The horrid great honking noise that went on endlessly with huge gulping breaths in between finally came to an end as Cas took the tissue away from his nose and inspected the contents carefully before folding it up and throwing it in the trash.
"Geez, Cas. Can you still do long division?"
"Why would I need to do that?"
The hunter just shook his head and sighed in resignation. His friend and former angel looked terrible, Dean thought, which was saying a lot, because Dean had seen him in rough shape before. If Leviathans were bad, this flu was some kind of unkillable snot monster.
"You just stay on your side of the couch."
Dean added when it occurred to him he might suffer the same fate.
Cas tilted his head and handed Dean an empty mug. He discovered he quite liked Mary Winchester's cold remedy of hot water mixed with lemon juice and honey, luckily for him Dean had quite a long memory. And his bedside manner was pretty good too.
His friend returned with the warm drink, a hot water bottle, a full box of tissues, an extra blanket, and some kind of minty scented ointment that made his nose feel as if it worked again, if only for a short while.
"You can have some more cold medicine in about an hour," Dean told him, as he handed over the TV remote. "I'm trusting you with this, Cas. No more 'Housewives of Beverly Hills' or whatever."
"I understand." He nodded slowly as the precious gift from Dean landed in his grip.
"Now, take your shirt off."
Cas did as instructed as he flipped channels, carefully considering each program as Dean rubbed the menthol into the skin on his chest, back, and throat. There was nothing sexual about it, but it was very sensual all the same. Dean cared for him, and their profound bond had only grown stronger during his illness. In a way he hadn't seen before, he knew the depth of his partner's love.
Dean felt it to; dying for someone wasn't the same as caring for them.
Castiel sighed with great relief as the treatment went to work.
Dean sighed with great relief when Cas stopped flipping and settled on watching Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. He glanced at his angel who looked back at him and said,
"I promise not to talk through it and correct the mistakes this time."
"It's ok, Cas, you can do whatever you want."
Dean answered, stretching out his hand to entwine it with his friend's on the empty space between them; leaning over for a quick kiss as he did.
"I thought you were worried about germs."
"Changed my mind."