Fic: crashing down on me; Dean/Bela
crashing down on me
one-shot
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of its characters or plots. I mean no infringement, this is for personal benefit only.
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: Dean/Bela
Word count: 2,161
Rating: PG-13 for language
Summary: Dean loves coffee, Bela supplies it, therefore, Dean loves Bela. Right? Right.
Warnings: AU
Prompt: 15. Courage
Author’s Notes:
- Filling the prompt: 15. Courage on my spn_25 table
*****
Every morning Dean goes to Starbucks. He orders a coffee--black. The house blend, or whatever has the most caffeine in it. He pays too much for it, uses the Starbucks card Sam bought him for Christmas, and then leaves. It takes an average of eight minutes, depending on if he’s running late, if other people are running late, and if Chuck’s behind the counter versus Ruby.
Chuck is a nice guy, but he’s slow and kind of nervous. Ruby’s a demon with coffee, and she’s quick. Dean likes that she’s quick.
But those eight minutes, or five minutes, or ten minutes, are the best minutes of his whole day. Not because he likes coffee--because he does, a lot--but because for eight minutes he gets to try and pretend as though he’s not head over heels for Bela.
She started at the coffee shop four months ago, always at the till when Dean is there. Sometimes she’ll pour his coffee, other times it gets passed along.
Dean lives for those eight minutes.
Bela’s gorgeous and she’s funny and smart. Dean loves her accent, loves the way she smiles and laughs. If there’s no one in line behind him, sometimes he’ll talk to her, find out things.
He knows she likes to read, she has a degree in art history, moved to the US from England when she was 20, and she prefers tea to coffee.
Dean prefers movies and TV to reading, has a degree in marketing, has never been outside the continental US, and mainlines coffee as often as possible.
Okay, so they have nothing in common, that’s alright, right? Opposites attract and all of that?
He doesn’t know how to do this, doesn’t know how to go from bumbling customer to more. How to ask for more than the biggest coffee they have, but he wants to. He’s tired of living alone. Well, not alone alone, Sam’s there, but Sam has his own life and Dean’s pretty sure he’s going to be moving out with Jess any day now.
As he accepts his coffee from Ruby, Dean glances over at Bela who meets his gaze with a blush and a smile. He smiles back and heads for the door.
Maybe tomorrow.
-0-
“Have a nice day,” Bela says with a smile. It’s almost 6:50. She already has Dean’s morning coffee waiting for him, and just like clockwork, he’s there. He has on a dark grey suit and his hair is a little more mussed than usual. She likes it.
“Biggest coffee ever,” Dean says, more asleep than awake. She’s not even sure his eyes are open.
Bela pushes the large coffee across the counter and takes the Starbucks card he hands her absently while he guzzles down half of it. It’s steaming and hot but he doesn’t seem to notice.
“Long night?” she asks.
Dean finally stops drinking to breathe. “The longest,” he tells her. “I have a presentation at 8 that I’m only semi-prepared for.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great,” she smiles.
“I hope so,” Dean says with half-smile. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“You’re welcome,” Bela answers, handing him his card back. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
-0-
The first time Bela’s absent is three weeks after she starts at Starbucks. Dean doesn’t think anything of it, just waits for Chuck to serve him and leaves. After that it becomes a regular thing, she’ll be missing for a week or so at a time here or there. Dean never mentions it and neither does she. He thinks about it though. Wonders where she goes.
“Coffee black?” Bela asks when Dean stumbles to the register.
“Yes, please,” Dean says. “Biggest--”
“--one we have,” she finishes easily. “Got it. Anything else? Muffin? Salad? Breakfast sandwich?”
She offers him food as though she hasn’t been gone for a week and a half. Dean wants to know where she went. He wants to know everything about her. But that’s weird, right? He’s sure she has several regular customers, many of whom probably have a crush on her. Dean can’t be the only one.
“Just the coffee,” he answers, sliding his card over. “So you, uh, were gone.”
She looks up from the till to meet his eyes for a brief second before glancing away. “I had some things to do.”
‘Oh, well I… uh, missed you,” Dean says stupidly. “Your coffee, I mean. Er, I mean you handing me the coffee. Uh… Can I get a do over?” he asks, scratching the back of his neck. “I’m not really coherent before 8.”
Bela laughs and it’s soft and real and god, her eyes are really pretty. “Let me get your coffee, Dean,” she says easily. Bela turns away and Dean watches her pour him some coffee with ease, sliding the filled cup across the counter to him.
“Thanks,” Dean says.
He turns to leave and as he takes a step away he hears her say, “I miss you, too, Dean.”
And that just makes his whole fucking day worth it.
-0-
Bela watches Dean leave with a smile on her face. Seriously, if she wasn’t an internationally wanted art thief, she’d consider putting him out of his misery and saying yes to a date. She likes him, Dean Winchester, if the name on his card is correct. She likes that he orders his coffee black and that his suits say he’s suave and in control, but when she sees him--before his coffee-he’s rambly and bumbling and mostly not yet awake. Not to mention he’s incredibly good looking.
To be honest Bela would have left this town months before if Dean hadn’t been here. She should have left. She’s never stayed in one place for so long. But there’s something about him that she wants to stick around for. There’s something about Dean that makes her want to get to know someone.
She could. She could stay. She has millions of dollars saved up for retirement. She doesn’t have to work, she just wants to. Bela likes the rush she gets from her jobs, she likes the adrenaline and the high that comes from pulling a successful heist.
But at the end of the day she’s alone with her money and her penthouse apartment. She’s alone with her Mercedes and her Siamese cat. She wants more.
Bela’s been alone her whole life, and now there’s finally someone she wants to be alone with. If he ever makes a move, she isn’t sure if she’ll say yes or no. She wants him to ask just so she can find out.
-0-
It’s cliché. It’s beyond cliché. It’s something Sam would do. In fact, Dean is pretty sure that Sam has done it. But here he is. At a florist shop, buying a rose. Just one, because more than one is weird, and who does that anymore? So he buys a single red rose and clutches it tightly until he gets to his car. When he’s there, he sets it down carefully on the passenger seat and watches it carefully as he drives. He doesn’t want it rolling onto the floor or falling between the door and the seat where he knows he’ll never get it back.
There’s cookies in the shape of hearts with red and pink icing on display, and Dean thinks this whole holiday is commercial and stupid and really, really dumb, but whatever.
“Coffee,” he says. And of course that’s when he realizes that he left the flower in his car. He freezes and meets Bela’s face. “Uh, one second!” he blurts out. “I forgot--” and he dashes out to his car to retrieve the rose. A petal falls off between the car and the door and Dean’s face is warm and his stomach twists, but he’s come this far.
Bela’s still at the counter and no one else is in the shop except for Ruby, who already has his coffee waiting for him. He walks over to the register and hold out the flower carefully. “Um, this is for you,” he says.
Bela’s eyes light up and she reaches out for the rose. She raises it to her nose and smells it. “It’s beautiful, thank you.”
“Go out with me?” Dean says in a rush. “Please? I mean, I know you don’t really know me, but I--”
“Yes,” Bela interrupts. There’s a surprised look on her face and Dean wonders if it’s from his question or her answer.
“Yes?” he repeats.
“Yes,” she nods. “I’d love to, Dean.”
“Are you free tomorrow?”
Bela quirks a smile at him. “Yep.”
“Le Bon Choix,” Dean blurts out. “At 8? Do you know the place?”
Bela nods. “On Grant?”
“Yeah,” Dean answers. “That’s the one.”
“I’ll see you at 8.”
Dean leaves a five on the counter, grabs his coffee, and practically floats out the door.
-0-
Le Bon Choix is a notorious dating restaurant. It’s hip, but not too young, it’s expensive, but not so much that the average person couldn’t afford it, and it has amazing food. Bela heard about it her first day in town, but had never had reason to go there. Or someone to go with. She’s a little excited to go tonight.
Her closet is full of possible dresses. She eventually goes with black, it’s tight and slinky, and she knows she looks amazing in it. For the first time, though, she finds herself wondering if someone else will thinks she looks amazing in it.
She wants tonight to go well. She wants a second date with Dean, and then a third. She wants a reason to stop traipsing around the world, stealing priceless pieces of art. She wants something to come home to and a reason to never leave.
Bela leaves her hair down and wears an understated necklace that says rich but that doesn’t say overindulgent. She picks out her favorite pair of Jimmy Choo heels and walks through a cloud of lightly scented perfume. She grabs her clutch and heads out the door.
Dean is waiting at the door. He’s out of his work suit and wearing a more casual black suit with a black button-up underneath with a couple of the buttons popped. He looks nervous and amazing. His hair is mussed and not at all combed to the side as it is when she usually sees him. She likes this better.
“You look… really beautiful,” Dean says.
Bela doesn’t let herself blush, but she accepts the compliment. “I like the hair,” she offers back, reaching a hand out to touch the top of his head lightly. “Looks more you.”
“Yeah, Sam--my brother--said I should leave it how I normally have it.” He holds an elbow and she holds on and lets him escort her into the restaurant.
They’re lead to a nice booth towards the back. It’s quieter here and more intimate. Bela likes it.
Dean orders a beer and Bela orders wine. She likes that he ordered a beer. She likes that he’s trying to impress her, but not through lying. She likes that he knows when to compromise.
After they order their food, there’s that awkward moment of silence. Where no one knows quite what to say. Bela’s never been too good at conversation, not unless Dean wants to know the best zipline to use for his weight, or how to avoid security guards. She’s pretty sure he doesn’t. Or maybe he does, but purely for a more James Bond reason than a Doris Payne one.
“I don’t really read a lot,” Dean blurts out. “I know you said you did, and I mean, I read sometimes, just… not that much.”
Bela laughs. “That’s okay. Reading’s a solitary thing, anyway.”
Dean looks relieved at that. “Yeah? I guess so. My brother’s the reader in the family. I’m more of an action/horror movie kind of guy.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” she agrees.
“And I don’t know that much about art,” Dean says. “I mean, I like it? Some of it, at least. I mean, those pieces with the paint just splattered all over? I’m pretty sure I was doing that in kindergarten.”
“So you’re some kind of savant artist,” she teases.
“I’m just saying that anyone with a paintbrush can do that.”
Bela nods. “I’d have to agree with you. I’m much more interested in antiques and rare artifacts.”
“Oh, that’s cool. So like old guns and stuff?”
“And stuff,” she smiles.
Dean draws on the condensation on his beer glass. Then he looks up and meets her gaze. “I really like you, Bela. And I know we don’t have that much in common right now, but that’s the beauty of relationships, right? We don’t have to like all the same things as long as we like each other.”
Bela smiles and makes a mental note to tell her current buyer that she’s out of the business. From art thief to barista in thirty seconds.
And she doesn’t ever want to turn back.
-0-