It was always Dean. Always.
This time, Sam was four, just a young boy, his mind up in the clouds. Dreams far too big for anyone to reach, but no one told him that.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Dean asked.
Him and Sam had been messing around, jumping from couch to couch and pretending they had super powers.
"Superman!" He squealed, jumping off the table he was currently on his fist out. Sam landed on his stomach on the floor, groaning in pain but he giggled anyway.
It was two years later, Sam still a young boy at six years old, with no idea of what the world really had in store for him.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Dean asked.
Sam stopped coloring for a minute. He smiled when he thought of it, his wide smile and dimples showing how proud he was of his new career choice. "I want to be a mechanic, like Uncle Bobby."
Not even Dean cared that Sammy couldn't quite pronounce mechanic correctly yet.
Another two years passed and Sam had just learned about what really crawled around in the dead of the night, waiting for naive little children like he was only a day ago. It had all happened so quickly, the silver knife under his pillow, the salt that lay in his nightstand. He was terrified and really hadn't had a chance to process things but that didn't stop dad.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Dean asked.
Sam's smile fell, his shoulders slumping slightly and his eyes turning to the floor.
"Normal," came his response.
Dean didn't ask again until Sam was fifteen. Things had changed so much between them. Sam had grown up, Dean had too. They were hunters now, tagging along on hunts with their father, taking down things that haunted others. So when Dean asked again, it came as a surprise.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Dean asked.
Sam's first thought was to reply sarcastically, to tell him that he was already grown up. His second thought was to say 'a hunter' because realistically, he knew there was no getting out. But Sam wanted to be honest. For the first time, he wanted to tell Dean what he really wanted.
"You," he says.