Disclaimer: I only wish I owned Supernatural.

"And that's what you call Aquila, the falcon," Castiel said, pointing at a cluster of stars in the sky. Dean looked in that general direction, but honestly didn't really know what the hell Cas was talking about. They'd been sitting on the Impala for hours, having a break and a few beers in the middle of a field as was tradition, but Sam had gotten the angel started on the whole star thing and then fallen asleep, leaving Dean to deal with Castiel's weird fascination.

"You can always find it because of the eye. It's one of the brightest stars from here."

Though, honestly, it was nice to see the angel not look like a fish out of water for once. Admittedly, it was a little cute.

"You know an awful lot about this sort of thing, don't you?" Dean commented, glancing up from his spot reclining on the windshield to Cas sitting on the roof.

"Oh...yes," Castiel answered, a bit thrown off his stride. But, a small smile found its way to his face- "I may be fairly new to humanity, Dean, but I'm not new to Earth. And the night sky changes slowly."

The hunter grunted in response, and turned back to the sky, trying not to think about how old the angel must be. It was pretty disconcerting; especially considering Dean always made jibes about him seeming like a kid. Maybe that's why it bothered Cas so much...

Castiel continued on his little information session about the constellation, talking about star systems and Arabic or Chinese names, actually managing to describe the formation well enough that Dean was pretty sure he could see what the angel was talking about. Yeah, there was the eye, and the tail, and...wait, that reminded him-

"Hey," he spoke up, taking strategic advantage of the lull in the conversation while Castiel looked for his next target, "I've got a question."

"I'll do my best to answer."

Dean sat up, and turned to face him.

"What's up with angel wings?"

Castiel blinked, and tilted his head, making his trademark 'confusion' face.

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Well," Dean started, setting his bottle down on the hood, "basically every story about angels, ever, mentions them having big majestic wings or, like, six thousand of them. And I might not be some professor, but I know a lot about this mythology crap, and that seems way too consistent to be a coincidence. And I know you guys have got those creepy shadowy things, but...I don't know. Something doesn't seem right."

The angel frowned for a moment.

"Yes...you're correct. Angels in the past have revealed their physical wings to people of the Earth. But that's not something any of us would do now."

"Yeah? Why not?"

"It's...difficult to explain."

"Well I'm sure not gonna get it if you don't at least try."

Castiel sighed, and glanced away for a moment before turning back to Dean, expression determined.

"Our 'wings' are...something like a manifestation of our graces on Earth. They're not wings as a bird would have, but for some reason the human psyche prefers to see them as such. I doubt it was as clear when the first angels arrived, but the legends have strengthened the image beyond change...in any case, manifesting your wings towards an angel is...it's a gesture that..."

He paused, frowning, and turned up to the stars again, like he was looking for the words to say.

"What, is it like...aggressive, or something?" Dean asked, finding himself enjoying Angel 101 despite himself. It was better than more star stuff, that was for sure.

"No," Castiel responded, looking almost shocked at the suggestion. "Exactly the opposite."

The hunter raised his eyebrows, prompting an explanation.

"It's a very intimate gesture, reserved only for conveying the utmost trust. If you reveal your wings, then your grace is completely vulnerable. Anyone with strength even near an angel's could easily tear them off. And the manifestation...it reveals much about you. Nothing that an angel couldn't see if they looked deep enough, but...it would be as if you took your soul and placed it in the palm of my hand."

Dean stared at him.

Castiel stared back.

"I'm...sensing you don't understand."

"Well, no, I get it. I just don't...get it."

The angel frowned as they reached mutual misunderstanding.

"Perhaps there's another way I can explain..."

Dean laid back on the windshield again, sensing that this may take a while.

"Go for it."

"Well...relating to your original question, the reason that humans are aware of our 'wings' is because when messengers of our Father came to Earth to speak to you, they unfurl them. They believe the Lord is speaking through them, and He has endless love for all of His creation. It's meant to induce fondness and put the recipient at ease. This is why I couldn't reveal my true wings to you during our first meeting. I viewed you merely as another soldier, so it would have been...inappropriate."

"So you just gave me a glimpse to prove you were the real deal."

"Yes. Exactly. Which, in itself is something of a transgression...but I had held your soul in my hands not a day before, rescuing you from Hell. It seemed a fair trade."

"...oh. Yeah."

Dean had all but forgotten that Castiel had been the one that had dragged him out. Back then he had just been some angel, but...thinking back now...Castiel had seen what he was. What he was doing to...

The thought of it made him feel sick.

"There is one other example I can think of," the angel spoke up again, providing a welcome distraction, "Which, I think will be the easiest for you."

"Yeah? Why didn't you bring it up first, then?"

"It's a very uncommon occurrence. It hadn't come to mind."

"Uh-huh," Dean offered in response, knowing that Castiel would never go on if he didn't, "alright."

"I've never heard of it happening to anyone I'm acquainted with, but I've heard stories of angels finding what I believe you call a 'soul mate' in Heaven or on Earth. Someone who they would give their life for without question...and of course, their proof of this is to present their wings to their partner. But they also...well, to a human, I'd imagine that it'd look something like preening. Running their hands through their mate's feathers. It's like...like sharing a soul for a moment. You...know them...profoundly."

"'Know' in a, uh...biblical sense?" the hunter couldn't help but tease.

"Yes, I suppose you could equate it to that."

Oh.

"...oh."

Dean glanced up at Castiel, who stared back. Obviously the lecture was over.

"So...pulling out your wings is like proposing and preening is like..."

He raised his eyebrows in completion of his thought.

"Yes. Though in a much more...spiritual sense."

Dean stared at him.

Then he glanced at the sky, and turned to look at Sammy sleeping next to him and just knowing that he was going to have to explain this all to his little brother because he would just be fucking fascinated with the concept. 'Hey Sam, did you know that angels have this weird spiritual feather fetish thing?'

Yeah, that was going to be an interesting conver...sa...

He blinked.

Unfortunately, this didn't make the things that had entered his field of vision go away. "Things", not because it was too dark to make them out, but because they looked an awful lot like feathers. Really big feathers. And if they were, in fact, really big feathers, then...

He sat up, turning around slowly.

And there was Castiel, sitting with his hands in his lap, staring at them pointedly.

And, oh yeah, there was a pair of massive black wings sprouting from his fucking back, sort of shifting around like they didn't know what to do with themselves.

Dean stared at him.

Castiel, for once, wasn't staring back.

The hunter's mouth sort of opened and closed a few times, before he finally managed to get out, "...okay."

Okay.

So, considering all that Cas just told him, then this was...this was sort of a, uh...this is...

"Cas, what is this."

The wings twitched, and Castiel glanced at him for a split second, catching Dean's look of confusion before turning his eyes downwards again.

"I...thought I'd explained adequately..."

Oh, God.

"So, this is, is...you're...uh..."

The angel looked up at him again, and Dean could swear that Cas's eyes were glowing.

"Confessing my love."

"Oh. Okay."

Castiel frowned slightly, his expression one that Dean was a bit more comfortable with.

" 'Okay'?"

"Just...give me a second."

He turned away, and ran his hands over his face.

Cas was in love with him.

...that...explained a lot, actually. Dean wondered faintly how he hadn't noticed before. The staring, the personal space thing...guess he'd just had it all chalked up to "angel" issues. For once he hadn't let his ego do all his relationship analyzation, and look where that got him. Well, he'd learned his lesson.

Anyways, back to the matter at hand.

He got up, and went to sit with Cas on the roof, stepping carefully to not hurt his baby. The angel just stared at him, waiting for an answer.

Dean put a hand on his shoulder, which was admittedly a little weird when you had to make sure to angle your arm away from massive wings.

"I'm, uh, not really sure what you want me to say to that."

"I don't expect reciprocation. Just..."

Castiel glanced over his shoulder, and spread his wings out before looking at Dean again.

"Think of them as proof of my loyalty."

And, Dean should probably be looking him in the eye, but he can't help staring at the mass of feathers behind him. A wing that, unless he was mistaken, was curling around him slightly.

"Yeah. Alright. I can do that."

He turned back to his angel and squeezed his shoulder slightly, smiling. And Castiel smiled back, in his Castiel way-his mouth turning up just a hint but his eyes saying everything.

"I'm kind of flattered, actually. An angel, falling for little ol' me."

"...I find that phrasing a little insensitive."

"What do...oh," Dean couldn't help but laugh a little, moving his hand away from the angel's shoulder, "shit. Sorry, Cas."

"No, it's...fine."

And obviously it was, because Castiel could hide his emotions about as well as a baby, and Dean was pretty sure that he could make all the insensitive jokes he wanted and it still wouldn't ruin the angel's mood. The guy was practically glowing.

...Actually, if Dean sort of squinted his eyes just the right way...

"Though I'd rather you not deprecate yourself."

"...huh?"

"You're not 'little old' Dean."

"Oh. Well, yeah, but I'm still just, you know, human."

A look of confusion returned to the angel's face, though the usual frown was absent.

"Dean, I was the one that pulled you from the depths of Hell. I've seen your soul, uninhibited by physical form-"

"Well, it couldn't have been too pretty then," Dean couldn't stop himself from interrupting. He couldn't understand how anyone would be able to remember him then, what he did down there, with such a...a reverent look on their face.

Castiel returned the previous gesture and placed a hand on Dean's shoulder-well, more like his arm, really. Right over the scarring left there by the same hand all that time ago.

"Dean...you were beautiful."

And he wouldn't admit it were he under oath in court, but the look in Castiel's eyes, the bare naked sincerity behind that deep ocean blue made Dean's breath hitch, just for a moment.

But, Dean being Dean, he couldn't have that, and broke eye contact quickly, looking for a distraction from the conversation. And he found one, in the wing that was slowly but surely enveloping him.

"So, uh, why're-why're your wings black?" he stammered out, fighting the urge to scoot away from the thing closing in on him, because that would mean scooting towards the angel that was currently, well, kind of in love with him, which was still a little weird. Give him another fifteen minutes and he might get over it.

Castiel glanced at his wings again, almost like he hadn't noticed what color they were and wanted to check.

"...I think they're gray."

Dean stared at him. Then looked back at the wing. And, he guessed Cas was right, they were mostly gray, except at the bottom. That was definitely black. But-

"Okay, black, gray, whatever. Aren't they supposed to be white?"

And there was Cas smiling again.

"Ah, I see. Yes, messengers of our Lord have white wings, but soldiers like myself...well, I obviously haven't seen another's, but occasionally it will come up in conversation. Anna, for one, told me that on Earth, hers took an appearance like to a Cardinal's."

"Huh. That's...actually kind of cool."

Dean reached out and put a hand around one of the feathers, because hey, it was like right there, and this whole thing was kind of fascinating to him. He'd kind of expected it to feel...well, he didn't really expect them to feel like anything, since apparently they were just a trick his eyes were playing on his mind, but his hands seemed to be in on the deal. All his fingers felt was feather.

"I thought these weren't supposed to actually be the real deal," he said, rubbing his thumb along the edge. They were one hell of a hallucination.

"...Cas?"

He turned back to his angel, about to comment on the silence, but Castiel's expression stopped him.

The dude looked like a deer in headlights.

Of course, Dean's instincts kicked in and he immediately scanned the area, but didn't see any threats, which confused the hell out of him, until-

He became very aware of his fingers now buried in the angel's feathers.

And their little conversation about angel wings came strolling back into his head.

Dean jerked his hand back as soon as he remembered, and tried to figure out what he was supposed to say. Had he really offended Cas, or just surprised him, or-?

"I didn't mean to, uh...I-I wasn't..."

He found himself wiping his hand off on his pant leg for basically no reason, really, but he couldn't shake the thought; Did I just grope an angel?

Castiel slowly came back to life, blinking first, then swallowing thickly and turning away, mouth opening a moment or two before any words came out.

"No, it's...it didn't..."

He took a breath, and turned back to Dean.

"You're...not an angel, so it's not as...it's just a physical touch. It's fine."

Dean frowned, slowly, still trying to get his head around how flustered the angel had seemed moments before.

"It's...fine?"

"Yes...it's not nearly as personal as it would have been if you were as perceptive as one of us."

"Uh...okay."

Castiel drew his wings back slightly, and Dean thought the angel was going to send them back to wherever angel wings go until Cas just...paused.

"Though..."

The feathers crept around Dean again, closer than before, and, God, he couldn't stop himself from scooting away from them a little.

"It was rude of you."

"Yeah, uh, sorry, I tend to...do that...sometimes..."

Dean was having trouble paying attention due to the wing that was still determinedly invading his personal space, and his brain was having a bit of difficulty equating "wing" with "part of Castiel", so he found himself scooting away again, ending up with his shoulder flush against Cas's.

"...uh. Cas. Your..."

He glanced at the angel, who was...who was smirking at him, god dammit, Dean could swear he was, though his face looked nearly as blank as always. And damned if it didn't catch Dean off guard just enough to do a funny little thing to his heart.

As if that wasn't freaking him out already-all of the sudden those wings were over and around them with a little woosh of air and blocking out the sky so Dean couldn't see a friggin' thing, but he sure felt the hands that placed themselves on the side of his face, and, and-

And Castiel kissed him. Just for a second, before pulling back and murmuring "Now we're even," before letting Dean go and dematerializing his wings or whatever, leaving just Cas, sitting there with his hands now safely in his lap, staring up at the sky.

"Hmm...there's Ursa Major."

He pointed to another group of stars in the sky, and glanced out of the corner of his eye at Dean, still reeling from what just happened.

And the little bastard looked so pleased.