The Soul Burns Brighter Than The Sun

Chapter 8: Houses of the Holy

There's a case in Long Grove, Illinois with several people reportedly disappearing, from parents with kids, nine to five-ers, and college students, all disappearing into thin air in the past month.

The four of them check it out, and Eileen and Sam take on the local sheriff's station while Dean and Cas decide to hit up the bar on main and check in with the locals. The town itself is quaint, with historic architecture that Dean knows Sam is just eating up, and lots of little local store fronts in the downtown area. It's small, less than ten-thousand people, but Dean knows better than anyone that small towns are where the most fucked up shit happens.

Dean and Cas saddle up together at the bar. Dean opens his mouth to order beer for them both, when Cas steps in, "I'll take a Gin and Tonic, he'll have a beer. Please."

Something in Dean's gut flutters, and he stares at his friend, who flicks some cash on the bartop. The bartender nods, takes the cash and begins making Cas's drink. Cas turns to him, "Eileen said I might like to try one."

Dean blinks, and then shakes himself out of the slight haze he felt himself falling into. Not once had he ever considered what Cas might like to order, and he shoves down the urge to punch himself in the face for it. "Yeah, 'course."

Dean swivels in his stool, and glances around the bar to the rest of the patrons. It's not packed, which Dean thinks is unusual for a Friday night, but there's a few different tables filled with drinkers. A blonde woman sits at the slot machines, her drink balancing preciously next to her as she blankly watches the icons across the screen. A man in a sweater vest drinks alone at a table, staring at his phone. There's two pool tables, which seem like they're getting run by some hoity-toity college students. Internally, Dean can't wait to kick their ass in an hour or so and scam them a few bucks.

The bartender comes back with Dean's beer and Cas's short glass of Gin and Tonic. There's a lime wedge nestled into the edge of the glass, and Cas doesn't seem to know what to do with it, until Dean gestured for him to squeeze it into the drink.

Squinty-eyed, Cas did as Dean instructed, pinching the green fruit between his two fingers until all the liquid expelled into the glass. Now with a used lime in his hand, Cas looks to Dean with a questionable expression.

"Most people just let it float around in their drink." Dean shrugs.

Nodding seriously, Cas plops it into the liquid, but the lime floats on top of the ice, so Cas pokes his finger into the drink, pushing it below. Withdrawing his finger, now glistening with lime juice, Cas pops the digit in his mouth, sucking off the tart juice with a curious expression.

Dean's mind is catapulted to last week when he had Cas's cuffed wrists pinned against the wall, Dean's knees pushing Cas's legs apart so he can grind against him. His mouth goes dry as the Sahara, and he slugs back a few mouthfuls of beer, looking away, at anything that isn't his best friend sucking on his finger and staring curiously at Dean.

When they had gone back to the bunker, Dean hadn't known what to do, how to navigate where he and Cas were at with their home life. Thankfully, Cas hadn't asked or pushed, likely knowing that Dean didn't know what to do, and asking would trigger some kind of freak out.

So Dean slept alone at night, which was something he was used to after all, but that didn't mean he didn't wish Cas would knock on his door late at night under the guise of wanting to watch a movie, just for them both to fall asleep together.

Back on the road though, Dean didn't have to stumble down the hallway to Cas's room, or search the halls of the bunker at night in order to see him, all he had to do was look across the room, and Cas was there. He didn't even have to come up with some kind of reason for him and Cas to room together, Sam automatically booked them a double queen down the hall from his and Eileen's room, as per their routine.