Little blurb here. Tried out something different and went with present-tense instead of past (like using has instead of had). I dunno how I did (and it's not really a big deal, but it felt different), but I hope I didn't mess anythin up too bad. This is supposed to be choppy and kind of fragmented in a way, more from Sam's POV.
Warning: heavily implied child prostitution! Kind of a darker take on how the brothers get by (and this is kind of a little thing going off if their dad had abandoned them to hunt alone. I know he wouldn't but this is an AU so I can do what I want, yo).
You have been warned. Have fun reading.
The Family Business
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"We're the Winchester brothers," the tall one says with a professional smile. "I'm Sam, and this is my big brother Dean." There is a small wave from the apparent older brother and a flash of sharks teeth in the dark of the night. Predator, Sam thinks instantly, but he is used to this and so he holds the shivers at bay. He's seen worse than this before. He can handle something as measly as a customer. Sam struggles to convince himself that this is not a monster he won't be killed tonight everything is just fine–
"And exactly how old are you boys?"
"18," Sam says without thought, because he's said this a million times already, whether or not it's the truth or a simple lie.
"22," Dean says immediately afterwards, because he's said this a million times already, whether or not it's the truth or a simple lie.
"Just barely old enough to be legal, eh?" His bright eyes glint in the dark in a way that should not be humanly possible, but both boys will ignore this because this is a different job than the ones that they are used to. They have been doing this for as long as they can remember – they are only orphans, and poor ones at that. As bad as it sounds, it could be worse, and this is the job that earns the most. They don't realize it, but they are both doing this for each other in a roundabout cycle of "must protect my brother, my only family left, no matter what it costs."
Traveling around the country to protect its people definitely isn't cheap, and if they had any other choice then there was no way they would be doing this.
When we've already lost everything apart from each other, what's it matter if we're giving up our bodies, too? Sam questions himself, melancholy. He puts on a straight face and nods to the man who seems too old to be wandering the streets. Too old to be talking to two hopeless boys who are "barely old enough to be legal." But it doesn't matter if they are "legal" or not, because they have been doing this far before they ever were. In the end, it doesn't make much of a difference one way or another.
Dean tries to keep him out of this as much as he possibly can, but Sam is terribly stubborn, just like their father who left them long ago on a hunt for revenge. And, Sam adds silently, everyone seems to like two brothers compared to just one. Dean does not want him to live this life, but Sam always counters, "If you're in it, I am too. We're brothers, and we stick together." Dean never has an argument for that, because he knows that if the roles were reversed he would do the exact same thing.
And besides, once you're in, there's no coming out.
The people in this world are sick and twisted, sometimes even more so than the monsters the brothers hunt, and no one ever thinks to take pity on the poor boys wandering the streets when they should be at home, sleeping or watching television or doing whatever it is that normal teenage boys do. There's no way they don't notice; they just don't care. In the end, you trust no one and you are left to fend for yourself. Sam thinks that he is lucky that he has Dean, of whom he can trust–is the only one he can trust, because he's also the only one who hasn't left yet.
"How much?" Sam smells his filthy breath between the few feet between them, and his smile tightens ever-so-slightly. He doesn't want to scare him away, or else there would be no more dinner, and he can't let Dean go without food–he's still growing, no matter how much he denies it, so he needs all he can get (and the funny thing is is that Dean says the exact same thing to him). He may be the little brother, but that doesn't mean he doesn't watch out for Dean as much as Dean watches out for him.
Sam and Dean are a team in the weirdest of ways, and somehow he doesn't really mind. It's nice to always have his brother beside him, whether it's on the street, in a crappy motel, or sleeping together in a stranger's bed.
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