Disclaimer: Supernatural, the Winchesters, and any other characters and/or places which may appear do not belong to me.

Whumptober 2020, Day #17

Prompt(s): Wrongfully accused

Author's Note: Set pre-series while Sam is at Stanford. This is also one of my longest fics for this series so far, coming in around 2.4k words.

Note: I have no idea how college works tbh. I'm homeschooled and have no intention of going to college, so I kinda just have to take what I can from how I've seen college portrayed in media. Apologies for anything I got wrong.

Today's Whumpee: Sam Winchester

"But I didn't!" Sam said again for what felt like the thousandth time. "I would never cheat, you have to believe me."

"Mr. Winchester, we have three sources who say you did," the Dean of Stanford said. "Believe me, I do not take pleasure in this but I'm afraid —"

"Please, I — I'll figure something out, just… please… please don't take this from me, this is my life," Sam pleaded.

The man in front of Sam had his lips pressed into a line. "I am sorry, Sam. You have a few days to get your things together, but I'm afraid you've lost your scholarship."

Sam felt his heart pounding. He couldn't feel, he couldn't think. He stood up numbly, grabbing his bag and walking across the Stanford campus towards his apartment.

Cheating. Sam would never cheat. He'd never cheated on anything before. Not a quiz, not a test, not even a fucking worksheet in elementary school. He'd never cheated before in his life.

But now. Because of Troy Devon and his two friends, Greg and Vincent, who all three hated Sam's guts, he was out. Sam had never done anything to Troy or his friends. As far as he could tell, the only reason Troy hated him was because Sam had gotten in on scholarship. Troy, apparently, thought that that was unfair. And every day, Troy seemed to hate him even more for it. And every day, Troy seemed intent on reminding Sam that he hated him somehow. Every test Sam aced, every time a professor praised Sam, every time Sam was ahead on homework, Troy hated him more and more.

He'd never gone after Sam physically. Sam got the feeling that Troy was slightly intimidated by Sam's height. But vandalizing essays? Teasing him? That wasn't below Troy. Sam could put up with it. He'd put up with worse before.

But now this? Troy had set up a big lie with his buddies, saying that Sam had been looking at his classmates' tests, sneaking answers, and it got Sam kicked out of school.

Sam was almost to his apartment. Tears were falling unashamedly from his face and there was only one person in the world he wanted to see right now. His big brother.

He'd been missing Dean so much as of late. He'd been missing Dean his entire time at Stanford to be honest, but it'd been even worse lately. Since Troy's teasing had gotten worse, and particularly since he'd had a nightmare a few days ago of a hunt him and Dean had been on when they were kids. One where Dean had almost died.

He'd shot his brother a couple texts, but no more than usual. Nothing to make Dean think anything was wrong.

Sam dropped his bag onto the couch and then sat down on the mattress. He wasn't out of breath or in distress, his tears just felt like cold rain against his face. But then he pulled out his phone, dialed Dean's number, and his brother's voice echoed through his head.

"Hey, how's it going, college boy?"

"Dean, I —" His brother's voice put a lump in Sam's throat.

"Sam? Sammy, what's wrong?" Dean immediately knew something was up. The care in his voice was obvious and Sam realized then just much he had missed his brother and the story just poured out.

How he was out of school, how he was always dealing with the constant teasing, how his nightmares had been worse as of late.

Dean listened to every word.

"—and I just don't know what to do now and I miss you and everything just seems to be falling apart," Sam finished heavily after about twenty minutes of non-stop talking.

"I'll be there tonight," said Dean when Sam was finished.

"I — what?" Sam asked, taken aback. "But aren't you — aren't you on a hunt or something?"

"Yeah, I am. Near Tucson but all I gotta do is burn a body and I'm done. I'll be there, okay?"

"Is Dad with you?"

"No, he went off on some big werewolf thing in Missouri with Bobby and Pastor Jim a couple days ago. Said he'd probably be at least a week or two."

"And you didn't go with him?"

"He asked me too. But I didn't want to."

"Wait," Sam said, cracking a smile. "Dean Winchester didn't want to go on a werewolf hunt?"

Dean sighed. "No, Sam, I didn't."

"But you love hunting wolfs?"

"Yeah, well, if you must know, Sam," Dean began, "I haven't been straying to far off the coast 'cause… just 'cause."

Sam understood immediately. Dean had been staying within driving distance of Stanford. For him.

Sam was touched more than he could say. "Oh," he said simply. It was an affectionate 'oh' though, and he could sense Dean smirking on the other side of the line.

"I'll be there in a few hours," Dean said. "I'll make them give you your scholarship back."

"Dean…" Sam began. "I mean… how?"

"Well, I'm not sure yet, but I can figure it out," Dean said. "I'm gonna at that sort of thing, you know?"

Sam huffed a small laugh. "Yeah, okay. See you in a bit."

"See you," Dean replied. He hung up, and Sam put the phone down.

He didn't mean for his brother to come, had only really wanted to hear his voice, but he couldn't help but be excited to see his brother. He'd never gone this long without seeing him. Even when Dean had been like sixteen and lost on a hunt, it had still been less than a couple of months. But he hadn't seen Dean in almost a year now.

At first it had been nice. Nice to have some independency, some privacy, but as time went by, Sam had found himself missing his brother. That was when he had dived even more into his schoolwork.

Sam didn't feel like doing anything right now. It wasn't like there was a point in working on his essays anymore. What else did he have to do?

Sam passed the time waiting for Dean by eating some leftover pizza in his fridge, going out to buy some beer, for Dean of course. Sam had never known a twenty-five year old to drink so much. He wasn't an alcoholic, that was sure, but he definitely could've been healthier about how much he drank.

At any rate, Sam found things to busy himself with until there was a knock at his front door. He opened it and fell into his brother's arms, emotions raw and the longing for his big brother, his only comfort for so much of his life, stronger than ever.

Dean made fairly good time to arrive at Sam's apartment a little after 11. He knocked on the door and instantly found his arms full of his little brother. He smiled and laughed softly.

"Heya, Sammy," he said. "Big brother's here. I've gotcha."

Sam and Dean were in a room with the Dean of Stanford, Mr. Kent, and the history and law professors, along with Troy. The professors had not been wanting to listen to Dean at first and had only granted the hearing when Dean made the formal request. Now, they were still unwilling to listen but Dean, well, Dean insisted.

"I am not leaving this room 'till you hear what I have to say and allow my brother to remain here under scholarship."

Nobody spoke. The three older adults all looked indifferent, although Sam was pretty sure his history professor — a thirty year old blonde woman — was eyeing Dean in that way. Sam rolled his eyes at that.

Dean nodded in approval at the silence following his words. "I've taken care of this kid nearly my whole life. Ever since our house burned down and took our mom with it. He's more my kid than anyone else's. I have been with him nearly every single day of his life, and I know for a fact that he has never cheated on anything. Not in school, not in life, not in anything. He earns and fights for everything. I've never seen anybody work as hard as he did for this scholarship. If anybody, anybody, deserves it, it's my brother.

"And I don't intend to leave this room until you open your mind to the possibility that my brother isn't the culprit here, but actually the victim."

"Victim of what, Mr. Winchester?"

Sam started tuning out what was happening. He didn't like the fact that his brother was fighting his battles for him. He knew Dean didn't mind, and to be honest, he was touched, but that didn't mean that he liked it.

"Okay," Dean said, slamming his hands down on the table between himself and the three staff members, startling Sam back to focus on what was happening. "You ask for proof? I'll get you the proof.

"Sammy, c'mon," Dean said.

Sam hurried to stand, not making eye contact with any of the other people in the room as he passed the until Troy stuck his foot out right in Sam's way and made him fall with a loud crash.

"Mr. Devon, that was out of line," Mr. Kent reprimanded.

"Oops," Troy muttered. "Such a tough guy, aren't you, little Sammy?" Troy teased, making fun of the name Dean, and only Dean, was allowed to call him. "Got to have your big brother come and save you, huh?"

"Mr. Devon, that's enough," Mr. Kent said firmly.

Sam pushed himself to his feet just as Dean came back to the doorway. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Dean, let's just go," Sam muttered, shoving his brother out of the way and into the hall.

"You actually wouldn't be too bad in court, you know that?" Sam mused that evening as him and Dean sat in a small burger joint just off of campus. "You have the making of a good DA."

"Really?" Dean shot him a cocky smile over his burger and fries. "Well, where do you think you got your smarts anyways, hmm?"

"Mom," Sam deadpanned.

Dean instantly sobered up, reaching over and stealing a handful of Sam's fries. "Smart ass," he muttered.

Sam smirked as he snatched his fries back.

Sam had told him about what had happened earlier, about how Troy had tripped him. He hadn't wanted to at first, but Dean had seen the bruise on Sam's chin where he'd fallen, and Sam knew his brother would see right through any lies he told him.

Dean had swore a profuse amount, but he said he had a plan.

"And what is that?" Sam had asked.

"Tomorrow, I'm gonna have a little talk with Troy, and we're gonna settle this like nice, civilized people. Now, I'm starving, let's go get some dinner."

Sam very much doubted his brother would "settle this" like a nice, civilized person, but here they were.

Troy showed up in Mr. Kent's office the next morning with a bloody lip, bruised eye, and other scattered bruises across his body. The day after that, Sam was back in class and Troy was… not.

Sam didn't know where he was. Didn't ask either.

Dean hung around for a few days after Sam was clear to return to school. Sam didn't mind. It felt a little like old times. Going to school, doing some studying, and then spending the rest of the day hanging out with his brother.

One day, almost two weeks after Dean had first arrived, his brother got a call from their dad about a hunt near Salem. Dean seemed a little reluctant to leave, but Sam insisted that it was alright for him to take the hunt if he wanted to.

"I'll stay nearby, alright?" Dean said as Sam walked him out of the apartment. "Can't have my little brother wandering all over the coast alone."

Sam smirked. "I'll be alright, Dean."

"Hey, I mean it," Dean said after a moment. "I'm always within a day or two's driving distance, so don't hesitate to let me know if you need something or — or just want to catch up, okay?"

Sam nodded, not surprised to feel moisture pricking his eyes as he watched Dean throw his bags into the backseat of his beloved Impala.

Sam ran his hands along the hood reminiscently. He had to admit, he'd missed the car as well. It had been his and Dean's only home all throughout their childhood, apart from each other of course.

Dean turned to him one last time. They were never real great with goodbyes. Not that they'd ever said many before. Their last one, when Sam had stormed off after the fight with their dad, that had been the last time Sam had seen Dean in person before two weeks ago. And though they'd texted and called, and Sam had apologized, — Dean always shrugging them off — this would be their first in-person goodbye since that night.

"C'mere," Dean muttered. He pulled Sam into a hug. Sam had to bend his knees a little bit, but his lanky form still fell in place with his brother's, making them fit together in a way that only they could understand. A way that only brothers who'd seen and witnessed so much pain and horror and death in their young lives could understand.

"You know," Dean began, and Sam was startled by how thick and heavy his brother's normally light voice sounded, "I know I seemed mad when you came to school, but I want you to know, Sam… I was always proud of you."

Sam blinked, his chin still resting on his brother's shoulder and his eyes damp. "I know," he whispered. "Thanks." A pause. Another second. "For everything."

Dean hummed, clearing his throat and patting Sam's back once before pulling away and climbing into the Impala. "Take care of yourself, bitch."

"You too," Sam said, ignoring the few drops of moisture resting on his face. "Jerk."

AN II: I realize that it was sort of abrupt in the middle and I'm not proud of that but, but otherwise I really love this story. I'm pretty proud with all the brother moments so I hope you enjoyed those. They're supposed to be the main focus fo the story anyways lol :P Love y'all. Catch ya tomorrow. Or rather later today because it's 4am again.