Good Morning! I have to say, this Whumptober thing is very challenging because I want to do EVERY prompt option and write a gazillion more stories lol. Today's theme/prompts are a good illustration. I had a terrible time choosing. (Obviously, you can tell from previous stories that sometimes I don't choose lol and write all three options). I had so much fun in September going thru the prompts, jotting down the scenarios and who was going to be whumped etc. And then I've hardly stuck to anything I laid out lol!

Enjoy!

No. 28: SUCH WOW. MANY NORMAL. VERY OOPS.

prompt options: Accidents, Hunting Season, Mugged

setting: pre-series

"What the hell happened to you?" Sam asked, jumping up from the bed, his pile of school books and note paper spilling onto the carpet.

"Nothing happened and don't swear." Dean slammed the door behind him then flipped the lock.

"Something happened. You're bleeding." Sam was at his side, hands reaching out, yet hesitating. "And you swear all the time."

Dean batted his little brother's hands away and said, "I'm the oldest. I can swear if I want to. You're only ten so you can't swear yet."

"You're being stupid. What happened?" Sam kept reaching for him.

"It's not a big deal. Stop it." Dean smacked his brother lightly on the shoulder. "Move."

Sam stepped back and Dean brushed past him, heading toward the bathroom.

He tried to hide his limp, but his leg hurt too much. As did just about every other part of his body. His nose had stopped bleeding but he hadn't been able to clean up much.

"Dean, what happened?" Sam asked, hot on his heels.

It wasn't just curiosity that fueled his inquiry; he was scared. Dean flipped on the light in the bathroom and caught sight of himself in the mirror. No wonder Sammy sounded scared. Turned out he looked as bad as he felt. Bloody face, scrapes, and bruises, his shirt was torn and his knuckles were split.

"Dean?" Sam sounded close to tears now.

"I'm ok, Sammy," he said, patting his brother on the shoulder, then turning on the sink.

"Did you get in a fight?" Sam handed him a washcloth.

"Sort of."

Dean took the washcloth and carefully cleaned the blood off his face. His lip was split and there was a cut on his cheek still sluggishly bleeding. His side hurt where the guy had kicked him while he'd been down. All in all, he felt like crap.

"What do you mean sort of?" Sam tilted his head, elbows resting on the counter as he stared up at Dean in the mirror.

"I mean I sort of got in a fight. It wasn't my fault."

"Whose fault was it?"

Dean sighed, wiping the last of the blood off his face. He dropped the washcloth on the counter and said, "It was just this guy. He uh...he wanted money."

"You got mugged?" Sam's eyes went wide with horror.

"Yeah." Dean limped past his brother back into the main room.

It was idiotic. He was fourteen and knew how to handle a shotgun and how to destroy a vengeful spirit. He'd fought off bullies since he'd been in grade school. He should've been able to defend himself against one human mugger. But he hadn't and now he'd lost the money that had been intended to buy them some dinner.

He sat down on the edge of his bed, rubbing his side.

"Did he hurt you somewhere else?" Sam asked, sitting on the other bed, his hands on his knees.

"Just bruised," Dean said, shaking his head. There was no way he was going to tell his brother the goon had knocked him down and kicked him. "I'm ok, really."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." He was achy and bruised and embarrassed but nothing was broken. He forced a smile and assured, "Really, Sammy, I'm ok."

Sam studied him for a long minute, then nodded and hopped to his feet. He went to his backpack and dug around for something. Finding what he was looking for, he smiled and climbed onto the bed next to Dean.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked, wary of what type of medical intervention Sam was about to perform on him.

"Just gonna put this on your cut so it doesn't get infected," Sam answered, peeling open a bandaid.

It was one of the last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles band aids from a box Dad had bought last year. Now they only got plain brown band aids, but Sam had been hoarding the precious few fun band aids he had left.

"Hey, just give me a plain one." Dean grabbed Sam's wrist as he started to put the band aid on Dean's face.

"No, you need this one." Sam bit his tongue, eyes narrowed as he painstakingly lined the bandaid up then smoothed it down.

The band aid wasn't magic or anything, but Dean felt better after Sam was done with his ministrations.

"Thanks, Sammy."

Sam nodded.

"I'm sorry I lost the money. We don't have anything for supper tonight."

"Sure we do." Sam hopped off the bed again and returned to his backpack.

Dean eased himself onto his bed, piling up the pillows behind his back. Relaxing against the pile, he watched Sam go from the backpack to the kitchenette. He rummaged around in the tiny refrigerator and then turned around, his arms full, and his grin triumphant.

He rushed across the room, spilling his pile of spoils on the bed.

One can of Coke. One pack of Twinkies, one pack of Ding Dongs. The last remnants of a bag of pretzels. And half a ham sandwich.

"You didn't eat all of your lunch," Dean said, frowning at the sandwich.

"I wasn't a whole sandwich hungry at lunch because it was Andrew's birthday so he brought a whole tray of cupcakes in and I ate two of them and then we got brownies in Mrs. Jacobsens class because we all got A's on our spelling test so that's why I wasn't a whole sandwich hungry."

Sam sucked in a deep breath after his explanation.

No wonder he had so much energy. He was still riding a sugar high from school.

Dean smiled and accepted half of the half sandwich. Sam counted out the pretzels into two even piles on a fast food napkin between them. Dean took the Coke for himself and made Sam drink water because he didn't need to deal with a caffeinated and sugar-rushed little brother at seven in the evening on a school night. He also made Sam eat the last apple instead of the sugar laden treats.

"I'm glad you're ok," Sam said, after their foraged meal. He was curled up next to Dean, half hiding behind a pillow as they watched a scary movie. "Next time, we'll go together. We can beat anybody if we're together, right?"

"Right." Dean smiled.

He still was frustrated and annoyed by what had happened, and he was sore and achy. But they'd made the best of things because that's what they always did. Next time he'd be better prepared. No mugger would get the best of him ever again.

"Are you gonna have nightmares about the guy who stole our money?" Sam asked, abandoning the pillow and clutching Dean's arm as the monster in the movie roared and attacked.

"No, but you're gonna have nightmares about the swamp monster or whatever that thing is." Dean shifted and wrapped his arm around his brother, drawing him closer. "We should turn it off."

"I'm not scared," Sam insisted, despite burying his face against Dean's shirt when the monster started eating people.

Dean smiled.

An hour or so later, they fell asleep side by side and neither of them had a nightmare the whole night long.

This one turned out so much sweeter than I'd expected lol. I can't believe we only have THREE more prompts to go! I'm actually really sad! This has been a BIG challenge posting a story a day and keeping them SHORT but satisfying (mostly lol). I have never done this before and it's been a very good writing challenge for me. now that it's coming to a close, i'm very sad! But we still have three more lovely whumpy days to go!

ps, tomorrow's story will be a continuation of a previous prompt... :) (unless of course muse changes my mind again which has been known to happen)

tomorrow's theme/prompts: No. 29: I THINK I NEED A DOCTOR, Intubation, Emergency Room, Reluctant Bedrest