Always with you - Chapter 2
Title: Always with you
Fandom/Genre: Supernatural AU/Romance
Pairing(s): Dean/Castiel, Chuck/Becky, Sam/Sarah
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 46400
Warnings: some angst, mentions of violence, implied character death (disappearance)
Previous chapter: Chapter 1
Chapter two: Someone special
Almost two months later the time Dean spent in the hospital - along with the upsetting picture - was nothing more than a faint, unpleasant memory barely even crossing Dean’s mind. After he’d been let out of the hospital, he threw himself full-heartedly into his work around the horses, trying to make up for the lost time. Not that his temporal replacement, Andy was bad with them, it’s just that… Andy wasn’t him, and Dean was sure that was something he had to make up for anyway.
While he was away, Chuck bought a new horse. Dean referred to the action as “buying a horse in a poke”, as Chuck hadn’t even seen the horse before he bought him, saving the poor beast from the slaughterhouse. The horse-in-a-poke went by the name Judas. He was a huge, gold champagne colored gelding, with a white star on his face, and a fully-fledged fear of everything and anything. Though he was getting better and better in Dean’s loving care, it was still obvious that he’d been abused before, so Dean did everything he could to win Judas’ trust. Every day, he took him out for a short ride, and he noticed that somewhere deep Judas was an amazing horse, with great stamina and good pace, a real treat to ride on, and that only made him even more intent on fixing him. Their ride-outs always took place on a sandy, barely used back track on the estate, because that was the only way Dean could make sure that nothing could scare Judas even more.
The spring turned into a hot, dry summer almost unnoticeably. The yellow cowslips and the purple violets slowly gave their place over to daisies on Dean’s favorite field, completely covering it in white, almost as if it was a bride-to-be in her wedding dress. Every time Dean took Judas there, the horse seemed to be just as mesmerized by the endless sea of white flowers as his rider was. They spent hours riding around on the rims of the field, not wanting to damage the plants more than necessary, and by the time the first flowers started withering, Dean was sure he had won Judas’ trust. After that, he started to involve Becky with Judas; because he knew she would be the one riding him most of the time.
~.~.~.~.~.~The day Castiel Engelhart became a part of Dean’s life started out just like every other day. As usual, he woke up early. After taking a quick shower and shoveling down some ham and eggs as breakfast he went to see the horses, and that’s when the day started becoming crazier and crazier.
“Good morning, kids, how are you doing? You’re hungry, huh?” He grinned. “Well, let’s see what we can do about that.” As Dean walked to the storage room - situated at the back of the stable - Judas stuck his head out of his stall, and gently bit into his shoulder. “Oh, look at that, now you’re comfy enough to get cocky with me, boy?” Dean laughed, and patted the horse’s nose. Judas snorted, and pulled his snout back, as if he was grinning. “Damn you, toothy bastard.”
After Dean fed the horses, he led them out into the pen, and went back to clean the stable. He almost reached the building without any incident. Almost. He heard some noise from behind him, and by the time he turned around to see what caused it, he found himself knocked over by almost 1600 pounds of an overeager horse.
“Christ, Judas, what on earth are you doing?! Almost ran me over, you insane gee-gee !” Dean scolded him after he managed to get back on his feet. “How did you get out of the pen anyway? If you broke the gate, I’m gonna cut back on your food, until the damage is covered!” He muttered, his anger quickly resolving. By the time he reached the pen, he was grinning again. There was no damage, and two huge hoof-shaped dents in the ground a few feet away from the fence made the happenings perfectly clear. “You jumped over the fence. Which means, you were taught how to. You horse-in-a-poke are becoming a better and better deal by the minute. But tell me, what am I supposed to do with you now? You can’t just keep jumping over the fence every time you fancy…”
“Maybe we could buy new fences, a bit higher ones,” a female voice said from behind Dean. He turned around, and saw Becky standing there, with a grin wide enough to match his. “At first I was so angry at Chuck for buying him, and now I can’t imagine my life without Judas, even though I’ve barely ridden him.”
“I don’t think it’s going to take long now for him to trust you just as he trusts me.” Dean smiled, and nodded towards the gelding who was lovingly mouthing at Becky’s neck. “I’m going to take him out for another ride a bit later, just to see what he knows about jumping, and if we manage to survive that without any problems, you can start working with him on your own, okay?”
“Yeah, I can’t wait.” She smiled, and walked away, with Judas happily trailing after her.
“Hey, Becky!” Dean called out.
“Yeah?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, let me tell you that Romeo is following you. Please, come back, and make him stay put in the pen. Apparently I just lost my position as the person of authority in his eyes.”
“Okay, I’ll do what I can.” Becky laughed, and started caressing Judas’ neck, trying to lure him back into the pen.
This time Dean managed to get to the stable without problems. Whistling loudly he grabbed the pitchfork, and started cleaning the stalls. Every time he did this, he imagined the expression his father would wear if he saw him right in that moment, and somehow, in a twisted, childish way this fantasy always made him smile.
Halfway through the work he stopped for an hour to eat and rest. This happened at the same time Sam had his own lunch break at the lawyer’s office he was working in, so they spent some time talking to each other on the phone. His brother was the only person in his family Dean actually wanted to keep contact with, so they were just as close to each other was they had been in their childhood. Sam didn’t care about Dean’s job, about him not fulfilling the promising plans their parents made for him, he loved his brother for what he was, and for Dean that was worth more than anything in the world.
When Sam had to hang up and head back to the office, Dean finished the stalls, and put the saddle on Judas, who - to Dean’s utter surprise - actually stayed put in the pen after Becky told him to. They headed out, but this time Dean decided to take another route, where he knew there were fallen trees and a few decayed wood fences along the trail, so he could test Judas’ knowledge about jumping.
Dean was absolutely amazed by the horse. He would have never thought that the scaredy-horse was as good at jumping as he was. Judas jumped over obstacles most horses would run away from, scared to death, but not him. Sadly, there was one thing he got scared of: a huge, shiny car driving down the trail. Dean could feel the tremors of terror running through the horse, his heartbeat knocking frantically on his rider’s calves.
“Hey, boy, calm down, it’s just a car, nothing to be scared of. You’ve seen things like that, my baby is louder and bigger than that one, and you’re not scared of her, are you?” Dean bent down onto Judas’ neck, whispering into his ear. For a moment the horse seemed to calm a little, but as the car got nearer, he reared up onto his hind legs, kicked out with the front left one, and all Dean could do was to shield himself from the fall. As soon as he hit the ground, he rolled over on his shoulder, this way he managed to get out from under Judas’ hooves. He felt blood trickling down his back, but he was more worried about the horse, which kept rearing and prancing in panic. At least Judas was scared enough not to run away, Dean thought, but that didn’t help much. He still couldn’t get near enough to calm him down, and the car was getting nearer and nearer, until it finally hurtled past them with a loud screech of its tires on the gravel, tossing the horse into another fit of panicking.
“Oh, the beeping fudge beep it, I don’t care if it’s God himself driving that beeping car, I’m gonna hack him up into tiny little pieces and fertilize the front lawn with him!” Dean cursed, angrily shaking his fist at the driver of the car.
With the source of fear gone, Judas slowly started to calm down, eventually letting the man near enough to gently pat his back. Dean grabbed the bridle, and he pulled at it until Judas began walking, still occasionally rearing.
“Everything’s fine now. Calm down, there’s nothing to be scared of, it’s gone. It’s okay, I know it scared you, but it’s over now.” He muttered, keeping his hand on Judas’ neck, just above his pulse point.
It took almost an hour for the horse to calm, but seeing him suffering for so long made Dean murderous. He kept mumbling curses while he checked Judas over, forming plans in his head to find out who that idiot in the car was and to put the fear of god into him. When he was sure Judas was fine enough to accept a rider again, he climbed back onto his back, nudged him into a trot, and they headed back to the Shurley Estate.
Once they were back home again, and Dean checked another three times to make sure that Judas was absolutely okay, he went to find Becky. He wanted to ask her to take care of Judas for a bit, so he could go out with another horse to see if the car that scared Judas was somewhere near. Dean started walking towards the main house, but he was way too agitated to keep his pace slow. By the time he reached the house, he was out of breath - but not only because he ran for a while. No, the damn car that indirectly almost killed him was parking there in the driveway, and Dean could’ve sworn it was grinning smugly at him.
“Son of a bitch,” Dean muttered trotting inside the house. He heard voices from the direction of the living room, so he headed there. Chuck and Becky were both there, happily chatting with a man Dean had never seen before. Without greeting anyone, he walked up to the man. “That Camaro out there, is she yours?” he gritted his teeth.
“Yeah, it is. Is that a problem? It’s not for sale, though if you really want it, I’m sure we can work something out.” The man answered, appreciatively running his eyes over Dean’s body.
“Oh, yeah? How about I don’t hit you right here and now, like I want to, for almost killing me, you ass?! Did you even notice that you scared a poor horse to death when you hurtled past us as if the freaking devil was on your tail? And anyway, what the hell were you doing on that back road? It hasn’t been used in ages.” Dean yelled, threateningly leaning over the stranger. The man’s bright blue eyes filled with fear, but Dean didn’t notice it.
“Calm down, Dean.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down, Becky. I’m not taking Judas on the non-used back roads for fun; I’m doing it because he’s not ready yet for cars or any other mechanized company, especially not ones racing towards him at 100 mph! He freaked, threw me down, and for the better part of an hour I couldn’t even get near him. He was constantly rearing and kicking. We’re lucky he didn’t injure himself in the process.”
“I know it’s hard, but please, calm down.” Chuck interjected, and the unsaid “or else” in his voice snapped Dean out of his angered haze. For the first time that day, he actually looked at the stranger, who was trying to curl up into a ball in his chair, and his heart dropped at the sight. He turned away, and as he did so, he saw the disapproving look in both Chuck’s and Becky’s eyes.
“I’m sorry.” he mumbled, and hurried out of the house. He went to check up on Judas, but even the horse looked at him like he screwed something royally up.
“Okay, I know. I was a little harsh, but damn, we could’ve both died out there,” he whispered into Judas’ ear, nodding towards the general direction of the back road. Judas turned his head to look at him, and pressed a slobbery horse-kiss onto his face. “I love you too.” Dean smiled, patted the horse’s neck, and went to take a shower.
By the time Dean emerged from his bathroom, clean and fully dressed, he found Becky sitting on a chair in his kitchen, looking serious, and a little angry. Before she could say anything though, Dean began talking.
“I know I screwed up. I shouldn’t have yelled at him.”
“That’s not exactly what I wanted to say,” Becky shook her head. “I understand why you were so angry, and maybe I would’ve yelled too, if it happened to me, but you don’t know who you were yelling at, and the yelling wasn’t even the worst part of it. Does the name Castiel Engelhart ring a bell?” she asked.
“Not really. Should it?”
“I think so, yeah. It’s been all over the news back then. He’s a lawyer… or, he used to be, I’m not sure which. Anyway, he had this big case, he was trying to take down a few corrupt top dogs. But of course they didn’t really like the idea, and they did everything they could to stop him.”
“I remember now. They kidnapped him. Damn, are you trying to say that the man in there was him? And I threatened to hit him. Christ, is he okay?”
“He’s fine. You scared him good, but I’m sure he’ll get over it. He’s a good guy, Dean. The years as a top-notch lawyer changed him a little, but deep down he’s still the boy next door.”
“So, you know him? I thought… eh, you know what, never mind. I don’t know, what I thought.”
“He and his family lived next to us back when I was growing up. Even though Castiel is older than me, we’ve always been friends. I was freaking out when I heard he was kidnapped.”
“So, that’s why you were that antsy the week I had my accident?”
“Yep. I just didn’t want to talk about it, that’s why you didn’t know about it. Every time I visited you in the hospital, I spent some time with him too. I was the only one visitor he let in, actually. I offered to let him to come here to heal, but he declined my offer. I don’t know, why he decided to come here now. Not that I’m not happy he did, I just wasn’t expecting him.”
“I should tell him I’m sorry for threatening him.”
“Yes, you should. But please, wait until after dinner, okay? I’m going to make his favorite food, I learnt the recipe from his mom. I’m sure that will put him in a good mood.”
“Okay. Thanks for letting me know who he is.”
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry I haven’t talked about him earlier, I just didn’t think about you and him ever meeting, you know?” Becky smiled apologetically, and she stood up to leave.
“You don’t have to be sorry for anything. Before you go, could you please check if the wound on the back of my neck needs stitches? I must have gotten it when Judas threw me down. I think it just started bleeding again, and getting it to stop for the first time was a bitch.”
~.~.~.~.~.~“Thank you, Becky, you’re a wonderful cook,” Dean said, trying to force a smile onto his face. The food had been good, amazing even, but the situation they had eaten it in had been less fortunate and very awkward. Castiel had spent the whole time glaring daggers at Dean, who in turn had been looking at Becky for any signs of optic encouragement, but aside from two little smiles she had flashed towards Dean during the almost forty minutes of dinner, she was too busy flirting with Chuck, who of course flirted back.
“I made some dessert too. Chuck, could you please help me?” Becky smiled at her boyfriend, and then winked at Dean. The moment they were alone, Dean looked at Castiel, and cleared his throat.
“Look, I should probably…" he began, right in the moment Castiel opened his mouth to say something too. Then, both of them stopped talking at the exact same time and just sat looking at each other.
“You can go first, if you want to,” Castiel said after a short pause, and Dean had to swallow an imaginary lump from his throat in favor of being able to talk.
“We really got off on the wrong foot here, and... I just wanted to say sorry for my behavior earlier. I was still full of adrenaline, and I didn’t think. Becky told me a few things about you, and I know how badly I scared you. I’m really sorry,” he muttered, intently looking at the floor under his shoes.
“Yeah, well, I’m really sorry too for scaring your horse. I didn’t think either. I guess that kinda makes us a couple,” Castiel answered with a tentative smile, and Dean actually looked up to see it, as if he knew in advance that something like that would happen.
“Let’s just forget it. Forget it, and start everything new, okay?”
“Okay. So, my name is Castiel Engelhart. Nice to meet you,” he said, reaching out towards Dean with his right hand.
“Castiel, like the angel?” He asked, taking the offered limb into his own, and firmly shaking it before releasing it.
“Yeah, like the angel. My parents were religious, and they thought angel names would go well with our last name, so my siblings and I got angel names too. Hilarious,” Castiel said, making air quotes with his fingers.
“I’m Dean Winchester.”
“Winchester, like the gun?” Castiel asked, trying to stifle his grin, with not much success though. He enjoyed that for once he was able to ask a stupid question about the other person’s name too.
“No. Winchester, like the computer part,” Dean answered, rolling his eyes, and then he laughed at Castiel’s confused face. “You know, the hard drive? It’s called a winchester.”
“I’ve never been intimate enough with a hard drive to ask for its name,” he deadpanned, and that only made Dean laugh harder. A moment later Castiel joined him, and Dean did his best not to dwell on how adorably his nose crinkled when he laughed.
A few moments later Becky and Chuck re-entered the dining room, carrying plates with huge pieces of homemade triple chocolate cake, topped with fresh strawberries. Dean grinned at Becky, and sat down, eagerly waiting for her to set a plate down in front of him. When it happened, he threw himself at the dessert, and cleaned his plate in a minute flat. Castiel seemed to be just as blown away by the cake as Dean was, and in the end both of them asked for another slice, winking conspiratorially at each other. After Castiel retreated to the guest room, and Dean left too, Becky grinned at her boyfriend while clearing the table.
“I’ll bet that these two will get it on in a month… Or, wait. Hm, let me think… I give them three weeks tops.”
“Eww, Becksie, thanks for that image.” Chuck stuck his tongue out disgustedly.
“You’re quite welcome!” she laughed, and leaned down to kiss him. Next chapter: Chapter 3
Fandom/Genre: Supernatural AU/Romance
Pairing(s): Dean/Castiel, Chuck/Becky, Sam/Sarah
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 46400
Warnings: some angst, mentions of violence, implied character death (disappearance)
Previous chapter: Chapter 1
Chapter two: Someone special
Almost two months later the time Dean spent in the hospital - along with the upsetting picture - was nothing more than a faint, unpleasant memory barely even crossing Dean’s mind. After he’d been let out of the hospital, he threw himself full-heartedly into his work around the horses, trying to make up for the lost time. Not that his temporal replacement, Andy was bad with them, it’s just that… Andy wasn’t him, and Dean was sure that was something he had to make up for anyway.
While he was away, Chuck bought a new horse. Dean referred to the action as “buying a horse in a poke”, as Chuck hadn’t even seen the horse before he bought him, saving the poor beast from the slaughterhouse. The horse-in-a-poke went by the name Judas. He was a huge, gold champagne colored gelding, with a white star on his face, and a fully-fledged fear of everything and anything. Though he was getting better and better in Dean’s loving care, it was still obvious that he’d been abused before, so Dean did everything he could to win Judas’ trust. Every day, he took him out for a short ride, and he noticed that somewhere deep Judas was an amazing horse, with great stamina and good pace, a real treat to ride on, and that only made him even more intent on fixing him. Their ride-outs always took place on a sandy, barely used back track on the estate, because that was the only way Dean could make sure that nothing could scare Judas even more.
The spring turned into a hot, dry summer almost unnoticeably. The yellow cowslips and the purple violets slowly gave their place over to daisies on Dean’s favorite field, completely covering it in white, almost as if it was a bride-to-be in her wedding dress. Every time Dean took Judas there, the horse seemed to be just as mesmerized by the endless sea of white flowers as his rider was. They spent hours riding around on the rims of the field, not wanting to damage the plants more than necessary, and by the time the first flowers started withering, Dean was sure he had won Judas’ trust. After that, he started to involve Becky with Judas; because he knew she would be the one riding him most of the time.
~.~.~.~.~.~The day Castiel Engelhart became a part of Dean’s life started out just like every other day. As usual, he woke up early. After taking a quick shower and shoveling down some ham and eggs as breakfast he went to see the horses, and that’s when the day started becoming crazier and crazier.
“Good morning, kids, how are you doing? You’re hungry, huh?” He grinned. “Well, let’s see what we can do about that.” As Dean walked to the storage room - situated at the back of the stable - Judas stuck his head out of his stall, and gently bit into his shoulder. “Oh, look at that, now you’re comfy enough to get cocky with me, boy?” Dean laughed, and patted the horse’s nose. Judas snorted, and pulled his snout back, as if he was grinning. “Damn you, toothy bastard.”
After Dean fed the horses, he led them out into the pen, and went back to clean the stable. He almost reached the building without any incident. Almost. He heard some noise from behind him, and by the time he turned around to see what caused it, he found himself knocked over by almost 1600 pounds of an overeager horse.
“Christ, Judas, what on earth are you doing?! Almost ran me over, you insane gee-gee !” Dean scolded him after he managed to get back on his feet. “How did you get out of the pen anyway? If you broke the gate, I’m gonna cut back on your food, until the damage is covered!” He muttered, his anger quickly resolving. By the time he reached the pen, he was grinning again. There was no damage, and two huge hoof-shaped dents in the ground a few feet away from the fence made the happenings perfectly clear. “You jumped over the fence. Which means, you were taught how to. You horse-in-a-poke are becoming a better and better deal by the minute. But tell me, what am I supposed to do with you now? You can’t just keep jumping over the fence every time you fancy…”
“Maybe we could buy new fences, a bit higher ones,” a female voice said from behind Dean. He turned around, and saw Becky standing there, with a grin wide enough to match his. “At first I was so angry at Chuck for buying him, and now I can’t imagine my life without Judas, even though I’ve barely ridden him.”
“I don’t think it’s going to take long now for him to trust you just as he trusts me.” Dean smiled, and nodded towards the gelding who was lovingly mouthing at Becky’s neck. “I’m going to take him out for another ride a bit later, just to see what he knows about jumping, and if we manage to survive that without any problems, you can start working with him on your own, okay?”
“Yeah, I can’t wait.” She smiled, and walked away, with Judas happily trailing after her.
“Hey, Becky!” Dean called out.
“Yeah?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, let me tell you that Romeo is following you. Please, come back, and make him stay put in the pen. Apparently I just lost my position as the person of authority in his eyes.”
“Okay, I’ll do what I can.” Becky laughed, and started caressing Judas’ neck, trying to lure him back into the pen.
This time Dean managed to get to the stable without problems. Whistling loudly he grabbed the pitchfork, and started cleaning the stalls. Every time he did this, he imagined the expression his father would wear if he saw him right in that moment, and somehow, in a twisted, childish way this fantasy always made him smile.
Halfway through the work he stopped for an hour to eat and rest. This happened at the same time Sam had his own lunch break at the lawyer’s office he was working in, so they spent some time talking to each other on the phone. His brother was the only person in his family Dean actually wanted to keep contact with, so they were just as close to each other was they had been in their childhood. Sam didn’t care about Dean’s job, about him not fulfilling the promising plans their parents made for him, he loved his brother for what he was, and for Dean that was worth more than anything in the world.
When Sam had to hang up and head back to the office, Dean finished the stalls, and put the saddle on Judas, who - to Dean’s utter surprise - actually stayed put in the pen after Becky told him to. They headed out, but this time Dean decided to take another route, where he knew there were fallen trees and a few decayed wood fences along the trail, so he could test Judas’ knowledge about jumping.
Dean was absolutely amazed by the horse. He would have never thought that the scaredy-horse was as good at jumping as he was. Judas jumped over obstacles most horses would run away from, scared to death, but not him. Sadly, there was one thing he got scared of: a huge, shiny car driving down the trail. Dean could feel the tremors of terror running through the horse, his heartbeat knocking frantically on his rider’s calves.
“Hey, boy, calm down, it’s just a car, nothing to be scared of. You’ve seen things like that, my baby is louder and bigger than that one, and you’re not scared of her, are you?” Dean bent down onto Judas’ neck, whispering into his ear. For a moment the horse seemed to calm a little, but as the car got nearer, he reared up onto his hind legs, kicked out with the front left one, and all Dean could do was to shield himself from the fall. As soon as he hit the ground, he rolled over on his shoulder, this way he managed to get out from under Judas’ hooves. He felt blood trickling down his back, but he was more worried about the horse, which kept rearing and prancing in panic. At least Judas was scared enough not to run away, Dean thought, but that didn’t help much. He still couldn’t get near enough to calm him down, and the car was getting nearer and nearer, until it finally hurtled past them with a loud screech of its tires on the gravel, tossing the horse into another fit of panicking.
“Oh, the beeping fudge beep it, I don’t care if it’s God himself driving that beeping car, I’m gonna hack him up into tiny little pieces and fertilize the front lawn with him!” Dean cursed, angrily shaking his fist at the driver of the car.
With the source of fear gone, Judas slowly started to calm down, eventually letting the man near enough to gently pat his back. Dean grabbed the bridle, and he pulled at it until Judas began walking, still occasionally rearing.
“Everything’s fine now. Calm down, there’s nothing to be scared of, it’s gone. It’s okay, I know it scared you, but it’s over now.” He muttered, keeping his hand on Judas’ neck, just above his pulse point.
It took almost an hour for the horse to calm, but seeing him suffering for so long made Dean murderous. He kept mumbling curses while he checked Judas over, forming plans in his head to find out who that idiot in the car was and to put the fear of god into him. When he was sure Judas was fine enough to accept a rider again, he climbed back onto his back, nudged him into a trot, and they headed back to the Shurley Estate.
Once they were back home again, and Dean checked another three times to make sure that Judas was absolutely okay, he went to find Becky. He wanted to ask her to take care of Judas for a bit, so he could go out with another horse to see if the car that scared Judas was somewhere near. Dean started walking towards the main house, but he was way too agitated to keep his pace slow. By the time he reached the house, he was out of breath - but not only because he ran for a while. No, the damn car that indirectly almost killed him was parking there in the driveway, and Dean could’ve sworn it was grinning smugly at him.
“Son of a bitch,” Dean muttered trotting inside the house. He heard voices from the direction of the living room, so he headed there. Chuck and Becky were both there, happily chatting with a man Dean had never seen before. Without greeting anyone, he walked up to the man. “That Camaro out there, is she yours?” he gritted his teeth.
“Yeah, it is. Is that a problem? It’s not for sale, though if you really want it, I’m sure we can work something out.” The man answered, appreciatively running his eyes over Dean’s body.
“Oh, yeah? How about I don’t hit you right here and now, like I want to, for almost killing me, you ass?! Did you even notice that you scared a poor horse to death when you hurtled past us as if the freaking devil was on your tail? And anyway, what the hell were you doing on that back road? It hasn’t been used in ages.” Dean yelled, threateningly leaning over the stranger. The man’s bright blue eyes filled with fear, but Dean didn’t notice it.
“Calm down, Dean.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down, Becky. I’m not taking Judas on the non-used back roads for fun; I’m doing it because he’s not ready yet for cars or any other mechanized company, especially not ones racing towards him at 100 mph! He freaked, threw me down, and for the better part of an hour I couldn’t even get near him. He was constantly rearing and kicking. We’re lucky he didn’t injure himself in the process.”
“I know it’s hard, but please, calm down.” Chuck interjected, and the unsaid “or else” in his voice snapped Dean out of his angered haze. For the first time that day, he actually looked at the stranger, who was trying to curl up into a ball in his chair, and his heart dropped at the sight. He turned away, and as he did so, he saw the disapproving look in both Chuck’s and Becky’s eyes.
“I’m sorry.” he mumbled, and hurried out of the house. He went to check up on Judas, but even the horse looked at him like he screwed something royally up.
“Okay, I know. I was a little harsh, but damn, we could’ve both died out there,” he whispered into Judas’ ear, nodding towards the general direction of the back road. Judas turned his head to look at him, and pressed a slobbery horse-kiss onto his face. “I love you too.” Dean smiled, patted the horse’s neck, and went to take a shower.
By the time Dean emerged from his bathroom, clean and fully dressed, he found Becky sitting on a chair in his kitchen, looking serious, and a little angry. Before she could say anything though, Dean began talking.
“I know I screwed up. I shouldn’t have yelled at him.”
“That’s not exactly what I wanted to say,” Becky shook her head. “I understand why you were so angry, and maybe I would’ve yelled too, if it happened to me, but you don’t know who you were yelling at, and the yelling wasn’t even the worst part of it. Does the name Castiel Engelhart ring a bell?” she asked.
“Not really. Should it?”
“I think so, yeah. It’s been all over the news back then. He’s a lawyer… or, he used to be, I’m not sure which. Anyway, he had this big case, he was trying to take down a few corrupt top dogs. But of course they didn’t really like the idea, and they did everything they could to stop him.”
“I remember now. They kidnapped him. Damn, are you trying to say that the man in there was him? And I threatened to hit him. Christ, is he okay?”
“He’s fine. You scared him good, but I’m sure he’ll get over it. He’s a good guy, Dean. The years as a top-notch lawyer changed him a little, but deep down he’s still the boy next door.”
“So, you know him? I thought… eh, you know what, never mind. I don’t know, what I thought.”
“He and his family lived next to us back when I was growing up. Even though Castiel is older than me, we’ve always been friends. I was freaking out when I heard he was kidnapped.”
“So, that’s why you were that antsy the week I had my accident?”
“Yep. I just didn’t want to talk about it, that’s why you didn’t know about it. Every time I visited you in the hospital, I spent some time with him too. I was the only one visitor he let in, actually. I offered to let him to come here to heal, but he declined my offer. I don’t know, why he decided to come here now. Not that I’m not happy he did, I just wasn’t expecting him.”
“I should tell him I’m sorry for threatening him.”
“Yes, you should. But please, wait until after dinner, okay? I’m going to make his favorite food, I learnt the recipe from his mom. I’m sure that will put him in a good mood.”
“Okay. Thanks for letting me know who he is.”
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry I haven’t talked about him earlier, I just didn’t think about you and him ever meeting, you know?” Becky smiled apologetically, and she stood up to leave.
“You don’t have to be sorry for anything. Before you go, could you please check if the wound on the back of my neck needs stitches? I must have gotten it when Judas threw me down. I think it just started bleeding again, and getting it to stop for the first time was a bitch.”
~.~.~.~.~.~“Thank you, Becky, you’re a wonderful cook,” Dean said, trying to force a smile onto his face. The food had been good, amazing even, but the situation they had eaten it in had been less fortunate and very awkward. Castiel had spent the whole time glaring daggers at Dean, who in turn had been looking at Becky for any signs of optic encouragement, but aside from two little smiles she had flashed towards Dean during the almost forty minutes of dinner, she was too busy flirting with Chuck, who of course flirted back.
“I made some dessert too. Chuck, could you please help me?” Becky smiled at her boyfriend, and then winked at Dean. The moment they were alone, Dean looked at Castiel, and cleared his throat.
“Look, I should probably…" he began, right in the moment Castiel opened his mouth to say something too. Then, both of them stopped talking at the exact same time and just sat looking at each other.
“You can go first, if you want to,” Castiel said after a short pause, and Dean had to swallow an imaginary lump from his throat in favor of being able to talk.
“We really got off on the wrong foot here, and... I just wanted to say sorry for my behavior earlier. I was still full of adrenaline, and I didn’t think. Becky told me a few things about you, and I know how badly I scared you. I’m really sorry,” he muttered, intently looking at the floor under his shoes.
“Yeah, well, I’m really sorry too for scaring your horse. I didn’t think either. I guess that kinda makes us a couple,” Castiel answered with a tentative smile, and Dean actually looked up to see it, as if he knew in advance that something like that would happen.
“Let’s just forget it. Forget it, and start everything new, okay?”
“Okay. So, my name is Castiel Engelhart. Nice to meet you,” he said, reaching out towards Dean with his right hand.
“Castiel, like the angel?” He asked, taking the offered limb into his own, and firmly shaking it before releasing it.
“Yeah, like the angel. My parents were religious, and they thought angel names would go well with our last name, so my siblings and I got angel names too. Hilarious,” Castiel said, making air quotes with his fingers.
“I’m Dean Winchester.”
“Winchester, like the gun?” Castiel asked, trying to stifle his grin, with not much success though. He enjoyed that for once he was able to ask a stupid question about the other person’s name too.
“No. Winchester, like the computer part,” Dean answered, rolling his eyes, and then he laughed at Castiel’s confused face. “You know, the hard drive? It’s called a winchester.”
“I’ve never been intimate enough with a hard drive to ask for its name,” he deadpanned, and that only made Dean laugh harder. A moment later Castiel joined him, and Dean did his best not to dwell on how adorably his nose crinkled when he laughed.
A few moments later Becky and Chuck re-entered the dining room, carrying plates with huge pieces of homemade triple chocolate cake, topped with fresh strawberries. Dean grinned at Becky, and sat down, eagerly waiting for her to set a plate down in front of him. When it happened, he threw himself at the dessert, and cleaned his plate in a minute flat. Castiel seemed to be just as blown away by the cake as Dean was, and in the end both of them asked for another slice, winking conspiratorially at each other. After Castiel retreated to the guest room, and Dean left too, Becky grinned at her boyfriend while clearing the table.
“I’ll bet that these two will get it on in a month… Or, wait. Hm, let me think… I give them three weeks tops.”
“Eww, Becksie, thanks for that image.” Chuck stuck his tongue out disgustedly.
“You’re quite welcome!” she laughed, and leaned down to kiss him. Next chapter: Chapter 3