Chapter 5
An Absence Of Mugs (An Abundance Of Kisses)

One part of life at the Bunker that was never really discussed was chores because growing up in such close quarters had meant Sam and Dean pretty much worked in sync, but now that Castiel was living with them full time things had gotten ten times easier. The Angel was so used to things being in order and as it turned out cleanliness really was close to Godliness. He was forever straightening up the Bunker, cleaning the dishes and moping the floors, and it turned out he was a remarkably good cook. In the beginning he had only sat in the kitchen to observe Dean in his element but after one particularly bad hunt in which Dean had been laid up in bed for two whole weeks, Castiel had taken over the Kitchen for his Hunter - that is after chasing a ketchup covered Sam out of there with a large wooden spoon. The younger hunter had very nearly wiped out the entire collection of ancient artefacts they had been organising in the main room after trying to make himself some lunch, and since then Castiel had banned him from making anything in the kitchen other than coffee - and even that was heavily supervised.

Of course, Dean had been enjoying ever second of the Angel's new found passion for cleaning and as such he had been neglecting his own chores, knowing full well the Angel would clean it if it was left out long enough. Nine times out of ten Castiel either didn't notice or didn't care because he enjoyed being helpful…but sometimes Dean was a little neglectful with his manners. I mean, even Sam knew how to say thank you, and if Dean had only learned his lesson the first time maybe he wouldn't be spending his night alone in his room instead of curled up on the couch with Castiel in front of the TV.

It had all started with the towels…Dean had a really bad habit of leaving the wet towels from his shower on the floor of Castiel's room. He would exit the shower, towel himself off and then leave the towels in a small pile at the base of the bed, knowing that Castiel would pick them up when it was time to do the laundry. For months, Castiel said nothing about it, choosing instead to just shake it off and move on…but then there came the smell. He walked into his room one day to find an odd cloying smell in the air and for the longest time he could not work out from where it was coming.

Then he looked under the bed.

He couldn't even begin to describe what he found under there. It seemed like at some point in time one of Deans towels had become lost under the bed forgotten about, along with a pair of Dean's socks which were rolled up in the towel and covered with some sort of dried in gloopy substance. Castiel very gingery lifted the sock to his nose and took a short sniff before firing it across the room in horror!

"Damn it, Dean! Ectoplasm?! That's it!" Castiel growled, grabbing the towel and sock - pinched between two fingers and held out at a distance to keep it from touching his clothes - and stormed out of his bedroom, slamming the door as he went.

When he reached the main room where Dean and Sam were seated he tossed the offending sock at Deans head and watched as both the brothers scrambled backwards away from the stinking clothing.

"Would you care to explain that Dean?!" Castiel snapped and Dean looked up at him from the floor where he landed after trying to run away.

"Em…that's not mine" Dean said innocently and Castiel glared at him, furious that the Hunter was trying to trick him.

"Oh really? And I am John Constantine! You are trying to tell me that you didn't leave that…that thing! In my bedroom 3months ago after that Ghost Case in Mississippi?!" Castiel yelled as be began to advance on Dean, completely oblivious that Sam had snuck from the room already and ran off to grab his laptop. Dean was scrambling backwards to avoid the angry Angel.

"Now Cas, buddy…I can explain…" Dean babbled and Castiel crossed his arms over his chest, nostrils flaring.

"Well explain then!" Cas snapped and for several minutes Dean lay staring at him, clearing searching for a logical reason why a pair of his old ruined socks was now lying like a cursed object on the dining room table - which was now going to need a serious bleaching and guess who Castiel was forcing to do that job? The minutes ticked by and Castiel finally lost his patience.

"Well?!" Cas snapped and Dean finally found his words.

"It was Sam!" Dean squeaked and Castiel huffed, stamping his foot.

"I have had just about enough of this, Dean! You always do this to me!" Cas yelled and Dean scrambled to his feet, moving forward to take the man by the arm.

"Hey, why are you so upset?" Dean asked and Castiel gave an exasperated yell, slapping Deans hands from him.

"You really have to ask that question? You left your dirty clothes under my bed for months and now my room smells like old ectoplasm! You are always leaving things out for me to clean up and don't even get my started on your damn coffee mugs!" Castiel ranted and Dean slowly backed away again, raising his hands in surrender.

"Hey, ho, chill out big guy…what are you even talking about, what mugs?" Dean asked and Castiel looked at him incredulously.

"You don't even know…You always need to get a new mug! Every single time you have a coffee you get a clean mug, instead of simply washing out the one you had…" Castiel explained and Dean looked confused for a moment.

"Yeah…so?" Dean said with a shrug and he instantly regretted those words. Had he been paying any attention at all he would have heard the stereo grown that came from down the hallway, but he was too busy cowering away from Castiel, who had gone red in the face. Dean was screwed.

"So? That's all you can say is so?! Its not you who has to wash out every single mug in the house because you can't reuse the one you had, its not you who can't have a mug for themselves because there are no mugs left after you are done with them…Its ME! But you don't care right?" Castiel yelled as he backed Dean up against the wall, and even though Dean was a little freaked out by the Angels outburst he couldn't help but smile at how cute he looked when he was angry.

"Oh what this is funny to you?!" Cas snapped and Dean came out of his haze, realising he had been smiling at completely the wrong time but he didn't get a chance to explain himself before Castiel was huffing and storming out of the room.

"Screw you, Dean!" Cas yelled as he left, slamming every door on his way to his bedroom. Dean was left leaning against the wall and feeling like a complete dick.

The hours had past by and Castiel was still holed up in his room, ignoring all offers of coffee and food from Sam and Gabriel…Dean had left shortly after their argument without a word to anyone about where he was going or when he'd be back which did not surprise Castiel in the least. He was no doubt at some bar sulking and picking up sleazy women which was just fine and Cas didn't care in the slightest, not one little bit. He didn't need the lazy slob of a Hunter around anyway, he didn't.

There was a soft knocking on the door which Castiel choose to ignore, waiting on Sam or Gabe to start their attempts at coaxing him out…but no voice came through the door. The knocking started up again and went on for many minutes before Cas finally hauled himself off his bed and stormed to the door - Whoever was disturbing him was going to regret it. He pulled back the lock and yanked the door open, preparing to tear the head off of whoever was on the other side…and he was met by a ceramic mug and a bunch of roses.

Hidden behind the odd assortment of gifts was a very shy looking Hunter, wearing a very strange expression on his face. He looked like the proverbial kicked puppy and Castiel couldn't help but take the offered gifts from the mans hands and step aside to allow him inside the room. Dean entered silently and kept his head down, allowing Castiel to examine the gifts closely. The flowers were the most gorgeous bunch of red roses Castiel had ever seen, and he was informed enough about Human culture to know that giving someone beautiful flowers was a sign of affection and sometimes…of apology. He placed the flowers down on the bed and turned his attention to the mug, which his vast knowledge was giving him no hint about. He took it from the packaging and noticed that there was some sort of picture printed on it and a phrase under it. Castiel held the mug up to the light and he couldn't help but smile as he saw his and Deans facing smiling back up at him. It was the photo Sam had snapped of the pair of them at Lucky Lucy's Burger Bar in Seattle, Dean had taken them for 'The Best Burgers In The World' and they had spent a good week in town relaxing and taking in the sites. His eyes moved from the picture on the front to the writing underneath and he couldn't help but smile at Dean as he read it out loud.

"Property Of Castiel - DO NOT TOUCH!" Cas said with a grin and Dean took it as a good sign that he could sit down beside his Angel. He took a seat on the bed and lay his hand over Cas', and Castiel squeezed his hand gently with a small smirk on his lips.

"Property Of Castiel…Do you mean you or the mug?" Cas asked cheekily and Dean huffed out a laugh.

"Both! The mug for coffee and me for the week…whatever you want, I'm your slave!" Dean said before realising just how bad that sounded, turning away with a blush. Castiel caught his face as he turned and brought him back around to look at him.

"Is that a promise?" Castiel whispered softly, moving in close to Dean so their lips were only inches apart and Dean whimpered softly.

"Promise…" Dean whispered back before closing the distance between them, pressing his lips to Cas and moaning softly as Cas gripped him tightly by the back of the neck and forced him to deepen the kiss. After several minutes of exploring and moaning they broke apart, staring in wonder at each other as if the whole world suddenly made sense.

This was what was missing the whole time…

Okay so Dean might be a slob and Cas might be a nag…But this was what they wanted.