A/N: Hey everyone and welcome to 2020! Here's hoping our lives this year are filled with light, laughter, and love (and some damn good fanfiction to read)!

I'd like to thank hectatess, DearHart, Colby's girl (x2), tyrsibs, shadowhauntingdauntlessdemigod, and BlackFungus (x2) for kicking my New Year off right with their amazing reviews.

This chapter is tagged to episode 10x13, Halt and Catch Fire. I found that, personally, there wasn't a lot to go on for this one, but I did my best and I hope you all like it. Please leave a review at the end so I know how I did. I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable belongs to me.

The Old College Try

"Damn, Sammy…" Dean whistled as he walked in the door. "Every food joint within 20 blocks of here is open 24/7. There're more bars than telephone poles, and nobody seems to give a crap about the time. I shoulda gone to college, man."

"Yeah, you should've." Sam replied, not taking his eyes off the computer screen in front of him. "I told you that you should've, but why listen to me, right? What do I know?"

"Jeez, Princess. Is it that time of the month again? What's with the attitude?" Dean countered, grabbing a piece of pizza from the box he had carried in, setting the box on the table and hopping onto his bed.

Sam sighed, determined to ignore him. "Nothing, Dean. Don't worry about it."

"See, now, when you say, "Don't worry about it", do you know what happens? In my big brother brain? My big brother senses start tingling, man. So why don't you just come clean? You know I'll get it out of you one way or another."

"That's definitely not how things work, Dean," Sam muttered, typing in another phrase into his favourite search engine. This case had been a strange one, with nothing but a fraternity connecting the two victims, but they had worked miracles with less, so Sam had kept plugging away while Dean went to explore all that college had to offer. "Just because you were born first doesn't mean your brain is somehow wired differently than mine. That's not a thing."

"Okay, except that we know that it is a thing, don't we Sammy?"

For the first time in a long, long time, Sam had to bite back the response of "It's Sam."

"And how do we know that, Dean?"

"Well, first, there's that time that I knew you were sick in your kindergarten class, and I went to check on you."

"I had told you a half dozen times, at least, that I wasn't feeling well that morning. Plus, you had a spelling test that you didn't study for. I was just an excuse for Bobby to come and pick us both up."

"Okay, what about the time that you broke your leg playing soccer and I felt it? There's been studies about that, you know. It's been proven."

"Yeah, with twins. Besides, by the time I broke my leg once, you had already broken yours like three times. It was probably just an arthritic flare up that happened to coincide with Oliver Frankle landing on me."

"Over 50 miles away?" Sam didn't dignify that with a response. "Okay, well what about when you were in college and I knew you were having a bad reaction to those brownies you ate? Huh, what about that?"

Sam buried his head in his hands. "Anyone with eyes and ears could tell that I was messed up because of those brownies, Dean. It doesn't mean you have magical brother powers!"

"Alright, seriously. What is with you? What's got your panties in a bunch?"

Sam bit back a few choice curses, both Latin and profane. "Nothing!" he replied in a tone that said he was anything but.

Sam heard Dean swallow, then the pad of soft footsteps crossing the shag carpeted floor before Dean took a seat at the kitchen table next to him.

"Is it because we're back on a college campus?" Dean asked quietly. "I know that these places don't bring back the best memories for you."

Sam sighed. "I…I don't know, man. There's just…a lot going on right now."

Dean nodded thoughtfully, grabbing another pizza slice from the box next to him. "I get that, believe me. But, I dunno man, it seems like you're more on edge than you were before we left."

Sam looked at him incredulously. "Are you telling me that you actually want to talk about my feelings right now? What happened to our no chick flick rule?"

Dean scoffed, picking up his slice and pushing away from the table. "Forget it…" he mumbled, and Sam felt his heart sink. It wasn't very often that Dean opened up like that, and Sam had noticed that, when it happened, it usually coincided with Dean wanting to talk about something that was going on in his life. He was just too polite or too damaged or both to open up right off the bat. Someone, usually Sam, had to get the ball rolling.

"I just…" Sam started, keeping his eyes focused on the knotted fake wood of the kitchen table. "I just keep imagining that they're my friends, you know? I know it was a long time ago, but I can't help but imagine that it's my friends from college being killed like this. They've got enough going on, enough to worry about, without having to wonder why all their friends are dying. I just want to solve this. For them."

The "for Jess" was silent, but Dean heard it loud and clear as he retook his seat next to Sam.

"I get that, Sam. You know I do…" Dean commiserated, fiddling with the pizza crust in his hands. "But we'll figure it out. We always do."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I know we do. Maybe you're right. Maybe it is being back on a college campus that's setting me off right now."

Dean sat back in his chair, tossing the crust onto the table in front of him. "You know, for what it's worth, I wasn't lying earlier. I am sorry I ever dragged you away from Stanford."

"Dean, don't be. It was a long time ago."

"Yeah, I know. But I don't think I ever apologized for it in the first place. Maybe if I hadn't dragged you along…"

"You can't think like that, man," Sam shook his head. "Azazel and Lucifer, the angels and the demons had been pulling strings in our lives for longer than either of us realized. If it hadn't been you, it would've been something else that caught my focus that night. In a way, I'm glad it was you."

"Really?" Dean kicked away from the table again, this time retrieving a beer from the fridge before sitting back down. He cracked it open and took a long draught before continuing. "You're glad that your screw up brother dragged your ass away from college because he was lonely?"

"I'm glad my big brother wanted to see me," Sam stated firmly, not letting the emotions behind the words choke him up. "I'm glad he was there to pull my ass out of the fire, again. I'm glad that, out of all the hunting partners he has, he picked me. Not Bobby, not Caleb, not Lee. Me. As for the screw up part, the only thing you screwed up was not thinking you were smart enough to go to college. Dude, you made a freaking EMF meter out of a crappy Walkman. Not smart enough," Sam scoffed. "That's your screw up, man."

Dean chuckled. "Wow…it really must be that time of the month. Thanks, Sammy. I'm touched." Dean mimed a tear falling from his eye as he moved away from the table back towards the bed, stopping only to clap Sam on the shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze before moving away.

Sam rolled his eyes fondly. "Yeah, okay, you big jerk."

"Bitch." Dean shot back immediately before turning on the TV.

Sam returned to his research, this time relaxing into his chair instead of sitting hunched over. He reached out to grab a slice of pizza from the box, his hand stilling as it grazed over the unmistakable feel of ceramic. Looking down, Sam found a plate with two slices of veggie pizza on a blue ceramic plate sitting next to his laptop, a small container of ranch dressing sitting next to it. Sam grinned as he picked up a slice and took a bite. Maybe Dean's theory about big brother instincts wasn't too far off after all.

A/N: Well, I hope some fluffy Winchester goodness is the way you all wanted to start off the year because that's what you got. Much love to you and yours as we venture out into the new decade, and I hope you all stick with me because we've got some more fics coming. I ain't quitting until I've got one chapter for every episode, you can count on that.