Who: Stefan Salvatore and Dean Winchester When: Late July Where: Rainbow Motor Repair What: Bros. Rating/Warnings: TBD Status: In Progress
Stefan was used to the heat. He’d spent time in the Middle-East and in Africa during his deployment, and Southern California was like a dream in comparison. (A dream, not a Dream.) There was air conditioning here. Lots of it. All over the place. And cold and hot running water for long showers or baths (though not too long, they were in a drought) and an ocean to swim in. Being a vampire meant that he wasn’t as affected by temperatures as some of his more human friends, but he could still feel it. His body reacted differently, but it was still noticeable.
So when he showed up to the garage on days he knew it was supposed to get hot, he brought extra water bottles to fill the fridge. He kept the fans on, even though he didn’t need the moving air as much as others. He was trying to be courteous and considerate to his colleagues as well as their customers. He was a nice guy like that.
~*~
"You trying to pretend we're in a beautiful oasis instead of a drought-ridden desert?"
Dean was smiling too hard to make Stefan think he was anything other than joking. It was the pair of them at Rainbow Motor Repair; the rest of the garage staff was off since they'd been cutting hours due to the drought. They didn't need extra hands when they had Dean held hostage due to the fact his landscaping service was suffering from the lack of rain as much as the earth he tried to keep green.
Wiping his hands on a grease rag, he wandered over to nod at an SUV he'd put on a lift, "We gotta do a full overhaul on that one for the radiator. Leak. The lady who brought her in literally had no idea how long it would take so when I suggested she Uber out of here? You'd have thought I'd told her to go a lot further South. You up for helping me pull hoses and flush lines?"
~*~
“Can you blame me?” Stefan retorted, smirking a little. It was good to see his friend and boss so happy like this. Stefan assumed things were going well with Claire, and that the garage was doing well, but he knew that the landscaping business was suffering a bit. It made him wonder why Dean was so happy. But hey, he wasn’t gonna argue it.
“Well, the heat doesn’t really bother me, anyway,” Stefan added, then rolled up his sleeves and nodded. “Yeah, absolutely.” He was ready to work. And though the heat didn’t really bother him, the breeze was nice. Moved air around, so the smells varied more. That was a good thing when his vampire senses were in overdrive.
~*~
Dean pushed over two sets of rolling steps to where the SUV was on the lift. They could sit on the top rung since it was designed as a seat, a step, as well as a shelf in the event they were using it to paint. He'd become good at finding ways to make life as a mechanic bearable in the California heat. Sometimes Dean did wish he had a few perks similar to those his supernatural friend had since Stefan stayed looking sharp while Dean wilted in the heat eventually.
"Pull up a ladder."
He started pulling hoses as he kicked buckets under the vehicle to catch the draining coolant. The smell was powerful even to Dean's human senses. It was likely not doing Stefan any favors. Dean tossed the used hoses to the ground while he worked, trying to think of a way to distract his helper during the grimy task. They'd talked about---more than Dean usually spoke on with anyone other than his brother or his lover.
Stefan was the best friend Dean had which meant he should tell him, right?
"Want to know a secret? One of the good kinds?"
~*~
Stefan followed along behind Dean, and tugged one of the step ladders into position. The good thing about working together side-by-side for so long now was that they didn’t have to talk too much to get shit done. Stefan had learned all of Dean’s habits when it came to work. He knew almost instinctively what the other man would do first, second, third, and was able to act accordingly. Sometimes they talked while they worked. Dean probably knew as much about Stefan’s life as anyone else now. Sometimes they worked in silence.
They fell into the work for a moment, flushing things and replacing tubes and whatever else they needed to do. Stefan was a marvel with his hands--he didn’t even need a wrench sometimes to loosen nuts and whatever else.
“Sure,” Stefan said, turning his attention to his friend for a moment.
~*~
People who were used to doing the whole Chick Flick Moment thing likely rehearsed how they were going to tell their nearest and dearest big news. Starting a family with Claire was the biggest news of Dean's life yet he wasn't willing to change the way he approached life simply because it was how other people did things. There were norms -or civilians- and there were hunters; Dean Winchester was a hunter even if he wasn't actively patrolling Orange County for supernatural creatures preying on the innocent.
No. He was too busy grinning at one who he knew could have preyed on any innocent he wanted and not giving two great big bags of dicks about it.
"Claire's having a baby. My baby. Technically? That means I'm going to be a father. Wild, huh?"
Dean shrugged a little as he grinned, boyish for a moment which belied all the things he'd survived.
"Definitely something better to think about than this heat, am I right?"
~*~
Stefan's eyes went wide just a moment before he broke into a big smile. "Dean! That's amazing! Congratulations!" He reached forward to shake his friend's hand, ignoring the fact that that they were both covered in grease. He clapped Dean on the shoulder. “You’re absolutely right!”
Congratulating a friend on his upcoming fatherhood felt like a normal, human thing to be doing. Stefan relished in these moments, few and far between as they were. So much of his life revolved around hunting animals for their blood so he wouldn't attack people, dealing with insane Dreams, fighting monsters both literally and figuratively... when things like this came along, he wanted to enjoy it.
After all, Stefan couldn't ever father a child. Not anymore.
~*~
"Dude, right?"
Dean grinned wider, feeling like an idiot as he shook Stefan's hand, accepted the clap to his shoulder as if he'd really done something amazing. All he'd done was turn to his partner for comfort in the dark yet here they'd really done something, hadn't they? They were going to have a baby. Dean and Claire had managed to create a brand new soul between them, one which wouldn't have ever happened without the pair of them. That was something to think about.
"Claire has her first appointment soon. She says she thinks we'll get to hear the heartbeat at least. I'm hoping they do that sonar thing where we can see it swimming around in there."
He wondered idly if Stefan could hear a baby's heartbeat with his enhanced senses or if that was stretching the bounds of vamp abilities.
~*~
It was actually quite adorable. Stefan had never considered Dean to be the patronly type--he wasn't the first of Stefan's friends that he'd imagine starting a family. (Actually, Stefan wasn't sure he could imagine any of his friends starting a family. Maybe Frank Hardy, actually.) But Stefan could see the look on Dean's face and hear the excitement in his voice.
"That's amazing. You'll have to get an audio recording." Stefan said, folding his arms across his chest. He really was thrilled for his friend. "So, how far along is she?" He asked. The vampire knew next to nothing about how pregnancies worked, but hey, it was as good a time to start as any.
~*~
They made people disks of their babies when they could see them, but would they put the heartbeat on a CD? Dean was suddenly in love with the idea, desperate to hear it, have it to listen to over and over again forever. He chuckled at his own folly. What kind of father was he going to be with the example he'd had himself? Who knew? Stefan liked him well enough and the vampire was happy for him.
That said something.
"I didn't know they'd do an audio recording. You can hear it at 6 weeks. She's more than that. We're thinking at least 8 weeks? I'm hoping they let us see it floating around in there. If I can get a recording, you want me to bring it to share? I don't know if you can hear babies when they're growing or whatever so it might be something new for you. Doubt you get much new anything."
~*~
"Yeah, absolutely," Stefan said, nodding. "I'm sure you can do something like that with your phone, even," he added. The vampire wasn't that up on the technology stuff, but he had a smartphone and knew how to take video and still pictures on it. Dean could do that much at the very least.
"I'd love to hear it. Man, that's insane. The good kind of insane, I mean," Stefan said, smiling over at his friend. He turned back to the car. "You know, I think this requires a small celebration," he said, then put on a bit of vamp speed to replace hoses and tighten lug nuts in a matter of seconds. Less than a minute later, and he'd finished up with most of the shit they had to do to tune up the car.
"We should have some beers," Stefan said, suddenly appearing beside Dean and wiping his hands on a towel.
~*~
Dean laughed outright as a sudden breeze caught up while Stefan Salvatore, Vampire Extraordinaire, took care of the SUV. He took the towel to clean his own hands up as he shook his head. It was funny to him, seeing Stefan excited by his news. It was nice to share news with a friend who could appreciate it. There was something even more exciting about having said it outloud to someone who mattered.
It made it real.
"I'm going to be a dad. I can't think of a better reason to drink a toast or get out early with a little help from a friend. C'mon. I'll buy the first round and the rest are on you."
They were going to have a great time and Stefan was going to keep Dean from freaking out about how he'd be as a father.