Dean Winchester x Reader (gn reader, no use of y/n)
Summary: Sam gets hit with a de-aging spell and you get to watch Dean truly take on the role of big brother again.
A/N: Inspired by this fanart by @beybuniki! Lowkey wanna write some more random Dean & de-aged Sam now bc the possibilities are endless...
The witch is cornered and she knows it. You finish fighting off her sister while Sam and Dean slowly close in on the older one. They took at least three people, and used some twisted witchy spell to make them age rapidly, die, and decay, to use their bones for their "work."
"The fresher, the better," they explained. That was enough for you and Dean to decide they couldn't be allowed to go on. Sam on the other hand, tried to reason with them, but as diplomatic as he is, it wasn't enough.
The younger one goes limp after you land a well placed kick to her head. You turn to see Dean aiming his gun at the other one, and Sam standing closer to her with his arms stretched out as she nervously kneads a hex bag in one hand.
"It doesn't have to be like this," Sam says calmly to the witch.
"Move, Sam." Dean's stubborn. His jaw is set. His hands are steady. He's clearly already made up his mind.
Sam ignores his brother as he keeps talking to the witch. "You care about her, right? Your sister."
The witch's gaze flickers to her sister, unconscious behind you. "I've always taken care of her…"
"So do the right thing," Sam urges. "This—" he motions around the room. "This isn't right and you know it… And there will always be people like us to stop it. You know that."
"You kiddin' me? You waitin' for her to just pinky promise they'll stop and be on their merry way?" Dean's voice is stern, never taking his eyes off of the witch.
You see the witch's eyes dart to the three of you, to her sister, and it's clear she knows Dean won't concede. She's starting to panic.
Just then, you jump as you feel her sister's grip close around your leg. Dean's attention shifts to you. He shoots her, and he turns back to Sam as he sees movement in the corner of his eye. The witch reaches out to grab Sam, and squeezes the hex bag in her hand. There's a bright flash and she mutters something under her breath. The bag goes up in flames just before Dean fires off another shot and hits her square in the chest. He walks over and shoots her once more in the head just for good measure.
He clenches his jaw as he looks down at her. Despite the whispers, the rumors others may spread, he doesn't enjoy this part of the job. "I'm sorry, Sammy… This was only gonna end one—"
"Dean…" You cut him off and he turns to face you. You say nothing, not even looking at him. Your eyes are fixed on the small child sitting where Sam stood just moments before.
Dean's hands drop to his sides. "What the hell…"
Back at the bunker, you both stand in front of the couch where a five year old Sam sits looking up at you.
"What… uh… wh— were do we even start?" You say to Dean as you look at Sam. He looks even smaller, being swallowed by his earlier clothes.
"Well he can't stay like this."
Sam chuckles. "That was dumb."
Dean pushes his head back lightly. "Shut up."
"Don't tell him to shut up, he's like four!" you defend Sam.
"Probably like five or six actually," Dean corrects you. His eyes are noticeable softer than usual as he looks at his younger brother, once again truly his little brother.
You look at him and smile softly at the fact that he seemingly remembers so clearly what Sam looked like at each age. You look back at Sam and sigh. "Okay, well you've been through this before, right?" You ask Dean. "How'd you go back to… you?"
"The hex bag!" Sam says excitedly. It feels weird hearing those words come from such an innocent voice.
"The witch's hex bag. I just— I dunno, squeezed it and I was back. But the bitch from today burned it before I shot her."
"Okay, so… We research. Try to reverse engineer the spell," you say, knowing damn well it's much easier said than done.
"How are we gonna do that without him? He's the one with his nose in a book all the time."
You look down at little Sam. "You're not gonna be much help, are you?"
He looks up at you and shakes his head, smiling.
You sigh."Well first of all, he can't just stay in these clothes, and we can't take him out like this so… Just— stay here, get started on the spell, and I'll see what I can find."
"Oh sure, go shopping while I do all the work."
He raises his hands in defense. "Fine, fine… I'll call Rowena, see if she knows anything about this."
"Okay. Good." You turn and grab the keys, but pause briefly and turn back to the two of them. "You two gonna be alright here?"
"You kiddin' me? I took care of this kid when I was ten." He ruffles Sam's hair and puts a hand on his shoulder.
You hesitantly turn back and leave.
Just over an hour later, you return with a few different outfits. You hope you'll be able to return Sam back to normal soon, but it's best to have options just in case. You also grab some food on your way. You drop the greasy bag on the table and start to call out.
"Hey, I'm ba—" You're cut off by the unmistakable sound of a very frustrated Dean.
"No! You don't know what you're doing!" Sam's bright voice fills the halls of the bunker.
"Oh, and you do? You look like you could still be in diapers."
Sam laughs. "That'd suck for you."
You turn the corner to find them in the library, Dean sitting across from his little brother, arm stretched across the table, reaching for his laptop. Sam holds it against his chest, laughing at his brother's frustration.
"I don't know what's goin' on." Dean sits back and crosses his arms. "When I got hexed, I was still me. He's acting like a child."
"You're acting like a child," Sam retorts mockingly.
Dean holds out a hand towards him and looks at you. "See?"
You chuckle. "Different variation of the spell, I guess. And honestly? Not much has changed between you two."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
You shake your head. "Nothing." You turn to Sam and crouch down to his level. "Brought some clothes and some food. Go get changed and eat up."
Sam gets up and walks out, leaving Dean's laptop on the table before taking the clothes from your arms. He nearly trips over his own oversized pant legs on his way out.
"Damn kid," Dean mutters to himself.
The three of you eat, burgers and fries, of course, and milkshakes for everyone.
Sam takes an exaggerated bite and gets mustard on his cheeks. Without saying a word, Dean reaches over, grabs his napkin, and wipes his face. You smile softly, but keep your thoughts to yourself for now. Sam sets his burger down to take a sip of his shake, but seems to forget all about the food as soon as the sweet chocolate flavor hits his tongue. He starts guzzling it down as if it's gonna disappear if he doesn't drink it fast enough. Dean sees it and rolls his eyes before reaching over and taking it from his hands.
He takes the milkshake and puts it on the other side of the table. "Eat your food, then you can have at it. You're gonna give yourself a brain freeze."
"Hey!" Sam protests. "I am not, give it back!"
"Eat." Dean repeats sternly.
Sam whines your name and looks to you for help.
You look from Sam, to Dean, and back. "Oh, no." You shake your head. "That's all you, kid."
Sam grumbles but picks up his burger again and keeps eating. As soon as he's done, Dean slides the milkshake back to him as promised.
After eating, Sam goes to his room to watch tv, while you and Dean make your way to the 'Dean Cave'. He hangs up the phone and sighs as he drops down onto the couch. "Rowena said she's working on how to reverse the spell, but with the witch being dead and all, it could take a few days. Hasn't even been twenty-four hours and I feel like I'm goin' grey already. I don't know how the hell I did it back then."
You chuckle as you walk over to him. He looks up at you and places a hand on your hip as you stand between his legs, running a hand through his hair. "I know it's a pretty serious hex, but it's kinda… cute."
You shrug. "Seeing you be a big brother. You're good with him."
"Yeah, well," Dean says softly. "Kinda had to be."
Your own expression softens as the words sink in. He's right. Some people are naturally good with kids. Some have to constantly work at it. But Dean was forced to be the best big brother possible, often having to go beyond what should be expected of any kid, and play both mother and father too. You'd hate to think how Sam would have turned out if Dean hadn't been the brother he was. The brother he still is.
You sit sideways across his lap, resting your head on his shoulder, and wrap an arm loosely around his neck. "You're a good brother," you say quietly. You're sure it's been years since Dean heard that, if he ever had, and he deserves to hear it.
"Ah," Dean shrugs. "He was never a bad kid."
You pick your head up. He isn't giving himself the credit he deserves and you won't let him get away with it, because he doesn't just deserve to hear how good he is with Sam, how important he was to him as a kid— he deserves to believe it too.
"Hey," you turn his jaw towards you. "Good or not, you were a kid too. It takes a lot to do what you did. I sure as hell couldn't do it."
"You kiddin' me? You deal with my stubborn ass every day, you'd be great with a kid…"
You raise your eyebrows. He hardly ever talks about hypotheticals like that, and that was one that you definitely weren't ready for. "Oh we are not touching that conversation with a ten foot pole."
He chuckles as he brings his lips to yours. "Agreed."
You hold his jaw as he kisses you, feeling the curve of his smile against your lips. You sit up a bit and one of his hands shift from your waist to your thigh. You let out a soft hum and feel his grip tighten just a bit.
"Gross! My little eyes don't need to see that!" Sam's voice cuts through the moment.
Dean groans as he lets his head fall back against the back of the couch. "Dammit, Sammy! What do you want?"
Sam shrugs. "I'm bored." He walks further into the room until he's right beside you and Dean. "I wanna watch a movie."
"I thought you were watching a movie."
"I wanna watch a movie with you," he says to the both of you as he sits on the couch beside Dean.
You slide off of Dean's lap and onto the empty spot on his other side. Dean rejects the idea immediately.
"Absolutely not. I'm not watchin' some lame… Paw Patrol… kiddy… crap."
You and Sam both look at Dean, mouths slightly agape. Paw Patrol…?
"What? I'm allowed to know things."
Neither of you move. Dean rolls his eyes.
"Whatever, point is, we're not—"
"Scooby-Doo!" Sam blurts out. "What about Scooby-Doo? Come on, Dean, you love those movies!"
You can practically see the internal battle going on in Dean's head. He doesn't want to give in, but he knows damn well Sam is right.
He huffs. "Fine. But I get to pick which one."
Sam gets up and grabs the remote, gives it to Dean, and the three of you settle in to watch Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. But after the day he's had, Sam passes out around three quarters of the way through the movie. He shifts closer to Dean in his sleep, resting his head on his shoulder and draping an arm over him. Dean moves without taking his eyes off the screen, like it's still second nature, and lifts his arm up and around Sam, allowing him to get more comfortable. You make a mental note to have more movie nights in the future, because even if it isn't quite like this, the three of you deserve more quiet moments in the midst of never-ending chaos.
A few more days pass with Sam being stuck as he is, but it isn't too much of an issue. Things in the bunker are the way they usually are, for the most part. It takes until now for you to realize just how much bickering Sam and Dean do on a regular basis, because the few times you walk in to find Dean arguing with his five year old brother, the only difference that truly stands out is the height difference. You step in once when Dean takes Sam's tooth brush and holds it in the air where he can't reach it.
"Come on, it's been decades since I've had the reach on him," is all he says to defend himself.
You give him a stern look and he concedes, but not without ruffling Sam's hair first before walking away.
When Rowena finally does come through with the reversal spell, Dean seems almost hesitant to get on with it. Messing with Sam is fun, sure, but seeing him like that also takes him back to when times were… simpler. Not easy, by any means, but they weren't constantly on the verge of the end of the world.
When Sam is back to normal, you catch Dean's eyes lingering on him every now and then. Just as the softest look starts to come over his face, Sam will catch him, and he'll turn elsewhere. Sam always seems confused by it, but whenever you catch it, you know exactly what's going through Dean's head. He's seeing the same thing he always sees when he looks at Sam, only now it's a bit more fresh in his mind. He sees his little brother.
Feel free to give me the most random, unhinged fic ideas in my asks, because I always have so much motivation to write but coming up with concepts is so hard right now...
