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Creeping across the hall, Sam attempted to avoid the creaky floorboards that he knew were littered between Dean's room and his own. They never did this while Dad was home, well, that wasn't true. It was more that they rarely did, and they hadn't planned on it this week, but he had to. Opening his brother's door as little as possible he slipped through the small space and closed it again once he was on the other side.
"Dean?" He whispered, crossing the length of the room without putting his feet fully on the ground. "Are you up?"
Dean let out a soft grunt in response and rolled over onto his back, but Sam wasn't convinced that he was totally asleep.
"Come on, Dean. This is important." Lifting up the edge of the blankets he slid under them before curling up beside his brother. "Please?"
Turning his head to the side, Dean's eyes opened and stared at him through clearly blurred vision. "Wassup?" He asked hoarsely.
"I don't know what to do about school."
Dean blinked at him. "What?"
"School, Dean. I graduate in like, five months and everyone is applying to universities and I don't know what to do." He took a breath. "I mean, I'm smart, I know I'm smart. Hell, I'm graduating at fifteen and who the fuck does that? I could get into some big university no problem and probably with full scholarship too. But I don't know. I don't wanna leave you, I don't wanna be alone and I really, really love you. But it's university. I could be a lawyer, or a doctor, or some weird nuclear scientist. I'm good at science, but I don't think I'd be happy blowing things up or sitting around in a hard hat all day at some power plant like Homer Simpson. I like law though. It's fun. You get to argue a lot and you know I'm good at that. I argue with Dad enough. I could make lots of money too. We wouldn't have to get fake credit cards or hustle pool anymore. We could buy a house and have all sorts of really cool things like a dog, and an actual laundry room. Oh! And a lawn mower. I know you liked the one we had at the place in Oklahoma, so we could get one of those too. But I don't think Dad would let me go though. And he wouldn't let you go either. I mean, I could get emancipated, probably pretty easily too, but I don't want to do that. I want to be with you and safe and happy and that's what really matters, but it's school, Dean. I could be really good at it." Sam gasped, his rambling rant coming to an end. "I don't know what to do."
There was silence, and in the darkness he could see that Dean was watching him, but he looked incredibly confused. "What?"
Sam let out an impatient sigh and shifted around so that he was at eye level with his brother. "Weren't you listening at all to what I just said?" He demanded.
Dean pushed himself up on his elbows and stared at something over his head for a moment before slumping back against the pillows. "It's two in the morning, go to sleep."
Glancing over his shoulder, Sam saw the clock on the nightstand next to the bed and he realized that apparently it was just that late. He turned back to Dean and knew that it was showing on his face just how antsy he was feeling.
"No buts, Sam. Now seriously. Get the fuck to sleep. Don't care if it's in here or in your room. We'll tell Dad you had a nightmare or something and passed out in here, just sleep, damnit." Dean yanked the blankets higher. "Talk in the morning. Goodnight."
Pouting, Sam curled up on his side and tucked one hand under his cheek.
"I can hear you moping, Sam." Dean's voice was low and his frustration was almost audible.
"I'm not moping." He protested. "Serious-" He was cut off when one of Dean's arms slid under his body and yanked him forward so that he was resting against his brother's side.
"Stop it and sleep, braniac." Pressing a kiss to the top of his head, Dean squeezed him tightly.
Sam nodded his head silently as rest his cheek against his brother's chest. He brought one arm up to wrap around Dean's waist and slid his fingers just under the waistband of his pyjama pants. "Sleep it is."
Offering only a grunt in response, Sam could hear Dean's heartbeat levelling off beneath his ear and he knew that his brother would be asleep within a minute or two. It was like Dean had an on/off switch. When he was tired, he was out almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, or the seat of the Impala if he really wanted a nap. It was actually pretty funny, but then again, it was something that had been learned pretty early on. Another talent gained from their usually absent father. Clenching his eyes shut, he focused on relaxing, if he tensed up, Dean would feel it and would be wide awake and worried in ten seconds flat. He timed his breathing to match up with his brother's and slowly, he felt his body begin to grow heavy. He'd done the same thing when they were kids and it always worked.
Little by little the world went fuzzy around the edges and any remaining tension left his body. He was warm and comfortable and for the night he had Dean. "Love you." He mumbled into his brother's chest as the rest of the world began to melt away into the safe refuge of dreams, but before everything went silent, he thought he heard the rumbling of Dean's voice beneath his cheek. Focusing as much as possible, he struggled to make out exactly what was being said, and when he did he couldn't help but smile.
"You too, Sammy."