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Dean woke up sneezing. It was strange, he thought, he usually never got sick. He turned in bed, seeking warmth from Castiel, but he wasn't with him. That was also strange. Since Cas became human, he was always sleeping later than Dean.
Dean slipped out of the bed, his naked feet touching the cold bunker floor. He put on a pair of sweat pants and a shirt and got out of his and Cas' room.
"Cas?" he called.
He walked in the hallway, to the kitchen, sneezing again, three times in a row.
"Dude, are you sick?" Sam asked from the coffee machine.
"I dunno," he replied. "I can't stop sneezing apparently, so maybe something's up."
"Coffee?" Sam proposed.
"Yes, please."
Sam handed Dean a warm cup. The older Winchester sat down, sipping on his coffee.
"Have you seen Cas? He wasn't with me when I woke up," Dean asked, sneezing again.
"I think he got up before me," Sam said. "He's probably in the main room, maybe in the library."
"Okay, thanks."
Dean stood up and went in the bunker's main room. He looked around, expecting so see Castiel sitting down at the big table with some books opened. They were working on a case, so maybe Castiel wanted to go ahead and do a bit of research. The former angel was indeed sitting there, but he wasn't surrounded by books like Dean thought. There was a box in front of Cas and the closer Dean got, the itchier his nose became. And Castiel was actually cooing at the box. What was up with that?
"Cas?"
The former angel jumped at the sound of Dean's voice.
"Hello," he said. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah," Dean replied, "but I've been sneezing like crazy since I got up..."
Castiel looked away, a guilty expression on his face.
"Cas?" Dean asked, "What's in the box?"
Castiel pulled the box against him, closing it in the process.
"Nothing," he answered too quickly.
A sound resembling a whimper came from the box, muffled by the cardboard. Castiel wore an embarrassed expression and Dean raised an accusing eyebrow. Then he sneezed. Cas sighed.
"I'm sorry, Dean... I heard her this morning, she was outside, it was raining, I couldn't leave her there! She was freezing and trembling..."
"'She'?"
Castiel reluctantly let go of his hold on the box and opened it. Dean tried to take a peek inside, but he sneezed instantly, closing his eyes. He didn't just sneeze once, though. Dean was in a "sneezing fit". When it finally stopped, his head was spinning. He sat down next to Cas, who handed him a tissue.
"Thanks," Dean said in a low voice.
He then finally got to see what was in the box.
"A cat? You got a cat in here?"
Dean suspected it, of course. The sneezing, Cas being all protective, the 'she'...
"We can put her back outside when the rain will be over... I know you're allergic to them, but I wanted to offer her shelter... She's just a baby," Castiel weakly said.
Dean was allergic, but he finally saw Castiel be happy. He was able to get out of the bunker without help to walk, his wounds were closing, he was getting used to the whole “being human” thing… There were a lot of huge steps that Cas took in the last few days. He even got a few tattoos! Okay, those were to remove himself from angel radar and an anti possession like Sam and Dean had. And seeing Cas to weak made Dean want to keep him smiling, as sappy as it could get. But he’d never say that out loud.
"It's fine, you clearly like her a lot. We'll have to get me some allergy pills, though. And I have to say, she's really cute."
Dean carefully took her in his hands and looked at her more thoroughly. The kitten was white with orange on her ears and tail. She had mismatched eyes, her left green and her right blue. She was so, so small, holding in Dean’s palm, not even frightened. On the opposite, she was purring with content.
“Her left eye reminded me of yours,” Castiel said with a smile.
Dean was still holding the kitten in his arms, playing with her. He quickly turned his head away to sneeze.
“But look,” Dean remarked, “she has one blue, like yours.”
He couldn’t believe how domestic their relationship was getting already. He was surprisingly okay with it.
“Did you think of a name?” Dean asked.
“Azrael,” Castiel answered bluntly.
“As in… the angel of death?”
“I was very fond of her.”
“’Her’?”
“Despite what they say in the lore, Azrael took a female vessel more often than a male one. I didn’t spend a lot of time with her, but I rather enjoyed her company.”
“Okay, Azrael it is, then,” Dean replied, still holding the purring kitten. When he nose was too itchy, he put her down in the box and sneezed.
“I really need to get this allergy thing sorted…”
Castiel picked Azrael up and laughed. His laugh made Dean’s heart swell.
~~~
They were now laying in bed, the allergy pills on the nightstand. Dean took a few, following the instructions on the label (he was just going to take a few, but Castiel insisted he followed the recommendations). He had Castiel curled up beside him with Azrael asleep on his chest. He had a hand in his partner’s hair, petting it slowly until Castiel’s breathing evened out and his eyes fluttered closed. He looked at both of the beings sleeping with him and he felt happy, safe. Like nothing could ruin what he had. He felt immensely lucky to have them with him.
Dean then spent the whole night awake, since he couldn’t breathe properly because of his allergies.
He would never give the kitten away, though. He had to keep his Castiel happy and smiling.