When Dean awoke, the first thing he did was check over his body. He felt better than last night, but also a bit worse. His throat was itchy, but after a few experimental sounds he discovered he wasn't losing his voice anytime soon. His body felt achy though, and he was still tired.
He turned his head to see his gargantuan brother and was surprised to find the bed empty and made. A quick glance at his watch told him that it was already mid-morning. Shifting around he spotted something new on the nightstand. A relatively large note. Folded in half so that it stood up on the table.
In Sam's neat handwriting it said that he's letting Dean sleep in, that he's checking in every half hour, and that if he wants something he should use the phone next to the note. And there was Sam's touch-screen phone next to the note, propped up against the base of the lamp.
Dean blinked, thinking for a moment. He had no reason to get up right now. Except for the fact he was thirsty. But there was a full cap of water not too far away. With surprising slowness, Dean sat up. What the hell? His limbs felt heavy. He had almost no energy to move them. Whatever ailment he currently had had stripped him of any excess energy. He barely had enough to make it to his feet! But a leisurely crawl to the oasis of water did him a world of good. Drinking his fill and washing his face made him feel better, even though by the time he dragged himself back to the warmth of the heating pad pretty much all his energy was gone.
But now he was wide awake with no energy left. Usually this would be a great time to zone out to the tv or start bitching to Sam. But there was no tv. Or Sam.
Dean let out a soft sigh into his hankie and wondered when the Sasquatch would check in next.
It took less than ten minutes of Dean mentally disassembling and re-assembling his baby for the door to open with a creak that would shame most horror movie productions. He slowly rolled over to the door, seeing the mountain that was Sam Winchester try to enter quietly. Tip-toeing until he saw that the little man on the heating pad was awake. He stands next to the small bedside table for a few moments, towering over its small inhabitant. It makes Dean feel insignificant. But the larger hunter lowers himself to the floor and ends up with his head about the same level as the table.
"How you feeling?" he asks, trying to sound nonchalant, like he hasn't been worrying about his big-little brothers health. Dean shrugs slowly.
"Sluggish. Got no energy. I barely made it back to the pad after getting a drink." Sam's eyes flicker over to the cap and back to the small man. Noting the short distance.
"D'you feel hot? Or cold?"
"nah. Just…slow." Sam doesn't want to treat his older brother like a glass figure, but that's kinda what he is. Dean struggles to sit up. A finger behind his back helps prop him up and stays there to support him. Dean's little face looks annoyed, but he doesn't say a word.
"Ready for breakfast?" Sam asks. Dean shrugs softly. Sam feels the movement of the shoulders more than he sees it.
"Sure." Using both hands, Sam scoops up dean and his blanket. Leaving his shoes on the table. He picks up the tiny shirt and pants though, one he has a free hand. And turns off the heating pad.
"Leave the pants." Dean tells him. So Sam passes him just the shirt. Dean holds it as Sam makes his way to the kitchen.
"whatcha want?" he looks down to the small man tucked close to his chest. Even though its late morning, Sam still hasn't eaten. He tells himself it's because he wasn't hungry. But in truth he was waiting for his brother.
His throat hurts and he's achy. Dean wants something warm, sweet, and easy to eat.
"Oatmeal."
Sam blinks and brings his hand up from his chest to his face.
"Say it again, because for a moment I thought I heard you say you wanted oatmeal!"
"I did." Dean replies a little petulantly.
"And coffee too." He states to the closest hazel eye. It's easier to focus on just one at this distance. The eye itself squints slightly, but retreats soon enough as the hand moves away from the face.
"Oatmeal it is then." He gets everything together with one hand. He doesn't feel so great with putting Dean down, especially now that he's sick, but more so the fact that the kitchen doesn't have a heating pad for him. But Dean isn't complaining, so he continues working one handed. He struggles to get his shirt over his arms but he gets it done with a little effort.
Dean feels a hot breeze blowing on to him and looks up. He's closer to Sam's face than before. The hand that's holding him is higher than the usual chest level. He's closer to the shoulder. Whatever. He's being held. Its all good.
Sam puts water in the coffeemaker and a small pot for oatmeal. He looks down.
"You want any fruit in it?" Dean looks up.
"We got a banana?" Sam checks the fruit basket that only he fills up. He bought a few when he last went grocery shopping.
"Yeah, we do."
It got harder and harder to make breakfast with one hand. Sam struggled to mix the pot with one hand until Dean managed to reach over to the nearest patch of skin and rubbed it as hard as he could. It took a few seconds, but Sam finally noticed.
"Put me down and finish cooking."
"There's no heating pad for you here." The tree-trunk eyebrows scrunch together in concern.
"I'll be fine for a few minutes. Now put me down before you burn yourself." He reassured his little brother. With a wry grin, Sam walks to the table and carefully slides dean off his hand onto the flat surface. Dean's happy enough to rest his eyes for a few minutes to the background noise of giant breakfast making.
Sam comes to the table with a bowl of oatmeal, a peeled banana in the bowl, and a small metal spoon for dean's portion. One he sits down and makes himself comfortable, he sees that the smaller hunter's eyes are closed, and he's lying down.
Dean opens his eyes to find Sam towering over the table, staring straight at him. Once again he struggled to sit up and once again Sam helped him. This time, he used the bottom of his hand to keep his brother sitting up. His hand is gently cupped around Dean, who doesn't seem to mind it. Picking up the small spoon he scoops up a bit of oatmeal and banana and places it to the immediate right of his brother.
For a lack of a smaller utensil, Dean uses his hands to eat the oats and fruit. Sam works through his own bowl while noting Dean's slow movement. No more coughing it seems, but his small movements became slower until they stopped altogether a few short minutes later. Sam hands Dean a corner of a wet napkin to wipe his hands off. He accepted it with soft movements and a small smile. He never did like getting his hands dirty. He leans back into the warm extremity and lets out a soft sigh. Dean basked in the heat radiating from the hand behind and surrounding him and relaxed. There was no place safer to be right now.
"You done?" Sam asked him a little while later.
"I'm good Sammy." Sam slowly edges his hand away from Dean and puts the dirty items from breakfast in the sink. He'll clean them later.
"You want the coffee?"
"Later." Dean replies. There's no need for caffeine now.
He picks up his tiny brother and starts to walk to the main room. A small shout stops him in his track.
"Hey!" Dean half yells. The mountain pauses in it gait to peer down at the little man.
"I- uh. I gotta pee." Sam graciously says nothing but turns around to the bathroom.
Once in the bathroom, is another story.
"Do you need my help to…stand?" Sam asks. Shifting from foot to foot.
"Pretty sure I can stand for a minute." His legs are a little shaky, but yeah. He can stand. He's run with legs in worse conditions. He crawled haltingly to the edge of the palm, and got his feet under him, pushing himself upward to shuffle to the cap that was his personal toilet.
"Okay then. I'll just…be out here?" Sam ducks out of the door, but doesn't close it all the way. Doesn't matter anyway. Not like the little brother is pulling a peeping tom. His legs start shaking harder once he finishes. He tries to sit down but his legs buck beneath him as soon as his knees bend and he drops hard on the porcelain. At least he managed to land on his ass. Not that it didn't hurt anyways. Now to wait. On the cold, unforgiving sink. A shiver runs down Deans back as he waits.
Sam peeks his big doe eyes in about two minutes later. Dean all but falls into his brothers waiting palm. He's a little embarrassed that he has to be supported just to wash his hands! Like before, Sam doesn't say a word. He just helps his brother sit up. Once Dean dries his hands on a towel the size of a football field, Sam pulls the small blanket out of his pocket and helps his brother get warm and comfy. He walks back to his bedroom. Pocketing his phone and picking up the forgotten paper megaphone.
"So, what do you want to do?" Sam queries.
"Relax." Dean replies. There's not much else he can do.
"Want me to set you up with doctor sex-bot?"
"Its doctor sexy." Dean growled. "Let's watch something else instead." Asking his brother to stay with him.
Sam purses his lips. He's decided to have a lazy day with dean. Hang out with him in the bunker. What the little hunter said only confirmed his idea that dean wants to stay near him.
"How about a Star Wars marathon?" Sam suggests.
"Dude yes!" dean replies with as much enthusiasm as he can muster. Sam walks to the main room and notices his laptop charging. He spent a good portion of yesterday in that chair. There could be a more comfortable way to do this.
Dean was surprised when he wasn't deposited on the heating pad. And then sam picked up his charging laptop and walked away.
"What're you doin?" he asked.
"Getting comfortable." Sam walks back into his room and settles on his bed. Dean feels the hand underneath him tilting only slightly when his brother goes from vertical to horizontal on the bed. He's put down on his brother's chest over his left pectoral. Sam takes an extra pillow, places it over his pelvis and puts the laptop on it. He opens the screen and then tilts it forward. He glances at the mound of cotton on his chest that contains his sibling.
"This good?"
To say dean was surprised was an understatement. He half expected Sam to drop him off in front of the computer and go do something else. But this? This meant that Sam wasn't going anywhere. This was more than a gesture, it was a reassurance.
"It's good." Sam helps prop up the blanket behind him so he has something to lean on, and then puts a pillow between his own head and the headboard. Dean's close enough that the larger man can hear and see him easily.
"Which way are we starting?"
"The right way."
" it is." Sam finds a link quickly enough and within two minutes the words are moving up the screen. By the time Luke, Han and chewie infiltrate the death star, Sam checks up on Dean to find the little man deep asleep.
There are two choices. One: continue with the movie. Two: move Dean off and do something else.
But he said he would stay. So Sam flexes his arms and legs and re-settles on the bed. Shifting the pillow to a different angle and watches Luke, Han and chewie save the princess.
Dean wakes up when the body beneath him moves and tenses when he thinks that Sam is getting up. He curls his legs up and closes his eyes, waiting to be picked up. But when nothing happened he opened his eyes, and realized that the giant was just shifting to a more comfortable position. He lets out a sigh and closes his eyes to drift off to the sound of a space-garbage compactor.