because the lives of the wicked should be made brief

[somanyadjectives]

Comments

[cholesterol]

( He sees Ben's drinking something with ice - slightly off-color. Either a double something with redbull (kids), or maybe it's nonalcoholic. Yep, she squirts his refill from the gun before the bartender chick pulls his beer.

Time passes. It's awkward. He reminds himself it's gonna be awkward. )

And you're here. Your life didn't fully cave in. ( Enough so that he's isolating himself, staying at his mom's. He doesn't know. It's empty snark Ben might deserve but Dean is still the offender. He holds a hand up, to try and tee up a better response as an apology, without actually apologizing. ) When I said I would stay, I meant it. I know there's a lot I'm gonna have to walk back - but that's not one.

( Dean pulls out his wallet and retrieves a twenty-dollar bill, setting it down on the bar.

Taking his beer, he decides to get acquainted with the empty pool table. Putting the beer on one of the high tops, he runs a hand along the metal. )

You play?

[acdc_rules]

Sure.

[Because he has a feeling this is going to be a conversation, and Helene is nosy as hell. So he'll grab what's left of his burger and his drink before moving towards the tables with a sigh.]

Let's take the back one.

[In the meantime, if they're going to be leaving Helene unsupervised, she's going to sneak her phone under the bar and send a quick text to Dickerson: wtf some smoke show walked into the bar and ben says he's his DAD?! like his bio dad?

Please give her the deets.]

[cholesterol]

( No snide response back. Not even hesitation. Dean grabs his beer and takes it to the table by the back pool table, noting his son's burger and fries. Hard not to think, just like his old man. )

Here good?

( The pool table's the fancy kind, like in country clubs and rich people's houses. The pockets are leather pouches so he doesn't need to drop any quarters in he brought.

He retrieves the balls from each pocket, rolling them to the top of the table before he grabs a triangle.

Dickerson has an overnight shift - it's what happens when you use department resources for person business - it's fine. He just got a slap on the wrist for formality. He's not in trouble. But, his schedule's fucked and he's missing the action! Also, a lot he can't really say here. Maybe he'll make it there before the fireworks. Maybe for his break?

Dude's still here, good. Crazy shit happened over the holidays.

They're not swapping punches, are they? )

[acdc_rules]

[No, right now they're playing pool. But Ben didn't seem like he was sure he wanted to see the dude.

Ben places the remains of his meal on the table as he grabs a couple of the pool cues. Might as well have something to do with his hands as they have this conversation.]

Yeah, here's fine. Just wanted to be out of earshot of Miss Nosy over there.

[He says it with fondness tinged with exasperation. He's known Helene since they were teenagers and she knows that right now she's texting Dickerson to try and pull some details, but she doesn't need to be privy to this.]

[cholesterol]

( Yeah, it's messed up but I think the dude's good people. Just gotta represent for my boy, you know? Let me know if either one pull Kill Bill sirens.

Dean racks like a pool shark who's done this more than a thousand times might. Like he belongs on the table. )

Who knows what might come up.

( He squeezes around the triangle, before bringing it up and flipping it in his hands. )

Appreciate it, though.

( He hangs the triangle on the hook underneath. )

What do you say, sink a shot, you get to ask a question?

[acdc_rules]

[o7 you got it boss.

Ben has a feeling he's about get fleeced, but whatever, it's fine. Answering the questions will probably be easier than asking them. There are layers of questions he wants to ask but if he learned anything from therapy it's that diving too deeply too fast is just asking for trouble.

So he'll try and find a shallow pool to wade into.

He passes over one of the cues before leaning back.]

Okay. My break?

[Since Dean racked.]

[cholesterol]

Your break.

( Dean wouldn't fleece him, but old habits die real hard, so he trick racks. The subtle squeeze of the triangle. Flipping the one and one of the stripes.

Maybe Ben will catch a break - literally, hopefully. )

[acdc_rules]

[He is coordinated enough that it does break cleanly, but he doesn't sink anything just yet (3). It's something of a relief, because he doesn't really know where to start, but once the balls settle and it's clear none of them are going to sink, he steps back.]

Your go.

[cholesterol]

( Dean focuses on a stripe that's angled perfectly to land in the corner pocket. But, he's doing this with his kid. The kid he half-raised for a year. And his actual kid, now.

His (19) sinks the easy stripe, turning. )

I'm stripes. I like the tattoos. How'd your mom react when you got em?

[acdc_rules]

[He smirks, before going back to his food as Dean goes through his shots.]

She was fine. I was twenty, so she said as long as it wasn't something stupid or offensive or the name of someone I was going to regret six months from then I could do whatever I wanted.

[His tattoo artist is a good friend, so they've worked on a lot of the designs, aside from the ones that came from memories that weren't all the way buried.]

[cholesterol]

( Dean makes a second ball, but makes a general personal rule that one ball a turn gets him a question. He's not about to inundate his spawn with q's. So, he sticks to the same topic for now. )

They mean anything?

( Another ball. Finally, he misses, the cue ball landing for a perfect angle on a solid. )

[acdc_rules]

[He takes a deep breath as he looks down at his arms.]

Some of them were just designs I thought were cool. My first couple were after I realized I wasn't going to be able to get where I was originally aiming to be, so fuck it.

[He hesitates because part of him doesn't want to give the implication that it meant anything, because at the time it didn't. It was just this thing he kept drawing. But he knows what it means now. He rolls up his sleeve to show the devil's trap on his forearm.]

And some of it was just things you tried to erase escaping containment.

[But he'll get up to take his turn after that. One, two, three of the solids down before he scratches on the last one.]

Shit.

[cholesterol]

( He knows tattoos hurt in certain places, more than others. He spies the devil trap, eyes finding Ben's.

It pushed through. )

You remember what that is, now.

( He tugs down on his t-shirt, showing the edges of his on his chest. He waits to aim at another stripe, because )

You got a question, too.

[acdc_rules]

[He nods as he considers, not really sure where to start. The tattoos were a fairly light option, so maybe he should keep in that vein.]

Sam still around?

[Probably neutral enough. It's weird that he's not here, looming behind his brother and making puppy eyes at everyone.]

[cholesterol]

( Like, did he die? )

We live in a bunker that's been in our family. We still hunt together. He's in California for Thanksgiving with his girlfriend.

( There's a lot more about Sam, and Dean, and Elena and what they're all mixed up in. But he only asked about Sam. So, he learns about Sam.

Dean misses his next stripe, no question for him. He goes over to his beer, taking a healthy sip, finally. He eyes the burger. )

How's the burger here?

( Like it ever needs to be good for him. He'll get a burger anywhere. Also, it's not about Ben, so it counts as not a question. )

[acdc_rules]

So you both have girlfriends now. That sounds healthier.

[It could be a jab, but it's not. The therapy happened while this part of his life was erased, but he can see the complicated dynamics for what they are not, looking out them as an adult. They needed more people than just the two of them, day in and day out.

He then realizes that if it's not a jab, it's also a very Rudy comment to make, and resists the urge to make a face.]

It's good. This place has some of the better food in town.

[cholesterol]

It's new. For the both of us.

( Elena's his first girlfriend - real girlfriend since Lisa. Things piled up, one after the other. Maybe Chuck was disinterested in Dean having a relationship, or thought Sam was due some happiness with Eileen, he doesn't know. But, ever since Chuck was chucked, Dean feels like it's his life again. Like he's not always angry. Like he could really, actually grow.

Healthier. Sam's always been the picture of health. Talks to his girlfriends. Had girlfriends.

It doesn't feel like a jab, though, so that's something. )

Make your shot, I'm going to nudge your friend over there for a burger and fries. ( And maybe to stop staring.

Moving around the tables, he returns to the bar and Helene. ) You keep looking like that, I'll think you got it bad for Ben.

[acdc_rules]

[She snorts. "No, thanks. Already been there, done that. We're better as friends."

If they were in a romantic relationship, they would have killed each other. But they did discover they were both disaster bi's together.

"No, I'm just watching in case Ben decides to turn into a petty little shit. Or if someone throws a punch."]

[cholesterol]

( He notes that. She's got - something about her. Rough around the edges but she has heart. Needs a haircut. Matches the bar to a T, though. )

I'd deserve it, ( but ) I doubt we'll come to blows. But, I promise, I'll let him get one good one in. After my burger and fries.

( Another beat. )

Thanks for having his back.

( Also, that was him ordering his fries and a burger. He also asks for a quick shot of whiskey he downs, before returning. )

You get one in?

[acdc_rules]

Two more.

[Missed on the third, but he's coming down to a limited number of balls left in his favor, so it's probably for the best.]

And you still have a question.

[He's not looking to try and skimp the rules, because that just seems like an excuse to start a fight.]

[cholesterol]

You and me both.

( He takes a sip from his beer, the foam pooling at his upper lip. He rubs his hand against his mouth. Another question. )

You uh - ever work on cars again?

[acdc_rules]

[He snorts because does he ever.]

Yeah. I work at a garage downtown.

[He tried to reach for something higher, but in the end it didn't really fit. But that's not a story he feels he has to share right now.]

How'd you and Elena meet? Is she a hunter too?

[cholesterol]

No shit.

( Apple doesn't fall, even if the tree's a deadbeat. )

She's not a hunter, but her dad - he was friends with ours - your grandfather, John. You remember, now, Sam and I, we were raised in the life. We passed through Mystic Falls when we were kids. Stayed with her parents, her and her little brother. Years later, she walked into the same gas station. We were - ( They were there for Jack's graduation, effectively their kid, each 1/3 of Team Free Will 2.0 claims him. Loves him. Forgives him. He's family. But, how does he even explain that. He's back in the inner circle, sure, and he understands the life. But, the Devil's kid? ) We were in town for something else, but her ex, this vampire named Stefan, he'd been attacked. Got roped into it. ( Roped him and Sam, really, but, facts are all there. ) We reconnected.

[acdc_rules]

[Ben pauses, then his head tips at the last bit of what he said.]

You're dating someone who has a vampire as an ex? And you left him alive?

[That doesn't seem like that jives with the hunter playbook as he remembers it.]

[cholesterol]

It's not as black and white. ( It never was, even though for him and Sam it's how they were raised. ) This vampire's not like the kind of vampire I taught you about. Comes from a different source of magic, not evolution.

( Everyone's capable of monstrous actions. Sometimes, it's the humans who are worse. )

Turns out, werewolves, vamps, even banshees. They're are types now. Different origins, different rules. One kind of vampire, you stake it, you dust it. Makes clean-up easy. That kind of vampire has no soul.