Written for dc_summerlovin semi-anonymous fic exchanje on lj for lovely lynxzpanther.

-SPNSPNSPN-

- Where the hell is the bitch? - Dean muttered, carefully peeking around the corner.

Sam, Dean and Cas had stumbled upon a case in a small town, where every second adult inhabitant had turned blind within the course of two weeks. Thinking that this must be a sign of Pestilence, the three of them started sniffing around, but without luck. No Pestilence whatsoever in a radius of at least one hundred miles. But the hunt was hunt, so they were stuck with a rogue witch, who apparently was responsible for the sudden blindness of literally half of the town. So, the two hunters and an angel were creeping through her big two-story house in the middle of the night, hoping to find her sleeping in the bed, full of dead cats' skulls, or something like that.

Sam was currently searching through the first floor, while Dean and Cas were silently ascending the staircase.

- Come on, bitch, get the hell out of your little lovely hiding place, - Dean said lowly again.

- I don't think your attempts at coaxing will not help, - Castiel answered just as quietly.

- Well, it makes me feel better, - the hunter waved his hand as if to prove his point. - It's like I'm in charge of the situation.

- But it doesn't change anything. I don't see a point in this, - the angel was relentless.

- You don't see a point in half of the stuff humanity does! - The hunter huffed indignantly.

- Because humanity is illogical.

- Yeah, you are right about that one, man! I told you - I don't get humans either!

- What's the point in doing things, that can't be explained?

- Oh, shut up, Cas, you're gonna wake her up and she'll get her ass here as soon as possible.

- Isn't that the thing you wanted just a mere moment ago?

- Listen, man...

- Look at you! - Suddenly a loud female voice voice pierced the quietness of the night. Both Dean and Castiel whirled around to face a short youngish blonde woman with a wicked smile. - Bickering like an old married couple! This is so cute!

Dean felt angry for being so caught up in a quarrel to miss the witch completely, mixed with embarassment for being called cute and married with Cas, The anger rose hot in his chest, so he snapped without a second thought: - Don't be ridiculous! Even 'like a cat with a dog' would have been better!

In retrospect the elder of two Winchesters should have just punched the bitch.

-SPNSPNSPN-

As soon as Sam heard commotion above his head, he was running to the source of it. With his long legs it took him less than a minute to be standing in the middle of the hall on the first floor, his shotgun pointed at the witch. He frantically looked around. There was no sign of his brother and a celestial being.

- Where are they? - He shouted, taking the gun off the safety lock.

The woman only laughed:

- Kids, you should have known better then to come play in my playground, - she half-sang in a mocking tone, as if Sam was five. - You are sooo lucky I'm in a good mood, and only want to teach you a lesson!

- Cut the crap or I will shoot you! - Sam shouted, getting angrier.

- Aww, your little lovebirds are here. Or maybe this is an incorrect term? - And the witch threw something at her feet, and in a bang of bright green light puffed out of the existence.

Sam blinked at the sudden flash of light, but the moment it faded away, he looked around:

- Dean? Dean! Castiel? Damn it, you two idiots should better not be lying on her altar-thing!

Sam looked around and saw two piles of clothes around the corner. Holding his breath, the man approached them. The clothes clearly belonged to his brother and the angel; a leather jacket and beige trenchcoat covering their respective piles. As Sam was transfixed with a sight of clothes and wondering for what gross ritual the witch could possibly need two naked men (and it was a ritual she needed them for, Sam kept telling himself, a ritual, not some psycho, but supernatural-free, stuff), the clothes that belonged to his brother started moving. Sam pointed his shotgun at it for a good measure, and swept away Dean's jacket, revealing...

Sam's brain refused to work. Getting out from underneath his brother's shirt was a golden retriever puppy. It looked around itself, around the room, gave what sounded like a disbelieving bark, and settled a glare at Sam. A green-eyed glare. A green-eyed glare from a sandy-looking puppy. Sam suddenly felt his stomach protesting against the salad he ate a few hours ago.

- Dean? - He whispered, not daring to say it loudly, in case a real Dean would shamelessly march out of the next room, demanding to know where the hell his clothes are. But his naked brother wasn't in hurry to miraculously appear, and a puppy, whose fur was exactly Dean's hair shade and had a weird pinkish spot on its right shoulder, glared harder and gave an angry bark.

Sam pinched a bridge of his nose and hissed:

- You are fucking kidding me?

There was another bark, and when the currently only human in a house opened his eyes again, his puppy-brother (and didn't it sound kinky) was furiously tugging the collar of the trenchcoat, trying to pull it away. Great. Even being turned into a freaking puppy, all his brother could think of was his angel. Sam gave a frustrated sigh, the whole situation with his brother and his angel, who were dancing around each other for months now, was even more frustrating.

Sam bent, and in a swift motion swept the trenchcoat from the floor.

There's a small black kitten, sleeping on Jimmy's white shirt. Dean leapt toward it and nudged it with his front paw. Compared to a tiny kitten, even small Dean was huge.

The kitten woke up with a start, and upon seeing a puppy next to it, jumped a good foot towards Sam. Sam couldn't stop a hysterical laugh. He could only imagine what it was like, to wake up to a huge puppy, and only then realise that you are not so human yourself... Speaking of.

- Cas, is that really you? - Sam asked. Kitten looked up with a pissed meow. - Yep, it's you. Oh God, guys, why is it always you two?

And not waiting for any other barks or mewls from his pet-friends, he took both of them from the floor (Cas stuffed into his pocket, and Dean dangling his paws from his arm) and took off from the blasted house.

-SPNSPNSPN-

- What do you mean, two weeks? Bobby, I can't... I don't know how to keep those two in line under the normal circumstances, and you expect me to watch over for a puppy and a kitten for two weeks?

Once Sam had safely gotten to their motel room and placed two animals on Dean's bed, he promptly called Bobby. After being shouted at for being reckless idjits (and seriously, how it was his fault that his brother and his not-yet-boyfriend got themselves into such mess?), Sam finally got the answer when those two would turn back. And the answer didn't please him.

Upon hearing Sam's last replica, both Cas and Dean started hissing and growling respectively, clearly annoyed. Sam gave them an evil eye and turned away.

- Yes, she threw some sort of a hex bag on the floor and disappeared. Yes, I did found an altar, but I didn't inspect it too closely! Because Dean and Castiel were turned into friggin mammals! Okay, so you say that this curse will cancel itself in two weeks? Awesome. What am I supposed to do with them till then? - Upon hearing Bobby's suggestion, the man laughed. - To put them in cages? Man, I'm not that suicidal. Yeah, okay, I'll call you later.

The young man sighed heavily again and looked at his furry friends:

- Seems like you are stuck like this for a long time, guys.

-SPNSPNSPN-

A week has passed since Dean and Castiel were turned into pets. Getting used to their new forms wasn't as difficult as it might seem, but what peeved them most, was that they couldn't communicate. Not with Cas, not with each other, because they all were different species now. Also Dean hated being this helpless. Both of them hated, if judging from Cas's habit of seating all curled up like a, well, cat and moodily glaring at everything around him, sometimes irritably meowing, or if Sam said something stupid, venomously hissing. Given that Sam usually said a lot of stupid stuff, Cas hissed a lot. Dean felt a bit sorry for him. To be an almighty angel of the Lord squashed into a tiny baby cat must be horrible. Though Dean was no better. He developed a habit of restlessly pacing around the motel rooms Sam checked in. He just couldn't stand doing nothing. And he refused to act as a dog, because, hello, he wasn't a dog! So he amused himself with a TV, which was now constantly on, thanks to Sam, occasionally biting Sam's huge feet, and, even rarer, annoying Castiel (the first time he quietly got to the slumbering angel from behind and barked with all his not-so strong lungs, he ended up with deep scratches across his muzzle. Sam had laughed his ass off, finding Cas apparently beaten him up highly amusing. Dean bit his huge bare foot later.

Right now he and Cas were clawing each other again, because, apparently, for all of their uselessness and inability to do thing with uncoordinated baby animal paws, they were pretty good at using the TV remote and, as it turned out, liked different programs. Dean liked action films, while Cas prefered scientific stuff. So, here came the quarrels. They couldn't understand each other, so all their communication narrowed to growling, hissing, and shoving each other. Dean was damn stronger than Cas, but Cas was faster, so they end up in a ball of limbs, when Sam walked into the room.

- God, will you stop this! - He groaned and walked straight to them easily separating them, taking each of them in his gigantic hand by their necks' fur and shaking them lightly. - You are not actually animals, so stop acting like one! No wonder that witch turned you into this, you were probably... - Suddenly Sam's eyes went unfocused and he slowed down, - quarreling... And then she had told me... Fuck.

Sam's gigantic frame all but dropped them on the floor (and it fucking hurt) and went to look for the phone. Then he dialed a number and started drumming impatiently on the table.

- Hey, Bobby, it's me. No, I'm okay, those two are still animals and not going to turn back any time soon, - Then Sam looks directly at them. - I remembered something she said back then. She wanted to teach them a lesson.

-SPNSPNSPN-

Since the embarrassing revelation that the witch had a plan in her mind, had passed an entire month . The three of them had found some semblance of peace. Sam would hunt, and in between the hunts he would research anything concerning witches, trying to find a cure for Cas's and Dean's current state. Dean would spend a day either pacing the room or watching TV when it was his turn to watch it, and Cas was very strict about turns. Castiel himself found some TV channels quiet enjoyable, and in other times he just sat calmly trying to find a solution of his own. Painfully slowly he came to the conclusion that there was nothing he could do, as his Grace was locked up and he just couldn't reach it.

Castiel was content to say that he and Dean found some comradeship in the animal forms. They created their own communication system consisting of gestures and intonations of voice. And despite the fact that this system wasn't perfect, in fact, was far from perfect, it worked. Castiel was grateful that now they were co-existing as a team again. Also the winter was approaching, and cheap motel rooms were very cold during nighttime. So after shivering several nights trying to sleep on different ends of a coach, both Castiel and Dean started resting at night curled up together. Castiel was glad that Dean was much bigger than him (even if it peeved him a great deal), so the angel could hide himself from the night coldness, pressing his kitten back flat against the puppy's belly. Dean would curl all doggishly, hiding Castiel from cold from all the directions. The angel appreciated this closeness, as he'd been craving for it for a very long time now, but knew that in their usual forms, he would have never gotten it. It saddened him that it had to be witch's curse to make Dean forget his own rule about personal space. He wished Dean was like that, while being human, because he, Castiel, craved for contact with Dean. He would have given a lot to simply lay with Dean in one bed. Not even kiss him, as he was sure it would have ended whatever friendship they had, but just be close enough to touch Dean.

-SPNSPNSPN-

Everything goes to Hell right before Christmas, Cas thought absently as his ridiculously little and helpless figure was being surrounded by demons. For all he couldn't reach to his Grace, the demons still recognize him as angel. There were two of them, cackling like maniacs. They were slowly gaining on him, so he ended up pressed against the wall of the alley.

- Not so mighty now, are we? – The demon possessing a boy no older then nineteen mocked him.

- You know, it was us who set up this 'hunt', - the elderly woman air-quotedthe last word. – So dear Sammy would go on the other side of the town to an old warehouse and find it empty. And when he returns home, his dear pets would be dead.

Castiel hissed and unsheathed his claws at that. This might not be effective against two demons, but he wouldn't go down without the fight. He missed his Grace right now more than during all of the two months being an animal. Two demons would be nothing during the usual circumstances, but right now they were going to finish him and then they would find Dean and kill him as well.

This thought made Castiel even angrier, even more determined to distract demons long enough so Sam would at least have the chance to return in time to save his brother. So when the first demon bent to grab him, Castiel threw himself forward and grabbed demon's face, leaving long bloody scratches on his face. The Demon howled and stepped back, giving the angel a perfect opportunity to dive past him. While Castiel is running into the maze of dirty streets, he heard as the first demon shouts:

- Little fucker has Grace in his stupid claws!

- He's still a fucking kitten, let's get him! – The second one bellowed at him and Castiel heard how they started to chase him. But he had the edge over them advantage. It was nighttime and he was small and black and, as it turned out, could hurt them with his claws. He didn't know how it was gonna save him, because he highly doubted that they would allow him to scratch them to death. Still, he kept leading them away from were they had left Dean (the elderly woman had kicked him so hard that he was flung into the wall and slid down unconscious), and possibly he would be doing this long enough so Sam would return. As he ran into the next alley, he found himself praying for Sam.

Suddenly a rough hand grabbed him from behind and lifted him from the floor.

- Gotcha! – It was the demon he already hurt, so he dag his claws into the arm holding him. It screamed in pain at his partner. – Kill him! Kill the angel spawn NOW!

And here it was. Castiel felt a sharp blade slashing his back. a meow escaped his lips as the blinding agony hit him. He felt the hard impact with the adamant concrete when the demon throws him on it.

- Finish him! – He heard a distant voice, like a weird noise, rushing in his ears. This is it. He's dying as a pathetic baby mammal. At least he led them away from Dean.

Suddenly he heard a familiar bark and it cleared the fog in his head better than anything, Dean was here. A helpless Dean was here.

- Dean, - he screamed and it came out as a meow.

Dean had his teeth on the throat of the second demon, the demon with the knife. It fell from its hands, and Cas dove for it at the same time as the first demon. There was no time to think, so Castiel slashed his claws across the demon's neck. He hadn't thought it would have some lasting effect, as his powers were not only diminished, but also weakened from the injury. But suddenly he was slashing not with his paw, but with a human hand, and the demon looked considerably smaller. Castiel grabbed his neck and flared his Grace, making the demon burn in light. The body fell on the concrete and Castiel next to it. He's exhausted, and the injury on his back hadn't disappeared, but was throbbing painfully, running from his shoulderblade down to his waist. He heard Dean chanting an exorcism. In human voice. His eyelids were closing, but Castiel smiled.

-SPNSPNSPN-

One moment he was biting at the bitch's throat with dog jaws, the next with his human teeth. It took him another moment to figure out how to use human body again, and then he was spitting demon's blood, arteries and shreds of skin. The woman choking on her own blood was still possessed, so Dean started reciting the exorcism. The bitch threw her head back and the black smoke was pouring out of her mouth. Then the body fell with a dull thud, but Dean didn't even look at it, as he whirled around, looking for the angel.

Castiel was naked. It was the first thing he that came to his mind when seeing him. Only after that he realised that he was naked as well. It was logical, as Sam had to gather their clothes that day the witch had cursed them.

The second thing he noticed was a long cut across Cas' whole back. It looked deep and it was bleeding. Dean rushed to his side, falling on his knees. He touched the cut carefully and Cas flinched. Reassured that his friend was alive, Dean carefully rolled him onto his side and pated his cheek.

- Hey, Cas, wake up. Wake up! We have to get out of here. Come on, buddy, you are bleeding all over the place. Why the hell aren't you healing yourself?

There was movement of Cas's eyelids and then he said with a strained whisper:

- I do not know.

Dean was so relieved to hear that voice, he practically beamed at him:

- Come on, get up. We need to get back to the motel before sunrise, otherwise we could get in trouble.

- Why? – The angel asked, while Dean helped him to get up, mindful of the injury. The hunter snorted.

- We are naked. That could cause some difficult questions.

Castiel said nothing, just leaned on Dean, when the hunter circles his waist with an arm, pulling the angel's arm across his shoulders.

They walked in a silence. When they finally reached the motel, the parking lot was thankfully empty, so Dean had no problems getting into the room. He seated Cas carefully on the bed, and then looked at the injury.

- It's healed, - he said, as all he could see was a long pink scar.

- Yes, - the angel confirmed, but still sat with slumped shoulders, like a little kid, and looked like a, and wasn't it irony, a kitten.

- Hey, man, you alright? – Dean crouched in front of him. Cas looked him in eyes, and, damn, Dean missed this stare.

Suddenly Cas moved forward and captured Dean's lips with his own. Angel's lips were warm against his and dry. And they felt nice. Dean froze with this revelation, but only for a moment, and then he was kissing the angel back. It's not a passionate kiss, just lips upon lips. It was almost chaste. But it felt so good and right that Dean didn't want to ruin anything.

Cas was the first to pull away. He was looking everywhere, but not at Dean.

- Dean, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have… – He tried to explain, but Dean interrupted him by taking his hands and squeezing them lightly.

- Hey, it's okay. Cas, it is really okay.

The angel lifted his eyes and looked at Dean with such hope and relief that the hunter wanted to laugh. But he only smiled, and for a few minutes they just look at each other in comfortable silence. Then Castiel shivered and Dean noticed how bloody cold it was.

- Cas, d'you wanna sleep? – he asked, getting up and sitting on the bed next to the angel, who gave an uncertain nod. – Good. So get into the bed, what are you waiting for?

When Castiel didn't move, Dean sighed, and maneuvered him under the covers. Then he climbed into the bed as well, and hugged Cas so, that his back was flush against his front. So what if they are still naked, but human, Dean reasoned, they have been sleeping like this for months.

- When Sam finally drags his fat ass home, he can sleep on a coach for a change, - he said into Cas's ear, before falling asleep.