Dean could never put his finger on why Sam was truly afraid of clowns. He had always known he would leave his little brother at a stupid Plucky's but not that often. But after the last encounter with clowns at Plucky's Pennywhistles it really got Dean thinking, why is Sam afraid of clowns. Dean found it somewhat amusing sometimes to see Sam flinch or jump anytime he saw or came in contact with one. Dean had asked Sam about it a few times nonchalantly but his brother uses says the same thing, "I just never liked them when you left me at Plucky's." Dean knew it was bullshit, but curiosity started to eat away his thoughts and for a while it began to be the only thing he thought about.

Sam and Dean had just finished a hunt. Nothing big really, just a simple salt and burn the bones ordeal, when the questions had arisen yet again. Dean got in the impala and him and Sam began a detour to Bobby's from whatever small town they just fled from.

"So Sammy..." Dean rolled his head to look at the passenger seat where Sam was and had always been for a split moment before returning his vision to the lonely road.

"What Dean?" Sam replied unwilling to lift his head from the book he was reading.

"Humor me, Sam. Why are you actually afraid of clowns?"

"I've told you Dean, Plucky's—" Sam bookmarked a page and closed his book, Dean interrupted," I know Plucky's. That's a load of crap. Come on Sammy! You can tell me. Big Bro won't laugh."

Dean looked at Sam momentarily again and his younger brother glared at him which gave off feelings of "I am so fucking done right now".

"I don't want to talk about it Dean." Sam said.

"Please Sam. I'm dying to know." Dean attempted to imitate Sam's puppy dog eyes; that never worked on Sam, but for some reason, this time it got to the younger Winchester.

"Fine...hmmm," Sam reached behind his neck and stretched the back of his head,"Well I guess–I know I've been afraid of clowns at a young age. But what really got me afraid of them was—"

"Jesus Christ Sam! Fucking say it already!"

"Okay Dean, chill." Sam rolled his eyes and continued," Remember when we would watch the classic Batman on TV?"

" I do."

" I remember being really small, 7 maybe, and it was one of the first Joker episodes I had ever watched. For the 7 year old me, the Joker is pretty creepy... Also he's the villain. I remember I started to cry, so you turned off the TV and asked what was wrong. I never told you exactly but you just said, 'it's okay Sammy. I'm batman and I'll never let the joker get you.' Geez you must have been 11 or 12. But I don't know, I guess the idea of clowns and evil always connected and it stuck." Sam tried to shrug it off like it's just a stupid childhood fear that he never got over. That's exactly what it was but that wasn't the point. Dean was left speechless and touched at the same time.

"I don't know what to say Sammy."

"It's fine. It's stupid," Sam shrugged.

"It's not stupid Sam," he reassured.

"There was one time during Halloween some older kids dressed like clowns took my Halloween candy when you took me one year when I was like 6 or something. Dad bought that mask one time too."

"Ohh, so that's why you were crying when I got back from school that one day when I was like 10"

The rest of the trip was silent and the mention of clowns was never really brought up again. Dean appreciated that Sam told him why he didn't like them, and he slept slightly better at night knowing that his little not so little Sammy relied on him to keep him safe from one of the creatures that Sam thinks goes bump in the night