Dean remembers the first time Cas experienced the shock of snow on his skin. It had been hilarious and had quickly turned in to one of the best days of his life.
Dean released a wide mouth full of breath just to watch it fog in a cloud in front of his face. He pursed his lips and pushed another lungful from his chest, watching disinterestedly as it shot into the chilly air like a smoky harpoon.
"I hate winter." His big little brother muttered beside him.
Sam had his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jacket and a scowl on his usually soft face and Dean straightened from where he had been leaning over the open hood of the impala, shooting his brother a pointed look whilst shoving his own hands into his jacket for warmth. "Well, if you hadn't left the lights on in my baby then you wouldn't have to stand out here and help me jump her."
Sam's scowl deepened but he did not argue and instead kicked at the foot of snow that had fallen overnight in irritation. "Whatever."
The elder brother sighed, quelling the bubble of laughter that rose in his chest in favour of arranging his face into a mocking smirk. "Forgot how moody you get when you're hungover. You really can't handle your liquor." he goaded.
His efforts were rewarded when Sam's scowl deepened into his patented bitch face and he was shot a nasty glare. The fact that Sam's face was drawn with nausea and what was likely a pretty epic headache made Dean feel a little less angry that his brother had not only drained baby's battery but also drank his last bottle of scotch with Charlie last night while the two of them sat in the back seat singing to sad country music. How the two of them hadn't gotten hypothermia still made him scratch his head in confusion.
When he felt that the impala had been running long enough that the battery would now be able to function properly, Dean disconnected the jumper cables and closed the hood of the car. As he fell into the front seat to kill the ignition, Sam silently, and a little petulantly, wrapped the cables around the generator, cursing under his breath when his hands, stiff with cold, kept slipping and dropping the cables.
When Dean closed the door and pushed his keys into his packet, looking through the now closed window to double check that the lights were, in fact, off, the door to the bunker suddenly opened violently and smashed off the wall behind it with an ear ringing clang, making both he and Sam snap upright in alarm.
There seemed to be some kind of struggle happening just inside the door. He could see flashes of body parts; a hand, a knee, a flash of brown hair. Not enough to tell what exactly was going on but just enough to make the whole thing incredibly amusing. He knew Charlie and Cas were the only two in the bunker at the moment and, though they got along like a house on fire, they had a tendency to act like complete children, often working themselves in to tickling matches or pillow fights, chasing each other around the bunker, screaming, laughing, pranking, sometimes arguing nastily when one of them beat the other at a video game...to the point where Dean sometimes felt less like their friend and more like their parent.
A loud shriek of indignation split the cold November air around them, making the brother's jump. It was hard to tell who the sound had come from, which caused Dean's mouth to twitch into the beginnings of a smile, and the shriek was closely followed by a few more half growls half bursts of laughter before Cas finally managed to escape from whatever situation was happening just out of sight and he suddenly was running from the door in the general direction of where Sam and Dean stood by the car.
Cas got maybe about ten steps into his run from the doorway before the grin dropped from his face like someone had slapped it away and his eyes widened comically. He stuttered to a halt that lasted a mere fraction of a second – enough time for the nerve endings in his feet to send a message to his brain that something was not quite right – before he was bounding the remaining ten feet to the car and vaulting onto the hood, his face a mixture of shock and fearful curiosity as his eyes snapped this way and that, taking in the blanket of white coating the ground and trees.
Dean fought valiantly to contain his laughter, the effort making his diaphragm spasm as he leaned against the side of the car to watch Cas closely. With a glance over his shoulder he saw that even Sam's surly hungover scowl had been replaced with an amused grin.
On the car, Cas had his knees drawn up to his chest, feet hovering in the air just above the icy hood of the impala, hands bracing behind him. His blue eyes were wide and after a second of looking around, his face collapsed into one of discomfort and he moved his hands around the grasp his freezing feet, toes pale where they peeked out beneath his fingers.
His wide eyes found Dean's. "It's cold!"
The tenuous self control he'd had on his laughter broke like a damn and the hunter doubled over, positively howling. He was glad to hear Sam beside him in much the same state because that meant he wasn't the only jerk laughing at the poor, newly human Castiel, sitting bemused and alarmed on the hood of the impala.
By the time he finally managed to get himself under control and straighten up again to face Cas, the angel was sitting cross legged, arms also crossed over his chest and an pissy look on his face.
"Sorry Cas," Sam wheezed behind him, "But that was hilarious."
Cas looked away, down at the ground, and the bitchy look on his face melted away, brow smoothing with that familiar look of innocent curiosity that never failed to make Dean's heart swell with equal parts fondness and protectiveness. Sometimes, like whenever he got that look on his face and tilted his head to the side like a puppy, he forgot that Cas was a several millenia old ex-warrior angel of the Lord. Cas was wise, but naive and Dean was constantly being reminded that the man was having overwhelming amounts of new experiences every day and things that didn't even register in Dean's brain were shocking and sometimes scary for a newly turned human.
And sometimes, like this one, the new experiences ended up being pretty damn funny.
It was the first snowfall since Cas had been human and while the angel had felt cold before, particularly when the heater had broken in their motel room on the road trip back to the bunker, he'd never felt anything like the shock of snow against his bare skin.
Cas uncurled tentatively from his ball on the hood of the car, leaning over the edge of the and slowly, gingerly, reached down past the wheel to drag his fingers through the top layer of snow. Dean saw a small smile curl the edges of the angel's lips and felt his own mouth mirroring the action.
The angel dipped his hand fully into the snow and then straightened back up with it clinging thickly to his warm hand and he watched it melt quickly, hand dripping wet within seconds.
"Hey angel boy!" Charlie called, walking out to the car. She'd obviously gone back into the bunker to retrieve her shoes and jacket and was kicking at the snow as she walked to the car, making it spray up in a frozen shower. When she reached Cas she brought her hand out from behind her back with a smile and thrust Cas' own shoes at him. "Here."
The angel pulled them on gratefully and slid off the the car, his eyes firmly on the ground as he bent and scooped up a handful experimentally. While Charlie leaned in to mumble something in the angel's ear, Dean turned to his brother, who was looking considerably less hungover, the cold snap in the air drawing blood, and rosy colour, into his cheeks.
"We got any hot chocolate?" He asked lightly.
Sam gave him a strange look. "Uh...we might have cocoa powder but ready made? I doubt it."
The elder brother shrugged, "That'll work."
"Any particular reason? I don't think I've ever seen you drink hot chocolate." Sam said with that small, knowing smile of his that let Dean know he knew something Dean didn't want him to know.
"I drink it sometimes." He countered defensively. "Just 'cause you never saw me drink it doesn't mean I never have. I don't cease to exist when you walk out of the room, you know."
He realized when Sam pursed his lips in his attempt to keep his grin under control that he'd reacted a little too vehemently to his brother's subtle taunting. But it was too late now and Sam had once again tricked him into confessing something that he didn't fully understand but seemed to please his brother.
"I hate you." He muttered.
Sam's face morphed into one of shocked disbelief and it was almost good enough to seem sincere. "I didn't do anything!" He cried, hands played out to either side of his body incredulously, although the sincerity was, again, ruined due to the fact that he was smiling broadly.
Dean pointed a finger threateningly. "You know exactly what you did and-"
Out of nowhere, an icy blast of snow exploded over the back of his head, cutting the hunter off mid reprimand. He felt a muscle in his left eye twitch and he turned slowly, jaw clenching when he felt cool water carve a path down the back of his scalp.
Cas and Charlie stood side by side about twenty feet away, both wearing identical looks of shock and mild fear, jaws slack and eyes wide. Ever so slowly, Cas pulled his hand from its place by his side and pointed accusingly at the red head.
Dean raised his eyebrows and slowly bent over to scoop up snow with both hands. When he straightened and began to form a large ball in his hands he brought his voice down to it's most intimidating register and gave Cas a pointed look that promised severe retribution, because he had no doubt in his mind that the angel had been the one to fire the first shot.
"You don't understand what you've started, angel." He was unreasonably satisfied when he saw Cas swallow and glance nervously at the red head as she slowly backed away.
She was heading for the line of trees that lined the edge of the little clearing they called a driveway and Dean saw her mutter something to Cas out of the corner of her mouth and it was then that he realized she wasn't backing down but going for cover behind one of the large trees.
Dean caught Cas' eye again and he tossed the snow ball in the air with one hand in a playful threat before cocking his arm back like a pitcher ready to throw one hell of a curve ball and pegged it at the angel with everything he had.
Frustratingly, Cas' reflexes hadn't been diminished by even a fraction in his change from heavenly warrior to human being and he twisted his torso away from the icy projectile almost subconsciously and it sailed past him, missing his body by mere inches. Once he realized he'd dodged Dean's revenge he grinned and scurried behind the large and ancient tree trunk with Charlie and the two of them were out of sight.
Dean turned to Sam, "Dude, start making snow balls." he ordered, not even looking to make sure Sam did as he was told before squatting down and starting to make his own.
Two minutes later and they both had a decent pile in front of them and Sam started gathering his up in his arms.
"What are you doing?" Dean asked, looking at his brother's smaller load of snowballs and thinking that wasn't going to be near enough ammo to fight with.
"Moving behind the car for cover." Was the sensible answer.
"Oh. Good idea!" Dean began to pile his own into his arms when a vicious war cry pierced his eardrum and he spun around in alarm, some of the snowballs tumbling from his arms and breaking apart on the ground.
The red head charged him, her mouth open and teeth bared, a snowball in each hand, both of which were launched, sailing through the air towards his face like heat seeking missiles. He rolled out of the way, effectively crushing the rest of his hastily crafted ammo but also managing to miss being hit. He dove behind the car, back slamming into the front wheel and held his hand out for one of Sam's snowballs.
His brother pushed one into his hands and the two of them turned to peek up over the edge of the hood.
"Where did she go?" Sam whispered.
Dean looked around but the whole clearing was deserted. The trees stood silent, no breeze rustling their drooping, snow laden branches. No birdsong. No sound of snow crunching under someone's boots.
"Where the hell are they?" Dean echoed his brother, the little hairs on the back of his neck standing on end with the sudden feeling of being watched.
Sam stood up slowly, a small frown on his face.
"What are you doing, you moron?!" Dean hissed, "Get down!"
But Sam shook his head, "Dude, I think they went back inside-"
From out of the vast expanse of white around them it was no wonder Sam did not see the snowball flying right at his face until it was too late. It smashed into the side of his head and he fell to his knees with a surprised shout, blinking icy water out of his eyes.
"Dammit!"
"I told you to get down." Dean admonished.
"Shut up." His brother wiped the water from his face and dusted the snow from his hair and when he looked back up his face was set with determination and he passed Dean another snow ball.
"It came from the trees over there." Dean pointed over his shoulder, unwilling to put his head above the edge of the impala again. Instead, he peeked underneath the car. "I see them!" He gasped. "Between that big ass tree and the one with the broken branch!"
He could see Charlie and Cas huddled together. Cas had a wide grin on his face and Charlie was mimicking Sam's dazed expression after the snowball hit him and the two of them threw their heads back in silent laughter.
He stood up abruptly, "Quit hiding, cowards!" he taunted, kicking Sam with his foot to get him to stand up too.
The angel and the hacker had moved to hide themselves behind the larger tree as soon as Dean had shouted but suddenly Cas ran from their cover spot and out into the clearing and the brothers both turned to pelt him with their snowballs. Miraculously and infuriatingly, Cas managed to dodge every single one, throwing his own with exceptionally good aim for someone who'd never had a snowball fight before.
"Hey boys."
They turned to see Charlie right behind them and had a split second to try and scramble away from the car at their backs before they were pelted from both sides. They threw their arms over their heads, cowering under the hail of icy snowballs as they exploded over them, bits of snow sneaking under the collar of their jackets and making them squirm and cry out.
The whole thing lasted mere seconds and finally the duo had used the last of their ammo and retreated together, running back towards the safety of the trees.
"Oh hell no!" Dean cried, sprinting after them, hearing Sam right behind him.
His longer legs easily gained on Cas in a few strides but he had to throw himself the remaining distance in order to grab the angel before he reached the safety of the trees and tackled the smaller man to the ground.
Snow enveloped them and Cas cried out with the shock of it against his skin, his thin shirt providing little protection. Dean easily pinned him, due to the fact that the angel was frozen with the unfamiliar shock of cold, but after a second, Cas was struggling in his grip.
He held firm, pinning the angel's wrists in the snow over his head and sat on his stomach.
"Dean!" Cas cried, half in amusement half in discomfort as he tried in vain to toss the bigger, heavier man off him.
"Don't start what you can't finish, Cas!" Dean laughed, letting go of one of the angel's wrists and swiping a wave of snow onto his face.
The smaller man's now free hand darted out and shamelessly bitch-slapped him across the face. He reeled back from the surprise and sheer ridiculousness of the action and his momentary lapse was enough for Cas to throw him off and scramble away.
"Cas! Look out!" Charlie's voice rang in warning and Dean looked up in time to see his brother crash into Cas and grab him in a giant bear hug, pinning his arms to his side effortlessly.
Dean straightened, the side of his face stinging slightly as he advanced, looking as menacing as possible, on Cas as the angel struggled in Sam's hold. Before he could reap his revenge he saw a flash of red hair over Sam's shoulder and opened his mouth to warn him but it was too late. Charlie ran at Sam's back and jumped at him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, latching on like a koala and growling like an angry dog.
"Release him at once!" She screamed into his brother's ear, making him jerk his head away from her piercing order.
She began smacking his ear with angry flicks of her wrist and her sudden appearance seemed to breathe new life into Cas' and the angel twisted, wriggling his way out of Sam's distracted hold like a cat. Once he was free Charlie wrapped her arms firmly around Sam's neck, let her feet fall to the ground and yanked him down with her with more strength than Dean would have thought she had.
Sam's spine bent backwards and he clawed at her skinny arms around his neck as Cas full body tackled his long legs and the three of them went down like a house of cards, a cloud of snow exploding around them as they hit the ground in a heap.
Dean dug his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and readied the camera as the snow cloud settled.
Sam was on his back in the snow, Charlie was kneeling on his hands, one knee in each of his giant palms, efficiently pinning them down and Cas was sitting on his thighs, calmly pushing handfuls of snow under his brother's jacket, Dean was impressed because he'd have been screaming if someone shoved snow under his shirt, while the larger man snarled and tried desperately to throw them off, to no avail.
He snapped a picture through his laughter, hoping it turned out decent because he couldn't see properly through the tears in his eyes. When he wiped at his eyes he saw Charlie shove a handful of snow down the neck of Sam's jacket and his brother shrieked like a little girl, finally breaking the tough facade he'd worked so hard to maintain throughout the attack.
"Dean!" His little brother cried desperately.
He took pity and marched over to Cas, grabbing the angel under the arms and hauling him off his brother. Cas' thin shirt was soaked with melted snow and the skin underneath was radiating no warmth. He looked down at the angel's hands and they were white with lack of blood flow and Dean was sure he saw them trembling. He placed a hand on the angel's shoulder and could feel the muscles vibrating, shivering, under his hand.
"Oh-kay!" He said loudly, "Time to go inside before Cas here catches hypothermia!"
Once Cas had been lifted off his legs Sam had easily dislodged Charlie, catching her in an iron headlock and grinding his knuckles into the top of her head. At Dean announcement, he froze and looked over at Cas.
"Hot chocolate?"
Dean nodded and Sam reluctantly released his captive and she took a moment to pretend to look angry and straighter her clothes. They walked back to the still open door of the bunker and Dean watched closely as Cas wrapped his arms around himself. Now that he no longer had the distraction of the fight it seemed as if the angel suddenly became aware of the fact that he was near frozen.
"Cas, go change or you're gonna get sick." Dean said over his shoulder.
Charlie and the two brothers stripped off their jackets and boots and Dean left them to trudge to the kitchen, muscles stiff with cold. He put the kettle on to boil, set four mugs down on the counter and spooned what looked like a good amount of cocoa powder into each mug before adding twice as much sugar. He rested his hands on the counter top and watched as steam started escaping the spout of the kettle and, unbidden, an image of Cas running and jumping on the hood of his car, eyes wide with shock, made a sudden burst of unexpected laughter punch out of his chest and he shook his head.
Charlie's voice drifted into the kitchen, moving slowly from the library into the living room, catching snippets of her conversation as she spoke.
"...see his face...so funny...when you tackled him...he went down like a tree!"
It was now evident that she was talking to Cas about Sam and a second later he heard Cas' rumbling laugh drifting in through the living room. There was a lull of silence in which the kettle finally came to a boil and Dean filled the four mugs.
"Do you need help?" Cas' voice suddenly asked.
Dean turned to see the angel peeking his head around the door frame and he smiled wide, "Sure." He handed Cas a spoon and pointed to two of the mugs, "Stir until the cocoa dissolves."
They stood in comfortable silence, the only sound the clinking of metal spoons against porcelain mugs, until Dean felt the need to speak.
"So. How was your first snowball fight?"
Almost immediately a grin spread across Cas' face and he ducked his head. "I think I was lucky to have Charlie on my side."
"You held your own, man. I mean, me and Sam would have kicked your ass, but..."
Cas nudged him with his shoulder and Dean laughed, warmth spreading through his chest that had nothing to do with the taste test of hot cocoa he'd just swallowed. He hummed around the sugar laden liquid.
"Good?" Cas asked, blue eyes watching him closely.
Dean nodded. "'Course it's good. I made it."
The angel rolled his eyes and grabbed his two mugs, leading the way back into the living room. He handed one to Charlie where she sat curled up in a large, overstuffed and comfy armchair and gave the other to Sam and then sat down beside him in the middle spot on the soft couch; Dean took the other end and handed him his own mug.
"What are we watching?" Cas asked, blowing the steam off the top of his drink.
Charlie perked up. "Lord of the Rings!"
Sam groaned. "Again?!"
She pointed to Cas, who blinked at the accusing gesture. "Cas hasn't seen it yet." She argued.
"Fine." Sam drug out the word and rolled his eyes.
Charlie bounded over to put the movie in and Dean felt Cas relax next to him, sinking back in to the couch, arm brushing his when he raised the mug to his lips. He looked over just in time to see Cas' eyes flutter shut and a low moan rumbled in his throat.
"Good?" Dean laughed.
The angel nodded. "Very."
It was then that he saw Sam staring at him over the top of Cas' head. He had that knowing look on his face again and it was so very irritating. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell him to knock it off because then Cas would look at him all confused and he'd have to explain why he'd yelled at Sam and then that look on Sam's face would just intensify and things would get really awkward really fast. So, instead, he settle for sticking his tongue out and turning his attention to the tv so he wouldn't have to see his brother roll his eyes at his complete lack of maturity.
Once Charlie was curled back up in her chair they started to movie and Cas pulled his feet off the floor to sit cross-legged, his favourite sitting position, causing his left knee to rest against Dean's thigh, heavy and warm.
Dean cleared his throat and gulped down another mouthful of hot cocoa, trying to ignore the heat of Cas' leg against his and the burn of Sam's smug gaze on the side of his face.
Half an hour later and Dean had nearly been able to lose himself in the movie and push away thoughts of how much he wanted a little more bodily contact from the angel. Everything he thought of seemed like it would be too much. Too obvious. Too intimate for the adjusting angel. So he forced himself to focus on the move instead of his growing desire to just let his arm fall from the back of the couch to lay across Cas' shoulders.
At least he had been successful; until four hobbits went tumbling down a hill and landed in a ridiculous heap at the bottom, talking about mushrooms, of all things. Cas started laughing so hard that he placed a hand on Dean's thigh to keep from falling over and the hunter was right back to where he'd started.
Thankfully the movie quickly grew serious again and Cas settled down, even became tense when Frodo nearly put the ring on his finger before Samwise brought him to his senses.
But Cas' hand didn't move from his thigh and was reflexively gripping and releasing his leg every time something intense happened on the tv. The hunter quickly glanced sideways at the other man but couldn't tell if Cas was doing it on purpose or if he was just really engrossed in the movie and didn't realize what he was doing. Judging from his wide blue eyes and the little gasp he released when a wraith suddenly burst out of the trees in front of the fleeing hobbits, Dean supposed it might be the latter.
When they hobbits made their miraculous escape from the wraith, Cas released a small breath and, with it, his hand left Dean's leg, the spot feeling too cold once the angel's hand had gone.
Another hour in and Sam was snoring lightly, Charlie was peering stubbornly through dropping eyes from where her head rested on her folded arms and Cas' mug kept teetering perilously before his grip would suddenly tighten on it.
When the cup came particularly close to falling, Dean gently pulled it from the angel's hands, making the man jerk back to full consciousness and stare around blearily.
"Sorry." Dean said quietly with a small smile at Cas' sleepy gaze. "Didn't want the cup to fall."
The angel hummed in agreement and abruptly wriggled down further into the soft cushions and leaned his head on Dean's shoulder, pressing their sides together snugly.
The hunter swallowed, his chest fluttering. "Comfy?" he asked, glad his voice sounded normal, even a little sarcastic.
The angel hummed again, eyes already closed.
The hunter licked his lips, the nervous flutter in his chest quieting to be replaced by something light and warm and comforting and he gingerly brought his arm down from the back of the sofa and let it drape over Cas' shoulders. Any worry of being rejected evaporated almost immediately and the angel merely snuggled down further and he was sure he could feel Cas' face move in a small smile against his shoulder.