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Benny ran his eyes over the water, then darkly studied the endless forest. This was a fucking mistake. The water here was one of the only fixed locations, monsters used them as reference points.
But Dean had insisted, and no matter how much Benny tried to deny it, he could talk Benny into any kind of crazy shit.
A splash in the water made Benny look back at it. He frowned, unable to see the omega in the dark water. Oh what the fu--
Right as Benny considered diving in, Dean resurfaced, eyes closed, lips slightly parted.
Benny stared at him, slightly frozen.
The water ran off his hair, and with the grime and blood gone, Dean managed to make the bleak light of Purgatory golden.
Before he got caught, Benny coolly averted his eyes to the pile of Dean's clothes on a rock, before peering into the trees again. Looking for some other monster trying to get a free show.
Benny told himself he was only glancing over to make sure the stupid bastard hadn't drowned, or been killed by something in the water. But that didn't require studying the planes of his muscles, whittled into his back and arms by this place.
"Hey," Benny called out and Dean snapped to attention, eyes bright and focused on him. "You about done with the bubble bath yet?"
Dean rolled his eyes, scrubbing a hand down his face and wading to shallower waters. Benny tore his eyes away before he got more than an eyeful of the muscles leading down Dean's stomach. His pelvis--
Benny stared out at the water, grip on his blade tightening. "You gonna tell me what all this was about?"
Dean scoffed. "I needed to get the Changeling's guts off me. You want to have a turn?" Dean asked, voice muffled by the fabric. "No offense, but you could use it."
Benny inhaled, amused. "Didn't take you for the--" And immediately regretted it. The omega smelled so good.
Immediately, Benny thought of Andrea. She was honeyed-wine.
Dean's scent was more apple, and something harsher too, like whiskey.
"You see something?" The omega asked, suddenly next to him, his hair sticking up in all directions. The scent was faint, but it was there.
Benny eyed him. He was going into heat, wasn't he? That little dip in frigid water was to take the edge off the building fever. "Not sure, we should get a move on."
Dean nodded, slinging on his coat and climbing down the rocks.
Not for the first time, Benny considered knocking Dean out, and dragging him to the exit point.
Going into heat? Here?
Benny clenched a fist. He wasn't going to abandon him, but the omega was going to be twice the monster-signal he was now.
Dean's scent blew toward him with the wind and Benny breathed it in desperately.
He wanted to help the omega out, wanted him. Benny had to control it the same way he'd controlled his blood lust.
Dean hacked through branches, seemingly unbothered. But he was quiet, and Benny didn't push him on it.
They didn't talk about the preheat for two full days.
Dean whistled, throwing him a blade and Benny got it up just in time as the rugaru lunged--
Benny strained, holding up his blade against the rugaru's mouth, grimacing as its spit dripped onto his face. "Oh, that's disgusting." Benny seethed, arms shaking as the rugaru snapped at him, hands clawing at his arms.
It grabbed his hair, slamming his head back into the ground, hard, and Benny reeled, nearly losing his grip on the blade.
In a second the pressure was off, and Dean had it by the neck, stabbing his blade into its head in one sharp movement.
He was still fighting well, but Benny knew the energy would taper off, that it'd get worse.
Benny rolled, wiping off saliva with a forearm. He staggered to his feet, turning. "Dean, watch out--"
The third rugaru was behind Dean, teeth nearly at his throat.
Dean turned, trying to slash at it, but it had already thrown him to the ground, advancing on him.
It pressed a foot onto Dean's ankle and Dean swore as it bore down.
"You smell nice. I'm going to enjoy rending your pretty flesh off. Make you beg for it--"
Benny managed to get the jump on it, hacking at it and taking it out.
Dean tried getting up and nearly toppled over,
"Son of a bitch!" Dean growled and Benny hauled him up, rolling his eyes. "I'm fine, I'm fine." The omega shoved away from him like Benny's touch hurt, his skin heated. "You good?"
"How the hell did you miss that rugaru?" Benny eyed him, backing off.
Dean panted hard, sweat beading on his face and neck despite the chill. His scent had intensified and Benny almost couldn't stand it.
"That's what I get for saving your ass?" Dean shouldered past him, hobbling forward and Benny sighed heavily.
Time was running out before he was completely useless.
Somehow, they managed to get out of the clearing and deeper into the forest, into some tight ring of trees.
False sense of safety, Benny decided immediately, turning and staring into the woods. He had a sense just for this place after all this time, and he knew they weren't safe. That this was some illusion.
A branch snapped loudly and Benny whirled.
"You're awful jumpy." Dean mocked, slight smile on his face.
"Gettin' attacked more times today than we have in two months will do that to a guy," Benny replied, leaning against a tree.
Dean grimaced, but continued tying together his ankle. It wasn't the first time the human had broken something, but the tremble in his hands was definitely new. And usually by now he was bitching about food, or already finding some.
"That's not off to you?"
"What isn't off about this place?" Dean challenged, but he wasn't quite looking at Benny as he jabbed his blade into the ground. "Maybe we're on the right track to finding Cas."
Benny narrowed his eyes. Wishful thinking? Because Dean wanted the alpha here?
"What?" Dean asked finally and Benny strolled over, sitting down on an upturned log between them.
“Want to talk a little bit, or what?” Benny asked. “About your little problem?”
Dean swallowed, looking at Benny and then off to the side. “Now, which problem we talkin’ about?”
“You’re going into heat,” Benny said.
Dean was turning his blade over in his hand, now he fixed Benny with an attentive glare. “What about it?”
Benny raised an eyebrow, mildly amused despite everything. “You’re right, no big deal. Let me know what kind of monster tickles your fancy and we’ll get you sorted."
Dean laughed. "Throw in magic fingers and some room service and you got a deal."
Benny eyed him, the way he shook his head, the white-knuckled grip he had on his weapon. “That what you normally do for ‘em?”
Dean smirked humourlessly. “Normally I do nothing.”
Benny frowned.
“I was on suppressants,” Dean explained, arms suddenly curling around his gut. His face tightened and Benny clocked it. Pain. “Oh come on, they didn’t have ‘em back in the day?”
Benny shrugged. Not that he'd ever heard. "What are they for?"
“You get to skip heats. And I did, popped one of those babies every morning for–-” Dean frowned for a second. “Damn, I got old.”
“So you haven’t had a heat for years?” Benny asked, pinching the bridge of his nose as Dean nodded.
It was worse than he'd thought.
Part of Benny was a little enthralled by the idea that he’d be Dean's first in years. But the other part was less excited. Considering where they were, he could be the last alpha Dean had a heat with.
Benny clenched his jaw.
Was that what Cas was to Dean? Is that why the human searched for the angel like that?
Benny bit back his question about Cas. “You want my help?”
Dean gave him a look. Then stared when he realized Benny had been serious. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Ouch. “What I gotta explain how babies are made to you?”
"Man, I'm flattered and all," Dean laughed, low, a little tense. “But it ain't happening. We–- man, you can’t just–-”
Benny raised his eyebrows. “What’s got you all scrambled?”
"Me? I don't know how they do it in friggin' Transylvania but people don't just offer--" Dean said heatedly, waving his hands around. “--to fuck their friends.”
"Friends?" Benny echoed, deeply amused when Dean glared at him. He was slipping up. Just last week he'd told Benny that he'd kill him.
Yesterday Dean had nearly taken his hand off for shaking him out of a nightmare.
"I'm touched," Benny drawled. "But it doesn't have to mean anything."
"Pass." Dean tugged at his collar, scent twisting with more than one kind of frustration as he stared at Benny.
Considering the way the omega mouthed off to vampires, kissed more than one monster to bait them, Benny didn't fully understand the hold up.
"After years, you might enter a fucking coma," Benny informed him. It was what happened when Andrea missed one. "Any monster could have a go with you." And maybe he'd let them, heats did pass faster with a partner. "At least I'd make it good."
In the dark, with Benny's kind of senses, he could detect the shift in Dean's scent easily. Catch the widening of his pupils.
Benny smirked.
"Don't," Dean's eyes hardened when Benny opened his mouth. "I'm serious, we're done talking about this," Dean said, voice hoarse but firm. In the tone of someone who would kill Benny if he wasn't listened to, or worse, run off somewhere.
That happened a lot at the beginning.
Benny could find him, but he didn't want to do that again. Yeah, he'd just given Dean shit for calling him a friend in this hellhole, but he'd just gotten used to the routine of trusting someone, having their back, watching over the human when he exhaustedly slumped down to sleep.
Dean was staring at him, slightly mistrusting as he curled, scent hurt as he pressed one arm into his stomach. His heartbeat was rising.
"Suit yourself." Benny shrugged, stupidly jealous of Cas.
Dean opened, then closed his mouth, frowning.
Both of them stilled as they heard it.
Something rustling in the trees. Hunting them.
Benny slowly got to his feet, enhanced senses catching Dean doing that too. There were vamps, ghosts, and a hell of a lot more down here.
Benny scented the air. "Werewolf." He murmured and Dean grunted in acknowledgment, standing up against the tree.
"I think we should--" Benny gaped as he realized that Dean was gone. "Dean!"
Something whimpered, high and sharp before Benny heard more slicing, carefully making his way over.
The omega had sliced through one wolf.
Another howled, and Benny stayed hidden as it entered the clearing. He'd learnt from the fucking rugarus.
And sure enough, Benny spotted three, four, and five in the dark, eyes glinting.
Right Dean took on the next wolf to lunge out, Benny used his speed to get at the ones lurking in the dark.
Benny ripped off some limbs, and then cracked another one's skull.
An agonized noise caught Benny's attention. Dean.
The omega gritted his teeth, but another pained sound escaped anyway. He was holding his gut, swaying a little.
Benny cut off the next noise, pinning Dean to a tree as he covered his mouth. The omega blinked heavily at him, sheen to his skin, trembling.
Benny’d seen Dean in all kinds of states, barely alive among them.
But never like this.
Dean always pushed through, face set. Even bleeding out he had more strength than half the creatures in here.
The omega looked just as murderous now, scanning the forest, bloody blade clutched in his hand.
A quick sweep of the woods with his senses told Benny there wasn't anything too bad left in the trees. Just as well, they weren't getting out of here.
"Come on." Benny dragged Dean back to their circle of trees. "Jesus, it's starting up, huh?"
Dean practically crashed to his knees, shedding his jacket and groaning softly in pain.
Benny grimaced. His sent was distressed. It would become a beacon soon.
Dean flinched when Benny grabbed his arm.
"Get a grip, jackass," Benny said sharply. "Breathe." He pushed a calming scent, growling low in his chest.
Dean nodded, sucking in a shaky breath. "Fuck." His blade went to the ground with a soft thud as the omega opted to press a hand to his gut.
"What do you need?" Benny asked. Dean hadn't wrenched his arm back, one handedly putting his jacket, then outer shirt onto the dirt.
As far as nests went, that was pretty pathetic.
Wasn't anything like how Andrea used to do it. She was a Greek heiress and wanted nothing but comfort during her heat. She kicked out Benny for hours as she set up scents, blankets and pillows exactly as she wanted them.
She was demanding and miserable, and always hungered for sweet things and him.
Dean whined low. "Benny--"
"I see it." Benny got up, hearing a clank as Dean gripped his sword.
Benny got rid of the skinwalker drifting past their makeshift camp. Fog was rolling in as he made his way back to the omega.
Dean nearly dissolved with relief when he was back, shoulders sinking.
“Not too late for us to get out of here.” Benny said again. “I can get you to the door–-”
“Stop.” Dean seethed. “I already said, we’re not leaving–-”
“Yeah, I heard you.” Benny rolled his eyes. Not without Cas. “You’re one crazy fucker. How’d you know he’s not out already?”
“He isn’t.” Dean snapped, glaring at him. "He wouldn't--
"Cute. If only he was here now." Benny scoffed.
Dean's scent flared with anger as he stood up. "I'm not making you stay--"
"You kind of are. We could've been out of here weeks ago," Benny shot back. "Instead, we're searching for some angel that landed you here in the first place."
"And we'll keep doing it, until we find him." Dean breathed, blade in hand when he stepped forward. "You said you were in. So either put up or shut up."
Benny stared him down. Dean was shaking violently, eyes slightly glassy as the omega started getting heat drunk.
Instead of saying more, Benny turned on his heel, stalking further away from him.
He heard the slightly pained exhale as Dean dropped back against his nest, but stayed far enough that he knew the human would struggle to make him out in the dark.
Benny had never been good at anger. As a rule he was a pretty easy going guy, more prone to getting cold than getting into shouting matches.
And the anger dissolved fast as he stood in the cold, somehow pleased he even had someone to argue with, some mission to pursue in this empty, barren place.
Dean had talked once or twice about hell, but he hadn't been able to say Hell was worse than Purgatory.
Because this place was all pain, brutality, kill or be killed. In fifty years, Dean was the longest any friend had lasted.
And even if he was a pain in the ass, Benny got it.
He'd do the same for Andrea, wouldn't he?
“---got monsters on our ass,” Dean was saying, one hand on the tree, eyes closed. “And other shit," Dean admitted tightly, fingers curling on the bark. "So come on, buddy. Make another dramatic entrance, would ya?”
Dean prayed to him so much, so often, that Benny had sarcastically taken up the habit too.
Please Castiel, you stupid feathery git, don't let us die today because we couldn't find you.
Cas, asshole, you're embarrassing the poor guy. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry in this place is getting asked about you, and the longer it goes, the less I believe him.
Benny turned, meeting Dean's tired eyes.
He looked so miserable that Benny finally relented, pacing back, closer to him.
Dean had his arms curled around his knees and Benny was sitting a respectful distance from him, glancing over.
"You know that djinn we met a couple days back?" Dean asked suddenly.
"Yeah." Benny said, slightly confused.
"Kind of wish I'd left him alive." Dean declared, lips tremoring as he braced himself through another round of cramps. "Might've been nice to take the out for a bit."
"Those visions aren't worth it." Benny said. "Trust me, I've seen enough of the aftermath."
Dean's lips quirked up. "Been in one." He ground out, eyes closing tightly.
"And?"
"I like mowing lawns." Dean panted slightly and Benny rolled his eyes, shifting so Dean was leaning against his shoulder. The omega choked off a whine, nearly melting against him.
Aw, wasn't he cuddly?
Benny tugged off his jacket, winding it around. "Shut up." He said before Dean could make this more irritating for both of them.
The omega said nothing, still shaking. Benny could scent the slick, knew the cause of the deep flush crossing Dean's face.
But he said nothing, just sitting there for a few hours, letting Dean soak up touch that wasn't anything close to enough.
Dean whined, practically on Benny's lap, his eyes vivid, throat too bare, too close.
Benny breathed in the scent of his arousal and want and misery, keeping a tight grip on the omega.
"Please, please--" Dean said, curling over with the pain.
And he was begging now. Pretty and frantic, pawing at Benny.
Fuck.
Benny just held him, let him struggle and breathe into his clothes, body wracked with pain.
It would be easy and worth it to lay a claim. Dean had grown on him, impressed him, charmed him.
But he knew Dean didn't want it, not really. That he wanted Cas.
Dean didn't even have to say it. Anybody that put up with months of this, when they could leave.
It had to be love.
So Benny barely reacted as Dean's mouth ghosted his neck, the slick managed to leak into his lap.
"Please." Dean said, hips rolling automatically.
"Dean." Benny groaned. He tugged the omega flush against him, rumbling low, petting his sweat-dampened hair.
He let Dean beg and sob with misery, his scent hurt enough that it clashed with the sweet scent of his heat.
"Castiel." Dean pleaded feverishly, and Benny closed his eyes. "Cas, where are you? Please just come back."
That bastard. Benny couldn't decide if he wanted Cas to be dead, or wanted him alive.
If he was dead, Dean might never leave, keep searching until he found whatever proof he was looking for. And Benny wanted him out.
Wanted him and his tan skin, and his stupid smile and heady pulse and scent back there. Back in life.
And if Cas wasn't dead... if they ever did find him and he had refused to show up... Dean wouldn't forgive him, would he? He couldn't.
Benny hushed Dean, letting his hands wander just enough to stop the omega from crying out more.
Cas wouldn't show up, but something else might.
"Cas please," Dean mumbled and Benny clenched his jaw at that, his hand pressing firmly against Dean's dick.
After all this time… it was tempting to give Dean exactly what he wanted.
This place was pure wasn’t it? Purely them, purely their instincts.
And Benny's instincts, the same ones driving him to survive, were telling him to do this.
Kill or be killed, fuck when given the chance.
"Benny--" Dean groaned, and Benny lightly nipped at his neck, making the omega shake.
He regretted it instantly, couldn't even tell who he was holding off for.
"I'm sorry." Benny said, returning to just holding him. Dean's skin burned against his.
"No, please, just--" Dean was rutting against him now, but when this passed, he didn't know what the omega would consider unforgivable.
Benny grasped his chin, forcing Dean to meet his eyes. "You changed your mind?"
Dean frowned, scent conflicted. But he closed his eyes.
That wasn't an answer. Not one Benny was cozy working around.
Benny let go of his chin, tucking the omega's nose into his neck, trying to somehow soothe him. It was hard.
The bulge in Dean's pants was pressing against him, Benny couldn't deny the effect the omega was having on him.
He could feel tears against his neck, Dean's hands curling nearly painfully in his shirt as the omega nuzzled his shoulder.
Benny wouldn't pretend to be any kind of expert, but he knew the symptoms. After all the skipped heats, Purgatory messing with his biology, Dean was sliding into a worse fever, a shock heat.
"Dean, come on, don't-- you gotta keep it together." Benny said, shaking him lightly.
The omega's green eyes had gone completely unfocused, nearly catatonic.
"No, no." Benny murmured. "You've survived worse, you idiot. Just let me help you."
Dean couldn't reply, his heart rate dangerously slowing.
Damn the consequences, Benny was seriously considering helping him out as the omega started whimpering. He was suffering worse and worse, and it was a matter of time before something seriously dangerous showed up.
No. Benny stiffened, sensing danger. Shit.
He was wrong. Something was here.
Gently, despite the omega's protests, Benny wrenched Dean's grip off, grabbing his blade and staggering up.
Before Benny could get close to figuring out how screwed they were, there was a flare of bright light.
Benny squinted his eyes open, feeling something knock into his shoulder.
Going toward Dean.
Benny's protective instincts flared, and he grabbed the alpha by the coat, tugging him back.
"Now that's rude." Benny snarled and the other alpha twisted his hand off in a second.
"Don't try that again." The alpha warned sharply.
The only thing that kept Benny from taking a swing was the fact that he couldn't tell what kind of thing this guy was.
"Cas." Dean cried out suddenly and Benny frowned.
Cas?
The man moved forward, on his knees in a second, cradling Dean's face.
Oh there was no fucking way.
Dean was barely coherent, one hand gripping the coat, whining low.
Benny gritted his teeth, nails digging into his palms.
"I'm here," Cas said softly.
Benny couldn't tell if Dean understood that at all.
The omega blinked, eyes still vivid from the fever, and then he was crashing into Cas, pressing their lips together.
Clumsy, messy, and entirely too desperate but Cas made a soft sound, eyes closing for a second before he was gripping the back of Dean's head, kissing back gently.
Dean broke away to suck in a ragged breath and Cas' hands moved up Dean's face, one touching his forehead.
Light glowed and even the cuts on Dean's lips vanished as the omega went limp in Cas' arms.
Dean's head lolled to the side, and Cas shifted the shirt better under his head, lowering Dean to the ground. His hands hovered uncertainly in the air as he scrutinized Dean, whose scent had smoothened out to relief at his presence, at whatever he'd done.
The angel got to his feet, slightly off kilter and Benny raised his eyebrows.
That was it?
After all this buildup, he’d been expecting to tell them to get a room. To have to deal with a messy claiming, something that justified Dean letting Cas off the fucking hook.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Benny demanded, stepping forward to block Cas' path.
Castiel stared him down, head tilting.
"He's been looking everywhere for you." Benny said. "You know that? The only reason he's been killing his way through this place, is for your miserable hide. And you just show up now?"
Castiel said nothing, something flickering in his eyes for just a second.
"Man you're good at the silent treatment," Benny said sharply.
Castiel gave him a cold look as a response, both of them glancing at Dean when he made some sound in his sleep.
"What did you do to him?"
"Nothing. He's just going to sleep it off." Cas replied, voice gravelly. "He'll wake up in a few days."
"Days?" Benny repeated, slightly horrified. "Are you insane? Everything in here is going to be coming after him."
"So watch over him." Cas ordered, making Benny bristle.
Not that the angel noticed as he was suddenly looking past Benny into the trees.
Benny frowned, following his eyes. "And what the fuck are you going to be doing? Well?" The vampire turned back around.
Cas was just... gone.
Benny turned in a circle, swearing under his breath as he examined the empty clearing.
Shit.
Benny dragged his hands down his face, at a loss about how the fuck he'd explain this to Dean.
It was a mess, having to keep him alive while every manner of creature came at them.
The omega barely shifted once, sleeping better than he had in all the time Benny had known him.
Lucky bastard.
Benny spent three days cursing out Cas. Cursing out his fucking luck to be one guy in Purgatory with a way out, except it just had to come with the most stubborn human on earth.
They were some of the worst days Benny had faced in Purgatory. He had to use all his skills, resist the temptation to use Dean as a blood source when shit hit the fan.
Would serve him right, for complicating Benny's life like this.
But somehow it worked out, the days trickling to a slow finish.
Benny settled down on the ground next to him, blade in his lap, eyeing the darkness.
But nothing came for the few hours before Dean stirred properly, wincing even at the perpetual grey of Purgatory.
Benny felt a slight surge of relief.
"Mornin' sunshine." Benny declared and Dean had the good grace to blush slightly, holding out Benny's coat. "Many thanks."
It still smelled like him, his heat. Benny swallowed.
"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?" Dean scoffed, a little distracted. He scented the air, searched the trees for something.
Benny eyed him.
The omega seemed to know something was off. That there was no normal explanation for being cured out of a heat so fast.
"You looking for something?" Benny asked, testing the waters.
Dean's green eyes found him, the confusion and worry obvious. "What happened?"
Benny had thought this over for days. "I don’t know exactly. You went into shock heat, passed out, and you were like that for three days."
Dean blinked. Suprise, wariness, and something else flickering through. "Thank you." He said finally and Benny rolled his eyes.
"You can pay me back by carrying me out." He said and Dean nodded, still looking around.
The omega cleared his throat then. "Don't know about you, but I'm starvin'," Dean said, stretching. "I was promised room service."
Benny smirked. He wasn't the guy who was supposed to stick around for breakfast. "I never promised that. I said you could have your pick of monster to fuck."
And it ended up being the lousiest lay in Purgatory. One that purposefully abandoned you.
Dean's freckles blended into the blush this time. He looked strangely unconcerned with solving the mystery, or pushing Benny's version of events.
Well, Benny wasn't going to tell him if he didn't ask.
Not a favour to you, jackass. He informed Cas silently, scanning the clearing. He just wasn't willing to see how Dean handled it. What it would do to him knowing he'd spent three months fighting everything in this place to get the angel back.
"Shut up you dick." Dean rolled his eyes, getting up and throwing on his other two layers. "I'm getting something to eat. You in?"
"Are you kidding?" Benny asked. He clapped his hands, standing up with a sigh.
"Lead the way."