As soon as Sam said that he'd be staying at Stanford with Jess, Dean had known just how rotten this Valentine's Day was going to be. He hadn't had anyone to spend Valentines Day with in years but at least he'd had Sam. Now, without a nice girl ('or guy' his brain unhelpfully supplies) to spend the day with he was going to be miserable for the next 24 hours.
He spent his morning watching a bunch of the stupid Valentines Day cartoons and had two or three beers in the process. The little bow that the cartoon cupid was using was way out of proportion and all of the pink hearts were making him nauseous.
After a couple hours of that and a mighty urge to club himself over the head he realized he was going to need some stronger stuff.
As Dean walked through his shabby apartment the echo from his steps just reminded him of how pitifully alone he was.
By the time he made his way to the door he'd managed to both depress himself and build his need for some strong alcohol even further. His stomach rumbled on the elevator ride down to the parking lot and he noted that he'd have to get some food while he's out. Maybe some ice cream. Or some meat. Something fried for sure.
Dean pulled into the parking lot at the supermarket after spending the entire drive skipping from channel to channel trying to find a song not related to this god-forsaken holiday. It was in vain, for not even the classic rock channels were untouched by Valentines Day.
He walked through the doors with what must have been a very angry look on his face, based on the pitying look he got from the cash register guy. He made his way over to his favorite section, 'Wines and Spirits'. He grabbed the nearest bottle of whiskey he could find and traversed the pink and red soaked aisles over to the rotisserie chicken oven.
Dean contemplated buying a whole chicken before deciding that that would make him look a little too desperate and that it'd be safer to go with 12 wings.
On his way to the register he caught site of someone already at the only available checking-out person. Internally he sighed, knowing that that meant he had to wait longer in this heart-covered hellscape. Externally he saw just how cute this guy was, worn out jeans and a plain blue jacket. The guys face wasn't half bad either; pretty blue eyes and an adorable five o'clock shadow.
Dean was just about to strike up a conversation when he looked down to see what the guy was buying.
His heart sank.
A bouquet of flowers and some stupid pink cupcakes. He probably had someone special at home. Probably a girl, Dean didn't even know what he was thinking. How had he gotten so invested in this random guy in just a few seconds.
The register dude was having trouble ringing up the flowers. With a quick "This won't take long" he went off to talk to get his manager, who was probably asleep anyway. As soon as he turned his back the cupcakes guy's phone rang. He picked it up and Dean's already knee deep back in gloom.
"Yes?" cupcake guy's voice takes Dean off guard. It seemed a little too deep for such a normal looking guy, like he'd yelled himself hoarse or something.
"Yes Gabe... yes I got the cupcakes." And there it was, cupcake guy did have a special someone. Completely unavailable but at least he could've had a shot, since this guys boyfriend was, in fact, a he.
"Pink frosting of coarse. No, no milkshakes! You are not going to spend Valentines Day camping out in my apartment stuffing your face and wallowing in self pity!" Oh boy, Dean thought, cupcake guy's boyfriend must be a real dick.
"Well I'm alone and miserable too, you don't hear me whinging about it!" Wait, what? Cupcake guy was available? Hope slowly bubbled up in Dean again.
"... yeah yeah, I'm the worst brother in existence. That's why I'm letting you stay with me rent free." Oh, Dean thought he finally had it straight. But what was up with the flowers?
"Yes... yes... see you in a bit Gabe... bye." Cupcake guy hung up the phone with an air of sadness and by now the register dude was back with the manager. Cupcakes kind of gestures with his hand for the cashier to stop.
"Just the cupcakes actually. I'm not going to buy the flowers... waste of money anyway." The last part was under cupcake guy's breath and Dean's pretty sure he's the only one who heard.
The cranky looking manager looks fed up and leaves with little more than a little 'have a good day'. Dean's more than a little wanting to help out this guy who buys cupcakes for his brother on Valentines Day (and maybe a little smitten). He just watches the guy pay and leave when he gets an idea.
Dean takes the flowers and puts them next to the whiskey and the wings. Thank god the register dude does it fast this time around because Dean's gotta be fast if he wants to catch cupcake guy.
Everything's in the bag and paid for in record speed and Dean is wondering where this good luck is coming form.
He dashes out the door and can see that the cupcake guy is almost to his car towards the end of the row and he runs as fast as he can, flowers in hand, to get to the guy in time.
"Hey! Hey Cupcakes!" the words are out of his mouth before he can think of anything else. It doesn't really matter because the guy's turning around to look at him.
Dean was on cloud nine at this point because it didn't matter that he didn't even know this guy, he was almost there. Then, of course, his luck ran out.
One second he was running and the next he was falling on his ass, looking stupidly surprised before he had a chance to be mortified.
Dean made to get up and realized that directly under him, crushed by his body, was the flowers.