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“Welcome!” Dean chirped, a smile on his face as he greeted the newcomer, body shifting to face the front of the store, blinking twice at seeing the unfamiliar face. The raven grunted, rolling his eyes as he placed his hands in his pocket, walking past Dean quickly as he made his way to the back of the bookstore. The sound of his scuffed shoes echoed throughout the small shop, with Dean raising an eyebrow at the boy, watching him disappear into the horror section of the bookstore with no more than a hasty turn, as if even the boy himself hadn’t been sure if he’d wanted to be in that section.
“The hell is his problem?” Dean mumbled under his breath, returning to his tasks prior to the incident at hand, starting to put away books behind him, eye’s occasionally glancing over to where the boy had disappeared too.
He’d never seen him before, and with such a small town, it was practically guaranteed that you’d know everyone sooner or later, dark hair, leather jacket, slightly tan skin.. Who exactly was that guy, anyways?
The brunette let out a soft sigh, unable to focus on the task at hand as he sat back down on the creaky metal stool, the metal scrapping slightly against the wooden floor,
causing a low curse from Dean, hand holding his face as he looked out the window uninterestedly,
hoping for his shift to already come to an end until his mind started to drift back to the mysterious boy. He looked young, maybe a bit younger than Dean,
or it could be that he was just the type to look younger than their actual age, God knows how many times Dean was mistaken for an adult.
His eyes were kinda pretty, but his gaze was strong, like he was pissed or something.. Wait, was that weird to- “Bye.” The stranger called out, waving a hand at Dean as the door jingled from being opened so suddenly,
small rays of light flooding the store, only to disappear again before Dean could even blink, the sound of the loud jingle slowly dissipating with it. Dean would be lying if he said he didn’t stare by the window,
watching as the boy walked away at a quick pace, a small frown threatened to tug at Dean’s lips at seeing the raven disappear around the corner. Just who the hell was this guy?
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The sound of a voice booming throughout the town caught Dean’s attention, eye’s looking up just in time to see Luke flinging the door open, one hand firmly grasping the young boy Dean had seen before, his eyes widened as Luke slammed the door shut, the bells slamming against the wooden doors frame, a horrible clang of chaotic sounds echoing as the tension in the room became blatantly clear. Luke passed the young boy a firm glare which was returned by the raven, a strong edge to them, something more daring tempting to spill out, his dark eyes darting to Dean for a moment before his gaze lowered to the ground,
a light blush painting the boy’s face. “Luke? Uh, what seems to be the problem?” Dean spoke cautiously, chuckling nervously as he tried to hold Luke’s daunting gaze, thankful when instead of speaking, Luke’s gaze teared back to Jess, yanking a book out of Jess’s free hand, and placing it on the cold glass counter, a small pang from the placement made Dean’s back prickle with fear. “Oh, was it not good?” Dean tried, failing to understand anything at the moment.
He didn’t remember the guy buying anything yesterday, had he? “No, Dean, this is Jess. He stole this just yesterday and thought I hadn’t noticed him slip it into the diner, I’m here to return it. Please forgive him, he really is sorry.” Luke sent another menacing glare Jess’s way, slapping his head roughly and nodding towards Dean, brown eyes muddled with anger.
“Oh I am so very sorry..” Jess muttered, voice filled to the brim with sarcasm as he sent a finger Luke’s way. “Oh you wanna play smart ass with me? That’s fine. Dean, would you like a volunteer? Cause Jess is all your’s. He’ll work for free until he learns his lesson.
Which means, never. Because he never fucking learns.” Luke let his grip on Jess fall flat, eye’s still glued to the rebellious teen, all while Dean watched in horror, only having seen Luke truly angry a handful of times in the past.
“Fuck you, you can’t make me do shit.” Luke let out a hearty laugh, eyes blood shot as he rolled his sleeves back up, fists clenching with a tired look to his eye that flashed for a second before meeting Jess’s strong gaze once more.
“Oh I'll make you go here alright.” Dean felt himself tense, stealing a glance at Jess who glared back as if saying stay out of it.
“Fine. Don’t expect me to be any good at this though.” Jess called out, already walking past Luke who rolled his eyes in response, passing an apologetic look at Dean who just nodded in understanding,
as if he’d not almost shit his pants a moment ago from Luke’s god awful glare, giving Luke a polite smile before pulling his book back up, waiting for the jingle to sound before finally letting out a loud sigh, shoulders dropping in relief of finally being away from the tension filled situation.
When he asked who that guy was, he wasn’t expecting to actually get an answer on the matter, now he knew a bit too much. Dean let his eyes close for a moment, head falling to the cold glass panel below, book still covering a part of his face, an image of the boy’s eyes flashed through his mind, he was kind of pretty..
Nah, he’d never go for a guy like that, he didn’t even like guys like that.. He could think a guy was pretty without it being gay, right?
Well, that was a dumb question. Dean pressed a hand onto his forehead, letting it rest there as he tried to wipe the face of the boy from his mind. “This is Jess..” He liked the way that name sounded. Jess. Dean let a chuckle escape his chapped lips, the cool table below a comforting feeling. It kinda sounded like a girl's name.
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Jess looked around the small store, sitting in a chair as he pulled up a book he’d gotten off some shelf, laying on the wooden frame of the book shelf behind him. “You know you should at least help me in some way, go put these on that shelf.” Dean let the box drop to the ground, a loud thump was heard from the sheer weight of them, the brunette let his head drop, allowing himself to catch his breath.
Lifting his head back up once he was able to breath properly, only to find Jess staring at him curiously. Dean turned his head the other direction, a small blush creeping onto his face.
“Well, cmon. If you're gonna be here at least lend me a hand.” Dean tried, already opening the box, head lowered as he scanned the selection of books.
The smell of new books hitting his nostrils. “Or, you could keep doing what you're doing and I could stay here and read my book.” Dean grumbled under his breath, determination filling him as he grabbed a handful of books before promptly shoving them into Jess’s chest, giving him a stern stare before returning to grabbing more books, picking them up one by one before going an aisle down from Jess, starting to place the books in their correct order.
Jess silently stood, holding the books given to him tightly to his chest, grumbling as he started to place them on the shelf, shoving books out of the way, making way for the one’s in his hand. “So.. Have you been here long?” Dean started, unable to handle the deafening silence between the two, he was regretting forgetting his radio at home.
“Why’d you wanna know?” Jess countered, grabbing another handle full of books, peeking his head out to see Dean walking over to him. “I’ve just never seen you, that’s all.”
Jess hummed under his breath, fixing his leather jacket that didn’t really need fixing, his hands desperately needing something to fidget with, eyes staring back up at Dean’s tall, lanky figure that seemed to hover over him in an almost challenging way if he didn’t know any better.
“If I tell you, will you let me leave?” Dean let out a gentle laugh, tilting his head back slightly, his brown bangs falling to the side, revealing his soft deep ambre eyes, ones that made Jess’s chest tighten at the sight.
“Nope, Luke would kill me. Sorry to say this, but you're stuck here for a while.” Dean flashed a grin at Jess, hair falling back into place, covering his ambre eye’s, causing a small pit in Jess’s stomach, one Jess immediately assumed was from hunger, and not because he liked the way Dean’s soft eyes looked under the afternoon sun.
“Guess you’ve got a point there.” Dean hummed in response, tilting his head to the side to get a glance of Jess’s expression, a slight frown on his face at being unable to decipher the reaction.
A few moments of silence passed, Dean going back and forth between getting books and stealing glances at Jess who’s eyes never seemed to leave the book, even if he’d been on the same page for the last ten minutes or so, not that Dean had been counting or anything.
The comfortable sound of rustling books soon stopped once the only thing in the box was the lingering smell of fresh books, Dean let out a sigh of relief, picking up the box with ease, already walking towards the door before feeling a hand tap his shoulder, causing him to look back a bit too quickly, wincing at the jolt of pain in his neck the same as needles pressed against his skin.
“Woah, it’s just me.” Jess chuckled, hands in his pocket, eyes darting back and forth between Dean and the back door. “Did you need something?” Dean questioned, ignoring the light reassurance from Jess out of embarrassment for his untimely reaction, cheeks dusted a light pink Dean was sure Jess got a good look at before he turned his head, walking out for a second before going back in, the cool breeze brushing against his skin kindly as he shut the creaky metal door,
hoping the pink had gone down significantly enough for him to be able to face Jess, or at least blame it on the cold weather for the light pink that didn’t seem to dissolve in the slightest. “How much time till you close?” Jess asked over his shoulder,
giving his version of an olive branch for Dean to hold onto, something Dean gladly took, albeit a bit hesitantly. “..6:30, it’s almost time, just one more hour, don’t start throwing a tantrum just cause there’s an hour left.” Dean teased, a grin growing on his face at Jess’s glare, feeling himself gain back his previous composure.
one Jess knew wasn’t as intimidating nor as angry as he’d like to think it was. Soft tan hands played with bookmarks that Dean was currently putting out into small little cabinets at the front of the store, looking down to open another small box of them before glancing up, catching Jess’s wandering eyes,
Jess would’ve stopped looking if not for the sweet smile that painted Dean’s face. “Just hurry up and do your job..” Jess muttered in return, too focused on Dean’s lips at the moment, forcing himself to look away once the brunette caught on to where exactly Jess was looking.
“Tommorow, you’re definitely helping me.” Dean nodded to himself, eyes looking forward to nothing in particular.
Forgetting Jess was sitting only a few feet away, hearing him clearly, a low snicker heard under the raven’s breathless laugh . “I am not helping you tomorrow, I like what we have going here.”
Jess pointed to his general surroundings, unmoving from the hard wooden chair that was starting to make his back ache ever so slightly, atleast the sting kept him awake.
“You’re gonna be here a while, and you will be helping me. If you do, I don’t know, I’ll give you a prize?” Dean tried, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, unsure of what type of prize he’d be able to give Jess.
“What kind of prize?” Jess prodded, setting the book he’d picked up back down onto the semi-dusty floors, a small thud heard as he faced Dean.
Dean held back a glare at seeing the book being dropped to the ground, but his eyes darted back to something that made his eyes sparkle with mischief, almost like a cat, Jess’s eyes were perked up at Dean’s thought driven expression, causing Dean to bite the inside of his cheek, a poor attempt at holding back a chuckle at the sight.
“It’s.. It’s a surprise, you’ll just have to find out.” If Jess’s frown was any indicator of his current mood, Dean would have replied that he’d been too focused on the raven’s eyes to really see the frown, watching his eyes change in expression, an almost soft look could be seen in those dark ires, but before Dean could even blink, the look in his eye was gone, all just what could have been a figment of his imagination.
“I bet it’s some lame shit like a sticker or something. You seem like the type to do that.” Dean let a low chuckle escape, titling his head slightly upward, letting the laugh linger in the air before responding. “Am I your type?” It wasn’t meant to come out, it had meant to stay in his mind, the phrase coming out before he could stop himself,
but the uneasy silence in the room filled Dean’s heart with regret and the rancid feeling of bile in his throat felt like a comfort, the pain distracting him from the silence that had fallen like a flame burning everything in its path.
“..Maybe, maybe you are. What’d you do then?” A moment too late and Dean wouldn’t have caught the reply, so hushed it felt reminiscent of a soft wind blowing against his ear on a cold winter morning.
“I..” His brain was starting to short circuit, unable to find words that fit his desire at the moment, Jess stepped forward, a smug look tainting his face, eyes roaming Dean’s face. “What’d you do then..?” Jess repeated, now standing in front of Dean, the line between love and lust growing thin. “I’d kiss you.” It was a simple phrase,
one Dean had barely gotten out before he found his lips crashing with Jess’s own, the firing ember in his chest set a flame as he settled into the kiss,
huffs of warm air circling around them as they settled into the kiss. “If this is the prize, then I think I’ll be helping out tomorrow.” Dean let out a breathless laugh,
holding Jess by the waist as he dipped back into the kiss, feeling the way his body desired everything of Jess.
Maybe ruthless ravens were his type after all.