Author's Note:
I had fucking heart attack when I finished this chapter. I hit save and then suddenly the whole document showed nothing but weird symbols! Then I closed it and tried to re-open it, it wouldn't open at all. I freaked out but I got it back. All is well. I can breathe again
Sam walked in the front door, a few bags in his arms and a rather heavy looking backpack over his shoulder. He closed the door with his foot and looked up at the party in the entrance with some surprise, "Uh… miss me much?"
"A little," Dean admitted with a nervous smile, Castiel still clung to him despite Dean's discomfort.
"What's going on?" Sam looked down at the mess of fabric scattered around the floor, "And what is all this?"
"Those are nothing and we're forgetting it happened," Dean was quick to say, not wanting to rile Castiel up again.
"Huh…" Sam didn't seem satisfied but he didn't push it, instead he put down the bags he was carrying and fished through one of them, "Speaking of forgetful behaviour, I noticed Cas is still naked."
Dean and Jet exchanged a quick look of helplessness as Sam pulled out a similarly designed pair of pants, they were black and possibly track pants, Dean wasn't entirely sure. "Uhm… Sam?" He furrowed his brow, unsure of how to explain that it might be a bad idea.
"Cas doesn't like pants, dude." Jet had no trouble with it.
"Just because he's not wearing any doesn't mean he doesn't like them, here," Sam walked over to Cas and held the garment up for him to take, which he did. Cas sniffed it first then rubbed it against his face, "You have to introduce him first."
"Wha…" Dean wasn't sure what to say, "That's bullshit! I introduced him to those pants, what the hell? Does he not like white pants?"
Sam raised an eyebrow at that, "Where'd you find them? I thought this place didn't have anything in it."
"I found a room that used to have someone in it and took their leftover pants, they were a size that would fit and basically just like those ones." Dean folded his arms indignantly as he watched Castiel stick his head in the waistband hole and attempt to crawl inside them. "Elastic and soft and baggy, perfect for a first pair."
"Uh huh…" his brother shook his head and looked over at the pile of shreds like it suddenly made sense to him. "Were they MacLeod's?"
Dean's scrunched up his nose at Sam, "I don't know, what does it matter?"
Jet laughed a little, a sarcastically bitter sound. "I didn't think of that."
"Think of what? What're you guys –" Dean paused when it dawned on him, if those were MacLeod's pants then Castiel probably smelled the old bastard on them. He groaned and dropped his face into his hands, "I didn't think of that either…"
Cas gurgled happily within his new clothes, though he wore them entirely wrong. Dean knelt down and lifted them off his head, Cas' face lit up when he saw him. Dean smiled back and sat down across from him, a position Cas mimicked again to stay on Dean's level. "Sorry I'm an idiot, buddy." Dean said softly as he carefully lifted Castiel's leg again, this time there was no animosity from his angel-esque friend.
Dean helped Cas stand up and pulled the pants to his waist, "Tah-dah," he laughed and pat Cas on the shoulder, "we got you into some pants."
Castiel hummed and moved his legs around, intrigued by the strange feeling. He hopped a few times and squealed, at first Dean thought it was terror again but the look on Cas' face said nothing but joy.
"So," Sam clapped his hands, surprising Dean and Jet enough to make them jump, "I noticed the car out front has some food in it, I brought stuff from the house in town, how about we make something?"
"Yeah, I'm starving," Dean took Cas' hand to lead him but all it did was invite him to jump around even more. Cas was trying to show off his new item, it was cute; Dean wasn't sure what it must feel like to suddenly have something after having nothing for so long.
The four of them sat in the kitchen sorting out what would go where, but mostly it was Sam deciding the organization while Jet and Dean watched. They had tried to help but just got in Sam's way, so instead of getting their heads bitten off the two chilled out nearby. Castiel followed Sam around the kitchen, twirling every now and then and moving his hips excessively. He absolutely loved his fabric legs and kept rubbing his hands on them.
"Does he go to the bathroom?" Jet asked randomly and Dean was left without an answer.
"Haven't seen him do it yet, why?"
"Just wondering…"
"I imagine he's not potty-trained," Sam mused with them, "Maybe he's been finding places to go?"
"I really don't want to discover that." Dean laughed though he was pretty serious about it.
"Mm…" Jet's sound of agreement was followed by some silence, their energy having run a little low. Well, everyone's but Castiel's anyway. He was very energetic and pranced about shamelessly. After watching Cas for a few minutes Jet piped up again, "Hey, by the way I made some keys in town." He fished in his pocket and dropped the metal bits onto the counter, "go nuts."
"It's pretty hard to believe, isn't it?" Sam said as he picked his set up, turning it over in his hands, "I still can't really grasp that we're here now, it feels like a dream."
"It's only day two, Sammy," Dean knew what his brother was getting at, everything about that mansion felt unreal. They were in a brand new lifestyle, life would be entirely different from their perspective and Dean wasn't sure if he was ready for that. They were suddenly privileged in a way they'd never been, not a single one of them. Hell, Dean started to think maybe he could relate to Cas a little bit in that way. They weren't prepared for a lifestyle that suddenly jumped on them, it was freeing but they were so hesitant to fall into it. In that regard Cas was definitely far ahead of them, he knew basically nothing about his new surroundings but still took them head on.
"We'll get used to it, might take some research." Jet offered some optimism with a smirk on his face; even he looked like a fish out of water.
"Speaking of research," Sam was surprisingly lively all of a sudden, "I called to get Internet set up over here, they're coming tomorrow."
"Good idea," Jet grinned wildly, "And I have an even better one, something that should make this whole thing feel a little more real."
Dean raised his eyebrow curiously; he liked the sound of that. "Like what?"
"Shopping spree."
The same grin appeared on Dean's face, "I love it. Gonna buy a shit-ton of movies."
"Hell yeah, gonna buy state of the art entertainment shit and furniture that doesn't smell like old man."
Dean wondered with that comment just why Cas wouldn't hate the entire house if he hated those pants. Maybe the smell was stronger on items MacLeod actually wore? He looked over at Cas, which prompted an added conversation.
"What do we do with Cas?" Sam was the one to ask though he knew the answer Dean would give.
"One of us has to stay here with him, he can't be by himself."
"Bullshit," Jet remarked and had both Winchesters staring at him waiting for an explanation. "Who says he has to stay here? We'll bring him with."
"Dude, that's a bad idea." Dean shook his head, "We have no idea how he'd do in a public place, what if we lose him?"
"Plus he didn't exactly come from the most normal of circumstances," Sam pointed out, worry lining his tone. "How do you think people would react to him? He communicates in weird noises and has wings on his back."
"Well we can say he's special, that'll get people off our backs about the speech thing. As for the wings, I think I can whip something up."
Dean didn't like the sound of that but the idea of bringing Castiel outside did appeal to him. He wanted to see Cas' reaction to new things, but maybe taking him so far out of his comfort zone that soon would result in a complete disaster? "What if he can't handle it? I don't want to lose him."
"Then I'll watch him, it'll be fine." Jet sounded so sure but for once it wasn't convincing enough for Dean.
"Like I said, I don't want to lose him."
"C'mon, he's handled this much already, hasn't he? We can take him to one friggin' store."
Dean looked at Sam for some help, his brother in turn crossed his arms and looked at Jet seriously, "Did you forget that we've only known him for two days? We just got some clothes on him, it's way too soon to take him out."
Jet sighed and dropped his head on the counter, "Fine, whatever."
Cas climbed up onto the counter and sat cross-legged in front of Jet's defeated self. He leaned closer, trying to see Jet's face but it was pressed against the marble surface. Cas grabbed Jet's hair and slowly lifted his head up that way, peering down at him curiously. Cas chattered his gibberish and Jet smiled, "Cute-ass motherfucker," he grumbled as he ruffled Castiel's hair again. Cas returned the gesture by letting go and messing up Jet's hair right back, though he used two hands instead of just one.
"We could test it out and bring him outside?" Dean offered, still nervous about Castiel running off but then again they couldn't keep him inside forever.
Sam made a face Dean knew meant he had some reserves on the topic, "I still don't know, maybe we should let him feel out the house a bit longer?"
"If we don't introduce him to stuff when it's all new then he might be scared to do it later," Jet butted back in with his own 'parenting style.' The argument in itself made Dean snicker a little bit. "We gotta at least let him outside, don't make the house his new prison."
"Alright, alright," Sam raised his hands in surrender, "We'll take him outside, but don't look at me if he flies away and gets lost."
"That would happen regardless,"
"Not helping Jet,"
"What? It's true. If he's gonna take off it'll happen whenever. I don't know if you've been seeing the same behaviour I have, though. From where I'm sitting, he looks like he's in love with us so I doubt he'll leave." Jet of course said this all while Cas played with his hair, Dean could understand that point of view.
"Alright, we'll take him outside after we eat." Sam pointed at Dean, "Now you, get in the kitchen."
"I've had a long day!" Dean whined but got up all the same; he knew that he was the only one who actually stayed home the whole time. The moment he walked into the kitchen Cas was on the floor again and following him about. Dean thought it might get annoying eventually but for the time being he really enjoyed it, made him feel special.
Sam and Jet watched him, both pleased they didn't have to lift a finger to make dinner. Not that it was that different than normal; Dean was by far the best chef of the three of them. He let Sam make the healthy stuff, and Jet was a pretty decent baker; but Dean was their primary cook. He whipped up enough to feed the three of them plus Cas, he wasn't sure if that was a one time thing or not.
They sat down together at the table again, this time though Dean had Castiel sitting in a chair with them. Cas tried to take a handful of food and hop away to eat it but Dean caught his wrist, "No, no, not like that." He took a fork and put it in Cas' hand instead. Dean didn't have a lot of practice teaching people how to do things, trying to recall the days he was four and Sammy was an infant were the best he had. And even then he wasn't the one teaching Sam how to eat with a fork, that was for his parents to do.
In Dean's moment of pause, however, Jet whistled once to get Cas' attention. He lifted his own fork and, while making sure Cas was watching, slowly put it into his mashed potatoes and scooped some out. "Okay, now you try it."
Cas, as if understanding the words, carefully tried to copy Jet's movement. He lit up when he had a similar amount on his utensil and lifted to show Dean that he'd done it. "Great job, Cas." Dean couldn't help but smile at that, it was heartbreaking as much as it was cute.
Jet whistled again and Cas looked back at him to watch him stick the food into his mouth. Cas tilted his head and looked down at the fork, he mimicked the action again but unfortunately he couldn't see what Jet had done inside his mouth. Castiel attempted to bite the metal fork and promptly hurt himself on the pointy bits. He whined and dropped the fork altogether, kicking it away grumpily.
"Goddamn it," Jet sighed and rubbed his temples.
"I got it," Dean took his own fork and scooped up more potatoes, "Alright Cas, open up." He said before demonstrating, Cas didn't listen right away so he had to coax Cas' jaw down. It was enough to slip the fork in, this time Dean just grazed the potatoes along Cas' tongue and removed the utensil without incident. "Like that, okay?"
Cas chittered in response and stole Dean's fork from him, attempting the maneuver on his own again.
"He's learning fast," Sam commented with a smile, "I can't believe how quick he is."
Jet nodded, "Well he used to be just like us, experiencing this shit again is probably bringing something back."
"Think he'll talk soon?" Dean asked, he didn't mean for his tone to be so fanciful but it was. He was grateful than neither Sam or Jet bugged him about it.
"I bet he will," Sam sounded just as optimistic. "Give him some time, he'll figure it out."
Dean really hoped that was true, he wanted to talk with Cas; a real conversation. It didn't feel like enough to talk at him, to just get strange sounds as a response. He knew Cas was smart, he could tell. He laughed to himself when he realized it, it might take a while to get Castiel talking, but Dean was willing to put that time in. And he'd only known Cas for two days.