( That squeeze to his pulse point makes something jolt in his chest, and it's quite possible his hand absently chases the retreat for an inch or two before falling back to baseline. Could be a trick of the light, you can't prove anything.

It's starting to hit him right about now that this is gonna be, like, a thing. Them, touching, the way that... people... touch. Like, the way that couples touch. The anxious tension he feels buzzing like background static somewhere around his sternum isn't actually entirely bad, it's just... different. A little mind-boggling.

There's a different kind of keenness around his eyes when he looks at Cas that didn't exist before -- well, outside of those eyefuck moments, the intense exchanges where he'd studied Cas's expression looking for something hidden behind it. It's not quite as deep as that, but it's definitely sharper.

Doesn't even realize he's doing it. )

Yeah, I got a bestiary from one of the local nerds. Not as good as the one we wrote--

( It's only a second after he says it that he remembers Cas doesn't actually know about that one, and the flicker of a wince only lasts a second before he's moving swiftly along. )

--but apparently it's some real The Shape of Water crap, minus the gill-frenching. Yet.