Chapter Text
With your favorite background music, you prepare a snack fit for a Saturday movie night: popcorn, a light sandwich, and a glass of wine are the basics for a low-key, quiet night. You went out last night with your co-workers and even if you love them, you’re always more of an indoors kind of person. As the decent neighbor you are, your music isn’t too loud so others can’t hear it, which means you can hear every time your neighbor across the hall brings in one of his female visitors. It’s not like you can hear the whole thing, but at least the welcome and goodbye at the door are good indicators of what his night will be like.
You chuckle at Dean and his ability to flirt with whoever he pleases and even get them to come back to his place. Dean’s great, you’re good friends, and you know you can always count on him for anything. Even to fix things in your apartment or give you a ride somewhere you don’t know. Though a reliable friend and neighbor, his charm doesn’t escape you. His stupid jokes, his endless film references, and his otherworldly metabolism that lets him eat six cheeseburgers in five days are some of the most amusing things about him.
As you turn off your music and make yourself comfortable on the couch, you press play and sit back to enjoy a new discovery in independent film.
/
Across the hall, a girl discovers she likes blonde, green-eyed boys…especially the one she’s sharing a bed with. She played hard to get earlier tonight, but she just found out it was all worth it.
Comes Sunday morning and she’s already gone, and an un-surprised Dean sighs deeply as he gets out of bed and takes a quick shower. He puts on his black t-shirt and quickly dries his hair before heading to your place for the usual Sunday breakfast you agreed on once you both silently decided that you were friends and actually enjoyed each other’s company. Dean doesn’t have friends, and it’s not an overstatement, it’s just who he is. There’s got to be something behind that…but you just haven’t asked. And he doesn’t have girl friends either, which is why it’s still a mystery to you how you two have come to this.
He knocks on your door, and you open as you’re still fixing your tank top. It escapes your sight how he smirks and gives you a quick up-and-down look.
“Hey, come in.” You let him in as he walks past you, leaving a slight trace of his just-showered scent.
“Mornin’.” The second you met him, you smiled at how obvious his accent was, but if you’re being honest, it’s kind of part of his appeal. What? You’re not blind, the guy’s hot but you’re not about to let him know, are you?
“How was your night?” You ask as he sits on the counter and you pour him a cup of coffee. He takes a good sip of his coffee and he shakes his head in disbelief.
“It was…uh…great, I guess. Girl was gone when I woke up.” He shrugs.
“Isn’t that the whole point of one-night stands?” You pour yourself a cup of coffee to drink while you’re making waffles, his favorite breakfast. You never used to have waffles, but once you found out he loved them so much, they are a must-have in your kitchen.
“Yeah, but sometimes they stay, you know…for one last…” You chuckle and he shrugs. “What are you laughing about?”
“Nothing! It’s just funny when you get all worked up over a girl that you just met and specifically just wanted to get to bed.” He rolls his eyes at you and keeps drinking his coffee.
“What about you? Anything exciting happen?”
“If watching two movies and getting half-drunk counts as exciting then, yeah, something happened.” He chuckles and stares at you for a moment. “What?”
“Nothing.” He shrugs.
“Tell me.”
“I just think you should…loosen up from time to time.” He fixes his gaze on yours as you give him a small smile.
“What do you mean, loosen up? I don’t like just sleeping around all the time.” You tell him as you serve him his waffles.
“I’m not saying all the time, but it’s good from time to time. Don’t you think?” He says as he stuffs a huge piece of waffle in his mouth.
“Well, yeah, but…I don’t know…guys these days are just…jerks.”
“Oh, thanks.” He smirks at you.
“You know what I mean. Let’s say you, for instance, when have you ever talked to a girl with absolutely no interest in sleeping with her?” He narrows his eyes mockingly, as if he’s actually thinking about an answer.
“You and I have never slept together.” He states matter-of-factly.
“That wasn’t exactly your choice.” You cross your arms, and quirk up an eyebrow. “Do you actually remember when we met?”
“Yeah, I’d just moved here and we ran into each other at the hall.”
“And?”
“I hit on you.”
“I rest my case.” He presses his lips and you laugh at him, loving every time you win your tiny arguments and he looks down with sad eyes and a pout.
“This has taken a different turn. We were talking about your social life. Come on, when was the last time you slept with someone?” He asks as you sit beside him.
“I’m not telling you that.” You scoff.
“I thought we were friends.”
“Exactly, we are, which is why I know you and I’m not telling you that.”
“Oh, come on! Just an estimate, it doesn’t have to be an exact…date.”
“Sorry, Dean, you aren’t winning this one.” You sip your coffee as you look at him through your eyelashes and he stares at you with that glow in his eyes.
“Alright, you win for now but you still need more dates.”
“Exactly, dates. Not just sex.”
“Where do you draw the line?” You punch his arm and he chuckles. “It’s an honest question! I don’t think I’ve ever had a date.”
You can’t help but laugh at that and he frowns at your reaction.
“Are you serious?” He shrugs. “Wow.”
“Is it that bad?”
“No, I just…I mean, I figured a guy that looks like you would have a little more experience in the dating world and finally ended up deciding that dating is not his thing or something.”
“That looks like me? What’s that supposed to mean?” He quirks up an eyebrow, clearly teasing you about your slight confession and you roll your eyes at him.
“Please, you know exactly what that means. You’ve got a mirror, right?”
“I’m sorry I don’t understand what you’re saying.” He frowns mockingly and stares at you.
“I’m not saying it, Dean.”
“Saying what?”
“You jerk, eat your breakfast.”
“Whatever, you think I’m hot.” He stuffs yet another huge piece of waffle in his mouth and you bite your lip in amusement. So what if you’ve got this little, tiny, minuscule crush on him? It’s not like anything’s going to happen. You’ve seen how he is with girls and you’re not about to become one more conquest for him.
/
It’s not a habit of yours, but today you both decided to go out for a long walk as you grabbed some coffee and caught up with each other’s life.
“So how was your week at work? Any news on that promotion?” He asks you as you sit on a bench underneath a tree that has saved you from the heat and the sun.
“It was great but no, not yet. I shouldn’t have gotten excited about it if it was just a rumor.” You shrug.
“But you deserve it, you’ve worked at that place for two years already. They love you there.”
“They should.” You nod. “What about you? How’s the shop going?”
“It’s great, actually. Lots of sales this week.”
“Really? That’s awesome. You’re great a selling records, you know basically everything about music.”
For a moment, both of you remain silent and stare at each other’s eyes with a small smile on your faces.
“What is it?” He asks, but you were a little too busy staring at that glow in his eyes.
“Nothing.” You shake your head, looking away from him. “Um, I was just thinking.”
“About what? Is everything okay?” He frowns.
“Yeah, I was thinking about, um, what you said about my promotion. I guess I should bring it up somehow, or something.” You look back at him to find him biting his lip and gazing at you.
You press your lips to suppress your amused smile at that look he’s giving you. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he’s giving the look he gives every girl he wants to take home. You’ve gone out with him enough times to know what he does. But no, he’d never look at you like that.
He clears his throat and responds after a moment, “Yeah, totally. At least state your case and be heard.”
“I will.”
The rest of your Sunday goes as smoothly as ever; being with Dean is so easy, it’s like you were meant to be friends and be around each other all the time. You wonder if he feels the same way, you can’t help but question if he really trusts you as much as you trust him, or if he likes your company as much as you like his.
Back at your building you’re standing at your door as you call it a day after having shared all three meals with him today. For lunch, he was craving burgers, as usual. For dinner, he said he wanted pizza, as if he hadn’t had two burgers and fries some hours earlier.
“We should do this more often you know.” He clears his throat, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“We hang out all the time.” You frown, slightly confused.
“Yeah, but…on Sundays we usually just have breakfast together and we go on our own to run errands or whatever.” He pauses. “I mean…it was nice to just…hang out on a Sunday.” He shrugs gently and gives you a crooked grin.
Your stomach twitches at the sound of his rough voice telling you exactly what you wanted to hear, and you simply nod with a smile.
“Anytime.”
“Night, Y/N.”
“Night, Dean.”
/
“So, you’re saying the king of one-night stands, the dude that swept you off your feet since he moved in, and that you managed to turn into your best friend said he wanted to hang out on Sundays with you? Girl, he’s got it for you, too.” Your co-worker and friend Charlie tells you as you both take a break at the coffee lounge in the office.
“How did you come to that conclusion based on that kind of information?” You ask, laughing.
“You’re the one that keeps saying that he doesn’t make friends and that he doesn’t have any. How come he magically makes an exception for you? It’s not like he’s just looking for a meaningless night with you, he likes you more than he knows or wants to admit.”
“That’s ridiculous. How come girls and boys can’t be friends anymore?”
“Oh, they can. But Dean Winchester with the dreamy eyes, ridiculously perfect eyelashes, and beautifully sculpted nose cannot.” You laugh again at how Charlie mocks what you literally think of Dean’s looks. “Besides, I’ve come to your apartment a thousand times. Every time I’m there he knocks on your door with some lame excuse about needing something from you. He hasn’t flirted with me and he doesn’t even know I like girls.”
“Because you’re my friend, Charlie!”
“Exactly my point. He could’ve flirted with me, but he hasn’t. Because I’m your friend and it would risk losing you.”
“You’re insane.”
“And you’re in denial…and in love.”
Your almost finished conversation is interrupted by a text on your phone. You quickly open it to find a selfie Dean sent you with his chin resting on his palm and a fake pout.
“No customers yet!!!!!” He says.
“No customers at all or no customers you can flirt with?” You reply quickly, with a smile on your face and your attention slightly driven to the close-up of his freckles in his picture.
“HA HA, very funny! Wyd tonight?”
“Y/N!” Charlie exclaims, snapping her fingers in front of your face.
“What?” You widen your eyes to focus your attention on her.
“Did Dean just text you?”
“No.” You scoff. “Well, he just asked what I am doing tonight.”
“What are you going to say?” She quirks up a questioning eyebrow.
“Well, I’m not doing anything.” You shrug.
“Wait, does that mean you’re going on a date?” You roll your eyes at her and get back to Dean’s chat.
“Nothing, what do you have in mind?” You ask him, ignoring Charlie and her endless ideas about you and Dean getting together someday.
/
Setting down the pizza box and two beers, you prepare for a re-re-re watch of The Untouchables. His obsession with mafia movies and westerns only seems to grow over the years. You wonder if he talks about any of this with anyone else.
“Dean, we’ve watched this movie like three hundred times.” You say as you reluctantly sit on the couch and grab a slice of pizza.
“You’re welcome! It’s only one of the best movies of all time!”
“Oh, I know, I’ve seen it.” You emphasize with a chuckle.
“Come on, one last time and we won’t watch it till Christmas.” He almost pouts and you roll your eyes at him.
“Christmas is in less than three months.”
“Plenty of time to forget some dialogue and re-watch it to remember it.” He shrugs as if what he’s saying makes any sense.
After you’ve had three slices of pizza, you grab a cushion and place it on his lap.
“What are you doing?” He asks, pointing at the cushion.
“Resting my head.” You reply, already using his lap as a pillow. He dismisses the jolt in his belly and the comfort that rests in his heart as you set yourself carelessly on his lap.
“You’re going to fall asleep, Y/N!” He fakes annoyance and ignores the childish feeling in his heart.
“I’m not! Just keep watching.” You let out a sigh as you’ve found the most comfortable position on Earth. He is. He lets out a frustrated groan and teases you by placing his cold beer on your arm.
“Jerk.”
“I was resting it on my lap, now you’re on my lap.”
Unable to fulfill your promise, you fell asleep by half of the movie. Only you didn’t know that. As the end credits appear, you flutter your eyes to realize it’s one of the best naps you’ve ever had. You clear your throat and slowly sit up to see Dean with his arms crossed and a quirked-up eyebrow.
You squint waiting for the drama he’s about to unleash.
“You fell asleep for half of The Untouchables. Do you realize what that does to our friendship?”
“Well, I haven’t the other thousand times we’ve watched it!”
“It only takes once to break my trust.” He shrugs.
“It’s your fault, if we’re being honest.”
“How?” He rolls his eyes at you.
“You’re very comfortable to sleep on! We’ve even watched this on a bed and I’ve never dozed off.” He finally chuckles and gives his beer one last sip.
“At least now I know you don’t snore.” He says, fixing his gaze on yours, making you notice a glisten on the green of his eyes as the dim light shines through them.
“Oh yeah? Why did you want to know if I snore?” You wear a smirk as you notice his eyes falling anywhere but you.
“Just…things you know about friends.” His murmured voice and his distracted gaze give away his half-ass answer and you simply nod, unable to erase your smirk.
“I should go, let you get back to your beauty sleep.” He pats your knee as he gets up and stretches his back.
“You need that too, you know.”
“Oh, I know, this face is not low-maintenance.” He says, drawing a circle with his index over his face. He leans over and kisses your forehead briefly. “Night, sweetheart.”
“Night, Deano.”
“Don’t ever call me Deano again!” He shouts before closing the door behind him, leaving you with a chuckle and a fluttering heart.
Some moments later, as you’re brushing your teeth, a texts pops into your screen.
“Why did you let me drink so much? Won’t get up 2morrow.” He writes along with a selfie, wearing a fake serious look and his black pajama t-shirt with his headboard behind him.
“Just go to bed, not healthy to be texting right before sleeping!!!” You stare at his picture for a moment, wondering if all this is just in your imagination or he really cares for you more than he lets you know.
“Stop replying then!!!!!!!” He sends three emojis blowing a kiss. “Jk, love you, good night.” Unable to reply the same, you send a heart emoji and lock your phone for the rest of the night.
That night, Dean stares at his phone, slightly frowning at that heart emoji you sent. You usually reply more than that. Right? He re-reads his own text: “Love you.” Should he have stuck with “ly” instead of the whole two words? Was it too much? It’s probably nothing. Probably you were too tired that night to reply anything else. That’s gotta be it, right? You had fallen asleep earlier, so yeah, you must’ve been tired.
With a deep sigh, he runs a hand down his face and hopelessly locks his phone. I shouldn’t read that much into it. Wait. Why am I reading that much into this?