Sorry the chapter is short, I just didn't want to keep you guys waiting much longer, lol. Not too much happens in this chapter but hopefully things will start picking up soon ;) Anywho, wow! Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews! I really appreciate it, honest! And the suggestions are nice ;) Thanks!
I won't say too much here, just that if there are any typos, it's 'cause I'm tired but I wanted to go ahead and write this anyway. Thanks again!
Onward!
Chapter Two
Dean felt like crying, he was so relieved that he was finally done with the attic. It was all clean and things were in their rightful places, and he had to admit that it looked pretty nice, if he said so himself, and he did. He stared at the attic momentarily and felt himself start to smile, admiring his handiwork. Whoever Mrs. Jenkins' niece was would enjoy this room, he was sure. Chuckling, he finished shifting a few things around, gladdened that there were no more evil dust bunnies. No, they had gotten sucked into the vacuum, which Dean had run with a vengeance.
"Dean," Mrs. Jenkins, or Janice, called up to him. He sighed and moved toward the stairs, hearing them creak as someone started to climb them.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"You have a visitor."
He chuckled. "You make it sound like I'm some sort of prisoner, you - Cas," Dean said happily, seeing his boyfriend enter the attic from the stairs. Castiel grinned at him, his blue eyes sparkling, and Dean moved toward him in two steps and pulled him into his arms, smirking. "What are you doing here?" he asked, giving his boyfriend a brief kiss before pulling back.
"I was bored."
"Oh?"
"And Jimmy kicked me out of the car."
"Oh really?" Dean chuckled. "Why?"
"I was critiquing his driving skills."
Dean laughed warmly, throwing an arm around Castiel's shoulders. "I've taught you well," he declared with a smile.
Castiel grinned. "If you say so. Wow, this place looks great," he said, looking around the room.
"Thanks - it took forever and I thought at one point that I was going to die of dust bunnies, but I survived."
Castiel chuckled. "Well, it looks amazing. I'm sure her niece will like it."
"She'd better, I put a lot of time into this place." Dean shook his head. "Wanna get out of here?"
"Absolutely."
"Cool - let's go, then. Where do you want to go?" Dean asked as they headed toward the stairs. He kept his arm around Castiel's shoulders, liking it there. He loved holding Cas, his Cas, close to him, no matter what mood he was in or where he was. The people at school knew about them, and even though they had never come out and told it directly to their parents, he was sure they knew about them on some level. Someone surely had let it slip.
"Wherever you want to go," Castiel told him with that warm smile of his, the kind that left Dean's heart racing. It had always managed to have this effect on him, he knew, but he had at first tried to ignore it. It was why he used to keep touching Cas every chance he got so long ago, before they had ever even kissed.
Dean would never admit it, but he had felt himself start to feel things for Cas the first day they had met, when Dean had accidentally crashed into him…literally. The memory always managed to make him smile fondly.
"I say we get cheeseburgers," Dean said as they moved toward the front door. He paused and looked into the living room, keeping his arm around Cas's shoulders, not caring what Mrs. Jenkins saw or thought of them. "Mrs. J, I'm done with the attic. Cas and I are gonna go now, okay?"
"Wait, let me pay you," she said, standing from the couch, her eyes warm and inviting. He had always liked her eyes. They kind of reminded him of his mother's, which always left him a little nostalgic, wanting desperately to see her again. "Here you go, Dean, you have been working so hard." She pulled out a hundred dollar bill and Dean's eyes flew open wide while Castiel stiffened next to him, staring at the money as well.
"Mrs. J, I can't take that," Dean told her honestly. "I didn't do that much, just cleaned it up."
"I insist," she said with a laugh. "A man refusing money. I never thought I'd see the day."
Dean shrugged. "I can't take it. It's too much."
"Nonsense," she said, shoving it into his hand. "Maybe then you can take your boyfriend some place nice."
Dean grinned and held the money while Cas stiffened next to him again, probably from her admission that she knew about the two of them being together. "Thanks," Dean said sincerely before he turned and opened the front door, pulling Cas a little closer toward him. "If you need anything else done, don't be shy. Just ask me."
"Thank you, Dean," she said as he and Castiel exited the house. They moved toward his beloved Impala, which was parked just outside the house, down the front cement path which had flowers lining it. Mrs. Jenkins liked flowers and she was always messing with them if she could, or at least she did with those in the garden. These flowers were fake, Dean knew because it was still the middle of winter. A light sheet of snow covered the ground in all its glistening glory.
"How did she know?" Cas asked as Dean opened the passenger door for him. He always opened the door when he could, even though Castiel had tried to beg him off the idea. Dean just liked doing it for some reason, liked seeing the way it either made Cas blush or smile warmly. Cas's smile could melt glaciers, Dean was sure. It was even better because Castiel didn't smile all the often, and he seemed to always reserve that particular smile for Dean.
It made Dean feel special, and he liked it. A lot.
"I dunno, she's perceptive, I guess. Plus I had my arm around you." Dean shrugged and then went around to his side of the car. He climbed in and revved the ignition, locking his seatbelt across his chest. "So where would you like to go?"
"I believe you said cheeseburgers."
Dean rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean we have to get them, Cas, c'mon. I say a lot of things I don't necessarily mean."
Castiel smirked faintly. "I got that, yeah."
Dean grinned. "Good." He moved down the street, stopping briefly at a stop sign, and then he rolled across an intersection. "So where to, Cassie?"
Castiel scowled. It was adorable, Dean had to admit. "Don't call me that," Cas sighed.
"Alright…Cassie."
"Dean."
"Fine, fine. Sheesh. Alright, I guess we'll get cheeseburgers with my brand new money."
"We should use that for the savings."
The savings referring to the money they were saving up to get an apartment soon.
"Yeah, about that," Dean said, pausing slightly as he bit down on his lower lip. He could feel Cas's bright blue eyes on him. "When do you want to start looking at places? My dad thinks we should start soon."
Castiel paused. "That sounds like a good idea. We can start tomorrow, if you want."
"Sure, that sounds great…and no more dusty attics."
"Of course, Dean." There was a smirk in his voice, the kind that made Dean smile.
"Glad to know you're on my side."
"I'm always on your side."
Dean grinned and shifted his gaze toward him. "Even in bed," he said with a snicker, just to see the way Cas's cheeks flushed deep red as he looked away with a scowl. "Kidding. I'm kidding."
But it was fun.
Shaking his head, the two rode in a comfortable silence, the music not even turned on. Dean found Castiel's presence to be calming and warm, which he greatly liked and was overly fond of.
They ate at the small café on the corner, which was where they used to go to get milkshakes after Drama Club when they were practicing their lines. Dean wondered what sort of plays Anna was going to make him do this next semester, the final half of his senior year.
Already, he was a senior. Wow, how time flew! He never would have thought he would have made it this far. Sure, he knew he could probably get great grades if he actually tried, but then that would take away from the reason he preferred to remain at a C average in the first place, and so he didn't do it. It was just easier this way, as he kept telling himself. Or, at least, it used to be easier this way, before Justin had admitted to killing his mother in that fire years ago. Justin had even tried to kill him - twice! Once with a truck and again with a gun. Dean was happy to say that both times, he had failed epically, otherwise he wouldn't be here now, with Cas next to him in the Impala.
His two favorite things - alone time with Cas and his beloved car.
The thought made him grin.
The waitress promised to bring their food to them in the next few minutes, and then she hurried off to attend to other people, appearing annoyed, probably because she seemed to be the only waitress here today. Had the others called in sick? But then Dean decided it really wasn't any of his business.
"So, how's Soldier?" Dean asked casually, leaning back in his booth seat across from Castiel.
Cas shrugged. "He's a heavy blanket in the morning, and he likes to lick my face too much, but other than that, he's fine," he said with a smirk.
Dean nodded. When he had found that dog as a puppy in an alley, alone and afraid, he had immediately thought of Cas, be it because of the dog's shy nature or the fact that it had black fur and bright blue eyes, he wasn't sure. The dog wasn't nearly as shy now, though, but it wasn't necessarily very outgoing, either. It really only liked Cas's family…and Dean. But that was probably because he was over there a lot. He liked Cas's house and his family, but lately he had been staying home more often to help his dad and Sammy.
"You ready for school to start back up?" Dean asked as he sipped at his drink.
Christmas Break would be over in about two days, on a Wednesday, and they would have to return to school. Dean wasn't particularly fond of school, but it was something to do through the week, and it let him see his friends that he wouldn't normally see outside of school.
Plus he and Cas shared about five classes. How that had wound up working out for him, Dean had no idea, but he was grateful.
Cas shrugged. "I guess so. But I'm fond of sleeping in."
Dean chuckled. "Aren't we all?"
Castiel smirked. "Yeah, I guess."
The waitress brought them their food and then hurried off again, leaving them to eat. Dean quickly dug into his cheeseburger and then his fries, slurping up the last of his drink afterward while Cas took his time and ate.
"You're going to choke eating like that one day," Castiel told him.
Dean grinned. "Then at least I'll day happy. That's a way to go though, huh? Death by cheeseburger."
Castiel rolled his eyes and finished eating his food.
Castiel's parents were gone for the day, so he and Dean went to his house for the time being. Jimmy was in the living room watching TV, and he looked up as they arrived and smiled at the two of them. "Hey, Dean," he said in greeting.
"Hey," Dean said in return, smiling back. Immediately, he was attacked by Soldier, who jumped up to greet him. It was strange, because he never jumped up like that for anyone else, not even Castiel. He would just sit there in front of him and whine until Castiel petted him, but he jumped right up to greet Dean, licking him on the face as Dean struggled to regain his balance.
"Whoa, nice to see you too, Soldier," Dean said with a laugh, scratching the dog behind the ear as Soldier went back to his normal height, getting off of Dean.
"He doesn't do that with anyone else," Jimmy said.
"I know," Dean replied, grinning. "I guess I'm just lucky."
Castiel grinned and moved toward the stairs, where the two went up to Castiel's room.
"So how much money do we have so far?" Castiel asked as they both sat down on his bed. Dean paused thoughtfully for a moment before he shrugged.
"Not enough, I know that. We're still about a thousand or so short of anything decent."
Castiel released a breath. "Well, that sucks." It was only three weeks until Dean's birthday - how were they going to get a thousand dollars? Their jobs didn't pay that much. Plus, Dean's mechanic job only paid him about three hundred dollars per two weeks. They still had a while to go and they were running out of time.
"Yeah…don't worry, we'll get it…eventually," Dean said, sighing heavily as he reached over and grabbed Castiel's arm, pulling him toward him. Castiel felt a spark of warmth and obliged, grinning to himself as he rested his head on Dean's shoulder.
"Hope so," he murmured. "Wanna move in with you…"
Dean chuckled. The sound rumbled through his shoulder and into Castiel's head, which felt nice. "Same here, Cas."
Castiel sighed.
Hopefully they would somehow manage to make the rest of the money they needed in three weeks.
Sorry it's not that long, but hopefully I will have the next chapter up soon ;) Thanks again, and please continue to review! Also, which story would you like updated first? Steady Now, Green Eyes, Reverberating Footsteps, Bobby Plus Three, or Wrong Number? Let me know, please! Thanks again!
~Muffy the Dough Slayer~