Traveling Buddy [Destiel]

chapter 27

Five months had passed since Dean last said goodbye to Cas. Dean laid on his bed, watching the clock in his room with anticipation. He only had four more minutes. Four more minutes in his hell of a house. Four more minutes until Dean turned 18. Four more minutes until he could leave and never have to worry about coming back.

Three minutes. Dean couldn't wait any more. He got up and looked in his bag again. All of his possessions were in there. Every piece of clothing, every knick knack, even the sheets stripped from his bed. Dean was leaving, and this time he wasn't coming back.

Two minutes. Dean grabbed the bag and slowly walked it to the front of the house, careful not to make any noise. He loaded it in his car, a car not nearly as pretty as the Impala, and crept back into the house.

One minute. Dean walked into Sam's room. His brother was sleeping peacefully on the bed. Dean shook Sam awake.

Sam groaned and then opened his eyes. "Dean... what are you doing?" Sam glanced at the clock in his room. "Oh, happy birthday!"

"Thanks, kid." Dean replied, smiling. "So here's the thing-"

"Are you running away again?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Dean said. "I'm eighteen now so there's nothing Dad can do about it, and I have to find Cas. Once I find him I promise I'll write you. And you can come and live with us if you want, I'm sure there will be room."

"No, it's okay. I want to finish high school here." Sam replied. "Plus I'm sure you don't want your little brother around while you're with your boyfriend."

Dean smiled, but still with a sad undertone. "I'm sorry for leaving you again."

"It's okay. I get it. As long as you promise to write and we promise to visit each other." Sam said.

"Of course." Dean pulled his brother in for a hug. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." Sam said. "Now good luck finding Cas."

Dean closed Sam's door behind him, his heart feeling heavy. But now it was time for Dean to leave and never have to live here again. Dean held onto the blue necklace he hadn't taken off in five months. It was time to find Cas.

***

Turns out finding Cas was difficult. Dean started looking in all the places he had been with Cas. The beach where they kissed, near the hotels they stayed. He went up and down and all the way around the Pacific northwest, not finding a single clue.

Dean checked every phonebook he could find. He knocked on every door that might look like a house Cas would live in. He looked for any sign of a black 1967 Chevy Impala parked in front of a house. But nothing came up.

Dean went back the way he came, thinking he missed something that he might catch the second time around. But there was nothing.

Dean talked to the train company, seeing if they maybe had recently employed someone named Castiel Novak. But again, another negative.

Dean was running out of ideas, food, and money. It had been three weeks of living out of his car, and meals were starting to become scarcer and scarcer. Every single waking second was filled with "Where could Cas be?", and considering Dean didn't get a lot of sleep, it was a ton of time.

One night, when Dean was sleeping fitfully yet again, he had a dream where he went on a date with Cas. It was in that small town in Colorado they visited and spent a night in. But this time, it wasn't just a casual hang out filled with repressed feelings, it was a date. They were holding hands under the string of lights and eating pasta Lady and the Tramp style.

Dean woke up suddenly remembering something. The house by the train tracks.

"Yes!" Dean exclaimed to himself. "Can't believe I missed that!"

Dean turned his car on and immediately began driving east, a clear destination in his mind of where he needed to be. Where Cas was.