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Sam stared at the paper in his hands, trying to make sense of the crumpled map. If he was in the central commons area, then that meant his dorm had to be towards the right, and his room was on the second floor...
"Hey! Tall guy with the map!" Sam turned to see a guy a little shorter than him, with blonde floppy hair and wide blue eyes. "Do you know where the Roman building is?" Sam grinned a bit and held up the map.
"I'm going there. Wanna just follow me?" The guy looked at Sam, blushing and giving him a shy smile.
"Lead the way. I'm Jack, by the way," he said, jogging a bit so he could walk by Sam's side.
"Sam," he introduced himself, holding out a hand. Jack shook it and blushed again as he pulled away. He only had his backpack and one suitcase with him, much like Sam with only his backpack and a large duffel. The two young men made idle conversation as they headed towards the large brick building.
"So, what room are you in?" Jack asked as they walked through the large glass doors that lead into the lobby of the dorm building.
"Um," Sam said, pulling a folded up paper from his pocket. "2413."
"Holy shit, me too!" Jack said excitedly, grinning up at Sam before he stepped back, dropping his eyes down to his shoes, which seemed fascinating at the moment. "I mean, that's my room too."
"Well then come on roomie, let's go check out our new home."
…
Jack watched Sam, trying not to let his mind get away from him. He was sure he hadn't seen such an attractive guy before - to be fair, his mom had homeschooled up until his junior year of high school, and then he had tested out early and was going to college at the age of 17, so he didn't have much experience with really-hot-guys-who-end-up-as-your-roommate.
Or really hot guys in general.
Fuck, he was gonna make an idiot of himself. He followed Sam into their room, looking around - two relatively small twin size beds ( he briefly wondered how someone so tall as Sam would be able to sleep on that thing) , two small dressers, two desks, a small loveseat and coffee table, and a big window that looked out onto the courtyard.
"You got a preference on side?" Sam asked, looking back at him with a small crooked smile, and oh, Jack had to look away before he did something stupid.
"Not really. I like the view from the window, though," he said softly, and Sam smiled.
"Well then, window view for the young man in blue," Sam said, throwing his bag on the other bed, still smiling at Jack, who chuckled and glanced away again, a blush rising up on his cheeks.
Sam thought it was adorable.
...
Jack didn't have much to unpack, just mainly his clothes, his computer, and some photos of him and his mom. He glanced at Sam to see him place a few framed photos on the wall.
"Who are they?" Jack asked, his curiosity getting the best of him. Sam smiled and stepped back, Jack coming to his side as they stared at the photos.
“The grumpy looking guy who looks like he hates everything,” Sam said, pointing to one photo of him and an older man in a hat and hunting vest, “is my Uncle Bobby. Sour old man, but wouldn’t change him for anything. The two guys with me here,” Sam said, now pointing at one photo of him, an older guy with light brown hair and some guy in a trenchcoat, “is my brother Dean and his roommate Castiel. We shared a small apartment not too far from Bobby until I came to school. I’m sure the two of them will kill each other before I come back for a visit.” Sam laughed a bit and looked at Jack, who had sat his pictures on his desk. “That your mom?”
"Yeah. Always kinda been me and her against the world. Killed her when I told her I was going to college all the way in California."
"Oh yeah Dean hated me coming out all this way. I'm sure he'll find some way to come check up on me." Sam gave a little laugh and sat on his bed, facing Jack, who moved to sit on his. “Our mom died in this really bad accident when we were kids, and it just messed up my dad for a long time. Finally, he got… better, in a way. But all the years of anger and stuff came back and got him. So for the longest time it was always just me and Dean. Bobby was always just a call away, and then Cas came flying in and saved Dean’s life. Haven’t been able to shake him since, so he’s family now too.”
Jack liked listening to Sam talk - just something about his voice soothed away all of his nerves.
“Wanna go get some lunch? My treat,” Sam said, standing up and reaching out a hand to Jack so he could help him up. Jack’s face lit up in a deep blush as he nodded.
“S-sure.”
…
Like that, they had formed a quick friendship. They spent the next few weeks learning about each other - what were they going to school for ( Sam for pre-law, Jack for psych), where they had come from ( Sam was from South Dakota, Jack from Nebraska) , what their favorite foods were, favorite movies, favorite anything to be honest. It seemed that the two of them were made to be friends.
Jack had been in their room, typing away on his laptop when Sam had come trudging into the room, flopping face-first dramatically onto his bed
“How’d your Advanced Calculus 201 class go?” Jack asked, immediately looking up, trying to will the blush away from his cheeks as he noticed how Sam’s shirt had ridden up, exposing a nice amount of tan skin.
“Awful. This guy in my class, Brady, kept bugging me the whole time, trying to hook me up with his cousin Jess, who is a nice enough girl, but, I don’t know,” he said, rolling over to glance at Jack, smirking a bit when he saw the younger man avert his eyes and focus back on his computer. “I don’t know if she’s quite my type.”
“Yeah? Why not?” Jack asked, the blush reaching up to the tip of his ears now as he went back to typing - he had to finish this paper for his history class, and he couldn’t let his hot roommate distract anymore than usual. "What?" he asked when he noticed Sam was still staring.
“Nothing,” Sam said quietly before he rolled and fell off of his bed. “What time is it?”
“Um,” Jack said, stopping to glance at the time. “Almost 3, why?”
“Shit!” Sam jumped to his feet, grabbing his bag and shoving clothes in haphazardly. “I told my brother how we had a three day weekend, so he wanted to come up and maybe go fishing or something.” Jack felt his shoulders give in a bit - he had hoped to maybe hang out with Sam during this long weekend, since he couldn’t really go home to his mom right now since she was working. Sam stopped throwing his bag together as his phone rang.
“Yeah?” Sam asked, answering it and coming to a stop. “Yes, Dean, I’m almost ready.” A pause. “You hate camping why would you want to go camping?” Another pause. “Ha. I knew Cas was better at poker than you he just has that blank look down to an art.” Sam turned and saw Jack was avoiding looking at him, and it made his heart hurt. “Can I bring my roommate for the weekend?” Jack looked up now, surprised. “No, Dean, it’s not a hot chick. His name is Jack. I’ve told you about him remember?” Jack was blushing again - he didn’t know Sam had talked about him to his family. “Let me talk to Cas. Hey Cas, can I bring my friend?” Friend . Sure, Jack knew they got along, but hearing Sam call him his friend just warmed him. “Great. We’ll be down in about 10 minutes.” Jack closed his computer and looked up at Sam as he ended the call.
“Camping?”
“Yeah, pack some clothes.”
….
Jack was quiet as he sat in the back of the sleek black muscle car, Sam in the seat next to him. He felt so out of place. Sure, he had made a few friends around campus, and he and Sam got along great, but really, Jack didn’t know much about people. He just wasn’t a people person.
“So, Jack.” Jack glanced up and met the dark blue eyes of Castiel, who had turned around to look at him. Castiel seemed pleasant enough, with his gruff serious voice and face schooled into neutral expressions. What Jack didn’t get though was, what was with the trench coat?
“Yes?”
“Sam had told us you were going to school for a degree in Psychology?” Jack nodded, his hands twisting nervously in the straps of his backpack. Castiel nodded and gave him a rare smile. “That is a good field to major in. I’m sure you will do very well.”
“Um, thanks.”
“How the hell did a psych nerd get roomed with a law nerd?” Sam’s brother Dean asked, glancing at the two young men through the rearview mirror. “Shouldn’t all you law nerds be grouped together in herds, Sammy?”
Jack had to stifle a small laugh as he looked at Sam.
“Sammy?”
“No,” Sam said, shaking his head at Jack, who let out a small chuckle now. “Dean, I told you to stop calling me that. It’s Sam .”
“Sure, whatever you say Sammy.” Sam didn’t miss the way that all three men’s shoulders shook slightly. He glanced over at Jack, and seeing him talk to Cas and laugh at Dean’s bad jokes just felt right.
…
They spent the weekend in a cabin - “I’m not sleeping in no tent Cas, lost bet or not!” Dean had argued, finally winning over when Jack sided with him that he would prefer a cabin - fishing down at the lake and spending the nights sitting outside and just watching the stars before they went to sleep. Jack, having trouble sleeping the first night there, pulled out his phone and began to quietly read through a digital textbook. Sam, who was sharing his room, turned over to look at him.
“Can’t sleep?” Jack looked up at him and shrugged. “Me neither. I brought my tablet and I can wifi from my phone. Wanna come over here and watch a movie with me?” Jack bit into his bottom lip and nodded as Sam scooted over so the slighter man could crawl into his bed.
They fell asleep halfway through the movie, Sam's arm finding its way around the younger man's waist.
…
Neither man really found any reason to talk about the impromptu cuddle session that they had had that weekend, but sometimes, when the two of them would sit on one of their beds to watch a movie, they would lean in even closer to the other, sides pressed up against each other.
Sam took Jack out for his 18th birthday, pulling the younger man out into the real world. Sam introduced him to his friend Brady and his cousin Jessica, who Brady was still trying to set Sam up with it seemed. The four of them went out to watch a local band play, and Jack found himself enjoying it more than he thought.
The fact that Sam had kept a hand on his back the whole night to make sure they didn’t get separated just made Jack’s whole night even better.
When they had gotten back to their room, Sam had pulled his hair up into a messy bun on top of his head, and Jack had to stifle his laughter.
“What? Does it look that bad?” Sam asked, chuckling a bit, since Jack’s laughter was infectious it seemed.
“No, you could never look bad,” Jack said, face flushing as he realized what he said, “I just didn’t expect you to do the whole ‘man-bun’ thing.” Now Sam laughed and crawled into his bed, patting the spot next to him.
“I don’t know about you, but I want to watch a movie.” Jack went over to his bed and quickly changed out of his jeans into a pair of pajama pants. He could feel Sam’s eyes on him, and it made him feel so warm.
He had never felt this way about someone before, and sometimes he thought that maybe Sam felt the same way - the way he acted around him, the way he looked at him… Jack was sure he was just delusional.
He crawled into Sam’s bed, where Sam wove an arm around his waist and hit play on the movie. Jack found himself resting his head against Sam’s chest as the movie played, his eyes growing heavier by the minute.
Sam looked down at Jack, who was fast asleep against him. He stopped the movie and laid them both down, pressing a quick kiss to Jack’s hair before he fell asleep too, the younger man wrapped up in his arms.
…
Once again, this was something they didn’t talk about. They had spent Thanksgiving in their dorm room, eating a plate of turkey and stuffing they had gotten from the cafeteria, and watching more movies. Sam had been planning on going back home to see his brother and his uncle, but when he found out Jack was staying in the dorms, he decided to stay too.
Sam was sure he was slowly falling in love with his roommate, and could you blame him? Jack was smart, funny, and just had this brightness that warmed Sam to his very core. And he had no doubt that Jack liked him too, and Sam was planning on asking Jack to come home with him for Christmas, and then he was going to be super cheesy and ask him out for Christmas. Sam had it all planned.
But then Jack dropped the bomb that he would be going home for Christmas because his mom was able to get off work for it, and Sam had to rethink some things.
He still had a few weeks, he had plenty of time.
…
He did not have plenty of time. Before he knew it, their classes were letting out for winter break, and Jack was packing a bag - his flight left early in the morning. So, that night Sam and Jack sat cuddled up in Sam’s bed, Jack essentially in Sam’s lap as they watched a cheesy winter romance movie. Sam had his arms around Jack’s waist, and Jack found himself twisting their fingers together.
Jack fell asleep against Sam’s chest again, and all Sam could do was run his fingers through soft blonde hair until he fell asleep himself.
…
Sam was half asleep when he felt Jack get up and move. He opened one tired hazel eye to see Jack pull a small wrapped box from his bag and set it on Sam’s desk. Then, he pulled on his jeans and shouldered his bag. Jack glanced over at Sam, making Sam slip his eye closed again- and then took a deep breath as he leaned over his - who he thought was still sleeping - roommate, and press a soft kiss to his cheek.
“Merry Christmas Sam,” he said softly, running a hand through Sam’s curly hair. Jack was so head over heels in love with this guy, and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Grabbing his phone and keys, he left the dorm and headed out to go catch his plane back home.
Sam sat up once he was sure Jack was gone, grabbing the gift Jack had left for him. It had a note on it, in Jack’s scrawled writing that said ‘ do not open until Christmas Eve’ . Sam was tempted to open it right then and there, but he didn’t. Instead, he got up and began to pack his bag. Dean would be there soon to take him home.
…
Dean had spent his whole childhood watching Sam, and learning all of his little brother’s behaviors and what made him tick. He could instantly tell something was wrong as Sam folded himself into the front seat of the Impala. They had a long drive, so Sam could either start talking, or deal with Dean playing the ‘annoying-older-brother’ card.
Sam broke down somewhere in Utah, telling Dean everything that was on his mind.
“I’m completely in love with Jack.” Dean didn’t even bat an eye as he kept driving, nodding along to either Sam’s words or the music that was blasting out through the radio, Sam wasn’t sure. “And I was going to bring him home and tell him, but I chickened out and now I won’t see him for weeks, and I know he likes me too but what if he finds someone when he goes home and what if I was too late?” Dean just nodded again. “He left me a gift, but I didn’t open it yet,” Sam said, and now Dean perked up.
“Well what are you waiting for Sammy? Open the damn thing.” Sam shook his head and pulled the box out of his bag.
“It said to wait until Christmas Eve.”
“Bullshit. Open it. Come on.” Sam looked over at his brother and nodded, pulling the decorative paper off of the box and opening the lid. Sam was a sentimental kind of guy, Jack had learned early on, so Sam was touched by the gift. It was a framed photo, no more than a five by seven, and it was from when they had gone out for Jack’s birthday. Sam had his hand on Jack’s back, keeping the younger man close to him, and Sam was staring down at him and Jack was staring up at him and Sam remembered that moment. He had said something, and when he had looked at Jack, it was like they were the only people in the room. There was another note inside, and Sam set the picture down and grabbed the note, opening it.
‘Sam, Jessica took this picture of us from my birthday. I thought you could add it to the photos on your wall. I hope you have a merry Christmas. I’m going to miss seeing you everyday, and miss falling asleep with you. Love, Jack’
Sam wanted to cry. He wished he had gotten to tell Jack how he felt.
Dean glanced at his little brother, his mind already spinning as he began to plan.
…
When Christmas Eve rolled around, Sam ended up at a party at his Uncle Bobby’s house - however Dean had convinced Bobby to throw a party, Sam had no idea. That man was a scrooge if he ever saw one. But here they were, Sam surrounded by his friends and family, except for Dean, who had ducked out that morning, saying he had some stuff to take care of before the party started.
But the party was going, and his brother was nowhere to be found. Sam sat on the front porch, breathing in the brisk cold air of South Dakota in December, when he heard a familiar, shaky voice.
“S-Sam?.” Sam turned around to find Jack standing on the other end of the porch. He glanced behind him and saw a small woman, who he recognized as Jack’s mom from his photos, and his brother standing behind him, looking much too smug. Sam didn’t even hesitate to stride towards the younger man and grabbed his face to press a bruising kiss to his lips.
Jack melted into the kiss, his hands coming to rest against Sam’s chest as Sam’s moved down to his back, to hold him against him.
When Sam pulled away, he rested his forehead against Jack’s.
“When we get back, we’re so pushing the beds together.” Jack laughed and nudged his nose along Sam’s.
“It will make movie nights a lot easier.”
“That, and I’m never sleeping without you in my arms again.”