Actions

Work Header

Trigger

Entire Work

Work Text

Dean thought it would be funny to take the twins to the arcade for their 30th birthday. The three of them had spent plenty of time there in their youth, wasting afternoons and carefully budgeting out their spare change.Little had changed about the arcade in that time except for the games themselves. It was now showing its age and Castiel wasn’t so sure about this. Couldn’t they just go have a nice dinner and then-“Oh my god.” Jimmy said, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.“What?” Castiel and Dean said in unison, glancing around the arcade in worry.“That!” Jimmy pointed above the ticket counter and slowly walked forward in a trance.Hanging from the ceiling was a giant white unicorn with a glittery rainbow tail and mane.“Jimmy, no.” Castiel groaned.“Jimmy yes!” Jimmy said in excitement and he bounded up to the ticket counter. “I need as many tokens as it will take to win that unicorn!”The girl behind the counter stared at Jimmy with a mixture of confusion and horror. “Umm...”“We’ll start with $20.” Dean shot her a broad smile as he handed her a 20.“Sure… whatever.” The girl handed Dean a handful of tokens and went back to pretending to do work.Dean shrugged and handed some coins to Jimmy and Castiel. “Alright boys, let’s win us a giant unicorn.”“God I love you.” Jimmy kissed Dean on the cheek and then dashed off to find his game of choice.With a sigh Castiel accepted his tokens. “I suppose we better help him or we’ll never get out of here.”“Aww come on, Cas. We used to have so much fun here. And I think I spot some pinball machines in the back. You gonna be my pinball wizard one more time?”Castiel rolled his eyes but he couldn’t help the small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.After nearly two hours and more money than Castiel would like to think about the three of them had only amassed ¼ of the total tickets required for the stupid unicorn. He was on his way to the counter to buy a drink when he happened to glance outside. It was snowing. Fuck. By the looks of it there was little chance of the snow stopping soon.With a new determination Castiel marched over to the ticket counter. “How much to just buy the unicorn?”The girl’s eyes widened and she stepped back to distance herself further from Castiel. “That’s not… you can’t just buy the prizes. Look, I’d like to help you out but there are rules and I kinda want to keep my job.”“Listen,” Castiel squinted at her name tag. “Krissy, I don’t want to cause any problems. I just think it’s unlikely that my brother will leave until he wins that unicorn. And I’m sure you-”“Son of a beaver!” Jimmy yelled as he lost some game and proceeded to make rude gestures at it.“You’d like to have a nice quiet day.” Castiel finished.Krissy stared at Jimmy with concern. “OK, look, normally I wouldn’t do this...” She chewed on her lip and glanced at Castiel nervously. “But there’s like this dude, Cole or something, he comes in every week and I just hate his guts. He has all the high scores on the DDR machines and likes to gloat about it. He’s made kids cry and I just can’t stand him.”Castiel glanced over at the DDR machine and was filled with both a sense of relief and dread. “So you would like us to beat his score.”“I just want to see him knocked down a peg.”“Alright.” Castiel let out a sigh and stalked towards Dean who was failing miserably at ski ball.“Dean, I need you to beat the high score on that DDR machine.”“What?” Dean squeaked and dropped the ball he was holding. He turned scared eyes on Castiel. “You know… I swore that off after college. I nearly failed a term of school because I had a PROBLEM.”Castiel studied Dean carefully for a moment before he sighed. “Normally I wouldn’t suggest this. I also admire you for the restraint you’ve shown over the last several years. But I feel the only way we’re going to get Jimmy out of here is if that unicorn comes with him. The girl behind the counter has agreed to part with the unicorn if we can beat some top scores on DDR. Apparently there’s a Cole-”“Cole? That...” Dean’s eyes narrowed and he stalked over to the DDR platform to check the scores, “son of a bitch...”“Dean there are kids here...” Castiel said weakly.Seeing the commotion Jimmy wandered over. He gave Castiel and Dean concerned looks. “So… what’s going on?”“Gimme some coins. I got this.” Dean held out his hand expectantly until Jimmy tentatively placed some coins in Dean’s hand. Dean put the appropriate amount in the machine then slammed the rest on the ledge. “You all are just lucky this is a DDRX machine.” He groused as he aggressively pushed the screen.“Hey, umm, it’s OK, Dean.” Jimmy tentatively stepped closer but Dean just shot him a glare.“If you want to help, hold my crap.” Dean pulled his keys and wallet out of his pocket and shoved them into Jimmy’s hands. “Now step back so that I don’t accidentally hit you or something.”With that being said Dean hit the start button then placed both hands on the bar behind himself as he waited for the song to start.Ay, iyaiyai Ay, iyaiyai Ay, iyaiyai Where's my samuraiThere was a few seconds more of the song and then arrows began flowing up the screen. It was obvious Dean was out of practice but as the song progressed he seemed to get more into it and ended with a decent combo.“Holy shit, did he just like do Butterfly on AAA doubles?” Krissy stared at Dean, astonished.“You should have seen him in his prime. He could perfect that song blindfolded with no bar. He hasn’t played in what… 7 or 8 years?”Jimmy shrugged. “Something like that. God I forgot how hot it was watching him dance.”“Well I guess he sometimes plays with Sam’s kids on their console but he pretends to be really bad. it’s pretty adorable.” Jimmy smiled softly.Krissy’s mouth made a little o. “I’m gonna be like right back...” She quickly scurried back behind the counter and began digging around for something.The twins shrugged and turned their attention back to Dean who was starting Butterfly again. This time he did it nearly flawlessly.When the song ended Dean turned to the twins, eyes full of joy. “This feels so good!” He frowned and bit his lip. “I know I promised-”“Dude, please just keep dancing because you’re so hot and I want to see that perfect ass of yours moving to the beat.” Jimmy said, excited.Dean gave Jimmy a lopsided smile. “Well when you put it like that...” Dean turned back to the machine and cycled through the songs, glancing at the high scores. “Let’s see what I got to work with here… oh Cole you think you can beat me at my best song? It’s been years but I’m taking you down.”Dean shrugged out of his flannel and tossed it behind himself, Castiel managed to catch it before it hit the floor. Castiel was about to chastise him but Dean already had the song selected and had his hand’s on the bars, waiting for the song to start.With the first few beat’s Castiel’s breath caught in his throat. God this song brought back memories. Long afternoons spent doing homework sitting next to Dean while he challenged random people in the arcade to dance against him. Jimmy hopelessly trying to dance with Dean. Dean passionately kissing Castiel after he’d won an unofficial DDR competition and nearly getting banned from the arcade for it.“Is it bad that this is kind of giving me a boner?” Jimmy whispered into Castiel’s ear.Castiel shivered. “No, because I totally have one too.” He whispered back.When the song ended Dean made a disgusted noise. “Not a high score.”“That was still really-” Jimmy started to say but Dean cut him off.“No, I can do better. I just need some...”Krissy thrust a bottle of water at Dean. “Here you go, on the house. Please beat that asshole.”Dean grabbed the bottle and chugged some of it. “Thanks kiddo, my mouth was feeling like a fucking desert.” He pulled up his shirt to wipe some sweat off his face and showed off his glorious stomach. Normally Dean would be so embarrassed he did this but he was too amped up on adrenaline to notice. He thrust the bottle back and Krissy eagerly took it and cradled it close to her chest. “Alright, let’s make some high scores.”By Dean’s sixth attempt they’d amassed a small crowd. Nearly everyone in the arcade was now standing around the platform watching Dean. Sure his dancing wasn’t as graceful as it had been in college but it seemed that through sheer muscle memory Dean was getting increasingly higher scores. The song ended and his score came up.“Wow, 4th place!” some guy shouted and pumped his fist in the air.Dean spun on him and said. “Just wait a few minutes and watch me take first!” He jumped off the platform and held out his hand which Krissy placed the water bottle in.“Wow, you’re like so cool.” Krissy said, a large grin on her face.“Thanks, kiddo.” Dean grinned back at her before chugging the rest of the water. He handed her the now empty bottle then gestured towards the back of the arcade. “I gotta hit the head then I’m going to make some high scores guys, gals, and non binary pals.”Some of the crowd cheered at Dean as he jogged towards the washroom.“We’re going to have to buy him some DDR games, aren’t we.” Jimmy glanced at Castiel.“Yes.” Castiel said.When Dean bounded back onto the platform a minute later the small crowd reformed and cheered at him. It was obvious he was getting tired but though sheer stubbornness, and an overwhelming desire to beat Cole he started Trigger again.It was magnificent watching him dance. Castiel reached out his hand and entwined his fingers with Jimmy. He figured with all of the crowd watching Dean nobody would notice this stolen moment of affection.When the song ended they all waited with baited breaths until “NEW HIGH SCORE” flashed across the screen.“YES, IN YOUR FACE!” Dean yelled at the screen. He then excitedly keyed in DW. “Cas, Jimmy, get up here and take a selfie with this score so I can gloat about this forever.Cas rolled his eyes but the twins climbed up there and took a selfie with Dean.After the crowd had dissipated the three headed over to the counter where Krissy was waiting, a huge smile on her face, and the unicorn sitting on the counter.“Thanks so much you guys, here’s your unicorn. And like I need whatever tickets you got so I can at least pretend you won this.”“Of course,” Jimmy handed over his tickets and then took the giant unicorn into his arms. “I’m so happy to have you, buddy.” He turned to Dean and grinned. “You’re the best boyfriend.” The three of them headed towards the door; Dean and Jimmy arguing over who was the better boyfriend. Castiel smiled because this was a perfect birthday.

↑ Top · Fandoms