Just a little taller

by it'ssamnotsammy

Remember in Darkside of the moon when we learned that Sam ran away when he was 13. This is my take on what might have happened to get him to run away and what might have transpired while he was gone for those three weeks. Just something that I got in my head and had to get out.

1. Chapter 1

FLAGSTAFF

It was another "typical" morning for Sam Winchester, if you can call training to fight the supernatural things of this world "typical". He has been up since the crack of dawn running laps, doing pushups, chin-ups and everything else that you could throw in there that could possibly make you sweat, under the scrutiny of his father. It is usually his brother watching him which is not so bad, but no…not today…his dad is home and it's a million times worse.

Dad nitpicks at everything Sam does and not in a constructive kind of way either, nothing is ever good enough. What makes it worse is that Dean is doing the same things he is and dad is giving him praise for it…Dean is always better than Sam. Even in school they give you an "A" for effort and Sam should know he gets straight "A's" and does dad ever acknowledge that? That's a big fat stinking "NO"! So suffice it to say, Sam is not a happy camper today.

"Pick up the pace, Sam. No slacking off!" dad yells at him. Does the guy not realize that Sam is doing the best he can for his size? Come on, Dean is 6 foot tall and filled out and has 4 years on him; Sam is short for his age and skinny, since losing the rest of his baby fat over the summer, no muscles that Sam has noticed anywhere.

Doesn't sweating make you lose weight not put it on in muscles? Sammy gives it his all…every time. He does it the best he can, but is that ever enough for the great John Winchester? Apparently not…give him a frigging break, already! "Come on, Sam! Are you going to let Dean lap you again?" dad says smirking. He is frigging smirking, enough already!

Sam stops dead in his tracks giving the old man a glare that should make him drop dead on the spot or at least burst into flames, if he's lucky. "No! I'm done! I'm not doing anymore!" Sam shouts at him, defiance dripping from every pore. "What was that, boy?" dad growls and starts towards him.

Sam stands his ground and keeps eye contact, "You heard me! I said I'm done!" Dean hearing the raised voices of his dad and little brother stops running and back tracks to them. Not another fight, he thinks, because it seems like that is all that they have done since Sam turned 13 in May. Can't Dean catch a frigging break?

This stuff is getting old fast! "Hey, what's—going on—you guys?" Dean sputters out of breath. They continue on like Dean is not even there, like two alphas getting ready to tear each other apart. "It seems your brother has had enough training for today, Dean." Dad says snidely. "So it's time to spar, is it Sam?" dad adds angrily. "Yeah, I guess so! I mean…if I'm going to be humiliated I might as well get it over with, huh?" Sam says through gritted teeth.

Dean is getting frustrated with both of them, so he offers up "Nobody is trying to humiliate you, Sammy. Why would you say something like that? You know this is supposed to help you get better at defending yourself and watching our backs on a hunt, it's just standard procedure."

"Standard procedure for whom, Dean, is there a hunters' handbook somewhere where it's written down?" Sam grumbles and carries on from there, "I'm tired of doing the exact same things you do and it never being good enough—let's face it—it's never going to be good enough for him! I'm tired of him treating me like I'm a second string! Why do you do that, dad?" Sam is now practically screaming. "Because of that attitude right there." dad callously states "Now follow me to the backyard so you can spar with your brother!" dad orders.

Sparring with Dean is a fiasco. He is so much bigger than Sam. "You snooze you lose, Sammy!" says Dean with just a little too much cockiness in his voice, easily pinning Sam down. "Thanks a lot, Dean!" a scowling Sam says. From Sam's point of view it is a "Damned if I do damned if I don't scenario and as if things couldn't get any worse, dad makes him do 50 more pushups for not paying attention.

"You are going to get in line, Mister. I will not tolerate such disrespect! You are going to have to start pulling your weight around here or you are just a waste of space. Why can't you be more like Dean? Even he is going to get tired of you before too long. He is almost an adult and he doesn't have time to sit around babying you." dad says to him.

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