{closed} // my father was a gambler down in georgia / he wound up on the wrong end of a gun

[obiwanning]

Who: Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester (maybe an appearance by Castiel?)
What: Dean finally tracks his brother down.
When: October 25th, 2011
Where: The Pie Hole
Rating: T

Comments

[obiwanning]

The casualness of the greeting when Sam got behind the counter caused Dean's gaze to narrow, eyebrows knitting together in what was something between a disbelieving and offended expression. His jaw slackened a little before he actually managed a response.

"'Hey'? I've been dumped in a magic freaking castle this week, you've apparently been here for years, and all I get's hey?" His lips pursed in an annoyed pucker and he flicked his gaze around them briefly, moving to follow Sam behind the counter and nod for him to get in the back area. He didn't give a damn about employee protocol right now, he was more interested in one-on-one time with his brother without a whole friggin' pie shop of voyeurs.

"You wanna tell me why this is the first I'm seeing of you? Jo rolled out the friggin' welcome mat, had some chick Max pushing drinks on me 'til I got cozy. Kinda figured my own brother'd find some time between his pie-serving to say more than hey." A beat. He glanced out at the patrons and then his offense grew worse. "And what's with this anyway? Since when are you a freaking pastry chef?"

[imnot_likeyou]

Sam thought that Dean was being a little overdramatic about this whole thing, but he followed him into the back anyway once he made sure that someone was there to cover the counter.

"Dude, I keep waiting for the castle to give up and install a revolving door on your room. You're definitely in and out of here often enough."

Wait. That wasn't the right thing to day. The thought occurs to him for all of a second before it disappeared and he was back to not caring again. It was just simpler that way.

"Look, I heard you show up on the journal, but I was working. I saw that Jo and Max were there, so I figured they'd give you the run down. And I've been here for almost three years, Dean. I needed a job. Chuck gave me one. Then the castle sent her home, so I'm basically running the place." He shrugged. "I was going to get around to saying hi, but I've been busy."

And unlike Sam, Dean needed to sleep.

[obiwanning]

Somehow, instead of being in the same zip code as reassuring, Sam's commentary just drew the concern heavier over Dean's expression. Concern, and a little bit of shame. He knew he didn't exactly have control over the castle's ins and outs, but hell if he couldn't help but feel like somewhere along the line, one of those hims had really screwed Sammy and Jo. The fact that it chalked up to part of the reason he hadn't gotten a real warm, brotherly welcome hammered that in.

"Dude, you work in a pie shop." The narrow look in his eyes and the pursed lips made it clear that he wasn't keen on the 'working' excuse. It wasn't a friggen' emergency room or -- well, or what they usually did. If that didn't get the judgment across, his flat tone was sure to. It was pie. Sure, Dean loved it as much as the next guy, but … "Not exactly life or death."

[imnot_likeyou]

"It's a lot more work than it looks," Sam pointed out. "I have to do inventory, and the books, and make sure everything's locked up before I go. It's a business, Dean, not a bake sale."

He's also pretty sure he's supposed to be happy to see his brother, not fighting with him, but that was just another thing that should have registered as weird, but didn't. "Look, judge all you want, but Chuck didn't have a whole lot of time to teach me before she left. I'm just picking this up as I go."