Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There is also canon typical threats that are now against a child. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: [looks up from notes] I think I need to do a round on other projects after this one. Hopefully, it will let me.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Post Term 16); Ministry (Pre-Open); MC4A (Summer Year 5)
Individual Challenges: Red Dress; Young Again; Red Lights; Red Bull; Little Tykes; Red Wave; Happy Birthday (Y); Bi Rainbow; Rainbow Rainbow; Missing Rainbow; Hunter MC; Hunter MC; Hunter MC; Claimed; Booger Breath; Neurodivergent; Tiny Terror; Zed Era; Old Shoes; Above Average Natural; The Real MC; In a Flash; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift
House: Slytherin
Ministry Challenges: August Bingo [C2](Hotel Room);
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [130](Downcast); Insane House Challenge [888](Deaging); Days of the Year [Jul 2/I Forgot Day](someone forgetting something important); National Picnic Month [16](Siblings); Shark Awareness Day [02](the way someone changes as they age); International Cat Day [11](Exotic); National Dog Day [02](Loyalty); Teddy Bear Day [10](Heartbreak); Colors [08](Cerise); Crystals & Gemstones [10](Cream)
Other MC4A Challenges: SuB [4B](Scuba Diving); Chim [Guna] ("The Village" - Wrabel; Protection; Gnome); Fire [x3](Young Again); Garden [Yard Tools (Child/Kid)]; Harvest [A&B (Opening a Door; Catching); Items (Gnome); Settings (Motel; Private)];
Representation(s): Sam & Dean Winchester; Team Free Will as Family; Implied Profound Bond; Chim Song Prompt
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Grease Monkey; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Second Verse (Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional; Middle Name; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Lovely Coconuts; Younger You); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Pear-Shaped; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Larger than Life; Unicorn); Demo 1 (Under the Bridge; Over the Hills); Demo 2 (Sitting Hummingbird; Toto's Tribute)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Thimble); SN (Rail; Negate); FR (Gestation); O3 (Ox); Once (Moses Supposes; Santa Fe; Inchworm); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Ntaiv; Avasa; Enfant)
Word Count: 865 words

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Revelations of Youth
Part 03: Confirmed
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"You gonna call the angel or am I?"

Sam winced at Bobby's question, even with the knowledge that it was going to be asked. It wasn't that he disliked Castiel. Even as awkward as the guy was, Sam really thought he was mostly an okay person. Definitely no weirder than any other person in the hunting community. They might not have had the best of beginnings between the whole Heaven planning the end of the world and the whole demon blood addiction thing, but they were mostly past all that.

But there was no denying how weirdly intense Castiel was with Dean. While Sam honestly didn't care if they were fucking each other and just not telling anyone (well, beyond being hurt that Dean felt he couldn't say anything about it), that wasn't the kind of sentiment that Sam was comfortable thinking about when his brother was at least physically an actual child. That would just be weird.

"I was thinking it might be best to wait." Sam took a deep breath of his own. "Maybe not tell him at all, if we can avoid it."

"That'll go over like a lead balloon. You sure that's how you wanna handle things?"

"Not really," Sam admitted, "but I don't know enough about the situation to be able to manage them both at the same time. Not on my own."

"That's fair. Either of 'em would be a handful on their own. Put together under these circumstances? Ain't no telling what will happen." Bobby's voice dropped into a lower volume like he was worried about being overheard. "You know that he's probably the best bet for figuring out what happened, not to mention reversing it."

"He's also likely to draw unwanted attention," Sam countered. He didn't want to admit to having any thoughts about his brother's potential sex life if he didn't have to and the ever-pressing issue of being an archangel vessel was a good distraction. "Dean won't say 'no' if he doesn't know that he's supposed to."

"You don't know that. You can't know that." There was a pause as if Bobby had just thought of something. "Sam, are his protections still in place?"

A cold wave of dread went through him. The thought to check hadn't even occurred to him. If Dean's body had returned to childhood, including common injuries, that would mean all his protective measures were gone, wouldn't it? And it had been hours already.

"I've gotta go," Sam choked out before closing the phone. He was already moving towards the door to their room. In his haste to get inside, he knocked over pair of scuba diving gnomes that had been on the table near the door. He barely managed to catch them before they became a exotic mess cerise and cream shards on the floor. But the motions necessary meant that Sam stepped on the salt line and had to fix it before he could look around the room.

Dean had backed away from the window but hadn't had time to return to his bed. Or to return to his fake sleep rather. It was weird to see his brother clearly trying to pretend to be brave and actually recognize how badly the attempt was. Dean had always seemed so fearless when they had both been young. Sam almost didn't know how he had ever believed that looking at the boy now.

"Hey, buddy," Sam tried when he realized that Dean wasn't going to break the silence between them. He held his hands out to show that he didn't have any weapon in them. That probably confirmed that Dean did not remember his adult life. Dean would never keep quiet about his transformation if he had been himself. "Do you know who I am?"

Dean straightened his back and raised his chin slightly even as he kept his gaze downcast. His hands moved behind his back as he shuffled his feet shoulder-width apart. Sam's heart lurched in his chest as he recognized the pose. He felt sick at seeing the posture of a reporting soldier done with a child's body.

"A hunter, sir," Dean said. His voice was flat with only the tiniest quiver fraying the edges of the words. Sam's stomach roiled even more at being addressed by the same title that Dean used so often for their father. Suddenly the way Dean had always been so obedient and subservient to John felt like they had been knocked askew in Sam's mind. "You're a hunter, sir."

"Yeah, uh, I guess that's sort of obvious," Sam admitted. He rubbed a hand over his face before gesturing towards the small boy who was still standing in the same spot. "At least, obvious to you, because of course you'd already know what to look for, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, sir," Dean agreed. He bit his bottom lip and appeared to be steeling himself for something. Sam ached with how much this boy resembled his brother and not at the same time. Dean's voice still flat as he spoke. "When will my dad be picking me up, sir?"

And just like that, Sam would rather be thinking about Dean's maybe-maybe-not sex life with Castiel.

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To Be Continued
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