A/N:
Warning: Involuntary, pre-meditated shrinking
The silence that stretched out after Sam's exclamation was laden with thought. Dean was the first to recover from the revelation, his frown etched on his face by now. "Come again?"
"T-the hexbag!" Sam declared. "We've had Bobby researching it for weeks. If there was some side effect to using it, we'd know by now. Chase can use it, shrink down, talk to the people here, and find out what's going on! No more pictionary or charades, just answers. We've even got a pouch full of cure for him."
Jacob still felt guilty for derailing them like he had, but his brow knitted as Sam's suggestion sank in. He still had a whole pouch of the powder that Bobby Singer and Rufus Turner had helped them mix up back when he first fell under a witch's hex.
He'd been reduced to the same scale as Sam and Dean for a few days, but luckily the witch that caused it was such an amateur that she got herself shrunk by her own curse. That same witch probably still resided in a jar somewhere at Bobby's place for safe keeping. People like that, who'd leave a trap around to shrink people, shouldn't be at large.
Jacob never imagined that little hexbag might be turned into something useful for them. He tried to picture Chase popping down to smaller scale. The kid was shorter than Jacob by a lot, which meant that Sam and Dean would be tall to him. He wondered if they realized how small they'd be asking Chase to become. He had his doubts that even Melanie, a small woman that had taken a liking to Dean on their first case, was smaller than Chase would be.
"Well, okay," he said, pushing himself to sit upright again. "It wouldn't hurt to try, but we'd probably have to take a little time to get him used to the look of things. Don't want him panicking over scale." He dug his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "We can call Bobby right now and see what he thinks of the plan."
Dean crossed his arms while he waited for Jacob to dial Bobby and lower the phone down for them. It was surreal to consider that shrinking someone to their size might become an asset for them to use, instead of a problem to deal with like when it was Jacob who was hexed. It was an intriguing concept, but he agreed wholeheartedly with Jacob. Anyone would need time to adjust to their perspective, as Jacob had proven.
The sound of ringing came over the phone, and then a click. "Hello? " came Bobby's voice, sounding as frazzled as normal. He had to spend his time dealing with a multitude of hunters and problems, including ones who brought their issues right to his front door, like Jacob and the Winchesters.
Sam leaned over the speaker. "Hey, Bobby, how's it going?" he called out, raising his voice so he could be sure that it made it over the line.
" 'Bout the same as the last time you boys came to visit. Rumsfeld's been missin' you. I caught him sleeping in the spare bedroom. I'm bettin' this ain't a courtesy call though. What kinda trouble you boys in now? "
"It's not like we're always in trouble!" Dean protested loudly.
The silence that stretched over the line after that spoke volumes. Indeed, the first time they'd reunited with Bobby came merely a day after Jacob had snatched them both up. Dean was trapped in a coffee pot against his will, arguing with a giant who had fingers bigger than he was, and there was no way at that point to know that Jacob would turn out to be a future friend.
Their second face-to-face meeting happened well after the odd trio began to relearn hunting. Jacob had found the hexbag in question. Somehow, he'd avoided brushing against the side of it (it was safe to pinch the top, as Bobby demonstrated soon after), and gotten all the way to his house before getting himself hexed. Chase had to come and get them all to Bobby's, where the grizzled older hunter called up his hunting partner Rufus and concocted a cure for them.
"Look, we just have a question," Sam explained, saving Dean from his quick words. "We're on a case, and we found people our size. They don't speak English, but from what we were able to garner, they speak Mandarin, like Chase. Problem is, they don't like humans. Do you think it's possible for us to use that hexbag to hex Chase so he can talk to them?"
"Hmm," Bobby hummed to himself. "Don't see why not. That little witch of yours might be many things, but complicated she ain't." They could hear a protest in the distance at his words, and could only imagine Olive beating her bitty fists against the jar they'd brought her in. "Just make sure you don't let him outta sight. Not everyone knows how to survive at your size, and he's going to be an untrained beginner. You two will need to keep an eye on him constantly."
"Don't worry about that, I'm not planning on lettin' him go more than an inch or two away," Dean swore.
"We'll give him plenty of time to get a little more used to stuff before going anywhere," Jacob confirmed, nodding once though Bobby couldn't see it. The last thing he wanted was to get his best friend into a panic after asking him to go along with their plan and help them. Chase might act nonchalant about just about everything, but he was still only human.
Once they'd assured Bobby enough that they weren't going to be too reckless with their plan (Jacob didn't blame him for being skeptical, if he was honest with himself), the call disconnected. He swept up the phone and tucked it away in a pocket, before offering the same hand to Sam and Dean with a faint grin. "If you're ready for some driving, we have a hexbag to collect."
I wonder what Chase will decide we owe him after this.
The drive to Sioux Falls was quick with the Impala tearing down the highway to the destination. They stopped in at Bobby's to chat for just a bit and give Rumsfeld some behind-the-ear rubs before collecting the hexbag in a sturdy plastic container and heading towards Carlisle again. The last thing they needed was for Jacob to end up small while they were too far from the stash of cure he had back at home. Something told him Dean and Sam would never let him live it down.
It was midafternoon as they passed cornfield after cornfield on the way back. A few blink-of-the-eye towns sped by them, their residents hardly noticing the roar of the Impala's engine or the gleaming black of her body. It was as though she was just as eager to be on the hunt again as Sam and Dean were.
"Okay, so, we'll probably have to have him try it out at my house, maybe let him get used to the room. At least he'll kinda know what to expect," Jacob mused aloud, glancing to the rearview mirror to see what the brothers thought.
"We should probably test it out first," Sam said, jumping in on that line of thought. "Before we put Chase at risk, we want to know what happens with the hexbag if he's holding it. So far, everyone's only brushed against it, and the bag stayed big." A frown etched his face. He didn't like the idea of trying it out on Jacob again after the last time, but they couldn't exactly ask Jacob's family.
"If Chase is holding it, we want to know that it won't hit him twice, too," Dean chimed in. "I don't know about you two, but I doubt it'll be fun if he gets a double dose of a shrinking hex and ends up the size of our fingers."
Jacob grimaced at the thought. If Chase ended up that small, a light breeze could carry him away. He'd be surrounded by a world so big that a blade of grass would look like a high-rise. In all likelihood, they wouldn't be able to keep track of him before the wind carried him off and he got hopelessly hurt or stuck somewhere.
Sam was right. They needed to test the theory out before even asking Chase to try the hexbag for them. They were already asking him to become a size that made him vulnerable against a sparrow.
Jacob opened his mouth, ready to volunteer to try it out. Then, a thought came to mind that he couldn't shake out, and he couldn't stop himself from grinning. He closed his mouth to smirk and chuckled quietly. "Okay, Dean, I've got an idea for a test subject." His gaze found Dean in the mirror. He had a strong feeling it would go over well and wanted to spot the reaction.
"What do you think of paying the other Bobby a quick visit?"
The worry in Dean's face dropped away, replaced by a quickly growing grin. The thought of having Bobby Loran down at their size after the kidnapping all that time ago… There was no way that Dean would ever turn down an idea like that. Case or not, he would have fun introducing Bobby to a little thing called karma.
"Now you're speaking my language," Dean said confidently, cracking his knuckles. It was time to let Bobby know that he couldn't go around terrorizing people just because they were smaller than he was simply because he was bigger.
What goes around comes around.
Now…
Back in Carlisle, it was easy to find Bobby. The small town didn't have many places to go on its own, so if Bobby didn't want to make the drive into the city, his options were limited. Jacob, as discreetly as he could, kept an eye on the big Loran house with its immaculate lawn and long driveway, and hoped none of the neighbors would decide to call him in for being suspicious. He could end up with a warning from his own stepdad.
As luck would have it, Bobby himself emerged from the side door of his home, distractedly locking up while he checked his cell phone. His blue eyes remained on the screen for the whole walk down his driveway as he tapped out a text. Jacob held still, hoping his lessons from Sam and Dean might actually pay off. He wasn't dealing with another hunter. He was only dealing with a bully who thought he was in control more often than was true.
Jacob managed to step out from his casual "hiding spot" leaning against a tree and onto the sidewalk several paces behind Bobby without him noticing. He was too distracted by his casual walk to notice the tower of a person shadowing him. In a town like Carlisle, few people would be wary enough to watch for followers. Jacob was silently proud. His work to soften his steps must have paid off after all.
Eventually, he couldn't keep up the charade any longer. Bobby made one glance to the side and noticed him. Jacob opened up the plastic case even as Bobby stopped walking to turn a haughty glare back at him. His mouth was open to ask Jacob what he was doing there, when Jacob casually pinched up the hexbag and gave it a light toss.
Bobby's eyebrows shot up and he put his hands up to catch the bag as it fumbled against his chest. Then, he disappeared with a faint rush of air.
Or at least, it looked like he did. He shrank down to the sidewalk so fast that it was like he'd never been there, and Jacob squinted at the sight of his former best friend looking side to side dizzily. Jacob saw the tiny figure look at something in his hand and smirked; the bag had shrunk right along with Bobby.
He stepped forward and that tiny face turned upwards in shock. Jacob's monumental shadow covered Bobby's tiny frame, engulfing him, and he fell backwards, trying to scramble away. Jacob heard him cussing, demanding to know what was going on. Knowing he couldn't leave the little guy on his own out here now, his hand left his side as he stooped towards Bobby.
He couldn't risk letting Bobby run off to get into more trouble than they intended, though he knew explaining things wouldn't do a thing to help.
There was a tiny No! as Bobby made a valiant attempt to run away. Jacob's hand swept after him; he was too quick, and soon he had the tiny, struggling Bobby Loran wrapped up in a fist. He couldn't even tell by looking that he had a person in his hand, though he could feel the desperate squirming. Tiny arms and legs writhed against his grip. Jacob made sure he didn't squeeze had enough to actually hurt his small captive.
Bobby was ranting at him, but Jacob didn't bother to listen. There was no backing down now. He stood up straight and lifted his hand to his pocket, where he released his grasp to let Bobby fall into it and out of sight.
He could feel brief struggling against his chest as Sam and Dean quickly got hold of Bobby to make sure he didn't get them all revealed. Jacob stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and strolled down the sidewalk, casually making his way home. He felt Bobby get pressed against his chest, struggling weakly, and smirked. Dean was probably like a kid on Christmas.
It was a nice day out. Jacob couldn't blame Bobby for choosing to take a walk; it was unfortunate for him that instead he'd been kidnapped. Any remorse Jacob might have felt for it was quickly erased by the memory of Dean crouched low over Sam's unconscious body, both of them battered and broken by Bobby's hands.
He'd earned a little payback.
A/N:
Dean is cackling, and it wasn't even his idea to begin with.
Bobby Loran gonna be regretting every single mistake he ever made with these two.
Next: March 29th, 2023 at 9PM
Adding in this author's note for all my followers here, and will keep it on all chapters going forward:
If the worst happens and fanfiction shuts down, you can find all my stories on both archive of our own and deviantart, posted under the nightmares06 account. You can also find our story tumblr, which contains a ton of information and answers that are only posted on that site, along with artwork for the stories and future plans we have. That can be found under the brothersapart tumblr account. I can't put links in chapters, but googling "Brothersapart tumblr" should bring it right up!
