#crowstormed

———————   THERE  WAS  NO  EXCUSE  FOR  IT.   for showing up.   for grinning from ear to ear as she dangled a takeout bag from the cantina.   or at least not one lola would ever consider voicing loud enough for anyone else to hear.    but she’d known well enough that he wouldn’t turn down the food,  let alone that she doubted he’d turn her away  --  even if he swore he might.   for all his talk of indifference,  castiel’d had a funny way of proving it;  mumbled suggestions of solutions,  despite the insistence he hadn’t been paying attention.   if anything,  she’d simply learned to read between the lines and make herself comfortable despite his grumbling.  

❛  i DID call.   twice.  ❜    once on the way to the restaurant,  another on her way out.   that he hadn’t answered only gave more of a reason to continue on her way to his place.   petite shoulders rising and falling,  dark hues shifting from familiar features to look inside,  ‘round limbs to search for the fur covered face she knows will be happy to see her.   at least demon’d never pretended to have better things to do than curl up next to her,  or even so much as thought to act like the food in the bag wasn’t worth an hour or two of venting.   nose wrinkling as she settles back onto the heels of her sneakers,  the curl of her lips into a teasing grin is one she can’t hide.   ❛  i think you’d do it for less,  depending on how hungry you were.  ❜

“  Well,  not  with  that  attitude  it  wont.  Now  sit  down  and  let  me  see.  ”    Soft hands  stronger  than  they  looked guided  him  to  a  bar  stool  and  coaxed  him  onto  it.  Sighing  at  the  mess  he  had  made  of  his  own,  palm  upturned and  bleeding  through the  thin  cotton scarf  Iris  had  sacrificed  to  quickly  bandage it  with.      “  I  told  you  had  it  taken  care  of.  ”   

A  stack  of  of  freshly  cleaned glasses  still  in  the  shattered heap  behind  the  bar  where  she  had  inadvertently  knocked them.    Moving  too  fast  and  too  careless in  her  haste  to  prepare for  another  busy  night.    Like all  the  others in  the  Snake  Room  when  Crowstorm  came  to  play.    An  expensive,  stupid mess  all  but  forgotten  the  moment  Castiel had  gone  and  cut  himself trying  to  help  her  get  it  cleaned up.    Mere  hours  before  the  show.

“  Lets  see  the  damage.  ”    Shoulders  slumped when  she  peeled the  scarf  away  to  assess the  full  extent  and  breath sucked  through  clenched teeth  in  a  sympathetic  hiss  as  she  tilted  his  hand  this  way  and  that  in  hopes  no  glass  still  lingered  in  the  cut.   Not  catching  sight  of  any  and  satisfied that  the  bleeding had  ebbed,  Iris  let  herself smile  and  accepted the  first  aid  kit  offered to  her  by  one  of  his  bandmates.

“  He  gonna  make  it,  doc?  ”

Tearing  open  an  antiseptic wipe  with  her  teeth,  Iris  studied  her  patient  with  grave  determination,  before bending  to  the  task  of  cleaning  the  wound.    “  Call  off  the  priest for  now.    I  think  I  can  save  him.  ”

“  Thank  god,  I  can’t  sing  for  shit.  ”

Laughter  bubbled out  of  her,  before  the  realization  struck.   Eyes  flown  wide  and  darting up  to  catch  his,  concern etched  deeply  in  her  frown.   “  You’re  not  going  to  need  stitches or  anything,  but  Cas  .  .  .  what  about  the  show  tonight?  ”