dean was watching television, happily eating a slice of pie. castiel insisted that he eat the homemade one sam set out for them this morning, and it was still warm.

he was really getting into this sexy doctor m.d. show, but right now, commercials were playing and dean couldn't give a shit about kitchen sponges. he continued to eat his pie, jumping and almost dropping the plate when castiel appeared right in front of him with groceries in his hand.

"dammit, cas! don't do that!" dean shouted, putting the plate on the coffee table and placing a hand over his heart.

it was racing a mile a minute.

"i'm sorry. i just got stuff from the store." cas had a happy smile on his face, holding up the reusable bags in his hands.

"what kind of stuff?"

"cookies! sam told me they were very good, so i went out and got some. can i make them? castiel asked, looking up at dean with hopeful eyes.

"knock yourself out." dean said, leaning back on the counter.

"i think that would be painful, i don't wish to knock myself out, dean."

"just go and make your cookies!" dean shooed him, trying to get his heart to calm down.

castiel shrugged, going into the kitchen and setting the bags on the counter. he set the stove to four hundred degrees before grabbing a mixing bowl and reaching in the bag for the flour. he opened it, shutting his eyes tightly when he was a little too forceful with it and flour exploded everywhere. he wiped his eyes and poured a large amount of the flour into the bowl. he wasn't sure how much, but this seemed like enough.

he went into their refrigerator and searched through the shelves, not finding what he was looking for.

"dean?" castiel asked.

"yeah?"

"what does an egg look like?"

"top of the shelf in the weird looking container."

cas reached for the top shelf, grabbing two brown eggs from that weird looking container. he dropped them in the bowl of flour, even more white powder getting onto his clothes. okay, now he was confused. wasn't that supposed to be mixed in?

he took a wooden spoon from the holder and mixed the eggs in, the shells breaking into tiny pieces.

there we go.

he poured in a lot of sugar, because he remembered that they were sugar cookies, and that means sugar. he mixed that in too, along with the milk and vanilla extract. he added a little too much salt, but whatever.

he decided it would do.

after measuring out the baking powder and baking soda, castiel mixed it into the dough and shaped it into a ball. he got the rolling stick out of the drawer by the sink and covered it with flour, throwing the dough ball onto the counter and rolling it out. he bought these cookie cutters, pressing them into the flattened dough and cutting out shapes.

it was nowhere near christmas, but the santa hats were cute to castiel. he finally used up all the dough, using the blurry paper to lay the cookies on. he set them into the oven for them to bake, going into the living room to join dean.

"did you make them?" dean asked, looking at castiel.

"yes. they are in the oven now."

but see, cas wasn't very good with directions, so he didn't set the timer for eight minutes. it wasn't until they smelled smoke and rushed into the kitchen. cas turned on the light and looked at the black cookies, pouting and furrowing his brow.

"that was not supposed to happen." castiel said to dean.

"yeah, i see that."

"now i'm sad." castiel said, sitting on the floor right in front of the oven and watching his cookies burn.

"well, take them out. i'll help you." dean said, getting the right ingredients together from what he remembered from his mother.

"really?" castiel asked, excitement in his eyes.

"yes. let's go."

by help, it just meant that dean was doing all of the work while castiel sat on the counter and watched him work.

"dean, are you sure that's enough flour?"

"yes."

"do we have enough eggs?"

"yes."

"why do we need baking soda andpowder?"

"i don't know, cas, the recipe just calls for it."

"oh."

"here, come mix this while i set the timer."

dean looked away from castiel for one minute, before turning back around and seeing him with half the dough on his face. dean shot him an incredulous look.

"what? it's good." castiel shrugged, continuing to eat the dough off of the spoon.

"give me that. you're going to get a stomachache. wait until they're done." dean said, taking the bowl from castiel.

he rolled out the dough, castiel kicking his legs against the counter and finishing the leftover dough on the spoon. dean put them in when the timer beeped, setting it for eight minutes.

"dean, what does flour do?" castiel asked, dipping his hand in the bag.

"it makes cookies." dean sighed, looking at the mess castiel was making.

castiel poked the flour in his palm, rubbing his fore finger and thumb together, inspecting it. this was weird.

"ana once told me that her mom used to powder her hair using this stuff." castiel said, continuing to look at the flour.

"cas, don't-"

white powder puffed into the air as castiel dumped the flour onto his head, grimacing.

"do it." dean finished.

"i think i did it wrong." castiel said, shaking the flour out of his hair.

dean smiled at him, mainly because castiel didn't understand anything and he had flour caught in his eyelashes.

"you're doin' fine, cas."

the cookies were finally done, this time perfectly cooked with no eggshells in them, dean leaving them on the rack to cool.

"how long do the cookies take to cool off?" castiel asked, still on the counter.

"a while."

castiel thought of an idea, reaching his hand out and focusing on the cookies. the steam emitting from them ceased, and when dean poked a cookie, it was completely cooled.

still warm, though.

"okay, now they're done." dean shrugged, grabbing a cookie and taking a bite.

castiel did the same, a small smile tugging at his lips when he bit it.

"this makes me very happy." castiel said, looking at the cookie and absentmindedly walking into the living room.

"you're welcome, cas!" dean shouted from the kitchen.

all this work and no appreciation.