Spoilers for 7x07.
This is normal
Just a little over a week.
It was just that. Just a little over a week. Not a big deal. Dean is sure there are loads of 33 year-old dudes out there who don't talk to their 29 year-old brothers for over a week. Even when said brother is not pissed. This is what grown-ups do.
This is normal.
He's even more sure that there are hundreds of pissed off little brothers who don't answer their older sibling's calls. Or text messages. Or voicemails.
This is normal.
Everybody always said as much. Lisa said it plenty. Lisa was close to her sister, tight even, and she easily went by two, three weeks without talking to her. Syd, his neighbor back in Indiana, said once he only talked to his sisters on holidays.
This is normal.
This is what everybody does.
'Sides, Sam is good. Safe. Soul in place. Able-bodied, as well trained as ever. He was the one that took the lead in pretty much every job they worked the past few weeks. Sam is fine. Yeah, he is seeing the devil, but apparently the whole shootingat the devil thing seems to be over. Sam seems to be in control of whatever he has in his head.
And Bobby is keeping an eye on him. Even if he won't take Dean's calls, Sam still takes Bobby's. Checks in. Lets him know he's alive, safe, soul in place and not shooting at the devil. Bobby's on him.
Sam is a grown up. Sam is safe. There is no Apocalypse anymore and Lucifer is still very much contained in his cage. Leviathans are after them, but if Dean is being honest, separating is probably a good thing to get them off their trail.
And Sam can take care of himself. Dean doesn't need to take care of him. Not anymore.
This is normal.
This is good.
Sam won't be pissed forever. They've been over too much crap and forgiven faults much worse, Dean knows. Sam knows it too, probably. Bobby is sure, or so he keeps telling Dean over and over.
Sam won't be pissed forever and he'll eventually answer Dean's calls and they'll talk again. And they'll work a job or two together every once in awhile, then split again, then meet at their birthdays, visit Bobby sometimes.
They are grown ups and the world is not ending. Not anymore. They don't have to live off each other's pockets. There is no logical need for a 33 year-old man to spend every moment of every day with his 29 year-old brother. They should have separate lives and that doesn't mean anything bad.
It's just… normal. This is normal.
SPNSPNSPN
When Dean hears Sam's voice over a packed restaurant, there's something on his insides that fucking jump.
It's Sam. Sam's voice. Sam is over there. And Dean can't help but miss him as if he'd been gone a year – and Dean can tell because he knows how that feels like.
He's moving before he even knows what he's doing and he's talking and talking as if he can overpower Sam's scolding face by will of his flooding words alone.
Sam's pissed. Sam's angry. Sam's not going to give an inch, but then the stupid waiter comes with his stupid affirmation and there's something there. There, on Sam. On Sam's eyes and Dean is hopeful for something he can't even put in to words.
That something is there all case long.
Sam tries, he tries so hard, to remain pissed. To keep his face tight. He keeps the stupid ugly-ass car he rented (and renting a car instead of taking one is proof enough his soul is in place and he's good 100% Sam there, the Bobby-voice that lives in Dean's head says). He asks for two rooms in the motel. But he pauses.
He pauses for a second before crossing the street outside of the restaurant to get into his own car. He pauses for two when he orders a separate room at the motel. He keeps giving Dean sidelong glances and averts his eyes when Dean grins at him just to spite.
When the case is over and Sam, the most stubborn person on the planet, the man that literally willed the devil into doing what he wanted, laughs against his will, it is the fucking greatest sound Dean has heard in…. well, feels like ever. Sam safe, sound and soul in place laughing at Dean's jokes.
Dean never had one, not really, but it feels like home.
When he goes outside and Sam is putting his bags in the car Dean can't help but feel like this is exactly where his brothers bags belong: right next to his.
And this… this is normal.