I Love a Good Comic (Dean/Cas fic)
Title: I Love a Good Comic
Author: chef_geekier
Pairing: Dean/Cas
Rating: Gen
Wordcount: 1800
Warnings: None
Summary: Castiel works in his older brother's comic store. Not much happens - until he notices a very pretty man and his little brother, who come in every week. (Getting together fluff in a comic store AU.)
Note: I... have no idea. This was done for the SPN-J2 Christmas exchange. One of the 'likes' was comic store AUs, and then this happened. I hope you like it anyway, darcydelaney
A note on ages - Sam is 16, Dean 20, and Castiel's age isn't mentioned other than being older than 19.
*DC*
When Castiel first left home, he'd been at a loss for what to do with himself. His family hadn't been able to accept who he was, and rather than continue to fight he'd just walked out. He'd been lost.
Until his older brother Gabriel had swooped in and made him manager in his comic store.
Even now, years later, Castiel still wasn't entirely sure how it had happened. He was glad it did though - he spent his days working in the shop, and his nights in the small apartment above it. Gabriel was a fair boss, if rather odd, and wealthy enough that it didn't matter how slow business was. He owned the shop because he was a huge geek, and loved fan culture, but employed Castiel because he couldn't be arsed dealing with customers.
Granted, Castiel wasn't exactly the poster boy for customer service, but it worked out well enough.
For a while, anyway.
*DC*
The first time he really noticed the gorgeous man in the leather jacket was actually the third time he'd been in. Of course Castiel had glanced at him, noticed he was pretty, then gone back to whatever he was doing. The man only seemed to be there because of a younger man - boy, really - who was most likely his brother.
The pair came in for three Saturdays in a row, with the younger buying a couple of new issues each week. It was on the third visit that Castiel was sitting behind the counter sketching from photos he'd pulled up via the internet, when he heard the two bickering. He realised that they didn't see him behind the display of trading cards on the counter.
“Are you sure we have enough money?” It sounded like the younger one speaking.
“Yeah Sammy,” a deep voice came back. “Get all three. We'll just cut back on ice cream.”
“Dean, you're not skipping food again are you? I told you not to do that!”
“It's fine, I'm eating plenty. C'mon, let's just pay for these and go.”
Castiel frowned. It sounded like the elder was sacrificing food for the younger. That... didn't sit well with him.
A few minutes later the boy shuffled up to the counter, and Castiel really looked at them both. The boy looked healthy enough, but his clothes were clearly old, probably hand-me-downs or charity shop purchases. The older one was much the same, though possibly edging on too thin. He also looked as though he wouldn't take kindly to someone mentioning it.
He couldn't say why he did what he did next.
After scanning the comics the boy had chosen, Castiel quickly typed in the code to add a discount. It wasn't much, but it still came out to five dollars cheaper than the total should have been.
“Are you sure that's right?” The boy asked hesitantly, eyes hopeful. Castiel shrugged.
“They scanned through cheaper, so you get the lower price,” he lied. The older man narrowed his eyes, but Castiel just stared straight back. The boy's face cracked into a delighted smile.
“Thanks, mister!”
As the boy was leaving, the man looked at Castiel one last time. Then he too grinned and nodded his head.
The memory of that grin stayed with Castiel all day.
*DC*For the next few weeks, the pair continued to come in weekly. The boy started to talk to Castiel at the counter, which is how he learned they were Sam (the younger) and his older brother Dean, and that this was the longest they'd stayed in one town for years. Sam was sixteen, in his junior year of high school, and Dean took care of him while their dad worked. Castiel mentioned that his older brother owned the store, and Sam gushed about how cool it would be to work with comics every day.
The conversations became something of a highlight for Castiel. Dean always stood back a ways, watching and listening, but never participating. Even so, Castiel was slowly learning just as much about him as he was about Sam.
Then one week, Dean came in by himself on a Thursday. Castiel raised an eyebrow as soon as he stepped in the store alone, which made Dean grin.
“Yeah, the kid's in school. SATs are coming up and he's been studying his ass off. I wanna get him something to keep his spirits up.”
Castiel blinked, then nodded.
“Right. Well, I think we can find something he'll like. Got in some new action figures this morning, does he like them?”
“Not really,” Dean shrugged. “I was thinking maybe one of those big comics?”
It took a moment, then Castiel realised what he meant.
“An anthology? Certainly. We have a few.” Inspiration struck him, and he nodded more firmly. “In fact, I think I know just the thing.”
He quickly made his way over to the Marvel section, which was where Sam usually picked out his comics, and grabbed an anthology off of the wall.
“Here. It's the first original X-Men comics. That should appeal to him.”
“Yeah,” Dean grinned widely. “Thanks Cas. This is perfect.”
Castiel blinked in confusion at the nickname, but left it. It wasn't insulting.
They made their way back up to the counter, where once again Dean's eyes turned suspicious.
“Y'know, I've noticed something about when you ring Sam up. It's always less than what he thought the price should be. You got an explanation?”
“I like him,” Castiel replied honestly. He paused, then realised how that could sound and continued. “He's not like the other little shits that come in, get their sticky fingerprints over everything, then leave without buying anything.”
Dean continued to stare for a moment, then huffed a laugh.
“Yeah, well, he likes this place too. I guess you're not so bad.”
Coming from Dean, that seemed to be a ringing endorsement.
*DC*
On Saturday, Sam bounded into the store grinning wildly. Castiel didn't fight the small smile in return.
“You rock! Thanks for helping Dean pick the comic, I never realised they'd put all the old stuff together!”
“You're welcome,” Castiel nodded. “I'm glad you enjoyed it.”
With that, Sam hurried off to pick out his comics for the week, while Dean leaned against the counter. He seemed to do a double-take when he saw Castiel's sketchbook lying open.
“Dude, did you do that?”
Castiel frowned at the drawing and nodded. It wasn't coming out the way he wanted it to, but it was a passable recreation of an old print of the Paris Opera House.
“Yes,” he finally acknowledged. Dean responded by grabbing the sketchbook and flipping through the pages. He let out a low whistle, seeming impressed.
“These are good,” Dean finally commented. “Did you go to art school or something?”
“No,” Castiel shook his head. “I've worked here since I was nineteen. Perhaps in the future, when I've saved enough, I might attend. For now though it's merely a hobby.”
Dean kept perusing the drawings until Sam was ready. Castiel didn't think anything of it, left him with the book while he rang up Sam's comics.
It wasn't until they'd left that he realised Dean had taken the drawing he'd done of an old car.
*DC*
Castiel didn't see the brothers for the next two weeks. He was mildly concerned, but recalled that they did travel a lot. Perhaps they had simply moved on to the next town. It did hurt a little that they hadn't said goodbye, but then they weren't really friends.
Then on the third Saturday, Sam came in by himself. He gave Castiel a small smile and headed straight to the counter.
“Hey Cas. Ugh, my dad's a dick sometimes.”
Castiel raised an eyebrow. He'd heard a few mini-rants about Sam's dad, all of which had made Dean roll his eyes. From the sounds of it he was a very serious man, strict about the family business (whatever it was), and he constantly clashed with Sam.
“What happened?”
“He took Dean to work with him, and there was some sort of accident. Dean broke his ankle, but still had to work. He's back at home now, got back last night, all pissy 'cause he can't drive. It'll be a couple of weeks before he's allowed to walk around normally.”
Castiel frowned. That wasn't good.
“You're taking care of him while he's injured.” It came out more as a statement than a question, but Sam grinned a little wider.
“Yeah. He usually takes care of me, so now I'm taking care of him.”
Castiel hummed, then pulled out the comics he'd set aside for Sam when he'd missed his usual visit.
That made Sam's smile finally grow full.
*DC*
The next week, Sam seemed back to his usual high spirits.
“How is Dean?” Castiel asked.
“Grumpy and bitching about not being able to get laid,” Sam replied easily. Castiel frowned, not entirely sure what to say to that. “He's majorly pissed about not being able to go and get pissed. Can't drink with the painkillers, even though he avoids taking them.”
Castiel refrained from commenting that Dean wasn't actually allowed to buy alcohol anyway. He had a feeling the boys had ways around pesky things like the legal drinking age.
“Well, I hope he's better soon.”
For some reason, that made Sam smirk, face alight with mischief.
“I'll tell him you said so.”
Castiel didn't know why that was such a big deal.
*DC*
The next Friday Castiel was just about to close up with the door opened and Dean walked in, a shopping bag in one hand. He looked the picture of health, and Castiel smiled in relief.
“Dean. I am glad you are well again.”
The man in question grinned back.
“Yeah, doctors thought it'd take longer, but I hate sitting around doing nothing. I'm fine now.”
There was a pause as the two men looked each other over, before Dean cleared his throat.
“So, Sam says you asked about me?”
“Of course,” Castiel's brow furrowed in confusion.
“Cool. So...” Dean paused again, then shrugged and pulled something out from the bag. He handed it over to Castiel, whose puzzlement turned to amusement when he recognised it as a brand new sketchbook. “Here. Figured yours might be getting full by now.”
Their fingers brushed, and Castiel smiled.
“Thank you Dean.”
“No problem. I'd like something in return though.”
“What's that?”
“Come for a drink with me.”
Castiel waited a beat, waited until Dean's smirk turned a little uncertain.
“I'd like that.”
*DC*
That Saturday, Sam came to the comic store alone, but smiling. Dean was already there.
Author: chef_geekier
Pairing: Dean/Cas
Rating: Gen
Wordcount: 1800
Warnings: None
Summary: Castiel works in his older brother's comic store. Not much happens - until he notices a very pretty man and his little brother, who come in every week. (Getting together fluff in a comic store AU.)
Note: I... have no idea. This was done for the SPN-J2 Christmas exchange. One of the 'likes' was comic store AUs, and then this happened. I hope you like it anyway, darcydelaney
A note on ages - Sam is 16, Dean 20, and Castiel's age isn't mentioned other than being older than 19.
*DC*
When Castiel first left home, he'd been at a loss for what to do with himself. His family hadn't been able to accept who he was, and rather than continue to fight he'd just walked out. He'd been lost.
Until his older brother Gabriel had swooped in and made him manager in his comic store.
Even now, years later, Castiel still wasn't entirely sure how it had happened. He was glad it did though - he spent his days working in the shop, and his nights in the small apartment above it. Gabriel was a fair boss, if rather odd, and wealthy enough that it didn't matter how slow business was. He owned the shop because he was a huge geek, and loved fan culture, but employed Castiel because he couldn't be arsed dealing with customers.
Granted, Castiel wasn't exactly the poster boy for customer service, but it worked out well enough.
For a while, anyway.
*DC*
The first time he really noticed the gorgeous man in the leather jacket was actually the third time he'd been in. Of course Castiel had glanced at him, noticed he was pretty, then gone back to whatever he was doing. The man only seemed to be there because of a younger man - boy, really - who was most likely his brother.
The pair came in for three Saturdays in a row, with the younger buying a couple of new issues each week. It was on the third visit that Castiel was sitting behind the counter sketching from photos he'd pulled up via the internet, when he heard the two bickering. He realised that they didn't see him behind the display of trading cards on the counter.
“Are you sure we have enough money?” It sounded like the younger one speaking.
“Yeah Sammy,” a deep voice came back. “Get all three. We'll just cut back on ice cream.”
“Dean, you're not skipping food again are you? I told you not to do that!”
“It's fine, I'm eating plenty. C'mon, let's just pay for these and go.”
Castiel frowned. It sounded like the elder was sacrificing food for the younger. That... didn't sit well with him.
A few minutes later the boy shuffled up to the counter, and Castiel really looked at them both. The boy looked healthy enough, but his clothes were clearly old, probably hand-me-downs or charity shop purchases. The older one was much the same, though possibly edging on too thin. He also looked as though he wouldn't take kindly to someone mentioning it.
He couldn't say why he did what he did next.
After scanning the comics the boy had chosen, Castiel quickly typed in the code to add a discount. It wasn't much, but it still came out to five dollars cheaper than the total should have been.
“Are you sure that's right?” The boy asked hesitantly, eyes hopeful. Castiel shrugged.
“They scanned through cheaper, so you get the lower price,” he lied. The older man narrowed his eyes, but Castiel just stared straight back. The boy's face cracked into a delighted smile.
“Thanks, mister!”
As the boy was leaving, the man looked at Castiel one last time. Then he too grinned and nodded his head.
The memory of that grin stayed with Castiel all day.
*DC*For the next few weeks, the pair continued to come in weekly. The boy started to talk to Castiel at the counter, which is how he learned they were Sam (the younger) and his older brother Dean, and that this was the longest they'd stayed in one town for years. Sam was sixteen, in his junior year of high school, and Dean took care of him while their dad worked. Castiel mentioned that his older brother owned the store, and Sam gushed about how cool it would be to work with comics every day.
The conversations became something of a highlight for Castiel. Dean always stood back a ways, watching and listening, but never participating. Even so, Castiel was slowly learning just as much about him as he was about Sam.
Then one week, Dean came in by himself on a Thursday. Castiel raised an eyebrow as soon as he stepped in the store alone, which made Dean grin.
“Yeah, the kid's in school. SATs are coming up and he's been studying his ass off. I wanna get him something to keep his spirits up.”
Castiel blinked, then nodded.
“Right. Well, I think we can find something he'll like. Got in some new action figures this morning, does he like them?”
“Not really,” Dean shrugged. “I was thinking maybe one of those big comics?”
It took a moment, then Castiel realised what he meant.
“An anthology? Certainly. We have a few.” Inspiration struck him, and he nodded more firmly. “In fact, I think I know just the thing.”
He quickly made his way over to the Marvel section, which was where Sam usually picked out his comics, and grabbed an anthology off of the wall.
“Here. It's the first original X-Men comics. That should appeal to him.”
“Yeah,” Dean grinned widely. “Thanks Cas. This is perfect.”
Castiel blinked in confusion at the nickname, but left it. It wasn't insulting.
They made their way back up to the counter, where once again Dean's eyes turned suspicious.
“Y'know, I've noticed something about when you ring Sam up. It's always less than what he thought the price should be. You got an explanation?”
“I like him,” Castiel replied honestly. He paused, then realised how that could sound and continued. “He's not like the other little shits that come in, get their sticky fingerprints over everything, then leave without buying anything.”
Dean continued to stare for a moment, then huffed a laugh.
“Yeah, well, he likes this place too. I guess you're not so bad.”
Coming from Dean, that seemed to be a ringing endorsement.
*DC*
On Saturday, Sam bounded into the store grinning wildly. Castiel didn't fight the small smile in return.
“You rock! Thanks for helping Dean pick the comic, I never realised they'd put all the old stuff together!”
“You're welcome,” Castiel nodded. “I'm glad you enjoyed it.”
With that, Sam hurried off to pick out his comics for the week, while Dean leaned against the counter. He seemed to do a double-take when he saw Castiel's sketchbook lying open.
“Dude, did you do that?”
Castiel frowned at the drawing and nodded. It wasn't coming out the way he wanted it to, but it was a passable recreation of an old print of the Paris Opera House.
“Yes,” he finally acknowledged. Dean responded by grabbing the sketchbook and flipping through the pages. He let out a low whistle, seeming impressed.
“These are good,” Dean finally commented. “Did you go to art school or something?”
“No,” Castiel shook his head. “I've worked here since I was nineteen. Perhaps in the future, when I've saved enough, I might attend. For now though it's merely a hobby.”
Dean kept perusing the drawings until Sam was ready. Castiel didn't think anything of it, left him with the book while he rang up Sam's comics.
It wasn't until they'd left that he realised Dean had taken the drawing he'd done of an old car.
*DC*
Castiel didn't see the brothers for the next two weeks. He was mildly concerned, but recalled that they did travel a lot. Perhaps they had simply moved on to the next town. It did hurt a little that they hadn't said goodbye, but then they weren't really friends.
Then on the third Saturday, Sam came in by himself. He gave Castiel a small smile and headed straight to the counter.
“Hey Cas. Ugh, my dad's a dick sometimes.”
Castiel raised an eyebrow. He'd heard a few mini-rants about Sam's dad, all of which had made Dean roll his eyes. From the sounds of it he was a very serious man, strict about the family business (whatever it was), and he constantly clashed with Sam.
“What happened?”
“He took Dean to work with him, and there was some sort of accident. Dean broke his ankle, but still had to work. He's back at home now, got back last night, all pissy 'cause he can't drive. It'll be a couple of weeks before he's allowed to walk around normally.”
Castiel frowned. That wasn't good.
“You're taking care of him while he's injured.” It came out more as a statement than a question, but Sam grinned a little wider.
“Yeah. He usually takes care of me, so now I'm taking care of him.”
Castiel hummed, then pulled out the comics he'd set aside for Sam when he'd missed his usual visit.
That made Sam's smile finally grow full.
*DC*
The next week, Sam seemed back to his usual high spirits.
“How is Dean?” Castiel asked.
“Grumpy and bitching about not being able to get laid,” Sam replied easily. Castiel frowned, not entirely sure what to say to that. “He's majorly pissed about not being able to go and get pissed. Can't drink with the painkillers, even though he avoids taking them.”
Castiel refrained from commenting that Dean wasn't actually allowed to buy alcohol anyway. He had a feeling the boys had ways around pesky things like the legal drinking age.
“Well, I hope he's better soon.”
For some reason, that made Sam smirk, face alight with mischief.
“I'll tell him you said so.”
Castiel didn't know why that was such a big deal.
*DC*
The next Friday Castiel was just about to close up with the door opened and Dean walked in, a shopping bag in one hand. He looked the picture of health, and Castiel smiled in relief.
“Dean. I am glad you are well again.”
The man in question grinned back.
“Yeah, doctors thought it'd take longer, but I hate sitting around doing nothing. I'm fine now.”
There was a pause as the two men looked each other over, before Dean cleared his throat.
“So, Sam says you asked about me?”
“Of course,” Castiel's brow furrowed in confusion.
“Cool. So...” Dean paused again, then shrugged and pulled something out from the bag. He handed it over to Castiel, whose puzzlement turned to amusement when he recognised it as a brand new sketchbook. “Here. Figured yours might be getting full by now.”
Their fingers brushed, and Castiel smiled.
“Thank you Dean.”
“No problem. I'd like something in return though.”
“What's that?”
“Come for a drink with me.”
Castiel waited a beat, waited until Dean's smirk turned a little uncertain.
“I'd like that.”
*DC*
That Saturday, Sam came to the comic store alone, but smiling. Dean was already there.