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The younger Winchester was sitting at a table in the library, when it happened. The bunker had been silent for a few hours and therefore Sam had thought it would be a good idea to use the rare silence for some research. He'd already read through three whole chapters of some Persian story about an angry spirit killing people with their most beloved things, when he heard it.
A roaring, horrendous sound echoed through the halls of their home. Just one second later it happened once more and Sam identified said noise as a tremendous sneeze. The third was followed by a bunged up shouted ‘Son of a bitch!’.
Sam let out a deep sigh before standing up and checking on his brother. Whenever Sam settled in the library Dean was usually at his room to avoid his brother asking for help with the research. That's were Sam was heading but he stopped right in the middle of the hallway as the loud voices of Dean and the newly human Castiel caught his attention. They seemed rather angry and right in the middle of an argument. Sam didn't mean to listen to his brother and their mutual friend fighting, but regarding their volume he would have heard them in every corner of the bunker anyway.
“Cas, I said no!” His brother's voice sounded muffled like something was held in front of his mouth.
“Dean, your arguments are invalid! I don't get why you wouldn't allow this.” Cas argued.
“Because my nose is running like hell thanks to this freaking fur-ball!” Dean removed whatever was in front of his face and Sam could hear him sniffing.
“It's not my fault that you seem to be allergic to almost everything!” Cas replied sassily and Sam couldn't suppress a snicker.
“Not to everything but to those little monsters!” Dean's sniffing became worse and Sam heard him sneeze again. The ground started to shake.
Sam stepped in the door hold of his brother's room and was greeted with a more than unusual situation. Dean was standing in front of his bed, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, his arms crossed in front of his chest. His nose was constantly twitching and his eyes were red and a bit swollen. Of course that wasn't so much out of the ordinary since Dean was in fact allergic to a couple more things than he'd like to admit. No, the oddest thing was definitely the enormous, grayish and rather ugly cat in Cas' arms. Its fur was ravaged, there was a piece of ear missing and it seemed like it lost on of its amber-colored eyes. Cas, who was only in one of Dean's shirts and boxers by the way, had his arms wrapped around the struggling animal like his life depended on it.
“Sam!” Dean called with a sign of relief, hoping his brother would side with him. Cas turned his head and the cat let out a threatening hiss.
“Please tell Cas that we can't keep this- this beast!” Castiel scolded him and patted the cat's head in a defending manner. Dean raises his eyebrows, waiting for help from his brother.
Sam took a moment to consider his choices. Taking care of a cat was definitely something none of the brothers had the time and patience to do, but since Cas stayed at the bunker most of the time anyway it wouldn't concern him that much.
“I don't know, Dean.” Sam replied. “Why not let him have the cat?”
Dean opened his mouth and stammered something about betrayal, before stopping right in the middle of a sentence. His whole face scrunched together and his head snapped back when he let out another sneeze that had the walls shaking.
“That's why! Because a single hair of this thing makes my life hell. I can't breathe properly, I can't see a thing because my eyes are burning and my whole face is itching so bad I want to rip it off.” Dean inhaled to keep going with the fierce argumentation, but stopped when Cas gave him a sad look.
“Come on, Dean.” Sam threw in. “You can take medicine. Let him have-”
“It's okay, Sam. I guess it would be too much to ask for.” Cas interrupted. “It's just that- I have no one to talk to when you're out and since you still refuse to take me on your hunts I wished for a companion while staying at the bunker.”
Sam knew that Cas was trying to make Dean feel guilty and the puppy eyes just confirmed that. It seemed to be working though. Dean's face softened and he started scratching the back of his head. Cas used it to keep going.
“She was so alone when I found her. Without any family or friends. It reminded me of myself. How I had to cope with being on my own and living on the streets. Guess we have more in common than I intentionally thought since you want to kick her out as w-”
“Alright, alright, leave it. Keep the damn cat. But you have to watch out for it!” Dean sounded utterly defeated, but he couldn't help the smile creeping up his face when he saw how Cas' expression brightened. He let the cat drop to the ground, which it used to race out of the room, and threw himself into Dean's arms.
“Thank you, Dean.” The ex-angel muttered. Dean's face was bright red and he shot his brother a look that Sam caught as a sign to leave.
With a smile on his lips and a winning feeling on his mind, he left the two men alone and went back to the library to continue his research. He was greeted by the cat laying back on the table and covering half of his book. He petted the fuzzy stomach and the cat started to purr.
He didn't see his brother and Cas for another two hours, but when he passed the door to Dean's room later, he heard another deafening noise, sounding like two men snoring side by side. It was nothing he hadn't heard before and he would hear it another hundred times.
A pleasant purr would join them from time to time.