In the wake of an offer like that, Oscar missed Sam's short lapse in speaking. He found himself imagining a building full of younger humans. Humans that, while smaller, were just as strong compared to Oscar. Just as capable of grabbing him too roughly or yelling too loudly. A building full of humans that could mistake him for nothing more than a toy to be played with.

It sounded terrifying.

"Maybe," he answered, his voice pitched a little higher than usual. He didn't even have it in him to be embarrassed over it. Even just leaving the motel was so far outside the realm of anything he ever thought of doing. Going to a school might be beyond him.

"I never even went outside before. It's too dangerous."

"Really?" Sam asked in surprise. "I haven't gone out much since being cursed, but I'd never want to be stuck inside all my life."

He glanced over at the towering door to the room. It was deadbolted at all times to reduce the chances of anyone ever bursting in and finding the cursed boy. Of course, that kind of action had done nothing to stop the witch that had attacked him in the first place, but at least this way he didn't have to worry about any normal human robbers on top of everything else. And even if the pizza boy caught sight of him when they ordered out it could be dangerous.

That door sealed them off from a world of giants. With it closed, all he ever had to worry about was Dean, and John on occasion if he ever stopped by. Out there, aside from the giants that were everywhere, he'd have to worry about animals. Birds that could easily pluck him from the ground and dogs the size of houses. Cats that stalked their prey and played with it before dealing a killing blow.

Sam's eyes were hopeful as he looked at Oscar. "You should come with us sometime, right, Dean?"

Dean grinned at that. "I dunno. He might weigh me down too much. I mean, it's a lot of work hauling you everywhere."

Oscar's nerves over the subject were derailed by Dean's claim. He laughed quietly, his bashful smile returning. "No way," he protested. "I'm not very heavy at all and Sam can't be either. You're a human." He said it matter-of-factly, because really it was a matter of fact. Dean being human meant he was pretty much guaranteed enough strength to carry the two smaller kids on the table.

He looked over at the big door, too. The one with a line of salt at its base keeping monsters at bay. "But ... maybe. Maybe sometime I'll go outside. But if there's any animals close by we should come right back in, they're too big," he added pensively.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Dean said with a wink. "No animals will get anywhere close with me around. But…" He trailed off, his grin slowly switching to a smirk after Oscar's claim that there was no way they were too heavy for him to carry. An idea formed in his head. With the way Oscar was clearly more comfortable around the teen, it didn't seem like a bad idea.

At least, not to Dean. Sam would probably disagree the way he disagreed about most things.

Dean lightly pinched two fingers around Oscar's waist and hefted him carefully up. As carefully as he'd ever held Sammy considering that the new kid was smaller, thinner and frailer. "Guess you're right!" Dean exclaimed jokingly. "I won't even notice an extra Oz as a passenger." He put Oscar on his head and then rested his head on his arms so the kid wouldn't be so high up in the air.

Oscar squeaked in surprise and immediately latched both hands around one of the many spikes of hair on Dean's head. He hadn't had time to react; one second he was staring at the big door of the room, thinking about all the things lurking beyond it. And the next, the table fell away from his surprised, kicking feet, and he was deposited on a moving human's head.

His heart didn't know where it wanted to go but while it made up its mind it was pounding loudly in Oscar's ears. He took several quick breaths to orient himself, and got his bearings.

"D-Dean!" he complained, though he obviously couldn't see the human's face. He remembered seeing Sam sitting up here the day before. Making it look so casual. How did he do this?!

He tried to inch forward so he could see where Sam stood on the table. Or see the table at all, really. He was surrounded by spiked hair that was actually longer than he was tall. He never completely let go while he moved, making sure at least one hand had a grip so he wouldn't fall. He'd traversed a few different kinds of terrain throughout the motel, but never something that shifted beneath his feet.

He made his way to the hairline of the mischievous human and pushed a few spikes of hair out of the way like he was wading in tall grass. At least Dean wasn't tickled and throwing him right off. Or if he was tickled, he was used to it after all the times Sam had been up there enough to avoid twitching. Oscar was grateful for that as he looked around from the most unique vantage point he'd ever had in his life.

Sam practically covered his face with his hands. "Dean, what gives?" he moaned from between his fingers, staring up at the hair as it was tentatively moved aside by the tiny kid that was up there.

Dean raised his eyebrows innocently. "What? I had to test it, didn't I? Just making sure the two of you won't overburden me when we go outside!" He gave Sam a wink and poked his brother lightly in the side. "Better safe than sorry." Though it was as odd a feeling as always, having someone sit on his head. Lightweight tickles were all he could feel to mark where Oscar and Sam were at any time while they were up there and he couldn't risk moving his head too much. He knew Sam liked sitting up there because he felt a bit more normal from time to time, seeing the room at a higher vantage point. Dean wasn't about to ever dissuade him. He wondered how the new kid felt about it.

Sam stepped back, trying to escape the hand. He peered up at Dean's brow as the hairs spiking up at the front were parted by the younger kid. "Oscar! You okay up there?" he called out.

"I-I'm okay," Oscar called back, his small face angling towards Sam. Even with Dean resting his head on his arms, Sam was a decent distance away. Certainly too far for Oscar to be able to hop down on his own. He looked around, getting a better view of the whole tabletop than he'd ever had before. Even from the higher vents in a room, the table was too far away to see it this clearly.

Human perspective may have a few perks, but it was still weird to see everything from up there. And to know that Dean could probably barely feel him there.

"I saw that you were up here yesterday," he called down to Sam. His hands were practically shaking from the tight grip he had on Dean's hair. He didn't feel that unstable, but he was on a human's head. A human's head. He didn't know what to do with himself. "Do you stand up here a lot? Even if Dean walks around?" His eyes were round from the very thought. Just being on Dean's hands while he walked around was a weird sensation.

Sam felt a slowly growing smile as he saw that Oscar wasn't actually afraid all the way up there. "Not usually when he's walking, no," he called up. "I mostly stay on a shoulder; there's more to hold on to down there. But it's fun to sit up there while we watch tv or do homework. I like seeing what things used to look like for me before I got cursed."

Dean raised his eyes to the ceiling, wishing he had a mirror or some way to see the little guy up there. "Just no pulling out any hairs, okay? Sam managed to yank out a clump his first time when he slipped down."

"Hey, I was falling!" Sam protested from the table. He aimed a kick at Dean's hand.

Dean moved his hand just enough for Sam to miss, and caught his tiny brother between two fingers. "We were sitting on the bed!" he complained to his captive audience. "You just ended up landing on the mattress anyway… with my hairs!"

Oscar shuffled back just a step as the antics played out, making sure he wouldn't lose his balance while Dean caught his little brother in his huge fingers. Though Sam was squirming to escape the grip, Oscar remembered that it wasn't painful at all. When he'd been lifted up, he'd been surprised and startled, but never did he feel like his bones were in any danger that way. Dean was good at being careful for someone so large.

"I won't fall," he assured them confidently. But, even if he did and he caught himself on Dean's hair ... he had doubts that he'd be able to actually yank much of it out. Maybe some, when his very small weight tugged on it, but otherwise he could probably hang on. Not that he planned to test the theory.

He leaned out again and craned his neck to attempt to see Dean's shoulder. There was a lot of room on it, from what he could tell, though he only see the outer edge of it. Dean was big enough to carry both of the smaller kids on one shoulder easily. And he would hardly feel their weight. Even now, he easily had Sam in just two fingers, no effort at all going into holding the smaller kid. Oscar was still amazed that he'd found someone with power like that who wasn't abusing it like he'd always been warned would happen.

"I just, um. How should I get down?" he asked after a pause. He wasn't unnerved being up so high, since he'd had to climb a number of things before. But all the same, he liked to know where his exits were. "Can't use a pin on your head," he pointed out with a breathy chuckle, tapping one of his little shoes on Dean's head and wondering if the human noticed.

"Oh! Here, I can getcha down." Dean opened his fingers, letting Sam bound out of his grasp with a bitchy glare shot up at his older brother. Aside from being a little extra rumpled, the younger Winchester was fine, brushing off his clothes like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Keeping his head steady, Dean held his hand, palm facing the ceiling, next to his forehead. It was where he could feel the small movements coming from. "Sam usually just climbs down to my back when we're on the bed," he explained as he tilted his head forward just enough for Oscar to slide into his hand. "Otherwise, for my hair's sake I help him down. And that way I don't have my brother landing on my nose anytime soon."

Oscar heard the explanation Dean gave. He even felt the vibrations of the human speaking through his fabric shoes, since he was standing on Dean's head. But he was soon occupied with the tilt towards the big hand. First his shoes slipped and he lost his balance, and then he tumbled forward onto Dean's palm with a quiet oof!

His bag landed haphazardly next to him while he righted himself. Oscar turned over to sit up on Dean's hand, sparing the surface beneath him a few extra glances. Now that he was sort of getting used to the human, and he wasn't as scared of being trapped in that hand, he could pay attention to the details in it. Thick skin gave a little under his small weight, and the ridges of Dean's fingerprints were easily noticeable. The warmth of the hand came up through his body and the steady, powerful thump of a pulse rushed beneath him. What Dean had said made it into his mind, quickly distracting him from where he was sitting.

"If he landed on your nose you might sneeze," Oscar realized with widened eyes. It'd be loud, not to mention incredibly dangerous. Sam was lucky something like that hadn't happened.

Dean had to chuckle at that as he lowered his hand down to eye-level. "Unless you go kicking me while you're on my nose, I think we'll all be fine," he told the kid. "No sneezing here."

He flattened his hand back on the table so Oscar could hop off, amazed at the thought that he could barely feel the kid shifting around on his palm. This kid was so thin compared to even Sam. Dean resolved all over again that they'd do what they could to get some food in him while they were at the motel. They might not be around for long but a few weeks of steady food could do him good.

Sam darted over to make sure Oscar was alright after Dean's shenanigans. After he was certain he wasn't hurt or afraid, he bounced on his heels. "Can we try climbing?" he asked, wide-eyed. The night wasn't getting any younger and he was excited to give it a try.

Oscar paused in straightening out his rumpled shirt to smile. "That's a good idea," he agreed, shifting his bag back around so it rested at his side like it should. It made it easiest to grab what supplies he'd need without even looking.

He held his safety pin close to his chest, the thread bunched up in his other hand as he made his way towards the edge of the table. He stopped again after only a few steps, frowning thoughtfully at the room from where he stood. He had a good angle on it (at least where he wasn't blocked by Dean) and it reminded him of how high up he actually was.

He twisted around to look back at Sam with a sheepish grin. "Maybe the nightstand is a better place to start," he suggested. The nightstand, at least, wasn't as high up as the table. And it had a shelf and a drawer that could be used as a place to catch on just in case. The table, a sheer drop of several times their height, wasn't a good place for a beginner to start.

Sam peered at the edge of the table from behind Oscar. He had to admit that the other boy was right; it was definitely a lot to take in all at once when he thought about dangling from that height. It had to be almost fifty feet if he was still a human, and he'd never even dreamed about climbing buildings as a kid. It was a crazy thought for a human, not so crazy for a guy like Oscar, and now Sam.

"Okay," he agreed easily. He was extra-glad that Dean was insisting on giving them a safety net while he learned. It seemed a lot more dangerous when he started thinking about actually dangling like that.

"If you're not climbing down," Dean said, "I guess that means I'll be giving you two a lift?" He winked at them as he held out his hands. At this rate, Sam might not remember the homework that they were supposed to be working on, a win in Dean's mind. Watching the two kids that stood barely above two inches climb and horse around was more fun any day.

Oscar thought about declining the offer. After all, it wasn't as normal for him as it was for Sam to just hop onto those hands and get a ride to wherever he wanted to go. He knew perfectly well that he could easily get to the floor so long as he had his pin and thread. Trekking to the nightstand would take a while, however, and he was admittedly just as excited as Sam to see the other boy give climbing a try.

As he walked back towards those hands, amazed that they weren't lunging at them to grab them up, he thought of another good reason to avoid being on the floor. Dean would be walking around, and Oscar had yet to get a look at the human from that extreme of an angle. Even when Dean first caught him, Oscar had only had a glimpse of two enormous hands rushing down before they eclipsed everything.

He remembered the rumbling in the floor from the footsteps, though. And the shadow darting over him to eclipse his small form. Dean wasn't even fully grown and he was already so tall. Oscar would put off seeing him from the ground for as long as he could.

"Yes, please," he decided, stumbling onto Dean's offered hand. Oscar sat himself down, glad he'd found out that at least one human out there was nice. He was warming up to Dean more and more.

Dean waited calmly for Sam to sit down after Oscar. He was getting used to having someone in his hands after the last month spent around Sam. His downsized brother was perfectly willing to bitch at him if he was moving too fast or grabbing without warning, so Dean had a good idea of what he was doing. It was the first time in his life he didn't mind getting yelled at. Sam needed him to be careful and having his mistakes pointed out to him was the only way they'd adjust.

With the two younger kids sitting on his hand, he stood from his chair and lifted them against his chest. It gave them a wall to tumble against if they lost their balance rather than falling onto the floor.

As soon as Dean started walking, Sam had to shift his position. It was easy to lose balance with the immense movements around him and Oscar. Each step by Dean cleared ground that would take either of them time to cross, and the teen did it in seconds. Sam leaned forward over one of the fingertips, peering down at the ground below as it passed.

The finger reflexively curled inwards, bumping Sam back so he tumbled into the center again next to Oscar. He sent up a glare at Dean and got nothing more than an arched eyebrow in return from his brother, who was watching his hands as he walked.

A moment later, the ground rushed up at them as Dean knelt down and held his hand flat against the ground to let them off. Sam was a little wobbly as he hopped down, and the view of Dean kneeling over them didn't help much. For some reason it feltdifferent from the floor, even though he'd seen him from that angle more than once on the bed.

Oscar stumbled too, even less accustomed to traveling so far so fast than Sam was. He wasn't even tempted to watch the floor pass by below them. By the time Dean had lowered them to the floor, he was leaning away from the edge of Dean's hand just to be doubly safe. This was no easier than standing on the palm with a bundle of chocolate in his arms.

Once back on solid ground, however, Oscar was grateful for a slightly more familiar view. Between the beds, with dark landscapes stretching out beneath them in either direction, with the nightstand towering in front of them. This view of the furniture was his normal. Oscar couldn't recall a single time he'd ever actually climbed to the top of a nightstand.

The obvious difference in his terrain now, of course, was Dean's shadow over them. Oscar could look straight up and see Dean's face above them from behind, while the top of the nightstand loomed in front.

Now, he'd need to use one to actually teach another kid how to climb that distance. Sam needed to learn so that he could get around even if the big brother kneeling over them wasn't there to carry him. All it would take was one ambitious spider and Dean off somewhere else to hurt someone there size.

"Well, okay," he began, opening up his own safety pin. "Wanna try to get your pin to the edge? 'S'okay if it doesn't catch right away. I don't always get it right either."

Eternal kiddo cutes for the win! Dean will make them both smile.

Next: December 23rd