Just Another Day in Paradise: Day 3 - Fishing

Disclaimer: Supernatural and its characters are the property of Eric Kripke. Sadly, I do not own any of these guys.
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"This is a very strange sensation, Dean." Castiel unconsciously tipped his head to one side as their small rental boat bobbed over yet another wave, holding tightly to the metal rail that lined the side. "I feel like I'm airborne even though I'm standing up." Another wave crashed against the side of the vessel and Castiel gasped quietly, nearly falling forward and having to step back until he was almost leaning against Dean to regain his balance.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Dean said calmly. He patted Castiel's shoulder with one hand and steered the boat with the other, effortlessly taking them farther and farther from the docks and watching the water grow a deeper azure blue with every passing second. It reminded him a lot of Cas's eye color, actually. "Just relax and enjoy the sights. It'll be a while before we get to the spot the guide told us about."

Castiel nodded and sat down on one of the worn leather bench seats, one leg tucked under him so he could comfortably look out over the water while the other sat flat-footed on the floor to help him feel balanced. He seemed to be looking forward to this fishing trip as much as Dean was, which made the hunter happy. He hadn't been sure how the ex-angel would feel about catching his Father's sea-dwelling creatures for sport, but Cas had said that as long as they didn't kill or keep what they didn't plan to eat, he saw no issue with it.

Dean smiled as the ex-angel's already perpetually messy hair blew straight back in the wind, giving him a bizarre combed-over look that likely wouldn't change until the next time he showered. He also had red, slightly sunburned skin over most of his body – as did Dean, thanks to Cas's near-drowning the day before making them forget their sunscreen.

The hunter was red as a lobster from head to toe; unfortunately, even years of hunting couldn't erase the sun-sensitivity of a light complexion. Cas was just a light peach color, with a stark white handprint on his left shoulder where Dean had fallen asleep holding him. To say Dean was jealous was a major understatement. His skin hurt like hell today – and he'd been there, so he would know – and Castiel was just a little pink? Not. Fair.

The brunet in question had spent the first part of the morning poking at the strange redness on his skin, having noticed it when he went to shower after waking. He only stopped prodding at it when he hit a particularly painful red spot on his chest, asking Dean what they had done to make the sun so angry with them. The hunter had just laughed and continued packing for their outing, making sure he and Cas both put on sunscreen before they left so they wouldn't "anger the sun" again.

Dean was startled out of his reverie when a hand suddenly tapped his shoulder, and he spun around to see Castiel standing just behind him, smiling slightly as if he knew something Dean didn't.

"What?" Dean asked, grinning himself at whatever had the angel so amused.

Castiel just leaned forward and grabbed his lover's right hand, placing it over the white handprint on his left shoulder while he placed his own hand on Dean's. Then, with a small kiss to the hunter's fingers, he chuckled and said, "Now we match."

Dean smiled and wound their fingers together, and they stayed that way until the hunter determined they had gotten close enough to the place that the man who had rented them this boat told them the best fishing could be found. He let the boat slow and then shut the engine off, releasing Cas's hand so he could get the anchor lowered into the water. The last thing they needed was to drift off and get lost in an already unfamiliar area. As it was, Dean could still see land from where they sat, but only just.

Once the boat was as secure as it could be, Dean opened up the tackle box while Cas fetched their fishing rods. They had been told there were plenty of edible fish to be found in this location, as long as one had a sturdy rod and some good bait. So Dean had picked up two rods capable of holding a hundred pounds of weight each, as well as some bait made from the offal of old fish. Hopefully that would be enough to score them some fresh seafood for dinner.

"You ready, Cas?" he asked, and the ex-angel nodded, holding the bucket of chum at the ready. When Dean nodded his approval, Cas tipped a little bit of the fish bits into the water on both the port and starboard side of the boat. Then the two of them sat down back-to-back, watching the bits of bait sink down into the water and waiting for a bite while their lures bobbed lazily up and down.

There was no telling how long they sat there in silence, enjoying the feel of the sun and the salty spray on their faces, the gentle breeze that dulled the heat as it blew over them and carried the offensive scent of old fish far away. There had been a couple of tugs on the lines so far, but nothing hard enough to reel in. Whatever was out there must have eaten a late breakfast, because nothing seemed too interested in lunch at the moment. Neither of them was in a hurry; it had been a long time since they'd had time to sit and simply enjoy nature like this, except perhaps in Dean's dreams so many years ago.

After another few minutes passed, though, Castiel suddenly sat up straight in his seat, looking excitedly out at the bobber that had just been pulled sharply beneath the water.

"Dean! I think I have something," he said happily, already starting to reel it in while Dean set his rod down and came over to join him.

"Awesome! You got this, Cas," Dean encouraged when something started splashing close to the surface. "Just a little more!"

Castiel nodded and continued to reel the fish in, then tugged up sharply, lifting it out of the water and onto the boat in one swift motion. When Dean realized what it was, he smiled and picked it up, taking the hook out of its mouth and holding the wriggling thing, which was bigger than his head, out for Cas to see.

"Well, looks like you caught us dinner," Dean said happily.

"This is edible?" Cas had no idea what made one fish any more edible than another, but apparently Dean did.

"Yeah. This is a Red Snapper," he said, which Cas concluded must be because of its ruby-red color. "It's actually really expensive to buy from a fish market, but there's tons of meat on it and it tastes awesome. We can grill this up when we get back to shore. Great job, man."

Cas beamed at the praise, and was about to comment on how beautiful the red fish was when he realized Dean's rod was being pulled toward the edge of the boat.

"Ah! Dean!" he said, hurriedly reaching out and grabbing the pole. He noticed immediately that this fish was a lot stronger than the last one, so much so that he was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep a grip on it. He grunted and pulled back, trying to keep his balance, and sighed in relief when Dean joined him and started helping him reel the animal in.

It took several minutes of straining and sweat, since this fish was obviously a fighter, but finally the two of them managed to yank it out of the water. It landed with a wet flop in the middle of the deck, and Dean just stared at it for a moment, eyes growing wider all the time, and then jerked back as if he'd been stung, pulling on the line so that the creature hung a few feet in the air by its lip.

"Holy shit, Cas!" he shouted, staring at the long gray fish with short angular fins, beady eyes, and sharp teeth. "That's a damn shark!"

It wasn't a large shark by any means – only about two or three feet from nose to tail – but still, it was more than a little unnerving to realize that if they were able to catch one shark this easily out here, there were probably lots more of them in bigger sizes farther down.

Dean swallowed and shuddered, staring at the little gray shark as it flopped helplessly on the end of the line. There went his plans to go swimming out here today. It was strange, really, when he thought about how freaked out he was by a fish. He hunted the supernatural every day, and yet something that could be cooked on a grill was frightening to him? Some things just didn't make sense.

Castiel, noticing how Dean seemed to have no interest in touching the shark, took pity on the poor creature, carefully stepping forward and grabbing around the middle of its body so he could steer far clear of its sharp rows of teeth. Then with a small smile, he removed the hook from the side of its lip and whispered, "Forgive me, my friend. We didn't mean to disturb your meal," before tossing the shark back over the edge of the boat. It landed with a loud splash and quickly disappeared, likely getting as far away from the two humans as it possibly could.

Cas was just about to turn around and go sit beside Dean, who was busy re-stringing the line onto the fishing pole after the shark strained it, when he suddenly felt his foot hit a slick spot and fly out from under him. Before he could even make a sound of surprise, he was falling backwards over the side, landing in the water with a splash that put the shark's to shame. Thanks to his lifejacket though, he didn't sink, and he came back to the surface with an indignant splutter as he shook the cold water out of his hair.

Above him, Dean was cracking up, having gotten over the initial panic of seeing Castiel fall overboard once he realized he was safe. The hunter held his sides, tears streaming from his eyes, and cackled as he peered down at the drenched man glaring up at him from the water below.

"You know Cas, if you wanted some water you could have just raided the cooler," he said with a grin. "Or did you decide you want to play with that baby shark some more?"

Castiel just glared and spat a mouthful of water at Dean like an archerfish, missing his face by several inches and hitting the side of the boat instead. Dean was laughing so hard now that he'd actually had to sit down or else fall over; sometimes his angel was adorable, especially when he looked like a pissed-off wet cat.

"Dean, could you just help me up please?" Cas asked tiredly, shaking some more water from his hair and giving the hunter his best puppy eyes. He really wasn't a fan of the water after what had happened yesterday, and lifejacket or not he was ready to be back on solid ground.

"Yeah, hahah, I-I'll – ahahahaaa!"

Castiel sighed, resigned to the fact that Dean was going to be useless until he got control of his giggles, and decided to sit there and wait patiently.

At least until he felt a long fin brush against the side of his leg.

A shudder quickly worked up from his head to his toes as he saw a large gray shape swimming in circles around him, the triangular dorsal fin sitting just barely beneath the surface as the creature looped around and around him. His heart jumped somewhere up into the vicinity of his throat, images of that "Jaws" movie Dean had made him watch reminding him of exactly what sort of creatures lurked in waters this deep and dark.

"Dean," he hissed, starting to tremble as the creature's fin brushed his leg again. "Dean, please!"

His tone finally seemed to get the hunter's attention, and Dean peered out over the side to see what had Cas so afraid. When he did, his eyes grew as big as dinner plates, and he held out a hand as far as he could.

"Okay Cas, stay calm," he whispered, his own voice betraying the complete lack of calm he felt. "Slowly make your way over here, and I'll pull you out. Just don't thrash around."

"Dean, I can't swim. All I know how to do is thrash around!"

"Okay, it's okay. Just come on."

Castiel swallowed and tried to paddle over to Dean as gracefully as he could – which wasn't gracefully at all – hoping whatever kind of shark was swimming around him now would realize he wasn't snack-sized before it tried to take a bite of him. It seemed to take an eternity, but finally he made it over to Dean, heart hammering in his chest, and felt the hunter grab his hand and haul him out of the water as if he weighed nothing.

He grabbed onto Dean and took a few deep breaths, trying to collect himself and succeeding for the most part. Once he'd managed to get his breathing back to normal, he peered over the side at the creature that had come close enough to brush against him.

To both of their surprise, it suddenly leapt out of the water, squealing happily and flipping end over end before splashing back under the surface. It wasn't a shark at all; it was a dolphin! Castiel watched in amazement as the joyful-looking creature jumped and twirled in and out of the water, seeming to almost laugh at him for ever being so afraid. And he was laughing too, because never in a million years had he imagined he would find himself in the middle of the ocean playing with a dolphin.

"I think I'm glad I fell overboard now," he muttered, leaning against Dean as the hunter continued to watch the little dolphin in awe.

"Honestly," Dean said, turning around and kissing the crown of Castiel's head. "So am I."

The two of them started heading back to shore almost immediately after the dolphin disappeared beneath the surface again. Once they docked, it wasn't long before Dean was in the small kitchen of their beach house, cooking the fish to perfection with the bones and skin still intact before getting it cleaned up and ready to eat. The white flesh was delicious, better than any freshwater fish Cas had ever eaten, and there was more than enough to save for dinner tomorrow.

By the time the moon had risen high in the sky, both the hunter and the ex-angel were sound asleep in bed, bellies stuffed painfully full of delicious fish and dreaming about riding on the backs of dolphins through the deep Hawaiian seas. It was the most peaceful sleep either of them had had in a long time.