Title: Seen And Not Heard
Author: Po (She Who Cannot Be Turned)
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Sam/Gabriel (mentioned, established), Dean/Castiel (mentioned, established)
Claim: Sam/Gabriel (Trickster)
Theme: Theme 06: 365
Prompt: 19. Years
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, or, you know, anything to do with them.
Summary: Sam felt like he was trapped in a bad Twilight Zone episode.
Word Count: 1,144 words
Warnings: Crack. Schmoop. And, given it's me: Randomness.
Author Notes: I recently kinda got hooked on de-aged fics. And decided to have a stab at one. This is the result. The title is from an old saying from the Victorian time, which went 'Children should be seen and not heard'. Sometimes, I think we should bring that saying back.
Had Sam realised that the witch they had been on the trails of had a similar sense of humour to his archangel partner, then Sam would probably (almost definitely) have thought about what he said before actually saying it.
Of course, had afore mentioned archangel partner not been included in the curse, then Sam would honestly have looked to him first as the culprit. Really, it screamed 'Gabriel'. Unfortunately, it had. And it had also hit Dean.
So now, he and Castiel were stuck dealing with a four year old and a five year old, one of which (amusingly, the younger child) still had full control of his archangel abilities, which Sam thought completely unfair. And so did Dean, apparently. Also? The animosity between the two was there no matter what their age.
"Dean, stop trying attack Gabriel. Gabriel, don't turn Dean's hair blue." Sam said, though he'd passed the stage of caring about fifteen minutes into Castiel leaving him to 'search for the witch'. Yeah right, cowardly angel.
"But, Sammy! Dean was bein' mean!" Gabriel whined, and Sam rolled his eyes upwards and stifled the sigh that wanted to escape.
"Weren't!" Dean huffed, back, which resulted in Gabriel sticking his tongue out at Dean, causing Dean to give a tiny (and adorable, not that Sam would admit that out loud) growl before he launched himself at Gabriel.
Gabriel, seemingly forgetting his ability to curse Dean six ways from Sunday in the light of four feet of unbridled kiddie anger, shrieked and flung himself under the bed Sam had been sitting on. Which, Sam would deny snickering at, out of sheer self-preservation should Gabriel ever found out.
The thing was, Sam had decided that it wouldn't have been that bad, really, it wouldn't, had they recalled their adult minds. But no. They hadn't. Actually, Castiel and Bobby both (Sam had caved and rang the man five minutes into the curse) expressed their confusion on how they'd lost their adult minds, but still actually retained their memories of who Sam and Castiel were. If not a little more innocent than their actual relationships. Sam was so very grateful for that. Gabriel was a handsy little bastard when he wanted to be. Even more so when he knew it was disturbing Sam.
Nothing would have been more disturbing than an overly affection four year old archangel.
Speaking of, Sam shot Dean a warning look, and then got off the bed to look under it to see if Gabriel was alright. He saw a tiny face with a mop of strawberry blond hair and huge tawny eyes staring back at him, and he smiled kindly.
"Gabe, come on, Dean won't hurt you, he promises." Sam said, and the eyes narrowed at him, probably not helped by the petulant little huff behind him from Dean. Sam never wanted kids. Ever. "Come out and Dean will apologise—"
"Won't! Sammy, you can't make me! Shan't and won't!" Dean exclaimed and Sam felt the warning sirens in the back of his mind that all parents must develop, that warned of impending temper tantrum.
"Dean…" Sam sighed, holding back a curse (he and Castiel had learnt that lesson two minutes into the curse) when he banged his head on the edge of the bed as he pulled back. Shifting to stay sitting next to the bed, Sam looked over at Dean with a raised eyebrow. Dean just huffed, pouted and crossed his arms across his chest.
"Shan't!"
"Dean…"
"No! Nononononononono!" Dean screamed and Sam just watched in stunned silence when Dean threw himself on the floor and started to kick his legs, screaming 'no' over and over again. Bit of an exaggeration really, in Sam's opinion. He only wanted the little br—Dean to apologise.
Now, Sam thought back to when he was Dean's age, which was a stretch, given the amount of damn years that had passed since, and he didn't actually recall ever throwing a tantrum like that. And he doubted Dean had done so the first time he was five. Possibly before Sam was born and everything went to shit. Or, the apocalypse really had gotten to Dean, and now the curse was the final straw. Either way, Sam little big brother had finally snapped.
In the most amusing way possible, if you ignored the approaching headache.
Sam jerked in shock when a small hand curled into his, and he looked to see Gabriel's head pop out from under the bed, fingers wrapped around Sam's thumb, whilst Gabriel's free thumb was in his mouth.
"So'wee." Gabriel whispered, and Sam smiled at him softly, before turning to Dean, who suddenly just went silent and stayed where he was lying, face pressed to the floor, arms and legs spread-eagled on the floor.
"Finished, Dean?"
"Yeh." Dean whispered mournfully and Sam moved to kneel by the bed, tugging Gabriel out and placing him on the bed, before he gently took his hand out of Gabriel's grip and walked to crouch next to his brother. Sam placed a hand on Dean's back and rubbed it, soothing Dean's little shuddering hiccups.
"Tired?" Sam asked, and Dean nodded, causing Sam to nod once and lift Dean up, tiny little body curling around him, snuffling as he nuzzled into Sam's shoulder. "Nap time, yeah?"
Dean nodded against his shoulder, and Sam looked over to where Gabriel was watching him silently, with big innocent eyes. When Sam looked at him, Gabriel nodded, thumb still firmly lodged in his mouth, and Sam stomped on the urge to cry in joy.
"Right, nap time then." Sam said, placing Dean, who was semi-unconscious already, on the bed next to Gabriel. He grinned when Gabriel lay down and Dean immediately latched on to him, causing the two children to curl around one another and fall to sleep pretty much instantly. "I am never letting you forget this."
Sam quietly placed the blanket over the two, and the smirked and took out his phone, snapping a couple of photos of the two, mentally cackling, and then placing his phone back in his pocket.
Now they just had to work out how to break the curse, before Sam broke one of their necks. He felt like he'd aged the same amount of years that Gabriel had lost in the couple of hours since they'd been cursed.
He truly hoped Castiel had succeeded in finding the witch, and wasn't just 'drinking a liquor store' to ease the pain. Because Sam would have liked an invitation if it was the latter.
End Note: This came out a little more adorable than I had thought it would. I kinda like it. And also mentally cooed at the thought of a tiny Dean and a tiny Gabriel cuddled up together fast asleep. I might have to do another story to follow this one. It was fun!
Second End Note: My mum has always told me that she thought my favourite word when I was four/five was 'shan't' thus, Dean gets to say it a lot. Ornery little shit.