It's Been Four Years

Castiel had only been gone an hour and Dean was missing him like crazy. Typical, he leaves for DC for the weekend - the two days Dean doesn't work. He was already going stir-crazy in the empty apartment, looking for something, anything to keep him occupied. He began gathering every dirty or questionable article of clothing in the apartment, grabbing the detergent and fabric softener and taking them to the laundry room in the basement of the building.

"I miss you already! I'm doing the fucking washing!"

He meticulously separated the washing, measuring out the exact amounts of fabric softener, until he was idle again. He watched the washing machines vibrate for a while before retreating back up to the apartment.

"I miss you too. And why can't you be so proactive when I'm home?"

Dean smiled at his phone; "because you're there to distract me."

When Castiel didn't reply for five minutes, Dean went to to find something to occupy himself with... Which turned out to be the dishes. Dean loathed doing the dishes; he let Castiel get his hands wrinkly whilst he dried. But they had to be done. And it was either suck it up or sit and be miserable. He meandered in to the living room to grab his iPod from his coat and collected any dishes that may have been lying around. Castiel usually ran a very tight ship - food was to be eaten in the kitchen, snacks were to be eaten with a plate, cups were to be emptied and rinsed once used. Dean, however, was much more lax, citing if food began moving of it's own free will it was probably time to clean it. There was only a plate with a few crumbs on and a glass in the living room - which Cas would have thrown a fit over - so Dean quickly docked his iPod on the speakers in the kitchen, hit play and began filling the sink with hot soapy water.

"Come on guys, bath-time," Dean mumbled to the dishes piled next to the sink. Cas' usual method was to pile all the dishes and plates in and wash them, followed by the bowls, then cups, then cutlery... Dean however was bored out of his mind, so picked up one fork, submerging it for a few moments before cleaning it meticulously. Once it was sufficiently sparklingly clean, he dropped it on to the draining board, repeating the process with a knife. Doing the dishes one by one killed plenty of time; once he'd done he went down to retrieve the washing.

His long, dull, drawn-out day of doing dishes and laundry ended with Dean being unable to climb in to bed without Castiel and instead fell asleep on the sofa blanket thrown haphazardly covering most of his body as infomercials played muted on the TV. He woke up intermittently, finding it hard to get comfortable on the sofa, and missing the warmth of Cas' body pressed against his.

The following day wasn't much better. Having done the dishes and washing, he tried desperately to find jobs to do. After half an hour of idly milling around the apartment, munching on dry cereal from the box, he pulled on his shoes and coat and took the half-hour walk to the shops, dawdling around looking at all the goods. He pondered what foods Castiel usually bought, and what foods he particularly liked and bought them. He then made his way to a general store to pick up some cleaning equipment and slowly made his way home.

He quickly put the food away, put his iPod on again and set about cleaning every room in the house, starting with the bedroom. He dusted, tidied, polished, cleaned the windows, made the bed, took out the trash... Repeating the process in the living room, and spare room, before running the vacuum through the house. He decided to take his time in the bathroom; bleaching everything, scrubbing the bath clean, mopping the floor, until it was blindingly clean. He took a picture and sent it to Cas, frowning when he didn't get a reply after fifteen minutes.

"Of course. He's busy being all interesting and shit..."

He let out a long sigh and made himself a quick meal of fried eggs - meticulously cleaning the things he used after - before making a start on the kitchen. He'd just finished sorting out all the random spices and condiments and other things in one of the overhead cupboards when his phone vibrated on the counter.

"That's really, really clean. Are you all right, Dean? Should I phone the doctor?"

Dean smiled fondly; "nope. I miss you like crazy. I can't even sleep without you. Please come back!"

"I'll be back on Monday. I miss you too, Dean. Please try to regain some sanity, as much as I'm liking this new clean-freak you, I fell in love with the scruffy couldn't-care-less you."

"I'm not scruffy."

"I love you, Dean. I'll ring you tonight."

"I love you too. And see that you do! I miss your voice!"

After several minutes of staring blankly at his phone screen - smiling at the background picture of him and Cas at Christmas - before accepting he wasn't getting a reply. He stuffed the phone in to his back pocket and returned to cleaning and sorting the kitchen.

At the end of the day, he house smelled horribly clean and Dean was almost afraid of moving from his spot on the sofa through fear of messing up the apartment. He went to reach for the remote but instead pulled his phone from his pocket. He thumbed through the contacts, hovering over Cas' number, instead pressing 'call' over Sam's.

"Hello?"

"Sammy!"

"Dean... Is something up?"

"Nope, just thought I'd call to check in on my favourite brother."

"Unless dad fathered another kid, I'm sure I'm your only brother."

"Whatever, bitch. So... How're you doing?"

Sam sighed down the phone; "I have two five-thousand-word essays in for Monday, and a project to finish... So I'm pretty busy. So what do you want, Dean?"

Dean sighed too; "Cas is on his field trip to DC. I'm lonely... It feels weird being in the apartment by myself."

"I'd love to entertain you whilst you pine for your boyfriend, but I'm too busy... Call Gabe or something?"

"Fine... Thanks for nothing."

"Don't be a jerk, Dean. Maybe you should get a hobby."

"I've got one! He's in DC right now!"

"I don't know if that's plain gross or disgustingly romantic... Anyway. I've got to go."

"All right... See-ya."

Dean hung up and looked around the apartment, taking in how weird it was that it was completely spotless. He thought about ringing Gabriel, deciding instead to text him.

"Bored as Hell, dude. Entertain me. Please!"

A few seconds later he got a reply; "watch some porn! Porn is the answer to all of life's problems!"

Dean chuckled; "I would, but I've spent the entire day cleaning. I don't feel like dirtying the place up just yet."

"Cas has ruined you, man. Ruined you, I say!"

They texted back and forth for an hour, discussing anything that popped in to their heads. They stopped when Gabriel discovered Empire Strikes Back was playing on the TV; both of them deciding they needed to meet up and marathon the Star Wars films.

Luke had just crash-landed on Dagobah when Dean's phone began ringing. Cas' name glowed on the screen. Dean quickly muted the TV and answered.

"Hey!"

"Hello, Dean."

"Uh, having fun in DC?"

"I suppose as much fun as can be had on an educational trip."

"But you like learning," Dean chuckled, pulling himself from the sofa.

"I suppose the company is enjoyable, and the places we visit are phenomenal, so... I suppose yes. I'm having fun. Are you?"

Dean snorted and padded through to the kitchen; "no! I'm bored, I miss you, and the apartment is spotless now. Like, OCD clean..."

"I'm sorry, Dean. I had no idea this would happen to you."

"Me neither! I have nothing to do tomorrow..."

"Go on a walk? Take a trip in to Boston?"

"I'd rather do that with you... I might have some kind of marathon... I found my Star Trek boxset..."

Castiel chuckled; "you've been looking for that since we moved in."

"I know! So... What have you done today?"

The two of them discussed their days apart; Castiel describing places he'd been in the Capitol, things he'd learnt, people he'd met... Dean told Castiel of all the cleaning he'd done. Dean smiled as Cas talked elatedly about the tour around the Library of Congress, enjoying hearing Cas' voice. After a while he found he wasn't even listening to what his boyfriend was saying, just enjoying hearing Cas' gravelly voice wash over him. He wasn't sure when Cas' voice broke - again, having already broke from puberty, but it "broke" once more in to the deep gravelly voice he now had - but it was the best sound Dean had ever heard. Especially early morning when he was still full of sleep, and croaked Dean's name for any number of reasons; usually for him to get off him so he could go to the bathroom.

"Dean? Are you listening?"

"Hmm? Sorry, I got lost..."

Castiel chuckled lightly; "again? Do you ever listen to me?"

"It's your voice! It's not my fault!"

"That's not a valid excuse."

Dean chuckled too; "it is. Your voice is... Well, sexy. And it distracts me! A lot!"

"I hope you're not having impure thoughts whilst I try to talk to you."

"Oh, no... Not all the time."

"Dean."

Dean laughed, hearing the fond exasperation in Cas' voice; "sorry beautiful."

"You're not sorry at all."

"I apologise for making you uncomfortable, not for the impure thoughts I have of you. I'll never apologise for that!"

"Sometimes I question why I love you."

Dean grinned; "no you don't."

"Of course I don't. You're a pain in the ass, but you're my pain the ass."

"Such a romantic."

"I could read you some Lord Byron."

Dean frowned, reaching for his drink of water; "who?"

"Romantic poet."

"Oh. No thanks. Try some Def Leppard, they're pretty romantic, I find."

"I Wanna Touch You? Hardly romantic, Dean."

"Hey, I think it's romantic. And that's all that counts."

"I suppose. Anyway, Dean. I'm sorry but I have to go."

"No!"

"Yes, I'm afraid. I'll try to talk to you again tomorrow. And please get some sleep."

"Impossible without you."

"I apologise, but there's nothing really I can do."

"Come back and never leave me ever again?"

"I'll endeavour to do so in the future. But for now, please go to bed, and I'll see you on Monday. I love you."

"I love you too, Cas."

Dean hung up and stared at his glass of water, quickly finishing it and rinsing it out in the sink. He didn't even bother going to the bedroom to sleep, instead grabbing Cas' pillow and the blanket from the back of the sofa and settling in for another uncomfortable night of not really sleeping. After several hours of tossing and turning as much as he could on a sofa, he went to grab some of Cas' favourite films; in particular the ones that sent Dean right to sleep. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and he ended up sitting all the way through National Treasure wishing Nic Cage would fall down the mine shaft or get shot by the FBI. Anything to stop the film from continuing.

Dean spent Sunday and most of Monday in a depressive stupor, finding anything to entertain him, desperately clinging to the hope that once he'd finished his task, hours would have passed. But it was usually only ten minutes at most. He spent Sunday marathoning the Star Trek films - no matter how bad most of them were - and Monday doing more odd jobs to fill the time. He was looking forward to seeing Cas, when he got bad news in text format.

"Extremely bad traffic, some kind of collision or something. I won't be back until late tonight, early Tuesday morning. Sorry. X."

Dean grumbled loudly to himself, kicking the chair in front of him before angrily typing his reply; "that sucks balls! Don't they know you have an angsty boyfriend waiting for you at home?"

"It doesn't seem to matter. I'll see you tonight, hopefully."

"Can't you spend some time texting me? It's not like you're going anywhere."

"I was planning to spend my extra time doing some work, so I was free to pay you some attention when I got back."

"Ok, that sounds reasonable I suppose. I'll see you later then."

Unmotivated and a little annoyed, Dean slumped down on the sofa and flicked through the TV channels to find anything to take his mind off the world. He had no idea when he became an obsessive wife, but he couldn't stand being apart from Castiel, and took a mental note to never leave his side for more than 24 hours unless it absolutely, on pain of death, can not be helped. He didn't even care that he knew Sam and Gabriel would lay in to him for probably the rest of his life, because Cas was his entire universe, and had been for a long two years. So to have his universe taken from him for an extended weekend, sucked, for want of a better word.

He surprisingly found himself drifting in and out of consciousness as the TV played in front of him. He had no idea what time it was, or how much time had passed, instead slowly drifting back to sleep.

He jerked awake when he felt something stroking his hair. Peering up through the dark and his sleep-heavy eyes, he slowly made out the silhouette of Castiel. He was suddenly wide awake, jumping up from the sofa and enveloping his boyfriend in a tight hug. Castiel chuckled and spluttered as he hugged Dean back.

"I've fucking missed you!" Dean mumbled in to his neck, pressing several kisses in to the warm skin.

"I missed you, Dean."

"Come on!"

Grabbing Cas' hand and the pillow, Dean ran to their bedroom, throwing the pillow to the head of the bed and standing Cas in front of him. Ignoring the worried and confused look on Cas' face, Dean began stripping the two of them down to their underwear, pushing Castiel towards the bed.

"Dean? What-"

"-Shh, come on."

Dean dived under the covers and grabbed Cas' hand, pulling him under with him. He wrapped his arms and legs around Cas' warm body, burying his face in to his neck and inhaling his familiar scent.

"...Dean?"

"I've had next to no sleep. It turns out I can't sleep on my own. I've missed you sleeping next to me, and I'm sure you've had a long day, so please shut up and just hold me. And go to sleep yourself."

Cas chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to the top of Dean's head; "I love you so much, Dean."

"Mmm, I love you too Cas. Sleep, now."