A/N: Uh, so this is apparently what happens when I can't sleep and I've been watching SPN 5.08. I mean, just how much bad TV does Dean watch? A lot, I'm betting. This is Dean/Cas, but it's so subtle you probably need super-slash-vision (or an inherently dirty, twisted, deviant mind) to see it. Also, this is so beyond the opposite of my last (and first) SPN fic, so my apologies to anyone expecting more of the same. Don't worry, I plan to get back to the angst and the Wincest very soon!

Disclaimer: Okay, so it's random, and it's the closest thing to crack or pure fluff I'll ever write. Sue me. Actually, don't. I don't own anything. Well, I own a broken toilet seat (don't ask) and a nauseated cat (don't ask), but seriously, that's it. I also don't own Days of Our Lives. And sorry if some of my facts are screwy - I haven't watched since I was a kid. Now, on with the show!

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives…

"I do not understand."

Dean frowns, points the remote at the TV, and clicks the off button with a little more force than is absolutely necessary.

"Cas, man, what's not to understand?"

The angel's brow creases as if in deep thought and he cocks his head at Dean, tie slightly askew.

"If this Hope woman is still truly in love with her beau, why does she not continue to look for him?"

"Dude. She thinks Stefano killed him. She's trying to move on with her life, you know?"

Castiel's eyebrow lifts ever-so-slightly. So slightly, in fact, that only someone as attuned to his facial expressions as Dean would even notice.

"But you did not move on when Sam died. Nor did he move on when you were dragged to hell."

Dean makes a face. "Different kinda love, man. Different kinda love."

Cas sighs, passing a weary hand over his forehead. "I still do not comprehend. This doctor, this… Marlena…"

"Yeah? What about her?"

"She seems to be under the influence of demonic possession."

Dean nods. "Right."

"But her eyes are green, not black or red or yellow."

Now it's Dean's turn to sigh. "Cas, dude. It's fiction, okay? It isn't real."

Cas shakes his head, giving the hunter a befuddled look. "Did they perhaps change details to protect the identities of the innocent?"

"No, Cas. You're not following me. It's not real. It's made up. Fake. Just for entertainment value."

Cas looks vaguely appalled. "Entertainment? This program is transmitting serious and potentially dangerous misinformation to the public. How do they expect people to survive the apocalypse when they can't even portray a proper exorcism?"

Dean is half frustrated and half fighting a grin, which is pretty much his standard reaction when dealing with Cas.

"It's not an instruction manual, Cas. It's a soap opera."

Cas is beginning to look a little frustrated himself. "But there was no soap in the program. And no singing."

Dean opens his mouth, then snaps it shut, defeated. He looks around, wishing Sam would hurry up at the library and come rescue him from "How to be a Human 101."

Cas watches the blank TV screen, lips pursed and eyes narrow.

"I fear that John Black's intentions are not as pure as they seem."

Dean looks up, confused. "Huh?"

"Marlena's lover. I am afraid he means her ill will."

Dean feels his lips quirk up in a smirk. "Oh, yeah?"

Cas nods. "I do not trust his eyebrows."

Dean stifles a laugh and nudges Cas, sitting at the edge of the motel bed, with his foot. "You wouldn't be the first to say that."

Cas rests a hand absently on Dean's foot, warm through his cotton sock, and Dean stares at it for a moment, a little surprised. Cas doesn't seem to realize what he's doing, attention still focused on the TV.

"When will we learn the resolution?" he asks, thumb playing over Dean's arch, palm cupping his heel. Dean suddenly has the strange feeling this encounter just got a lot more bizarre than even he would have anticipated.

"Uh… well," Dean says, then coughs distractedly into his hand. "Um, that was actually a re-run, so the whole demon possession thing was resolved a long time ago."

Castiel's thumb stills, and he turns to look at Dean over his shoulder. "Really?"

Dean huffs out a laugh, then nods. "Yeah, like, ten years ago or something."

"Did Marlena's body survive the possession?"

Dean scratches his head. "Yeah. I mean, it's been a while, but I'm pretty sure."

"John Black did not kill her?"

"No, man. John Black's one of the good guys."

Cas makes a disbelieving face. "But I do not -"

"Trust his eyebrows, yeah, I got that the first time," Dean says dryly. "Dude, you do get the fact that he's an actor, right? Playing a character?"

The angel looks at Dean with enough disdain that the hunter squirms uncomfortably, checking his watch and looking longingly at the door, willing Sammy to walk through it.

"I am not without knowledge of this world, Dean," Cas says. He removes his hands from Dean's foot and crosses his arms over his chest, looking for all the world like a petulant - if slightly scruffy - little boy.

"I know that, Cas," Dean says, curling his toes and telling himself he doesn't miss the warmth of Castiel's hand. "What's with this John Black obsession anyway? Does Cassie have a little crush?"

Dean smirks, but it falls from his lips when Cas shrugs a shoulder, looking uncertain. His normally stoic face is troubled, and Dean almost feels bad for teasing him.

"He reminds me of you," Cas says quietly, fiddling with the belt of his trench coat, which he insists on wearing, even inside the motel room. The gesture is nervous, twitchy. It's something Dean's never seen from Castiel before, and it unsettles him.

"Cas, look," Dean begins, ready to apologize for making fun of him, when what the angel said sinks in. "Wait. Huh? Mr. Creepy Eyebrow Man reminds you of me? Cas, what the hell?"

"You make a similar expression when you are confused," Cas says. "Or skeptical. Or amused. Or -"

"Yeah, I get it," Dean says, cutting him off with a wave of his hand. "And thanks for the comparison."

Cas frowns, tilting his head. "But you said John Black is not a murderer. So it was not an insult."

"But you thought he was a murderer," Dean points out, even though a voice in his head is seriously questioning his sanity at even continuing this argument. "You said he has untrustworthy eyebrows."

Cas nods solemnly. "Yes. He does."

Dean grits his teeth and forces a calm look onto his face. "So do you think my eyebrows are untrustworthy?"

Cas gives him a look that is entirely serious, and Dean feels something inside him clench.

"I think I trust you more than any other being in heaven or on earth," Castiel says. "And that includes your eyebrows."

Dean nods, feeling a strange sort of satisfaction and relief in that. He considers briefly breaking the sudden thickness in the air with one of his "no chick flick moments" or "angels are dicks" speeches, but there's something so open about Castiel's face, and he hates the thought of seeing it blank and shuttered.

So instead he leans against the headboard, pillow propped under his back, and stretches one leg out along the bed. The side of his foot brushes Castiel's thigh, but the angel seems not to notice.

"So," Dean says, picking up the remote and aiming it at the TV, "who's up for The Young and the Restless?"

A/N: So, please tell me there are people out there who remember John Black and his terrible eyebrow acting? Gave me the heebie-jeebies for years. Anyway, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed!