the next day that Pie had appeared on the tea table in Dean and Castiel’s room. No one had woken them and that was when Dean realised that he had fallen asleep at some point. Dean had carefully gotten out of bed, without waking Cas and checked out the pie in case of a note – of which he found and read. ‘Prince Dean, Benny alerted me to what happened last night during the Ball. I have made you both a Peach and Apple pie since you both deserve it after such a stressful evening. Andrea.’ Dean smiled upon finishing reading the note and placed it back down. He went over to the bed and softly kissed Cas in order to wake him up.A moment later he was met with sleepy blue eyes. “Hey Cas, feeling okay today?”It took Cas a moment of self-assessment before replying. “My head doesn’t feel the greatest but I’ll live.” He then noticed the pie. “Andrea?” He questioned softly, his eyes locked on the pie – he knew that Dean’s love of pie was wearing off on him.“Yeah Andrea, Benny told her what happened so we get pie because of it.” Dean kissed Castiel again briefly then stepped back so that Cas could get out the bed. Castiel was much more awake now and he was sure of his movements, he could feel a touch of stiffness in his shoulders and back but nothing major and so sat down with Dean to enjoy their pie together.Once the pie was eaten, they bathed together, each thing Castiel doing causing him to look more and more alert, awake and more like himself.****Crowley and his sons had been ordered out of the palace first thing in the morning, the entire Hellhound line were banned from ever returning to Texas just like Crowley thought and they were banned from ever entering Massachusetts – the same going with trade with both states. They left in embarrassment, having to return to Arkansas without delay.****Sam and Gabriel, after giving the morning some time ran towards their brothers wing, bursting inside. “Ahhh damn it you two! Why do you guys never have clothes on!!” Sam groaned at his older brother and Gabriel was close to laughing at Sam’s reaction.“Because we weren’t expecting you both to just burst in here like that.” Dean replied from his spot on the thick carpet where he was currently cuddling with Cas, leaning against the sofa.“We just came to check on you both, since no one would let us see you last night. But we are glad to see that you look rather not too bad, with what happened to you big brother.” Gabriel took over calmly. “We will leave you alone now.” Gabriel quickly dragged Sam out of the room, closing the door behind them.Dean snuggled himself against Castiel again, they felt like now that this Ball was over and the Hellhound’s dealt with that they would be able to relax and just do what needed doing when it needed to be done. They knew that stupid thought about things wouldn’t tear them apart either. All in all, they felt so much closer and so much deeper in love. It was still three years till they could marry, or less since Dean would be nineteen in a few months and there would be all sorts of things happening in that time but right now everything was good and that is all that mattered right now.