#listen. I love the ‘drapes jacket over shoulders’ trope so I HAD to write it

[canon-can-fight-me]

Drabblecember Day 9: A Walk Outside

Okay listen. Is it like ten days after the ninth? Yes. But I was too busy to write that day and this prompt was really cute so I wanted to post something for it 🥺

875 words

Pairing: Kai3po (pre-dating)

He was so tired.

While promised that the event wouldn’t go on for long, and that he was sure to be an invaluable asset to the mission, Threepio served little purpose that night other than to be his former master’s coatrack. Granted, he was told to be on standby, should his services be needed, but at this point it appeared whatever Anakin and Obi Wan assumed was going to happen at the gala was nothing to warrant the lightsabers securely stashed away. The night had drone on for long enough, and while no verbal or physical labor had been required of him, he felt exhaustion coupled with utter loneliness. Standing still for hours, let alone with no one eager to use him for the one thing he was good for, was upsetting. That is, until his attention was brought to a flash of scarlet, in the form of a shiny red dress. The owner of said dress a familiar, not completely unwelcome sight.

“Well, don’t you clean up nicely.”

He turned to see Kaiyo grinning, gesturing to the bowtie Anakin had fastened to him earlier that evening. It had gone a tad crooked at this point.

“Thank you…you look quite radiant yourself.”

“I know,” she teased, darting her head around before facing him again. “Did you come by yourself, or is your date just in the restroom?”

He mimicked a scoff. “I do not have a “date”. Master Anakin asked me to accompany him and Obi Wan here for a mission, supposedly…although I’m unsure why my presence is even necessary at this point.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” She jerked her head towards his shoulder, suit jacket draped over.

“I believe that further proves my point.” He said.

“Well…if you’re not too occupied, maybe you could join me outside for a walk?” She sighed dramatically. “It’s so stuffy in here, not even the food is worth staying for. You’d think with how wealthy the owners are they’d at least have a decent menu.”

“A-As lovely as that sounds, I must remain here. What if I’m needed?”

“I’m sorry, how long have you been standing here doing absolutely nothing? Two hours?”

“…Three.“

“Oh, you poor thing.” She took hold of his arm, tugging him towards the exit. “Let’s get you some fresh air.”

“I must remind you, that as a droid I do not require ‘fresh air’.”

————————

He hadn’t protested much. Keyword much, though he knew realistically Kaiyo saw through his protests and was aware he was grateful for an excuse to take a break. While unaccustomed to the chilly night air, he slowly started to prefer it to the stuffiness of the ballroom.

“Soooo, what’s this mission about, exactly?”

“I can’t tell you that! It would go against my protocol to reveal such information.”

Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“They didn’t tell you much of anything, did they?”

“Well—“ he began to protest, “I—um, of course they did…”

Kaiyo gave a small laugh, her suspicions all but confirmed.

Heat ran through his faceplate, and he glanced away.

“L-Let’s not talk about that. I’m rather curious to know what you’re doing here.”

She shrugged.

“You have your mission, I have mine. Let’s just say I wasn’t able to gather the intel I was looking for.” She pressed her lips together, hoping he wouldn’t question further. He wasn’t always adept at picking up cues, but he had someone grown to recognize her tells. One of which, he noticed, was what he understood was the natural human response to the cold: shivering. He could tell she was trying to power through it, slightly increasing her pace, and he wondered why she didn’t simply suggest going back inside.

“Kaiyo…” he began.

She paused, turning back to face him, eyes widening when she realized that she had outpaced him by quite a few feet in an attempt to generate heat.

“Oh, sorry! Am I walking too fast?”

“Well yes, but—“ she hurried back to his side as he spoke, “I was going to point out that you seem cold.”

Her cheeks flushed slightly. “It’s pretty chilly…”

Wordlessly, Threepio slowly slid Anakin’s suit jacket off his shoulder, gently placing it around Kaiyo’s shoulders.

“Oh!” Kaiyo glanced up at him, further burying herself in the jacket. “Are you sure Anakin won’t mind?”

“I’m sure if he needed it, he would have asked for it back by now,” Threepio explained. Kaiyo nodded, a small smile gracing her face. Threepio forced himself to look away.

She had no business looking so cute.

He thought if he just avoided looking at her, focused his gaze on the grass, the sky, anything else, that the rush of energy through his circuits would subside. That is, until she seemingly read his mind and decided to make it worse.

Granted, while she could technically read some minds (a perk of her mastery of the Force), he thanked the maker that such a trick didn’t work on droids.

But as she reached to adjust his bowtie, patting it down slightly with a satisfied smile that made him feel like his circuits were melting, he wasn’t so sure.

All he knew is that he was pleased that he had decided to walk with her that evening.

[tunedtostatic]

i’ll be shelter, keep you safe and warm

Arkady wraps her jacket around Violet in the back of a getaway car. Violet returns the favor at a formal reception.

3.2k, Vikady, with cameos by crew and an OC

Also posted at archiveofourown dot org, /works/32625262

CW: weather (hot and cool) and related financial issues, PTSD, scars, anxiety, brief mention of carsickness, canon-typical peril

~

Title is from “Shelter” by Joy Oladokun

Arkady coming out of a PTSD interlude with a one-liner is inspired by “i am strong enough to let you in” by findyourstars, archiveofourown dot org, /works/18482959

This fic came from wanting to write The Draping Jacket Around Shoulders Trope for Vikady and being unable to decide between an Arkady jacket or a Violet jacket until I realized the obvious answer was BOTH. I wrote most of this a couple of weeks ago (the tone of the end of Chapter 1 has been fighting me but I think I finally worked it out...), so before episode 8 dropped, although I guess nothing in Chapter 2 was really jossed but rather just made more painful? Woof.

~

1.

Violet slides into the backseat of the getaway car so fast she nearly careens into Arkady’s lap.

“Well hello there, Liu.” Violet can hear Arkady’s grin as she helps Violet disentangle herself, pulling the seatbelt of the seat next to her across Violet’s chest and lap in one smooth motion.

“Thanks! Arkady!” Violet pants, fighting a grin as she takes deep breaths after her sprint to the car. She doesn’t think she was being pursued, but their improvised backup exit strategy didn’t exactly leave much buffer time.

“Anyone on our tail?” Sana calls from the front.

Arkady turns to look out the rear window as Sana steers them out of the IGR building parking lot and back onto city streets. “Not seeing anyone.”

As Violet’s breathing slows, Arkady adjusts her knee so that it isn’t digging as deeply into Violet’s thigh and settles into the awkward backwards-leaning position. “I’ll keep watch for another few minutes.”

“Don’t make yourself carsick, Kady. Remember that time when—”

“No! No, I don’t, and neither do you.”

Violet laughs. The pent-up tension of the last few hours is diminishing now that she’s safe with Sana and Arkady, successful and on their way home to the Iris.

She sinks back in her seat, surreptitiously eyeballing Arkady for signs of injury as Arkady continues her lookout out the back window and Sana focuses on the road. Arkady doesn’t look hurt, and Sana probably would have shot them a “Let Violet take a look at your…” by now if she was.

That Arkady seems cheerful is confirmation enough that Sana is fine, and Violet relaxes a little more in her seat.

They did it. She did it. This plan depended on Violet as much as it depended on any of the other members of the crew, and she has the shaky elation that comes in the aftermath of danger. She did it, and it’s over now.

As they slip toward the city limits, Arkady finally settles into her seat facing forward, and the kneecap poking into Violet’s vastus lateralis disappears, replaced by the warmth of their thighs touching.

“I’ll keep an eye out, but looks like we’re in the clear.”

Sana acknowledges this, and Arkady turns to give Violet her full attention.

“How are you doing, Violet?”

“Fine.” Violet exhales, beginning to grin. “Good. Great, actually. That went well, didn’t it?”

“You were amazing, Liu.” Arkady smiles. “And yeah, aside from one of us deciding the best improvised extraction plan was to steal the most expensive car in the parking lot, it went okay.”

“More than okay.” Violet beams back at Arkady. “And I think it was very thoughtful of Tripathi not to deprive some broke IGR grunt of their family car.” She runs a hand over the seat leather and laughs, feeling a little giddy. “Besides...this car is nice.”

Arkady grumbles something about being happier once they’re back on the ship, and Violet settles back in her seat, used to Arkady’s recalcitrance about celebrating success until they’re well clear of it.

She smiles again. She did it, and it’s over.

Arkady has moved on to muttering about the building security system being tougher than expected and how easily it all could have gone wrong when suddenly she frowns. “Sure you’re okay, Liu? You’re, uh, shaking.”

“Oh.” Violet looks down at her arms. “Oh, um, I think that’s mostly the cold, actually? This air conditioning with this shirt…”

On the parked Iris, with fuel costs keeping the temperature reg no lower than a tolerable 78°F, the gauzy summer top had seemed like the perfect final touch to Violet’s civilian disguise. In the lobby of the IGR building, Violet had been reminded that not everyone had to take similar cost-cutting measures. Apparently that includes the rightful owners of the getaway car.

As though reading her thoughts, Arkady comments, “We should’ve remembered how cold rich people like their air conditioning.” Raising her voice, she adds, “Or, I don’t know, not stolen the 2191 BMW.”

“You know, that lobby reminded me of Harmony. The academic buildings were barely climate controlled, but walking into the admin building was like walking into the arctic.”

Arkady snorts, and they both look at the temperature control in the front, where Sana is now gripping the wheel and swearing.

Violet winces. “I’ll, um, ask her to adjust it once when we’re outside the city.”

Arkady removes a knife from her jacket.

“Uh, I don’t think a knife is going to help—”

Clipping the knife onto her belt, Arkady extracts two more knives and a switchblade, secreting each elsewhere on her person. Shrugging out of the jacket, she wraps it carefully around Violet’s shoulders.

In the dazed glow that takes up the next few seconds of Violet Liu’s life, words don’t really seem to be working for her, but she does manage to make a sound that comes out something like “Aghlf?”

The jacket is heavy around her shoulders, and it smells like Arkady, forming a barrier of safety and warmth between Violet and the rest of the universe. Violet slides her arms into the sleeves, snuggling into it.

“Um, the lockpick wires and emergency razors are still in the hems,” Arkady is mumbling, “so if it feels a little heavy, that’s why.”

“Mmmmm.”

“…Liu, are you listening to me?” Arkady’s voice shifts from sheepish to amused.

“Mm-hm.” Violet nestles her face into the jacket’s collar, breathing in the scents of engine oil and the cheap, supposedly forest-scented bath gel Arkady squirrels away in her room so Brian and Krejjh won’t use it in the Iris’s shared shower.

Arkady sounds like she’s trying not to laugh. “You know, I’m right here, if you’d rather hug the real deal than weirdly snuffle my jacket.”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Violet makes sure to speak in a mischievous tone of voice so that Arkady knows she’s fully and completely joking. “This jacket does have a lot of your best qualities. It’s cute, and forest-scented, and really, really warm…”

“But can it do this?” Arkady wraps an arm around Violet, heavy and warm just like her jacket.

She rests her head against Violet’s hair, and Violet closes her eyes, trying to shut out every thought and sensation that isn’t the feeling of Arkady against her.

It’s possible, she concludes, that the aftermath of the con is leaving her a little more shaky than she initially thought.

Alone with Arkady’s voice in her comm but not a single safe person around her is, it turns out, a very real kind of alone. Now that she thinks about it, it might be the first time she’s been that alone since ADVANCE Labs. The museum heist was dangerous, of course, but Sana and Park were present. If Violet wanted to catch a glimpse of Sana’s smile or even the reassuring slouch of Park’s civilian posture, all she had to do was flutter her eyelashes and scan the room.

At the museum, Sana and Park’s presences hadn’t even come across to Violet’s conscious brain as comforting. Instead, it had felt like two more crew members who might meet an unspeakable fate along with Violet if something went wrong, and she had had to carefully control her fear about what it might be like to watch Sana get hurt or worse, or what it would mean for Arkady if neither of them returned to her. This morning as she pulled on the gauzy top and placed her comm in her ear, Violet had felt grateful that the crew member going most directly into danger was her.

She’s still grateful for that. But apparently even the weight of human love isn’t enough to crush the human brain’s instinctive horror at being surrounded by danger alone.

Violet realizes Arkady has been saying her name. She blinks, looking up into Arkady’s concerned face.

“Sorry. I’m okay.” Violet glances out the window. “I wasn’t lying when I said I was okay, but it was all…kind of a lot, I guess.”

“No kidding, Liu. Hey, it’s okay, okay?” Arkady rubs Violet’s arm over the surface of her own jacket. “Everything… Everything did go well. More importantly, it’s over. We’re, um, all okay?” She trails off, patting Violet’s shoulder awkwardly, and it strikes Violet for the first time how rare it is for Arkady to be in the position of offering comfort to Violet that doesn’t come from Arkady’s calm emergency self. “We’re all okay,” she repeats.

“Yeah.” Violet tucks her face into the crook of Arkady’s neck, breathing in the scent of Arkady herself, warm skin and the dream of a forest.

Arkady leans against the top of Violet’s head again, sighing into her hair. Violet closes her eyes, wondering if the part of her that knew there was a real chance she wouldn’t make it back to Arkady is still catching up to the fact that she has.

They embrace for a few more minutes before shifting to a more relaxed position, leaning on each other’s shoulders.

“How are you doing?” Arkady asks, neutral.

Violet considers the question, then nods. “Okay. Maybe not great. But okay.” She looks forward at Sana, then up into Arkady’s eyes. “We are okay.”

Silently, Arkady leans down to kiss her on the forehead, and Violet lets her body rest as the edges of the city whisk by.

2.

The atrium has been strung with hundreds of lights at the top of its columns, and between the lights, the string quartet, and the quantity of jewelry sparkling on everyone around them, Violet is beginning to feel like she’s in a scene from a film. As Arkady gracefully extracts them from one conversational circle and steers them toward another, Violet gives her suit jacket a firm tug, reminding herself that while Violet Liu is new to glittering receptions, the person she’s playing is not.

The part of Violet’s brain that isn’t consumed by keeping up her persona is, she would have to admit, enjoying both the suit and the feeling of Arkady’s hand on her arm as they glide across the atrium together, Arkady’s evening gown and capelet flowing behind them.

The cape was an improvisation. The only gown they’d been able to find on short notice was sleeveless, and while Arkady could have passed off the size of her biceps as her sweet-natured socialite self’s passion for rock climbing, fewer explanations would cover the scattered scars of over a decade of engine burns, knife fights, and the occasional bullet. Sana had fished a few yards of silk out of her fabric stash, and within hours Arkady was trying on a capelet that skimmed her elbows and fastened with a brooch between her collarbones.

Brian had gleefully informed her that it was an opera cape. Sana had been fairly certain that opera capes were longer. Brian had argued that opera capes were a supercategory and “womens’” included any that could conceivably be worn with an evening gown at the opera, and Arkady and Violet had escaped to the kitchen before the debate really took off.

As they glide across the atrium, Violet pushes the capelet debate aside, focusing back on her role as Arkady’s stately financier wife (“What’s a financier?” Krejjh had asked, leading to a debate Violet wasn’t lucky enough to dodge). It’s almost fun to let a hint of swagger into her walk, even if the part of her that’s enjoying the suit wishes that it could be her real name on Arkady’s lips and Arkady’s real laugh in her ear.

“Great, that’s the last of the key intel.” Arkady’s reassuring mutter is so low it’s almost subvocal. “I’m going to bring us to that group of functionaries, see if we can pick up any extra dirt on—”

She is cut off by a muffled boom, and the crowd around them flutters, people looking up and around for the source of the sound.

“Construction on the old library wing,” someone near them is announcing loudly. The crowd begins to settle back into its former patterns like a ruffled bird relaxing its feathers, and Violet turns back to Arkady, expecting her to continue leading them toward the group beside the string quartet, but Arkady is frozen, her body turned as though to shield Violet and completely still except for trembling.

Shit. Taking a calming breath, Violet steps in front of Arkady, filling her field of vision. Arkady is staring past her, her eyes glazed, and oh jesus, this hasn’t happened before, not during the day, not during a mission—

“Ar—” Shit. And she thought she resented being unable to use Arkady’s name a minute ago. “Are you okay, sweetie?”

Arkady unfreezes slightly. “Where…” she mumbles.

A small group nearby is starting to glance toward them. “Everything’s okay, honey,” Violet says loudly. “Why don’t we go get some air?”

“Why…” Arkady echoes. Her breathing is short and shallow. Violet swallows, afraid of what might happen to them if she grabs Arkady and tries to hustle her toward the door and equally afraid of what might happen to them if she doesn’t.

Think, Vi.

A man from the staring group says something to his companions that must be reassuring, because they stop ogling Violet and Arkady, falling back into their own conversation as the man steps away from the group and toward the two of them.

Violet schools her face into what she hopes is a mixture of authority and worry. “My apologies for bothering you and your friends. My wife—���

“The war?” the man asks quietly. His eyes are kind.

Sure. Yes, the war. Violet is halfway through nodding gratefully before she remembers there’s a solid chance it isn’t a lie.

“Anything I can do to help?” The man nods toward a corner of the atrium. “There’s a quicker way to the courtyard through there, if you think she’s ready to walk.”

“Are you ready to get some air, darling?” Violet asks tenderly, hoping the cloying pet names will remind Arkady of the role she’s playing even as she resents herself for having to guide Arkady out of one nightmare and back into another.

Arkady blinks at Violet. Somewhere in her dazed eyes Violet sees the stirring of an expression she’s seen many times before, from a room at ADVANCE Labs to the back of a getaway car, and she realizes that the thing she’s done that has gone furthest toward keeping them safe is letting some of her own fear show.

Arkady reaches toward Violet, and Violet takes her hand.

“You need,” Arkady grits out. “To tell me.”

“Don’t try to talk.” Violet keeps her tone soothing for the benefit of the stranger, hating herself for the real meaning behind her words. “Just walk with me, okay?” The last syllable is an idea. “’Kay?”

Arkady nods, and the three of them head for the door with the stranger leading the way through the crowd. Violet focuses on controlling her own breathing. What would the person she’s playing act like right now? Not much different than Violet. Worried about her wife. Grateful for the help of this stranger.

Would the person Violet is pretending to be be embarrassed for her wife to be seen like this? If so, that isn’t something Violet is going to portray.

The night air is cool when they slip into the courtyard. The man walks them to a bench, stepping back as Violet helps Arkady onto it.

“Anything else I can do?”

Violet shakes her head. “Thank you.”

“Good luck,” he replies gently, addressing both of them, before turning and walking back toward the atrium building. Violet exhales shakily as he disappears into it.

“I still don’t like rich people.”

Violet turns. Arkady is looking up at her. Her breathing is still shallow, but her eyes are clearer.

Violet laughs feebly, sitting beside her. “How are you doing?”

“Well, I’ve been better, Violet.” Arkady wipes a hand across her face. “Did I say—”

“You didn’t give us away, Arkady. You did great.”

Arkady grimaces at the second part, but doesn’t argue aloud.

“Me, on the other hand—” Violet stops, giving herself an internal shake for criticizing herself the way she was just wishing Arkady wouldn’t. “I would have figured something out,” she revises, and Arkady nods. “But…I guess we’re lucky that that guy was the one who noticed us.”

“Yeah, sure, what a teddy bear,” Arkady grumbles. “Big old congrats to him for his grasp of PTSD 101 and basic crowd control, I guess.”

Violet sighs. “Maybe he has friends who fought in the war, or—”

Arkady shakes her head. “Him.”

At Violet’s questioning look, she explains, “When he was walking us toward the door, he took point. Maybe he thought it’d make me feel safer. Maybe just fell into it.”

“Oh.” Violet looks to their right. “Well, ready to get out of here? There’s a path from this courtyard that should take us back to the carpark.”

Arkady raises an eyebrow.

“What? You said memorize the floor plan; I memorized it!”

“I always tell the others that; they never actually—”

Violet grins. “Advantages of a lack of confidence?”

“You seem pretty confident to me.” Arkady leans forward to kiss Violet on the forehead. There are shadows in her eyes, but her words and motions are fluid again, and Violet relaxes a little more even as she again finds herself resenting having to worry about this for any reason other than Arkady’s own wellbeing.

As they stand up, Arkady rubs her arms, and Violet realizes the single layer of capelet probably isn’t much against the evening chill.

“Hang on.” Violet slips off her suit jacket, reflecting as she reaches up to drape it around Arkady that this is one advantages of being chubby; even if her jacket still wouldn’t have fit Arkady’s exceeding muscular upper arms, it does comfortably span her broad shoulders.

Arkady stops in her tracks, staring at the jacket with a bashful smile that Violet realizes is the first actual Arkady smile of the night.

As they head down the path, Arkady reaches for Violet’s hand and squeezes it before letting their hands relax into each other’s, swinging loosely between them.

“Well, at least we got what we needed before that little fiasco,” she mutters. “How’d you like your first obnoxiously fancy soiree since the museum heist?”

Violet thinks about the sparkling room and the soldier with kind eyes, finding herself wondering which side he’ll fight on if the next war is human against human.

“There were…a lot of jewels.” She leans into Arkady’s shoulder. “Existent, even, not fictitiously stolen.”

“Hey, at least Sana can act. Can you imagine if we’d sent Krejjh down there?”

“I’ve been telling you, they just haven’t had a chance to practice! Most of your cons are on humans. I still think they’d make a better actor than you think.”

“Yeah, because you’ve never heard the story of the last time they tried…”

“Guess you’ll have to tell me when we get back.”

As they arrive at the carpark, Arkady bounces her own shoulder against Violet’s. “Hey. Thanks for the jacket, Liu.”

Violet smirks. “I just felt bad for you in that little not opera capelet. Could you even fit your emergency wires in there?”

Arkady looks smug. “They’re elsewhere in the outfit.”

“Of course they are.” Violet rolls her eyes, tugging Arkady’s hand. “Come on, let’s go home.”

[sam-winchesters-lost-shoe]

Day 13: Destiel

(Guys I’m super excited to post this because I loved how it turned out, but also, I realized this morning that yesterday’s post never uploaded. Like it’s....gone, so I’ll try to re-write and upload that one tomorrow...(but also it’s a bela fic and I didn’t really like it anyways so if nobody wants it i’ll just forget about. Okay, enjoy the fic, lol, bye!)

Ship: Destiel

Trope: Stranded (+huddling for warmth bonus)

Mood: Angst/Fluff

Words: 1.2K

"Dammit!" Dean growled and slammed the hood of the impala closed. Cas almost jumped from his spot in the passenger side seat, looking out at Dean through the window.

"What's wrong?" 

"What's wrong? Cas, we're in the middle of the freaking arctic tundra or something, with the nearest motel being almost an hour drive away, and the car battery is dead!"

Cas listened for a moment silently, choosing not to comment on the fact that they were in New York and nowhere near the arctic. 

"Maybe we should walk to the motel and pick up the car in the morning."

"Cas." Dean sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's an hour drive in the car. That'll take hours even if we were running."

Cas frowned while Dean ran his fingers along his jaw in concentration. He eventually sighed and climbed into the front seat before running his hands up and down his arms in an effort to create some body heat. Every breath sent a visible puff of air out in front of him, the cold freezing the moisture of his breath almost immediately. 

"Dean, are you cold?" Cas asked, even though he was already aware of the answer. It was below freezing outside, and the wind was whipping so harshly that he was almost concerned the open door would get blown off it's hinges. 

Dean just scowled and shook his head, but he did close the door, which Cas was grateful for. 

"Maybe we should call Sam." Cas suggested after a moment.

"I already tried. He said he'd rent a car and meet us, but it's at least an 8 hour drive to get here. He's not gonna be here until morning." 

The two men sat in silence for a moment and listened to the wind against the sides of the car. Cas glanced warily over at Dean who was blowing warm air into his hands and rubbing them together. He felt another frown tug at his lips and let out a breathy sigh.

"I'm sorry, Dean." 

"For what?" Dean replied gruffly and raised an eyebrow at Cas. "None of this is your fault." 

"I don't have my grace. If I did, I could get you out of here and somewhere warmer, but I.....I can't." 

Cas looked down at his lap before looking back when Dean cleared his throat.

"Once again, not your fault, dude. I just...…." Dean stopped when his teeth started chattering and rubbed his hands together again quickly. "I'm getting a blanket from the trunk." 

He disappeared for a few minutes before opening the door with a few bundles of fabric in his arms. He was grumbling something under his breath. Cas was surprised to see flecks of white in Dean's hair, eyebrows furrowing together. 

"Is that-"

"Yeah, it's snow. It's freaking snowing." Dean huffed and ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the flakes. "I hate winter. Everything is so damn cold." 

Cas nodded, although he really didn't understand the cold all that much. It was then that he noticed the blueish tin that had started to develop on Dean's lips and the way that his shoulders continued to shake even when he had the blankets wrapped around him. 

"Cas, stop staring, I'm not a zoo exhibit." Dean mumbled a moment later, closing his eyes and letting his head lean back against the car seat. 

"Dean, you're going to catch hypothermia if we don't do something." 

Now that Cas had finally voiced his concern, he kept his eyes locked on Dean with a stern expression. He was not going to allow Dean to sit there and freeze to death waiting for Sam because he was too stubborn to ask for help. 

"Cas, I'm f-fine." 

Neither of them had to point out that the chattering of his teeth had gotten so bad that he was stuttering. Cas in response simply leaned forward to shrug off his trench-coat while Dean watched him warily.

"Cas, what're you-"

"Hush." Cas ordered and finished taking off his trenchcoat. He then slid closer to Dean before draping it over the other man's shoulder's despite his protests.

"Cas, I told you, I'm fine." Dean tried once again, only for Cas to give him another once-over before shaking his head.

"You're not. You don't have a warm enough jacket and those blankets are too flimsy, so for once will you please just shut up and let me help you." 

Dean finally shut up. 

Cas slid under the blankets before making sure that the trench-coat was snug against Dean's chin. He made sure to get as close as Dean would allow before explaining.

"My vessel doesn't feel the cold, but still produces body heat. I can also use my wings to try and trap in more heat, if you'll allow me." 

Dean felt another shiver run down his spine, unable to tell if it was because of the cold of that Cas was so close to him. Either way, the heat radiating off of the other man was enough to make Dean stay quiet and give a nod. 

Cas smiled slightly in response before straightening up in his seat. Even though Dean couldn't see the angel's wings, he could certainly feel them. There was an encompassing feeling of warmth that wrapped around his shoulders and seemed to trap in any body heat that was possible seeping through the blankets. Even though there was no actual contact, it was like he was receiving the warmest hug he'd ever gotten. 

"Oh." Dean mumbled in surprise, unsure of exactly what he had been expecting, but.....it wasn't that. "Thanks....Cas." 

Cas nodded simply in response with a small smile. He was still so close that Dean could feel his heart racing a bit, but he also didn't want Cas to move away at all. He was actually starting to feel the heat slowly thawing his muscles, and it was surprisingly comforting. 

"You're welcome, Dean." The angel replied simply, glancing at the clock of Dean's watch before continuing. "Sam will be here in seven hours. Why don't you get some rest, and I'll keep watch?" 

"Um....yeah...yeah, sounds good." Dean mumbled before clearing his throat. He had no idea how he was supposed to fall asleep with Cas literally a few inches away from him, but he figured getting some sleep was better than sitting in the awkward silence any longer. 

Dean let his head rest on Cas's shoulder in an effort to soak up any more warmth that he could, and Cas smiled happily at the motion even though Dean couldn't see. 

"Goodnight, Dean." 

"'Night, Cas." 

It didn't take long for Dean to drift off, practically lulled to sleep by the comfort of Cas next to him. Cas was overjoyed knowing that he was able to help, and he actually didn't mind sitting in silence. 

Even though the only noise was the sound of Dean's soft breathing against his neck, Cas sat the entire time and watched the snowflakes. 

There really was no better way to see his first snowfall than this.