Again, timeline/cases have been switched around for sake of storyline. Sorry if it's confusing lol.
Dean felt odd. Normally, he felt horny at times, usually at night when it was dark and quiet. Not like this. He was hot and almost delirious with lust twenty four hours. It was hard to hide from Sam and yes, pun intended.
As he finished his most recent bout of self-pleasure, he sat there feeling foolish. It wasn't that he minded pleasing himself, but not this often. It was getting ridiculous. And it was beginning to interfere with his work. He heard the door begin to open, leaping up to cover himself with a sheet. Sam's eyebrows rose a little, laughing as he watched him grab his clothes and run into the bathroom.
"You couldn't have done that in there in the first place?"
"I didn't think you'd be back this soon, okay?"
The younger man scoffed mirthfully, sitting down on a nearby chair as he set their dinner on the small table the motel provided. He noticed his brother had been acting funny recently. Dean still refused to see someone about the spell.
o
A week later he felt fine. By the time they had argued some more about Kevin and Dean had helped Benny out, things had gone back to normal seemingly. His increased libido was gone.
Yet, Sam found himself feeling different now. He wasn't as annoyed by Dean anymore and was slowly getting back into the swing of hunting. He still missed his former life, but it had only lasted a year so he supposed it was time to let it go. After all, each time the two attempted to live normally, something brought them back together without fail.
The brunette knocked on the bathroom door. "You ready to go? I think I've found us another case."
When it was silent, he added, "I know it's not about Kevin, but I think you'd be interested and it sounds like our kinda thing."
"Go without me."
Well, that was not was he was expecting. Especially from the hunt obsessed man who had recently had to survive everyday in Purgatory.
"Are you sick?"
The door opened, with Dean dressed in a towel. His hair was flat and slick, still wet from his recent shower. It looked like he'd just shaven too. Sam felt a weird sensation suddenly, not sure he liked it. Ever since that woman had touched Dean, he'd noticed things about him that he had ignored before. Small things—the way his eyes changed from light to dark green depending on the lighting, the funny way his eyes would crinkle when he was amused, the fullness of his lips.
Sam swallowed heavily, stopping himself right the hell there. Those were things he shouldn't be ever thinking about in regards to his kin. Dean was attractive and got a lot of attention for his looks. But he was not attracted to him. It was abhorrent for one thing, disturbing on another level. This was his brother.
"I think you're right. Hamburgers are catching up to me. Stomach's feeling funny." Dean said casually.
"Too much information."
"Well, you asked."
"Fair enough. I'm gonna go then, I'll check on you later."
"Wait. I'll go. I think I can manage. I've dealt with worse things than a stomachache."
"Cool. Let's go."
o
After their most recent hunt, the two stood drinking beer as they leaned onto the Impala. The silence was comfortable this time as they enjoyed their drinks outside. Sam looked over at the older man again. He usually did that, but found himself glancing at Dean far too often lately.
"What?" He snapped.
"Nothing. The view's nice." Sam looked at the forest, at the changing autumn leaves. Red, orange, and yellow blended together vibrantly and signaled that fall was here again.
"Yeah, it is."
Sam looked at him confusedly. Normally, Dean would mock him for admiring nature like a chick, or some other similar remark. Or he'd call him Samantha, whatever worked.
"Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you feeling well?"
"Are you my doctor? Lay off." He retorted, finishing off his beer.
"I think-!"
"That's your problem, Sam. You think too much." He scoffed.
"I'm just concerned."
Dean turned to look at him seriously, frowning a bit. "Thanks, but I'm fine. We should probably continue to track Kevin's location."
o
They did just that, mainly because of another witch named Delta who'd doublecrossed Mrs. Tran. She had called them frantically after Crowley had taken Kevin. Soon enough, they'd found him and the rest was history.
It had led them to first joining a case with Garth, followed by Cas who had somehow managed to escape from Purgatory. Then they had gone on to do a case involving live action role playing and joining a case with their grandfather Henry. So far, the angel himself wouldn't speak much about his time in Purgatory. He had only divulged to Dean that he had wanted to stay there, that he blamed himself for everything that happened with the Leviathans, and that Dean shouldn't blame himself.
"You're not responsible for everything." Cas' sharp words echoed in his head. "And you're not a failure, Dean. I stayed behind because I wanted to, I felt like I needed to be punished…perhaps you're not remembering things correctly, only as you wish to see them."
And so the angel had placed a hand to his forehead and showed him the true events of what went on as they were going through the portal. When the he saw the truth, he still felt awful about it.
Dean couldn't help himself. He'd taken on the role of mother, brother, and caretaker from a young age after his mom had passed away. He just wanted things to be okay, to keep people safe, to take care of them. That's what a good caretaker did. If he couldn't do that, he felt like a failure.
As they closed up the latest case, which had quite literally been looney and cartoon-like, they headed back to the motel. It had been just like an episode of Bugs Bunny. Only worse, because people had actually died. It left Dean feeling exhausted and wondering if maybe Sam had a point. They probably were getting too old for this crap.
"What's the matter?" Sam asked as he noticed Dean staring out of the window for too long. He looked deep in thought.
"I think now that I'm used to being back here, I'm finally starting to realize that I'm real tired of this." Dean murmured. "I hate to admit it, but you might have been right."
Sam's eyes widened as he walked over to him and felt his forehead. Dean pulled back, scowling as shoved his hand off. The taller man looked at him still like he was an alien which made him frown deeply.
"What, Sammy? I'm admitting you're right. You should be glad."
"Yeah…"
Dean's brow rose. "So, go back to Amelia. I'm sure she misses you. Cas and I can handle things. And Garth too, I guess."
Sam's jaw tensed as he shook his head quickly.
"There's things I didn't tell you about her. If I really thought I stood a chance at being happy with her longterm, I'd be gone by now. After making sure you were okay, of course." Sam said, shrugging.
"What happened?"
"Her father is what happened." Sam ran a hand through his hair, sitting down on the bed suddenly. He purposefully left Amelia's husband out of the details for now, not wanting to think about him. "He did not like me whatsoever. Reluctantly accepted me, actually. Only because Amelia had to beg him. He was gonna take her back home with him."
"Wow."
"I loved her, but at the same time I'm not sure we had much in common other than the fact that we were both drifters and had just lost somebody we loved." Sam seemed to realize his mistake, shooting up from the bed with a grin, "I mean, for me, it was obviously in a brotherly-!"
"Don't. I get it." Dean smirked, holding a hand up hastily. "No need to explain."
"When I meant love, I meant-!"
"As a brother. Please stop saying things now."
"Sorry. Look, Dean, it's just…I'm totally fine now. I don't like hunting, but at the same time I think the chance to live a normal life has passed by already and I should just accept it."
"Why do you think that? You're still young-ish. Go finish law school. Reconcile with Amelia. Be happy, Sam." Dean insisted. "Cas and I have the hunting thing covered."
"Sure, I'll leave." Sam nodded, smiling almost wistfully as he shoved his hands into his pockets, "But something will lead me back to you eventually. Always happens."
"God, you make us sound like soulmates, Samantha." Dean sighed heavily, shaking his head as he cracked open a beer.
"Shut up, Dean. I'm trying to be serious."
"So, you're staying?"
"May as well. If I'm meant to be with Amelia, it'll happen somehow."
"You believe in that destiny crap?"
"Sort of." Sam shrugged. "After everything we've hunted, destiny isn't farfetched."
"True. I didn't think aliens or fairies were real either, but…" Dean frowned, trying to rid of those memories as they rushed back to him, "Ugh, so weird. Our lives are weird."
"Tell me something I don't know."
Cas stepped into the room then, having just heard Sam's last statement. "Let's see, I once tried to-!"
"Rhetorical, Cas." Dean interrupted, smirking.
"Oh. I'm working on that." He apologized. "Mortals have such an odd sense of humor."
"Well, at least you're using the door now like a regular person. I'm glad you're not teleporting around anymore."
Cas frowned confusedly. "You specifically told me not to, so long as I hunted with you two."
"Again, not literal. That was a compliment."
"Right, yes." Cas nodded, giving him a smile.
Sam suddenly felt the need to be alone. "You guys, I'll be back soon. I'm gonna go for a walk."
"It's fifty degrees." Dean looked at the setting sun, "And it's almost winter. Have fun getting sick."
Sam rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine. I'm a grown man."
"I know, sorry. I keep treating you like a child, you're not a child."
"Clearly." Cas interjected, nodding.
Dean gave the angel a funny look, forever amused by the way he took everything literally. Still, he loved that about Cas. It made him oddly innocent, something that was difficult to find in adults. Cas was pure, he meant well, but damn he just didn't understand sometimes.
"Yes? You look troubled." The angel noticed as Sam left.
"Nah, just hungry. I'm gonna go get some burger and fries for us. Nothing for you, right?"
"I don't require food."
"Yeah, I knew that."
o
Dean held a burger in his hand, too hungry to wait until he got to the motel. He finished it off and worked on the fries as he walked towards the door. He noticed Sam not too far away, sitting on a bench by himself. He appeared to be sad. His lips were pulled into a deep frown, his eyes staring unseeingly at nothing in particular.
It made the hunter sigh. Dean knew he had a way of guilt-tripping people in staying with him, but he'd be damned if he kept dragging his little brother around any longer when he had both the smarts and the willpower to make a normal life work. Sam wasn't like other hunters plain and simple.
Dean figured he wouldn't be selfish anymore. He wouldn't hold onto Sam just because he didn't want to be alone. These days, he had Cas and Garth anyway. It was time for them to go their separate ways.
The older man dug something out of the car first before heading over to Sam. He dropped the bag of food by his side along with the acceptance letters in his lap.
"What's this, Dean?"
"You know." He said solemnly.
Sam stared at the law school acceptance letters blankly, setting them aside as he glanced up at his brother.
"I'm not going back to college. I'm staying with you." He repeated.
"You got pretty good scores on the LSAT's. I think you'll make a good lawyer." Dean said anyway. "You do like to argue your point, after all."
Sam scoffed amusedly. "So do you."
"Yeah, but I don't have your intelligence. You have a lot of wasted potential, Sammy."
"You're not dumb, you know. Just never applied yourself."
"Didn't feel like it. I had others things to worry about." Dean looked at him meaningfully and Sam understood. "I don't regret it, either. I just want you to be happy."
"What about you?"
Dean raised his hands defensively, smirking. "I'm good, man. I got beer, girls, hunting, and an angel and vampire I can call on. Pretty awesome, if you ask me."
"I guess so."
His smirk grew. "Anyway, you've been doing this a lot lately. These walks. Trying to avoid us, huh?"
"Three's a crowd." Sam shrugged, referring to Cas.
That wasn't the true reason. Dean could never know how he truly felt right now. Between being torn about Amelia and these weird feelings he'd been having since that spell, there was no way he could tell him about this.
Ever since that spell, he had felt differently about Dean. He'd always loved him, but whatever that witch did, it enhanced and heightened his feelings to a place they should only go to for, say, Amelia. It went past brotherly love. Sam was beginning to wonder if it was a love spell and perhaps it was meant for him. The girl had looked shocked after all when she touched Dean – she may have made a serious mistake.
"Huh." Sam smiled, suddenly realizing the problem. The witch had meant the spell for him clearly, probably to get him to fall in love with her or perhaps Amelia all over again. He didn't understand the logic behind the witch's actions. A love spell seemed odd to bestow upon either Winchester, because usually witches were out to get them. Hex bags and all.
Yet, why else would she look so horrified? People only wore that expression when they messed up something terribly.
So his feelings weren't real. Yet at the moment, they felt more than real and it was hard to simply ignore them.
"Sam, you okay?"
"Yeah." He ruffled through the bag next to him, "Thanks for the meal." He said as he began unwrapping the burger.
Suddenly though, he didn't feel hungry. Tossing it back, he sighed. Dean sat down next to him and peered in the bag.
"I know it's not a salad, but it's good."
"It's not that. I don't mind it, just not hungry."
"You mind if I take it then?"
Sam shook his head, laughing a little. "No, go ahead."
Yet Dean didn't eat. His green eyes stared at him like he was trying to solve an equation. Finally, he turned to meet his stare. Again, Sam was struck with these stupid new feelings. God, feelings were stupid. He admired the planes of Dean's abnormally symmetrical face. He really was beautiful. His eyes trailed from high cheekbones, to the light freckles that covered his cheeks and nose, to full pink lips.
Sam sighed internally. He really was going to hell at this rate, but this time because he deserved it. Then an idea struck him. He didn't know why he didn't think of it before, but maybe there was a way to track that girl down. Cas could probably figure it out, somehow. It was worth a shot.
"Sam…?"
Their eyes met and it became awkward suddenly. Dean cleared his throat and looked away, before side-eyeing him with a frown. Sam leaned over slightly, about to apologize for his odd behavior, when suddenly the distance between them closed a little too rapidly and their lips met gently.
They instantly broke away, both their hearts beating way too fast. Dean took a couple deep breaths, wiping his mouth as he looked anywhere but the man next to him. Sam stood immediately, cheeks flushed red as he grimaced.
"Dean, I-!"
"Don't. Say. Anything." He warned, gritting his teeth angrily.
Sam sighed heavily as the older man walked back to the motel not far from where he stood. He swallowed heavily. He knew he needed to retrieve his things, but he didn't want to face him again. Gathering his courage, he finally walked back minutes later and opened the door hesitantly.
Cas sat on the bed watching television, peering at it as though it were the most fascinating thing ever. His blue eyes never once broke away from the screen to look at him.
"Some of these programs are very entertaining." Cas said finally, but still kept his eyes glued to the show he was watching.
"Yeah." Sam said tightly, hurriedly packing some of his things. "Where's Dean?"
"In the bathroom. Hasn't come out for awhile." Cas said distractedly. "He seemed upset."
"Oh." Sam stuffed his laptop in his bag, trying to stay calm. "Tell him…just tell him goodbye for me."
"Of course." Cas turned finally, perplexed. It sounded very final. "Are you coming back?"
"No."