In the eyes of a little brother, you will always be a hero.
-1-
When Sam was 6 months old, Dean pulled him from a fire and told him that everything was going to be okay. From that day forward, the little boy told his baby brother that every chance he got. Sam believed him from the very first time he was able to understand it.
-2-
Sam was six the first time he ever thought of his brother as a hero. And that was quite literal, too. Sometimes after he went to bed, Sam would lay awake and wonder just what it was that Dad and Dean talked about while he was asleep, why they always stopped talking when he came into the kitchen for a glass of water, or why Dad seemed so upset when he told him about the monster in his closet. One night he decided that Dad was a superhero and only Dean knew, and that explained why Dad had to leave so much and why they never stayed in one spot for very long. That would blow their cover. So Dad was teaching Dean how to be a superhero. Sam fell asleep, wondering when Dad was gonna teach him how to be a superhero too.
-3-
Sam was eleven when he broke his first bone. It was his ankle; he'd tripped over a fallen tree branch, running from something that Dad told him not to look at. He remembered hitting the ground, hearing a sickening crack along with some sort of commotion behind him. He was too afraid to really remember what happened, but the one thing he did know was that everything fell back into place when suddenly Dean was there. With strength that even Sam didn't think Dean possessed, his brother had him in his arms and was running, and yeah, Sam was small for his age, but still. Sam jumped when he heard a shot go off from behind them, and Dean was telling him not to look back and Sam listened. That night, Sam overheard Dean and Dad talking in the kitchen. Dean didn't want him going on anymore hunts, at least not for a while. Dad was too preoccupied with marking up the notes for the next hunt to listen. They were moving out in three days and Sam was coming and that was the end of it. Sam remembered hoping that his ankle wasn't broken too badly.
-4-
At fifteen Sam came home from school with a grin on his face for the first time in what seemed like months. In his hand was a test, graded A+ in a class that he'd been having some trouble in. He'd been exhausted from excessive weapon training and sparring for the last few days but had somehow managed to get in some good study time to make up for the time he'd lost. What he had forgotten however, was to do the research that his dad had requested of him, and now they were behind in the hunt. The minute the youngest Winchester laid eyes on the man, he knew he'd screwed up and Dad was quick to point it out. Sam was spacey, he was irresponsible, and he was too old for these kind of screw-up's. Saving lives was more important than school work and the sooner he accepted that, the happier they'd all be. Sam balled the test up in his hands and let it fall to the floor, promptly making a beeline for the door. He could see Dean watching from where he was meticulously cleaning guns on the other bed, but the older boy never spoke up. Sam returned several hours later having gotten the chance to cool off. Dad was gone, Sam didn't bother asking where to. Dean was lounging on the motel room bed, flipping through channels and Sam graced him with a grunt of acknowledgement. He made his way over to the small refrigerator to grab a bottle of water and stopped a few feet from it. The test was smoothed out, a magnet holding it to the door of the refrigerator. Sam smiled. Dean got it and that was enough.
-5-
At 22, Sam lost his girlfriend and Dean pulled him from a fire for the second time in his life.
At 23, Sam turned his back on the wrong guy and Dean was there to hold him up until everything went dark. Even after death Dean found a way to save him.
At 24, Sam watched his brother save as many lives as possible before he died.
At 25, Sam went down a dangerous path and Dean walked beside him, all the while trying to steer him in the right direction.
At 26, Sam destroyed everything. And Dean forgave him.