Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Castiel was fully aware that amongst humans, the general consensus was that his job sucked.  He supposed it was due to a few things: the smell, for one.  The hot-dogs rotating in the glass rotisserie oven somehow smelled more like plastic than food.  The bathrooms were routinely used in a way that he would describe as unholy.  And that's to say nothing of the constant odor of gasoline from the pumps outside.  Besides the various olfactory offenses, the pay was low.  He'd crunched the numbers as soon as he'd been hired and was more than a bit upset to find that he would still not be able to afford a room on such a meager salary.

Lastly, a lot of the humans he interacted with on a daily basis were not very kind.  While he could count on one hand the number of smiles he'd received in return for his help, he'd been called an idiot no less than 14 times since his first day.  And the worst part was, many of them returned nearly every day.  So yes, Castiel could understand that while there was dignity in honest work… this job sucked.  

By now he'd gotten to know all the regular customers.  There was William, the elderly black gentleman who only bought mints and gum every day.  Cathy came in four times a week for a blueberry slushie and a turkey sandwich.  Ronald was a teenager who never actually bought anything and just sort of meanders by the potato chips.  Castiel suspected the youth has been shoplifting, but hadn't been able to catch him in the act.  Lucy was an elderly woman who delighted in hurling epithets at him when he rang up her purchases.  

And then there was Betty.  Betty came in on Tuesdays and Thursdays and usually bought a case of energy drinks, two cases of sports drinks and one bag of Salt & Vinegar chips.  She seemed nice enough; she always thanked him when he handed her the receipt.  One time, she even winked at him, which was nice.  Castiel wondered if she was flirting with him, but it was extremely difficult to tell.  Non-verbal communication was something he thought he'd never get the hang of. 

********

"Hey Steve?"  

He heard the sing-song request coming from the back of the store as he was re-stocking the cigarettes.  When he headed down the aisle, he saw Betty waiting for him, looking a bit bashful.  She was wearing all black, lipstick that was *very* red, and red high heels.  He had to admit, he was new at this, but even he could tell that she was very attractive.  She brushed her jet-black hair off her shoulder and gestured at one of the shelves close to the ceiling.  

"Sorry to bug you, but that's the last case of the Shockerz energy drink and I made a few promises."  She chuckled.  "Can't leave here without it."

"No problem," Castiel said, turning to retrieve the step-stool.  As he climbed the steps and reached to gingerly remove the box of drinks, he snuck a peek at Betty and realized she was biting her lip and staring at his backside.  Quickly averting his eyes, he descended the step-stool, certain that he was blushing.  

"Yay!  You're a doll, Steve."  She winked, and Castiel couldn't help but smile back.  

**********

Over the next few weeks, communications from Dean seemed to decrease.  There were fewer text messages, and the calls dwindled to nothing.  Alternatively, Betty seemed to be dropping by more often with kind things to say and even a few compliments.  

One day, she actually dropped by with coffee.  As in, two coffees.  One for her and one for him.  

"Is this for me?"  He asked, afraid to reach for it.  

"This is… an apology."  She gave him a sideways glance and held the cup out.  

"For what?"  Castiel mentally went back over all their interactions for any sort of slight she could have committed against him.  Nothing came to mind.

Betty leaned on the counter and placed her chin on her fist.  "Basically I'm gonna ask you something and if it's totally out of line and inappropriate, the apology is here and ready to go.  We can call it even and forget this ever happened."  

Castiel knew enough about the expression "that's a red flag" to know that this qualified.  But he took the coffee cup because it smelled much better than the stuff he routinely sold to the Gas 'n' Sip customers. 

And he wanted to believe that whatever she had to ask couldn't possibly be that bad.

"Have you ever had an interest in doing fetish videos?"

He was wrong.  

************

Cleaning the coffee off the counter took a bit longer than anticipated because he had to convince Betty it wasn't her fault.  As he mopped up the liquid, she grabbed a napkin out of her purse and got some of the stray drops.  "I'm so sorry, on the way over I told myself to work *up* to that question.  Not just blurt it out like an idiot."

"It's quite alright, I uh- I startle easily."  With one last swipe of the rag, the evidence of his embarrassing involuntary reaction to her question was gone.  

"I guess I should explain myself?"  

"Uh, if you wouldn't mind."

She smiled.  "Here's the thing, Steve:  I run a business.  A very lucrative business.  In this business, I film people in various situations and sell the footage on the internet.  I pay my actors 500 bucks an hour and depending on how well their footage sells, I may give them more."  She took a sip of her expensive coffee and some of her red lipstick stayed on the cup.  

Castiel was grateful the store was empty.  "You're speaking of pornography."  

She made a 'hm' noise and shrugged.  "Sometimes.  Actually, only 50 percent of my website's content contains actual sex acts.  My husband usually organizes those shoots.  More paperwork and all that."

This gave Castiel pause.  It's only at that moment that he noticed the wedding ring on her left hand.  "Your husband?"

"Yeah!  5 years now.  But we've been running the site for 6."

"That must be nice, to be able to work with the one you love."

"It works for us."  She smiled, a wistful expression crossing her features.  

Castiel coughs.

"Oh, yes!  Well, Steve.  This is awkward, I know.  And part of me feels terrible for bringing it up, but I'm here a lot and I know a lot of people… and word gets around.  Specifically the word that you are new in town, and still haven't found a place to live."  She looked scared, as if she was worried he'd be offended and start screaming at her. 

But it was true, and Castiel didn't feel that he should be ashamed of anything.  "Yes.  Yes, that's true.  Most nights I've been sleeping in the break room actually."

"Tough times."  Betty shook her head, her tone genuine.  "I know how it is, actually.  When I was 16, things got real bad at home and I decided that no home at all was better than what I was going through.  I don't know anything really about your situation, but I know that sometimes I wished… well.  I wished for a lot of things."  She shook herself free of the memories and made eye contact with him again.  "Steve, I can tell that you're a good person.  I want to help.  I don't have a lot of connections, but I do have my own business and we're always hiring.  Surely you know by now that you're very good-looking.  I can tell you've got a smokin' bod under that gas station vest.  I think you'd do very well."

Castiel looked at his hands.  His heart was pounding and the only thing he could hear was the buzzing of the florescent lights above his head and the gentle hum of the slushie machine.  She had mentioned 500 dollars and the idea that he could rent his very own room was extremely enticing.  Maybe he  could even pick up a mattress.  And a real pillow.  And a new shirt.  Shoes that fit.  "What would you require of me?"

"Nothing you don't feel comfortable with.  We'd sign a contract, all legally binding documents.  You can always bring a friend if you don't want to go alone.  A lot of my actors bring someone so they feel safer."

She seemed so open and honest.  Castiel searched her words and her face for any sign of danger.  He came up empty.  He just wished he had someone to bring with him, but there was no one he'd want there who would want to come.  

A customer came in at that moment and Betty took a step back, winking as she picked up a motorcycle magazine and pretended to be enthralled.  The customer bought 20 dollars worth of gas and a bag of peanuts, leaving silently even after Castiel wished him a pleasant day.

"Would I have to be nude?"  Castiel asked, wishing with every part of his being that he could control his damned blushing.

"Not unless you wanted to be.  Usually the actors start off in their underwear.  You can also have it in your contract that no one touches you in that area."

"I'm a bit confused… If there's no nudity and no sex, why would people pay for these movies?"  

"Oh Steve," She smiled.  "There may not be nudity, but a lot of things can be sexual and exciting in the right context."   She reached into her purse and produced a business card.  "Think about it.  Even if you say no, I promise I won't hold it against you.  Either way, I'll see you next week."  She waved and smiled as she left.  

Castiel inspected the business card.  A whiff of strawberry floated up from the textured paper.  

The scary part was, Castiel already knew what he was going to do.  

TBC