Chapter Text
Jack stood outside the store, grocery list tucked away in his pocket. He didn’t mind waiting; Cas had taught him the importance of being patient. The town was quiet; a car passed by once in a while. Jack focused on the birds in the trees; they were beautiful. Earth was beautiful. Jack loved these moments where he could leave the bunker and just enjoy the outside world, not having to think about monsters or responsibilities at all.
Stacy held hands with Max as they walked down the sidewalk, Eliot beside her. She was focused on Max, who was talking about how they should all go and watch a movie later. It didn’t sound interesting, but she was happy to do anything with her friends, especially her girlfriend.
“We should watch the other one about those monsters.” Eliot's voice was persistent. After finding out that monsters were real, he had been obsessed with them. He wanted to go watch a different movie, but Max was not going to watch some horror film.
“No, we don’t need more monsters in our life; that's just too scary.” Stacy nodded along with her girlfriend's statement.
“I agree.” Stacy noticed a blond boy standing at the door of the store, his eyes fixed on the nearby tree birds squawking at the dark clouds rolling in. “Hey, who is that kid?” Max and Eliot stopped their squabble and looked up.
“That's the hunter's kid,” Eliot said.
“Bambi eyes?” Max’s eyes ran up and down Jack's form.
“Why do you call him that?” Stacy turned to Max, confusion in her voice.
“It’s because he always has this forlorn look on his face like he is permanently sad and confused.” She explained, holding her girlfriend's hand tighter
“I think it's cute.” Eliot's voice sounded dreamy as his eyes glazed over; they were still a good ways away.
“Oooh, you have a crush on Hunter boy~” Max teased Eliot, who blushed and pushed her arm with a laugh.
“Buzz off. I don’t know anything about him.”
“Yeah, I won’t start catching feelings before we find out if he's like that anyway.” Stacy placed an arm on Eliot's back, comforting him.
“Yeah, I've learned my lesson.” Eliot's face fell. Max and Stacy looked at each other, sharing a silent conversation before Stacy turned back to Eliot and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him while they walked.
“Well, let's go talk to Bambi; he looks like he's going into the shop anyway.” Eliot's face lit up, and a blush dusted his face.
“Yeah, okay.”
The sound of walking broke Jack’s train of thought, and he looked back down to see a group of three teens, one boy and two girls walking up to him. A girl with long dark hair spoke first.
“What’s your name?”
Jack’s face lit up. He loved talking to people, even though he was told by Dean that he was bad at it; that's why Sam took time to teach him some things that happened when talking to people, like how you exchange names when you first meet.
“My name is Jack!” He took a second to answer but smiled after he finished his sentence like a complete something cause he did; he said it correctly!
“Nice to meet you, Jack. My name is Stacy. This is Max. She tilted her head at the white-haired girl she was holding hands with. She waved with a smile on her face, then at the boy, and said, " This is Eliot. He had a nervous, small smile on his face that was quite flushed. Jack didn’t understand how he could be warm in this weather.
“Hi.” Eliot was quiet, and his face somehow got darker. Jack tilted his head, a little confused.
“Are you warm? It’s very cold out.” Jack was concerned for him; was he sick? Cas told him that humans get red when they have fevers. Stacy laughed and elbowed Eliot, who hid his face in his hands. This only confused Jack more; that was a sign of embarrassment, was what Jack said was embarrassing for this boy.
“No, he’s just a little nervous when it comes to talking to people,” Max answered.
“Oh. I see”
“Are you Sam and Dean's kid?” Max asked. Jack smiled; they knew his family.
“Yes! Those are two of my dad’s.”
“So you hunt as well! Like ghosts?” Eliot looked up and made eye contact with Jack; he sounded excited.
“No.” Jack hurriedly replied, “Ghosts are not real.” He was a horrible liar; the teens looked at each other; they already knew the truth. Stacy turned to Jack.
“Don’t worry, we already know Dean told us after we saw him and Sam kill one.”
Jack smiled and sighed.
“Oh, okay, good. I hate lying. I’m also not good at it; that's what Dean tells me.”
Max nodded. “Yeah, you’re not.”
“Anyway.” Stacy said, “Are you waiting for the store to open up?”
“Yes.” Jack nodded, smiling. “I am on a grocery run for my house. But the store is not open, so I will wait here until it is.” He said it so matter-of-factly that Stacy smiled.
“Not for long.” She said as she held up a key.
Jack read through the list, adding stuff to his basket. Stacy and Max were up by the register; Eliot on the other aisle. Jack had this feeling that Eliot was following him. He felt the boy's eyes on him constantly whenever he thought Jack was looking. Of course, this perplexed Jack. Why would Eliot be paying so much attention to him? He was only shopping.
Jack was looking through the pie options and decided to get more than one flavour, as the list didn't specify which flavour or the quantity. He turned around to see Eliot staring right at him. When Eliot saw that, his face got red again, and he turned away, trying to hide his face.
“Is there something you want?” Jack’s head tilted in confusion. He didn’t understand Eliot's actions. “Why are you following me around the store and staring at me? Is something wrong?” Eliot furiously shook his head.
“Sorry, I’m not trying to be weird.” Embarrassment. Jack could hear it in his voice.
“No, you aren’t just confusing. So what is it? You have a question; that's why you have been following me.” Eliot's face lit up.
“This monster thing its real! And you fight it?” Jack thought for a second. If Eliot already knew, there was no reason he couldn’t help educate him on the dangerous creatures of the world; that's what his dads did for him.
“Yes, I do. Whenever we think a monster is out killing, we go out and hunt it down; that's what I've been doing since I came into this life.” Eliot looked at him with awe, like doing that was the coolest (hottest) thing a person could do. Eliot confused Jack.
They talked as Jack finished grabbing the items on his list. He answered any questions Eliot had for him.
Jack felt like he was doing a great job with talking to people today. He couldn’t wait to tell Cas about this. He also had trouble talking to people. That's something they talked about during the evenings, where it was just the two of them, sleep never ebbing. He was glad those nights he had Castiel; it got lonely when everyone went to bed, the bunker dark cast in shadow. One person can walk the hallways alone before they just want to talk to someone.
Jack grabbed the case of beer as his last item, getting a weird look from Eliot; he didn’t understand why. He got to the checkout and laid out the items. Max and Stacy paused their conversation to look over at the pain. Stacy started checking out the items, stopping at the beer.
“I’m gonna need an ID for this, and by the looks of it, there is no way you are 21.” Stacy looked up and down Jack, who, in fact, did not look over the age of 21
Jack had a fake ID in his pocket that he could use to pretend he was, but he didn’t want to lie to his new friends, not like it would work anyway; they could tell he was lying from a mile away.
“Forgot it's my first time getting the beer; I'll have Dean pick it up.” Jack put the case back and went to pay. The price was not a problem; he had a card with money on it. Sam was good with fraud.
“How old are you anyway?” Jack looked up. Max had asked him the question. She looked from Jack to Eliot.
Back with the lying, talking to people required a lot of lying, but he could do this one cause saying the truth that he was only two years old would be too weird, and they would not believe that at all.
“I am seventeen years old.”
Max winked at Eliot, who looked away, pink scattered across Eliot's face.
“Well, Jack,” Stacy spoke up. “The three of us are hanging out at that abandoned building later.” She looked at Eliot, who was glaring at her. “You should join us, maybe tell us more about yourself and hunting.”
Jack's face lit up in contrast to Eliot, who was blushing like crazy but also giving Stacy a look of betrayal.
“Sure, I will go there after I stop by my house.”
Stacy smiled, and so did Max. “Great, see you then.”
Jack took his groceries and smiled. “Bye.”
“See ya.” The girls both said right before the door shut a hurried
“Bye, Jack!” came from Eliot in an octave higher than his normal voice. The girls both laughed slightly and looked over at Eliot.
“Don’t know if I should thank you or hit you,” Eliot said to Stacy.
“Just be happy you get to see him again, lover boy.”
“Shut up.” He was smiling, looking out as Jack got into his car and drove off.