A/n: Another chapter! As I said uploads for this will be slow. Also, I feel the need to warn you there will be some drug use in this chapter, just marijuana, not like I'm turning the boys into crackheads.

("Hah! You may think I'm a hardhearted black sock, but underneath this dark woolly exterior is a naked, pink foot!")

Sam jerks awake when he feels something pressing against his chest. The young man looks around the room for a moment, startled. He feels the pressure against him again and he looks down, frowning. It's Dean, snuggling into his chest and pressing into him. He has a blanket pulled up to his face and wrapped up in his arms. His fingers twitch a little and he hums quietly in his sleep, seeming to settle down again. This is weird for Sam. He glances over to the clock on the bedside table, the glowing numbers announcing that it is around six in the morning. With a groan he lets his head fall back down into the pillows.

He looks back down to his brother and cocks his head to the side. Sam knows that Dean can be a bit of a sleep cuddler if the way he hugs his pillows at night is any indication. And way back when they used to share a bed when they were little Dean would wrap himself around Sam, keeping him close at night. But Sam has never woken up to find Dean snuggling up to him like this, putting him in a position to be the one doing the holding.

With a quiet sigh he lifts his hand, running his fingers through the older man's hair. He's a little surprised by how soft it is. His eyes drift from his brother's face down to his shoulder and he frowns, moving his hand to gently run his fingers over the cuts. He's seen his brother with all sorts of horrific injuries but somehow these cuts, as small as they are scare him the most. They've scabbed over now but he can still remember how they felt before, his brother's skin freshly split open and bleeding. He shudders.

How could Dean want this?

He wraps his arms around Dean and holds him tightly to his chest. The young man lowers his head to nuzzle the top of his brother's head. He doesn't know why he does it. It's just a sudden urge to keep him close.

"Dean…" he whispers quietly. "You're not alone… please let me help," he softly begs.

He falls asleep like this, holding Dean close.

("Revenge? You? I am SMAUG! I kill when I wish. I am strong, strong, STRONG! My armor is like tenfold shields! My teeth like swords! My claws, spears! The shock of my tail, a thunderbolt! My wings, a hurricane! And my breath, Death!")

When Sam wakes up again Dean is gone. He panics for a moment and jumps out of bed, throwing open the door so harshly that the coyote skull on the door almost goes flying off. The man storms toward the living room, worried until he hears the TV and sees his brother sitting on the couch staring at it. It takes a moment for him to realize just what it is his brother is watching, though and it's slightly surprising when he starts to figure out what it is. It's a cartoon for one and there is a unicorn that is in a cage, talking to a man in blue robes and wearing a pointed hat. Sam wrinkles his nose. It looks vaguely familiar and it takes him a moment to come up with the name but when he does he laughs loud, long, and hard.

"Dude! Are you watching The Last Unicorn?" Sam asks, grinning when his brother jumps off the couch and tries to hide the TV with his body. "You totally are!"

"Shut up! My relationship with this unicorn is none of your business," Dean pouts, staring at his brother through narrowed eyes for a moment before plopping back down on the couch and going back to his movie.

Sam perks a brow and moves to sit beside his brother, head tilting to the side. A breeze flows through the open windows and makes him shiver. It also makes him realize that he's just in his boxers. When he looks at Dean he frowns, noticing that his brother's eyes are red and half lidded. He reaches out to cup his brother's cheek, making his brother face him.

"Have you been crying?" he asks, frowning at his brother who just stares at him blankly for a minute then laughs.

"No, I haven't been crying, Sammy," he says, shaking his head and then turning to look at the TV again.

"Then what's up with your eyes being so red?" Sam asks, his frown deepening. Dean doesn't answer and just smiles a little.

Sam lets it go and just looks up at the TV. It has been a long time since he's seen this movie. He remembers watching it once when he was little and he remembers Dean complaining about how girly the movie was. Apparently Dean didn't mind it as much as he let on back then. A quiet humming noise suddenly disrupts the silence that he and Dean have fallen into and then he feels his brother flop against him, leaning heavily into his body and laughing. Sam gives his brother a funny look and Dean just looks up at him, all wide eyed and biting back chuckles.

"Dude… what the hell is wrong with you?" he asks, pushing Dean back and looking at his brother worriedly. He touches his head, checking for a fever. He doesn't find one but it doesn't make him feel any better.

"Nothing, Sammy," Dean replies leaning back from his brother's hands and then diving between his arms so that he can hug his younger brother. "You're so warm…" They stay like that for a moment. Dean holding onto Sam and Sam confused as hell. Then Dean suddenly lets go and jumps up, grinning until he starts to fall down again. The man blinks stupidly as he falls back onto the couch and then he laughs.

Sam thinks that Dean has finally lost his mind.

Slowly the older Winchester gets up and stumbles toward the kitchen. He shuffles around in there, peeking into the pantry, then the fridge. Sam watches from the couch as his brother leans into the refrigerator and pulls out a bag of red apples. He keeps watching as Dean comes back, sits down, takes out an apple, and then tears into it like he's starving. Before he knows it the first apple is gone, save for the core and Dean is working on his second one, staring at the TV.

Sam has never seen Dean like this and it's scaring him a bit.

"Dean… Dean are you sure you're alright?" Dean blinks at him then smiles and nods, cheeks bulging with bites of fruit.

"M'fantashtical," he mumbles around the apple and Sam really knows that something is wrong now because his brother just uttered the word fantastical.

The gargantuan man rises to his feet quickly and starts looking around the room, eyes wide. There has to be something supernatural at work here. Maybe Dean got it wrong. Maybe things do happen here. He starts looking for anything, hex bags, sulfur, anything! Dean watches him from the couch and tilts his head to the side, seeming curious about what his brother's doing. It isn't until Sam drops down to his knees and starts to check under the couch that he sees it.

His eye twitches as he reaches under the couch and grabs the bag.

His head tilts to the side as he opens it, looking inside at the dried, green buds.

"Dean is this… You… But… What?"

Sam just can't get his hand around the fact that he is staring at a bag of weed. A bag of weed. A bag of fucking weed! He looks up, and an ashtray catches his eye. There is a lighter beside it and the stubbed out remains of a joint resting in the ashes. Dean just stares down at him then sighs softly, like his brain is finally catching up with what is going on.

"Are you going to get all pissy about every self indulgent /self medicating thing I do?" he asks sourly.

Sam just stares at him for a moment.

"Well if it's bad for you, yeah!" he exclaims. Dean pouts.

"S'not bad for me…" he mumbles petulantly. "I bet you've never seen me eat this much fruit in my life…. I wouldn't either! But I'm hungry… and everything tastes so good…" he says, digging into another apple and quickly eating it down to the core, completely careless of the juice dripping down his chin.

Sam stares again. He takes a deep breath and then pinches the bridge of his nose.

"How long has this been going on?" he asks, tossing the baggie onto the coffee table and moving to sit on the couch beside his brother who just shrugs and starts twisting the stem off yet another apple. He thinks Dean might be trying to go for some sort of world record.

"I only smoked when I lived with China Cat. Never before, never after. Can you imagine me smoking this while I was hunting? I would be dead," he answers, biting into his apple. "I don't know what you're getting so worked up about anyway. It's not like you've never done it, College Boy," he says, smiling.

Sam doesn't smile.

Dean stares at him for a little bit.

A thought occurs to him.

"You've never?"

"No!"

"Then why did you go to college? That is where you do this sort of stuff. You drink a lot, get high, and party!" Dean protests.

"I went there to learn, Dean! Remember?" Sam says, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing quietly.

Dean wrinkles his nose.

"Well that's stupid…" he states, watching his brother for a moment before sighing some.

"Okay, Sam. You really don't want me smoking at all?" he asks tilting his head to the side. "I'll stop if you really want me to," he says quietly.

Sam wrinkles his nose a little but shrugs his shoulders.

"How did China Cat even get you to start… Never seemed like something you would do…" he says quietly, watching his brother who smiles a bit then laughs quietly.

"It isn't like I hadn't gotten the offer before, ya know, while we were in school I just always said no. I didn't like the idea of being high when I was supposed to be helping dad or taking care of you. That and I was pretty sure that if dad caught me he'd kill me…" Dean starts to explain, shrugging his shoulders. "But you know, while I was here I didn't have to do anything. China Cat was the one taking care of me and one day I was stressed and wanting to… you know…" he looks down, then and everything is quiet, except for the TV. "Anyway… I was getting worked up about that and she asked if I trusted her and I said I did. She rolled a joint and told me just to breathe in while she breathed out. I didn't get it at first but then she got all close to me and put her lips just over mine and when she blew smoke into my mouth I inhaled. We did that until her joint was gone and I felt great…"

He chuckles quietly and rubs the back of his neck after that. Things are quiet and Dean is looking up at the TV again and Sam is watching Dean. The older man seems more tense than he was when Sam woke up this morning. With a sigh Sam runs his fingers through his hair and glances down at the baggie.

"What is it like?" he asks and Dean looks at him and shrugs.

"It… It's hard to describe. I mean I just don't really care about much of anything. Like when I hugged you earlier. Later on I'm probably going to look back at that and be embarrassed but right now I don't really care at all. It makes things easier. When China Cat and I did it together it really was a bonding experience, you know?"

Sam watches his brother's eyes light up a bit, though they're still pink and a little glassy. There's a spark in them and he can't remember the last time he saw Dean smile so wide.

"I mean she and I would just sit and talk about everything for so long… I mean some stuff didn't make sense at all but other stuff…" he pauses and shrugs his shoulders. "I would talk about you, dad, and mom, Bobby."

The little flair of jealousy that Sam feels, he tries to tell himself, is completely normal! His brother has been going out and getting high with some girl he barely knows and telling her everything! He feels like Dean should be able to talk to him just as easily without the social lubricant. But it seems like that's just not how it's going to work. With a little growl of annoyance he reaches out and snatches up the baggie of weed, tossing it into Dean's lap.

"Fine. If you think it'll help us talk and shit then roll us a joint," he says gruffly, jealously and irritation at his inability to help his brother where China Cat could fueling his decision making.

Dean looks up at him a bit startled and shrinks back some. For the first time Sam can think of Dean looks a bit scared and small. The anger and frustration he feels lessens some and the tension eases from his body. Dean frowns.

"Are you mad at me, Sammy?" he asks quietly, sounding surprisingly sad and easy to hurt. Sam guesses he really just doesn't care about keeping up a tough front at the moment.

"No. I'm not mad at you. I just… you to be able to talk to me like you did with her. I want to be able to help you too and I'm willing to try anything to do it," he says firmly, Dean blinks at him a few times and shifts in his seat.

"You know you don't have to… And if you really want me to stop I will," Dean assures and Sam just sighs quietly and shakes his head.

"No. Roll one. I said I was willing to try anything and if it helped you and China Cat… Well," his voice fades and Dean watches him for a moment before nodding.

He slides off the couch and sits in front of the coffee table. It takes a moment of searching but eventually he finds a small package with the words Joker and 1¼ with a picture of a harlequin on it. From his seat on the couch Sam watches his brother a joint for them. There is a little apprehension that makes him shift uncomfortably but he's too stubborn to back out of this now.

"So… You want the first hit or what?" Dean asks, perking a brow as he holds the rolled and twisted piece of paper in his fingers, lighter in his other hand.

"We can do it the way you and China Cat did," Sam responds. Truthfully the closer he gets to actually smoking this thing the more nervous he is getting.

Dean shrugs and puts the joint between his lips and lights, like a cigarette, Sam things. Then Dean inhales and gets up onto the couch. He kneels on the cushion beside Sam then leans over him and he keeps leaning down and down and down until his lips are hovering just over his brother's.

Oh yeah… Sam didn't really think about this part being awkward.

When Dean parts his lips and starts gently blowing against his lips Sam opens his mouth and breaths in.

It's strange. He can't taste the smoke as much as he thought he would be able to. But he can taste Dean. They aren't touching anywhere but their mouths are hovering so close together. Sam can taste the apples on his brother's breath and when his stomach does a little flip-flop that he can remember from the first time he kissed a girl he liked. His first thought is just one word:

Fuck...

("No. My lady, I am a hero. Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns my go unrescued for a long time, but not forever. A happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.")

Dean smiles as he stretches out on the couch, head on his brother's lap as he watches his movie. Upon Dean's insisting that Sam see 'The Last Unicorn' too they restarted the movie after they finished smoking and dragged out every bit of snack food that they could find. Sam is humming quietly to himself, rubbing his fingers in small circles on Dean's scalp.

And he thinks this is nice.

He likes relaxing like this and just watching a movie with his brother, even if the seating arrangements are a little awkward. Or they would be if he really cared. Sam looks down when he feels Dean rub his cheek against his thigh and shift a little bit, eyes half lidded.

"Prince Lir reminds me of Dad," Dean says quietly, absently rubbing his cheek against Sam's leg.

"How?" Sam asks, wrinkling his nose. He can't see his father in the Prince. He's just too… nice. Not that John Winchester was an awful man it just seemed to Sam that he was very strict and not always the kindest man you could find.

"You might have heard it earlier before we restarted the movie. His little speech about how happy endings don't come in the middle of the story. It makes me think of Dad…" Dean says softly, looking up at Sam who looks a wee bit confused. "I mean think about it. The whole him hunting the Yellow Eyed Demon, that is his unabandonable quest! And the reason he never stopped and let us settle down is because it wasn't time yet… He hadn't avenged his unicorn!"

Sam thinks it is kind of awesome his brother just came up with that analogy. And his childish excitement over comparing their parents to the prince and the unicorn is… interesting. Somehow childishness in an adult like this… It's sweet but also a little sad. Sam smiles, though and nods his head in understanding, watching as the unicorn lets the magician that helped her escape from Mommy Fortuna free of the tree that he brought to life.

"I…" Sam starts slowly, "don't really remember mom so I don't know if she really is anything like the unicorn but I think you're kinda like her," he says and Dean turns his head to look up at him, eyes wide and a little confused.

"How am I like the unicorn?" he asks, wrinkling his nose. Sam looks down at his brother and opens and closes his mouth a couple times.

It's on the tip of his tongue. The words he wants to use to describe his brother and how it matches up with the unicorn are in his head. He just can't seem to get them to come out of his mouth, like they're shy or something. In the end he just whines and pouts a little bit, his hand moving to lightly stroke over his brother's side.

"You just do," Sam says as he drags his fingers along the small valley between Dean's ribs and his hips. When he does Dean lets out a surprising noise, like a squeak crossed with a squawk and a yelp.

And then he jerks under his brother's hand and tumbles off the couch. For a moment Sam is startled and then when Dean gets his knees under him and sits on his heels, looking up with eyes wide and surprised and hair all tussled up he can't help but laugh. He laughs long and hard and deep and his ribs start to hurt so he wraps his arms around them and gasps for air. At first Dean pouts but then he smiles and crawls between the V of Sam's legs.

Sam's laughter dies slowly after that and he just looks down at his brother, smiling fondly as Sam wraps his arms around his waist and presses his cheek against his stomach. Dean's cheek feels warm and he reaches down to run his fingers through the man's short hair.

"You a little ticklish there, Dean?" he asks, snorting when his brother leans into the hand touching his hair but shoots a glare up at him.

"Shut up…" Dean mutters, snuggling back down into Sam's stomach and closing his eyes.

They are quiet for a little while and Sam gently rubs his large hand over Dean's hair, eyes half lidded as he watches the movie. He wonders if Dean still is or if he's fallen asleep. Sam glances down, noting his brother's eyes open, though half lidded and tuned onto the screen, watching as the unicorn is changed into a woman.

"So… You think Dad's like a prince?" he asks finally. He isn't sure what prompts it. Dean hums against his stomach and shakes his head a little.

"More like a knight. And I'm his squire," Dean nods decisively and Sam perks a brow.

"What does that make me? The page?" he asks, only a little surprised that Dean would know the steps of becoming a knight.

Dean turns his eyes up to his brother, looking surprised. Then he smiles softly and pushes himself up to his feet, leaning in to kiss Sam's forehead. He nuzzles his brother's nose a little then leans back and shakes his head.

"No. You're the prince, baby boy," he says softly.

Even in this state of mind Sam doesn't fail to see that Dean puts himself at the bottom of the totem pole.

("Ah, you're awake. I was hoping you'd cry out in your sleep, then I would have bitten your head off to silence you.")

A/n: There see now, that wasn't so bad. The quotes used for linebreaks in in this chapter are from the following movies: 'Mirror Mask'. 'The Hobbit' (1977 version). 'The Last Unicorn' (I know! I used one from them in the last chapter but I really love this movie). 'Princess Mononoke'.