Chapter Text
According to Castiel's mother he wasn't particularly good at predicting people. Castiel had never put much thought into it because he had no interest in people and he wasn't as fearful of the manifold dangers his mother saw lurking in human society. Besides, he was perfectly capable of predicting them.
That was why he knew that even though he had wrestled an agreement for a brood meeting out of him, Dean wouldn't be a reliable partner. Maybe he would show up sporadically, so that he could claim having contributed, but he would hardly want to actually help. So Cas made no adjustments to his carefully crafted schedule for the next three months. He measured and adjusted the egg's temperature, administered the recommended amount of skin contact and expertly ignored the stares and whispers of his non-dragon classmates when he brought the egg along for lectures. He got this and he was able to do it alone. This was mere practice.
He had almost forgotten about Dean (or at least made a valiant effort not to think about him) by the time 1 PM rolled around and was accordingly taken by surprise to find Dean lingering by his door with a huge grin. Castiel was too distracted by his gleaming fangs and his general presence to say much.
"Dude, you bring Hatchiette to class?" Dean asked, nodding at the sling Cas had wrapped around his chest, the egg carefully tucked inside. That managed to shake Cas out of his stupor.
Maybe there was some grain of truth to his mother's assessment of his so-called flaw. He hadn't expected Dean to actually show up.
"Of course. I can't let it be unsupervised." Dean lifted an eyebrow.
"Aren't nests usually unsupervised for plenty of time? It's not like you guys sit on the eggs all day," he wondered, not moving from his spot in front of the door while Castiel pulled out his key.
"Sitting on the egg at this stage is strongly discouraged as the shell hasn't hardened enough to take that kind of pressure," Castiel snapped. Dean rolled his eyes, then he put his hand on the door to Cas' apartment. Castiel shot it and then the alpha attached to the arm, an alarmed look.
"What? You're not gonna let me in?" Dean teased. Castiel had half a dozen arguments to this, but none of them sounded particularly convincing even to himself. "You're an alpha!" made Cas sound like he was a scandalized damsel in fear of her virtue and as it was the argument on the forefront of Cas' mind he should better say nothing at all.
Instead, Castiel snorted and brushed past Dean and his provocation, unlocking his door and slipping inside. He let his eyes drift over his space swiftly, before he turned and opened the door to Dean. Dean grinned and stepped inside. Castiel didn't wait to receive a verdict from Dean, but walked across the room to put the egg down into the nest by the bed. Cas wasn't particularly fond of the place; even though it was bare, it was small enough that the little furniture Cas had made it look cluttered. He had a small kitchen nook, a desk for studying and eating at, a bed next to the window and a small couch. But he also had a bathroom that he didn't have to share, which made this all somewhat acceptable. Acceptable, but not particularly appealing, a sentiment that not only his mother but also Dean seemed to share.
But contrary to Castiel's assumption, Dean didn't feel the need to comment on it. He dropped his bag and sat down on the couch.
"Alright!" he announced but then didn't say anything else, looking up at Cas with something akin to expectation. Cas only titled his head, prompting Dean to explain what he wanted: "Do you have something to drink?"
It was a universally acknowledged truth that dragons were not especially renowned for their hosting abilities or willingness to entertain guests in their dwellings. Apparently, Dean wasn't aware of this.
"I'm not used to host guests," Castiel told him, caught off guard.
"That's all right! It's pretty easy. Just offer your guest something to drink and you've already done a good job," he said and Cas couldn't quite make out if he was being ridiculed. Dean's expression was friendly enough and he turned away from Cas to grab something out of his backpack. Cas sent him one more glance, before he turned to the kitchen nook and got out two glasses from the cupboard. Luckily, he actually did own two. Both of them had human cartoon prints on them that Cas wasn't familiar with. They had held mustard once upon a time and his mother never threw them out, certain that they could be passed down to Cas to start his own hoard. Cas was 100 percent sure that he didn't want his hoard to be cartoon covered glasses, but he didn't have enough money to be picky about what he drank out of.
"I have Sprite," he finally offered, reaching for the bottle. It was the only thing he had next to water and tea.
"Yeah, whatever you have is fine!" Dean called distractedly, scribbling something on a notepad. Cas was a bit uneasy to have him at his back, but he filled the two glasses and took them to the couch. He didn't have a side table so he put a book on the couch and set the glasses down on it. It would do.
"Thanks, Cas," Dean said, taking a sip. "So, what are you studying?" Cas eyed him warily, earning him an amused snort. "This is called small talk. People do it." Now Cas was sure that he was being teased.
"We're not people. We're dragons."
"We're still people," Dean said with a laugh. "Just humor me! I haven't seen you since we graduated high school!" Which had been last summer, so hardly a long time ago, especially for people who weren't friends. Castiel refrained from pointing it out.
"History…" Dean snapped his fingers.
"Should have known! You were always a history nerd, like Sammy! Let me guess. You want to work at a museum once you grow up," Dean said with a wink and Cas couldn't help being offended. Of course he wanted to work at a museum, it was a perfectly respectable job. Dean reacted by lifting both hands defensively, one still holding his drink. "Dude, chill. I can tell you're two seconds away from roasting me to a crisp."
"That would achieve nothing but set off the fire alarm. Fire can't hurt you," Cas huffed in annoyance. Dean rolled his eyes.
"I just meant that it's one of the stereotypes that dragons like working in any field that involved hoards. Like a museum's collection or… or a zoo I guess."
"So is that what you're going to be? A zoo director?" Cas grumbled, hardly appeased by the explanation of the joke.
"Nope. I'm doing computer sciences. Programming and such. I've always liked solving problems that didn't involve grammar and remembering dates of human battles." Cas did remember that Dean had excelled in mathematics. Dean had excelled in pretty much anything.
"So I guess you're a dragon that likes riddles," Castiel said with a snort. It was meant to tease but Dean instead grinned happily.
"I sure am! I'm Smaug, just better looking and less rich," Dean answered after a short burst of laughter.
"Smaug…?" Dean stared at him, all the laughter gone in a flash, replaced by surprise.
"Dude, don't tell me you've never read The Hobbit!" Cas gave a small shake of his head, only adding to Dean's incredulity. "Tolkien?" Another shake of Cas' head followed. "Come on man! They're even making a movie of Lord of the Rings!" If Cas wasn't so irritated, he would have been amused by Dean's agitation. The alpha heaved a mighty sigh. "Whatever. Smaug's the dragon sitting on the dwarves' gold in The Hobbit." That vaguely rang a bell for Cas, though he didn't understand how Dean would like being compared to that dragon.
"I've never been particularly interested in human fiction. Especially if they involved dragons… My mother finds them offensive." Dean rolled his eyes at that which rubbed Cas the wrong way instantly. "We often are the bad guys and die. How could you possibly find that interesting?"
"It's fiction. And it's not really about us, but about what humans have thought to be a mythological creature for centuries. It's fun!" Castiel hardly found that a convincing argument but wasn't interested in a debate about fiction.
"Let's cut the small talk short. We're here to discuss the project in case you still insist on being involved," Castiel announced, feeling flustered and somewhat embarrassed even though he had no reason to be.
"I might still knock up some poor omega," Dean argued with a grin and yes, that was a worrying thought.
"What do you want to know?" Cas asked uneasily. "I think condoms work for alpha dragons as well as they do for human men. So maybe you should focus on contraceptives…?" Dean laughed at that.
"Dude! Let's just work this project together!"
"But… I've already planned it all out. You're just going to complicate the matter," Castiel insisted.
"Well, though luck. The task is for both of us, so stop hoarding it."
"I'm… I'm not hoarding it!" Cas argued hotly, "I'm just making sure I won't fail." Now it was Dean's turn to roll his eyes. Again.
"Come on. I'm not stupid and it's not like we'll be graded." Cas hardly found that a comforting attitude, but he had no good arguments to keep Dean uninvolved.
"Fine…" he managed to say eventually. Dean's expression lit up immediately.
"Great! Visyak said we have free reign in the first two weeks. I could take Hatchiette for a day and then we'd meet up, discuss and then you'll take her again and so forth," Dean offered. "Or you have her the first week and I take her the second week, so we both get to experiment individually."
"I… don't know… The omega is supposed to guard the egg." Cas could see a frown appear between Dean's brows again.
"Maybe back when our ancestors were still living in mountain caves, only swooping down into the valleys to steal some sheep four hundred years ago!"
"Assimilation to human culture is far more recent than four hundred years ago," Castiel argued. "And Alphas today still don't get involved. Whether they live in caves or among humans."
"Dude, my dad was just as involved in raising me as my mom was," Dean told him with a frown, then he studied Castiel's face. Some sort of cold feeling swept through Cas even as his face heated up under Dean's scrutiny. "I'm sorry if your dad was a shitty parent."
"I don't want to talk about my father," Cas forced out.
"Sure…" Silence reigned after that and while Cas rarely minded silence, he felt rather awkward. "Okay. Keep Hatchiette for today. I'll have to head to my next class soon. I'll drop by tomorrow. 4 PM okay for you?"
"I'm working at the gas-n-sip until 10 PM…"
"Well, then the day after tomorrow?" Dean wondered, "you're free during lunch, right?"
"Yes, I guess…" Castiel said. Dean nodded, then he stuffed his notes back into his backpack. "Sorry to cut the meeting short, but I have to run an errand before class." Castiel nodded and Dean emptied his glass in three quick gulps. "Nice glasses by the way. Rescue Rangers. Didn't peg you for a Disney cartoon guy." Cas frowned at him. "It's cute. I'm more of a Scooby Doo guy myself though."
"If you say so," Cas said, not even trying to understand what exactly Dean was referring to. He walked Dean to the door.
"Take care of Hatchiette," Dean told him, his expression and voice exaggeratedly serious.
"Of course," Cas said with a roll of his eyes and Dean's grin was back. "Good-bye, Dean."
"Bye Cas!" Cas watched him leave, an odd unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Even though Cas did his best to avoid his mother, he took a slow moment at work to call her. He had the egg on a little cushion under the counter, close enough to frequently check the temperature and cover it up with blankets if necessary.
"It's highly unusual for you to ask for advice," his mother said. "Or to heed it if I give it to you."
"I have nobody else to consult with," Cas said, earning himself a snort by his mother.
"I'm touched," she said in that tone of voice that indicated sarcasm. "But I have 5 minutes. Speak." Castiel checked the store again and glimpsed through the windows into the empty space at the gas pumps.
"University has arranged for another hatching class and I feel… unsettled by my alpha partner's insistence that he should be involved in the project. When we did it in high school my partner's involvement was more sabotage than help. And you have taught me that alphas are not involved in hatchings. He seems to have a different idea and it's… odd." His mother was quiet for a moment.
"How do his ideas differ?" she asked eventually.
"He suggested taking turns in caring for the egg and when I informed him that alphas aren't usually involved, he claimed that his father was as involved in his upbringing as his mother was," Castiel summed it up. He wasn't sure if he managed to get across why he was unsettled without bringing up what Dean had said about Cas' father. He just hoped his mother would say something without him having to mention it. But considering how the last 19 years of his life had gone when it got to the topic of fatherhood, he doubted she would be forthcoming.
"Some dragons feel more comfortable in human family structures, though as far as I know human males tend to avoid parental duty to some degree…," his mother told him. "Besides, maybe your partner has an intellectual interest in participating in the project. You're no longer in high school. He might be as much of an academic as you are." Castiel heaved a sigh. "Who is your partner?"
"It's Dean Winchester."
"Oh." Castiel frowned, unsure how to interpret that.
"We went to the same high school."
"I know, Castiel. There weren't many dragons in Pontiac so I am aware of the Winchesters," she answered with a sniff. Cas hoped that she would elaborate because clearly she had some thoughts about the family but the silence drew on for too long. "Well. Humor him then." That took Cas by utter surprise.
"But what if he makes me fail?"
"Then you will have learnt a valuable lesson as well," she told him curtly. "I'm sorry, Castiel, but I'll have to attend to patients."
"Of course. Thank you for your time, mother," Castiel said, then he hung up the phone. He looked at the egg, then he sighed. Humoring Dean. That didn't sound very enticing. It didn't seem like his mother expected Dean to do anything else but play at being an alpha father. Of course, the very nature of this exercise was make-believe.
Castiel was prevented from thinking about it further by the door opening.
"Hey Cas!" Castiel startled, but when he looked up to make sure if his ears had played a trick on him, he actually did find Dean standing in front of the counter. He grinned at him.
"I thought I could pay you a visit. How's Hatchiette doing?"
"I… What are you doing here?" Cas asked.
"I just told you?" Dean asked with a smile. "I'm paying a visit. Checking on you and the egg."
"I… uh…" Castiel couldn't find any words coming to him, but Dean continued to smile. (Which didn't make it any easier to switch on his brain.) "I've maintained the egg's temperature. I have put it under the counter for now because I got strange looks."
"Poor Hatchiette," Dean said with a laugh and Cas refrained from telling him that a real egg would hardly be impacted by the current placement. "Can I see her?" Now that the surprise of Dean's visit was wearing off, Cas found it in himself to narrow his eyes at him.
"You do know that it's not a real egg. There are no benefits to seeing it."
"I'm just method acting," Dean said with a wink. Castiel frowned at him, but then his expression became blank. Right. This was a game to Dean and Cas was supposed to humor him. He bent down and got the egg. He held it out to Dean, who took it easily. But he handled it like it was a ball, not a living thing. Well, it wasn't a living thing. But Dean's hand position on the egg was atrocious.
"At three weeks after birth, an egg's shell is slowly starting to harden up but it's still very fragile. If you drop it now it would probably crack on the concrete floor," Castiel told him, keeping his voice calm.
"Relax, Cas. I'm not dropping it," Dean said with a laugh. Then he studied the egg. "Hello Hatchiette. How was your day, sweet thing? Did mommy keep you warm?"
"What are you doing…?"
"Talking to the child obviously! She's got ears at this stage of development, doesn't she?" He put the egg on the counter, softly enough not to make Cas flinch. "But if she fell and cracked she wouldn't make it."
"No. Obviously not… Eggs who crack die," Cas informed him. The pamphlets were very clear on that.
"Well…," Dean said, drawing out the word, but if he was going to say more, then Nora coming into the store cut him short.
"Hi Cas!" Castiel lifted his hand in greeting. "Is that your baby's daddy?" Dean turned around and Cas got to witness how Dean looked Nora up and down, an appreciative smile on his lips.
"Yeah, I'm Dean. I came to check on Hatchiette, I hope that's alright."
"We're not calling it that," Castiel interjected before Nora could get the wrong idea. While Nora was taking off her jacket, she looked from Cas to Dean, her expression open and curious.
"Yeah, sure! Cas' shift is ending soon anyway, you can take your little family home then," she said with a wink. Then she went to the back where the staff room was. Castiel shook his head.
"Do you really carry Hatchiette everywhere you go? Isn't that a bit much?" Dean wondered, patting the egg distractedly, while his eyes wandered to the shelf that held the pornographic magazines.
"This way I can be certain that the egg maintains ideal temperature," Castiel informed him.
"But you also expose her to potentially dangerous situations that she wouldn't be exposed to if she just stayed in a cozy little nest. If you're so worried about ideal temperature then you could either get a heat lamp or an incubator," Dean argued. Castiel had to concede that Dean's argument had some merit to it. "A real dragon wouldn’t carry around her egg all the time either. It would stay in the nest, while she goes to the valley to steal sheep from poor farmers."
"I am a real dragon," Castiel said, his eyes narrowed. Dean shrugged dismissively. "I am a real dragon, just like you! And what is it with you and sheep stealing?"
"Come on Cas, I'm just joking," he said but he sounded slightly annoyed, despite the smile on his lips. "But we're not like those dragons, in the past. Huge creatures breathing fire and terror, sitting on dragon gold. None of us have caves and hoards. Or a weakness for gold and virgins." The last part he said with an exaggerated wink.
"My family does have an ancestral cave. And just because we have assumed human shape out of necessity doesn't mean that our true forms aren't still in our blood. In our instincts," Castiel argued but clearly Dean wasn't having it, if the annoyed roll of his eyes was any indication.
"Please, Cas. It's not instinct that makes you want to keep Hatchiette close. It's textbook learning! Just like it's textbook learning that makes you look like I'm juggling with a grenade when I don't maintain ideal handling position!" Castiel widened his eyes in surprise which had Dean scoff. "I'm not an idiot, Cas."
"I never said you were, but I have to take this seriously. Because I am an omega, Dean. I will be bearing an egg eventually, whether I want to or not. And whether it's instinct or textbook learning or just plain terror, I will make sure that I do it right!" Dean widened his eyes in surprise. "And I will most likely be doing it alone because that's still how it is for the majority of dragon omegas out there. And this is especially how it is for someone who is deemed unfortunate." That little speech left Dean just as surprised as it did Cas. He really hadn't meant to say any of that. He lowered his head, feeling his cheeks burn in shame.
"Cas, you alright out there?" Nora asked and when Cas turned around he saw her poking her head out of the staff door, her eyes fliting from Cas to Dean.
"Yes. If you're ready I'm leaving." Nora nodded, her expression uncertain. But Cas didn't dwell on it. He grabbed his bag and he put the egg back into the blanket. He left his place behind the corner and then he passed Dean without glancing at him. "Good night, Nora."
He stepped out into the cool November air and made sure to wrap the egg up a bit firmer. Again, that unsettled feeling had a hold of him but now he could also identify what he felt a bit clearer. He was angry. Yes. He was angry and he felt humiliated. Not exactly because of what Dean had said, but more because of what he had been brought to say himself. His insecurities and his lot in life weren't for Dean to hear. They weren't for anybody. His mother understood, like her mother understood. A whole long blood-line of omegas before him understood this one very basic thing about themselves, about their worth, about alphas. Dean showing up and saying controversial things didn't change it.
"Hey, my car's here," he heard Dean call, when he walked towards the bus stop. He thought about being stubborn, but in the end he turned around and walked up to Dean, a glare on his face as he met Dean's eyes. Dean did look grim, but he also looked a bit uneasy. Good then.
Dean opened the door to his car, the same one he had driven back in high school, pretty much too big and conspicuous for their school or their suburb.
"Sorry," Dean muttered when they were sitting in the car, driving back to campus. Cas didn't say anything. "Tomorrow then," he continued when they were in front of Cas' dorm building.
"Fine." Cas got out and slammed the door.