Human Sickness - (3 Parts)

[Mercury]

A/N: So the motivation for this story kinda got lost in the sudden surge of spn fics, with so many popping up I felt this one would just be lost in the blur, but thanks to *lovely_lily* and the rule of three I have decided to do another final chapter, but with added sick!Dean. Enjoy

Human Sickness Pt.3

It was only the fourth time Castiel had woken up in a proper bed, but it was significantly less overwhelming experience than the previous times. His head was aching persistently and his pillow with damp with drool from having to breathe through his cracked lips. He wanted to sniff, but while his nose wasn’t as sore as his head, it still ached threateningly.

Instead, the ex-angel brought his hand to his nose and scrubbed at his nose with the back of his wrist. While he was embarrassed about doing something so... human, he was curled up in a cocoon of blankets and didn’t have to worry about the Winchesters seeing.

A deep tickle started in the back of his nose, and Castiel sighed. Humans got sick all the time, hence why the horseman, Pestilence, was so strong, but he didn’t know how they could handle this on a regular basis. It was irritating and highly unproductive.

He pulled some of the blankets up to his nose, in an attempt to maintain the stillness of the room.

“Hesshumft, Hushhhumpph! Hihhh...!” Castiel paused, breath hitching and sneeze stuck. He scrubbed at his nose with the blanket and blinked tears from his bright blue eyes. Curling up into a tighter ball, he wondered if this was his vessels way of rejecting his presence. From what Castiel could gather humans were able to continue daily activities, such as working, while they were sick, however he could not picture himself doing anything of the sort in this state.

Castiel sighed softly, and pulled himself up into a sitting position, leaning his head against the headboard. It was still dark outside; his impaired breathing must have prevented him from sleeping fully.

In the other bed, Sam was lying on his side, with his back to Castiel. His long hair was spread around the pillow, knotted and haphazard. Castiel brought his own had up to his hair self-consciously, and found that while one side remained untouched, the other was completely flattened. Not quite knowing how to tame it, Castiel tried simply shuffling his fingers through his dark locks until he felt both sides match.

“Hehtisshh!” The sneeze caught him off guard, and he quickly brought his hands down to his face. “Hihhcchhtt! Esshhhtt!” He panted slightly, keeping his hands cupped around his nose. The congestion was making his sneezes far less satisfying, and far more irritating, than they had been before. Castiel looked around to Sam, to make sure the nose hadn’t disturbed him.

Sam was awake in so as far as he was technically conscious. While it was too dark for Castiel to make out details, he could see had rolled onto his other side, and was watching him sleepily.

“Cas?”

“Sab.”

“What’re you doin’?”

“Sdeezing.”

“Oh... Okay then.” Sam yawned and blinked a few times. “You can take your hands away from your nose, you know.”

Castiel sniffled experimentally. “I dod’t think thad would be abrobriate.” He concluded.

Nodding, Sam pulled an arm from under his blankets and gestured in no particular direction. “There’s tissues on the bench.”

The rectangular box on the small table beside Castiel was empty, and although the ex-angel didn’t remember finishing them he conceded that he had definitely used enough to deplete the box. He thanked Sam, even though the human had already started to drift back into unconsciousness, and proceeded to slip out from underneath the many layers of bedding.

The cold air startled him. His vessel’s instincts told him to wrap his arms around himself, but he refused to move his hands from their cupped position, even though both Winchesters were asleep. He padded in bare feet across the small motel room.

The box of tissues was inconspicuously sitting on the kitchen bench. Castiel grabbed several tissues to blow his nose. He had spent a day of trial and error concerning how many tissues to use, and had come to a conclusion that three were sufficient. Sam had pointed out the impact it would have on trees, but Dean had countered that if God wanted them to save trees, then he would have made colds so annoying; Castiel hadn’t known how to respond, but continued to use three tissues anyway.

Once he was cleaned up, Castiel gave into the urge to cuddle himself while contemplating where the teabags were. He tried to muffle a cough into his fist as he poured water into the kettle, but he could have sworn he heard something else. He paused, setting the kettle down on the bench and tilted his head to the side, listening for the sound again.

“Hitknxtt.”

Castiel spun around. The strangled sound had come from the couch, which was odd. He approached the couch and walked around to see if anything was on the couch. There, he found Dean sprawled on his stomach, with one arm dropped over the side of the couch and brushing the carpet, while the other was wrapped around the pillow. His head, however, was not visible from underneath the pillow, and the lower half of his body was covered with a blanket.

After watching him for a moment, Castiel noticed Dean’s body tense.

“Hehgnxxt! Hihchnnggtt!” The elder Winchester’s body shuddered violently with each choked noise, before stilling.

They sounded somewhat like sneezes, Castiel concluded, but were stifled, sounding painful and wholly unsatisfying. He briefly considered waking Dean to explain the benefits of a full bodied sneeze, which he had discovered over the course of the last few days, but then he realized that Dean, having been human for many years, probably knew that anyway.

Castiel covered his mouth to smother a yawn. Dean could be uncooperative at the best of times, so waking him up in the middle of the night would guarantee he wouldn’t answer any of Castiel’s questions.

Instead, the ex-angel wandered back into the kitchen and poured boiling water into one of the motel mugs before adding a tea bag. He wasn’t sure what to do with it, so he just stirred the water with the teabag inside until the water couldn’t change colour any more. While fishing for the bag’s string with the spoon, Castiel scrubbed at his nose with the knuckles of his other hand. It was twitching again.

He brought his elbow face, and buried his nose in the crook. “Huh... Etchhoo! Isshhoo!” He sniffled and looked over to the couch, double checking Dean was still asleep, which he was. However, Castiel noticed Dean would be waking up soon.

After pulling some more tissues from the box for a later time, Castiel brought the mug of tea over to the small table and set it down by the couch, for when Dean woke up.

Castiel carried his tissues over to the bed, and tucked himself into the folds of the blankets yet again. While he was frightened and frustrated by his body rebelling against him, he appreciated its strong drive for sleep, and was more than happy to comply. The bed was warm, and the small shivers that had plagued his frame started to calm as he warmed, clinging to the clean tissues like a security blanket.

Castiel spent the remainder of the night drifting between being awake and asleep, not sure if he was dreaming the sounds of the motel room or not. Strictly speaking, angels didn’t dream, but he was sure they weren’t supposed to sleep either, but Castiel found himself asleep while still vaguely aware of the room, as the teasing sensation that threatened him with sneezes kept him grounded and unable to rest properly.

When he woke fully, Castiel was surprised to find that it was morning. It had seemed as though he could recall the duration of the entire night, but it had moved far too quickly for that to be true. He didn’t want to rise from the bed. His nose twitched, but he couldn’t be bothered turning it towards his pillow or raising his arm.

“HESHHHOO! ISSSHOOO! Huh... ESSHOO!” The sneezes convulsed through his body; unrestrained and painful. Castiel found himself groaning automatically, past being embarrassed about small, human gestures.

“Hey, Cas, You feelin’ any better?”

Somehow finding the will to move Castiel rolled over and lifted his head off the pillow. Dean was sitting on the bed opposite him, taking off his boots and looking at him with concerned green eyes. He seemed to be acting normally, but Castiel could sense the sickness in him now that he knew to look.

“Mildly; How are you feeling, Dean?”

“I’m awesome,” The Winchester grinned.

Castiel saw the lie, but didn’t want to bring it up before he was fully away and able to defend himself. He knew the two of them were alone in the room without having to look around; and if he was going to confront Dean then he preferred to have the younger brother backing him up.

“Where’s Sam?”

“Went out for drugs,” Dean grinned again and held up a shopping bag, “I got the food.” He stood and walked over to the table in his socks. He pulled out several wrapped burgers and a few polystyrene containers and set them on the table. “You hungry, Cas?”

“A little,” Castiel admitted, “but I doubt I will be able to taste anything.” He searched for the clean tissues he’d brought to bed and, after blowing his nose, dragged himself from the warm confines of the blankets. With one wrapped around him, Castiel padded over to the table and sat down in the chair opposite Dean.

“Here,” Dean pushed one of the white containers over to Castiel, “It’s soup.”

“Would you like me to save you some?”

Dean looked at Castiel like the ex-angel had suggested he become a Satanist. Blue eyes blinked questioningly, as Castiel didn’t understand why soup was insulting; nor why Dean felt so strongly about it. Dean shook his head slowly, and Castiel lowered his eyes to the container and stirred it with a small plastic spoon. The soup was still hot, despite being carried around in the cold outside, so he wrapped his hands around the container to try and absorb some of the warmth. When he looked up at Dean again, he saw the human studying him with a small hint of guilt in his green eyes.

They looked at each other in a moment of silence, before Dean cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I’m going to go take a shower.”

Castiel watched him make his way into the small bathroom and shut the door. He stared at the wooden structure, sensing what would come after the shower had started. He could head Dean sneezing through the door and over the sounds of water.

“Hetknngt! Hgnxt! Huhchhhttt!” The last sneeze seemed to make a restrained escape. Castiel waited, listening with keen senses to detect Dean checking to make sure the ex-angel hadn’t heard over the shower.

Frowning as his nose tickled in sympathy, Castiel let his eyes flutter shut and mouth fall open. “HESSHHOOO! HehISSSHHOO!” He held a tissue to his nose for a moment, not wanting to exert energy by blowing his nose again, or displaying any movement in general. He stayed like that until Sam slipped in through the front door. Castiel didn’t notice until he was jumping at a large hand resting on his shoulder.

“Woah; Easy, Cas.” Sam said, before moving to the seat Dean had occupied and dropping a paper bag on the table. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, but it is almost unnoticeable.”

Sam shot him a sympathetic smile before rummaging through the food Dean had bought. He opened some of the white containers to reveal overly-marinated and fried chicken. Sam made a disgusted noise and muttered; “should’ve known”.

“Sam, there is something I need to talk to you about.” Castiel paused to check Dean was still in the shower. He was. “I think Dean is sick.”

Sighing, Sam nodded. “Yeah, I know.” He started unwrapping the burgers and pulling off all the lettuce and tomato, trying to scrounge together something resembling a salad. “He’s hiding it because he doesn’t want us to worry.” His hazel eyes met Castiel’s gaze, “He thinks your heath is more important than his.”

“Why?”

Sam shrugged and was about to answer when Castiel quickly turned from the table. “Hessshhhooo.” He cleared his throat before excusing himself. However, Sam was looking over Castiel’s shoulder, to where Dean had appeared in the doorway of the bathroom.

Dean’s nose was tinged with red; he looked tired and was shivering despite the jacket he’d thrown over his flannel. Castiel stood from the table and approached the elder Winchester, placing hand on the brother’s shoulder, as he had experienced Sam do.

“What the hell, Cas?” Dean objected, but didn’t pull away. Sam smothered a laugh.

“Your forehead is warm; you are sick.”

When he was about to protest, Castiel glared at Dean. The older Winchester looked to his brother, presumably for help, but Sam only laughed. Eventually Dean’s face started to relax from its stubborn expression, but his body proceeded to tense. He brought a closed fist up to his nose and pressed hard.

“Hehknngtt

“I think you’re going to have to concede defeat,” Sam pointed out.

“God Ble... heh” Castiel tried, but was quickly cut off, “heh... Hesshhoo! God bless you, Dean.”

[obsessed]

Ooooh, two sick boys? I don't mind.

[Lady Blessington]

Deeeeeean.

[Fae]

that is well written and a huge turn-on. i would love to see all of them sick. LOVE IT. more is always welcome, i know all of us appreciate it.

[27jj]

Yay!! I missed this fic a lot, and I’m really glad you decided to do another chapter!

I love that Cas is so annoyed with the cold, and that he’s still so helpless with not really knowing what to do, and Sam telling him where the tissues are.

Yay for sick!Dean!!! Sneezing in the shower!!

It was so sweet when Cas brought Dean tea, and when he asks Dean is he wants him to save him some soup. And I love that Sam already knew Dean was sick.

And I really loved that last line, Cas sneezing in the middle of his sentence. But is it really over already?? Now Sam needs to join the sick party:)

[ooo]

Yayy! This fic continues to be incredibly adorable

I love that Dean is sick now, and I love Castiel working it out, and telling Sam and I ADORE that Sam already knows. I love Dean trying to stifle his sneezes but some of them sort of escaping, and him being all shivery at the end, and Sam and his lovely sympathetic smiles for Cas.

And, just randomly, I really liked this line:

Sam was awake in so as far as he was technically conscious.

Hehe!

[*lovely_lily*]

A/N: So the motivation for this story kinda got lost in the sudden surge of spn fics, with so many popping up I felt this one would just be lost in the blur, but thanks to *lovely_lily* and the rule of three I have decided to do another final chapter, but with added sick!Dean. Enjoy

Thats me! Haha I'm so glad you continued it! It was so cute! I love your sick Cas and your sick Dean too! I agree that Sam needs to join .. Anyway you did a great job!! The last line was priceless, an angel saying god bless you and sneezing before finishing ahhhh

Hope your exams went good

“Where’s Sam?”

“Went out for drugs,”

[kato]

So adorable! I bookmarked this a while back. Castiel's thoughts at the beginning got me hooked and I've been keeping up ever since. Thanks so much for sharing!

[swann_ee_song]

This is just pure awesomeness. You write so well! Can't wait to see more!

[ichixshiro14]

I never would have thought of a sick Cas, that's a pretty great idea, I'm glad you wrote a Cas sickfic Thanks for sharing, that was amazingly scrumptious and in-character