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jumblejen · 2 years ago

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We Were Always Going to End Up Together - Ch 27

Suptober 22, Day 27: Liar

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42237885/chapters/116673178

(Or read from the beginning: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42237885/chapters/106051008)

“Gabe’s coming to town,” said Cas as Dean poured himself another cup of coffee before shuffling back to the kitchen table.

“Yeah? When?”

“Next weekend. I think he has plans with Rowena. Kept saying something about the equinox.”

Dean snorted, “We probably don’t want to know.”

“Probably not.” Cas paused looking at Dean intently. “You okay?”

Dean grimaced. It had been almost a month since the blowup with Sam at the Roadhouse. He was okay, mostly. It was just hard every time he thought about Sam. Their lives had been so intertwined; even growing up hadn’t changed that. All his usual rituals of texting Sam, or having drinks, or just making plans were all out the window. Dean hadn’t heard from Sam, and Dean sure as hell wasn’t reaching out. Not this time. He’d smoothed over rough patches before, but this was different. Sam had gone too far and until he was actually ready to apologize and show he could go five minutes without being an utter asshole, Dean wasn’t interested. It didn’t mean that all the reminders, even one as oblique as Cas asking a little too gently about how Dean was, didn’t take their toll. Still, he wouldn’t complain that Cas cared.

“Yeah. I’m okay Cas. Slept a little better last night.”

Cas gave Dean a soft smile and a kiss on the temple. It was a gray Sunday morning. Despite sleeping in, it barely looked as though the sun had risen outside.

Dean may not have heard from Sam, but he heard from plenty of other people, starting about ten minutes after he had gotten home that night. Their blowup was apparently big news and spread through their social circles like wildfire. Even Benny had gotten some messages about it. Dean, Cas, and Benny had all decided not long after the notification parade started that they should all silence their phones and put them in the kitchen where they wouldn’t be tempted. All that noise would keep until any of them felt like actually dealing with it.

Dean had opted not to go through any of it until noon the next day, Benny and Cas crowded next to him so that they could read over his shoulders no matter his requests for them to knock it off. Messages from Charlie and Jo were a priority, and Dean wrote them both reassuring notes back that he was okay, and a polite refusal for Charlie to mess with Sam electronically. Some of the messages were clearly hoping he’d dish about the details of what went down. Most of those he ignored. Bobby left Dean a voicemail that made it clear he thought Sam was out of line and that if Dean needed some time off to get his head straight, well that was okay with him. The most surprising part of the message was that Bobby also said to tell Cas he hoped he was okay too. The message was gruff but Dean felt the love shine through, glad that Bobby was solidly on board with Cas’ place in Dean’s life.

Benny had stayed until he had to get ready for his show that night. In retrospect, Dean appreciated how both Benny and Cas had stowed all their crap for almost twenty-four entire hours. Benny had dropped by a couple more times since then and Dean was relieved that the thorny bits were back for both men, though they never came close to causing any actual harm. He liked the fact that Cas and Benny seemed to be becoming friends, instead of just friendly for Dean’s sake. They continued to not rag on Sam, at least where Dean could overhear, and he didn’t care if they did it privately since Sam had done plenty to deserve it.

The biggest surprise that first weekend had been a message Dean received from Eileen the Sunday after the fight. She had sent Dean a long text saying how sorry she was and also letting Dean know that she’d moved out for the time being. It made Dean’s heart hurt a little to see that, but it also was a nice reminder that Eileen wasn’t just Sam’s girlfriend, she was also Dean’s friend. He didn’t push for details from her, but he did let her know that he cared about her. He hadn’t seen her since then, but they did text a few times a week.

“Dean?”

“Hmmm,” answered Dean distractedly.

“I asked if it was okay for Gabe to spend the night here next Saturday.”

“Sorry. Was just thinking about nothing. Yeah, man, of course. I mean, it’s your house and all.”

“Maybe it shouldn’t be.”

“What?”

“I’ve been thinking,” said Cas before promptly trailing off.

Dean pushed Cas lightly with his foot under the table. “’Bout what?”

“Oh. Well. A couple of things. I, uh. I know you still have your apartment, and I don’t want you to feel like there’s any pressure. Not that I don’t want you to…”

“Cas you’re using a lot more words than usual and not getting anywhere with them. What’s up.”

“Will you move in with me?”

Dean smiled. “Yeah. Of course Cas. I’ll move in with you.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve only spent 2 nights at my place in the last month. It’s a good idea.”

Cas smiled at Dean, his whole face lighting up.

Dean loved that look on Cas. He would make Cas light up every second of every day if it was possible. “You said a couple of things.”

“Yes.”

“That’s one thing.”

Cas dropped his gaze and picked at the edge of his napkin. “Do you like this house?”

“What?”

“This house? I bought it and had all these plans about renting out the fields or working them myself. But I don’t think I want that.”

“So not the house so much as the house and all the land.” Dean scratched his chin. “I don’t want to be a farmer either. The house is alright, but I’m not particularly attached or anything.”

“I want to sell it.”

“Okay.”

“I want us to get a place that’s ours together.”

Dean grinned. “Okay.”

“Really?”

“Look. This is your place. You don’t want to stay here anymore, you wanna sell it? Okay. You want to find a place with me? That also sounds great. No arguments here.”

“Is it okay if I tell Gabriel when he comes to visit? He’s pretty good about how to do these sorts of things.”

“Why do I have the feeling that Gabriel is secretly a complicated dude under all his goofy impishness?”

Cas sighed and smiled at Dean. “I’ve found that it’s best not to ask him too many questions. He does a lot of things, seemingly on a whim, that turn out with a giant upside for him. It’s been years watching him do it and I’ve learned that for all his casual ridiculousness, he’s fairly savvy.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I wanna play poker with that guy.”

“I recommend not betting against him ever if you can help it.”

“So him and Rowena are still a thing, huh? I would’ve thought they’d drift apart what with him never being in town.”

“From what Gabriel says, they like the random nature of their relationship. He always starts spouting something about the caprice of the universe and fate and the cosmos and stars aligning.”

“Still best not to ask, then.”

“Yes.”

“Is it okay if I put in notice for my apartment right away? I don’t have to. But I could move in here while we figure out where we wanna end up and how to sell this place.”

“Of course Dean.”

“I’ll see if I can arrange a packing party next weekend. See if Charlie and Jo can help in exchange for pizza and beer.”

“And Benny?”

Dean figured why not. It’s not like he hadn’t met the girls yet, since they met at Thanksgiving. And Dean wouldn’t complain if Benny became a little more integrated into his general friend group. It still surprised him that Cas was sure to include him. “Why not?”

Gabriel blew into town like the whirlwind he was the following Saturday. By Sunday afternoon, he was off to spend time with Rowena, leaving Dean and Cas somewhat exhausted and bewildered in his wake. He’d offered his support about the whole Sam situation while grinning excitedly about Eileen being possibly single. He was also thrilled that they were moving in together and readily agreed to help with selling the farm. In light of this development, Gabriel decided to extend his stay to help with the packing party. Cas had blanched a little at the thought of Gabriel staying for over a week, but it turned out that most of that time was spent with Rowena. Something about the moon phases just after the equinox and that was when both Dean and Cas tapped out of the conversation.

Dean had spent Friday night in his apartment for old time’s sake. After finishing his morning shift at the garage, Dean borrowed one of Bobby’s trucks to help haul things to the farmhouse later. He arrived back at his apartment to find it stuffed with his friends, eager to help. Unleashing Gabriel on everyone was an unexpected twist, but when Dean walked in, he found Jo and Charlie laughing and Benny merely giving Gabe a slight frown, which probably meant Gabe had refrained from pinching anyone’s ass. Cas gave Dean a big hug and they got to work. Dean had to shoo everyone but Cas out of his bedroom, insisting that the other areas of the apartment needed more packing than his very private room.

The bedroom didn’t have that much to pack in it, all things told, as Dean had been moving most of his clothes and other personal items to Cas’ place since he started spending the night there regularly. Still, Dean had no idea what potentially embarrassing items were laying forgotten in his closet, and he’d rather not give any of the four others fodder for never-ending jokes.

Dean left the bedroom in search of more boxes when he overhead a snippet of conversation he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to hear.

“…he looked absolutely pole-axed to see me walk in. I was polite though tempted to really mess with him.”

“How did he seem,” asked Jo quietly.

“Gotta be honest. A little rough. Tickled me to see it.”

Dean could hear the frown in Charlie’s voice. “Isn’t that like kicking a guy when he’s down?”

Gabe snorted. “Nah. That would be actively kicking him. Or telling Rowena exactly what went down between him and Dean.”

Was Gabe talking about Sam? Yeah, Dean was pretty sure he didn’t want to overhear any more by accident. He was definitely grilling Gabe later, though. He walked into the living room where Jo and Gabe had been working on packing boxes, along with Charlie who was breaking down all his computer stuff from his home office setup. They all looked up with guilty expressions on their faces as Dean entered. Dean could hear Benny in the kitchen.

“Dean,” started Charlie brightly. “We, uh…”

Dean held up a hand. “It’s okay Charlie. I know you were talking about Sam. It’s okay. Just didn’t want any of you to keep going not knowing I was listening.”

“Soooo, Dean-o. Don’t suppose you will completely ignore anything I might have said,” said Gabriel.

“Oh, I won’t forget. But we can have a conversation later. Especially about the part where telling Rowena would make a damn bit of difference to Sam.”

“Spoiler alert. She’s his boss,” muttered Gabriel with a mock attempt at secrecy.

Dean closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Nope. Definitely not the time for him to get into it. Dean grabbed a couple of assembled boxes and headed back to the bedroom where things were much simpler.

Five hours, four pizzas, and three trips to the farmhouse later, Dean was ready to corner Gabe which Cas was fully on board with. Two against one, Gabriel decided he couldn’t put off explaining any longer.

“How much did you overhear?”

“I came in right around ‘pole-axed’,” said Dean dryly.

Gabriel grimaced and sighed. “Well, like I said. Baby bro was more than a little shocked when I walked through the door on Rowena’s arm.”

“She’s his boss?”

“Well, more like his boss’ boss. She knows who he is though. Apparently he’s ‘good at research’ and it was quite the bummer to realize that wasn’t a euphemism.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “You said he looked rough?”

“A little. Like maybe he was missing a few key pieces of his life.”

“Dean…” started Cas.

Dean squeezed Cas’ hand in reassurance. “It’s okay. I don’t feel bad that Sam might actually be experiencing some fallout from all this.”

“Well, I did talk to the giant oaf for a bit. Ro had to take a call before we could both take off for the afternoon.”

“And?” prompted Dean.

“Let me set the scene…”

“Gabriel,” said Cas warningly.

“Party pooper. Yeah, I talked to him. Started off at ‘civil’ so that he knew I wasn’t going to cause a scene. Made small talk. I acted like I hadn’t had the dish from the two of you already, asked after Eileen, played it completely clueless.”

“You are such a liar, Gabriel,” said Cas full of exasperation.

“I didn’t lie, I was just selective with the truth. Anywho, he reluctantly admits that he and Eileen had a fight involving the two of you but sort of glossed over the idea of having a huge fight with his brother in the middle of the local bar. But whatever, we all tell our stories our own way, blah blah blah. Conversation was petering out, which was fine by me. I have a source of endless amusement in my pants (It’s my phone you perverts, contain yourselves) so I was ready to wrap things up and just wait semi-patiently. But I can see he still has something to say. So I leave my phone alone and wait for him to decide he can’t hold it in any longer.”

Gabe paused to drink some of the soda in front of him. “Imagine my not-surprise thanks to the convos with you when he starts hinting about my little cousin and how he supports himself. And I’d like to think I took the high road here, but I absolutely did not. I think Sam sees me as just some sort of jester, as if any of us are just one thing. Well, I shut that shit down tout suite.”

Dean found himself fascinated. Whatever he was, Gabe was a captivating storyteller. “Whaddja do?”

Gabe gave Dean and Cas a feral smile. “Well, I, at a reasonable volume because fancy firms aren’t really the place for a shouting match unless you’re burning shit down, told him to go to hell. And I invited him, on his way to hell, to stow all his shitty classism where the sun don’t shine. And his judgmental bs while he was at it.

“I may have also informed him that you were quite wealthy, Cassie. What can I say, I lost my temper. I know you don’t like telling people, though I assume loverboy here knows. Anyway, I may have defended you with some specifics and I’m not sorry about that at all. Plus I might have pointed out that a lot of his arguments about Dean’s questionable choices seem to center around the men in your life instead of partners of all genders, which I understand is a just the way you roll.”

Dean’s mouth had dropped open somewhere in the middle of all this. It was incredibly clear that Gabe would happily cause maximum damage if crossed and was glad Gabe was on their side. Dean nodded dumbly at the last thing Gabriel said.

“Cool, bro. Samesies. Sam did NOT like that one bit. It was pretty damn funny to watch his expression contort through all sorts of discomfort. And of course the first thing out of his mouth was about how he is a staunch ally to the ellgeebeeteequeue whatever community. Who knows where the conversation might have gone after that, but Ro was done with her call and we exited arm in arm with Sam left stewing in his own juices.”

Dean shook his head. “Do you think it made a difference?” he asked quietly.

“What? Me sharing some truth with him? Maybe. It’s impossible to tell,” Gabe said.

“Does Rowena know that Dean and Sam are brothers?” asked Cas.

“Oh absolutely. After we hooked up the first time and decided we wanted to keep going, I looked at her company and saw a pic of Sam. Wasn’t a surprise to me at all that he was at the office. I mentioned it to her sometime, just like a ‘small world’ sort of thing.”

“And did you manufacture a reason for you to go to the office?” asked Cas pointedly.

Gabriel shrugged, the very picture of a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar. “You got me! I may have finagled a site visit…”

“Gabriel,” said Cas with a growl. “I told you not to interfere.”

Dean looked at Cas in surprise.

“Don’t get your feathers ruffled. I promise that it wasn’t exactly interference.”

“How is that not interference?”

“Semantics?”

Dean interrupted the growing tension with a snort. “Cas, when did you tell Gabe not to interfere?”

“We talked about what happened the day after it happened.”

“And Gabe, what’s the deal? The truth this time, preferably.”

Gabe huffed and said, “I originally wanted to come back to town right away and knock some sense into your brother. Literally if necessary.”

Dean looked at Gabriel dubiously given the size difference between his brother and Cas’ much smaller and slighter cousin but said nothing.

“Castiel refused for me to do anything like that. And I acceded to his wishes. But I got to thinking…you’re basically family and the Samsquatch is literally your family which makes him at least sort of family to me too. And I want nothing but good things for our family. Ro and I had been discussing getting together, and I may have suggested her place instead of mine, but her place is genuinely nicer.”

“And confronting my brother at work?”

Gabe looked actually contrite this time. “Not the most noble thing I’ve ever done. My intentions were pure, but I won’t pretend it wasn’t satisfying. Neither of you, or your friend Benny for that matter, deserved any of what you got from Sam. I’m a firm believer that the only people allowed to mess with my family are me. I promise, I didn’t make a scene, I didn’t play any pranks or besmirch your bro’s reputation or whatever. Less than he deserved, but I promised Cas I wouldn’t go nuclear on the guy and I didn’t.”

“Thanks?” said Dean.

“You mad at me, Cas?”

Cas sighed. “No. I suppose not.”

“Great,” crowed Gabriel. “Well then that’s all settled. Now, can I help you unpack…”

“Nah,” said Dean. “Most of the stuff that was packed up today can stay in boxes until Cas and I decide on a place.”

“So you’re really moving out?”

Cas looked at Dean fondly. “It’s the right decision. Someone should actually use this land instead of just having it sit here.”

“So no developers.”

Cas’ expression grew dark. “Absolutely not.”

“Just making sure I’m clear on my assignment. No developers, no corporate owners. Preferably a family with an interest in farming.”

“Or rehabbing the land,” added Cas.

“Or rehabbing the land,” repeated Gabriel diligently. “Want help finding a place too?”

“Why are you a realtor,” asked Cas tartly.

Gabriel grinned. “Not last time I checked, but you never know when I might hear something promising.” Dean let the conversation wash over him. He added his two cents when he had any to give, but for the most part he was content to just sit and listen to the cousins talk and bicker. It felt comfortable with no ugly undertones. He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about Gabe’s conversation with Sam. It was strange to think there was someone besides just his everyday friends who would be willing to come to his defense. And from what Gabe had said, it was Dean’s defense and not just Cas. Was this what it was like to have family, real family, who knew the truth and didn’t just love you anyway, but loved you for being you? Who didn’t second guess you, didn’t offer support only after evaluating your choices to death? His heart swelled at the thought. Getting his own place with Cas was just going to be icing on the cake.

#destiel #suptober22 #liar #gabriel #also you may have noticed #i didn't post Ch26 #i forgot about it #if you see this and are wondering #where's chapter 26 #you can read it on AO3 #or message me and i'll post it #here on tumblr

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