Y/N was not a great hunter.

When she met the Winchesters, she'd been a TA for a mythology professor and ended up helping them take down a pack of penghou (Chinese forest spirits) who were killing members of a construction team as they tried to raze some woods to make room for a housing development. When she'd calmed down enough to breath and understand that, yes, those things that she'd spent her life reading about and obsessing over were real, she had packed up her things and somehow convinced them to take her back to the bunker.

She'd taken up the post of informant, helping Sam digitize and categorize the Men of Letters library, forming a wonderful, comfortable relationship with the younger Winchester, like siblings.

With Dean, however, it was a different story.

Y/N and Dean had the exact same sense of humor, often found giggling in the corner at inappropriate moments. They also liked to team up and tease Sam. Y/N had taken a strong liking to the music Dean blasted through Baby's speakers, and he'd taken great enjoyment in introducing her to his music.

In all honestly, Y/N found herself liking spending time with the elder Winchester for platonic reasons.

Sam had decided that they'd be adorable. She wasn't sure if he knew about her feelings, but she figured he'd put two and two together.

Subtly wasn't her forte.

So, when she'd been driving out to the one-horse town their case was in to bring them some lore books and been captured by the same vampires they'd been hunting, the boys had decided that she needed to learn some basic self-defense.

Sam had almost immediately decided that Dean would be the best of the two to teach her. Dean had agreed pretty readily, shrugging like it didn't matter to him.

A week later, Y/N was standing over the iPod dock in the gym as Dean tapped his foot impatiently. "C'mon, Y/N, let's just get started."

"I set up a work-out playlist," she began slowly, calmly, as though she was talking to a child. "It's got all the best hits to really get our blood pumping and inspire us."

"There won't be music playing in a real fight," Dean sighed.

"There will be in here!" she retorted, pointing to her temple.

He'd rolled his eyes enough to nearly roll right out of his skull, but a small smirk on his lips betrayed him.

She pressed play and turned to him, a giant smile on her face.

Dean walked her through some basic stances through the first song—Eye of the Tiger, which she'd put on the list specifically for him.

Then drums started filling the room and excitement filled Y/N. By the time Donny Osmond began singing, she was right there, joining in with him.

Dean stopped mid-tutorial, standing straight to stare at the source in pure bewilderment. "What the hell is that?"

"What?"

"That."

She frowned. "It's Make a Man Out of You."

"What?"

"From Mulan."

"What?"

"Okay," she stood straight, grabbing her iPod from the dock, cutting the song short. "So, like, spoilers. C'mon, we have to go."

"What? We're training."

"Nope, there are more important things at stake here," she brushed him off, heading off towards her room in search of her laptop.

She heard his heavy footsteps a moment later as he rushed to catch up with her. "C'mon, we really need to focus on training, Y/N."

"Dean, you cannot go a second longer in your life without seeing Mulan."

"Y/N, you can't go a second longer without being able to defend yourself."

"I can go ninety more minutes."

In the mist of their arguing, they reached her room. She plopped down on the bed and Dean stood over her, fuming. "Okay, you go get snacks," she waved him off. "And I'll set everything up."

"Y/N," he glared.

She looked up at him and smiled sweetly. "Dean, what are the odds this'll work out for you?"

"I can pick you up and drag your ass back to the gym."

"And I can block you from accessing porn on your laptop."

His eyes widened a bit at that.

She smiled innocently, looking more terrifying to him than ever before, and turned back to the screen. "Would you mind getting my M&Ms when you're in there? Please and thank you!"

Mulan and her friends had just saved China. The Emperor was presenting Mulan with the seal of the Emperor and Shan-Yu's sword.

Unsurprisingly, Dean had immediately become immersed in the movie the moment it opened with the Huns assaulting the Great Wall—"Y/N, you didn't say this was a war movie!"—and had been eating from the bowl of popcorn non-stop since it started.

They had started sitting beside each other on the bed, their backs against the headboard. At some point, though, Y/N was cuddled up into Dean's side, his arm around her shoulders and hers around his middle, both of them staining their work-out clothes with butter from the popcorn.

She cherished this moment, letting Dean's warmth permeate through her and pretending, for a moment, that this wasn't just platonic.

They both chuckled when Shang fumbled his talk with Mulan, and then the Emperor turned to the commander and said a few things, ending with, "You don't meet a girl like that every dynasty."

She felt Dean stiffen a bit, and her brows furrowed as she looked up at him. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, sweetheart. I'm fine," he assured as he squeezed her shoulder.

She frowned, silently letting him know that she didn't believe him, but let her head fall back into its place against his chest.

She wasn't afraid to admit that the final scene of the movie was probably her favorite. Her talk with her father, then Shang coming in and being awkward never failed to make her cry then laugh.

The stupid 90s pop song with 98 Degrees and Stevie Wonder (that she totally did not adore, shut up) began playing as the credits rolled. With a gigantic grin on her face, she turned to her companion. "So? What'd you think?"

He seemed to contemplate it for a moment. "It was good. Mulan's kind of a badass."

"Everyone in this film is a badass," she laughed. "But, can you approve of my song choice now?"

"Obviously."

"Awesome," she grinned, beginning to push off of the seat.

His arm held her in place, though, causing her to look up at him in confusion. "Dean? You okay?"

He was silent for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before turning to her. The look in his piercing green eyes was indecipherable as he looked down at her. "That Emperor knows what he's talking about."

She huffed out a confused laugh. "Probably why he's Emperor."

"Shang's an idiot for not saying anything to Mulan earlier."

"Well, come on, Shang was going through a lot of shit. He spends, like, eighty percent of the movie thinking he's gay."

Dean laughed, pulling her closer into his side. "Okay, he gets a little slack."

"What brought that on, Dean?"

There was another moment of silence before he spoke. "You scared us. With those vampires, y'know?"

She nodded, cracking a nervous smile. "Wasn't a huge fan of it myself."

He answered with a humorless laugh. "I was a mess when we found out. Sam is the only thing that held me together. I just kept thinkin'…we shouldn't've left you alone, we should've taught you how to at least use a gun, and I…" he ran a hand over his face in frustration.

"It wasn't your fault, Dean," she pulled back a little, sitting up a bit more to be eye-to-eye with him. "It's only their fault, not ours. Besides, I knew you two would save me."

"Really?" His tone clearly showed that he didn't believe her.

"Well, you've saved me before. I trust you two."

"Well, I didn't know that we would get to you in time, Y/N," he frowned. "And all I could think was that I never told you…"

"Told me what?" her head cocked to the side.

He breathed deeply in through his nose, the noise only slightly shuddery. Then he breathed out slowly and looked her right in the eyes. "I…I need you to be safe."

A slow grin started spreading across her face. "Yeah? Why?"

His cheeks darkened just a bit, and he suddenly found the wall incredibly interesting. "Because you're…we need you here. You keep me and Sammy sane. You sing along to my music with me, and you're terrible. You laugh at all my jokes, and—"

She leaned up, pressing a kiss to his cheek, which was so hot it nearly burned the first layer of skin on her lips off. She pulled back, beaming up at a rather shocked Dean. "I love you too, loser."

He obviously needed a moment to process her words. "You…what?"

She grinned, finally slipping out of his grip and turning off the movie that had been playing in the background the whole time. "Now, I believe that we need to get back to training, with a now fully-approved workout playlist," she began walking out of the room, heading back towards the gym. She turned back to see Dean still sitting there, a smile slowly breaking his face.

He jumped up, practically tackling her to the ground, smashing his lips against hers. She was pushed up against the wall of the hallway across from her room in a second. Her fingers immediately carded themselves into Dean's short hair, holding him close. Dean had one hand on her hip and the other between her shoulder blades, trying to eliminate any space between them.

A shout was heard, and the new couple turned to the source: Sam, standing about ten feet away with both hands over his eyes. "I'm happy for you two, but, please, God, keep it behind closed doors."

Y/N and Dean turned to each other, panting and grinning like horny teenagers. Then, Dean grabbed her hand and began pulling her back towards her room. "Well, c'mon—let's get down to business."

Right before they closed the door behind them, they vaguely heard Sam mumble, "Was that from Mulan?"