deancasbigbang:

Title: Be Tender With Me Now
Author: igotout
Artist: anjika-flan
Rating: Explicit
Length: 47,000
Pairings: Dean/Cas, Sam/Bela, Cas/Other
Warnings: Pining, Alcoholism, mild homophobic language, self-esteem issues, emotional cheating. 

Summary: It had been so long since Cas had left for Grad School. Dean had missed him, painfully so, in the eight years between then and now, although he never acknowledged that that was the root of the aching hole in his life.

Sam tells him that Castiel is coming back and Dean doesn’t quite know what to do. Cas had made it clear that he didn’t feel the same as Dean, that he would never—. Dean couldn’t let himself think about that or he just might lose it. He likes to think he’s done okay for himself, working two part time jobs while permanently single, living at home with his increasingly alcoholic father.

But then he hears about Cas. How Cas has a doctorate, and a nice house on the good side of town. A long-term partner.

Dean can’t seem to reconcile the idea of the Cas from before, with the Cas in front of him. It’s complicated by the fact that John is a suspect in the kidnapping of a teenage girl, and Castiel’s partner is a journalist covering the story.

Dean will struggle through it, he supposes. He always does.

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