Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. A.N. Today's prompt was "Side characters". I couldn't help myself.
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At the moment, they take Garth's child-naming taste in stride. There are too many things to worry about, like losing their luck...or main character plot armor, like fucking Chuck would probably say. It's a little awkward – like most things that concern Garth, and their friendship with him, thinking about it – but well. There are worse options out there. (Sam has read somewhere about a kid named Legacy, and frankly, that sounds just cruel.)
But then, finally, god-tiered problems disappear, and they're still there. All of them. Including, of course, Garth and his apparently ever-growing family.
Part of Dean is shocked that the man...werewolf...ok, lycan (seriously, Dean's being politically correct) actually lived long enough to get his happy ending. When Bobby introduced them, he'd kind of expected Garth to die in a month tops. He was, simply put, too soft to last if he kept hunting. The odd encounter afterwards didn't really change his opinion, not for a while. Who the fuck picked their disguise not based on the case's details, but on what they look good in? Or has a silly catchphrase like some kind of comic book character?
Every time they met, Dean was more surprised that Garth was still around. But eventually, he understood. Garth might not be made for flashy heroics, or capable of drinking anyone under a table (possibly not even as a lycan), but he's smart, naiveté aside. And with his stubborn kindness and equilibrium...he might be the sanest person Dean knows.
When one of Garth's texts good-humoredly complains about the twins (now in the terrible twos) being such a handful, and how lucky he is to have a pack, Dean can't help it. He says aloud: "We'll see how long it takes him to regret the names."
Sam gives him the bitchface of all bitchfaces, and huffs, "Just because he didn't pick you..."
"Hey, no. I get it. I was an ass to his family." He shrugs.
You saved his wife," Sam replies. He doesn't actually add, "and me," but his eyes are expressive. Even when he's annoyed with his sibling, he can't exactly curb the way he looks up to him.
"It might be worse that I was right...well, right-ish about that. 'Told you so' never made anyone like you. I don't mind that he named one of them after you, Sammy. It's the mix that worries me."
"Don't tell me that you want to have the only Cas in existence." Sam grins.
"Nah. I told you, it's the mix that's my concern. Sure, they have other siblings and all, but twins tend to make a team and start chaos, don't they? If they're anything like either of you... Maybe an extra buffer would have been a good idea."
"Look, I know I've fucked up, a lot of times, but...not with Cas, so I don't get you."
"I'm just saying," he shrugs again, "Cas' most royal messes usually were when he was talked into it by someone. Convince him it's for the greater good, and he loses all common sense. You are brilliant at convincing, and while I am the dumbass, you can be insanely reckless when it hits you. Wait till they pull a double Flagstaff, and then we'll see what Garth texts."
Sam flinches a little. "Flagstaff, Dean? I thought we were way past that."
"Forgiven? Yes. Forgotten? Never. Sorry Sammy. I could come back as a friggin zombie and still remember."
"Noted. So, in Garth's shoes, what would you have picked?"
"Bobby, duh."
Sam's smile echoes his own. Someone who could keep anyone acting sensibly? Or at least not being too much of an idjit? Yeah. If one wanted a kid to grow up anything like his namesake, Bobby would have been their best bet.
"Or, dunno. Ash was cool, and chill, but I'm not sure he'd be the right kind of influence."
"Yeah, besides two college dropouts might not be a good omen." Sam chuckles, and this time it's Dean who tenses a little. He might not ever be over dragging Sam back into the life, even when it was really Azazel (through Brady) who did the heavy pushing.
"If they just wanted school results, they'd have gone with Kevin." It slips out before the guilt and grief can catch up. Or the argument on whose fault it is. It might have been Sam's hands, but Dean stuffed him with the angel who did it – and he's still not apologizing, Even knowing in advance, he'd take any guilt or murder over losing his brother. Sue him.
Sam swallows - possibly trying to not be sick, if only to avoid Kevin's ghost coming back to tell him off for moping, and fuck. Dean needs to repair the damage.
"Anyway, there are plenty of worse choices they could have gone with, too. I mean, Cas and Balthazar? The teen years would have been a nightmare, even without any soul-sucking at the end. "
"Or Gabriel." Sam gives a little shudder. "Either of us and Gabriel...if you thought Cas and I are a bad mix on our own, get Gabriel in, instead."
"They'd probably have to pull out the kid leashes,and leave them on till their children moved out."
"Yeah." Sam's laughing, again. Crisis averted. And now Dean's going to change subject, before he puts his foot in his mouth again. Best for everyone.