"Okay, that's it."

The angel blinked up at the hunter, tilting his head to one side as the other man got up from his seat on the ugly orange sofa in the tacky green motel room.

"Cas," he said. "Get over here."

Castiel gave him a frown, but stood up from his station and did as he was told.

"You're driving me nuts, man..."

"Dean?"

"Come here." Dean moved with determination, taking the angel's skewed, backwards blue tie in his hands and undoing the haphazard knot.

"What are you doing," he asked, his eyes crossing as he attempted to see what Dean's hands were up to.

"I'm going to teach you how to tie this thing right if it's the last thing I freakin' do."

Castiel looked up with a confused expression, looking a bit like a kicked puppy.

Dean sighed. "Look, you wanna blend in, right? It's really not that hard. Here," he straightened out the length of fabric. "Now watch what I do," he said.

Cas looked down, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Just remember," the hunter advised, his fingers moving dextrously as he spoke. "'The rabbit runs away from the fox, the fox chases him around the tree once, twice, the rabbit runs under the bush, the fox tries to follow, the rabbit jumps into the hole.' Got it?"

Castiel frowned down at the now straightened tie, tilting his head first one way, then the other, nonplussed.

"No," he intoned.

Dean sighed, undoing the knot. "Okay, let's try again." Dean went through the process again, repeating the story instructions.

When he was finished, Castiel poked at the tie.

"Think you can manage?" Dean raised an eyebrow at him. "Here, you try it," he said as he undid the knot once more.

The angel held the two ends in his hands, staring at them as though he'd never seen them before, still seeming lost on the process.

The hunter gave him a flat look, folding his arms across his chest.

"Dean," the angel said pitifully, giving the man another doleful look.

"All right," Dean sighed. "One more time."

Several more times Dean instructed Castiel how to properly tie his tie, but the angel just wasn't seeming to pick it up.

On the umpteenth attempt to teach him, the door to the room opened.

"Hey guys," the newcomer said, glancing between the two occupants in the room.

"Sammy, you try. I think I'm doing it wrong."

Sam blinked at his brother, then looked at the angel, seeing what it was Dean was trying to do.

"You forget already," Sam asked Castiel, seeming surprised. "I thought you had it down now?"

Dean raised an eyebrow at the celestial being in front of him, who simply blushed and disappeared with a faint rustling of feathers.

-End