Short!fic - Loose Change & Five Dollar Bills
Title: Loose Change & Five Dollar Bills
Author: Ry (curseangel / dreamsforlease)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Sap~ Really, really vague s3 spoilers.
Characters/Pairings: Sam and Dean Winchester. John Winchester is mentioned.
Summary: One big flashback, really. Pre-series for most of it. Dean always sacrificed for Sam. Some things never change. A side window view of how.
Sam never questioned the five or ten bucks Dean would push into his hand on his way out of the car every morning. It was expected, something he knew would always happen, the same way he knew he would never have to take the bus to school because Dean would always give him a ride over. He wasn't sure if it was funny or sad that all the things the other kids thought were the tasks of parents usually fell to his big brother, making sure he was taken care of and comfortable as much as he could be.
The money, Sam knew, didn't come from Dad's credit card scams. Neither did the money that got him new clothes when he finally outgrew Dean and hand-me-downs just weren't an option anymore. Whenever they got to a new place and were staying for a while, Dean would go around to the garages and see who needed some temporary help - sometimes he'd end up working at two or three different places, if the help was needed. It got him out of the motel room, out of Dad's hair during the hunts he couldn't help with or the pre-hunt research phase when he never felt like he could do enough. He said working in a garage made sense - "Only things I know better than cars are guns, and nobody's hiring transient security guards."
The rides to school had started as soon as Dean graduated high school, relieving Dad of the usual duty. They never took the bus - he wasn't sure if it was because Dad didn't trust it, or just because he didn't like them leaving without him knowing they were going. Sam had probably said a thousand times that he could just take the bus, but Dean insisted he was already up, so it wasn't like it was a big deal. At sixteen and twenty, Dad trusted them to get on their way for the morning without supervision, and Dean preferred to let their father get some extra sleep; Dean didn't sleep in, anyway, unless he was really sick.
Once, when Dean got injured on a hunt but Dad still insisted Sam went to school - he thought it would be better if he stayed, looked after his big brother, but Dean had given him that look, 'don't push it', and he hadn't - Sam had to try and take the bus. He ended up walking up and down the street for forty minutes before declaring defeat and going back to the motel, because he couldn't find the bus stop. They didn't argue over that one anymore - if Dean was sick or hurt, Sam just didn't go to school, and they'd end up playing Playstation or something on the motel TV all day. Dean wouldn't thank Sam for staying with him, but Sam caught it, and it made him feel a lot better about missing the day.
Years later, Sam thinks maybe he should have questioned it, should have said or some something to keep his brother from giving everything up for him. But he never did, and anyway, if he had, Dean never would have listened. He's made that abundantly clear over the last two and a half years. He's going to die for him, a decision he had made just as easily as driving him to school.
The only change they've got is in the glovebox.
Author: Ry (curseangel / dreamsforlease)
Rating: PG
Warnings: Sap~ Really, really vague s3 spoilers.
Characters/Pairings: Sam and Dean Winchester. John Winchester is mentioned.
Summary: One big flashback, really. Pre-series for most of it. Dean always sacrificed for Sam. Some things never change. A side window view of how.
Sam never questioned the five or ten bucks Dean would push into his hand on his way out of the car every morning. It was expected, something he knew would always happen, the same way he knew he would never have to take the bus to school because Dean would always give him a ride over. He wasn't sure if it was funny or sad that all the things the other kids thought were the tasks of parents usually fell to his big brother, making sure he was taken care of and comfortable as much as he could be.
The money, Sam knew, didn't come from Dad's credit card scams. Neither did the money that got him new clothes when he finally outgrew Dean and hand-me-downs just weren't an option anymore. Whenever they got to a new place and were staying for a while, Dean would go around to the garages and see who needed some temporary help - sometimes he'd end up working at two or three different places, if the help was needed. It got him out of the motel room, out of Dad's hair during the hunts he couldn't help with or the pre-hunt research phase when he never felt like he could do enough. He said working in a garage made sense - "Only things I know better than cars are guns, and nobody's hiring transient security guards."
The rides to school had started as soon as Dean graduated high school, relieving Dad of the usual duty. They never took the bus - he wasn't sure if it was because Dad didn't trust it, or just because he didn't like them leaving without him knowing they were going. Sam had probably said a thousand times that he could just take the bus, but Dean insisted he was already up, so it wasn't like it was a big deal. At sixteen and twenty, Dad trusted them to get on their way for the morning without supervision, and Dean preferred to let their father get some extra sleep; Dean didn't sleep in, anyway, unless he was really sick.
Once, when Dean got injured on a hunt but Dad still insisted Sam went to school - he thought it would be better if he stayed, looked after his big brother, but Dean had given him that look, 'don't push it', and he hadn't - Sam had to try and take the bus. He ended up walking up and down the street for forty minutes before declaring defeat and going back to the motel, because he couldn't find the bus stop. They didn't argue over that one anymore - if Dean was sick or hurt, Sam just didn't go to school, and they'd end up playing Playstation or something on the motel TV all day. Dean wouldn't thank Sam for staying with him, but Sam caught it, and it made him feel a lot better about missing the day.
Years later, Sam thinks maybe he should have questioned it, should have said or some something to keep his brother from giving everything up for him. But he never did, and anyway, if he had, Dean never would have listened. He's made that abundantly clear over the last two and a half years. He's going to die for him, a decision he had made just as easily as driving him to school.
The only change they've got is in the glovebox.