"There's no way out of this," Castiel thinks as he paces the floor of Balthazar's ornately decorated living room. Two days of planning still has not yielded an adequate plan to stop Raphael from taking over heaven, and by now Castiel is running out of ideas. He stares at a bust of Caligula that Balthazar has "borrowed" from some art museum.

"Typical extravagance," Castiel muses as he looks around the room at Greek nudes and Da Vinci paintings lining the walls.

Balthazar enters with two martinis, clearly frustrated at Castiel's constant focus on work.

"Come now, darling, have a drink, won't you?" he asks, handing Castiel one of the martinis.

"I don't need alcohol right now, Balthazar," Castiel says after downing the drink in one gulp and handing the glass back to his friend.

"Well, you could've fooled me," Balthazar mutters as he reclines on the couch and sizes up his fellow angel with concern.

"Have a seat, my God, you've been on your feet for two days now. Tell me, has it been a productive two days, at least?" Balthazar asks, patting the cushion next to him.

Castiel sighs heavily as he sits. Taking his head in his hands, he quietly says, "No, not in the least. I'm at a complete loss. Raphael outnumbers us, and his followers are far more loyal; I'm constantly being questioned and I'm running out of answers."

Leaning his head back to rest on the back of the couch, Castiel drops his hands in his lap in a gesture of resignation. Putting his glass down on the table beside him, Balthazar turns toward his friend, patting him on the knee.

"Come now, don't be so depressed. I'm sure we can figure this out – you just need a break from all this seriousness. Tell me, how can I help? Clearly alcohol is not the solution."

Castiel does not respond, only shakes his head slightly and sighs again, more heavily this time. He is startled to find Balthazar's hand slowly moving up his thigh as his friend quietly coos in his ear, "Does this help? Hmm?"

As he feels himself getting hard at Balthazar's touch, Castiel nods his assent as Balthazar slips to the floor and kneels before Castiel, gently spreading his legs.

"Tell me what you want, darling," Balthazar whispers, slowly stroking Castiel's thighs.

"You know what I want," Castiel replies, sighing with pleasure and running a hand through his tousled hair. Balthazar gives a low chuckle as he moves up onto the couch to straddle his lover, his legs enveloping Castiel's narrow hips. Balthazar runs his hands through Castiel's hair, his eyes crinkling into a smile as he looks into Castiel's soft blue eyes.

Overcome by desire, Castiel roughly grasps Balthazar by the neck, kissing him feverishly. Balthazar chuckles at Castiel's sudden eagerness, and as he begins undoing Castiel's belt, he leans down and whispers warmly in his ear, "I knew it was me you wanted all along, darling."

Balthazar slowly slides down to the floor, untying Castiel's tie and unbuttoning his shirt as he goes, his tongue exploring every inch of Castiel's collarbone. Finally free of the confines of his suit pants, Balthazar grasps Castiel, sending a shiver down Castiel's spine. Balthazar stares into Castiel's eyes as he lowers his head and wraps his lips around Castiel, slowly moving up and down, taking a little more of Castiel into his mouth each time.

Castiel's head rolls back and he gives a deep sigh of pleasure as he places his hand gently on Balthazar's head, stroking his hair as Balthazar moves rhythmically up and down, up and down. When Balthazar begins to hum a low tone, Castiel digs his nails into the couch, unable to contain his loud cry of pleasure.

Balthazar stops for a moment, still stroking Castiel with one hand, and looks pleased with himself, as if he has just thought of something very clever. Castiel chuckles and asks, "What's that look for?"

"Oh, nothing really. Only, I just realized that I'm giving head to the head angel in the garrison." Balthazar smiles slyly at Castiel, knowing that he won't appreciate the joke.

Before Castiel can respond with a reproof, Balthazar has again wrapped his lips around Castiel and is now vigorously sucking and stroking him. Castiel lets out a half-laugh, half-sigh, finally catching his breath enough to say, "Feeling wicked today, are we?"

"You have no idea, darling," Balthazar replies, quickly undoing his own pants with one hand and lifting up Castiel to a standing position with the other arm. He roughly pulls down Castiel's pants, guiding himself in and entering Castiel tenderly at first, then more roughly, reaching around to stroke Castiel as he thrusts harder and harder.

Over the wet slap of skin on skin, Balthazar hears Castiel give a soft cry of pain, and he slows, leaning forward to run his hands down Castiel's warm, sweaty back.

"Was I too rough, darling?" he asks breathlessly, kissing Castiel's smooth shoulder and gently pushing into him.

"Aren't you always, Balthazar?," Castiel responds, adding softly, "I'm all right, keep going – I need this."

Balthazar reaches around to grasp Castiel firmly as he picks up a fast rhythm, making the younger angel gasp and grit his teeth, grunting and moaning. Soon both angels cry out and slump, sweaty and tired, back onto the couch.

Grabbing a blanket from the chair, Balthazar covers them both as he spoons Castiel and runs his fingers through his hair.

"There now, isn't that better?" Balthazar asks, softly nibbling on Castiel's earlobe.

"Well, yes, I suppose it is," Castiel replies, sighing quietly and snuggling into the form of Balthazar's body.

"You suppose? I'll just have to try harder next time then, because 'I suppose' won't cut it, Cassie," Balthazar sighing and rumpling Castiel's hair, squeezing him tighter.

"You know when I say that, I mean –"

"I know, Cassie darling. I know," Balthazar whispers, hugging Castiel closer.