"No you're not."
The words seemed to escape Sams lips before he even realized what either he or Dean had said.
But then he shifted and there it was, there was a hint of that stubborn teenager that refused to back down and had a will of steel. He could remember countless times either him or their parents arguing with Sam about something and god if he hadn't been the most stubborn bullheaded kid in existence.
It was more than a bit comforting to see that that kid was still there.
"I'm coming with you." Dean repeated, straightening himself, and dammit the younger sibling should never be taller than the older sibling. It went against nature and everything that was right with the world.
Sam just stared at him, stared down at him, and scowled. "No." he said firmly, pressing his lips together at the end as he pushed past Dean and started down the stairs.
Dean reached for him and grabbed at his arm, feeling the earth move out from under him as Sam reacted.
Apparently his brother had a history of being grabbed and had learned accordingly because for a moment Deans world turned as he saw the ceiling and then was laid out flat on the ground on his back.
"Sorry!" Sam gasped out, letting go of Deans arm that he had grabbed in response. He reached down to help Dean back to his feet. Dean shut his eyes tightly, shaking his head for a moment to get back on the right curve.
"You do that a lot?" Dean asked, moving his neck from side to side.
"Lots of things tend to grab me." Sam said softly, shaking his head. He suddenly seemed to remember what they had been talking about and straightened up. "And no, my answer still stands."
"You do remember that I'm your older brother, right?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "I can still kick your ass into submission Sam."
Sam just gave him a look, then sighed, shaking his head. His hand came up to run his fingers through his hair.
There was a whirl of motion and movement, before Dean could even realize what happened he was turned around, pushed hard against the wall by his own arm that was pulled back and shoved against him.
"So how's that for kicking my ass," Sam breathed out, right into his ear. "Big brother."
Sam let go of his arm and stepped back, a small almost smirk tugging at the ends of his lips. Dean turned around to face him, rubbing at his wrist and unable to keep a small bit of pride from coursing through him.
"Dean, you can't come." he said simply, the smile falling off his face. "Hunting is too dangerous for people, especially people who have no idea what they're doing."
Sam held his hand up at that, stopping Dean from firing back. "And I don't mean that as an insult, you just learned that the supernatural is real, you have no idea how to really fight back or how to defend yourself."
"Even if she's out of the hunt for years, mom has a better chance than you simply because she was in it once." Sam continued. "Dads a second only because he was a soldier, he knows how to fight and how to shoot a gun. Dean, you..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "If something happened to you, to any of you, I'd never forgive myself and I'm sure I'd be finding myself at a crossroads to fix it."
"A crossroads?" Dean repeated, trying to figure out what he meant by that. "Is that like...a specific place?"
"Nevermind, it's too hard to explain right now." Sam said, waving his hand once more. His phone buzzed and he looked down at it again, answering the text. "I really need to go, I'm sorry."
Not to be deterred Dean started to reach out to grab him but thought better of it, not wanting to get kicked in the ass a third time.
"Sam." he said lowly, letting all his pain, he'll admit it to himself, fear through that one word. It worked, Sam froze in place, slowly turning to look at him as Dean stared at him.
"You can't do this man." Dean told him. "You can't just...swing by every seven years, send a postcard here and there, and think that we can just accept that."
"Every second that I'm here, I'm painting a bigger and bigger target on you." Sam said, swallowing hard. "I took a big risk coming, let alone sleeping here."
"You're running on empty, maybe even less than that." Dean shot at him. "You can't just keep going like that or you're going to die either way."
Sam licked his lips and looked away, taking a deep breath. He looked down at his phone once more. Dean could see that his resolve was crumbling and he pressed on. Before he could, Sam spoke first.
"This is not the life where you get to retire at sixty-five, this is a life where I know I'm going to end up in an early grave, not even a grave, a pit with my body covered in salt and then burned." Sam told him. "This isn't a life, it's an occupation, it's a hazard, and most of all it's a burden. It's the biggest burden a human being can bare and there are times that I can't do it but I do." he took a deep breath. "Because I don't have any other choice. You do, you get to choose to stay out, you get to choose safety and a normal life."
"Yeah well you don't get to make that choice for me." Dean told him, stepping closer to him until they were mere inches away from one another. "Because my choice?"
"I'm going to help you carry that burden little brother."
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