Nobody knew Winchester until he showed up.

Tall, muscular kid stumbling around campus with a look on his face that seemed to tell everyone he'd never even seen anything close to a college? And on top of all that only a duffle bag for all of his worldly possessions? He was weird, to say the least. No one knew where he came from, only that he was on a full ride. Sure, it wasn't the hottest gossip, but lots of people were interested in the young boy, most of them girls. Then somebody got a hold of his SAT scores.

And suddenly Sam was regarded as some sort of academic king.

Apparently, he didnt party, he could stand more drinks than anyone else on campus, and he could play poker better than anyone else had ever seen. You could find his roommate vouching for all of this.

Sam was rather tall for his age, and that, plus his stellar-student attitude with grades to match, did not make him the coolest kid on campus.

But it didn't matter to him. Sam was friendly, and he tried his best not to mess with people so he wasn't the worst person you'd meet. But there were some things his roommate, a hard partyer called Cameron, didn't tell the gossip queens. Like how Sam had a habit of "spilling" salt in straight lines across the windowsill. Or how the smallest bump would snap him awake. Not even how he wouldn't sleep until he thought everyone else in the room was asleep. Cameron didn't really know what these odd quirks meant. So one day, he asked.

"What's up with the salt?" Cameron question, pinching some between his fingers as he did so.

Sam didn't even look up from his paper. "Force of habit."

Something in his tone told Cameron not to push the matter any farther. So he pushed a different one. "And what about the whole awake-in-the-blink-of-an-eye thing? And how come you never go to sleep until I'm asleep first?" He looked curiously at Sam, waiting for a response.

This time Sam did look up. He seemed surprised anyone would actually take an interest in him, much less pursue their questions. But his answer was equally short and unsatisfactory. "Rough childhood," he said with what Cameron assumed what was supposed to be a wry smile, but it came out more as a grimace.

X

Nobody knew Winchester could fight until he did.

It was in a darkened alley about three weeks into first semester. Some of Sam's friends had finally convinced him to go out, though he didn't appear to be drunk. He was sitting on a barstool in the corner after all of his friends had left. Only a few people were still in the bar, and Sam was content with the quiet. He gazed around at the other college kids in there, wondering what their back stories were, and if they could possibly compare to his own.

With the slight groan his stool, Sam stood and made his way out of the dive. It sure wasn't the best place to be around this time of night, but Sam knew he could take care of himself, even if none of his friends knew it. Some of the other kids followed him out, hanging around loosely behind him and not even bothering to talk to him. As mentioned previously, Sam wasn't the kid with people lining up to hang out with him.

They were only ten-minutes from the campus when it happened. One of the more drunk ones of the group of five or so called out to him. "Hey Winchester! Yeah I'm talking to you! How'd you get so tall? Did your mommy make a deal with the devil or something?"

The boy, one of those overly cocky jocks that thought they could take anyone, Jason he was called, swaggered up beside Sam and started lightly punching him in the shoulder. When Jason had mentioned his mother, Sam's jaw visibly tightened, but he kept on walking. Jason noticed this, and he didn't let Sam go without a fight. "Aw," he said, motioning for his cronies to follow his lead and walk beside Sam, occasionally jostling him or punching him lightly, "Is mommy not a good topic? What about daddy? Did you have daddy issues, too?"

Sam just ignored them and kept on walking, determined not to give them the satisfaction of knowing how the mention of his parents got to him.

But Jason just wouldn't have it. He just let Winchester walk away. It would damage his ego, and we couldn't have that now could we? Jason had been wrestling for years so he knew that height wasn't always an advantage. It could be, if the tall person in question knew how to fight. Jason positively scoffed at the idea of Winchester fighting. It was completely unlike the friendly, reserved, and completely geeky kid that Stanford knew.

So Jason wasn't just going to let him walk away, not when he was sure he could fight him. So he decided the time for words was over.

"Not in the mood to talk, eh? Well, good neither am I. We should settle this like real men." He slurred, his friends still occasionally giving Sam a small shove or halfhearted punch. At these words, however, Sam stopped, turning to Jason with a look of pity on his face.

"I'm not going to fight you. Just leave me alone so I can get to my dorm, and nobody gets hurt," Sam's tone was level, and his gaze unwavering. For a second, Jason considered his offer, leave without a fight, or pummel some kid he barely knew.

On any normal, sober day, Jason would have just walked away then. He wouldn't have even brought up a fight. But Jason had been pretty sure Sam would be something like a pacifist and his threat would go unchallenged. This new, hard look in Sam's eyes told him this kid not only would fight, but could fight, and little red flags went up in his head.

This is where the alcohol kicked in to his thinking process. Just fight him, it said, he'll be easy to take down.

So what happened next, Jason always blamed on alcohol.

"No can do, Sammy-boy," he announced arrogantly. "I'm going to fight you even if you won't fight back."

He lunged forward at Sam, and all of his friends quickly backed up. At first, it looked like Jason would win. Sam was on the ground, and Jason was standing over him. Jason let a quick punch fly, hitting Sam square in the face, but the taller boy did nothing to stop it. Sam could have blocked that punch, and he could have taken Jason down with one swing of his gangly legs. Sam's determination to be normal was so strong, he let himself be beaten up by this amateur. At least at first.

After his nose was bleeding and his lip cut, Sam stood up. Jason was shocked the injuries looked like nothing to him. And in fact, the were. Sam had had much worse in his lifetime. He once again tried to just leave, it his exit was quickly blocked by a couple of Jason's friends. Finally, Sam cut his losses and turned around, knowing full well in the morning nobody would mess with him again.

Jason went to his classes the next day not only with a killer hangover, but with a black eye and a sudden wariness of Winchester.

X

Nobody knew Winchester was a ladies man until Jess threw herself at him. Sort of.

Sam was walking up the stone steps to get to a lecture hall on the other side of campus. His thoughts were returning, as they sometimes did, to his brother and father off doing god-knows-what in god-knows-where. He tried to force them out of his thoughts by focusing on the way people he passed seemed to whisper about him. He was sure that they were talking about his little run-in with Jason, but he couldn't find it in him to care.

It was only about a week since that little incident and, to everyone on campus, this was a whole new Sam. He was looked at differently, spoken to differently, and even treated like he was unstable. He might be, but he wasn't going to just attack people. But that was how they saw it.

Basically half of the student body was in awe, and the other half was scared of him.

He still had a rather tight knit group of friends, and he'd pawned off some story about his dad teaching him martial arts as the reason he could fight so well. It was the truth, just not the whole truth.

As Sam was walking towards this lecture hall on the other side of campus, he was dimly aware of the people around him. Sam couldn't be late for this class, he needed to be there. Most people moved out of his way immediately, but if he bumped into someone he would just apologize and be on his way.

Sam was just about to head off after bumping into someone when he saw her. She was about to start down the stairs, talking animatedly to her friend. Sam had seen her before, and he thought she was beautiful, not that he'd had the courage to tell her. He hadn't even spoken to her before. But now, he just needed to get to class, Sam couldn't stay and chit-chat.

He was standing directly in front of her when she tripped on a step and flew straight into him. Sam managed to hold his balance, and she was lucky he caught her. Sam set her upright. She sent him a piercing gaze, and seemed to see right through him. After a few long moments of staring into his soul she held out her hand.

"Jessica. Jessica Moore." Sam hesitated a moment before shaking it. She smirked at him. "This is where you say your name."

"Oh-uh-right. I'm Sam. Sam Winchester." Jessica's friend's eyes widened at his name. She leaned in and whispered something in Jessica's ear. Sam just stood there awkwardly, unsure if he should leave or not.

"My friend tells me you're the guy that beat up Jason Wells," she says with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Sam flashed a shy sort-of grin. "It was for self defense. I don't go around beating people up."

"What did he do?" Boy, this Jessica sure doesn't miss anything.

"He kinda tackled me and gave me a nice punch in the face," he gestured at the bruise on his cheek, "funnily enough, nobody hears that part of the story, I seem to scare people now."

Jessica gave him a crooked smile at his words. "I don't scare that easy."

"Shit," Sam exclaimed, checking his watch, "I gotta go. I'll see you around."

Jessica stood there for a little bit after his departure. Her friend had left some time during the conversation, but Jessica didn't care. She turned eventually and continued down the stone steps.

"I'll see you around Sam Winchester," she muttered under her breath, smiling bemusedly to herself.

It went on like that for weeks. Sam would pass her in a hallway or outside, and once even in the girls dorms. Jessica had teased Sam as soon as she knew it was him.

"What're you doing here Winchester?" She called.

Sam spun around at her words and blushed profusely.

"No. No- it's-I was just- I mean...this isn't...I wasn't," Sam stuttered. And

Jessica just stood there laughing.

"I know you weren't," She smiled at him. Jessica really liked Sam, but she didn't want to make the first move. "But what are you doing here?"

"I'm supposed to tutor a girl in these dorms." Sam explained. "I didn't know you lived here," he added as an afterthought.

"Well I don't usually go around telling people where I live, do you?" She was doing it again. Jessica was giving him that smirk. The one that made his insides freeze and squirm all at once. The one that made him forget what he was going to say and make his say things he didn't mean to at the same time. It had the same affect as alcohol so that must be why he did what he did next.

"Do you wanna grab a coffee some time? With me? Maybe? Only if you want to of course I won't force you to..." Sam just let the end trail off, mildly horrified and slightly relived at his own words.

Jess' smile widened. "I'd love to."

"Really? I-I mean great," Sam smiled nervously. "When?"

"I don't know, hotshot, it was your idea."

"Ok? How's tomorrow morning?" He asked.

"Perfect," Jess replied, pulling out a piece of paper. She scribbled her number on it and gave it to Sam.

"Thanks!" Sam looked at his wrist, and more specifically, the watch on it, "shit, Jessica why do you always make me late?" He chuckled.

Jessica flashed him another smile. "It's just my speciality."

"See you around Sam."

It was Sam's turn to stare after a retreating figure then whisper to himself "Yeah. Yeah you will."

X

Nobody knew Winchester had a brother until he showed up at Jessica's funeral.

X

Nobody knew Winchester would run from school until he went on a road trip with his brother and never came back.