Title: The Center of Their World
Author: Katya Starling
Fandom: Supernatural
Character/Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Rating: G/K
Challenge/Prompt: Fan-FlashWorks 257: Wings
Warning(s): Character Death
Word Count: 567
Date Written: 20 March 2019
Summary: He's the center of his world, just as it's meant to be.
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to Kripke, not the author, and are used without permission.







He always tries so hard, Castiel thought, gazing adoringly down at the man he loved, to be the strong warrior that he believes everybody needs him to be. He’s been watching over him his entire life yet he’s seen him lose his control over his sorrow very few times. Only the deaths of his mother, fathers, and brother have only ever really shook him. He could claim all he wanted that Bobby was not his father, but the man had been every bit as much a father to him as John, if not more. In fact, from everything Castiel had seen between the two, Bobby actually loved Dean, and Sam too, more than John ever had, more, perhaps, than the hardened hunter had ever been capable of loving anyone after losing Mary.

And now again, they’d lost someone for whom they cared deeply. Dean was fighting tears still, only two having been lost from his control earlier, but though he tried to remain stoic, even now feigning sleep, Castiel knew he was hurting. Silently he laid down beside Dean and, without a word, pulled him into his arms. For once, Dean didn’t fight, which just proved all the more to his Guardian Angel how much he was genuinely hurting.

Castiel brought him closer still, as close as he could while they still had two separate bodies. His arms wrapped around him, and so, too, did his wings. He’d protect him as much as he was able, but this pain, the pain of losing Jack, was not something he could stop, or even lessen. To Cas’ surprise, his tears started first.

Dean turned his head and buried his handsome face into Castiel’s shoulder -- and, in so doing, his left wing. Castiel’s unseen feathers brushed softly across the hunter’s face. He held him tight while crying silently. Soon Dean began to cry too. He never made a sound, but Castiel held him all night long while he wept . . . and finally as he slipped off into dreamland.

With his Angel’s arms around him, Dean’s dreams were not overtaken by nightmares. Instead the soft feeling of Castiel’s wings around him carried him higher than the clouds. He drifted peacefully in his sleep as Cas’ tears finally stopped flowing too. Losing Jack hurt, but they still had each other. They would always have each other for regardless of what Dean believed, Cas knew he was a good man and would be going to Heaven when he died. He’d be there waiting and would gladly give up his time on Earth to be with Dean in Heaven; after all, the man in his arms was the very reason he’d fallen to Earth in the first place. They were meant to be together, and together, they would always be.

And if Cas could lessen Dean’s pain while holding the brave warrior, that was just another blessing their Father had bestowed upon him. All that mattered was Dean. All that mattered was that they were together. Cas leaned his face against Dean’s and softly kissed his forehead. Dean’s eyelids fluttered, but his eyes didn’t open. He just smiled instead, and watching him, Cas smiled as well, his own heart healed, as it always was, by Dean, the man he loved, the man he’d been created to be with, and the man who would always be the center of his whole world.


The End