A/N: So, I was looking at Stanford University, famous in my mind for being Sam Winchester's school of choice, and I discovered the tradition of Full Moon on the Quad. And wouldn't you know it? Jess and Dean are the same age, 4 years older than Sam. The ensuing fangirl attack had me spazzing on my keyboard... this is the result. =)
Sam flashed a grin at Jess. "Don't worry, sweetie, you know you're the only senior girl for me."
Jess smiled back. "Well, I know the senior I kissed during my Full Moon became my first boyfriend. With you as cute as you are, can I help being a little protective?" she teased.
Full Moon on the Quad was a tradition at Stanford University. During the first full moon of the school year, the freshmen would be kissed by the seniors at midnight. This year, the first full moon didn't come for almost a month after school started, and during Sam's first month at college, he had met Jessica and they had started dating almost immediately. Now they were curled up in Jess's dorm, which was second only to the library as Sam's favorite place to be.
Sam blushed. "Me? Look at you! You could have any guy you wanted, and you go with a freshman."
"Not just any freshman," she murmured, pulling him in for a long kiss.
-
Dean sat in the Impala, watching as the freshmen lined up on the Quad. A group of girls wandered by, giggling and speeding up when he winked at them. Heaving a sigh of appreciation as one of the girls added a bit of extra swing to her step, Dean turned the car off, ending the Zeppelin that had been blasting into the night. He leaned back against the driver's seat for a moment before opening the door and slipping out onto a relatively quiet corner of the Quad. In the moonlight, he could see the seniors gathering on the opposite side of the brick plaza, and he ambled over there.
-
Hopefully, the senior kissing me will be Jess. But if she's some gorgeous stranger, I have to be sure to keep the kiss small, even if she's gorgeous. Jess shouldn't have to worry about me fooling around with any other girl. Or guy, for that matter. Hmm— are the kisses strictly heterosexual? Surely they wouldn't have a senior guy kiss a freshman guy, that'd be too weird…
Sam shifted from foot to foot, wanting to just get this thing over with. Yes, traditions were nice, and kisses even nicer (provided the person kissing was also nice), but at that moment he would much rather be curled up watching a movie with Jess. Ah, well. He might as well just embrace Full Moon on the Quad; he was lucky just to be at Stanford experiencing it.
The chattering surrounding him suddenly died down, and the crowd of Sam's classmates evened out into a line, walking forward to meet the line of seniors approaching them. In the moonlight, Sam realized that the senior he was approaching looked like a man. Sam couldn't see any details, other that the guy was short and built, wearing a jacket and jeans. As he got closer, he could see more: short, with spiky hair, and a bit of a swagger to his walk. This couldn't be right…surely the man was supposed to kiss the girl next to Sam? But the two kept walking towards each other, closer with every step until Sam could see the moonlight gleaming off the pendant around the stranger's neck.
As Sam finally stepped close enough to recognize the cocky grin on the other man's face, his breath hitched. "Dean… what are you doing here?"
Dean's smile widened until he looked like a child who had gotten away with stealing a cookie out of the cookie jar. "It's tradition," he whispered into Sam's ear as he snaked his arms around his little brother.
Sam looked straight into Dean's eyes, where the green shone silvery in the moonlight. Neither of said a word for a second, and then Dean leaned forward and pressed a kiss against Sam's open mouth.
-
Dean leaned into Sam's warmth, eyes pressed shut, terrified that Sam would run away. When he instead sighed softly and relaxed into his older brother's arms, Dean hugged Sam even tighter to him in relief. He had worried the entire drive over that Sam no longer cared about him, that he had replaced his family with his new Stanford friends. Memories flashed through his mind:
Dean had just saved Sam from a faun, and they sat in the backseat of the Impala, Sam crying into Dean's shoulder while Dean stroked his hair.
*
Sam walked in on a tangle of limbs, which turned into a sweaty Dean next to a naked girl Sam had never seen before.
"Go away, Sammy, I'm busy!"
He had blushed a bright pink and made a hasty retreat, leaving them to whatever they had been up to.
*
They sat facing each other Indian-style on a bed in yet another nameless motel, as Dean explained about sex to a middle-school Sam. Sam stuck out his tongue. "That sounds gross! Why would I want to do that?" he had asked, but Dean just laughed and ruffled his hair.
*
Dean had come to pick up Sam from school, only to find Sam kissing some skinny blonde boy. At Sam's insistence, he swore not to tell their dad, and he started coming later to pick him up.
*
Sam had brought some girl home to meet their dad, and over dinner Dean kept sending confused looks towards Sam—looks which he pointedly ignored. That night, Dean and Sam went outside the motel to talk, and Sam told Dean about how he was scared of how their dad might feel. That had been the first night Dean felt a flutter of worry, as Sam described how badly he wanted to go to college and live a "normal" life.
It had also been the first night Sam had fallen asleep in Dean's arms, but it hadn't been the last.
*
A '67 Impala shook in the parking lot of a cheap motel late at night, as two brothers explored their bodies in the cramped heat inside the car.
*
After Sam had won his full-ride scholarship to Stanford, after his fight with his father, after he stormed angrily away with the essential possessions which he had already packed into his backpack, Dean had grabbed the keys to the Impala and driven around, trying to find him. When he finally located his little brother buying a ticket at a bus stop, he had run out of the car and grabbed his arm.
"How can you just turn your back on everything? On your own family?" Dean had shouted, but when Sam turned around and he could see the redness around his little brother's eyes, he shut his mouth and wrapped his arms around him.
"I'll miss you, Sammy", he breathed into his ear, then abruptly pulled away and drove off.
That had been the last time the brothers had talked, but as they embraced after a month of ignoring each other, the kiss they shared under the full moon on the Quad seemed to contain a trace of every other secret kiss they had stolen from each other's lips over the years.
Sam pulled away from the kiss, panting. "Well, if we're planning on honoring tradition… the Impala?"
Dean grinned and grabbed his little brother's hand, pulling him towards the car they had shared countless nights in.
-
"Hey! Sam!" Jess shouted over the noise of the Full Moon on the Quad after-party. Sam turned to her, and if he was a little more flushed or a little less talkative, she didn't notice. "So, planning on having a torrid affair with some other senior girl?" she teased him.
"Of course not, baby," he replied, his mouth quirked into a half-smile.