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“No way in HELL I’m going to another one of those!” Dean yelled, throwing his arms in the air dramatically.
“Calm down, Dean,” Sam said exasperatedly. “It’s not like it’s going to kill you. Besides, we’ll get to see Chuck who might have some important information about Crowley. It’s happened before that he saw something that we didn't.”
Dean had to admit that this was true. “And it’s not like we have better things to do, we haven’t had a gig in weeks,” Sam added.
“Fine,” Dean agreed reluctantly. “But tell Charlie we won’t be staying long!”
Sam replied to Charlie’s email, and the next day she showed up at the bunker. She was wearing an army jacket and big cardboard wings covered with black feathers.
“Uh…” Sam said, staring at the wings. “Oh, these? I made them myself!” she replied, beaming with pride. She noticed Sam was still giving her a blank look and added: “It’s a cosplay of the angel Anna. I couldn't resist.”
“Oh, that’s… really cool, Charlie,” Sam said, trying to sound sincere, even though he thought it was a little weird that she was pretending to be an angel he had met. Dean thought the same, but he was glad that he and Sam didn't have to wear costumes.
“Where’s Castiel?” Charlie asked when they were about to leave. “I thought he might want to see… um… what the fans thought of him.” Dean muttered something about the fans being annoying and Cas having better things to do, but just then Castiel appeared behind him.
“Hello Dean,” he greeted, standing in Dean’s personal space. “I want to go with you.” Dean nodded but didn't say anything about personal space, as he normally would have. Charlie and Sam gave each other a look that Dean couldn't decipher, but didn't question. “Well, let’s go then,” he said, jumping in the car. The others followed, and soon they were on the road.
They got out of the car and walked into the convention area. It was bigger than the last convention area and there were more people, apparently the second half of the Supernatural series was more successful. They saw a variety of costumes, including various angels, demons, and even a very accurate-looking Lucifer costume that made Sam wince slightly. Charlie went off to do fan stuff, while they looked for Chuck. They found him talking to a fan in a trench coat who told Cas he liked his costume, much to Castiel’s confusion.
“Hey guys,” Chuck said. “So glad you came, I thought you hated the series?” “No… um… not at all,” Sam responded, elbowing Dean who had begun to agree with Chuck’s statement. “We were just wondering; have you seen anything recently? As in about stuff happening to us right now? Anything we don’t already know, that is.”
Chuck shook his head, looking puzzled. “It’s funny; I haven’t had any visions since Sam jumped into hell. It’s like I lost all my prophet abilities.” Dean looked at Cas. “Do you know if that’s possible, Cas?” “It is possible for a prophet to lose their abilities, passing them on to the next prophet,” Cas explained. “However, this is rare and it usually only happens when a prophet dies.”
“Well, I guess that’s what happened then,” Chuck said. “I mean… I didn't die, obviously, just the… you know what I mean.” He sighed, then looked at Sam and Dean apologetically. “Sorry for not being much help.” He shrugged awkwardly and went to go talk to some other fans.
“Well that was pointless,” Dean said to Sam as they went back to wandering around aimlessly. “We should just leave, there’s no reason for us to be here.” Sam agreed, but he didn't want to hurt Charlie’s feelings, so he reluctantly convinced Dean to stay just a little while longer.
“Fine then, we’ll just- hang on, where’s Cas?” Dean had just noticed the absence of the angel. He glanced around, thinking that he would easily spot him. What he hadn't remembered was that there were over a dozen others wearing trench coats. He walked away from Sam, accidentally pulling aside a fan wearing his friend’s trademark outfit. “Cas, hey- oh, uh sorry, miss, I thought you were someone else.”
He honestly would have walked away, but he couldn't help but stop and stare. She was gorgeous, and Dean felt weird checking out someone dressed as Cas, but at the same time, for some strange reason, it felt completely normal.
She must have noticed Dean’s wandering eyes, because she smirked and said: “Oh, so I guess you’re a Destiel shipper. Personally, I prefer Wincest, but…”
Before Dean could ask what a shipper was, or if “Destiel” is what he thinks it is, Sam walked over to him. “Sorry to interrupt, but I found our Cas.” Dean used this as a way to avoid the question, and he apologized to the fan and walked away with Sam.
“Should have gotten her number,” Dean said to himself. Apparently Sam heard him. “Why do you need a fake Cas?” he asked smugly. “You already have a real one.” Before Dean could ask him what the hell he was implying, he spotted Cas walking towards them.
“Hello Dean,” he said, beaming at him and Sam. “I am enjoying myself very much.” Dean smiled back at him. “Glad that you’re happy, Cas,” he said. Sam gave him a funny look again, but he decided to ignore it.
Just then, Charlie came dashing over to them. “Guys, there’s going to be a presentation about… stuff on the stage in five minutes,” she said excitedly. Dean was just about to ask what kind of “stuff”, when Cas eagerly agreed, and Charlie and Cas began heading to wherever the stage was. Sam shrugged, as if to say “how bad could it be?” and Sam went after them, with dean hesitantly following.
They walked into a large room filled with chairs that were mostly filled with fans. They sat down as close to the front as possible- which wasn't actually close to the front –so they had a view of the large stage, which was currently occupied by an announcer. He talked about the “character development and tragic backstories of the supernatural books” and Dean wondered why anyone would want to listen to that, despite the fact that every fan was on the edge of their seat.
“Is this what you were so excited about?” Dean whispered to Charlie, who had sat next to him. Cas- who was seated on the other side of Dean -gestured for him to be quiet. “Nope, that’ll be in about a minute. And did you notice how interested Cas is? Your angel is one of us now,” Charlie joked. Dean chuckled slightly, but was uncertain what she meant by his angel, and hoping she and Sam weren't suggesting anything when they said things like that.
The announcer stopped taking after a minute. Dean guessed this is what Charlie had been waiting for, because she sat up in her seat and glanced at the rest of them to make sure they were paying attention. “Next up, we have several fans up on stage to discuss the homoerotic subtext of the supernatural books,” the announcer announced. “They’ll talk about the two most popular pairings and why people ship them.”
Dean swallowed nervously. He had a feeling he knew what the “pairings” were. He glanced at Cas, but he was absorbed in the announcer’s words and didn't seem to know what they were talking about. As he focused his attention back to the stage, the announcer introduced three people who made their way to the stage. One was dressed as him, one as Sam and the other as Cas. They explained what shipping was and began with talking about Wincest. Sam and Dean had heard about it before, so they weren't entirely shocked, but it was still rather disturbing.
Dean was barely paying attention; he was dreading what the other popular pairing was. Charlie leaned over to Dean and whispered: “Don’t worry, I don’t ship Wincest.” Dean nodded, but that didn't reassure him at all.
“Another pairing was introduced with the coming of a new character,” the fan wearing the Cas costume began after a few minutes of the Wincest discussion. Dean straightened up in his seat, bracing himself. “Destiel- Dean/Castiel –became quite popular almost right after Castiel was introduced.”
Dean turned to look at Sam, only to see him smirking at him. Dean felt his cheeks burn. “Sam! It’s not funny!” That got him several glares from fans sitting in front of them. Dean then took a quick look at Cas, wondering if he was just as embarrassed as him. To Dean’s surprise, the angel looked more confused than embarrassed. Confused didn't quite seem like the right word, and Dean realized that Cas was curious. He wasn't sure what to think of that, but he decided to ignore it and tune out of the presentation.
The problem was, his mind wouldn't let him think about anything else. Charlie and Sam kept giving him smug looks, which only made things worse. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the fans stopped talking. Unfortunately, they hadn't finished the presentation yet.
“Next, we will ask a few members of the audience which pairing they ship and why,” the one dressed as Sam declared. Dean prayed they wouldn't be picking at random. “We will be picking at random, so be prepared with your answer,” the fake Dean added. Dean groaned silently. Of course, they just had to do what he’d hoped they wouldn't.
First they called on a fan who Dean could just tell had been preparing for this forever. “I ship Destiel because of their lustful gazes at each other,” she said excitedly. At this point, Dean was outraged by this stuff. Lustful gazes?! He thought, but he didn't say it out loud or else he might disturb the crazy fans again. The fan continued talking, after waiting for the agreeing or disagreeing murmurs of the crowd to die down. “Also because of that time when Dean said ‘Cas, not for nothing but last person who looked at me like that, I got laid’. That was the most amazing thing to ever happen to this ship!”
Dean was even more scandalized, not because he was in denial about ever saying that, but because he remembered that exact moment. And he remembered exactly what had been going through his mind. If he ever told anyone, hell, if he ever even admitted it to himself, there would be thousands of happy Destiel shippers.
The presenters moved on to another fan, one who shipped Wincest. Dean hoped that he wouldn't be picked, but if he was, he had come up with a half-assed answer. He would say that he didn't ship either of them, which was the truth, right? But why did Dean feel like it was a lie?
Dean was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice when they picked Cas. He turned to see Cas not at all bothered or nervous, but smiling cheerfully, as if he was enjoying being pressured to answer a question about himself. “I ship Destiel because Castiel brought Dean back from hell,” he said calmly. “And I think that means they were meant for each other.” Most of the audience, including Sam and Charlie, thought this was adorable. Dean was speechless. He didn't say anything until the whole presentation was finished, and until they’d left.
As they walked back to the car, Charlie and Sam whispered things and Cas walked in front of them. “So…” Charlie said, breaking the silence and snapping Dean out of his thoughts. “How did you guys like that?” “I found it very enjoyable,” Cas said. “I’m glad,” Sam replied, looking at him and then Dean. “Okay fine!” Dean exclaimed, a bit angry at Sam and Charlie, who were clearly trying to set him up with Cas. “Maybe I do… “ship Destiel”… or whatever… and I’m guessing you two do too?” Sam and Charlie tried to look innocent but eventually they admitted to it. They all laughed about it, and even Dean lightened up a bit.
They got to the car and before Cas could get in, Dean pulled him aside. “Cas…” he started, trying not to show how difficult this was for him. “I just want to say that I feel the same way. I mean, I think we’re meant for each other.” Before Cas could reply, Dean got into the car and Cas did too, as usual sitting in the back. They drove back to the bunker without saying another word.