Thanks to everyone who reviews and/or reads this, I really appreciate it! BTW, like I said earlier I'm not American, so if there's anything in any chapter that is wrong, please tell me, like the driver's license or whatever. Thanks! Enjoy!

Swearing and some abuse in this chapter, don't read it you don't like.

Dean avoided people as best he could after school ended, keeping his head down and ignoring sniggers and comments. He felt like punching them, but knew it would get him nowhere. As he left the school building, he heard a familiar voice call his name from behind him. He stopped and turned to see Sam running up to him. He skidded to a stop beside the older teen.
"You okay?" he asked, genuine concern in his voice. Dean smiled.
"I'm fine, I can handle some comments," he replied.
They walked away from the school together, mostly in silence, until they reached the fork in the road where Sam had disappeared last time. The pair stopped.
"I should go," Sam said.
The kid turned to go, and a thought suddenly came to Dean's mind.
"Hey, uh, you wanna come over?" he asked.
Sam looked at him, and Dean saw something in his eyes. Something that made him realise he'd said the right thing.
"Really?" he sounded shocked.
"Yeah, if your parents don't mind."

Sam didn't say anything for a moment. He was trying to process the fact that someone was being nice to him, was being a friend. He hadn't expected Dean to step in earlier during the fight, and he certainly hadn't expected this. He smiled a little, and pulled out his phone, forgetting the bruises that circled his wrists could now be seen. He called home and waited for his mother to pick up.
"Hello?" a familiar voice said, and Sam froze. He felt the blood rush from his face and he blinked. He hadn't wanted to hear that voice.
"Hey, uh, Jason..." he trailed off. He didn't want to piss him off, but he didn't want to lose Dean as a friend. Not when this was the first friend he'd had in years.
"What do you want? You better not have gotten into trouble at school..."
"No. I was gonna go over to a friend's place," Sam said, his voice shaky.
"Like hell you are. You get your ass back here." Sam could tell from the slurred words that Jason was drunk, which meant his mother wasn't home and wouldn't be for quite some time.
"I'll see you tonight then. I don't know when."
"Sam..." the tone was low, warning, dangerous.
He wasn't sure what had gotten into him. Just yesterday he wouldn't have defied his stepfather like he was now. But something had changed. Sam ended the call and shoved the phone back in his pocket, knowing with a growing sense of dread that when he eventually did make it home, the bruises he had today would be nothing compared to what he'd get tonight.

Dean tensed when he saw the thin purple-yellow bruises around Sam's wrist. Sam didn't seem to realise, and when he ended the call he shoved his hands back into his pockets, hiding the discolouration again.
"Thanks," Sam said, breaking Dean out of his rambling musings of how Sam had gotten the bruises. He blinked.
"For what?"
"For helping me earlier. For letting me come over," Sam shrugged.
Dean shook his head slightly with a small smile.
"Come on," he said "Dad will get mad if I'm not home soon. Don't worry, you'll love him."
He grinned, and Sam smiled.

/\/\

"Dad? I'm home!" Dean yelled as he let Sam in the door and shut it quietly.
"What, no slamming doors today?" John called from the kitchen.
"I've got a friend over," Dean said, knowing his father would understand the hidden warning and quickly get rid of anything to do with hunting. The scrabble he heard from the kitchen confirmed it.
Dean showed Sam to the kitchen. John was making himself a coffee, looking almost normal.
"Dad, this is Sam."
John turned around slowly, and looked at Sam. The younger kid looked uncomfortable, and stared at the floor, shifting from foot to foot.
"Nice to meet you Sam. Dean's said some pretty good things about you," John said, walking over and putting out his hand. Sam shook it.
"Nice to meet you too Mr. Winchester," Sam replied, barely looking up.
John chuckled, "Call me John."
The tension in the room was so obvious and thick that Dean swallowed, and quickly ended the conversation with a 'see ya' to his dad, then steering Sam towards his room.

"You're dad's nice," Sam said as Dean shut the door.
"Yeah, he's pretty cool," Dean sat down on the bed, stretching out and yawning. There was an awkward pause before Dean suddenly remembered something from earlier.
"Who's Jason?" he asked casually.
He watched as Sam flinched at the mention of the name and paled. The kid swallowed before replying.
"He's my stepdad."
"That must suck. Where's your real dad?" Dean asked, hoping it didn't sound like he was prying or bringing up stuff that was meant to stay down.
"I don't know. I never knew him. Mum said that he disappeared when I was only a baby."
"I know what you mean," Dean replied.
"You do?"
"My mum disappeared when I was four, nearly five. I can't really remember her. All I know was that she was blonde, and she was really nice. Dad doesn't like it when I talk about her though."
Sam looked at the older teen with sympathy, and Dean squirmed, feeling uncomfortable. He leaned over and switched on his CD player. Eye of the Tiger started to play, and Sam rolled his eyes.
"You listen to that stuff?" he asked, sitting down on the end of the bed.
"Hell yeah. It's the best music ever created," Dean declared.
"It's so... old."
"Aww, you suck. This stuff is awesome. I bet you listen to girly crap," Dean smirked.
"Do not."
"I bet you do."
"I do not!"
Dean laughed, and started nodding his head in time to the beat. Sam chuckled. Dean grinned as a thought struck him. Sam was laughing. The quiet, shy, bore-a-hole-in-the-ground Sam was laughing.
"What?" Sam asked.
Dean shook his head, realising he'd been staring, "Nothing."

/\/\

It was ten o'clock by the time Sam remembered he should be at home. In the middle of the conversation on whether Darren was in fact gay, he stopped, looking worried.
"What is it?" Dean asked.
"I should get home. Jason would probably kill me if I stayed any longer," Sam said, standing up. There was no joking in his voice.
"I'll drive you if you like," Dean said, standing.
"You drive?"
"'Course I do. Come on, Dad won't mind if I borrow the car," Dean grinned, showing Sam outside.

"Wow," Sam breathed when he saw the Winchester car.
"I know, right? 1967 Chevy Impala, a beauty. Technically she's Dad's, but he lets me drive sometimes," Dean said, sliding a hand over driver's side door before getting in. Sam slid into the passenger seat, and Dean revved the engine, shooting off down the road.

/\/\

As Dean pulled up outside the place Sam had directed him to, he looked over to his friend. The kid was staring straight ahead, his jaw tightened, hand curling into and out of fists. He got out of the car and moved over to Dean's side.
"Thanks," he said, then turned and headed for the block of flats. Dean waited for a moment before jumping out of the Impala and following. Sam didn't say anything as Dean walked beside him.

Stopping outside Sam's flat, Dean watched as Sam knocked on the door and waited, tense. The door opened a second later to reveal a man in his thirties, with short blonde hair and green eyes dulled by alcohol. Voices could be heard from inside, and Dean saw Sam tense even more, if that were possible.
"Fucking hell Sam, what the fuck were you doing all night?" the man, who Dean assumed was Jason, drawled. Dean flinched at the strong smell of alcohol coming from the man.
"I told you, I was at a friend's place. I lost track of time," Sam said, a shake in his voice that he seemed to be trying to control.
"Well, bloody get inside," Jason snarled, grabbing Sam and pulling him into the flat.
Just before he slammed the door shut, Jason noticed Dean standing there. He scowled.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"I'm Dean, Sam's friend," Dean said, trying to keep his anger under control. Right now he wanted to punch the guy's face in, watching the way he treated his stepson. He had a sneaking suspicion he now knew how Sam had gotten those bruises and the limp.
"Well you can piss off. And Sam ain't going anywhere again, you hear me?" Jason yelled, aiming his comment at the teenager who was standing in the hallway behind him.
Dean frowned and was about to say something when Jason slammed the door, shutting off the voices and leaving him standing there, confused and surprised. He considered banging on the door again, but wasn't sure what he should do. Maybe the bruises had been gotten another way. Maybe it was just because the guy was drunk he was acting like this. Dean sighed, and headed back to his car, his head swirling with thoughts and wondering what he should have done.

/\/\

Jason pushed Sam towards the living room. Two familiar men sat there, Jason's friends.
"I think it's time you guys went home," Jason laughed, his hand on Sam's shoulder.
It took a few minutes for Jason to convince his friends he was serious, and another five for them to actually leave. Sam stayed frozen in the living room as Jason showed his friends out. He flinched as the door slammed. Jason came back to Sam, who was staring at the rug he was standing on. Jason snarled.
"I told you to come back!" he growled, back-handing his stepson across the face so hard the teenager fell to the ground with a thump. He didn't cry out.
"I'm sorry," Sam mumbled.
"You're sorry? You're not sorry. You'll be sorry when I'm done," Jason chuckled darkly, grabbing Sam by the hair and dragging him upwards. The kid gasped. Jason waited a moment before letting go. Sam was barely resting on his knees, and once Jason released his hold on his hair he tumbled back down onto hands and knees. For good measure the man kicked him hard in the stomach. Sam winced and collapsed onto his side.

He didn't move as he heard Jason walk away. He heard him walk up the stairs, and he knew what was coming. Sam blinked, knowing there was nowhere to go. Jason had locked the door as usual, and all the windows were unable to be opened. So he just lay still, breathing slowly, until Jason came back. Roughly, the man grabbed Sam by the arm and pulled him to his knees. He pulled the teenager's hand behind his head and bound them there with wire, as he had done last night and many nights before. Sam didn't move, didn't make a sound. He knew there was no point. The more noise he made, the worse he would get.

Jason hauled Sam up, then threw him back down again. With his hands behind his head he couldn't stop himself from falling, and Sam hit the ground hard. The wire was pulled to bring him back onto his knees, the thin metal digging hard into his wrists. Sam swore silently. Jason just got more and more inventive as the years passed.
Something connected with his back, pushing him forward. The wire was still being held in place, his hands were being pulled backwards while his chest was pushed forward. Sam's wrists screamed in protest as metal dug further into them under the pressure, drawing blood. Sam gasped, shocked. Jason had never drawn blood before. Only once, and his mother had been worried sick. He'd given the cover story of a fight at school, but Jason had almost been caught. Since then nothing he did ever broke the skin. It was easier to conceal. Sam closed his eyes as he felt Jason breathing into his ear, whispering to him.
"Your stupid bitch of a mother is away for the rest of the week. Lucky you, eh? And she has no idea. I wish she'd leave more often."
A tear involuntarily escaped and ran down Sam's cheek. He screwed up his eyes and tried to block out his stepfather's voice as Jason taunted him, kicking him and pushing him to the ground. He thought about tomorrow, thought about school, thought about getting through and making it to the next day. He thought of Dean, his new and only friend, and that was enough to keep him going as Jason punched and kicked, swore and taunted.

What do you think? r&r! Hope you like it :D