Work Text:
Title: Deal
Character: Crowley x Winchester!Reader, mentions of Sam, Dean & John
Genre: Angst
Word Count: ~2.8k
Warnings: feels, hurt, demon deals, implied character death
Summary: Finding yourself in the impossible situation of having to pass college you turn to the last resort you can think of: A demon deal.
....
Your notes were spread out across the table. Actually if you didn’t knew there was a table below all those notes, you would have believed the whole thing one huge pile of papers. You stared at the lines, read passages of text books over and over. But as the clock right across your dorm room ticked you knew no matter what you did this was impossible.
Your exam was less than 8 hours away and time was running. Whenever you looked up you noticed another hour had passed. One more hour bringing you closer to your doom. Time and sleep were your enemies tonight. Sleep was easily beat with coffee and coke, but how was one supposed to beat time?
A small part of you had already resigned. You would fail this miserably and your dream of college would be crushed. You would get kicked out of the dorm and… And…
If you go now, (y/n), don’t you dare come back!
And you had no place to go. The angry words of your father still haunted you. It had been two years since you heard a word from anyone in your family. Well anyone blood related anyway. You had checked in with Bobby both Christmases to make sure your father and brothers were okay. You missed them. But you had known the price for walking away that night. A hunter didn’t get out of the life easily, there was always a sacrifice. You sacrificed Dean’s gleeful eyes whenever there was pie on the table, Sam’s calm voice when he read lore books aloud so you could easier sleep because you knew someone was there with you, and even your father’s rare always hard earned words of praise. It was all in the past now, however.
A past you couldn’t go back to, you reminded yourself sternly and snapped out of the many fond memories you had despite everything that happened to the Winchester family. You had to pass this!
Your thoughts were going in circles. No needed to pass, but you couldn’t. You couldn’t pass, but you needed to.
“That won’t get me anywhere” You realised. You’d been a hunter, why couldn’t you be resourceful now? Were you really only good for poking monsters with silver sticks? “No” You decided in an angry huff. You had nothing to lose with no family to go back to, you had only the road ahead. Most hunters worked best alone anyway. As your head circled back once more to sacrifices you found a possible way. It was a sort of last resort but then again you really did have nothing to loose.
Abandoning your notes without even a second glance you raced down to the library to get an exact list of what you would need for your plan. The perfect location, just behind your dorm and hidden in the beginnings of the nightly woods, had already burned itself into your mind. All you needed was the grossest shopping list of all times and you were ready to get yourself that college degree you needed to finally get away for good from hunting and the life.
“Hello?” You asked into the darkness. You were still kneeling on the dirty crossroad where you had buried the small box. So far you couldn’t see anyone. God, did you get it wrong? Did you really mess up your last shot? Did you…
“Well hello” You turned to face a stranger in a dark suit. His voice British and nothing like you usually heard around school. It was foreign and yet felt intimately familiar and calm. Just like that, what you supposed must be a demon, had taken most of your fear of not getting this chance away. If he turned up a deal could be made. You’d pass and…
“Tell me what I can do for you, darling” His smooth voice asked and he even offered you a hand up from the ground. You had always imagined demons to be cold, cold and dead inside. But this strangers hand was warm and your own hand rested comfortably in his as he pulled you up into a standing position. You looked deep into his brown eyes just checking once more if it felt right. You wouldn’t sell your soul if you felt like your partner would screw you over, you were maybe out of the life but you were no fool. The eyes of your demon however were patient and curious, you were probably not the first suspicious customer he handled.
“So ahm hi, I’m (y/n) and…” You swallowed “I’d like to pass college?”
“Is that a question or your wish?” There was a sort of amusement in his eyes, again something you had never expected in a demon. In the way he was calm - well not trying to kill you at least - not yet anyway - -and showed emotions it felt just like talking to a human. This was nothing like what you had expected. You had expected hard bargaining against a furious creature of hell. Gleaming red eyes and barely contained hell fire in his veins. Not British charm and some expensive cologne you smelled as a soft summer breeze swept through the wood.
He chuckled suddenly. “You expected a monster, didn’t you?” He asked not even offended, then flashing his black eyes for a moment. You could only see it briefly as the moon fell on his handsome face, but it was enough to at least startle you. Yes, way closer to what you had expected.
“I’m no monster, darling. Well not the kind that hides under the bed of scared children at least.” He chuckled “I’m Crowley, king of the crossroad if you please. And I can give you whatever you want, little Winchester, all you have to do is ask nicely.”
“King?”
“At your service” He stretched out his arms and bowed his head. The gesture felt strangely over the top, but you couldn’t help a small smile forming. For some reason you couldn’t understand and wouldn’t for years to come, but you liked this man. Later you would blame his charm and likeable act for making this deal, convinced you would have turned down anyone else. “The king of hell bowing to a simple human?”
“Ah it’s king of the crossroads” he corrected “Though I like the ring of that, darling.”
“Okay so…” You swallowed again putting on your best fearless Winchester poker face “I want you to make sure I’ll pass college - and possibly uni if I decided to go.”
“As you wish, darling” he grinned like a cat who’d gotten the milk and you felt uneasy for the first time through the whole conversation “All I need is a little kiss.”
You looked at him in confusion. “That’s how we seal deals in my line of work.”
“That’s a little weird isn’t it?” You questioned, still the look of bewilderment in your eyes.
“It’s more enjoyable than cutting your hand open and signing with blood, isn’t it?” His eyes sparkled with humour at that “I’m really ruining all your illusions of the darkness of hell, am I darling?”
“A little” You nodded, to your further bewilderment finding that you didn’t mind too much actually. Hell and especially demons had always seemed dark and vile, treacherous and bloodthirsty, ever since the yellowed eyed demon. The whole demon kind had been a sworn enemy of the Winchester family. How was this one so different though?
“Don’t believe everything your old man says, (y/n). World’s not black and white.” He sounded almost kind now “Parents aren’t always right… But you’d know that, running away like a little rebel girl.”
“How do you know so much about me?” The kindness in his voice didn’t mask how much he seemed to know about you, your life and your story. It was more than a little scary to stand opposite someone who appeared to know you inside out while he was a total stranger to you.
“Knowing is part of my job” He replied “Your family are hunters, I wouldn’t want to walk blindly into a trap would I?”
“I suppose not…” You admitted.
“Then we have a deal darling? You get to pass college and whatever other degree you desire and I’ll collect your soul in 10 years?”
Ten years seemed like forever back then. The deal worth making, better than any alternative you could have had. And so you nodded slowly, taking a step forward. He met your lips halfway, they were rough but not uncomfortable. You could taste a hint of sulphur and surprisingly peppermint, as up close you got another nose full of his cologne. For everything you had expected this had taken a surprising turn. Standing in the woods and kissing the one kind of monster you grew up hating the most had certainly not been on your study plan. But you didn’t find yourself complaining, he was a good kisser and you felt even a hint of disappointment as the kiss ended.
He was still smiling as he stepped back, bowed his head and disappeared. You were alone again in the night. To be honest you didn’t feel any smarter or more confident, but something inside you made you trust that this was a genuine deal and the crossroads king would hold up his end of the deal. Feeling at least a little more confident with that thought you headed back to the dorm to look over your notes again.
** Ten years later **
You sat alone in a motel room just a few miles from the bunker. You had put up every angel warding you knew to keep Cas away. This was nothing anyone could change. You had made that deal and you couldn’t let your brothers take any of the burden off you.
The clock was approaching midnight and you sat on the bed and waited. You wanted desperately to be brave, to at least go out like a true Winchester. Just as brave as your brothers had died so often over the past ten years.
Funny how things turned out, you thought, remembering the night just five short months after your deal. Sam and Dean had knocked on your dorm door and whisked you back into the life. Dad hadn’t been home in a few days and they dragged you right back into the hunt for your father and the yellow eyed demon. You had stood beside them for the apocalypse, Leviathans and multiple times of dying, always knowing your time was limited. You never told them of course, but every year on the day of your deal you wondered how different things would have turned out if they had come to get you just a few weeks earlier. A single tear rolled down your cheek. This was not the time for regrets.
You couldn’t say you’d make the deal again given the chance of a do over, but you regretted nothing in the past ten years besides. You eventually learned to forgive your father and became a proud part of the family business. You saved the world multiple times alongside your brothers. And you fell in love.
It had taken you a few years and another run in with the man, but ultimately you figured it out, why you had trusted him so easily. You knew better than to believe in love at first sight, but in the end what else could it have been? For better or probably for worse considering you wouldn’t life through the night you had fallen for the king of the crossroads who now called himself king of hell.
Seeing him again had been a shock and it had taken the occasional favour to keep him from revealing your past to your brothers, but again you didn’t regret that either. Hadn’t you gotten a kiss here and there from him for the small favours you dealt whenever he tried to use his knowledge as a bargaining chip. He never asked too much or for any serious betrayal of your brothers so you supposed everything was well that ended well.
Until it wouldn’t end well… This wasn’t a good ending. This would be bloody and messy and all you could do was remember how Dean had gotten dragged away by the hounds. You knew exactly what was waiting for you on the other side and it had given you nightmares for years.
Even now with the clock striking quarter past eleven and your Winchester stubbornness you couldn’t keep your hands from shaking. Another tear joined the one on your cheek silently. The waiting was the worst.
Your eyes fell on the phone in your hands. You wanted to be strong so bad, but… It was the end, wasn’t it? Who would see? Closing your eyes you pressed the green dial button, having typed the number in hours ago already. Without looking you turned the phone to speaker and listened to the rhythmically tooting noise. How odd that even something as usually annoying as the unanswered ringing of your phone could calm you as long as you were thinking about who you were calling.
“Hello, darling” the voice you had hoped for said, however it wasn’t coming through the speakers of your phone. Opening your eyes you saw the king of hell standing in your small motel room, looking out of place in his expensive suit and with a glass of expensive liquor in his hand. His brown eyes travelled over your curled up form, the way you were sitting up against the headboard of the bed and the way all walls were covered in red seals.
“What are you up to?” He asked, you imagined a tiny hint of worry in his voice. But exactly ten years after meeting Crowley for the first time you sure knew better. He was a business men, nothing more nothing less. Sure he was different from other mindless demons in more ways than one, but at the end of the day he was still a demon. No matter how much you wanted to her emotions and affection in his voice.
“You don’t even remember?” Your voice broke slightly. Of course you had just been one more deal to him. A deal he made and then waited to expire, waited for the hounds to do the dirty work and drag to soul to hell. Someone like Crowley didn’t get his hands dirty.
“Sorry, darling, I…” He looked at you in confusion, wheels in his head turning but never quite getting there. At least pretended to try, you comforted yourself.
“My time is over” You explained quietly, not trusting your voice to speak in a normal volume “Ten years today.”
His questioning expression softened as he took in the small wet patches on your cheeks, the defeated way you sat on the small bed. He had grown to know you as the third Winchester, you were stubborn as your brothers, book smart and a little dorky like Sam and kind and protective like Dean. Seeing you like this was a thing he never imagined possible. Even in the face of death or the apocalypse you had kept your head up. He let himself relax too. Right now you weren’t the king of hell and a Winchester, right now you were just Crowley and (y/n).
“Don’t” you whispered, but with some of your stubbornness coming back to your voice “Don’t pity me. I know we haven’t been on the best of terms since the whole curing you with human blood thing, but… Can I ask for one more favour?”
“What would you ask for?” Crowley asked as he made his way to sit beside you on the bed. There was no tension in the air, you had no desire left to fight him for any reason. You even accepted his comfort and let yourself be pulled into his side. Your hands grabbed his suit jacket in an iron like grip and he stroked your hair. He hadn’t expected you to let him comfort you. He didn’t know what he expected – Maybe anger and the urge to fight till the end like Dean had so often.
“Can you do it?” You asked quietly, new tears running down your cheeks leaving wet stains on his expensive suit. Neither of your seemed to care however. “Can you take my soul? Spare me the hounds – And eventually my brothers the sight?”
“I…” Crowley paused “You know that’s not how it works.”
You sighted. Of course, you should have known better. You felt foolish for even asking now. What happened to being brave? What happened to facing your own choices till the end?
“But how about I promise to stay with you?” He offered his grip tightening around you slightly. Ironically you felt safe for the first time tonight. Even knowing he was staying with you, waiting for your death with you, you felt the illusion of safety with Crowley.
You were a fool, but it was too late for regrets anyway.