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excerpt 

Castiel stands close, but not in the way and out of Dean’s field of vision. Dean doesn’t technically need a spotter for this, his aim is repetition and he’s doing weights lighter than what he’d normally do. He can still feel Castiel’s presence. Can still smell the earthy scent of his cologne mixing with the clean sweat of his skin. 

 “No roots?” Dean grunts, the count in his head displaced for a second but he starts up again. 

 Castiel hums, “No, Anna lives here and she’s the closest thing I have to roots here recently. I was in New York for a while after school. Then I was in Mumbai dancing, that’s when Gabe asked me to come home.” 

 “Mumbai?” 

 “Bollywood.”

 Dean lets out a noise of surprise, his hands faltering and Castiel’s hands are like lightning grasping the bar from Dean’s hands. Arms flexing, Castiel stabilizes the bar while Dean adjusts his hands. 

 “Bollywood, huh?” 

 “Back up dancer,” Castiel explains, his hand leaving the bar hesitantly. 

 “I’m gonna have to see this, my sister-in-law loves Bollywood movies,” Dean chuckles, finishing his rep and hanging up the bar. He hops up on the bench, looking up at Castiel. Baseball cap backwards, shirt still clinging to him. Dean meets Castiel’s eyes, steady and so fuckin’ blue. Fuck him.

 “I enjoyed my time there,” Castiel says, leaning against the bar relaxed as ever, “But I’m glad to be home and doing this with you all. Ready to start the newest chapter of life, it’ll certainly be different touring… becoming a sort of celebrity. Interviews start soon, that’ll be an interesting experience.” 

 Dean nods in agreement, wiping his hands on his gym shorts, “Yeah, it’ll be weird being known but I’m hoping that they won’t become too intrusive. I just enjoy music, I like hanging out with Charlie and Gabe again. It seemed like a good move to me.” 

 Castiel smiles, “Finished?” 

 “Uh yeah, going to hit the showers and then home. Tomorrow is choreography? Know anything about that?” 

 “I do, 'Rock-a-bye Your Bear' tomorrow. Gabe wanted me to come up with the hand movements and the dance we could all do,” he says and leads the way to the gym locker room, pulling out his bag from the locker. He starts stripping in front of Dean, peeling his sweat-drenched shirt slowly off his body. 

Standing only in the tiniest shorts and sneakers, Dean’s tongue feels like it's going to flop out of his mouth like a lovesick cartoon. Spotting a breathtaking tattoo, its black lines and with show-stopping watercolors curling around the top of Castiel’s shoulders and down the slopes of his back. It’s gorgeous, light and dark mixed together in a vibrant dance of color that makes him want to trace it with his fingers and follow with his tongue. In his imagination, he can almost feel the skin beneath his lips, the strength of the muscle between his teeth, and taste the salt of Cas’ skin on his tongue. 

 “I can’t sleep through this one?” Dean grunts, grabbing his own bag to distract him from the dark Adonis and his wings in front of him. He wills his body to cool down and not to stare too much at the beauty in front of him. 

 Amusement shining in his face, Castiel clasps a hand on his shoulder and shakes him slightly, “You’ll be fine, Dean. I promise I didn’t make it too difficult.” 

 With that, Castiel leaves him to take his shower, all sinew and grace. Dean watches the muscles in his back flex as he walks away, thinking that Castiel Novak is so graceful with his vibrant wings that he might as well be flying.