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“Ok, from the top,” Dean says as he drums his fingers over the wheel.
Sam looks up for a quick second and smiles, before turning his attention back to the book in his hands. He knows this list by heart.
The leather in the backseat squeaks, and Castiel leans forward with a stern face.
“Okay.”
He coughs.
“Robert... Plant,” he says, his voice going up at the end and making it sound almost like a question.
“Yes, good. And?”
Castiel closes his eyes for a second. It was something with a 'J'.
“Ji... Jim Page?” he tries.
“Almost! Come on Cas, you got this.”
“Jimmy Page.” Castiel says quickly with sudden confidence.
“Right on!”
Dean is smiling.
The trees on either side of the car flies by them, and the sun is low on the horizon. To Castiel it feels like five minutes, but he had heard Sam complain about wanting to stop for coffee earlier because they had apparently been driving for six hours.
“The next ones should be easy enough, Cas.” Sam mumbles, buried in his book.
“I do know that there's something with a 'J' in it,” he answers almost matter-of-factly.
He thinks for a long moment. James?
“James-”
“Not James,” Dean interrupts him.
“Dean, the people in this music assemble have too many J's in their names.”
Dean snorts and takes a quick glance in the mirror to see his angel buddy struggle with remembering the names. They've gone over them two times already.
“First off, Cas, it's a rock group. 'Music assemble' makes it sound like, like a symphony or something else just as boring.”
“Actually, I think that some of Mozart's symphonies are-” Sam starts before he's immediately shot down by Dean's fake snoring.
“Alright, alright..!”, Sam rolls his eyes and goes back to his book.
“Ok, I'll give you a hint. It's a major one, so if you don't get it now I'm seriously starting to question your supposedly good angelbrain memory. My dad's name..”
“John Winchester. John Bonman. Bonham. Yes, it's John Bonham.”
“Alright, three down, one to go. I'm not helping you this time,” Dean says, as to which Castiel sighs in return. He would have remembered eventually, he didn't need assisting.
“The last one is also named John. But his last name..” Castiel trails off and clicks his tongue in mild irritation. Why humans had the need for last names was beyond him.
“A Pope's had that name,” Sam quips.
“Come on, Sam! I said no helping!”
While Castiel quietly goes through the names of all the different Popes, chronologically from the beginning, Sam closes his book and turns around.
“The Beatles. Think of the names of The Beatles,” Sam provides and sees Castiel light up a little.
“Ah, yes. John, Paul.. John Paul,” Castiel says and smiles proudly.
“How come you remember the names of the guys in The Beatles, and not Led Zeppelin?” Dean asks, and Castiel is not missing the accusing tone.
“I do quite enjoy their compositions, Dean.”
“Yeah, whatever. Last name on John Paul. Nail this and I'll let you be the King of the Backseat.”
“No pressure,” Sam adds, faking enthusiasm.
Castiel sits back and looks around. He had no desire of becoming the king of anything. He was an angel, and he had no need to own things. Not in the material sense anyway. On the other hand he quite liked to be able to ride in the car along with the brothers, and lately nobody but him occupied the space there.
Castiel let his hand slide over the leather gently, the smooth surface cold and soft under his fingers. He knew how much the car meant to Dean. How much it meant to both of the brothers. This car was their home.
Dean was offering him to be a part of it, Castiel thought to himself.
He had to prove his worth, and apparently remembering the names of musicians seemed somewhat important to humans.
“I got it.”
Dean quirks an eyebrow at him in the mirror and the angel smiles back contently.
“Yeah? Well, spit it out then.”
“John Paul Jones.”
“Heey, we have a winner!”
“Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones,” Castiel says quickly as Sam gives him a thumbs up. Castiel lights up at that, looking between the two in the front in anticipation. A few moments go by, and Dean turns up the volume on the stereo. It's one of his Zeppelin cassettes, that's how they came to talk about them in the first place.
After another hour with no words spoken, just the three of them listening to the tape, Dean says he needs a few hours with his eyes closed and they stop at the next motel they find.
It's called “The Sunflower Inn”, but the neon keeps flickering, making it read “The Sunflo nn”.
Sam takes his book with him and says he'll go get the keys. Dean opens his door, but notice Castiel isn't following so he sits back down and looks at him.
“You gonna stay in the car?”
“No. I will go to Heaven and ask around if anyone has any information on Lucifer's whereabouts.”
“Alright. See ya, Cas.” Dean says and gets out. When he turns around he's facing Castiel again.
“What now, you don't expect a hug or anything, do you?” Dean asks and eyes the angel suspiciously.
“Dean,” Castiel says in that ever-serious tone and looks straight at him.
“What? You're creeping me out, Cas.”
“What you said earlier.. Can I have the backseat now?”
Castiel breaks the gaze, looks at the ground.
“Weren't you gonna go upstairs?”
“Yes, but..”, Castiel looks at him again with a painfully honest face before he continues. “I got all the names right, and you said I would be the King of the Backseat. Perhaps it was a joke?”
It suddenly dawned on Dean what Castiel was playing at and he couldn't help but laugh at how disappointed the angel sounded. It had been a joke, but then again, jokes weren't exactly Castiel's forte.
“Right, right. Of course, buddy, I'm a man of my word. The backseat is yours,” Dean said with a smile and slapped his friend on the back.
“Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah..” Dean sighs with a smile and sees Sam exiting the motel lobby with a key in his hand.
“So what's your favorite-” Dean starts to ask but realizes he's talking to air. “...Beatles song.”
Sam shuffles up beside him.
“Man, two of my cards have been revoked, we'll have to use one of your cards to pay tomorrow.”
“You got any trouble for it?”
Dean locks the car, and they go to find room 105.
“Nah, the guy behind the counter was stoned out of his mind, told me to pay before we leave tomorrow. I think he was more interested in watching Sesame Street than collecting the pay, to be honest.”
Dean snickers and puts the key in the lock. As he turns it a tiny breeze washes over them and suddenly Castiel is back.
“I Need You.”
The boys look completely baffled.
“I'm sorry, what?”
Cas looks at Dean intently and tries to ignore Sam's sudden amusement.
“My preferred Beatles' song. Also, 'Nowhere Man', as well as some others.”
And with that, he's gone again.
“I swear to God, Sammy, I'm just not keeping up with him sometimes,” Dean says tiredly and flings his jacket over a chair.
“Don't worry, I think that goes both ways,” Sam laughs over his shoulder and goes to the bathroom.
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” it comes muffled from the other side of the bathroom door. “Goodnight, Dean.”
“Nite, Sammy.”
Dean turns out the lights, and he's already snoring when Sam starts brushing his teeth.