Before they left, Dean ran back to the motel room and fished the crumpled piece of art paper from the garbage then carefully smoothed it out as best he could. He then folded the paper into a neat, small square and hid it inside his surplus jacket pocket for safe keeping.
Sam had thrown it out, he was disappointed he couldn't interpret the picture for Dean and also because parts of it had been ruined. None of that mattered to Dean, ever since he laid eyes on the image he couldn't get it out of his mind. It was important, though like Sam he wasn't sure why.
…..
They were on the road once again and heading north.
Sam spent his time looking out the open window for the first part of the drive. It was boring in the backseat alone. The older Dean got the more he wanted to ride shotgun. John and Dean talked shop more often than not and while Sam listened and absorbed every word he rarely joined in the conversation. The boy knew where he was in the pecking order, right at the bottom because of his age.
Dean kept an eye on Sam without his brother even aware. Glancing back to make sure he was fine and occasionally giving him a "you ok, Sam?" For Dean, putting miles between that crap town and whatever was on the road ahead took the pressure off him, at least for a little while.
He'd go hunting any day rather than being forced to sit in school and now the summer stretched out in front of him like a wide open highway with promise waiting for him the other side.
….
The Big Betty Diner was hopping with truckers, tourists and locals and the air was filled with the tantalizing smells of fried chicken and burgers. Over in the corner was a rotating glass case filled with pies and cakes. For Dean, this was pure heaven. The thirteen year old was in his element.
Their waitress Lori was a friendly middle aged woman with a sturdy figure and frosted hair piled atop her head. "Motherly" was the first word that popped into Sam's mind when he first laid eyes on her. He had just started to notice females and omegas in different sorts of ways. Sam observed, categorized and wondered why some made him get butterflies in his stomach, while others made him want a simple hug.
Lori smiled broadly at the three of them and declared, "A table of handsome fellas? It must be my lucky day!"
The normally shy boy gave her a big dimply smile and blurted out, "thanks, lady!"
Dean thought that was so funny that he accidently snorted cola up his nose then loudly blew it into a napkin.
"What a dork!"
Lori nodded toward the big slab of prime beef sitting across from the two boys, "What can I get you?"
John winked at the waitress to give her a thrill, "I'll have the chicken special and coffee but if it's that weak shit than don't bother."
"Oh don't worry, it's strong enough to put hair on your chest but I bet you already have plenty." She winked back at John and both shared a naughty laugh.
Sam slid a little lower in his seat. He was only ten but he wasn't stupid. Their dad was flirting and it always grossed him out. Dean found the whole process of flirting pretty damn interesting though he hadn't had the opportunity to try it out yet.
She pointed to Dean with her pencil, "I can tell you're the sassy one in the bunch. What can I get you, sassy boy?"
That made Dean smile because she was dead on; he was a sassy boy and proud of it, "Double cheese burger with pickles and fries."
Lorraine smiled sweetly at the adorable kid sitting by the window, "What about you, cutie."
"Grilled cheese and onion rings." Sam peeked at her from behind his bangs because wiseacre Dean called him a dork. He noted the waitress had big boobies.
Dean dumped a buckets worth of ketchup over his fries and wolfed his food down. Sam took his time, delicately sucking the strip of onion out of each ring then popping the crunchy batter part in his mouth. John savored his second cup of coffee and miracle of miracles he sprung for dessert.
Dean hitched his thumb toward the back of the dining room, "I've gotta hit the head." He rushed to the bathroom and locked himself in a stall then yanked his jeans down as quickly as he could. He aimed his dick in the toilet and urine came out in a hard stream while he defecated at the same time. The wave of cramps had the teen doubled over in pain.
Dean blamed it on the rich, greasy food he just ate but actually it was caused by prostaglandins, chemicals released that cause contractions in the intestine and uterus. For females this normally happened during menstrual cycles. In puberty this happened to boys who were in the early stages of presenting as an omega and sometimes continued through their first heat cycle.
After the cramps subsided Dean washed his hands and face then got out of there before anyone else came in.
….
Dean got a laugh over the name of the motel, not because it was strange but because it had the world "pine" in it. Sam got out his little notebook to write the date, place and name of the motel. This was something the brothers started when observant, five year old Sam noticed a lot of motels had that word in the name.
He whispered, "Pine Wood Motel" and wrote it down in cursive.
Linda, the small, elderly woman behind the check in desk was gruff with John but nice to the boys. When she was distracted by John and charming little Sam, Dean went straight to the coffee bar and snagged three stale cake doughnuts, powdered coffee creamers, packets of cocoa and a bunch of napkins. He would have taken more doughnuts but that's all there was. Next Dean went back to the counter and while Linda ran John's questionable credit card he grabbed a handful of wrapped hard candy from a bowl.
As the new renters were leaving the office Linda called out, "I put out new bakery every morning. Tomorrow they're delivering bear claws."
The pretty boy said "awesome" and little dimples grinned from ear to ear, already anticipating the sugary, spicy treats. The alpha grunted in acknowledgement as alphas tended to do. The man was hard to read but Linda had a feeling he held a whole lot of secrets.
…..
Sam nibbled on his bear claw while watching his brother through the big office window. Dean had gotten up before Sam, as usual and according to Linda, Dean gobbled down two bear claws and a mini carton of milk like the kind they give at school lunch and headed right out to the parking lot. Linda said he was taken with her El Camino.
Clad in his old black t shirt and knee length, cutoff jeans and a pair of worn out sneakers, the teen happily squirted the hood with the hose to wash off the suds.
Sam smiled to himself and said, "D looks happy…like real happy not fake happy."
"He fakes that a lot?"
"Yeah but it's not his fault, he does it around Dad and strangers because he has to."
Linda placed a hand on Sam's shoulder, "I can tell that kid is a survivor. Well enough of this melancholy crap. Go out there and help him detail my baby inside and out and you'll both get five bucks. Now when I say detail, I mean do it all, cotton swab the air vents, polish the rims, clean the bed and make her look pretty."
"Five bucks, yes Ma'am!"
…
Dean sort of hugged the hood, "Sammy, check out this awesome Chevy El Camino. She's a scarlet red 1980 with only 45,000 miles on her!" He opened the hood to show off the engine, "Linda's old man opted for the V8 instead of the V6. She's no Baby but I'm pretty impressed."
"Dean, we each get five bucks and I get to help."
"Great, use those long fingers to start detailing while I finish up out here."
Linda checked on them every once in a while. She like the boys, they were different from other kids who stayed here during the tourist season with their parents. Sam and Dean were both hardworking, polite for the most part except when Dean decided to be a smartass but even that part of him Linda liked.
Eventually it all devolved into a water hose fight ending in Sam soaked to the skin and running around the parking lot, calling his brother a jerk. Dean got a soapy wet sponge hard in the face.
Linda called them in and gave each of them five bucks and told them to go dry off and she'd make them a couple sandwiches for doing such a good job.
…
Dean wiped his palm across the steamed up mirror and took a good look. As long as he could remember, complete strangers would tell him how cute he was and the old he got the more the compliments increased. Somewhere around age twelve he went from cute to handsome, pretty and sometimes even beautiful. He learned quickly that being this good looking came with perks from strangers. Dean's looks didn't influence their dad at all. In fact John came down hard on him for the most minor of infractions.
After staring at himself for all of five minutes, Dean ran his hands down his chest and over his ass which was filling out nicely then gave his dick and balls a good tug.
He put a foot up on the toilet lid then ran his fingers lightly over his perineum. He had those pains which spanned hip to hip but this time it traveled all the way down to "no man's land" and that scared the hell out of the thirteen year old. Holding a hand mirror, he could see the normally pale pink perineal raphe was beginning to turn a deeper pink and when he pressed the area he was able to push the skin inward just a bit more.
Dean got the sex ed. basics last year in school so he wasn't completely blind to what might be happening but the possibility of his body betraying him this way was just too much.
The hard knock on the door startled him. He grabbed his towel and wrapped it tight around his waist and exited, almost nailing Sam with the door in the process.
John sat at the kitchenette table going over a map and nursing his third beer. By the looks of it, the hunter hadn't shaved in days nor bathed but that wasn't unusual when he went out on the road to hunt. What had been unusual was him leaving Dean at the motel instead of taking his eldest with him.
Dean could tell he was in one of his moods and worse, was in the middle of planning something.
"Hey Dad, me and Sam will get out of your hair so you can get cleaned up and stuff." He quickly dressed and left with his brother, they headed to the small beach down the hill from the motel, using the moon as a guide.
TBC
A/N- Thank you for the follows, favs, kudos and reviews from the first chapter.