ficlet - It's The Great Flash Costume, Sam Winchester
Title: It's The Great Flash Costume, Sam Winchester
Characters: Sam, Dean, Bobby (pre-series)
Warnings: none, maybe a tiny bit of angst
Rating: PG
Summary: An unexpected Halloween surprise.
A/N: written for the Halloween comment fic meme at spn_bigpretzel. The prompt was: John is gone over Halloween and Bobby is left in charge of the boys. He hadn't planned on taking Sam and Dean trick or treating, but one glance at them looking longingly at the Batman and Ninja turtle costumes at the store and he caves.
This may have been a first, Bobby thought, looking behind him walking through the store aisle and not seeing the two Winchester boys directly in his line of sight. Those kids were exceptionally well-behaved (in public, anyway) and Bobby couldn’t remember them ever taking off on their own while they were out. Sure, every now and then Dean would have to slow down or stop to get his little brother moving again if something interesting caught his eye, but both of them were always no more than a few feet away, knowing the importance of Bobby’s rule about staying where he could see them at all times. Not that he thought the boys would get themselves into trouble in a store, but he knew he couldn’t risk anything happening to either of them on his watch.
Muttering “Balls…” under his breath, Bobby turned and retraced his steps to two aisles over, where he found Dean and Sam next to the rack where the few remaining Halloween costumes were hanging; a large sign announcing that they were on sale for fifty percent off, seeing as how the store only had a couple of hours left to sell them until they’d be useless until next year.
Before they realized he was close enough to hear or see them, he listened in on their quiet conversation.
“Sammy, you know we can’t. I’m sorry, kiddo.”
The pout on Sam’s face was certainly nothing Bobby hadn’t seen a hundred times before. “But how do you know? You didn’t even ask!” Four and a half years old, and the child could already make a completely logical argument even with his lip poked out and quivering.
Dean sighed, shaking his head even as he looked longingly at a cheaply-made Batman costume in a clear plastic bag. “These things cost money, Sammy. Anyway, we never go out at night. It’s not allowed, and the rules aren’t going to change just for tonight.”
“But tonight’s different, Dean! Can’t we just ask? Please?”
The look on Dean’s face would have brought tears to Bobby’s eyes if he’d been the man he used to be years ago. It was obvious that he wanted to do this as much as his little brother did, but as always, he had to be the one to step in and say no when their dad wasn’t around to do it.
Their dad would have said no. Hell, Sam probably wouldn’t have even suggested asking about it if they’d been with John.
But they weren’t with John. Not today.
Clearing his throat, Bobby made his presence known. Both kids looked like they’d been caught with their hands in the cookie jar five minutes before dinner and immediately turned away from the sad little display of leftover Halloween costumes.
“You boys wanna go out for trick-or-treat tonight?”
Two sets of wide eyes stared up at him, disbelieving. Sam hopped up and squealed, “Yes!!!” at the exact time that Dean was saying, “Not if it’s too much trouble, sir”.
“Pick out your costumes, kids. Halloween only comes once a year. Come on now, it’s not like there’s much to choose from there.”
Dean, of course, immediately grabbed the Batman getup he’d been checking out, and he looked for something in Sam’s size - of course first holding up a girls’ costume, but even that couldn’t dampen Sam’s mood. When he caught sight of something red and yellow, he practically yelled, “Dean! Flash! That’s a Flash costume! Will it fit me? Will it? Flash is so cool!” And yeah, maybe it would be a little big, but for the look on Sammy’s face, they’d find a way to make it work.
Clearly, Bobby hadn’t expected any of this - he hadn’t even realized it was Halloween until he saw the kids eyeing the costumes. But he could drive them somewhere (it’s not like he had any neighbors), let them join in the fun like most of the other kids in this town, and have them back at his place at a reasonable hour to gorge on free candy. If John gave him any crap about it, he’d take it. No telling when he’d have a chance to do something special for these kids again.
Characters: Sam, Dean, Bobby (pre-series)
Warnings: none, maybe a tiny bit of angst
Rating: PG
Summary: An unexpected Halloween surprise.
A/N: written for the Halloween comment fic meme at spn_bigpretzel. The prompt was: John is gone over Halloween and Bobby is left in charge of the boys. He hadn't planned on taking Sam and Dean trick or treating, but one glance at them looking longingly at the Batman and Ninja turtle costumes at the store and he caves.
This may have been a first, Bobby thought, looking behind him walking through the store aisle and not seeing the two Winchester boys directly in his line of sight. Those kids were exceptionally well-behaved (in public, anyway) and Bobby couldn’t remember them ever taking off on their own while they were out. Sure, every now and then Dean would have to slow down or stop to get his little brother moving again if something interesting caught his eye, but both of them were always no more than a few feet away, knowing the importance of Bobby’s rule about staying where he could see them at all times. Not that he thought the boys would get themselves into trouble in a store, but he knew he couldn’t risk anything happening to either of them on his watch.
Muttering “Balls…” under his breath, Bobby turned and retraced his steps to two aisles over, where he found Dean and Sam next to the rack where the few remaining Halloween costumes were hanging; a large sign announcing that they were on sale for fifty percent off, seeing as how the store only had a couple of hours left to sell them until they’d be useless until next year.
Before they realized he was close enough to hear or see them, he listened in on their quiet conversation.
“Sammy, you know we can’t. I’m sorry, kiddo.”
The pout on Sam’s face was certainly nothing Bobby hadn’t seen a hundred times before. “But how do you know? You didn’t even ask!” Four and a half years old, and the child could already make a completely logical argument even with his lip poked out and quivering.
Dean sighed, shaking his head even as he looked longingly at a cheaply-made Batman costume in a clear plastic bag. “These things cost money, Sammy. Anyway, we never go out at night. It’s not allowed, and the rules aren’t going to change just for tonight.”
“But tonight’s different, Dean! Can’t we just ask? Please?”
The look on Dean’s face would have brought tears to Bobby’s eyes if he’d been the man he used to be years ago. It was obvious that he wanted to do this as much as his little brother did, but as always, he had to be the one to step in and say no when their dad wasn’t around to do it.
Their dad would have said no. Hell, Sam probably wouldn’t have even suggested asking about it if they’d been with John.
But they weren’t with John. Not today.
Clearing his throat, Bobby made his presence known. Both kids looked like they’d been caught with their hands in the cookie jar five minutes before dinner and immediately turned away from the sad little display of leftover Halloween costumes.
“You boys wanna go out for trick-or-treat tonight?”
Two sets of wide eyes stared up at him, disbelieving. Sam hopped up and squealed, “Yes!!!” at the exact time that Dean was saying, “Not if it’s too much trouble, sir”.
“Pick out your costumes, kids. Halloween only comes once a year. Come on now, it’s not like there’s much to choose from there.”
Dean, of course, immediately grabbed the Batman getup he’d been checking out, and he looked for something in Sam’s size - of course first holding up a girls’ costume, but even that couldn’t dampen Sam’s mood. When he caught sight of something red and yellow, he practically yelled, “Dean! Flash! That’s a Flash costume! Will it fit me? Will it? Flash is so cool!” And yeah, maybe it would be a little big, but for the look on Sammy’s face, they’d find a way to make it work.
Clearly, Bobby hadn’t expected any of this - he hadn’t even realized it was Halloween until he saw the kids eyeing the costumes. But he could drive them somewhere (it’s not like he had any neighbors), let them join in the fun like most of the other kids in this town, and have them back at his place at a reasonable hour to gorge on free candy. If John gave him any crap about it, he’d take it. No telling when he’d have a chance to do something special for these kids again.