It'll be fun, he said.
It'd be a good experience, he said.
Well he was wrong. He being Sam, as always.
Growing tired of simply waiting around for nothing to happen in the motel room, I took it upon myself to go gather up some more supplies, taking in the fresh air as I did so in order to ease the cabin fever that was rapidly building. Grabbing my coat and keys at the door, I turned to ask if Sammy had any special requests while I was out and found an angel staring at the laptop screen, looking completely lost and bored out of his mind and asking a lot of questions that my brother couldn't answer. I felt bad for the both of them, really. Sam wasn't exactly the most exciting while working a case. His nose was almost constantly in a book or in a deep trance as he scrolled the endless knowledge the internet had available for all to see. Not to mention he wasn't exactly Sammy Sunshine either.
Cas was just..Cas. Not exactly easy to handle and incredibly curious, which could come as a problem when you were trying to work.
My brother had quickly detached himself from the chair, rushing over to me with eyes on his back, watching him go.
"Take him with you," he suggested.
"What? No! No, Sam. I don't exactly feel like babysitting right now-" I mumbled lowly, hoping the company wouldn't have heard, but of course I was mistaken as he interrupted with. "Babysitting? Are we-" "No, Cas." I shot back before he said too much. Knowing fully well what he was about to mention.
"He's not coming with me, Sam. End of story. He'll get himself into trouble and I don't wanna clean up the mess."
"But just think, Dean. He'll get a better sense of what it's like to be human. He'll understand-" "After asking a million questions." "and he won't be cooped up here!" "Cooped up? He's an angel! He can poof to wherever he likes!"
"Please," Sam said lowly. Inching closer and giving me that natural wounded animal look that some would have fallen for. But not me. I was older. What I say goes.
"No," I argued back the final time.
Yet despite my final decision, my age and authority I had given up and allowed Cas to tag along. Hardly ten minutes of shopping had gone by when I lost him. So now, I was running around frantically and getting many weird looks as I called out his name, only to have him ignore it completely. If I said I was surprised by this little event, I'd be lying.
It's just my luck.
I asked every store owner and anyone I passed on the street that seemed nice enough to give me an answer, though they never had one and just as I was about to call Sam and ask for a search party, I spotted a familiar trench coat. Hell, the only trench coat. Relieved, my phone fell back into my pocket and I jumped from the curb and out into the busy street, immediately greeted by the furious honking of some punk kid who was cussing me out from within his car, though going dead silent when I straightened my spine, staring him down, silently daring him to get out and say those things to my face.
He didn't.
With a scoff and a roll of my eyes, I continued to make my way across, though this time much more cautious and when I reached him, I found him window shopping.
"Damnit, Cas. You can't just run off like that. I was..worried." I mumbled out.
Taking a slow breath and without averting his gaze, he replied "I'm sorry, Dean," sounding genuinely somber. "You said you didn't want trouble and I-" "What?"
Finally, his blue eyes that held no noticeable emotion fell on me, making me lean away slightly. His looks were always a little intense and I had yet to adjust.
"You said I would cause trouble and that you didn't want to take care of the mess I left behind." Slowly, he turned away to stare in through the window once again, leaving me speechless. I wasn't exactly expecting him to throw my early statement in my face, a statement I had hoped he would have forgotten. With a sigh, my body turned to face the shop, my eyes locked on a cluster of small puppies that nipped at one another, pouncing around and pawing at the glass before slumping off to the side, their short legs not sturdy enough for their weight.
I sighed, a small spot on the glass fogging up as I stuffed my hands deep into my pockets, the single bag of goodies I had collected slapping against my thigh.
"Cas, I-I didn't mean-" I saw his head tilt, though not looking away from the small animals as I tried to apologize. But I couldn't manage to get the words out so I let the subject die, frowning at the frustration of being unable to do so. Even though I wasn't entirely sure if he could understand it the way we did. Either way, I made sure to lighten to mood, laughing as one dog continued to lick the window just in front of Cas, yelping once or twice, staring up at him with wide, blue eyes.
"Looks like you've got a fan."
"I haven't got a fan, Dean. Do you need one? I can aquire-" "No! No, Cas. I mean..he likes you. Look at him. He's adorable."
"Adorable," he repeated the word lowly, his lips tugging into the slightest smirk. Hardly noticeable.
"You wanna go in and see them?"
"I see them right now," he replied bluntly, causing me to roll my eyes. "No, Cas. I mean do you-ah forget it."
Grabbing the sleeve on his coat, I dragged him towards the door, a bell ringing as I swung it open and before it even had the chance to close, we were met by an overly cheerful male employee. "Hi! What can I do for you gentlemen?"
"H-hey, uh," I leaned in closer, squinting as I read his name tag. "Hunter." I forced back my smile. "My friend here," I delivered a rough pat to the angels shoulder, causing him to stumble. "is looking for a puppy! We couldn't help but notice that you have quite a few of them-" "Oh! Did you find one that you liked? Would you like to adopt?" "Not just yet, Hunter. We were wondering if we could meet them? You know, form a little bond?" "Oh, absolutely! We have a meeting area just over-if you'd follow me, please."
Smiling, I moved Castiel so that he was in front of me, gesturing for him to follow after the kid and he did so but not without giving me many questioning looks over his shoulder.
When we arrived to the little pen, we were asked to sit down and wait. I obliged immediately but Cas still seemed weary.
"What's happening, Dean? Is this a trap?" I couldn't help but snort at how clueless the poor guy was, crossing my arms and swinging my leg over the other. "It seems this young man has not thought this plan through. We could easily step over-" "Cas, just sit down." Sparing the large room a few more glances, he slowly descended into the far corner, his legs crossed and looking sheepish.
The longer we waited, the more his eyes wandered, studying his surroundings and when his gaze landed on me, his brow furrowed. His legs slowly untangled themselves, stretching outward before crossing once more and his arms awkwardly moved to mimic mine, making me smile.
"Here we go!" Hunter said happily as he leered over us, three puppies in his arms and two in his coworkers. He began listing off all of their names but I completely dismissed him, watching the social ones immediately run around frantically while the shy ones carefully sniffed my shoes. "Now, just give them a moment to get comfortable with you and then you may pet them. No picking up, though. If they crawl into your lap that's fine just no-" "Yeah, yeah. We got it, junior. Thanks."
The moment he vanished from sight, I let myself relax, slowly reaching for a lab that was eager for attention.
"Why does one engage in such personal interaction with these canine?" A small laugh passed my lips. Here come the million questions.
"Because, Cas. Their loyal animals. These little guys are a lot more than just pets. Find the right one and it'd risk its life for you." "Like you, Sam and I would? Like friends?" With my breath caught in my throat, I felt my heart swell a little bit at his words. "Yeah, like friends. Like family."
Before the chick flick moment could continue, I disregarded the rules completely and carefully picked up the pup, setting him in my lap which he wasn't too fond of. He squirmed his way out of my hold and flopped back onto the floor, but remaining close by.
"Dean," Cas stated very quietly, drawing my eyes to him and what I saw made my smile grow even bigger. The same dog from earlier had found him. Immediately crawling onto his lap and then up his chest, using the crossed arms to hoist himself up so that he could sniff and lick his face, which was contorted and unsure of how to handle the situation.
"I think he likes you a little too much."