AN1: This little bit of silly was inspired by another little bit of silly that was hinted at during the episode Baby and later revealed during the gag reel. I had commented to my lovely betas, Kailene and LoveThemWinchesters, how I thought it was funny as hell, but totally out of character for Dean. The more I thought about it, though, the more I wondered. We've seen Dean be silly in the past; usually when he's trying to get a reaction out of Sam. What if…

AN2: The dialogue comes from the episode (thank you, SupernaturalWiki) written by Robbie Thompson. Damn, I'm going to miss him.

For You, I'd Play the Fool

Sometimes it's worth making a fool out of himself just to see his brother smile, just to hear something come out of his mouth that resembles a laugh, even if it is at his own expense. He'd been the cause of so much of his brother's sadness and pain, this past year. It would feel amazing to finally be the cause of some happiness, instead.

And if this doesn't do it, he's pretty sure not much else will.

"Hey."

"Hey," he responds, casually going about his task as if he's not holding his breath just a little.

"Dude, what's up with the shorts?"

There it is, a subtle little snort of a laugh pushing the words out of his brother's mouth.

Dean looks over his shoulder, catches the growing smirk on Sam's face as it digs deeper dimples into his cheeks, and gives himself a mental pat on the back.

It's not a full-on belly laugh—Sam would probably do internal damage if he were to cut loose like that—but it's mission accomplished as far as Dean's concerned.

Outwardly, he quips back indignantly, "It's a free bunker," and Sam gives him back a little snort of humor.

Dean dunks his sponge back into the sudsy water, hiding his smug smile before it can give him away.

"Did you find anything?" he asks. He hates to weigh down the mood, but he figures Sam probably wouldn't have come down to the garage if he didn't have some information to share.

Sam grabs the other sponge from the bucket, and sets to work washing the windshield on the passenger side. "Uh... Not on the Darkness. No."

"What about Metatron?" Dean asks as he works his way across the driver's side of the hood.

"Still in the wind. No leads."

"Great. So we have an ancient evil out there somewhere, just getting stronger by the day."

Dean shoves his sponge back into the water in annoyance and applies it to the bumper, planting his left hand on the hood and leaning over to reach around the headlight.

"Cas is getting better, so there's that. Still wants to fix your, uh..."

Sam's voice trails off, and when Dean looks up at him over his shoulder, Sam quickly ducks down to re-wet his sponge. There's a slight flush to Sam's face; even his long hair can't hide how he's trying not to laugh.

"I'm fine," Dean says with a chuckle of his own. "Fine. 100%."

He's tempted to shake his denim-clad ass just to see what reaction that might get him.

When Sam straightens, he has regained some control over his face. He's smiling; apparently, he's enjoying this game as much as Dean is.

"All right," Sam says, "well, he's not. He still needs more time to heal."

"We'll... Guess we got nothing to do but get better. I don't know about you, but... I've got some serious cabin fever. I've washed every car in here twice."

"Well, I may have found us a case, " Sam says hesitantly. "I mean, it's thin—"

Dean tosses his sponge into the bucket and grabs the hose off the floor, brazenly giving his brother a full view of whatever part of his legs those shorts aren't covering.

"Hey, thin works. Tell me on the way."

He quickly rinses the suds off the Impala, and wipes her down with a soft cloth, careful to get every drop. When he's done, he's surprised to see that Sam hasn't left; he's just leaning against wall, waiting.

He starts to chuckle as Dean walks toward him, his eyes bright. When Dean throws a little swing into his hips, Sam throws his head back and laughs.

It's the best sound Dean has heard in a long time.

"Dean?" he says still chuckling.

"Yes, Sam?" Dean answers smugly.

"Do me a favor."

"What?"

"Get changed first."

"Spoil sport."