Better things
for @wincestwednesdays week 1: americana (never mind it being a week+ late)
They drive out at midday, down an old logging road bordered by No Trespassing signs faded to a papery yellow and pock-marked with bird shot. They pass a pull off, and Dean catches a glimpse of a gravel beach on the edge of a glistening lake as they head deeper into the woods. It’s hot out for September in the Northwoods, and humid, too. Dean’s got sweat beading down the back of his neck by the time they're rummaging through the trunk for their gear.
“Should have brought the last couple beers,” he grumbles, swatting at the mosquito probing at his shoulder. He can picture them sitting in the motel’s mini fridge and half wishes he could go back and crawl in with them.
Sam rolls his eyes. “It’s a hunt, not a party.” Which is dumb, given the number of times they’ve pulled beers from the cooler while they were both still bloody. Sam swings his backpack over his shoulder, and it clinks suspiciously, but Dean doesn’t say anything, just makes a note and pulls out the map.
Dean hates these doghair forests that pop up after logging--young trees growing so thick together you can’t see through them for shit--but they stick to the map and Sam’s compass and soon enough it opens up into older forest and then to a clearing. One side borded by reeds, a break opening to the water’s edge on the far side of the lake Dean glimpsed earlier, and in the shadows of the trees on the other side, the remnants of an old log cabin slouch in the shade.
He catches Sam’s eye, pulls out the EMF reader, and they get to work.
It goes as quick and easy as it can when you have to locate and dig up an unmarked grave. It’s getting dark by the time Sam dodges a flying tree branch and drops the lit book of matches into the grave. There’s the satisfying fwoosh of the gasoline catching and then the even more satisfying burst of light as the ghost flames out, stringy white hair falling in burning clumps and disappearing before they hit the ground.
“Never gets old,” Dean says, and grins at Sam as they catch their breath. He stands from where he's crouched and his lower back twinges. He groans and rubs his knuckles in to the worst of it.
"Well, somethings get old," Sam says, flashing Dean a smug little grin as if he isn't graying at the temples, as if they weren’t both bitching when they were knee deep in the grave. It’s rude is what it is and Dean is not letting Sam score this point uncontested.
"Shut up and give me my beer," Dean says and grins when Sam freezes, caught out, and then breaks into that dorky, sheepish smile he gets sometimes. But he heads over to his bag and pulls out a motel towel wrapped loosely around the beers Dean heard clinking around. He loves being right.
The distant crunch of gravel and the slamming of car doors snags Dean's attention. The grave is still burning, making them way more visible than he'd like, the last thing they need is someone getting curious.
He walks over to the shore and sees a car pulled up on the gravel beach he spotted earlier. The doors are wide open, headlights on, lighting up the water’s edge in the evening gloom. Someone crosses through the beams, dragging what must be a whole damn stump behind them. And if Dean had to hazard a guess, theirs won't be the only fire burning for long. Which means they've got nothing to worry about.
The breeze has died down since the sun set, which means there’s nothing to keep the mosquitos away. One buzzes past Dean’s ear and he tries to swat at it discretely. He can handle almost anything, but he’s got zero tolerance for itching, and no desire to give Sam--who pretends to be unbothered by mosquitos even though he hates them as much as Dean--another in to poke fun at him.
Sam comes over, hands Dean an open beer and they settle in to watch the wood pile grow. There's three guys and they’ve got to be teenagers, judging by the sheer size of the branches they drag over and the truly frightening amount of lighter fuel they douse the pile with.
"Too much," Sam says, shaking his head.
"Gonna lose an eyebrow."
Another car pulls up beside the first and three girls pile out. "Ladies!" one of the boys calls, voice carrying across the lake. "Your bonfire awaits."
He lights a match with a flourish and drops it, and just like Dean knew it would, the whole pile explodes into flame with a roar. It sends the boys diving for cover. Everyone turning back to stare at the jumping flames. The shocked silence soon turns into giddy laughter, as the fire settles into a steady blaze.
"Hey," Sam says and the half-buried humor in his voice sets Dean's alarm bells blaring, "remember that time--"
"No. Nope. No idea what you're talking about. Drink your beer." Dean absolutely remembers the first time he used too much lighter fluid. Only he wasn't lighting up a bonfire, and it wasn't a girl he was trying to impress.
Dean can hear Sam’s quiet laughter gusting across the mouth of his beer bottle.
"Sam," Dean warns, but Sam grins bigger, and tucking it behind the lip of his beer isn't doing a thing to hide it.
"What? I'm just drinking my beer."
“Right,” Dean says, pursing his lips to hide the way he wants to laugh, too.
Across the lake, there's a high-pitched squeal as one of the guys throws a girl over his shoulder and marches into the shallow water. The squeal turns into a shout as he tips her in, but a second later he goes down, taken out at the ankles.
“Ah, young love,” Dean says and elbows Sam who just huffs and shakes his head.
“What, you too good for a little end of summer fling?” Dean turns to look at Sam, catches him picking at the edge of the label where its gone soggy with condensation.
“Nah,” Sam says with a shrug, “guess, I’ve just outgrown it.” Then he looks at Dean, and he's still got a smile hanging around the corner of his mouth but it's different now. It's the kind that makes the world go a little quiet, makes Dean wonder how the hell they got here, after everything. "There's better things.”
Maybe there’s a world out there, in all of Chuck’s failed drafts, where Sam looking at him like that doesn’t make Dean feel like he could never want anything else, but it isn’t this one.
“Yeah, I'll drink to that,” Dean says after a moment. And if he has to clear his throat, Sam doesn’t say anything, just holds his bottle out for Dean’s to clink against.
Laughter drifts across the lake. The fuzzy sound of Tom Petty playing on a distant car radio, hot summer air turning cool in the moonlight, and everything is right as it should be.
“Gonna run down the battery,” Dean says as he steps up into Sam’s space, watches Sam’s smile go fond.
“Amateurs,” Sam says and lays a heavy hand on his waist.
Dean loves the way Sam’s eyes darken, loves the sharpness of his jaw, the curve of his neck he leans--wait a damn minute. There’s a mosquito on Sam’s neck, right by the collar of his shirt.
Dean acts on instinct, smacks him, hard. Sam jolts in surprise, stepping back and covering his neck.
“Mosquito,” Dean says by way of explanation and turns his bloody palm to Sam. “You’re welcome.”
Sam pulls a face, dodges back when Dean tries to rub his bloody palm clean on his shoulder.
But that’s not the end of it. They’ve clearly been discovered by a whole damn swarm of mosquitos because suddenly they’re everywhere. There’s a prick on the back of his hand and Dean smacks at it with side of his beer bottle, perfectly good beer fizzing over his fingers and splattering across the ground.
“Frigging mosquitos!” Dean says, a little louder than he should while Sam is busy swatting inelegantly at the air around his face. Sam catches his eye and they both freeze for a second.
“Wanna get the out of here?” Sam asks.
“Hell yeah,” Dean says, and downs the last of his beer.
If they grab their gear and sprint for the Impala, no one needs to know. It’s just them after all.
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