"Dude, why didn't you just go for a supply run earlier?" Sam asked as he turned back towards the book he was reading. Dean was huffing under his breath, putting on one sock, then the other, then his shoes.
"I wasn't thinking it would get dark so quickly," Dean said as he balanced on a chair behind him, letting out a sigh as the chair tipped away from him and he had to hop to regain his balance.
"Dude. We've been here two whole weeks and you haven't gone out for supplies yet?" Sam let out a soft chuckle as he gave Dean his smart-ass rhetorical question look.
"Don't be going off on me when I know for a fact that you haven't even begun planning our route yet," Dean retorted back irritably, grabbing his jacket off the make-shift coat rack.
"I believe you're supposed to help me with the route," Sam said, rolling his eyes and returning to his book. Dean rolled his eyes the other direction, then brought his attention back to Sam.
"What are you reading anyway?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. Sam shrugged, engrossed in his book.
"Wait a minute- where did you even get a book?" Dean asked, picking up the book off the table and playfully keeping it just out of Sam's reach.
"Dean!" Sam said, waving his arms wildly in an attempt to grab the book. Dean read the cover of the book and raised his eyebrows thoughtfully.
"Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire..." he said to himself, reading the back. Sam shook his head, giving up on getting the book back. Dean began to give the book back to Sam when he pulled it out of reach again.
"C'mon Dean..." Sam groaned, crossing his arms.
"Seriously, where did you get this book?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"I... got it from that library. Couple towns back," Sam said slowly, looking away cautiously. Dean let out a quick laugh, surprising Sam.
"Awesome," he said under his breath, smiling as he shook his head.
"You know... you won't be able to do this when we're out of this situation," Dean said, sighing. Sam turned his head, confused.
"What do you mean?"
"When we aren't travelling around, hiding from foster care. You're not going to be able to just rob libraries. You're going to have to get a library card," Dean shrugged nonchalantly. "But you do still have six months. Before I'm eighteen."
"Look, it's not like I enjoy robbing libraries," Sam said, sighing. Dean put his hands out and shook his head.
"Just saying. Be back in a few," he said, pressing his two fingers together and bringing them from his forehead as a goodbye.
"Don't forget the cereal this time," Sam called after him. Dean paused, opening the door for a second.
"At least I don't forget the pie," he said coldly, closing the door behind him.
"Honestly," Sam muttered under his breath, "he's never going to let that go."
Dean left the abandoned cabin behind him, not bothering to drive the Impala just to get some groceries. He could easily do this himself, without wasting anymore gas than he had to.
It was a quiet night, and the trees rustled ahead of him. It was just windy enough to be refreshing without being too cold. He was extremely lucky the weather was in their favor this month, since they often had to make an extra road-trip just to get somewhere warmer in these months. His feet crunched on the autumn leaves beneath him, the red, orange, and yellow leaves littering the ground in a scenic sort of way.
The only thing that seemed to bother Dean was that it was getting dark. And of course darkness wasn't a problem for Dean- he was used to houses with no electricity- but he had often enjoyed the fact that the moon or sun could shed some light. Tonight was not one of those nights. The moon was blanketed by clouds and the sun, of course, had long since retreated. Dean felt as though he was walking through a fog of darkness, which was not a comforting thought.
He gritted his teeth and shoved his hands in his pockets, not wanting for one second to seem as though he was overestimating every sound and rustle around him.
Just as the area around him began to seem even less inviting, he heard a dull sound ahead of him and, with a quick glance, saw a flickering light and a run down store ahead of him. There sat a single bulb in front, with lottery machines and an "out of order" soda machine that looked as though it hadn't been touched in centuries. The door was covered in ads that ranged from the current week to maybe a year ago, and the only thing that really made the store look like an actual store was the fact that inside, there seemed to be well stocked shelves and two people.
At a closer look, there was a woman. Most certainly not unattractive in any way. She had short, pixie cut blonde hair and a pierced ear, nose, and lip. She wore a pink tank top and jeans that seemed to just barely cover her ankles, and green flip flops that oddly contrasted with her outfit.
However, she was not alone. Next to her stood... some person who wore a long trench coat. The coat practically hit the floor, yet barely covered their long arms. The person had long legs and a long torso, seemingly lanky from the looks of it. The person has short, unruly dark hair that didn't seem to want to cooperate with it's owner. Not only that, but Dean could have sworn that the person was definitely, in some undefinable way, attractive.
The door pushed open easily, Dean giving a nod and a smile towards the woman.
"Well would you look at that," she said, her eyes glancing at her conversation partner, then back at Dean. Dean shot her a confused glance and her face crinkled into an adorable smile as she looked back at the person in front of her and winked. The person shook their head, sighing softly.
"No offense but I don't think I've met you before," Dean said, putting his hands out and shrugging. The girl laughed again, putting her hand out confidently.
"Gina," she said, then motioning towards her friend, "this is my lovely chap Cas," she said. Dean put his hand out as he saw the person turn around, but stopped when he realized the person was not a female.
"Salutations," he said in a deep voice, putting his hand out to shake Dean's. He couldn't help but stare. He was immediately lost in his ridiculously blue eyes, and when he tried to look away he found himself shooting his eyes towards the floor.
"Salutations, huh?" he asked in a deep voice, laughing softly. He heard Gina scoff.
"That's just his way of talking. He just loves big words," she said softly, winking again at her friend. Cas blushed for a second, then returned to his previous composure.
"I do not believe I've made your acquaintance yet," he said, looking away after a couple seconds. "I'm Castiel. But my friends... Gina, in general... address me as Cas." Dean didn't know how to respond for a few seconds, only to clear his throat and respond as simply as he could.
"Dean W-" he stopped himself, confused. He never said his last name. It was rule number one of anything. "Dean," he said again, his confidence regained.
"Well nice to meet you Dean," Gina said, offering him a grin. Her smile, contagiously, caused Dean to grin back as well.
"I do not gather you're a familiar around here," Cas said, observing Dean carefully. Dean chuckled, shaking his head.
"No, you're right there Vin Diesel," he said, poking fun at his deep voice, "my parents are just taking care of some family business and then we're headed off to Indiana," Dean said, nodding to himself.
"Well I certainly hope everything works itself out with the family... although I wouldn't mind you staying around," Gina said, winking at Dean playfully.
"Well I suppose if we must stay any longer it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience," Dean said smoothly, looking Gina in the eye as he said it. Gina giggled to herself, looking away.
"Not to cause any disappointments," Cas said after a couple seconds, looking at Dean with a blank expression, "but Gina isn't attracted to the male gender." Dean's eyebrows pressed together, then he registered what was being said. He blushed slightly. Gina giggled again, putting her fist out to Cas. He pushed his against hers unsurely.
"Sorry buddy, it's just that I had a bet to successfully hit on at least five painfully heterosexual males this week. You're my fourth one... And all I need is another dude to flirt with and I'll have won twenty bucks," Gina said proudly. Dean whistled, nodding his head in approval.
"Sounds like my kind of bet," he said, still blushing.
After a while, Dean eventually realized how much time had passed and quickly bought as many groceries as be could without forgetting anything essential. At this point, Sam had probably been home alone for a good two hours, and he probably thought something had happened to him. And of course this was apparent to both Gina and Cas.
"Why in such a hurry hetero?" Gina asked from her counter, looking over at Cas for some sort of answer.
"My brother's home alone and I don't... want him to worry," Dean said absently, shoving objects from the shelves into his bag.
"Well then I wish you the best of luck... see you soon, right?" Gina said, opening a magazine and putting her feet up next to the cash register. Dean nodded, then, as he turned to leave, came face to face with Cas. Dean flushed yet again, his nose practically touching the nose in front of him. Cas squinted at him, as if trying to decipher something.
"Could you... take a step back there buddy?" Dean asked after a while, avoiding looking at Cas. Cas ignored his obvious discomfort, then finally stepping back after a look of amusement from Gina.
"Are you aware of how to navigate your way around the town?" Cas eventually asked, looking away from Dean. Dean began to say yes, then realized that he was not actually as aware as he would like to be. He sighed, scratching the back of his head then sheepishly shaking his head.
"Actually not really," he said finally, shrugging casually. Cas nodded, then took a couple bags from Dean.
"What area are you occupying currently?" Cas asked as they began to leave the store.
"I'm a couple blocks out," Dean lied, giving a wave back towards Gina.
"That is helpful. I'm familiar with that area," Cas said, smiling politely at Dean.
The minute they exited, Gina gave a quick glance at the ceiling as she calculated something in her head.
"I'll probably have to tally that bet back down to a three."
After a while of just the sound of leaves under their shoes, Cas initiated conversation as best he could without Gina around.
"I understand you're visiting family here?" Cas asked, letting out a breath once he finished, the cold causing it to be visible in the moon light. Luckily, it was brighter now than before.
"Yeah, that's the gist of it," Dean responded, kicking a rock with his shoe.
"To whom are your relations? Perhaps I'm acquainted with them," Cas said, looking around him at the scenery surrounding.
"Oh you... probably wouldn't. They don't really leave their house," he said, sweat forming at the top of his head despite the cold.
"I know most everyone in this town..." Cas lingered, shaking his head after a second, "though perhaps you're right. I may not know them personally," he said.
"Yeah they... don't like people. We're just visiting to... settle a bet from a few years ago," Dean said, his voice nearly catching near the end. He felt strange, lying to Cas. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he didn't feel the need to dwell on it.
"That seems reasonable enough," Cas said. There was no noise for a few moments, the only sound the rustling of leaves and crunching of dirt under their shoes. But it was a comfortable silence, somehow. Everything else about the person seemingly uncomfortable, the shared silence seemed to be something Dean didn't mind.
The silence continued only a few more minutes as Cas seemed to become a different type of silent.
"What is it Cas?" Dean asked as he watched Cas's eyes scan around them.
"Dean..." Cas said, pointing ahead of them. It wouldn't have been so worrying had there been perhaps an abandoned car or a person walking the streets around. But instead, there seemed to be a swarm of police cars, officers, and crime scene tape, all surrounding a no longer quaint yellow house.