Trails To Happiness

Home Sweet Home

Warning! Mentioned Alcoholism, mentioned neglect, and mentioned abuse.
(Narrator POV)
The phone calls between an in-love-and-ranting Sammy and an in-love-quietly Dean became a staple over the next few months, but no matter how much Dean begged to meet her, Sam wouldn't budge.

Now, normally Dean would take some offense to that, but he understood Sam's reasons. He was worried that the new person he cared so much about wouldn't like his family who meant the world to him.

Dean could somewhat sympathize because he hadn't been out as bi to his family when he first started dating Cas, and that made bringing him home as more than a friend ten times harder. He was worried that his family wouldn't approve or Castiel wouldn't like his family enough to risk possibly being shackled to them for life in the form of a future wedding with Dean.

Of course, Dean's situation was quite a bit different considering the fact that he had to come out as bi before announcing his boyfriend, but he could still get the nervousness Sam was experiencing.

That being said, he was gonna meet that girl, even if he had to drive to California in secret.

Anyone who could make his little brother gush like that had to be pretty epic.

Plus, just imagine how much Dean would get to tease Sam!

So much.

Anyways, along with the phone calls from baby bro, Dean had been a busy bee for months, in order to get an investor for his bar while he and Cas were house-hunting and wedding-planning.

He was stressed out beyond belief, which led to him going to a bar to shoot some pool while drinking club soda during the time Castiel was still at the market.

Yes, club soda.

Dean had quit drinking a lot after getting with Castiel. While attending MIT and the parties that came with it, he felt that his drinking habits were fine, but soon he grew uncomfortable getting drunk when Cas was around.

Castiel had no idea that Dean felt that way, and he would never try to persuade Dean to change anything unless it would benefit Dean or his health.

For example, Castiel would never try to change Dean's eating habits as long as he threw in something healthy once in awhile. However, if Dean had a medical condition with dietary restrictions, you can bet good money that Cas would make him follow those guidelines for his better health.

No, Castiel had no idea why Dean never wanted to be drunk around him, or why he had cut back in his drinking so much.

Truth was, Dean didn't want to be like his father, and he certainly didn't want to ever hurt Cas. He was typically a fun/happy drunk or a sad drunk (or a stupid one, if you asked the cartoon bee below his hip), not an angry one like John. That didn't matter much in the long run, because Dean would never forgive himself if something happened.

Dean didn't like alcohol enough to risk such things.

He barely drank at all anymore, and when he did it was in moderation. Generally at celebrations or in a social situation, and never enough to get drunk on.

So there he was, drinking club soda at a bar.

"Typically, people come to pubs to get a buzz." An English accent said from the side as Dean leaned down to take a shot with the pool cue.

"Typically, people in bars don't call them pubs." Dean grumbled back, in a bit of a bad mood after another stressful day.

"Ah, bad day then?" The man asked, ignoring the slight jab toward his accent and choice of words.