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Dean had always thought that the whole 'crazy cat lady' thing was just an exaggeration. But it turns out that their case actually does involve a crazy cat lady. With the only witnesses to her murder being her house full of cats, Sam and Dean are at a loss of how to go about finding out what killed her. That is, until Dean has an idea.
"Wait. You want to what?" Sam asks, staring at him incredulously.
"You heard me. Let's turn me into a cat," Dean replies. Sam blinks a few times, not quite sure if Dean is being serious or not. Dean can't help but roll his eyes. "It worked the last time," he insists, refering to their case with the Colonel.
"Alright, fine," Sam concedes, "just give me a while to get all the ingredients, okay?"
A few hours later, they're sitting in their motel room. Dean downs the nasty concoction that will allow him to communicate with animals, making a face at the taste. It's just as he remembers it. Horrible.
Last time they did this, it took a while for it to take effect, so Dean kicks back and relaxes. But after an hour, nothing's really changed. He doesn't have an urge to claw at something until nothing remains but tatters. He's pretty sure he's not going to cough up a hairball either. Maybe it takes longer for cats than it does dogs. Dean decides to give it some more time before he gets up and goes to the fridge to look for food.
There's a few bottles of beer, a half eaten sandwich from lunch, and the Chinese takeout from last night, but none of that really sounds appealing to him right now.
"Hey Sam, do we have any tuna?" Dean asks, having a strange craving for a tuna sandwich. Sam looks at him like he's grown a second head.
"Uh, no. Why would we have tuna?" he says.
"The more important question is: why don't we have it?" Dean replies, frowning at the contents of the fridge as he closes the door.
"Because you hate tuna, Dean. You hate fish in general," Sam says.
"What? Don't be ridiculous!"
Sam stares at him for a long moment before the lightbulb goes off.
"Dean, I think it worked," he says.
"What worked?"
"The spell! You're thinking like a cat now. I mean, cats love fish, right?"
"I guess," Dean says, not entirely convinced. What Sam's saying does make sense, although Dean has no idea how he could have ever hated fish. Even thinking about it now makes his stomach rumble hungrily. Sam senses his doubt and he reaches into his bag. Dean is about to ask what he thinks he's doing when suddenly there's the most fascinating circle of light Dean's ever seen, hovering on the wall right in front of his face.
Automatically, he reaches out for it, frowning when it darts away from him. It's only moved a few inches to the left, so he goes for it again. And just like before, it moves away from him, this time it sweeps lower, almost to the floor. Dean's eyes follow it like a laser and then just as suddenly as it appeared, it's gone. Dean blinks a few times, wondering what just happened when he realizes that Sam is sitting in his chair with a flashlight, laughing his head off.
"That is so not cool," Dean grumbles, forcing himself to remain still, even when Sam clicks the flashlight on again and the light returns to dancing on the wall.
"This is amazing," Sam says, grinning like a kid at Christmas. He moves the light over to the bed and Dean lets out a frustrated sound before he reaches for it again. And of course, that's the moment Cas chooses to drop in unannounced to check in on them like he does from time to time. The angel watches as Dean scrambles to catch the light in his palms and then looks at Sam where he's sitting having way too much fun tormenting his brother.
"What is going on?" Cas asks, completely befuddled.
"Hang on, Cas!" Dean exclaims, pouncing on the mattress and just missing that infernal light again. "I almost got it that time!"
The cat-like behavior lasts longer than the last time they did this. Cas thinks it might take another day or two for it to wear off and in the meantime, they make their way back home. As they pull into the garage, Sam and Cas head to the kitchen for a late lunch while Dean finds himself wandering outside. He claims that he just needs some air after being cooped up in the car for so long and the other two leave him be after that.
The sky is clear and Dean smiles as a warm breeze makes his plaid shirt fan out around him for a moment. Somehow, he finds himself in the empty clearing behind the bunker. There's always some sort of flower in bloom over here except during the winter when snow covers the ground like a blanket. Dean finds a few that he thinks look pretty cool and as he's walking back, accumulates a bouquet of flowers and a handful of bird feathers that he found scattered about. Some of the feathers are dark in color, like they came from a raven. Others are light brown and there's even a few bluejay ones mixed in as well. For some reason, they remind him of Castiel. Even though Dean has never seen the angel's wings aside from their enormous shadows on the wall, he's often imagined what they look like.
Dean goes back inside and finds himself standing in front of Cas' room. For some reason, he wants to show Cas what he's found, but he doesn't want to disturb him if he's busy or something, so instead, he just leaves them outside the door, the flowers propped against the wall with the little pile of feathers surrounding them.
After he's walked away, the door creaks open and Cas steps out. He notices the gifts left by his door and squints down at them in suspicion. He takes them in his hand and inspects them carefully, wondering who put them here and why. Sam walks by on the way to the library and Cas catches him as he's going.
"Sam, do you know where these came from?" he asks. "They were just outside my door."
Sam looks at Cas, then at the handful of flowers and feathers gathered in his hands.
"I...I think Dean left them," he finally says.
"Why would he do that?" Cas asks, glancing in the direction of the older hunter's room.
"I don't know. Let me get back to you on that," Sam replies, curiosity getting the better of him. Minutes later, the younger Winchester is sitting at the table in the library, his laptop open in front of him. Sam types 'cat behavior' into the search bar and clicks go. A few pages come up and after reading them, a grin appears on his face. Oh, Cas is going to love this.
"So get this," Sam later says when Cas wanders into the room. "I googled cat behavior and apparently, cats sometimes like to give gifts. Usually it's stuff like dead mice or whatever, but I guess Dean went out and got you flowers instead."
"I see. This is because of the spell then?" Cas says.
"Looks like. Oh, Dean's going to be thrilled when he reads this," Sam replies with a chuckle. Speaking of which, Dean chooses that moment to enter the bunker again. There's something in his hand as he descends the stairs and almost immediately he goes to Cas, holding out the object.
"Cas, look at these cool rocks I found. See, this one's red, and this one's got a nifty green color around the edges. I wonder what kind they are," Dean says, dropping them into Cas' hands.
"Why are you giving these to me, Dean?" Cas asks, unable to keep the smile off his face because he knows exactly why. It's just amusing to see the confusion on Dean's face.
"I...don't know. That's weird of me, huh?" he says with a nervous little chuckle. "I'm gonna...go to my room now."
Dean walks back to his room and the whole time, he's wondering just what's gotten into him. Even though he's still under the influence of the spell, he's not sure why that means he brings Cas pretty looking feathers and flowers and minerals. Whatever, he thinks. It'll wear off eventually and he just has to hope that he doesn't do anything weird before it does.
The spell still hasn't worn off yet and ever so gradually, Castiel is accumulating a pile of bird feathers, flowers, and strange looking rocks. He doesn't say anything about it though, because he knows Dean can't control it and besides, it's kind of adorable. When he praises Dean and tells him that he approves of his gifts, he swears that the man purrs in delight. It's getting to the point where Cas wouldn't be surprised if he grew ears or a tail soon.
That night, they're gathered around the TV, watching another episode of Game of Thrones. Sam is reclining in his seat and Cas is laid out across the couch, enthralled by the events unfolding onscreen. Dean left to get snacks and when he returns with a bag of chips he hands it to Sam and then nudges Cas' feet.
"Scoot or I'll sit on you," he says, provoking Cas to move his legs to the floor and sit up slightly to give Dean room. He sits down, a little closer to Cas than he needs to be, and sticks a hand into his big bag of M&Ms. As the episode progresses, Dean gets closer and closer to Cas until their shoulders are touching. He rests his head on Cas' shoulder and hums a little, shifting against him like he's trying to get comfortable. No matter how he moves though, he can't seem to find a position that suits him and he practically sits in Cas' lap before he realizes what he's doing.
"Dean, what are you doing?" Cas asks, staring at him oddly.
Dean pauses and then squints a little like Cas sometimes does when he's confused.
"I don't know. Um. I'm gonna go. I'll just watch this later," he says, beating a hasty retreat before either Sam or Cas can reply. He shuts the door behind him when he reaches his room and stands with his back to the door for a few moments, thinking. Just the spell, he concludes in the end. It's just the spell making him act like this. It doesn't actually mean anything. It'll wear off soon and then he'll be back to normal, without the urge to please Cas by bringing him gifts or be as close to him as possible.
* * *
Back in the other room, Sam is unable to keep his mouth shut and he grins at Cas once Dean leaves.
"You know what he was doing right?" he asks. Cas shakes his head and Sam refrains from cackling evilly. "He was marking his territory. Cats like putting their scent all over things that they think belong to them."
Sam chuckles when he sees Cas blush about twenty different shades of red as he realizes that Dean's behavior is very possessive in cat-langauge. Sam's not sure if his brother knows that that's what he's doing, but he knows that once this wears off, he's going to tell him every little thing he did that basically plastered the words 'Property of Dean Winchester" all over Cas. Personally, Sam can't wait to see the expression on his face when he tells him.
Dean can't wait for this stupid spell to wear off because then he won't have to worry about acting like a clingy boyfriend every time Cas is in the room. It's absolutely ridiculous. Each time he sees Cas, he perks up like he's just been given the best news of the day. He can't resist going over and pressing close to him. It's embarrassing and Dean's just glad that he can blame it on the spell. There's no way he actually would do this if he were in his right mind, though Sam's stupid suggestive face and smug looks seem to say otherwise.
After arguing with himself for a good few minutes, Dean decides that he really doesn't care what the other two think. It's the spell's fault anyway so he might as well let it do what it wants. Who knows, maybe that will make it go away faster? And besides, he's missing his favorite show. So he ends up going back and doesn't fight it when somehow he ends up sprawled on top of Sam, just to annoy him.
"Aw, isn't that cute?" Sam says, laughing and petting his hair. Dean bats his hand away and that's just not fair. Sam actually doesn't care and there's really no point in pestering him if he's going to be like that. Instead, he migrates over to where Cas is and proceeds to lay down with his head on the angel's legs.
"Dean!" Cas exclaims, blushing and trying to shove him away. Dean just smirks and headbutts Cas in the stomach to make him shut up.
"Quiet Cas. I'm watching my show. And you're comfy, so quit moving," he says. Cas sighs above him and after a few minutes, Dean feels his fingers carding through his hair. He hums low in his throat and hears Sam mutter something about how he can't hear the show over Dean's purring. He doesn't care though. It's the spell making him do it and it's not like he can help it if Cas smells really good and makes a convenient, comfy spot to rest his head on.
It isn't until later that he realizes he completely missed whatever was going on in his show and really, he can't bring himself to care, because he's half asleep and Cas is petting him and things are just awesome. He hears Sam get up and a few seconds later, there's the click of a camera. He looks up to see Sam smirking and Cas blushing and he rolls his eyes before sitting up.
"Seriously? I'm trying to nap," he says a little snarkily. If he had claws, he'd totally be scratching Sam's stupid face right now. His little brother shrugs but Dean can't even summon the energy to get off the couch, especially when Cas starts rubbing his back. Dean purrs, smiling as he pushes back into the touch. Sam laughs again and Dean doesn't really care if he keeps taking pictures because he feels great, like nothing's wrong in the world at all.
Later
"Wait, I did what ?" Dean exclaims. It's the third time in as many minutes that he's said those words in relation to the frankly quite embarrassing things he did while he was part cat. He can't believe that he brought Cas flowers . He might as well stand outside his bedroom window and serenade him for God's sake! Dean's aware that he's blushing hard, face red as a tomato while Sam explains his random behavior.
"It was kinda cute though," Sam says. "Especially when you were rubbing up on him like you were claiming him or something. Cats do that, you know. When they like someone they mark them with their scent so everyone knows that thing's off limits."
"What are you trying to say? That I like Cas?" Dean says.
"Well that's what it looked like. You certainly weren't bringing me flowers or anything," Sam replies, smirking like the smug idiot he is.
"Well, you're wrong. We're just friends. There's no way I could like him like that," Dean insists. Sam raises an eyebrow as if to say 'oh really?' and Dean glares at him. He totally doesn't like what his brother's implying here.
"It was just the spell," he says for the hundredth time.
"Sure, Dean," Sam replies. "Just keep telling yourself that."
Dean huffs in frustration and spins around to go back to his room. He forgot how annoying little brothers can be sometimes. Just as he's about to leave, the sound of wingbeats draws his attention.
"Has the spell worn off?" Cas asks, staring at Dean curiously. The hunter can't control the way he blushes at the sight of the angel. The memory is vague, but he can still somewhat remember the way he'd stuck to Cas like glue, purring and rubbing all over him.
"I don't know," Sam answers before Dean can get a word out. He shoves his brother into Cas' arms. "Maybe you should pet him and find out."
"Sam!" Dean exclaims in mortification. He freezes when he feels a warm hand brushing through his hair. As if on instinct, his eyes close and he presses a little closer. He just barely refrains from purring low in his throat and instead directs all his power into glaring at Sam.
"You know you love it," Sam teases. "I'll leave you two alone now."
With that, Sam picks up his book from the table and practically saunters away like he's hot stuff or something. Dean scoffs and shakes his head.
"Can you believe him?" Dean says, looking down at Cas.
Cas shrugs.
"I don't know. I quite liked you bringing me gifts. And you know," he mutters, other hand rubbing circles on Dean's back. "I like petting you."
Dean groans and buries his head in Cas' shoulder. He hears the angel chuckle and the hand in his hair scratches at his scalp a little to calm him. And if Dean clings a little tighter, pushes a little closer, well, that's totally the side effects of the spell wearing off.