Standing Together

Chapter 69 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

The drive down to Texas is shockingly less painful that one would expect. They get to use their new road trip playlist — Dean's words, despite a bunch of cassettes as a Christmas present not being a playlist in any way. There's a lot of talking and joking around, too.

They stay at various motels overnight, both wearing hoodies and sunglasses as they check in and trying not to get recognized. In Dean's words, it's better to be mistaken for a wanted criminal than recognized as a famous celebrity.

Nothing interesting happens, so it would be easy to just skip to the Super Bowl, but why not start out the night before, with their beautiful hotel?

Dean does all the checking in, with Castiel keeping his head ducked to hide his face in case the hoodie and sunglasses aren't enough to conceal his identity. They head to their room in silence, but once they're there, they can basically be as loud as they want, and Dean takes advantage of that.

"Look at this nice luxury suite!" Dean says with a grin. "Everything looks so fancy! This is the side of Houston I've never seen."

Castiel chuckles. "Well, yeah, when you live in Houston, you typically don't stay in Houston hotels." He leaves the suitcase against the wall and sits down on the bed. "So, few hours to kill. What should we do?"

Dean shrugs. "Something that doesn't involve leaving the room?" He sits down on the bed as well and lays his crutches on the floor beside him. "I'm still not sure we made it here unnoticed, but if we did, I sure as hell am not blowing our cover until after the game."

"And is that when all the secrets come out?" Castiel asks.

"What secrets?" Dean asks cautiously.

"That you're here?" Castiel says. "That you basically snapped you leg in half? That you may never play football again? Literally anything that's happened in the last week has been a secret. When does that end?"

Dean shrugs. "Whenever it has to. I'm sure it won't take long for someone from the NFL to announce that I'm out for next season. But I don't want to have to deal with the aftermath, so I'm gonna hold off on that as long as I can."

"I feel like that just makes you a really shitty teammate," Castiel says.

"Nope," Dean says. "It makes me a really shitty person. Doesn't affect my teammate status."

Castiel chuckles. "And that's better?"

"Oh, it's way better," Dean says. "I'm never gonna not be a shitty person, but at least my legacy as a not-too-shitty teammate is still intact."

"You're literally just not a shitty person, though," Castiel says.

"No, I am," Dean says. "But I choose to be a shitty person. It's the legacy I'll leave behind."

"Well, I think you're a great person," Castiel says, resting his head on his shoulder.

"I've never been so offended in my life," Dean jokes.

They lapse into a comfortable silence, which Dean breaks after a few minutes.

"You and Ketch seemed pretty friendly," Dean remarks.

Castiel shrugs. "Yeah, he's kinda cool."

Dean raises an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Mm hmm," Castiel says. "Why does that surprise you? I thought you just pretended not to like him."

"Well, yeah, but I didn't think you would like him," Dean says. "He doesn't seem like your type of person."

"I don't know," Castiel says. "I think he's different with me than he is with you. You guys have your whole football bond or whatever."

"Ah, yeah, fair point," Dean says.

"If you don't go back to football, are you ever gonna see your football team again?" Castiel asks.

Dean shakes his head. "I doubt it. I don't know why we'd ever run into each other."

"You could just call them," Castiel says. "You're all friends. It's not weird."

"No, that really would be weird," Dean says. "And the fact that I'd be the only one not playing football would make it even worse. I'm gonna pass on the social call."

"But that's kinda sad," Castiel says. "You never even got to say goodbye."

"That's what makes it so nice," Dean says. "The last game is always the worst. It was in high school, it was in college, and it would have been now if I had actually had a preplanned last game with the Pats. Knowing that was the last time you'd be on that field, playing with those people, it sucks. I never wanted to have to say goodbye. This isn't such a bad way to go out, when you think about it." But, despite his encouraging words, he doesn't seem completely thrilled with it.

"But hopefully, it's not how you'll go out," Castiel adds. "You still might make it back on the field."

Dean sighs. "I doubt it."

"There's always a chance," Castiel says. "Don't give up yet."

"It's a little too late for that," Dean says. "But at least I get to go to one more game before I'm out for good."