Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Freaking Zombies.” Dean grumbles, while he tries to get his jacket open. He is sure one of the creatures tore his shoulder open and he needs to treat the wound, before the pain gets even worse.

“This time Chuck really outdid himself.” Sam says next to him. Dean can see his little brother is bleeding at the forehead and he almost reaches out to him, so he can stroke over the red skin around it.

“What will we do now?” Castiel asks, who still looks the best out of the three of them. Castiel closes the door, it makes an annoying squeaking sound and Dean hopes the zombies didn’t hear them.

For now they escaped the zombies, but Dean is not sure how much time they have. He finally shrugs the jacket open and yes, just like he had thought, his shoulder is bleeding pretty badly.

“Dean.” Sam says and is already at his side, like he always did. Dean swallows down the cry that wants to slip over his lips, when Sam touches his shoulder. Now Castiel walks over to them as well, looking worried.

“I can heal you.” Castiel offers, but Dean is already shaking his head, before Castiel is done with the whole sentence. It’s not that bad, he just needs to put something around it, so it would stop bleeding.

“No we probably need your grace for fighting all these sons of bitches.” Dean grits out, while Sam is already on it. His brother fucking rips off his own flannel and carefully wraps it around his shoulder.

“If it gets worse you will tell me.” Castiel says and this time Dean doesn’t even protest. Sam looks still worried and this time Dean puts his hand against his cheek, carefully stroking over it. He doesn’t mention that his left side is torn open, too.

“Maybe sit down.” Sam says, but he sounds so afraid that Dean actually sits down on the ground. He leans against the cold wall and tries to breath through the pain. Fuck. They are so fucked.

“We need to move, maybe we can go back to the Bunker.” Castiel says and just then they hear some loud noise outside. Dean squeezes his eyes shut and just hopes the zombies would walk away.

“I think we should at least wait a bit, so things can calm down.” Sam argues and Castiel tilts his head, before he finally nods. Dean takes a deep breath, he doesn’t think he can move now anyway.

“So that’s it, huh? Zombies will be our end. Kinda poetic.” Dean laughs, but Castiel glares at him and Dean stops. Sam just shakes his head, the bleeding on his forehead stopped at least and Dean smiles at his brother.

“We got worse.” Sam says and Castiel nods in agreement. Dean huffs.

“Like what?” Dean wants to know and now Sam walks back over to him. He sits down next to Dean, their arms touching. Luckily Dean’s good arm. He almost leans against Sam in exhaustion, but catches himself before.

“Me drinking Demon blood.” Sam admits and Dean knows he feels still bad about that. Dean has to smile a bit anyway, because that was so long ago, it feels like an entire different life. And maybe it is with him dying a few times in between.

“Yeah I really hated that.” Dean says and Sam nods. Castiel sits down in front of them, still looking at Dean’s shoulder. Dean is sure Sam’s flannel is already drained in his blood.

“But you both got through that.” Castiel offers and Dean nods. Somehow no matter what life threw at them, they always made it work. Sometimes that ended up being worse, but they always fixed it along the way.

“Yeah or when I had the mark of Cain.” Dean says, shuddering just at the thought of it. He really hated that feeling, when he had that mark. He was sure he would end up killing Sam and Castiel and that thought still scares him.

“Or when I was god.” Castiel says and Dean snorts. Oh yeah that was no fun either. Somehow their lives had always been bad, Dean looks down to his lap. Maybe that is the end they deserve?

“But we had good times, too. Remember when we were Teddy Bear doctors?” Sam says and he laughs a bit at that memory. Dean leans against Sam this time, feelings his brother laugh and he has to smile as well.

“Or when you got me the Slinky.” Dean says smiling, because he still has it in his room and he really loves it. He always wanted one when they were little and he is still as giddy as the day Sammy got it to him.

“When you made me the mixtape.” Castiel whispers and Dean is sure if he still had enough blood in him, he would blush at those words. Sam chuckles next to him and then Dean holds out his hand.

Luckily Castiel seem to understand, because he gets up again, before he sits next to Dean. He is careful not to touch the shoulder, but he is cuddling Dean anyhow. For one Dean doesn’t even throw a fit.

The noises outside get louder. Dean is sure they are discovered any moment.

“We really had some shit times.” Dean grunts, his pain is getting worse with every second. This time Castiel touches his shoulder and just like that the wound closes and the pain is gone there.

“Hey!” Dean says, but Castiel smiles.

“But we had really good times too and I want to make more good memories.” Castiel says, his blue eyes seem almost to glow in the dark of the room. Dean finds himself smiling and this time he takes Castiel’s hand. Just holding it to his chest, while he still leans against Sammy.

“The road so far wasn’t always a good one, but we can still change that.” Sam says and Dean can see that he glances over Dean’s head to look at Castiel. It’s quiet for a few minutes and then Sam sighs.

“Okay I think I saw some knives back there.” Sam says and he gets up. Dean almost falls to the side, but then Castiel helps him to sit back up, before he joins Sam. Dean is a bit surprised but they both seem a lot more calm now.

“Do you think we could use this?” Castiel asks and he holds up something that once was a gun maybe. Sam takes it and gets the bullets out of it. Dean’s eyes widen.

“Guys what are we doing?” Dean wants to know, still sitting on the ground and now he actually holds his hand over the wound on his side. His hand is already wet from his blood.

“Fighting of course. Like we always did.” Sam says and he sounds really hopeful. Dean squeezes his eyes shut. Of course. Sam and Castiel would never go down without swinging. Dean coughs.

“Okay uhm… that would be the time where I tell you…” Dean starts but then he just points to his left side. Castiel’s eyes widen when he sees the amount of blood that is on the ground. Dean goes for a smile.

“Dean!” Sam says, but Castiel is already helping Dean up to his feet. Dean groans at the pain, but then the feeling of grace wandering through his body fills him again and he can relax. Sam catches him easily, when he almost falls.

“Thanks.” Dean says, still not happy that Castiel wastes his grace on him. He had thought that they both would have a better chance without him. Of course the idiots are too stubborn for that.

“We don’t want a route without you.” Castiel says, carefully hugging Dean from behind, who is still somehow in Sam’s arm. Dean’s heartbeat is way too fast now.

“I…” Dean starts but he doesn’t know what to say. He had often thought about this but even now while he knows they all will die, he can’t say it.

“It’s okay. We know.” Sam says, before he kisses Dean’s forehead. Dean makes a very embarrassed noise, before Castiel kisses his cheeks. Oh okay.

“We make it out of here together.” Castiel promises, one of his hands is on Dean’s chest, while Dean now sees the other one is holding Sam’s hand tightly.

“Okay.” Dean says and when they run out of their hiding place to see a dozen zombies coming towards them, he smiles.

Yeah they could do this. They had worse before and he can’t wait to celebrate their win with the two people he loves the most.