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

Whumptober 2020, Day #21

Prompt(s): Hypothermia

Author's Note: Set during season 3, and this is like… really fuckin' AU. You'll know why if you read but considering you're reading SPN fic that means you watch the show which means you're no stranger to death. So… yeah… you probably know what's coming.

This is only for my two big sisters. My little sister was being mean to me so if she wants to read this she'll have to track it down herself.

Today's Whumpee: Sam and Dean Winchester

"Son of a bitch!" Dean yelled angrily. He threw himself against the door one more time, swearing again as all that happened was that his shoulder started to pound even more. Him and Sam were stuck in some stupid haunted restaurant's freezer. They'd been trying to gank a spirit who's remains were buried under the hotel.

They'd pulled the ole' pest control disguise and had gotten the building emptied out so that they could do their thing.

Long story short, they'd been searching the restaurant top to bottom and had stepped into the freezer room for only a moment but the door had slammed shut behind them. It had obviously been the spirit. There was no other reasonable, or at least reasonable to Winchesters, to explain it.

Dean and Sam pulled out their phones to try and call someone. Bobby was only a few hours' drive away, Ellen and Jo slightly further, but even if they'd been able to get there in time, the phones were no use as it seemed the freezer was blocking any and all cell signal.

A chill crept through their plaid layers fast. They stood shoulder to shoulder against the wall farthest away from the vent.

Eventually, without really realizing it, they had both slid down and were sitting next to each other. Both their teeth were chattering, their hands shaking, their lips feeling chapped and their skin dry.

Sam let out a shiver, his teeth clicking together as he shook.

"C'mere," Dean said. He pressed himself against the cold metal wall. Sam leaned against his side, his head falling onto his brother's chest and his knees pulled up to his own chest. Dean wrapped his arms around his little brother trying to impart what body heat he had left to Sam.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes.

"'s hurts," Sam slurred, sounding like he had when he was a little kid and would crawl into bed with Dean after a nightmare.

Dean's lip trembled at Sam's voice. "I know, I know, I'm so sorry."

"'s not your fault," Sam said. A pause. "I don't want to lose you, Dean."

"I don't want to lose you either, Sammy. Not again."

Dean hated chick-flick moments, but it seemed like the ice was making them both a little emotional, a few hours ago, nothing would've been able to get Dean or Sam to admit fear or pain.

"I — I'm glad it's like this," Sam said.

"What d'you mean?" Dean asked. He pulled his knees up and Sam's too, putting a hand under them and pulling them closer. They were scrunched in on themselves and each other; they hadn't had physical closeness like this in a long time.

"I mean… I'm glad we're not going alone," Sam clarified. "I'd rather go with you, than live w-without you."

Dean didn't speak.

"Why'd you think I was so mad at you when you told me about the deal?" Sam asked. "I c-can't lose you, D'n."

"Oh, Sammy." Dean opened his mouth to say something else but then stopped, letting his breath escape and turn into steam instead.

"I can't," Sam repeated. "If we g-get out of here, I swear, I'm n-never giving up on y-you. I'll f-figure something out, I pr-promise."

"I — I know you will, S'mmy," Dean slurred. "We'll get out 'f here, I pr-promise you, I w-won't let this be the 'nd."

"But if it is," Sam said, obviously taking great pains to make his voice strong and compelling, "if it is the end, I — I'm sorry."

"Oh, Sammy, what're you sorry for?"

"For — for…" Sam snuggled closer to Dean and Dean wrapped his arms as tight as he possibly could around his baby brother. "For everything," Sam finished. "St'ff with Dad, being a pain in the ass, always n-needing you."

Dean felt his eyes watering, but he was pretty sure it was from the pain of the cold and not emotion. Yeah, definitely the pain. He pressed his face into Sam's hair. "Don't you d-dare say s-sorry, Sam. D-Don't you d-dare."

Sam shuddered in Dean's arms, sending a painful shake through Dean's body.

"It hurts," he said with a muffled sob. He pressed his face into Dean's chest and clenched his fists in his brother's shirt.

"I know," Dean said. He wrapped his hands in Sam's jacket and tried to hold him so tight. It felt so much like that night in Cold Oak, Dean pressed his face in Sam's hair as the tears made their way down his face. "I know," he repeated. "I'm sorry."

I'm so sorry.