Fights, Camera, Action

Chapter Twenty Eight

It had been nearly a month since Dean had found out that Novak had lied to him.

Dean had canceled all of his interviews set for before the premiere, and Crowley didn't even rip into him for it. He just canceled them, no fuss, and told Dean to get some rest. The man had always been a hard ass, and it was a welcome surprise to have his support on this one thing.

Sam and Charlie had been practically living out of his house, not wanting to leave him to himself to drown in his thoughts. He was so grateful for them he felt like he could sob sometimes. They kept him eating, sleeping, talking.

It had been like living in a fog the last few weeks. He just felt... detached, like he wasn't really there anymore. He had finally found someone he loved, finally accepted himself enough to allow it, and it had been a lie from the start. A lie built on the death of one of his best friends. When he did come out of the fog state, all he did was cry and lay in bed. Charlie and Sam had learned to give him his space when he got like that.

He was avoiding his phone as best he could, because all of the news was about his relationship imploding. There were clips of the interview, people theorizing on social media, news articles about what happened. Some of the things being said were less than kind, and so Dean simply stayed away from it all. Of what he had seen, a lot of people were upset with Novak to the point of threats, but a lot of people also thought he was an idiot for not seeing it coming. And, honestly? Maybe he was.

All too soon, it was the date of the movie premiere. This was the one event he couldn't miss, no matter how badly he wanted to. He was expected to show up, smile at the cameras, and do a few small interviews. Then all he had left to do was watch the movie and get out of there as fast as possible. Surely, that much could be managed.

The morning of the premiere, he woke up to his alarm blaring. Sitting up, he sighed and checked his phone. He had a few texts from Sam and Charlie, saying they'd be over in an hour or so to come hang out with him before he left. Once he had read those, he set his phone back down and went to get a shower.

Once he was under the warm stream of water, he found himself zoning out a bit, staring at the shower wall with unseeing eyes. He saw Novak's smile in his head and pulled himself out of it, shaking his head under the water. Sighing, he washed up and got out, getting dressed in comfortable clothes in his room after toweling off.

It turned out that he had zoned out for a lot longer than he thought, and almost thirty minutes had passed. Grabbing his phone, he headed out to the living room and plopped himself down on the couch to wait for Sam and Charlie.

As it turned out, he didn't have to wait long. They showed up a good twenty minutes before they had said they would, letting themselves in and coming upstairs. Dean greeted them with a smile, standing up to hug them both.

Once he had leaned back, he saw the bags in Sam's hands. Sam held them up, smiling and shaking them a bit.

"We brought breakfast," he said, and they all sat down on the couch to eat.

After a very greasy breakfast and an argument between Charlie and Sam on whether or not bacon was better chewy or crunchy, they threw away their trash and settled onto the couch again. Dean still had a good seven hours before he had to start getting ready for the premiere at five, so they decided to play some Mario Kart. Dean let Sam and Charlie play without him for a few rounds, watching them fight and just enjoying having people with him. The silence had felt so much louder these past few weeks, and he had grown to rely on these times with his friends more and more.

Finally, after Charlie nearly broke Sam's knee hitting him with a controller, Dean made them let him play. Taking Charlie's remote, he started a cycle of playing a few rounds and then switching out that went between all three of them over their time playing. Dean was having quite a losing streak, and he didn't mind too much. It at least meant he was getting hit less than Sam.