Dean knew sooner or later he was probably going to have to make sure Ben realized that playing video games constantly wasn’t going to fly - but now really wasn’t the time for that. Not literally now, and not now as in within a week or so, probably, because he wasn’t going to push this whole authority thing, regardless of how this whole night went. And then there was part of him - a voice that sounded more like his own father than himself - that said Ben should have been out running laps instead of playing video games, because video games weren’t gonna save your life when something was after you...
...but nothing was going to be after Ben, he reminded himself, offering the boy a smile as he came into the room and got the plates. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to him, and he wasn’t growing up a hunter like Dean and Sam had - he was normal. Or, at least as normal as he could be, growing up in the center of the end of the world. Dean wasn’t going to let him even decide he wanted to be a hunter until he was well old enough to actually make that decision. Like twenty.
He was getting ahead of himself, though - wondering how old was really the right age to teach a kid how to shoot, and if he should still know Latin exorcisms, and whether giving him a silver or iron knife would be okay, without giving him the idea that hunting was an option... Right now, this wasn’t about all of that; there would be time for that later. Now, he needed to get through this - dinner, talking - before he could even think about all of that.
“Nothing nasty, promise,” he responded. He pointedly didn’t say it wasn’t a trick, though, because.... well, it sort of was? It was sort of somewhere between a bribe and a trick, so he didn’t want to lie. That would be a crappy way to start things off. He unwrapped the burgers and set them on the plates, dumping the little cardboard containers of fries out onto them also. At least this way they could pretend it wasn’t fast food. The pie he put in the microwave, not turning it on, just to keep it warm, and then he grabbed a couple sodas and the bottle of ketchup from the fridge and put them on the table as well.
Once they were both settled in and eating - well, Dean wasn’t eating, just sort of moving fries around his plate, breaking them in half, rearranging them - he cleared his throat slightly. “So, uh. I have something I need to talk to you about.” Right, that wasn’t ominous at all. “It’s not bad,” he added quickly, hoping he hadn’t already scared the kid, “Just, you know. Important.”
He paused long enough to break another two fries in half, then rubbed his fingers clean on one of the cheap, thin fast food napkins, and leaned his arms on the table. He didn’t really know how to say this - how the hell do you explain to a kid that, surprise, you’re his dad? It’s not exactly a conversation he ever really expected to have to have with anyone. Just saying it was probably going to be the best - anything else would be super awkward explanations that were probably not going to help anything. So he had to just... say it.
And doing the Luke, I am your father thing was right out of the question.
“I’m your dad.” His eyes lifted to meet Ben’s for like half a second, and then dropped to linger on the napkin he was shredding between his fingers. “I, uh. Just found out. Today.” Oh yeah. Super awkward. He wondered if it would have been a better idea to have Sam come in here and do the puppy eyes please don’t hate us for telling you this thing. Probably. Sam might not have been the one who knew what to do with kids, but he was good at breaking uncomfortable news to people. Sometimes. Better than Dean, at least. Crap.