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Dean couldn’t help but smile as he saw his best friend waiting in the diner for him. As he made his way to join her in the small booth that she had claimed he couldn’t stop his thoughts from drifting off. He had a habit of missing her, of trying to push her away because he didn’t want to face the pain of losing her. She was the person who always made him smile, and he knew that someday someone would be extremely lucky to put a ring on her finger and fall in love with her. It was someone who he knew he would be jealous of, but she deserved the world, she deserved the chance to live a good life and never have to worry about where her next meal would be, who would be knocking on her door.
He loved her, and he wished that he could let her know that, but he couldn’t take the risk if he thought that it could be the end of their friendship. Outside of Sam and Bobby, she was the only person he had to rely on, she was the one person that he could call at any point in time and she would answer. He loved her for that.
“Dean,” Hermione saying his name with a bit of an exasperated tone which suggested that she had already tried to ask him something was what pulled his attention out of his internal thoughts and back to her. “I need to tell you something, and I need you to listen to me carefully,” she told him as she held her hand out towards where his hands were clasped around a mug of coffee. It was a strangely intimate move that didn’t normally occur between them but he couldn’t help wishing that she wouldn’t drop something that was obviously important to her on him when he had no more than maybe an hour until he had to be back on the road.
“‘Mione, whatever it is, I promise to be supportive but if it’s going to be a big conversation we might be best leaving it,” Dean tried to deter her as he looked over towards the door as the bell rang to signal that someone was entering. He wanted to just enjoy whatever time he had to spend with her without there being anything hanging over them, anything causing tension between them.
“Dean, it can’t wait any longer, I can’t keep lying to you,” Hermione said in a rush as she grabbed ahold of his hand to stop him from deciding to walk away from the table. He wanted to hide from whatever it was that she was going to tell him, he didn’t want to hear that she had fallen in love with someone who could offer her all of the things that he couldn’t. “Dean, I love you, dammit!” She cried out in annoyance as he tried to avoid her attempt to speak to him. He froze however as her words reached his ears. He had never thought that she would return his feelings, but now that she had admitted it, he had no idea what to do. He wanted to leave forwards and kiss her, but the other part of him wanted to push her as far away as he could manage.
“You can’t love me, I’m not good enough for you,” he finally admitted, but his confession was put to an abrupt halt as Hermione leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth. He wanted to push her away, but he couldn’t help but melt into her touch.