trinityofone: (Default)
trinityofone ([personal profile] trinityofone) wrote2010-01-02 12:15 pm
Entry tags:

Fic: Fair Is Fowl (Dean/Castiel)

Title: Fair Is Fowl
Rating: PG
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Spoilers: General S5, specific through 5x04
Length: 1,000 words
Summary: Dean and Cas resolve to stop being chicken.
Notes: Written for [livejournal.com profile] picfor1000. Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] siriaeve for encouragement. Also, I promise I got all the bad puns out of my system with the title and summary.

Fair Is Fowl

Dean’s only taken a few steps before he realizes that Castiel is no longer with him. He turns, and there’s the familiar trench-coated figure, standing frozen in the middle of the sidewalk. “Cas?” Dean says, striding back. There’s something odd about the angel’s expression: a little wide-eyed, a little slack-jawed. “You okay?”

When Castiel doesn’t respond, Dean follows his gaze to the shop window. If they’d arrived at the bookstore where Sam’s waiting, Dean could understand Cas becoming entranced, but this is a BBQ chicken joint whose mascot looks a little too enthusiastic about the prospect of being eaten. The window’s filled with rows of metal spits and a selection of much deader chickens, their flesh roasted to golden-brown perfection, turns slowly upon them. “Kind of hypnotic, isn’t it?” Dean says, before realizing that Castiel still hasn’t answered him. After a moment’s hesitation, he touches the angel on the shoulder. “Cas!”

“Dean,” Cas murmurs. And he does sound hypnotized; he sounds drugged.

“You okay, man?” As is often the case, Dean can’t tell whether he should be frightened or amused.

“Chickens, Dean,” Cas says.

Dean knows Castiel can go from seeming ancient to childlike in the space of a breath, but he never thought he’d regress to pointing at and naming random objects. It was cute when Sammy used to press against the Impala’s window and declare, “Train! Train!” but this is just...creepy.

Dean’s considering the possibility that this is a cursed BBQ chicken establishment when Castiel draws his shoulders up sharply, his gaze focusing. He raises the back of his hand to his mouth and unselfconsciously wipes away the dot of drool that’s accumulated there.

“Dean,” Cas says, his voice serious and purposeful again. “I think I’m hungry.”

“Oh.” Dean’s own shoulders relax. “That’s cool. Sam and I were gonna grab lunch once he’s done. We can even come here if you want.”

But Cas doesn’t mirror Dean’s smile—as lately he’s begun, tentatively, to do. Instead Castiel turns and regards Dean, silent and solemn. Dean blinks and then all at once he gets it, sharp as a blow to the stomach.

“Oh,” Dean repeats, in an entirely different tone. “Are you... Do you feel okay?”

“I feel empty,” Castiel states without inflection.

I can fix that, Dean wants to say. But he can’t, not really. And anyway: it’s his fault.

“Let me,” Dean tries, then changes tacks again. “Can I buy you something to eat?”

He watches Castiel swallow, Adam’s apple bobbing in the slender column of his throat. Dean used to have to remind himself that the man in front of him—with his rumpled hair and wide blue eyes—wasn’t really Cas. Now he has to force himself to remember the opposite: what he sees is increasingly what he’s got.

And what he has seems increasingly precarious. He doesn’t want to end up with that hollow-eyed ghost he met in 2014. He can’t let that happen. He won’t.

He leads Cas inside, buys him a BBQ chicken basket, fries, and—his parental impulses making themselves known—a carton of milk. Cas folds himself awkwardly into the booth, and Dean watches his eyes flicker closed, lashes dark strokes against his flushed cheeks. “Good?”

Castiel mumbles something inarticulate and licks BBQ sauce off his fingertips. Dean feels himself start to flush as well. Is this a happy moment or a sad one? Castiel appears to be enjoying himself, and yet—

“Do you want some of my fries?” Cas asks, setting down his milk carton. The liquid’s left a perfect white mustache across his upper lip, and Cas is of course oblivious, watching Dean earnestly, trustingly, and it’s all him, here, in the booth across from Dean. Elevated or reduced to this.

“Cas,” Dean says, and then he...moves, he guesses—lunges forward—because the next thing he knows he’s gripping Castiel’s coat by the collar and kissing the milk right off his lips.

“Right, so I’m not quite sure why I did that,” Dean says a moment later, his ass thumping back against the booth. Cas’ taste has engulfed his mouth, spicy and sweet and electric. Dean fights the urge to touch his lips, make sure they’re still there.

Castiel regards him. His mouth looks wet and messy, and his eyes seem neither ancient nor childlike. There is a knowing to his expression, an entirely earthly knowing.

“You were hungry,” he suggests. “You had a craving you needed to sate.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Once again, Dean doesn’t know whether he should be scared or amused, excited, hopeful. Until he figures it out, he’s gonna try to play it cool.

“Sometimes it’s best to acknowledge these things,” Cas says, his head taking on a contemplative tilt. “I tried for a long time to ignore what I was feeling, but eventually I had to...”

Dean swallows. “Give in?”

“Embrace it.”

Cas sounds sure of himself, his confidence apparent in the new way he’s lately begun to hold his body—the body he carries and nurtures as his own. Dean would like to believe it’s that easy: a simple matter of resolve. But he’s seen things Castiel hasn’t. He’s felt things of which Cas has of yet no knowledge and he knows that hunger is the least of it.

“This is a lot of stuff for you,” he says. “A lot all at once.”

But Cas just shakes his head. “I’ve made up my mind. I’m ready.”

Dean’s heart thumps. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation here.”

“They have chicken,” Castiel points out, making it clear that refraining from adding duh is a work of angelic restraint.

Dean feels himself wanting to smile, so he does. Smiling, he repeats, “You’re ready?”

“Yes,” says Castiel, seriously. “Just as soon as I finish my milk.”

He’s still new enough at this that he can’t seem to drink it without smearing it all across his mouth. It’s a good thing Dean’s there to help him clean it up.






My photographic inspiration.

[identity profile] tracy.livejournal.com 2010-01-02 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I love fics like this, a precious little moment but with so much going on underneath the surface. And the milk! Awww. I'm glad Dean is taking good care of him. ♥

[identity profile] trinityofone.livejournal.com 2010-01-02 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! How badly do I still just want them to hang out and have conversations? COME ON SHOW.

(Dean is still the best surrogate mommy ever. Trufax.)

[identity profile] polaris-starz.livejournal.com 2010-01-02 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Ngk, this is adorable. I love little moments with deeper significance.

[identity profile] 22by7.livejournal.com 2010-01-02 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I was in love right from the summary. Dean impulsively kissing a milk moustache off Castiel in public is this kind of exhilarating/hilarious moment that I'm sad I don't see much of in fandom. Also, I greatly approve of serious conversations being had over chicken.

[identity profile] mulder200.livejournal.com 2010-01-02 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow! I love how there is this deeper thread running throughout the silliness.

And the kissing was sweet!

[identity profile] ukshewolfe.livejournal.com 2010-01-02 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
This was lovely...I miss them both even more now. I wish the show would satisfy my appetite the way this fic does. * sigh *

[identity profile] jujuberry136.livejournal.com 2010-01-02 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Such a great scene. Love Dean's implusiveness paying off for once and Castiel's response (they have chicken).

So sweet.

Why doesn't the show give us more moments like this? I mean, Dean/Cas action would be awesome, but even just sitting around and talking. I WANT MORE.

Thanks for sharing!

[identity profile] hugglewolf.livejournal.com 2010-01-02 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
How can I find this funny, sweet and sad at the same time? I can just feel Cas aching for his loss, Dean aching for Cas and I'm aching for both of them. Argh, you killed me.

(in a good way)

[identity profile] aramley.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
I love this so much! It's so sweet with that undercurrent of seriousness that is just perfect.

[identity profile] ibroketuesday.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
This just adorable.
ext_267113: (Cas begging to seek Amy.)

[identity profile] juanitatequila.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
OMG when Cas was just staring at the chicken...SO CUTE. :3
sage: Still of Natasha Romanova from Iron Man 2 (spn: castiel)

[personal profile] sage 2010-01-03 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
eeeeeeeeeeeeee! They're so CUTE, omg! ♥s
ext_3740: the libertines > carl barât (faithfully)

[identity profile] disprove.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
They are so *precious*, aww.

[identity profile] blualbino.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
D'awww, how sweet. I'm totally going to think of this next time I eat chicken XD

[identity profile] cheerful-earl.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
Oooh, this was so adorable.

[identity profile] not-sally.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
When he stopped so suddenly I thought it was because of the angelic resemblance to the fowl, and what Castiel might find to be a barbarous massacre of the little feathery miracles.
Boy, am I dumb.
XD

[identity profile] trinityofone.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 03:53 pm (UTC)(link)
No, your idea is likewise hilarious! :D

[identity profile] sweetsyren.livejournal.com 2010-01-03 08:28 am (UTC)(link)
Okay - we need some moments like this in the show dammit!

Awesome stuff!

[identity profile] blue-flame88.livejournal.com 2010-01-04 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, adorable! :D

[identity profile] shadowbyrd.livejournal.com 2010-01-05 12:09 pm (UTC)(link)
This was lovely! So many good lines.

cute when Sammy used to press against the Impala’s window and declare, “Train! Train!” Aw!

buys him a BBQ chicken basket, fries, and—his parental impulses making themselves known—a carton of milk. &hearts

“Sometimes it’s best to acknowledge these things,” I like fics where Castiel's more clued in then Dean. I'm kind of sad that there aren't more of them.

[identity profile] arabella-w.livejournal.com 2010-01-06 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
It was adorable!

I loved how Dean analyzed all Cas' reactions and his confusion about how to feel about Cas becoming human was a little heartbreaking, but it made it perfect.

And now I have two wishes: 1. that the show would give us more of them together in easy company and 2. that there would be a BBQ chicken joint around here! I was drooling just like Cas when I read this: The window's filled with rows of metal spits and a selection of much deader chickens, their flesh roasted to golden-brown perfection, turns slowly upon them

[identity profile] marinarusalka.livejournal.com 2010-01-11 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
I love it! The Dean/Castiel interaction is great, and the image of Cas with a milk mustache is just too adorable.

[identity profile] monnasakura.livejournal.com 2010-01-20 03:42 pm (UTC)(link)
WOW. This is the first time pretty much EVER that I've read a sweet little feelgood fic and actually went "Ewww..." at the kiss scene. Because, -blech- milk mouth. But the feeling behind it was quite lovely! <3

[identity profile] inksheddings.livejournal.com 2010-01-31 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
Nicely done. I very much enjoyed.

[identity profile] angelshandprint.livejournal.com 2010-06-16 08:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Chickens, Dean" XP