srs2013_r2 | [ART+FIC] La vie en rose (Benny/Dean)

Summary: Benny figures out a way to comfort Dean during the hard times in purgatory. They find their way back, hopeful that nothing will change between the two of them. But life isn't that simple in the real world.
Word Count: 1438
Characters: Benny Lafitte, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester
Pairings: Benny/Dean
Tags: A wound is clearly visible in the artwork.(nothing I'd consider graphic, but worth mentioning just in case)
Song: "La vie en rose" - Louis Armstrong

Dean took a long look at Benny. This was their second encounter with leviathan that day and he was feeling very worn down. Benny sighed in Dean’s direction and then braced himself for the fight with two menacing leviathans.

They fought long and hard, but Dean got hurt badly so Benny had to work twice as hard to keep them both safe. When at last the leviathans were dead, Benny rushed over to help Dean who was off to the side, doubled over in pain, staring at his bloody leg.

Benny led a limping Dean down to the creek to clean the gash in his leg. He lay him upright against a tree, lightly kissed his forehead, and then immediately got to work on the wound.

“Gah” Dean winced and held back further cries. Benny was trying to help him after all, and a little bit of pain was an inevitable side effect. “Could you just-“

“What?” Benny asked, chuckling a little “could I not make sure this doesn’t get infected? Just hold still.” Benny looked up from Dean’s leg and made eye contact. “I promise it’ll all feel better soon, love”

Grunting a bit, Dean slunk back against the tree. Twenty minutes later, when Dean’s leg was better but far from perfect, Benny sat down next to him.

“I like this,” Dean said. “I like just sitting here with you. It’s relaxing.”

“It’s much better than fighting off killers, I’ll say. But brother, you seem really shaken up, even more than usual. I just want to be able to make you feel alright,” Benny’s said in his Cajun accent.

Dean was quiet for a few moments until he quietly said, “could you… couldja sing for me Benny?”

“I’m no musician, but I’ll do my best if that’s what you want”

Benny began to hum and Dean let out a long breath. “Hold me close and hold me fast,” Benny sang low and sweet, letting Dean forget for a moment that they were living such a hard life in purgatory. “The magic spell you cast. This is la vie en rose.” Dean really was under Benny’s spell. It was as if he was transported from that wretched place to lush garden, while the music played.

“When you kiss me, heaven sighs” Dean couldn’t help but lean over and kiss Benny’s cheek as he sang, not daring to interrupt the song with a kiss on his lips.

“Give your heart and soul to me and life will always be la vie en rose.” Benny made his way to the final stanza, and somewhere along the way Dean must have closed his eyes without realizing, because after Benny sang the last words and silence fell, he opened his eyes abruptly to see the harsh reality around him. There were tree branches thick with leaves that let through little light, an ice-cold creek, and some nearby rocks coated with traces of blood.

Dean faced his head towards his beloved vampire. The song was over, but the man who gave it meaning was sitting right next to him. “La vie en rose- it means life in pink, right?”

“Oh, parlez-vous français?” Benny asked, impressed.

“Don’t push it. I learned some French in high school. I mean, I didn’t exactly have the most consistent education, but I do remember those words.” Dean blushed as he downplayed his abilities. “The song was beautiful” Dean said, shifting the attention back to Benny. “Who’s it by?”

“Louis Armstrong. I used to love his music. I went to his shows whenever I could.”

“Hold on- you heard Louis Armstong live? That’s incredible, the guy’s a legend.”

Benny seemed pleased “I’m glad he was so successful, but when I was growing up in Louisiana over fifty years ago, he was just a local jazz musician.”

“Man, sometimes I forget how old you are.”

Benny never forgot the peaceful look that washed over Dean’s face the first time he sang to him. For the next few months together in purgatory, he sang to Dean often. Sometimes he sang other songs by other musicians, but Armstrong was by far Benny’s favorite. The tune and lyrics of La Vie en Rose reminded Benny of home, and they reminded Dean of Benny. It was perfect.

Finally, after months of searching and planning, Dean and Benny found the portal back to Earth, and they got out of purgatory.

“We made it, brother,” Benny said.

“Sure did,” Dean replied with a big hug.

Benny began to hum La Vie en Rose and for a brief moment, everything felt bright and hopeful. Their worries were gone and nothing could get between them now. It didn’t last long.

With one arm still around him from the hug, Dean pulled Benny closer and pressed his chapped lips against Benny’s. The kiss got increasingly frantic until their faces separated and Dean whispered, “What if things change? It’s a lot different up here, and I don’t want to lose you.” Benny tried reassuring him, but it was already starting. Dean was already pushing him away.

They spent the first few weeks together but separate. Dean found Sam and they picked up on the hunting work he had left behind, while Benny followed them from a town or two away so that Dean could sneak away from his brother occasionally to spend time with his boyfriend. But it could never be the same as their time together in purgatory.

During one of their secret meetings, they watched a bad rom-com. During the scene about the family’s thanksgiving-feast-gone-wrong, Benny complained that he was running low on bags from the blood bank and that he would have to get some more.

“You should get on that then,” Dean snapped. It was like it just finally hit him that what he had couldn’t last. He couldn’t simultaneously protect one supernatural creature while hunting the rest.

Eyes wide, Benny said nothing. They finished watching their movie in silence before Dean went back to the motel to meet Sam.

Dean drove back in the impala with the music blasting louder than usual to drown out his own thoughts.

“Dean, what happened? What’s wrong?” Sam asked when Dean walked in looking stiff and uneasy. Dean went straight for the half-empty beer sitting on the table.

“Nothing, Sammy. Nothing you have to worry about.”

Sam gave him one of those looks, but decided it would be best to give him the space he clearly needed. He didn’t even say anything when Dean started crying late at night after he thought Sam had fallen asleep.

Two days later, Dean went out again to meet Benny once more. Sam started to protest Dean’s sudden departure, but when he saw the sadness in Dean’s eyes, he let out a sigh and a small nod to the door. “Soon this will be over, Sammy,” Dean tried to be reassuring as he exited the room, but it only made Sam more anxious about whatever was going on without his knowledge.

Dean pulled up in front of the motel where he knew Benny was staying and stayed in the car for a minute breathing deeply. When he finally mustered up enough courage, he went inside and knocked on the door of room 109.

“Well hello there, darlin’,” Benny said as he opened the door, wearing the green plaid shirt Dean had bought him when Benny was scarce on cash. Dean averted his eyes before he finally looked at Benny and started talking.

“I can’t keep lying to my brother. He knows something’s up but he’s too polite to say anything and it makes me sick that I keep on lying anyway.”

“We can tell him the truth, ya know. Believe it or not, I’m not actually that terrible.

“Of course you’re not terrible. Hell, you’re the best guy I know. But that doesn’t change anything. Things are different now.” Dean looked sad, agitated even, but not angry. Benny put an arm on his back and led him to the edge of his bed to sit down. Dean continued to speak “In purgatory, nothing mattered. We could be together because if felt pure, it felt right, but up here nothing makes any sense. I can’t stand it.”

Benny began to hum.

“I just can’t stand it, Benny. Why can’t it be simpler?”

“Oh come now, it can be simple if you let it be. Hold me close and hold me-” he began to sing.

But Dean cut in and said, “No, I don’t think it can. It’s not la vie en rose anymore.”