[MERRY CHRISTMAS dancinpenguins! Set in counted_stars. Dean is used with permission and love, and Jo is used with less permission but still the same amount of love. … I was listening to “I Won’t Grow Up” from Peter Pan as I wrote this and we both know that the boys are oversized five year-olds anyway, so … :D? It took on more of a serious tone than I would have liked, but this is apparently what happens with these boys.]

Neither of them would concede who actually pulled the first prank, but they both knew it was Sam.

Sam would deny it until the day he died, but for once, he was the one who set off the war. He needed to. There was too much tension in the air, too much bad blood between he and his brother, and he needed it to stop.

It was Life Day. From what he could remember it was the Star Wars equivalent to Christmas, and while he never had been big on the holidays, instead of getting on Sam’s case to get him to participate, Dean was sulking around and avoiding him, and he needed it to stop. He was crawling out of his skin, trying to figure out how to get his brother back on his side again. He knew he screwed up. He did. He knew he was holding more secrets than he should. But there were so many things that Dean didn’t need to know. So many things that Sam didn’t want to share, because he knew how Dean would look at him if he did.

It would be worse than this.

Sam always ran away, but Dean was still his big brother, and Dean was still always proud of him, somehow. He couldn’t disappoint him any more than he already had. So he did what any sane little brother would do.

He superglued his hand to his beer bottle.

Again.

“Sam!”

( *** )

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[MERRY CHRISTMAS arcesso! Set in turntohunters. Buffy are used with permission and love, everyone else is an NPC. Timelines for this are … fudgey, but think of it as lining up with S5/Glory with S4/Lilith’s death, so Sam’s death/Willow were about the same time. BUT! This is also pre-Buffy S7, which … sticks some gaps into Buffy canon, I know, but—wibbly-wobbley timey-wimey. JUST GO WITH ME ON THIS IT WILL BE WORTH IT. I’ll figure out the exact details later.]

“Pack it up. We’re heading to Sunnydale.”

Before he went to Hell, Sam might have felt something akin to excitement at that handful of words. Maybe even anticipation. Now, all he felt was confusion. There was no reason to go to Sunnydale. Buffy was alive. She was doing her Queen of the Hellmouth routine. Hunters getting in the mix was always a bad idea, especially when Buffy was doing her Queen of the Hellmouth routine. She didn’t want help, she didn’t need help, and if he showed up with a group of hunters in tow, she might be happy to see him, but she sure as hell wouldn’t be happy to see them.

So Sam asked the sensible question. “Why?”

“Because it’s a Hellmouth, dumbass. There are vamps and demons crawling all over it. There’s work to be done.”

“Yeah, sure. But there’s a Slayer,” Sam pointed out, because clearly Samuel was missing it. “She’s got it covered, believe me.”

“Right. Slayers. Biggest load of horse shit I’ve ever heard. You do know they’re part demon, right?”

Well. That’s something he was going to keep from Samuel for a while. Sam shrugged. “Yeah, but if they die they go to Heaven.”

“I’ve dealt with my fair share of Slayers in my time. They’re sloppy, ineffective, and overrated. Now we’re going to go in there and do some real work. Are you coming or not?”

Sam considered it for a minute with a heavy sigh, before shrugging. “Sure. Why not? I haven’t been to Sunnydale in a while.”

Samuel’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been there before?”

Sam just smirked, and loaded his stuff into the car. Wouldn’t he love to know?

( *** )

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