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“Dean I’m not so sure about this. I can’t see anything.” Richard said as he placed his hand on the rock, carefully adjusting his feet upon the gravel and felt how he slid down inch by slow inch. Dean up ahead somewhere in the darkness laughed, Richard couldn’t even see the other right now and that was slightly worrisome. He swallowed and shifted his feet again. The last thing he wanted to do was slide down a volcano in the middle of the night and scratch open his entire leg or something. Dean wouldn’t be much help. He would just laugh at him and probably slip himself in the progress.
“Come on Richard!” Dean coaxed out from the darkness. “Where is your sense of adventure? I thought The Hobbit was your favorite book?” Richard chuckled weakly and looked down to his feet, daring another step. It was different descending the damn volcano in the dark then it had been to climb it in the dark. And not to mention that Richard had never felt sure on his feet while climbing, he missed flat grounds.
“There is a large.” Richard felt his feet slide away and franticly grabbed for the rock neck to him. “Difference.” He had managed to regain himself but his breath was still stuck somewhere in his throat and his heart was beating against his chest. “Between reading about an adventure and actually reenacting the ending scene at Mount Doom!” Richard called after Dean.
“At least its an inactive damn volcano, and not something to go insane because of a freaking hobbit and a ring being thrown in it! Think positive Richard.” Dean called out, quickly followed by a yelp and the sound of shifting gravel. “I’m okay!” Richard rolled his eyes at the matter and dared to let go of the rock he used to hold on to. He shifted his feet further downwards and wondered once more why Dean hadn’t packed a flashlight.
He had packed some food, water bottles, warmer clothes for the night, but a flashlight? No, what was a flashlight? Even Dean had said that it would have been a good idea to bring a flashlight upon realizing they missed one. But it didn’t seem to bring him down and Dean had insisted they would climb down the mountain anyway. What was the point in sitting there all night long and freeze? Certainly none.
“I’ll think positive if we make it down alive with our skin intact. If I scrape up something I swear to god Dean I will-“ He didn’t manage to finish that sentence, he nearly slipped again and grabbed a hold of the tree nearby. This was getting more dangerous then walking around on the ice and that often resulted broken legs.
“Do what? I don’t feel that very threatened Richard, if I am to be completely honest with you.” Dean laughed in the distance again. Richard rolled his eyes and let go of the tree. At this rate he would lose Dean at some point in the darkness and then he’d be left alone. Richard wouldn’t even have an idea of how to get back to his apartment besides taking a taxi. And he did not feel like wasting that much money on it.
“Have you ever felt threatened in your entire life?” Richard asked him and felt the gravel shift once more. But he didn’t fall. Yet he saw more then enough tracks on the ground now when he was closer that this had to be the spot where Dean had fallen earlier. But he didn’t think that much about it. It had been Dean’s idea to walk down the volcano anyway and if he walked around as carelessly he did.
“Of course I have, I have lived my life Richard, if I’m to be honest, I think I’ve been threatened way more then you have.” Dean answered simply and Richard only realized what a stupid question it had been until now. Of course Dean had been threatened in his life before. What had he been thinking? “And in far more creative ways then what you just suggested, which was nothing by the way. And far worse then just having my balls cut off. You think about that.”
Richard decided against that, even more as he did trip like he had feared and scratched up his palm as he tried to regain his balance. Not very much to his surprise, all Dean did to help was double over laughing.
- - -
“You’re not very subtle, you know that?” Dean asked, having a frown on his face as he carefully padded the soaked cloth against Richard’s hands, gently cleaning away some of the blood that had dried just to reveal the scratches.
“So I’ve been told.” Richard answered simply at that and smiled weakly to Dean. For laughing so much at him earlier, he had done a full turn about and gone from laughing to caring. Richard didn’t speak for the longest time, and just watched Dean’s face as he worked on cleaning his hand. He just needed a couple more minutes before he gently pressed down a dry towel on it. Next, he dressed the wounds. “You’ve got a skill for that, do you know that?” Richard asked, returning the same words that Dean had given him.
“I know.” Dean murmured on a low, still concentrated tone. “My mom works in a hospital, she used to dress me up like this when I was a kid. So I watched and I learned.” Dean answered simply and glanced up to Richard with a small smile. “What does your mom do for a living?”
“She’s a secretary.” Richard shifted a little bit in his chair, leaning more against the table in the progress. “And my father is an engineer. What does your father do?” Richard asked Dean in return. Dean shrugged.
“I don’t know now, he used to switch in between jobs all the time. Could be anything really.” Dean hummed. “Last time we spoke, he was working in a pack house. And before that, it was a delivery service, before that, a truck driver.”
“When was the last time you spoke to him?” Richard asked carefully, not knowing if he should venture down in that area of Dean’s life. The other man’s life was a mystery, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know every detail of it. There were far to many things that probably were to dark for his best interest. Dean shrugged as answer again.
“Three years maybe? I don’t know, something along those lines. We’re not really on good terms with each other.” Dean leaned back and admired his work, then he grinned and clapped Richards knee before standing up. “All done.” Dean gathered the remains of Richard’s self composed first aid kit and tossed it all back into the shoebox, then shoved the shoebox into the cupboard.
“Why aren’t you?” Richard asked and admired his patched together hand now, then pulled the sweatshirt over his head. Dean remained quiet.
“I’d prefer if we’d not talk about that as well Richard, I’m sure you can come up with one or two things why I’m not talking to my parents.” Dean muttered and Richard looked down, he supposed that the other was right, and he didn’t have to know everything if the younger man either. “So, we can talk about something else, perhaps have a drink to?” Dean suggested, sounding a little bit more cheerful now and turned to face Richard again.
“I have to go to work again in the morning Dean, I can’t stay up that much longer, in fact.” Richard looked over to the clock that was hanging on the wall. Past midnight already, nearly two in the morning, he hadn’t been up this late since… not since he had met Dean actually. “I should head to bed now, I’m only going to be able to sleep a little bit more then four hours as it is.”
Dean pouted, as if he actually tried to look offended but it didn’t work out that well. “So what are you going to do tomorrow, when I’m working. Where are you going to go?” Richard asked him, Dean shrugged and looked away as if he didn’t really want to answer that question. “Because I’m not quite sure if I dare leaving you here on your own again like that.”
“I apologized for that, are you going to keep rubbing it in my face?” Dean snapped in return. Richard didn’t bother to pay that much attention to it. He was just about as annoyed with Dean for doing it as Dean was with him for bringing it up all the time.
“You apologized.” Richard acknowledged and crossed his arms. “Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen Dean. But that doesn’t matter now.” Richard stated simply. “What matters is, what you are going to do tomorrow.”
“Is this your way of kindly saying that you want me out of your apartment?” Dean growled and kneeled down. Arwen had snuck up on them both and none of them had noticed. He watched Dean scratch the cat behind her ear.
“Not precisely.” Richard said, not taking his eyes of the two on the floor. Arwen definitely seemed to enjoy his company, but what on earth would Dean do here on his own the following day if he left him alone. “I just, don’t want to come home and find my apartment half looted, understand what I mean? I don’t mean to rub it in Dean I really don’t, but last time I left you alone I was showering for ten minutes. And I came back only to find that you took some of my food, clothes and emptied my wallet. I don’t that happening again tomorrow.”
Dean remained silent and kept scratching the cat, yet Richard was confident that his words had entered the others skull. He didn’t look angry or annoyed about the matter anymore. Instead it almost seemed as if he had some childish embarrassment over the whole matter, as if he was a five year old taking sweets when he really wasn’t allowed to.
“I won’t do it again Richard.” Dean rubbed his arm, but his gaze was still locked down. Definitely a five year old, Richard thought and all of a sudden he felt bad for the other. Arwen whined as Dean stopped scratching her behind her ear and looked to him before nudging her head against his arm. “I promise.”
Richard felt bad for making Dean feel the way he did, he didn’t want Dean to feel bad about it all. It was just a normal conversation that ought to be harmless right? Turned out it wasn’t so harmless after all. “Dean.” Richard shifted on the chair and leaned over, he wanted to place his hand on the others shoulder but he couldn’t bring himself to it. Not now. “You have to understand, for me it’s hard just letting you stay here for all those hours on your own. It’s nothing personal, you’re a great guy. You really are. I just don’t… don’t want to be used, you see? While you are a great guy, it’s hard for me to trust you because of your… condition.”
“I get it Richard, I’ve heard it many times before.” Dean answered tiredly. “I’ll be up and ready in the morning whenever you head out, you can lock your apartment when you leave to work and I’ll be off.” There was a faint shrug. Richard felt his stomach twist together; it wasn’t how he had wanted this conversation to end. But it was late and with that exhaustion clouded their minds, which had to be it. “You’re a great guy to Richard, thanks for what you’ve done for me these past days. It might not seem like it but I really do appreciate it.” Dean looked up and smiled weakly to Richard, but Richard couldn’t take the smile as genuine. Dean looked way to sad for that. He sighed heavily, he knew he had a to soft heart and it was getting the better of him again.
“You can stay tomorrow if you like.” Richard then spoke up, even if he still wasn’t feeling to sure about the matter. Dean’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “But, I will warn you, if I come home and anything is out of place and you are not here. Then I will call the cops and get you for robbery. And I will call them again if I happen to pass you by on the streets. Understood?”
Dean nodded slowly, as if it still was sinking in that he was actually allowed to stay the following day. “I get off work at five, which means I’m home roughly twenty minutes later. And when I get back, it would be nice if you’d have something to eat ready for us both then, alright?” Richard smiled to Dean, who only grinned in return. “We’ll talk tomorrow during dinner over what we’ll do with you.”
Dean nodded slowly, almost as if he was thinking through the offer. But eventually he seemed to agree on the matter. “Alright, I can do that, I’ll try to have some dinner ready by then.” Dean said and Richard could see the others grin getting wider. Richard nodded as well and now stood up.
“But now it is two in the morning so I am going to head of to bed so I wont fall asleep at my desk tomorrow.” Richard stretched out his back, Dean glanced up to him. “Are you going to join me in bed or not?”
“Can we fuck?” Dean asked him boldly, Richard laughed and set direction for the bedroom.
“I don’t think you understand the meaning of sleeping, Mr. O’Gorman.” Richard pulled the door to the bedroom open and entered the dark room, flipping on the light switch by the night table and then pulled off his t-shirt. Dean had silently padded up behind him.
“Can we kiss some more then?” Dean asked and sat down on the bed before laying down, next thing Richard knew was that he struggled out of his jeans. “Like on top of the volcano? That was nice wasn’t it?” Richard laughed again and folded the t-shirt together.
“You can have a good night kiss Mr. O’Gorman, nothing else.” Richard answered simply. Dean laughed from the bed and Richard unbuckled his belt.
“I suppose that a good night kiss is better then nothing, Mr. Armitage.” Dean teased in return and kicked his jeans of the bed, soon followed by the sweatshirt he had been wearing the evening and his pair of socks.
“Indeed it is Mr. O’Gorman.” Richard answered simply and folded his jeans together and put them neatly on top of the t-shirt before turning towards the bed. Dean had already settled himself under the sheets. He lifted some and crawled under his own end.
“So can I have my good night kiss then, Mr. Armitage?” Dean asked, grinning widely in expectation. Richard chuckled, rolled his eyes and then leaned in so he could give Dean that little good night kiss he had been begging for all this time.
It was soft, sweet, and over before it even had started. It could barely be classified as a kiss in Richards opinion, it was more like a peck. But that didn’t matter, he was tired now and he needed all the rest he could use. “Now good night Mr. O’Gorman. If you would be so kind and turn of the light?” Richard gestured to the lamp on the bedside table next to Dean and laid down on his back before shifting onto his side. Less then a second the room was dark and he heard Dean shift.
Silence fell over the both of them, their breathing slowed down. But all in all it had only taken five minutes before Dean shifted in the bed and Richard felt his hand on his back. “Richard?” Dean asked carefully. Richard who by then was already half asleep, hummed in reply. “You’re burning up, are you always this hot?”
“Yes indeed, I am fully aware of how hot I am, Mr. O’Gorman.” Richard spoke, smiling to himself, Dean chuckled.
“Was that your way of self praise?” Dean asked him on a low tone, Richard could feel how the other shifted closer and eventually slid his arm around his waist, pressing his chest to Richard’s back.
“Yes.” Dean laughed again.
“Well good, because bear with me now, I’m going to stay like this all night, I get cold at night.”