A/N:
Thanks to Christine, stargazer100 and mermagic8 for the great reviews!
A short walk away was probably an impossible journey for Oscar on his own, for so many reasons. The distance itself might be doable, considering he walked all over the motel daily. The sense of exposure and the risks of being spotted by an animal or a human were the real problems. That thought alone made even a short walk with Dean take on an adventurous feel, and Oscar's stomach erupted with butterflies.
Before any light from outside could filter in, he released his hold on the edge of the pocket and dropped to the bottom with a quiet "Oof!" Oscar could still feel the rush of crisp, fresh air, and he shuddered from the chill before huddling in the corner of Dean's pocket. Once there, he hardly moved a muscle.
Sunlight reached them in the pocket, peeking around the edges when it could. Oscar squinted, but kept his gaze upward. He caught glimpses of the sky. "I almost forgot what this is like," he murmured.
Sam let himself slide down next to Oscar just as Dean strolled past the Impala, leaving the black classic car resting in her parking spot. The diner was close and Sam always complained that Dean should exercise more. Sam could run laps in a motel room without a problem, Dean needed more space to get the same workout.
"I kinda have trouble remembering what it was like before I traveled like this all the time," Sam admitted. The pocket swayed around them to Dean's ambling walk, which had become more pronounced, if anything, after he'd reached his full height. Sensations like that were Sam's entire world. The only reason he even remembered what a motel room was supposed to look like when he'd been human was because of the time he spent sitting on Dean's shoulder. Up there he got a much better perspective on things than down on the floor.
Oscar nodded in understanding. Sam used to be much bigger, but it was so long ago. Much like Oscar's memories of his mother, Sam's had to be soft around the edges when he thought about his childhood. Everything was very different and they'd both had to adjust to a lot more than any kid should have to.
Oscar had thought back then, with stars in his eyes, that maybe the hardship brought on by losing his mom might come to an end. If that had come true, he might be just as used to traveling in a pocket as Sam. He couldn't even imagine it.
"So, you ... um. Your curse ..." he stammered, wondering if there really was a good way to bring that up. "It doesn't seem like it stopped you at all if you can stand up to werewolves."
Sam nodded. Talking about the curse didn't bother him anymore. It was simply the way his life was nowadays. Oscar, of all people, could understand. "I don't let it hold me back," he said. He brushed a hand through his hair, which was eternally mussed by the pocket. "I just can't approach things like Dean does or it'll get me killed. Same as Dean can't approach things like we do."
He leaned back into the corner, pulling his grey bag onto his lap to get comfortable. "I can't do much when it comes to taking on a werewolf or a shapeshifter, sure. Me and you will probably do about the same amount of damage with our knives, even though you're a bit shorter. But what I can do is distract the werewolf when it goes to bite Dean. Or untie Dean when the monster catches him off guard. We're a team. We can do more than most hunters can just by working together."
Oscar had to smile. Even before, it was easy to see that Sam and Dean could work together well. Even if they bickered more than once, there was always a sense of how close they were. They were all they had, after all. "It sounds amazing. I don't even work that well with the people on the other side of the motel," he confessed.
He shifted slightly, moving his bag so it wasn't squishing against his side. The sway of Dean's steps matched up in a weird rhythm with the beating of his heart, keeping Oscar alert. The chill of the air barely reached him, thanks to the proximity to a human and all his body heat. "You made your own normal," he realized with a half-smile. "Just like me."
Sam grinned back in agreement. "We always will."
The walk to the diner took no more than five minutes, and Dean was already growing impatient.
He could hear the tiny pair in his pocket, just the slightest murmur of voices that were too low for him to make out if he listened. He was too big, and his ears too far away. The gentlest breeze could snatch away the muffled conversation with ease.
At least we can talk at the diner, he thought to himself. He did it all the time with Sam. Ask for an out-of-the-way booth, confiscate a stand-up menu, block off an area for his little brother to sit and enjoy his own meal. All these years after Sam's curse, it was practically a tradition between the two brothers. Ordering food in the room was limited, and even going out for take out wasn't as good. Here, they'd be served breakfast hot and fresh right off the stove. Dean's stomach rumbled in agreement at the thought, and at the delectable smells that wafted towards him on the breeze.
Dean only spared a brief glance down at his chest to make sure the small lump that made up his little brother and one of their best friends was innocuous and easy to overlook, and he pushed open the door to the restaurant.
Oscar managed to shrink into himself and look even smaller than he already did. The innocent jingle of a bell somewhere above them preceded the sounds of a restaurant. Staff and customers alike could be heard mingling outside the confines of the pocket and Oscar's eyes widened. He didn't remember being around that many humans at once, not in thirteen years. Last time had been a day at school with Sam and Dean, tucked away in the human's hood.
He took a few deep breaths, momentary relief washing over his face at the delectable smells in the air. Food, and lots of it, was all around them. It was flavorful and fresh, two things Oscar didn't get very often. That aroma was a worthy distraction from the knowledge of how many humans waited out there.
His stomach paid attention, even though he'd had so much to eat the night before. Oscar usually only had one meal a day. Breakfast was often ignored or foregone, because he simply didn't have the food around to eat too much. It was mostly exciting, thinking about getting more food at least while Sam and Dean were there, but Oscar was also a little nervous.
"He's just gonna grab something and head back to the room, right?" he asked, looking across the pocket at Sam.
"Well…" Sam trailed off as he wondered how to break the news to Oscar that they'd be eating at the restaurant, and not in the room. The brothers did it all the time.
He didn't get another word out before a voice from outside broke in and interrupted them. "Hi, sir!" Sam rolled his eyes at the peppy tone of the woman. Dean alwaysgot that reaction. "Are you waiting on anyone?"
"Nope, it's just me," Dean replied, his voice rumbling around his pocket and his two passengers. It was louder than his normal speaking voice with them. He'd adapted to having a tiny little brother, and easily slipped back into the volume he used around humans. "In fact, I wouldn't mind…" And here the pocket tilted around them as Dean leaned towards the hostess. Sam could only assume he was trying to charm her like all the other women. "...having that booth in the back."
Sam gave Oscar a sheepish grin as Dean began to amble behind the woman. "We eat in diners like this all the time," he reassured the smaller guy. "The food is fresher, and tastes better than if we took it back to the room. Trust me. You'll love it. We'll find a place to hide where no one else will see us."
Oscar's jaw dropped. He believed Sam that they did this all the time, and clearly Sam was perfectly fine, not worried about things in the least. The brothers were used to going about with Sam along for the ride, always making it work. They were the experts.
None of that calmed Oscar's heartbeat. They were about to be in a room full of other humans, humans that he didn't know and had no reason to trust. It would only take one glance for them to see him if he wasn't hidden well enough. "What if..." squeaked out of his mouth, but he shut up quickly once more.
It was one thing to know that they did this all the time. It was quite another to dive into it himself without knowing ahead of time. He should have asked sooner. "Th-they won't see us? For sure?" he asked, wanting to put as much trust in Sam and Dean as he could. He couldn't help but worry at least a little.
"For sure," Sam soothed. "Dean will put a standing menu between us and the end of the table, and it'll be like hiding behind a wall. Our voices are too soft to carry in a busy restaurant and the only risk we'll be running is people thinking Dean's crazy for talking to himself."
"Here you are, sir!" cut loudly across Sam's small speech, and then the pocket they were in dropped straight down in the way that always happened when Dean sat. Even Sam clung to the edges of the pocket. There was no way to really prepare for sudden zero-g as their stomachs were left behind.
"Your waitress will be with you shortly, and just holler if you need anything!" the hostess finished up before leaving Dean behind at his table.
"See?" Sam asked. "Nothing to i-"
He was cut off by the top of the pocket widening, and thick fingers slipping in. Only three were able to fit with the other two already inside, but they expertly dipped under Sam and Oscar.
"Ah," Oscar let out quietly, a startled noise dwindling into a resigned one. His heart pounded and he was beyond nervous about being out on a table in a room full of humans, but he'd try to trust in his friends. They wouldn't let him down.
He kept himself curled into a huddled shape as the fingers curled around him and Sam, drawing them out of the pocket. His eyes were shut and he clung to his bag as they lifted into semi-open air with Dean's hand protectively around them. "It'll be fine it'll be fine it'll be fine," he mumbled to himself, so quietly that even Sam wouldn't hear. He definitely wasn't used to this.
The hand lowered again and Oscar peeked his eyes open. There was a shadow between them and the bright overhead lights of the restaurant. A standing menu. Oscar took a slow breath and stumbled off of Dean's hand before sinking down to sit behind the menu with another long sigh.
Sam was slower as he stepped off of Dean's hand behind Oscar, sending his older brother a quick thumbs up as he slipped behind the menu. It was angled in such a way that Dean could see behind it, and they could make out about half of the hunter without having to lean around it. Just the way he always ate at restaurants.
The back of his neck tingled constantly while they were there, but it was only of passing interest. If anyone actually glanced in his direction, the sensation would spike like a red hot iron, and if that happened all he would need to do was flag Dean and the hunter would get them out of there.
Sam sat down next to Oscar, nothing but confidence in his posture. "Hey, everything's under control. You don't have to be nervous."
Oscar, still clinging to his bag, tried to unfold his huddled position. He succeeded a little, but he was still clearly on the alert as he looked up at Sam. At least he wasn't on his own. His friend served as an anchor. He'd be fine.
"Y-yeah," he answered quietly, taking a few more breaths to unwind the tension in his shoulders. It took a lot of work, and he was still far more alert than usual, but he was making progress.
"I'm just used to ... if I got stuck in a hiding place like this on my own I'd be in so much trouble," he tried to explain. He'd grown up so differently compared to Sam. Oscar hadn't been able to rely on anyone to help him stay out of trouble. It was all on his skinny shoulders. "I guess I could work on my bravery," he added in a quieter voice, aiming a sheepish smile at his shoes.
The clink of dishware came from behind them, and Dean started to talk to their waitress. He was getting his coffee cup filled, something that was instantly clear to Sam with how adjusted he was to the hunter's normal routine.
Dean ordered his meal, and the waitress left. Sam leaned over to Oscar. "You're plenty brave, don't you see? You don't have someone like Dean to rely on, yet you go out into the motel rooms all the time."
The menu shifted slightly, and Dean peeked down at them. "Food's on the way," he winked, then set down a steaming hot bottlecap of coffee along with a tiny cup of creamer and a packet of sugar. "Figured you guys would want some coffee to wake up with."
Oscar took another slow breath, but this time it was to appreciate the aroma coming off the bottle cap Dean left them. He leaned forward slightly to hold out a hand, hovering it over the cap. Warmth radiated upwards and heated his small fingers, and Oscar let himself smile faintly.
Sam Winchester, who distracted werewolves and helped his enormous human brother fight ghosts and other monsters, had pointed out that Oscar was brave after all. After living his entire life admiring how brave Sam was, it was nice to receive the compliment in return.
"Thanks," he said aloud, and it could have been for Sam or for Dean. Really, it was for both. He glanced over at Sam. "I'll ... probably let you mix it up."
Dean scoffed as he sat back up. "He'll put so much cream and sugar in it it's barely coffee anymore." He shared a smile with the waitress as she sashayed by. If he didn't have two guys around his room all the time, he'd be trying to get her phone number.
Sam flipped Dean off, then pulled the cap closer. He carefully grabbed it at the top, away from the hot sides. "It's easy," he reassured Oscar. He ripped open the sugar packet and tipped it into the hot liquid. They both watched the pebble sized crystals fall into the heat to melt into nothing. With an impish smile, Sam pinched one of the sugar rocks from the packet and offered it to Oscar. "These are the best part," he confided in his friend, then took the cream to finish off their drink.
Oscar held the sugar crystal in his palm, ignoring it for a second while he watched the cream swirl around in the hot liquid and slowly change its color from the deep brownish-black to a warm light brown color. The aroma became sweeter and he watched the swirls of color curiously before remembering the sugar crystal in his hand.
It was small, even to him. Oscar popped the sugar into his mouth curiously and his eyes widened briefly at how strong the sweet flavor was. The lump of sugar melted quickly in his mouth, leaving him little time to savor it, but Oscar smiled faintly anyway.
"I'll have to remember that. They keep a few packets in the office with the coffee machine in there," he mused while he reached into his bag to retrieve his aluminum foil cup. He fixed its slightly squished shape and filled it partway from the bottle cap and sat back against the menu. While he waited for it to cool, he glanced up and watched the shadows on the wall cast by the various humans walking by. "So no one's ever spotted you in a diner like this?"
"Not once," Sam said, still confident. The coffee was ready at last, and he reached into his bag. Years ago Oscar had taught him how to make cups his size out of aluminum foil. The metallic material was easy to mold, and so he formed himself a coffee mug out of it. He displayed the handle to Oscar. "This helps keep you from burning your hand if the coffee's too hot. Just like the handle Dean has on his mug."
Dipping the edge of his homemade cup into the bottlecap, Sam filled up the mug with a drop of coffee. Steam rose from it, but since their cups were so much smaller than Dean's, they would cool faster. Dean must have burnt all sensation from his mouth at some point. Sam saw him sipping at the scalding drink without flinching.
It was just like the way that Dean could stomach that hard whiskey Bobby kept around his home.
"Just let it cool like we let the hot chocolate cool back when we were kids," Sam said as a touch of nostalgia washed over him like a gentle wave, drawing him back a decade.
A/N:
I have a feeling that if they'd told Oscar what the plan was, he would have wanted to stay home pls.
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Next: August 16th 2017 at 9pm est
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