The first time it happens, Castiel's worried because they've just finished a battle for a seal and he still isn't familiar with the way human bodies feel and react. He had looked over at Dean and seen him covered in blood, gun in hand, when Dean had smiled over at him, a genuine smile. Castiel felt like his stomach was fluttering and he's just a little alarmed.
He asks Dean to look his host over for injury and when Dean agrees, he notices that the feeling only gets worse. His face heats up as he strips off his shirt, coat and tie, Dean circling him, asking him if anything hurts. When Dean doesn't find anything, he tells Cas he's just hyped up from the fight.
"I have been in battles before, Dean. It's never felt like this." Cas insists and Dean huffs, stepping towards him.
"Fine. Where does it hurt?" Cas lowers his gaze and lets his fingertips trail over his stomach; he almost jumps back when Dean's fingers brush just above his bellybutton.
"I don't see anything." He looks up at Cas, who's face is heating up even more. "Cas? You alright?" Has Dean's voice always been so. . .husky? Castiel leaves immediately, barely remembering to bring his clothes with him.
Dean scratches his head. "What the hell was that about?"
***
He asks Uriel about it first, but Uriel scoffs and tells him to go ask someone who cares about mud monkey feelings; normally, he'd ask Dean, but Dean seems to be the source of the problem so Castiel's at a loss.
So he asks Bobby(he would call him Robert, but Bobby had insisted on Bobby and then called him an id'jit which Castiel found strange). He explains his symptoms to Bobby, who listens with a hint of boredom.
"So when does it usually happen?" Bobby asks, his hand reaching for a spell book just in case.
"I've noticed it usually occurs..." For some reason, he's embarrassed to say it. "Around Dean." His face is heating up again and Bobby sees it out of the corner of his eye.
Bobby's hand freezes in mid air and he looks at Castiel like he's Luficer himself; the man opens his mouth to speak, but then closes it without saying a word. Castiel tilts his head and waits patiently because Bobby is good at helping people in his own blunt way.
"Well, when-" Bobby tries again. "When you-" Finally he throws his arms up in the air with a frustrated groan. "Go ask Sam!" As he walks away, Castiel hears him mutter id'jit under his breath and he wonders what he's done now.
So he goes off in search of Sam and finds him with Ruby, preparing to copulate. As much as Castiel despises the demon, he decides that seeking Sam's counsel is worth breathing her air for a while. He explains his symptoms as he did with Bobby and when he mentions the reaction to Dean, Sam turns just as red as Castiel and after Ruby recovers from her shock, she can't stop laughing long enough to speak.
"Go ask Dean!" Sam practically pushes him out the door and before the door closes, he hears Ruby shout a stammered goodbye as she continues laughing.
Finally, Castiel works up the courage to ask Dean himself, but he brings pie just in case this revelation angers the human. Dean reacts positively to the pie and agrees to help in any way he can. He explains the conditions, but leaves out when they occur; Sam and Bobby didn't seem to like it and he doubts Dean will either.
"So when did it start happening? You think a witch or something coulda whammied you?" Dean bites into the pie, but keeps his eyes on Castiel, which makes the angel's face feel even hotter.
He debates telling Dean, but he knows that if Dean is to diagnose him correctly, he needs to be honest. "When you smiled at me." Dean stops eating and stares at him, looking shocked. Cas feels the host's body beating faster and faster; he fears it's going to burst and then Dean's reaching across the table. He should leave; Dean is-
Dean tugs him closer, almost onto the table, as he crushes his lips to Cas's; Dean tastes like pie and Castiel can only think of how fitting that is, but then Dean pulls away and Castiel can feel his face cooling, but the heat starts somewhere else now, somewhere lower.
"I like you too Cas." Dean smiles at him and the fluttering feeling returns, but the angel decides it's not a bad feeling.
". . .Not just because I brought you pie?"
There's a laugh and then another kiss, followed shortly by a soft moan and whispers of "Dean" as the pie sits forgotten on the table.
