It took Steve the better half of his evening to find Dean but find him he did, and how he found him was by using his common sense. At first, he figured Dean might be hiding in the most remote part of the trail which is difficult to traverse up and down the mountain. That's where he'd go to hide out. Not even the Park Rangers like to go there, and they're experienced. It's that dangerous. It's also why Steve loves it.
Steve had packed his gear and was almost out the door when he realized that is what Dean had been counting on. What if he's actually on the easier, more traversed trails beause he knows how Steve thinks, and he's hiding in plain sight?
Son of a bitch.
Of course he is. That is - that is beyond brilliant. Steve would be traipsing up and down the most dangerous trails looking for Dean, and Dean would be relaxing on some trail overlooking the island, patiently waiting until Steve either finds him or gives up.
Bastard!
Sneaky, conniving, brilliant bastard. If Steve hadn't of liked him before, he the sure as well does now. He went back into his home office to grab the trail map of Waianae and looked for a trail that is neither too hard and too easy. Took a little longer but he found one and set off to track down Dean. He's not letting his White Knight get away from this time. He also starts rehearsing what he's going to say to convince Dean they could make it work.
A part of him wanted to question as to why he's fighting so damn hard for a man who made it clear he doesn't want anything beyond sex.
No, that's not fair.
Dean made it clear he feels the same way about him. The only difference is that Dean is the one doing all the protecting in the relationship. Something none of his other bed partners ever did. He finds it both infuriating and touching that Dean is doing his damnedest to protect him from his world.
He knows he's gone through this numerous times, with himself, Danny, and Chin, and it still hasn't really sunk in.
Give him another week and maybe he'll be more open to the whole idea of being the one protected. Right now though, he needs to find Dean.
SPNH50
Steve found him surprisingly easy. He came across his campsite early morning. So early, the sky barely brightened to herald the sun's approach, and the sight that he came upon had him sporting a sappy smile (Danny would call it goofy). Dean is swaddled inside his sleeping bag like a baby.
Dean mumbled in his sleep, his name coming up every so often. He can admit Dean dreaming about him is a huge ego boost and convinced him he was on the right course. He's just going to wait until Dean wakes up, but until then, he's going to get as much blackmail material as he can.
By the time the sun rose, Steve learned that Dean is dreaming about Orion and Artemis, but his name and someone named John kept popping up every now and then. He managed to ascertain that he's dreaming about the hunters, Artemis and Orion and the other gods, but he seems to interchange his name with Orion, and Dean's own with Artemis. From what he could tell, Artemis and Orion seemed to have fallen in love, so that means Dean's dreaming about them being in love, and he's also interchanging Zeus with someone named John.
Steve figures this John guy must be Dean's father, since Zeus is Artemis' father. Following this logic, Steve can assume that Sam is Apollo, Artemis/Dean's brother.
In Dean's dream, Sam (Apollo) did something to Steve (Orion) that brought about his death in a fit of jealousy. He has no idea if Sam would actually do that, but judging from Dean's dream, it's a real possibility. He also kept muttering about stars and Steve over and over again. The tone of Dean's voice when mentioning Steve with stars is...reverent, and dare Steve say it, full of love.
Dean's change in breath told him he's waking up, hopefully soon. He's in the early stages of waking up from deep REM, and though Steve is tempted to rush him through all the stages to wake up; he kept quiet and patiently waited for the hunter to return to the land of the living.
His movements, a brief peek outside of his "bed", and the displeasured groan before he disappeared back into his sleeping bag had Steve speaking before thinking it through, "Hello, Dean. What were you dreaming of?"
He watched Dean's body tense then he slowly pulled down the cover of his sleeping bag to stare at him in shock. Steve bit back to the amused smirk that threatened to escape and ruin his pissed off routine he's shooting for.
"Er, I - I wasn't dreaming of anything," Dean denied. He smirked suddenly, coyly. Steve felt his pulse speed up at the sight. "About time you found me, Fish Boy. I thought I was going to come find you."
Steve blinked at that, mind stuttering to a stop. Wha-? "You - you were?" he asked stupidly.
"Yep. Been thinking some things over and that stupid fucking dream cemented it for me."
"Ha! So, there was a dream," Steve gloated. His mind drifted slightly and he felt smug that Dean admitted he had been dreaming about him with deep affection in his voice. All right, with love in his voice, that is aimed at him.
"Steve!" Dean yelled to get his attention and drag it back to their conversation. Steve blushed and gestured for him to continue. "Thank you," he said sarcastically. Steve rolled his eyes. "Now, as I was saying, if you hadn't of found me by noon today, I was going to come and kick your ass. Dreams are a bitch, let me tell you. They unearth things you'd really rather not think about."
Steve inclined his head at that. "That they do." Annoyingly enough.
A comfortable silence fell between them with Dean still lying in his sleeping bag and Steve standing over him, standing sentinal, keeping watch while they gathered their thoughts. Steve kept his gaze on their surroundings out of habit, though he saw Dean doing the same, and he's guessing it's because of the same reason.
Dean clearing his throat brought his attention back to the younger man and patiently waited for the hunter to gather his thoughts and get them in an orderly fashion.
"So, uh," Dean started. "How - How do we, uh, do this?" At Steve's blank look, Dean elaborated, "This whole relationship thing? How do we combine our lives into something sembling a functional, normal-ish relationship between a supernatural monster hunter and a Navy SEAL who runs a government task force? I don't think there's an instructional manuel we can look up and use."
Good questions. Very good questions.
Shit.
He didn't have any answers. Not any good ones anyway.
"I don't know, Dean," he admitted. "But don't you think its worth trying?"
"Yeah, I do," Dean said after a bout of silence that had Steve on edge. "We're just going to give it the old college try, yeah?"
Steve swallowed back his jubilant cry of triumph, giving him a little bit of acid reflux, and he dialed back his undeniably goofy, happy grin that showed off his dimples and made his eyes crinkle. Dean grinned back at him, smile just as goofy.
"Alright then," Steve blurted loudly. "Want to come back to my place?"
Dean quirked an eyebrow at him when Steve blushed hotly.
"Yeah, Steve, I want to come back to your place." Dean is now sporting the biggest shit-eating grin Steve has ever seen on a person.
"Awesome!" He chirped. He freaking chirped. It earned him another arch of an eyebrow and another amused smirk. "Let's go."
Steve started walking down the trail until Dean's voice stopped him. "Uh, Steve? Little help here. Got a lot of shit to pack up, you know?"
"Oh. Right." Steve has a horrible feeling he's never going to get rid of his blush.
They packed up all of Dean's gear and made sure his fire pit was completely out, and did a little walk through to make sure they had everything. Steve found some carvings into the trees surrounding Dean's campsite, he traced them with his finger, feeling the faint sticky residue, Dean must have carved them last night, and took care not to ruin them. Dean is leaving them up for a reason.
"What are these?" Steve asked pointing at the carvings.
Dean glanced over. "Protection sigils."
"Are you going to leave them up?"
"Yeah. Anyone who camps here will be kept safe from any ghosty or ghoulie."
Steve bit his lip as he traced the carvings one more time. Leave it to Dean to think of others, and yeah, he's starting to get what everyone else has been trying to tell him.
"We are definitely alike," Steve murmured softly.
Dean threw a pebble at him to get his attention. Steve gave him a sheepish smile and grabbed the bag Dean thrusted towards him.
"Let's go, Fish Boy," Dean said with a grin. "Let's go head back to your place where I will unboubtedly get my ass handed to me...again."
Dean winked at him and gestured for Steve to lead the way back down to but Steve refused to move, he didn't trust Dean to rabbit on him. Dean rolled his eyes when Steve shook his head and made a shooing motion for Dean to walk before him.
"I'd like to say 'paranoid much?' but, uh, I guess it's warranted, huh?" Dean asked with a sheepish expression.
Steve merely raised his eyebrow in response. "You first, White Knight."
Dean huffed out a laugh and started walking down the trail to the parking lot. Steve followed closely, keeping a look out for any signs of Dean bolting, and generally embraced the hyper vigilence the Navy drilled into him. If Dean so much as swayed in the wrong direction, Steve is taking him down and he's handcuffing them together.
He's pretty sure Dean might like that a little too much.
They were halfway down the trail when Dean started talking.
"I been doing some thinking, about your mom, and I think you should drop her. Get her out of your life, Steve. She seems toxic. I bet your ohana thinks you should as well. It doesn't matter if she is your mother and gave birth to you, she lost any parental right and authority she has over you."
Out of all the things he thought Dean would want to talk about, he never imagined it would be about his mother.
"But she's my mother," Steve argued.
"She also abandoned you and your sister for two decades," Dean pointed out. "Not exactly mother of the year. Or decade. Two decades."
"What about your father? He doesn't sound like father of the year either," Steve shot back. "If I have to get my mother out of my life, then you have to cut out your father. He doesn't seem any better than my mom."
Dean stopped walking and turned around, pinning Steve with an angry glare. "Hey! You cannot compare the two. My dad taught me to survive in this world. More than your mother or father ever did or could. My mom didn't fake her death, she got stolen from us, and we are doing our damnedest to avenge her."
"Then where is your brother?" Steve shot back. He dug deeper into Dean's past and learned that Sam Winchester left the family and is now in his first year of college with a full ride.
Dean's mouth dropped. How dare Steve bring Sam into this!
"Trying to be a 'real' boy," Dean snarled. "He'll be back. This life we lead, its not a choice. Sam will come back but for now, I'm letting him enjoy 'normal' for a while. This is my life, Steve. This is the life I choose to live. Not because of my dad or my mom. I'm actively choosing this life, free of duress and of my own volition."
They were chest to chest, neither knowing when they moved.
"Your mother is going to twist you into knots and make you doubt yourself," Dean hissed, his breath hitting Steve's face. "I'm not saying this to hurt you or make any ultimatums, but you know your mother is bad news. You told me yourself you felt lost. You were my lost sailor, Steve. I'm trying to bring you into port."
Steve took a deep breath and mentally counted to ten before releasing it and opened his eyes. He needs to see Dean's point of view objectively.
"I know," he admitted. "But, Dean, she's not telling me everything and I need to know. It could bite me in the ass further down the road. Maybe even years but its still coming. I need to be prepared. I need to know her connection to Wo Fat."
Dean arched an eyebrow at that. "And he's a bad guy?"
"He's the one that ordered the hit on my father. Victor Hesse made have pulled the trigger but Wo Fat was the mastermind. We had him, he went after Doris, and she had him in her sights, and she let him go. She shot into the floorboards and told some bullshit story about scaring him off. Dean," he pleaded softly, "whatever she was into has something to do with Wo Fat. It all comes back to Wo Fat. Stay with me and help me deal with this."
Dean jerked back at that. Steve almost reached out to him but thought better of it.
"I need you, Dean. I need you here with me. I know you're a Hunter and you save people from monsters. I need you to save me from a monster. Wo Fat might not be a supernatural monster but he is a monster."
Fucker, Dean thought savagely. If he wasn't already planning on staying with Steve, the SEAL essentially begging him to stay and save him from a monster, that would have done it.
"I'm your White Knight, remember?" Dean teased lightly.
Steve's expression slid from pleading to shocked to elation once he registered Dean's words. He shot forward and pulled Dean into a quick kiss.
"Your never leaving my sight," Steve whispered. "You're mine, Dean Winchester, and I don't let what's mine go without one hell of a fight."
Dean laughed and kissed Steve again. Warmth bubbled through him then it burst, suffusing his body with a powerful emotion, one he identified as happiness. He's happy. Who'd-a-thunk?
"I don't have a problem with that," Dean replied with a grin. "I guess it's a good thing the island has shitty protectors, huh? I don't think I could work a normal 9 to 5 job. I'm going to call my dad and tell him I'm not coming back. I'll have to call Sam too. He needs to know my change of address should he need me. Oh, and you're going to have to call Mamo and have him get in touch with the island elders for me. I can't work here without their permission."
Steve nodded, mind already conjuring up a list of things they'll need to do to make Dean at home here. He's going to have to take a couple of days off while he gets Dean situated, and he'll need to clean out Mary's and his old room. Who knows what Dean'll need while hunting here.
"I'll need Baby shipped here too," Dean said. "I won't hunt without her."
"'Baby'?" Steve asked in confusion. Who the hell is 'baby'?
"My car. She's a 1967 Chevy Impala. My dad gave her to me on my eighteenth birthday," Dean explained with a faraway look in his eyes.
Steve grinned at the sight. "Alright. I'll handle that. I got contacts down at the dock."
"Awesome," Dean said with a wide smile.
Dean turned around and continued his way down the trail with Steve still walking close behind him. When the trail widened, Steve moved forward so he could walk side by side, and even hold hands. He felt a goofy smile grow on his face when Dean laced their fingers together.
He threw Dean's camping gear into the back of his truck after making sure Dean was secure in the cab. Steve hopped into the driver's seat and took the long ride home, talking with Dean on what he'll need to make his new home with Steve hunter safe, and how he'll tell his team that Dean's staying with him on the island will become an island protector.
Which reminds him, he'll need to call Mamo ASAP and get in touch with the kahunas. They wouldn't want to upset the island elders by having Dean making himself at home without informing the chiefs first.
"Will your dad be mad that you're staying here?" Steve asked.
Dean tilted his head in thought. "Probably. Know what though? I don't care. I'm still hunting and saving people from what goes bump in the dark. He shouldn't complain too much. I hope," he added under his breath. "Don't worry though, I'm not going to leave you. The island won't let me."
Steve laughed and grabbed Dean's hand to lace their fingers together, kissing the back of the hunter's hand. "I don't think she will either, which I'm super happy for."
Of course the island conspired against him. It wanted its favored son to be happy, and why not have a Hunter be the person who makes the SEAL happy? As far as Dean is concerned, it really doesn't matter. He's happy, Steve's happy, and if anyone else has a problem, they can suck it. Dean's done fighting his feelings for the older man and he's not letting Steve go without a damn good reason.
Screw his dad, screw Sam, and screw Danny.
Dean knows his biggest hurdle he'll have is the tiny protective blond, also known as Steve's best friend. That's the real battle. Steve's other family will follow his lead, but Danny will undoubtedly fight their relationship every step of the way, and Dean doesn't blame him. With all the rabbiting he's done with Super SEAL, toying with Steve's heart; Danny would be a piss poor friend if he just let Dean waltz back into Steve's life.
There are two major battles in their future: his dad and Danny.
Hey, Dean's had worse battle before him, and worse odds, but whatever. He's a Winchester. When has life ever been easy for him?
Maybe Steve's worth it.
Maybe he's not.
No matter which one it is, Dean's going to enjoy the ride. Hopefully with Steve by his side.
End.
That's all she wrote!
I finished! Within the allotted ten chapters too. Damn, I'm good. *laughs*
I may or may not write a sequel. Dunno yet. It all depends on my muse. She rules everything I do. Until then, ciao!