If there's one thing Dean Winchester doesn't like, its being helpless. Not being able to fend for himself. He prided himself on being able to take care of not only himself, but his brother.

And now…now he was the size of a pebble. Unable to complete the most basic of tasks, like getting food or even going anywhere without help. It royally sucked.

But ever since he was shrunk, he realized there was no way out of this other than the curse ending. Until then, he wouldn't be able to do the things he liked. But he wouldn't bitch about it either. Because it was too much of a risk that the person helping him might not if he complained too much.

Sam would never abandon him, or Cas wouldn't let him starve but still… he could have easily been dropped off in a pocket for a few hours and totted around. Or left on a heating pad on a table. Comfortable prisons.

So he's been trying to look at this in the best way possible. He HAD to let others care for him. And it wasn't too bad. His need were simple. Food, drink, warmth, a trip to the bathroom every now and then. Nothing to crazy.

He was annoying Sam in the beginning, yes. But he stopped all together after the bribe. And then, it was nice to be carted around easily. Especially when he felt so crappy about being sick. He sneezed.

"Bless you." Castiel whispered from above. Dean smiled. He was the one to teach him about the proper reaction to sneezes. Even if he wasn't "blessing" someone. In less than a minute they were outside the bathroom two doors down from Sam's room.

Another thing, Castiel was really gentle with him. They've had fights and good times in the past, but he couldn't recall the ex angel ever being this gentle with him. Well…in all fairness if he had tried to act this way around regular sized Dean, he would have been punched. It was nice to see this side of him.

What would be even better right now would be a chance to move his legs but since he was only wearing his boxers underneath the blanket he refused to walk with the hankie around his waist. Especially since he'd never make it more than a few inches.

Upon entering the bathroom, Castiel noticed the cap set on the countertop of the sink. So that was what Sam did. He slowly slipped Dean and his handkerchief off his hand and on the porcelain counter. But Dean didn't get up, holding on to the layer of cloth covering his legs. He looked up at the large face that expected him to get up.

"Can you get my pants from Sam?" he called up.

Oh.

That would explain why Dean hadn't gotten up at all. He never liked "parading around in his underwear" with anyone except his brother. He hadn't stood up at all because he wasn't wearing pants! No wonder he was laying around!

"No problem."

"Thanks Cas."

"So I just, leave you here?"

"I'll be fine for a few minutes of privacy." Dean assured him.

"Ok. I'll get your pants from Sam and be back in a few minutes." Castiel closed the door most of the way and knocked on Sam's door.

"Come in." was the muffled reply. Sam was relaxed on his bed, reading a small book. His eyes traveled down to the hands where he saw that Castiel wasn't carrying someone. He quirked an eyebrow in question.

"He's in the bathroom, and he would like his pants."

"I'm sure he would." Sam reached over to his night table and plucked a small piece of blue denim from the heating pad.

"Maybe I should bring it to him." Sam says after a moment of thought.

"Good idea. Dean is uncomfortable about letting me see his underwear."

He is? Sam wondered why. Sam dog-eared the page he was on and left the small paperback on his bed. Castiel leaned over to look at the book.

"That looks like a children's book."

"It is." Sam confirmed. The confused look in Castiel's eyes prompted him to continue.

"Dean and I found a copy of this book in a motel when we were kids. He read it to me and we both loved it. When he shrunk he referenced it and I bought a copy for old time's sake. It's about a giant who kidnaps a little girl but he's friendly and nice and catches dreams and there are evil giants and the good giant and the girl save the queen of England…." He trailed off seeing that he'd lost the angel with his description.

"It's a good story." He picked the book off the bed and passed it to his friend.

"Check it out while I get Dean." Sam walks past Castiel out to the door

"Can you take him for now?" gets asked at his back

"You done with him already?" Sam jokes, turning around.

"No! I just need, to use the bathroom."

"No problem man. All you had to do was ask." He pats the smaller man on the shoulder to let him know everything was fine. Sam waits outside the bathroom door for a few minutes to give Dean some time. He knocks gently and poked his head in.

"Dean? It's me. I have your pants." He sees the little man waiting, standing in the handkerchief wrapped around his waist. He let it drop as he was handed the itty-bitty jeans. Sam crouches near the sink, pretending to tie his shoe. Dean appreciates it.

"Thanks Sammy. I thought I was going to have to go underneath to put these on." He says as he shifts into the pants. Sam offers his hand. Dean climbs on in good spirits to wash and dry his hands. Once those are done he buckles his belt. Sam picks up the handkerchief with his other hand and walks out the door.

Dean's a little confused. Why did Sam come to bring him his pants? It's not that he doesn't appreciate it, but why? Sam walks into his room and both brothers find Castiel on the bed, engrossed in a book.

"Your turn." Sam tilts his head at the door when the man looks up.

"Thank you." He leaves the book on the bed and hurries out the door, as if he suddenly remembered his full bladder.

Sam makes his way over to the oversized bed, and slouches in it, upper back and head against the backboard. He sets Dean down on the slightly vertical landscape of his chest, Hankie behind him.

"Cas didn't want to leave you alone when he went to the bathroom." He explained. He wouldn't admit it, but it was a little fun being able to pick up his bother and place him wherever.

"Put me down Sammy. I want to walk around." Sam's eyebrows go up at the surprising request.

"There's no way I'm letting you walk around on the floor." Sam tells his brother. Dean crosses his arms.

"Come on man, I've been lying around all day! I'm tiny, not crippled." Well technically he was. Crippled meant not able to get around properly. And he couldn't.

Not really.

Sam shifted down on the bed, bringing his chest to a level surface and Dean falling to his knees.

"What the hell man?!" the little man yelled. Sam chuckled, and Dean felt it rumble underneath his feet. It was like a small earthquake. A plaid-covered earthquake.

"Now you have plenty of room to walk around." He happily stated.

"You want me, to walk around, on you?"

"It's better than the floor. Not like you'll get cold on my chest or lost."

Lost. Oh. Now Dean understands.

"Fine." Dean turns his back and Sam barely feels those little socked feet walk down his sternum and over his ribs. Under two layers of shirts Sam has hard, smooth muscles but the shirts are a little rough, giving him the traction he needs to walk. Dean teeters a bit with every breath his brother takes. He feels someone watching him and turns around. Sam is definitely not looking at him, head turned and eyes moving around the room. Yeah right.

Dean nearly trips over the dip that created the definition of the first ab in the six-pack his brother is sporting. A dip upward of the stomach tells him that Sam is holding in a laugh. Dean continues on his walk, taking big steps to stretch out his legs. He hasn't gotten much exercise since he's been shrunken. Well, climbing his brother, but that was kind of a life or death situation. Kinda.

The bones change under his feet as he gets to the pelvis and he makes a u-turn to head back up the chest. Sam is looking at a book being held open by his right hand. Its small and looks familiar somehow. He can't make out the words on the back cover from this distance but the cover looks like he saw it before. He makes his way up the chest and making sure that Sam sees him, on to that arm holding the book. Once he gets closer he can make out the letters that are half his size.

A shadow quickly moving over him makes him jump and the other hand that was reaching for the book pauses.

"Sorry." Sam apologizes. He picks up the book with his left hand and settles it on his chest. Dean walks back up the arm and settles down on an indentation under the collarbone. Sam tucks his pillow under his head with slow movements that prop his head up.

"I think know this book." Dean says. Sam says nothing and turns the page to show an illustration of a small girl in the hand of an old guy with ginormous ears.

"This is the BFG!" he stumbles to a quick stand and turns around meeting the hazel gaze.

"When did you get this?"

"When you were napping in my pocket. I also picked up your doctor show at the same time." Sam whispers as gently as he can. A PB&J scented breeze blows in Dean's direction. It doesn't bother him, he's smelled much worse.

"I read this to you when you were little…." Dean trails off looking to the side, realizing what he said.

"Maybe I could read it to you now?" Sam hedges. Dean watches an Adams apple his size bob up and down with a nervous swallow when he didn't answer.

He did NOT think about the fact that he could hear the swallowing.

"Let's read it together." Sam dips his chin in a small nod and turns to the first page. Dean settles back into the hollow under the collarbone. Even through two layers, Sam's body heat still feels great.

They're both fast readers. Hunting demands that. Checking though newspapers, police work, notes, lore, and articles online all need to be read and absorbed in a minimum amount of time. But reading for fun is a rare occurrence. Maybe a secondhand book once in a while between hunts or in the car but there wasn't time in their lifestyle to read for the joy of it.

But this was different. Absorbing the story for the story. They both read at the same pace, enjoying the pictures that took up half a page but played a very important part in telling the story. By the time they were ten pages in, Castiel knocked on the door. Sam looked to Dean who shook his head.

"We're busy right now." Sam said in a regular but low voice as to not hurt Dean's ears.

Castiel was a little disappointed. He enjoyed spending time with Dean, especially like this. There was no chance of the man running off when things got uncomfortable. He did that. Often.

He was about to walk away when he hears Sam call out "Wait!" he waits.

"Dean says…that he looks forward to watching…what? Really? …the rest of the anime with you later."

"I look forward to it as well. Later." He replies, getting the message. He walks away from the door and hears a muffled "anime? With Cas?"

Sam and Dean both settle back to reading the story

Less than an hour later the story was finished. Sam rests the book over his stomach and looks out into the middle distance, eyes unfocused, thinking about the story.

"I convinced you that cucumbers were snozzcumbers." A little voice interrupts his thoughts.

"Yeah, and I shoved one in your mouth while you were sleeping." Sam sniggered as he remembered Dean waking up to find a large cucumber balanced in his mouth. Dean didn't even mind the gentle bouncing caused by his brother's laughter.

"You got me back for that by screaming into a pipe by my ear and telling me you were trying to give me good dreams!" Dean laughed at the memory.

"Good times, good times. That was one of our first prank wars!"

"Hmm." Sam hums in agreement. He brings his gaze down to his big-little brother, makes sure he's in a stable place, and flexes both arms out in a long stretch. Flexing his hands as he reaches out. Dean puts both hands down for stabilization as arms the size of track fields reach out.

"You're not the only one that wants to stretch his legs. Mind if I drop you off with Cas while I go for a jog?"

"Nah." Dean stretched out his own arms and back, a tiny mimicry of what Sam just did. Sam dropped a hand down on his chest a few inches away from his bother. Dean climbed on easily, smiling at his brother when he was brought close to the big face for a once over.

Sam held his brother away from him as he shifted his legs off the bed and the rest of himself into a vertical position, making sure to grab Dean's blanket as he walks out of the room, carrying his brother.

An English writing professor one told me: "don't give the readers everything. Sometimes you have to make them confused. Make them work for it. Don't always hand over everything on a silver platter 1-2-3." (I'm paraphrasing) On that note I don't apologize at all for including one of my favorite books when I was a kid, The BFG. by Rold Dahl, (Author of well-loved classics such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda)

I shall not abandon this story, don't worry.

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