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Roman’s bedroom door swung shut feebly behind him after he limped away from Renee, coated liberally in gauze and liquistitches.
“I’m sor-” Dean started.
Renee shook her head, “Stop apologizing. I do this for Nat all the time.” She brushed ginger hair out of the way of a shallow cut on his forehead and pressed antiseptic against it.
“Stings,” grunted Dean, jerking away. The word was a bit slurred, as his teeth were latched firmly onto the edge of his thumb, chewing on his cuticle.
Renee scoffed and pulled him back. “Come on. Cleaning it can’t hurt more than getting it did. You supertypes, I swear.” She went back in with the antiseptic, noting the petulant look on Dean’s face while he sat still for her. His teeth clicked together when he tore through his cuticle and he moved on to his index finger, studiously not flinching as Renee bandaged his forehead. “Would you stop that?” Renee was careful to keep her voice soft as she pulled Dean’s hand away from his face. “Now your fingers are bleeding.”
Dean wrinkled his nose at her. “Seth used to…” He shuddered and rolled his shoulders.
Renee looked up from swiping antiseptic along Dean’s thumbnail. “You don’t have to… it’s fine if-”
“Nah, nahnahnah,” Dean waved her off with the hand she wasn’t working on. “It’s fine. Seth used to get on my case cause I chewed my nails. And I know Ro hated it too, so I stopped chewing them…”
Renee wrapped a bandaid she had found in the cabinet around his thumb and looked up at him. “I, um, I used to bite my nails, until I started working in a professional office.” She smiled softly at him.
“Yeah?” Dean murmured, his gravelly voice low. He turned the hand she was still holding over and slid his thumb along her hand. “They’re really nice now.” She wrapped her free hand around his hand, so she was holding it gently.
“Yours aren’t bad now, either,” she said softly. Their eyes met. Dean exhaled through his nose and let his head nod forward until his forehead rested against hers. “Dean, what are we doing?”
His brow furrowed. “Well… right now, not very much.” The corner of his mouth quirked up in a wry little smile.
Renee sighed and put one of her hands on Dean’s cheek. “No, no what are… What are we?” Dean’s smile dropped and he pulled away. “No, please, don’t do this,” Renee pressed on. “Every time I do this you shut me out. I like you Dean, I just… I need to know what we’re doing. If you’re serious about me, then fine. If you’re not, though, I need to know. I don’t want to waste my time… getting my hopes up over someone who doesn’t actually want me!”
The look on Dean’s face quickly shifted from evasion to alarm, His eyes widened and his jaw dropped open. “I… Renee of course… how…” Dean stuttered and his hands flew into the air, gesturing abortively, starting one motion with each word and changing direction abruptly. He finally settled on making an alarmed noise low in his throat, his hands hovering just above her hips, not touching.
Renee stepped even closer, well and truly in Dean’s personal space, and put a hand on his chest. “Just tell me how you feel,” she said softly.
Dean’s jaw worked, he opened his mouth and closed it a few times, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You tell me, hmm?’ He finally settles on. “I’m game for whatever. You tell me. Ball’s in your court.”
Renee’s hand curled into a fist, bunching Dean’s shirt up. “That’s not what I asked you for. I’m here for the long haul Dean, I thought I had made that clear, but you… You stay so distant sometimes that I’m not sure you even want me.”
Dean’s face froze in the same expression of terrified anxiety he had been wearing throughout most of the conversation. “I don’t… I mean I do… I mean…” His breath was coming a little too quickly now, and Renee saw the concerted effort he made to compose himself. “I really… I really want you to… to lead this relationship,” Dean managed to choke out. He took a couple of steadying breaths. “I’m, I mean, I’m me, and you’re so, just so you, you know?” Another steadying breath, and Dean’s expression became deathly serious. “I don’t want to leave you. Ever. I’ll stay with you as long as you’ll have me.”
It wasn’t the most romantic undying declaration of devotion Renee had ever heard, but it had come from Dean’s heart, clawing its way up past several layers of insecurity and anxiety as well as what was likely years of using bad attitude and bravado to cover up anything that might be tender or weak. She smiled at him softly, and his hands finally settled on her hips. “I’d like to have you for quite a while, I think.”
The anxiety melted off of Dean at that, and a look of wonder softened him immeasurably. Renee couldn’t resist, she leaned in for a quick kiss. She giggled softly as Dean tried to chase her when she pulled away. His arms slid around her, pulling her closer, full of intent. A heat Renee had only glimpsed before apparent in every one of Dean’s movements. The closest she had gotten to this spark had been about a week earlier, pinning Dean to her couch and delighting in every little growl she managed to draw out of him when she nipped along his jaw. Unfortunately, Nattie had tumbled through the window that lead to the fire escape, dragging Roman right along with her, and hadn’t that just killed the mood?
This night wasn’t going to end with Dean leaving to drive an out-of-it Roman home, though.
~
Early rising was something Dean was used to. Waking up disoriented was something Dean was used to. Hell, waking up disoriented in a someone else’s bed was normal enough that Dean at least had a plan. Dean, however, was not used to waking up in his own bed, disoriented, with someone else there.
So, it was rather understandable, he thought, that he startled back towards the wall when the early morning light spilled into his room through blinds he forgot to close and woke him up and there was a person in his bed, holy shit.
Blurry vision cleared quickly, and he finally began to recognize the scene in front of him. Gold hair was tangled and frizzy and fanned out across his spare pillow, and pale skin was a startling contrast to his dark sheets. In a deep sleep, Renee’s face was almost unbearably gentle and soft looking. A deep enough sleep that, apparently, a grown man nearly jumping out of his skin right next to her didn’t even cause her to stir.
Dean settled down, leaned against the wall and watched Renee breathe slowly. She was still there. Dean never brought people home, for a variety of reasons. On the rare occasion he had made it that far, they rarely stuck around to catch some z’s, and if they did, Dean usually woke to someone stumbling around his dark bedroom trying to find their underwear and missing shoe so they could beat a hasty retreat. Not once had he woken up next to someone who was comfortable enough to sleep peacefully in his bed. Yet here was Renee, out cold, curled up smack in the center of the mattress. It occurred to Dean, looking at her and considering where she was, and where he had been before he had thrown himself across the bed, that while he and Renee had been sleeping, they would have been tangled together, face to face.
Dean’s brain stalls on that image for a moment, crystal clear in his mind’s eye. Renee, as she was now, and himself, as still as he’ll ever be in life, breathing deeply, his arm slung over her waist, her hand up against his heartbeat.
It took Dean a moment to realize he had stopped breathing.
The sudden rush of oxygen brought with it a sudden rush of panic.
What did people do for other people who spent the night?
Ok, ok, ok, Dean pressed down his own panic. What would he want when he woke up? To leave, probably, he admitted to himself, after a moment of thought, but that was neither particularly helpful, nor was it something he wanted to consider where Renee was concerned.
Several more moments of blank thought accompanied by progressively more labored breathing was interrupted when Dean’s stomach made itself known with a loud gurgle.
Breakfast.
Yeah, ok. Breakfast would, hypothetically be something that Dean would want if he was willingly spending the morning with someone else.
Dean carefully crawled out of bed, doing his damndest trying not to wake Renee up while he crawled over her, and he did manage it, but he was pretty sure he looked like a drunk spider down a few limbs the entire time. He even managed to drag a pair of old sweats over his ass and make it to the door, but as soon as he turned the knob and the latch clicked, there was the definite rustle of moving sheets. He froze, and then ever so slowly turned his head to peer at Renee over his shoulder.
Renee had rolled over onto her back and had one arm tossed up above her head, and she was squinting at him through rays of sunshine. “Are you sneaking out of your own room?” she asked, voice raspy with sleep.
Dean shook his head, and stared at her. He should say something, explain maybe. Instead he noticed how parts of Renee’s hair caught the sunlight and seemed to glow. His gaze slowly shifted to her face, and he realized that she was staring him down with an arched eyebrow in a passable impression of Roman’s cousin. “Breakfast,” he blurted out. “I was going to make breakfast, because I’m hungry, and I thought, ‘hey, you know, I could really go for some chow right now,’ and I thought you might want some too, but now that I think about it, I could literally always go for some chow, and you might not want food, and I didn’t really think this through as well as I should have, did I?”
Renee listened to his explanation come question with a slightly baffled look on her face. It took a moment of Dean anxiously fiddling with the lock on his doorknob, flicking it back and forth for Renee to process everything and then she smiled gently. “Breakfast is good. Coffee is also good. Lots of coffee.”
“I can dig coffee,” Dean bobbed his head in agreement.
“You can go get started, and I’ll-” Renee interrupted herself with a large yawn, and then stretched, arching her back to shake it off. “I’ll grab some clothes and come out to help.”
Dean shook his head. “Nah, man, you don’t have to help. What kind of host would I be if I made my guest cook her own breakfast?” With that, Dean ducked out of the room with an impish grin, and Renee watched him go with a fond smile on her face.
By the time Renee had rolled out of bed and located most of her clothing from the night before, she could hear something sizzling in a pan, and the heavenly scent of a good dark roast was wafting through the apartment.
She ventured forth from Dean’s bedroom to find him in the kitchen. She padded up to him, still barefoot, and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Morning,” she said to the muscles in his back that her nose was pressed up against.
One of Dean’s hands closed briefly over Renee’s hands where they were clasped together on his chest. “Sleep well?”
She pressed up onto her toes and rested her chin on his shoulder to watch him cook while they talked. “Yeah, really well as a matter of fact. You?”
Dean flipped a couple of slices of bacon with a fork, then picked up a spatula resting on the counter to poke at some eggs he had going on another burner. “Yeah. Pretty good.”
“Woke up kind of early, though,” hummed Renee. The microwave clock read 6:45. Far too early given the night they had had, but also early enough for her to get to work. She hoped that Corey wouldn’t feel the need to make any snappish comments about her repeat work clothes.
“Usually do,” grunted Dean. He poked at the food for another moment. “Kind of a morning person, I guess.”
Renee hummed and let her hands slide down from Dean’s chest to his belt loops. “I would have taken you for a night owl.” She tugged at one of the belt loops, trying to get him to turn around. He did, without too much resistance, leaving the spatula behind.
He wrapped one arm around her waist, and brushed a few stray strands of hair out of her face with his free hand. “I don’t really sleep well ever,” he admitted with a shrug. “Slept well last night, though,” he added, free hand now resting on Renee’s cheek.
“I’m sorry. Glad I didn’t make things worse, though,” she said. Dean smiled at her then, and she watched his face light up, the hard lines softened into round cheeks and twinkling eyes, and Renee thought she could definitely get used to seeing that look on him.
“You could never make things worse,” Dean reassured her. He bumped their foreheads together softly, in a mirror of their pose the night before. Renee tilted her head up, looking for a kiss, and Dean obligingly closed the distance between them. They stayed like that for several minutes, wrapped up in each other, enjoying one another’s presence and touch, until a particularly loud sizzle and pop from the bacon pan jerked them back to reality.
Dean whirled around, wide eyed, and began to scramble in an attempt to salvage breakfast, while Renee watched and laughed helplessly.
In the end, the eggs had to be thrown out, and there were no more in the fridge to start again, and the bacon was mostly black, but the coffee had come out strong, and Dean was able to find some bread to make them toast. They sat together on the kitchen floor, plates of toast and mugs of coffee balanced carefully on their thighs, a plate of the barely edible bacon on the counter above them. “I’m sorry, I should have payed more attention,” said Dean around a mouthful of toast and peanut butter.
Renee took a moment long break from a serious attempt to drown herself in the dark roast to swat at Dean’s shoulder. “Oh please, it’s not like I’m not to blame for at least part of this mess.”
The corner of Dean’s mouth quirked up in a lopsided, wry grin that told Renee that his sense of humor was returning, if not at full force then nearly there. He leaned over and jostled her gently with his shoulder. “Anyway. If you hadn’t distracted me, we would have had a magnificent feast. Not char and bread. Shame on you.” Renee laughed and rested her head against Dean’s shoulder.
“Yeah, definitely shame on me. Not like I’m the one that started frying something and then got distracted by kissing. Like a teenager.”
Dean made a mock offended noise. “Are you saying my kisses weren’t distracting?”
Their banter was interrupted by the appearance of Roman, who had approached unheard while they were distracted and was now standing in the kitchen, looking at them with sleep-and-probably-concussion clouded eyes. “I smelled burning. Are we going to die?”
“Not today, my friend,” cheered Dean, jovially waving a piece of toast at Roman. He then pointed up at the plate holding the remains of the bacon. “Have some bacon. Well. Have some char that used to be bacon.”
“Char is good,” grunted Roman. Instead of moving, though, he just stood there, his focus slowly shifting from the bacon to Dean to Renee.
She smiled at him and raised her coffee mug in a mock salute. “Morning Ro! Sleep well?”
Roman stared at her blankly for another moment. “I’m not wearing pants, am I?” Renee shook her head and Dean snickered. Roman was indeed only wearing a pair of briefs. “Right… ok… um…” he stuttered, staggering a little bit away from the kitchen.
“Have some coffee, Roman. It’ll help wake you up,” Renee suggested, a little concerned by the lost and a bit panicked look on Ro’s face. Roman nodded, and quickly grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee.
Dean was trying valiantly not to lose it, and was giggling silently into Renee’s hair. He took a deep breath and composed himself as Roman stepped away from them hastily. “Take some of the char brother, seriously. I don’t want to throw it away.”
Roman grabbed the plate and all but ran back to his room, a deep blush spreading from his neck down his chest and up to his ears. “Have a good morning, guys,” he called over his shoulder.
Roman’s door clicked closed, and Renee and Dean took one look at each other before dissolving into hysterics.
Renee pressed her face against Dean and gasped a few times, trying to get herself under control. “Oh my god, I hope I didn’t embarrass him too bad.”
Dean was still chuckling. “Nah, he’ll get over it.”
Renee settled back in against Dean’s side, sipping at her coffee. The scent of dark roast and breakfast and Dean’s day old aftershave combined to make something Renee could envision calling home, given some time. She could stay like this… until work. Oh my God, she had to work today. She sat up abruptly, craning her neck to catch a glimpse of the microwave clock she had seen earlier. 7:15 am. She had to leave. She had to leave right now.
“What’s wrong?” She whipped her head back around to look at Dean when he asked the question. His expression had become carefully neutral, his smile long gone.
“Oh no, no. Nothings wrong,” she waved him off and leaned in to kiss him quickly. After pulling away, she held up a finger and drained her coffee. Then she reached over, snagged Dean’s coffee and drained that too. “I have to leave right now, though.” She leapt to her feet and started darting around the apartment, gathering her things as she found them.
Dean got to his feet much more slowly and watched Renee dart back and forth. She paused near him to dig through her purse to make sure she had her cellphone, her charger, and all the little things she needed that spent most of their time tangled up at the bottom of her bag. Various wires and electronics located and double checked, Renee looked up at Dean grinning, but froze at the look on his face. Dean’s brow was furrowed lightly, and he was watching her closely, lower lip trapped between his teeth.
Realization dawned on Renee after a moment of staring. She had jumped up in the middle of breakfast and started running around like a bat out of hell with no explanation. Of course Dean might worry she was running out on him, he had been worried about that since he had woken up next to her that morning, there was no reason that fear would magically dissipate after one easy morning.
She smiled at him as brightly as she could manage. “I have to go to work. I’m going to be late if I don’t leave, like, right this very minute. I had a good time, though. What’s your work schedule look like? I want to spend a night with you that doesn’t involve blood and explosives.”
Dean cocked his head at her, as though to say ‘really?’ He smiled, though, after a moment of thought. “Not sure. I go in tonight. I’m sure Noel or Mick will have the schedule up. I’ll text you?”
“I’m counting on it,” said Renee firmly, tugging on her shoes. “Now can I ask one last huge favor?”
Dean looked a bit surprised. “Yeah, anything.”
The grin on Renee’s face was absolutely wicked. “Scandalise everyone at the office by driving me to work on your bike?”
Renee and Dean left in a hurry, Dean pressing a spare helmet into her hands and rattling his keys in Roman’s general direction.
They rolled up in front of the Herald ten minutes before the doors opened, and Renee darted up to her office after pecking Dean on the lips with an admonishment to “remember to text me, damn it, I want to see you again soon.”
For a moment, when she opened the door to her office, she thought she had lucked out. Corey wasn’t sitting at his desk, and she thought she might be able to slide in, take a seat at her desk and get on with her day with minimal fuss.
“Who the hell was that delinquent?” Ah. No such luck. Corey had approached from behind and ambushed her on the way into their office.
Renee whirled around and smiled sweetly at her officemate. “What delinquent?”
Corey’s eyebrows shot up towards his hairline. “Are you braindead? The delinquent that dropped you at the front door. In yesterday’s clothes. Which, even ironed and clean, honestly did not look much better than they do now.”
Renee scoffed at him. “First of all, I look better right now then you would if you had a wardrobe and makeup team construct your looks. Second, it’s none of your business who my delinquent is-”
“Oh, so he’s your delinquent, is he?” Corey interrupted, stepping a bit closer.
Renee held her ground in the doorway to their office. “Third,” she pressed on without acknowledging Corey’s interruption. “What the hell were you doing? Watching me through the window? That’s a new level of freaky, even for you, Graves.”
Corey rolled his eyes and huffed. “It’s not like you to be here this late,” he muttered, moving to push past her into their office.
Renee leaned against the doorway a bit more casually, relaxing her posture and barring Corey from their workspace. “Were you worried about me?” she asked gleefully. “You were, weren’t you?”
“As if,” snapped Corey. “I might, possibly, have been concerned that I would have to put up with the sad excuses that pass for journalists in this office on my own. You are marginally better than them, after all.” Renee allowed Corey to brush past her this time. He sat at his desk and began to tap away at his keyboard without another word. Renee sat at her desk, and flashed him an overly chipper smile whenever they made eye contact for the rest of the day.
~
If Corey had been bad, Nattie was worse. With a long day at the office in a stale pair of socks under her belt, Renee just wanted to take a shower and go to bed. Nattie, waiting on their couch in her full Heartbreaker gear, clearly had other plans. As soon as Renee had stepped into their apartment, Nattie was in her face, practically bouncing with energy. “Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in,” squealed Nat. “You had better have a good explanation for where you’ve been, missy. A good explanation with plenty of details.”
Renee groaned and slumped forward. “Please, have mercy. I just want sleep.”
“Oh no, absolutely not. If you didn’t sleep last night, you can push it off a bit longer tonight. You didn’t sleep last night, right? Tell me Deano finally showed you a good time.” Nattie chattered along without pause, pulling Renee on to the couch. Poor couch, Renee thought, curling up on it next to Nattie. It’s seen so much. “Come on, please,” begged Nattie. “It’s so rare that one of has something to properly gossip about, and now you’ve got an actual boyfriend who you’ve actually spent the night with. Things are progressing slowly for me. Let me live vicariously through you.”
Renee sighed and looked at Nattie plaintively. “If I tell you, will you let me go to bed?” Nattie nodded earnestly. “Then yes, I spent the night with Dean.”
Nat squealed and clapped a few times. “Oh I knew it. Was it good? Did he treat you right? Do I need to go beat his ass?”
Renee laughed. “Calm down there, cowgirl. He treated me well. He treated me very well, as a matter of fact. Even made me breakfast and drove me to work this morning.”
Nat cooed and put her hand over her heart. “Did he really? That’s too cute! So, what was it like?”
“What was what like?” asked Renee. “Breakfast? It was burnt, but that was at least a little bit my fault.”
Nattie swatted Renee’s shoulder. “Don’t be obtuse. I meant the sex. What was the sex like? I bet it was pretty wild, with Dean. He seems kin-”
Renee shoved Nattie. “My god, woman, have you no shame? Do you break out the handcuffs the first time you take someone to bed?”
“Are you telling me handcuffs were involved?” demanded Nat.
Renee threw her hands up in exasperation. “No! There were no handcuffs involved. Try not to look so disappointed. The sex was good, ok? Dean is very… attentive. Very giving. Are you happy?”
“Attentive how?” asked Nat, wiggling her eyebrows. Renee threw herself back against the couch with an exaggerated moan.
Nat laughed and poked Renee’s ribs. “Nah, I’m satisfied now. I’m glad one of us is getting some. I’m going to head out tonight, don’t wait up.” Nat crossed the room and hauled open the window that lead to their fire escape, and stepped out.
“Be safe,” Renee called after her. “And only wake me when you get back if you’re dying!” Nattie tumbled over the rail of the fire escape gracefully, calling goodbye as she did so. Renee stood with a stretch. She was really looking forward to a hot shower and a solid night’s sleep.
Her phone dinged just after she set it down on the edge of the bathroom sink. A quick check revealed Dean’s schedule, and a copious number of emoji’s. Looked like they would be having their next date sooner rather than later.