Fic: "A Brother By My Side"
Title: A Brother By My Side
Rating: K+
Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester
Word count: ~1450
Summary: Dean has a bad day in kindergarten and wants nothing else than to go to bed and forget about the day. But Sammy just won't leave him alone. Dean is 6, Sam is 2.
Six-year-old Dean Winchester felt miserable as he stepped out of the school bus and headed towards the small house his dad had rented for this time being. He had had a pretty lousy day in kindergarten today and Dean wanted nothing else than to throw himself on his bed, bury his face in the pillow and just make the day go away. Dean's teacher Mrs. Summers had told them to draw a picture of their family and Dean had drawn himself, Sammy, their dad and the Impala, before ending the drawing with his mom as an angel. Mark Wells had made fun of Dean's drawing and Dean had called Mark some bad words that Mrs. Summers said she never ever wanted to hear him say again. Dean snorted. Mark should have been glad that he hadn't received a punch in the face instead!
Dean reached the front door, pulled down the doorknob and pushed the door open before he stepped into the house. John Winchester was sitting by the table with a large pile of papers and books in front of him and was writing in his journal, but he looked up when Dean appeared in the room.
"Dean.. Good." His dad said and got up from his chair while grabbing his jacket. "Look, I'm gonna have to run some errands, okay? Look out for Sammy and make sure he eats something."
"Sure daddy.." Dean said with a little sigh.
"Lock the door, keep the windows closed and the curtains too, alright?" His dad said while putting on his coat and Dean nodded. "What was that?"
"Yes sir." Dean said.
John gave Dean a quick smile and ruffled his hair before opening the front door and closing it behind him. Dean watched the closed door for a second while biting his lower lip. He'd wanted to tell his dad about the awful day he'd had at school, but as usual his dad had been pretty busy. Dean also feared that his dad would think of him as weak if he let something as silly as a mocked drawing upset him, so maybe it was a good thing that his dad was too busy to notice that Dean was upset.
Dean locked the front door before he put down his bag on the floor, peeled off his jacket and kicked off his shoes. He then started looking for his baby brother. Dean found the two-year-old in the bedroom they shared, sitting on the floor with some crayons spread out in front of him, coloring on a piece of paper.
"Hi Sammy.." Dean said in a tired voice and Sam's head immediately jerked up.
"De!" Sam happily exclaimed and struggled to get his diaper-wearing butt up from the floor.
Dean didn't wait for him to do so, before he flipped down on the bed on his stomach and tucked his hands under the pillow. Normally he would have given Sam a hug, played with him and talked about his day at school, but Dean was not in the mood to do any of that. He just wanted this day to go away.
"De!" Sam said again as he reached the bed. "Sammy made pictwure!"
"Fine.." Dean said in a flat voice without even looking at the drawing Sam was waving in his little hand.
"Deee.." Sam said with a whine and pulled at Dean's sleeve.
"I'm not in the mood Sammy.. Go away.." Dean said into the pillow.
The toddler clearly didn't give up on getting his big brother's attention so he climbed onto the bed and snuggled into Dean's side.
"Pway?" Sam asked and Dean shook his head.
"I want to take a nap.. Go and play by yourself.." Dean said.
"De!" Sam exclaimed.
"No Sammy.." Dean sighed.
Sam poked Dean in the side and he giggled when Dean was startled a little by it.
"Sam!" Dean then exclaimed and jerked upright in bed while looking at his baby brother with a mad expression. "Stop! Now!"
Sam stopped giggling and looked at Dean with a confused and insecure look. Dean rarely got mad at him but when he did it was because Sam had done something very bad.
"I don't wanna play with you! I didn't have a good day at school, but you don't understand any of that 'cause you're just a stupid baby!" Dean shouted. "Now, leave me alone!"
Dean gave Sam a light shove that wouldn't have harmed anyone his own size, but since Sam still was a toddler and wasn't prepared for the shove, the two-year-old tumbled off the edge of the bed before hitting the floor with a thud.
"Shit..!" Dean cursed and hurried to the edge of the bed, where he looked down and found his little brother looking back at him with quivering lips and tear-filled eyes. "Auw Sammy, I'm sorry.."
That was all it took for Sam to start wailing on the top of his lungs, and Dean was off the bed and by his brother's side in an instant. When Dean reached out his hand for Sam, his little brother flinched away from his touch and that really broke Dean's heart.
"Sammy, I'm so so sorry." Dean said and bit his lower lip. "I didn't make you fall off the bed on purpose, I swear. I would never hurt you Sammy.."
Sam's wails ceased to hiccups and sniffles but he still looked at Dean with a distrustful look that made Dean feel really really bad. Sam rubbed at his eyes and the little boy looked so lost that Dean wanted nothing else than to scoop Sammy into his arms and never let go again. Dean's eyes then caught sight of the abandoned picture on the floor that Sam had made, and he picked it up and looked at it.
"This is a great picture Sammy - good job." Dean said to distract his brother a bit. "I made a picture in school today too. I made a picture of you and me and daddy and daddy's car."
Dean left out the part about his mommy for two reasons. One: He was still pretty upset about what had happened in school, and two: Sam was still too young to understand it anyway.
Sam looked at Dean with big curious eyes, and Dean smiled a little knowing that he'd caught Sam's attention. The two of them stared at each other for a little while and Dean then spread out his arms and silently waited for Sam's reaction on it. Dean was rewarded for his efforts when Sam threw himself into Dean's waiting arms and Dean sighed in relief.
"I'm so sorry Sammy.." Dean said and rubbed comforting circles on the toddler's back. "I was sad but I shouldn't have been mean to you."
"De.." Sam just said and clenched the fabric of Dean's shirt, and that was when Dean knew that his baby brother had forgiven him.
"Come on, what do you say we go get something to eat, huh Sam?" Dean asked after pulling away from the embrace. "I'll even let you have Lucky Charms. How about that?"
Sam nodded and lightened up in a smile which made Dean smile too before he wiped the tears and snot off Sam's face with his sleeve. It was a little bit gross but Dean didn't really care at the moment. He was just happy now that Sam was smiling again. Dean got up from the floor and helped his two-year-old brother up on his feet too before grabbing his hand and leading him towards the kitchen. Dean lifted Sam up on a chair and poured them both a bowl of Lucky Charms with milk, before sitting down next to his brother by the table. Sam ate his Lucky Charms and happily babbled about anything and nothing at all while swinging his legs back and forth underneath the table. Dean just smiled at him and wondered what his life would have been like without his pain-in-the-ass little brother. A life without Sam just wouldn't be the same at all, Dean decided. Dean never wanted to lose his Sammy, like he had once lost his mommy.
When they were done eating, the two Winchester brothers got settled on the couch and Dean flicked on the TV. Sam snuggled closer to his big brother and Dean lifted his arm before putting it around Sam's shoulders. Life was tough, like their daddy used to say, and Dean knew he would get many more days like the one he'd had in kindergarten today, but somehow Dean knew he would get through them - as long as he had his brother by his side.
THE END