Hallowe`en Reverse Micro Bang: The Fake Date
Title: The Fake Date
Writer: jj1564
Artist: emmatheslayer
Rating: pg
Word Count: 1636
Summary: Claire’s not too happy to be left ‘baby-sitting’ Jack, but an old statue and a fake dare change her mind. And Jack, well, he’s always liked Claire.
Also on AO3
“Why do I have to baby sit?” Claire whined, in that sulky way only teenage girls can manage.
“Look at it as a…a compliment,” Dean replied, “we need a hunter we trust to stay with Jack; we need to keep him out of Chuck’s way.”
“I can look after myself,” Jack complained, almost as sulkily as Claire.
“Last time we left you alone you managed to find a cursed object,” Sam reminded him, “lucky for you Rowena could reverse it, or you’d be a hamster by now.”
“Aw, you’d make a cute hamster, Jackie!” Claire grinned.
“Thank you,” Jack replied sincerely, not even minding that she’d called him Jackie. After all, when Dean used the name Sammy, Sam always complained but also always looked sort of pleased.
“It would’ve been easier to let him become a freakin’ hamster,” Dean muttered.
“Dean!” Sam scolded.
“Just sayin’,” Dean shrugged, “so this time it’s Netflix or books, and nothing that looks hinky.”
Dean and Sam had only been gone for a few hours, but Claire was already stir crazy.
“What is there to do around here?” she asked, as she fiddled with some of the random objects on one of the library shelves.
“We’re not supposed to go out.” Jack reminded her.
Claire held up a bizarre ornament that looked like a shrunken Easter Island statue and said, “I think there are more potentially dangerous things in here than out there.”
“I am protected from Chuck here,” Jack replied.
“But not from stuff that could turn you into a rodent.” Claire pointed out, as she put down a creepy statue of two ladies in white robes holding hands,
“This is true,” Jack frowned in confusion.
“We don’t need to go far,” Claire was scrolling through her cell, “hey look, there’s a mini golf course near here.”
“I’ve never played mini golf before,” Jack replied, “but there’s a lot I haven’t done yet,” he didn’t mean to gaze at Claire’s pouty lips as he said it, and of course, she noticed.
“Are you flirting with me?” She asked, eyebrow raised.
"I don’t know,” Jack admitted.
“You really are clueless, aren’t you?” Claire sighed, “I have an idea; we’ll go out on a fake date and I can teach you how to flirt and act like a normal human being, It’s going to be a challenge, but I can do it.”
“You’d do that for me, really?” Jack asked.
“As a friend, yes,” Claire replied, “but don’t get any ideas, I don’t date guys.”
“Okay.” Jack nodded, hiding his disappointment. “Hey, we could go to the haunted bowling alley, the one Dean said wasn’t worth our time, with the whole killing Chuck thing going down.”
“Hmm, you have a good idea there.” Claire nodded. “Dean and Sam only told me to keep you out of trouble, and how much trouble can a simple salt and burn be, I mean, we can handle it, can’t we?”
Jack agreed enthusiastically. “Yes, we can! What should I wear, what should I bring, will we be fake FBI or…”
“Hey, calm down, Tigger. No, we’re already fake dating, that’s our cover.”
Neither of them noticed the two ethereal women watching them from the shadows, both dressed in flowing white robes and holding hands.
“Why do we need to give them our shoes? I like the ones I’m wearing, Dean bought them for me, and these ones aren’t as nice.” Jack enquired.
The attendant’s eyebrows rose, and Claire snapped at him “You got a problem? He’s never bowled before, he’s ex-Amish.”
“Sorry, uh, yeah, dude it’s okay, you just need to wear these when you’re here, it’s…um…because of the lanes, special surface….” the attendant, whose badge said ‘call me Clive!’, explained.
“Thanks, Einstein,” Claire glared at him, then changed tactics, whispering, “we nearly didn’t come though, after the gruesome murders here.”
“Oh they weren’t murders, they were accidents,” Clive glanced around.
“You are brave to work here, Clive,” Jack stated.
“There aren’t a lot of jobs around,” Clive shrugged, blushing a little.
Claire wanted to ask more, but didn’t want to appear suspicious, so she grabbed Jack’s hand and tugged him away. “C’mon, Jack, let’s play!”
Jack looked surprised and gave Clive a sheepish grin; Clive gave him a half-hearted thumbs up.
“Why didn’t we ask him more questions?” Jack whispered when they got to his lane.
“’Cause we need to make it casual, and there will be more opportunities.”
“Okay,” Jack nodded, looking at the huge shiny balls in amazement, “Um, Claire, these balls are huge, I don’t know if I can even lift one,”
“I thought you were secretly powerful beneath your scrawny image?”
“I don’t…I mean, I have power, but I can’t use it for this kind of thing.”
“You don’t want to go blowing the bowling alley up, eh?” Claire smiled.
“No. Not until we’ve played,” Jack smiled back.
“Did you just crack a joke?” Claire’s eyebrows rose, “I think you’ve been around Dean too much.”
“I am trying to be more normal,” Jack explained.
“You have a ways to go, but kudos for trying. Now let’s bowl.”
It took Jack a few goes before he managed to knock a pin down, and his smile when he did so almost lit up the whole bowling alley. “I think I like bowling now, Claire,” he grinned at her, and he looked so happy, so handsome…hang on, Claire thought, when did he become freakin’ handsome?
They finished their first game and Jack didn’t mind being thoroughly beaten at all, even when Claire made fun of him. They went over to the snack bar and Claire ordered hot dogs and fries for both of them. She asked the woman serving them about the deaths, but she just shrugged and said accidents happen. They sat and ate in silence for a few minutes and kept stealing glances at each other.
Claire broke the silence by asking “So, Jack, what was being dead like?”
“I wasn’t really dead, I was in a place called The Empty, with an entity who is also called The Empty, and Death was there, too.”
“We have such weird lives,” Claire sighed. “Why was Death there?”
“She was there to stop The Empty from making me sleep, because she has work for me to do.”
“Killing Chuck?”
“Yes. Well. I am not sure if I can kill him or if I can cage him. I’d rather not kill him, as he is my grandfather. And I don’t want to kill anyone.”
“I hadn’t thought about him being your grandpa. As I said, weird lives!” Jack smiled at her. He had a nice smile, and Claire found herself saying, “you should smile more, Jackie.”
“Um…thank you?”
Claire giggled. She didn’t do that often. “You are so sweet.”
“Are we fake dating now?” Jack asked.
Claire had actually forgotten about their fake date, but she nodded. “Yep, this is what you do. Ask questions - usually not about dying or death! - and compliment the other person.”
“You have pretty eyes.” Jack said, and Claire couldn’t stop the blush on her cheeks.
“Um, thanks.”
“What is your favorite color?”
“Purple, and black. What’s yours?” She asked in return. Despite it being a lame question, he was trying.
“I like blue, like the sky on a sunny day. And Castiel’s eyes, and…and your eyes.”
“Thanks, I guess,” damn, was she blushing again?
“Apart from hot dogs, what’s your favorite food?”
“I like Jody’s roast chicken, and chocolate.”
“Chicken and chocolate?”
“Not together…” Claire saw his grin. “Another joke? You’re getting good at this, Jackie. Now it’s time for me to beat you again!”
The evening passed quickly, and Claire couldn’t remember when she’d had so much fun or laughed so hard. Jack wasn’t like other boys his age (well, the age he looked like, anyway) as there was no macho posturing with him; he was sweet, honest, funny and charmingly naïve.
When they handed their shoes back, Clive asked if they’d had a good evening, and smiled at Jack, adding that he hoped Jack enjoyed his first time. Claire felt irrationally jealous of the guy for flirting with him and as they left, she took hold of Jack’s hand, knowing that Clive was watching.
“Thank you for holding my hand, Claire.” Jack said when they got back to her car. “Should we kiss now? I’ve never done it before.”
Claire looked down at their joined hands in surprise. She hadn’t meant to keep holding Jack’s soft, warm hand. “Um, I…I…”
Jack had never seen Claire flustered before; she was always cool and confident. “It’s okay, Claire, we don’t have to, I know this is just a fake date.”
“The thing is, Jack, I think I want to,” Claire whispered, adding, “and not in a fake way.”
Jack smiled his light-up-the-room smile again, and Claire pulled his head down to meet hers. His lips were open, and she leaned back to whisper, “no, like this - at first, anyhow,” and puckered her lips. This time their lips met, and Jack’s were as soft and warm as his hands. The kiss was slow, sweet and chaste; Claire didn’t want to freak Jack out, and he had no idea what he was doing, but he seemed to be picking it up okay.
When they parted, they were both blushing and smiling. “Wow,” Jack grinned. “That was better than nougat!”
Claire laughed. “C’mon, nougat-boy, let’s get home before we get into any trouble…” Claire frowned, then shook her head. ”Shit! I completely forgot about the case!”
“Me too, I was having too much fun. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. We can’t go back in now, but perhaps we can have another fake date tomorrow?”
“I’d like that,” Jack smiled.
In the shadows two ethereal women smiled at each other.
Writer: jj1564
Artist: emmatheslayer
Rating: pg
Word Count: 1636
Summary: Claire’s not too happy to be left ‘baby-sitting’ Jack, but an old statue and a fake dare change her mind. And Jack, well, he’s always liked Claire.
Also on AO3
“Why do I have to baby sit?” Claire whined, in that sulky way only teenage girls can manage.
“Look at it as a…a compliment,” Dean replied, “we need a hunter we trust to stay with Jack; we need to keep him out of Chuck’s way.”
“I can look after myself,” Jack complained, almost as sulkily as Claire.
“Last time we left you alone you managed to find a cursed object,” Sam reminded him, “lucky for you Rowena could reverse it, or you’d be a hamster by now.”
“Aw, you’d make a cute hamster, Jackie!” Claire grinned.
“Thank you,” Jack replied sincerely, not even minding that she’d called him Jackie. After all, when Dean used the name Sammy, Sam always complained but also always looked sort of pleased.
“It would’ve been easier to let him become a freakin’ hamster,” Dean muttered.
“Dean!” Sam scolded.
“Just sayin’,” Dean shrugged, “so this time it’s Netflix or books, and nothing that looks hinky.”
Dean and Sam had only been gone for a few hours, but Claire was already stir crazy.
“What is there to do around here?” she asked, as she fiddled with some of the random objects on one of the library shelves.
“We’re not supposed to go out.” Jack reminded her.
Claire held up a bizarre ornament that looked like a shrunken Easter Island statue and said, “I think there are more potentially dangerous things in here than out there.”
“I am protected from Chuck here,” Jack replied.
“But not from stuff that could turn you into a rodent.” Claire pointed out, as she put down a creepy statue of two ladies in white robes holding hands,
“This is true,” Jack frowned in confusion.
“We don’t need to go far,” Claire was scrolling through her cell, “hey look, there’s a mini golf course near here.”
“I’ve never played mini golf before,” Jack replied, “but there’s a lot I haven’t done yet,” he didn’t mean to gaze at Claire’s pouty lips as he said it, and of course, she noticed.
“Are you flirting with me?” She asked, eyebrow raised.
"I don’t know,” Jack admitted.
“You really are clueless, aren’t you?” Claire sighed, “I have an idea; we’ll go out on a fake date and I can teach you how to flirt and act like a normal human being, It’s going to be a challenge, but I can do it.”
“You’d do that for me, really?” Jack asked.
“As a friend, yes,” Claire replied, “but don’t get any ideas, I don’t date guys.”
“Okay.” Jack nodded, hiding his disappointment. “Hey, we could go to the haunted bowling alley, the one Dean said wasn’t worth our time, with the whole killing Chuck thing going down.”
“Hmm, you have a good idea there.” Claire nodded. “Dean and Sam only told me to keep you out of trouble, and how much trouble can a simple salt and burn be, I mean, we can handle it, can’t we?”
Jack agreed enthusiastically. “Yes, we can! What should I wear, what should I bring, will we be fake FBI or…”
“Hey, calm down, Tigger. No, we’re already fake dating, that’s our cover.”
Neither of them noticed the two ethereal women watching them from the shadows, both dressed in flowing white robes and holding hands.
“Why do we need to give them our shoes? I like the ones I’m wearing, Dean bought them for me, and these ones aren’t as nice.” Jack enquired.
The attendant’s eyebrows rose, and Claire snapped at him “You got a problem? He’s never bowled before, he’s ex-Amish.”
“Sorry, uh, yeah, dude it’s okay, you just need to wear these when you’re here, it’s…um…because of the lanes, special surface….” the attendant, whose badge said ‘call me Clive!’, explained.
“Thanks, Einstein,” Claire glared at him, then changed tactics, whispering, “we nearly didn’t come though, after the gruesome murders here.”
“Oh they weren’t murders, they were accidents,” Clive glanced around.
“You are brave to work here, Clive,” Jack stated.
“There aren’t a lot of jobs around,” Clive shrugged, blushing a little.
Claire wanted to ask more, but didn’t want to appear suspicious, so she grabbed Jack’s hand and tugged him away. “C’mon, Jack, let’s play!”
Jack looked surprised and gave Clive a sheepish grin; Clive gave him a half-hearted thumbs up.
“Why didn’t we ask him more questions?” Jack whispered when they got to his lane.
“’Cause we need to make it casual, and there will be more opportunities.”
“Okay,” Jack nodded, looking at the huge shiny balls in amazement, “Um, Claire, these balls are huge, I don’t know if I can even lift one,”
“I thought you were secretly powerful beneath your scrawny image?”
“I don’t…I mean, I have power, but I can’t use it for this kind of thing.”
“You don’t want to go blowing the bowling alley up, eh?” Claire smiled.
“No. Not until we’ve played,” Jack smiled back.
“Did you just crack a joke?” Claire’s eyebrows rose, “I think you’ve been around Dean too much.”
“I am trying to be more normal,” Jack explained.
“You have a ways to go, but kudos for trying. Now let’s bowl.”
It took Jack a few goes before he managed to knock a pin down, and his smile when he did so almost lit up the whole bowling alley. “I think I like bowling now, Claire,” he grinned at her, and he looked so happy, so handsome…hang on, Claire thought, when did he become freakin’ handsome?
They finished their first game and Jack didn’t mind being thoroughly beaten at all, even when Claire made fun of him. They went over to the snack bar and Claire ordered hot dogs and fries for both of them. She asked the woman serving them about the deaths, but she just shrugged and said accidents happen. They sat and ate in silence for a few minutes and kept stealing glances at each other.
Claire broke the silence by asking “So, Jack, what was being dead like?”
“I wasn’t really dead, I was in a place called The Empty, with an entity who is also called The Empty, and Death was there, too.”
“We have such weird lives,” Claire sighed. “Why was Death there?”
“She was there to stop The Empty from making me sleep, because she has work for me to do.”
“Killing Chuck?”
“Yes. Well. I am not sure if I can kill him or if I can cage him. I’d rather not kill him, as he is my grandfather. And I don’t want to kill anyone.”
“I hadn’t thought about him being your grandpa. As I said, weird lives!” Jack smiled at her. He had a nice smile, and Claire found herself saying, “you should smile more, Jackie.”
“Um…thank you?”
Claire giggled. She didn’t do that often. “You are so sweet.”
“Are we fake dating now?” Jack asked.
Claire had actually forgotten about their fake date, but she nodded. “Yep, this is what you do. Ask questions - usually not about dying or death! - and compliment the other person.”
“You have pretty eyes.” Jack said, and Claire couldn’t stop the blush on her cheeks.
“Um, thanks.”
“What is your favorite color?”
“Purple, and black. What’s yours?” She asked in return. Despite it being a lame question, he was trying.
“I like blue, like the sky on a sunny day. And Castiel’s eyes, and…and your eyes.”
“Thanks, I guess,” damn, was she blushing again?
“Apart from hot dogs, what’s your favorite food?”
“I like Jody’s roast chicken, and chocolate.”
“Chicken and chocolate?”
“Not together…” Claire saw his grin. “Another joke? You’re getting good at this, Jackie. Now it’s time for me to beat you again!”
The evening passed quickly, and Claire couldn’t remember when she’d had so much fun or laughed so hard. Jack wasn’t like other boys his age (well, the age he looked like, anyway) as there was no macho posturing with him; he was sweet, honest, funny and charmingly naïve.
When they handed their shoes back, Clive asked if they’d had a good evening, and smiled at Jack, adding that he hoped Jack enjoyed his first time. Claire felt irrationally jealous of the guy for flirting with him and as they left, she took hold of Jack’s hand, knowing that Clive was watching.
“Thank you for holding my hand, Claire.” Jack said when they got back to her car. “Should we kiss now? I’ve never done it before.”
Claire looked down at their joined hands in surprise. She hadn’t meant to keep holding Jack’s soft, warm hand. “Um, I…I…”
Jack had never seen Claire flustered before; she was always cool and confident. “It’s okay, Claire, we don’t have to, I know this is just a fake date.”
“The thing is, Jack, I think I want to,” Claire whispered, adding, “and not in a fake way.”
Jack smiled his light-up-the-room smile again, and Claire pulled his head down to meet hers. His lips were open, and she leaned back to whisper, “no, like this - at first, anyhow,” and puckered her lips. This time their lips met, and Jack’s were as soft and warm as his hands. The kiss was slow, sweet and chaste; Claire didn’t want to freak Jack out, and he had no idea what he was doing, but he seemed to be picking it up okay.
When they parted, they were both blushing and smiling. “Wow,” Jack grinned. “That was better than nougat!”
Claire laughed. “C’mon, nougat-boy, let’s get home before we get into any trouble…” Claire frowned, then shook her head. ”Shit! I completely forgot about the case!”
“Me too, I was having too much fun. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. We can’t go back in now, but perhaps we can have another fake date tomorrow?”
“I’d like that,” Jack smiled.
In the shadows two ethereal women smiled at each other.