Written for doylefan22's birthday (that's anya2 on here) - she asked for Dean and Sam celebrating Sam's first birthday since back on the road and this came out.
Spoilers: general S1 stuff maybe? Certainly none specific.
He'd said he'd do anything. Just for one day mind. But he had said anything at all - and meant it. Except for maybe museums or flying... He'd pictured Sam semi-torturing him with the promise of anything, stretching the limits of brotherly love just because he could and it amused him to take Dean to... a law lecture at the local college, or something equally boring. Even that possibility hadn't put him off though because it was his brother and he figured if they went out fighting, willing to die together - adding that they weren't wanting to and sure as hell not likely to either – then they should live together, and not just in the motel room sharing, driving, drinking, hunting way. They'd have more of that in the future but real life stuff they'd missed before. Maybe Sam had had more of that, going to college but they'd not done much of it together. So, he'd suffer whatever it was Sam wanted to do.
Of course that'd been before vengeful nymphs had popped up at the newly built spa resort and they'd had to go undercover. Personally he'd enjoyed it, but then who wouldn't love to serve drinks to gorgeous rich women who wanted to make their husbands jealous. He had to admit Sam got the raw end of the job, cleaning haunted toilets wasn't exactly challenging that Stanford education mind of his and aw, the smell in there after the nymphs started getting serious about driving people out...
Anyway, now it's three days later. Sam's grumpy whining about bad timing aside, the birthday spirit is kinda gone. They're exhausted, on the way back to the motel after a hunt gone well, but he still offers because it'd suck to ignore the day completely, however belated the celebration is gonna be.
Three days contemplating it and he wasn't prepared for this answer.
"How about a movie? Something fun, nothing heavy. "
Dean blinks, blind sided by such a simple request.
"Then pizza or no, wait, Italian. At a restaurant too, no more takeaway please!"
Sam says it so casually, mock begging on the last part. He doesn't seem to catch the meaning of the promise or that it's one at all, let alone meant in earnest.
The car comes to a traffic light and he turns to see him looking bored, watching the cars pass by and tapping his fingers on the dash.
"You don't want to go see some historical shit or an arty philosophising documentary about... well, I dunno actually."
Sam glances at him briefly, answering simply. "Nah. You can choose the film, I don't really mind."
"Sure, great," he splutters out as the light changes to green and he gets the car into gear. He's still sort of shocked that pleasing his brother is so easy "I think I saw a cinema a couple blocks over when we drove into town."
It seems like the offer is missed, or maybe Sam gets it completely, what he's offering and deliberately doesn't take it. He wonders if that's the the thank you, he would have done anything practically but Sam isn't asking for him to – it's the thought that counts.
As he tried to find the elusive cinema he's certain they drove past before, Dean thinks he's been doing too much thinking the last few days. Too much time dwelling on what they're missing but really their life, it ain't exactly the normal way of living but that shouldn't mean they have to make up for it, doing overtime to get the hours of normality clocked in. They already do more than they need to for others - they don't need to be normal to really live.
They've just got to keep making sure they give themselves time to appreciate the being alive and boy, is he so glad he gets to pick what film they're gonna see. Sam has the worst taste in movies ever, bit like his taste in music too – but he doesn't say that out loud, but you know, only because technically this is his birthday and you gotta give a guy a break at least once a year.