i like wincest pairing, i won't lie. i also like mary/john canon and hate when people make them into giant assholes.

Title: Step-Brothers: Blood Doesn't Tie Us

Genres: Family / Friendship / Drama

Rating: T

Summary: Sam didn't want a new mom or brother but couldn't deny his dad happiness. With drama and problems, the Winchesters must learn to get along. Sam/Dean later

Warnings: Sam/Dean, Mary/John, het pairings, slash pairings, incest, cursing, Sam/others, Dean/others, homophobia, no hunting AU, family drama, epic length

2011

It was one of those odd, chilly days in August. Sam was sitting at his computer writing an email to a friend he hasn't seen since last year in middle school. He was nervous about going to high school a year early and was trying to explain it to Mike as best he could. Mike was already fourteen and was tall and lanky like how a teen should be. He claimed on graduation day last year he wasn't scared at the aspect of moving a grade up and Sam knew, a logical part of him somewhere in the far recesses of his mind knew, Mike was right not to be. High school should be exciting; a fresh new beginning, new people, including teachers, to befriend. But in a way, Sam still felt like a kid pretending to be a teen. He wasn't sure he'd fit in. He typed that in.

After a few more minutes of furious typing, he leaned back and reread the email in satisfaction before hitting 'send'. The time on the computer screen made him do a double take. It was 5:53 pm. But that couldn't be right unless his dad decided to be late again today. John Winchester was a police officer and sometimes his job took him overtime. But he promised he'd make it home early today. Today was a special day because Sam was finally going to meet his dad's new love interest. Sam felt disappointment rise in his gut at the thought that his dad might've cancelled the dinner. It wasn't really like Sam cared all that much who John was seeing as long as the woman made him happy.

John had been talking nonstop about this woman named Mary Campbell after all and usually Sam had never seen his dad make it through the first date with someone since mom–Sam's real mom–had gone. It made Sam a little intrigued who could possibly have affected his dad so deeply. John was pretty well known as a workaholic in these parts of Lawrence. Plus, if Sam remembered right from one of the many conversations that revolved around Mary, she had a son the same age as Sam. Although Sam had always kept mostly to himself when he was at home, he found himself wondering what Mary's son was like.

Was he shy or dorky? Or maybe he was outgoing and energetic? Was he smart like Sam? What did he like to eat? What was his favorite color? What was his favorite subject at school? Did he have a lot of friends?

Sam paused in his thoughts when he heard the doorbell echo through the house and knew immediately his dad didn't cancel the dinner date, he was just late, caught up in a bunch of paperwork and probably driving as fast as the speed limit allowed to get home. Sam would have to play the nice host until then, perhaps stall a bit with easy conversation. He took a deep breath before shoving off the chair. He could do that. He made his way down the stairs, thinking it'd actually been a good idea to heat up the pizza ahead of time in the oven. It wasn't a secret that Sam did most of the cooking in the Winchester household because John just couldn't. And even then Sam wasn't at all an expert in the world of cooking.

He heard the doorbell ring again and as he approached the door, he heard muffled voices on the other side, one distinctly male and the other female. At this point he was a hundred percent certain it was Mary Campbell and her son, Dean. His hands suddenly became sweaty at the idea of meeting them and setting off a good impression for his dad. He wished John would just hurry the hell up, speeding ticket be damned. Sam opened the door with little hesitance to see Mary and Dean stare right back at him, the former plastered with a kindly smile on her face while her son rocked on his heels looking slightly bored, like he didn't really want to be here but was enduring it for family. That was how Sam had felt earlier thinking about the idea, except he'd been at least a little bit curious too. His breath hitched a little as he stared at the boy, Mary's son.

Dean looked like a model, really. He had dark hair that looked dyed. Sam was almost positive his natural hair color was like his mother's, all long and dirty blonde that reminded Sam of an angel. It was short and spiked with loads of hair gel that Sam wondered why the goop wasn't running down in his face in streams. His green eyes stood out against the white of his skin and he noticed the splotches of freckles covering his nose. He wore an old beaten red leather jacket over a plain white tee shirt and blue cargo pants. There was a sudden cough that drew Sam away from his obvious staring with a flush on his cheeks.

"Hi, Sam. John told me a lot about you. He's been expecting us tonight. Can we come in?" Mary asked with a tinge of amusement in her voice that made Sam flush harder, like she just caught him red handed with his hand in a cookie jar.

He nodded, wavering in his spot, not trusting his voice to talk before stepping to one side and opening the door wider in invitation. Mary smiled her thanks as she moved inside and took her shoes off by the doorway. Sam hoped Dean wouldn't say anything to make matters worse, but judging from the crooked grin he was sporting, Sam knew his luck wasn't going to work that way at all tonight. He walked inside with deliberate long strides and as he passed Sam, he let his jacket brush against Sam's sleeve.

Sam gaped at him as he continued his way to the couch in the living room, flopping down and picking the remote up to channel surf like he lived here all along. A moment, which felt like an eternity, later Sam was still pressed against the door when he heard the familiar rumbling of his dad's car pull into the driveway. His heart which had picked up speed just a few moments ago started to slow as he watched John get out of the car and make his way to the house. He looked at Sam, confusion on his face before he noticed Mary coming to stand behind Sam, her hands gently touching his shoulders like she would her own son. He grinned and waved at her before pulling her down into a quick hug and kiss.

Sam turned to the other room and caught Dean's smirk. He groaned inwardly at the memory of what had just happened earlier. This was so not the impression he wanted to give to his dad's potential girlfriend's son.

A few months later

It was love at first sight. Dean personally didn't believe in that and if he didn't see it with his own eyes, he'd forever deny its existence, but what else could anyone call what it was that Mary and John had? He'd never ever seen his mom like this. She was head over heels for the dude and it was grating on his nerves to be honest. Dean couldn't see what she saw in John Winchester. He didn't understand what it was about him that made him oh so special to take his mom's heart right out of her chest without having to really do anything at all. Seriously. The guy was a klutz. He was a bumbling idiot that couldn't seem to get out the right words and would have to apologize all the time. While mom thought that was an endearing quality, Dean couldn't stand for it. The guy couldn't even cook. Whenever Dean was dragged to one of those dumb dinner dates of theirs, they had either take-out or Sam's cooking, and even Sam could barely cook any better than his old man.

And that right there was another thing, Sam. Sam was John's son. A runt kid that thought he was the top of the world. He was short and a few months younger than Dean and was in the same grade. He was Dean's friend and rival since they met. Much to Dean's surprise, they shared a lot of common interests and as much he hated to admit, while his initial impression of the kid wasn't all that great, Dean couldn't help but like him. He was quiet like Dean, kept to himself whenever he could but helped his dad like Dean helped his mom. He didn't complain once about doing chores whenever Dean was around and sometimes Dean found himself helping like washing the dishes after dinner, then they'd go upstairs and play some videogames on Sam's computer until Dean either had to go home or became bored. It was fun for a while.

It took a few weeks for the two to really call each other friends though. And then came September and school started back up. Dean had no problem with going to high school even if he was going to be younger than most people and besides, Sam was younger than him. He found out a few days before school actually began that Sam was nervous as hell. He fidgeted in his chair when Dean asked him what kind of book-bag he'd bought for school and what classes he hoped he'd get.

"You're all nerves man," he exclaimed from the bed he'd been lying on.

Sam straightened at once and if Dean didn't already see the nervous shakes and jitters, he never would've guessed Sam had a problem to begin with. But as it stood, Dean didn't miss a thing. And he wasn't going to let it go just because Sam felt uncomfortable. In fact this just made him all the more determined to be Sam's friend. It was known that bullies were in a lot of schools, not just high school but it was more common there because people migrated from pretty much everywhere and Sam was small and young, he made an easy target to insecure pricks. OK so Dean wasn't that much older or bigger but at least he took a few classes of Tae Kwon Do to indulge him a little over the summer.

"I am not," Sam denied instantly, which caused Dean to roll his eyes because he totally called that. "Seriously, Dean. I can't wait for school. Mike said he already got his schedule 'cos his mom's a teacher there and he's taking Trig and next year he gets to take Pre Calculus."

Dean made a small noise under his breath, impressed that one of Sam's friends was that smart. By junior year Mike would be taking college Calculus and Statistics. "That's pretty cool," he said honestly.

For the rest of the day they exchanged what kind of classes they'd want to end up with on their schedules. Then Sam, albeit reluctantly, took out his new lunchbox and book-bag to show Dean and Dean couldn't hold back his excitement and grin as he took in the batman logo stitched in the middle. What could he say? Sam clearly had great taste.

It wasn't until the middle of September that the real problems started. His mom and Sam's dad, John, were very much in love still and one Saturday night dinner date, he gave Mary a ring. They were officially engaged. While Dean didn't have much problem with it, was even happy for his mom, Sam rose from his chair with a loud clatter and everyone turned to look at him in surprise. He didn't say a word as he rushed up to his room and slammed the door. Dinner that consisted of Chinese take-out was promptly forgotten.

And ever since then friendship became nothing but a rivalry. Dean could barely even remember the reason why he wanted to be friends with the little jackass aside from the obvious. Every time he got a test paper back, Sam would glance over and then show his which would normally always be a little bit higher. If Dean got an eighty-eight, Sam got a ninety-two. If Dean got a hundred, Sam would say there were a couple bonus questions on the back and Dean would slump back in his seat as he took in the one hundred ten on Sam's test. It was annoying and infuriating at the same time.

Then in the middle of January, Mary and John got married and Dean and Sam became step brothers.

ONE

October 2012

Sam sighed as he entered the house with Michael in tow. He had an assigned project in history class to do in less than a week and Sam and Michael were partnered up for this. It wasn't that Sam didn't like Michael; in fact it was just the opposite. Mike had been Sam's best friend since middle school. But of all the people to be paired with…he just wished his friend took the class seriously. Sure Mike was an absolute genius with numbers, but the blonde never cared too much for reading. Half the time Sam looked behind him, he'd see Mike with a book opened pretending to read but was actually dead asleep. No one caught him though because he didn't snore and seemed to know when Mr. Connor was doing his little runs around the classroom.

And somehow, he managed to get passing scores on tests. Mike grinned and stretched out on the couch after he took off his shoes and book-bag. Sam watched in exasperation as his friend flipped from channel to channel before landing on some cartoons. It was only slightly annoying to see his friend making himself at home without waiting for Sam to tell him to. Sam felt his heart flutter a little as he compared the sight now to when he and Dean just met each other a year ago. Speaking of his step brother, he could hear some movements upstairs and rolled his eyes, knowing full well what Dean was doing.

He pushed his hair back and grabbed his friend's bag that was heavy with textbooks and papers and pens. He never really understood Mike's need to carry everything with him. Lockers were there for a reason. But as he came to realize last year, there were a lot more people that didn't bother to use lockers than he initially thought.

"C'mon, Mike. Let's go to my room," he said taking the remote away and shutting the TV off with the press of a button. Mike grumbled but hopped off the couch anyway.

They trudged up the stairs like reluctant soldiers on the way to the battlefield–Sam felt a little silly at the comparison but it was what it was. He saw Dean's tousled dark hair before they even made it half way. It was darker than usual today, bordering black. Sam remembered thinking that Dean's natural hair color was definitely blond like Mary's but it was getting harder to tell now because Dean always seemed to have a new hair color every other week. It was kind of strange. Sometimes it made Sam think of a girl trying all these new clothes, only this was his step brother trying all the colors of rainbow on his hair. Not once, though, did Dean ever turn his hair blond, at least not yet.

There was suddenly a moan and Sam froze in his tracks, Mike bumping into him a little but equally as tense. He shifted uncomfortably and peered back at his friend noticing that Mike had gone pretty quiet. Another low moan had Sam moving again, annoyance taking over the initial shock. Of course Dean just had to take his latest conquest home, in the hallway where anyone including dad and Mary could see them; including Sam and any one of his friends he wanted to have come over.

He fully intended to lecture his brother in front of his new girlfriend when he reached the top and he took in the sight before him with shock, the words dying instantly in his mouth. Sam gaped at his brother pressed up against a moaning male body. Dean looked up from nibbling down the teen's neck to smirk at Sam, taking in his surprise for a few moments before pale, muscular arms pulled his attention back to his current task. Then before Sam could say or do anything, Dean started to grind against the guy and the little sounds like whimpers and groans and moans ramped up a notch and filled the house like a porn movie. Sam couldn't take it, finally pulling his eyes away, dazed from the sight. He cleared his throat and scrunched his nose, tugging Mike to his bedroom without as much as a backwards glance. So what if Dean was gay and Sam had no idea until now. He had a damn project to work on.

Mike groaned for the umpteenth time as he lay on Sam's bed. It had been an hour since they came home and they could still hear Dean and that guy's activities from outside even though Sam had shut and locked his door ages ago. They still had to research some presidents then compare the accomplishments of each one and Sam hasn't moved from where he sat at his desk, his hands covering his ears in a vain hope to shut out the absurd noises his brother was making. He was really close to telling Dean to go somewhere else and not come back until he was at least a little bit more tolerable to deal with again but he already tried that half an hour ago and got nothing but condescension for his efforts.

"Just pick a president already," Mike suddenly snapped as he fixed a glare up to Sam's fan. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration as another grunt came through the closed door. "If I have to listen to anymore of this, and I'm really sorry Sam, but I'm out. Call me tomorrow if your bro ain't here." Sam watched silently as his friend got up to his feet, glancing briefly over to him and then to the door.

It wasn't like Sam could blame him. "Alright, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school," he said reluctantly, then thought to add, "I'm sorry."

Mike nodded an apology in his dark blue eyes. He pursed his lips. "Yeah me too." Sam didn't bother to watch as Mike headed out sullenly, his book-bag hanging crookedly over one shoulder. After a few minutes he heard the front door open and closed shut. His heart pounded in his chest as he snuck a glance past his door to see if Dean noticed anything. Dean was pressed against the wall now, groaning, but his eyes weren't shut with pleasure. They were wide open and completely focused on Sam. He grinned knowingly at him. Sam slammed the door finally realizing his step brother was doing all this on purpose.

Dinner came and went in a blur. Mary cooked lasagna tonight and while her cooking was always good, Sam just wasn't in the mood. Dad talked about work which was boring unless he had a case. He didn't today. And Dean…he was quiet. All he did was move his food around on his plate with his fork. Somehow no one said anything about how he shouldn't be doing that. Sam was about to lecture him but remembered how Dean made Mike leave early today and he stopped himself when he opened his mouth. If Dean didn't care, why should he?

He excused himself to the kitchen after taking a few bites from his own plate. Washing the dishes had always been a favorite pastime to Sam because it allowed him to think without interruption. Sam already had the water running when he heard footsteps behind him. Then more plates and glasses dropped into the sink and Sam turned to stare at Dean expectantly.

"What do you want, Dean?"

Dean shrugged and pulled out a sponge and dishwashing soap in the cabinet under the sink. "Mom and John are being boring so I figured I'd help you here."

"Thanks but no thanks," Sam snapped and snatched the sponge and soap from his step brother's startled hands.

"Well, geez, no need to be such a bitch. If you didn't want my help, you could've just said so like a normal human being," Dean said, leaning away as if Sam had some kind of contagious disease. The reaction only annoyed him further.

"I'm not being a bitch. You were acting like a jerk earlier anyway." He turned around and started to clean the plates.

"Me? How?"

Sam couldn't believe it. "What do you mean 'how'?" he asked incredulously. "You were deliberately trying to make Mike leave so he couldn't help me with my project today."

"Oh that. I didn't just 'try', I succeeded," Dean said matter-of-factly.

"Seriously? You really did that intentionally?" It felt stupid when it left his mouth but he couldn't take it back now. Sam wasn't sure at first what Dean's intentions were. He figured that Dean was just trying to get laid, not that he ever had a problem with his sex life. But when he saw his step brother's face earlier, Sam guessed the actual intention was to annoy the fuck out of Sam and his friend. He never thought the guess would've been spot on. Sure Dean could be a prick when he wanted to be, but usually he held off.

Dean shrugged; looking like the conversation was boring him now. "I've got a project too, 'member, Sammy?"

Sam turned to look at his brother hotly. "You scared away my partner so you stood a better chance to getting a better score than me?" He saw the flush on Dean's cheeks and wanted to smack him. "This was about rivalry?"

Now Dean glowered at him, cheeks coloring even more. "No! Not all of it," he hissed, getting in Sam's face. "Not everything has to do with you and beating you, OK?" Before Sam could get another word in, Dean huffed and stomped out of the kitchen. He wondered all night what the hell that was all about. And more importantly, how could he possibly have missed the fact that Dean wasn't even straight? Not that it was really any of his business, the fact that he hasn't noticed was just a little unsettling in his stomach.