Title: Memories
Summary: Dean gets a special surprise for his birthday. Season 11. Brotherly Feels. Hurt/Comfort.
Warning: Rated K+ for bad language.
Disclaimer: Sadly, they aren't mine.
Author's note: Happy belated Birthday Dean! A short one-shot to pay tribute to a certain Winchester. Hope you enjoy the read, guys!
Dean's eyes widened comically when he entered the kitchen of the bunker.
Counters and table tops were littered with dirty bowls and plates of food, the delicious smell of garlic and red wine lingering heavy in the air and making his mouth water with appetite.
In the middle of it all, haloed by fumes of steam was Sam, wearing loose jogging pants and a black V-neck that had once belonged to Dean.
He was stirring the ominous contents of the pot in front of him with fervor, humming the butchered version of something that Dean vaguely recognized as Led Zeppelin.
Dean smiled, crossing his own arms in front of his chest as he leaned back against the doorway and watched his brother work. Sam was so lost in the task at hand that he hadn't even noticed Dean's presence.
Under different circumstances, Dean would have probably chided him for being so careless- they couldn't afford to drop their guard like this- but seeing Sammy so carefree and happy after what happened with Lucifer was worth making an exception.
Especially considering that Sam had been plagued by nightmares and barely sleeping for the better part of the past week. It was good to see him carefree again… lightened up and relaxed in a way he hadn't been for days.
Dean smiled when Sam changed the Zeppelin tune into a rendition of Metallica's One.
The little geek could deny it all he wanted, but Dean had always known that Sammy secretly loved the classic Rock and Metal tunes just as much as he did.
"What's all that?" Dean finally asked and the unexpected sound of his voice caused his little brother to whirl around, wooden spoon raised as a makeshift weapon and ready to smite any unwanted intruders. And in that moment, with his shaggy mess of a hair and his widened eyes and the ridiculous length of his gangly body, Sammy looked fucking hilarious.
"Dean," Sam let out a breath and lowered the wooden spoon back into the pot, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I thought you were out to get supplies."
"I was," Dean strode further into the kitchen, taking a closer look at the table that was toppling with all kinds of delicacies. "Stocked up our ammo and rock salt supply."
Dean's jaw dropped a little when he found a bowl of homemade potato mash next to a boat of cranberry gravy. He dipped a finger into the sauce and licked at it before closing his eyes in bliss.
"Stop it, that's for later," Sam scolded, hitting the back of his hand with a reprimanding slap of his fingers. He checked the meatloaf in the oven, before turning back to slice pepper bells and tomatoes into small pieces.
Jesus... This wasn't just your average lunch meal, it was a regular Betty Crocker cooking session.
Dean grabbed a beer from the fridge before sitting down on the edge of their dining table. "Soo... what's all this then, Ramsay? You turn into a professional star cook in the two hours I was gone?"
Sam snorted, giving Dean a full blown version of his patented bitch-face. "What does it look like, Dean?"
"Like my salad-eating rabbit of a brother finally got converted to real food?" Dean joked, before trying a spoonful of the vegetable casserole and then hummed appreciatively at the delicious taste of nutmeg and herbs spreading on his tongue. Since when did Sam know how to cook?
Dean dug the spoon back in, going for a second round. "Seriously... did you use a spell book for this? How long have you been slaving away in here?"
Sam snatched the spoon from his fingers with a pointed glower. "I used a cooking book, alright? I don't need to be a… a freaking junk-food-junkie like you to appreciate a homemade meal, but thanks for giving me so much credit."
"Junk-food-junkie?" Dean repeated incredulously, raising his eyebrows at the lame insult.
Sam bristled, turning back to take a look at the meatloaf in the oven. "Whatever, dude. Just go... back to what you were doing. This was a stupid idea, anyway."
Dean's winced at the hurt tone in his brother's voice. Damnit... The kid was so goddamn' sensitive at times, it still managed to amaze him. "I was joking, Sammy... This is freaking amazing, man. I just- you don't really cook and now you go all Betty Crocker on me? I mean, what brought this on?"
Sam shrugged his shoulders, stubbornly refusing to look up from the onions that were roasting in a pan on the stove. Something was on his mind- Dean could see the storm clouds brewing on his face.
"What?" he insisted, heart kicking up a notch at the flicker of disbelief that crossed his brother's features. Was he missing something here? Had he forgotten an important occasion? A holiday?
"It's not our anniversary, is it?" Dean flashed his brother a playful grin, wiggling his eyebrows at Sam in a way that was sure to make him roll his eyes.
Sam snorted, shaking his head, but his lips thinned out into a thin line.
"Alright, spill it, what's going on? Why are you doing all of this?" And looking at me like I'm supposed to know what the hell this is all about.
"Seriously, man?" Sam huffed out a little laugh- rubbing the side of his neck and not really meeting his big brother's eyes. "I mean I know our family's never been big on celebrating… well, anything. But c'mon… forgetting your own freaking birthday? That's gotta be a new low, even for us."
Dean blinked.
Oh. So that's what this was about.
He was perfectly still for a moment, just standing there and taking in the fact that his brother- his geeky- 'I stood up to the freaking devil not even a week ago' little brother had created this… this food explosion just to make him happy. Because Dean loved meatloaf and Dean loved gravy and mashed potatoes and freaking apple pie- and all of this, every little thing had been for him.
Sammy had made all of his favorites. Had slaved away in the kitchen for what must have been hours… just because it was Dean's birthday.
A grin spread across Dean's lips so wide and fast it nearly made him dizzy, joy bubbling up in his chest like the one of a kid on Christmas morning.
"Dude…" he murmured, cheeks flushing slightly as he put the beer bottle down on their dining table and bit his bottom lip, for once in his life- at a total loss for words.
Because the devil was on the freaking loose and so was the darkness. And a year ago he had been a freaking demon and the year before that there was Abbadon and the freaking Mark of Cain… and the falling of the angels.
So yeah… Dean had forgotten all about his own birthday, because when had they ever been allowed to just sit back and enjoy themselves? The recent years had been such a huge tangled mess, tethered by demons and angels and the freaking devil himself that it had become normal for them to simply ignore the fact that holidays or birthdays even existed.
They were lucky to even still be alive… to have each other. That was all they could hope for these days.
But that didn't mean Dean couldn't appreciate a homemade meal prepared by his adorable dork of a brother.
"Meat's gonna take another thirty minutes or so… can you go and set the table in the library?"
Dean took another swig of his beer- only now realizing that it was his favorite brand.
"Sure thing, Betty," He flashed Sam another grin, before grabbing a stack of plates and some cutlery and hurrying out into the hallway.
"No wait, I got another one, "Dean laughed, shaking his head and wiping the back of his hand over damp lips. "Remember when lost that goddamn' rabbit foot and your shoe fell into the sewer? Swear to god, you looked like a four-year-old with your girly hair and the puppy eyes…"
"That must have been what, ten years now?" Sam snorted, draining the last bit of his beer with a lazy grin on his face. "Can you believe our biggest problem back then was finding Bela?"
"Yeah," Dean sighed, thinking back to a time where nearly all of their friends had still been alive. A time before either of them had been to hell, or lost their soul, or brought the freaking apocalypse upon earth.
"Freaking Bela." Dean hadn't even spared her a thought in the past eight years or so. But tonight was a night for memories… a night to indulge in old stories of successful hunts and good company.
They had both helped themselves to at least three servings of Sam's delicious food- empty plates and bowls were carelessly scattered across the library table and Dean had propped up his legs on the edge of the sturdy wood, nursing a half-emptied glass of whisky in the wake of their birthday feast.
"Speaking of the good old times," Sam suddenly cleared his throat, rummaging around in his jeans pocket. "I uh… got you something."
"Aw, Sammy, you shouldn't have…" Dean sat up in his chair, eyes growing wide with childlike enthusiasm when Sam slid a small newspaper-wrapped parcel across the table top.
Dean licked his bottom lip, hesitating for all but a second before ripping the paper off the present.
"What the…" Dean trailed off as soon as he opened found the small glass vial containing a pearly substance. Dean gently rolled it around in his hands- watching the glowing liquid slosh inside the tiny container. "What is that? Some sort of space-slushy?"
Sam threw him a bitchface. "Yeah, Dean, cause what I really wanted to give you for your birthday was a 'space slushy'… " he shook his head on a huff. "No dude, that's memory potion… I uh… I found it in the basement the other day."
"Memory potion?" Dean repeated with a confused frown, blinking up at Sam with a puzzled expression on his face. "The hell would I need that for?"
Sam looked down at his hands, a sigh rushing past chapped lips. "It will let you relive a memory of your choice… I thought… well, maybe, mom or dad… or Bobby. It's up to you, of course."
Dean's eyes grew wide. "What you mean like—"
"Like a realistic trip down memory lane. It's not dangerous, I did some research on it and… well, these things are extremely rare, I don't think we'll ever come by one again."
Silence stretched between them- heavy and oppressive until Sam became nervous. "Look, man, you don't have to use it or anything… I just thought you m-might want to relive a happy memory… with them, because well... because it's going to feel real and you could talk to them or you know... just hang out or something."
"Sam… this is…" Dean closed his fingers around the vial with reverence before looking up to meet his brother's intent gaze.
He could only imagine how big a sacrifice it must have been for Sam to give this prize up to him when he could have used it himself- could have relived a shared moment with Jessica. Could have heard the sound of her voice or felt the beat of her heart beneath his palm.
He got up from his chair and rounded the table, gruffly yanking Sam into a hug.
"Thank you," he whispered against Sam's hair and then slowly pulled back, thumb tracing the purple outline of Lucifer's fists beneath his brother's slightly swollen eye. "Thank you, man, seriously, but I can't take this."
"W-what?" Sam murmured, dumbstruck. "But I thought…"
"There's nothing I need to say to any of them that they don't know already," Dean said, gently squeezing Sam's shoulder. "And besides… I got everything I've ever really wanted right here with me."
Sam's gaze turned watery and Dean laughed, ruffling his hair affectionately. "Except for pie, you giant girl. Seems to me you've forgotten the most important aspect of any well-planned birthday party."
Sam lowered his head, shaking it with a small smile playing his lips. "Better go and get you a slice, then, huh?"
"Make it two, princess."
Sam grumbled something under his breath, but as soon as he was out of sight, Dean looked down at the shining vial in his palm and swallowed down the rising well of emotions that threatened to overcome him.
There would come a day where they would dig it back up, trying to find solace in better times- happier memories.
And who knew- maybe when they finally decided to use it, the memory they would want to relive would be this moment right here-hanging out in the bunker- just the two of them, laughing, eating and just being brothers.
The End.
So this was just a really fluffy one-shot for the heck of it... Hope you guys enjoyed it ;) Reviews are love!