Work Text:
Dean didn’t get much of a break on nights like these, but he didn’t mind. It wasn’t because the bar was busy - the opposite actually. Dean was the only one on tonight. Ellen was in the back catching up on some inventory. Dean had offered to take that job instead, but Ellen just rolled her eyes at him. She knew he liked bar duty way better than anything to do with paperwork.
There were a couple of folks he chatted with throughout the night, some regulars, some new folks just open to talking. It was around 9 when Ellen joined him behind the bar and started fixing a drink before giving him a nod. Dean gave her a wink back and went on his break.
Dean always kept his phone with him, but he would set it to silence everything but calls while he was working. Anyone who needed to get ahold of him immediately knew how to, and everything else could wait. He wasn’t surprised to see some notifications from the past few hours, but he was surprised to see that they were almost all texts from Cas. About…Dean couldn’t actually tell by looking at the last few texts. Like he could read the words and understand Cas was seemingly in the middle of writing a novel, but the names were unrecognizable. What the hell was an NFT?
Dean kept scrolling through texts as he grabbed his “lunch” from the fridge and settled into one of the armchairs in the corner of the office. He almost understood part of what Cas was saying. He texted back.
/You may have to explain it a different way because I still don’t get who is buying these/
The call was practically instantaneous. Dean picked up and put it on speaker, settling in with a smile on his face.
“Hey bud, what’s up?”
“Dean you do not have to read my extensive text messages on your break. Maybe I should have reiterated after I had finished my thoughts that you don’t need to respond. I had put a disclaimer in the initial text, but I suppose that was buried.”
Fuck, Dean loved him.
“No, I saw that at the beginning. Didn’t really make the rest make sense. How do you pronounce the F part of it?”
“Fungible. And that’s not the point, Dean. The point is you are on your break and you should be taking the time to do something enjoyable. And these things are an irritant at the very least.”
Dean almost said the unsaid thing then. Almost said the “you are my enjoyable thing” that poked at his ribs. The sappy shit that warmed him from the inside.
“Yeah well. Got nothing else to do.”
“Dean, I do not want to be encroaching on your mandated 15,“ Dean could hear the air quotes, “especially not with annoyances.”
Dean bit down on a laugh, remembering when Cas had been talking about his time at the Gas n Sip. He’d been a very good team leader, apparently. Always ensured everyone took their breaks, because it was mandated for a reason to ensure that employees were blah blah blah and Dean had latched onto it, joking about Cas being the keeper of the Government Mandated 15 Minute Break.
Really, he’d cling to anything that he could joke about, could remind them both it was okay to share memories of things they hadn’t lived through together. For a long time, Dean wished Cas never had to learn about break schedules and cash drawers. Not that way. But wishing didn’t change the past, and they agreed their intentional ignorance wasn’t effective.
“You’re not encroaching on anything, Cas. Pretty sure that’s what the rings mean. My 15 is your 15.” Dean smiled as he heard Cas sigh just a little, could imagine the fondest eye roll.
“Our marriage has nothing to do with this particular labor law, Dean.”
“I know. Now shut up and tell me how much I gotta hate these fungal things.”
“Fungible.”
“Yeah, yeah, clock’s tickin’. Get to explaining while I eat.”
—
“Have a good break?” Ellen greeted Dean as he returned to the bar.
Though he was still vaguely pissed at the audacity of rich people, Dean didn’t hesitate to reply with a smile.
“The best.”