Dean had been ashamed of his sexuality, trying his hardest to find a way out of it. Being bisexual, it was pretty easy to hide. He could sleep with any girl he wanted, having done so since high school. He kept his head down, did as he was told, Dean was a good son. Then he met him, the man that changed everything. The man that caused Dean to stop smoking, the man that believed in him when nobody else would; the man who held him as his brother left. The sound of the door slamming had filled his ears and it was rough. Hard to endure alone without a bottle of Jack but then he was there. Castiel Novak was always there.

That was the first night the two of them had kissed. The kiss was rough, passionate, demanding for attention in a world where both men had just recently lost a brother to distance, to fate and chance. They had found their attention, their solace in one another and as Dean laid there, Castiel's warm breath against his neck and hand on his chest was enough to tell Dean that he didn't care anymore. He just wanted Castiel. And he had him for five years, five long wonderful years of the two of them sharing kisses that were sweet, kisses that were angry, passionate and hungry kisses. But then Sam came back and Dean shied away, he looked the other way, pretended he didn't want to feel Cas' lips on his.

When the cancer came, it took them both by surprise. It was a cancer of the blood; one Cas knew he wouldn't survive. Dean would press kisses to his forehead when Sam wasn't around and even press a few sad ones to his lips but Castiel didn't want that. "Kiss me like you used to…" he would say, demanding that he wasn't broken. Just sick. But as the distance grew between them and the kisses turned to pecks, back into nothing at all, he got sicker. It was the Tuesday after Christmas and Dean had been five minutes too late to the hospital. He didn't get the chance to spend Christmas with him.

There on the headstone it read his name, his Castiel Novak gone. Standing there and shoving his hands in his pockets as the reality finally sunk him, swallowing hard with one thought in mind. One thought alone….

I wish I kissed you longer.

Dean pulled the small red box out of his pocket and dug a tiny hole in the ground where the ring now lay alone in dirt, growing as cold as their love. But even as he left the cemetery, a thought came to his mind once more.

We'll meet again soon, Cas. Promise.