SPN Befores & Afters: Part 30. Ending

[tarotgal]

Summary: Scenes of hurt/comfort from before
Sam figures about about Dean's care-giving kink...
and scenes set afterward.
Pairing: Dean/Sam | Rating: Various (G through NC-17)

30. Ending

Sam’s head is swimming. The congestion is pressure throbbing between his eyes and in his nose with every heartbeat. He’d had no idea he was getting sick until waking up this morning feeling like shit. And now his nose is tickly. His body is achy. His throat is scratchy. And head is foggy.

“ahhh…” Not to mention feeling intensely sneezy. “hahh-ARrschhhhhh!”

When they checked in last night, the motel only had a room with two twins available; it was like back in the old days. Dean is only over in the other bed, but he might as well be miles away for all the good it was doing Sam right now. Sam curls up on himself, pawing at his tickly nose.

In some ways, everything changed when he discovered Dean’s fetish and then when Dean finally came clean about it. Dean had always been so good about taking care of him. But now everything was sexually charged. It wasn’t just Dean feeling his forehead for fever, it was Dean feeling his forehead and openly feeling so good about it. It wasn’t just Dean passing him a tissue, it was Dean making sure Sam blew his nose and thanked Dean for it. It wasn’t just Dean crawling into bed with him. It was Dean making him feel better than he ever thought he could feel. It was tender kisses and desperate fucks and so much understanding in so few words.

Sam doesn’t even need to say anything. Dean just knows—he always knows. Sam sniffs softly then, purposefully, sniffs more loudly. It’s a call to Dean to come take care of him.

Only Dean doesn’t respond. Sam lies there, sniffling, but Dean stays put. Maybe he hasn’t heard? The sneeze should have been loud enough to do it. Luckily, there’s another one on its way that will definitely do the trick.

“hah… Hahh… hahh-IH-KAHshhhhhh!”

He waits, expecting to hear the rustling of blankets and release of springs as Dean gets out of bed to come to him. But it doesn’t happen. Sam lies there, sniffling loudly, and there’s still no Dean.

Confused, Sam tries another tactic. “Mmnnghhh…” He moans as pathetically as possible, rubbing at his forehead and then at his nose.

Still nothing. No Dean.

Sam tries a whimper and gives another sniffle.

Neither one produces any reaction from his brother.

Something’s got to be wrong. “Dean?” Sam calls out into the room, using the magic words. “Dean, I need you.”

The heater’s on, running softly, and Sam can only just hear Dean’s reply over the white noise. “Ohh… don’t say that.”

“Sniff! Why not?” Didn’t Dean want to take care of him?

“’Cause I don’t feel good, Sammy. Ihh… ih ih Ihhyipshhh!”

Sam lies there for a moment, taking it in. Then he rolls himself out of bed. It’s only a few feet to Dean’s bed. He switches on the lamp between their beds and they both wince at the dim glow, until their eyes adjust. Dean is curled up in bed, looking pale, weak, and very unlike Dean Winchester.

Sam lays a palm upon Dean’s forehead but can’t tell if Dean is running a fever. Dean reaches out of the blankets and takes Sam’s hand, flips it over to the back is at his forehead. Sam still can’t tell what sort of a temperature Dean has. But he can tell Dean likes the touch. That shouldn’t be surprising; Sam knows what a cool hand on the forehead feels like when he’s sick. And he knows what it feels like to be held, to have someone look after him, to have his nose rubbed for him. It’s not often that they’re both sick at the same time. But this time, Dean seems worse off and Sam knows he’s got to be the one to take care of him.

So Sam gets a tissue box from the bathroom and climbs into Dean’s bed. He’s barely settled when he feels the need to sneeze again. He tries to hold it back, not wanting to rock the bed and disturb Dean. But Dean’s never had a problem with him sneezing before, so Sam lets it come. “hahh-Ihshhh! HahShuhh!” Sam rubs his own nose and then pulls a fresh tissue out of the box, ready for the next time either of them needs to sneeze.

As Sam wraps his arm around Dean protectively, he thinks he can see why Dean likes this so much.

Comments

[ladykorana.livejournal.com]

Awww, what a lovely ending. Love it when both are sick, and it's so fitting to come full circle like this.

I adore Sam's attempts at playing up being sick and pitiful to get Dean's attention. Was working on me, that's for sure! I'll take care of you, Sammy :)

I can't thank you enough for this wonderful set of stories, seriously. You are awesome!

[x-posed-again.livejournal.com]

So I'm sitting at home on my maternity leaving thinking to myself: Self... you should check out Supernatural. It's on Netflix and everyone talks about how good it is. Watch an episode or two and see how it goes.

And that was how I spent three weeks watching every season of Supernatural.

And then I find out that you write fanfic for my new obsession! Gah! I can't... there are no words!

Love all of these, love you, the end. *dies*

[tarotgal]

Yay!!! Welcome to the fandom! It was amazingly-written sneezefic that made me want to start watching SPN, and then I marathoned it as well and totally fell in love :-)

I'm glad you liked these so much! Thanks for reading and letting me know! Yay for new obsessions (and new adorable little ones! Congrats!)

[tarotgal]

Awwww. Perfect huggy brother icon is perfect.

This was actually one of the first ones that popped into my mind when I envisioned the series and I had bits of it written from the beginning. It didn't come out exactly as it had in my head, but not too far off. I'm glad you liked poor Sammy being as pitiful and pathetic as possible to get Dean's attention ;-)

I'm soooo glad you enjoyed the series! It was a lot of fun writing them for you!