Five Times Priya Said No to Dean, and the One Time She Said Yes 2/2 (Tabula Rasa 'verse)
Title: Five Times Priya Said No to Dean, and the One Time She Said Yes
Rating: R
Characters: Dean, Sam, Priya
Pairings: Dean/Priya
Warnings: Flashbacks to past abuse and rape. PTSD. Averted dub-con.
Summary: The word seemed to constantly hang about her lips. It was only years later that Dean came to appreciate how often it had been for his benefit.
Part 1
August 2019
Dean surfaced and paddled lazily in the lake, soaking up the sun. A hundred yards to his left, Sam and Priya were competing to see who could complete the most lengths in an hour. The younger Winchester had already lapped Priya, winning pretty much solely on the basis of longer limbs. When the stood next to each other, it looked a little like Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
The holiday had so far been thoroughly enjoyable, despite Dad's insistence they went for a walk every evening and Mum's ban on more than two ice creams a day. They might all be adults now, but it seemed the Winchesters were never going to give up being parents. Nonetheless, here he was, basking in the sun as his best friend and his brother tried to prove who was more closely related to fish. It all seemed so... normal.
It was weird, this was his fourth holiday with the Winchesters and yet he still felt a sense of confusion every time they told him to get packing. The Pypers used to go on holiday too, except they would leave him behind as a human guard dog. Not that he minded. Getting the house to himself-even with limited food and most of the electrical appliances turned off-was never going to be something he complained about. Besides, it had always felt more appropriate than the way the Winchesters insisted on including him in everything. After all, it wasn't even like he'd earnt his keep here.
The sun started to feel a little prickly on his face so he slowly rotated in the water until he was face down and holding his breath. The cool ripples lapped at his ear as Dean let the sensation of weightlessness wash over him.
The ripples seemed to grow larger and he heard the flapping of wings. He lifted his head to see a giant goose paddling next to him. Scared by the sudden movement next to it, it started squawking and flapping vigorously in Dean's face.
"Mmmnpgh!" Dean cried, the bird's wings smacking his head from side to side. He let out a low howl as its beak started pecking repeatedly at his temple.
Panicked, Dean did the only thing he could think of. He took a quick breath and dived underwater, swimming downwards blindly. When he was fully submerged by what felt like a safe few feet of water, Dean curled up in a ball and floated.
Half a minute later, with lungs screaming for oxygen, Dean surfaced once again. "Has it gone?" he called out.
A snigger floated over the water, carried by the light summer breeze. It was quickly followed by a snort and a peal of laughter. Dean swivelled to see Sam and Priya had stopped in their lengths to stare at him. Both were struggling to tread water while clutching their sides.
"It's not funny!" Dean yelled in their direction, which only made them laugh harder.
"You should have-" Sam paused to catch his breath. "You should have seen your face, Dean! It was Man vs Goose and you lost. Hell, you chickened out," he said, a proud grin adorning his face.
"You shouldn't have dived," Priya said through her hysterics, "you should have ducked." They both dissolved into laughter once again.
"You two should have your own show," Dean grunted. He tried to scowl and winced as a sharp bolt lanced through his forehead.
Fuck.
***
"Hey Sam, you got any change?" Dean asked casually, scanning his brother's giant form for any bulges that screamed dinero.
"No," Sam replied, sitting down on his hotel bed and grabbing the television remote.
Dean's eyes spotted the deformity in the younger guy's left sock.
Bingo.
"Aww, Sammy, c'mon," Dean pleaded, "just a couple more times. Besides, I've just suffered a vicious attack by a predatory beast, I deserve a little comfort."
Sam ignored him and continued to flick through channels. Feeling a pinch of annoyance at his brother's apparent dismissal, Dean jumped off the couch and tackled Sam to the bed.
"Get offa me, Dean!" the giant yelled as Dean scrambled down to his foot and shoved his hand down his sock.
Dean sat back up on the bed with a flourish, holding the coins up high. "Hah!"
"I'm not enabling your sick fetish!" Sam yelled. But Dean was too far gone to care. He was about to put the change and the Magic Fingers machine together to create a little slice of Heaven.
***
Sam dragged Priya into his room ten minutes later.
"You tell him. He won't get off the damn thing!" Sam cried.
Dean kept his eyes closed, feigning sleep. No way was he leaving the bed. All he needed was a little Casa Erotica and no chance of the parents walking in and he'd be all set for a good night in.
There was some shuffling and quiet laughter at his side, which he pointedly chose to ignore as he leaned further into the vibrations.
A second later, he jerked up and swatted wildly at his ear as he felt a fly enter it. Snapping his head round to the side, he saw Priya was holding a Q-tip up, while Sam cracked up behind her.
"The fuck?"
"I can tell when you're pretending. Your eyelids flutter," she said.
Dean let out a quiet groan as the machine rumbled to a halt. The groan turned into a quiet moan of pleasure as he slotted another coin in and the vibrations started up once again.
"Seriously Dean, get a room."
Dean opened one eye. "I have a room. This is my room. Go to your own room."
"We're sharing a room, dumbass!" Sam threw his gargantuan arms up in the air in an exasperated sigh.
"Yeah well you're... dumbass-er."
Dean stared at the ceiling, pretending not to notice Sam's pointed look at the comeback.
The mattress dipped to his left and Dean tilted his head up to see Bookworm had perched herself precariously on the vibrating edge. She reached down and absent-mindedly scratched the area where a couple of leeches had suckered onto her in the lake.
"Seriously, Bookworm, I'm so getting one of these when we've got our own place."
The words tumbled out before he'd had the chance to process them.
Seriously? Getting your own place together? Are you really so deluded you think she'll want to live with you?
"No." Priya said firmly.
Dean's heart broke a little at the finality of it. Of course she didn't see a future in them.
But then she carried on. "No way would I let that thing into our house. I'd never be able to get you off it and get things done," she said, grinning.
Dean turned away from her as his throat constricted. He blinked away the sudden moisture building up in his eyes and let the knot in the pit of his stomach loosen a little.
Maybe he wasn't quite as deluded as he thought.
March 2022
Unless Sam or Priya stopped him, Dean swore he was going to go kiss Mrs Moore straight on the lips.
The pie. The goddamn fucking piece-of-heaven pie.
"Seriously dude, your future mother-in-law is awesome," he said, breathing out the last word as he scooped up another spoonful.
"Qui' sayin'-" Sam paused to put down his bowl of wedding cake and swallow the piece in his mouth, "she's my future mother-in-law. I can't believe she baked a pie just for you," he finished in awe.
"I know, right? And it's amazing. It's orgasmic."
Sam groaned while Priya rolled her eyes. Dean ignored them and continued to gorge on the dessert Mrs Moore had handed him with a jovial "Billy often told me how you loved pie more than cake so I made this for you."
He looked up to the main table to see his friend listening intently as his newly-wed husband, Jordan, whispered something in his ear. He hadn't taken it well when Luke had broken it off with him in their first year of college via a quick email telling him he'd found another guy.
But as Dean watched the slow smile spreading across Billy's face at Jordan's words, he felt convinced it had truly all been for the best. He pulled out his phone, opened the texts from Billy, and grinned as he looked over the development of their relationship.
'Some dick at work took my spot in the parking lot. If I find who it is, I'm gonna tear them a new one.'
'You remember that guy that keeps parking in my spot at work (and don't you start up about how I can't have a spot already because I've only worked there for a month... I have a spot and you're just going to have to deal with that)? He did it again!'
'Parking-spot-stealer has struck again. I'm gonna wait for him to come pick up his car and I'm gonna tell him to knock it off.'
'The guy's called Jordan Odayu. Real moody from what I can tell. He just told me he'll park somewhere else from now on and drove away.'
'I've finished that mega-code I was writing for the latest game, but there's this one damn glitch that I can't find. It's driving me fucking crazy!'
'Shit. Of all the people, it had to be that parking spot dickhead who found the bug. It was in one of the iterations, I'd missed a line. Damn guy just strutted in, pointed it out, and walked out again.'
'Ok, help me out here, man. I don't know what to do. I went to my parking spot and Jordan's car was there again. I went into his office, ready to tear him a new one, and he just said he did it so I'd talk to him. He asked me out on a date. Fuck, what should I say?'
'Took your advice. Now, what should I wear? (Don't tell me to talk to Priya about it. She's useless for this stuff.)'
'Yeah Dean, I'm gonna go in my birthday suit. Real funny.'
'I don't even wanna talk about how that went. I spilt wine on his shirt. He tripped over my chair leg on the way to the toilet and nearly bit my nipple off in the process. I can safely say we're never gonna speak to each other again.'
'Jess told me about how you put Nair in Sam's shampoo and now he's got bald spots. You're a fucking monster. In other news, Jordan left a note saying sorry on my desk at work today. He invited me over for dinner next weekend.'
'Just got back from Jordan's place. He likes rom-coms. I don't know if we can see each other anymore.'
'I told Jordan about this insect that keeps sitting on my desk at work. He looked me right in the eye and said "It's not a bug, it's a feature." I think he's a keeper.'
'Fuck off Dean, that joke was hilarious."
"Oh my god, Dean, is that you?"
Dean snapped the cover closed on his phone and looked up.
Shit.
Georgina Baker was stood by the table with her arm around Josh, one of Billy friends from college. Dean ducked his head and prayed to a non-existent god that he might get off easy just this once and she'd get sucked into a miniature black hole created conveniently just under her feet.
No such luck.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voiced tinted with suspicion. "You're not trying to, uhh, find clients here, are you?"
Dean could feel his cheeks flaring pink. It was made worse by the fact Sam and Priya were now looking at the new member of the table with interest.
"I-uh-I don't really-" He paused and clutched the spoon in his hand a little tighter. "I don't really do that kind of stuff anymore."
She nodded. "I should hope so," she said. Dean noted that Josh looked mildly uncomfortable at the direction the conversation was going. "You were dirty and wrong to do it. I'm glad you finally saw that."
Priya and Sam stood up in unison and came over to flank Dean on either side.
"What did Dean do that was dirty and wrong?" asked Priya. She spoke softly, as if genuinely curious, but Dean caught the hard edge that indicated the other speaker ought to back the fuck down if they knew what was good for them.
"Guys, just leave it. Let's just go," Dean murmured at his shoes.
He started to get up to walk away when Priya's hand came down to rest upon his shoulder. "No, Dean. You don't need to feel ashamed about anything."
Georgina snorted. "Yeah, whoring yourself out to perverts is nothing to feel ashamed of."
Dean started wondering if the ground could open up and swallow him instead.
"Back off," Sam growled from behind him. "That's my big brother you're talking about."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Georgina said sincerely.
Priya had to grab Sam's jacket as the Sasquatch started to lunge towards her. Dean didn't know whether to feel pity for the kid having to deal with his brother's shit or touched by his reaction.
"Look, I don't know who you are or how you know about Dean," Bookworm spoke in that steady, controlled voice again. "But if you know what's good for you, you'll leave him alone."
"Oh trust me, I wouldn't want to go near him," Georgina replied, before muttering something about STDs and walking off.
Dean cupped his head in his hands and tried to blink back tears. "Sorry 'bout that," he mumbled through the gap between his palms. "I get it if you guys want to sit somewhere else."
Hell, he wished he could go sit as far away from him as possible.
He heard two chairs being scraped along the ground. A moment later, two arms encircled him from either side, one over his shoulder and the other around his waist.
"Who was the bitch?" asked Sam.
Dean swiped the heels of his hands over his eyes before looking up at their concerned faces. "Uh, Georgina Baker. She went to the same high school as me when I was with Rex."
"Wait, that was Georgina?" Priya met Dean's gaze. Some of the fury in her eyes appeared to have been replaced by amusement. "Your first crush?"
Dean glowered. "Yeah, so?"
Her arm tightened a little around his waist. "Dude, you need a better taste in girls."
Dean looked her up and down pointedly. "Yeah, I can see that."
"Shut up. There's always gonna be exceptions."
Dean let out a small chuckle and looked down at the plate of pie once again. He wasn't particularly hungry anymore.
Jess came over and dropped into the chair besides Sam's.
"I swear I've done more work for this wedding than Billy has," she said with a sigh.
Sam chuckled. "Have you had some cake?"
"I had about four pieces." She caught Sam's look of mock horror and glared. "Sue me."
"Can't," Sam grinned. "Not that far into law school."
Dean felt a weight shift beside him. He turned to see Priya getting up. "You leaving?"
"No, just getting a drink. You want anything?"
You.
Dean shook his head and watched as she walked away.
December 2021
Dean breathed quick, shallow puffs of moist air onto his hands and rubbed them together. Once they warm enough to move without shaking, he quickly finished picking the rusty padlock on the gate.
He should have probably felt guilty about trespassing.
Then again, it was probably too late for Dean to start caring about breaking laws. The fake IDs in the glove compartment of his Impala stood as testament to that. Nonetheless, the thought did cross his mind as he walked to the centre of the school playing fields, the crisp snow giving way under his feet.
Dean glanced down at his watch. Sam would have got the message to Priya by now. She'd be on her way. He patted the box in his trouser pocket and felt the now-familiar feeling of his heart rising up in his throat.
What if she said no?
Then you deal with it.
Not that he had any idea how to go about doing that. (It probably involved picking up a bottle and finding a monster to gank.) But he had to admit that it would be the sensible thing for her to do. Who the hell even knew why she'd put up with him for so long?
But then again, Priya could hardly be classed as sensible. She liked to mix ice cream with cornflakes and she insisted on yelling the answers at the TV whenever Countdown was on. It was somewhere in between her ranting for half an hour over the phone at the impracticalities of certain points of the menstrual cycle and her keeping two bottles of El Sol in her fridge at all times-despite the fact she didn't drink-just in case he came to her after a particularly nasty hunt and needed a place to crash, that he realised he really wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He wanted to watch her develop new quirks and let go of old ones. He wanted to wake up and see her there, steady and permanent, ready to face each new day with him by her side. He wanted to grow old together.
The damp crunch of shoes on snow had Dean looking up towards the recently-picked gate at the mouth of the playing field. Priya walked towards him as Sam stood by, flashing him a quick thumbs up from behind her head.
Bookworm stopped suddenly and started hopping on one foot. She lifted the other up and brushed off the melting sludge that had made its way over the edge of the trainer and was now trickling down the side of her sock. "Dean Winchester, I'm gonna kick your ass for bringing me out here," she called over. "I'm fucking freezing."
Do you really want to spend the rest of your life with this woman?
The pale sunlight reflected off the fresh snow and highlighted the amusement in her dark eyes.
Hell yeah.
She came to a stop a couple of feet in front of him, her small frame shivering against the cold. "Sam said you had something to show me. He wouldn't tell me anymore but he kept grinning, like, constantly. So what's up?"
Dean closed the distance between them and walked round so he was stood behind her. He ran his hands over the sleeves of her sweater, feeling the twitching muscle calm as she leaned back into his touch.
"Do you remember much about this field?" he asked, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I've done too many laps in PE lessons and on Sports Days to ever forget it," Priya replied, nestling further into his arms.
"Do you remember anything else?"
She tilted her head up to look at him. "Of course," she whispered.
Dean turned her around gently and took her cold fingers in his own. "You'd said we should wait five years and see where we are then. It's been nearly seven years and you're still the strongest, kindest, smartest, most beautiful girl I know. You stand up for me and you stand up to me. And I love that about you. So..." Dean squeezed her hands once and let go. Pulling out the ring box from his pocket, he knelt on the ground and looked up at her. "I was wondering if you'd do me the honour of marrying me?"
He expected a 'yes' if he was lucky, more likely a 'no' or an 'I need more time'. He definitely hadn't prepared for all-out laughter.
"What?" he snapped.
But then he thought about it. Marrying him was actually a pretty funny idea. Why the hell would anyone want to spend the rest of their life with a twenty-four year old guy who still had nightmares and froze up if he saw anyone who resembled a figure from his sordid past? Not exactly white-picket-fence husband material.
Dean forced a laugh past his lips as he stared at the ground. "Yeah, it was pretty stupid of me to think there was any chance you'd agree."
The laughter stopped above him and a moment later Priya was on her knees in front of him. "Shit, Dean, I wasn't laughing at that. I was just laughing because I'd been about to ask you. I wasn't sure if you were ever going to ask, what with what I'd said about waiting, so I thought I'd take the plunge. Hell, I was even gonna go pick up the ring tomorrow."
Dean took some time to process her words, determined not to grab hold of the wrong end of the stick. Because if she hadn't been laughing at the thought of marrying him, if she really had been planning on asking, then that meant... "Is that a yes, then?"
Priya leaned forward and gently pressed her lips up against his. She steadied herself with a hand on his shoulder and tilted her head back to look up at him. "Yes. That's a yes, you great big dork. Of course I'll marry you."
Dean laced his fingers into her soft hair and kissed her back. "You want that ring now?"
Priya nodded, making their foreheads bump. Dean opened the box and slid the band onto her finger.
The sound of crunching snow had Dean looking up for the second time that day. This time it was to see a grinning Sasquatch striding over to him. The couple stood up and Priya opened up their arms to allow Sammy to join them.
"She said yes, then?"
Dean tightened his embrace on the two people he loved most in the world. And in that moment, his past and his future didn't matter. All he cared about were the two warm bodies at his side and the smiles on their faces.
"She did."
Author Note: Thanks for taking the time to read this, I'd love some feedback if you have any! Please feel free to create art, fics, podfics, or anything else you might like for this 'verse.
Rating: R
Characters: Dean, Sam, Priya
Pairings: Dean/Priya
Warnings: Flashbacks to past abuse and rape. PTSD. Averted dub-con.
Summary: The word seemed to constantly hang about her lips. It was only years later that Dean came to appreciate how often it had been for his benefit.
Part 1
August 2019
Dean surfaced and paddled lazily in the lake, soaking up the sun. A hundred yards to his left, Sam and Priya were competing to see who could complete the most lengths in an hour. The younger Winchester had already lapped Priya, winning pretty much solely on the basis of longer limbs. When the stood next to each other, it looked a little like Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
The holiday had so far been thoroughly enjoyable, despite Dad's insistence they went for a walk every evening and Mum's ban on more than two ice creams a day. They might all be adults now, but it seemed the Winchesters were never going to give up being parents. Nonetheless, here he was, basking in the sun as his best friend and his brother tried to prove who was more closely related to fish. It all seemed so... normal.
It was weird, this was his fourth holiday with the Winchesters and yet he still felt a sense of confusion every time they told him to get packing. The Pypers used to go on holiday too, except they would leave him behind as a human guard dog. Not that he minded. Getting the house to himself-even with limited food and most of the electrical appliances turned off-was never going to be something he complained about. Besides, it had always felt more appropriate than the way the Winchesters insisted on including him in everything. After all, it wasn't even like he'd earnt his keep here.
The sun started to feel a little prickly on his face so he slowly rotated in the water until he was face down and holding his breath. The cool ripples lapped at his ear as Dean let the sensation of weightlessness wash over him.
The ripples seemed to grow larger and he heard the flapping of wings. He lifted his head to see a giant goose paddling next to him. Scared by the sudden movement next to it, it started squawking and flapping vigorously in Dean's face.
"Mmmnpgh!" Dean cried, the bird's wings smacking his head from side to side. He let out a low howl as its beak started pecking repeatedly at his temple.
Panicked, Dean did the only thing he could think of. He took a quick breath and dived underwater, swimming downwards blindly. When he was fully submerged by what felt like a safe few feet of water, Dean curled up in a ball and floated.
Half a minute later, with lungs screaming for oxygen, Dean surfaced once again. "Has it gone?" he called out.
A snigger floated over the water, carried by the light summer breeze. It was quickly followed by a snort and a peal of laughter. Dean swivelled to see Sam and Priya had stopped in their lengths to stare at him. Both were struggling to tread water while clutching their sides.
"It's not funny!" Dean yelled in their direction, which only made them laugh harder.
"You should have-" Sam paused to catch his breath. "You should have seen your face, Dean! It was Man vs Goose and you lost. Hell, you chickened out," he said, a proud grin adorning his face.
"You shouldn't have dived," Priya said through her hysterics, "you should have ducked." They both dissolved into laughter once again.
"You two should have your own show," Dean grunted. He tried to scowl and winced as a sharp bolt lanced through his forehead.
Fuck.
***
"Hey Sam, you got any change?" Dean asked casually, scanning his brother's giant form for any bulges that screamed dinero.
"No," Sam replied, sitting down on his hotel bed and grabbing the television remote.
Dean's eyes spotted the deformity in the younger guy's left sock.
Bingo.
"Aww, Sammy, c'mon," Dean pleaded, "just a couple more times. Besides, I've just suffered a vicious attack by a predatory beast, I deserve a little comfort."
Sam ignored him and continued to flick through channels. Feeling a pinch of annoyance at his brother's apparent dismissal, Dean jumped off the couch and tackled Sam to the bed.
"Get offa me, Dean!" the giant yelled as Dean scrambled down to his foot and shoved his hand down his sock.
Dean sat back up on the bed with a flourish, holding the coins up high. "Hah!"
"I'm not enabling your sick fetish!" Sam yelled. But Dean was too far gone to care. He was about to put the change and the Magic Fingers machine together to create a little slice of Heaven.
***
Sam dragged Priya into his room ten minutes later.
"You tell him. He won't get off the damn thing!" Sam cried.
Dean kept his eyes closed, feigning sleep. No way was he leaving the bed. All he needed was a little Casa Erotica and no chance of the parents walking in and he'd be all set for a good night in.
There was some shuffling and quiet laughter at his side, which he pointedly chose to ignore as he leaned further into the vibrations.
A second later, he jerked up and swatted wildly at his ear as he felt a fly enter it. Snapping his head round to the side, he saw Priya was holding a Q-tip up, while Sam cracked up behind her.
"The fuck?"
"I can tell when you're pretending. Your eyelids flutter," she said.
Dean let out a quiet groan as the machine rumbled to a halt. The groan turned into a quiet moan of pleasure as he slotted another coin in and the vibrations started up once again.
"Seriously Dean, get a room."
Dean opened one eye. "I have a room. This is my room. Go to your own room."
"We're sharing a room, dumbass!" Sam threw his gargantuan arms up in the air in an exasperated sigh.
"Yeah well you're... dumbass-er."
Dean stared at the ceiling, pretending not to notice Sam's pointed look at the comeback.
The mattress dipped to his left and Dean tilted his head up to see Bookworm had perched herself precariously on the vibrating edge. She reached down and absent-mindedly scratched the area where a couple of leeches had suckered onto her in the lake.
"Seriously, Bookworm, I'm so getting one of these when we've got our own place."
The words tumbled out before he'd had the chance to process them.
Seriously? Getting your own place together? Are you really so deluded you think she'll want to live with you?
"No." Priya said firmly.
Dean's heart broke a little at the finality of it. Of course she didn't see a future in them.
But then she carried on. "No way would I let that thing into our house. I'd never be able to get you off it and get things done," she said, grinning.
Dean turned away from her as his throat constricted. He blinked away the sudden moisture building up in his eyes and let the knot in the pit of his stomach loosen a little.
Maybe he wasn't quite as deluded as he thought.
March 2022
Unless Sam or Priya stopped him, Dean swore he was going to go kiss Mrs Moore straight on the lips.
The pie. The goddamn fucking piece-of-heaven pie.
"Seriously dude, your future mother-in-law is awesome," he said, breathing out the last word as he scooped up another spoonful.
"Qui' sayin'-" Sam paused to put down his bowl of wedding cake and swallow the piece in his mouth, "she's my future mother-in-law. I can't believe she baked a pie just for you," he finished in awe.
"I know, right? And it's amazing. It's orgasmic."
Sam groaned while Priya rolled her eyes. Dean ignored them and continued to gorge on the dessert Mrs Moore had handed him with a jovial "Billy often told me how you loved pie more than cake so I made this for you."
He looked up to the main table to see his friend listening intently as his newly-wed husband, Jordan, whispered something in his ear. He hadn't taken it well when Luke had broken it off with him in their first year of college via a quick email telling him he'd found another guy.
But as Dean watched the slow smile spreading across Billy's face at Jordan's words, he felt convinced it had truly all been for the best. He pulled out his phone, opened the texts from Billy, and grinned as he looked over the development of their relationship.
'Some dick at work took my spot in the parking lot. If I find who it is, I'm gonna tear them a new one.'
'You remember that guy that keeps parking in my spot at work (and don't you start up about how I can't have a spot already because I've only worked there for a month... I have a spot and you're just going to have to deal with that)? He did it again!'
'Parking-spot-stealer has struck again. I'm gonna wait for him to come pick up his car and I'm gonna tell him to knock it off.'
'The guy's called Jordan Odayu. Real moody from what I can tell. He just told me he'll park somewhere else from now on and drove away.'
'I've finished that mega-code I was writing for the latest game, but there's this one damn glitch that I can't find. It's driving me fucking crazy!'
'Shit. Of all the people, it had to be that parking spot dickhead who found the bug. It was in one of the iterations, I'd missed a line. Damn guy just strutted in, pointed it out, and walked out again.'
'Ok, help me out here, man. I don't know what to do. I went to my parking spot and Jordan's car was there again. I went into his office, ready to tear him a new one, and he just said he did it so I'd talk to him. He asked me out on a date. Fuck, what should I say?'
'Took your advice. Now, what should I wear? (Don't tell me to talk to Priya about it. She's useless for this stuff.)'
'Yeah Dean, I'm gonna go in my birthday suit. Real funny.'
'I don't even wanna talk about how that went. I spilt wine on his shirt. He tripped over my chair leg on the way to the toilet and nearly bit my nipple off in the process. I can safely say we're never gonna speak to each other again.'
'Jess told me about how you put Nair in Sam's shampoo and now he's got bald spots. You're a fucking monster. In other news, Jordan left a note saying sorry on my desk at work today. He invited me over for dinner next weekend.'
'Just got back from Jordan's place. He likes rom-coms. I don't know if we can see each other anymore.'
'I told Jordan about this insect that keeps sitting on my desk at work. He looked me right in the eye and said "It's not a bug, it's a feature." I think he's a keeper.'
'Fuck off Dean, that joke was hilarious."
"Oh my god, Dean, is that you?"
Dean snapped the cover closed on his phone and looked up.
Shit.
Georgina Baker was stood by the table with her arm around Josh, one of Billy friends from college. Dean ducked his head and prayed to a non-existent god that he might get off easy just this once and she'd get sucked into a miniature black hole created conveniently just under her feet.
No such luck.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voiced tinted with suspicion. "You're not trying to, uhh, find clients here, are you?"
Dean could feel his cheeks flaring pink. It was made worse by the fact Sam and Priya were now looking at the new member of the table with interest.
"I-uh-I don't really-" He paused and clutched the spoon in his hand a little tighter. "I don't really do that kind of stuff anymore."
She nodded. "I should hope so," she said. Dean noted that Josh looked mildly uncomfortable at the direction the conversation was going. "You were dirty and wrong to do it. I'm glad you finally saw that."
Priya and Sam stood up in unison and came over to flank Dean on either side.
"What did Dean do that was dirty and wrong?" asked Priya. She spoke softly, as if genuinely curious, but Dean caught the hard edge that indicated the other speaker ought to back the fuck down if they knew what was good for them.
"Guys, just leave it. Let's just go," Dean murmured at his shoes.
He started to get up to walk away when Priya's hand came down to rest upon his shoulder. "No, Dean. You don't need to feel ashamed about anything."
Georgina snorted. "Yeah, whoring yourself out to perverts is nothing to feel ashamed of."
Dean started wondering if the ground could open up and swallow him instead.
"Back off," Sam growled from behind him. "That's my big brother you're talking about."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Georgina said sincerely.
Priya had to grab Sam's jacket as the Sasquatch started to lunge towards her. Dean didn't know whether to feel pity for the kid having to deal with his brother's shit or touched by his reaction.
"Look, I don't know who you are or how you know about Dean," Bookworm spoke in that steady, controlled voice again. "But if you know what's good for you, you'll leave him alone."
"Oh trust me, I wouldn't want to go near him," Georgina replied, before muttering something about STDs and walking off.
Dean cupped his head in his hands and tried to blink back tears. "Sorry 'bout that," he mumbled through the gap between his palms. "I get it if you guys want to sit somewhere else."
Hell, he wished he could go sit as far away from him as possible.
He heard two chairs being scraped along the ground. A moment later, two arms encircled him from either side, one over his shoulder and the other around his waist.
"Who was the bitch?" asked Sam.
Dean swiped the heels of his hands over his eyes before looking up at their concerned faces. "Uh, Georgina Baker. She went to the same high school as me when I was with Rex."
"Wait, that was Georgina?" Priya met Dean's gaze. Some of the fury in her eyes appeared to have been replaced by amusement. "Your first crush?"
Dean glowered. "Yeah, so?"
Her arm tightened a little around his waist. "Dude, you need a better taste in girls."
Dean looked her up and down pointedly. "Yeah, I can see that."
"Shut up. There's always gonna be exceptions."
Dean let out a small chuckle and looked down at the plate of pie once again. He wasn't particularly hungry anymore.
Jess came over and dropped into the chair besides Sam's.
"I swear I've done more work for this wedding than Billy has," she said with a sigh.
Sam chuckled. "Have you had some cake?"
"I had about four pieces." She caught Sam's look of mock horror and glared. "Sue me."
"Can't," Sam grinned. "Not that far into law school."
Dean felt a weight shift beside him. He turned to see Priya getting up. "You leaving?"
"No, just getting a drink. You want anything?"
You.
Dean shook his head and watched as she walked away.
December 2021
Dean breathed quick, shallow puffs of moist air onto his hands and rubbed them together. Once they warm enough to move without shaking, he quickly finished picking the rusty padlock on the gate.
He should have probably felt guilty about trespassing.
Then again, it was probably too late for Dean to start caring about breaking laws. The fake IDs in the glove compartment of his Impala stood as testament to that. Nonetheless, the thought did cross his mind as he walked to the centre of the school playing fields, the crisp snow giving way under his feet.
Dean glanced down at his watch. Sam would have got the message to Priya by now. She'd be on her way. He patted the box in his trouser pocket and felt the now-familiar feeling of his heart rising up in his throat.
What if she said no?
Then you deal with it.
Not that he had any idea how to go about doing that. (It probably involved picking up a bottle and finding a monster to gank.) But he had to admit that it would be the sensible thing for her to do. Who the hell even knew why she'd put up with him for so long?
But then again, Priya could hardly be classed as sensible. She liked to mix ice cream with cornflakes and she insisted on yelling the answers at the TV whenever Countdown was on. It was somewhere in between her ranting for half an hour over the phone at the impracticalities of certain points of the menstrual cycle and her keeping two bottles of El Sol in her fridge at all times-despite the fact she didn't drink-just in case he came to her after a particularly nasty hunt and needed a place to crash, that he realised he really wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He wanted to watch her develop new quirks and let go of old ones. He wanted to wake up and see her there, steady and permanent, ready to face each new day with him by her side. He wanted to grow old together.
The damp crunch of shoes on snow had Dean looking up towards the recently-picked gate at the mouth of the playing field. Priya walked towards him as Sam stood by, flashing him a quick thumbs up from behind her head.
Bookworm stopped suddenly and started hopping on one foot. She lifted the other up and brushed off the melting sludge that had made its way over the edge of the trainer and was now trickling down the side of her sock. "Dean Winchester, I'm gonna kick your ass for bringing me out here," she called over. "I'm fucking freezing."
Do you really want to spend the rest of your life with this woman?
The pale sunlight reflected off the fresh snow and highlighted the amusement in her dark eyes.
Hell yeah.
She came to a stop a couple of feet in front of him, her small frame shivering against the cold. "Sam said you had something to show me. He wouldn't tell me anymore but he kept grinning, like, constantly. So what's up?"
Dean closed the distance between them and walked round so he was stood behind her. He ran his hands over the sleeves of her sweater, feeling the twitching muscle calm as she leaned back into his touch.
"Do you remember much about this field?" he asked, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I've done too many laps in PE lessons and on Sports Days to ever forget it," Priya replied, nestling further into his arms.
"Do you remember anything else?"
She tilted her head up to look at him. "Of course," she whispered.
Dean turned her around gently and took her cold fingers in his own. "You'd said we should wait five years and see where we are then. It's been nearly seven years and you're still the strongest, kindest, smartest, most beautiful girl I know. You stand up for me and you stand up to me. And I love that about you. So..." Dean squeezed her hands once and let go. Pulling out the ring box from his pocket, he knelt on the ground and looked up at her. "I was wondering if you'd do me the honour of marrying me?"
He expected a 'yes' if he was lucky, more likely a 'no' or an 'I need more time'. He definitely hadn't prepared for all-out laughter.
"What?" he snapped.
But then he thought about it. Marrying him was actually a pretty funny idea. Why the hell would anyone want to spend the rest of their life with a twenty-four year old guy who still had nightmares and froze up if he saw anyone who resembled a figure from his sordid past? Not exactly white-picket-fence husband material.
Dean forced a laugh past his lips as he stared at the ground. "Yeah, it was pretty stupid of me to think there was any chance you'd agree."
The laughter stopped above him and a moment later Priya was on her knees in front of him. "Shit, Dean, I wasn't laughing at that. I was just laughing because I'd been about to ask you. I wasn't sure if you were ever going to ask, what with what I'd said about waiting, so I thought I'd take the plunge. Hell, I was even gonna go pick up the ring tomorrow."
Dean took some time to process her words, determined not to grab hold of the wrong end of the stick. Because if she hadn't been laughing at the thought of marrying him, if she really had been planning on asking, then that meant... "Is that a yes, then?"
Priya leaned forward and gently pressed her lips up against his. She steadied herself with a hand on his shoulder and tilted her head back to look up at him. "Yes. That's a yes, you great big dork. Of course I'll marry you."
Dean laced his fingers into her soft hair and kissed her back. "You want that ring now?"
Priya nodded, making their foreheads bump. Dean opened the box and slid the band onto her finger.
The sound of crunching snow had Dean looking up for the second time that day. This time it was to see a grinning Sasquatch striding over to him. The couple stood up and Priya opened up their arms to allow Sammy to join them.
"She said yes, then?"
Dean tightened his embrace on the two people he loved most in the world. And in that moment, his past and his future didn't matter. All he cared about were the two warm bodies at his side and the smiles on their faces.
"She did."
Author Note: Thanks for taking the time to read this, I'd love some feedback if you have any! Please feel free to create art, fics, podfics, or anything else you might like for this 'verse.