Sorry guys! Hit a huge writers block and didn't quite know what I wanted to happen next...
Anyway- It's cured- and I have the next couple chapers outlined and ready to go, so yay for planning ahead!
Special thanks to mishafreemanforking and sackstiel for forcing my lazy ass to get writing again :)
Currently un-betad
(rating will change to M in later chapters)
Unexpected Item in the Bagging Area
Whatever this world can give to me
It's you you're all I see
Ooh you make me live now honey
Ooh you make me live
It's funny, how fast days go by when you actually have something to look forward to; especially if that thing included hanging out with Dean.
The first time they met up again, it was rather by accident. Every two weeks or so, Castiel had to make the trip to go to the store. There were only so many non-perishables he could buy, and that left him going to the store to quickly grab milk, eggs, and a few vegetables. Every time he went, Castiel felt everyone's eyes on him. He hated having to walk down the aisles and squeeze past people; hated the stares as he hunched in on himself and kept to the walls as he navigated around the store. His hood was always pulled over his head- hey, if he couldn't see them, then maybe the rule applied both ways- maybe they couldn't see him, either.
He wished he believed it.
Instead, he just grasped at the thinning sleeves of his sweatshirt and quickly grabbed the essentials before heading over to the checkout line. Careful to keep his hood up, Castiel looked over the brim of the hood to see the lanes. It would be just his luck that there was only one cashier, and the line was fairly packed, there was no way he could stand waiting in that line.
It was with a sinking feeling in his gut did he realize that he was going to have to use the self-checkout. He loathed them, the machines. They were loud, difficult, and overall embarrassing. No matter what you did they wouldn't work with you. But at the moment he wasn't given much choice, so he resolutely set his items on the side and got ready to work hells-gadget. Slowly, with overdone precision, he was sure, he scanned each of the items and bagged them one at a time. Slowly. Meticulously. Each one went in without a hitch, and Cas allowed himself to breathe a bit as he finished with most of the items. Of course it was at that moment though, when it felt like everything went to hell.
"I'm sorry, unexpected item in the bagging area."
He didn't do anything
"Unexpected item in the bagging area."
He hadn't touched anything
"Please removed the unexpected item from the bagging area before continuing."
"I- I didn't"
"Please wait for a store employee of manager before continuing your checkout"
Groaning, Cas let his head fall forward and rested his hands on the machine, resisting the urge to just walk out of punch the machine. It was 50/50, at this point.
"Mr; We don't really take nicely to you abusing our machines."
Cas whirled around, voice catching in his throat just as he was bursting to defend himself. "No! No I didn't do anything! I- Dean?"
Castiel couldn't tell which was more shocking; the fact that Dean Winchester was once again standing in front of him or the fact that he was wearing a store shirt with a little name tag reading 'Hello, My name is Adam."
Dean just rocked back on his heels. "Oh, sorry sir, you must have me confused for someone else. My name's Adam. See?" Dean vary obviously tapped at the name tag several times, not without adding in an over the top winking display- of course.
"Er…"
"Hey! These machines are getting old anyway, not the easiest to work with. Here, let me just-"
Dean leaned over him them, and slowly typed in some master password. If his eyes glued to the stretch of his shirt over his taunt stomach, it was just an accident. A really, really unfortunate accident…
"There! Should let you finish bagging then, Cas. Shit! I mean er, sir."
Still not quite sure what game Dean was playing at, Cas once again went to bag the apples after punching in the code.
"I'm sorry, unexpected item in the bagging area."
Cas just glared at the machine. It was the one who declared war, not him. He was done being civil. What the hell did he do to it? He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes, trying to keep from all out making a scene.
"Dude! Stop death-glaring the machine. You might fry the main frame."
"That's the objective." Cas said, glowering.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Here- let me do it."
"No! It's fine, it's just checking out a couple apples. I can do it."
"Calm down soldier, this is one battle you can't win. Sheesh, surrender now and come back to fight another day. There's a line forming, you can defend your honor later."
A deep blush spread from his ears all the way down his neck. Castiel ducked his head and shifted to the side and tried his best to ignore Dean's chuckle.
"…And there you go. One rogue bag of apples bagged and ready to face the courts. Should I read them their rights?"
"Uh. Dean?"
"Adam."
"Right, Adam, that reference- I'm not quite sure what you were trying to say."
The look of shock on his face was funny enough without Dean practically chocking on his own spit. Not knowing whether to be offended by Dean's reaction or not, Cas chose to be neither and just stand by and wait for Dean to get over… whatever he was going through h.
"Aww Cas buddy, you are so stuck in the wrong century. Here, I'm not doing my job, and I'm pretty sure the lady in line behind you is about to pop a gasket, so- I got these, let's go to your car."
As Dean talked, he grabbed two of the bags and stared expectantly and Cas, almost as if he were daring him to say something.
"I didn't drive here-"
"Yes you did. Let's go"
Dean practically dragged Castiel out of the store, only stopping when they made it around the corner.
"Dean- I honestly don't have my car here. My apartment was only a block away, I-"
"That's not the point, Cas- I needed an excuse to come outside. The employer's a hardasses, man. I haven't gotten a break yet!"
"Dean- you don't work here."
"Dude, when you see a man in uniform, you don't question it."
Castiel shifted on his feet and just stared up at Dean, choosing to ignore his response. When Dean noticed the shift in Castiel's stance, he raised his eyebrows and stared back, not giving an inch. After a good 3 years, (or fine, more like 20 seconds. It sure felt like three years. The intensity of his eyes caused Dean to drown, burn up, dissolve, and/or loose himself in what felt like an irreparable way) Dean huffed out a laugh and relaxed his stance. Taking that as a sign that Dean would actually start getting serious, Castiel turned back to his question.
"Who even is Adam?"
"Oh yeah," Dean's smile grew wider, "He's my brother. Well; half-brother. He goes to high school around here and bailed to go study for some test or something. Somehow or other he convinced me to cover his shift."
"I never knew you were one to volunteer your time."
"Hey! I'm a total boy scout! Bought their popcorn once and everything."
"You're very odd, Dean Winchester."
"Says the guy whose ass was handed to him by a checkout machine."
"That…is not of import."
"Sure it's not.
"Don't you have work to be doing, Adam?"
"Woah there, Cas! Do I sense a bit of hostility?"
"You sense nothing."
Dean loved this, the banter. He hadn't been able to do so in such a long time with anyone, and it felt nice to finally be able to trade subtle jibes and comments. He hadn't done it since he still lived with Sammy, and it had been a good five years since the kid up and moved to California.
Dean was thrown back into reality when he realized how close they were standing together. He could count his eyelashes, if he wanted to- and oh god he wanted to…
"Winchester! Please refrain from socializing during work hours. If you're done here, I'd appreciate it if you would preformed your assigned duties."
"Fuck," Dean whispered under his breath, "Yes, Mr. Adler. I'll be there."
"As expected."
Mr. Adler went back in the building, and Dean let out and audible groan. "Adam better be lucky I don't want that kid fired. I swear, if I have to look at the leer on his stupid face one more time…"
"I can imagine, " Cas smiled, "but you can save that speech for a later date, if you're serious about not wanting to get him fired, that is."
Dean cracked a small smile, "I'll hold you to that."
"I'll look forward to it."
Cas backed up, and started walking down the street before turning back, "Goodbye, Adam."
Cas heard a quite snort coming from behind him, "Have a good evening, sir. Hope you found everything to your satisfaction."
'I think I did,' Cas thought, shyly.
The walk home wasn't nearly as eventful.
Dean followed through on his promise to finish his rant, it turned out. And one rant led to a lengthy discussion over the benefits of prime time television which led to having to relocate to a restaurant to finish up their conversation.
One day out led to two, then to three. Shortly, Cas found himself going out of the house to meet up with Dean two to three times a week. He still found the whole thing extremely surreal. He didn't even feel like the same person when he was with Dean. He felt like someone…lighter.
He found himself replacing many of the feeble items in his wardrobe with new ones. He took a particular liking to pristine button up shirts, as well as dark jeans. Slowly, Cas built up a life for himself. Each renovation was slow, as well as painful, but he was improving.
And he was happy.
First off, if you are reading this today, then apologies. I'm gone all day so I didn't get a moment to re-re read what I wrote; so anything I don't like will be fixed by Sunday.
Do you know what frustrated me? The fact that this was supposed to be literally no more then one page. I had planned to have soooo much more happen in this chapter, but then I find myself 5 pages in and still on the first bulletin on my outline and that kids- was the moment I realized I was screwed. Like, what was supposed to be chapter 7 is now gonna be chapters 7, 8, and 9... Anyway- hoped you liked this fluffy chapter! (you're gonna need it very soon)
Anyway- See you next week! And I hope to hear what you think so far :)
(Song: You're My Best Friend- Queen)
~Magnolia
