Work Text:
Another Brick in the Wall
Dean thumps his head against the bathroom door with a sigh. “Sammy come‘on, we’re gonna be late.”
The door creaks open just enough to reveal a worried eye. “But Dee, what if they don’t like me.”
Dean doesn’t shout, he won’t, but it’s a near thing. Instead, he takes a deep breath and offers up his most reassuring smile. “They’ll love you kiddo. Of course they will, and if anyone doesn’t, you just tell me and I’ll kick their ass.”
“But you’ll never know if we don’t leave soon, cub,” Benny purrs, pressing a paw to the door.
“Omf,” Sammy huffs, falling back with the door. He sniffles, rubbing his nose. “Really?”
“Yep, now come on shorty, we have to leave now if you don’t want to be late for your first day.”
After that, Sammy seems to replace his nervousness with excitement. Dean manages to wrangle him into his new clothes and shove a pop tart in his hand before they are heading out the door of their motel. Dean is pleased by the new jeans and Batman shirt he managed to convince Dad to buy. He hadn’t convinced him to buy a new backpack, but Dean managed that one on his own, fishing out donations from the grocery store. He figures he was just cutting out the middleman.
The school is only two miles from their motel, but with Sam’s stubby legs it takes almost 40 minutes. He’s tempted to have him ride Benny, but the tiger only moves quickly when lives are at stake. His regular pace is at best described as a meander.
They manage to make it just in time for the first bell. Dean walks Sammy to his classroom. The door to Mrs. Sinclair’s kindergarten class is decorated with cutesy woodland creatures, leading to a room filled with bright colors and tiny chairs. Dean makes sure Benny is out of sight before drawing the teacher’s attention.
Mrs. Sinclair greets them with a confused expression, eyes glancing behind them. She’s an older woman, curly red hair streaked with grey, but at least she isn't dressed like a stuffy funeral director like some of Dean’s previous teachers.
Dean knows she is looking for their dad, so he draws her attention with a cough. “Um, hi, ma’am. This is my baby brother Sammy. You’ll keep and eye on him won’t you.”
Mrs. Sinclair focuses on them with a smile, the sappy sort that means she’s just moments from cooing. Dean resists the urge to huff. “Of course I’ll keep an eye on him for you.” She kneels down so she’s on their level, revealing the small songbird perched on her shoulder. “It’s nice to meet you Sammy. I hope you will enjoy the class.”
Sammy, apparently feeling shy for once, tries to hide behind Dean, clutching Ruby to his chest -currently in the form of a slow loris. She’s always been good at playing cute and harmless. Dean would bet his lunch that Mrs. Sinclair doesn’t know that she has a poisonous bite in that form.
“It’s alright sweetie, remember it’s everyone’s first day. Do you want to meet the other students,” she asks, holding out a hand.
Sammy glances at the hand, but turns a questioning gaze to Dean.
Dean gives him a reassuring nod. “I’ll come get you at the last bell, promise. Go make friends.”
“Love you Dee,” Sammy whispers, giving Dean a crushing hug before running off with Mrs. Sinclair.
“They grow up so fast,” Benny rumbles.
“Shaddup,” Dean grumbles, shoving uselessly at his shoulder.
“Come on brother, now we’re late.”
They make it to Mrs. Phillips fourth grade class only five minutes past the bell.
Mrs. Phillips doesn’t seem too upset about it, greeting them with a genuine smile. She’s younger than Mrs. Sinclair, long blonde hair held back with a red headband. Her daemon is a large red squirrel. He’s clinging to her shoulder, but his ears are twitching wildly as he looks around the class, monitoring the fifteen other kids in the class.
Dean walks in with his head held high, trying not to let his nervousness show as Benny prowls in behind him.
Mrs. Phillips’ smile remains in place but her brows shoot up in surprise. “You must be Dean Winchester. Welcome to the fourth grade. Now everyone, lets take our seats.”
They have assigned seats, and Dean finds himself sitting front and center. Benny takes up the whole aisle when he sits beside him.
“Dean, could you have your daemon shift into something a little smaller please? It will be hard to walk between the aisles like that,” Mrs. Phillips asks.
Dean sighs. He used to have a note from Dad explaining things, but they’ve moved so much that it must have gotten lost from his file at some point. “I can’t,” He grits out. There is a rush of giggles from the rest of the class, mixed with over dramatic ‘ooooh’s.
“I know …” Mrs. Phillips starts but Dean’s cuts her off with a shake of his head.
“No, he can’t. He’s settled. This is what Benny is,” Dean snaps.
“Oh,” Mrs. Phillips gasps, blushing brightly. “Right well,” she murmurs, turning back to the blackboard to hide her embarrassment.
It takes a long time for the whispers of his classmates to settle down. By lunch, he’s already been moved to the back of the class where Benny has more room to sprawl. It’s fine. Dean hates sitting in the front. It’s fine.
During recess, he sits with Benny in the shade of a large oak, watching the rest of the class clambering all over the playground. “This is stupid,” Dean scowls, tossing a fistful of grass. “I should be hunting with dad.”
“We gotta go to school. Besides, who’d keep an eye on the cub,” Benny says, nudging Dean’s arm.
Dean sighs, but can’t argue the point, he reaches back to give Benny a scratch behind his ears. The tiger purrs, pleased.
They spend recess enjoying the shade and watching the other kids. Dean glares as they start up a game of ‘king of the jungle’. It’s a stupid game, Dean wouldn’t want to play it even if he could, but he watches all the same as the kids’ daemons shift into bigger and bigger shapes. The winner is a girl that sits two seats in front of him, her daemon taking the form of a dingo.
Dean scoffs, crossing his hands over his chest. The game is stupid, some made up point system based on the size and creativity of the shift. Dean could have won no problem. Benny’s way better than any stupid dingo.
“Don’t pout brother,” Benny chuffs, looping a big paw around Dean and sending him sprawling.
That startles a laugh out of him. “Stop,” Dean screams, laughing so hard he can barely breath.
Benny bats at his sides, tickling with his whiskers until Dean forgets all about the stupid game.
The rest of the day goes better. No one dares to talk to him, and he gets a lot of curious/scared looks, but at least there isn’t the endless whispering that had followed him at his old school.
Sammy can’t stop grinning, when Dean goes to pick him up, smile stretched so wide it looks like it hurts. Ruby is perched on his shoulder in the shape of a woodpecker, brightly colored and pretty, but with a deadly sharp beak.
Dean always appreciates Ruby’s ability to be both beautiful and deadly at the same time. He wonders what she will eventually settle as, but hopes it will be a long time from now. Dean can hardly remember what it was like to have an unsettled daemon. He doesn’t want that for Sammy. Not ever.
Sammy takes his hand, bouncing along as they start their walk home. “Mrs. Sinclair read us a buncha books, even that one you read me with the dragon and the apple. I really like that book. Do we still have it? Jesse and Susie really liked it too. We played on the swings at recess and we got to color together for craft corner. And…”
“Whoa Sammy, breathe,” Dean laughs. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard his little brother so excited. Some of the tenseness in his shoulders relaxes. If Sammy likes school, then Dean can put up with it.
Of course Sammy wears himself out in the first ten minutes and Dean has to hoist him onto Benny’s back.
“M’not tired,” Sammy yawns. “M’big boy.”
“Sure you are shorty,” Dean huffs, sharing an amused look with Benny.
Sammy manages to hold off for another ten minutes before he’s snoring into Benny’s neck.
Dean grins, keeping a hand on Sammy’s shoulder to keep him from falling off as they continue their walk to the motel.
