Title: The Curious Case of the Spider in the Night

Pairings: Dean/Cas if you squint.

Warnings: Post season 8 - so spoilers for the finale. Bit cracky. Basically I thought it would be funny to write something in which Cas exhibits a human fear after his fall.

Summary: Of all the things Dean was expecting to be woken up in the middle of the night for, this was not one of them.

'It's just a spider Cas, thought you were supposed to love all God's creatures or some other hippy shit.'

As usual, all mistakes are my own.

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"Dean, Dean!"

Dean heard his name vaguely, and then more clearly. The voice sounded urgent, so he sat up quickly, jolting into wakefulness. He reached for the knife, and found himself faced with a worried looking Castiel leaning over him. Dean relaxed minutely.

"Dude, what's going on?" He asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Cas has woken him in the night before, and usually it's to ask him some random question, or to show him some dusty old relic that he'd dug up from the bunker's archives. This time however, Castiel looks frightened, and it puts Dean on edge.

"There's ..." Cas hesitates, "There's a spider in the bedroom and I don't like it." The words all rush together, hurried by Castiel's apparent embarrassment. Dean can't prevent the surprised laugh that escapes him, which evolves into a full blown chuckle when Cas glares at him. After a moment, Dean wipes his eyes and sighs.

"Man, I thought something bad had actually happened." He said. "It's just a spider Cas, thought you were supposed to love all God's creatures or some other hippy shit." Cas glared at him harder.

"I can't help it Dean," he says petulantly, "Jimmy had an irrational fear of arachnids and my mortal form appears to react to this aspect of its previous host."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Dean questioned, somewhat exasperated.

"I believe the appropriate phrase is, get rid of the damn thing!"

Dean sighed heavily.

"Fine." He gets out of bed, slightly conscious of the fact that he's only wearing boxers and a thin T-shirt.

Cas appears to pick up on his discomfort, because he walks over to Dean's door and removes the dressing gown hanging there, which he hands to Dean. Dean shrugs, before taking the offered garment from Cas' hand and putting it on. He follows Cas down the dimly lit corridor towards his friend's room. Luckily, Sam's room is in the opposite direction, so Dean doesn't worry about waking him. The light is already on when they reach Castiel's room, and Dean's eyes take a moment to adjust. Cas is stood by his bed, warily eyeing the spider which is tucked into the corner the bedside table forms with the wall. It's not particularly large, but big enough for Dean to understand why Cas was freaked out by it.

"Go get me a glass and a piece of paper or something," he instructs Cas, who gives him an odd look before leaving the room. Dean moves a little further into the bedroom; Cas has got the weirdest collection of stuff he's ever seen in a place where one sleeps. There are some shells that he must have picked up from a hunt they went on a couple of weeks ago, a few old books and scrolls, and a small cuddly hedgehog, with one eye, that a little girl had handed him in the store the other day. He smiled as he recalled the bemused but pleased look on Cas' face as he sombrely received the gift. His memory was interrupted by Cas himself, who had returned with a glass of water and a magazine.

"Cas, why is there water in the glass?" Dean asked, tiredly.

"I thought that you required a drink," Castiel replied, "I do not see how a drinking receptacle would assist you in removing a spider."

Dean rubbed at his eyes again. It was too late, or early, for this.

"Cas, go and pour the water away and come back," he said, a little impatiently. Once Cas had left the room he walked over to the bed, and sat down. He could see the spider curled up by the wall.

"Hey little guy," he said softly, "Sorry about this, but my buddy Cas is still a bit new to the whole human thing. It's odd I know, but I'm gonna have to take you outside, otherwise he want go back to bed, and I'll have to stay up with him."

"Is it customary to speak to arachnids?" Castiel questioned from the doorway. Dean turned to see his friend observing him, with his usual curious head-tilt. He blushes slightly.

"Err, not really, I was just passing the time," he explains, standing and walking over to Cas to take the empty tumbler and magazine; one of his Busty Asian Beauties he notes, disgruntled.

"Watch me," he says to Cas, and proceeds to deftly trap the spider under the glass, before carefully sliding his magazine underneath. He straightens up, and moves towards the door. Cas edges away from him, alarmed, and Dean grins, moving the glass towards the fallen angel, who jumps back. He chuckles under his breath.

They leave the room in comfortable silence, Cas a few places behind Dean. He moves in front of Dean before they get to the door, opening it and stepping out into the cool air. The night is clear and calm, the moon full and bright, and Dean watches as a slight breeze lifts the ends of Cas' unruly hair. He bends down and releases the spider into the grass: his gaze follows it as it scurries away, glad to be free of its glass cage. Standing up, Dean glances at his friend, who is stood still in the moonlight. He walks over, and gently places a hand on Cas' shoulder.

"Hey," he says softly, "The spider's gone now, let's go back in."

Cas turns to meet his gaze, but remains silent as they return to their rooms. When they reach Cas' room, Dean pauses, a little awkwardly.

"Night, Cas," he says finally.

"Goodnight Dean," Cas replies. Dean makes his way towards his own room; he's halfway there when Cas quietly calls out to him,

"Dean?"

He turns back to face Cas,

"Thank you," he says sincerely, Dean smiles softly at his friend,

"No problem," he replies.

"Sleep well Dean."

"You too."

Dean steps inside his room and shuts the door quietly. The smile on his face stays with him until he falls asleep.