#(Buffy in hiding Angel's return and Angel in accepting the ring)

[liam-summers]

BtVs 3.07 | AtS 1.03

Bonus🎶

[mattzerella-sticks]

The Bluest Blue (a Dean/Cas hexed!Dean, TLK fic, 3.3k)

(Link to Ao3)

After Michael was defeated, Dean took a temporary hiatus. He wanted to get back in the game, and a case involving a mischief-making witch seemed like the easiest way to dip his toes back into the hunting pool. Unfortunately, he was hit with a spell that'll have him facing something even worse than ancient entities or evil archangels.

His own feelings.

And he has no one to blame but his own body - his own eyes.

           Castiel parked next to Dean’s Baby, turning the car off just as the song on the radio entered its final chorus. Jack crowed from beside him, glaring at the radio. “It was almost over.”

           “That was the third time we’ve heard that song today.”

           “I like it.”

           “It’ll be on again,” Castiel said, exiting the truck, “Come on, Sam and Dean need us.” He didn’t waste any time, striding across the motel parking lot over towards the room Sam texted him. In the frantic phone call, the younger Winchester left that tidbit of information out. Sam was more preoccupied with helping Dean into the car after an unfortunate run-in with a witch.

           They were on a routine hunt; some small town trouble that Dean figured would be a simple job. He convinced everyone it was easy enough that they wouldn’t have to worry. Some slight mischief, where two hunters could step in and sort it out. Ever since they booted Michael from Dean’s head, he was coerced into a temporary retirement until he recovered. The witch-hunt was supposed to prove he could go back into the field on a regular basis. Getting blasted by an unknown spell did not help in any way.

           Castiel rapped on the door, Jack jogging up behind him. By the time he made it there, Sam opened the door. Looking between them, he sighed out a breath of relief. “You made it.”

           “Of course,” he said, stepping past Sam and into the room, “Dean is he -?”

           Dean was upright and moving. When he entered the room, Dean scrambled and ducked his head away from him. Squinting, Castiel trod more cautiously towards his friend. “Dean?”

           “Hey, Cas!” Dean laughed, still not looking at him. Castiel watched him grope the bed he was sitting on for a discarded pair of sunglasses, slipping them on. Once they were settled, he turned over to him. “You, uh – you got here pretty quickly?”

           He shrugged. “You were in trouble.”

           The flush on Dean’s cheeks burned even deeper. Castiel spun towards Sam, who was still behind him watching them curiously. “He seems to be fine?”

           “I mean, the worst of it was the fainting –“

           “I passed out.”

           “Fainting,” Sam stressed, walking over towards the small table by the television set where a few books lay scattered and open. “Honestly, I might have… overreacted when I called you-”

           Dean snorted, leaning back casually on the bed, sunglasses still on. “Nurse Ratchet barely let me do anything when I came to. His worried hen routine had me convinced he wouldn’t even let me go to the bathroom on my own.”

           Sam rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t that bad.”

           “It took almost a half hour of yelling before you’d let me out to the bar!”

           “I was only looking out for you!”

           “You were driving me crazy!” Dean growled, “Besides if you had kept me locked up we might never have discovered what that witch did to me.”

           Castiel, too exasperated to let the brothers carry on arguing, interrupted then. “What did she do?”

           He drew their attention back to him. Where Sam’s fight drained out of him the second he refocused on Castiel, Dean’s tension rose like his taut shoulders and pinched brows.

           “It’s a kind of glamour spell,” Sam explained, bringing the book over to him. “The spells in her books were all pretty basic, I don’t think she knew what she was casting either.”

           Dean grumbled, picking at his cuticles. “Lucky I didn’t end up with a tail or bad gas then…”

           “You still haven’t told me what happened,” Castiel asked him, softly. Dean didn’t respond, too busy with his hands. He tried again, adding, “Does this have anything to do with your sunglasses?”

           Dean cursed, pulling at the skin too hard. He shoved his thumb into his mouth, sucking back the blood.

           While he was distracted, Sam answered for him. “When we went to the bar, everything was fine. But then Dean caught sight of our bartender…” He related the story to him and Jack. About how the first thing their server, a woman named Brandi, remarked on was Dean’s unnatural eye color. “She thought he was wearing contacts,” Sam said, fighting back a smile, “Because no one is supposed to have pink eyes.”

           “Pink?” Castiel repeated, glancing at Dean. His friend didn’t comment, instead making himself to look as small as possible; a hard task to accomplish given his grand stature.

           “Yeah,” Sam carried on, “I dragged him into the bathroom to even make sure – you know, away from all the low lighting and light smoke. His eyes were like Liz Taylor’s –“

           “Liz Taylor had purple eyes,” Dean finally spoke, “If you’re gonna make a comparison at least make it right.”

           “Well, sorry but no actual person ever had pink eyes! Would you have preferred it if I said Barbie?”

           Dean crossed his arms over his chest. “…Still didn’t have pink eyes.”

           “Anyway,” Sam sighed, “We drove back to the witch’s hideout to see if there was anything she left behind. Lucky for us we scared her good, and all the memorabilia she collected was right there like when we left.”

           “Not even all of it was witchy! She had a Willow action figure from Buffy…”

           “We gathered up all the books and brought them back, and then called Rowena –“

           “Rowena, yes,” Castiel said, latching onto that thread. “Did she provide any insight or – or is she coming?”

           “She told us what kind of spell Dean got hit with,” Sam told them, scratching at his neck, “But there was nothing else she could do. Actually, she said that it might help if you showed up.”

           Dean muttered to himself, drawing further inwards.

           Castiel ignored him, instead pondering over Sam’s words. “Me?” he asked, “I’m not… what did she think I could do?”

           Sam shrugged. “She didn’t expand on it, although I’m pretty sure she was laughing.”

           “That does sound like Rowena…” Jack said, nodding.

           “I… I don’t know how I can be of much help,” Castiel admitted, “Was there anything in the books –“

           “Nothing.”

           Castiel turned to Dean, then. As if noticing the angel’s focus, Dean looked up and met his stare. His breath hitched, but he couldn’t tell much else from the sunglasses his friend kept on. “Dean,” Castiel said, voice low, “Why did your eyes turn pink?”

           He remained silent. Dean broke their connection and directed his shielded eyes elsewhere. Luckily Sam, nearby, was more forthcoming with the information.  

           “It was an attraction spell,” Sam said, “So whenever he sees a girl he likes his eyes go all pink. Which, nice to know you’re still crushing on Daphne, Dean.”

           Dean offered a pitiful laugh and a weak ‘shut up’.

           Castiel frowned, unsure as to why Dean would hide his eyes away from him over something like that. His attraction to women was apparent even without the change in color, and while it may have bothered him in the past, Castiel has had time to learn and live with it.

           He knelt down in front of Dean, laying a hand over his knee to grab his attention. Dean stiffened, but did not pull away. “Dean,” Castiel spoke softly, like to an injured fawn, “Dean, I promise I’m not going to laugh… I’m here to help.”

           He shifted, obviously uncomfortable with the idea. “Cas,” he whined, “It’s not – you don’t have to –“

           “Please, Dean,” Castiel urged him, “Don’t you trust me?”

           “Of course,” he told him, without any doubt nor time wasted, “But this is –“

           “This won’t change my opinion of you, Dean, I promise.” Still seeming unsure, Castiel dipped forward. On his toes, he squeezed Dean’s knee tight as if to will every ounce of comfort into his friend’s body. “Please, remove your sunglasses.”

           Dropping his gaze for the briefest of seconds to look between Sam and Jack, Dean returned with a melancholy air about him. As if he were on his way to the guillotine, accepting a horrible fate even though Castiel assured him there was none waiting for him. Steeling himself, Dean slowly pulled the sunglasses off. Then, he blinked his eyes open.

           Castiel dropped backwards, breath stolen from him. He expected rings of pink, but instead was gazing into a glowing pool of bright blue. Dean’s eyes burned brighter the longer they were exposed.

           “Blue?” Sam asked, peering closer. He stepped up behind Castiel and bent down. “What the hell? Why are your eyes blue?” Jack joined them as well, using Castiel’s other side to investigate as well.

           All the sudden attention on Dean made him cherry cheeked. He snarled, forcing them all away as he shoved his sunglasses back on. The light dimmed. “Blue – pink – who the hell cares? Cas can you do your two-fingered grace thing and fix me?”

           “I wasn’t,” Castiel stuttered over himself, “I don’t… I don’t think my grace can fix this.”

           “Then how were you going to help?”

           “I… admit I did not know –“

           “What?”

           “But I thought maybe if I saw for myself what was happening, then the answer would strike me,” Castiel explained, “I did not foresee this happening.”

           “So my eyes are a freakin’ mood ring,” Dean cried, “Great…”

           “Then Dean is upset?” Jack asked, “From what I know about mood rings, blue is the color of sadness.”

           Sam shook his head. “No, Rowena explicitly said it was an attraction spell. I read her the spell verbatim – well, I broke it up so I didn’t accidentally cast it myself…”

           “Attraction…” Jack tapped at his chin, thinking. Snapping his fingers, he drew all the attention to him. “I think I get it!”

           Dean, quickly transitioning from red to white, gaped at him as his freckles stood out against his pale skin. “No, Jack –“

           “If Dean was attracted to a woman, then his eyes turned pink,” Jack explained, “So therefore, when Dean must have seen a man he was attracted to – his eyes would have turned blue!”

           Castiel existed long before the universe was born, and even the silence before the Big Bang did not seem to be this long and uncomfortable. Dean dropped his head into his hands, unable to keep it up. Castiel sat, stunned. He dared not look at his friend, sure that even a glance of Dean would make him spontaneously combust.

           It was Sam who broke the calm that swept over them. At first Castiel couldn’t understand what he was hearing, but as the sound grew in sound and energy, he realized it was laughter.    

           “Oh man,” Sam chuckled, “I thought – I thought it was something more serious. But this explains it! Why you wanted me to call Cas and tell him to turn back even after Rowena – and Rowena! Oh – oh! And how you couldn’t even look me in the eye after I turned on a Dr. Sexy rerun.”

           “I’m glad you find it funny, Sam,” Dean growled, standing up, “So happy I could amuse you. Now if y’all don’t mind, I’m going to go drown myself in the toilet.” He stomped over to the bathroom, slamming it shut behind him.

           Castiel turned to the younger Winchester. “Sam –“

           “Oh, relax,” he said, “He’s not even going near that thing. The day we got here he took one look and has been using the rest room at the McDonald’s two blocks down.”

           That didn’t make Castiel feel any better. He stared at the door, wishing that Dean would come back into the room with them. But that was as unlikely as Castiel moving to join him, his rear glued to the floor.

           Sam kicked him, drawing his attention away from the door. “Well? Aren’t you gonna go to him?”

           “I… I don’t –“

           He rolled his eyes. “Please, I think it was very obvious who made his eyes go blue.” Sam returned to the table, sitting. “So obvious I’m kinda mad I didn’t put the two together. But I was distracted…”

           “Where are you going with this?”

           “Dean finds you attractive… I know you think the same,” Sam listed off. Castiel spluttered, blushing. He waved him off. “Please, after the first few years you can’t write that staring thing you do off as ignorance.”

           “Still,” Castiel muttered, “I doubt Dean wants to see me. He made it very clear with how unwilling he was to show his eyes to me.”

           Sam sighed. “Dean… he was embarrassed. He gets defensive, but he’s still a total pushover. I’m sure he didn’t even lock the door.”

           Castiel looked at the door one final time before making a decision. He tore himself off the ground and carefully marched over to the bathroom door. Hand raised as if to knock, Castiel thought better and reached for the knob instead. Like Sam said, it was unlocked. He chanced a glance backward at Sam and Jack, both shooting him encouraging thumbs up, before entering the bathroom.

           Dean leaned against the sink, watching him in the reflection. The toilet remained shut. Castiel closed the door behind him, taking the space behind Dean nearer the shower.

           His head drooped, and he took a deep breath before addressing Castiel. “There’s nothing I can say that can make this anything but what it is, right?”

           “You can try?” Castiel started, attempting humor, “It might not work, but…”

           “Look, if this is awkward…”

           “It’s not!” he said, loudly, startling them both. “I mean,” he continued, “it’s… it’s not awkward.” Unsure if he wanted to strike at the heart of the issue, Castiel heads down another path first. “I do admit I was surprised… as an angel I never really considered things like gender.”

           Dean scoffed. “You telling me you don’t think of yourself a guy?”

           “I’m an angel… although, if I had to choose, then… yes. I would identify as a man.”

           “Good, because blue eyes are bad enough,” Dean said, looking back up at his reflection. “I don’t wanna know what color they’d shine if you decided to not subscribe to the binary.”

           “You think blue eyes are bad?” Castiel asked, closing the short distance between them, hitting up against Dean’s back. His hand stretched forward, tapping at the mirror where Dean’s eyes were shown. “What’s so wrong with blue eyes?”

           Dean licked his lips, darting his gaze over to Castiel’s face before returning to his own. “They’re – uh… they’re not so bad,” he admitted, “But not on me. I can’t pull them off like, uh… well –“ He nodded to him, unable to tell Castiel what they already knew.

           “Yes,” Castiel agreed, “My vessel is attractive.” He sighed, stepping back, “I understand why your eyes would change color because of my body –“

           “Shit Cas,” Dean cried, throwing a hand over his eyes. Even with the poor coverage, blue light shined between the cracks landing every which way in the room. “You can’t be all self-deprecating and whatnot, do you not know how much more adorable that makes you?”

           Castiel skewed his head to the side. “It does?”

           “Yes, Cas… Christ.” Dean rounded towards him, still covering his eyes. “Yeah, your body is hot. Your body, not a vessel. But… it’s not all that’s making my eyes light up.” He leaned back against the sink, sighing. “Rowena texted me after Sam’s call, filling me in on what she didn’t tell Sam. Warning me that the – the more attractive I found someone the brighter my eyes would glow.”

           “Oh,” Castiel squeaked out, glad that Dean blinded himself so as not to see the fierce blush that dusted around his jaw. “Then, the sunglasses…”

           “Was so I didn’t look like the damned Bat-Signal in our cramped and crummy motel room!” Dean used his other free hand to run through his hair, “Don’t you know what you do to me, Cas?”

           “I… apparently didn’t,” Castiel confessed, “I also didn’t hope that you’d feel the same.”

           Dean’s breath hitches. “The… the same?”

           “Dean,” Castiel said, smiling, “It seems we were both in the dark about our feelings towards each other…” He moved into his space once more. “I felt like the moon, at times, always circling your orbit but never able to touch. The time we spent together without any interruption like a full moon on a clear night. And being driven apart days at a time left me feeling like a sliver barely lighting up the sky.”

           “You… you really mean that, Cas?”

           “I do…” He lifted a hand to touch the one covering Dean’s face, “Come now, Dean. Let me see.”

           “But I… it’s got to be so bright now,” Dean whispered, “I’ll blind you.”

           “The benefits of being an angel,” Castiel smirked, flicking the lights off, “Is that my senses can handle more than any humans could.” With the cover of darkness, Dean allowed Castiel to drag his hand away. Dean’s eyes were the only source of light in the room, the blue shining brighter than even an angel’s grace.

           Castiel was entranced by the rich shades of blue, as if Dean’s attraction was a waterfall cascading over him. There were so many different colors bouncing out from Dean’s eyes, he could barely keep up with them. Instead, he let the warmth of Dean’s affection wash over him as he slowly entwined their fingers together.

           Then, as if pulled in by the tide of Dean’s ocean-like eyes, Castiel drew closer towards him. His lips sought out Dean’s, neither able to look away as their mouths met. It was a brief touch, a slight dusting. Once both stayed put, they pressed their lips together again and kissed fully. Castiel snaked his other hand around Dean’s waist to clutch at his back. Dean threaded both of his hands through Castiel’s hair, tugging at it. The light was cut off as Dean closed his eyes. It was of no matter to Castiel, who shut his own seconds later.

           After a good while, Dean pulled back gasping for breath. They blinked their eyes open, still stuck in the dark. Dean groped around in the darkness, searching for the light switch. Once he turned it on, Castiel smiled.

           Dean’s eyes were green again.

           “What?” he asked, “Is there something on my face?”

           Too joyful to speak, Castiel whirled Dean around to face the mirror again. He then crowded around him once more, encircling his waist with his arms and laying his chin against his shoulder.

           Dean stared at his reflection, fingers hovering below his eyes. “They… they’re back.”

           Castiel smothered a laugh into Dean’s shoulder. “I guess Rowena was right,” he said, “I was the key to fixing all this.”

           “Which means more people knew besides us,” Dean muttered, smiling as wide as Castiel, “We’re a couple of dumbasses aren’t we?”

           “At least we’re a couple,” Castiel told him. “We are a couple, yes?”

           “Buddy, I don’t think anyone else could make my eyes glow like that.”

           Castiel hummed, knocking his head against Dean’s. “I’m glad they stopped. Although I will admit your eyes under this spell were the second most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

           Snorting, Dean craned his neck back so as to look at him directly. “Really?” he asked, “Only the second most beautiful? What could have topped that lightshow?”

           “Your eyes as they are now.” Then, Castiel proceeded to drop two quick kisses onto Dean’s drooping eyelids, delighting in the brilliant shade of pink that crawled across his face. “I must say that I always did prefer green over blue…”

           “…You’re so lucky I’m not spelled anymore Cas,” Dean chuckled, “This close, I’m sure I could have blinded you.”

           Castiel rolled his eyes, pulling away. He reached for Dean’s hand yet again, snaking his fingers over his. “Come, we might as well show the others you’re fixed.”

           Dean put up a faux fight, letting Castiel drag him into the next room. Sam and Jack were waiting, each with knowing smiles on their faces. While he could sense Dean’s discomfort, he stayed by Castiel’s side all through the night. Even through the gauntlet of Sam’s teasing.

           All he needed was to catch sight of Castiel’s blue eyes, and he knew everything was okay.