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Changing the timeline was dangerous. Castiel was well aware of this. But, really, what harm could come from such a mild change?
The boys were trapped in their room, locked in not by any physical barrier but by the wrath of John Winchester. Dean had already snuck out once, going after food, gotten caught by John, and now even his and Sam’s hunger wasn’t enough. Castiel knew better than to attempt to knock. He’d have to break in. Thankfully, John Winchester knew nothing about angels, especially how to ward against them.
He materialized in the room, invisible at first. Sam was curled up on the bed pretending to sleep, while Dean watched a movie. Star Wars. Castiel recognized it easily from the times he’d watched it with the brothers. “Hello, Dean.”
Dean jumped, and even at nine years old he had a gun in his hand pointed at Castiel. His hands only shook a little. “What are you? How did you get in here?”
“I’m an angel, and there’s no such thing as a wall or locked door that my kind cannot pass through.” Just a small lie.
He hadn’t forgotten Dean’s skepticism. He just had hoped that at nine, he wouldn’t be as cynical as he would be twenty years of Earth time and forty years of Hell later. He was wrong. “No such thing as angels. Mom always said angels were watching over me, but where were they when she burned up?”
“Not allowed to intervene. It was part of a grand plan…”
Dean groaned and glared at Castiel. “Oh, spare me the ‘God has a plan’ bullshit. If God exists, he’s a dick.”
“Now that, you have right,” Castiel muttered. Louder, he continued, “I didn’t say it was God’s plan. It was Michael and Raphael’s plan to kickstart God’s plan for the end of the world. It was discovered too late, but Sam managed to stop it. With a little help from you, me, and Bobby Singer.”
Dean’s hands shook a little harder, but he trained the gun on Castiel’s heart. “I’d remember helping stop the end of the world.”
“Not now. It was many years from now. Angels can time travel. I’m from over twenty-five years in your future.”
“Why are you here, then? Trying to stop the plan early?”
“No. Changing the timeline usually causes disastrous consequences. I’m here to take you and Sam to play. Here.” Castiel reached into a pocket and tossed Dean a small bag of candy corn.
Dean caught it easily, still keeping the gun on Castiel. “The hell is this?”
“Candy corn. I’m told it’s traditional for someone who wants to lure kids out to play to offer candy first.”
“Oh my god, someone was screwing with your head. That’s how creeps lure kids in so they can torture and kill them.”
Oh. It appeared Castiel needed to have a word with Dean when he got back to his own time. “I have no intent of torturing you or killing you, you have my word.”
“Which I can trust because you’re an angel.”
Castiel smiled. “Not if you know what’s good for you. Angels are just as prone to lying as demons, when it suits their purposes. Which you can trust because years from now, you and Sam are my closest friends.”
“Prove it.”
“The first time you watched Return of the Jedi, you were confused about why Leia being Luke’s sister meant they couldn’t still be together. Your dad didn’t do a good job explaining it to you, and it’s a lesson you never really learned.”
Dean’s eyes got really big. “Dad’s the only one I ever told that to. So either you’re from the future and you’re a good enough friend that I’d have told you that, or Dad sent you to test me.” The gun wavered, and finally dropped. “Dad would’ve given you something else. He hates that I don’t get what the big deal about them being brother and sister is.”
Sam sat up, stretching in a poor attempt to fake having just woken up. “Dean? What’s going on?”
Dean rolled his eyes and tossed Sam the bag of candy corn. “We’re going outside. Come on, you need to get out of this room.”
Castiel produced another bag of candy corn which he gave to Dean. “I did bring enough for both of you.”
“Oh.” Sam got up and got his coat. Dean smirked and rolled his eyes fondly as he got his own coat.
Castiel led them a short way away from the motel, to a place where there were a lot of deciduous trees with leaves that he had arranged in a pile. “You told me once, when I asked about the tradition of jumping in leaf piles, that you had never done it. I can’t change the timeline in a big way, but I see no harm in this.”
“Okay, but you have to jump first so we know it’s safe,” Dean said.
Castiel did, and several hours later, he had rebuilt the pile several times for the boys to destroy and stomp in. It was starting to get dark. “I’m sorry, but I have to go, which means that you two need to get back to your room. Your father will be arriving tonight. Remember, if anyone asks: you stayed inside and watched TV all day.”
Once the boys were inside, Castiel went invisible. He blocked their memory of the day temporarily.
When he returned to his own time, neither of the boys were in the Bunker. He investigated, and found them outside, in the woods, raking. He looked at them curiously. “What are you doing?”
Dean and Sam both tossed him a bag of candy corn. “Reliving our childhood, now that we actually remember it,” Sam said.
“And still trying to figure out the big deal about Luke and Leia being brother and sister. Yeah, the whole incest kids is weird, but have you seen Kylo Ren? Not really sure how him being Luke’s son instead of Han’s could’ve made him any worse.” Dean nodded at the candy corn. “Sorry about the misunderstanding about the candy.”
“Will you two be demonstrating the safety of the leaf pile for me?”
Sam tossed his rake to Castiel. He leapt. Once again, they had a good time romping in the leaves for hours, although this time, there were elements that hadn’t been there when Sam and Dean were children. It was a good thing they were so far from any neighbors, as Castiel was rather loud.
Dean spent the next few days complaining about finding crunchy leaf bits in his ass.