Welcome back to another installment! This one isn't from a prompt, but I promise the next one will be! For the sake of the story can we all imagine that it's season 13 but Cas never died? Good? Good. To all my fellow Americans, I hope you have a happy and safe holiday! And to everyone else, I hope you have a lovely weekend!
Special thanks to ThornsHaveRoses and VegasGranny for reviewing, and extra thanks to Kathy and NinjaDevil2000 for your prompts, I love reading them! And to anyone else, I still love getting prompts and save them all until the moment is just right!
I don't own anything. This is also cross-posted on AO3.
In his nearly two months with the Winchesters, Jack has learned to expect the unexpected. Everything from surprise pancakes to three extra vampires in a nest to Sam warning him to not use the shampoo because Dean put dye in it.
The Winchesters keep life interesting, that much is for certain. Castiel seems used to their antics and thankfully keeps a level head when dealing with both vampires and hair dye.
The antics seem to continue when Jack walks into the kitchen on a Wednesday morning. The brothers are normally up before him, and while Jack doesn't sleep, he likes to stay in his room and watch movies or read books that they have recommended for him. It also helps them all keep some semblance of a schedule, though on some nights he will seek out Cas, who also doesn't sleep, as someone to talk to.
He can hear bickering from down the hallway and smiles as he walks into the kitchen. Sure enough, Sam and Cas are seated at the table while Dean stands in front of the stove with a spatula in his hand.
"Don't tell me you're knocking pancakes two days in a row, man, such a downer," Dean scoffs without looking back.
"Some variety is all I'm saying. And I already had mine," Sam clinks a spoon against what appears to be a cereal bowl, "when you started all this." Sam, finally seeing Jack in the doorway, smiles and greets him good morning.
"Ah ha! Another opinion on this." Dean finally turns around and gestures at Jack with the spatula. "Kid, pancakes, yes or no?"
Jack is slow to sit next to Cas, who is facing Dean across from Sam. The angel doesn't offer any advice, just appears to be happily listening along. While it is true that they had pancakes yesterday, Dean makes good pancakes, and since he's already started, it couldn't hurt to agree. "Yes…?" he finally settles on, but his voice goes up at the end as Sam makes a mock disappointed face at him.
"Told you!" Dean spins around, elated with his victory, and slides a few pancakes off before pouring more batter on.
Sam just shakes his head, having given up the battle, and takes another bite of his cereal. "Your night go okay, Jack?" he checks, turning his attention across the table.
"Yes, it did. The movie, Interstellar, that you recommended was very good. I like space movies, I think, the ones I've seen so far have been very interesting."
Sam smiles at that, happy his idea was well received.
"Eh, that one's fine, but you should go with Star Wars next. There's a bunch of 'em, we can have a marathon." Dean casts a look over his shoulder at Jack before he pulls off the last pancakes onto waiting plates. Jack doesn't pay much attention to his movements after that as he discusses some parts of the film with Sam.
When Dean comes over with the plates, Jack can see why it took him longer than it had yesterday. In place of the usual syrup is a mix of whipped cream, strawberries, and blueberries.
"This looks interesting," he says, because it does, and the presentation is definitely unexpected. But he quite enjoys it, and agrees with the elder Winchester even more now that pancakes two days in a row are fine.
"Just interesting?" Dean asks as he plops down onto the free stool next to Sam. "They're a patriotic work of art is what they are." Sam scoffs at that and takes a look at his brother's handiwork. "I even put fruit on it, Sam, see? That's gotta count for something."
Jack doesn't know what patriotism has to do with pancakes. They're two very different things, and he's not sure how they go together. Confused, he looks to Cas, who usually has a pretty good grip on where Jack may be lost in understanding a topic.
"The patriotism is a reference to today's date, July Fourth." Jack is happy to see that Cas still follows his train of thought very well. But still, he's not sure why the fourth day of July has anything to do with the colors of pancake ornaments.
"So…will you put these on pancakes on August fourth too?" he asks and looks across the table to Dean, who has a forkful halfway to his mouth before he stops.
"August…what? No, the holiday, Independence Day?" Dean clearly expects Jack to know what he's talking about, but the nephilim has never heard the term before. Dean then looks over to Sam, his face bent into a displeased frown. "All your bringing him up to speed and you never mentioned the Fourth of July?" By his tone of voice, one would have expected that a crime had been committed.
Sam apparently thinks the same thing and just shrugs. "Must've slipped my mind. But we can give him a crash course, no problem."
"Casually forgot to mention the most badass holiday of the year," Dean mutters and finally takes a bite of his pancakes.
During the course of breakfast, Sam and Dean proceed to tell Jack everything there is to know about why red, white, and blue belong on pancakes during a day as special as this one. Cas interjects occasionally with some greater meaning to the events that occurred, or to correct facts since he had been in heaven watching while the war on earth unfolded.
Apparently, gatherings are common during the day. The brothers had tried to invite Jody or Donna for a get together, but both women had been already busy with an influx of calls and reports brought on by the holiday itself. But not to worry, they assure Jack that they'll have a good old fashioned barbecue one of these years.
By the end of breakfast, the pancakes are nothing but smears of cream and a forgotten blueberry amongst empty plates. Dean did get Sam to have a few, and even begrudgingly admit that yes, they were good.
Afterwards, Dean excuses himself to go pick up a few things for the Impala. Jack is still curious to learn more about the holiday, so Sam leads him and Cas into the television room.
"All the movie channels show movies related to the Fourth pretty much all day long," Sam informs as they all get settled. "It's just a matter of finding a good one or two."
They settle on Independence Day and after that one finishes, no one is opposed to watching another, especially since Dean hasn't yet returned. While Sam picks another one, Jack asks him what aliens have to do with the holiday, and gets a laugh in response. Sam says that the aliens aren't the point, it's the people fighting for freedom that matter. He adds that Dean would argue in favor of aliens being the point, but that's wholly his brother's opinion.
Sam then leaves for a minute and comes back with a bowl of popcorn and some candy. Jack immediately reaches for the Redvines, which causes Sam to make a face and Cas to laugh. He has picked up things from all three of his fathers, and his affinity for licorice is completely Dean's fault.
Cas, not enjoying food of any sort for the molecules that make it up, is content to watch the rest of his family bicker about the proper place of snacks and food groups in their everyday life.
By the time Dean finally returns, dusk is settling over Kansas and the others have stopped their movie marathon to read together in the library, enjoying each other's company.
"Looks like I missed out on a party," Dean comments as he clambers down the metal steps and sees them all sitting quietly, engrossed in the texts in front of them.
"Dean, you're back!" Jack grins immediately as Dean walks into the library and stands by one of the tables. He tips Sam's book to the side to get a glance at the title and simply shrugs upon learning it. Sam jerks the book back protectively, but there's a fond smile on his face.
"Where did you go? We watched The Patriot and Independence Day, which Sam said you really liked, so we recorded it to rewatch if you wanted." The book is momentarily forgotten, all of Jack's curiosity resting squarely on Dean's shoulders. It's not often that he's gone almost a whole day without saying where he's going.
Dean perches on the corner of the table. "Errands, picked up stuff for dinner, the usual. Stores are a mess on the Fourth though, forgot, shoulda known better, took longer than I expected. So," he claps his hands together, "who's got sous chef duties tonight?"
Sam purposefully looks anywhere but Dean, not that it matters. Dean points a finger gun at Jack and gestures for him to get up. "C'mon, kid. I'll show you knives are good for more than just ganking werewolves and other fuglies with."
Jack is happy to oblige and dutifully bookmarks his text before he stands and follows Dean to the kitchen. All Dean really needs help with is cutting up a multitude of ingredients for some sort of hamburger casserole. He supervises, of course, to make sure Jack doesn't cut his fingers, but he's a quick study.
Jack enjoys Dean when he's in the kitchen. There's a softness, a normalcy to it, that Jack never sees from the older Winchester when they're in the field. Based on what he's learned from both the Winchesters and Cas about their busy past, it's good to see him relaxed and content with the task at hand.
Sam notices too, and Jack takes note of the way Sam will linger in the doorway a second longer than needed with the same fond smile on his face as he watches his brother.
It's these small moments in-between all the others that Jack likes the best.
They all come together to eat later and Jack tells Dean what he learned about America's history from the movies, though Sam does remind that they're fictionalized. Dean promises to show him a series called Die Hard, but it apparently has to wait for Christmas. Sam rolls his eyes at that and Cas is confused as to why an action movie qualifies as a festive holiday film.
After the dishes are put away, Sam and Cas return presumably to the library. But Dean holds up a hand when Jack tries to leave to join them. "Not so fast. Got a surprise. Grab some shoes." He doesn't offer any more explanation than that.
"But Sam and Cas…?"
"They've already got stuff set up. Come on." Dean then leads the way out of the kitchen and twists down the hallways towards where their rooms are. Jack would question more about what 'stuff' Dean is referring to, but figures that he'll find out sooner rather than later.
He puts on his shoes as asked and waits in the hallway for Dean to collect him. He does so just a minute later and leads Jack to the map room, up the metal stairs, and out of the bunker. More questions are on the tip of his tongue, but Jack clamps his mouth shut to not ask any of them.
Dean said a surprise. Surprises are usually good, especially if Sam and Cas are also involved.
Dean brings Jack around the back of the bunker, hidden by the hill and large factory on top. There's a clearing not far away that Jack's never been to before but has seen from a distance. The closer they get, the easier it is to pick out Sam and Cas in the clearing with some items on the ground.
"Found the missing puzzle piece," Dean jerks his hand towards Jack and grins at him.
Now that they're close enough, even in the low light, Jack can make out a few chairs, the green cooler, a few large blankets, a bucket of water, and a crate of brightly colored cylinders and different shapes.
"What is all this?" he finally relents to the question.
"It is customary to have a gathering to celebrate Independence Day. This is our gathering," Cas gestures to the items laid out before them.
Jack still isn't completely following.
"Do you know what a firework is, Jack?" Sam asks. Jack searches through everything he's learned so far, and is familiar with the term and still images, but has never seen one himself.
He nods. "Yes. Are they used today?"
Dean's face immediately lights up. "Jack, today is the day to use them." He pulls his lighter out of his pocket and grabs one of the cylinders from the box. Jack watches as he walks over to where they've placed a large cement slab over the dirt and leaves the cylinder there.
"It will be loud," Cas warns as Dean opens the lighter and puts it to the fuse. Fireworks explode, Jack knows that, but the loudness too? He's not so sure about it all.
Even though Dean quickly steps back from the lit explosive, Sam and Cas seem at ease, and Jack knows they wouldn't do anything to endanger any of them.
The fuse only takes a few seconds to go out and when it does, a shower of white, blue, red, and yellow sparks erupt from the top of the firework. They don't shoot into the sky like the pictures Jack has seen, but seem to stay connected to the cylinder.
Larger sparks fly up, accompanied by something that Jack can only describe as a shrill scream. He immediately reaches up to cover his ears with his hands as the screaming goes off a few more times before the sparks return to normal. The display lasts a few more seconds before it settles down, leaving only a flame on the cylinder before that too is extinguished.
He looks around to the others, but they're not at all disturbed by the loud, explosive device. They seem enchanted, in a way.
"What was that?" Jack asks when he uncovers his ears.
When Dean looks back, his grin takes up half his face. "That was a screecher. Don't worry, not all of them do that, we can skip them if you don't like them," he immediately offers once he sees the look on Jack's face.
"A screaming firework? On the ground?"
"Not all fireworks go up in the air and explode. The ones we can get have to stay on the ground for the most part, even though-" Sam starts.
"Even though the illegal ones are the most fun," Dean finishes with a bit of a frown. "Figures too, doesn't it? Still had to drive four towns over just to get these." He steps towards the extinguished firework and brings it back for Jack to investigate.
He sees a cartoony design on the front of it in blue and white that titles it a 'screeching eagle'. It's warm to the touch, but not hot. Still, Dean throws it in the bucket of water next to them and grabs a different firework.
"We can still light those, now that I know what to expect, it's alright," Jack finally decides. It's apparently much to Dean's glee.
"Alright! Let's see what we have here. 'Popping corn', Sammy, that sounds like one of yours." He hands it over to Sam, who takes it without comment and follows a similar procedure to lighting it and stepping back.
This one sends out white and yellow streaks with balls and sounds like gunshots mixed with popping corn. It is bright, too, illuminating the deserted area around them. This firework is much shorter than the others and only lasts a few seconds.
"Bigger fireworks last longer," Dean explains as he sees Jack watching Sam bringing back the finished product. "Some have pops, or screams, or send up giant showers and sparks and different colors."
"They all sound very interesting," Jack smiles, fully on board with the surprise now. Fireworks are unlike anything he has ever seen before.
"That they are," Dean agrees and pulls out another one. "Cas you wanna light one?" he offers it to the angel, who shakes his head.
"I am content with watching, thank you Dean." From his place in one of the chairs, looking out at them and the fireworks, he does seem very at ease.
"Alright then," Dean nods, "Jack, you're up, come on."
Jack doesn't need him to say anything more before he tags along. Dean shows him how to position it in the middle of the cement slab, how to light the fuse, and to be sure to step back a few feet.
This one has 'patriotic waterfall' on the front. And what a waterfall it is.
It doesn't scream or pop like the other ones, but sends a shower of fine blue and white sparks feet into the air. Jack watches in complete wonder as they cascade to the ground, flicker, and vanish. Out of the corner of his eye he notices Sam taking a few pictures, but he can't look away from the spectacle.
He has seen many things in his short time on earth, especially given the life he has been thrust into. But nothing has been quite as unique and fantastic as what he sees in front of him.
"Cool, right?" Dean asks, grin stretched out on his face as the firework sputters and goes out. Jack can still see the sparks when he closes his eyes.
He nods enthusiastically. "Very." He then picks up the spent container as instructed and douses it in the water bucket.
They continue like that for some time until the crate is empty save for two long cylinders and a pink box. Jack goes to reach for a cylinder, but Dean stops him and grabs the box instead. "Tubes are for the grand finale," he explains as he opens the box. He pulls out some colorful wooden strips and hands one to Jack. "This is a sparkler. Don't point it at your face or other people, got it?"
Jack just nods. Dean pulls out his lighter again and puts it near the far tip of the stick. It burns for a moment before it erupts in a small shower of bright green sparks. They dance from the tip and as Jack moves the stick, imprints of light and smoke seem to be left behind.
"See if you can write your name," Sam says with a smile, obviously enjoying himself. Jack does as requested and attempts, but he's not quite sure it worked. Still, writing in midair with a small, bright, exploding stick is a grand experience just by itself.
The sparkler eventually goes out and Dean passes Jack another one before giving one to Sam and lighting them both. Jack grins and swirls his in a circle as Sam makes similar motions.
Jack watches as Dean pushes one towards Cas, who at first refuses but then finally relents. He holds it carefully as Dean lights it, and can't help the smile spreading on his face either when it comes alive. His movements are smaller than Sam's, but carry the same awe and respect as Jack's.
"This is fun!" Jack calls, even though the sparklers aren't loud, they just crackle in the night air. None of them disagree with him on the subject.
The spent sparklers end up in the same bucket and they all watch the stars for a moment before sitting down in the chairs. The night is comfortable and peaceful around them.
Dean eventually decides that the peace has lasted long enough and makes his way over to the crate, where only two long tubes remain.
"Come on, Sammy," Dean says quietly as he passes one off to Sam, who's still sitting.
The younger Winchester takes the tube almost reverently, and the smile on his face is of a different kind. No less genuine, but more weighted, more thoughtful. "Where did you find these? We haven't used them since…" Sam doesn't finish, and Jack's not sure if he'll ever know the end of the sentence.
"You're not the only one that knows how to research." He taps Sam's shoulder with his own tube in a gesture for Sam to get up. He does, and they walk away from Jack and Cas to stand a bit further into the clearing. There appear to be words said, but from the distance Jack can't make them out.
"I like this holiday," Jack says and turns to Cas, who looks comfortable and at peace in his chair.
"As do I," Cas agrees, still smiling. "Freedom is a wonderful thing to celebrate."
There's more behind his words, Jack can tell, but he also knows he may never understand the depth of the statement, or Cas's history in learning it.
He has many more things to learn from his fathers, that much is obvious. Perhaps it would also be wise to learn what things need to not be discussed, but simply accepted that they exist as such. With time, Jack hopes that the distinction will become more clear.
Jack turns his attention to where Cas is already watching the brothers. Dean is lighting the tubes and they stand shoulder to shoulder, holding the tubes by their bases, tops aimed at the sky.
It takes a few moments but soon large fireworks in red and white streak upwards to the sky from the tubes in their hands. Both brothers are grinning and Castiel and Jack's mouths open in awe.
It's quite a fitting finale.
Jack doesn't know many of their stories, not yet, but he knows that Sam, Dean, and Castiel, are good beings. They help people. They save the world. And he can't help but be grateful that a holiday exists where in some minuscule way, they are able to celebrate what they fight so hard to achieve and protect.
I hope you guys enjoyed! Everything with the fireworks is based on my own experiences with family friends, who we aren't able to see this year because the world is a mess, so writing this allowed me to keep the tradition (minus the roman candles) alive in a way.
Special note: I send PMs to people when I'm about to post a story based on their prompt, but since Kathy is a guest I figured I'd let you know now that the next chapter (which I hope to finish before the month ends) will be based on one of yours :) I haven't picked which one yet since you've submitted so many great ones, but I hope you enjoy it when it comes around!