Fears of the Fearless
CRASH!
A flash of lightning preceded the booming sound and lit up the seedy motel room that was the most recent stop for Sam and Dean Winchester. The rain pounded against the windows, sharp cracking noises that kept both boys on edge, hands at their sides reaching for a gun or a blade, anything to protect themselves from anything that might be looking to harm them.
CRASH!
The older Winchester brother wasn't there, however. Several hours previously, he had fled the room, claiming he needed a drink to ease his nerves, and grumbled all the way out the door about thunderstorms and false alarms. Really, though, there was another reason, the source of the tension that had awkwardly filled every moment of the silence stretching all the way through the last hundred or so miles since Jericho.
CRASH!
The thunder was loud enough to mask every sound anyway, so as on edge as they both had been, they still would have been totally unprepared for everything. Sam hated the weather, but at the moment, his emotions were more grateful than anything. I am so glad Dean's not here to see this… how pathetic am I? He's right… I am a fucking girl…
CRASH!
His thoughts were cut off as he whimpered to himself and huddled further into the corner of the room, shaking uncontrollably. "Fucking thunder," he murmured bitterly, berating himself. "I can handle fucking ghosts and shifters and shit, and I can't be calm through a damned thunderstorm?" He blinked away tears of fright and frustration, bracing himself against the wall.
CRASH!
He bit back a yelp as the door burst open in sync with the thunder, amplifying the sound and revealing a sopping wet, frantic Dean. The older brother searched the room with worried eyes, and his expression softened as he found a terrified Sam hiding in the far corner, shaking. "Oh, Sammy…" Immediately he moved across the room, kneeling in front of his brother and gripping his chin between his fingers gently to make eye contact. "Sammy, I'm here. It's okay, man. I won't let anything happen to you." His heart broke at the desperate look in his baby brother's eyes and at the tears he could see pooling there and hanging from his eyelashes. "I'm sorry, buddy, so so sorry… It's just, I forgot… it's been awhile and I wasn't sure if you were still… you know…"
"'s okay, Dean…" Sam whispered, offering a weak smile that melted Dean's heart. He took a deep breath, readying himself to pull away and stand up.
CRASH!
With a strangled cry, Sam launched himself into Dean's arms, trembling as he tried to burrow into the safety of his older brother. Dean held him strongly, letting himself fall back to sit on the floor as he rocked them both gently. "Shh, Sam… I won't let anything hurt you, I'm here, it's okay. I'm here, Sammy…" he murmured into his ear, stroking his hair the way their mother used to when he had a nightmare. "Want me to sing to you, Sammy?" Sam looked up, ready to bite out a snarky comment about not being a child, but another blast of thunder drove him back into Dean's chest, and he nodded weakly.
"Anything to make this better, man," he whispered, and Dean smiled against his hair.
"Hey Jude, don't make it bad… take a sad song, and make it better…" he sang softly, leaning back against the wall and tightening his arms around the body within them. "Remember to let her into your heart… then you can start to make it better…" In that moment, they both forgot about the strain between them, about the words that would eventually need to be said. They forgot about the thunder, about the search for their dad, about the hunt and all the monsters they still needed to kill. In that moment, the only thing they knew was each other, and that was enough to drive the fear and tension and worry away, leaving only happiness and a shared bond that would never be broken.