Underneath a Stretching Skyline verse #13 : My Twilight's Getting Brighter
Title: My Twilight’s Getting Brighter; verse #13
Author: LaueHime
Rating: Mature
Genre/pairing: H/C with lots of luv, humor verging on crack!fic and angst because it’s still me. Gen.
Characters: Sam, Dean, Leviathans
Word count: ~ 4000
Warnings: Some cussing and illegal drug use, displayed as much nonsense and sugar-coated with sparkles and glitters of more nonsense. Also, I don’t mean any offense by any of the words I’ve put in here. They’re only for the purpose of the story.
Summary: Sam gets his hands on some ‘happy pills’. Only, he should never forget that what goes up has got to fall.
Written for spnshannanigans’s prompt on ohsam which is “Sam's memories from hell threaten to overwhelm him every moment of every day. To calm the storm in his head, he comes to rely on either drugs or alcohol (or both). Dean allows this to continue (for now anyway) because he doesn't know how to help Sam and he can't stand the screaming.”
Disclaimer: The show belongs to Kripke.
A/N: This is a series of verses. Every chapter can be read as a standalone (but it would make more sense if you’ve read at least some of them). Each verse has its own title based on the lyrics of the song Underneath a Stretching Skyline.
A/N2: I started writing this verse a very long time ago and then forgot about it. It occurred to me that I hadn’t posted anything in ages. I went back to it and finished this little piece of work. Hopefully this makes up for the long wait.
I made a video for these verses. You can watch it HERE.
Feedback is love. Enjoy!
SNSNSNSN
Locating the Winchesters was one thing. Those boys were good at hiding their tracks. Better than good, actually. Still, they were no match against light years of experience. Hungry stomachs could get anything they wanted.
If the infamous hunters’ whereabouts were a challenge to pinpoint, spotting them through the mass was something else entirely. If not for the moose size of the younger one, the older one’s loud mouth and their flashy classic Chevy would have sold them out either way.
The quiet citizen attire fit him perfectly for this mission. He sat unnoticed in the back booth of the diner when the brothers walked in, side by side. Their broad shoulders and stern looks didn’t begin to intimidate him. As far as he knew, those two apes had yet to find any weapon that worked against them.
To his delight, the hunters picked the booth on the other side of his own. Everything was working according to plan. From the quick glances he had time to cast, he noted that the oldest had a somber look to him. It hardly matched the description he had of the supposedly cocky, shit-eating hunter extraordinaire. On the other hand, the youngest one didn’t live up to his expectations either. Was he deemed dumb enough to believe that this guy had once been the chosen antichrist?
‘What a joke,’ he sneered through clenched teeth. To think that he’d gone out of his way to be sitting where he was… However, if his boss labeled the two men as worth annihilating, they had to represent some kind of threat or he wouldn’t be there, wasting his time. But still…
Time passed and he pretended that the ripples he made on the surface of his coffee were of very high interest. The lukewarm mud-like beverage was in no means the reason of his presence. His ears were doing all the work, catching words in samples of conversations.
The boys didn’t have much to say, to his dismay. He hardly heard the youngest speak. Instead, he caught up on hints of concern and cautiously hand-picked words from the eldest.
His subtle trip to the bathroom only confirmed his previous observations. The biggest one had hardly touched his food while the other one tried to convince him to grab a bite or two. The latter set quite the example with his large plate of grease accompanied with a side serving of more grease. His stomach churned at the thought of what this strange specie could engorge without a second thought.
Back to his booth, he tried to hear more of their conversation.
“You need to get some strength back.”
“I’m just not hungry. Stop pushing, please.”
“Man, I feel like I’m babysitting here.”
“Then stop. I certainly don’t need you mothering me.”
There were loud snorts of displeasure before silence fell between them. For a team of hard-assed hunters, they certainly didn’t live up to their infamy by the sounds of their conversation. He hesitated upon calling his boss to tell him that they had mistaken those two kittens for capable warriors.
“Hey, m’only trying to help. Did you forget to take your Midol this morning?”
“Left it in the car with your brains.”
“You should’ve picked them both up. Might have done some wonders to your sense of humor, sourpuss.”
After a beat of silence, he concluded that the last assault hadn’t been dignified with an answer. Waves of moodiness did reach even him. The heavy feeling was weighing down on him and he wasn’t even human. It would’ve taken a blinded fool to not sense that the youngest Winchester wasn’t into his game; whatever his game was supposed to be.
“Anything I can do?” he heard the voice pick up again. Once more, the words were filled with concern.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance. Really, those two were supposed to have stopped the end of the world? Is this how they did it? By cooing reassurances in each other’s ears? At this rate, he could take them both down without breaking a sweat and the boys wouldn’t know what it was that came up to bite their asses. Only, it was not what his boss had asked him to do.
Actually, given the upcoming events and the fact that they were walking amongst humans, the plan was that they were to remain quiet as to keep suspicions away. At least, that was unless they were told otherwise by the superior minds of their master plan.
Irritation burnt a hole in his chest. He had to clench his teeth to stay posted. He was so close that he could’ve gulped the boys down in two bites, but the man in charge wanted to be the one to take the Winchesters down. All he was allowed to do was watch and report. What a shame…
The voices picked up again from the adjacent booth.
“If you know of a magic pill that makes all the troubles of the world go away, then yes you can help me.”
An idea bloomed inside of him after swallowing every single one of the boy’s words.
“I like the way you always see the glass as half full.”
Even he could detect the irony in that statement. Excitation settled inside his guts as he fought to keep idle. He was getting something, finally. The top most feared enemies on their list were fighting a war of their own. They were facing doubts, doubled with warning signs of upcoming hopelessness. That was definitely something to use to his advantage.
The brothers never seemed to notice how he flew out the diner with his cell phone clutched tightly to his chest. A wide mischievous grin lit his face when he asked for Edgar on the phone, explaining how he had precious development on the Winchester case.
SNSNSNSN
Dean watched his brother closely while he stood at the back of the bar, hustling pool with a bunch of drunk bikers. He usually got off with that kind of challenge but, at that moment, he had a hard time getting into it.
Actually, he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of having his little brother near anything drinkable that wasn’t water or caffeine. On any given day, he wouldn’t even let his brother approach the vicinity of an opened beer bottle from fear of losing Sam to the dangers of ethanol-induced oblivion. Knowing his brother’s penchant towards complete unawareness, he went for safe rather than sorry.
Lucifer was still around, that much he could tell. Sam was quiet about it, but Dean would always know when his brother left their reality for the one he was the only one to have access to. Keeping Sam from using was hard on both of them. The hallucinations were much worse when Sam didn’t drown them with Whisky. On the other hand, Dean wouldn’t risk his brother’s life.
Since they had entered the place, Sam had been doing well. He didn’t stick to the bar, which seemed to help keep his temptation at bay. Only, without the distraction of the bottle, the youngest appeared to be somewhat bored. It wasn’t that Dean had forced him to come. Actually, it was quite the opposite as Sam wouldn’t bend until his big brother had given him the green light to tag along.
The previous weeks had been rough. When Dean had started showing the first tell-tale signs of needing a night out, Sam wouldn’t hear a word from his brother. That went on, even though the former tried to convince the latter that it was okay if they didn’t go. Sam couldn’t have it. He wouldn’t deny Dean’s needs even if they could compromise his safety. After everything his older brother had done for him, the least he could do was to let Dean have his fun, to stick around and to try to avoid getting into trouble.
As Sam insisted that he was alright to go, Dean finally allowed it. Only, it wasn’t going to be without keeping a close eye on his brother. Sam was still a trouble magnet after all.
The youngest did disappear from Dean’s field of vision for some time, although it wasn’t long enough to have the eldest call for reinforcements.
Sometime later, Dean noticed that his brother was starting to act strangely. From where he stood, Sam looked like a giant noodle that had ants crawling up his clothes. From that point on, everything else stopped mattering.
Dean made a beeline to the table Sam was occupying. As he closed the distance between them, he noted the growing grin on his brother’s face. What had the kid gotten into this time?
“Hey!” Dean slid across the booth and sat facing his brother.
Sam’s smile only grew wider. Dean didn’t believe it was possible, for this was a rare occurrence on his brother’s face.
“Hey, brother dear! You’re here, finally. I was missing you just now. You see, I was watching you play and I started thinking to myself how awesome you look when you concentrate on your game. I mean, I’m not saying that I’m into you ‘cause that would be so weird since we’re brothers, but you know… Like, I mean, you’re so… you know?”
Dean’s eyes widened as Sam’s rant went on and he couldn’t help noticing how his brother’s head softly rocked from side to side while he spoke. That did it for him. At least, until he realized his little brother was talking way too much. It didn’t take long for him to connect the pieces together.
He closed his eyes to take a deep breath. Anger fought against panic, both wanting to take control of his heart and bust out of his chest at the same moment.
“What the hell did you take?” he asked in one calculated breath. If he lost his cool, he would start blowing off steam. Maybe he’d even slice his brother’s head off.
Well, it was a thought.
Sam started giggling, although it didn’t seem like he meant to. His pupils were blown. There was no getting out of this one for Dean and his brother was just getting started.
“Deeeeeeeeeaaan! It doesn’t matter because I’m so happy! You just don’t understand. Hell, I don’t understand it myself, but I feel so good. I mean, is it me or is everything just so good? We’re in a cool bar and you play pool and, you know, I’ve been watching you… and you’re just so good! Man, I wish I were that cool. But it doesn’t matter. You’re happy! You are happy, right?”
Dean stared on in disbelief. It took him a while to understand that he’d been asked a question. Even then, he didn’t know what to say. Sam was so out of character, it was downright scary.
“I’m not so sure anymore…” he breathed out, his eyes still fixated on his unnaturally happy-go-lucky little brother.
Sam just rocked his head from side to side with more vigor.
“Why wouldn’t you be? I mean, for starters, those seats are wonderful! So soft and comfy… And the music… Man, that music is like… like the most powerful music, so much it’s… I mean wow, it sounds so good! And the lights… They’re so beautiful… like thousands of rainbows shooting through my eyes. I feel like I’m about to start shitting unicorns!”
Dean blinked rapidly, hoping that Sam would magically return to normal if he prayed hard enough. This couldn’t be real. To his growing despair, the youngest kept on babbling.
“You gotta go back to the pool table, Dean! The cool bikers are waiting for you. Don’t let them grab you though… you know. One of them might as well be a Bruce. I’m sure you’ve had a fantasy with a Bruce at least once in your life! Doesn’t it make you wanna… you know…” Sam proposed while shaking his shoulders for emphasis.
What really got Dean was when his brother started making roaring sounds.
“No. I don’t wanna anything with anyone. Especially not a Bruce!” Dean almost looked angry, which could have gotten a pout on Sam’s face, hadn’t he been busy giggling like a teenage girl.
“Dean! My body’s shaking like I’m a slice of bacon in a frying pan. Look!” Sam pointed to both his arms that were indeed agitated with intermittent tremors. Instead of worrying, the youngest laughed some more. “It’s as if I were freezing. But you know, Dean, I’m not even cold! I’m feeling fantastic and happy! And I’m happy that you’re my brother because I love you. I know I don’t say it enough but I love you, you know. And I know you hate chick-flicks so I’m just gonna shut up and not say it, but I want you to know that I love you! There, I said it again!”
Had it been anyone else, Dean would be out of his mind by then. Strangely though, as odd as it was to witness that complete change of personality from his brother, he realized that he couldn’t bring himself to be angry. There was something appealingly sweet with his brother, even if it was just whatever drugs Sam had taken that were talking.
“Dean, I think I talk too much,” Sam admitted suddenly. His eyes had widened in realization before bowing sheepishly.
“No shit! I hadn’t gotten that memo,” Dean’s teasing was light. The tension he had been feeling before was slowly going away as Sam was obviously flying too high to care. It wouldn’t reach him where he was, anyway.
Sam’s bottom lip started to curl into a sad pout. “Shut up! You’re just shitting me! You don’t wanna say I’m annoying, that’s all. I know I’m not easy on you, Dean. I’m so sorry I can’t be a better brother…”
Dean left his side of the table to walk to his brother’s side, pushing Sam to scoot over so they could be close to one another.
He wrapped an arm around Sam’s broad shoulders and looked him in the eyes before he spoke. “Stop that, alright. I wouldn’t have you any other way. You giant girl!” Dean’s lips curled into a smile towards the end of his confession.
In a way, it was true. Those moments served to remind him that he would take his brother any way before ever choosing a life without Sam.
“I love you, Dean,” Sam started chiming again. He wrapped his long arms around his brother and managed to almost crush him beneath his strong embrace.
“Okay, yeah. I love you too, buddy. But now you’re choking me, you damn octopus!”
Sam giggled as he only buried himself deeper into his brother’s side. “I’m an octosam! Hey Dean, can you imagine what I would look like with eight arms and legs?!”
The image of an eight-tailed sasquatch was too much to bear for Dean, who almost lost his straight face to his mushy brother.
“You’d look like a total freak, that’s what,” he finally replied, his lips sliding in the corners and almost revealing the extent of his amusement.
Sam shook his head against Dean’s arm. His already unruly bangs only got messier. “No! It would be totally cool! I could shoot six guns at the same time! Hey Dean, have you ever seen an octopus with a gun?”
For a moment, Dean wondered if everything was really happening or if this was part of some horrible nightmare. His worst nightmare was that he was very much awake. “You’re a freak, you know that?”
Sam hummed affirmatively. He still didn’t make a move away from his brother. “I’m stoned as fuck, aren’t I?” he suddenly dropped, while still clinging to Dean’s shoulder.
“Yup,” Dean confirmed quickly.
He noted that the bikers had taken an interest in them. Their eyes met while the looks he received where anything but welcoming.
“Hey queers! Why don’t you two get this out of here and into a locked room?” one of them shouted.
Dean glared daggers back at them. Despite his state, Sam was the first one to take real actions.
“They’re right, Deano. Let’s go. This is no place for smart people, obviously.” Sam didn’t hesitate to speak loudly. Dean could only try to hide in plain sight while he followed his brother towards the way out.
Nobody noticed that a man got out through the backdoor soon after the boys left.
SNSNSNSN
A quiet bang and a muffled curse woke Dean up in the middle of the night. Hunter senses kicked in as soon as his eyes snapped open. He had already scanned the room before he bolted into a sitting position.
Sam was holding the wall with one hand, while twisting his giant limbs into a pretzel as he attempted to catch the side of his knee with his other hand. Dean frowned, but quickly deduced what had happened.
“You okay?” he asked as he pushed himself to the side of the bed. He was always ready whenever his brother was hurting.
The youngest unfolded to his full height before nodding. “Yeah, fine. Just surprised. It didn’t really hurt, in fact. Sorry I woke you up, though. I didn’t mean to.” He paused to catch his breath after uttering so many words with the same air.
Dean was up before his brother could throw more syllables into the conversation.
“I know you didn’t. Show me your knee.”
Drilled to the commanding tone of his brother, Sam obliged without second thought.
“I swear it’s fine. I hardly felt it. M’good.” He still showed his knee to his personal nurse of a brother.
As soon as he stopped talking, vigorous chills sprung his muscles into action. Dean watched his brother begin to pace around the room. Something gave him the feeling that Sam had been doing that even before he almost knocked a chair over with his knee.
“Sam, it’s four in the morning. Why are you pacing?”
Dean’s eyes held a sparkle of concern as possibilities infiltrated his thoughts.
“Couldn’t sleep. Not tired.”
Sam was wearing holes in the carpet. His brother sighed, visibly uncomfortable with his next question. Actually, the question didn’t worry him as much as the possible answer did.
“Lucifer?”
The whispered name hardly left his lips like a quietly spat bullet.
Sam turned to his brother for the first time. “No. Not him. He was here at first, though. I think he was laughing at me. But then, I told him I’d met Bruce the biker and that I’d invite him for a sleepover and he left… he was crying, though, I’m not sure why…”
The look on Sam’s face left Dean debating between wanting to roll his eyes or mock his brother. It occurred to him that he was just as confused as Sam was and decided that silence was the best intervention he could offer for the time being.
He was rewarded when Sam resumed his pacing and his babbling followed.
“Now, I just keep wondering what type of pajamas I could offer him if ever Bruce comes over,” Sam moaned, more to himself than to the audience, composed of his baffled big brother.
“You’re shitting me, right? You’re not sleeping because of pajamas?”
Dean stood up, unconsciously wanting to close the distance between his brother and himself. He wondered if the drugs were having a worse effect on his brother than what he had shrugged off as the happy feeling of being high.
His first instinctual move was to put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. It took milliseconds for him to take in the warmth that was radiating off of it. His protective hands moved to his brother’s forehead. Sam felt like a human furnace against the touch of his skin.
“Sam, you’re boiling hot!”
Sam looked at him as if he were growing a second head.
“I feel fine,” he replied innocently.
Dean gritted his teeth at how gullible his brother could be at times. Count on Sam to get into trouble without noticing, until he got knees deep into his own mess. The eldest rolled his eyes.
“Well you’re obviously not. Sit down.”
Gentleness had left to be replaced with directivity. If Sam noticed the change, he didn’t comment on it as he followed his brother’s instructions. Dean grabbed the first aid kit and dug inside it for the thermometer. He placed it under Sam’s tongue as soon as he fished it out of its hiding spot.
Sam closed his eyes as they waited for the small device to record his temperature. As his eyes closed, he started to sway. Dean watched with an attentive eye.
“You okay?”
He felt as if he’d been asking that question over and over.
“Lil’ dizzy,” Sam finally admitted. Dean grunted in annoyance. Of course, now that they assessed the matter, crucial information was starting to come out.
The beeping sound hardly had time to chime before Dean grabbed the thermometer hastily. He glanced at the reading. His jaw clenched instantly.
“A little dizzy? You fucking schmuck! You’re a step away from roasting alive!”
Dean dropped the plastic object that still read 103 Fahrenheit. He sprinted towards the bathroom and turned the shower on until the water was tepid.
Sam hadn’t moved from his spot on the chair. He had actually started to droop deeper into it, his muscles losing the fight against his exhausted and overheating body.
His big brother didn’t waste any time when he came back to fetch him. Somewhere in the back of Sam’s confused mind, he knew what was coming next.
“Little help, here? You’re a mountain to carry.” Dean pushed his brother up with much effort.
“S’rry,” Sam mumbled as he tried to put his feet under him. They felt like buckling, but he focused all his strength into getting to the bathroom with his brother. They were just a few steps away.
Dean manhandled his brother into the tub and sat behind him, holding Sam against his chest. They still had their clothes on, but he couldn’t care less. It didn’t take long for them to be soaking wet.
He could feel his little brother regaining muscle strength against him. Moans turned into coughs and soon enough, the youngest was able to use his own hands to wipe rivulets of water from his eyes.
“D… your shirt’s wet,” Sam pointed out weakly. Dean didn’t see the guilty look on his brother’s face, but he heard it in his voice.
“Shut up.” Fussing made him uncomfortable. They weren’t in the best position either.
Silence settled between them. It was only interrupted by the sound of water hitting their skin.
“People are gonna talk… you and me in the shower like this…” Sam whispered tentatively after some time. He felt Dean’s embrace tighten around his chest.
“Let ‘em talk. You can worry about that after you’ve cooled down. Until then, forget my shirt and other people and just… shut up.”
Sam smiled lightly and buried his head into his brother’s chest. He felt better already and Dean’s presence did help in the matter.
“Thanks, Dean,” he whispered quietly after a bout of silence.
He heard the eldest clear his throat.
“Couldn’t let you toast, now, could I?”
Sam knew that, in Dean’s language, this meant ‘you’re welcome’. He was fully satisfied with this answer.
As soon as Dean deemed his temperature acceptable, they got out of the tub and into clean and dry clothes. Sam settled into his bed and closed his eyes. Sleep claimed him minutes later and carried him to a land where the devil didn’t set foot for the rest of the night.
It was the first in many for Sam to actually get some sleep. Besides, he had the comfort of knowing that his brother was nearby and ready to do anything to keep him safe.
SNSNSNSN
The man in the shadows walked away with a satisfied grin on his face. He had valuable information to communicate to his boss.
END
Author: LaueHime
Rating: Mature
Genre/pairing: H/C with lots of luv, humor verging on crack!fic and angst because it’s still me. Gen.
Characters: Sam, Dean, Leviathans
Word count: ~ 4000
Warnings: Some cussing and illegal drug use, displayed as much nonsense and sugar-coated with sparkles and glitters of more nonsense. Also, I don’t mean any offense by any of the words I’ve put in here. They’re only for the purpose of the story.
Summary: Sam gets his hands on some ‘happy pills’. Only, he should never forget that what goes up has got to fall.
Written for spnshannanigans’s prompt on ohsam which is “Sam's memories from hell threaten to overwhelm him every moment of every day. To calm the storm in his head, he comes to rely on either drugs or alcohol (or both). Dean allows this to continue (for now anyway) because he doesn't know how to help Sam and he can't stand the screaming.”
Disclaimer: The show belongs to Kripke.
A/N: This is a series of verses. Every chapter can be read as a standalone (but it would make more sense if you’ve read at least some of them). Each verse has its own title based on the lyrics of the song Underneath a Stretching Skyline.
A/N2: I started writing this verse a very long time ago and then forgot about it. It occurred to me that I hadn’t posted anything in ages. I went back to it and finished this little piece of work. Hopefully this makes up for the long wait.
I made a video for these verses. You can watch it HERE.
Feedback is love. Enjoy!
SNSNSNSN
Locating the Winchesters was one thing. Those boys were good at hiding their tracks. Better than good, actually. Still, they were no match against light years of experience. Hungry stomachs could get anything they wanted.
If the infamous hunters’ whereabouts were a challenge to pinpoint, spotting them through the mass was something else entirely. If not for the moose size of the younger one, the older one’s loud mouth and their flashy classic Chevy would have sold them out either way.
The quiet citizen attire fit him perfectly for this mission. He sat unnoticed in the back booth of the diner when the brothers walked in, side by side. Their broad shoulders and stern looks didn’t begin to intimidate him. As far as he knew, those two apes had yet to find any weapon that worked against them.
To his delight, the hunters picked the booth on the other side of his own. Everything was working according to plan. From the quick glances he had time to cast, he noted that the oldest had a somber look to him. It hardly matched the description he had of the supposedly cocky, shit-eating hunter extraordinaire. On the other hand, the youngest one didn’t live up to his expectations either. Was he deemed dumb enough to believe that this guy had once been the chosen antichrist?
‘What a joke,’ he sneered through clenched teeth. To think that he’d gone out of his way to be sitting where he was… However, if his boss labeled the two men as worth annihilating, they had to represent some kind of threat or he wouldn’t be there, wasting his time. But still…
Time passed and he pretended that the ripples he made on the surface of his coffee were of very high interest. The lukewarm mud-like beverage was in no means the reason of his presence. His ears were doing all the work, catching words in samples of conversations.
The boys didn’t have much to say, to his dismay. He hardly heard the youngest speak. Instead, he caught up on hints of concern and cautiously hand-picked words from the eldest.
His subtle trip to the bathroom only confirmed his previous observations. The biggest one had hardly touched his food while the other one tried to convince him to grab a bite or two. The latter set quite the example with his large plate of grease accompanied with a side serving of more grease. His stomach churned at the thought of what this strange specie could engorge without a second thought.
Back to his booth, he tried to hear more of their conversation.
“You need to get some strength back.”
“I’m just not hungry. Stop pushing, please.”
“Man, I feel like I’m babysitting here.”
“Then stop. I certainly don’t need you mothering me.”
There were loud snorts of displeasure before silence fell between them. For a team of hard-assed hunters, they certainly didn’t live up to their infamy by the sounds of their conversation. He hesitated upon calling his boss to tell him that they had mistaken those two kittens for capable warriors.
“Hey, m’only trying to help. Did you forget to take your Midol this morning?”
“Left it in the car with your brains.”
“You should’ve picked them both up. Might have done some wonders to your sense of humor, sourpuss.”
After a beat of silence, he concluded that the last assault hadn’t been dignified with an answer. Waves of moodiness did reach even him. The heavy feeling was weighing down on him and he wasn’t even human. It would’ve taken a blinded fool to not sense that the youngest Winchester wasn’t into his game; whatever his game was supposed to be.
“Anything I can do?” he heard the voice pick up again. Once more, the words were filled with concern.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance. Really, those two were supposed to have stopped the end of the world? Is this how they did it? By cooing reassurances in each other’s ears? At this rate, he could take them both down without breaking a sweat and the boys wouldn’t know what it was that came up to bite their asses. Only, it was not what his boss had asked him to do.
Actually, given the upcoming events and the fact that they were walking amongst humans, the plan was that they were to remain quiet as to keep suspicions away. At least, that was unless they were told otherwise by the superior minds of their master plan.
Irritation burnt a hole in his chest. He had to clench his teeth to stay posted. He was so close that he could’ve gulped the boys down in two bites, but the man in charge wanted to be the one to take the Winchesters down. All he was allowed to do was watch and report. What a shame…
The voices picked up again from the adjacent booth.
“If you know of a magic pill that makes all the troubles of the world go away, then yes you can help me.”
An idea bloomed inside of him after swallowing every single one of the boy’s words.
“I like the way you always see the glass as half full.”
Even he could detect the irony in that statement. Excitation settled inside his guts as he fought to keep idle. He was getting something, finally. The top most feared enemies on their list were fighting a war of their own. They were facing doubts, doubled with warning signs of upcoming hopelessness. That was definitely something to use to his advantage.
The brothers never seemed to notice how he flew out the diner with his cell phone clutched tightly to his chest. A wide mischievous grin lit his face when he asked for Edgar on the phone, explaining how he had precious development on the Winchester case.
SNSNSNSN
Dean watched his brother closely while he stood at the back of the bar, hustling pool with a bunch of drunk bikers. He usually got off with that kind of challenge but, at that moment, he had a hard time getting into it.
Actually, he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of having his little brother near anything drinkable that wasn’t water or caffeine. On any given day, he wouldn’t even let his brother approach the vicinity of an opened beer bottle from fear of losing Sam to the dangers of ethanol-induced oblivion. Knowing his brother’s penchant towards complete unawareness, he went for safe rather than sorry.
Lucifer was still around, that much he could tell. Sam was quiet about it, but Dean would always know when his brother left their reality for the one he was the only one to have access to. Keeping Sam from using was hard on both of them. The hallucinations were much worse when Sam didn’t drown them with Whisky. On the other hand, Dean wouldn’t risk his brother’s life.
Since they had entered the place, Sam had been doing well. He didn’t stick to the bar, which seemed to help keep his temptation at bay. Only, without the distraction of the bottle, the youngest appeared to be somewhat bored. It wasn’t that Dean had forced him to come. Actually, it was quite the opposite as Sam wouldn’t bend until his big brother had given him the green light to tag along.
The previous weeks had been rough. When Dean had started showing the first tell-tale signs of needing a night out, Sam wouldn’t hear a word from his brother. That went on, even though the former tried to convince the latter that it was okay if they didn’t go. Sam couldn’t have it. He wouldn’t deny Dean’s needs even if they could compromise his safety. After everything his older brother had done for him, the least he could do was to let Dean have his fun, to stick around and to try to avoid getting into trouble.
As Sam insisted that he was alright to go, Dean finally allowed it. Only, it wasn’t going to be without keeping a close eye on his brother. Sam was still a trouble magnet after all.
The youngest did disappear from Dean’s field of vision for some time, although it wasn’t long enough to have the eldest call for reinforcements.
Sometime later, Dean noticed that his brother was starting to act strangely. From where he stood, Sam looked like a giant noodle that had ants crawling up his clothes. From that point on, everything else stopped mattering.
Dean made a beeline to the table Sam was occupying. As he closed the distance between them, he noted the growing grin on his brother’s face. What had the kid gotten into this time?
“Hey!” Dean slid across the booth and sat facing his brother.
Sam’s smile only grew wider. Dean didn’t believe it was possible, for this was a rare occurrence on his brother’s face.
“Hey, brother dear! You’re here, finally. I was missing you just now. You see, I was watching you play and I started thinking to myself how awesome you look when you concentrate on your game. I mean, I’m not saying that I’m into you ‘cause that would be so weird since we’re brothers, but you know… Like, I mean, you’re so… you know?”
Dean’s eyes widened as Sam’s rant went on and he couldn’t help noticing how his brother’s head softly rocked from side to side while he spoke. That did it for him. At least, until he realized his little brother was talking way too much. It didn’t take long for him to connect the pieces together.
He closed his eyes to take a deep breath. Anger fought against panic, both wanting to take control of his heart and bust out of his chest at the same moment.
“What the hell did you take?” he asked in one calculated breath. If he lost his cool, he would start blowing off steam. Maybe he’d even slice his brother’s head off.
Well, it was a thought.
Sam started giggling, although it didn’t seem like he meant to. His pupils were blown. There was no getting out of this one for Dean and his brother was just getting started.
“Deeeeeeeeeaaan! It doesn’t matter because I’m so happy! You just don’t understand. Hell, I don’t understand it myself, but I feel so good. I mean, is it me or is everything just so good? We’re in a cool bar and you play pool and, you know, I’ve been watching you… and you’re just so good! Man, I wish I were that cool. But it doesn’t matter. You’re happy! You are happy, right?”
Dean stared on in disbelief. It took him a while to understand that he’d been asked a question. Even then, he didn’t know what to say. Sam was so out of character, it was downright scary.
“I’m not so sure anymore…” he breathed out, his eyes still fixated on his unnaturally happy-go-lucky little brother.
Sam just rocked his head from side to side with more vigor.
“Why wouldn’t you be? I mean, for starters, those seats are wonderful! So soft and comfy… And the music… Man, that music is like… like the most powerful music, so much it’s… I mean wow, it sounds so good! And the lights… They’re so beautiful… like thousands of rainbows shooting through my eyes. I feel like I’m about to start shitting unicorns!”
Dean blinked rapidly, hoping that Sam would magically return to normal if he prayed hard enough. This couldn’t be real. To his growing despair, the youngest kept on babbling.
“You gotta go back to the pool table, Dean! The cool bikers are waiting for you. Don’t let them grab you though… you know. One of them might as well be a Bruce. I’m sure you’ve had a fantasy with a Bruce at least once in your life! Doesn’t it make you wanna… you know…” Sam proposed while shaking his shoulders for emphasis.
What really got Dean was when his brother started making roaring sounds.
“No. I don’t wanna anything with anyone. Especially not a Bruce!” Dean almost looked angry, which could have gotten a pout on Sam’s face, hadn’t he been busy giggling like a teenage girl.
“Dean! My body’s shaking like I’m a slice of bacon in a frying pan. Look!” Sam pointed to both his arms that were indeed agitated with intermittent tremors. Instead of worrying, the youngest laughed some more. “It’s as if I were freezing. But you know, Dean, I’m not even cold! I’m feeling fantastic and happy! And I’m happy that you’re my brother because I love you. I know I don’t say it enough but I love you, you know. And I know you hate chick-flicks so I’m just gonna shut up and not say it, but I want you to know that I love you! There, I said it again!”
Had it been anyone else, Dean would be out of his mind by then. Strangely though, as odd as it was to witness that complete change of personality from his brother, he realized that he couldn’t bring himself to be angry. There was something appealingly sweet with his brother, even if it was just whatever drugs Sam had taken that were talking.
“Dean, I think I talk too much,” Sam admitted suddenly. His eyes had widened in realization before bowing sheepishly.
“No shit! I hadn’t gotten that memo,” Dean’s teasing was light. The tension he had been feeling before was slowly going away as Sam was obviously flying too high to care. It wouldn’t reach him where he was, anyway.
Sam’s bottom lip started to curl into a sad pout. “Shut up! You’re just shitting me! You don’t wanna say I’m annoying, that’s all. I know I’m not easy on you, Dean. I’m so sorry I can’t be a better brother…”
Dean left his side of the table to walk to his brother’s side, pushing Sam to scoot over so they could be close to one another.
He wrapped an arm around Sam’s broad shoulders and looked him in the eyes before he spoke. “Stop that, alright. I wouldn’t have you any other way. You giant girl!” Dean’s lips curled into a smile towards the end of his confession.
In a way, it was true. Those moments served to remind him that he would take his brother any way before ever choosing a life without Sam.
“I love you, Dean,” Sam started chiming again. He wrapped his long arms around his brother and managed to almost crush him beneath his strong embrace.
“Okay, yeah. I love you too, buddy. But now you’re choking me, you damn octopus!”
Sam giggled as he only buried himself deeper into his brother’s side. “I’m an octosam! Hey Dean, can you imagine what I would look like with eight arms and legs?!”
The image of an eight-tailed sasquatch was too much to bear for Dean, who almost lost his straight face to his mushy brother.
“You’d look like a total freak, that’s what,” he finally replied, his lips sliding in the corners and almost revealing the extent of his amusement.
Sam shook his head against Dean’s arm. His already unruly bangs only got messier. “No! It would be totally cool! I could shoot six guns at the same time! Hey Dean, have you ever seen an octopus with a gun?”
For a moment, Dean wondered if everything was really happening or if this was part of some horrible nightmare. His worst nightmare was that he was very much awake. “You’re a freak, you know that?”
Sam hummed affirmatively. He still didn’t make a move away from his brother. “I’m stoned as fuck, aren’t I?” he suddenly dropped, while still clinging to Dean’s shoulder.
“Yup,” Dean confirmed quickly.
He noted that the bikers had taken an interest in them. Their eyes met while the looks he received where anything but welcoming.
“Hey queers! Why don’t you two get this out of here and into a locked room?” one of them shouted.
Dean glared daggers back at them. Despite his state, Sam was the first one to take real actions.
“They’re right, Deano. Let’s go. This is no place for smart people, obviously.” Sam didn’t hesitate to speak loudly. Dean could only try to hide in plain sight while he followed his brother towards the way out.
Nobody noticed that a man got out through the backdoor soon after the boys left.
SNSNSNSN
A quiet bang and a muffled curse woke Dean up in the middle of the night. Hunter senses kicked in as soon as his eyes snapped open. He had already scanned the room before he bolted into a sitting position.
Sam was holding the wall with one hand, while twisting his giant limbs into a pretzel as he attempted to catch the side of his knee with his other hand. Dean frowned, but quickly deduced what had happened.
“You okay?” he asked as he pushed himself to the side of the bed. He was always ready whenever his brother was hurting.
The youngest unfolded to his full height before nodding. “Yeah, fine. Just surprised. It didn’t really hurt, in fact. Sorry I woke you up, though. I didn’t mean to.” He paused to catch his breath after uttering so many words with the same air.
Dean was up before his brother could throw more syllables into the conversation.
“I know you didn’t. Show me your knee.”
Drilled to the commanding tone of his brother, Sam obliged without second thought.
“I swear it’s fine. I hardly felt it. M’good.” He still showed his knee to his personal nurse of a brother.
As soon as he stopped talking, vigorous chills sprung his muscles into action. Dean watched his brother begin to pace around the room. Something gave him the feeling that Sam had been doing that even before he almost knocked a chair over with his knee.
“Sam, it’s four in the morning. Why are you pacing?”
Dean’s eyes held a sparkle of concern as possibilities infiltrated his thoughts.
“Couldn’t sleep. Not tired.”
Sam was wearing holes in the carpet. His brother sighed, visibly uncomfortable with his next question. Actually, the question didn’t worry him as much as the possible answer did.
“Lucifer?”
The whispered name hardly left his lips like a quietly spat bullet.
Sam turned to his brother for the first time. “No. Not him. He was here at first, though. I think he was laughing at me. But then, I told him I’d met Bruce the biker and that I’d invite him for a sleepover and he left… he was crying, though, I’m not sure why…”
The look on Sam’s face left Dean debating between wanting to roll his eyes or mock his brother. It occurred to him that he was just as confused as Sam was and decided that silence was the best intervention he could offer for the time being.
He was rewarded when Sam resumed his pacing and his babbling followed.
“Now, I just keep wondering what type of pajamas I could offer him if ever Bruce comes over,” Sam moaned, more to himself than to the audience, composed of his baffled big brother.
“You’re shitting me, right? You’re not sleeping because of pajamas?”
Dean stood up, unconsciously wanting to close the distance between his brother and himself. He wondered if the drugs were having a worse effect on his brother than what he had shrugged off as the happy feeling of being high.
His first instinctual move was to put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. It took milliseconds for him to take in the warmth that was radiating off of it. His protective hands moved to his brother’s forehead. Sam felt like a human furnace against the touch of his skin.
“Sam, you’re boiling hot!”
Sam looked at him as if he were growing a second head.
“I feel fine,” he replied innocently.
Dean gritted his teeth at how gullible his brother could be at times. Count on Sam to get into trouble without noticing, until he got knees deep into his own mess. The eldest rolled his eyes.
“Well you’re obviously not. Sit down.”
Gentleness had left to be replaced with directivity. If Sam noticed the change, he didn’t comment on it as he followed his brother’s instructions. Dean grabbed the first aid kit and dug inside it for the thermometer. He placed it under Sam’s tongue as soon as he fished it out of its hiding spot.
Sam closed his eyes as they waited for the small device to record his temperature. As his eyes closed, he started to sway. Dean watched with an attentive eye.
“You okay?”
He felt as if he’d been asking that question over and over.
“Lil’ dizzy,” Sam finally admitted. Dean grunted in annoyance. Of course, now that they assessed the matter, crucial information was starting to come out.
The beeping sound hardly had time to chime before Dean grabbed the thermometer hastily. He glanced at the reading. His jaw clenched instantly.
“A little dizzy? You fucking schmuck! You’re a step away from roasting alive!”
Dean dropped the plastic object that still read 103 Fahrenheit. He sprinted towards the bathroom and turned the shower on until the water was tepid.
Sam hadn’t moved from his spot on the chair. He had actually started to droop deeper into it, his muscles losing the fight against his exhausted and overheating body.
His big brother didn’t waste any time when he came back to fetch him. Somewhere in the back of Sam’s confused mind, he knew what was coming next.
“Little help, here? You’re a mountain to carry.” Dean pushed his brother up with much effort.
“S’rry,” Sam mumbled as he tried to put his feet under him. They felt like buckling, but he focused all his strength into getting to the bathroom with his brother. They were just a few steps away.
Dean manhandled his brother into the tub and sat behind him, holding Sam against his chest. They still had their clothes on, but he couldn’t care less. It didn’t take long for them to be soaking wet.
He could feel his little brother regaining muscle strength against him. Moans turned into coughs and soon enough, the youngest was able to use his own hands to wipe rivulets of water from his eyes.
“D… your shirt’s wet,” Sam pointed out weakly. Dean didn’t see the guilty look on his brother’s face, but he heard it in his voice.
“Shut up.” Fussing made him uncomfortable. They weren’t in the best position either.
Silence settled between them. It was only interrupted by the sound of water hitting their skin.
“People are gonna talk… you and me in the shower like this…” Sam whispered tentatively after some time. He felt Dean’s embrace tighten around his chest.
“Let ‘em talk. You can worry about that after you’ve cooled down. Until then, forget my shirt and other people and just… shut up.”
Sam smiled lightly and buried his head into his brother’s chest. He felt better already and Dean’s presence did help in the matter.
“Thanks, Dean,” he whispered quietly after a bout of silence.
He heard the eldest clear his throat.
“Couldn’t let you toast, now, could I?”
Sam knew that, in Dean’s language, this meant ‘you’re welcome’. He was fully satisfied with this answer.
As soon as Dean deemed his temperature acceptable, they got out of the tub and into clean and dry clothes. Sam settled into his bed and closed his eyes. Sleep claimed him minutes later and carried him to a land where the devil didn’t set foot for the rest of the night.
It was the first in many for Sam to actually get some sleep. Besides, he had the comfort of knowing that his brother was nearby and ready to do anything to keep him safe.
SNSNSNSN
The man in the shadows walked away with a satisfied grin on his face. He had valuable information to communicate to his boss.
END