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The first thing you learned when you began dating Castiel was that he was super affectionate.
He made sure to have physical contact with you as much as possible - pressing his thigh against yours while sitting on the couch, moving your hair from your face whenever the wind blew, and hand holding. Lots and lots of hand holding.
The angel adored you, and he made sure that you and everyone else knew it.
You, on the other hand, had grown up in the hunting life; which meant that you were rather stand-offish when it came to emotions. Much like your friends the Winchesters, you didn’t handle romantic entanglements well. Luckily, Cas was blissfully patient with you.
Except for the first time you used a pet name with him.
Dean was telling the story about the disastrous first time your boyfriend tried to use a gun.The four of you were all sitting around the little motel room table, stuffing your faces with burgers and fries. Of course, Cas had his fingers intertwined with yours the entire time. Once Dean got to the punchline of the story, you and Sam couldn’t help but burst out in a fit of laughter. Cas, on the other hand, turned beet red.
“C’mon, Cas,” Dean joked, “no one is good at it their first time! Its nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“I’m not embarrassed,” Cas grumbled, looking away as his face became even more scarlet.
You tried to hide your snicker behind a beer bottle while you said, “Of course you’re not, baby.”
Cas frowned a bit, his blue eyes casting down to the ground. Then he mumbled an excuse to leave, loosened his hand from yours, and walked out of the room.
“You upset him, Dean,” Sam scolded, rolling his eyes at his older brother.
Dean glared back at him and threw his hands up in a sign of frustration. “Well, it ain’t my fault that he’s the most sensitive warrior of God ever.”
You sighed as the boys continued to bicker. Rather than join in the argument, you made your way outside in hopes of finding Cas. After a few minutes of searching, you received a text message from him that said:
Meet me in the field by the barn.
You assumed he meant the abandoned barn that you and the guys had investigated the day before. Luckily, as it turned out, it wasn’t haunted. And it was only a few blocks away.
When you were nearly there, you heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot coming from the field. Without a second thought, you ran towards the sound, despite the fact that you had no weapons and no backup. All you could think about was Cas.
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To your relief, what you came upon was not at all what you expected. The old fence that ran along the field had seemingly random objects lined up in a row on top of it - a few glass bottles, some empty cans, and a single ratty shoe. A few yards away was your angel, pointing what you recognized as your silver handgun, at the makeshift targets. You approached him carefully as he was aiming for the green bottle, and realized that he had also “borrowed” a shotgun and a sniper rifle.
“Ummm, Cas?” you asked tentatively, so as to not startle him. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” Cas huffed, his voice lowered even deeper and gruffer than usual. “I’m shooting a gun like a real man.”
“Like a…what?” you were confused.
You didn’t get a chance to revise your question before Cas pulled the trigger, the bullet zooming over the targets and landing in the grass somewhere.
“I should probably retrieve that,” Cas mumbled, setting the gun down with the others at his feet.
“Woah, wait,” you stopped him by reaching up to place your hands on his shoulders. “Talk to me. What’s with the sudden interest in firearms?”
“I’m a grown man.” As if that answered all of your questions.
“Well, yeah Cas. I mean, aside from the whole being a centuries old angel thing, yes you’re a grown man. Why would you think otherwise?” you questioned, having no idea where this was all coming from.
Cas let out a deep sigh and looked past you, towards the fence. “Back at the motel, you called me a baby,” he explained. Suddenly, things were getting a little clearer. “I am not an infant, Y/N. Nor am I a car like the Impala.”
“Oh.” That was all you could come up with to say. You really weren’t prepared for that answer.
Then Cas continued to say, “I want to learn to shoot properly, like a man. Like a hunter.”
His explanation tore at your heart a little bit. As good-natured as yours and the Winchester’s teasing was, it obviously bothered him on a deeper level. So, you placed your hands on his cheeks and made him look directly at you.
“Cas, I’m sorry. We were just joking around. We don’t think any less of you because you’re not a great shot. Hell, no one is at first. We can teach you, okay?”
“Okay, but–”
“But, nothing. You are a badass, Castiel. Weapons or not,” you half scolded, half beamed.
Cas shrugged his shoulders, as if her were having a hard time believing your words.
“And about the whole “baby” thing? Here on Earth, there are 3 ways to use the word “baby”.” You grabbed his hand and began to tick off with his own fingers.
“Number 1 - actual infants, which you certainly are not.” Cas smiled shyly at you as you spoke. “Number 2 - that creepy way when people are way too attached to inanimate objects, like Dean and his car.” That got a laugh out of him. “And number 3 - when you’re in a relationship with someone who you care so deeply about that you use cute little pet names to let them and the world know how much you adore them.” You laced both of your hands with both of his and brought them up between the two of you. “Now, guess which version I used for you.”
Cas couldn’t stop the smile from spreading through his features; from his lips up those vivid blue eyes. “You adore me?” he asked you, understanding what you meant. You nodded your head and grinned brightly at him.
Without another word, Cas leaned down and pressed his lips to yours. The kiss started soft and slow, but quickly heated up when you began to move as well. When his tongue traced the seam of your lips, you opened for him and let him explore you before you took your turn as well; tasting and memorizing each other. You and Castiel held hands the entire time.
After God knows how long, Cas broke away from you, his eyes wild with excitement. Then he wrapped you in his arms, and said, “I adore you too, baby.”