House of Burden
By Maygin
Summary: Within its walls lives a family that has never been touched by hate, fire or the Supernatural… but for one.
Thank you so much for the reviews guys!! I recognize a lot of your names so it's really awesome to know I've got some friends who've read some of my other stuff and still come back for more ;) I think someone mentioned that they weren't too sure about the relationship between Dean and Sam, and I totally understand that – however because they grew up without the need to be dependent on each other for everything, they obviously won't be as close as they are in canon. But I assure you, it will change as the story progresses because come on, seriously? That's my favorite thing about the boys too :)
This is written for ObuletShadowStalker for a prompt she suggested for the SFTCOL(AR)S Round 2 Challenge. Thanks to AnickaMarie for keeping me within the realm of proper grammer ;)
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light." --Helen Keller quotes
Chapter 3
Five hours. Five hours and twelve minutes later he was shuffling across his backyard again. Dryad done and dealt with. The children of Lawrence, Kansas could happily frolic amongst the trees of Melber Park once more. He shifted his bag on his shoulder, grabbed the thick branch above him and lifted a leg to swing himself up.
"Having fun?"
Sam's fingers slipped and he stumbled into the tree's trunk, wide eyes searching the dark back yard for the person who'd caught him. "Dean?"
Dean sat leaned back in a lawn chair carefully balanced on two legs, his head resting against the house's paneling along the outer wall. Sam immediately noticed the completely smug look on his brother's face.
He let out a relieved breath, sending suggestions to his heart to calm the hell down and with a defeated gait, slowly walked toward Dean.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I'm not the one climbing up a tree at four in the morning." Dean responded casually.
Sam held his hands out in annoyance. "Don't you have an apartment you're supposed to be living in?"
"Why go there when there's so much entertainment to be had here?"
Sam let out a weary sigh, he really was exhausted – Dryad's weren't exactly pixies. He let his backpack drop to the ground and adopted a subdued posture. "What do you want?"
Dean watched him a moment more. "What makes you think I want anything?"
"What, you're just out here to prove a point? To get me in trouble is that it?"
Dean's eyes narrowed and he slowly lowered his chair back to the ground. "And here I thought we had nothing in common."
Sam shifted to his other hip and stared at the wall behind his older brother. "What's that?"
Dean gestured up and Sam found himself lifting his gaze to his open window, curtains blowing in the slight breeze of the early, early morning. "I used to climb out the tree in the front."
Sam looked at his brother a moment before a small grin worked into one corner of his lips and he huffed. "That tree is hardly climbable."
Dean nodded with a grin of his own. "Just goes to show how completely desperate I was."
Sam's grin faded, a familiar hollow feeling digging into his chest. "If you were so desperate to get away from here then why do you keep coming back?"
"I wasn't desperate to get away from here Sam. I was desperate to get out into the world, see what it was… what it had to offer." Dean shrugged, his gaze moving across the tall white fence that lined their back yard. "What I had to offer it."
Sam was entranced. He'd never heard anything so sincere and naked come out of his brother before; at least never directed toward him… not for a long time anyways. He couldn't drag his eyes away at Dean's far away look, his brother's eyes finally finding his. Then Dean smiled suddenly.
"I'm just messin with ya. I was totally out getting drunk and having sex."
It took a moment for Sam's brain to catch up with him. And when it did, he felt like a complete idiot for ever having thought he was having an actual moment with his older brother. Dean's chuckling did nothing to dissuade his anger.
"You are such a jackass!" he hissed, still aware his parents were sleeping peacefully behind the closed window above them to his left. He snatched up his bag and turned back toward the tree.
Dean snorted, "You're still gonna climb back in?"
Sam didn't bother turning around as he shouldered his bag. "I locked my door from the inside."
"Ah," Dean gave a knowing nod, "Still haven't found mom and dad's copies of the room keys huh?"
"What are you even doing here Dean?" Sam asked, his annoyance and embarrassment getting the better of him.
Dean shrugged non-chalantly. "Just wanted to make sure you weren't doin any drugs or anything stupid like that."
"Seriously?"
"Hey, I'm not here to stop you from doing whatever weird shit it is you're involved in… just to make sure you don't do anything stupid."
"Thanks," Sam sneered.
"You're welcome." Dean grinned and gave him a little wave. "Have fun climbing."
Sam shook his head and grabbed onto the branch, paused and then turned back toward his brother. "Are you just gonna sit there and watch me climb into my room?"
Dean's bottom lip puckered. "Gotta make sure you don't fall."
Sam huffed and then pulled himself up onto the branch, ignoring the 'helpful tips' his brother whispered loudly as he climbed from branch to branch. When he stumbled into his room he had to keep himself from slamming the window down, but he did lock it and pulled the curtains closed. He dumped his bag on the floor and sat on his bed for a moment, trying to calm his nerves and come to grips with the entire day.
He couldn't help himself as he leaned forward and pulled back one corner of the curtain, peeking around it. Dean was gone, along with the lawn chair. And for some reason, he didn't understand why that thought suddenly brought back the hollow feeling. He let the curtain slide shut again and then let his upper body fall backwards onto his bed, closing his eyes.
TBC…
(A short chapter but I'm including chapter 4 too and it's a bit longer. Hope it's still everything you want ObuletShadowStalker)
