Nap Time

Sam was cranky.

Dean smiled fondly to himself as he pulled into the motel parking lot and that particular thought ran through his mind.

He knew that it probably wasn't the best idea ever to be smirking right now, not when Sam looked like he might snap at him at any second, but he couldn't help it; he hadn't thought about Sam being cranky for years, not since they were both kids and Dean would always know by instinct when his little brother was over-tired and emotional, usually after school when he'd endured a long day of the other kids being mean to him, or when he was anxious because Dad had been away a little too long on one of his many hunting trips.

Now, Dean had a feeling that Sam's moodiness was due to a long and tiring hunt, along with the sleepless nights that always went with their difficult hunts, and a couple of arguments about Sam staying up too late to do research.

His brother had been moody since this morning, when they first headed out on their hunt, and he'd simply shrugged and headed back to the Impala with a sigh at the end of the hunt, choosing to ignore Dean's victory dance and smug grins and his talk about how they were awesome hunters.

He'd then sulked right through their late lunch at a local diner, still looking exhausted, meaning that Dean had decided after they finished eating that he was going to drive them back to the motel to chill out, instead of heading to the nearest bar for drinks like they usually did to celebrate completing their more intense hunts.

He chanced another glance at Sam, who might have been sitting close to Dean in the Impala, but he seemed to be deliberately looking away from him, keeping some kind of emotional distance, like he really didn't want Dean to know how tired he was, as though Dean didn't already know almost everything about Sam anyway.

Dean got lost in his memories for a couple seconds as he tried to find a parking space, remembering how he would always know exactly what to do in situations like this back when they were kids; he would simply tell Sam that it was nap time, and Sam, being the stubborn little brother that he was, would have to argue with Dean every single time, usually by folding his arms and insisting that he wasn't sleepy, and refusing for a little while to lie down; but Dean would always know better, and slowly, carefully, he would start to head in the direction of the nearest bed or sofa, promising Sam that he would stay with him, insisting that they could just watch TV or read a story if Sam really didn't want to sleep; and it seemed to work every time, in the end, because Sam would eventually sigh and mumble, "Okay, Dean."

Then Dean would take Sam's hand-or carry him, when Sam was really tired-and take him to his bed or the sofa, and he would climb in with his little brother, grab hold of the nearest blankets and tuck them both in, stroke Sam's hair, place a few gentle kisses to Sam's forehead, maybe even tell a story or turn on the TV and lower the volume, and he would reassure Sam that everything would be okay and that he just needed some rest, sometimes even wiping the tears away softly from Sam's cheeks when his little brother was really over-tired, with Sam still trying to claim half-heartedly that he wasn't sleepy the whole time, and Dean would just softly tell him to be quiet so that he could soothe Sam to sleep and his baby brother could relax for a little while.

Dean considered it a victory for the two of them every time Sam's eyes fluttered closed and the rare peaceful look crossed his face. It was a look that Dean only really saw when Sam was asleep.

Dean suddenly felt a little nostalgic, almost missing those days when Sam was a kid and Dean could just take care of him without Sam insisting that he was old enough to look after himself.

Now, Sam got mad and stopped talking to him or he asked for separate motel rooms when he felt like Dean was 'treating him like a kid'.

Dean focus was brought back to his adult brother when he looked at Sam again. He was staring out of the window with his arms folded, and he looked paler than usual, and Dean swore that Sam's bottom lip was sticking out a little, like Sam was sulking, or pouting. He wouldn't point that out to Sam, though; they'd had too many arguments lately, and Dean didn't want to cause another one.

Not that things had really been that bad between them lately. Not since Dean had got way too drunk and he ended up spending the night in Sam's bed, waking up with his arms and legs wrapped around Sam, which…yeah, Dean didn't like to think about too much, because he knew that he'd probably said all kinds of sappy crap when he was under the influence of alcohol, and, as Sam liked to remind him on an almost daily basis, Dean had apparently said the word 'cuddling' out loud, something that Dean had never really believed that he would ever do.

Annoyingly, Sam had taken Dean's drunken slip of the tongue as some kind of unspoken permission to use the 'c' word to refer to what they were doing, constantly asking Dean with a stupid smug grin if he wanted to cuddle tonight, or worse, asking Dean if he liked being cuddled, and then his annoying little brother would laugh or smirk triumphantly whenever Dean inevitably started to blush.

Since then, and since Sam had made them have a chick-flick moment by having a discussion about their argument after their hunt, and then a discussion about how Dean apparently always treated Sam like a kid, things had been a lot better between the two of them, with Dean being careful not to yell at Sam when they were hunting, and also trying his hardest to treat Sam like an adult when they were working.

They had also continued to share motel rooms-and, more often than not, motel beds-and they were still really affectionate with one another in the privacy of their motel rooms, and Dean was sleeping better than he'd slept in years.

As Dean pulled into a parking space, still lost in his thoughts about the past and the present and naps and double beds, he suddenly realized that maybe they could still have 'nap time' now, what with all the bed-sharing and the touchy-feely crap that went on between the two of them anyway; it wasn't like sleeping in daylight was much different to the sleeping they did at night.

Sure, Sam would be stubborn and try to protest at first, but Dean was almost convinced that Sam would eventually give in to his exhaustion and let Dean soothe him into a much-needed sleep for a couple of hours, especially now that things seemed to have shifted a little between the two of them since the whole 'bedtime' thing started and a few of their long-established walls and barriers had started to come down. Maybe a nap together wouldn't seem so weird now.

The second Dean turned off the ignition, Sam blinked rapidly a couple of times, like he'd been so lost in whatever daydream he'd been having that he'd only just worked out where they were.

"You don't wanna go get something to drink?" he asked Dean, sounding a little confused.

"Nah," Dean replied, already opening the car door and going to grab their bags. "Come on, Sammy…" he continued, slowly, cautiously, "it's nap time."

Slowly, Sam's eyes widened, like he couldn't believe what Dean had just said, then the stubborn look crossed his face, just like Dean had a feeling it would, before Sam folded his arms and he remained still like he was frozen to the spot.

"Dean!" Sam hissed, sounding kind of annoyed. "I'm not even tired!"

Dean chose to ignore him, knowing that Sam could insist all he wanted that he wasn't tired, but he was never going to fool his older brother, not when the exhaustion written all over Sam's face definitely told Dean otherwise.

He took a few steps towards their motel room, unable to resist the urge to grin to himself. Honestly, Dean was kind of enjoying this; it was like the two of them were playing a game with their little stand-off in the parking lot, reverting back to acting like kids and playing up to their childhood roles, and he felt the familiar wave of nostalgia all over again.

After a few more steps, Dean looked over his shoulder, trying not to laugh. "Get a move on, Sammy," he muttered, pretending to sigh, "you're a little old for me to carry ya…"

It took all of Dean's effort not to start blushing when he was suddenly realized that it would probably be the other way round now, with Sam practically having to hold Dean up every time Dean had been drinking too much and Sam was trying to get him back to the motel room.

For a second, Sam looked furious, but then he sighed, like he didn't have any energy left to throw a tantrum, and Dean decided that it was a sigh of defeat.

Eventually, Dean heard Sam's footsteps behind him, so he kept on walking towards their room.

Dean unlocked the motel room door and headed inside, confident in the knowledge that Sam was going to follow him.

He threw their stuff on the floor and grabbed an old T-shirt and sweatpants from his bag before he headed towards the bathroom, deciding to take a quick shower.

Just before he closed the bathroom door, Dean looked over his shoulder in time to notice Sam standing on the other side of the room by the door, glaring at Dean with his arms folded. Dean simply grinned and closed the bathroom door.

When he emerged from the bathroom a quarter of an hour later, Sam was sitting on the edge of one of the beds with his head down and his arms folded.

Dean tried not to laugh when he noticed that Sam had also changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants, even though he was apparently still sulking and resisting Dean's nap time idea.

Instead, Dean shrugged and jumped onto the other bed, with Sam watching him challengingly the whole time. He let out what he hoped sounded like a sigh of contentment when his head touched the pillows and he spread his arms and legs out across the bed.

"This bed is so comfortable," he murmured. It was meant to sound like he was just casually thinking out loud, but the truth was that he fully intended for Sam to hear it, in the hope that it would encourage Sam to come and lay next to him, and it wasn't like the bed was any more comfortable than any of the other beds in their usual crappy motel rooms. Dean knew that the beds had nothing to do with it; he was only comfortable at night now with Sam next to him.

"I'm not tired," Sam responded in barely more than a whisper. And Dean knew that the game was still on.

He had a strange feeling that maybe Sam was playing along on purpose, indulging Dean's need to put all of his efforts into persuading Sam to take a break, even though they both knew what the outcome of this stand-off was going to be. It was like maybe he was doing this mostly for Dean's benefit, taking them both back to their childhood and letting Dean do the whole caring big brother thing.

"You don't have to sleep, if you don't wanna…" Dean replied with another casual shrug as he grabbed the remote from the table by his bed. "We can just watch TV or something…"

Sam stood up and moved closer to Dean's bed, watching Dean with a suspicious expression for a few seconds, but Dean also saw another look on his brother's face, a look that said that he really wanted-no, needed the close contact with Dean right now, that he really was as exhausted as Dean thought he was, even though he didn't want to admit it out loud.

"Okay, Dean," Sam eventually sighed.

Slowly, he sat down next to Dean, keeping his eyes on the TV. Then, after a few minutes of looking from the TV screen to Dean with a wary expression, he let out another sigh (and a yawn, even though Dean wasn't going to dare to make any comments about that) before he moved so that he was fully laying down next to Dean.

They both remained still, laying a few inches apart for a little while, before Sam let out a few more yawns and Dean took a chance and reached out to pull Sam in.

Luckily, Sam didn't protest or push Dean away, and he simply shifted around a little, like he was getting himself comfortable, and next minute, he had an arm around Dean's waist and his head was resting on Dean's shoulder. "Don't say anything," he mumbled, kind of threateningly but also kind of affectionately, and Dean couldn't help grinning to himself.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Dean responded, giving Sam an affectionate squeeze as he spoke.

It wasn't like this was some kind of personal victory for Dean anyway. It wasn't like their playful wrestling matches, or pillow fights, or food fights, or even their general brotherly banter when they jokingly tried to insult one another and there was always a clear winner every time. This was about Sam being in some kind of distress, and Dean needing to make Sam feel better.

Anyway, putting aside their brotherly banter, the only real victory for Dean in any aspect of their lives was Sam's happiness.

Sam might have got himself comfortable, and Dean might have given up on any pretense of keeping his distance, now running his hand gently through Sam's hair and up and down his back, but still Sam tried to fight off sleep. Every time his eyes fluttered closed, he quickly opened them again, looking kind of embarrassed.

"Shh," Dean whispered in what he hoped was a good, soothing-big-brother voice. He maneuvered their legs a little so that he could reach out and pull the blanket over the two of them, then he pulled Sam in even closer, if that was even possible, and he continued running his hand through Sam's hair. Then, he started moving a little, slowly, almost like they were kids and he was rocking Sam….

"Dean?" he heard Sam mumbling against his neck, "You…uh…you remember that talk we had? About you not treating me like-"

"Sammy," Dean cut him off, "I agreed not to treat you like a kid when we're hunting. I never said anything about not treating you like a kid when we do this-" He made a vague gesture with his right hand to indicate the bed and the two of them, because Sam was always going to Dean's baby brother, in some ways, especially at moments like this, and Dean was certain that he would never fully switch off from his taking-care-of Sam-thing, and yeah, Dean was still refusing to use the 'c' word when he was sober.

Sam seemed to hold his breath for a couple of seconds, like he was thinking about it, then he nodded slowly and closed his eyes again, settling back into Dean's side, like he was okay with that deal, even though he still looked a little unsettled about something.

"'M not sleepy," Sam muttered, and that was when Dean knew that Sam really was exhausted, now that he was reverting back to his childhood language in his half-asleep state, and he even looked a little emotional.

Dean decided that Sam's sulking and display of emotions and his refusal to just relax and take a nap were partly to do with his reluctance to appear weak in front of his older brother. He knew that Sam still had his insecurities when it came to hunting, that he still worried that he wouldn't be 'good enough' in Dean's eyes-and in their dad's eyes, back in the past-and he worried that he wouldn't be 'useful' to Dean. It was probably why Sam had reacted so angrily when Dean yelled at him for trying to jump in front of him and defend him during their last hunt; it all seemed kind of obvious to Dean now.

Dean knew that they were well on their way to solving their 'bedtime' issues and Dean's issues with close physical contact and comfort, but he had a feeling that maybe some of their issues with hunting and their dynamic when they were working were yet to be resolved.

"You did good today," Dean whispered, deciding that Sam not only needed but also deserved his praise when it came to hunting, deciding that he could make the first step with this. Dean knew that his life as a hunter wouldn't have been the same without Sam, and that Sam's help and support were invaluable. "You always do good."

Dean was sure that he caught a hint of a smile from Sam.

"You did good today too, Dean."

Dean blinked in surprise. He hadn't really expected Sam to say something similar back to him. More importantly, he hadn't realized just how much he wanted Sam to say something like that until the moment he said it and Dean suddenly felt his whole body relaxing, like maybe as an adult he needed Sam's praise and approval as much as he thought Sam needed all that from him.

It was like they were more equal now, more on the same page…when it came to hunting, anyway.

"Thanks," Dean mumbled, not wanting to say any more and encourage any potential chick-flick moments.

He doubted that Sam had much more to say anyway. His brother's eyes were now firmly closed and his breathing was deep and even, like he'd fallen asleep.

Dean watched him for a little while, feeling as though Sam were about five years old again. He took a chance on Sam being fully asleep and placed a soft kiss to his brother's forehead. It was something he'd always done when Sam was a kid, as a way of offering comfort, but also as a way of reassuring Sam that he was still close by, that he was staying close while Sam slept. However, like many affectionate gestures from their childhood, the forehead-kissing was something else that they never did as adults.

"Biggest chick-flick moment ever," Sam suddenly whispered, making Dean jump. Dammit, he hadn't realized that Sam was still awake.

As Sam smirked, still keeping his eyes closed, Dean felt himself blushing bright red.

"Shut up and go to sleep," he grumbled, resisting the urge to pinch Sam's side and start a wrestling match when Sam was so tired. "It's nap time, Sammy."

Thankfully, Sam went quiet and he relaxed back into Dean's arms.

For all the embarrassment he'd had to endure over the past few months, Dean was really glad that they'd started the whole 'bedtime' thing. It had brought him closer to Sam, it allowed them both to be more affectionate in the privacy of their motel rooms and it allowed Dean to show Sam how much he cared about him without having to deal with endless girly talks or emotional moments. It had also kind of reassured Dean that Sam wasn't about to run out and leave him for another life any time soon, and that Sam needed the close contact as much as Dean did.

As he felt himself drifting off to sleep too, Dean was certain that they would also be doing the whole cuddling thing later tonight at bed time, too; he hoped that they were going to have a lot more bed times, and that they would continue to ask for double beds most nights, and have slumber parties in cabins when they needed a break, and enjoy their time together for as long as possible, and, as of today, he hoped that they were going to take naps together for a long time to come.