Super-fluff for the possibly nerve-wracking premiere.
Dean couldn't believe it. Not even when he got identical pairs of puppy (or in this case kitten) eyes. Castiel held up the bundle of orange to his face, and Dean had to step back and turn his head away as he sneezed.
"Damn it Cas." Dean sniffed, and another sneeze came on, this time harder, making his eyes water and his throat sore. "I told you. Allergies."
Castiel tried once more with the eyes, and it took all of Dean's willpower and another jaw-aching sneeze to walk away and not look back. He went into the bathroom to blow his nose, and when he came back out, Castiel was still standing there, holding the fluff ball against his chest and scratching between its ears.
Taking only a single step forward, Dean cleared his throat. "Sorry, Cas. But we really can't have a cat here."
He nodded, but Dean knew it couldn't be that easy. "Where will she go, then?"
There it was. Dean sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then down his face. "I don't know. Shelter?"
Castiel nodded again, and wouldn't look at Dean, only the dreadful little kitten. He sighed, and his shoulders drooped. Dean wanted nothing more than to go over and stand him up straight, but the cat was an active barrier.
"Sam can drive you." Dean winced a little. "He loves animals, and he wouldn't let... her... go to a bad place."
Dean smiled as Castiel looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed together, but Castiel wouldn't return the smile. Castiel looked down at the now-sleeping kitten, and started to walk away. Dean could hear him ask Sam for a ride into town, and Sam's sympathetic, "Sure. Let's go."
The door slammed, and Dean sneezed three more times in a row.
Damn cat hair.
Of course he was right.
Castiel moped for the next few days. He allowed Dean's apologetic hugs and kisses, but Dean could tell it didn't help. He still looked despondent, eyes on the ground than in the air, where Dean hoped he could make contact for just a few seconds. He couldn't even manage that.
But then Castiel began smiling at the breakfast table, surprising Dean with kisses at random, and engaging in their usual automatic staring contests. Dean was suspicious for several reasons, but let it slide if Castiel would keep smiling like that.
Dean walked down the hallway one day, looking for any other rooms he might not have visited yet. Sam and Castiel were out shopping, Sam insisting Castiel tagged along to show him "healthy food" to buy for the bunker. So Dean took advantage of the silence.
One of the doors was locked. From the inside.
Thinking there was some super secret room that no one was supposed to see, Dean ran to find something to pick the lock. He knelt down, and set to work. It took a few tries, but finally, the lock clicked open, and Dean sighed in relief.
He opened the door, and the first thing he noticed was the smell. Like shit and farm animals. Which incidentally smelt like shit. Dean scoured the wall next to the open door for the light, and flicked it on once he found it. His jaw dropped.
There was a circular pen in the middle of the room, the floor covered in hay, shit, and bunnies.
"God damn it, Cas," Dean muttered. He stepped inside, and the small mammals ran around in a circle, following the outline of the pen. He edged closer. He counted seven, all in different colors and sizes.
Black and white, white and brown, white and tan, white and black and brown, white and gray, all brown, and all red.
Two of them were pretty much babies, small enough for both of them to fit in Dean's cupped palms. Not that he picked them up, or anything. He most certainly did not do that, or close the door and sit on the ground while releasing them to roam the room freely.
Nope. Did not happen.
And he was totally not so enamored with the bunnies that he didn't hear the front door open and close, or the door to the room open.
Castiel gasped behind him, and Dean turned to look at him, mouth open to blurt out some lame ass excuse neither of them would believe. Dean paused at Castiel's face. It was entirely broken, and he sighed.
"I will return them once I am finished unpacking the groceries with Sam," Cas said, not meeting his gaze.
Dean cocked his head, arms full of squirmy animals. One of them was resting in the crook of Dean's arm, sleeping peacefully. In the other arm, one was trying desperately to jump up Dean's sleeve. Another was lying in between Dean's open legs, against the inside of his thigh. All the others were in different parts of the small room. "What?" Dean finally croaked.
Castiel looked at him. "Return them. That's what you were going to say, weren't you?"
Yes, absolutely. We don't have enough money to feed them, and who's going to look after them when we're gone? is what Dean opened his mouth to say.
But apparently Castiel must've gotten his angel mojo back or something, because that's completely not what came out of his mouth. "Nah, it's fine. I doubt anyone in town can take them in." There was that lame ass excuse.
Castiel gaped, and then laughed.
"Shut up," Dean said defensively. Castiel kept laughing, loud enough for Sam to enter the room and see his big brother surrounded by bunnies like he was some rabbit god or something. He joined in on the laughter, and soon, he and Castiel were red in the face. "Assholes," Dean muttered, covering the bunnies ears as if it were a child.
Damn.
His brother and Castiel finally composed themselves to close the door and scoot over next to Dean. The bunnies scattered at the new arrivals, but settled down once they realized the brand new person meant no harm, and the other was their caregiver. Castiel picked the red one up, and bumped their noses together, smiling as he did so.
Dean absently pet the sleeping one, and the one climbing up his arm jumped off and onto Castiel's lap. Castiel let out a huff of air once it landed. He laughed, and started petting it.
"So no kittens," Castiel started, "but bunnies?"
Dean blushed, blood rushing to the tops of his ears and down the back of his neck. "Shut up."
Castiel smiled. "Who would have thought, that manly man Dean Winchester would have a soft spot for little bunny rabbits." He bit his lip to stop the laugh threatening to spill over.
"Shut. Up," Dean said, but with a fondness that made Castiel smile. He linked their empty hands together on the floor.
"Shutting up," Castiel responded, petting both Dean and their new family of hopping animals.
Apparently, the bunny clan had mixed genders, they all found out a month later when Dean entered the room to find eight, tiny, pink newcomers already sucking milk from their mother, the gray and white one.
"Cas!"
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