Part 17/24: Lachesism noun 1. the desire to be struck by disaster;
to survive a plane crash, or to lose everything in a fire
Castiel does a lot of driving over the next two weeks. Up
and down, east and west, criss-crossing backroads and highways and never
staying still for more than a few hours. He’s not using a map, not heading in
any particular direction. It’s almost as if he’s letting the road itself lead him,
and he follows the bends and curves and turns almost mindlessly. Delaware,
Ohio, Alabama, California; he checks different states off a mental list, seeing
their fields and mountains but registering absolutely nothing. He gives Kansas
a wide berth.
Some nights he stays at motels, others he simply pulls over
on a deserted stretch and climbs into the backseat to sleep. He changes cars
every few days, and he only uses cash, pilfered from the bunker’s emergency
supply before he left.
Castiel is quite certain his evasive efforts have been
sufficient, but he’s still anxious, looking over his shoulder wherever he goes.
There’s a nagging piece of him that fears facing Sam and Dean, after all the
damage he’s done and the pain he’s caused. He fears being found.
There’s another piece of him that’s desperate for it.
Just a short drabble I wrote while I’m working on my series.
Sam has another nightmare…
Sam woke up, screaming in terror. His sheets were tangled
around his waist and legs, and he struggled to get out of them, landing on the
floor. He was drenched in sweat.
Twenty seconds later, Dean came running into his room,
throwing open the door.
“Sam? What’s wrong!” Dean was in his boxers and a faded gray
t-shirt. He had a gun in his hand, and he was frantically looking around the
room.
“Sam, what’s going on!”
Sam was trying to catch his breath. He held his arm out to assure
Dean nothing was after him.
“N-nothing Dean. N-n-nightm-mare.” Sam’s breath was wobbly.
Dean lowered his gun and moved quickly beside his brother on
the floor. He reached out tentatively, touching his brother on the shoulder.
His voice lowered to one of gentle concern.
“You alright, man?”
“Y-yeah” Sam managed. He tried not to let Dean see how he
was shaking. It was dark, so maybe he wouldn’t notice.
Dean helped Sam untangle himself from his sheets and back on
the bed.
“Dude, you scared the shit out of me. That must have been a
doozy of a nightmare. You sure you ok? Do you need anything?” Dean said,
yawning. He stood up again, and made to move towards the door.
Sam just shook his head again. Dean didn’t know this was the
sixth night in a row of the same nightmare. The same cold hands on him, the
same dark space.
“No Dean, I’m fine.”
Dean nodded, but frowned as he headed towards the door.
“You let me know if you need anything, ok?”
“Yeah Dean. Ok. I’m fine, though.” He pulled the blankets up
around him and gave Dean a thumbs up and the best smile he could muster.
Of course, Sam wasn’t fine.
(just forevers below the cut – let me know if you want to be added or removed)
Dean has been working at Bobby’s auto shop since dropping out of high school. He needed money for Sam’s tuition, but the kid is all grown up with a fancy house and a wife, and at this point, Dean is feeling left behind and in a total rut.
Everyone is worried about him; the guy wakes up at 5am, gets into work by 6, then spends the whole day working before going home, microwaving himself a TV dinner, and conking out in front of the boob tube. He’s stopped passing by the Roadhouse. He’s stopped going to Charlie’s game nights. He’s lucky if he feels up to watching porn before falling face first onto his mattress.
The only silver lining Dean sees in his fantastically empty life is the fact that his 84 year-old neighbour finally moves into a retirement home, putting an end to all the complaints about how loud Dean walks in his apartment.
Enter Castiel. Castiel is a travel blogger who recently decided to settle down close to his family. He’s thirty-six, vibrant, and ready to be the best Uncle ever to his twin’s newly arrived baby. He takes shifts at an independent bookstore while trying to find work as a journalist.
He also has little to no boundaries, so when he sees some guy in his building come home with a veritable stack of Lean Cuisine meals, he makes note of where the poor bastard lives and ding dong ditches a tupperware of pad see ew.
It smells so goddamn good Dean eats the whole thing.
This continues for a good couple of weeks before Dean manages to catch the hot dude keeping him properly fed. At which point, he rudely asks the guy if he can make anything other than weird-ass ethnic food. When hot guy raises a brow, Dean clears his throat and, blushing, asks him over for an all-american meal.
This kicks off a series of dates-that-are-not-dates which mostly involve hanging out and eating good food and watching movies. It turns out that Dean really likes to cook, and it turns out that all of Cas’s ethnic recipes are authentic.
Dean really likes listening to Castiel talk, and Cas, for some reason, seems to enjoy Dean’s lame stories, too. Cas, it turns out, is actually amazing for Dean. He pushes him to become an engineer. They go out to fancy restaurants, and go to the movies, and go on weekend road trips just because they can.
It’s on one of these road trips that Dean kisses Cas: just fresh from brushing his teeth, backlit by shitty motel lighting and wearing cookie monster boxer briefs.
Karate, SPN Demonic Octopus Guardian 