50scenes!fic - Bleed Like Me
Title: Bleed Like Me
Prompt: 50scenes prompt table 3, number 15, 'stop'
Warnings: Vague spoilers for late season one, circa "Dead Man's Blood".
Characters/Pairings: Dean, Sam, and John Winchester
Summary: Inspired by the Garbage song that shares the title with this piece. Sam hates when Dean fights. Pre-series (Dean is 16-17, Sam is 12-13).
Daddy's little soldier boy, he never had trouble in school, quiet and alone until he hit high school, the tenth grade, and he beats the shit out of the guidance counselor for trying to tell him that he knows what he's been through, for thinking his wounds are just the typical teenage angst. The black and blues their dad gives him show for weeks, and they have to leave even though Dad's not quite finished with the hunt, still had loose ends to tie up, but he calls in a favor and they get out before anybody can press charges.
Dean is sullen and unapproachable for a week, but during the nights Sam knows better than to mention during the day, he goes quiet next to Sam in the motel bed they have to share because they're not old enough to have their own room, and he knows his older brother's either crying or wishing he could, so he stays very still, a warm presence by Dean's side, a tangible You're not alone.
Dad stops letting him on hunts for a little while, tells him to cool off. Dean's reckless, and the excess energy gets burned off in locker room and parking lot fights that leave him bruised and grinning, too proud of himself by half, even when Sam prods at the marks, punishment for the fights. He calms down a little when Dad concedes and lets him come along again, but not enough.
He stops when Sam asks him to, though, close together on a motel room bed, pressing his hand against a bandage where some kind of shifter had gone straight for the heart. The cut obscured the bruises that had already been there, souveniers of a particularly bad altercation, Dean outnumbered in the boys' locker room after gym class, big thugs of boys who didn't like that Dean outperformed them despite being younger, shorter, smaller. Dad had pretty much stopped trying to punish Dean for his fighting, just shrugged and let him lick his own wounds. Sam was the one who bandaged him up, proficient by now, knowing every inch of his brother's body and how the bandages wrapped around, better than he knew himself.
But Sam hates saying it, so he asks, and Dean stops, or says he will. It's two weeks before the next time he gets in a fight, and he swears up and down he didn't start it, curled around his bruises under the blankets, pretending it doesn't hurt. Pretending so Dad won't worry, so Sam won't. Sam worries anyway, but he never says a word.
Years later, what feels like centuries, he mentions it to their dad, in passing, when Dean's not there; he's out getting supplies, and Sam doesn't like being left alone with Dad, but he doesn't complain because he knows how bad Dean feels when he starts shit. He asks how he could just not realize how bad it was for Dean, how much he needed him, how could he leave. And John doesn't have any answers, just says he never realized it was that bad, that Dean was so hurt. He tried to get Dean to stop and he wouldn't, what could he do?
But Dean stopped for Sam.
Prompt: 50scenes prompt table 3, number 15, 'stop'
Warnings: Vague spoilers for late season one, circa "Dead Man's Blood".
Characters/Pairings: Dean, Sam, and John Winchester
Summary: Inspired by the Garbage song that shares the title with this piece. Sam hates when Dean fights. Pre-series (Dean is 16-17, Sam is 12-13).
Daddy's little soldier boy, he never had trouble in school, quiet and alone until he hit high school, the tenth grade, and he beats the shit out of the guidance counselor for trying to tell him that he knows what he's been through, for thinking his wounds are just the typical teenage angst. The black and blues their dad gives him show for weeks, and they have to leave even though Dad's not quite finished with the hunt, still had loose ends to tie up, but he calls in a favor and they get out before anybody can press charges.
Dean is sullen and unapproachable for a week, but during the nights Sam knows better than to mention during the day, he goes quiet next to Sam in the motel bed they have to share because they're not old enough to have their own room, and he knows his older brother's either crying or wishing he could, so he stays very still, a warm presence by Dean's side, a tangible You're not alone.
Dad stops letting him on hunts for a little while, tells him to cool off. Dean's reckless, and the excess energy gets burned off in locker room and parking lot fights that leave him bruised and grinning, too proud of himself by half, even when Sam prods at the marks, punishment for the fights. He calms down a little when Dad concedes and lets him come along again, but not enough.
He stops when Sam asks him to, though, close together on a motel room bed, pressing his hand against a bandage where some kind of shifter had gone straight for the heart. The cut obscured the bruises that had already been there, souveniers of a particularly bad altercation, Dean outnumbered in the boys' locker room after gym class, big thugs of boys who didn't like that Dean outperformed them despite being younger, shorter, smaller. Dad had pretty much stopped trying to punish Dean for his fighting, just shrugged and let him lick his own wounds. Sam was the one who bandaged him up, proficient by now, knowing every inch of his brother's body and how the bandages wrapped around, better than he knew himself.
But Sam hates saying it, so he asks, and Dean stops, or says he will. It's two weeks before the next time he gets in a fight, and he swears up and down he didn't start it, curled around his bruises under the blankets, pretending it doesn't hurt. Pretending so Dad won't worry, so Sam won't. Sam worries anyway, but he never says a word.
Years later, what feels like centuries, he mentions it to their dad, in passing, when Dean's not there; he's out getting supplies, and Sam doesn't like being left alone with Dad, but he doesn't complain because he knows how bad Dean feels when he starts shit. He asks how he could just not realize how bad it was for Dean, how much he needed him, how could he leave. And John doesn't have any answers, just says he never realized it was that bad, that Dean was so hurt. He tried to get Dean to stop and he wouldn't, what could he do?
But Dean stopped for Sam.