#sblw

Then Benny moved into the Bunker with them.  Now one of those blood-drinking monsters was right there, and they had to keep a supply on-hand.  Sam contributed, of course.  He didn’t particularly want to.  It wasn’t because he hated Benny anymore.  He loved Benny.  He just felt bad about asking Benny to drink his tainted blood.

He and Dean had just finished a round of donation when Benny came back from his run into town.  He had an arrangement with a butcher for fresh animal blood.  “Can I ask you something, Sam?”

Sam finished labeling the bag of his blood and turned to face Benny.  “Sure.  What’s up?”

“Why do you label your blood?  There something special about it?  Am I supposed to be avoiding it or using it first?”

Dean grabbed the blood bag out of Sam’s hands and grabbed his own.  “I’ll get these put up and call Cas to come check on us.”

Sam tried to protest, but Dean was already gone.  “You’re supposed to be avoiding it.  Desperate enough situation, it’s better than nothing, so I donate, but my blood’s bad.”

“Haven’t noticed a difference between using yours, Dean’s, or random from the blood bank.  What’s wrong with your blood?  You sick?”

“No, nothing…”  Sam trailed off and tried to figure out how to explain.  “I know Dean told you stories about me in Purgatory.  Did he tell you that my blood is part demonic?”

“No?  How’d that happen?”

“Demon bled into me when I was a baby.  It changed me.”

“Dean did tell me there was a time you started drinkin’ demon blood.  Wish it worked that way for vampires and humans, we drink enough and we become more human.”

“Yeah.  That’s gone, I went through detox, but I gave up my chance at purification.  My blood’s still tainted.”

“Is it?  That demon-curing ritual, you seemed pretty convinced it would work even on Crowley, and from what you said it would have if you’d gone through with the last hit.  Seems to me that demon-tainted blood wouldn’t be much good for curin’ a demon.”

“Well, I had to… purify… but that wasn’t…”  Sam stopped.  Benny had a very good point and he couldn’t come up with an argument.  His blood had worked.  He’d been so close to curing Crowley and making him human again.  Either the purification ritual was literal, and his blood had been cleansed, or it wasn’t, and his blood wasn’t tainted to begin with.

“I’m tellin’ you, Sam.  I only know if I use your blood because you label the bag.  There’s no difference in how fast or how well it lets me heal.  I can’t taste anything weird in there.  I think maybe you aren’t tainted at all.”

“It’s not just that easy to make me believe, you know.”

“I know.  Think maybe you needed to hear it, though.  You ever need to hear it again, I’ll tell you whenever you want.”

BRB CRYING

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Okay I’m back, I’m still crying but not as hard

Benny

Despite the fact that it was Sam’s idea to invite Benny to move into the bunker after they returned from Purgatory together, things are still chilly between the two of them, to say the least. Not that Benny didn’t make an effort to thaw the ice. 

After a year in the trenches with him, he knows how Dean can be and he knows he’s heard nothing but good things about Sam from him. So he’s willing to overlook the original animosity between himself and Sam. After all, Sam and Dean are a rare kind of hunter to let a vampire live, let alone be making room for him in their home. So he made himself right at home in the bunker’s kitchen, whipping up the rich Cajun foods his mamma used to make and baking pies in every flavor in hope of one of them striking Sam’s fancy. 

He tried not to feel disheartened when Sam only picked at the food he cooked and never went for dessert. Benny knows he’s a good cook. He hasn’t eaten real food in a cool century, but judging by the pornographic sounds Dean makes as he eats his third helping, Benny thinks it’s safe to say he hasn’t lost his touch. 

It isn’t until Dean finally takes pity on Benny and tells him how his little brother prefers “rabbit food” to the heart attack inducing meals that Dean would reminisce about when they were in Purgatory together that Benny thinks he can start making some headway with the little Winchester. He knows it’s absurd to think of Sam Winchester as little, but still recovering from the toll of the trials, he is no longer the intimidating figure Benny thought of him as after their first meeting. 

Benny asks Sam to take him to the farmer’s market the next day. He feigns ignorance about where to find one and even pretends he can’t understand how to use the GPS on his confangled new cell phone with the too small buttons that Dean insisted he get. Sam looks a little suspicious, but he’s never been outright rude to Benny so he gives in. 

Benny’s attempts at making conversation on the drive there are met with grunts and one word answers. Sam seems lost in thought so eventually Benny gives up and they lapse into heavy silence.

Sam

Sam knows he’s being a bit irrational. He’s never been the type of hunter to overlook the existence of good in monsters. Dean is the one who usually sees things in black and white. Things have just felt so… upside down since he got back from Hell. After the demon blood, after being soulless, he just wanted to do good, to be good. To be worthy of Dean’s love. To not fuck up again. But it seems that’s all Sam does. 

Things are so tangled up in Sam’s head these days, like his mind is still fatigued from the trials, that it’s hard to tell what hunter morality he’s supposed to follow now. Trying to work out whether he should trust Benny to have his back on a hunt or whether he should bar his bedroom door at night seems like a Herculean task. Benny used to kill to feed, but now he doesn’t. If killing people means Benny should die, does that mean Sam should, too? The answer to that should be easy, but it’s not anymore. There are things… The things Dean said to him. Benny has been more of a brother to me this past year than you’ve ever been. And then there are the trials and everything they meant. You’re a monster, Sam– a vampire. And there is Amy, always Amy. No matter how hard you try, you are what you are. You will kill again. And the constant fear in the back of Sam’s mind that none of this is real. You gotta believe me. You’ve gotta make it stone number one and build on it. And Amy who didn’t ask to be a monster, and Jacob who didn’t deserve to lose his mother. You can be pissed all you want, but quit being a bitch. And, and… It doesn’t matter, in the end. Keeping his distance from Benny, from everyone really, is for the best anyway. Lucifer is probably playing a trick on him and any minute now he’ll wake up and–

“Sam, Sam, SAM!!!” He comes to to Benny shaking his shoulder, horns blaring behind them as the light they are standing at has turned green. Face burning in embarrassment, Sam drives the rest of the way to the farmer’s market under Benny’s watchful gaze. 

“Are you sure you’re alright, cher?” Benny asks for the fifth time. The term of endearment makes Sam’s cheeks burn for a different reason, although he can’t say what that is. 

“Yeah, Benny, I just wasn’t paying attention.”

“You always start hyperventilating when you’re lost in thought?” Sam doesn’t have an answer for that, but considering he could’ve gotten them both killed, he decides to be nice to Benny for the rest of the day.

Instead of going off and doing his own thing, Sam dutifully follows Benny around the farmer’s market as he purchases red onions, various kinds of peppers, mushrooms, beets, spinach, clementines, and fresh goat cheese from the vendors Sam recommends.

Against his better judgment, Sam finds it cute that a big bear of a man can be so serious about picking mushrooms that are the perfect ripeness. 

Dean

The last thing Dean expects to see when he comes to the kitchen for his pre-dinner refreshment is Benny cooking something that smells delicious on the stove. Wait, no, he sees that a lot these days and he loves it. But seeing his brother in there with the vampire is a surprise. 

Sam’s at the table chopping stuff up and hmming along to a story Benny is telling from his vampirate days about his coven taking over a Caribbean rum-running boat during Prohibition. He’s not saying much, but Dean can tell the history geek inside Sam is giddy at getting to hear a firsthand account. 

Seeing Sammy hunched over a cutting board, that cute line of concentration between his brows as he carefully chops beets (beets?) reminds Dean of the serious look on Sam’s face when he used to do his physics homework as a kid. Cooking has never been Sam’s forte, but he’s making an effort. For Benny. 

Dean feels a pang of jealousy at the thought of his friend cozying up to his brother, but he beats it down with a stick before it can turn into something ugly. Sam deserves better than that from him and Sam deserves a friend. So does Benny, but Sam will always come first because, y’know, soulmates or whatever. Without letting his presence be known, Dean quietly heads back to his room to give them more time to get to know each other.

When Sam comes and gets him for dinner, Dean’s pleasantly surprised to see his little brother eat more than his usual few bites of the vegetarian quiche and spinach and beets (beets!) salad Sam and Benny made together that afternoon. And he’s even more pleased that he doesn’t have to eat that shit because Benny made him country fried steak and mashed potatoes.

Sam and Benny being in a room together for longer than fifteen minutes starts to become a regular occurrence. Sam starts trusting Benny to watch his back on hunts. When Sam and Dean are shooting the shit and having a beer, Benny starts joining them with a blood bag of his own.  When Dean and Benny are making magic happen in the kitchen, Sam shyly asks them what he can do to help. Seeing how well the three of them work as a unit eases the last of the wariness Dean had about Sam and Benny’s growing friendship. And seeing Sam come to life again after the trials makes Dean want to nurture their relationship.

A few weeks after their first trip to the farmer’s market, Sam comes up with the idea to start their own herb garden, saying it’ll be helpful for not only spells, but also cooking. Dean refuses to participate in anything that requires digging in the goddamn dirt like a dog, but he can’t deny it’d be useful. The bunker is so off the beaten path, it takes a good thirty minutes of driving to get to a grocery store, which is a pain in the ass in a pinch.

When Sam and Benny come inside after a few hours of planting their newly purchased seeds, sweaty and covered in soil, Dean can’t help but quip, “You lovebirds have fun getting down and dirty?” Sam rolls his eyes, but Dean doesn’t miss how his cheeks pink up. 

Benny, on the other hand, rises to the bait. “A gentleman never tells, brother.” And he fucking winks at Dean, like that’s a totally okay thing for him to do. 

Dean doesn’t think much of it, however, until a few days later when he comes back to the bunker after a night with a gorgeous brunette with a fantastic rack that he met on Tinder. (“Shut up, Sam, my profile picture fucking rocks.”) On his way to the shower, Dean makes a pit stop in the kitchen for a post-breakfast snack. This time, when he sees Sam and Benny in the kitchen together, locked in a deep kiss, Dean has no qualms about making his presence known.

“All right, all right, keep it in your pants when I’m around, kids. Sammy, go put on a shirt, you’re indecent!” Sam smacks him in the shoulder and starts lecturing him about privacy, Dean, ever heard of it? while Benny grins, cheeky and proud, with his arm around Sam’s waist, and Dean knows they’re gonna be okay. 

Hi there, it’s your sambenny love week anon with day 1. It’s like their first attempt at friendship and it somehow ended up being mostly angst with a side of hallucinating!sam.

Sam doesn’t get Benny. Sure, at first it was sort of hate at first sight but Sam is self-aware enough to know that he never grew out of the stage of little brother that doesn’t like sharing his big brother. There was a lot of hurt, too, because he and Dean both found someone else but only Dean can keep his new friend. Plus there’s the whole Dean can be friends with monsters but God forbid Sam try, because Dean can keep his monsters in line but Sam is just like them. Or whatever.

The point is, Sam spends a lot of time skirting the Benny issue. He doesn’t call Martin, as much as he’d like to, and he doesn’t give Dean shit when he catches him sneaking out. He basically just pretends Benny doesn’t exist.

That goes to shit when he’s doing the Trials and he gets stuck in Purgatory with Bobby’s soul. He’s just starting to think that they’re going to be stuck there, leviathan kibble for the rest of eternity, when Benny shows up. They fight well together and Sam holds Bobby back afterwards.

“He’s Dean’s friend,” Sam explains, almost following it up with a like you but he stops himself. It’s not Bobby’s fault. Dean’s just easier to get along with, always has been.

He ignores the look Benny gives him and soon he’s crawling out of Hell’s backyard, two too many souls in his body. He’s been possessed enough to know exactly what and how many are in him and it’s extremely disconcerting. When they get topside, he nearly swallows his tongue in his rush to get them out- out- out!

Unfortunately, Dean thinks Benny did such a great job saving Sam that he should tag along back to the bunker. Sam doesn’t like the bunker, too empty and cold and full of what-ifs, but that doesn’t mean he’s okay with a vampire moving in, not that Dean bothers to ask.

It also makes the whole pretending Benny doesn’t exist thing much harder. Instead of potential cases and sneaky phone calls, Benny’s presence fills every nook and cranny of the old bunker. He’s in the kitchen pushing Dean away from the stove, he’s in the garage tinkering with an old motorcycle, he’s in the library thumbing through the bookshelves, he’s in the archives looking at the old artifacts with curiosity and caution. Ignoring Benny is like trying to ignore a ghoul chewing on your arm. Sam knows because he’s had to ignore that too.

He tries to be polite, uses his please and thank yous and always leaves the room when Benny and Dean are hanging out. He does everything he can to not upset Benny. Whether it’s because pissing off a vampire is like poking a bear with a stick or because he’s afraid of Dean’s temper more than ever these days, he doesn’t know. He just keeps his head down and his mouth shut.

That is, until he comes home from a run and finds Benny in his room.

“What the Hell are you doing in here?” Sam spits out, extremely conscious of his pounding heart. He knows Benny’s been sticking to bagged blood but live prey is a siren’s song to vampires.

Benny shrugs. “We need to talk.”

“No, we don’t,” Sam says harshly. He can feel the hot anger creeping up his face and yelling is inevitable at this point. He tries his best to stay calm and get Benny out of his room. “Get out.”

“Such anger,” Benny says jokingly but the words flip a switch in Sam’s brain. He sees Benny’s lips moving but the whole world’s gone blurry.

“Get out!” Sam yells, striking like a snake and curling his fingers in Benny’s henley. He throws him toward the door and snatches a knife of his desk. “Get the fuck out of my room!”

“What the Hell is going on here?”

Sam turns and sees Dean, his big brother, standing in the hall. Except it’s not his brother, not with that smirk and those ice blue eyes.

“I’m going to kill you,” he hisses, moving forward with the knife. “I’m so fucking sick of you ruining my life! Get out! Get out of my room and get. Out. Of. My. Head!”

He thinks he sees ‘Dean’ frown and pull Benny away but ignores it and throws his door shut. He falls on his bed, tucking the knife under his pillow, and cries himself to sleep.

It’s dark when he wakes to a soft knock on the door.

“Come in,” Sam croaks. His head is pounding and his throat is dry and he knows deep in his bones that he’ll have to apologize to Dean again. It’s been awhile since he’s had an episode, but that doesn’t mean that they’re gone.

“It’s me,” Benny says quietly, almost a whisper. “I brought pills and water.”

“I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about you,” Sam whispers into his pillow. He knows Benny’s can hear him, just like he can see him in the dark room. “Dean?”

“He was working on the car with a sick look on his face until about ten minutes ago. He said he was going for dinner.”

Sam knows that means his brother is upset but trying to bury it. And he’s bringing home soup from the diner in Lebanon as a ‘sorry I left you in a hole with the devil and now you’re crazy’ gift.

“Here.”

Sam lifts his head and feels cold water run down his throat followed by two small pills. He swallows carefully and lays back down, eager to go back to sleep until Dean gets back.

“Thank you.”

“Y’know, if we had ever talked, we could’ve avoided this.”

“I know,” Sam says. “But why would we talk?”

“We live together,” Benny says, confused.

“No, you and Dean live together. I just live here.”

“What does that mean?”

Sam frowns and rubs his face against the pillow. This is definitely not helping his headache.

“You and Dean are friends, we’re not, and Dean and I barely manage to be brothers.”

“We could be friends,” Benny says and if Sam wasn’t tired and in pain he’d say it sounds almost hopeful. “Y’know, if you could find the time to talk to me.”

“Dean’s friends never want to be my friends,” Sam says tiredly and in some distant way he knows he’s being childish but he’s just so tired.

“Well, that’s not what I’m about. Dean tells me you’re a good man and that’s good enough for me so we’re friends now, Sam.”

“I’d like that,” Sam slurs as he falls asleep. For a second he thinks he feels fingers in his hair but then the dreams take over.

Oh noooo anon this is so angsty and so good. Especially the “He’s Dean’s friend, like you” and two too many souls. 

And man it sucks when you’re stuck as the little sibling always. I still feel that too. ;-;

“What does that mean?” Sam asks sleepily, head pillowed on Benny’s chest.

Benny doesn’t pause from where he’s tracing random patterns on Sam’s bare back. “What’s what mean?”

“What you called me earlier.”

“Called you a lot of things earlier,” Benny chuckles. “Hot, beautiful…” His hand drifts lower, just brushing against the curve of Sam’s ass. “Tight.”

Sam shivers and wriggles closer. “Mm, yeah, but- something French. I think it was French.”

“Cher?” Benny guesses. “S’ just a term of endearment.”

“No, I know that one,” Sam says. “I hadn’t heard this one before. Shoot? Chew?”

“Oh,” Benny says, splaying his hand across Sam’s lower back. “Chou.”

“Yeah, that one,” Sam says with a sleepy hum. “I couldn’t tell what you were saying before.”

“Well my mouth was a little otherwise occupied,” Benny teases, hand drifting towards Sam’s ass again. A lazy twitch of Sam’s hip has him moving it back to safer territory.

“Not now,” Sam mutters. “What’s it mean? Chew.”

“Chou,” Benny corrects. “It means, uh, sweetie, I s'pose? Technically sweet bun. Or, well, cabbage.”

Sam snorts out a surprised laugh. “You called me a cabbage while you were eating my ass? What the hell?”

“Sweet bun,” Benny says defensively. “I called you sweet. Cabbage is a literal translation. And don’t pretend that English pet names aren’t just as weird.”

“We don’t call people cabbage,” Sam points out. “Seriously, what the hell?”

“You call people ‘stud muffin,’ Benny points out. “How is that any better than cabbage, which, by the by, I didn’t call you? I called you sweetie.”

“Aw,” Sam coos. “Don’t get upset, you’ll always be my lettuce.”

Benny laughs and shoves gently at Sam. “Shut up.”

“Hey, be nice to me, Brussel sprout,” Sam scolds with a grin. “You’re my very special kale. I love you so much, arugula-“

“You eat too much healthy food,” Benny says flatly. “I don’t think that last one exists.”

“’Course it exists, I’m in bed with it,” Sam laughs. “And you are a very sexy cabbage indeed.”

“That’s incredible,” Benny breathes, and Sam blushes.

“It’s not rocket science,” he says, ducking his head and holding out his hands.

Benny gently takes the small, carefully folded paper hummingbird into his own hands, staring down at it in amazement. It looks back at him, ruffles its wings, and hops once across his palms. “No,” Benny says, “it’s magic. This is amazing.”

Sam worries that his face might actually catch fire with the heat of his blush, which would prove unfortunate for the little origami creatures he’s worked so hard on. “It, really, it’s only paper magic. Some people can control metal, or fire. Paper isn’t all that exciting.”

“Sam, you made this. With magic. You took a plain piece of paper and you turned it into a beautiful, living thing. That’s pretty damn excitin’ to me.” Benny carefully strokes one finger down the hummingbird’s back, and it makes a soft, rustling noise of a page being turned, the closest it can come to chirping its enjoyment. “Hell, mirror magic don’t seem like nothin’ compared to this.”

Sam perks up at that. “You do mirror magic?”

“Mhm. Graduated a few years back, opened my own place with a buddy of mine. Of course, no one much needs mirrors to communicate anymore, but it’s still the fastest way to get around, and of course we do repairs.” Sam nods, mulling over Benny’s words.

“You own the place over on Elizabeth Street, then? I think I’ve passed it once or twice.”

Benny smiles, and Sam’s surprised to see a matching blush on the older man’s cheeks. “I think I’ve seen you passing once or twice. You always look in a hurry.”

“Oh, well.” Sam is flustered, surprised that Benny’s even noticed him before he came over to Sam’s stall. “I usually am. I’m only a month out from graduating, and my teacher’s been running me ragged, between studying, practicing, and running the stall here.”

Sam loves his teacher like an uncle, but he’ll be the first to admit that Wyatt can be something of a taskmaster. He’s determined to see Sam succeed, even if it means working him almost to death. Still, running the paper stall in the market place is one of Sam’s favorite tasks. Business is usually slow enough that he has time to study in between customers, but not so slow that he gets bored. There’s always someone who wants a bouquet of paper flowers, or a journal that will only open for them.

Or a paper hummingbird that Benny is still smiling at with real wonder in his eyes, calloused hands delicately tracing the fold of one wing. He looks up at Sam with a smile, and Sam finds himself grinning back.

Maybe he’ll find a reason to pass by Elizabeth Street on his way home today.

OMG ANON, THIS IS SO LOVELY. I have never read anything like this kind of fantasy au, but I really love fantasy and witchy!Sam aus so this was such a treat to find in my inbox after a long ass day. The imagery of the little hummingbird’s chirp sounding like the page of a book turning was so delightful. I love the idea of blushy Sam using his hands to give life to something for Benny and also the image of a teeny lil paper bird in Benny’s thick hands. AND THE MR. WYATT MENTION OMG. I was expecting the uncle-like teacher to be Bobby, but ayyy it was wee!Sam’s favorite teacher #mrwyattappreciation

Fluffy, quirky headcanons day! I hope you enjoy these :)

Benny’s beard makes Sam giggle when they kiss.

Benny’s beard makes Sam moan when Benny goes down on him. He is always a gentleman though and rubs lotion on Sam’s beard burn afterwards. 

Benny thinks his fingers are too thick to work a touchscreen properly and he doesn’t fully understand autocorrect so his texts to Sam often read something like, “Miss yiu. Cant wait til u get bAck from thia hunk. I’m gonna cover u in Neosporin xo” followed a few minutes later by “****kisses FUCK” which never fails to make Sam laugh and Dean groan when he makes the mistake of asking what Sam is laughing at.

Whenever Benny is feeling down on himself because of his vampiric nature and the constant lust for fresh blood that he is always fighting to resist, Sam is there to lift him up and comfort him, remind Benny how strong and good he is, and how Sam will never let him fall. It helps that Sam struggles with a bloodlust of his own and understands what Benny is going through.

They took the physical aspect of their relationship slowly at Sam’s request. He let Benny know when he was ready to take the next step by texting Benny a sultry nude photo with the simple message “waiting for you” when he knew Benny was playing poker with Dean in the kitchen. It’s not Benny’s fault that he sputtered the blood he was sipping on all over the table (Benny! Gross, man.) and he still teases Sam that he owes Benny $600 for the full house of sixes over kings that he folded before hightailing it to Sam’s room. 

Whenever Sam is feeling depressed or he has a really terrible nightmare, he seeks comfort in Benny’s arms. They cuddle up close, preferably naked, with Sam’s head tucked under Benny’s chin and Benny’s arms wrapped around him tight, as if they are all that’s holding Sam together. Sam likes to press his face into Benny’s neck or his chest and inhale Benny’s scent; he smells earthy like the pine trees that surround the bunker and it calms Sam’s anxious thoughts. Benny usually doesn’t say much, just strokes Sam’s hair and his back and murmurs sweet nothings to Sam until he lets out his emotions and cries, tells Benny what’s on his mind, or dozes off. Sometimes all of the above. Benny isn’t sure if he’s really helping Sam, but he always seems lighter and smiles more easily afterwards so Benny counts it as a win. 

Benny’s skin runs a bit cold– chilled, if you will– so one of Sam and Benny’s favorite things to do in their downtime is take hot baths together in the antique clawfoot tubs the bunker has. Surprisingly (because shh these are headcanons), they’re big enough to comfortably accommodate both men. Benny pretends he thinks those fancy bath bombs Sam likes to use on occasion are frivolous, but Sam knows he liked how soft the seaweed one made his skin feel.

Slowly, Benny helps Sam confront the sordid history of all the nonconsensual things that happened to him and he begins to heal. As an unexpected but welcome result, Sam starts to enjoy sex again like he hasn’t since, well, since he was soulless (and while soulless!Sam enjoyed that, soulful Care Bear Sam doesn’t look back on those memories too fondly). Together, Sam and Benny explore an array of kinks in a safe environment. Sometimes it’s hot (the racy lingerie and vibrating dildo they ordered), sometimes it’s not (Sam’s not a fan of being tied up, they discover), and sometimes it’s downright ridiculous (when they tried roleplay and Sam couldn’t make it through his act as the sexy librarian without giggling… the glasses were hot though, they kept the glasses). 

Benny is always trying to get Sam not to work so hard. Still, when Sam insists on staying up late researching (which happens too much, if you ask Benny, but he’s learned to pick his battles), Benny will give Sam mini shoulder massages as he pores over an ancient tome and bring him fresh coffee and a snack. Despite Benny’s urging that “you’ve done enough for tonight, Sam, come to bed,” Sam usually falls asleep at the library desk. Instead of waking him up, Benny just carries Sam to bed. 

-SBLW anon

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Sam says, peering over Benny’s shoulder. Benny reaches up to flick Sam’s nose without looking up from the mixing bowl full of flour and seasonings. “Shut up, this is a classic.” Sam scoffs but steps out of Benny’s reach before he speaks again. “I just feel like maybe these aren’t supposed to be eaten? Maybe God put a slimy green coating on these for a reason. And maybe that reason was so that, you know, no one would eat them.” 1/5

Sam can’t see Benny’s face from where he’s standing, but Benny is considerate enough to look over his shoulder so that Sam can see his eye roll. “Why’re you so skittish about this? You’ve eaten weirder things than frog legs before.” Sam grimaces. “Yeah, but only under great duress. Or a lot of alcohol. Sometimes both.” Benny snickers, and Sam frowns. “You know, a lot of frogs are poisonous. It’s a defense mechanism, to prevent exactly this situation.” 2/5

“Cher, do you really think I’d feed you something poisonous?” Benny asks. Sam mumbles something but can’t come up with a good answer. Benny nods and resumes battering the frog legs. “Besides, you can ask anyone. Frog legs taste like chicken. You’ll love it.” Sam sighs and steps forward so he can drop his chin on Benny’s shoulder, watching the frog legs make their way from the plate to the bowl to the frying pan. “I think I might be allergic to frogs,” he offers, and Benny snorts. 3/5“Oh really? And when did that happen?” Sam can’t help but grin at Benny’s incredulous tone, but he’s careful to keep his own voice perfectly serious. “I don’t know. It’s pretty recent. Pretty sure the allergy only actually developed as soon as you told me what you were making for dinner. In fact, I can feel my throat closing up right now. Ack, I can barely breathe.” He can feel Benny shaking with laughter where Sam is plastered against his back, and his own grin only widens. 4/5

“Help,” he gasps. “Vision going dark! Skin breaking out in hives! Only normal American cuisine can save me. Quick, make a salad!” Sam paws at Benny’s side when no salad appears on the counter, and Benny only laughs harder. “Fine, fine, I’ll make you a side salad, and if you really don’t like the frog you can eat that instead. More for me.” Sam plants a sloppy kiss on Benny’s cheek with a whispered thank you, and is only a little chagrined to find that he does, in fact, love the frog legs. 5/5

Sam’s heat hits him unexpectedly when he’s on a wendigo hunt with Dean in Boise, Idaho. It happens during a nightlong stakeout in the woods. Not the most ideal place, but Sam is grateful it didn’t happen somewhere more overly populated with alphas. He and Dean had separated to cover more ground when Sam was suddenly struck by a dizzy spell that had him staggering towards a tree trunk to balance himself against before he fell over, followed by a hot flash, and that’s when Sam felt the telltale wetness in his boxer briefs. His heat wasn’t due for another three weeks, there’s no way he could’ve anticipated this. It was highly unusual for an omega in his early thirties to have an erratic heat cycle; they usually came every six months like clockwork.

Sam had maybe an hour before things got worse. As he reached for his cell phone to call Dean and tell him that they needed to get back to the motel, he was overcome with an intense longing, a need to be filled by an alpha right fucking now. Sam’s knees buckled and he fell forward on his hands, scratching his palms on the forest floor. He took a few deep breaths to try and calm his racing heart. What the fuck is happening to me? he thought.The onset of Sam’s heats never got this intense so quickly. Not even when he was a horny teenager growing up with two alphas, or when he was living with Jessica, also an alpha, at Stanford. Instead of it being the slow burn that normally accompanied the first day of a heat, it felt like Sam was already in the deep throes of it, like he would be if he was being knotted by an alpha, only he felt painfully empty. Sam wasn’t sure what triggered this, all he knew was he wanted a knot, he wanted Benny’s knot. Fuck, he regretted insisting Benny sit this hunt out. It was an open and shut case and there didn’t seem to be any reason to waste manpower. Oh, what Sam would give for some of Benny’s manpower right about now. Then again, he really didn’t want the first heat he experienced with Benny to take place in the middle of the woods with sticks and rocks and bugs digging into their skin. He didn’t even know if Benny was ready to take that step. He thought he had more time to bring it up to his boyfriend. Sam shook his head to clear it, focus.

With shaky hands, Sam managed to call Dean on speakerphone. His brother answered after two rings, “Yeah, Sammy, got anything?”

“D-dean, help.” Immediately, his brother was on high alert.

“Sam! Sammy, what’s wrong? Are you hurt, did that sonofabitch–” Sam heard the crunch of leaves as Dean started running, likely in the direction he knew Sam was in. 

“N-no. In h-heat.”

“What? Shit, fuck, I’m coming, hold on.” 

It took about fifteen minutes for Dean to find Sam. The scent of his heat must’ve been enough to draw Dean in the right direction. Dean found Sam curled up on his side, shaking, with the back of his jeans soaked through with slick.

“Alright, Sammy, I gotcha.” He said as he lifted his brother into his arms and began the trek back to the Impala. Sam whimpered and rubbed his cheek against Dean’s shoulder, taking comfort in the scent of a familiar alpha. Dean wasn’t his actual mate, but being in such close quarters together for so many years, with no other alphas around (that is, until Benny moved into the bunker a few months ago) led to Sam having a similar reaction to Dean’s scent as he would to a traditional mate.

By the time they got back to the motel, Sam’s heat had worsened threefold. His face was flushed and he was whimpering pitifully as he tossed his head back and forth on the dingy motel pillow.

It shook Dean to see his brother like that. He hadn’t seen a heat be so hard on Sam since he first presented when he was fourteen. Normally, these past few years when Sam felt his heat coming on, he’d just retreat to his room for a few days with a knotting dildo. The special dildo coupled with the fact that Dean’s alpha scent permeated the bunker was usually enough to tide Sam over for the duration of his heat. It was uncomfortable and an inconvenience for an omega without an alpha to knot him, but it shouldn’t be painful like this.

“Kiddo, I need to get you some supplies.” Dean said as he placed a cool, wet washcloth on Sam’s forehead. He had an uneasy feeling about leaving Sam on his own, even just for fifteen minutes, but he didn’t have any other choice.

Sam shook his head fretfully, face flushed with heat. “Benny, I want B-Benny.”

“Benny is seventeen hours away in Kansas, he can’t do much for you right now.” Unsure if Sam was even comprehending what he was saying, Sam simply kept repeating Benny’s name. Dean sighed in frustration and dialed his friend’s number.

*

It took Benny fourteen hours to get to Boise with no stops. By then, Sam was practically delirious, crying out for Benny in between moaning like he was in pain into the sheets and falling in and out of consciousness. Other than getting him to suck on ice cubes, Dean hadn’t been able to convince Sam to eat much. Sam was naked now, save for the thin motel sheet protecting his modesty; he got too feverish around hour three and Dean had forced him under the cold shower periodically to bring down his body temperature. The knotting dildo Dean had bought lay discarded on the floor, it had offered Sam no reprieve either. So when Benny burst into the room, Dean doesn’t think he’s ever been so overjoyed to know that his brother was about to get knotted. 

Benny looked a combination of livid and petrified at seeing the state Sam’s was in. He felt like his heart hadn’t stopped racing since he first got Dean’s frantic call hours ago and his heart doesn’t even beat. Dean gives him a consolatory pat on the shoulder and tells him to take care of his little brother before leaving to get a separate room for the next couple of days. He’d called in a hunter friend of his who had finished their hunt, so Dean could technically head back to Lebanon. Dean knows his little brother is safe with Benny; he’d die before letting anything happen to Sam. And they’d be home just a few days later, once Sam’s heat had subsided, but Dean knows this isn’t an ordinary heat and he wants to stay close by. 

*

The moment Sam scented Benny, he opened his eyes and looked more alert than he had in hours. He immediately reached out for Benny, who stepped into his arms, and began rubbing against him needily, hindering Benny’s attempts at getting undressed as quickly as he could. 

“Need you, Benny, need you now. Please.”

Seeing Sam’s painfully hard cock and how soaked the bed was with his slick and sweat, Benny didn’t waste time with prep. He manhandled Sam onto his hands and knees and pressed into him without preamble, as Sam let out a sob of relief. After just a few strokes, Benny’s knot inflated and Sam finally, finally came. Benny is sure he’s never knotted so quickly in his human or immortal life.

Relieved, exhausted, and temporarily satisfied, Sam falls asleep a few minutes later, Benny’s knot still pulsing come into his ass every few minutes. Benny turns Sam onto his side to spoon him for the half hour or so they’ll be tied. 

Benny brushes Sam’s hair out of his face and gets a good look at his boyfriend. His color is already returning to normal and he’s no longer burning hot to the touch. He’s resting peacefully now, instinctually pushing his ass back against Benny’s knot whenever he pulses more come into Sam, even in sleep. The scent of Sam’s heat is still strong even after being tempered with his alpha’s. Benny’s not sure how every alpha within a three mile radius isn’t banging on their door. He buries his face in Sam’s neck and inhales; he smells even better than usual to Benny and that’s saying something. 

Satisfied that Sam is mostly okay for now, Benny texts Dean an update on Sam’s state, and he replies with a thumbs up emoji, saying to text him when they need food.

All his bases covered, Benny takes a look around the drab motel room Sam and Dean have been staying in for the past five days. What was Sam thinking not telling Benny his heat was coming on? Did he not want Benny to knot him, were his heats always this intense, would he have rather continued to suffer through his heat in this shithole than ask Benny for help, did he not think he could rely on Benny for that or had Benny misread how serious their relationship was, did he even consider what could have happened if his heat had struck at a more inopportune moment? Not that it got much worse than in the middle of a hunt for a fucking wendigo that could have taken Sam when he was vulnerable. What if Dean hadn’t gotten to Sam in time? Questions and fears raced through Benny’s mind, his upset changing to anger at how Sam had played fast and loose with his health and well-being, now that Sam was in the clear. Dean had said that Sam asked for him specifically, but seeing how intense Sam’s heat was and how even the knotting dildo hadn’t helped, perhaps Sam hadn’t anticipated his heat being like this. Sam was meticulously organized and the smartest damn hunter Benny had ever seen, there was no way he wouldn’t know if his heat was due. He must’ve not wanted Benny around him during his heat. Why else would he put himself in danger and insist Benny sit out a hunt that would take Sam over a thousand miles away from him?

* 

Benny didn’t get a chance to talk to Sam just yet. As his knot deflated and Benny carefully pulled out, Sam woke up and immediately turned into Benny’s arms, rubbing his hardening cock against Benny’s hip, ready for round two already. Whatever underlying relationship issues this situation had brought up in Benny’s mind, Sam still came first. Both literally and metaphorically.

Sam was more clearheaded this time around. He tried to thank Benny for coming here before Benny shut him up with a fierce kiss. If Sam tried to say “you didn’t have to do that” like he often did when Benny did something any decent boyfriend should do for his partner, he was gonna lose his temper.

This time, Benny let himself be rough with Sam. He leaned his back against the flimsy headboard with Sam in his lap and started frenetically slamming Sam up and down on his cock as the omega moaned wantonly, his arms wrapped around Benny’s neck and pressing kisses into his shoulders, his throat, any skin he could reach. 

This time they knotted with Sam laying on Benny’s front. It wasn’t the most comfortable position for Sam, but when Benny had tried to turn him onto his stomach, Sam insisted that he wanted to see Benny. 

Satisfied once again, Sam’s fingers started idly playing with Benny’s chest hair, his head resting on Benny’s shoulder.

Benny couldn’t stop touching Sam, stroking his hair and his back, squeezing his ass and cupping the backs of his thighs to pull Sam tighter to him. It was hard to stay mad at Sam on a good day, let alone when he was naked and sitting on Benny’s dick, but Sam’s next words brought back up some of his anger. 

“’M sorry you had to drive all this way,” Sam murmured, kissing Benny’s collarbone in thanks. Did that mean Sam hadn’t wanted him to come? Benny’s hands tensed on Sam’s skin and he pulled back, forcing Sam to look up at him.

“Why didn’t ya tell me your heat was comin’ on, cher? If you didn’t want me to be with you for it, ya should’ve just told me. I would’nta minded… Well, not too much. You could’ve gotten seriously hurt out here.” Benny tried and failed to keep the emotion from making his voice shake.

Sam sat up in Benny’s lap, which caused them both to moan as the movement shifted Benny’s knot deeper into Sam’s ass. Lord, this was definitely not the right time for this conversation, but Benny couldn’t stand not knowing where he stood with Sam. He thought their relationship had been going so well, amazing, even. Benny couldn’t remember a time in the last 200 years when he’d been so content and happy. He never thought he’d feel love like this again after Andrea, after the the things he’d done as a part of his old nest, but being accepted by the Winchesters and being with Sam had given him a life he never imagined he could have. But, even if it killed Benny a fourth time and he had a feeling it would, he’d leave after this heat was over if that’s what Sam wanted.

Benny closed his eyes against the sight of Sam looking at him pityingly. Could vampires still cry? Would his tears be of blood, like a vampire out of one of Anne Rice’s novels? He had a feeling he was about to find out.

Benny felt something trickle out of his eye and he tried to turn his head, but Sam grabbed his face between his hands and wouldn’t let him. 

“Benny, hey, no, look at me.” He felt Sam wipe the wetness from his cheek. Benny can’t make himself make eye contact with Sam, he focuses on Sam’s anti-possession tattoo instead.

“Listen to me, Benny. I, I didn’t know this was going to happen. My heat wasn’t due for nearly a month, okay? I wasn’t trying to get away from you! If anything, I didn’t want to scare you off by seeming clingy. Things have been going so well…” 

Benny looks up at that, relief washing over him. “What’s going on then, Sam? Why’d ya go into heat like this? Is it the trials, are they still–”

“No! No, it’s nothing to worry about… I don’t think,” Sam says as he looks down, suddenly shy. 

“What is it?” Benny asks, eyebrow raised.

“Um, well, now that I’ve had a chance to think about it with a clear head…” He trails off, face flushing pink.

“Cher, whatever it is, we’ll–”

“I think we’re true mates,” Sam finishes in a rush. Benny opens his mouth to say something, but finds he’s speechless. About 30% of the population has a true mate, it’s not unheard of, or even all that rare. It’s just. Not something Benny ever anticipated. They’re both technically centuries old. When you’ve lived as long as Benny has, when you’ve survived as much as Sam has– this is the last thing you expect from life. Benny was born hundreds of years before Sam, and Sam spent what he said felt like a few millennia in Hell with the devil. What were the odds that they’d find each other?

“Yeah, I, I’ve read that once you meet your true mate and the omega hasn’t been claimed, being away from the alpha for an extended period right before a heat is due, c-can, um, trigger something like this. It’s like the body’s way of telling the omega he’s met his true mate and he needs to… to be claimed. We don’t have to do that, though! Benny, we can wait. O-or we don’t have to at all if you don’t want. I’m not trying to push you into anything befo–”

Benny cuts him off with a kiss, rolling Sam onto his back so Benny can show him just what he thinks of waiting. 

*

Dean comes by their room a few hours later with food and a cooler full of donated blood bags he swiped from the local blood bank for Benny. In his haste to get to Sam, Benny had forgotten to bring any with him. 

When he lets Dean in, Benny looks immensely pleased with himself for some reason. Probably because the room is absolutely wrecked (ugh, it looks like they moved from Sam’s ruined bed to what was Dean’s bed) and reeks of their coupling. In fact, it smells different. Not bad, just different than what he expected. It’s only on rare occasion that Dean has smelled another alpha on Sam, the last time was when he was soulless. This time, it smells like Sam’s own scent is off now. Dean doesn’t linger on that though because Sam looks light years better than he did five hours ago. He’s awake and mostly dressed, thank God, in Benny’s henley and a pair of boxer briefs. He’s in good spirits and relatively comfortable for the time being, so Dean sticks around to eat dinner with them. He’s just so fucking relieved to see Sam healthy and hungry again, and he needs to watch Sam eat with his own two eyes to assuage the inner big brother alarm system that’s been at threat level red for the past twenty hours. Dean smothers the chick flick urge to pull Sam into a hug and not let go of him for a couple of hours by playfully teasing his little brother and making a show of getting pie crumbs all over his (Dean’s) bed until Sam throws a pillow at him.

Sammy’s no delicate flower, but Benny’s shirts are pretty big on him, and in the ensuing pillow fight that Dean totally wins, the shirt slips down one of Sam’s shoulders to reveal, holy shit, a mating bite. 

When Sam notices what Dean is staring at, he freezes, anticipating Dean’s reaction. Benny knows mating is a big step for Sam, the type of set Sam usually would never take without consulting Dean first. He knows how important his big brother’s opinion is to Sam. 

Dean looks back and forth between Sam and Benny for a few moments. He was blindsided at the sight of the claiming mark on Sam’s skin, but he can’t say he didn’t consider that this was coming down the line. Way, way down the line. But thinking back on the state Sam was in earlier, Dean knows he can’t watch Sam go through that again. It’s gonna take some adjusting to now that Dean knows this thing between them is for the long haul, but Benny has earned his trust to take care of and treat his brother right. If there is one person Dean has to share Sam with, he’s glad it’s Benny. He can’t actually say all that touchy feely shit, though. Sam would never let him live it down. Instead, Dean groans in faux irritation. “If this means you guys are gonna be even more moony eyed over each other than before, I swear I’m moving into Baby,” he threatens. Benny laughs and Sam tackles him to the bed in a hug so Dean thinks it’s safe to say they caught his underlying sentiment.