Work Text:
Day 3~
Poison~
Dean was sweeping up in his little shop, humming along with the radio when the bell over the door jingled. He looked up, smiling when he saw a young couple walk in. They reminded him of a bit of his brother Sam and his sister in law Eileen when they were in their twenties. That had been more than twenty years ago though. Mostly it was the man’s height and his shaggy brown hair that made him think of his brother.
“Hey there, what can I do for ya?” He said by way of greeting.
“We saw your beautiful signs out front and we’re here on our honeymoon. Would it be possible to have one made this week?” The woman asked.
“It’s possible,” Dean ventured. “If you choose one of my already started designs. Starting from scratch, I need three weeks, minimum.”
“Three weeks.” The woman frowned and looked at her new husband. He patted her shoulder and nodded.
“Can we see some of your already started ones?”
“Sure, they’re out back in the workshop. It’s this way.” Dean leaned the broom against the wall and headed for the back door with them following. They crossed a small yard to a large metal shed where a set of sliding double doors stood open, and he led them inside. A man with dark hair, peppered throughout with strands of gray and a pair of glasses perched on the end of his nose looked up at them from his seat at a table in one corner.
“Cas, this nice couple would like to look at some of the pre-carved templates for the name plates. They’re newlyweds.” Dean explained as they all crossed the room to where he had the plaque mounted on display. Cas smiled warmly and set down the plaque that he’d been so carefully painting.
“Congratulations to you both. There are many beautiful ones to choose from, I’m certain you’ll find one that represent the unity of your love.”
“I like that. My name’s Rose.” She offered her hand and Cas stood up from his seat, wiping his hand on his apron before shaking it.
“Castiel, but everyone around here calls me Cas.”
“This is my husband Val.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Cas slid his glasses off and tucked them into one of the pockets of his apron. “Do you have any preferences for your plaque?”
“I like birds.” Rose said as she studied the ones on the wall.
“I like landscapes.” Val said.
“There are a few with both.” Dean pointed out several.
“Oh, I like that one a lot!” She pointed to one with hummingbirds flying over an open field. Her husband studied it for a long time.
“Where would our name fit?”
“Well, what is your last name?” Dean asked.
“Lowe. L-o-w-e.” Val replied, spelling it out.
“Oh, that’s easy. It can go right across the center.” Dean pointed out where he would carve the name in. “If you want Cas to paint it rather than just me adding a shellac coating to the finished wood, the cost will be a bit higher, but it can be done by this coming Saturday.” He looked to Cas who nodded in agreement.
“I would love to have the hummingbirds colored in, and the fields.” Rose looked up at her husband, her brown eyes dreamy and Dean grinned at how the young man was unable to resist. Hell, he still couldn’t resist when Cas looked at him like that.
“Yeah, ok. How much are we talking? Price outside said handmade signs are $50.”
“With Cas’ art included, they’re $75.” Dean replied.”
“That’s reasonable. And you add the stuff over it? So the paint doesn’t chip?” Rose asked. Dean nodded.
“Yep. Your birds will forever remain vibrant, just like your love.” If his husband could throw out cheesy lines, so could he. Rose sighed dreamily and leaned into Val’s side. Even he had a dreamy smile on his face as he wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders. He was looking around when something caught his eye.
“What’s that?”
Dean looked where he was pointing, a smile forming on his lips as he moved over to Cas’ side and nudged his arm. Cas pulled his other pair of glasses out of his pocket and slipped them on.
“Oh, that’s the Poison concert. 1990. That’s where Dean and I met.”
“You guys met at a concert? How did you come to do this?” Rose asked.
“I was a mechanic, working for my dad at the time in Kansas but also making furniture on the side, Cas was an art student in Chicago. We both had friends that had gotten tickets with backstage passes and dragged us along. I didn’t see him until we were all backstage, then we got to talking. It was a long line and I was a chatty bastard.” Dean chuckled. Cas grinned.
“He thought I was cute, he just was too shy to come right out and say it. So he started talking, and couldn’t shut up. For a straight hour we talked. I’m surprised the people we were with weren’t upset, but I think my friends knew I was interested in Dean.”
“Oh, Benny and Charlie definitely knew I liked you.” Dean laughed.
“By the time we reached the band, we wanted a picture together with them. So…” Cas pointed to a framed picture on the wall beside a plaque that read Winchester, surrounded by electric guitars and red apples.
“You had on eyeliner! Oh you were so cute!” Rose gushed.
“I thought I looked hot back then. In retrospect, I probably looked like an idiot.” Cas laughed.
“I had a mullet. I can’t believe you talked to me with a mullet.” Dean shook his head.
“Well, I did convince you to cut that thing off not long after we started dating. I’m not sure I could have handled looking at it long term.” Cas teased.
“Shut up.” Dean bumped his husband’s arm playfully.
“Was that the only time you went to see them?” Val asked.
“No, but then, we no longer agree with Bret Michael’s politics, so we don’t go to his concerts.” Dean replied.
“Yeah, I can understand that.” Val nodded.
“That’s the first plaque I made after Cas and I got married. We moved out here after he graduated college, and put my carpentry skills to use making furniture. I still do make that too. That’s a good portion of our business, that and his art. Then I started making these. After we got married, I wanted something that would represent us and how we met, so he suggested I make something from the concert. So I came up with the Poison plaque. It hangs in here now because for our ten year, I made him one with bees. He adores bees and painted each and every single one I carved into the wood. That’s the one that hangs on the front of our house, but everyone likes it so much I made a second one that says welcome, and that hangs out in front of the shop. He painted that one too with the same care and detail.” Dean explained.
“That’s what drew us in, not just the beautiful signs on your front porch, but that one specifically. It’s so detailed.” Rose said. Her husband nodded in agreement.
“Yep. My attention to detail with the carving and his attention to detail with the paint makes these some of the most beautiful plaques you’ll find on the east coast.” Dean didn’t mind a bit of bragging. He’d traveled around and checked other shops like theirs out. No one did work half as good as his and Cas’.
“I can’t wait to hang ours up, it’s going to be gorgeous. Can the hummingbird be ruby throated? We have those where we live. I put up feeders and I love watching them come. Sometimes they land on me.” Rose asked.
“Of course.” Cas smiled.
“We do a partial deposit. Half down now, half at pickup which will be Saturday.” Dean explained as he walked them back out of the shop.
Cas looked up at the plaque, studying the guitars that Dean had etched into the wood with such exquisite detail. They were exact replicas of the guitars the band members had used. Later, when Dean had shown him the finished piece, he’d pulled out his paints and colored them in exactly how they were in real life. The end result was pretty damn impressive, even if it was just on a piece of wood.
He smiled as the memories of that night came back to him. Good music, good friends, and he’d found the man of his dreams. Backtracking to the stereo system he kept in his studio workshop, he popped in a cd and the familiar chords of Talk Dirty to Me began to fill the room. That was the song he and Dean made love to for the first time. He switched back to his reading glasses and returned to the plaque he’d been painting when Dean had walked in earlier. This was an order for another tourist and he needed to have it finished by that afternoon so it would be dry by morning. Then Dean could seal it and get it ready for pickup.
“Really? This song?”
Cas turned at the sound of his husband’s voice, letting his glasses slide down so he could look over them, and smiled.
“It’s my favorite.”
“It’s our sex song, babe.”
“I know that.”
“It’s been a while since we made love to this one.” Dean crossed the room to look down at what Cas was working on. It was basically finished. Cas pushed his glasses back up and added a few more bits of foam to the ocean waves before dropping his brush in the water.
“I’m done. It’ll be dry by morning, then you can seal it.”
“It’s gorgeous, babe.”
“Thank you.”
“Shop’s closed, they were our last customers of the day. How do you feel about grilled cheese, soup, and a night of hot sex? I’ll even put in the best of Poison cd if that will get your engine revving.” Dean wrapped his arms around his husband’s waist and kissed his neck. Cas laughed softly as he tilted his head to the side to give him better access.
“Bret Michaels doesn’t do it for me anymore. It’s just a fond memory now. I got the best thing to ever happen to me in my life out of that concert, but they are by far not the best band to exist.”
“You’re so right. Shall we put in some Zep then?” Dean asked.
“Mmm, yes, I like the sound of that. Just let me rinse my brushes and I’ll meet you up at the house.”
Dean kissed his neck one more time before heading for the door.
“I’ll get dinner started.”
Cas rinsed his brushes and put his paints away before taking his apron off and hanging it up. They had a good life here, and even if neither of them was really a huge fan of Poison, they owed the band a lot. He turned off the lights before locking up and heading up to the house. As he climbed the back steps he was debating which type of lube they should use that night. Cherry, or coconut? He guessed it would depend on which flavor Dean wanted to taste on him. That thought put a pep in his step. It was going to be a fun night!