21. Chapter 21

Sleeping with someone else in the same bed as him was kind of weird. Of course, Dean had shared a bed multiple times over the years, but that was always in a sexual way. The last time he'd shared a bed with someone platonically had been with Sam, and that was when they were both just kids and John had been too cheap to get a second motel room. Cramming into one bed with a twelve-year-old Sam who'd had beans for supper was not an experience Dean was keen to repeat.

This was different. After his bath, Castiel dried him off and then, without asking, put a diaper on him. Dean seriously thought about throwing a fit, but by that point he was already being put into a pair of warm pajamas, and he was so exhausted that it was hard to stay standing. So he let Castiel lead him into the main bedroom. It was a room that Dean only vaguely remembered from the past couple of days.

Angels didn't typically sleep, but that night - just like the others - Castiel laid down with Dean and they fell asleep together. Dean started the night off on one side of the bed, but at some point he must have rolled over because he woke up to find his face smooshed against Castiel's chest. There was a hand in his hair, lightly petting, and someone else laying behind him.

" - that Balthazar will help you?" Castiel was asking in a very low voice.

"I don't know, Cassie. He's your friend, not mine. I mean, he did give the weapons back. I've returned them to heaven. And let me tell you, the look on Raphael's face when he realized that we foiled his little plan was truly priceless. I heard that he vaporized a couple thousand demons, he was so pissed," Gabriel said, and Dean relaxed.

This was familiar, sort of. He remembered sleeping in between Gabriel and Castiel before. Well, Gabriel hadn't really slept - he 'opened himself up to heaven', though on the outside it looked like he just laid there with his eyes shut, remaining alert to the slightest change in the house. Dean had seen Castiel do the same thing in the past. Apparently it was a way of recharging an angel's battery.

He should have felt weird. He was fully conscious now and lying in between two men, wearing pajamas and a diaper. He was also clinging to one of those two men. But he didn't. He felt warm and comfortable and safe. Protected. Where else in the world could you ever be as safe as you were between an archangel and an angel?

"Do you even want Balthazar in heaven at this point? Maybe it would be better if he stayed here on Earth."

"Don't tell me you want him here with you and the kiddo."

Dean tensed. Immediately, the pressure of the hand in his hair increased a little.

"No, Gabriel. I would like Dean to meet Balthazar, but he's not ready to have someone here besides us all the time. Besides, I'm not sure that the two of them will get along very well."

Gabriel snorted and wriggled around a little. His chest had been touching Dean's back, but then Dean felt something brush against his hip. "I guess you're right. Though it would do Balthazar some good to have someone take him down a few pegs. I bet you could do that, eh, baby boy?"

Fingers curled around the hem of his pajama top and pulled it up. Before Dean could react, Gabriel pressed his face against Dean's belly and blew a raspberry. The sound was loud in the otherwise quiet room and Dean squeaked, his legs jerking automatically at the weird feeling of a mouth vibrating against his sensitive flesh. He stared down at the crazy archangel, and Gabriel peeked up at him and grinned.

"Did you like that?" he asked, not waiting for a response. He did it again and Dean squirmed, biting his lower lip, because it felt so weird. It made his belly feel all tingly, and he was torn between trying to get away and liking it. When Gabriel did it a third time and then a fourth, Dean couldn't help himself. He giggled.

It was the wrong thing to do. Gabriel's eyes lit up and he clambered over Dean, settling into a better position where he could pin Dean's hips to the bed and keep him from squirming away. He kept blowing raspberries, deliberately making the farting sound very loud and drawn out and lewd, until Dean was gasping for breath in between giggles. He batted ineffectually at Gabriel's head, but Gabriel just chuckled and kept doing it.

"Who's a cute little boy?" Gabriel cooed, grinning madly, his fingers joining in now. He danced his fingertips up and down Dean's sides, tickling him lightly. Dean squealed at the sensation and wriggled harder, but he couldn't keep his giggles contained. His tummy felt all tingly and twisty, but in a happy way.

"No, no!" he squeaked when Gabriel started blowing raspberries and tickling him at the same time. The onslaught was too much and he threw his head back, falling into a fresh bout of helpless giggles. He barely registered having to pee before it happened, the diaper between his thighs making it seem like it never happened, and still Gabriel kept going.

"I wonder if you're ticklish on your feet, too," Gabriel paused to say, tickling right under Dean's belly button. "Do you think that we should find out?"

"No!" Dean said, which was a blatant lie, because Sam had discovered a long time ago that the bottom of Dean's feet were extremely ticklish. Judging by the grin on Gabriel's face, he could tell. In desperation, Dean turned to Castiel for help. "Daddy! No!"

Castiel had been smiling broadly the whole time, his blue eyes bright with wonder and affection, but at those words his eyes widened even further. "Gabriel, enough," he said immediately.

Gabriel had already stopped, too shocked to continue, but at that he pouted dramatically and fell back. "Telling your daddy on me isn't fair. That's two against one."

"You're an archangel," Castiel pointed out, putting a hand on Dean's belly. Dean flinched, but all Castiel did was rub gently. It helped to soothe away the lingering tingliness and he relaxed.

"I still don't appreciate it when people gang up on me," Gabriel said, sticking his tongue out. But he was still grinning, so he couldn't have been too bad, and Castiel just rolled his eyes at him.

Dean leaned back against the pillow, staring up at the ceiling, the past few minutes sinking in. Gabriel had tickled him exactly like he was a baby, blowing raspberries on his tummy, and Dean had liked it. Well, up until Gabriel tried to involve his feet, which would've gone past fun into torture. He'd liked it so much he hadn't even paid attention to the fact that he'd pissed himself. In the moment, having fun seemed more important.

And then he'd called Castiel 'Daddy', without even thinking about it. It was the second time that word had slipped out, but it felt so natural. Neither angel had really reacted, either. They made it feel normal. Dean didn't know how to feel. He'd been agonizing over this for so long, torn up about how ashamed and embarrassed he was and how much he secretly wanted it, and now it had happened and it... wasn't a big deal after all.

Of course, the past few days where he'd been totally out of it were proof enough that, somehow, Castiel and Gabriel really were okay with this, even if Dean still wasn't really sure why. But he was conscious now and it was different. He was surprised to realize that he liked this. He really liked the attention he was getting from Castiel and Gabriel. Liked being able to let go, to just react, without fear of judgment or embarrassment. Liked that right now, they were both watching him with these little smiles, like he was the only thing in the room that mattered. No one had looked at him like that for a long time.

After a couple of minutes during which no one said anything - though the silence wasn't tense or uncomfortable, but pleasant - Dean's stomach rumbled. Dean flushed, but Castiel just patted his tummy lightly and said, "I think it's time for some breakfast. Maybe if we ask nicely, Gabriel will cook us some pancakes."

"Pancakes?" Dean echoed hopefully, looking at Gabriel.

"Oh come on, how am I supposed to say no to those puppy eyes?" Gabriel complained.

Sam had a great set of puppy eyes. Dean hadn't really thought about whether or not he did, too. He blinked and stared harder, trying to remember how Sam looked when he really wanted something. Didn't Sam usually frown a little, like his heart would be broken if he didn't get what he wanted? And he would look down, but not so much that he wasn't making eye contact. He did this, looking up at Gabriel through his lashes and pouting a bit.

Castiel was trying to stifle his laughter. Gabriel just sighed. "That should be illegal, damn it. Alright, fine. Pancakes it is." He rolled off of the bed and stalked out of the room, head held high, and Castiel started to chuckle the second he was gone.

"You're going to have Gabriel wrapped around your little finger if you keep that up," he said.

Dean shrugged, pulling down his pajama top. It was still weird, even if it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He couldn't quite bring himself to look Castiel in the eyes, still feeling self-conscious about the whole 'Daddy' thing, so he wasn't exactly surprised when Castiel gently tipped his chin up so that they were looking at each other. The angel was definitely big on eye contact, that was for sure.

"Dean, I've been asking you to call me 'Daddy' since the day you got here. I'm not mad. If anything, I am very happy," Castiel said gently. "I like it when you call me that. It makes me feel like you trust me."

"I do," Dean admitted. "Trust you." More than he'd ever though he could trust someone who wasn't Bobby or Sam. Maybe even more than he trusted those two, and wasn't that a scary thought?

"Then you should feel good about what happened today. Both Gabriel and I love seeing you have fun. It's exactly what we want. We won't tease you or make fun of you. Well, I won't. If Gabriel does, you have my full permission to throw something at him."

Dean smirked, but didn't say anything else. He wasn't sure if he would be able to call Castiel 'Daddy' outside of the heat of the moment, but if it made Castiel happy... that was different. He hadn't really thought about it like that before. If it was something he did for Castiel, that wasn't really so bad.

"Daddy," he said cautiously, trying it out. Just like the first two times, it rolled off his tongue surprisingly easily. And he felt a lot lighter as soon as he said it. A little bit of the heaviness in his chest eased.

Castiel smiled at him. "Yes, baby?"

"Bathroom." Dean was blushing a little. He hoped Castiel would attribute it to using the name 'Daddy', but really it was because he'd peed himself and he wasn't sure how to feel about it. He definitely wasn't ready for anyone else to know.

"Okay. Your pull-ups are under the sink, just like always. I'll wait for you in the kitchen. I suppose I should go supervise Gabriel to make sure we don't end up with more chocolate than pancake."

Dean nodded and sat up, swinging his legs off the bed. He'd expected the diaper to squish or otherwise do something to show he'd peed, but there was nothing. He stood up and walked out of the room, realizing that wearing a diaper wasn't so different from wearing a pull-up. It widened his stance the a little more, forcing him to toddle a bit, but he got the hang of it pretty quickly.

He was glad to take it off, though, burying it under some other trash in the garbage so Castiel wouldn't see it. He wiped himself off and pulled on a pull-up, trying not to think about the few memories he had of Castiel leaning over him, cleaning him off, and then putting him into a fresh diaper. The pull-up wasn't as tight-fitting, didn't feel as secure, but it was something he could do for himself.

After pulling his pajama bottoms back up and washing his hands, Dean went to the kitchen. Castiel was sitting at the table, watching Gabriel make pancakes. There was a sippy cup waiting for him on the table. Dean walked over and grabbed it, pleased to find that it contained orange juice, and didn't protest when Castiel pulled him into his lap and absentmindedly reached up to help him hold the cup. He didn't need the help... but maybe it wasn't so bad to accept it.