Freaky Friday: Winchester Style
Title: Freaky Friday: Winchester Style
Fandom: Supernatural
Character: Sam/Dean Winchester, Castiel
Word Count: 3,797
Rating: General
Beta: cyndrarae cyndrarae
Summary: Sam and Dean’s fighting causes Castiel to teach them a lesson.
Freaky Friday: Winchester Style
The constant fighting continued between Sam and Dean. Being cooped up in the bunker for days without a case was getting to them. It carried over from one night to the next and to the next, driving even the ever-patient Castiel to his breaking point.
“Dean, did you throw out my salad?” Sam yelled in a high-pitched whine.
“Yeah, needed room for the beer.” Dean yelled back, because beer trumped salad as far as he was concerned.
Sam shot out of the kitchen stopping only mere inches from Dean. “I’m so tired of you tossing my stuff out. How would you like it if I tossed out your precious beer? Or your pie!” Sam said through gritted teeth. Dean’s eyes narrowed and a scowl appeared on his lips. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“You have no idea how hard it is, being your brother.” Sam yelled as he threw his hands up in exasperation.
“Oh, boo-hoo Sam. You wouldn’t last one day being me!” Dean said, rolling his eyes at his brother. “And, don’t bother with giving me the bitch face.” Dean stalked off to his room in the, slamming the door behind himself. Irritated, Sam did the same. Castiel stood in the doorway of the kitchen, lips twitching into a sly smile. He looked from one hallway to the other and snapped his fingers. “Maybe this will teach them a lesson.”
The next morning Sam stumbled from his room, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he made his way into the kitchen. Dean wasn’t far behind him, in desperate need of coffee. Neither were fully awake and both definitely needed coffee to start the day. As Dean reached for the coffee pot, his face scrunched up in confusion. Something felt off. Dean turned to ask Sam a question only to stop in his tracks, staring slack-jawed at his brother. “What the f-” His words were cut off as he heard Sam yelp. Dean backed away from The counter, rounding it to reach the drawer where they kept a gun. Because he was staring at a copy of himself and the first thing that ran through his mind was somehow a shifter had managed to get into the bunker. As he pulled the gun out and pointed it his other self, he watched green eyes open wide in fear. “Dean?” He heard his own voice call to him. “I don’t know how you got in here but you’ve got five seconds to tell me where my brother is.” Dean said as he released the safety on the gun. Yet, his voice didn’t sound like his own. He sounded like Sam and that wasn’t right. He watched as the copy of himself raised its arms. “Dean - Dean, it’s me, Sam your brother!” The non-Dean sputtered. This couldn’t be happening. “Sam, what’s going on?” Dean said, as he patted his chest and looked himself over. He wasn’t in his own body. That’s when his mind kicked into overdrive. He wasn’t in His Own Body!
“Dean? Why do I sound like you, why am I in your body?” Sam’s panic coming through in his voice reflected Dean’s own panic. Seeing the way non-Dean reacted sent a chill down his spine. The scared childlike look he was being given. That was Sam, that was a look only Sam would give him. Dean slapped his face, well really Sam’s face. “Wake up, wake up.” He muttered, closing his eyes trying to curb his own panic. “This can’t be happening.” He said before rushing into the bathroom to look at his reflection. “Ah!” Dean screamed out at the mirror. Staring back at him weren’t green eyes or pale skin spotted with freckles but hazel eyes and floppy hair. Sam -the real Sam- ran in after him and stopped when he saw his own reflection. He reached out to touch it and then placed a hand on his face. No, wait not his face but Deans. He looked at Dean -the real Dean- who was wearing his body! Sam nearly fell backwards. He shook his head, muttering to himself. “No, no no . . .” He wasn’t in his own body but Dean’s. This had to be a mistake. No, this was a nightmare. He was in a nightmare. So what if they were both awake?
“Oh, come on. We were Freaky Friday’d!” Dean turned to stare at Sam, looking into his own green eyes. He saw those eyes filled with the horror that he felt at what had happened to them in the course of one night. Dean ran a hand through his hair and then pushed it out of his face. “How do you keep this out of your face? That’s it, I’m cutting your hair.” Dean said as he reached for a pair of scissors they kept in the bathroom.
“Do it and I will end you!” Sam grunted at him. “That is still my body and my hair. It’s only on loan to you until we figure this out.” Sam eyed him warily, waiting to see if Dean would pick up the scissors. Sam sighed in relief when Dean backed away and left the bathroom. Sam waited a few moments before reaching for the scissors and taking them with him.
“Cas!” Dean yelled, anger reverberating through his voice. “Cas, you get your feathery ass in here, now!”
Sam followed him out of the bathroom and they stopped to wait in the bunker’s kitchen, Dean looking toward the hall where Cas’ bedroom was.
“Why are you calling Cas? Think he can help us?” Sam asked, hoping that the angel could sort this mess out. “No, I think he’s responsible for this little switch-up.” Dean spat out.
Cas appeared in the kitchen, hair looking rumpled but otherwise dressed in his normal attire, trenchcoat included.
“Dean, what? I was in the middle . . .” Cas didn’t get to finish before Dean cut him off. “What did you do? You’re the only one who could have done this since the bunker is warded against all other magic.” Dean said as he pushed his right forefinger into the angel’s chest.
“You’re right, I did it. To teach you both a lesson.” Cas said quietly, amusement coming through in his voice. Secretly he delighted in seeing their reactions. At least they weren’t fighting with each other for the time being.
“What lesson would that be? How to piss off your friends?” Sam asked, anger rising in him at the idea that Cas would do this.
“Humility and empathy.” Cas said, shaking his head. “You two have done nothing but fight with each other. You talk at each other instead of to each other. When you both rectify that, then and only then will the switch be reversed.” He looked at the brothers, both sets of eyes wide, staring back at him with panic. “So, we’ll be stuck like this forever. Great. That’s awesome, Cas!” Dean yelled. He turned his back on Cas and Sam and started to stalk off. “I’m going to get dressed and then see if there’s another way to reverse this.” He said as he started to walk in the direction of his bedroom.
“Uh, Dean?” He stopped, squared his shoulders and turned around. “What?” He growled at Sam. “It’s just, you’re heading off to your room. My body won’t fit your clothes.” Dean threw his hands up in mock surrender before turning to walk in the direction of Sam’s room. “Whatever!” Sam and Cas heard him yell and then the sound of Sam’s bedroom door being slammed.
Sam shrugged his shoulders, dropped his head forward slightly and walked off to Dean’s room to get dressed. Sam grabbed Dean’s clothes and started to pull them on. He looked anywhere but down at the body he was in, not wanting to see his brother’s, . . . anything. That was more than he could deal with and there wasn't enough therapy to get him over that trauma. He shuddered as he pulled the clothes on and it occurred to him that he would eventually need to go to the bathroom while in Dean’s body. A groan escaped his lips at the thought and possibly a few choice words directed toward Cas. Once dressed, Sam returned to the kitchen and flipped his laptop open to research body-switching. A few minutes later his attention was pulled from his research when he heard Dean yelling.
Dean stood in Sam’s room looking around. How the hell were they going to fix this? He groaned out loud. This wasn’t his body and now he had to get dressed. Yeah, he’d changed Sam when he was little, even bathed him. But, this was just wrong, on so many levels. There was definitely going to be payback coming Cas’ way. “Mother fu-.” Dean’s voice was cut off and Sam heard a thud. He got up and rushed to his room to find Dean laying half off the bed, head first. A chuckle escaped Sam before he could stop it. “Dude! What the hell?” Dean looked up at him through hazel eyes, burning hot with anger as he shot Sam a deathly look. “Help me up!” Sam strode over, reached down, grabbed Dean by the arm and hauled him back up to a sitting position. Grudgingly Dean thanked him. “How do you control this body? You're all arms and legs.” Dean said, waving his arms about, well really Sam’s, as he looked at his brother. Sam shrugged. “It’s my body. It’s not like it’s hard, you have arms and legs.” Dean stood, pulling on a plaid button-down shirt and rolling the sleeves up. “It’s not the same.” Dean growled out at him.
They both walked back to the kitchen, Sam took his place back at his laptop while Dean went to look through the bunker’s library for any mention of body-switching. Two hours later, Dean wandered back into the kitchen and sat down across from Sam, a dejected look on his face. Sam looked up at him. “Anything?” He asked with a hint of hopefulness in his voice. Dean frowned. “If you call finding jack anything, then yeah.” A frustrated sigh escaped Dean’s lips as he sat back in the chair. “What about you?” Sam shook his head. “No, nothing.” Sam crossed his arms across his chest as he looked at Dean. “Maybe we're going about this the wrong way.” Dean sat up, waiting for Sam to continue. “Cas said he wanted to teach us humility and empathy and that we've been doing nothing but arguing.”
Dean snapped his fingers and pointed at Sam. “Right. What did he say? When we talk to each other instead of at each other, then this will reverse itself. So, that's what we've gotta do.” Closing his laptop Sam looked at Dean. “Yeah but how?” Sam pushed himself away from the table and stood, stretching sore muscles. Dean smirked at him. “How would I know college boy? You're supposed to be the smart one.” Sam slammed his hands down on the table. “Why do you always do that? You deflect and use sarcasm as a defense.”
Dean just shrugged his shoulders and stood up, waiting for another outburst from Sam. With nothing further coming from Sam, Dean turned and walked away, retreating to Sam’s room to think. He wanted to be in his own room, but he knew Sam’s room, the bed specifically, was outfitted for Sam’s taller body. Closing the door, Dean allowed himself to fall onto the bed backwards, looking up at the ceiling he sighed. How could he tell Sam he used that defense mechanism as a way to shield himself from the hurt he felt, from not feeling like he was good enough, that he never felt like he measured up to Sam. Being in Sam’s body just drove that point home
Sam watched as Dean walked away in his own body and shuddered. It was still sinking in that he was in Dean’s body. He sighed at the way they’d just left things. How could he make Dean understand that he wasn’t better or smarter than him? They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Didn’t Dean know that he looked up to him? He was proud of everything his brother did, everything he was. Hell, he’d been Mom, Dad and big brother to him. Dean always put him first, made sure he never wanted for the essentials. Maybe he never told Dean that enough.
A knock on the door woke him. He moved on the bed, bringing a hand up to rub the sleep from his eyes. “Yeah?” Dean called out. He heard Sam’s muffled voice through the door. He chuckled to himself, because it wasn’t Sam’s voice, but his own. “You want lunch?” Dean stood up, trying to manage the limbs that weren’t his. “Yeah, be out in a few minutes.” He waited until he heard Sam moving away from the door and down the hall. He went into the bathroom to wash up and startled himself when he looked in the mirror, still unnerved by seeing Sam’s face staring back at him. They needed to fix this and fast. Dean wasn’t too sure how long he could take being in his brother’s body before he lost his mind. With a heavy sigh, he left the bathroom and wandered out to the kitchen.
“Don’t you dare put that leaf in my mouth! I did not approve this meal.” Sam looked up from his salad to find Dean standing in front of him, hands on his hips. Sam was shocked to see the way his body was, coiled with anger. Despite that, he still chose to take the bite of salad and secretly delighted in seeing Dean’s twitchy reaction. Dean’s eyes flashed in anger and his hands clenched into fists. He opened his mouth to speak only to shake his head and then he walked away. He went to the fridge and opened it. Rummaging through the contents he tossed aside a few items until he found what he’d been looking for: red meat.
A smile spread across his lips, knowing Sam was going to flip when he saw Dean eating red meat, putting that into his health food loving body. Dean tossed the leftover steak into the microwave to heat up for a minute. When it was done, he took it out and began to bite a piece off, not bothering to use utensils. Sam stared at him, eyes flashing with anger. “What are you doing, Dean?” Dean bit off another piece. “Eating lunch, same as you.” Sam dropped the fork and stood up, pointing a finger at Dean. “No, what you’re doing is clogging up my arteries. Put the steak down.” Dean licked the steak. “What, this steak?” He looked over at Sam, seeing the anger flashing in his own green eyes. Dean smiled and took another bite. He watched as Sam picked up the fork and stabbed at the salad before taking another bite in retaliation. And of course, he had to push the issue by taking another bite of steak himself. He watched as Sam pushed the fork around moving the salad around the plate. Looking at the steak, Dean tossed it into the trash. “Happy?” Sam sat back down but pushed the salad away. “Okay, we need to fix this. Neither of us can live like this.” Sam said as he sat back looking at Dean.
“I’m sorry, for everything. Past and present.” Sam said, a note of sadness in his voice. Dean looked at him, brows knitting in confusion. “What are you talking about Sam?” Dean pulled out the chair opposite Sam and sat. “All of this, what’s going on with us is my fault. I don’t listen to you when I should. Cas is right, if I listened to you we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Sam brought both hands to his face and rubbed them over his eyes. “I know you’ve sacrificed a lot for me. Hell, you were a kid raising me, your little brother. You should have been out playing with kids your own age. Plus, you’ve saved my ass more times that I can count. I might not always come out and say it but I’m proud you’re my brother.”
“It’s not your fault. I bark orders at you and expect you to follow like I did with Dad. You’re not me and I’m not dad. You’re a grown-ass man, not a kid. I’m sorry for treating you like that.” Dean laughed at them. “Great, now that we just had a chick flick moment, how do we fix this, fix us?” Wearily, Sam looked at him. “Hell if I know. Maybe we can beg Cas to undo this.” They looked at each other and then laughed. “Yeah, not gonna happen.” Dean said with a smile. “Hey, where is Cas anyway? I haven’t seen him since this started.” Sam asked. Dean eyed the hallway where Cas’ room was. “He’s probably holed up in his room, knowing I’m gonna kill him for this.” Dean’s voice rose as he spoke, making sure Cas heard him.
Sam looked up and noticed Cas standing in the doorway. He looked sad, the sparkle gone from his normally bright blue eyes. “This isn’t a punishment Dean.” Dean turned in his chair to look at Cas. “You’re supposed to be my best friend. Yet, you did this to me, to Sam. So what else would you call it?” Cas crossed the room coming to stand next to the table. “A lesson, like I told you. Once you get it, then and only then, will this reverse itself. I’m sorry neither of you can’t see that I’m trying to help you reconnect with each other.” Cas turned and left them to stare after him as he retreated to his room. Dean sighed, closing his eyes and rubbed the back of his head.
“This is so messed up. Let’s get back to researching. Maybe I missed something in the library. Wanna help me?” Sam looked at Dean and raised an eyebrow. “What?” Dean asked. “It’s just that I can’t remember the last time you asked me for help or admitted you might have missed something.” The look of shock stayed on Sam’s face as he stood and followed Dean into the library. Three hours later, they had gone through the files and several books without any luck. “Well, this was a waste of time.” Dean said, irritation coming through in his voice. “I was hoping I was wrong and you’d pull some obscure spell out of some book and then we’d get back to normal.” Sam started laughing. “Normal? When has any of this ever been normal?” Dean cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s never been normal. I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this, made you leave Stanford, got Jesse killed. I just didn’t want to be alone when Dad went missing. It was pretty selfish of me.” Dean had a sad smile on his face when he looked at Sam. “I could have said no. Told you and Dad to go to hell. I had a choice in all this. It’s not like I couldn’t have walked away.”
Sam stood up and helped Dean to his feet, after sitting on the floor for so long their bodies were both feeling the effects. Dean groaned, as he stretched. “Let’s get some dinner, your choice.” Sam raised an eyebrow at him. “My choice? What if I decide on nothing but vegetables?” Sam watched as Dean swallowed nervously. “Yes, I’ll just have to eat them.” Sam chuckled and left the library. Dean shuddered at the thought of vegetables but quietly followed Sam. Dean cleared the table of Sam’s laptop and some of the research they had left on the table before grabbing two beers from the fridge and placing them on the table. He watched as Sam made them tunafish sandwiches, a slight compromise on both their parts. They ate in relative silence before deciding to watch a movie. Dean cleaned up after their dinner while Sam picked the movie.
Dean walked out with two more beers and sat down on the couch. “So, what are we watching?” Without an answer, Sam clicked the play button on the remote and Every Which Way But Loose started playing. “Thanks Sam.” Dean said, knowing that Sam had chosen the movie for him. Sam wasn’t a big fan of Clint Eastwood. They watched the movie and Sam even found himself enjoying it. By the time the movie was over they had been laughing and actually managed to relaxe. Sam stood up and grabbed the empty beer bottles. “I’m going to bed. See you in the morning?” Sam called over his shoulder. “Yeah, night.” Dean called back to him. He sat in the silence for a while, thinking back over the words Cas had said to him. Shaking his head Dean got up and walked to his bedroom. After washing up, Dean changed for bed using the borrowed clothes from Sam. He and pulled out the picture of his mother and looked at it briefly before putting it back in his wallet. Tossing back the covers he climbed into bed, feeling the stress of the day starting to slowly leave his body, until he relaxed enough to fall asleep.
Dean wandered out to the kitchen when the smell of coffee had made it’s way down the hallway to the bedroom. He looked up to see Sam standing in front of him, holding a cup of coffee out to him. “Morning.” Sam said as he sipped his coffee. Dean’s eyes widened as he realized they were both back in their own bodies. “Morning, that’s all you’ve got to say? We’re back in our own bodies!” Sam smiled. “Yeah, I kinda noticed.” Dean heaved out a sigh and sipped his coffee. “Well, I’m just glad this is over.”
“I told you Dean, this was only a lesson. One you both needed to learn.” They both turned to see Cas standing just inside the kitchen. “You needed to talk to each other, to hear each other.” Cas said as he walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee before walking back out, without another word to either of them.
“Hmm.” was all Dean let out before walking back to his room. He rolled his shoulders, trying to alleviate the tension in his muscles. It had been a long twenty-four hours and he hoped to never relive something like this again. He walked into the bathroom and switched on the overhead light before walking over to the mirror. He looked at his reflection seeing green eyes staring back at him. He smiled. “Hey handsome.” He said to himself. “I missed you.”
Fandom: Supernatural
Character: Sam/Dean Winchester, Castiel
Word Count: 3,797
Rating: General
Beta: cyndrarae cyndrarae
Summary: Sam and Dean’s fighting causes Castiel to teach them a lesson.
Freaky Friday: Winchester Style
The constant fighting continued between Sam and Dean. Being cooped up in the bunker for days without a case was getting to them. It carried over from one night to the next and to the next, driving even the ever-patient Castiel to his breaking point.
“Dean, did you throw out my salad?” Sam yelled in a high-pitched whine.
“Yeah, needed room for the beer.” Dean yelled back, because beer trumped salad as far as he was concerned.
Sam shot out of the kitchen stopping only mere inches from Dean. “I’m so tired of you tossing my stuff out. How would you like it if I tossed out your precious beer? Or your pie!” Sam said through gritted teeth. Dean’s eyes narrowed and a scowl appeared on his lips. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“You have no idea how hard it is, being your brother.” Sam yelled as he threw his hands up in exasperation.
“Oh, boo-hoo Sam. You wouldn’t last one day being me!” Dean said, rolling his eyes at his brother. “And, don’t bother with giving me the bitch face.” Dean stalked off to his room in the, slamming the door behind himself. Irritated, Sam did the same. Castiel stood in the doorway of the kitchen, lips twitching into a sly smile. He looked from one hallway to the other and snapped his fingers. “Maybe this will teach them a lesson.”
The next morning Sam stumbled from his room, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he made his way into the kitchen. Dean wasn’t far behind him, in desperate need of coffee. Neither were fully awake and both definitely needed coffee to start the day. As Dean reached for the coffee pot, his face scrunched up in confusion. Something felt off. Dean turned to ask Sam a question only to stop in his tracks, staring slack-jawed at his brother. “What the f-” His words were cut off as he heard Sam yelp. Dean backed away from The counter, rounding it to reach the drawer where they kept a gun. Because he was staring at a copy of himself and the first thing that ran through his mind was somehow a shifter had managed to get into the bunker. As he pulled the gun out and pointed it his other self, he watched green eyes open wide in fear. “Dean?” He heard his own voice call to him. “I don’t know how you got in here but you’ve got five seconds to tell me where my brother is.” Dean said as he released the safety on the gun. Yet, his voice didn’t sound like his own. He sounded like Sam and that wasn’t right. He watched as the copy of himself raised its arms. “Dean - Dean, it’s me, Sam your brother!” The non-Dean sputtered. This couldn’t be happening. “Sam, what’s going on?” Dean said, as he patted his chest and looked himself over. He wasn’t in his own body. That’s when his mind kicked into overdrive. He wasn’t in His Own Body!
“Dean? Why do I sound like you, why am I in your body?” Sam’s panic coming through in his voice reflected Dean’s own panic. Seeing the way non-Dean reacted sent a chill down his spine. The scared childlike look he was being given. That was Sam, that was a look only Sam would give him. Dean slapped his face, well really Sam’s face. “Wake up, wake up.” He muttered, closing his eyes trying to curb his own panic. “This can’t be happening.” He said before rushing into the bathroom to look at his reflection. “Ah!” Dean screamed out at the mirror. Staring back at him weren’t green eyes or pale skin spotted with freckles but hazel eyes and floppy hair. Sam -the real Sam- ran in after him and stopped when he saw his own reflection. He reached out to touch it and then placed a hand on his face. No, wait not his face but Deans. He looked at Dean -the real Dean- who was wearing his body! Sam nearly fell backwards. He shook his head, muttering to himself. “No, no no . . .” He wasn’t in his own body but Dean’s. This had to be a mistake. No, this was a nightmare. He was in a nightmare. So what if they were both awake?
“Oh, come on. We were Freaky Friday’d!” Dean turned to stare at Sam, looking into his own green eyes. He saw those eyes filled with the horror that he felt at what had happened to them in the course of one night. Dean ran a hand through his hair and then pushed it out of his face. “How do you keep this out of your face? That’s it, I’m cutting your hair.” Dean said as he reached for a pair of scissors they kept in the bathroom.
“Do it and I will end you!” Sam grunted at him. “That is still my body and my hair. It’s only on loan to you until we figure this out.” Sam eyed him warily, waiting to see if Dean would pick up the scissors. Sam sighed in relief when Dean backed away and left the bathroom. Sam waited a few moments before reaching for the scissors and taking them with him.
“Cas!” Dean yelled, anger reverberating through his voice. “Cas, you get your feathery ass in here, now!”
Sam followed him out of the bathroom and they stopped to wait in the bunker’s kitchen, Dean looking toward the hall where Cas’ bedroom was.
“Why are you calling Cas? Think he can help us?” Sam asked, hoping that the angel could sort this mess out. “No, I think he’s responsible for this little switch-up.” Dean spat out.
Cas appeared in the kitchen, hair looking rumpled but otherwise dressed in his normal attire, trenchcoat included.
“Dean, what? I was in the middle . . .” Cas didn’t get to finish before Dean cut him off. “What did you do? You’re the only one who could have done this since the bunker is warded against all other magic.” Dean said as he pushed his right forefinger into the angel’s chest.
“You’re right, I did it. To teach you both a lesson.” Cas said quietly, amusement coming through in his voice. Secretly he delighted in seeing their reactions. At least they weren’t fighting with each other for the time being.
“What lesson would that be? How to piss off your friends?” Sam asked, anger rising in him at the idea that Cas would do this.
“Humility and empathy.” Cas said, shaking his head. “You two have done nothing but fight with each other. You talk at each other instead of to each other. When you both rectify that, then and only then will the switch be reversed.” He looked at the brothers, both sets of eyes wide, staring back at him with panic. “So, we’ll be stuck like this forever. Great. That’s awesome, Cas!” Dean yelled. He turned his back on Cas and Sam and started to stalk off. “I’m going to get dressed and then see if there’s another way to reverse this.” He said as he started to walk in the direction of his bedroom.
“Uh, Dean?” He stopped, squared his shoulders and turned around. “What?” He growled at Sam. “It’s just, you’re heading off to your room. My body won’t fit your clothes.” Dean threw his hands up in mock surrender before turning to walk in the direction of Sam’s room. “Whatever!” Sam and Cas heard him yell and then the sound of Sam’s bedroom door being slammed.
Sam shrugged his shoulders, dropped his head forward slightly and walked off to Dean’s room to get dressed. Sam grabbed Dean’s clothes and started to pull them on. He looked anywhere but down at the body he was in, not wanting to see his brother’s, . . . anything. That was more than he could deal with and there wasn't enough therapy to get him over that trauma. He shuddered as he pulled the clothes on and it occurred to him that he would eventually need to go to the bathroom while in Dean’s body. A groan escaped his lips at the thought and possibly a few choice words directed toward Cas. Once dressed, Sam returned to the kitchen and flipped his laptop open to research body-switching. A few minutes later his attention was pulled from his research when he heard Dean yelling.
Dean stood in Sam’s room looking around. How the hell were they going to fix this? He groaned out loud. This wasn’t his body and now he had to get dressed. Yeah, he’d changed Sam when he was little, even bathed him. But, this was just wrong, on so many levels. There was definitely going to be payback coming Cas’ way. “Mother fu-.” Dean’s voice was cut off and Sam heard a thud. He got up and rushed to his room to find Dean laying half off the bed, head first. A chuckle escaped Sam before he could stop it. “Dude! What the hell?” Dean looked up at him through hazel eyes, burning hot with anger as he shot Sam a deathly look. “Help me up!” Sam strode over, reached down, grabbed Dean by the arm and hauled him back up to a sitting position. Grudgingly Dean thanked him. “How do you control this body? You're all arms and legs.” Dean said, waving his arms about, well really Sam’s, as he looked at his brother. Sam shrugged. “It’s my body. It’s not like it’s hard, you have arms and legs.” Dean stood, pulling on a plaid button-down shirt and rolling the sleeves up. “It’s not the same.” Dean growled out at him.
They both walked back to the kitchen, Sam took his place back at his laptop while Dean went to look through the bunker’s library for any mention of body-switching. Two hours later, Dean wandered back into the kitchen and sat down across from Sam, a dejected look on his face. Sam looked up at him. “Anything?” He asked with a hint of hopefulness in his voice. Dean frowned. “If you call finding jack anything, then yeah.” A frustrated sigh escaped Dean’s lips as he sat back in the chair. “What about you?” Sam shook his head. “No, nothing.” Sam crossed his arms across his chest as he looked at Dean. “Maybe we're going about this the wrong way.” Dean sat up, waiting for Sam to continue. “Cas said he wanted to teach us humility and empathy and that we've been doing nothing but arguing.”
Dean snapped his fingers and pointed at Sam. “Right. What did he say? When we talk to each other instead of at each other, then this will reverse itself. So, that's what we've gotta do.” Closing his laptop Sam looked at Dean. “Yeah but how?” Sam pushed himself away from the table and stood, stretching sore muscles. Dean smirked at him. “How would I know college boy? You're supposed to be the smart one.” Sam slammed his hands down on the table. “Why do you always do that? You deflect and use sarcasm as a defense.”
Dean just shrugged his shoulders and stood up, waiting for another outburst from Sam. With nothing further coming from Sam, Dean turned and walked away, retreating to Sam’s room to think. He wanted to be in his own room, but he knew Sam’s room, the bed specifically, was outfitted for Sam’s taller body. Closing the door, Dean allowed himself to fall onto the bed backwards, looking up at the ceiling he sighed. How could he tell Sam he used that defense mechanism as a way to shield himself from the hurt he felt, from not feeling like he was good enough, that he never felt like he measured up to Sam. Being in Sam’s body just drove that point home
Sam watched as Dean walked away in his own body and shuddered. It was still sinking in that he was in Dean’s body. He sighed at the way they’d just left things. How could he make Dean understand that he wasn’t better or smarter than him? They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Didn’t Dean know that he looked up to him? He was proud of everything his brother did, everything he was. Hell, he’d been Mom, Dad and big brother to him. Dean always put him first, made sure he never wanted for the essentials. Maybe he never told Dean that enough.
A knock on the door woke him. He moved on the bed, bringing a hand up to rub the sleep from his eyes. “Yeah?” Dean called out. He heard Sam’s muffled voice through the door. He chuckled to himself, because it wasn’t Sam’s voice, but his own. “You want lunch?” Dean stood up, trying to manage the limbs that weren’t his. “Yeah, be out in a few minutes.” He waited until he heard Sam moving away from the door and down the hall. He went into the bathroom to wash up and startled himself when he looked in the mirror, still unnerved by seeing Sam’s face staring back at him. They needed to fix this and fast. Dean wasn’t too sure how long he could take being in his brother’s body before he lost his mind. With a heavy sigh, he left the bathroom and wandered out to the kitchen.
“Don’t you dare put that leaf in my mouth! I did not approve this meal.” Sam looked up from his salad to find Dean standing in front of him, hands on his hips. Sam was shocked to see the way his body was, coiled with anger. Despite that, he still chose to take the bite of salad and secretly delighted in seeing Dean’s twitchy reaction. Dean’s eyes flashed in anger and his hands clenched into fists. He opened his mouth to speak only to shake his head and then he walked away. He went to the fridge and opened it. Rummaging through the contents he tossed aside a few items until he found what he’d been looking for: red meat.
A smile spread across his lips, knowing Sam was going to flip when he saw Dean eating red meat, putting that into his health food loving body. Dean tossed the leftover steak into the microwave to heat up for a minute. When it was done, he took it out and began to bite a piece off, not bothering to use utensils. Sam stared at him, eyes flashing with anger. “What are you doing, Dean?” Dean bit off another piece. “Eating lunch, same as you.” Sam dropped the fork and stood up, pointing a finger at Dean. “No, what you’re doing is clogging up my arteries. Put the steak down.” Dean licked the steak. “What, this steak?” He looked over at Sam, seeing the anger flashing in his own green eyes. Dean smiled and took another bite. He watched as Sam picked up the fork and stabbed at the salad before taking another bite in retaliation. And of course, he had to push the issue by taking another bite of steak himself. He watched as Sam pushed the fork around moving the salad around the plate. Looking at the steak, Dean tossed it into the trash. “Happy?” Sam sat back down but pushed the salad away. “Okay, we need to fix this. Neither of us can live like this.” Sam said as he sat back looking at Dean.
“I’m sorry, for everything. Past and present.” Sam said, a note of sadness in his voice. Dean looked at him, brows knitting in confusion. “What are you talking about Sam?” Dean pulled out the chair opposite Sam and sat. “All of this, what’s going on with us is my fault. I don’t listen to you when I should. Cas is right, if I listened to you we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Sam brought both hands to his face and rubbed them over his eyes. “I know you’ve sacrificed a lot for me. Hell, you were a kid raising me, your little brother. You should have been out playing with kids your own age. Plus, you’ve saved my ass more times that I can count. I might not always come out and say it but I’m proud you’re my brother.”
“It’s not your fault. I bark orders at you and expect you to follow like I did with Dad. You’re not me and I’m not dad. You’re a grown-ass man, not a kid. I’m sorry for treating you like that.” Dean laughed at them. “Great, now that we just had a chick flick moment, how do we fix this, fix us?” Wearily, Sam looked at him. “Hell if I know. Maybe we can beg Cas to undo this.” They looked at each other and then laughed. “Yeah, not gonna happen.” Dean said with a smile. “Hey, where is Cas anyway? I haven’t seen him since this started.” Sam asked. Dean eyed the hallway where Cas’ room was. “He’s probably holed up in his room, knowing I’m gonna kill him for this.” Dean’s voice rose as he spoke, making sure Cas heard him.
Sam looked up and noticed Cas standing in the doorway. He looked sad, the sparkle gone from his normally bright blue eyes. “This isn’t a punishment Dean.” Dean turned in his chair to look at Cas. “You’re supposed to be my best friend. Yet, you did this to me, to Sam. So what else would you call it?” Cas crossed the room coming to stand next to the table. “A lesson, like I told you. Once you get it, then and only then, will this reverse itself. I’m sorry neither of you can’t see that I’m trying to help you reconnect with each other.” Cas turned and left them to stare after him as he retreated to his room. Dean sighed, closing his eyes and rubbed the back of his head.
“This is so messed up. Let’s get back to researching. Maybe I missed something in the library. Wanna help me?” Sam looked at Dean and raised an eyebrow. “What?” Dean asked. “It’s just that I can’t remember the last time you asked me for help or admitted you might have missed something.” The look of shock stayed on Sam’s face as he stood and followed Dean into the library. Three hours later, they had gone through the files and several books without any luck. “Well, this was a waste of time.” Dean said, irritation coming through in his voice. “I was hoping I was wrong and you’d pull some obscure spell out of some book and then we’d get back to normal.” Sam started laughing. “Normal? When has any of this ever been normal?” Dean cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s never been normal. I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this, made you leave Stanford, got Jesse killed. I just didn’t want to be alone when Dad went missing. It was pretty selfish of me.” Dean had a sad smile on his face when he looked at Sam. “I could have said no. Told you and Dad to go to hell. I had a choice in all this. It’s not like I couldn’t have walked away.”
Sam stood up and helped Dean to his feet, after sitting on the floor for so long their bodies were both feeling the effects. Dean groaned, as he stretched. “Let’s get some dinner, your choice.” Sam raised an eyebrow at him. “My choice? What if I decide on nothing but vegetables?” Sam watched as Dean swallowed nervously. “Yes, I’ll just have to eat them.” Sam chuckled and left the library. Dean shuddered at the thought of vegetables but quietly followed Sam. Dean cleared the table of Sam’s laptop and some of the research they had left on the table before grabbing two beers from the fridge and placing them on the table. He watched as Sam made them tunafish sandwiches, a slight compromise on both their parts. They ate in relative silence before deciding to watch a movie. Dean cleaned up after their dinner while Sam picked the movie.
Dean walked out with two more beers and sat down on the couch. “So, what are we watching?” Without an answer, Sam clicked the play button on the remote and Every Which Way But Loose started playing. “Thanks Sam.” Dean said, knowing that Sam had chosen the movie for him. Sam wasn’t a big fan of Clint Eastwood. They watched the movie and Sam even found himself enjoying it. By the time the movie was over they had been laughing and actually managed to relaxe. Sam stood up and grabbed the empty beer bottles. “I’m going to bed. See you in the morning?” Sam called over his shoulder. “Yeah, night.” Dean called back to him. He sat in the silence for a while, thinking back over the words Cas had said to him. Shaking his head Dean got up and walked to his bedroom. After washing up, Dean changed for bed using the borrowed clothes from Sam. He and pulled out the picture of his mother and looked at it briefly before putting it back in his wallet. Tossing back the covers he climbed into bed, feeling the stress of the day starting to slowly leave his body, until he relaxed enough to fall asleep.
Dean wandered out to the kitchen when the smell of coffee had made it’s way down the hallway to the bedroom. He looked up to see Sam standing in front of him, holding a cup of coffee out to him. “Morning.” Sam said as he sipped his coffee. Dean’s eyes widened as he realized they were both back in their own bodies. “Morning, that’s all you’ve got to say? We’re back in our own bodies!” Sam smiled. “Yeah, I kinda noticed.” Dean heaved out a sigh and sipped his coffee. “Well, I’m just glad this is over.”
“I told you Dean, this was only a lesson. One you both needed to learn.” They both turned to see Cas standing just inside the kitchen. “You needed to talk to each other, to hear each other.” Cas said as he walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee before walking back out, without another word to either of them.
“Hmm.” was all Dean let out before walking back to his room. He rolled his shoulders, trying to alleviate the tension in his muscles. It had been a long twenty-four hours and he hoped to never relive something like this again. He walked into the bathroom and switched on the overhead light before walking over to the mirror. He looked at his reflection seeing green eyes staring back at him. He smiled. “Hey handsome.” He said to himself. “I missed you.”