Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Are you watching porn?!” 

Liv jerked her earbuds out of her ears in a start. Dean hung over her shoulder with his eyes glued to the media player on her laptop screen that was now paused. She leaned away from him to take in his expression. It was as funny as she expected it to be,

“No,” she replied, choking back a laugh. “It’s Showtime.” 

“Sammy, we need to get cable!” he shouted, dragging the chair at the table next to Liv closer and sitting down. His voice echoed through the halls of the bunker. Liv unplugged the headphone jack and skipped the episode back to the beginning.

“This is Call Girl,” Liv explained, clicking around the screen. “That’s Billie Piper.” 

“I don’t care about the dude, who’s the chick?”

“She’s Billie Piper, you idiot.” She muffled another laugh. “Now shut up and watch or go away.”

Enthralled, Dean let the quip go by, unchallenged. 

It wasn’t long before Sam entered the room, smirking at the sight of Dean huddled up to Liv’s laptop, so interested in one of her shows that he continued to interrupt it to ask questions. He thought he might sit on Liv’s other side and amuse himself by watching more of her and Dean’s exchanges, but before he realized it, he too had been sucked into the drama onscreen. What was even more unexpected was eventually Castiel, who wandered in a few minutes after Sam, following the sounds of conversation bouncing off the stone walls, became interested as well.

It wasn’t the most comfortable way to view the show, hunching around and leaning towards a laptop in the library while looking over Liv’s shoulder, Castiel peeking through the space between Dean’s scruffy cheek and Liv’s auburn hair to see the action on the screen, his straggler’s chair set up behind them all. But if the boys agreed to set it up elsewhere, to a place that might actually house them all comfortably, that would be admitting they were watching it because they enjoyed it and not just out of random curiosity in passing. Liv sensed this so she didn’t suggest it, afraid to disrupt the delicate development that she was so enjoying.

“But she’s upset?” Cas commented, pointing at the character named Hannah through his viewing window. Dean batted his hand away from his face. 

“Yes, because this job makes her live a double life,” Liv explained. “But she loves her boyfriend.”

“Then why doesn’t she end her career so she can be with Duncan,” Cas suggested. “Her troubles will then cease.”

“No, though, she can’t do that because she loves her job,” Liv replied. 

“She doesn’t want to give it up for a guy,” Sam added.

“Yet she still wants to be with this man?” The complexities of the writing seemed to really perplex the angel. “Her human desires seem to conflict.”

Liv nodded. He wasn’t wrong. “It’s complicated.”

A scene or two later Dean sighed. “I think I’m in love with her.”

Liv snorted. “You love what she can do.”

“I’d be with that girl in a second,” he mused, pining away towards the screen. “Leave him, baby! Come to my place!”

Sam sniggered. “I don’t think you could handle it, to be honest, Dean.”

“What?!” Dean crossed his arms, insulted. 

“Oh come on!” Liv agreed. “You could handle her being with other men every day?”

Dean blinked at the thought, the left side of his lip curling into an unsure grimace. 

“Maybe you could just book some time with Belle,” Cas suggested in earnest. He didn’t understand why there was laughter following his comment. 

As the turmoil of the relationship plot slowly became more and more intense, Liv felt the three lean closer and closer to her computer. They became progressively more quiet until a hypnotized silence fell across the group. Then, as if there was a cue for it, disapproval erupted from the Winchesters.  

“Wow,” Sam sneered. 

“Fuck that guy!” added Dean. 

“He’s terrible.”

Castiel returned to pointing his finger through his viewing window at the man who played Hannah’s best friend. ”So she should not call him when she returns from out of state?”

”NO!” Sam and Dean shouted in unison. Dean shooed Cas’ hand away again.

”But it seems the narrative is telling us she should.”

”Fuck the narrative,” Dean replied with finality. “That guy sucks.” 

Sam nodded. ”She’s better off alone if her only choice is that guy.”

Liv tried to hide her amused smile. They all watched as the screen faded out and the theme song began, credits running from bottom to top. 

“So, that’s the show,” Liv said. “What did you guys think?” She looked from left to right to appraise the Winchesters’ reactions and craned her neck around to see Cas. They all nodded, Dean’s bottom lip protruding, creating an expression that she figured was meant to seem aloof. Their was a slightly awkward pause as they all continued to look at each other. No one moved away from the laptop, no one made any indication that they were ready to get back to what they had been doing before. 

“Uh, so you want to watch another episode then?”

There was a jumbled medley of mumbling responses from all three at once in affirming tones. Liv pressed “next” on the menu.