Who: Derpy Hooves and Sam Winchester (cameo from Applejack!) When: Early July Where: Starting at the Farmer’s Market What: Lunch Date Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Sam hadn’t talked much about it, but he’d found a psychiatrist to talk to about his dreams. It was helping, he thought, even though it was taking him away from the office for an hour a week. (He put in enough hours at night and on the weekends that it wasn’t causing any problems.) So his mood was a bit better.
He showed up to the Farmer’s Market where Deryn worked carrying a big, bright sunflower for her. The plan was to surprise her and take her out for a romantic lunch. She was relatively hard to find sometimes, so he started to wander the booths, looking for his girlfriend.
Deryn wasn’t really hiding or anything -- she was just small and therefore tended to melt in with the crowds of people quite easily until spotted.
She was standing at AJ’s booth -- chattering excitedly about something with her friend as she hugged her clipboard and bounced on her heels. She always wore flats of some kind -- scuffy boots, chuck taylors or slip ons. Today she had bright, neon green chuck taylors that somehow matched perfectly with her bright blue sundress, even though the colors weren’t the same at all.
Sam should have known that Deryn would be at AJ’s booth. The two girls were good friends, and were often found together at the Farmer’s Market. Chatting, gossiping, doing the thing that girlfriends do. Sam wondered if AJ was trying to put ideas about marriage into Deryn’s head.
He snuck up behind his girlfriend and wrapped an arm around her to offer her the flower.
Well, if AJ hadn’t already been trying to get that idea into Deryn’s head, she sure as heck would have been now. The little blonde let out a surprised squeal that instantly went into a happy giggle. “Sam!” She said, and her voice was a little too high pitched to be proper in it’s scolding. “You scared me---oh! Flower!”
Sam gave a little laugh when Deryn got all excited about the flower. That had been the point, afterall. He handed it over, then leaned in to steal a quick kiss from her lips.
AJ was watching the whole scene from her spot at her booth, grinning excitedly. You know what she was thinking. “Hi, Sam!” She said, giving him a wave.
Sam stood back up to his full height--which was considerable--and then smiled and nodded at John’s wife, Deryn’s friend. They weren’t that close. “Hi, AJ.”
They should all have double dates! Deryn loved double dates. That last one she and Sam had been on had been a whole lot of fun. The little blonde smiled and bit at her lower lip at the same time, twirling the stem of the sunflower between her fingers. Sunflowers were excellent due to their sheer size. Everyone knew that.
She glanced up at Sam, tilting her head to the side. “Any reason for the visit?” She gave AJ a look that so clearly said. No, he is not here to propose.
Well, and the color. Sam thought Deryn was a very yellow person. He loved her in the color, loved the way sunflowers lit up her face, and her smile. “I thought I’d take you to lunch.”
Even though AJ caught the look, she still didn’t believe it. And when Sam invited Deryn to lunch, she gasped so hard she choked and started coughing. “Excuse me.” Maybe she’d inhaled a fly? Anyway, she wandered off, coughing.
Deryn wasn’t mean enough to hope she swallowed a fly, but she might laugh latter if she heard AJ had in fact done that. All her -- eyebrow wiggles and hopeful glances really were just so unwarranted. But also a little cute. Sort of.
“Ooh,” she said, jumping up for another quick kiss. “Lunch is good. Where do you wanna go?” It was nice to see that he was in a better mood.
They were cute. Sam thought Deryn’s little bff was cute. It was slightly irritating how she kept poking her nose in, but she obviously cared a great deal for Deryn. And Sam couldn’t blame her. He cared a great deal for Deryn, too.
“I thought we’d go out for pizza. You still like pizza, right?” He asked. Who knows? Maybe in the couple days since they’d last ate together, she’d changed her mind?
“Oh no,” Deryn said, eyes going wide. “I hate pizza now. I won’t touch the stuff.” But she couldn’t keep her expression serious enough for that lie to even last until he replied.
Sam gave a little chuckle, his arm dropping down to wrap around her. “Good. Then you’re in for one terrible meal.” He said, turning to wander off back toward his car with her. “I mean, if you can tear yourself away for a bit.”
“I can,” she said, a little skip to her step -- both because she was happy and because Sam’s legs were so long she nearly needed to do something a little speedier in order to stay caught up with him. She was still of the opinion that he ought be giving her piggy back rides everywhere. “AJ will tell everyone for me.”
Sam would definitely not say no to giving her a piggy back ride. In any case, they were close enough to his car that they didn’t have to go much farther, anyway. “She’s a good friend. Is she still asking you when we’re going to get married?” He asked, trying to cover nerves on the subject with amusement at AJ’s nosiness.
“Yes,” Deryn said, and she thought it was funny enough to pull a face at. “But I think it’s only because she just got married. Now she wants everyone to. It’s weird.” She hop skip jumped next to the passenger side of Sam’s car.
Sam unlocked the doors with a click of a button on his keychain, then climbed into the driver’s seat. “John doesn’t seem to be that way. Though, with the business going the way it is, I haven’t seen as much of him as I’d like.” He said, then pulled on his belt and started the car.
It wasn’t a long drive to the pizza place.
“Is it still busy?” She asked, fiddling with the strap of her seat belt and glancing over at Sam worriedly. Deryn knew the basics of his current job situation, but didn’t really know enough about that sort of business to know how it was meant to be, not really.
“Percy and I are basically doing the work of about five lawyers. So, it’s a bit busy.” The paralegals were invaluable, he was finding, and Helen pulled more than her own weight when she owned the place. Before she disappeared.
Twisting her lips into a frown, she considered this for a moment, feeling a bit badly for Sam and Percy. That was a lot of work.
She unbuckled her seatbelt when they got to the pizza place. “Maybe you should hire more people.”
“Maybe.” Sam said, giving a gentle shrug. “I’m sure we can find some interns who need college credit, too. I had a different internship every year I was in Law School.” He said, then climbed out of the car and led the way onto the sidewalk.
Her fingers slipped into his with her free hand (the other was still carrying the sunflower. she couldn’t just leave it to sit in the hot car, could she?) and she bounced as they walked into the pizza place that she kind of considered their lunch spot at this point. Figuring that he didn’t want to talk about work anymore (who ever did, anyway?), she changed the subject. “Pineapple this time?”
“If that’s what you want.” Sam said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. He leaned down to tap a kiss against her cheek, just ‘cause. “I can’t say no to ham and pineapple.” He gave her hand a gentle tug and pulled her inside the restaurant, then up to the counter to order. They’d bring out the pizza to Deryn and Sam when it was ready. He paid, and led her over to a booth in the back. “So, I think we ought to make plans for the fourth. Do you have any ideas?”
She considered that while she sipped at the soda she’d gotten at the counter. “We could find a party to go to?” She didn’t really know of any, but that didn’t seem to bother her. Probably there would be a lot of places advertising for it on the Valarnet soon enough. “Hopefully somewhere that has fireworks, right?” She liked fireworks, although always tended to burn herself on sparklers.
Sam nodded. A party sounded nice, actually. He wondered if he should call Dean. Or see what Percy was up to. Or John. Perhaps he should send out some texts and see about putting together something. But if there was already a party going on, they could just... piggy back onto that?
“Fireworks are a must. It’s the fourth. That’s sort of what this day’s made for, right?” He grinned. “Do you want to get some sparklers? We could light those up, too.” It’d be nice to set off some fireworks with Dean. Like old times.
“I looooove sparklers.” There were so many o’s in that pronunciation that it must have been the truth, right? That’s how Deryn rolled, anyway. And then she smiled again, gave a half of a giggle and sipped at her soda before offering it over to Sam. “I think that sounds fun. It’s going to be fun!” She didn’t think it’d be hard to find a party, not around here.
Sam chuckled, accepting the soda for a sip. "It's going to be fun. We can cuddle up and watch the fireworks, then head back to my place and make our own." Sam, Sam, Sam. So lame. It's the kind of line that might have worked if Dean had said it. But coming from Sam?
What, really? Deryn loved it. She didn’t take it seriously, but she did find it funny. That’s what he’d been going for, right? Giggling, the little blonde rested her chin on her palms. “That was really good.”
Funny, suggestive, flirtatious. He hadn’t been trying anything other than being... well... playful? He couldn’t say things like that seriously like Dean sometimes did. And he couldn’t give a smoulder and make women’s panties melt away. Sometimes Dean had that effect.
“It was? Good.” He got nervous saying things like that. Even to his girlfriend, whose panties he could get off without a smoulder or a sexy line.
“Yes.” Deryn agreed. “Very cute.” Sam wasn’t the type who should have been trying to give a smoulder anyway -- he was far more endearing when he was just himself. He was cute and endearingly lacking in the knowledge that he was exceptionally attractive. Probably, he could have gotten any girl he wanted just by being obliviously shy.
Sam stole another sip from Deryn’s soda, then set it back down again. It was amazing how much he thought about her, how much she made him happy. Even when he was a demon-blood drinking monster in his dreams, even when there were monsters or giant mushrooms or whatever showing up around the county. “How’s the new babysitting job going?”
“Okay,” Deryn pursed her lips in thought and then gave a little shrug. “It pays better.” Not that she was worried about money -- it had never been something she considered much, so long as she could pay her bills. “I like Daisy. But she’s a bit younger than Alice was -- it’s more watching, you know?” Although probably, no, Sam didn’t know.
“More money is good.” Sam nodded. “I don’t really know,” he added, saying something that she’d probably just thought. He’d never spent much time with kids. He didn’t know the difference between a two year old and a six year old. “But it’s good that you’re enjoying your work.”
The pizza came, and Deryn forgot to respond for a while as she attacked her slice with the sort of enthusiasm that only she seemed to be able to manage, particularly when it came to eating.
“Mmphh,” she hummed out after a moment. “Yes. It’s good. I mean. Fun!”
Sam didn’t mind. He was content to dig in himself, and sit for a moment in silence, simply chewing. He gave her a grin and swallowed his mouthful, then reached for her soda again. “Good. So, I’m thinking. Maybe we should go on a vacation. Just the two of us.” He deserved one, afterall.
He definitely did. Deryn rose her eyebrows up, curious. “Where should we go?” Basically that was a yes in an unnatural formating, right?
“Where do you want to go?” Sam asked. He was thinking maybe they should go somewhere driving distance. Up the coast, or Arizona? Vegas? He had ideas, but wanted to know what she thought.
Luckily for him, she was on nearly the same wavelength. She considered it, hmming and haaing over her pizza for a moment. “I’ve never been to Washington?”
“Washington state?” He wanted to clarify. Washington DC was a little farther than driving distance.
“Yes! With Seattle?” Didn’t everyone just always call the other one Washington DC? Anyway, Deryn wasn’t big on national politics or the way the White House was built. Or whatever.
“Seattle. Yes. I hear they have good coffee up there.” Sam said, smirking a little. “And a big tower?” Truth was, he’d never been to Seattle, either. Maybe that’s where they should go. He said as much. “Maybe we should see it for ourselves.”
“I hear the tower has a roller coaster on it.” She was grinning now, bright and happy and just so -- well. Yellow and Blue, today. Cheerful. “We should definitely see it, Sam.”
“I’ll get us some plane tickets.” Sam said, giving her a little smile. He could organize a short trip. It’d be nice for the two of them to get away, on their own, to have nothing to do but spend time together for a few days. “And a hotel reservation.”
“Make sure it has a pool,” Deryn said, with a sage nod as she licked pizza sauce from her fingers.
“Pool. Got it.” He wasn’t sure what the weather would be like in Seattle. Swimming weather? In Seattle? Wasn’t Seattle like San Francisco? Cold and dreary? Maybe they’d have to find a hotel in the suburbs. He wanted to get Deryn into a swimsuit.
Some places just always had indoor pools. They were just as much fun as outdoor ones when the weather was bad. She laughed a little. “Good.” Stealing her soda back she slurped playfully before blowing bubbles into the drink. “When should we go?”
A pool... indoors? Unheard of in California. But Sam would call around. He’d find her a pool. He wanted her in that swimsuit. “How about soon?” He said, grinning at the bubbles in her drink. “Mid-July? Is that enough time for you to take a day or two off of work?”
“Oh, for sureeeeee.” She nearly hummed it out. “It’s easy to get off at the market, and for babysitting, I just have to tell them I’ll be gone. Don’t need permission or anything.” That’d be funny if she did.
"Good. We'll plan for a few days in the middle of July. It'll be nice to get out of the heat." Going to Seattle at this time of year sounded nice, actually. Sam was very much planning on staying in the hotel and shagging his girlfriend nonstop for a few days.
Deryn didn’t think the heat would be that much of a difference just going one state up, but didn’t bother to say so. It wasn’t really the point of the trip, anyway. Plus what hotel didn’t have air conditioning. “It’s gonna be awesome.” She was literally thinking the same thing he was in terms of plans.
“Yes. Yes, it will.” Sam grinned, finishing off the soda from the cup and setting it down on the table. “We should probably get you back to work?”
“Oh yeah,” she said it as if she’d completely forgotten she’d been at work before this. Which, really, she might have. “Guess they’d probably appreciate that, huh?”
“Probably.” Sam chuckled, then stood and held a hand out to her. “If you want to get paid, you should probably work for it.” He teased.
Reaching out, her tiny fingers curled around his monster claw. Er, hand.
“I guess I see your point,” she stuck her bottom lip out in a clearly teasing but oddly effective pout. “Better go check in with AJ too. Nope, not married.”
Sam laughed. “You could play a prank on her. Tell her we were at the courthouse.” He gave her a wink as he led her to the car.
“That would be very mean, Sam Winchester.” Deryn got into the car and buckled her seatbelt, still holding the flower he’d brought for her. “Let’s do it.”