Work Text:
Castiel pokes one of the cot’s etchings, he barely sees the hairless baby who is sleeping behind the strips but still he can’t stop gaping at him –it is the first time he sees someone so, so little this close.
Of course, he’s seen babies; he is five years old, he’s not a little child anymore -as he likes to tell everyone- but still, Dean’s baby brother is really... at hand and his snoring is as calming as the sound waves make when they hit coast. Castiel closes his eyes and leans his forehead on a wooden strip; he would like to sing a lullaby to the baby –the same his father sings to him- but he doesn’t sign very well, or her sister Anna likes to say so, and first and foremost, Mary, Dean’s mum, has asked them to not make any sounds because they could wake the baby up.
“Do you like Sammy?” Dean whispers, and then adds, mouthing, “That is his name”
Dean is sitting on the soft, light blue carpet, while stacking a lot of little, wooden building blocks up but he doesn’t miss any sound or movement at the room, as if he was protecting the little baby –maybe he is protecting Sam from the villains he and Cas are used to imagine and fight against.
“He is… calming” He says as he tilts his head, soft, dark curls poking at his temple. “But I can’t really see him; this thing is giano…gino… really tall”
Castiel still stumbles over the words, especially the long ones, and the “r” is usually too difficult to pronounce correctly. Dean doesn’t mind, even though he can read as perfectly as their teacher, Miss Daisy. But Cas does it, so he lets himself fall over the carpet with a muffled thump and a very tired expression.
“I like Sam, what does he do?” Castiel says. Dean shrugs and keeps forming words with the blocks, he’s made an S-A-M-M-Y and a J-O-H-N and he is sure he has enough blocks to form their whole family and their last name.
“I don’t know, he sleeps, he cries… He woke me up yesterday, but mum says it is normal, after all, he is a baby.”
“I’d like to see him closer, and introduce myself, of course”
Before Castiel has ended that sentence, Dean has gotten up –knocking a few blocks down- and he is half-closing the door. He tries to act as silently as possible when he starts pushing a big wooden box which is next to a table; the box is where Dean usually keeps his blocks, but they sometimes use it to reach toys from the highest shelves so Cas understands Dean’s plan in less than a blink of an eye and goes to push the big box too.
It almost doesn’t make any sound, but there is a low squeaking they don’t miss.
“We have to go faster or he’ll wake up” Says Dean, pushing harder, until the box hits one of the cot’s leg and Castiel climbs it easily before giving a hand to Dean. “Be careful, the floor is lava now.”
And they both almost believe Dean’s worried voice –the light blue carpet now is gone, there is just lava– and the only way to survive is not falling off the box’ cover they squeeze into. They lean on to see Sam from closer –the baby is snoring louder now, and he is clutching the little stuffed bunny Dean bought him using his own savings. Their feet aren’t touching the box, because they are relying on the wooden rail but they trust in their equilibrium –or they just don’t care, or maybe both.
Castiel giggles because Sam is making a weird face at the moment and-
“Dean! Castiel!” It is a whisper but still, it is an angry whisper.
They both jump, surprised before looking at each other, worry expressed in their faces so clearly it almost makes Mary laugh. Almost.
“Do you want to wake Sam up? He needs to sleep, he is little!” She is still whispering and yelling at the same time, it is so weird, they aren’t even in the room where Sam is sleeping because Mary has pulled them to the hallway. “Don’t you know how dangerous is that? You could’ve fallen!”
Mary sends them to the living room but the afternoon ends with Dean in one corner of the room and Cas in the other because they are so nervous about the new baby (and the floor is still lava) that they can’t suppress a few high-pitched squeals when they jump from one couch to the other.
Castiel doesn’t like being punished to the corner, but he’s never been so close to a baby, so the little proud smile that never seems to fall off his face is more than enough to make Dean smile too and they end up giggling in their respective corners.
Mary sighs, before going upstairs. It’s not more than another usual afternoon at the Winchesters’.