Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Categories:
Fandoms:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2020-09-26
Completed:
2020-11-04
Words:
22,757
Chapters:
5/5
Comments:
53
Kudos:
516
Bookmarks:
101
Hits:
9,980

Saving People, Hunting Things, The Shadowhunter Business

Summary:

“Sam,” trench coat gave the tall guy a look, a look telling him to stop, “This is Dean and Sam Winchester and I’m Castiel.”

Castiel, as he called himself, had an unreadable expression on his face. Weird and cold, but his tone was curious.

“They are hunters. I’m an Angel of the Lord,” he continued, slowly.

There were a few seconds of silence, Alec frowning at the supposed angel. They kept saying they were hunters, as if that was supposed to make sense. Finally, Magnus clicked his tongue.

“Alec, darling. I think they’re not from here.” he said quietly, pulling at Alec’s sleeve. Alec eyed him.

“No shit.” said Alec crudely. Magnus rolled his eyes.

“I mean, not from this universe.” the warlock clarified.

Alec’s mouth hung open slightly. “Oh,” he said.

//

A Shadowhunters meets Supernatural AU story.

Notes:

Started this fic because a friend of mine told me to write it (Regan, if you're reading this, this is your fault), so I did.

Special thank you to the other half of the Joshcell - sleeepdeprived. You crazy son of a bitch, you beta read this! you did that! *sniff* Go check out their stories, they are lit (we also co-wrote a thing, no biggie).

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: All The Stories Are True

Chapter Text

Alec was just about to shout and tell Magnus to just knock these idiots out with his magic, when the shorter one, the one in the red flannel shirt and a jawline that could literally cut butter, jumped in front of the Hydra demon.

He threw something at it, a knife in his other hand, and Alec saw with shocked surprise that it was… water.

The demon shook it’s three heads, hissing at the guy, as if trying to get rid of an annoying fly.

The guys stood there, slightly gaping and a very unsure look on his face.

“Well, that didn’t do jack squat.” Alec heard him say and then, the Hydra demon launched.

“Dean!” the really, really tall guy (he looked even taller than Alec) with very long hair jumped towards the idiot, who had been throwing water, and they landed on the ground, a few inches from the snapping teeth of the Hydra demon.

The third guy was standing next to Magnus. When Alec’s eyes went to his husband and the guy’s hand went to his trenchcoat, pulling out a silver blade.

Alec rolled his eyes, having had enough.

“Magnus!” Alec yelled, nodding towards the three unknown people and then towards the demon. Magnus nodded, snapping his fingers and making a forcefield appear over the two flannel-wearing men and over the third- trench coated- one, who now looked mildly panicked.

Alec ran towards the demon, took up his bow and knocked three arrows. Each one hit it’s target, the eye of each of the heads on the demon. Alec skidded on the ground and the Hydra kicked out with his tail, screeching in pain.

Alec threw his bow aside and took up his seraph blade, jumping over the demon, effectively slicing one of it’s heads, which landed on the other side.

The demon’s severed head rolled away with a thud as Alec dodged the other head, while the third exploded, being hit by Magnus’ magic full force.

The last head snapped at the force field around the two guys on the ground, making it disappear while Magnus had been distracted with the Hydra’s remaining heads.

Alec ran and slid over the floor of the cave, underneath the Hydra's body and between it’s legs, and emerged on the other side.

He raised his blade, decapitating it just as it snapped at the guys on the ground. The shorter one, the one with blue eyes, had his blade raised as if to stab the demon.

When the Hydra’s head rolled away, the rest of the demon disappeared into whatever dimension it had come from.

Alec raised his blade to his eye-level, cringing at the dripping black substance. He reached to tuck away a strand of hair, smacking his forehead with the demon ichor accidentally.

“Alexander!” Alec turned just in time to see Magnus reach him.

Magnus pulled him into a tight embrace and Alec returned it. Forgetting that for one, they weren’t alone and two, they had just killed a Hydra demon and Alec was dripping with ichor.

Magnus pulled back, cat-eyes glowing. “That went well,” the warlock said, smirking at Alec.

Alec smiled back, but before he could kiss his husband, a cough caught their attention.

“What in the hell was that?” The bow legged guy, who looked like a lumberjack, asked, eyeing them both. The guy in the trench coat was standing before the two, as if trying to protect them, his blade still raised.

Alec eyed the long blade and etched towards Magnus, covering most of the warlock’s body with his own. The trench coated man looked slightly crazy, no matter the cute blue eyes.

“A demon,” Alec said, staring at them with suspicion.

a flannel wearing lumberjack shook his head. “No way. Holy water didn’t work on that thing.”

Alec tilted his head, “Holy water? That’s what that was? I mean, if it were a vampire, then sure, but-”

“What? Who are you?” the tall guy with long hair asked, making Alec narrow his eyebrows.

Alec and Magnus had been close to Idris’ border, investigating a cave that had supposedly a kidnapped warlock kid in there, somewhere. They didn’t find a kid in the cave, but they did find a demon. Hydra’s were common to guard objects or treasures and a lot of them hid in caves just like this one.

When they had engaged in the fight, Alec remembered a zapping of blue light to his right, but he’d just guessed it had been Magnus’ magic. And suddenly, there were three more people standing in the cave.

“Who are you, is more like it.” Alec asked, his voice now stern and authoritative, much like the one he used as the Inquisitor.

“We’re the Winchesters, “ Lumberjack deadpanned, “I would assume you to be a hunter , like us but… I don’t know what he is…” he nodded at Magnus and his cat-eyes, “a werewolf-witch?” the bow legged lumberjack asked.

Magnus made a displeased noise. “I’m not a werewolf, thank you very much.”

“Wait, hunters?” Alec asked. “Shadowhunters?” he tried to clarify. He didn’t see any runes.

“Shadow...what?” the tall guy said, but before it could get any more confusing, the guy in the trench coat spoke up.

“Sam,” trench coat gave the tall guy a look, a look telling him to stop, “This is Dean and Sam Winchester and I’m Castiel.”

Castiel, as he called himself, had an unreadable expression on his face. Weird and cold, but his tone was curious.

“They are hunters. I’m an Angel of the Lord,” he continued, slowly.

There were a few seconds of silence, Alec frowning at the supposed angel. They kept saying they were hunters, as if that was supposed to make sense. Finally, Magnus clicked his tongue.

“Alec, darling. I think they’re not from here.” he said quietly, pulling at Alec’s sleeve. Alec eyed him.

“No shit.” said Alec crudely. Magnus rolled his eyes.

“I mean, not from this universe.” the warlock clarified.

Alec’s mouth hung open slightly. “Oh,” he said.

“Wait, so you’re a hunter, too?” the guy, supposedly Dean asked, eyes narrowed at Alec.

“I’m… a shadowhunter. I hunt demons. But I’m pretty sure not in the way you think I do. Could you maybe tell us how you got here?”

Dean seemed hesitant, and he locked eyes with the supposed ‘angel’, who nodded. Sam, the tall one, spoke.

“We were on a hunt for a witch,” Sam said, giving Castiel a glance and then looking back at Alec, “and we were just about to capture her, when some demons came in and she collapsed the building, and zapped us here,” he explained.

“Wherever here is.” Dean murmured, “this huge ass monster attacked us and you say it was a demon, but the holy water didn’t work, so it sure as hell wasn’t.” Dean eyed the place where the Hydra had been. “And where’d the son of a bitch go?”

Alec exchanged a look with Magnus.

“I think you’d better come with us.” Magnus said, snapping his fingers and creating a portal.

The trenchcoat-guy-angel, Castiel, gripped his blade tight, ready to attack, just as Dean did.

“Woah, hang on there buddy,” Dean said, alarmed, “we’re not going anywhere with you until you explain what’s going on!”

Magnus snapped his fingers again, closing the portal. “Ah, right, you don’t know about portals, I presume.” he rubbed his forehead, “The portal brings us to our home. In New York. In our New York, anyways. And then we can figure out which alternative universe you came from.”

Alec could see the confused faces of the three other guys grow even more confused.

“Magnus, this isn't going to work.” he said through gritted teeth.

“Damn right it won’t,” Dean stared at Magnus, “No one leaves until we get an explanation,” he almost growled and Alec had enough.

Alec raised his seraph blade and swiftly flipped it in his hand, pointing the tip at them. “We just saved your asses from a freaking Hydra demon, and you think you’re making the rules here? Get in the portal or Magnus will just knock you unconscious with magic and you’ll still be dragged through the portal. Your choice.”

The trio stared back at him, eyes wide. Alec waited.

Magnus was next to him, cat-eyes gleaming as his fingertips glowed blue. He was wearing a smirk.

“Okay.” Castiel finally said, moving forward but Dean grabbed his arm.

“Cas, what are you, crazy? We can’t trust these people!”

“I’m with Dean on this,” Sam said hesitantly.

The supposed angel looked back at Dean and then at Sam. “If they wanted to kill us, they’d already done that,” he sighed, “I don’t trust them either, Dean. But they are all we have to go on at this moment”

The taller guy pursed his lips, but Dean still looked very suspicious.

Finally, he removed his hand from Cas’ arm and leaned closer to him, “Fine. But if we die, I’m pinning this on you.” he said, privately to Castiel, though everyone else heard it.

Castiel looked up, as if he was done with Dean’s bullshit, before he turned to Magnus. “You may open the… portal”

“We don’t even know what he is,” Dean grumbled.

Magnus looked highly insulted. “Warlock. High Warlock. Of Alicante.” he corrected, pouting.

“Magnus, now is really not the time.” Alec said, placing a hand on his hip.

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Fine, get in. First time might be slightly uncomfortable, by the way."

//

Alec was eyeing the trio, who were sitting in their loft, on their couch.

Dean was pressed against Cas, curiously looking around while Sam, besides him, explained everything.

It was hard to believe the words that had spilled out of their mouths but from what Alec could gather, their worlds were oddly similar, yet so different.

“So, everything is real here, too? Ghosts, vampires, werewolves, demons, witches?” Sam asked, the cup that held tea in his hands as he leaned back.

Alec guessed Sam was the brains of the group, more or less. Dean was definitely the brawn. He reminded Alec of Jace, impulsive and ‘shoot now, ask questions later’ type of guy. Castiel seemed… a little clueless, but could definitely hold his own. Though he didn’t seem to be very socially ‘equipped’.

“Warlocks.” Magnus corrected again, his cat-eyes now glamored.

“So, you’re an angel? An actual angel?” Alec wanted to know instead, staring at Castiel. He didn’t look like an angel.

Alec looked at Magnus, wanting to exchange a knowing look with him, instead he found his husband staring at Castiel in keen interest. He humphed and Magnus caught his eye.

“What?” Magnus asked, but Castiel was already talking.

“Yes, I’m an angel of the lord.” Cas deadpanned, the other two guys on the couch both rolled their eyes at this.

“You don’t look… like one.” Alec finished lamely.

Castiel tilted his head in confusion and Alec had to admit, it was kind of adorable. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean. I am...a celestial being”

Alec cleared his throat. “You know, you’re… Well, our angels have wings and they like… glow and they fly. You look very,” he trailed off, “human.”

Castiel’s eyes cleared, a determined look on his face.

“Oh, no.” Sam said, but Alec stared at Castiel in confusion.

“What- Oh.” was all that came out of him.

Castiel’s wings could be seen on the wall behind him, a shadow in the very faint light of the living room, but they were there. His eyes glowed blue, but not the baby-blue as they had been before but an even lighter blue.

Kind of like Magnus’ eyes glowed, only without the slit pupils of a cat and more… dangerous-looking.

“This is just the vessel I’ve occupied, my true form is the size of your Chrysler building.” the angel said, when Alec and Magnus stared up at him in astonishment.

“I bet,” Magnus mumbled and Alec elbowed him.

Castiel’s eyes slowly returned to normal blue, the light glowing from his body disappearing.

“What? I’ve never seen an actual angel before,” Magnus said under Alec’s glare.

“He’s not even our angel,” said Alec, annoyed. Then he saw the others stare at him. “That is, not our world’s angel. You know what I mean!”

Alec rolled his eyes, but he caught Dean’s gaze that was fixed on the angel. As soon as Alec caught him staring, Dean averted his gaze. Alec narrowed his eyes, but Sam was the one who talked.

“So, you have angels in the sky? Do you have a god?” Sam asked, but this time it was Magnus who shook his head.

“Not precisely. I mean, the nephilim -shadowhunters- believe in the angel Raziel, the one who created all of them. That’s how they came to be. Then there are the other angels, who are also the ones they pray to, if they wish, the ones they use to name their seraph blades after and the ones they respect. Sort of like a god, I guess, but without all the fanatics.”

Alec listened to his husband, a soft smile on his face. The fact that Magnus knew so much about shadowhunters warmed his heart. He etched his hand towards Magnus, linking them and the warlock sent him a smile.

Alec could pinpoint the exact moment it dawned on Dean, as he watched their linked hands and the rings glinting on them.

“Wait, you guys are hitched?” Dean asked, astounded. Sam elbowed him but Dean just sent him a ‘what?’ look.

Magnus chuckled. “Yes, we’re married.” he replied kindly.

“Married?” Castiel asked, like the concept was foreign to him. How long had he been on earth, Alec wondered.

Alec did catch Castiel’s quick glance towards Dean, though.

The shadowhunter looked at Magnus. Magnus had the same look on his face when he got to know about Aline and Helen. The look of ‘these two are so cute together’.

“Yes, married. As in, I love him and he loves me and we live together as partners, in good and bad.” Magnus explained plainly and Alec, not being able to help himself, leaned over to kiss his cheek.

He normally wouldn’t have, in front of strangers, but Magnus’ gentle voice as he declared their love was just too cute. He had to reciprocate, somehow.

Sam coughed. “Congratulations,” he said with a smile. Alec could see that it was genuine.

Magnus waved him off, smiling brightly, but then Dean opened his mouth.

“You said you’re hundreds of years old?” he clarified.

“Yep.” Magnus replied.

“Wait, so you don’t have a satan or king of hell, or something, either?” Sam cut in, before Dean could go any further.

Magnus made a face. “Not exactly, we have princes of hell, my father being the most powerful one of them, but that’s about it. Lilith was destroyed a while back so there’s really, mostly demons and angels.”

Now, Dean’s face was in utter confusion as he looked between the two of them. Alec even felt sorry for him a little. He waited for him to catch up.

“You married a hundreds of years old warlock, who is also the son of a prince of hell?” Dean finally blurted out, astonished.

Sam looked down and shook his head, like he was very done with his brother, facepalming.

Magnus seemed slightly perplexed. “Well, yes, he did. And I understand that that one,” he nodded towards Castiel, “has been here since the dawn of time, and he’s an angel, yet you’re dating him.”

There was a split second of silence, before Sam snorted and Dean said “I’m- We’re not-” He cut himself off, eyes wide.

Alec stifled his laugh. This was even worse when he thought he could be happy married to a woman.

“Oh,” Magnus said carefully. He was taken aback but then he smiled slowly. “My apologies.”

Castiel stared at Dean, and the look was one of longing - it was even a little sad. Alec knew what that look meant.

“Don’t worry, a lot of people misunderstand,” Sam said, hiding his smile. Then mumbled to himself, “I wonder why”

“Shut up, Sammy” Dean grumbled, but no one could mistake the blush on his cheeks.

Alec decided then, that it wasn’t their business. Magnus, of course, had other ideas. “We need to get them together,” the warlock whispered, leaning in next to his ear.

It tickled Alec and the hot breath against his ear made goosebumps appear. Totally not the time, Alec, he admonished himself.

“No, Magnus, stay out of it.” Alec quickly said, but the warlock clapped his hands.

“I assume you three will be spending the night here then?” Magnus stood up, “Well, great news, we only have two guest bedrooms.”

Sam didn’t seem at all bothered. “I am taking one for myself.”

Dean glared at Sam, but then Castiel said, “I don’t sleep. Dean can take the other one”

After a momentary pause, Magnus opened his mouth.

“Pardon?”

Castiel looked at him, “I’m an angel. I don’t need sleep,” He was very straightforward, that one.

Alec rubbed his neck. “Oh, well, I guess you can just… stay up?” he wasn’t really sure what to do with this information.

“Oh, but you have to go to a bedroom, you can’t stay in the living room. I have a cat, Chairman Meow and his boyfriend, Church. They don’t like strangers on his territory.” Magnus piped up cheerfully.

“Chairman and Church aren't even here-” Magnus kicked Alec's leg and Alec let out a small yelp, rubbing his ankle.

“You named your cats Chairman Meow and Church?” Sam wanted to know, perplexed.

“It was on a whim.” Magnus said, not bothering to explain that one of the cats wasn’t even his.

“Cats seem to like me, usually.” Castiel said, hesitating.

“Until we figure out how my husband is going to get you back, I suggest you get some rest.” Alec then said, staring at the clock perched on the wall of the living room. It was almost 12.

Sam stood up, stretching. He was just a little taller than Alec was, about 2 inches. He had asked if they could hit the lore before, whatever that meant. But it was late and he, them all, were visibly exhausted.

Dean stood up too, his eyes still avoiding everyone.

“Can we trust you?” Castiel then asked, eyeing Magnus, his head tilted.

“Yes, darling, you can. Me and my husband are probably the only people to not want to kill you on sight, as of now. And, my magic is one of the most powerful ones in this world. Rest assured, my wards will keep you all safe.” Magnus said sweetly, “Not to brag”

Castiel seemed slightly confused upon hearing the endearment and automatically looked towards Dean.

Alec shoved Magnus with his elbow at the nickname, “I’m right here.” he announced and Magnus chuckled.

“I can see. Don’t worry, love, you’re the only blue-eyes I want.” Magnus said, quite loudly and Alec blushed, when his husband leaned in to give him a peck.

“We’ll go now.” Sam coughed, clearly uncomfortable and Magnus pointed towards the corridor.

“They’re right there, two doors on the left.” Magnus waved, eyes on Alec.

When the trio made their way down the corridor, Magnus let his hand slide around Alec’s waist and his other hand went to his cheek.

“All things considered, I’m glad you’re okay. That demon was no joke.” Magnus said, voice etched with concern.

“It was nothing major. Besides, don’t tell me you weren’t turned on.” Alec said playfully and Magnus’ eyes flashed gold.

“Who said I wasn’t?”

//

Back in the corridor, Sam was rolling his eyes at them, though Castiel wasn’t entirely sure why.

Maybe it had something to do with Dean.

“Sam, seriously-”

“Dean, we are alive, aren’t we? Besides, I doubt they’ll come killing us in our sleep and frankly? I’m tired. We got a beating from a witch and now we’re-” Sam paused to look around and vaguely waved his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose with the other, “I need sleep.”

Dean didn’t seem to be all too acceptive of that reply. He went towards Sam, hands gesturing angrily as he talked.

“So, we’re just gonna to stay here? We should leave, not expect them to not kill us,” he almost hissed.

Castiel came a little closer, “Dean,” he said, voice calming, “We don’t know this world, we aren’t familiar with it. It's safer to stay here than go outside and get ourselves killed. Besides,” he paused to eye the door to where the two men had gone “I think I trust the taller one.”

Dean grumbled something and then the hunter turned towards him, eyes blazing. “You too, Cas? Why do I even bother.” he mumbled, hand going to the knob and he marched into the guest bedroom.

Cas gave Sam a look, his expression tired.

Sam shrugged, “Try and talk to him, Cas.” and with that, the hunter retreated to the other guest bedroom.

Cas went after Dean, hesitatingly moving across the floor. Dean was sitting on the bed, head in his hands.

“Dean.” Castiel said, in a low voice and going for a gentler tone. He didn’t want to set the man off any further.

He slowly sat beside Dean, who sighed, revealing his face as he looked up to the ceiling.

“Cas, this is just ridiculous. We should be out there, finding a way back, or, or searching up information about across-universe travels or-”

“Or, you get some sleep and you can think more clearly after feeling rested,” Cas said, “Dean, there’s nothing we can do,” Cas looked up at him and Dean looked back, green eyes glistening in the dark, the only light coming from the window being the street lamp.

Something changed in Dean’s face. Relief.

He placed one hand on Cas’ shoulder, and nodded slightly, as if understanding.

Castiel looked at him - the hunter's face was still etched with worry. Worry for his family, for his little brother. There was also exhaustion, but the small smile he was wearing now made him look beautiful to Cas, every time.

He was glad he could make at least some of the tension leave Dean.

“Are you, uh, going to stay here?” Dean then asked, clearly indicating to the fact that Cas didn’t sleep, being an angel and all that.

Cas felt as if Dean might’ve been uncomfortable, judging by the wary look and the shuffling of his legs.

“I can go to the living room. I’m sure the cats will be fine with my presence.” Castiel said, getting up, but Dean caught his arm.

His hand wasn’t there for a long time, it let go almost as soon as it had grabbed him, but the force that it had grabbed him with was strong.

“Cas,” Dean cleared his throat. “I mean, maybe it’s better if you stay here? That way, we're all at least in a close proximity to each other, in case we need to fight or run.”

Castiel was used to this by now - Dean spoke in almost a sort of a code. Without really telling you so, he was sending out a message. Castiel was glad that he could read these sort of signs, even if they sometimes made no sense.

And from what Cas understood, Dean didn’t want to be alone.

Cas nodded, going around to the other bed in the room. “I can just… lie here.” his first instinct was to say, but from many interactions with both Sam and Dean before, he knew it was considered ‘creepy’ to just watch someone sleep. Even though Cas liked watching Dean sleep. The way his chest peacefully moved along with his breaths was calming.

Knowing that Dean was at peace, at least in his sleep, was sort of a comfort for the angel.

So, instead, Cas just said, “I’ll... read a book.” He’d spotted the bookshelf as he came into the room.

Dean seemed relieved, even though he tried to hide it. “Right, that’s a good idea.” he said, moving to get onto the bed, fully clothed. Castiel was pretty sure that’s not how Dean usually slept, but he made no comment.

The angel switched on the night light, grabbing a book from the shelf. It had a dark green cover, soft to the touch and it read ‘The Hobbit’. It seemed like the book Charlie had quoted a few times before, Cas recalled.

After he had settled on the bed, he flicked it open, letting the silence take over.

There were a few minutes of silence and the angel was sure Dean had fallen asleep, but then-

“Cas?”

He turned his head, to see Dean staring up at the ceiling.

“About what they said earlier, I mean, that warlock dude and the hunter.” Dean said, his voice quiet and unsure in the room.

Cas squinted his eyes a little. “About what?”

Dean let out a sigh, as if it pained him to say the next words. “About, you know, us being, ugh-”

Cas’ felt his vessel’s heart speed up but he had no clue why. He felt the urge to close the book and turn to Dean, but he resisted. “You mean the implication that you and I were romantically involved?” he asked in his plain way.

He could almost hear Dean roll his eyes.

“Right.” the hunter said and Cas waited.

After a few seconds, Dean said, “That was weird, right?”

Castiel tilted his head, examining Dean. His posture seemed tense, legs crossed and his arms on his chest, also crossed.

He squinted his eyes, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Just, forget about it.” Dean mumbled, turning, so his back was to Cas.

The angel felt as if he had insulted Dean and he didn’t like this feeling. He needed to make this better. The hostile air around them was not one he would like Dean to fall asleep with.

“If by weird you mean, did the comment insult me, then no. I don’t find it insulting,” Cas tried, “Anyone would be lucky to have you, Dean.” Cas hoped that by speaking the truth, he wasn’t upsetting him further.

There was silence and then Dean said, so quietly it was like a whisper, “Yeah, you too, Cas.”

Castiel wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but it would seem that the conversational part of the night had now ended. Dean’s breathing became even in a matter of minutes and Cas’ eyes went to the book.

He didn’t even notice the break of dawn, for he was absolutely engrossed with the book he was reading.

//