Dean and Castiel sat in a small diner where Cas was taking the longest time possible to peruse the menu. Dean had already decided he was going to have his cheeseburger and was waiting impatiently for Cas' decision before calling the waitress over.
Cas knew that his vessel had had a hunger for burgers but now that he was...human he didn't know if that would change. This body was his now and it would have it's own hungers. Dean was growing more and more impatient every second. Drumming his fingers on the tabletop, fidgeting with the zip on his jacket and sighing every now and then. He finally gave up and grabbed the menu out of Cas' hands and said,
"Why don't you try a burger? It's the best thing you're going to get in this place anyway." he smiled when he had finished speaking. Cas was hesitant but then nodded without argument.
Dean called the waitress over and asked for their order. But of course he flirted during the interaction. For some reason Cas felt wary of the waitress and didn't want her to stick around. He didn't thank her when she gave him his burger and Dean began to give Cas a lesson in manners.
"When someone gives you food, you thank them. Okay, Cas?" he spoke as if to a child and Cas became even more irritated and shot Dean a look that could have fried his insides. "Are you okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine, Dean." Cas enunciated each word and didn't look at Dean as he spoke, he simply began to eat.
And Dean was right. The burger was the best thing he could have gotten in this place. He finished it before Dean was even halfway through his and he had forgotten all memories of the waitress and the confusion as to why he had been so angry at Dean only moments ago.
Dean ordered him another and he ate it slower than he had the first one and by the time he had finished the fries that had come with it, he felt full. Cas looked at Dean and beamed as if he could never be happier than he was at this moment. Dean felt relieved to see that Cas was no longer in a bad mood and smiled back.
"Ready to go meet Sam then?" Dean had remembered he'd told his brother he wouldn't be long in getting Castiel. It had taken him an hour to get here, an hour to eat and it would be another hour before they got back to the motel. Dean felt nervous about sharing the long car journey with the newly human Castiel. There was something strange about his mood shifts and it was unsettling to Dean that someone could not know what hunger or thirst felt like.
When they both got into the Impala, Dean decided that now was as good a time as any to begin the questioning. Cas was well fed and watered and had no excuse to dodge his questions, after all it may be important in trying to determine what had caused Castiel's recent change in being. However, this thought was very quickly pushed out of Dean's mind when he heard a soft snore to his right. He looked over and Cas was slumped in the seat, dead to the world.
"Great." Dean said to himself and stared on at the road ahead.
"I don't know, dude. I'm starting to get worried. He hasn't opened his eyes since we got here."
"He'll be fine. I can't imagine how exhausting it would be to fall from heaven."
"It's been 24 hours, Sam. He's human, that's not normal."
Castiel opened an eye sleepily when he heard the concern in Dean's voice. He began to sit up and he could feel two pairs of eyes staring at him.
"See, I told you he'd be fine." Sam said gesturing at Castiel.
"Shut up." Dean commanded and walked over to sit beside Cas on the bed. "How do you feel?"
"I'm hungry again. And thirsty. And my body feels stiff." Castiel cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes of his sleep.
"You'll feel better once you walk around a bit. As soon as your dressed, we're hitting the road." Dean sounded rather excited and Castiel smiled to hear the tone in Dean's voice. He stood up and faced Sam and Dean.
"I'm dressed, let's go."
"Oh, no. Not like that. You've been asleep an entire day, man. I am not sharing a car with you unless you shower and put on some clean clothes."
Castiel lifted an arm above his head and sniffed himself and then recoiled. The action made Sam and Dean laugh and Castiel frown. He definitely did need a shower but he had no other clothes.
Dean seemed to read his mind and crossed to the bag he had already packed sitting on the table. He pulled out a clean set of clothes and handed them to Cas.
"You do know how to shower, don't you?" Dean asked. Castiel may not have been human for very long but he had been around Dean enough to recognise sarcasm for what it was. Castiel's temper was becoming short and he grabbed the clothes with a jerk and answered in a clipped tone, "Yes, of course." and stalked into the bathroom.
Half an hour later Cas came out of the bathroom clean and wearing Dean's clothes. When Sam looked up he snorted. Cas looked just like a smaller version of Dean with dark hair.
"Yeah, yeah, get over it, Sammy. Let's go." Dean stalked to the door and walked away leaving Castiel confused.
"Is this not okay?" he asked Sam.
"It's perfectly fine, Cas. Come on." Sam left the room as well and Castiel ran after him shouting,
"What about food?"
By the next morning the Impala was pulling up to Bobby's house. Dean shut off the ignition and looked to the back seat were Cas was asleep again.
"How can he do that?" Dean asked Sam. Sam just shrugged and got out of the car. Dean shook Cas and he opened his eyes with a start. He sat up rubbing the sleep from them and then turned them to Dean. He grinned. He was doing that a lot lately. Cas seemed to be able to go from happy to angry to sad and back to happy in a matter of minutes. It was unsettling to Dean as he was used to him not even really smiling.
He smiled back though, not wanting to show Cas his concern. Bobby was waiting for them by the front door and looked at Castiel stretching as he got out of the car. Even to Bobby it was odd seeing him do normal, everyday human things.
When they were inside the house, Bobby began the questioning. He grilled Cas about the events of the last few days but seeing as Cas had lost all memory of what had happened, it wasn't helpful.
"Well, we should do the usual routine. Just to make sure." Bobby left the room and came back a few minutes later with a silver knife, salt and a bottle of holy water. Dean began to voice his concerns when he realised what Bobby intended to do.
"I don't think that's a good idea. He's been having pretty extreme moods, it might be too intense for him."
"You would think that." Sam mumbled from the other side of the room.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Dean asked in a harsh tone crossing over to Sam. Sam began to smirk.
"Nothing. Nothing." Dean gave him one last suspicious look and walked back over to Bobby, who also had the ghost of a smile on his face. Bobby composed himself,
"I'm sorry, we have to be sure." He began with the holy water, then the salt and then the knife.
Dean was right, Cas did not take kindly to being cut with the knife and howled in pain. Dean was beginning to realise that these intense moods may be because Castiel had lived without so many emotions for so long and all of a sudden they had all come at once.
"You okay, Cas?" Dean asked warily.
"Yes, I'll be fine. I think I need a drink though." Dean grinned and an idea came into his head.
Castiel was human now. He needed someone to teach him how to be human. And Dean knew the perfect place to start.