Something Different //part4
Fandom: Supernatural
Summary: Slow-burn Crowley x asexual!reader. When Crowley notices you actually have a weak point, he becomes very interested in taking advantage of it. But not everything goes as he expected.
Word count: 3,218
[Masterlist] [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]
You heard the bunker’s door creak open in the middle of the night. You were preparing something sweet for the night’s marathon with your newest favorite show when the boys finally arrived. You looked at the clock, although you didn’t really have too, as they were already a few hours late. You worried, but you kept reminding yourself that they could take care of themselves and Kevin, who they had transported to some other safe house.
You heard Dean calling you so you shouted back to inform him where you were. After a while, they marched into the kitchen, visibly tired, but not injured. You greeted them with a very proud smile, as you showed them the goods you’d baked.
Dean whistled as a hungry look appeared in his suddenly bright eyes.
“I’m so happy Kevin is not here right now,” he confessed.
“It doesn’t mean you’ll get more, though,” you warned him, moving them further away. “I made it mainly for myself, remember? By the way, how is Kevin? Is everything all right with him?”
“It will be,” Sam assured you. You slapped Dean’s hand when he tried to steal the cookies. “Crowley messed with him pretty badly, but he'll get over it hopefully.”
“And if he doesn’t?” you asked what was bothering you for a while now. “He is the prophet and the only person that can read the tablets right now. If he goes crazy and tries to find his mother and Crowley’s demons catch him...”
You didn’t finish. You didn’t have to. All of you have been wondering about that problem since the incident with Kevin happened, but you still had no idea how to efficiently stop him from breaking loose. It reminded you of something.
“Where did you take him?” you asked. “Won’t he escape?”
“Even if he tries, it won’t be that easy, since we’ve planted a transmitter to show us where he is,” Dean said proudly with a grin. It must have been his idea.
“Well… But you do remember Kevin knows more about all that computer stuff than any of us? Are you sure he won’t notice?”
“Even if he does, we have a friend checking up on him, a retired hunter. He'll be fine.”
“I hope so,” you exhaled deeply, brushing your face with a hand. Dean stole one of the cookies, shoving the whole thing in his mouth. You death-glared him, but didn’t say anything. He will always be a kid.
“By the way, how do you feel?” Sam suddenly asked out of nowhere, catching you off guard.
“I’m… okay, I guess… It actually depends on what will be required from me...”
“Right,” he laughed gently. “We need you to pack up and come with us. On our way back here we had found something and we think it may be something big, but we can’t get it alone. It’s probably got some weird mojo-stuff scrawled over the entrance and we don’t want to go down there unprepared.”
“So we are going on a case?” you asked suspiciously, sensing that there was something he wasn’t telling you.
“Yeah, we may need backup.”
“If it’s so easy, why do I still feel that you’re about to drop something big that I really don’t want to hear...?”
“We are definitely gonna need your sixth sense,” Dean muffled with his mouth full, not even bothering anymore to hide stealing the cookies and eating them openly.
“We have to take Crowley too,” Sam answered, looking a little sorry.
Your jaw dropped. You wished it was a joke, but Sam looked dead serious.
“Why? You have nothing to make him do what you want him to do. Even if he could read it, why the hell would he?” you tried to reason with them, not wanting to sound too desperate.
“It’s not a problem. Our main worry is to keep an eye on him if he tries to escape in the middle of a hunt. If he senses he has a chance, well, you will take care of him when we hunt down whatever is in that crypt. What’s wrong?” Sam finally noticed your strange behaviour.
“Nothing. Better hurry, boys. I really want to have this over asap,” you shook your head, moving to your room and leaving Dean with the scraps of cookies. You lost the mood to properly enjoy them.
Sam caught up with you in the corridor. He must have sensed that something was off with you back in the kitchen. He always worried about you too much for your liking. It was nice of him, but he sometimes tended to dig into matters you wanted to keep to yourself.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, following you to your room. “Did something happen when we were out?”
Bingo, Moose.
“No. I just don’t feel well,” you mentally scoffed at yourself the moment you said that. Now he would worry even more.
“Are you sick? Maybe you should stay in the bunker, until...”
“No, Sammy, it’s okay. I just… It’s something I have to deal with myself,” you tried to reassure him with a warm smile, but you could see by the look on his face that it wasn’t working.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?” he made sure, opening your door for you.
“I know. Thank you. Are we leaving right now?”
“Yeah, whatever is in that crypt, became really active when we checked it out. We don’t know if it won’t break free on its own. Do you need more time?”
“No. I’ll meet you in the garage in ten, okay?”
“Sure. Take your time.”
He finally left you alone. You reached for your gun on the bedside table, checking the bullets. You grabbed your coat already feeling the coolness of the night. What perfect scenery for an unwanted talk, probably including some heartbreaking confessions. Yeah, it was a good thing you weren’t a character in some cheesy romance. In your version of the story, you had a gun, a demon-killing knife, and years of practice in hunting on your side. And no intention of starting something that wouldn’t last.
You raised your chin and straightened your back. After all, you were still a hunter and had a work to do, even if that work was one of the most unpleasant things you'd had to do in the past years.
Crowley was just sitting down in the backseat of the Impala when you arrived and took the opposite seat.
“What are we thinking about?” he asked as if nothing had happened few days ago.
“That I would love to be back in the sewers, looking for a dragon, over being here,” you answered him coldly, avoiding his look.
Dean mumbled something about how his Impala was not even partially that bad, but you didn’t say anything. Looking out the window, you could still see the hazy reflection of the demon. Crowley was silent for the rest of the ride, which was unusual for him, but you tried not to overthink that. One couldn’t guess what was on his mind. You didn’t see it the last time and that didn’t end well, so you were far from trying to guess again. Apparently, you weren’t as skilled in that matter as you used to think, but you still had other skills, much more useful in certain situations.
Dean pulled over near the gates of an old cemetery on the outskirts of the town. It looked like no one had been there for a long time as everything was dirty and poorly maintained. The leaves were banking up over the graves, some of which were tilted or plainly broken and forgotten. Judging by the dates engraved on them, the closest relatives of the people laying there were long dead too, and their offspring clearly neglected their duties. It made you sad, but you quickly dismissed that thought. You had other things to worry about.
You moved back to the boys standing before the ancient-looking crypt they told you about. Their annoyed faces almost made you laugh. When you caught up with them, Crowley was explaining to them how much he wasn’t going to help them.
“But why?” Dean almost groaned. “Don’t you see that you have no choice in the matter?”
“Squirrel, you are only making me enjoy myself more when I show you don’t have any power over me,” Crowley laughed loudly.
“We can kill all of your best demons!”
“Then there will come next ones. We are demons, that’s what we do. You can’t exterminate all of my kind.”
“We'll see about that,” Sam grinned promisingly.
“Is this a pep talk…?”
“We can give you to Abbadon, remember that?” Dean teased him, which Crowley ignored.
“Or help you track her,” you added, surprising yourself and the three men.
Dean gave you the “what the hell” look from behind Crowley, who also eyed you weirdly. You shrugged, not really bothered by their reaction. The boys knew that sooner or later you would have to deal with growing in strength against Abbadon. She was not only Crowley’s problem. The raising chaos in Hell and her ideas on how to capture as many souls as possible were as important as the angels’ fall. And Crowley had to have something to gain to do what you wanted from him. That was just how he worked. Right?
Crowley squinted his eyes at you, trying to find a catch.
“What do you say, Crowley?” Sam rushed him, noticing the change in his mood and sensing his hesitation. “Deal?”
Crowley death-glared him, but nodded after a while of consideration. He glanced at you, but you kept your “bored beyond imagination” face, so he couldn’t read anything.
The demon moved to the closed entrance of the crypt, silently reading the ancient words in some probably dead language you didn’t understand at all. Dean moved closer to you, keeping an eye on Crowley.
“What the hell was that about?” he whispered to you almost angrily.
“You wanted him to help. I made him do it,” you said calmly as if you didn’t see what he had in mind.
Sure, it could be considered unusual for you to stand up for Crowley so openly, but you didn’t understand Dean’s surprise. You have always tried to act fair to everyone, including the other species as long as they weren’t breaking the law or hurting anyone. You and Dean have even had some mild arguments because of it a few times. Crowley may have been a douche one too many times, but recently did nothing evil.
Dean shot you another weird stare, which left you uneasy, but fortunately, Crowley deciphered the words on the marble walls, turning to you.
“It basically says in some fancy old French to keep away from and never open it. Are you ready, boys? I can’t wait to see you struggling with whatever it is.”
“Come on, Crowley, there is like two meters of text, what does it all say? There has to be some clue to what it is,” Dean left you, moving back to the crypt.
“According to these lame rhymes, it’s undead and living off of human emotions. My guess is that a lovey-dovey night of some emo kids on one of those benches woke up this creature. It’s pretty romantic, isn’t it?”
The Winchesters ignored him, talking with each other about what they should take. You exhaled deeply, wishing you could go with them, but you were aware they made a great team together. And someone had to have an eye on Crowley, still cuffed, but not less dangerous.
You wished the boys good luck when they finally managed to break the crypt’s entrance open. They were lucky no one was in the neighbourhood at that hour.
After they disappeared in the darkness, an awkward descended between you and Crowley. You didn’t want to look at him too much, because you had no idea what he would think, but at the same time you knew this moment had to arrive at last. Your previous confidence melted away quicker than you would have expected.
It started to rain. You shivered when the temperature dropped drastically. It looked like winter was indeed coming quickly that year. The Impala was parked at the cemetery gates, from where you could still see the crypt, just in case anything decided to slide out. Crowley noticed your longing look. He could feel the cool air too.
“We don’t have to stand here like idiots,” he said, jerking his head toward the parked car.
You raised an eyebrow.
“Since when are you so docile?”
Crowley shrugged it off casually. Sometimes, when he gave up on all his “King-of-Hell-ness”, you could easily forget he wasn’t a human.
“You first,” you gestured and he smirked at your carefulness, but didn’t say anything, moving slowly, as if in no rush at all.
You sat in the back of the Impala, finally protected from the rain. Your hair was wet already and you didn’t even want to look in the mirror to see how bad it was. You rarely cared for looks, your own included, and it was a riddle why you gained anyone’s attention at all.
Crowley brushed his short hair carelessly. He looked so goddamn well, no matter what happened to him, that it made you almost jealous. He noticed your stare. You were aware there was nothing you could do more to avoid that confrontation.
“How much longer are you gonna pretend nothing happened?” he asked quietly with hoarseness in his voice.
You moved your eyes to the crypt.
“However long I can,” you answered honestly.
“Why?” he asked after a moment of hesitation. You would kill for a chance to look into his mind.
Your mouth felt dry and made your words crack more than you wished.
“I had already told you back then. It wouldn’t work. I am a hunter and you are one of the worst enemies of people like me...”
“Cut it out. I know when I hear a lie.”
You growled, leaning your head on the backrest. At this point, you were too tired of hiding and Crowley didn’t lose his interest in you even though it’s been months since you first said no to him. He deserved at least to know why.
“I am asexual, Crowley,” you blurted out, trying really hard not to look at him. Your throat clenched, almost suffocating you.
“So?” was not what you have expected.
You looked at him, for a brief moment forgetting about your clenched insides and stress pumping through your veins. Completely bewildered, you stared at his unamused face, expecting him to add anything. He only raised an eyebrow.
“I just said I am...”
“I heard you perfectly well, darling. And I don’t see any problem,” he said confidently, making you squint your eyes suspiciously. Maybe he didn’t understand what you meant, not many people did.
“Even if we… I wouldn’t...” you tried to explain what he would have to accept, but you failed miserably, feeling your whole face burn like it was set on fire.
“I know,” he didn’t lose his confidence.
You scoffed, shaking your head incredulously.
“And since when are you so wiling to change your whole… style? Please, Crowley, just stop this nonsense...”
“You admitted you… could be interested in me,” he stated carefully, for the first time in your conversation looking back from you to his still cuffed hands. “And it makes our… situation different from anything that… used to happen to me. With me.”
You tried to comprehend what he wanted to say and what it meant in relation to you. Both of you. It almost felt like a dream weaved by a Djinn and was too promising to be real. You didn’t even realize how desperate you had been, wanting to hear such words from him until then.
But at the same time, there still was this part of you, which couldn’t forget that you had already heard those promises before and that it never ended well. Sooner or later, it became too much for the other person and you couldn’t even truly blame them. They were normal and had their own needs.
Your thoughts must have been visible on your face, because Crowley sighed deeply, not used to this kind of conversation. He could see it was what you needed though, so he forced himself to say what he felt.
“Look, darling, I cannot give you any proof of what I’m saying, so all I can do is to assure you that I am not some horny teenager or two-faced cheater and I actually want something... different, to put it in words. And if I weren’t sure I can agree on your terms, I wouldn’t toy with you.”
“Yeah, because you’d never toy with someone, right?” you snickered sadly, desperately trying not to wish for too much. Hope has already started to grow in your unusually light heart and was making every word harder for you to say.
“Guilty,” Crowley admitted with a nod. “But you will never know until you try me yourself, love.”
“Do I want to?” you whispered, locking your gaze with his.
“You have to answer that on your own, I’m afraid,” he said just as quiet as you and you felt yourself shiver.
That was exactly the moment when the Winchesters came back to the Impala, shutting the door loudly. They were still buzzing with adrenaline and you could smell the odor of some ancient dead bodies even from where you were sitting. You made a face, opening your window slightly.
“Ugh, did you hug the dead or something?” you whined loudly and Crowley grinned.
“We won’t have this talk,” Dean shushed you quickly, shivering at the mere thought of what they had encountered in the crypt. You were lucky nothing got out of it behind their backs, because you wouldn’t even notice.
“At least it’s done,” Sam turned to you, smiling slightly. Something black was smudged on his face but you didn’t want to know exactly what it was. He gestured to Crowley. “Any problems?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” you shrugged it off, not looking at the demon.
“Exactly, Moose. And now we can get back to your cosy little place and play with the chains,” Crowley added with a smug look on his face. He seemed genuinely happier now that you’d told him the truth and it took you a moment not to smile and make Sam suspicious.
“Hey, I’m not your chauffeur,” Dean groaned, starting the car.
“Of course you are not. I still have standards.”
That time you couldn’t contain a small giggle that escaped your lips, but the boys didn’t hear it. Crowley, on the other hand, looked like a cat that had just caught a very fat bird. Your only wonder was what he was going to do with it, but that you could take. Everything felt so… easy and bright, right now and you honestly couldn’t care less about anything.
Even if it wasn’t going to be all a fairy tail, at least the weight on your shoulders that accumulated over the past months was gone. About the rest – you shall see what the future brings you.
[Part 5 - Epilogue]
