Paradox - SPN (Castiel)

[MaiMai]

This is just a little fluffy thing I wrote, because I've wanted to write another fic involving Cas for a while, but I didn't have any ideas. I thought I'd share it just in case other people wanted to read it.

Castiel doesn't like this. No, Castiel doesn't like this at all.

The blankets feel odd and uncomfortable against his skin; hot then cold, shivering then sweating. It’s a seemingly endless cycle of sheer, enveloping misery.

His head feels strangely light with dizziness and heavy with congestion, inexplicably simultaneously.

His nose is both running and painfully stuffy. And the near-constant tickling, buzzing, tingling, burning – there just isn’t an adjective to describe how utterly infuriating it is – certainly does not help matters.

In short, Castiel’s vessel seems to have morphed into some kind of hideous, disgusting paradox. Every single symptom, every simple function feels as if it is working against him.

“hhh-hiiiihhh-“

Even down to that. Castiel shifts and raises a hand to his face in weary anticipation. Sneezing has never been one of his favourite aspects of inhabiting a human vessel – the first time it had happened he had been half terrified out of his mind, much to the amusement of the Winchesters. But this cold has taken it to a whole new level. His irritated nasal passages seem to find it necessary to precede each one with a series of maddeningly teasing hitches of breath. Even to Castiel, who has a pretty good idea of eternity, the whole process feels too damn long.

“iiihh-iiihHKSSHYUU! hh-huh-IISSH!”

And that’s another thing. If the purpose of sneezing is to expel irritants, then why does it leave him so much more congested than before? Castiel just doesn’t understand the brutal contradictions of human illness.

“Bless y’, Cas.” Dean offers, although it almost seems pointless to keep saying it at this stage.

“Thadk you, Deadn.”

The convention of blessings is yet another mystery to the angel, and so it remains for now. His head is pounding too much to warrant further thought on the matter. Castiel snuffles wetly and earns a slightly reproving look from Dean, who nudges the tissues closer to him. With a small sigh Castiel blows, but it doesn’t achieve much aside from provoking another tickle.

“hhiih-hhih-hhhhh-hhYHHISH!”

“Bless you, Cas.”

It’s Sam this time, walking over to the bed with a mug clutched in his hands.

“Here. This might help a bit.”

Castiel eyes the liquid with deep suspicion.

“That’s whadt you said aboudt the cold bedicide, Samb.”

Sam chuckles and shakes his head. “This’ll taste better than the cold medicine, I promise.”

Surprisingly, Sam is right. He can’t taste it too well, but the little he can is pleasantly sweet and herbal.

Castiel gives a nod of appreciation and coughs miserably.

Sam exchanges a look with his brother and clears his throat softly.

“Uhh, Cas? Is there anything else we can do?”

For a moment Castiel doesn’t respond. He would never admit it, but the absolute worst part of this cold is the…what was the human term for it? Homesickness. It’s an unfamiliar feeling, but it’s like someone carved out his insides and replaced them with a deep, sickening yearning.

Against all the odds, Castiel actually feels homesick for Heaven.

He begins to answer, but damn it if he doesn’t need to sneeze again.

“ihhii’iih-hiiYISSHhuu! HIHKHSHHU! Siggig.” He croaks slightly hesitantly. All Castiel is met with are two blank stares and two echoing ‘bless you’s, so he blows his nose as hard as he can bear and tries again. “Singi’gg.”

There’s a marginal improvement, but apparently it’s enough.

“Id Heaved, sombetibes…sombetibes bmy brothers would si’gg to bme…”

Dean looks for a second as though he’s going to laugh, but a glare from Sam has him hurrying to maintain a straight face.

“We can try, but neither of us are great at singing, sorry, Cas…” Although Sam seems a little taken aback by the sudden confession, he takes it in his stride.

Castiel shakes his head.

“It is ogkay, Samb.”

Dean smirks, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

“Yeah? Who was in junior choir in middle school?”

Sam flushes and glowers.

“Shut up. That was once, Dean.”

The elder Winchester throws up his hands in mock surrender, but he can’t quite keep the corners of his mouth from curling up into a grin.

“Fine, fine,” Then gruffly and awkwardly he starts to sing: “Make his fight on the hills in the early day, constant chill deep inside-“

“Seriously, Dean? Metallica?” Sam interrupts disbelievingly, earning a scowl.

“Fine. You try.”

“May the road rise to meet you, may the-“

“The hell is that?”

Sam looks as though he can’t decide whether to be embarrassed or scandalised.

“Bob Chilcott.” He mutters.

Castiel sighs and closes his eyes. If he uses some – well, perhaps a lot – of imagination the sporadic, barely in tune snatches of song almost sound like the familiar, lilting songs of Heaven.

Eventually his clogged breathing evens out and he feels the alien sensation of sleep overwhelming him. He can’t quite comprehend how this blissfully relaxing feeling can be possible with the presence of the uncomfortable virus. Nevertheless, he lets the broken, tuneless melodies chase him into unconsciousness.

This, at least, is a pleasant paradox.

Edited August 13, 2014 by MaiMai

[rodakemopetojoen]

Really great, IT'S SO CUTE hehe..... thanks so much for posting this- it's adorable, and really well written too!!

[MaiMai]

Really great, IT'S SO CUTE hehe..... thanks so much for posting this- it's adorable, and really well written too!!

Omg thank you for replying so quickly! And to hear that it's well written particularly is such a compliment, thank you thank you!

[Pyrus_Fangmon]

AWWWWWWWWW

Everything is perfect! Castiel being sick, the Winchesters singing for him.

Oh my lord I can't stop grinning it's too cute!

[Sophie<3]

Omc. First, I saw that there was a new SPN story. That got me excited. Then, I saw that it was about Cas. That got me even more excited! And then I saw that YOU wrote it, MaiMai, and that drove me quickly towards ecstasy!

And, of course, I was not disappointed. Au contraire! This was amazing, even by your (very high) standards! I was expecting something wonderful and got something even better!

It’s a seemingly endless cycle of sheer, enveloping misery.

Your language/ phrasing/ choice of words never seizes to amaze me. This is just one example.

“Bless y’, Cas.” Dean offers, although it almost seems pointless to keep saying it at this stage.

Awww... Dean keeps blessing Cas, even though he sneezes sooo many times? How adorable!

The convention of blessings is yet another mystery to the angel, and so it remains for now.

Yeah, I've wondered about this before. (I bet every SPN fan, who is also a sneeze fetishist has! lol). I mean, technically, Cas doesn't need to be blessed. He's already sacred, right?

“Bless you, Cas.”

It’s Sam this time, walking over to the bed with a mug clutched in his hands.

“Here. This might help a bit.”

Castiel eyes the liquid with deep suspicion.

“That’s whadt you said aboudt the cold bedicide, Samb.”

Awww... this passage! Just awwww....

Against all the odds, Castiel actually feels homesick for Heaven.

Omg, this is so cute! This makes me want to take care of a sick Cas so much!! <3

“ihhii’iih-hiiYISSHhuu! HIHKHSHHU! Siggig.” He croaks slightly hesitantly. All Castiel is met with are two blank stares and two echoing ‘bless you’s, so he blows his nose as hard as he can bear and tries again. “Singi’gg.”

I think this is the part where I started tearing up!

“Yeah? Who was in junior choir in middle school?”

Sam flushes and glowers.

“Shut up. That was once, Dean.”

And this part made me laugh out loud!!

“May the road rise to meet you, may the-“

Hahaha...!! We sang this at my graduation! That's just...! Hahaha...!

Okay, this whole thing was short, but sooo sweet and lovely!! The whole idea at the core of it, the paradox of human illness, was brilliant. How do you keep coming up with this stuff? You really know how to give sick fics a special edge! Very impressive! (:

I wish you had videos of me reading your stuff! You'd see me tear up and smile a lot and giggle, sometimes laugh out loud and occasionally coo! Now I know you didn't write it for me, but I'm still very glad that you wrote it and posted it! It totally made my day! I LOVED IT!! (And ily... )

<3

[MoonDuck]

Aww poor Cas! It's so wonderfully fluffy and amazingly well written, how you described Castiel and everything.

“Fine, fine,” Then gruffly and awkwardly he starts to sing: “Make his fight on the hills in the early day, constant chill deep inside-“

“Seriously, Dean? Metallica?” Sam interrupts disbelievingly, earning a scowl.

I'm dying XD

[Bobsuperawesome]

So so so so sooooo adorable!!!!

[Masked.Maiden]

Love the story! I hope you do more like these.

[beatlelover22]

“iiihh-iiihHKSSHYUU! hh-huh-IISSH!”

And that’s another thing. If the purpose of sneezing is to expel irritants, then why does it leave him so much more congested than before? Castiel just doesn’t understand the brutal contradictions of human illness.

“Bless y’, Cas.” Dean offers, although it almost seems pointless to keep saying it at this stage.

“Thadk you, Deadn.”

This was ADORABLE, specifically this part! I can totally hear Cas' sneezing and Dean blessing him; it's too cute! Thank you so much, you're a fantastic writer!

[spirkestielgirl87]

Yay! I love sick Cas! I just love playing around with how new and foreign it would be to him. You do an excellent job! And extra points for Dean singing Metallica, loved that part! Totally reminded me of the ep when he's trying to calm himself down in the plane and hum Metallica to himself he he very in character

[MaiMai]

AWWWWWWWWW

Everything is perfect! Castiel being sick, the Winchesters singing for him.

Oh my lord I can't stop grinning it's too cute!

Aaahh thank you!!! The whole thing with them singing for Cas was just a random scenario that got stuck in my head and then I really wanted to write it into something.

Omc. First, I saw that there was a new SPN story. That got me excited. Then, I saw that it was about Cas. That got me even more excited! And then I saw that YOU wrote it, MaiMai, and that drove me quickly towards ecstasy!

And, of course, I was not disappointed. Au contraire! This was amazing, even by your (very high) standards! I was expecting something wonderful and got something even better!

It’s a seemingly endless cycle of sheer, enveloping misery.

Your language/ phrasing/ choice of words never seizes to amaze me. This is just one example.

“Bless y’, Cas.” Dean offers, although it almost seems pointless to keep saying it at this stage.

Awww... Dean keeps blessing Cas, even though he sneezes sooo many times? How adorable!

The convention of blessings is yet another mystery to the angel, and so it remains for now.

Yeah, I've wondered about this before. (I bet every SPN fan, who is also a sneeze fetishist has! lol). I mean, technically, Cas doesn't need to be blessed. He's already sacred, right?

“Bless you, Cas.”

It’s Sam this time, walking over to the bed with a mug clutched in his hands.

“Here. This might help a bit.”

Castiel eyes the liquid with deep suspicion.

“That’s whadt you said aboudt the cold bedicide, Samb.”

Awww... this passage! Just awwww....

Against all the odds, Castiel actually feels homesick for Heaven.

Omg, this is so cute! This makes me want to take care of a sick Cas so much!! <3

“ihhii’iih-hiiYISSHhuu! HIHKHSHHU! Siggig.” He croaks slightly hesitantly. All Castiel is met with are two blank stares and two echoing ‘bless you’s, so he blows his nose as hard as he can bear and tries again. “Singi’gg.”

I think this is the part where I started tearing up!

“Yeah? Who was in junior choir in middle school?”

Sam flushes and glowers.

“Shut up. That was once, Dean.”

And this part made me laugh out loud!!

“May the road rise to meet you, may the-“

Hahaha...!! We sang this at my graduation! That's just...! Hahaha...!

Okay, this whole thing was short, but sooo sweet and lovely!! The whole idea at the core of it, the paradox of human illness, was brilliant. How do you keep coming up with this stuff? You really know how to give sick fics a special edge! Very impressive! (:

I wish you had videos of me reading your stuff! You'd see me tear up and smile a lot and giggle, sometimes laugh out loud and occasionally coo! Now I know you didn't write it for me, but I'm still very glad that you wrote it and posted it! It totally made my day! I LOVED IT!! (And ily... )

<3

How do you always write such amazing replies like this Sophie?! Thank you!! Ily too! (That's so weird that you sang Irish Blessing at your graduation haha! I sung it in a concert a few years ago with the school choir and I remember hating it, it was so high!!)

Aww poor Cas! It's so wonderfully fluffy and amazingly well written, how you described Castiel and everything.

“Fine, fine,” Then gruffly and awkwardly he starts to sing: “Make his fight on the hills in the early day, constant chill deep inside-“

“Seriously, Dean? Metallica?” Sam interrupts disbelievingly, earning a scowl.

I'm dying XD

Hehe thank you! Fluff is always good. I'm glad you liked that part - what else would Dean sing other than Metallica?!

So so so so sooooo adorable!!!!

Thank you!!!

Love the story! I hope you do more like these.

Thank you, I definitely will!

Yay! I love sick Cas! I just love playing around with how new and foreign it would be to him. You do an excellent job! And extra points for Dean singing Metallica, loved that part! Totally reminded me of the ep when he's trying to calm himself down in the plane and hum Metallica to himself he he very in character

Gah thank you so much! Cas is really fun to write in that respect, because he's just so confused by everything!

[MaiMai]

“iiihh-iiihHKSSHYUU! hh-huh-IISSH!”

And that’s another thing. If the purpose of sneezing is to expel irritants, then why does it leave him so much more congested than before? Castiel just doesn’t understand the brutal contradictions of human illness.

“Bless y’, Cas.” Dean offers, although it almost seems pointless to keep saying it at this stage.

“Thadk you, Deadn.”

This was ADORABLE, specifically this part! I can totally hear Cas' sneezing and Dean blessing him; it's too cute! Thank you so much, you're a fantastic writer!

Thank you!!! I was a little worried I would go OOC, so I'm glad you think so!

Eta - This wasn't supposed to be a double post. If a mod sees this, could you merge it please?

Edited August 18, 2014 by MaiMai