CHAPTER 6: Bobby and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Jacob reached his home and headed upstairs to his room right away. He closed his door behind him and stood in the middle of the floor, finally looking down at his pocket. Weak movements barely affected his awareness. Bobby had yet to give up struggling. "How's things, guys?" he asked, lifting up the pocket flap to check on his passengers.
The open flap revealed the two brothers and their captive, all crammed into a pocket together. Sam remained in his own corner, merely a spectator to the scene. Dean held Bobby pinned to Jacob's chest with one arm, the other hand holding Bobby's arms so he couldn't struggle and disturb the fabric of the pocket. The newly-hexed human couldn't hope to compete with either brothers' strength. The curse had stripped away their size but left them a few quirks that helped them survive, among them an unnatural strength if they were put on the same scale as an uncursed human.
Like Bobby or Jacob.
When the huge voice rumbled out of the wall next to them, Sam glanced up and flashed Jacob a smile. One wouldn't know from his cheery disposition that there was a guy held prisoner not an inch away. "The hexbag didn't have any effect on me when I grabbed it!" Sam called up. When Bobby was first dropped in the pocket and Sam had confiscated it, both brothers were prepared for Sam to dwindle down further. Dean would have grabbed Sam first, then confined Bobby before he could try and escape.
They had tried to plan for anything when preparing this test run.
"I think we're all just getting along peachy," Dean said as he leaned his arm on Bobby.
Bobby's blue eyes widened and he let out a surprised choking noise. Jacob's voice had rumbled just behind him and rattled through his very core, and his bones still felt it. His struggles meant nothing against Dean's casual strength, but he still squirmed fearfully with his gaze fixed upwards. Jacob's huge face overhead, once a source of friendship, showed no signs of sympathy for Bobby's plight, and part of Bobby knew he hadn't earned any sympathy.
The rest of him was just plain afraid.
His heart pattered weakly like rain against a window. "W-wait, lemme go," he insisted weakly, tearing his gaze away from Jacob to look at Dean. There was no sympathy there, either. What he did find only made him want to get away more. Bobby remembered being big enough to hold Dean in one fist, completely hidden away. He remembered the feeling of desperate, pained struggles as he increased the pressure...
"Guys, wait," he began. "We don't have to-" his voice cut off when Jacob's enormous fingers appeared, dipping into the pocket and waiting.
"Well, why don't you come out into the open instead of crowding yourselves in there?" Jacob rumbled around them. Somehow Bobby's nerves found the strength to wind him up in even more tension and he drew in a shuddering, fearful breath. That voice wasn't even shouting and it could almost concuss the people in the pocket.
"Sounds like a plan," Dean agreed, not taking his eyes off of Bobby.
Behind him, Sam darted up the powerful fingers offered to them as a ramp, getting himself up to the broad palm. His small hands found purchase in the wrinkles in Jacob's skin, making it almost look like he was climbing up a smooth surface when in fact he had plenty of handholds to grip.
Once Sam was ready, Dean let his weight up off of Bobby. "I think this discussion will go better in the open air, what do you think?"
Without waiting for an answer or an attempt to squirm away from Bobby, he hauled the teenager over to the edge of Jacob's hand. Sam was waiting when Dean pulled himself and Bobby up onto the fingers, and got a hand on Bobby's arm to haul him out of the pocket without Dean flailing his way up the slope. The two brothers each put a hand on Bobby's arms once they were all in the palm together, flanking him. This wasn't about hurting him, after all. It wouldn't do to have him tumbling off Jacob's hand when it lifted up.
"All clear!" Dean called up, punching a fist into Jacob's skin like normal.
The hand lifted away from the pocket, and Bobby squirmed. He couldn't twist out of their solid grips, and only bruised himself for the trouble. His heart fluttered with vertigo as Jacob lifted the three of them to his face to check on all of them. Bobby couldn't escape the brothers' grasp, and didn't have time to wonder at how strong they were before he was held before enormous brown eyes.
"Lookin' a little green, there, Bobby," Jacob quipped, unable to hide a smirk. Bobby's face was priceless.
"What the fuck did you do to me?!" Bobby shot back. He tried again to wrench his arm free, but he just couldn't. He glared at Sam, before the memory struck him, what that little face had looked like when his arm snapped. His hollowed gaze trailed down to the arm he had broken in one careless action. It was healed up, and stronger than ever.
Bobby returned his glare to Jacob, ready to tell him off more, but the giant shifted. Jacob's fingers curled up like a railing as he lowered himself to the floor to sit down, and then he ferried the three of them to the carpet. "I think it's pretty obvious," he answered, his eyebrows raised expectantly. "Dean, isn't it pretty clear what happened here?"
As Jacob's hand flattened against the ground, Sam let go of Bobby's arm. He didn't care for the guy in the least after what he and Dean had gone through, but he'd leave this to Dean. The less time he spent in proximity to Bobby, the better. Sam hopped down, landing agiley on the floor and striding away.
Dean, on the other hand, had spent a good portion of his time while Sam was healing dreaming about having Bobby down at the same scale as him, or with their sizes reversed. Musings that were now given life. They could say it was just to test the hexbag, but the catharsis to come couldn't be denied.
He pushed Bobby's shoulder, shoving him down from Jacob's hand. "I think it's perfectly clear what happened here," he drawled casually as he stepped down as well and freed Jacob up to move his hand away.
Bobby stumbled among the thick threads of the carpet. They nearly snared one of his shoes and he barely avoided sprawling onto the floor. He scanned the room around them in a blur of motion, catching sight of a desk, a dresser, a bed all the size of warehouses and skyscrapers. Ordinary things made horrifying by a simple change of scale. With the knowledge that those impossibly giant structures remained, looming over him, he turned back to face Dean.
Dean had Bobby fixed in his sights much like a wolf sights a rabbit. "I mean… you don't even stand three and three quarter inches tall, now, do you?" The edge of his voice turned harsh, remembering the ruler and what Bobby had put Dean through just to find out how tall he stood. It was the closest to breaking Dean had ever come, and Bobby and Sam had both seen it.
Bobby recognized the phrase and a chill raced down his spine. Back when he'd first found the odd little brothers, he'd decided on a whim to get out a ruler to measure how short they were. He hadn't even really cared about the measurement. It was Dean's defiance that made Bobby so determined to get him to act how he thought he should act.
Small. Meek. Deferrent.
Now Bobby was the small one. Sam and Dean stood much taller than him, much like Jacob usually did. Now Jacob was the size of a building.
He stepped back from Dean and his hands raised in surrender. They were trembling. "Look, I, uh," he stammered, in shock from how thoroughly the tables had turned. Every muscle primed to run, but he dared not take his eyes off the man stalking after him. He tapped a thin, pink scar just below one eye with a shaking hand. "You already gave me a reminder, right?"
"What, that little thing?" Dean scoffed, sharing a glance with Sam. Jacob was ignored behind them as they were caught up in the moment. "I guess you already forgot, then."
Before Bobby could back too far away, Dean leapt forward. He snagged the teenager's collar between two hands and dragged him forward so they could see eye-to-eye. Bobby had to tilt his head upwards to have a hope of seeing more than Dean's chin and neck, he was so much shorter than the hunter. He put his hands on Dean's wrists, but had no hope of prying himself free.
Hard green eyes met those icy blues. "You broke my brother's arm," Dean growled to Bobby, unrelenting. "And almost snapped my spine. I doubt a little cut like that is much of a reminder. You're damn lucky Sam's arm healed straight."
Sam paced around the outskirts, simply an observer. His hook dangled out of his bag from when he'd placed the hexbag carefully within, knowing they couldn't afford to lose it if Bobby's hand slipped. He trusted Dean wouldn't go too far with the kid, though Bobby had no way of knowing what they'd do.
When he grabbed that hexbag, he'd vanished without a trace. There wouldn't even be a body for his family to find if the Winchesters decided to make him 'disappear.' Not one that they'd recognize, at least. Right now Bobby was closer to a happy meal toy as far as his family was concerned. The realization dawned on his face in glorious slow motion, while the size of everything around them bore down on the three. Even Jacob's breaths came in gales far overhead.
Bobby stared back into Dean's intense green eyes and slowly came to that conclusion along with Sam. If they wanted to, they could make him disappear. Much in the same way that Sam and Dean didn't exist to any records, Bobby would be easy to hide. He could be stuffed in a pocket and carried anywhere.
His heart dropped at the thought that he'd been kidnapped, much liked he'd done to them those many weeks ago. His plans were to keep them trapped. With that glint in Dean's eye, Bobby had no idea what their plans were in retaliation. If Dean wasn't holding him up, he might have stumbled on his weak knees.
"Lemme go!" he blurted, squeezing Dean's wrists with his hands and wrenching uselessly at them. He thrashed in the taller man's grip, trying to escape him even while Sam prowled around them watchfully. The hook at his side gleamed in the light and Bobby shuddered. He might as well be trying to pull a steel beam apart.
"Jacob, dude, you gotta listen," he said, turning his head to appeal to his gigantic friend. Jacob's mouth twisted into a thoughtful frown as he watched over the proceedings. His role as silent sentinel continued as he shook his head, refusing to give Bobby an audience for whatever excuses he might try to summon up. Bobby scowled fearfully and writhed once more in Dean's hold.
"Now, Sam, I don't think Bobby has any idea who's in charge here," Dean said casually. He let the teenager go and gave him a push into the center of the circle Sam was walking around. That left Dean to prowl in the opposite direction as Sam like sharks drawn to blood in the water.
"No, he definitely doesn't," Sam agreed, not breaking stride when Dean joined his pacing. "He thinks Jacob's calling the shots."
"We should fix that line of thinking for him," Dean said with a smirk.
Bobby twisted this way and that. His attempts to keep both brothers in sight was in vain. Sam and Dean matched each other step for step, in perfect sync with each other; a team. Meanwhile, Jacob still just sat there quietly, silent and looming. Neither of the others looked at all concerned for the giant hands draped casually over his knees.
Bobby's shoes shifted tentatively on the carpet. He glanced up at Jacob and found no sign of caring there. Beyond Jacob, the top of the doorframe loomed impossibly high above, and Bobby's heart fluttered. The light on the ceiling housed glaring bulbs of glass bigger than he was. He was outmatched by everything around him.
Sam and Dean kept pacing and Bobby's heart quickened. The carpet fibers under his shoes shouldn't be so stubborn and thick. They should be crushed under his weight without effort.
He wouldn't be able to appeal to Jacob for help. Bobby noticed the hook hanging out of Sam's bag again and knew he couldn't appeal to them for mercy, either. He clenched his jaw and his eyes were wide with fear as adrenaline crashed through him.
When he thought he had a shot, he darted to the side right between the brothers' track. He had to try.
A/N:
You could say Dean's been thinking about this day for a very long time, he just didn't expect to ever get the chance
Next: April 5th, 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!
