mini_dean | In Which Boaz Makes a Roadtrip

"Ben, he's not asking for you to do anything you're not comfortable with."

"Yeah, I get that." He looked at the picture in his hand that Dean had left. His father - all these years later and suddenly Dean was back and his mother was telling him that she knew - wanted to see him. And he had a little cousin. "Just... not something I was expecting."

"Dean will be fine with whatever you choose. But I'd really like you to think about at least talking to him. I'm sure you've got questions."

"I do." He rubbed the back of his neck. "What about you, Mom? You want him around again?"

Lisa smiled just a bit. "It was nice seeing him again, Ben. I'd like to see more of him. But if you're not comfortable..."

"Mom, I'm not eight anymore. You don't need to worry about my feelings when you're seeing a guy." He smirked up at his mother. "I just don't want to hear about what you two are doing when I'm not here."

"Like I'd tell you that anyway." Lisa smoothed the first red spike of her son's hair so she could kiss his forehead. "Do me a favor, though?"

"What's that?"

"If you decide to take a road trip out to Iowa like I know you're planning, please at least tone down the look so the press doesn't follow you."

Ben smirked a bit and shook his head. "Yes, Mom."

***

The flight from LA to Des Moines wasn't bad, and he rented a car the next morning to drive the rest of the way to the house where Dean had told his mother that he lived. It probably wasn't the smartest plan he had, but he did want a chance to look at this family before he went to talk to them.

He watched his cousin and his uncle go off to school, and saw that his father's car stayed parked in the driveway. Figuring that it meant Dean wasn't going off to any job, Ben pulled the car up next to it in the driveway and made his way to the front door, knocking before he looked at his reflection in the window.

He actually looked normal for once, and sober too. It was the best he could manage, so he hoped it would be noticed he was trying to act the part. If only for his mom's sake.

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"Dude, I friggin' was Batman," Dean smirked. "I had the awesome car and everything."

"But you didn't have the cape," Ben pointed out, smirking.

"Didn't you ever see The Incredibles?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow. "Capes are bad."

"The Incredibles was a cartoon." Ben scoffed. "Everyone knows what happens in cartoons isn't real. batman was real."

Dean laughed. "Don't try telling Olivia that when she was six. You would have driven her to tears."

"It's a good thing she's not six anymore then."

"Yeah, guess so. Can't tell if she was more of a pain in the ass when she wanted to watch the same movie over and over again, or now that she's sixteen and there are boys involved."

"Well, if she wants to watch the movie over and over again with the boys involved, you won't have to worry too much I think."

At that point the front door opened as Sam got back from taking Olivia to school. "Dean? Who's got the rental in the driveway..." Sam walked into the kitchen area and saw Ben, then stopped.

"I didn't realize we were having company."

"Yeah, uh -- Ben was passing through, figured he say hi." He turned back to Ben. "Ben, you remember Sam, right?"

Ben raised his hand in a hello. "Yeah, kinda."

"Well, it's nice seeing you. I'll... just grab my laptop and go into my actual office..." He went for the laptop on the breakfast bar.

Dean watched his brother go, before jerking his thumb towards the living room. "We could go sit. If you want."

"Sitting works. I don't have to leave until about four if you want. My plane's at seven back to LA."

He had made sure he had a long period of time to try and talk to Dean. Just in case he had work or something and wasn't able to in the morning.

"Okay," Dean nodded. "C'mon. Let's sit."

Ben followed Dean back into the livingroom and flopped down on the couch. He let himself sink into it a moment before he remembered his manners and sat back up.

"So how long have you lived here? I mean, with Olivia you had to give up to nomad hunter life I'm sure."

He nodded. "Cara left us the house -- thank God for that -- but we had to sit still for a while. It was good though. We needed it."

"That's good."

He was running out of things to ask and just looked around the living room. It looked so normal and comfortable.

Dean sighed as he sat down. "Yeah. It's good. But you've got something pretty good going too."

"My condo in LA looks nothing like this. Hell, you can barely tell someone lives there. Then again, I'm barely there enough. Some home designer decorated it for a photo shoot and benefit party I apparently threw a year ago and I just aren't there enough to bother making the space my own."

"So you might as well not have it all together?"

"Basically. I had a tour bus that first year. Now that was my home and looked it, right down to the dirty clothes everywhere. But now I'm flown everywhere and stay in hotels and it's just crazy sometimes."

Dean nodded. "I can understand that."

Ben leaned over and picked up a glass ball paperweight off the table and passed it between his hands. "Sometimes I feel like I don't know who I am anymore. Everyone expects me to be this image and live a certain way. But it ain't me. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but it ain't me."

"So why don't you be you?"

"Because right now I'm under a contract to be Boaz. That's what sells, so I act the part." He shrugged. "It's like that show, Hannah Montana. I get the best of both worlds, man, but there's a lot I miss in the middle."