Chapter Text
In the darkness before the lights came up, Dean was cradling his guitar, his eyes shut, images from the day playing bright and perfect behind his eyelids. He'd woken up to Cas singing into the dawn as they approached Boston. They'd been doing six-hour driving shifts since Ohio, the rest of the band and their gear having gone ahead by plane. Dean wouldn't fly and Cas wouldn't let him drive alone. Didn't matter if anyone else in the band tagged along, Cas was only one Dean would let behind the wheel of Baby, his sweet black and chrome '67 Chevy Impala.
They'd had breakfast at the Rosebud, a tiny streetcar diner with a bitchin' breakfast burrito, and then went north in the rising summer heat. Cas saw a sign for fireworks when they passed the border for New Hampshire, and ten minutes later Dean was cackling happily as he loaded sparklers and roman candles into the trunk.
In late August, it was a treat to roll down the windows and feel the sunshine and cool ocean breeze, the curvy coastal road unwinding smoothly beneath his wheels. Cas was sleepy in the summer heat beside him, flushed and tan, his hair a spiky mess and his eyes half-lidded in lazy pleasure. He'd been looking down at Cas when the first chords of a new song came to him, inspiration hitting him so fast and hard he'd had to stop the car on the shoulder of the road to write it down and then shake a napping Cas awake to he sing it to him. Cas had tilted his head, listening to Dean croon the wordless melody. Then he sang it back to him, but starting with a low moan that made Dean's eyes widen and his breath come fast. He nodded and said nothing when Cas squirmed into the back seat to retrieve his notebook. He flopped down on the grassy embankment until Cas signaled he was ready by tapping him on the forehead.
“Got anything?” Dean asked, squinting up at Cas, who was haloed by the sun.
“It just came to me. The whole thing.” Cas said quietly, his gaze intense. Dean raised his eyebrows. Usually it took Cas weeks to get a lyric he liked and even longer to polish it up.
“Let's hear it.”
Cas sang the whole thing through, with words for all of it. It was perfect. Dean just shook his head at the last note. Cas waited for Dean's usual flood of snarky comments.
“That's it. That's the song. Don't change a thing.”
Cas stared at him for a moment, taking in the almost dazed look in his eye. “We need to get back on the road.” he offered after a moment.
“You think it's done?”
“I want to work on the phrasing after the second chorus. But yeah” he echoed softly, “it's perfect.”
“Good. Because we're putting it in the show tonight.”
Cas raised his eyebrows and then shrugged.
They'd sung it through about fifty times on the road, tweaking things here and there. But when they'd pulled in to the venue in late afternoon, they were both satisfied, lulled into an easy silence and soft smiles.
There was enough time to check into a motel and face plant for a nap before meeting up with the rest of the band to eat lobster rolls on the boardwalk. They were playing in the open-air concert stage of a seaside town – a larger venue than they usually booked, and Benny and Garth laid bets on whether they'd fill it. To take their minds off it, Dean had dragged them all to an empty parking lot and shot off the fireworks he'd bought earlier, using his phone to make a video and send it to Sam.
Sam had called back, laughing, and they'd talked over happy memories.
“You always were a pyro.”
“Like mom used to say, Sammy, salt and burn.”
“It's a miracle you ever learned how to make pie.”
They got quiet then, both remembering her, and Dean looked up to see Cas squinting at him, head cocked, a small smile playing on his lips. He drew in a breath and said goodbye to Sam.
They'd had just enough time before soundcheck to teach the guys the new song. It was rough, but mostly him and Cas anyway, though Garth had come up with a few variations on the bass line as they ran through it.
Now Dean shifted from foot to foot in the blue-tinged darkness. He felt warm to his bones with the sunshine and laughter of the day. Everything felt loose and right. He just knew they were going to put on a hell of a show. He could hear Benny working up the crowd. “We've got a special treat for you. We're starting the show with a completely new song. You heard it here first.” There was a good-sized roar back at him. His heart lifted and he looked over at Cas, who grinned back. It sounded like they'd packed the joint.
Then Cas stalked across the stage, singing the first note in a graveled whisper that swelled and hardened into a primal snarl. A note of electricity traveled up his spine and he heard Benny swear behind him, then they all came in together, as though they'd played it forever. Dean smirked. It was gonna be a great show.