#thranduils valentine challenge

[beatles4ever65]

🛳🦄🫘

Hey! Thanks for the ask!

🚢 - Are there any new ships you want to write for? (Platonic, romantic, or anything in between.)

I'm fond of Celegorm/Oromë and Curufinrod. I've also thought of Elrond/Thranduil from a purely comedic perspective because they are such polar opposites it'd be hilarious. But mainly I want to find someone Celebrimbor can settle down and find happiness with.

🦄 - Is there a new POV you'd like to try writing?

I've actually done this over the past year! I used to write exclusively in third person past tense, but now that I run tabletop RPGs, I've somehow swapped to third person present and find it hard to go back. It's really wild, actually.

🫘 - Spill the beans. What's a new project you're doing this year?

For this upcoming year I want to write stories for Maedhros & Maglor Week, Celegorm & Curufin Week, and some of the various bingo challenges I've seen floating around like the one for Valentine's Day. I also want to do a short Mermaid AU, potentially. But my main project is To Begin Again, so time will tell on how all that shakes out.

(Post for the ask game can be found here!)

[thran-duils]

Valentine Fic Challenge

I am at 1.9k followers and I would like to throw a fic challenge to celebrate!

This is going to be Valentine’s Day related for Supernatural and Walking Dead fics. It doesn’t have to be specifically on Valentine’s Day but the prompts are going to be dealing with love and relationships. And if you know me, you know I love angst (and smut), so there’s going to be angsty prompts along with fluff.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out because it’s my first challenge! Thank you to every one of my followers and mutuals. 😊

If you were tagged in this, I did it in case you wanted to participate! No pressure, just letting people know.

Rules

1. You do not have to be following me. 2. Please send me an ASK with your choices for a prompt and pairing. I will not respond to reblogs or replies on the post. If you want to pair two prompts together, that’s fine, just let me know! 3. I will respond to your ask privately. 4. I will not have a limit on the amount of entries per prompt. But you MUST use the prompts in your fic. 5. One shots and drabbles are preferable but if you want to start a series, please let me know! Heads up though, if it is a series, I might not catch up on every update quickly. 6. On that note, please have a minimum of 600 words. It can be as long as you want. 7. Use the tag #thranduils valentine challenge within the first five tags of the post 8. Remember to tag me in the post and mention that it is a part of a challenge. 9. As far as pairings go, PLEASE note for Supernatural, I don’t read Destiel or Wincest. (I love Crowstiel and you would forever be my favorite. Just kidding. But really). For Walking Dead, I am not a fan of Negan x Carl. Otherwise, OFC/OMC, reader inserts, actors, and characters are good. 10. You can sign up as soon as this is posted. If all the spots don’t get filled before the deadline: oh well! 11. Entries will be due by 11:59pm PDT on Wednesday February 14th. If you need an extension, please don’t hesitate to let me know. 12. I will try to update the list as soon as entries come in so people can see what others are doing!

Quote prompts

1. I remember thinking to myself: So, this is the beginning of happiness. This is where it starts. And of course, there will always be more. It never occurred to me it wasn’t the beginning. It was happiness. It was the moment. Right then. (The Hours) (Cas x Reader - afanofmanystuffs)

2. I don’t know what’s happening to me. I seem to be unraveling. (The Hours)

3. Why do I always have to sit next to the exes? Is this some kind of hint, sweetheart? (The Hours)

4. It’s funny how a little place like this brought so many people together. (Fried Green Tomatoes)

5. I love you. I��ve made my choice. What’s yours? (POTC: At World’s End)

6. I guess we will have to share the bed.

7. Out of everyone you could have chosen, you chose me.

8. All this sneaking around is going to get us in trouble.

9. I just want you to know that you were never alone.

10. You knew I would come. (Cas x Reader - webcricket)

11. Aren’t you going to search me? I could have anything down my trousers. (Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug)

12. You are all that keeps me from sliding into some dark place. (Cold Mountain)

13. Isn’t there some religion where you just say I marry you, three times, and then you’re man and wife? (Cold Mountain)

14. Oh ho ho, well well well, now who’s being rude? (Titanic)

15. You have to promise you won’t fall in love with me. (A Walk to Remember)

16. We’re just better human beings when with the person we’re supposed to be with. I wasn’t supposed to leave… I belong here. (Sons of Anarchy)

17. No, I like you very much. Just as you are. (Bridget Jones Diary) (Negan x OFC or John Winchester x OFC - jasoncrouse)

18. The truth is, I gave my heart away a long time ago, my whole heart, and I never really got it back. (Sweet Home Alabama)

19. If there’s anything you need, I won’t be far away. (Forrest Gump)

20. I wish I knew how to quit you. (Brokeback Mountain)

Situational prompts

1. Office enemies but are chosen to prepare the company Valentine’s Day party

2. Meeting in the ER on Valentine’s Day

3. Running into each other on Valentine’s Day after not seeing each other for years. (Negan x OFC or John Winchester x OFC - jasoncrouse)

4. Next door neighbors that decide to share a bottle of wine since they’re both spending Valentine’s alone (Cas x Reader - docharleythegeekqueen)

5. Somehow a character is able to see/has a vision of what would have been if a relationship had happened or if it had not happened

6. Surprising the other with a thoughtful gift they’d spend months working on

7. College professors

8. Reaching for the last Hershey kiss at the same time

9. Trying to break into the neighbors apartment when drunk because they thought it was theirs

10. First Valentine’s Day together

11. First kiss

12. Slipping on a patch of ice and having the other character stop them from falling. This is how they meet! (Jared x reader - acreativelydifferentlove)

13. Reservations get mixed up and they need a plan B

14. Person A hears Person B get dumped in the hallway and comes out to comfort them

15. Pregnancy reveal

Picture prompts

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Tags: @klaineaholic, @greenappleeyes, @splendidcas, @tacos-and-trenchcoats, @afanofmanystuffs, @fanforfanatic, @willowing-love, @kittenofdoomage, @frickfracklesackles, @imamotherfuckingstar-lord, @marisayouass, @shinydixon

[lifblogs]

30 Day Challenge - Fanfic Meme

3 - For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?

Supernatural — Sam Winchester

The 100 — Clarke

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina — The Dark Lord

Tales of Arcadia — Jim Lake Jr.

Teen Wolf — Stiles Stilinski

Good Omens — Crowley

Avatar: The Last Airbender — Zuko

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power — Catra

Doctor Who — The Eleventh Doctor

Throne of Glass — Lysandra

Ranger’s Apprentice — Horace Altman

Jessica Jones — Kilgrave

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — Hive

Victorious — Cat Valentine

The Wax and Wayne Series — Wax

How to Train Your Dragon — Eret

The Hobbit — Thranduil

The Trials of Apollo — Apollo

Frozen — Kristoff

Star Wars — Rey

Onward — Barley Lightfoot

[writingfromkitchenator]

The Hobbit Masterlist

Thorin

Privacy ~ Part 1  Part 2

Puffy

Loyalty

Orcrist

Moon ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

Magic ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Epilogue

Snow

Battleborn ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10  Part 11  Epilogue

Anger

Accidents ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10   Part 11  Part 12  Part 13  Part 14  Part 15

May I?

Smile

Happy Valentine’s Day

Small Spaces (Smut)

We’re Here Together (Christmas) Part 2 (New Years Smut)

Kiss of Mischief (Christmas)

A New Hope (New Years)

Cautious Love (New Years)

Thranduil

Fire

Love

Prisoner ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

Book ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Epilogue

Marriage

Night

Daisies ~ Part 1  Part 2

Picture

Captured

Surprise

Perfect (Christmas)

Three More Will Be Company (Christmas)

Follower Challenges (Series Only)

Part 1: Wrath | Part 2: Kindness

Fili

Lost ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

Gold ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

Prince

Hesitate

This Is How It Should Be (Christmas)

First Yule (Christmas)

The First Step (Christmas)

Home Is Where Your Love Is (Christmas)

I Miss You, No Matter How I Left (New Years)

Follower Challenges (Series Only)

Part 1: Violence | Part 2: Diligence

Dwalin

Grumpy

Hugs ~ Part 1  Part 2

Yours ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Epilogue

Sitter

Adorable ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5

Awkward Greetings

Follower Challenges (Series Only)

Part 1: Ornate | Part 2: Lust

Bard

Archery

Queen

Sorry

Time

Follower Challenges (Series Only)

Part 1: Touching Is | Part 2: Calm Down, This

Bofur

Mistakes

Quiet

Distant

Blank

Nori

Silver

Locks

Legolas

Shorty

Friends ~ Part 1  Part 2

Kili

Game ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

Charge ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Epilogue

Alone ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6

Bilbo

Comfort ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

First

Kiss

Storms

Follower Challenges (Series Only)

Part 1: Xenophobia | Part 2: Humility

Beorn

Little ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

Slowly

Snowy Warm Confessions (Christmas)

Follower Challenges (Series Only)

Part 1: Yearn | Part 2: I Promise

Smaug

Human

Other

The Egg ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

Colours ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7

Connected ~ Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10  Part 11  Part 12  Part 13  Part 14  Part 15

Trouble

The Mad Dawn (Horror ~ Written for a Challenge)

The Best Things Are In Threes (Christmas ~ Thranduil x Reader x Bard)

Family Bonding (Christmas ~ Fili and Frerin)

[afanofmanystuffs]

The Cabin Chapter 5 - Love Me Tender

Song inspiration: Champions and Miss Missing You, Fall Out Boy

Word count: 1121

Warnings: Angst

A/N: I hope everyone has enjoyed this little series. It was my experiment with writing styles. This chapter is the end of our journey, I’m afraid. I began writing this on June 23 2017; angst appreciation day, and completed it on February 13 2018. The bolded part is for @thran-duils Valentine’s day challenge.

--

If I can live through this, I can do anything.

-Fall Out Boy

--

Outside of the picture window in the front of the cabin, beyond its walls, lies a single pine tree that marks more or less the precise halfway point between the small wooden building and the lake shore. It has seen many things- through the window, the curtains were almost never drawn, and had a wonderful view of the loveseat. It watched, with silent regard, the cycle of mice and spiders under and behind the grandfather clock, as well as the numerous days you wafted around the grounds; lost without your angel nearby. Many a night have you and Castiel been found, kissing passionately beneath its branches, or indulging in physical pleasure under the night sky; only a pile of leaves and his trench coat for a bed.

 But it was nights like this that you enjoyed most, however bittersweet they were. Castiel leaned back against the sturdy trunk of the tree, legs splayed. Between them you sat, resting against him. His arms wrapped around your waist, pressing you against him securely as you watched the glimmer of waves lap along the shore in the bright moonlight.

 Your arms were wrapped around his; clinging to him. He would have to go soon, you knew. He would be away for God knew how long, either hunting with the Winchesters or dealing with Heaven. Away from you.

 “I don’t know how I’ll live without you.” Your voice broke through Nature’s song of leaves rustling and crickets singing. Rubbing your hand over Castiel’s, you sought further contact to your angel, before it was too late.

 “I’ll be back soon, my love,” he replied, burying his nose in the crook of your neck. His soft, downy hair brushed your cheek, and you leaned your head against his. It was impossible to say how soon ‘soon’ was, or rather, how long. He could even die on these missions- especially with the Winchesters. You pressed against his firm body harder; desperate to drink in as much of his presence as you could.

 “Please do,” you said into his hair; burying the side of your face into his thick tufts. He hadn’t bothered to comb it out after your last bout of love-making, leaving it still as messy as ever. You closed your eyes and inhaled, wishing for nothing more than this moment to never end.

 “Me too,” he sighed, picking up on your thoughts and emotions. Contrary to many human relationships, you and he shared a very… deep bond. He was an angel, and as such, he could pick up your moods and emotions. What differentiated your relationship from the rest, however, was that he knew (almost on an instinctive level) the depth of that emotion. Could comprehend just how much that emotion meant to you- was a part of it; a player, rather than a bystander watching through tinted glass.

 What made it unique, though, and really set it apart from even the bond he shared with Dean, was that this understanding went two ways. You were not telepathic, and couldn’t directly read his thoughts, but you could almost always know how he felt, and the magnitude of it. Being what you were, you could comprehend why and how much it mattered better than he could, at times.

 It was a very special bond between you and the angel. When you were together, you craved physical contact; unwilling to be apart from him for even a second. In a phrase, you needed him. And he needed you just as much. There were many a night where he would appear after weeks away in your bed, hiding away from the world for two or three hours that could have been spent elsewhere; not being able to stand the maddening distance anymore. Those nights you exhausted yourself keeping up with him, practically collapsing once he was forced to leave again but not regretting a second as you descended into a wearied and heartache-y sleep, too tired to even clean up if it slipped his mind.

 (Some days, you wondered how it was possible you weren’t pregnant yet, with the earth shattering intensity of how you both came together. Even fewer days, when your heart and soul felt empty with him gone, you quietly wished that you had his child, before reason kicked in and reminded you that he would likely be away even more; fighting for peace and freedom for a life lived without fear. And more distance you could not handle, so you wretched your thoughts away; glad of the warding traced on your skin that prevented it.)

 It might be months before he could escape to spend several days with you like this again. During that time, you would go back to your usual routine- tidying the cabin, cooking, swimming. The endless hours you spent at your computer, working. And above all, waiting, always waiting for him to come back, and bring you back to life once again, even if just for half an hour.

 Your thoughts were broken by movement as he nuzzled your neck in comfort; a reaction to your troubled thoughts and stormy emotions, although still wrapped in Cas’ warm embrace. You could just make out the glimmering outline of his wings, wrapped around the pair of you securely, the lake continuing to shine beyond them. Closing your eyes to better relish the moment; the feeling of his grace wrapped around you similarly, comfortingly pressing you into its warmth.

 In the weeks, months, and years to come – moments filled with yet more heartache, sorrow, rage and passion – you would remember thinking to yourself about this moment, and what came after, and even what came before. Before; when you both had started this consuming affair. You remembered now, and you would remember in the future the words that you thought then: ‘So, this is the beginning of happiness. This is where it starts. And of course, there will always be more.’ Bittersweetness would lace the moment as you reflected further once again. It hadn’t occurred to you it wasn’t the beginning. It was just happiness. It was the moment. Right then. That all it had been. And after then, the feeling had been rare… so rare.  

 Perhaps later – much later – in your life, remembering that moment would make you happy again. And only happy. But right now, it was just… painfully nostalgic.

 He would have to go in a few hours, you knew, with a risk of not coming back. But there was nothing else you’d rather do; no place you would rather be, than right here, waiting for the sun to break across the horizon and illuminate this pine tree. Your angel, lover, and soulmate by your side. The only one who brought you happiness.

 “Castiel…”

 Fin

Please let me know if you’d like to removed or added to any of my tag lists!

The unsolicited tag list will be discontinued as of March 1st, 2018. Please let me know by then if you would still like to be tagged in my work!

The Cabin tags:

@kdfrqqg

Official tags:

@scarletluvscas @tornadoecat @bloodstained-porcelain-doll @greenappleeyes  @wheresthekillswitch @goldenangelbloodcastiel @sparklingcas  @peculiarlyrene @webcricket @kristendanwayne @authoressskr @aditimukul

Unsolicited tags:  

@lucifer-in-leather  @archangel-with-a-shotgun @bkwrm523 @kittenofdoomage @pinknerdpanda  @splendidcas @willowing-love @mysteriouslyme81 ​ @chaos-and-the-calm67 @charlie-bradcherry  @just-a-touch-of-crowley @mrswhozeewhatsis @lipstickandwhiskey @thegreatficmaster @impala-dreamer @vintagevalentinexx @leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid @winchestersnco @rowdyhooliganism  @roxy-davenport @ilostmyshoe-79 @castiellover @gneisscastiel @imamotherfuckingstar-lord @haven3333

[webcricket]

Habits and Oaths

Characters: CastielXReader ft. Dean Winchester

Word Count: 2179

A/N: Written for @thran-duils Valentine’s Challenge – quote prompt #10: “You knew I would come.” Pining angst and, because my insides are made of gooey marshmallow cream, fluff.

As is his routine, Castiel withdraws two mugs from the small shelf above the percolating coffee pot. Without thinking, he chooses the off-white porcelain mug with a hairline crack in the handle for himself. Upon each use, the tenuously attached handle threatens to permanently fragment. Burdened with a scorching pour of coffee on this morning, as on mornings past, it holds steadfast. It’s not that he favors this cleft drinking vessel which is so much an allegory for his own fractured existence. Rather, it’s the practical choice of a pragmatic angel who doesn’t dare risk the mug shattering in anyone else’s grip. Even broken – an irredeemable object that would be easily cast aside and forgotten – it remains useful in accepting hands.

The second mug is for you. It’s glazed in olive camouflage with the pronouncement of World’s Okayest Hunter plastered across the front in bold script. Dean thought, and still thinks, it was an exceptionally hilarious birthday gift. Muscles moving in mechanized ritual, Cas dilutes your coffee to a pale golden hue with creamer and mixes in a generous spoonful of sugar. Setting the dripping metal utensil down beside the mug with a soft clatter, he watches the foam of cream swirl and cling to the rim.

It’s then that he remembers. Then that a sharp pain stabs at the center of his chest and radiates inward. It wends deeper than should be possible given who he is, what he is, cutting a jagged agonizing path to the very core of his celestial being. Blue eyes shining and damp, he blinks, a tear breeching dark lashes to streak his cheek. He’s not supposed to feel this way. He’s not supposed to feel anything.

“Where are you going?”

You peer up at the angel standing in the doorway. Your fingers falter their clutch on the duffle at the sight of him. “Away,” is your brusque reply. You stuff a rumpled shirt into the gaping mouth of the duffle. There isn’t time to bother with folding – with being prudent. You’ve already squandered too much time here. A hunter, any hunter, their days are numbered and you’ve spent too many days hoping for something you can’t have. Tendered too many unrequited touches. Cast too many longing glances. Nurtured too much intimacy without enough in return. You don’t want to leave the Winchesters and Cas, they’re family, but you cannot bear the thought of enduring another moment living in the shadow of a radiant sun, worshipping the luminance, yet never knowing the warmth of the light upon your skin.

Those penetrating blue eyes of his roam over the mess you’ve created in your haste to pack. Returning his regard to you, they narrow, somehow losing none of their intensity. “Where?” he asks, stealing a step further into the room.

“Just-,” you murmur, gaze dropping, unable to look at him, “just, away.”

“I could go with you,” he offers, expression earnest, the lines of his features softening.

He could, and you know he would without a second thought; he would follow you loyally to the ends of the Earth, and farther. He would make the journey regardless of the destination for any of his friends. But you don’t want him to follow you; you want him to wrap his arms around you and hold you fast – to ask you to stay. To fight for you, not alongside you. To show you he needs you just as much as you need him. To affirm the love stirring in your heart is not one-sided.

The prickly sting of tears blears your vision. Spurning them, you sniffle, forcefully reaffirming your resolve. “No,” the word emerges with a razor edge. “Sam and Dean need you.” Your heart thumps in protest, stuttering in a Morse code of rapid beats the sentiment of: I need you, too. You ignore the wildly palpitating organ and zip the duffle. Careless, you pinch the flesh of a fingertip in the biting metal. “Ow,” you hiss, wincing, sucking the pinched digit to your lips.

“Let me,” Cas rasps. Gently grasping your wrist, the tide of his grace soothes and heals the trifling wound.

It’s the only time he touches you – when you’re injured. When you’re bloodied and battered. He does the same for Sam and Dean. For strangers. Even for foes. In your mind it’s proof you aren’t special to him. You tell yourself there is no affection in the gesture, merely an innate sense of angelic duty toward soothing suffering where and when he is able.

He lets loose your wrist, fingers lingering no longer than necessary once your pain abates.

“Thanks.” You heave the strap of the duffle onto your shoulder, sidestepping him in a rush to get to the door. “Goodbye, Cas.”

He trails in your wake. “When will you be back?” his bass inquiry reaches your ears before you disappear around the corner of the hallway.

A lasting thread of hope grows taut at perceiving his pursuit and halts your momentum mid-stride. You pause to inhale a shaky breath. You don’t look back at him. Throat tight, you don’t speak either; you don’t want him to hear the deluge of tears you’re choking back.

“Y/N?”

You don’t answer him; it would only serve to open up the possibility of him asking why, and you can’t admit to him he’s the reason you’re leaving. You walk on. Angels, it seems, know nothing of mending broken hearts.

Twenty-one days – they say it takes twenty-one days to form a new habit. But what happens if someone doesn’t want to form a new habit? Stubbornly refuses to do so? What if the old habit became so deeply ingrained in their existence they cannot, nor do they want to fathom living any other way? You left twenty-one days ago. Every day since, irrespective of your absence, as is his habit, Castiel prepares coffee for you to share. You’re a poor sleeper and an early riser. Whiling this quiet time alone with you, before the brothers awake, it became a routine the angel cherished and one whose value he took for granted until it was gone.

Sitting at the kitchen table now, a frown furrows his features as he sips the coffee; the swallow bursts in a blitz of indistinctly bitter molecules skittering across his tongue. Drawing the mug away from his mouth, his forlorn focus rises with the dissipating heat billowing upward in a roll of hazelnut-infused steam to your cup growing lukewarm there on the table across from him. Beyond it, sits the empty stool where you were wont to perch, chattering on about everything and anything at all as he listened, committing each and every syllable, puff of exhaled air, and minute quirk of facial muscle to memory.

“You ever wonder what it would be like?”

Cas squints at you curiously and wags his head. Shifting forward, he sets down his coffee, interlacing his fingers upon the tabletop to give you his undivided attention. “What, what would be like?” he asks, your question unclear to him.

“Life.” A wistful smile teases the corner of your mouth. Brushing a stray wisp of sleep-mussed hair behind your ear, you lean across the table to lightly rest a palm on the angel’s clasped hands. “You know, a normal life. Or something closer to one.”

His regard falls to where the radiant heat of your flesh washes over his skin. The involuntary and unnecessary respiration of his vessel hitches. The truth is, he has wondered. He wonders every time he looks at you. He questions his entire existence every time you touch him. But he’s an angel, and this feeling kindled in your presence or simply when he thinks of you, it’s not meant for angels. No matter how much he longs to reach out to you, he resists the possibility. Upon his creation he swore an oath to serve Heaven, and as a servant of Heaven he will shield you, share your struggles, even sacrifice himself in your stead – but you, your soul, it’s not his to touch.

He slips his hands quickly from beneath your fingers. “No,” he lies – a lie he compels himself believe.

“Oh,” you sigh and settle heavily back onto the stool. Shoulders sloping, you hug your arms to your chest, reflexively shrinking into yourself. “I thought maybe-”

Regret clouds the sky blue of his eyes as he looks up and recognizes your wounded reaction.

Meeting his gaze, all you perceive is pity – pity for the poor pathetic human who presumed to love an angel. “Nevermind,” you mutter, hopping off the stool, “I’m going to grab a shower before the boys get up.” But it was never pity for you muting the brightness of his blues – it was pity for himself.

The angel’s eyes wetly reflect the same pain now.

Dean’s gruff voice shatters the solitude, “Geez, Cas. It’s been what? Three weeks?”

Cas turns his face away from his friend to wipe away the sheen of tears with the back of his hand. He wasn’t expecting Dean to be up this early.

Dean gravitates toward the scent of freshly brewed coffee and fills a cup. Mug brimming, he lumbers over to settle in your vacant seat. He coolly contemplates the angel who respectfully remains hushed, knowing a certain threshold of caffeine consumption must be attained before further conversation can commence. Not that Cas wants to talk. Halfway through his cup, Dean gruffly launches in, “Look, the way I see it, you have two choices. You can sit there staring at that stupid novelty mug day after day torturing yourself, or you can get off your freaking heavenly high horse and tell Y/N how you feel.”

“How do I feel, Dean?” Cas snaps at his friend’s brazen supposition.

“You’re in love. And don’t start claiming you love all of us. It’s different with Y/N and you know it. You wouldn’t be wallowing otherwise.”

“I made an oath. An angel and a human, it’s not-”

“Damn the oath!” Dean slams a fist hard to the table, the impact sloshing coffee onto the wood surface. “When did you stop following your heart and start following the rules anyway? You think Heaven gives a crap what you do anymore?”

“I don’t deserve-”

“To be happy?” Dean snorts. “Of course you do! Stop making excuses.”

Cas inhales a measured breath; as the air inflates his lungs so too does the understanding that Dean is right expand his mind – the only barrier preventing the angel from loving you is himself. Breathing out, he asks, “Where do I start?”

“Jody called to check in. Y/N is in Sioux Falls.”

Cas bobs his chin gratefully, “Dean-”

“You’re welcome.” Dean waves him off, ducking down to his cup for a mouthful coffee. “Now go.”

Cas finds you exactly where Jody said you’d be – in the kitschy Cupid’s Diner across from the motel near the interstate where you’re staying. She said you’d spent hours there every morning since arriving.

He watches for some time from outside the gleaming chrome wrapped building – swirling snowflakes gathering on his shoulders and dusting his dark hair as he stands there looking in at you, motionless save for the racing of his heart. He watches you smile at the waitress in the bubblegum pink frock and red heart-bedecked white apron taking your order – your friendly feigned smile fading as soon as she turns away from you. He watches the waitress bring you two steaming cups of coffee on saucers. He watches as you glance up expectantly each time the bell rings when a customer yanks open the door to enter or exit. He watches and wonders who you are waiting for and if his being here is an intrusion. He watches until resignation weighs upon your countenance and you no longer bother to look up.

The crowd of the morning breakfast rush is receding when he brushes the snow from his coat and walks in. Approaching the corner booth where you sit, he doesn’t know what to say, so he clears his gravelly throat instead.

You peer up wearily, eyes widening in delighted sight of the snow-flecked angel. “Cas?!” you gasp, fighting the desire to leap to your feet and embrace him.

“Is, uh, is this seat taken?” He motions to the vinyl upholstered bench seat across from you.

You shake your head.

Tucking his trench coat aside, he slides into the booth.

You push one of the untouched cups of tepid coffee toward him.

He looks at the shimmering pool of muddy liquid. Eyes lifting to lock on yours, a small smile of realization traces his lips – all this time you’d been here waiting for him. “You knew I would come.”

You nod, admitting, “I miss this, Cas. Every morning since-”

“Me too,” he interjects, leaning across the table. “I missed you. Missed us.”

“Us?” your voice emerges barely a whisper. Tears welling in your eyes, a quivering smile curls your mouth.

“I should have done this a long time ago.” Reaching out, he takes up your hand, weaving your trembling fingers through his own.