I was really overwhelmed by the amount of response this got! Thanks, you guys!
I accidentally used an actual URL somebody has for Castiel's screen name. blueeyed-fallen-angel. So theirs is lacking a dash, but it's the same basic principal. Shout out to them for not being angry. If you feel like it, check out their blog.
I would like to apologize in advance for how simply boring this chapter is. I'm sorry.
A male voice. A deep, gravely, monotone male voice that had Dean absolutely speechless. He'd been expecting a woman, not Morgan Freeman's nephew.
"That's... That's funny." He managed to choke out, laughing a bit. "Listen dude, I'm sorry about that. I was expecting a chick." He admitted sheepishly.
"It's fine. I was expecting someone who wouldn't use a pick up line we've all heard a thousand times on a female who he's never met before. I'm sure we'll both adjust." The gravelly voice said. Dean let out a sigh. Oh boy, his new partner had sass. This wasn't going to turn out well at all.
"Okay, buddy. Easy there. Let's just get to playing the game." He announced, hovering over the button to start the next little bit of the tutorial. He heard a mumble of agreement and clicked the button, waiting for the man on the other side to do the same.
Once he had, the screen faded to black again, and Arya was back. Dean pursed his lips as he tried to pay attention to her monologue. "We're in someplace dark. My grace was barely strong enough to send this message in the first place. If I had to guess, I'd say we're somewhere in Montana. If you can make it here before sunrise, not too much will be lost. I have faith in you two to save us all." She announced.
The screen flashed again, and Dean saw his character. He heard a small click, and knew that the microphone had been turned on again. He thought about saying something to his partner, but he knew small talk would sound quite boring after their earlier exchange. For once, Dean Winchester, was at a loss for words.
The silence seemed smothering as he figured out the controls, slashing a few trees. He saw that they were somewhere in Nevada, and his brow creased. "How the hell are we supposed to get to Montana in time?" He questioned out loud, not thinking about the microphone.
"Angels have powers that demons don't. Weren't you paying attention to the game play tutorial?"
The voice made him jump, and he cleared his throat. "Honestly, I fast forwarded through most of it." He admitted.
"Okay. Well, there are two ways you can get there. You can leave the body you designed for yourself and possess someone new, presumably in Montana, or I can teleport both of us there through flight. It would drain my batteries a little, but since there are two of us, I don't think it would be that much of an issue." The man said. Dean nodded his head, considering the options. He was sort of grateful that his partner hadn't been a prude about listening to the game tutorial; some people acted like you were the scum of the earth if you wanted to figure things out on your own.
"That sounds great. I'd rather not lose my smokin' hot body, after all." Dean said, smirking. His partner paused, and Dean realized how many ways that could be taken.
"Was that a flirtation?" Sounded, curiosity in the other man's voice. Dean froze up, and another awkward silence fell over their party.
"I-uh, no." Dean finally choked out. Silence again had him briefly worried, until there was a light chuckle.
"You'll have to forgive me then, I don't get out much. I suppose that could have impaired my ability to pick up on social cues." The voice on the other end spoke, and Dean found himself focusing more on the sound than the actual words.
Dean Winchester is entirely straight. But he had to admit that that voice had to be the most entrancing thing he had ever heard.
"Of course. I just- I actually have the tendency to put my, uh, put my foot in my mouth, so..." Dean began. His eyes flickered from where they had been staring nervously at the floor back to the computer screen, to see that they were in an entirely new area. He quickly started walking, seeing his angel partner was several yards ahead of him. Head in the game, Winchester, He reminded himself. "It was probably my fault. Sorry if it made you uncomfortable."
"I am utterly indifferent to sexual orientation. It didn't make me uncomfortable, just slightly confused. Now, are we going to form a battle strategy?" The other man asked. "I've used "angel radio" to talk to the woman in trouble, and she said that somebody else in the building knows what street they're on. It's near here."
"Of course. Why don't... Why don't we go and check everything out first?" Dean proposed, trying to keep his head on straight. He was still trying to get over all of the piles of awkward he felt right now. God, maybe Sam was right and he did need to get out with more? If he started acting like this around women, he was never going to get laid again.
"Survey the area. Good thinking, Hunter." The other man purred. Dean paused, uncertain. Instead of commenting on it, he decided to silently follow the other player, creeping along in the bushes. He hadn't even noticed how close they had gotten to the house.
Then, something dawned on him. The other man had called him Hunter. What was that supposed to mean? Did he want to be called by his screen name? Dean didn't think he'd do well saying "blue-eyed" all the time; it could sort of be a mouth full.
"Hey, what do you want me to call you? I mean, I would just go with your screen name, but "blue-eyed" is a bit much to say. Anything else you'd be okay with?" Dean questioned.
"Well, you seemed so convinced that I fell from heaven, how about we just go with 'Angel'." Angel said. Dean winced at his earlier mistake.
"Um, well... Okay." He relented. It would feel a little awkward calling another man 'angel', but he supposed it didn't matter in the long run. After all, it was his species. Fair choice.
"So, angel, what have we got?" Dean asks. He looks towards the house from where they hide, seeing several dogs pacing in front of the door. The house looks fairly normal, but he's sure that Angel knows what he's doing. There is a silence as they both asses the situation, and suddenly, it strikes Dean that it's actually sort of nice to have somebody else to help on a mission that isn't a guild one. A second pair of eyes was nice.
After a full minute of nothing but dogs pacing, Dean decides to speak up again. "I don't think they have the place guarded. I mean, It would make sense to give us an easy mission first swing around."
"I don't believe that's the case. Do you have the silver knife they start demons out with equipped to your character?" Castiel asks. Dean checks his inventory quickly, seeing that they did, in fact, give him a silver knife.
He decides that it may be a good idea in the future to pay attention to the tutorials.
"Well, I do now. You ready to go tango, then?" Dean asked. He still wasn't entirely sure why he needed the knife, but it felt comforting knowing that anything having the nerve to mess with him would get totally demon-shanked. He will deny ever thinking those words.
"I suppose we've got a mission to complete." Angel says flatly, coming out from behind the bush. His angel blade is steady in his hand as he paces forward a few steps. Dean starts hearing the battle music, and his brow furrows. The only things around are still the stupid dogs, where the hell is the enemy?
His question is answered when one of the dogs surges forward, knocking his character to the ground. He hits the stab button, slams down on it like his life depends on it, but the dog has already grabbed his character's arm. His life is going down as the dog finally releases, having taken a blow himself. Dean notices the angel standing over him, blade out. It clicks that he had delivered the blow that caused the dog to retreat.
"I suppose you need some help?" He asks. Dean's eyes are wide; he's never gotten taken off guard like that before. For some reason he can't quite comprehend, it feels almost... embarrassing.
"Yeah, thanks." He replies. He quickly stands his character up, ready for the fight. He wasn't about to get embarrassed by some low-level pups, he needed to fight for himself. This was just like taking on orcs. Only, more bark.
Dean lunges forward with his knife and the dog falls down. One of them lunges at him again, and there goes the second. A third goes for the blue-eyed-fallen-angel, but finds itself impaled on the angel blade. Dean has to give Angel credit; he probably wouldn't have been able to pull off that move.
"You ready to go rescue the captured?" Dean asks.
"There may be more skin walkers." Angel warns. Dean feels his eyebrows when they scrunch up.
"What?" He questions, feeling a little dense.
"Well, what did you think we were facing? Werewolves would have come across as wolves and shape shifters would have taken a more powerful form. That means, according to Western folklore, the only real candidate is a skin walker. That's why I asked if you had your knife; silver is one of the only things that kills them. I'm lucky the angel blade worked." Cas said. Dean stared at his computer, absolutely dumbfounded.
"I guess you came prepared for this game." Dean said. He could practically hear the smirk in his partner's voice when he next spoke.
"Let's go and save the captives, shall we?" He offered. Dean gave a sigh and started moving his character again, close and closer to the house. He opened the door, prepared for something more to come rushing out at him, and he was relieved when he found that nothing did. He was still wary as he walked slowly towards what he assumed would be the basement. He pried the door open.
His steps creaked as he walked down the stairs. He felt immersed in the game; it wasn't his character walking down those steps, it was him. Finally, he spotted it. A human standing in the corner. Battle music started up again as the man turned around, and Dean saw a small window with words pop up.
"Ah, I see they sent in reinforcements. An angel and a demon, what an odd pair. It's no matter. You'll never get past the leader of the pack." He announced. Dean felt his agitation rise; there was nothing he hated more than the self-absorbed assholes who thought they were gods. He was always eager to spill their blood.
"Just try and stop me." He said out loud.
"You do realize that he can't actually hear you, correct?" Asked the second voice. Dean was torn between being annoyed and happy to talk to somebody new. Usually, it was just him alone, or his guild. And the guild had been getting more and more out of touch, torn apart by their crazy lives.
"Yeah, Angel. It just helps me concentrate. It's a role play game for a reason." Dean explained, not unkindly.
"Okay. Do you believe it would increase my game play skills if I were to partake in the role playing?" Angel asked. Dean almost snorted; he could tell already that this guy was a character, and they hadn't even been talking for more than twenty minutes.
"Maybe. I don't know." Dean said. He was honestly curious as to how this man would go about actually immersing himself. "You should give it a shot."
"Let my people go. You can't do this to us. You will go down." Angel threatened. As soon as his words ended, the man on the screen stopped talking, and his health bar showed.
Good timing, thought Dean. He immediately slashed at the boss with the knife, and he went down on his knees. As Dean came back, he rose up again. Dean glanced up to the health bar to see that he was already 1/3rd of the way down. Dean was right about them being given an easy mission for their first task.
"Take this, you assbutt." Angel shouted, shoving the angel blade in. The health bar dropped again as Cas backed up, but then raised a bit, as though the enemy had healed himself.
"...Assbutt?" Asked Dean. "Did you really just say that?" He questioned.
He heard an uncomfortable shifting on the other end. "I suppose I need to work on my insults."
Dean couldn't help the laugh that tore out of him. He clutched at his stomach as he let it all out, smiling broadly. There were practically tears in his eyes; it had been awhile since he'd laughed so hard. He didn't know where this guy got that from, but it had certainly just made his day.
"No, that's great. You should keep it." He said, once his laughter had died down.
"I'm detecting hints of sarcasm. Would I be correct?" Angel asked. Dean shook his head, not answering. Glancing back up at the screen, he saw that Angel had already taken down the boss, despite the fact that it would have taken a significantly larger amount of blows from the angel blade.
Arya showed up on the screen, prompting them to get the keys from the boss. Angel and Hunter were both quiet again as they retrieved the keys and found the cage in which they were keeping the prisoners. Dean opened the door and let them out, standing to the side as the screen was filled with demons and angels stalking out of the room.
"I think there's something more going on here." One of them said. Dean watched as one of the demons took one of the angel's hands, an offer of peace.
"We have to get to the bottom of it. If we don't, they could bring down heaven and potentially hell." One of the demons put in. "I know your kind has hated ours for centuries, but we need to work together for once, for the good of all." It announced.
A general murmur of agreement sounded.
Just then, the save screen popped up. Dean pushed it, as it prompted, and heard a click through the speakers as Castiel did the same.
"Listen, I have to go. I have prior commitments. Are you free at the same time tomorrow to continue game play?" Castiel asked. Dean glanced at the clock, and was surprised to see that an entire hour had somehow gone by. He shook his head to clear it.
"Yeah, of course. See you then, Angel." He said, rubbing a hand across his face. He could make it now; he would just watch one of the Lord of the Rings movies and it would be late enough to go to bed.
"Goodbye, Hunter." Angel said. Dean might have been imagining things, but he thought he heard a smile in the other's voice. Oh well, he didn't want to think about it right now. He popped in the movie and shut down his laptop, going to the fridge to pull out a beer that didn't taste like death. Soon, he was nodding off as he watched the characters fight to get the ring to Sargon.
He faded off into sleep as the credits rolled, not bothering to switch to the bed.
The next day, a knock on the door woke him up.
His eyes widened as he jumped from the couch, forgetting for a moment why he had been there in the first place. He gave a soft sigh as he sat up, rubbing his eyes to try and get the sleep out of them. Checking the time, he saw that he still had an hour and a half before he had to go to work.
He quickly rose as the knocking persisted, and he gave a small groan of annoyance. At this time in the morning, the only one who would come and visit him unannounced was his little brother.
Don't get Dean wrong; he loved Sam, and he loved it when he visited. The only problem was that he was constantly trying to convince Dean to get out more. Dean had been out plenty, (granted most of it was with Sam himself) and didn't need babysat about it. He would get out with his friends when he damned well pleased, and Sam just didn't want to let the issue go. Dean was happy being a social recluse.
"Dean!" Sam said, once the door was opened. Dean had half a mind to close it and go back to sleep, but he knew he couldn't really do that to his brother. Well, unless he was being super annoying.
He let Sam come in, reluctantly returning the hug that was given. Once he did, though, he found it hard to let go. He, as much as he wouldn't have admitted it, really missed having his brother around. Sure when they had shared an apartment space had been tight and Dean had gotten annoyed with all the salad in his fridge, but Sam was his best friend. Not to mention that, once he had moved in with Jess, Dean hadn't been able to afford their old apartment on his own. Which, of course, landed him in this place.
"I've missed you." Sam said.
"Dude, enough with the chick flick moments. No wonder you ended up with a girlfriend before me." Dean announced, pulling back from the hug. Sam rolled his eyes, and Dean smiled a little bit.
"Actually, that's what I came here to tell you. By the way, your place is a wreck." Sam threw in, looking at the discarded beer cans. Dean reminded himself that he really needed to clean up before his landlord came and saw the mess. He decided that he would have to do it tonight, as soon as he got home. Which, of course, meant he would have to bail on guild.
"What did you want?" Dean asked, hoping to steer Sam off the subject of cleaning. Sam and Jess had been getting more and more serious over the four years they had been dating. Dean was happy to see his brother with someone he cared about so much. He was really in love with this girl.
"Well, she's sort of not my girlfriend anymore." Sam said. Dean's eyes widened as he felt shock go through him first, chased shortly after by sympathy and confusion. "Because now she's my fiance."
"Oh." Dean said flatly. Okay, now that made more sense. "So, you guys finally decided to tie the knot?"
"Yeah." Sam said, quietly. He looked up at Dean from where he was now sitting, and his eyes were serious as he stared. Dean was reminded of when they were younger; when Sam had to look up at him, instead of the reverse. So much had changed since then. "The reason I wanted to tell you about it, is because I wanted you to be my best man."
Dean feels a million emotions go through him at once. Mostly pride and joy. Some of them were a little more like confusion and stress, but it was mostly good. He nodded his head slowly, letting the words sink in. His little brother was getting married, and wanted him to be the best man. It was a lot for a guy to take in before breakfast even started.
"That's... Sam, I'm honored." He said, truthfully. "Is there anything I need to do?"
"Just, find a date for the wedding, normal stuff. If you decide to do the bachelor party, no strippers." Sam said, looking at Dean firmly. "You have to wear a tie, and you have to show up. Other than that, it's entirely up to you." Sam announced. Dean nodded his head slowly.
The suit would be inconvenient, but he could deal with it. No strippers was disappointing, but he expected Sam to be entirely free of fun. Showing up? He was already planning to do that anyway. That means the only problem he would have is finding a date.
"So, uh... When is the big day?" He questions.
"Six months from now. We haven't picked out one exactly, but she wants a Winter wedding." Sam elaborated. Dean nodded his head, taking it all in. Sam stood up again, dusting his hands off on his pants. "Well, I'm sure you need to get ready for work. I just wanted to stop by and give you a heads up."
"Yeah. Uh, thanks." Dean said, nodding his head. Sam nodded back, grabbing the door and swinging it open. He walked through and pulled it shut behind him, leaving Dean alone with his thoughts.
Today was going to be a long day.