Chapter Text
Sam Winchester was a normal kid, on the outside. His home life was strange, to say the least, but if you saw him walk down the street, you wouldn’t give him a second glance. He was fourteen, on the tall side, and fairly fit. On the outside, he was perfectly average. Sam, however, disagreed.
It started with the comments. Sam was sitting in the back of the Impala, Dean was sitting shotgun while their dad drove. The engine purred down the road as they chatted over the music pouring from the radio. Dean snacked out of a bag of M&Ms he supposedly paid for, while John tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, keeping time with the song. This was one of their good moments. But then Sammy had to go ruin it.
“Dad, when will I get to go hunting?” He leaned up to the front of the car and let his chin rest on the back of Dean’s seat. “And not just wait in the car, actually hunting.”
John kept his eyes glued on the road. “When you’re older.”
Sam slumped back into his seat. “Why?”
“Because you’ll be more mature.”
“Obviously,” Sam grumbled and rolled his eyes, then checked the mirror to see if his dad caught him. He didn’t, thankfully.
“You can’t hunt yet because maybe when you’re older you’ll have a better build for it. A bit less chub, you know?” John laughed. “It makes you seem a little less snackable to any stray vamps or werewolves.”
Dean chuckled and reached around to offer Sam an M&M. “Want one?”
“Nah.” He shook his head.
“One time only offer.” Dean shook the bag. “Going once, going twice?”
Sam pushed his hand away. “I’m fine.”
“Sold, to the fine young gentleman sitting shotgun.” Dean shrugged and turned back around.
Sam tucked his legs up to his chest and turned his head to stare out the window. His stomach felt like it was twisting in knots. The telephone lines outside the window flew past as the black car shot across the highway. We tend not to see the inside of the cars that pass us on roads, but when we do, it’s a little slice of someone else’s life. But it’s only half the story. An outsider would see a father and his two teenage sons, the younger one sulking in the back, but had that outsider sat in the car with them, they might have noticed the beginning of Sam’s problem.