[FIC] On Pavement : Through Air 3/? + Prologue
Title: On Pavement : Through Air [ch.3 Bay Street]
Author: metchaky
Rating: R overall (tentatively)
Genre and/or Pairing: Dean/Cas
Spoilers: none
Warnings: none
Word Count: [WIP]
Summary: Dean doesn't see why he should want to travel abroad when there's enough shit to see within the continental US to last a lifetime.
Castiel is fascinated by the language and culture of lands he's never been in.
Or: a series of snapshots from Dean's life within the context of Sam's. And maybe also more often than not in the context of Sam's former professor, Castiel.
[ Start: Prologue ]
Dean shifted his phone from one ear to the other, “Your mom’s allowed to date other guys, Ben, it’s been years now.”
[ I know she is and she has. But “Matt The Doctor”- ] and Dean could imagine the face Ben would make to go with his mocking tone [ -is such a dick. ]
“That’s rough buddy, but I like to think that your mom’s got good taste in men.” Dean stretched out on Sam and Jess’ couch. “And wasn’t your mom dating a ‘Matt The Doctor’ the last time you pulled that Parent Trap stunt?”
[ It’s the same guy. He’s going to fly us out to California for vacation. ]
“And... you hate California?”
[ I hate the fact that it’s not with you, but with “Matt- ]
“-The Doctor’, I know.” Dean looked up when Sam came into the room and stepped around moving boxes half-way filled. He gave Dean a questioning frown while handing him an open bottle of beer. “Look, Ben,” Sam gave him a nod of ‘ahhh I see’, “I’m really not sure what you want me to do here.”
[ I dunno. Can’t you like... pick me up and I can just hang out with you and then Mom can just go on her stupid vacation without me? ]
Dean closed his eyes and took a long swallow of his beer as Sam sat on his shins. The hope in Ben’s voice was kind of heartbreaking. “You know I’d never turn down a chance to see ya, kid. But your mom-”
[ I’ll convince her! I swear, Dean, she used to let you take me to stuff without her all the time, she totally can’t say ‘no’. ]
“I’m not sure baseball practice while I was living with you guys really counts.” Dean tossed Sam the remote and his brother flipped through channels on mute.
[ At least let me try. ]
Dean sighed, “Alright, if your mom says-”
[ Thanks Dean, the vacation’s in a couple months so don’t make any plans! ]
There was a click and then silence as Ben abruptly hung up. Dean chugged the rest of his beer and reached over to place the empty bottle on the coffee table.
“Ben mad at Lisa?” Sam asked, pretending he was actually interested in the commercials and not Dean’s personal life.
Dean wiggled his feet and Sam pinched his ankle. “He wants me to save him from the Big Bad Boyfriend.”
Sam lifted a hip and farted on Dean’s leg, getting a pillow to the face for the effort. “Haven’t they just recently moved to Michigan? And this is the first time she’s getting serious with another guy since the two of you broke up, right? Soooo those are big changes and the poor kid’s probably having a rough time trying to adjust.”
“Tell me about it.” Dean pulled his legs from under Sam and put his feet in Sam’s face.
Sam punched him on the underside of his knee and asked, “Are you driving out to Battle Creek, then?”
“Only if Lisa okays it.” Dean stood up and grabbed his empty bottle, walking into the kitchen where Jessica was sitting at the dining table on her laptop with copies of journal articles spread around her.
“Wait a minute,” Sam appeared at the kitchen entrance, carrying his own empty bottle, “you promised Jess and I that you’d help us move to our new place in a couple weeks.”
Jess looked up from her reading, flyaway strands of hair framing her face, “Which reminds me: we need to go to IKEA today.”
“Even if Lisa said ‘yes’ right now, I still wouldn’t be driving out for another month or so.” Dean dropped the beer bottle into their recycling bin. “Please tell me your new place is either on the first floor or has an elevator, because this whole third-floor-winding-stairs thing you guys have got going on is gonna be a bitch.”
Jessica started gathering her papers and replied, “Definitely has an elevator this time. Also, I’m going to go take a shower and then we’re heading to Bay Street.”
Sam turned to look at her, “We have an IKEA in town. Why do you want to go across the bay?”
She dropped all her materials on the living room coffee table. “Because Bay Street also has a Pottery Barn and Barnes and Nobles.”
“Oh, and I’m sure your decision has nothing to do with the fact that it also has a Lush.”
“Maybe,” she called out from the bathroom, “but it definitely has nothing to do with the Victoria’s Secret.”
Sam started looking for his wallet and Dean gave him a thumbs up. “You’re coming with us, Dean.”
“What? Why? I really don’t need to go lingerie shopping with you and your girlfriend. That is definitely on the universal list of Things That Are Not Sexy.”
“Because our car is full of boxes and you’ve still got space in your trunk. So unless you’re going to let me drive...”
“Ha!” Dean twirled his car keys around his finger. “I barely let you touch her on the Kansas backroads, you really think I’m gonna trust you around angry California drivers? In your dreams.”
Sam shook his head, “Alright, just warning you, Jess gets a little crazy when she’s around home decor.”
Jess popped her head around the corner, “I heard that. Also, when we’re done shopping, can you remember to double-check that the computer was fully wiped? There’s an e-waste pick-up tonight.”
“I can take care of that.” Dean looked up from where he was rummaging through the fridge to find Sam and Jessica staring at him. “What?”
Jess shook her head, shrugged, and went to take her shower. Sam looked after her, betrayed. “No offense, but... you’re constantly on the road and work with cars. What do you know about computers?” As an afterthought he added, “Other than internet porn.”
Dean stamped down the swelling insecurities he refused to admit he had. “Well, I know that an electromagnet made from a car battery is strong enough to corrupt a hard drive and that, still, most data is recoverable if you really want it bad enough so your best bet is taking a hammer to all the sensitive bits.”
“Where’d you learn that?” Dean wasn’t really surprised when Sam’s tone was more suspicious and bewildered than awed.
“How do you think I survive? Ash has gotten me a few hookups doing odd jobs at tech repair shops,” Dean explained. He didn’t mention the fact that he’d been stealing paid channels from their nextdoor neighbors since he was a teenager just because all of Sam’s classmates kept talking about The Disney Channel. Nor did Dean remind him that he had been the one to help Sam and his friends when they had gotten stuck on their Rube Goldberg project for physics. Outloud he added, “I found an electrical engineering textbook at a motel once.”
Sam let out a small laugh, “I hardly see you read anything outside of skin mags and you expect me to believe you actually opened a textbook?” He looked up at the clock. “Jess will probably be ready in half an hour, do you mind if we just eat lunch there?”
Dean slammed the fridge shut and headed out of the apartment. “I’ll be waiting in the car.”
Sam gave him an irritated look, “Dude, if you’re that hungry we’ve got leftovers.”
Dean ignored him and went down the winding stairs to the Impala parked at the curb out front. He sat in the driver’s side and pulled a heavy book titled Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics from beneath the bench-seat. He looked at the cover and conceded that maybe his brother was right. “A freaking textbook. I should’ve stolen the Vonnegut when I had the chance.” He flipped open to the table of contents, “Alright, Magnetostatics. Sounds like a lesson the X-Men should’ve taken.”
Dean settled into his seat and started reading, only stuffing the book back under the seat once Sam and Jessica finally made an appearance. Jess called shotgun, Sam claimed eternal-shotgun, Jess referenced lingerie, and Sam got in the backseat.
The majority of the drive was filled with moving traffic, classic rock, idle chatter, and Sam complaining about leg cramps.
“So let me get this straight,” Dean said as he pulled into a parking garage, “you’re not actually planning to buy anything here?”
Jess tapped her fingers against the edge of the seat. “Not any furniture. I brought measurements with me so we can at least start figuring out what’s possible, but we might end up getting some of the smaller decor stuff.”
Once Dean had parked, Sam got out and made a show of stretching his legs, “We can ask to borrow Brady’s truck and come back for the larger stuff next time.”
Dean hung back to lock the doors and check his cell phone, which he had felt vibrate on the drive over.
[ From: Ben
Engaging with target. Radio silence until killshot confirmed. BUT KEEP YOUR PHONE ON! ]
Dean smiled and took his phone off vibrate. He proceeded to follow Jess and Sam, who were chatting enthusiastically about their new place, until they finally reached IKEA. “Better keep an eye on Sam or else you’re gonna find your credit card maxed out.”
Sam gave him an incredulous look, “This is mostly kid’s stuff.”
“Exactly.”
“Oh haha, Dean, hilarious.”
Jessica poked her head out from a little kitchen area further along the path, “Sam, get over here. This is exactly the sort of set-up I want, but not in this style.” She took a step back, “What do you think?”
Sam went to Jess and Dean went to a large leather chair. “Hey, do you think this is meant to fit more than one person? ‘Cause I would definitely just take over the entire thing.” Dean sank into the cushions, “Also, you should definitely buy this.”
Sam looked up from swatches of different countertops. “With your fat ass it’s not like anyone else could fit in it anyways.”
“Hey,” Dean said in a wounded voice, “I’ve just got big hips.”
“Help me choose a desk!” Both Sam and Dean turned to find that Jessica had already moved on from the kitchen and somehow made it even further down the path to where a cluster of home office showrooms were set-up.
Sam sighed and said to Dean, “I told you. Crazy,” before he made his way over, getting distracted once by an oddly shaped light fixture. He called out towards Jess, “You realize that when we go to Pottery Barn you’re going to forget about everything you’re looking at right now.”
Jess lifted her arm to show Sam the point-and-shoot digital camera looped around her wrist. “Sam Winchester. You may have academic smarts, but I’m the one who’s got their shit together in this relationship. Now shut up and convince me that we don’t need a ten foot bookcase attached to our desk.”
“‘Shut up’ or ‘convince’ you? ‘Cause those are two conflicting commands, Jessica Moore.”
“I don’t care, choose one. Because right now you’re doing neither, Samuel.”
Dean watched the way Sam walked next to Jess.
The way he’d place his hand on the small of her back.
The ease with which they stood in the other’s space.
How Jess would smile at Sam even when he wasn’t looking.
“Anyone hungry?”
The couple both turned to look at Dean.
“’Cause, right now? I could eat a moose.”
“Umm…” Sam looked at Jess, “I’ve heard something about IKEA’s Swedish meatballs?”
Jessica pinched her lips together in thought. “I think there’s a Fuddruckers near Barnes and Nobles?” She looked at Dean, “They don’t have moose, but they do have elk burgers? All those big antlered mammals probably taste the same.”
“Alright,” Dean put a hand on Sam’s shoulder and another on Jessica’s, “then I’ll leave you two to your interior decorating and I’m gonna grab myself a burger.”
Jessica frowned, “We could eat together?”
“Nahhh, it’s all good,” Dean pointed at them as he walked backwards towards the exit, “go on a date or something you two lovebird-sickos.” Jessica shrugged and tugged along Sam, whose eyes were still tracking Dean as he tried to leave the store.
“Um, should we tell him that he has to walk through the entire store in order to get to the exit?”
Jessica turned and grabbed Sam’s shoulders, looking him in the eye. “Remember last year when you made all those plans for my birthday?” Sam nodded. “Do you also remember how Dean showed up unannounced to celebrate his birthday that same night?” Sam nodded. “Then I think your brother can deal with getting to the exit alone.” Jess patted his cheek and turned around. “Now let’s look at some couches.”
Meanwhile, the older Winchester was dealing with getting to the exit alone. After wandering through five different bathroom showrooms he beelined for the first IKEA rep he spotted. “Hello there,” Dean’s eyes flicked to her nametag, “Nora,” she smiled at him politely, “I just picked up a puppy from the pound and I thought I’d stop by and grab a dog bowl before we got home, but I think I forgot to roll down windows and now I can’t seem to find the exit.” He made a point of worriedly looking at his watch, “Do you think you could point me to a short-cut?”
Nora nodded and quickly took him to one of the fire exits tucked out of sight and Dean left, flashing her a smile and thanks before pretending to hurry towards a random car until she finally closed the emergency exit door.
Once Dean made his way back towards the main shopping area, it didn’t take him long to find the Barnes and Nobles, but he took a moment to debate whether or not he wanted pizza as he passed by the smell of pepperoni.. A large sign boasting Fuddruckers: World’s Greatest Hamburgers! Fresh - never frozen - 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 or 1 lb.100% USDA All-American, premium-cut beef with an image of a picture perfect bacon cheeseburger slathered with barbeque sauce caught his attention.
“Good argument,” Dean said and walked away from the pizza shop.
There was a small group of happy teenagers standing in line talking. Only a smattering of the tables spread across the wide room were occupied and large glass windows and open doors helped give the place an open feel. He decided to ignore the top forty hits filtering out from built-in speakers, occasionally broken by the fuzzy call of names for order pick-ups, and took a deep breath, realizing he was a lot hungrier than he’d originally thought. Fifteen minutes later he walked away with cheese sticks, a milkshake, and a burger.
Plus a stack of cookies.
He had only gotten through one mozzarella stick before he noticed a messy shag of dark hair that looked somewhat familiar. Castiel had tucked himself away in a corner of the room with a tray of food and an open notebook on the table in front of him. Dean watched as the other man absently picked at his fries, occasionally taking a bite of his burger. More accurately, burgers, Dean was pleased to note.
Figuring that there was really only so long one person could stare at another before it became Sam levels of desperation- or just plain old creepy, but Dean figured they were practically the same thing anyways- he decided to make contact.
Dean stacked his food on top of the tray (and on top of each other) before navigating his way around the spaces between the tables and chairs, nearly tipping everything over while dodging someone scooting their chair back without looking.
He silently congratulated himself after he successfully made it to Castiel’s table without an actual incident. Kicking the chair out with his foot, Dean put his tray on the table and sat down. Cas looked at him mid-bite and simply put his burger down, chewing slowly with questioning eyes.
“Hey there, Professor, thought you could use a little company.”
Castiel took a sip from his drink before responding, “Hello, Dean. I really would prefer it if you’d call me ‘Castiel’.” He added as an afterthought, “Especially since, if I remember correctly, it was your brother, not you, who attended my lectures.”
Dean paused with a cheese stick between his teeth, “You ‘member me?” he asked around the appetizer. “Also,” Dean chewed and swallowed, “I totally attended that one you did recently with those dicks at Stanford.”
“I haven’t done any lectures at Stanford recently.” Castiel took another bite of his burger, chewing thoughtfully, “I did attend a debate, but there was only one Dick.”
They stared at each other in a moment of confusion until Dean realized, chuckling, “Wrong ‘dick’,” he paused, thinking it over, “Well, right big ‘D’ Dick, but I meant small ‘d’ ‘dicks’. In general.”
Castiel pressed his lips together and frowned.
“Okay, rephrase: I saw that debate thing with Dick and Zachariah. BOTH of whom are dicks.” Dean shook his head and pointed at Cas’s food, “Nevermind, just eat.”
Castiel obediently munched on a fry and looked somewhere over Dean’s shoulder. “They called your name earlier.”
Dean looked up from his milkshake, “What? Who did?”
“The restaurant speakers. They called your name and I recognized you when you stood up to collect your food. You’re the only Dean I’ve met. That’s why I remembered you.” Castiel resumed eating.
Dean followed suit, teeth sinking into the first bite of his burger. He let out a low moan of satisfaction as barbeque sauce dripped onto his tray. Cheeks full, brows raised, and eyes wide, Dean nodded at Cas. He pointed to his burger and gave a thumbs up.
“I take it that you find the burger has lived up to its advertisement?” Cas’ smile was all in the corners of his lips, the edges of his eyes, and the tips of his brows.
Dean gave a little cough as a bit of food caught on the way down. “Wouldn’t say it’s the best in the States, that title belongs to this drive-in movie attendant in the middle of Minnesota,” he looked at Cas, “but for a chain? It’s doin’ good. What about you? I figured all you top-notch academic types frequented hard-to-pronounce French restaurants.”
“I’d hardly call it ‘frequenting’.” Dean tracked the way Cas’ tongue licked a stray bit of ketchup from the corner of his lips. “We only go to Chez Panisse for our meetings.”
Dean sucked at his milkshake straw, “You’re trying to be funny, aren’t you.”
“Yes,” and this time Cas’ smile was more pronounced, “I did say it in jest.”
Dean wasn’t really sure how to react. The delivery was awkward and part of Dean could tell that the statement had been more truth than joke, but nonetheless the guy’s heart seemed to be in the right place so he took a cookie from his stack and tossed it onto Cas’ tray, “Here, have a cookie for your effort because you’ve got the ‘deadpan’ look down straight, but in this case it’s working against you.” He stuck the pad of his thumb in his mouth to suck at the crumbs. Cas bobbed his head in thanks and Dean was pretty sure he wasn’t imagining the way the guy’s eyes lingered on his mouth.
The blue eyes trailed up to meet Dean’s. “Though you’re not exactly wrong in your assumption. Many of my colleagues would prefer dishes that require utensils rather than moist towelettes.”
“But not you, you’re a man’s man.”
Cas held his gaze steadily, “One could definitely make that argument.”
And woah, Dean thought, that was definitely an argument he’d like to cross-examine and maybe he should stop watching procedural law shows with Sam.
Dean’s ringtone blared from his pocket and instead of shutting it off and asking Cas about whether or not he’d like to go to court- and yep, Dean was definitely putting SVU re-runs on his blacklist- he asked, “You mind?”
Cas shook his head and finally broke eye contact to look down at the notebook it seemed he had forgotten about since Dean had arrived.
“Hey, Ben.”
[ Try again. ]
“Liiiiisa,” Dean tapped Cas’ notebook to get his attention, “Be right back.” Cas nodded and Dean stood up, walking towards one of the large windows.
[ If now’s not a good time.. ]
‘Now’ definitely wasn’t a good time. “Now’s fine, just having lunch.” Dean watched shoppers pass by, “I take it Ben missed the killshot.”
[ Look, Dean, I’m just going to get straight to the point. I know you miss Ben and you can’t imagine how much it breaks my heart to see the way he misses you too, but I can not have you encouraging my son to create this, I don’t know, distance between him and Matt. ]
“That’s not what I’m doing, Lisa, and you know it. You guys haven’t been in Michigan long and now things’re getting serious with this guy and Ben’s just trying to... adjust.”
[ Well, it’s good to know what Sam thinks of the situation. ]
“Yeah, it is what Sam thinks. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
[ Okay, I get it. I really do. I mean, this whole trip out west is supposed to be about giving Ben time to actually hang out with Matt and adjust. ] Dean heard her sigh, [ I know Ben was the one who called you and I don’t mean to sound accusatory, but this trip is happening and Ben is going. ]
Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, “Okay, let’s compromise.”
[ Dean- ]
“Nope, hear me out. Ben will go to California and you guys can play happy family on the beach, but how ‘bout I be the one who takes him?” He turned and noticed Castiel staring at him. Cas, who didn’t even try to look away and deal with the awkwardness of being caught watching. Dean flashed him a quick smile and held up a finger while mouthing ‘almost done’, “It’ll give us some time together and I’ll convince him to give Matt a chance. I’ll even make life on the road look really horrible so he’ll never want to do it again.”
Lisa let out a small laugh and went silent as she thought it over. Dean took his empty milkshake cup and filled it with root beer. [ Okay. ]
“Okay?”
[ Okay. We’ll talk about the details later. Now get back to your lunch. ]
“Alright, bye Lis.” Dean put his phone away and sat back at the table, stuffing the last two mozzarella sticks into his mouth.
Cas tilted his head, “Custody battle?”
“My ex’s kid, so not exactly,” Dean huffed into his drink, “but close enough, I guess.” He looked up when Cas remained silent.
Something had shifted in the way Castiel was looking at him. Dean realized that, had he chosen to simply sit and stare at Cas from his original table, it would have never reached Sam levels of desperation, at least, not on the Cas Scale of Appropriate Lengths of Staring.
But it was definitely getting under Dean’s skin. “All good?”
Cas broke his stare to look at his notebook. After a moment he flipped it shut and sat back, picking up his drink. “I wouldn’t think it very intuitive, or profitable, to hide America’s greatest burger in a drive-through theater in the middle of Minnesota.”
Dean paused in confusion before remembering his digression from not even twenty minutes earlier. He let out a bark of laughter. “Did you miss the lesson on ‘proper segues’?”
A cloud moved and sunlight fell across Cas’ face. He lifted a hand to try and block it, squinting at Dean. “Did you have a lesson on ‘proper segues’?”
“Touché.” Dean reached across the table to pick-up Cas’ notebook and leaned over slightly to hold it up against the rays of sun.
Their fingers brushed as Cas took the notebook from Dean. “Thank you.”
Dean eventually dropped his hand and sat back in his chair, stretching out his legs and grabbing his drink. “By the way, it’s called a drive-in theater. Drive-throughs are at fast food joints.”
Cas’ eyes rested on where Dean’s fingers had wrapped around his cup. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
[next: ch.4 Battle Creek & Berkeley]
Author: metchaky
Rating: R overall (tentatively)
Genre and/or Pairing: Dean/Cas
Spoilers: none
Warnings: none
Word Count: [WIP]
Summary: Dean doesn't see why he should want to travel abroad when there's enough shit to see within the continental US to last a lifetime.
Castiel is fascinated by the language and culture of lands he's never been in.
Or: a series of snapshots from Dean's life within the context of Sam's. And maybe also more often than not in the context of Sam's former professor, Castiel.
[ Start: Prologue ]
Dean shifted his phone from one ear to the other, “Your mom’s allowed to date other guys, Ben, it’s been years now.”
[ I know she is and she has. But “Matt The Doctor”- ] and Dean could imagine the face Ben would make to go with his mocking tone [ -is such a dick. ]
“That’s rough buddy, but I like to think that your mom’s got good taste in men.” Dean stretched out on Sam and Jess’ couch. “And wasn’t your mom dating a ‘Matt The Doctor’ the last time you pulled that Parent Trap stunt?”
[ It’s the same guy. He’s going to fly us out to California for vacation. ]
“And... you hate California?”
[ I hate the fact that it’s not with you, but with “Matt- ]
“-The Doctor’, I know.” Dean looked up when Sam came into the room and stepped around moving boxes half-way filled. He gave Dean a questioning frown while handing him an open bottle of beer. “Look, Ben,” Sam gave him a nod of ‘ahhh I see’, “I’m really not sure what you want me to do here.”
[ I dunno. Can’t you like... pick me up and I can just hang out with you and then Mom can just go on her stupid vacation without me? ]
Dean closed his eyes and took a long swallow of his beer as Sam sat on his shins. The hope in Ben’s voice was kind of heartbreaking. “You know I’d never turn down a chance to see ya, kid. But your mom-”
[ I’ll convince her! I swear, Dean, she used to let you take me to stuff without her all the time, she totally can’t say ‘no’. ]
“I’m not sure baseball practice while I was living with you guys really counts.” Dean tossed Sam the remote and his brother flipped through channels on mute.
[ At least let me try. ]
Dean sighed, “Alright, if your mom says-”
[ Thanks Dean, the vacation’s in a couple months so don’t make any plans! ]
There was a click and then silence as Ben abruptly hung up. Dean chugged the rest of his beer and reached over to place the empty bottle on the coffee table.
“Ben mad at Lisa?” Sam asked, pretending he was actually interested in the commercials and not Dean’s personal life.
Dean wiggled his feet and Sam pinched his ankle. “He wants me to save him from the Big Bad Boyfriend.”
Sam lifted a hip and farted on Dean’s leg, getting a pillow to the face for the effort. “Haven’t they just recently moved to Michigan? And this is the first time she’s getting serious with another guy since the two of you broke up, right? Soooo those are big changes and the poor kid’s probably having a rough time trying to adjust.”
“Tell me about it.” Dean pulled his legs from under Sam and put his feet in Sam’s face.
Sam punched him on the underside of his knee and asked, “Are you driving out to Battle Creek, then?”
“Only if Lisa okays it.” Dean stood up and grabbed his empty bottle, walking into the kitchen where Jessica was sitting at the dining table on her laptop with copies of journal articles spread around her.
“Wait a minute,” Sam appeared at the kitchen entrance, carrying his own empty bottle, “you promised Jess and I that you’d help us move to our new place in a couple weeks.”
Jess looked up from her reading, flyaway strands of hair framing her face, “Which reminds me: we need to go to IKEA today.”
“Even if Lisa said ‘yes’ right now, I still wouldn’t be driving out for another month or so.” Dean dropped the beer bottle into their recycling bin. “Please tell me your new place is either on the first floor or has an elevator, because this whole third-floor-winding-stairs thing you guys have got going on is gonna be a bitch.”
Jessica started gathering her papers and replied, “Definitely has an elevator this time. Also, I’m going to go take a shower and then we’re heading to Bay Street.”
Sam turned to look at her, “We have an IKEA in town. Why do you want to go across the bay?”
She dropped all her materials on the living room coffee table. “Because Bay Street also has a Pottery Barn and Barnes and Nobles.”
“Oh, and I’m sure your decision has nothing to do with the fact that it also has a Lush.”
“Maybe,” she called out from the bathroom, “but it definitely has nothing to do with the Victoria’s Secret.”
Sam started looking for his wallet and Dean gave him a thumbs up. “You’re coming with us, Dean.”
“What? Why? I really don’t need to go lingerie shopping with you and your girlfriend. That is definitely on the universal list of Things That Are Not Sexy.”
“Because our car is full of boxes and you’ve still got space in your trunk. So unless you’re going to let me drive...”
“Ha!” Dean twirled his car keys around his finger. “I barely let you touch her on the Kansas backroads, you really think I’m gonna trust you around angry California drivers? In your dreams.”
Sam shook his head, “Alright, just warning you, Jess gets a little crazy when she’s around home decor.”
Jess popped her head around the corner, “I heard that. Also, when we’re done shopping, can you remember to double-check that the computer was fully wiped? There’s an e-waste pick-up tonight.”
“I can take care of that.” Dean looked up from where he was rummaging through the fridge to find Sam and Jessica staring at him. “What?”
Jess shook her head, shrugged, and went to take her shower. Sam looked after her, betrayed. “No offense, but... you’re constantly on the road and work with cars. What do you know about computers?” As an afterthought he added, “Other than internet porn.”
Dean stamped down the swelling insecurities he refused to admit he had. “Well, I know that an electromagnet made from a car battery is strong enough to corrupt a hard drive and that, still, most data is recoverable if you really want it bad enough so your best bet is taking a hammer to all the sensitive bits.”
“Where’d you learn that?” Dean wasn’t really surprised when Sam’s tone was more suspicious and bewildered than awed.
“How do you think I survive? Ash has gotten me a few hookups doing odd jobs at tech repair shops,” Dean explained. He didn’t mention the fact that he’d been stealing paid channels from their nextdoor neighbors since he was a teenager just because all of Sam’s classmates kept talking about The Disney Channel. Nor did Dean remind him that he had been the one to help Sam and his friends when they had gotten stuck on their Rube Goldberg project for physics. Outloud he added, “I found an electrical engineering textbook at a motel once.”
Sam let out a small laugh, “I hardly see you read anything outside of skin mags and you expect me to believe you actually opened a textbook?” He looked up at the clock. “Jess will probably be ready in half an hour, do you mind if we just eat lunch there?”
Dean slammed the fridge shut and headed out of the apartment. “I’ll be waiting in the car.”
Sam gave him an irritated look, “Dude, if you’re that hungry we’ve got leftovers.”
Dean ignored him and went down the winding stairs to the Impala parked at the curb out front. He sat in the driver’s side and pulled a heavy book titled Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics from beneath the bench-seat. He looked at the cover and conceded that maybe his brother was right. “A freaking textbook. I should’ve stolen the Vonnegut when I had the chance.” He flipped open to the table of contents, “Alright, Magnetostatics. Sounds like a lesson the X-Men should’ve taken.”
Dean settled into his seat and started reading, only stuffing the book back under the seat once Sam and Jessica finally made an appearance. Jess called shotgun, Sam claimed eternal-shotgun, Jess referenced lingerie, and Sam got in the backseat.
The majority of the drive was filled with moving traffic, classic rock, idle chatter, and Sam complaining about leg cramps.
“So let me get this straight,” Dean said as he pulled into a parking garage, “you’re not actually planning to buy anything here?”
Jess tapped her fingers against the edge of the seat. “Not any furniture. I brought measurements with me so we can at least start figuring out what’s possible, but we might end up getting some of the smaller decor stuff.”
Once Dean had parked, Sam got out and made a show of stretching his legs, “We can ask to borrow Brady’s truck and come back for the larger stuff next time.”
Dean hung back to lock the doors and check his cell phone, which he had felt vibrate on the drive over.
[ From: Ben
Engaging with target. Radio silence until killshot confirmed. BUT KEEP YOUR PHONE ON! ]
Dean smiled and took his phone off vibrate. He proceeded to follow Jess and Sam, who were chatting enthusiastically about their new place, until they finally reached IKEA. “Better keep an eye on Sam or else you’re gonna find your credit card maxed out.”
Sam gave him an incredulous look, “This is mostly kid’s stuff.”
“Exactly.”
“Oh haha, Dean, hilarious.”
Jessica poked her head out from a little kitchen area further along the path, “Sam, get over here. This is exactly the sort of set-up I want, but not in this style.” She took a step back, “What do you think?”
Sam went to Jess and Dean went to a large leather chair. “Hey, do you think this is meant to fit more than one person? ‘Cause I would definitely just take over the entire thing.” Dean sank into the cushions, “Also, you should definitely buy this.”
Sam looked up from swatches of different countertops. “With your fat ass it’s not like anyone else could fit in it anyways.”
“Hey,” Dean said in a wounded voice, “I’ve just got big hips.”
“Help me choose a desk!” Both Sam and Dean turned to find that Jessica had already moved on from the kitchen and somehow made it even further down the path to where a cluster of home office showrooms were set-up.
Sam sighed and said to Dean, “I told you. Crazy,” before he made his way over, getting distracted once by an oddly shaped light fixture. He called out towards Jess, “You realize that when we go to Pottery Barn you’re going to forget about everything you’re looking at right now.”
Jess lifted her arm to show Sam the point-and-shoot digital camera looped around her wrist. “Sam Winchester. You may have academic smarts, but I’m the one who’s got their shit together in this relationship. Now shut up and convince me that we don’t need a ten foot bookcase attached to our desk.”
“‘Shut up’ or ‘convince’ you? ‘Cause those are two conflicting commands, Jessica Moore.”
“I don’t care, choose one. Because right now you’re doing neither, Samuel.”
Dean watched the way Sam walked next to Jess.
The way he’d place his hand on the small of her back.
The ease with which they stood in the other’s space.
How Jess would smile at Sam even when he wasn’t looking.
“Anyone hungry?”
The couple both turned to look at Dean.
“’Cause, right now? I could eat a moose.”
“Umm…” Sam looked at Jess, “I’ve heard something about IKEA’s Swedish meatballs?”
Jessica pinched her lips together in thought. “I think there’s a Fuddruckers near Barnes and Nobles?” She looked at Dean, “They don’t have moose, but they do have elk burgers? All those big antlered mammals probably taste the same.”
“Alright,” Dean put a hand on Sam’s shoulder and another on Jessica’s, “then I’ll leave you two to your interior decorating and I’m gonna grab myself a burger.”
Jessica frowned, “We could eat together?”
“Nahhh, it’s all good,” Dean pointed at them as he walked backwards towards the exit, “go on a date or something you two lovebird-sickos.” Jessica shrugged and tugged along Sam, whose eyes were still tracking Dean as he tried to leave the store.
“Um, should we tell him that he has to walk through the entire store in order to get to the exit?”
Jessica turned and grabbed Sam’s shoulders, looking him in the eye. “Remember last year when you made all those plans for my birthday?” Sam nodded. “Do you also remember how Dean showed up unannounced to celebrate his birthday that same night?” Sam nodded. “Then I think your brother can deal with getting to the exit alone.” Jess patted his cheek and turned around. “Now let’s look at some couches.”
Meanwhile, the older Winchester was dealing with getting to the exit alone. After wandering through five different bathroom showrooms he beelined for the first IKEA rep he spotted. “Hello there,” Dean’s eyes flicked to her nametag, “Nora,” she smiled at him politely, “I just picked up a puppy from the pound and I thought I’d stop by and grab a dog bowl before we got home, but I think I forgot to roll down windows and now I can’t seem to find the exit.” He made a point of worriedly looking at his watch, “Do you think you could point me to a short-cut?”
Nora nodded and quickly took him to one of the fire exits tucked out of sight and Dean left, flashing her a smile and thanks before pretending to hurry towards a random car until she finally closed the emergency exit door.
Once Dean made his way back towards the main shopping area, it didn’t take him long to find the Barnes and Nobles, but he took a moment to debate whether or not he wanted pizza as he passed by the smell of pepperoni.. A large sign boasting Fuddruckers: World’s Greatest Hamburgers! Fresh - never frozen - 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 or 1 lb.100% USDA All-American, premium-cut beef with an image of a picture perfect bacon cheeseburger slathered with barbeque sauce caught his attention.
“Good argument,” Dean said and walked away from the pizza shop.
There was a small group of happy teenagers standing in line talking. Only a smattering of the tables spread across the wide room were occupied and large glass windows and open doors helped give the place an open feel. He decided to ignore the top forty hits filtering out from built-in speakers, occasionally broken by the fuzzy call of names for order pick-ups, and took a deep breath, realizing he was a lot hungrier than he’d originally thought. Fifteen minutes later he walked away with cheese sticks, a milkshake, and a burger.
Plus a stack of cookies.
He had only gotten through one mozzarella stick before he noticed a messy shag of dark hair that looked somewhat familiar. Castiel had tucked himself away in a corner of the room with a tray of food and an open notebook on the table in front of him. Dean watched as the other man absently picked at his fries, occasionally taking a bite of his burger. More accurately, burgers, Dean was pleased to note.
Figuring that there was really only so long one person could stare at another before it became Sam levels of desperation- or just plain old creepy, but Dean figured they were practically the same thing anyways- he decided to make contact.
Dean stacked his food on top of the tray (and on top of each other) before navigating his way around the spaces between the tables and chairs, nearly tipping everything over while dodging someone scooting their chair back without looking.
He silently congratulated himself after he successfully made it to Castiel’s table without an actual incident. Kicking the chair out with his foot, Dean put his tray on the table and sat down. Cas looked at him mid-bite and simply put his burger down, chewing slowly with questioning eyes.
“Hey there, Professor, thought you could use a little company.”
Castiel took a sip from his drink before responding, “Hello, Dean. I really would prefer it if you’d call me ‘Castiel’.” He added as an afterthought, “Especially since, if I remember correctly, it was your brother, not you, who attended my lectures.”
Dean paused with a cheese stick between his teeth, “You ‘member me?” he asked around the appetizer. “Also,” Dean chewed and swallowed, “I totally attended that one you did recently with those dicks at Stanford.”
“I haven’t done any lectures at Stanford recently.” Castiel took another bite of his burger, chewing thoughtfully, “I did attend a debate, but there was only one Dick.”
They stared at each other in a moment of confusion until Dean realized, chuckling, “Wrong ‘dick’,” he paused, thinking it over, “Well, right big ‘D’ Dick, but I meant small ‘d’ ‘dicks’. In general.”
Castiel pressed his lips together and frowned.
“Okay, rephrase: I saw that debate thing with Dick and Zachariah. BOTH of whom are dicks.” Dean shook his head and pointed at Cas’s food, “Nevermind, just eat.”
Castiel obediently munched on a fry and looked somewhere over Dean’s shoulder. “They called your name earlier.”
Dean looked up from his milkshake, “What? Who did?”
“The restaurant speakers. They called your name and I recognized you when you stood up to collect your food. You’re the only Dean I’ve met. That’s why I remembered you.” Castiel resumed eating.
Dean followed suit, teeth sinking into the first bite of his burger. He let out a low moan of satisfaction as barbeque sauce dripped onto his tray. Cheeks full, brows raised, and eyes wide, Dean nodded at Cas. He pointed to his burger and gave a thumbs up.
“I take it that you find the burger has lived up to its advertisement?” Cas’ smile was all in the corners of his lips, the edges of his eyes, and the tips of his brows.
Dean gave a little cough as a bit of food caught on the way down. “Wouldn’t say it’s the best in the States, that title belongs to this drive-in movie attendant in the middle of Minnesota,” he looked at Cas, “but for a chain? It’s doin’ good. What about you? I figured all you top-notch academic types frequented hard-to-pronounce French restaurants.”
“I’d hardly call it ‘frequenting’.” Dean tracked the way Cas’ tongue licked a stray bit of ketchup from the corner of his lips. “We only go to Chez Panisse for our meetings.”
Dean sucked at his milkshake straw, “You’re trying to be funny, aren’t you.”
“Yes,” and this time Cas’ smile was more pronounced, “I did say it in jest.”
Dean wasn’t really sure how to react. The delivery was awkward and part of Dean could tell that the statement had been more truth than joke, but nonetheless the guy’s heart seemed to be in the right place so he took a cookie from his stack and tossed it onto Cas’ tray, “Here, have a cookie for your effort because you’ve got the ‘deadpan’ look down straight, but in this case it’s working against you.” He stuck the pad of his thumb in his mouth to suck at the crumbs. Cas bobbed his head in thanks and Dean was pretty sure he wasn’t imagining the way the guy’s eyes lingered on his mouth.
The blue eyes trailed up to meet Dean’s. “Though you’re not exactly wrong in your assumption. Many of my colleagues would prefer dishes that require utensils rather than moist towelettes.”
“But not you, you’re a man’s man.”
Cas held his gaze steadily, “One could definitely make that argument.”
And woah, Dean thought, that was definitely an argument he’d like to cross-examine and maybe he should stop watching procedural law shows with Sam.
Dean’s ringtone blared from his pocket and instead of shutting it off and asking Cas about whether or not he’d like to go to court- and yep, Dean was definitely putting SVU re-runs on his blacklist- he asked, “You mind?”
Cas shook his head and finally broke eye contact to look down at the notebook it seemed he had forgotten about since Dean had arrived.
“Hey, Ben.”
[ Try again. ]
“Liiiiisa,” Dean tapped Cas’ notebook to get his attention, “Be right back.” Cas nodded and Dean stood up, walking towards one of the large windows.
[ If now’s not a good time.. ]
‘Now’ definitely wasn’t a good time. “Now’s fine, just having lunch.” Dean watched shoppers pass by, “I take it Ben missed the killshot.”
[ Look, Dean, I’m just going to get straight to the point. I know you miss Ben and you can’t imagine how much it breaks my heart to see the way he misses you too, but I can not have you encouraging my son to create this, I don’t know, distance between him and Matt. ]
“That’s not what I’m doing, Lisa, and you know it. You guys haven’t been in Michigan long and now things’re getting serious with this guy and Ben’s just trying to... adjust.”
[ Well, it’s good to know what Sam thinks of the situation. ]
“Yeah, it is what Sam thinks. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
[ Okay, I get it. I really do. I mean, this whole trip out west is supposed to be about giving Ben time to actually hang out with Matt and adjust. ] Dean heard her sigh, [ I know Ben was the one who called you and I don’t mean to sound accusatory, but this trip is happening and Ben is going. ]
Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, “Okay, let’s compromise.”
[ Dean- ]
“Nope, hear me out. Ben will go to California and you guys can play happy family on the beach, but how ‘bout I be the one who takes him?” He turned and noticed Castiel staring at him. Cas, who didn’t even try to look away and deal with the awkwardness of being caught watching. Dean flashed him a quick smile and held up a finger while mouthing ‘almost done’, “It’ll give us some time together and I’ll convince him to give Matt a chance. I’ll even make life on the road look really horrible so he’ll never want to do it again.”
Lisa let out a small laugh and went silent as she thought it over. Dean took his empty milkshake cup and filled it with root beer. [ Okay. ]
“Okay?”
[ Okay. We’ll talk about the details later. Now get back to your lunch. ]
“Alright, bye Lis.” Dean put his phone away and sat back at the table, stuffing the last two mozzarella sticks into his mouth.
Cas tilted his head, “Custody battle?”
“My ex’s kid, so not exactly,” Dean huffed into his drink, “but close enough, I guess.” He looked up when Cas remained silent.
Something had shifted in the way Castiel was looking at him. Dean realized that, had he chosen to simply sit and stare at Cas from his original table, it would have never reached Sam levels of desperation, at least, not on the Cas Scale of Appropriate Lengths of Staring.
But it was definitely getting under Dean’s skin. “All good?”
Cas broke his stare to look at his notebook. After a moment he flipped it shut and sat back, picking up his drink. “I wouldn’t think it very intuitive, or profitable, to hide America’s greatest burger in a drive-through theater in the middle of Minnesota.”
Dean paused in confusion before remembering his digression from not even twenty minutes earlier. He let out a bark of laughter. “Did you miss the lesson on ‘proper segues’?”
A cloud moved and sunlight fell across Cas’ face. He lifted a hand to try and block it, squinting at Dean. “Did you have a lesson on ‘proper segues’?”
“Touché.” Dean reached across the table to pick-up Cas’ notebook and leaned over slightly to hold it up against the rays of sun.
Their fingers brushed as Cas took the notebook from Dean. “Thank you.”
Dean eventually dropped his hand and sat back in his chair, stretching out his legs and grabbing his drink. “By the way, it’s called a drive-in theater. Drive-throughs are at fast food joints.”
Cas’ eyes rested on where Dean’s fingers had wrapped around his cup. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
[next: ch.4 Battle Creek & Berkeley]