Prompts were picked in a random order by my twitter followers.
Prompt #7-Cas burning breakfast while Dean hovers despairingly.
He had to learn.
That was what Dean kept repeating to himself in his head. He closed his eyes, listening to the sharp clatter as a bowl hit the counter a little too hard.
He had to learn.
"Hey maybe you-" Dean cut himself off, watching Cas pick up on his tone and turn to move the bacon around in the pan. Though, Dean noted, he didn't flip them. Nor the pancakes for that matter, which, given he hadn't started the eggs he seemed adamant on making, were on way too early. And smoking. "Cas… maybe you should-"
"Right." Cas said, brow set in concentration as he turned around, grabbing a bowl before looking around at all the utensils hung around the counter. He took a quick inventory before finally finding and reaching for a whisk, half dropping it into the bowl of egg, causing the runny mess to splatter up over the edge.
Dean watched an uncomfortable amount of milk get dumped into the slop and a comparatively small amount of shredded cheese get sprinkled on top.
At least that came in a package and was already done. Haven't reviewed cheese graters yet.
Dean was dismayed at the lack of salt of pepper added to the bowl before it was beat as if it had personally wronged the angel. "The pancakes-"
Cas' head whipped up, and he quickly abandoned the bowl and grabbed the spatula. He turned them over, the still uncooked side sliding around from beneath, the newly blackened surface shining slightly with clearly too much oil from the pan.
Dean bit back a sigh, pushing himself to lean against the fridge, trying not to interfere, but not feeling safe leaving Cas alone.
He had to learn.
Dean kind of knew where his drive to cook came from.
Sam was always the early riser. Out for a run at the crack of dawn. Jack didn't sleep nearly as much as them, so he was often up when Sam was, often joining Sam on his morning runs. Cas never slept.
He was surprised to find he felt almost… left out.
He finally decided he would bite the bullet and get up at the ass crack of dawn and join the fold. Cooking breakfast was the perfect excuse not to join them on their morning run.
Cas had been watching Dean cook for a couple weeks now. He inserted himself into the routine, starting the coffee pot in time to just finish up when Dean finally emerged. He watched Dean grab a mug and announce what they were eating that morning, and then he just observed.
Dean would absently start explaining some of the things he was doing, and Cas paid rapt attention, sometimes asking a question here or there to clarify.
This morning Cas had insisted he try it out himself.
He reminded Dean of Ben. Except Ben was better at it.
"The pancakes." He repeated, and Cas rushed over again, tossing them onto a plate, now evenly overdone.
Next. the runny egg mixture was added onto the same pan, a few burnt flakes of pancake adding in for texture. He gave the bacon another quick wiggle for form.
Dean closed his eyes again, shaking his head slightly, and wondering where this had gone so wrong.
For some reason Cas had decided not just to make breakfast, but to make everything. "I want to try to put to use all the skills I have observed." He had said.
"You don't have to do them all at once."
Cas bit his lip in concentration, continually keeping the egg mixture turning, actually doing a decent job at not letting it get too brown. Though nothing was going to cook out that much liquid.
"Cas… the bacon."
Cas quickly moved the pan to a cool burner, waving uselessly at the smoke coming off of the hot oil. He reached in bare handed, grabbing them and throwing them onto a paper towel covered plate. Dean inspected them, noting that they were burnt to a crisp on one side and somehow under-cooked on the other.
No. He didn't remind him of Ben. He reminded him of Sam.
Sam at maybe five or six. Trying to make eggs for himself and his big brother on a half busted hot plate in one of the dirtiest motels Dean had ever had the displeasure of staying in. "I can do it by myself." Sam had argued defensively when Dean had tried to step in. He just stood back and watched the disaster unfold.
Dean jumped slightly, wrenched from his thoughts by the toaster spitting out two pieces of bread. He hadn't noticed Cas put anything in there. He looked closer. Lightest toast setting. It was just slightly drier, barely warm bread.
They both looked up when they heard the bunker door echo in the distance, and Cas sharpened his focus, grabbing a knife and a grapefruit and beginning to cut it up. Dean made a face, knowing Sam had been the one to shape Dean's insistence on adding a fruit every morning.
They had roughly fifteen minutes until they had both taken turns with a quick shower and came back into the kitchen looking for food.
Cas finally let Dean step in and help him carry the plates to the table, making one last trip to bring two boxes of cereal and half gallon of milk and arrange them artfully in the center.
Dean thought it looked like a fucked up version of one of those cereal commercials from the 90s. "Part of a balanced breakfast."
He slid into his seat and waited for Jack and Sam to join them.
Sam immediately shoveled a portion of grapefruit onto his plate before just pouring himself a bowl of cereal and beginning to talk about a possible case he picked up on in Wyoming.
Dean surveyed the spread, grabbing some eggs and 'toast' before also taking his bowl and going for the krunch cookie crunch. He took a forkful of eggs, considering it for a moment before adding a heavy dash of salt and trying again. Other than the burnt remains of the hockey puck pancakes, they weren't the worst thing he had eaten. If he had to pick the best adjective, he'd have to pick 'wet', but flavor wise, he would pick 'inoffensive'.
Jack took a little bit of everything, politely nibbling on the corner of one of the bacon strips for a few minutes before giving up and slowly reaching for a bowl of cereal himself.
Cas didn't seem to notice, simply joining in on the plans to head out and investigate.
When they were done, Dean helped clean up, sliding the untouched food into the trash and stacking the dishes to be done later.
"I noticed some things I can still improve on."
Dean laughed gently. "Yeah, maybe one or two."
"Perhaps tomorrow you can give pointers."
"Yeah." Dean agreed, somewhat relieved. He gave a more genuine smile. "Let's do that."