Work Text:
The afternoon sun reflected off of the Atlantic and glittered so much, Dean had to squint his eyes.
“Dude, what’s with the face?” Sam chuckled. He was lounging on a towel in dry swim trunks and a loose v-neck, looking at Dean through his sunglasses.
“Shut up.” Dean huffed and readjusted himself on the towel he was sitting on. Sand was the worst part about beaches. It got everywhere and it itched and stayed too long in bodily places you didn’t want irritating sand in. “How’s your book, nerd?”
Sam glanced back up, taking his eyes off his ethics textbook for the millionth time today. He didn’t know why he thought he’d get any work done with Dean and Cas visiting for the weekend. “It’s fine, thanks.” Sam sighed and closed the book, shoving it inside his brown messenger bag.
“Why are you even doing homework anyway? It’s freakin’ July, man.” Dean sipped his beer and shook his head, unbelievingly.
“Because, Dean, the more classes I take, the quicker I can be finished.”
“I thought all you wanted was to be in school. What, now you can’t wait to get out? Miss the old life, eh Sammy?” Dean looked hard at Sam who matched his gaze but quickly looked out to the waves where Castiel and Sarah Blake were poking around the shallows.
Sam was about to respond when Sarah turned and called over to them. Sam sprung up, relieved to end the conversation with Dean and trotted over to where the two were standing, ankle-deep in the cold water. Dean followed.
“Look at that!” Sarah pointed. “A horseshoe crab!”
Sam peered into the water as he slipped an arm around Sarah’s waist. “Wow, it’s a big one.” He mused.
“What the hell?” Dean muttered as he bent over for a closer look.
“It’s a horseshoe crab, Dean. Though the name is misleading as it’s actually not a crustacean at all, but more closely related to arachnids.” Cas rattled off.
Cas squatted down, the bottoms of his shorts dipping in the water, and gently stroked the top of the ancient-looking creature and smiled. Dean scrunched up his face.
“Should you be doing that, bud?” He asked.
“Oh, it’s fine. It doesn’t hurt them. Here—try.” Cas pulled on Dean’s arm and with a surprised ‘hey!’ he folded over, blunt fingers gently brushing the top of the animal’s cartilage topside.
“Who knew it took petting a horse crab thing to get you to bend me over that fast,” Dean whispered huskily into Cas’ ear.
Castiel’s cheeks went pink which caused Dean to laugh before planting a quick peck on Cas’ lips.
Dean slapped his thighs and stood. “Whelp, all this talk of crab is making me hungry. I hear you’re planning a delicious dinner for us tonight, Sarah?”
“You heard right.” She placed a hand on Sam’s chest. “Because we all know Sam here can’t cook worth a damn.”
Sam playfully slapped her hand away before scooping her easily into his arms with a growl. “We’ll see who can’t cook worth a damn!” He ran away, back to their belongings, Sarah laughing and kicking the entire way.
Dean watched them and smiled. While he missed his brother fiercely while he was in South Dakota, seeing him and Sarah so happy together here in New York made his heart swell. He knew Sam was thrilled about getting back into school and with Sarah already exposed to the supernatural, that was 90% of Sam’s life that he didn’t have to hide from her. Though Dean knew that no matter how well trained or armed their house was, the concern and worry for a loved one’s safety never went away. His thoughts briefly flicked to Lisa and Ben, but he squashed that immediately.
The gentle brush of Cas’ hand on Dean’s made him jump and brought his focus back to the present.
“What do you say we head back to Sam and Sarah’s, have a nice dinner and then spend a little time in our guest bed tonight, just the two of us…though quietly so as not to wake either of them.” Cas winked awkwardly and Dean laughed as he threw his arms around Cas’ waist.
“Your dirty talk just always gets me, you know that?”
Cas smiled and leaned back onto Dean’s chest, placing his hands over Dean’s. They stood together, facing the ocean for a few seconds more before they heard Sam yell, “Hey lovebirds, you hungry or what?!”
With another quick meeting of lips, they turned back, hand in hand, and joined Sam and Sarah. The four hunters packed up their things and wandered back towards the parking lot, ready to head back to a warm house with good food and great company.