Chapter Text
Beth opens her eyes to see Val still sleeping beside her. It isn’t the first time. The two of them have been dancing around this for a while, finding excuses to bed-share and lying a few inches apart. This time, though…
She finds a smile pulling at her mouth and gives into it. Sometimes, giving in is the best course.
“Hey,” she says, lifting her hand from where it rests between them and brushing the hair back from Val’s face. She waits as Val shifts, her eyes blinking open just enough to show their color. “We should get up.”
“No,” Val says, sleep clogging up the word. She smiles sleepily and wriggles across the bed until she’s right up against Beth. “It’s early.”
Val presses a kiss to Beth’s shoulder, then along her collar-bone, then to the base of her throat.
Beth tips her head back and lets her.
“They’re going to wonder where we are,” Beth breathes.
Val’s hand curls around Beth’s side, stroking along the skin on her hip, and it’s hard to care if everyone is waiting for them as the touch tingles.
“Don’t care,” Val says, soothing her thumb in a circle before pushing lightly, urging Beth to roll onto her back and rewarding her with an open-mouthed kiss to her neck when she does. “Gonna do this first.”
“This?” Beth asks. She shifts as Val moves again, leaning over her and this time kissing her only an inch from the edge of her lips.
“You,” Val says, sleepiness giving way to a mis of lust and humor in her voice. This kiss presses to the corner of her mouth as Val’s fingers trail down her hip and over her upper thigh. “Gonna do you. You okay with that for a plan?”
“I’ll cope,” Beth says, and pulls Val over that last half-inch until they’re mouths meet fully.
***
Cas is a warm bundle against Dean, his back pressed along Dean’s front in a way that’s doing nothing to make Dean want to get up. From the light falling through the windows, it’s dawn already and Sam at least will be up. Dean doesn’t know where his brother spent the night, but with a case to solve and Sam’s usual energy levels, Dean is sure lying around in bed for hours isn’t an option.
“Hey,” he says, as Cas stirs. “You sleep all right?”
“Better than usual,” Cas says. “And you?”
It’s a little stilted, as though he’s reading from a script someone’s given him, but no matter how many hours of TV Metatron poured into Cas’ head, he’s thin on dress rehearsals for this sort of thing. Dean lets himself smile and kisses Cas’ shoulder, mostly to feel the way it makes Cas shiver. It’s the right kind of shiver, though, and not the sort that makes Dean want to wrap his friend up in a blanket and build him a fire.
Friend. It’s not wrong, exactly, but he might have to start putting a different word first.
“How’re you feeling?” Dean asks.
Cas sighs.
“The pain’s still there, Dean,” he says. “I think, maybe… I think maybe it always will be.”
Dean nods against Cas’ shoulder. He wants to tell Cas not to be such a downer, but the aches in Dean’s knees and right hip, and the swelling in his knuckles, and the way his back doesn’t seem to want to be straight sometimes these days, are all pains he’s having to accept won’t go away. It’s age, for him, and too many years by far of having his body hurled around by all kinds of nasty, but Cas has been through his own shit and expecting it to just be washed away is a kid’s dream.
Dean hates that he can’t just wash it all away.
“Maybe we should look into ways to help with that,” he says, and rushes on when Cas stiffens in his arms. Probably expecting some lecture or a sign Dean hasn’t really been listening. But he’s changed now, or is trying to be. “Look, there are ways to stop stuff hurting as much. Heat packs or pain relieving gels or, I don’t know, acupuncture or something. Gotta be worth looking into, right? Hell, I could do with thinking about it myself. Not, you know, that I’m saying what I feel is-”
“It’s okay, Dean,” Cas says, and wraps a hand over Dean’s forearm, the one draped across Cas’ stomach. “I… Yes. That sounds like something I should look into.”
“We’ll look into it,” Dean says, and catches himself. He has the feeling he’s going to be doing that a lot from now on. “I mean, if you want…”
In answer, Cas twists in Dean’s arms, his eyes holding a hopeful light that cuts at Dean. The guy really didn’t think help was being offered. Dean’s just going to have to keep catching himself, and make sure Cas gets to rely on help being there for when he wants it.
“I’d like that,” Cas says, and kisses Dean.
And maybe Sam can sit and wait for them to get up after all.
***
“You think they’re coming down any time soon?” Riva asks, holding up the coffee pot with a raised eyebrow.
Sam pushes his mug closer and watches as she refills it. It’s his third mug, but it’s not like anyone but Riva and him are wanting any. Gertrude isn’t here yet, even though she’s sent a message to the group chat she insisted they set up saying she’ll be round with another tablet she’s got hold of as soon as she can be. So there’s only the two of them to eat the pastries Sam’s went out to buy, as well.
He reaches for another one, Dean’s favorite, and sees Riva wince at the same time he does when the sound of bedsprings upstairs reaches a new pitch.
“I’m not even sure which room it’s coming from,” Riva says, pulling apart the croissant she’s taken and crumbling it between her fingers. “Not sure which one of us needs to be more embarrassed.”
“Yeah,” Sam says, and inspects his pastry with far more intensity than it really needs. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s two bedrooms, so we’ve both gotta work on wiping this from our minds.”
Riva shrugs.
“Or,” she says, “we could see which sibling can be turned the brightest shade of red later when we bring it up every chance we get.”
Sam feels a smile tug at his lips and lifts his coffee in a salute.
“Worth a try,” he says, and tells himself the walls and floors are far too thick for him to be hearing groaning. From anyone.