.

V.

Back in black
I hit the sack
It's been too long
I'm glad to be back

"Look what the cat dragged in."

Dean stood on Bobby's doorstep, feeling the other man's cynical glance burn into him.

"If it was anyone else, I'd have fired ya weeks ago, boy," Bobby continued gruffly and turned around, entering his house. Dean took this as his cue to follow him and closed the door behind him.

"Nice to see you too, Bobby," Dean said with a chuckle.

Bobby walked over to the fridge, grabbed two beers and both Dean and Bobby sat down at the kitchen table.

"So, what made you decide to delight me with your joyful presence once again?" the older man asked, glaring at Dean from under the shabby baseball cap he always seemed to be wearing.

"It was about time I saw my Baby again," Dean shrugged, and looked at the two beers Bobby was holding. "Are you going to give me that beer or what?"

"Already figured it was all about that damn car," Bobby grumbled, still holding on to both of the drinks. "When was the last time you showed up just to visit ol' me? Oh wait, I remember – never."

"Ah, c'mon Bobby," Dean laughed and amicably clapped Bobby on his shoulder. "You know I couldn't ever live without your cheerful personality."

Bobby just huffed, but decided to give Dean his beer. Dean gladly took it and lifted it, looking at the other man.
"Cheers."

"Whatever."

They drank in silence for a few moments before Dean broke it.

"So, how's the business?"

"Same as always." Bobby took another sip. "Going a bit slow 'cause we're missing a man, though. Still gotta fix three cars before the end of the damn week."

"Oh… Yeah. That sucks." Dean enjoyed another swig of beer before he put the bottle down. "Y'know, I actually came here to tell that I wanted to come back."

Bobby just raised one eyebrow.

"Haven't heard that one before."

Dean sighed, slightly frustrated.

"I know – I'm sorry, Bobby, okay? But I'm serious now. I really want to start working again."

Bobby hummed, still looking completely unconvinced. He took his time to take another few swigs before redirecting his glance at Dean. Then, he shrugged and pushed back his chair.

"Whatcha waiting for, then? We've got three friggin' cars to finish."

Dean raised his eyebrows, slightly surprised at how easy Bobby was convinced. He followed him outside, where he asked, "So, what can I do?"

Bobby looked around and shrugged. "You can take a look at the car in garage C. It needs its tires to be switched for winter, and the owner was complaining about some weird noise the car made when its speed passed 50 miles an hour."

"Got it," Dean said. He waited a little longer, in case Bobby wanted to add anything. But the other man just stared at him, his face getting gradually more annoyed with every passing second.

"Off you go then!" he said, waving his hands as to shoo him off, and as to set an example, he himself made his way to garage A.

Dean chuckled and shook his head slightly, but eventually walked towards his assigned garage. As he passed garage B, he heard something clatter to the ground and a muffled yelp. He paused and looked inside, slightly wary. It looked empty, beside of the car proudly standing in the middle of a chaotic mess composed of loose screws, oil, left over components and whatnot.

"You okay?" he shouted and took a few steps inside, vaguely aware of who would be working here.

There was another clattering sound, and suddenly, a head popped up from behind the car. A second later, Dean was smashed against the wall and two skinny arms were wrapped around him in a bear hug, accompanied with an enthusiastic "Dean!".

"Whoa, Garth, take it easy," Dean chuckled.

"We missed you, man," declared Garth, his voice muffled due to his head being pressed into Dean's shoulder. "The business hasn't been the same without you."

"Yeah, I know, sorry," said Dean, awkwardly patting the other man's shoulder. "But I'm back now."

"Yeah!" Garth pulled back and beamed at Dean. "So you're staying this time? Like, for real?"

Dean nodded. "Yep, that was my intention."

"Awesome!" Garth pulled Dean in another quick hug.

Dean chuckled and gently pushed him away. "Enough of the friggin' hugging already. It's not like we're in a chick flick or something."

Garth smiled his dopey smile and from then on kept a bit more distance from Dean. His face turned a tad more serious when he asked, "So how're you doing now, Dean?"

Dean shrugged. "Better. Thought it was about time to put my life back on track again."

Garth nodded and looked at Dean with an open expression, waiting for him to continue. However, Dean didn't feel like elaborating about himself too much, so he asked, "And how're you?"

Garth exploded into a new, beaming smile. "I'm great! I'm not sure if you already knew, but Bess and me got engaged."

Dean blinked. Nope, he hadn't heard about that yet. "Whoa, that's great. Congratulations, man. When did you pop the question?"

This question seemed to make Garth slightly uncomfortable. He averted his glance to the ground. "Eh… about a month ago, I think," he said. "I really meant to tell you earlier, Dean, but… every time I tried to call you, you didn't pick up, so I kinda gave up after a week."

Dean grimaced. "Yeah… sorry 'bout that. Uh, but I'm really happy for you guys." Garth seemed to perk up again, his dopey smile returning to his face. "When's the big day?"

"We're not sure about the date yet, but Bessy thought it'd be nice to have the wedding in summer."

"Sounds great."

Garth nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! And I also had another idea, like, it'd be fun if it was a themed wedding, right? I was thinking about superheroes, like, Bessy could be Wonder Woman and I'd be Iron Man or something, and the groomsmen can also wear something cool. Oh… Dean, you'd make an awesome Batman!"

"You… you want me to be one of your groomsmen?" Dean asked, slightly surprised.

Garth frowned a bit. "Yes, of course. You're one of my best friends."

Dean blinked rapidly, coughed, and then smiled.

"Uh… right. You do realize that you're mixing up Marvel and DC, by the way?"

Garth seemed to think about this for a second, and then just smiled.

"Not really, but everyone and everything is welcome at our wedding!"

Dean smiled and was about to reply, when another voice sounded through the garage.
"You both ain't getting paid for gossiping, ladies. Cut the crap and get your lame asses back to work." Dean turned around to face Bobby, who was wearing his customary, annoyed-with-everything face.

"Hold your horses, Bobby. I'm getting started in a minute," Dean said with a chuckle. Bobby just rolled his eyes, grumbled something and walked away.

Garth giggled. "I think we should get back to work then."

"Yep, sounds like a good idea," Dean hummed before Garth pulled him in another quick hug.

"I'm so glad that you're here again," Garth said, smiling broadly.

Dean couldn't help but reciprocate his smile.

"Yeah, me too."

It didn't take too long for Dean to change the tires of his assigned car. He had done this numerous times before, after all, as he had worked in Bobby's garage for over 15 years. After his father's death, Dean and his younger brother Sam had moved to live with Bobby. He'd had such a strong friendship with their father that Bobby, although not related by blood, had grown out to be an uncle to the boys. He had taken care of them like they were his own, and in return, both Dean and Sam occasionally helped in the garage. Dean had shown more affinity to the work than Sam, and soon the boy spent more time helping Bobby than on school. Sam's interest gradually decreased, though, and where Dean officially became an employee of the business after finishing high school, Sam gladly took the chance apply for law school and move out.

Figuring out where the strange noises the car's owner had mentioned came from, turned out to be a more time consuming task. Soon, Dean's thoughts crept back to the night before. There were so many things he would like to have asked the stranger who had saved his life. Castiel. It was a strange name, Dean thought, but it suited him. A strange name for a strange man. It wasn't that he was weirded out by him or something. No, no at all. He was merely intrigued by the man, who came across as one of the most earnest people he had ever met, but who also seemed to hide something. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but he was sure that there was something about him. He had noticed how distant Castiel had become when asked about himself. It wouldn't have been strange, since they hadn't officially met before – not counting the night before, of course – if it weren't for the fact that the other man had seemed so inclined to talk with Dean – about Dean. How was it possible that he wanted to talk about Dean's deepest feelings, when he himself didn't even want to elaborate about his own profession?

After a lot of cleaning, fixing, failing and trying again, Dean seemed to have found the source of the strange noise. Contently, he wiped his brow, leaving a swipe of black goo on his forehead; he decided to test the car tomorrow – he had done enough for today. He left the garage and looked around to find out that the place was deserted. He thought about going home for a moment, but then remembered his secondary reason of visiting Bobby, namely seeing his car. Dean looked around once more; Bobby and Garth were probably having a break or something. Then, he walked towards garage D, where he knew his Impala was waiting for him.

The car looked exactly the same as he had left it – battered, dented, only now with an extra layer of dust. It looked like a total piece of crap. Dean took a shivery breath and slowly walked forward to take a look at the most crushed side. He let his fingers lightly slide over the dented, cool surface as he tried to cope with the memories the sight of his beloved car brought back. He swallowed thickly, and pulled his hand back. He just stared for another moment; then, his eyes flicked towards one of the walls, where he had stacked the new components he had ordered to fix his car. He sighed resolutely; if he put his heart into it, he could have the Impala fixed in two weeks. Dean quickly checked his watch. He had still a few hours left before his shift was over, so he might as well make a start now.

And so he did.

It seemed only minutes later that he heard Bobby's voice coming from outside somewhere.

"You here, Dean?"

Dean paused his current activity and looked up.

"Yeah. The other car is all fixed, gonna take it for a test ride tomorrow."

"Good work, son. I'm gonna lock the place up for tonight though, so you gotta continue whatever you were doing tomorrow."

Dean frowned slightly. "Wait, what time is it?"

"Somewhere past five. You staying for dinner?"

Dean raised his eyebrows. Time sure went fast when you got something useful to do. He considered Bobby's offer for a moment before another idea popped up in his mind.

"Thanks Bobby, but not today. Got somewhere to be."

"'Kay. You got the key to D, right?"

Dean patted his pockets and nodded. "Yep, still got it."

"Ok. Then finish whatever it is you were doing and lock the garage when you leave. The rest is already locked up."

"Sure. See ya tomorrow then."

"'Till tomorrow."

Bobby left, and Dean was alone again. He steadily screwed another screw into his car before he stood up and cracked his back, moaning at feeling of finally stretching his back after hours of sitting in a quite uncomfortable position. He turned off the lights, walked outside and locked the door and then walked towards the Challenger. Both Bobby and Garth were nowhere to be seen so he just drove off.

Dean didn't drive straight home. He figured that since Cas had initially suggested to meet up around this time today, he could always try to visit him now, now that Dean was going home earlier than expected. He turned up the volume of the radio when he noticed that a song from AC/DC was playing. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and heartily sang along; today had been a particularly good day.

He was pondering about where to get a Batman costume as he drove into the road where he had dropped off Castiel yesterday. He pulled over at the house he recognized by the nice white fence and got out, still whistling the melody of AC/DC's song that was now stuck in his head. Dean vaguely wondered if Castiel would care if he showed up in his stained working outfit, but shrugged the thought off as he rang the doorbell. Cas had seen him worse.

He smiled a wolfish smile when the door opened, which quickly disappeared when Dean saw it wasn't Castiel who had opened the door, but an elderly woman who was eying him warily.

"Uh… Is Cas here?" Dean tried.

"There isn't a Cas here," the woman replied shortly.

Dean frowned. "You sure? Castiel, brown hair, blue eyes… yea high?" He vaguely waved his hand at the height of his own eyes. The woman in front of him just shook her head, hiding a bit more behind the door. "Uh, he said he moved in here recently," Dean added hopefully.

At that moment, a male voice came from farther inside the house. "Who's there?"

The woman turned around. "A man who's looking for someone. I'll be right back." She turned back to Dean. "I'm sorry, but you must be at the wrong house. We have been living here for over 15 years."

"Oh." Dean blinked. Maybe, he thought, Castiel had forgotten his house number or something, and wandered up the wrong front porch. "Sorry. I'll be going, then."

Then, he heard a shuffling sound in the hallway and the door was opened a bit more, revealing the husband of the woman.

"You looking for someone?" he asked with squinted eyes.

"Uh, yeah," Dean said; he had no idea where this was going.

"Was said person wearing a trench coat last night?"

Dean felt a sting of excitement and nodded. "Yeah, that's probably him!"

The man huffed and then said, his voice suddenly anything but calm, "Then tell him next time you see him that he's gotta stay away from my goddamn property! If I find him one more time wandering around here, I'll put a bullet through his brain." A gun seemed to appear out of nowhere; Dean gulped as man swung it threateningly. "Same counts for you."

"Whoa, easy there," Dean muttered uncomfortably and backed away, raising his hands into the air. "I'm already leaving."

The woman ushered the man back inside, and a moment later, the door was closed. Dean rolled his eyes and went back to the Challenger. At that moment, his phone buzzed.

From: Charlie 5:56 PM

hey dean! we're gonna watch hp. THEMED CLOTHING= MANDATORY! i'll bring butterbeer ;)

Dean sat down in the car; after looking at the house warily, he typed a reply.

To: Charlie 5:58 PM

sounds good! i'll buy food, u want anything special? cya friday

He didn't wait for a reply and just put his phone back in his pocket before driving away from the creepy old folks.

Hey hey! Again, thanks everyone for following and fav'ing. Chillywinterbreeze, your kind words are greatly appreciated! I think I'll change the spacing of chapter 1 as well, because it'll look be a bit messy otherwise.
I'm sorry if anyone was expecting for Dean and Cas to be together by now, but like the description said, it's 'eventual' destiel, so, yeah. I'm just saying it miiiiiight take a while. Just like any real relationship. Anyway, I hope you guys liked Bobby and Garth (they were so much fun to write, gosh)!
Also: brace yourselves, Christmas is coming! This sounds like great fun and all, and it actually is great fun, but this also means that I'll have to spend more time with my family and less time with my computer. So, I might update a bit less frequent. Sorry!
The next chapter will have the song 'One Day' by Trading Yesterday as prologue.