A/N:
This story contains disciplinary spanking of an adult by a parent. If this bothers you, don't read.
The last several months had been the most challenging of Sam's life. For his entire 32 years, he had been the younger brother, the one Dad and Dean both barked orders at. What he wanted was seldom even considered. And now he found himself thrown into this role of surrogate parent to his hyperactive smart assed teenage older brother. Yes, Dad was around, and when he was, Sam found himself running interference between his no-nonsense father and his mischievous brother. There were, of course, plenty of times that Dad wasn't around at all, and Sam found himself supervising homework and enforcing bedtimes. Sam hated it. Every minute of it.
When Sam ran into Rowena during a hunt and filled her in on everything that had happened, she insisted that if a spell had turned Dean into a child, then there must be a spell to reverse it. But it would take some time, and creativity, to create it. It took several months before Sam and Rowena felt they were getting somewhere with the new spell. Dean's birthday would provide the perfect excuse for Rowena to come to visit and put the final touches on the magic.
The party for Dean's 15th birthday, or 37th if you wanted to be technical about it, had turned out better than expected. Sam had never seen Dean so happy as when he was zooming around the track on the go-karts with his friends or managed to earn enough tickets to get the gigantic rainbow slinky. Then all their close hunter friends joined them back at the bunker. Sam had smiled at that, all the people that loved his brother so much they would travel several states over just to celebrate with them.
There was a little nagging feeling in the back of his mind that kept telling Sam he was making a mistake, and Rowena had pointed out several times to Sam that Dean seemed perfectly content at his current reduced age, but Sam ignored it. He still missed the big brother that had been his guidepost for almost his entire life.
"He's happy, Samuel, can't you see that?" Rowena said for the sixteenth time this week.
"How can he be happy like that? Who wants to be a teenager all over again?" Sam insisted, "I'm bringing it up tonight at dinner. Bobby's coming over too, I'm positive he's going to agree with me even if you don't." Sam stalked out of the room before the witch could reply.
Rowena watched him go and said quietly to herself, "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"Um, right. A few months ago I was gone for several weeks on a case. Rowena and I were working on a new spell. And we finally got it worked out.
"Dean, we figured out how to reverse that spell on you and restore you to your actual age," Sam said proudly with a smile over dinner. He gave Rowena a knowing look but she only had a grimace on her face.
To Sam's surprise, Dean did not take the news well at all, dropping his burger and running from the kitchen.
John whacked his giant son upside the head.
"What the hell is the matter with you, boy?" Bobby asked.
"What? I thought he'd want to go back," Sam explained
"He would, or you?" Bobby snapped, "I'll go talk to him."
"Well, boys, it's been fun. I should go, I'll check back in in a few days. Let everyone cool off a bit," Rowena said as she quickly got up and headed for the exit.
Sam watched the petit witch rush out and, suddenly found himself alone with his father, who was giving him one of those looks he hadn't seen since he was a teenager.
John pointed his finger in Sam's face, "You with me. Now," he ordered before standing up and leaving the kitchen. Sam got up to follow.
John didn't say anything as he walked through the corridors of the bunker, Sam followed behind, unsure what was going on and not daring to break the silence. Soon John opened the door to the massive garage and headed over to the Impala.
John put his forearms up against the roof of the car and looked inside for a long moment taking some calming breaths. Sam stood nearby awkwardly.
"When you boys were little," John began, "Dean was always looking out for you."
"I know," Sam interrupted.
John glared at him, "No you don't, not really. Everyone always thought Dean was a troublemaker. Getting in fights, and not doing his school work, he barely scraped by with Cs. I laid into him pretty hard when he screwed up. I had to, he took it too hard when something happened and if I didn't, he just couldn't function," John gave a bitter chuckle.
"He snuck out and went to a party once, left you home alone. He never did it again, but it wasn't because he couldn't sit for a week, it was because I explained how leaving you alone was dangerous. He said he deserved a second whipping for putting you in danger, but I wouldn't do it," John looked back at Sam.
"He was a good kid, but the cards were stacked against him from the start. I never had to correct him for the same thing more than once. But when you left for school," John took a big shuddering breath as he tried to control his emotions.
Sam remained quiet, this was the first time his father had opened up so much and he didn't want to break the spell. He was surprised by his father's words; Sam had always seen his older brother as someone who didn't care about school and didn't try, and was always in trouble. To hear his father say that Dean was a good kid was nothing less than shocking. If he was honest with himself, Sam would have admitted he often had looked down on Dean and his poor grades.
"When you left for school. Dean… he, he wasn't sure how to act anymore, the driving force for what he did was now gone. Without you to look out for he didn't know what to do. He started to be more impulsive. Put himself in dangerous situations for no reason. I had to save his ass more than once because of pure stupidity on his part. He didn't care anymore. I had to do something to give him a reason to care again."
John opened the back driver's side door and reached under the driver's seat to pull out a thick leather strap with a wooden handle. Sam's eyes went wide. Dean had been in his twenties when Sam went off to school, he couldn't believe his father had whipped Dean when he was a grown man.
"It took me a while, but this was the only thing that seemed to make much of an impression on him other than making sure you were taken care of," John flipped the strap over in his hand, checking the leather over and making sure it was in good condition. "I told him to keep this in the car and ready for use in case he got out of line again. Looks like he did, even after all these years."
John looked up at Sam seriously. The younger man's stomach did an uncomfortable flip as realization dawned on him; if his father had used this on twentysomething Dean, there was no reason to believe he wouldn't use it on thirtysomething Sam. John seemed to know exactly when his son became aware of his situation.
"I am so disappointed in you, Samuel. Going behind my back, creating a potentially dangerous spell without even discussing it with me first, or with Dean. He'll do anything for you, you know that, right? Even if it's not what he wants. And especially if it's not what's best for him if he believes it's what's best for you. I never thought you could be so unbelievably selfish," John said this last sentence quietly. The disappointment hung in the air between the two men.
Sam opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. For what was probably the first time in his life, Sam realized his dad was right.
"Drop 'em and bend over the trunk," John ordered.
Sam raised his eyebrows, "You can't be serious? I'm 32!"
"Old enough to know better. You screw up and I will be there to kick your butt every time. I made enough mistakes with the two of you when you were growing up, and I plan to right them."
Sam shook his head and took a step away from his father. Dean had always been the one to take his licks without too much of a fuss; the same could not be said for the younger Winchester. Sam usually fought as if his life depended on it before finding himself ass over teakettle over his father's lap, or in later years bent over the nearest surface. Being a grown man did not change that, in fact, Sam was finding it even harder to swallow the idea of getting his butt handed to him in such a childish manner.
"Sam," John growled in warning.
Sam swallowed nervously, there was no way out of this he realized. John had proven himself still able to take both his sons in hand despite their youth and ability, and Sam was on his own.
Reluctantly he walked over to the back of the car, undid his belt, and pushed his jeans and shorts down before bending forward. He could not believe he was about to get his butt kicked at 32. The understanding came how his brother must have felt the first time he'd been disciplined at 36, although he had already been de-aged to resemble a 14-year-old. Sam didn't believe it was quite as humiliating as his current predicament.
John cracked the strap down across Sam's backside, the sound was loud and echoed in the large garage. Sam grunted as a wide stripe of fire began to burn. The second lick knocked the wind out of him, just as he was gasping for breath his father landed the next. John kept up a steady rhythm, Sam grunted his way through each time the strap landed, trying to hold still but finding it increasingly more difficult. He prayed to Chuck that his dad wasn't going to give him his age in licks, but as it was he lost count anyway. He knew he would have welts on top of welts, and wasn't sure when he'd be sitting down comfortably again.
As John continued to swing the hateful strap, Sam began to get the message. Right now, Dean needed to have the childhood he never had and Sam had better step up and start thinking of what was best for Dean rather than what he wanted for himself. John laid down a particularly painful lick and the dam broke, the guilt washed over him and he cried into the crook of his arm.
Sam sobbed in anguish, in part because of the pain but mostly in the realization of what he had tried to take away from Dean,
John finally stopped. Sam quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve and pulled up his shorts and jeans faster than he probably should have, wanting to get the embarrassing part of being completely exposed in front of his father, past him.
John put his hand on his son's shoulders, "I need you to put Dean first now."
Sam nodded, "Yes, sir."
"Good, go clean up and come back to the kitchen to finish dinner."
Sam nodded and slowly headed to his room. He was tempted to grab an ice pack from the first aid station, but he knew that would not go over well if anyone found out. Sam splashed water on his face and carefully lowered his jeans and shorts to see the damage. He winced at the dark red, soon-to-be purple area covering the majority of his butt and thighs. He changed into more appropriate post-ass beating pants that were soft and loose.
Bobby and John were both in the kitchen when Sam returned, he let out a pained gasp when he sat down to finish his dinner.
"Boy, if your daddy hadn't already blistered your ass, I would," Bobby said unsympathetically.
Sam nodded in understanding, there wasn't much he could say to that.
"Dean made the baseball team," Bobby continued to tell John, "I think he was going to tell you today. But he's a bit distracted now."
Sam squirmed uncomfortably in his chair as he listened to the older men talk. Sometime later Dean showed back up in the kitchen, his eyes were red from crying. He took his seat and Bobby got up to get him a fresh burger and heat up the fries.
Dean smiled and took a bite of the burger. He clearly had been hungry, which is probably what had prompted his return.
"Dad. If I decide to stay this age, at least for now. Could you maybe go a little easier on the spankings?" Dean asked hopefully.
John had a small smile, "Son, it doesn't matter how old or big you get; if you earn yourself a spanking, you're going to get one. Isn't that right, Sam?"
Dean looked over at Sam, whose face was now a surprising shade of crimson. He couldn't believe his dad outed him like that.
"No way. Sam, did you?" Dean looked over to his dad and back to Sam, who looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him up. Dean let out a loud barking laugh more in disbelief than amusement.
"Yeah, it's hilarious," Sam deadpanned as he shifted carefully in his seat. Dean couldn't quite hide his smirk behind the burger as he continued to finish up his meal.