Who: Deryn + Sam Winchester When: Late August Where: THE WOODS What: Camping Rating/Warning: Status: complete
There was a roaring campfire. Sam may not have been a boy scout, but he knew how to build a campfire, for sure. The tent was set up (the guy in the store had showed them how to set it and take it down several times before they purchased it, just to make sure they both had a firm understanding of how it worked) and the sleeping bags rolled out, now they were heating up some dinner and watching the stars appear one by one. The sky was much clearer up here, out in the middle of nowhere, and one could actually see the stars.
Deryn liked it. She’d grown up in the city and so rarely were there things like a clear, full nights’ sky. She twinkled nearly as brightly, wriggling slightly on the little little log they’d found to sit on.
She also liked that they were cooking food on kebabs. She’d bought zucchini and mushrooms specifically for it, and it looked like it was coming around nicely.
“I suppose we shouldn’t tell spooky stories, huh?”
“Depends. Think you’ll have nightmares?” Sam asked, giving her a teasing grin. “It might be worth it if it means you’ll cuddle up close against me all night long.” For protection. And stuff.
Deryn had meant it more in the way that Sam might not want to talk about spooky things, because that was mostly what his dreams were about. But if he wasn’t bothered, and hadn’t considered that, she was no reason to spoil the mood by bringing it up.
“Not nightmares,” she said, grinning and sticking her tongue out a little even as she leaned forward to turn their food on the little fire grate. “But I might be a little scared.”
Sam wasn’t bothered. Sam knew those things didn’t exist here, so he didn’t think about them twice. “I’ll protect you.” That was something that Sam was good at. Not that he’d ever had to… do any protecting… but he was confident that he could protect her. If he needed to.
“How’s the grub?” He added. It looked like it needed just a little more time on the fire.
“I know you will,” Deryn said, sounding sure and honest and perfectly in love with the idea. She wasn’t exactly a damsel in distress, but she was sure she could play one on tv.
“It’s nearly done. A little longer, maybe.” the little blonde leaned a little closer to Sam, resting her head on his upper arm, because even sitting she’d never really be able to reach his shoulder.
Upper arm worked. Chest worked, too. Whatever. Sam didn’t mind, she weighed next to nothing anyway, and her warmth was absolutely invited. He lifted his arm to wrap around her shoulders. “I’m glad we came out here.” He said after a long moment of silence. It was peaceful. Just what he needed.
“So. You should go first.”
Sometimes Deryn knew exactly what Sam needed. He’d been stressed lately -- work and his family was taking a toll on his nerves, and she was well aware of it. She liked his brother, but she also didn’t have a background with him. She got it.
She hmmed and haahed a little, snuggling closer until her nose was buried in the folds of his sleeve. “You know what’s really scary?”
“What’s really scary?” Sam asked, turning to press his nose into her hair.
“Silence,” Deryn said, attempting spooky. “Sitting in the forest and then all the noise stops, right?” She wanted it to be a round robin scary story. Sam would have to continue.
Sam blinked, then turned to look out at the trees. He could hear the crackling of the fire, the chirping of some nearby bugs and rustling of leaves. But other than that there was no sound. “All the noise stops for some unknown reason, and… the people are scared?” Okay, maybe he was shit at telling ghost stories.
He really was. Deryn looked almost sympathetic. “And you’re camping with people, friends. And people are scared because there’s no noise. And so you go to talk to your friends, to say something -- and no noise comes out.”
“No noise at all. Just silent gaping. Like a fish out of water.” He broke into a grin at how terrible he was at telling ghost stories. It was coming out more funny than scary.
Deryn couldn’t help but giggle, tilting her head back a little to look up at him, head still on his arm. “Exactly! And that’s when you realize you were a fish the whole time!” Okay, she wasn’t good at scary stories, either.
Sam gave a laugh and shook his head. “This is… I don’t know. For someone who’s been through some seriously scary shit, I’m just not good at telling ghost stories.” And she was a winged pony. Maybe they were destined to being funny instead of scary.
“Yeahhhh,” there was a false apology in her tone and Deryn was still kind of giggling over it. They were very bad at this. She leaned forward, turning their food on stick again before shrugging. “We tried. That has to count for something.”
“Definitely. I think we get points for effort.” Sam said, then leaned over to kiss her forehead once she was leaning against him again. “How’s the food? Think it’s almost done?” He kinda couldn’t wait to cuddle up in their giant sleeping bag under the stars. Sam was a big guy. He needed a giant sleeping bag, so he went with the two person bag.
And she was tiny, so she’d totally fit in there with him. It was just a good thing that she wasn’t 500 feet tall, too. They only needed one giant per relationship, or something. “I like points. And it’s done,” she said, but didn’t bother pulling it off the fire yet. Sam could do it.
“Good. Now we’ll have to figure out what the point system is. How many points you get to exchange, and for what.” Sam said, giving her a little grin. He reached forward and took their dinner off the fire, then spread it between a couple of plates, or whatever. It only took a moment, then he came back to sit next to her again. The stars were really bright up here, and all they could hear was the crackle of the fire, the wind in the trees and the chirping of crickets nearby. It was really peaceful.
“No matter what, I think we should get a white board for the system.” White boards were awesome. They’d figure it out later though. Or completely forget about it. That was fine, too.
She settled herself down on the ground between Sam’s legs and leaned back onto him, blowing on her food which was clearly too hot to eat yet. “This is perfect.”
Sam laughed again. “A white board it is.” He had one in the office they could use temporarily. And then she was cuddling against him again, and he lowered an arm to wrap around her. Somehow. He just wanted to be touching her. Always.