Always with you - Chapter 3
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 2
Chapter three - Thirteen horses
The next morning Dean woke up earlier than he was used to. He tried to fall back asleep, but he couldn’t, so with a loud sigh he got out of bed, absently scratching at his stomach. By the time the alarm clock let out the first annoying beep, Dean had already showered, eaten his breakfast and checked the news and his emails on his smartphone. Moreover, he was actually starting to get bored. He didn’t want to disturb the horses’ routine and let them out earlier, and he didn’t have anything else to do, so he decided to go for a swim in the pool on the terrace of the main house. He changed into his swimming shorts, put on a black t-shirt, grabbed a towel, and walked out of the house. It didn’t take long for him to reach the pool, so he had plenty of time to enjoy the coolness of the water. He swam quite a few lengths before his muscles started aching. Not wanting to exhaust himself before a long workday he reluctantly climbed out of the water, and toweled himself off. Pulling on his t-shirt he started walking back to his house to change, but he ran into Castiel - literally, almost knocking the other man to the ground.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t really see you.” Dean mumbled, hanging his head.
“No problem, I wasn’t really looking either. It seems like we keep butting heads,” Castiel answered, looking quite nonchalantly, even though he was everything but. He let his eyes roam over Dean’s body, truly appreciating the view. “You’re wet,” he observed. Dean shot him a look that clearly said ‘No shit, Sherlock’.
“Yeah, I just swam a few lengths. People tend to get wet during swimming.” He grinned, but Castiel wasn’t really paying attention to him. A stray droplet of water escaped from Dean’s hair, and started its way down his face, over his forehead, following the ridge of his nose for a while before finally reaching his mouth and disappearing between plump, red lips. Castiel’s gaze followed it intently before refocusing onto Dean’s eyes, only to find them staring at his feet.
“Man, really? Flip-flops?” Dean teased.
“What now? They’re comfy,” Castiel shrugged.
“Nothing, I just… didn’t think you’d be the flip-flop type, you know, with you being a top-notch lawyer and all.”
“You thought I was into Italian leather shoes worth three vintage cars, right?”
“Yeah, I kinda did,” Dean admitted sheepishly, fixing his stare at the ground.
“While I do have a pair of shoes expensive enough to buy an estate on the money I would get if I sold them, I actually got them from my brother Balthazar, and I absolutely hate them. So, I’m glad I could clear up that misunderstanding.” Castiel winked, and Dean chuckled at that.
“Okay, sorry for trying to categorize you without really knowing you,” he said, only half jokingly.
“I’m having a hard time categorizing myself. That’s kinda the reason I’m here,” Castiel answered, suddenly completely serious and even a little sad.
Dean didn’t know what to say to that, so he just nodded, and then he promptly invited Castiel to meet the horses.
“Eh, Dean, no offense, but I’m not really into horses. You know, up front they bite, in the back they kick, and in the middle they’re just plain uncomfortable.” he declined at first, but one look at Dean’s face told him exactly how sad he made him by saying no. “You know what? I want to meet them.”
Dean’s face lit up immediately.
“Okay, let me change, and then I’ll introduce you to the kids. Meet me at the stable in ten minutes,” he said, and without waiting for an answer, he hurried off, looking like an overgrown, overexcited child. Castiel shook his head, but then he looked around, trying to figure out just which way the stable was.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Dean was walking around in circles in front of the stables. He wasn’t sure what his sudden need to have Castiel near was, but if he was honest to himself, he had to admit that he enjoyed the other man’s company, even though they’d barely spent any time together. When he saw Castiel walking towards him, his heart actually skipped a beat. Flip-flops or not, he looked great in his blue flannel button-down shirt and worn out jeans.
“Hey, I was worried you decided not to come,” he greeted Castiel.
“You know, if you had actually told me where the stable is, I wouldn’t be this late.”
“What? You’re saying that if I told you that it was next to the pen and the practice track, halfway between my house and the main house, in front of the smaller garage, it would have helped?”
“Smartass.” Castiel rolled his eyes. “So, do you want to get this show on the road?” He motioned towards the stable.
“But of course. Please, follow me, my lord.” Dean mock-bowed, and opened the gate to the stable. “This is my empire.” he smiled, waving around. “We have twenty stalls, but only thirteen horses right now. One of our mares is in heat, so our two stallions, Spartacus and Ben Hur are enjoying a little vacation over at the Harvelle’s Farm until she’s done with rutting, it’s just easier that way. Not all horses are actually Chuck’s, five of them belong to different people, but we get paid for feeding them, keeping them safe, and we can even use them for teaching if we want to. The problem is, we don’t want to, because I can’t imagine anyone who would want to learn riding on Mirage, Diamond or the others. Somehow they’re all a little psychotic and more than a little hard to handle, but I love them anyway,” Dean explained, and he did everything to keep himself from laughing when he saw Crystal’s head sticking out of her stall, slowly inching her way towards Castiel. Dean knew what was coming, and he hoped Castiel wouldn’t be angry at him for allowing it to happen. He started counting down from ten in his head, and by the time he reached zero, Crystal’s tongue sneaked out - almost like clockwork -, passing Castiel a sloppy, gooey horse kiss. Only then did he burst out laughing. Castiel made a disgusted sound, and he turned to glare at the mare, who did her best to look completely, utterly innocent, hanging her head and gazing up at Castiel from under her lashes.
“You KNEW this was gonna happen, didn’t you?!” Castiel spun around to look at Dean, quickly adding up one and one in his head, and getting two as a result. “You totally knew, and you didn’t warn me.”
“Sorry, man, but… I can’t deny my girl anything she wants. Right now, she really wanted to kiss you,” Dean deadpanned before starting to laugh again.
“Hilarious.” Castiel rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t stay angry for long. “Do you at least have a tissue or something? I think I have horse saliva dripping down my back.
“That’s Crystal’s way of saying hello. She’s really annoying sometimes, especially during longer rides, when you try to sleep at night. She keeps nudging you until you give up trying, and start playing with her. We had her since she was a scrawny little foal, and look at her now, all big and beautiful,” Dean said, pride evident in his voice. Castiel eyed the mare with distrust for a while, but then she whickered, almost as if she was apologizing, and his gaze softened at that.
“Next to her, that’s Diamond. I already mentioned him before, he’s not ours, we’re just taking care of him. He’s a gelding, and I honestly don’t want to know how he’d act if he still had his balls. If you want to see a perfect temper tantrum thrown by a horse, let me know, and I’ll anger him a little for you.” Dean grinned, and despite everything he just said, he reached through the door to pet Diamond’s nose. For a moment the horse seemed to even enjoy the touch, but then he laid back his ears, and Dean pulled his hand back.
“That doesn’t look like he likes you,” Castiel observed.
“Nah, we’re actually quite okay, I’m pretty sure he’s just angry because I’m here, and yet he hasn’t gotten any food so far,” Dean explained, as he turned toward the horse once again. “Hey, big boy, you’ll get your food in five minute tops, please don’t start throwing a hissy fit.” He tried to calm down the horse, and then he took a step to his left, stopping before the door of another stall. “That’s Maniac, Chuck’s favorite girl. She’s pretty, isn’t she?” He asked, pointing at a gray, almost white Arabs horse. Castiel nodded, and after Dean passed the horse a loving pat to her back, they walked over to the next stall. “Meet Mirage. He’s not ours either. He’s a little easier to handle than Diamond, but generally, they have the same attitude. Next to him that’s Beau, probably the loudest horse in the whole universe. He’s able to out-whicker every noise, and if he strains himself, he can be heard in the main house as well. But hey, you were already here yesterday afternoon. You must have heard him.”
“Yes, I did. He really is loud.”
“You see? I’m not kidding.” He smiled, and then pointed at the horse behind the next door. “That beauty over there is Gigette, the best horse to learn riding on. She’s amazing. You are amazing, Gig, aren’t you?” He cooed, running his fingers through her mane. “She was the first horse in the stable. Actually, she’s the only one who’s been here longer than I have, and that ought to tell you something, because this is my 15th year here.”
“Impressive. And you never thought about leaving? Having another job, your own house, a girlfriend or wife, two point five kids, white picket fences?” Castiel asked, so wrapped up in watching Dean and listening to him, that he actually started scratching Gigette’s neck.
“I’m not saying I didn’t, because I did, but in the end, every time I wanted to leave, I realized that I belong here. Maybe this is not the best life, it’s far from perfect; but still, it’s exactly my kind of imperfect, if you know what I mean,” Dean answered, and when Gigette chose the exact moment of him stopping to start mouthing at his neck, it was almost like a subtle reassurance.
“Wow, you’re small,” Castiel blurted out, when he saw the owner of the next stall.
“That’s Scricciolo, Scri for short. His name comes from the Italian language, and it’s used for tiny and cute things. He’s a Shetty - Shetland pony. He’s actually quite big for a pony, almost 41 inches high at the withers. He’s not ours either, but sometimes we use him to teach small kids, and he’s the star of our ‘Doors open’ days.
“He’s kinda cute,” Castiel admitted, smiling down at the tiny horse.
“Yeah, he is. Do you want to watch him for a while, maybe pet him?” Castiel shook his head, Dean shrugged, and they walked up to the next door.
“Meet Judas, the horse-in-a-poke. Chuck didn’t even see him before he saved his life, and bought him. He was abused before, and he was in a terrible shape when he first arrived here. By the way, he’s the one I was out with, when you drove past us.” Dean added, no edge in his voice. Still, Castiel felt the need to apologize once again, and he even patted Judas’s neck.
Next to his there were two empty stalls, one for Spartacus, and one for Ben Hur. On the other side of the stable there were ten further stalls, but only half of them had horses in them, the first one being a black mare. Dean pointed at her.
“Her name is Pretty, she was given that name because -surprise, surprise - she’s pretty,” he laughed. “She belongs to a young couple, along with Rascasse, the gelding next to her. They were bought as an engagement present for them, by the parents of the husband. If I ever get married, I want a present like this.” he sighed, and turned this face towards the horse in the next stall, just in time to miss the disappointed look on Castiel’s face at the prospect of Dean eventually getting married, as it would mean a female partner at his side. He swallowed, and tried to pay attention to the introduction of the next horse, a dark honey-colored mare with the name Honeyblossom, but he didn’t hear too much of it. By the time Dean started talking about Fiamma, the mare currently in heat, he was more or less able to concentrate on anything else but his disappointment, and when they reached the last horse, a blue roan mare by the name of Dawn, he was sure he could act like nothing happened if Dean looked at him for longer than a second. As soon as he finished talking, Castiel excused himself, and left Dean staring a little dumbfounded after him.
He didn’t have too much time to think about Castiel during the morning, his routine kept both his body and his mind occupied. Somehow everything went slower, everything took more time than usual, so by the time he finished with cleaning the stable, it was almost one in the afternoon, time for his daily phone calls with Sam. Halfway to his house he already heard his landline phone ringing, which surprised him. He reached into his pocket to check his cell phone, and that was when he realized he had turned it off, so it wouldn’t by any chance ring while he was giving Castiel the stable-tour, and he had forgotten to turn it back on after it.
“Oh, shit,” he cursed, and ran towards the house before Sam started calling the police, ambulance, firemen, necromancers et cetera. Out of breath, he reached the phone before it finished ringing. “Hey Sammy.” he panted, holding his side.
“Dean, you sound… tell me you weren’t doing what I think you were doing. Eww,” Sam joked.
“Ha-ha, very funny. I was running. I was on my way back from the stable when I heard the phone going off. I had to pick it up before you decided to sick the whole law enforcement and all the medical emergency community on me.”
“That was only once, and you didn’t answer your phone for three freaking hours! It’s not my fault that it was because you fell asleep in a meadow, and not because you were lying in a pool of your own blood, murdered somewhere.”
“Yeah, try to explain away your report.”
“I hate you,” Sam groaned, and Dean was sure he was wearing his patented bitch-face.
“No, you really don’t. I’m too charming to be hated. Anyway, how’s the case you’re working on going?” He asked, trying to sound as interested as possible. He wasn’t ready to talk about Castiel just yet, and if Sam asked how he was, there was no way he wouldn’t tell, so he tried to keep Sam away from the topic of his wellbeing.
“It’s going great, we… wait, Dean,” He paused, and Dean knew he was made. “Are you asking about my work because you know I will bore you with details for half an hour, and won’t ask you how you are?”
“No, I…” He began, but it was such an obvious lie, it was painful even for his ears, so he nodded. “Yeah, kinda.”
“Okay then, spill. What’s going on?”
“Does the name Castiel Engelhart sound familiar to you?&rdquo
;
“It does. Actually, he used to work at our office. Well, on the top floor, of course, way above me on the food chain, but still. I heard he quitted a few weeks ago though. Are we talking about the same person here?”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure we are. He’s a friend of Becky’s, he’s here at the estate, and yesterday I threatened to hit him.”
“Smooth as always, Dean. I didn’t even know Becky knew him.”
“Neither did I. But what’s worse is that he scared Judas yesterday during our ride-outs, and I managed to give Castiel a rap over the knuckles before I knew who he was, and even though I apologized, and he forgave me, I feel like crap. Then this morning, I invited him to meet my kids. All was going well, he was even starting to get a little touchy-feely with Gig, and then Judas. We were talking, and then all of a sudden he threw a lame excuse my way, and left me without looking back,” Dean rambled.
“That doesn’t sound too good. Dean, please don’t be mad at me, but while that really does sound bad, you’re not really a person who feels bad enough about something like that to actually tell me about it, unless… Unless you feel like you hurt someone you like,” Sam said. In that second Dean began to curse the moment he let his baby brother get such an accurate profile of him.
“No,” he tried to deny weakly, and he was grateful for small mercies, when for once Sam didn’t push. “I have spent barely more than a couple of hours with him, he seems to be a decent guy, but that’s about how much I care.” It was the moment he realized that was flat-out lying. He was interested in Castiel. More than it was usual after barely knowing someone for a day, and certainly more than he felt comfortable with, but he wasn’t ready to admit that even to himself, much less to Sam.
“Okay, Dean, if you say so. Still, you should talk to him though.”
“Yeah, I know, and I will. If you want to talk about that project of yours, now is the time,” he grinned, and this time Sam actually started talking about it.
When they hung up almost an hour later, Dean felt better than he had since he met Castiel. Cheerfully whistling he made himself on his way back to the stables to catch the shipment of fresh hay in time. To his biggest surprise, he didn’t only find the delivery guy waiting for him in front of the building: Castiel was there too, standing around a little farther from the stables, looking a bit awkward. Dean paid the delivery guy for the shipment, quickly they unloaded the truck, and then he turned towards Castiel.
“Hey, man, what’s up?” he inquired, walking up to him.
“Dean,” Castiel greeted him, his bright blue eyes lighting up. “I am truly sorry I had to leave on such a short notice earlier. My brother Balthazar and I always talk on the phone at the same time, every day, and I was late for that time.” Of course, that wasn’t necessarily true, even though he did in fact talk to Balthazar after his hasty escape, but it wasn’t like he could just go and confess how disappointed he felt over Dean apparently being heterosexual.
“Nah, don’t worry, I have a brother myself, and when I’m not answering after the first ring, he goes all mother hen on me when I do answer later.” Dean rolled his eyes, but his voice was full of affection. “Look, I have to carry those bales to the storage room as soon as possible, there’s a slight chance of rain, and I don’t want to take that chance.”
“I can help,” Castiel offered with a shy half-smile on his face.
“That’s really how you want to spend some of your time, carrying around huge-ass hay bales?”
“Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do, so… Yes, I guess.”
“If you really want to.” Dean shrugged, and went to get some working gloves for Castiel. Together they finished with the work in half an hour, right when it started raining cats and dogs. Dean grabbed an umbrella, and went to check on the horses, which were huddled together under the roof in the middle of the pen built for times like this. Proudly he grinned at them, and walked back into the stable. Castiel was sitting cross-legged on the shortest column of hay bales and he lifted his gaze at Dean the moment he pulled the entrance gate closed behind him.
“Are the horses okay?”
“Yeah. Hopefully it won’t get too cold out there, I don’t want to bring them inside just yet. They’re always restless when I do,” Dean answered. “I was planning on taking out Crystal for a ride, but apparently I can forget that now. I think I’m gonna clean the harnesses and stuff instead, I can hardly bring myself to do it anyway, I kinda hate it. It’s boring.” he pouted, and Castiel chuckled at that.
“If you show me how, I can help you with that too,” he offered.
“Okay, who are you? An angel who was sent to save me from doing chores I hate, or what?”
“Maybe,” Castiel shrugged, and gracefully jumped to his feet. “Let’s do it then.”
“You won’t be this cheery once we actually start with it.” Dean shook his head, but Castiel’s apparent enthusiasm was starting to have an effect on him too. “Boring work needs good tunes.” He grinned, pulled out his phone, and after some fiddling with it music filled the storage room.
“You call that good tunes?” Castiel teased.
“Oh, shut your mouth, heathen. Led Zep rules.”
“Yeah-yeah.”
“Man, you’re losing your bonus points so quickly…”
“So, I had bonus points to begin with?” Castiel asked, and the grin following the question made Dean’s breath hitch, and his face turn a little red.
“Yeah, maybe,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant, and failing miserably.
“Good to know.”
“C’mon now, let me show you how to get this shit done.”
They didn’t talk much after that, both of them too busy with cleaning the harnesses and occasionally stealing a glance at each other when the other was not watching. When they were around halfway done with the work, Becky walked in with a cheery smile on her face.
“Hey guys. What’s up?” she asked, plopping down on a hay bale.
“The sky?” Castiel deadpanned, and Dean looked at him questioningly.
“Really? That’s the best you can come up with?” he teased.
“It’s still better than saying nothing, and staring at her with big doe-eyes,” Castiel retorted.
“You two are quite adorable when you bicker like that. I’m glad you’re apparently on good terms with each other.”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?” Dean shrugged. “We talked about it, and now we’re okay, aren’t we?” he asked, referring to the incident with Judas and Castiel’s car. Castiel nodded as an answer, and turned his head to look at the saddle in his lap, intent on continuing to clean it.
“I just came to ask Dean if he wanted to join us for dinner again. I was planning on roasting a few steaks over open fire, and I know for a fact you really like it, so, are you coming?” she winked at Dean, and he nodded enthusiastically. “Okay then, see you at seven.” With that, she stood up, and left, softly chuckling on her way out.
“That was a tiny bit weird. Usually, when she’s this cheery, she’s planning something I won’t be this cheery about.”
“You’re preaching to the choir here. I’ve been on the receiving end of her cheeriness quite a few times. I just hope she won’t try to set any of us up with a nice someone we could make such a cute couple with,” Castiel said, imitating Becky on the last few words, and then he shuddered in mock horror. Dean let out an entirely unmanly giggle at that, before getting himself back under control.
“She’s never done that to me, but thanks; now I am seriously dreading that dinner.”
“Dean, can you tell me what time it is? I left my watch in the house.” Castiel asked after a few minutes of silent harness-cleaning, and when Dean looked at his phone to check the time, he jumped up.
“Hey, man, I’m sorry, I’ve gotta run now. I completely forgot I have to give a riding lesson at half past four, and it’s actually four forty. Just leave that shit, I’ll finish it… eventually. See you later,” he gabbled, and hurried out of the storage room. He heard Castiel’s answer faintly, but he couldn’t understand what he was saying. Ben, his pupil was already waiting for him outside with his mother, petting Gigette, and occasionally Crystal when she managed to push the other mare aside.
“Ben, Lisa, sorry I’m late, I had a few things to take care of. Let me check how muddy the practice track is, we may have to use the arena this time. Kid, feel free to grab the longe, you know where I keep it, and bring Gigette out, okay?”
“Okay, Dean.” Ben nodded, and he darted off towards the stable.
Next chapter: Chapter 4
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 2
Chapter three - Thirteen horses
The next morning Dean woke up earlier than he was used to. He tried to fall back asleep, but he couldn’t, so with a loud sigh he got out of bed, absently scratching at his stomach. By the time the alarm clock let out the first annoying beep, Dean had already showered, eaten his breakfast and checked the news and his emails on his smartphone. Moreover, he was actually starting to get bored. He didn’t want to disturb the horses’ routine and let them out earlier, and he didn’t have anything else to do, so he decided to go for a swim in the pool on the terrace of the main house. He changed into his swimming shorts, put on a black t-shirt, grabbed a towel, and walked out of the house. It didn’t take long for him to reach the pool, so he had plenty of time to enjoy the coolness of the water. He swam quite a few lengths before his muscles started aching. Not wanting to exhaust himself before a long workday he reluctantly climbed out of the water, and toweled himself off. Pulling on his t-shirt he started walking back to his house to change, but he ran into Castiel - literally, almost knocking the other man to the ground.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t really see you.” Dean mumbled, hanging his head.
“No problem, I wasn’t really looking either. It seems like we keep butting heads,” Castiel answered, looking quite nonchalantly, even though he was everything but. He let his eyes roam over Dean’s body, truly appreciating the view. “You’re wet,” he observed. Dean shot him a look that clearly said ‘No shit, Sherlock’.
“Yeah, I just swam a few lengths. People tend to get wet during swimming.” He grinned, but Castiel wasn’t really paying attention to him. A stray droplet of water escaped from Dean’s hair, and started its way down his face, over his forehead, following the ridge of his nose for a while before finally reaching his mouth and disappearing between plump, red lips. Castiel’s gaze followed it intently before refocusing onto Dean’s eyes, only to find them staring at his feet.
“Man, really? Flip-flops?” Dean teased.
“What now? They’re comfy,” Castiel shrugged.
“Nothing, I just… didn’t think you’d be the flip-flop type, you know, with you being a top-notch lawyer and all.”
“You thought I was into Italian leather shoes worth three vintage cars, right?”
“Yeah, I kinda did,” Dean admitted sheepishly, fixing his stare at the ground.
“While I do have a pair of shoes expensive enough to buy an estate on the money I would get if I sold them, I actually got them from my brother Balthazar, and I absolutely hate them. So, I’m glad I could clear up that misunderstanding.” Castiel winked, and Dean chuckled at that.
“Okay, sorry for trying to categorize you without really knowing you,” he said, only half jokingly.
“I’m having a hard time categorizing myself. That’s kinda the reason I’m here,” Castiel answered, suddenly completely serious and even a little sad.
Dean didn’t know what to say to that, so he just nodded, and then he promptly invited Castiel to meet the horses.
“Eh, Dean, no offense, but I’m not really into horses. You know, up front they bite, in the back they kick, and in the middle they’re just plain uncomfortable.” he declined at first, but one look at Dean’s face told him exactly how sad he made him by saying no. “You know what? I want to meet them.”
Dean’s face lit up immediately.
“Okay, let me change, and then I’ll introduce you to the kids. Meet me at the stable in ten minutes,” he said, and without waiting for an answer, he hurried off, looking like an overgrown, overexcited child. Castiel shook his head, but then he looked around, trying to figure out just which way the stable was.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Dean was walking around in circles in front of the stables. He wasn’t sure what his sudden need to have Castiel near was, but if he was honest to himself, he had to admit that he enjoyed the other man’s company, even though they’d barely spent any time together. When he saw Castiel walking towards him, his heart actually skipped a beat. Flip-flops or not, he looked great in his blue flannel button-down shirt and worn out jeans.
“Hey, I was worried you decided not to come,” he greeted Castiel.
“You know, if you had actually told me where the stable is, I wouldn’t be this late.”
“What? You’re saying that if I told you that it was next to the pen and the practice track, halfway between my house and the main house, in front of the smaller garage, it would have helped?”
“Smartass.” Castiel rolled his eyes. “So, do you want to get this show on the road?” He motioned towards the stable.
“But of course. Please, follow me, my lord.” Dean mock-bowed, and opened the gate to the stable. “This is my empire.” he smiled, waving around. “We have twenty stalls, but only thirteen horses right now. One of our mares is in heat, so our two stallions, Spartacus and Ben Hur are enjoying a little vacation over at the Harvelle’s Farm until she’s done with rutting, it’s just easier that way. Not all horses are actually Chuck’s, five of them belong to different people, but we get paid for feeding them, keeping them safe, and we can even use them for teaching if we want to. The problem is, we don’t want to, because I can’t imagine anyone who would want to learn riding on Mirage, Diamond or the others. Somehow they’re all a little psychotic and more than a little hard to handle, but I love them anyway,” Dean explained, and he did everything to keep himself from laughing when he saw Crystal’s head sticking out of her stall, slowly inching her way towards Castiel. Dean knew what was coming, and he hoped Castiel wouldn’t be angry at him for allowing it to happen. He started counting down from ten in his head, and by the time he reached zero, Crystal’s tongue sneaked out - almost like clockwork -, passing Castiel a sloppy, gooey horse kiss. Only then did he burst out laughing. Castiel made a disgusted sound, and he turned to glare at the mare, who did her best to look completely, utterly innocent, hanging her head and gazing up at Castiel from under her lashes.
“You KNEW this was gonna happen, didn’t you?!” Castiel spun around to look at Dean, quickly adding up one and one in his head, and getting two as a result. “You totally knew, and you didn’t warn me.”
“Sorry, man, but… I can’t deny my girl anything she wants. Right now, she really wanted to kiss you,” Dean deadpanned before starting to laugh again.
“Hilarious.” Castiel rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t stay angry for long. “Do you at least have a tissue or something? I think I have horse saliva dripping down my back.
“That’s Crystal’s way of saying hello. She’s really annoying sometimes, especially during longer rides, when you try to sleep at night. She keeps nudging you until you give up trying, and start playing with her. We had her since she was a scrawny little foal, and look at her now, all big and beautiful,” Dean said, pride evident in his voice. Castiel eyed the mare with distrust for a while, but then she whickered, almost as if she was apologizing, and his gaze softened at that.
“Next to her, that’s Diamond. I already mentioned him before, he’s not ours, we’re just taking care of him. He’s a gelding, and I honestly don’t want to know how he’d act if he still had his balls. If you want to see a perfect temper tantrum thrown by a horse, let me know, and I’ll anger him a little for you.” Dean grinned, and despite everything he just said, he reached through the door to pet Diamond’s nose. For a moment the horse seemed to even enjoy the touch, but then he laid back his ears, and Dean pulled his hand back.
“That doesn’t look like he likes you,” Castiel observed.
“Nah, we’re actually quite okay, I’m pretty sure he’s just angry because I’m here, and yet he hasn’t gotten any food so far,” Dean explained, as he turned toward the horse once again. “Hey, big boy, you’ll get your food in five minute tops, please don’t start throwing a hissy fit.” He tried to calm down the horse, and then he took a step to his left, stopping before the door of another stall. “That’s Maniac, Chuck’s favorite girl. She’s pretty, isn’t she?” He asked, pointing at a gray, almost white Arabs horse. Castiel nodded, and after Dean passed the horse a loving pat to her back, they walked over to the next stall. “Meet Mirage. He’s not ours either. He’s a little easier to handle than Diamond, but generally, they have the same attitude. Next to him that’s Beau, probably the loudest horse in the whole universe. He’s able to out-whicker every noise, and if he strains himself, he can be heard in the main house as well. But hey, you were already here yesterday afternoon. You must have heard him.”
“Yes, I did. He really is loud.”
“You see? I’m not kidding.” He smiled, and then pointed at the horse behind the next door. “That beauty over there is Gigette, the best horse to learn riding on. She’s amazing. You are amazing, Gig, aren’t you?” He cooed, running his fingers through her mane. “She was the first horse in the stable. Actually, she’s the only one who’s been here longer than I have, and that ought to tell you something, because this is my 15th year here.”
“Impressive. And you never thought about leaving? Having another job, your own house, a girlfriend or wife, two point five kids, white picket fences?” Castiel asked, so wrapped up in watching Dean and listening to him, that he actually started scratching Gigette’s neck.
“I’m not saying I didn’t, because I did, but in the end, every time I wanted to leave, I realized that I belong here. Maybe this is not the best life, it’s far from perfect; but still, it’s exactly my kind of imperfect, if you know what I mean,” Dean answered, and when Gigette chose the exact moment of him stopping to start mouthing at his neck, it was almost like a subtle reassurance.
“Wow, you’re small,” Castiel blurted out, when he saw the owner of the next stall.
“That’s Scricciolo, Scri for short. His name comes from the Italian language, and it’s used for tiny and cute things. He’s a Shetty - Shetland pony. He’s actually quite big for a pony, almost 41 inches high at the withers. He’s not ours either, but sometimes we use him to teach small kids, and he’s the star of our ‘Doors open’ days.
“He’s kinda cute,” Castiel admitted, smiling down at the tiny horse.
“Yeah, he is. Do you want to watch him for a while, maybe pet him?” Castiel shook his head, Dean shrugged, and they walked up to the next door.
“Meet Judas, the horse-in-a-poke. Chuck didn’t even see him before he saved his life, and bought him. He was abused before, and he was in a terrible shape when he first arrived here. By the way, he’s the one I was out with, when you drove past us.” Dean added, no edge in his voice. Still, Castiel felt the need to apologize once again, and he even patted Judas’s neck.
Next to his there were two empty stalls, one for Spartacus, and one for Ben Hur. On the other side of the stable there were ten further stalls, but only half of them had horses in them, the first one being a black mare. Dean pointed at her.
“Her name is Pretty, she was given that name because -surprise, surprise - she’s pretty,” he laughed. “She belongs to a young couple, along with Rascasse, the gelding next to her. They were bought as an engagement present for them, by the parents of the husband. If I ever get married, I want a present like this.” he sighed, and turned this face towards the horse in the next stall, just in time to miss the disappointed look on Castiel’s face at the prospect of Dean eventually getting married, as it would mean a female partner at his side. He swallowed, and tried to pay attention to the introduction of the next horse, a dark honey-colored mare with the name Honeyblossom, but he didn’t hear too much of it. By the time Dean started talking about Fiamma, the mare currently in heat, he was more or less able to concentrate on anything else but his disappointment, and when they reached the last horse, a blue roan mare by the name of Dawn, he was sure he could act like nothing happened if Dean looked at him for longer than a second. As soon as he finished talking, Castiel excused himself, and left Dean staring a little dumbfounded after him.
He didn’t have too much time to think about Castiel during the morning, his routine kept both his body and his mind occupied. Somehow everything went slower, everything took more time than usual, so by the time he finished with cleaning the stable, it was almost one in the afternoon, time for his daily phone calls with Sam. Halfway to his house he already heard his landline phone ringing, which surprised him. He reached into his pocket to check his cell phone, and that was when he realized he had turned it off, so it wouldn’t by any chance ring while he was giving Castiel the stable-tour, and he had forgotten to turn it back on after it.
“Oh, shit,” he cursed, and ran towards the house before Sam started calling the police, ambulance, firemen, necromancers et cetera. Out of breath, he reached the phone before it finished ringing. “Hey Sammy.” he panted, holding his side.
“Dean, you sound… tell me you weren’t doing what I think you were doing. Eww,” Sam joked.
“Ha-ha, very funny. I was running. I was on my way back from the stable when I heard the phone going off. I had to pick it up before you decided to sick the whole law enforcement and all the medical emergency community on me.”
“That was only once, and you didn’t answer your phone for three freaking hours! It’s not my fault that it was because you fell asleep in a meadow, and not because you were lying in a pool of your own blood, murdered somewhere.”
“Yeah, try to explain away your report.”
“I hate you,” Sam groaned, and Dean was sure he was wearing his patented bitch-face.
“No, you really don’t. I’m too charming to be hated. Anyway, how’s the case you’re working on going?” He asked, trying to sound as interested as possible. He wasn’t ready to talk about Castiel just yet, and if Sam asked how he was, there was no way he wouldn’t tell, so he tried to keep Sam away from the topic of his wellbeing.
“It’s going great, we… wait, Dean,” He paused, and Dean knew he was made. “Are you asking about my work because you know I will bore you with details for half an hour, and won’t ask you how you are?”
“No, I…” He began, but it was such an obvious lie, it was painful even for his ears, so he nodded. “Yeah, kinda.”
“Okay then, spill. What’s going on?”
“Does the name Castiel Engelhart sound familiar to you?&rdquo
;
“It does. Actually, he used to work at our office. Well, on the top floor, of course, way above me on the food chain, but still. I heard he quitted a few weeks ago though. Are we talking about the same person here?”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure we are. He’s a friend of Becky’s, he’s here at the estate, and yesterday I threatened to hit him.”
“Smooth as always, Dean. I didn’t even know Becky knew him.”
“Neither did I. But what’s worse is that he scared Judas yesterday during our ride-outs, and I managed to give Castiel a rap over the knuckles before I knew who he was, and even though I apologized, and he forgave me, I feel like crap. Then this morning, I invited him to meet my kids. All was going well, he was even starting to get a little touchy-feely with Gig, and then Judas. We were talking, and then all of a sudden he threw a lame excuse my way, and left me without looking back,” Dean rambled.
“That doesn’t sound too good. Dean, please don’t be mad at me, but while that really does sound bad, you’re not really a person who feels bad enough about something like that to actually tell me about it, unless… Unless you feel like you hurt someone you like,” Sam said. In that second Dean began to curse the moment he let his baby brother get such an accurate profile of him.
“No,” he tried to deny weakly, and he was grateful for small mercies, when for once Sam didn’t push. “I have spent barely more than a couple of hours with him, he seems to be a decent guy, but that’s about how much I care.” It was the moment he realized that was flat-out lying. He was interested in Castiel. More than it was usual after barely knowing someone for a day, and certainly more than he felt comfortable with, but he wasn’t ready to admit that even to himself, much less to Sam.
“Okay, Dean, if you say so. Still, you should talk to him though.”
“Yeah, I know, and I will. If you want to talk about that project of yours, now is the time,” he grinned, and this time Sam actually started talking about it.
When they hung up almost an hour later, Dean felt better than he had since he met Castiel. Cheerfully whistling he made himself on his way back to the stables to catch the shipment of fresh hay in time. To his biggest surprise, he didn’t only find the delivery guy waiting for him in front of the building: Castiel was there too, standing around a little farther from the stables, looking a bit awkward. Dean paid the delivery guy for the shipment, quickly they unloaded the truck, and then he turned towards Castiel.
“Hey, man, what’s up?” he inquired, walking up to him.
“Dean,” Castiel greeted him, his bright blue eyes lighting up. “I am truly sorry I had to leave on such a short notice earlier. My brother Balthazar and I always talk on the phone at the same time, every day, and I was late for that time.” Of course, that wasn’t necessarily true, even though he did in fact talk to Balthazar after his hasty escape, but it wasn’t like he could just go and confess how disappointed he felt over Dean apparently being heterosexual.
“Nah, don’t worry, I have a brother myself, and when I’m not answering after the first ring, he goes all mother hen on me when I do answer later.” Dean rolled his eyes, but his voice was full of affection. “Look, I have to carry those bales to the storage room as soon as possible, there’s a slight chance of rain, and I don’t want to take that chance.”
“I can help,” Castiel offered with a shy half-smile on his face.
“That’s really how you want to spend some of your time, carrying around huge-ass hay bales?”
“Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do, so… Yes, I guess.”
“If you really want to.” Dean shrugged, and went to get some working gloves for Castiel. Together they finished with the work in half an hour, right when it started raining cats and dogs. Dean grabbed an umbrella, and went to check on the horses, which were huddled together under the roof in the middle of the pen built for times like this. Proudly he grinned at them, and walked back into the stable. Castiel was sitting cross-legged on the shortest column of hay bales and he lifted his gaze at Dean the moment he pulled the entrance gate closed behind him.
“Are the horses okay?”
“Yeah. Hopefully it won’t get too cold out there, I don’t want to bring them inside just yet. They’re always restless when I do,” Dean answered. “I was planning on taking out Crystal for a ride, but apparently I can forget that now. I think I’m gonna clean the harnesses and stuff instead, I can hardly bring myself to do it anyway, I kinda hate it. It’s boring.” he pouted, and Castiel chuckled at that.
“If you show me how, I can help you with that too,” he offered.
“Okay, who are you? An angel who was sent to save me from doing chores I hate, or what?”
“Maybe,” Castiel shrugged, and gracefully jumped to his feet. “Let’s do it then.”
“You won’t be this cheery once we actually start with it.” Dean shook his head, but Castiel’s apparent enthusiasm was starting to have an effect on him too. “Boring work needs good tunes.” He grinned, pulled out his phone, and after some fiddling with it music filled the storage room.
“You call that good tunes?” Castiel teased.
“Oh, shut your mouth, heathen. Led Zep rules.”
“Yeah-yeah.”
“Man, you’re losing your bonus points so quickly…”
“So, I had bonus points to begin with?” Castiel asked, and the grin following the question made Dean’s breath hitch, and his face turn a little red.
“Yeah, maybe,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant, and failing miserably.
“Good to know.”
“C’mon now, let me show you how to get this shit done.”
They didn’t talk much after that, both of them too busy with cleaning the harnesses and occasionally stealing a glance at each other when the other was not watching. When they were around halfway done with the work, Becky walked in with a cheery smile on her face.
“Hey guys. What’s up?” she asked, plopping down on a hay bale.
“The sky?” Castiel deadpanned, and Dean looked at him questioningly.
“Really? That’s the best you can come up with?” he teased.
“It’s still better than saying nothing, and staring at her with big doe-eyes,” Castiel retorted.
“You two are quite adorable when you bicker like that. I’m glad you’re apparently on good terms with each other.”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?” Dean shrugged. “We talked about it, and now we’re okay, aren’t we?” he asked, referring to the incident with Judas and Castiel’s car. Castiel nodded as an answer, and turned his head to look at the saddle in his lap, intent on continuing to clean it.
“I just came to ask Dean if he wanted to join us for dinner again. I was planning on roasting a few steaks over open fire, and I know for a fact you really like it, so, are you coming?” she winked at Dean, and he nodded enthusiastically. “Okay then, see you at seven.” With that, she stood up, and left, softly chuckling on her way out.
“That was a tiny bit weird. Usually, when she’s this cheery, she’s planning something I won’t be this cheery about.”
“You’re preaching to the choir here. I’ve been on the receiving end of her cheeriness quite a few times. I just hope she won’t try to set any of us up with a nice someone we could make such a cute couple with,” Castiel said, imitating Becky on the last few words, and then he shuddered in mock horror. Dean let out an entirely unmanly giggle at that, before getting himself back under control.
“She’s never done that to me, but thanks; now I am seriously dreading that dinner.”
“Dean, can you tell me what time it is? I left my watch in the house.” Castiel asked after a few minutes of silent harness-cleaning, and when Dean looked at his phone to check the time, he jumped up.
“Hey, man, I’m sorry, I’ve gotta run now. I completely forgot I have to give a riding lesson at half past four, and it’s actually four forty. Just leave that shit, I’ll finish it… eventually. See you later,” he gabbled, and hurried out of the storage room. He heard Castiel’s answer faintly, but he couldn’t understand what he was saying. Ben, his pupil was already waiting for him outside with his mother, petting Gigette, and occasionally Crystal when she managed to push the other mare aside.
“Ben, Lisa, sorry I’m late, I had a few things to take care of. Let me check how muddy the practice track is, we may have to use the arena this time. Kid, feel free to grab the longe, you know where I keep it, and bring Gigette out, okay?”
“Okay, Dean.” Ben nodded, and he darted off towards the stable.
Next chapter: Chapter 4